Newsletter #39 From Author Ed Mitchell

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Friends,

From the Author's Chair, here is newsletter #39 describing my latest up's and down's as I struggle out of the small press arena to become a best selling fiction/thriller author. The strategy: leverage the acclaim and excellent stories of my currently award winning released books (Gold Lust, Gold Raid) to influence a major movie company or large press to purchase the rights to my Gold Lust series. The following event descriptions are not polished, just true. Feel free to forward this news letter to your friends:

>>Highlights: Radio show, book Conference, book award

20 Jan (Up)
I’ve turned into Radio Boy. The Left Coast Crime Author and Reader conference will be held in Monterey in a month and I’m a volunteer. I came up with the idea of getting local radio hostess Karen Grant to do a two hour KION AM 1460 interview with authors at the conference site for free. This will be the first time that LCC has a radio show. Everyone involved thinks it’s a win-win idea. The hotel will get free advertisement. LCC and the local bookstores get free advance advertisement on Karen’s talk show and in her newspaper ads about upcoming radio shows. Karen gets a unique, entertaining show. And the authors get radio time to talk about their books.

I meet the hotel rep and we physical inspect rooms that LCC has already rented and pick the space we’ll use, insuring with the hotel rep that the room has phone jacks, etc. Next I contact authors that I think will make good guests, plus get the LCC PR person to ask the guest of honor author to participate. Karen knows a few attending authors that she wants to interview and contacts them. I pick talented authors that I owe favors to or that have acted well on tour events. I deliberately exclude authors that hog talk-time or have shown in the past that they are stuck on themselves. We end up with a mix of emerging authors as well as best selling authors, national and local authors (me!!), a mix of genre and book settings, and author Sue Ann Jaffarian the President of Sisters in Crime’s Los Angeles branch.

Sue Ann is appreciative of my help and plugs my book in the Small Press Review that she submits reviews to. Thanks Sue Ann!

I thought the PR person could supply the author biographies from the conference catalog. Then I could pass them to Karen to make her preparation easier. I only get two out of seven. Have to contact authors on my own, as well as visit their websites. Plus I write a thumbnail summary of the history of the conference which annually appears in cities west of the Mississippi. Some quick writing and I ship the material to Karen.

30 Jan (Up)
A reader listed my website on the OleMissFan.com Writer’s Block chat board and said nice things about my books. Thanks Fletcher. I have to get onto the site and do some chatting.

13 Feb (Up)
Local newspaper reporter calls me for a quote about the upcoming book conference. Somehow he heard I’m attending and wanted a local author slant. Gee, I’m actually getting known in my local area. Four years of begging--I mean marketing, is working.

17 Feb (Down, Up)
Two days before the conference I get a call from the radio station that the show is off. WHAT???? The hotel called them and said all is ready except they need $160 for each of the phone lines they will turn on in the hotel room. Well, thank you very much you low-life ##$@@!!**!. I call the hotel rep and discuss them contacting the radio station instead of me, the contracting rep for LCC, that I asked her during the walk through if there were phones in the rented room, and they are charging an excessive fee for typing into their computer instructions to turn on the phone lines. I offer a compromise to keep the show from falling through, cut the fee in half and I’ll pay. The fee is cut to $106 total. Well, there went any profit I was going to make at this show. I must have been on drugs when I thought I would make a profit by avoiding travel and hotel costs since the show was a few miles from my house. Silly author.

On a better note, this evening I participated in the Creekside elementary school’s first ever national literacy week event. The teachers had five rooms and different art and author (me) activities. I did my “it’s easy to write a story” class using my rubber snake, Herb, cowboy hat and a smile. The kids enjoyed getting up and reading their stories. I was a hit with the parents and teachers. Maybe one of the kids will grow up to be an author — or at least not a hotel manager!

19-22 Feb (Up, Down, Up)
Appears that my author training is paying off. I’m highly effective preparing for and attending the LCC conference. Only one huge error.
Pre-show:
>>I volunteer and network well with the conference team, which turns out to be extensively well known in the writing community.
>>I sign up for the conference early and get on a panel.
>>I submit my bio and a funny story about myself and verify it is in the conference catalog.
>>I buy an ad in the catalog announcing Gold Lust & Gold Raid. However, I should have purchased a smaller ad. Minus 100 points!
>>I Gain gratitude from my local independent bookstore by helping them get into the show and get free advertisement.
>>I’m quoted in the newspaper. 500 points!
>>As a volunteer, during pre-show set-up we stuff attendee bags with donated books. There are extras and I ask if I may have them for the local library. LCC says yes, and I deliver the books to the library. This helps the community and I’m going to get some publicity for the donation.
>>I read the conference catalog showing all the attendees and identify agents and authors I need to meet and workshops to attend.
>>Two days before the conference I learn there are some no-show panel members and I volunteer to fill in. I get on a second panel!

