I recently ran across this online list of book-club discussion questions, a reader’s guide for a mystery book by Dee Garretson, author of The Gargoyle in the Seine.

What did I like about this particular list?

1. Posting the questions online, she also provided, at the beginning of the page, specifics on how to reach her if you are a member of a book club and wanted her to discuss her book with your group . . . in person or via speakerphone or Skype.

2. I really liked her two-part division of the discussion questions. First, she offers a set that can be used to discuss most mystery books. (E.g., “If a mystery is well-written the reader should suspect a number of characters throughout the story. Which characters did you think committed the crime? Did you guess the culprit before the end?”) After these, she lists specific questions for The Gargoyle in the Seine.

This offers a useful tool for book-club members . . . they might want to use to discuss other books. And it shows a command of the genre that makes me believe she wrote a good, well-structured book and can talk about it knowledgeably to a group of literary fans.

Dee Garretson has had several books for young readers (grades 4th–6th) published by HarperCollins. She decided to self-publish her adult mystery (despite some literary agent interest), and has done a good job of promoting the title with a well-constructed WordPress blog (using the clean lines of the “Twenty Ten” template.)

Kudos!

1. Skype
Barbara Techel is the author of  Class Act: Sell More Books Through School and Library Author Appearances. You can order this great book on doing school and library presentations for under $10 as an eBook, or it’s available from her as a paperback.

It’s not just for children’s book authors. It’s “the ultimate how-to manual for authors of any title of interest to these audiences, detailing how to spread the positive message they were passionate enough to write about in the first place . . . book speaking gigs and personal appearances, and ultimately, sell more books.”

The tip: Techel has been successfully using Skype to do author events remotely. Here’s an excellent guest post she did about this for the Savvy Book Marketer blog:

Many authors, as well as publishers, have limited budgets for travel. Exploring and being open to the opportunity of Skype will help you reach out to many audiences you may not have been able to before. School and library budgets are not what they used to be also. Skype is a wonderful solution affording them the option to still introducing students to authors.

You should definitely check out Barbara’s ideas for using Skype to offer more accessible and affordable author programs (that don’t require you to spend hours in travel and set-up/waiting time). It’s a free bit of software (and one you’ll find yourself using in many ways).

2. YouTube

The online book trailer posted on YouTube (and the book’s website) is popular (although no one is sure why or how effective it really is).

Maybe the problem is that too many book trailers try to be like dramatic movie trailers. Is that really the right approach for a literary work?

Why not just let us meet the author, briefly? You can use your abundant charm and literary skills to present a bit about yourself, the background that led to writing your book, and a bit about what the book is about (focusing on why it’s so appealing or useful to readers).

Here’s an example of a sophisticated, but simple version of an author presentation featuring Penn Jillette (of the Penn & Teller comedy duo). Clearly, he’s a performer and know how to present himself well. But note: it’s not a complicated format. It interweaves his explanation (via a well-lit, dark-background set) of why he wrote his book about his take on God (“From the larger, louder half of the world-famous magic duo Penn & Teller comes a scathingly funny reinterpretation of The Ten Commandments”), with shots of his book (the product).

For several other approaches:

Here’s an author interview with Rick Riordan about the first book in his Percy Jackson series, The Lightning Thief.

Here’s an author interview with Lois Lowry about her Newberry-winning work, The Giver.

Hopefully, these will help steer you away from the teaser movie-like book trailer and toward the “meet the author” and “let’s share some behind-the-scenes info about writing my book with my readers” approach. It is far more likely to be shared amongst interested readers, as it offers actual content.

I could equivocate and say, sure, you can do a website if (a) you know how to do them yourself, or (b) you’re willing to throw some money at someone else to develop and maintain a traditional website. Yes, a good website can be very artistic, powerful, brand-focused, etc. It can also, unfortunately, be complex, confusing, time- and money-sucking, or just downright intimidating to even think about planning it.

Instead, a simple blog can definitely serve as an author’s main online presence. No problem!

