Category: business

Events and More

I am starting to have a few events start to shape up around my book launch! I have an interview for a podcast coming up–I’m so far supposed to do the interview this weekend, then it will be edited and released whenever the host has a spot to insert it. Hopefully I can post the audio link to the Tombigbee Tales podcast here on my site.

Right around launch I have a signing at my local independent bookstore, Lemuria Books in Jackson. I had filled out a form and left a review copy at the store a few weeks ago, and they contacted me back for Saturday, August 24, at noon. It’s only a few days after launch but before football season really gets in gear. So that was a wonderful feeling to have getting this one set up.

The next week I am going to try to give back to my community back home in Ackerman with a reading and signing event at Ackerman Library, a place that was a home-away-from home for me. If mom needed to run errands or grocery shop or go to the bank, she’d drop me off there–and I was in heaven. No one ever bothered me, and I never bothered anyone else with so many books around me to read! I feel like that will be a real full-circle event for me. It is currently set for September 5 at 6 p.m. (again working round the football games!)

The final event that’s fallen into place recently is being part of a forum on Hurricane Katrina literature in observance of the twentieth anniversary of the storm. So that will be all the way off into next year with an event in conjunction with Prince George County’s Office of Human Rights in Virginia.

Of course, I am aiming to schedule more–the goal is to have at least one event/speaking opportunity a month for the first year the book is out. So this feels like a really good start! Three-and-a-half months before it’s out in stores. I wonder when the reality kicks in. I still feel like this is all some kind of dream. But it’s a good one. If it’s a dream, it’s one of the best.

Fun Photo!

When I first revealed my cover design for Hurricane Baby back in January, a lady I knew vaguely from writers’ groups contacted me over Instagram and asked to be able to feature my book cover on her Instagram account, Books + Scarves. Apparently for quite some time. she’s been selecting books and matches their cover designs to scarves from her extensive vintage and modern collection. She’s got a good many followers across Instagram and Twitter (now X) and they’re a pretty dedicated following

So I said that sounded like a great idea. When my ARC’s came in, I set one aside for her and mailed it to the address she gave me and waited. I thought it might be close to my release dates before she did it, but she posted it yesterday! With pre-order links embedded in the story so people could go ahead and order the book! The shawl she used is named Faubourg Tropical, designed by Octave Marsal and Théo de Gueltz.

Isn’t it great?

Thanks so much to people who commented and shared this image over social media over the past couple of days and to Book + Scarves for selecting me to feature on your account!

Unforced Error

Well, I went to the library event yesterday. Everything went well until I got up to do my reading–I had picked what I thought was one of the shorter stories in my collection to read aloud. I introduced myself by name and said I was going to read a bit of my work and got started. I was NOT finished with the piece when the organizer asked me to stop so we could move on to the next artist. I had lost track of time or misunderstood my time limit or something. I was so embarrassed, and I just wanted to sink into the ground.

But I kept my composure and got through the rest of the event. And afterwards people were so nice–several people told me they enjoyed my reading, and many people picked up my bookmarks, so I hope that adds up to some pre-orders as well. We had a lot of interesting people there–a Chrisitan romance author, two poets, an author that had published her family stories, a devotional writer, another author that gives her books away to create awareness of domestic violence–a big assortment. But I think everyone enjoyed the presentations and talking to us, the authors.

Note to self–start timing your readings so you know exactly which story you can read at each event. Last time the piece I picked was too long and I had to read too fast. This time, some signals just got crossed, I think. I hope I get better with this with practice. . .

I did come home and do some writing after that so that made the day better. So that was good. I seem to have gotten my groove back in terms of writing every day. I just don’t feel like I’m accomplishing very much. But so far I have around 40,000 total words, so that’s almost halfway! We will see how things go next week!

Happy reading, everyone!

WomenWrite 2024

So I went to the Mississippi Christian Living writer retreat, named the above this year. It was held at the Bill Waller Crafts Center on the Mississippi Natchez Trace in the Ridgeland area. The building is the home of the Mississippi Craftsman’s Guild and has a lovely shop with finely crafted items, several meeting areas, a large display area for Guild events, etc. Just a great place to have this event.

I got a lot out of the conference this year in that it was very focused on getting your work up to professional standards and giving resources for that as well as giving guidance to getting your work noticed in the larger literary community. The keynote speaker gave a lot of information on story structure, character development, plot development, etc. I enjoyed thinking about how to apply what she was saying to my current work-in-progress as well as seeing how closely what I had done in Hurricane Baby lined up with what she said.

A lot of the marketing tips I took special attention to, also–trying to mine for ideas of places I could go and get my book out in front of people once it’s released. One woman mentioned organizing virtual book clubs using Google Meets, and I am giving that some serious thought. I think I will get in touch with her over email for more information on how to do that.

I handed out a lot of my sell-sheet and my new bookmarks I made to hand out at events as well. So hopefully I was able to scare up some pre-orders this weekend myself.

And we did some writing as well–I wrote a scene for my work-in-progress; it may stay, or it may go. But it was a freeing thing to write in a fresh bright space without feeling what happens when I work from home–like there’s this chore or that shore to catch up. That sort of thing. So it was really nice.

For locals to the metro Jackson, Mississippi area, I’ll be reading from Hurricane Baby at the Brandon Library Arts Brunch on April 20, 2024. The event runs from 10 a.m.-noon, and registration is at this link: https://cmrls.evanced.info/signup/EventDetails?EventId=20155&backTo=Calendar&startDate=2024/04/14

Winding up that this event was very interesting–I happened across a Facebook page for my city that had an announcement for the event, calling for authors to sign up. I called immediately and left my name and number for the organizer, Amy Lee. She called me back and sounded very happy to have me involved in the event! I believe there’s about ten authors being featured, so it will be nice to see who all is involved!

