Fame! (I wanna live forevah...)

By Gayle Carline
Horse Lover and Author of a Few Books Here and There

Okay, I don't want fame, in the way that celebrities are famous. I mean, who wants to be chased by people who want a candid photo and a sordid story? I'm not even certain Miley wants that.

What I would like is to sell enough books each month to make a living. It doesn't have to be a Dean Koontz living (he's sold half-a-billion books, BTW). A middle-class, why-yes-we-can-go-winetasting-this-weekend living is fine with me. The way to do that, of course, is to become noticeable enough to readers that they recommend me to other readers and start pushing my books up the ratings chain.

Two things happened in the last two weeks to give my Snoopy book a boost.

One was a visit from Julie Preble of Horse and Rider Magazine to my table at the Pomona Horse Expo. I had sent FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH to that magazine, as well as other publications. Julie interviewed me for the Horse and Rider YouTube channel, and held a giveaway contest for a free copy of the book (click on over for a chance to win). Here's the video:



I pretty much hate seeing me on video, but I'm still happy to be interviewed.

The other thing was that I got a good-sized article in America's Horse about the book. America's Horse Magazine is an AQHA publication and goes to every AQHA member as part of their membership. That's worldwide, kids. I'd link to the article, but you have to be a member to read it. Here's a picture of it:

As icing on the cake, Snoopy and I are on the table of contents.

Did all of this rocket me up the charts? No. But it sold a few more books, which I hope will translate to a few more books, and a few more after that. Right now, I could pay the gas bill. Maybe soon I can pay the gas bill and the phone bill.

How about you? Do you have a passion that you'd like to make a living doing? Writing? Riding? What are you doing about it?

Expos(ed)

By Gayle Carline
Author and Horse Butler

Last year, when I released Snoopy's memoir, I decided to do a little extra advertising, so I took some ads out in a few horse magazines. This led one magazine editor to put me in touch with a woman in charge of the "Book Corral" at the Western States Horse Expo in Sacramento. They were offering author booths for free - would I like to come up and sell my books?

Geez, all I have to do is get a hotel room, schlep my stuff into the minivan and drive seven hours north. What could be the down side?

Well, there's the weather. Sacramento in June experienced record highs. I mean people fainting, pavement nuking, H-E-A-T.

And there's the fact that our author "booths" were outside. Yes, we were in a shady area, surrounded by ferns. Still, the sun peeked through from time to time, curling book covers, and melting the mascara from my lashes.

Here I am, melting.

The "booths" themselves were tables, covered by plastic tablecloths, which is all I need. I was smart enough to carry my books in a sealed plastic tub. Each night, we packed up and stored everything under the table. Each morning, the sprinklers watered the ferns... and our tables.

I mention this because we all took great pains to cover our stuff, except for one author, who was a psychic. Shouldn't she have known?

My new pal, Kathryn Roberts, found some slammin' boots.

With all that, over the 3-day event, I sold exactly eight books each day. It doesn't sound like a lot, and I certainly didn't cover all my expenses, but I sold more than a lot of the others. Some folks didn't sell any.

When I was approached to be in the Book Corral for the Pomona Horse Expo this weekend (Feb. 7-9), everything about Sacramento should have made me decline. Working from 9-6 in a questionable environment to sell one book an hour does not seem like a good use of my time. Plus, they are no longer offering author tables for free - they're now $75 for the weekend.

Why bother?

BECAUSE IT'S FUN!

Even in the stifling heat, I got to meet people, talk about horses, and autograph books. Okay, 24 of them, but still. It's 24 more people to have Snoopy's story, and when you are an author-publisher, you build your readership brick by brick. I only wish Snoopy could come with me, but there wouldn't be enough room for him at the table. Plus, he'd eat the books and throw the chairs around.

So if you live in the Southern California area and want to spend a weekend immersed in horses, horse breeds, horse training, horse equipment and yes, horse books, come to the Pomona Fairplex. I'll be in Building 6 with other authors - and mini-Snoopy.

I probably won't have mini-Snoopy on display all the time. He's absolutely priceless, having been specially made for me by a young friend of mine. So if you come to Pomona and stop by my table and he's not out, ask me where he is, and I'll give you $2 off a copy of his book.

BTW, I made a book video as special advertising for the event.



Hope to see you in Pomona!

Promotion 101

I just came back from the Gaithersburg Book Festival in Maryland, a well-run book extravaganza held on a perfect day and there were lots of families and book-lovers.

Between my session and a signing, plus driving, I only got to say hi to a few fellow authors and attend one session on promotion. Of course. I add the 'of course' because it seems as if getting my books into the hands of readers is always on my mind. The talk I went to was about using social networks/media to promote your business. The speaker was Jennifer Abernethy a business woman turned entrepreneur who out of necessity began promoting herself and her business on Facebook, then Twitter and Linkedin, and now has a book (another 'of course' goes in here) that would tell me how to sell a million books. Not. I didn't buy it because she has an updated one coming out in 2012, and as she herself said, the internet/twitters/iPhones of today will be obsolete by the time we blink.

A friend of mine also just came back from a writer's panel in NYC. The word there is that editors are looking for great writers, not just writers with great media presence and huge blog followings, BUT(and here's a big 'but')if you don't sell tens of thousands of books when your novel is published, you won't get a contract for a second novel from that publisher. I am experiencing that right now with one of my YA novels.

Hmmmm. It's no wonder I get worried. Those of you who don't write to pay bills or write for smaller presses or self-publish, may not need to worry. Writing to make a living is much harder than writing because YOU LOVE TO WRITE. I know that I DO and SHOULD write because I love to write, but I also pay college tuition for my daughter and buy feed for my horses. It's a dilemma that I have not solved in the twenty-seven years I have been writing and publishing. Some years have been down-right scary! (Which is one reason why I teach.)
So once again, my blog is not about horses but it sure is about books! And how to sell them. Anyone have the magic answer?