And it’s free. (Just create it on Blogger.com or WordPress.com, as many authors do.)

And it’s easy.

The enormous advantage (besides the free part!): you can easily create your blog today. Then, it’s easy to learn to update it with news, comments, small excerpts from your brilliant writing, etc.

(If you need help, you can hire me for a pittance, or you can get a lot of what you need from books like WordPress for Dummies or Google Blogger for Dummies.)

Whereas for a website, unless you know how to access it yourself (also, CMS or Content Management System sites can be set up to allow multiple contributors), you’ll incur small but constant costs by going through a web manager. And too often, you spent a lot of time to set it up, believe it’s perfect, and leave it unchanged . . . and it soon becomes slightly out-of-date. Then more so. And more so.

Or, as is the case with many writers, you just never get around to doing a website because you think it’s complicated or confusing . . . and just go around saying, “I know I should have a website . . .”

A better approach is to say, “I know I should have my own online presence . . . a place where people who are interested in me can find out more about me in the way I want to present myself. Hey, I know! I’ll create a blog.”

Why dawdle or dither? Create a blog site. There’s virtually no downside.

If nothing else, view it as an online business card. You have a printed business card, right? Why not have an online version? And over time, with a few posts, your simple and easy blog can grow organically (and as slow as you wish) into a place visitors can get to know a little about you . . . how you think, what you care about, what your writing is like, what your involvement in the literary world is all about . . . with far more insight than they will get from your typical website.

I recommend blogs as “author mini-websites” or “online business cards” for three reasons:

1. They are cheap (free at Blogger.com or WordPress.com).
2. They are easy to create, use, and maintain.
3. They focus on content more than design.

On Point #3 in that list, a key reason I recommend blogs for authors is that, as they are mostly standardized templates, they encourage you to focus more on content . . . and to worry less about design.

Ultimately, content is far more important!

You don’t have to blog daily about what you had for breakfast. Instead, just commit to posting any real news about what you’re doing as a writer. In a pinch, post a brief excerpt from your writing and tell us something about it – its genesis, its challenges, the choices you made, why it’s important to you or to your story . . .

MY RECOMMENDATION
Go cheap, do a WordPress blog hosted on the WordPress.com site. It’s free. You can always bite the bullet and upgrade later to a website approach if you’ve figured out what you want that a blog can’t do and why.

If you need help, drop me a line. (Contact me at Great Lakes Literary.)

(And for more ideas on what to blog about as a writer and why, here are more tips on blogging for writers from my past posts at the Writer’s Handbook blog.)

Hi,
I’m invited to a book launch party this evening. I believe my friend self-published. I was wondering what the protocol was for such an event? It is being held in her home. Do I purchase the book there? Do I bring a gift? I don’t want to embarrass myself. Help!

Good question. What to do if you don’t know much about the book, how good it is, whether you’ll want to buy it (or not)?

I don’t know if you saw this main post on book launches, it gives the story from the author’s point of view.
http://writershandbook.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/plan-a-great-book-launch-party/

So, how does it work from your side, as a friend? No, you don’t have to bring a gift. (You can offer, if you wish, to bring something helpful like food or drink.)

And, yes, the book will be available for sale. But don’t feel obligated to buy unless you really want to. (That’s a separate decision from attending to support your friend.) There are reasons you may not want to buy: It may not be your cup of tea. It might not be very good in your opinion. You may not have the extra money in your budget.

It does help, however, to be supportive as a friend. Here’s what you can do:

1. Attend! The more the merrier. It will feel more exciting & positive for the author the more people show up, and to have friends there to talk with. It means you care.
2. If you know others who might enjoy the book launch, invite them to go with you or tell them where & when it’s happening (if it’s a public event).
3. Be complimentary & celebratory. If nothing else, congratulate the author on having completed such a major accomplishment. It’s a lot of work to write a book, self-published or not! And you can enjoy the party, and help welcome others and keep the conversation going.
4. Ask your friend how the idea for the book came about, how it was researched or imagined, how he/she overcame stumbling blocks, about his/her writing process (does he/she write every day, in spurts, what gets the creative juices going, etc.).
5. You don’t have to buy the book, and you don’t have to stay all evening. Drop in, stay as long as you wish.
6. Do try to learn more about the book, and share any marketing or review ideas you may have with the author. If there’s promotional literature, take a copy for yourself and for others who might be interested.