During the show:
>>I visit the bookstore booth and thank the staff for carrying Gold Lust & Gold Raid. Both books are prominently displayed.
>>I realize the conference is like a large bookstore with hundreds of readers walking around. I work the crowd by introducing myself and talking up my book and inviting readers to the panels I’m on. By the time the conference is over, most of the readers I talk to buy at least one of my books.
>>I speak to most of the authors I identified in the catalogue, asking about agent contacts. I get several.
>>Only one gross, how-stupid-can-I-be mistake! Halfway through my first panel, my mind goes blank as the moderator passes me the microphone. I’ve seen this happen to other authors. They get this deer-in-the-headlights look. Do I fess up that I forgot the question—Noooooo! I answer the wrong question. After the panel I want to crawl under a rock. Minus 10,000 points.
>>I redeem myself on the second panel, held on the last day of the conference when half of the attendees usually leave and panel attendance is low. However, we have a standing room crowd, because the moderator is well known, I’ve encouraged readers to attend, and because it is a panel about funny things that happen to authors on the way to the bookstore. We rock the crowd! They are laughing from the very beginning. The moderator, Pernell Hall, is hilarious. I do well with my stories about fruit flys attacking my nose at a reading in Hawaii, about dumping my editor out of her wheelchair in New York city, and several other stories. It helps to have no shame and willingly expose the humbling experiences of being an author. Both the audience and we panel members have a grand time.

1 Mar (Up)
Today I received e-mail notice that Gold Raid is a finalist for the Sacramento Publishers and Authors (SPA) Association’s 10th annual book awards. But they don’t tell the authors what category their book is selected in. This heightens suspense.

17 April (big UP)
I attend the SPA gala awards conference in Sacramento. Nice hotel three blocks from the capital building. Evening reception is enjoyable, networking with authors, seeing my book displayed with other finalists. Excellent workshop during the next morning, very nice lunch. This is like pulling teeth!!! Let’s get to the awards!

Finally the ceremony begins. It’s a mini version of the Academy awards in Hollywood. The announcer states the category, reads a short description of the winning book’s merit, then says the title of the winner. The Action/Suspense book category comes up. Hold your breath, and don’t act stupid if you are not the winner.

YESSSSSSS! Gold Raid wins the fiction award for Best Action Book. Yahoooo!

I don’t take all the credit. I recognize my editor and then am allowed to do a short reading. It goes well.

The last award is for the best overall book in all categories. The crowd is surprised when the winner (not me) receives a special letter from the Governor recognizing her accomplishment. It dawns on me that Governor Schwarzenegger is an action hero movie star and I just won the Best Action Book award. Gee, there’s a marketing opportunity here.

21 April (Down)
I just learned this morning that I am not a finalist for the PMA national book awards. Trying to be one of the top-three books in America is a bit tough. Pooh! I console myself with my regional book award while mailing a package to the Governor for his support of California authors. “As a small token of gratitude, enclosed is an autographed copy of Gold Raid, this year’s winning Best Action Book.” Maybe my creative marketing will cause Arnold to mention my book on TV or recommend it to one of his friends in Hollywood.

Please encourage your friends to special order Gold Raid from my website or from a local bookstore. If any bookstore says it is not available, have your friends tell them Baker & Taylor supplies the book. Some bookstores employees only check the Ingram database.


And the adventure continues.

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Please pass this newsletter on to your friends and colleagues. Tell anyone wanting to receive this newsletter to just e-mail me at ed@BooksByMitchell.com However, if this letter is a bother in your hectic lives just reply back that you want to be deleted (or unsubscribe) and I'll immediately drop you from my list.
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P.S. If you want to purchase an autographed copy of any of my books, click here:

http://www.booksbymitchell.com/books.htm



Ed Mitchell, Author
Gold Lust, National Award: BEST New Fiction in the USA & Canada
San Francisco Regional Award: BEST Mystery Thriller
Gold Raid, Sacramento Regional Award Winner: BEST Action Book

>>Read Ch-1 of past and soon to be released books at
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ed@booksbymitchell.com
831-663-1021 Fax 831-663-5629
Gold Rush 2000 ISBN: 0-9668447-3-4
Gold Lust ISBN 0-9668447-7-7
Gold Raid ISBN 0-9668447-9-3

Copyright Apr 2004