It’s all getting more and more like it’s actually happening with each milestone I pass. Thanks for reading and sharing these highlights with me!

Moving Along

I finished a good twelve-page chunk of my work-in-progress done this week! Now I need to map what happens in the next few sections so I’ll have more to work from.

I go to a local writing retreat next weekend and hopefully learn a little about marketing my work. I will be armed with my bookmarks for Hurricane Baby to pass around if anyone is interested. I’m looking forward to hearing from the other speakers as well.

Otherwise I have had a rough week, and I don’t really want to get into it.

Next week I’ll have a little more to talk about that’s good. Watch this space!

News From My Publisher

My book has been live with a pre-order button on Amazon less than a week. On Friday, my publisher sent me this screenshot of my Amazon sales rankings, out of all the books published to the site.

To say I was gobsmacked would be an understatement. I don’t know how the algorithms on Amazon work. But my publisher indicated that these numbers mean the books are getting A LOT of attention from somewhere. Pre-orders aren’t tracked by Amazon until the book is released. And the rankings change hourly. But for a debut author with a small press to be able to be discovered enough to generate these numbers? Bizarre.

I am hoping, hoping, hoping to get back into my work-in-progress tomorrow. I have a lot of angst to work out, and I think this new book is the place to do it. Thanks, as always, for reading!

Good Evening!

I didn’t post yesterday because we were traveling by car most of the day.

Just got the notification that Hurricane Baby is up for pre-order on Barnes & Noble! You can click on the Hurricane Baby: Stories page on the left-hand side of the blog and then click on the preorder button provided, or you can go to this link (paperback is the only format available there right now):

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hurricane-baby-julie-liddell-whitehead/1145144169?ean=9781956440959

Pre-orders are really important to get buzz going early for the book, so feel free to take advantage of these connections! Thank you for reading!

Housekeeping Details

Just heard from my publisher–my full book cover is final, and I have a QR code I can slap on all my marketing materials so people can order just by pointing their phones at it! I just ordered VistaPrint bookmarks that I plan to hand out at events.

I have one event coming up–Hurricane Baby the play is having a staged reading coming up. I’ve got everything ready to go to it all lined up–hotel room, ride, etc. I’m looking forward to that. More details will be available closer to time. But I’m looking forward to it.

My new writing has been on hold lately. We have had a lot going on in my family and in my work life, and I’ve honestly been too exhausted to concentrate on my work-in-progress. I hope to be able to change that soon.

And my publisher has said pre-orders are already coming in. So that made me feel good!

Whew. Will ride already. Wish me well with further info and events to come soon! See code below to order Hurricane Baby: Stories for delivery August 2024!

FOR SALE!

Good afternoon! This past Friday night, I got the note from Madville Publishing that my book, Hurricane Baby: Stories, is now LIVE FOR PRE-ORDERS!

Go to the left-hand menu and click on the book’s title to see the brand-new webpage for my book, and you will see a button to click to pre-order my book through Madville Publishing’s site with delivery scheduled for August 20, 2024. As the book goes live in other places like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Bookshop.org, I will add those buttons for you to click on as well. If you want to support your local bookshop as well, you can go and request that they order/stock it.

This page will be updated as I do events, readings, signings, and appearances. If you would like me to come do a reading or speak at your event, school, library, or festival, use the contact form to let me know, and I will see what I can work out!

This past weekend, I went to the annual meeting of the Mississippi Philological Association, which was held by the Mississippi School of Math and Science on the campus of Mississippi University for Women, where I studied for my MFA. I read the first story in the collection, “Still Waters”, and was terrified the whole time. I’ve never read anything as intense as that story out loud in public before this, and it showed. My mouth was so dry I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to finish it. It was well-received by the largely academic crowd, which made me feel good.

But this event, where I know people are going to be spending their hard-earned money on a book I wrote, is momentous. My life is not going to be the same again after this year. But I think that’s good. Keep growing, keep writing, keep learning. That’s my takeaway. Onward and upward!

Single-Digit Fidget

My publishing company keeps saying we go to print six months before publication.

You know what?

That’s this week on February 20!

So I am nervously anticipating that I get to put up pre-order links and my new website page this week as well!

I have been reading about all the emotional whiplash that happens to new authors with an eye to moderating my expectations and all that. I like being prepared. Because I don’t want this whole wonderful accomplishment to throw me off emotionally. Because my stability is worth a lot to me.

But it’s up to me to manage that–so I am trying to keep my expectations in line with the fact that I’m a new author, I don’t have a big pre-made audience to sell to, and I have to understand all that I can control is my reaction to events. I can’t control what others do or say. I can’t control what kind of reviews i get or anything like that. I can just put it out and do what I can to move the needle–and leave the rest up to God.

Like I said when I prayed that day to give my pledge to the church. It’s all up to him. I’m just to give him the glory that is his. I gave the book my best shot for success revising and sending it out. I plan to keep doing that with events and publicity where I can get them. I’m going to start to introduce the book the first weekend of March at the Mississippi Philological Association at my alma mater, the Mississippi University for Women.

I’ll be reading what I can of Still Waters, the first story in the collection, at a panel of other creative writers. I’ll attend other panels while I’m there, probably just the creative writing ones. It’s kind of a full-circle moment for me–when I was in my last year of grad school at Mississippi State University, I read a paper I had written on James Thurber, the great American comic writer, at the MPA Conference that year–also at the W. So I will mention that before I start reading.

(My parents were at that conference since it was only a few miles away from their house. My daddy later asked me was my paper supposed to be funny? I said yes sir, it was. He was scared the audience was laughing at me in a mean way so he decided to check.)

So that’s what I’m preparing for this week. Wish me well!