Before & after the event, you can help with valuable word-of-mouth publicity:

1. Share the news! Keep the book in mind; pass on info about it (& share links to the author’s website, blog, etc.). You might note the new book’s release, for instance, on your own Facebook page, if you have one. That passes on the news to your network. If you don’t know enough about it to recommend it, you can still note that a friend published a book; share your congratulations and tell others how to find out more.)
2. If you know any specific folks interested and want to recommend it, or places to post info, do so! You can mention it to book clubs, local libraries, etc.
3. If you like the book, take a few minutes to post a review on Amazon, Shelfari, GoodReads, or other online literary communities. Or write a review on your own blog and post a link on Facebook. It really helps to have people like you stating in public that the book is worthy (it’s more credible than that author saying it about their own work!)

Of course, if for any reason you don’t think the book is worthy of simple mention or recommendation (a higher standard), then just hold your tongue, and focus on being a friend and offering sincere congratulations on this huge milestone for your friend. Whether or not it’s good, it’s a major achievement.

Ultimately, any book will sink or swim mostly on its own merits. But you can go to the book-launch party, learn more, share the news, and influence others if you think it’s worthy. A savvy author will know that’s more valuable than you just buying a single copy.

But of course . . . if it’s a decent book, consider buying a copy for yourself, or as a gift for others, or to donate to a local library or a women’s shelter or any worthy place.

If you do any part of this, you’re being a friend. And that’s what it’s really about. You can find books anywhere. Friends are more precious!

It’s by Dennis Palumbo, essayist, novelist, TV screenwriter, and a psychotherapist specializing in creative issues. (I included one of his pieces, “The Three Cosmic Rules of Writing,” in the first New Writer’s Handbook.) Dennis has counseled many other writers, as he says in this great blog post, “Gut Check,” on the Huffington Post:

For over twenty years now I’ve counseled writers through the turmoil . . . [of fantasies, fears, phobias, insecurities, and all that surrounds writing and pitching and trying to get published.]

Now, he has a new crime novel of his own recently published: Mirror Image, by Poisoned Pen Press. (“Dennis Palumbo establishes himself as a master storyteller.” – Stephen J. Cannell; “a standout mind-bender! A wonderfully constructed novel.” – Ridley Pearson)

So . . . of course, with all his experience as both a writer and therapist, he should be on top of the “expected pragmatic and emotional challenges.”

I love the honesty of his answer:

Guess again. In the months leading up to my new novel’s release, I have (in no particular order) obsessed about the book’s title, fantasized one minute about getting on the best-seller’s list and then in the next was absolutely convinced that no one would buy it at all, yearned for my agent to be completely devoted to my personal and professional well-being to the exclusion of all else in his life, already mentally answered potential bad reviews with pithy, scathing rejoinders, and felt unloved and unappreciated when a friend even looked like he was anything less than totally thrilled or profoundly moved at the thought of my novel coming out.

Believe me, I could go on, but space doesn’t permit. The point is, despite the knowledge and insight gained from long-time careers as both a writer and a therapist, I found myself wrestling with the same dilemmas as every other author.

Why? Because, like it or not, if you’re a writer, there’s no escaping the writer’s life.

So true. Likewise, as one who finds it easy to edit other people’s work, when it comes to my own, I admit I find myself agonizing over minute concerns. Let’s face it, being a writer is a psychologically tough thing. On every page, we face the insecurity of looming doubts: are we saying this as well as we can?/as it should be said?/in a way that will move readers to spasms of joy and admiration and applause for the beauty of the wordsmithing and storytelling?

Or am I a literary oaf?

Indeed, there’s no escape.

This is why it helps (immensely!) to have a good writer’s group, or a trusted and skilled first reader, or a gifted editor . . . to help you avoid the over-niggling, to shut the doors on those pesky tiny gremlins, and instead to focus your attention on the big matters: What’s good here? Why is this worth writing for publication? Is it ready? What really most needs fixing to get it done and out the door?

Without obsessing.

If nothing else, I recommend reading (at least parts of) your work out loud; it not only tunes you to the sound of the words, but also provides a curious buffer to those inner thoughts of doubt, as you hear the words as if they exist on their own.

Thanks, Dennis, for affirming that our hesitations are normal. Now, let’s get over ‘em, find the techniques that work for us, and write like the gifted writers we can be.

The story begins in 1881 in the Scottish Highlands, during a rainy spell spent confined in a cottage, as Stevenson spends time fooling around with watercolors with his stepson.

There it blew a good deal and rained in a proportion; my native air was more unkind than man’s ingratitude, and I must consent to pass a good deal of my time between four walls in a house lugubriously known as the Late Miss McGregor’s Cottage. (. . .) There was a schoolboy in the Late Miss McGregor’s Cottage, home from the holidays, and much in want of ‘something craggy to break his mind upon.’ He had no thought of literature; it was the art of Raphael that received his fleeting suffrages; and with the aid of pen and ink and a shilling box of water colours, he had soon turned one of the rooms into a picture gallery. (. . .) I would sometimes unbend a little, join the artist (so to speak) at the easel, and pass the afternoon with him in a generous emulation, making coloured drawings.

On one of these occasions, I made the map of an island; it was elaborately and (I thought) beautifully coloured; the shape of it took my fancy beyond expression; it contained harbours that pleased me like sonnets; and with the unconsciousness of the predestined, I ticketed my performance ‘Treasure Island.’

I am told there are people who do not care for maps, and find it hard to believe. The names, the shapes of the woodlands, the courses of the roads and rivers, the prehistoric footsteps of man still distinctly traceable up hill and down dale, the mills and the ruins, the ponds and the ferries, perhaps the STANDING STONE or the DRUIDIC CIRCLE on the heath; here is an inexhaustible fund of interest for any man with eyes to see or twopence-worth of imagination to understand with! No child but must remember laying his head in the grass, staring into the infinitesimal forest and seeing it grow populous with fairy armies.

(. . .) Somewhat in this way, as I paused upon my map of ‘Treasure Island,’ the future character of the book began to appear there visibly among imaginary woods; and their brown faces and bright weapons peeped out upon me from unexpected quarters, as they passed to and fro, fighting and hunting treasure, on these few square inches of a flat projection.

The next thing I knew I had some papers before me and was writing out a list of chapters.

(. . .) Fifteen days I stuck to it, and turned out fifteen chapters; and then, in the early paragraphs of the sixteenth, ignominiously lost hold. My mouth was empty; there was not one word of TREASURE ISLAND in my bosom; (. . .) I was indeed very close on despair; but I shut my mouth hard, and [a bit later] down I sat one morning to the unfinished tale; and behold! it flowed from me like small talk; and in a second tide of delighted industry, and again at a rate of a chapter a day, I finished TREASURE ISLAND.

(. . .) I had written it up to the map. The map was the chief part of my plot. For instance, I had called an islet ‘Skeleton Island,’ not knowing what I meant, seeking only for the immediate picturesque, and it was to justify this name that I broke into the gallery of Mr. [Edgar Allan] Poe and stole Flint’s pointer. And in the same way, it was because I had made two harbours that the HISPANIOLA was sent on her wanderings with Israel Hands.

(. . .) I have said the map was the most of the plot. I might almost say it was the whole. A few reminiscences of Poe, Defoe, and Washington Irving, a copy of Johnson’s BUCCANEERS, the name of the Dead Man’s Chest from Kingsley’s AT LAST, some recollections of canoeing on the high seas, and the map itself, with its infinite, eloquent suggestion, made up the whole of my materials. It is, perhaps, not often that a map figures so largely in a tale, yet it is always important. The author must know his countryside, whether real or imaginary, like his hand; the distances, the points of the compass, the place of the sun’s rising, the behaviour of the moon, should all be beyond cavil.

(. . .) But it is my contention – my superstition, if you like – that who is faithful to his map, and consults it, and draws from it his inspiration, daily and hourly, gains positive support. . . . The tale has a root there; it grows in that soil; it has a spine of its own behind the words. Better if the country be real, and he has walked every foot of it and knows every milestone. But even with imaginary places, he will do well in the beginning to provide a map; as he studies it, relations will appear that he had not thought upon; he will discover obvious, though unsuspected, short-cuts and footprints for his messengers; and even when a map is not all the plot, as it was in TREASURE ISLAND, it will be found to be a mine of suggestion.

The take-away: draw a detailed map. You may be surprised what it adds to the richness of your story.

For good book promotion, note how well Hilda involved a number of local groups: Society for Creative Anachronism, Northwest Indiana Fencing Club, high school musicians, and the Women’s Co-operative of the Immanuel Lutheran church. Remember: it’s not always how big these groups are, but how well connected they are and how you can feature them at your event. If you can get groups like this enthusiastic about your book and the launch, they likely will promote it to their own networks.

A Book Launch for a Historical Novel
by Hilda Demuth-Lutze
author of Kingdom of the Birds:
Seppel and the Secret of the Wartburg Castle

Summary
When I first envisioned the launch party for my historical novel Kingdom of the Birds, which is set in 16th-century Germany, I pictured a Renaissance fair with wandering minstrels, swordsmen, and perhaps even caparisoned horses near a pavilion.

My budget and the vagaries of March weather in Northwest Indiana required me to scale back those plans. However, I found knights and fair ladies and horses and even a castle on the wall of the Immanuel Lutheran School lunchroom in Valparaiso.  That storybook mural became a beautiful backdrop for my book-signing table on a Saturday afternoon.

As a member of Immanuel, I was able to reserve the lunchroom at no cost.  Because I chose to donate my profits for the event to our church-run food pantry, the Immanuel Women’s Co-operative provided all the refreshments.  The Co-op members were thrilled to be involved in a book-signing – and eager to buy books for their grandchildren.

I did not give up the dream of Renaissance entertainment.  With the help of the music department at the high school where I teach, I hired student musicians.  Wearing costumes borrowed from the Chesterton High School madrigal dinner collection, my recorder consort was a feast for the eyes and ears.

A few telephone calls landed a plethora of swordsmen – and a swordswoman. Costumed members of the Northwest Indiana Fencing Club and several reenactors from the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) Shire of Greyhope were pleased to demonstrate fighting moves and chat with guests about the history of their weaponry.

When the hired swordsmen were not staging combat with their steel weapons, children of all ages were thrusting and parrying with foam swords borrowed from the Shakespeare stash at CHS. The five-and-under crowd were among the most enthusiastic swordfighters, much to one mother’s chagrin. “Years of careful parenting undone,” my sister Gretchen told me. My nieces and nephews can’t wait for the next launch party – and neither can I.

BIO
Hilda Demuth-Lutze is a high school English teacher in Chesterton, Indiana. She earned her B.A. from Valparaiso University and M.A. in English from Pennsylvania State University. Hilda lives in a farmhouse near Valparaiso, Indiana, with her husband Mark and their three children. Hilda’s first novel, Plank Road Summer, (Crickhollow Books, 2009) was co-authored with her sister Emily Demuth Ishida.

About Kingdom of the Birds: “Germany 1521: Fourteen year-old Seppel, an unskilled village boy, cannot imagine why his uncle Spalatin, chaplain to the Duke of Saxony, would summon him to faraway Thuringia. A knight and squire escort Seppel to the Wartburg Castle, where Captain von Berlepsch disguises him as a page and instructs him in swordsmanship and horsemanship. In a locked room Seppel meets Sir Georg, the mysterious knight. When Seppel learns the true identity of the prisoner, he realizes that he must keep the secret of the Wartburg Castle or put the entire household at great risk. Knight and page learn much about bravery, truth, and the power of the Word during their time together in the Kingdom of the Birds.”

For more, including photos, of the book launch event for this historical novel, visit the Kingdom of the Birds blog site.

(You’ll find more Writer’s Handbook Blog tips for great book launches here.)

But as a folklorist and a book editor (currently editing several memoirs), I want to encourage you to consider what memoirs do well . . . and why they are so popular and powerful.

The memoir is a literary form that blends documentary first-person history, mixed to some degree with (consciously or not) selective memory and value-rich storytelling.

Yes, memoirs are, in part, documentary history, albeit from one person’s perspective. Events are seen and interpreted through one person’s point of view. Therefore, they can bring a valuable, boots-on-the-ground perspective to history. And when it comes to history, we’d like the facts to be accurate. While sometimes facts in memoirs are misremembered, just as often they document and record things that are simply missing from official records. (Most documents are typically created and kept by the high and mighty, less often than by the grunt in the trenches, the man or woman on the street, etc.)

But it’s as important, I believe, to recognize that memoirs are also a type of personal story.

Indeed, that is probably their main role: to bring insight into the invisible realm of the memoir author’s values. A memoir raises on a pedestal what an individual felt was most important to remember and honor and share through his or her stories. While this may not create a documentary, impartial account . . . it is all the more interesting and valuable because of that.

After all, stories are how we chose to organize information so that it makes some sort of meaning . . . even if that meaning is invented or revised or selected to tell a particular story. The process of selection – what we choose to remember, and how – reveals so much about what we value. Therefore, memoirs are very successful in communicating values – out in the open or intangibly through the web of stories.

A folklorist sees memories as “true”: true memories. They are indeed what people remember, and choose to relate. I was often asked in my documentary projects if I knew the stories I was told were true. I always answered yes: they are true stories. No more, no less.

In many ways, the full range of culture (community, family, or personal) is almost impossible to understand without these organized clues. They suggest what’s going on invisibly, beneath the surface . . . the things people almost never record or acknowledge, sometimes even to themselves . . . except when pressed to explore and speak or write about those things after the fact, in things like memoirs.

And as a folklorist, I’ll also note that what we perceive as “factual” is often quite biased, as I’ve discovered in working on documentary projects. While the written or photographic evidence may be “accurate” in one sense, it is often quite slanted. Just as often, it turns out that the official record is fabricated or selected to create its own “truthiness” (Thanks to Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report for that word).

So memoirs, yes, should be evaluated for factual reliability . . . just as a corporate memo or a historical society overflowing with documents of rich people should be.

So here’s to memoirs.

Their richness can help us form a more accurate, balanced picture, including more of what otherwise may have been overlooked or swept under the rug . . . not always because it was sensational but often because was considered too ordinary, and thus in danger of being lost to history. Without memoirs, we would have a skewed record of what people really cared did and thought and cared about.

And the points at which a memoir may depart from fact are, in my view, not necessarily errors. They might be insights.

She also showcased several artists, and a massage therapist. One artist had done a preface map for the book, others had done artwork based on the book’s story. The cool thing about involving and highlighting professional friends, artists, literary associates – especially any who had some role in the creation of the book . . . they likely will promote the event to their own networks.

Of Book Launches and Chocolate
by Leona Wisoker
author of Secrets of the Sands (fantasy novel)

Summary
The launch went amazingly well – I had hoped for 20 people, and over 70 showed up. We sold out not only the stock for the launch, but also the stock for RavenCon (a local SF/F convention in Richmond, Virginia, the following weekend). So I had to scramble to get more copies to sell at the convention. Good problem to have!

Over 30 people also came to the after-party (my house). It was a tremendously fun time. I credit much of it to having gotten friendly with the local SF/F community over the past 3–4 years. They knew me from MarsCon and RavenCon, where I had worked as a chair massage therapist and also volunteered when I had time left over. When I expressed surprise at the strong community turnout, someone told me, “Well, you’re one of us. It’s always great to see one of our own ‘make it,’ and we want to support that!” Others just complimented my choice of venue, noting that the chocolate shop was as much a draw as the launch . . . !

[That's right, the event was held in a specialty chocolate shop, Coco Chocolatier. Now, wouldn't you show up for that event?? For your book launch, pick a fun place that people want to check out for lots of reasons, including you and your new book!]

The preface map artist was not local, but actually lives in New York; his name is Ari Warner and he came to town just for my book launch. (He also did the map for Larissa Niec’s Shorn, another great book by Mercury Retrograde Press.) Gail Engle is the jewelry artist, and she is local (Newport News), as is the doll artist, Angela Wade. We also had a chair massage therapist at the launch, Cecelia Edic, who lives in Virginia Beach and has been working MarsCon for years (she’s the reason I got in on that gig in the first place, and I was delighted to have her attending my launch). She stayed busy the whole time! Another draw during the launch was my effort to raise money for Heritage Humane Society, the local animal shelter . . . so I had quite a few things going on during those five hours to keep people entertained, which I’d have to say, thinking back, is probably one of the most important things that drew folks in.

Some other things I learned from my first book launch:

1. Lists are worth their weight in gold. So are Post-Its.
2. Be specific when asking for help. “Bring a case of Pepsi” is much simpler than “I’m putting you in charge of the sodas.”
3. Make contacts before your book even gets accepted for publication. Join book groups, writing groups, photography groups, whatever your interests are. Become part of your target communities; give generously of your time and labor. Paradoxically, the best way to get success from this is to sincerely give for the sake of giving, without asking for or expecting any return.
4. Facebook is your best friend when you need to advertise events on the cheap. This also requires a long build-up of “presence,” however, just as in point #3.
5. Three hours is more than enough time for a book launch.
6. Plans made months in advance will all be completely null and void by Launch Day. Make the plans anyway! Just don’t get attached to them. Regard them as good practice.
7. Always have your launch at an excellent chocolate shop. It makes for a near-guaranteed success (and if the launch is a flop, at least you’ll have chocolate to console yourself with).

Leona Wisoker is the author of the fantasy novel Secrets of the Sands (Book One of Children of the Desert). For more info, visit: http://www.leonawisoker.com. For more on the launch, visit her blog (http://leonawisoker.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/my-first-book-launch/).

“The author creates a lushly visual and highly detailed world of desert tribes, a language of beads, and a unique way of viewing the world. VERDICT: This series opener features an exotic desert culture and strong male and female characters and should appeal to fans of Middle Eastern culture and folktales like the Arabian Nights.”
– Library Journal review

Leona has also published short stories and is a reviewer for Green Man Review. She has lived in Florida, Connecticut, Oregon, New Hampshire, Las Vegas, Alaska, California, and Virginia; has experienced the alternate realities of Georgia, North Carolina, New York, Long Island, and Italy; and believes that “home is wherever my coffee cup is filled.” This is currently in Virginia.

(You’ll find more Writer’s Handbook Blog tips for great book launches here.)

One of the problems with writing is that we often can’t imagine practical things like training and practice and competition . . . we don’t set realistic plans . . . and don’t do the day-to-day things needed for success. You may want to be a great writer. Want to get published. And you sit down and write, sometimes without any real feedback, coaching, or self-knowledge about what your real strengths are and how to get better.

I’m struck (negatively) by the titles of instructional books for writers: Write Your Novel in a Weekend, No More Rejections, The Wealthy Writer. Nice marketing titles, and the contents may contain a lot of valid info . . . but the premise is misleading, I feel.

Better to look at the successful habits of the Olympic Athlete.

1. Work Hard.
The Olympic competitors didn’t get there by sitting on the couch, wishing they were in the Olympics. They got up each morning, put nose to grindstone, shoulders to weights, feet into skis and skates and running shoes, and trained themselves to perform well.

2. Have a Training Plan.
You won’t get that Random House deal or win the Upper Slobovian Literary Prize without a plan for sending out many queries, getting short pieces published, making lots of contacts, going to conferences, developing networks of people who can help you.

3. Break It Down into All the Parts.
Evan Lysacek, in responding to the Russian whiner Evgeni’s insistence that landing a quad jump should have won him a gold medal, pointed out that (surprise!) you are judged on everything that happens when you step on the ice. Every stroke. Everything that people see in your performance. So the better you are at understanding and improving all the little things, the better you’ll do at winning the big one.

4. Train with the Best.
It’s often overlooked, but winners often have worked with good coaches and picked good training partners. It doesn’t always happen on your own. Last night in the Ice Dancing finals, the pairs that won the medals tended to train with other top competitors. It helps to have others around you to set the bar high. And it helps to have skilled coaches who can deliver positive feedback for the good things, but also point out those flaws, weaknesses, habits that you’ve fallen into that are keeping you from that next level, and to help you know what to do next.

5. Pick the Right Niche.
You aren’t going to be good at everything. For every Bode Miller who can win multiple events, there are the specialists that pick and train for specific events and types of venues. For instance, speed skater Shani Davis was a gold medal contender in the 1500 meters, but admitted that his long stride was best suited for a speedier track; he had a harder time on the rough Vancouver ice. Look long and hard at where you actually excel. It’s not always what you want to be good at. I’m struck by the Olympic competitors who started in one event, but then switched to another and found success.

6. Don’t Let the Judging Throw You Off.
Some events are won by pure, unquestioned speed. But a lot of the competitions are subject to judging. The winners win at the whim of judge’s tastes, selective application of standards, perhaps nationality. Yes, occasionally you’ll fall victim to the French judge–syndrome (the maligned figure skating judge of the 2002 Olympics who admitted to voting based on outside pressure). Guess what: happens all the time in literary and other fields, too! Take-away: if an editor gives you the thumbs-down, don’t crumble. Move on to Plan B.

7. Look Ahead to the Next Race.
I love the athletes who can enjoy today’s results, but are also always looking ahead. What happens today is worth honoring, whether victory or defeat. But you can influence how you do next time . . . by focusing on it far before that next competition arrives.

8. Strive for a Personal Best.
I love this approach. Good athletes and good writers don’t achieve success overnight. Instead, they stay focused on improvement. Often, small increments are the best. Many small stepping stones is a more realistic way to get across a big river than a few giant leaps. What is your current personal best? What can you measure and improve? The number of responses to your best blog post? Moving up to a better class of rejections? Achieving better sales next month than this month? Measuring something is a key part of making it better.

9. Enjoy the Pageantry.
Take time to smell the roses. I think it was Scott Moir who said to his partner, Tessa Virtue, in the pause at the end of their gold-medal ice-dancing routine for Canada: just look around, enjoy this moment. Life is surprising, amazing, eccentric. Appreciate all the minor sports, the competitors from Ghana or Peru, the friendships, the brief, brief moments of glory in the sun, and all the human friendships and ambitions and passions that lead to that.

10. Go for the Gold!
What causes someone to sit on a little bench on top of a mountain chute, then shoosh down and up to fly the length of a football field with boards on your feet? I love the story of Vinko Bogataj, from (then) Yugoslavia, the Slovenian ski jumper made famous by the ABC Wide World of Sports as the “agony of defeat” poster child. He was the ski jumper who slipped on the down-run, tumbled off the jump, and landed in a wild heap, suffering a mild concussion.  But according to the Ski Jumping USA homepage, Vinko was taken to the hospital for observation . . .

. . . where he promptly phoned the ski club to confirm his competitor registration for the following year. He returned to jumping, later to coaching.

We writers don’t have Olympic moments . . . at least, not on TV. But we’re as crazy, in our own way. We’re committed to things that others don’t always understand why we do them, things that don’t always earn us a lot of money. We suffer the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat.

And we can learn to be great at what we do.

We can learn to be Olympians.