Tag: Book Launch

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My Weird and Wonderful Book Launch 2019

It’s here!

Rather than the clink of champagne glasses and the chirp of book-loving friends and family all talking at once, there is a country hush today, with bird chatter and the odd crow cawing  the only sounds as I celebrate the release of my sixth novel – House of Wishes.

There are a few reasons why it will be a quiet one for me this year. This image from the Fires Near Me App might say more than words. (I’m at the big red arrow)

As I sit, staring out the window at the thickening smoke and ever-diminishing mountain range, I’m silently wishing for rain, or a reprieve of some kind for those closer to the bushfires.

Right now I’m looking after a house in northern NSW (caring for a couple of pregnant cows, a deaf cat and several chooks). I arrived three days ago, and with all the fire activity and handover information about evacuation plans, only to day (release day) did I make myself sit down at the computer.

And as I looked around the place, I realised something amazing…

Ever since 2013 (after releasing House for all Seasons) I’ve looked everywhere for a house that I could photograph that might resemble (in some small way) Dandelion House, which features in the novel. I was never going to find a house built on an island in the middle of the Calingarry Crossing river, but…

As I sat down today, and began some promotional posts on Facebook, I saw the house I’m looking after for the first time. And what did I see?

I saw my fictional Dandelion House with its homestead facade and French windows opening up onto a wrap around veranda. Not only that, this house I’ve found myself caring for has a history. In fact, it was build in the late 1800’s – the same as my Dandelion House.

 

Built my the Mackerell Family

 

This gets even crazier…

Look at the decorator cushion!!! Ladybugs are a motif that runs through House of Wishes.

Yes, the fire situation in NSW has made my new release one to remember, but I’m going to find the joy in how life sometimes imitates art (or is it the other way around?)

There’s a new noise outside now… In the sky… Helicopters are circling.

I’ll go for now, but I will find a moment to enjoy this country celebration – just Jeannette and I. Yes, there will be champagne later today.

Calingarry Crossing Novels are standalone reads. Special two-book price on my web shop for the first two.

Whether you’ve read House for all Seasons and Simmering Season, or you choose to come home to Calingarry Crossing for the first time by reading my new, standalone Calingarry Crossing novel – House of Wishes – you want this good news!!

The good news…

I am extending my ‘new release free postage offer’ on print copies until Nov 30. (Details on my web shop –  www.jennjmcleod,com). Ebooks are also a special price.

The giveaway…

I am also giving away a Kindle version to one lucky person. 

All you have to do to go into the draw is add add House of Wishes as a Want To Read before December 24.  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48269663-house-of-wishes  (Winner drawn Dec 25!)

Come back to the small town with big secrets where Dandelion House has one more secret to reveal. (And you may catch up with a few cameo characters.)

I’m off now to check the RFS Fires Near Me App and make a few wishes.

Cheers!

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Dear Reader: The truth about all that book release buzz.

You might have expected this blog post to be a really long and thoughtful discussion about the book business, when it’s actually about the way authors pop up on social media, crying virtual tears of joy, and gushing over reviews! I mean, it’s just a bloody book after all—not a Powerball win.

But in a way being published is like winning the lottery. There is luck involved and with so many books out there, Australian fiction in particular, when a reader looks to spend their hard-earned dollar and chooses your book over others, it’s better than a lottery win. (Okay, that’s a lie. A Powerball win would be pretty darn good right now. For a start, I wouldn’t have to write this blog post. I could just go out and buy all my books myself — although that kinda defeats the purpose of why I write stories!)

This post is about all those annoying authors like me: “woo-hooing” and “squeeing”, almost peeing their pants with excitement, and posting to social media when most of their social media connections already know the book is coming out. I mean, you’ve been following our journeys all this time, right?

 I’ll tell you the truth about authors and book buzz . . .

Launch time for an author brings with it a sudden urgency—one that is a stark contrast to the leisurely year it took to write, edit, perfect, cover and print the paperback—and it kinda flips an author’s world upside down. (They go from quiet achievers in their lounge room to awkward promoters of their finished product.)

The buzz about the launch is important because in the paperback world, there is a finite time for that book to hit the magic sales mark, which makes the publisher happy and the booksellers.

Booksellers . . . Now here is something readers might not realise. 

Just like your local newsagent orders in the daily paper and what doesn’t sell that day gets bundled up and returned to the publisher – no cost to the agency operator, booksellers can do the same with books. They might order in sixty copies of a new book and in six weeks, what hasn’t sold, can be (not always) returned to the warehouse. (A small bookshop won’t have the shelf space to stock multiple copies of every book and while you can always ask the bookshop to order a novel in, if it’s not there, on the shelf, it’s out of sight, out of mind.)

So, say 5,000 books left the warehouse (yay!) and 3,000 came back – unsold in six weeks (boo!)*

That, dear readers, is why authors make a big noise, often preaching to the converted. They are urging those of you who are thinking of buying their book to not delay.

Make a bee-line to your bookstore because those early sales figures can have many ramifications, including keeping their books on the shelves longer. And because every author understands a reader can’t buy every book, the simple act of sharing a buzz post, or mentioning an author’s name at a dinner party, can help enormously. Sometimes it’s the smallest of things that can have the greatest impact, like the bee — the hardest working creatures on the planet (apart from authors), with their contribution to the bigger picture often unappreciated (like women writers!) *wink*

Okay, so, how and when a reader buys a book is none of my beeswax, but can I just say…

Whether it’s my book or another favourite author (and there are an awful lot out for Mothers Day in May including many of my friends: Natasha Lester, Nicki Edwards, Fleur McDonald, Kerrie Paterson, Tricia Stringer,  Mandy Magro, Lily Malone, Kayte Nunn) I urge you, on their behalf, to not delay that all-important purchase if you don’t have to, and to think about sharing a post/tweet or two, as many of my readers already do. (And there, my lovelies, is a rhyme… Just. For. You.)

So, there you have it . . .

The truth about the book buzz and all those annoying social media posts.

On behalf of busy authors everywhere,

Happy Mothers Day and happy reading,

Jenn J

*not actual figures. 🙂

[Tweet “Dear readers: The truth about all that book release buzz. #buzzbuzz https://www.jennjmcleod.com/dear-reader-the-truth-about-all-that-book-release-buzz”]

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Book Launch Love – Coffs Harbour

Web_a proud dadHere’s me with my proud dad. (I’m his baby girl.)

Now my baby has been set free into the unknown. Okay, so that’s slightly melodramatic; it’s not a real baby and I’m not exactly setting it free. And thanks to a few terrific reviews this last week, the unknown is now also a lot less ‘unknown’. (see below)

I admit to being terrified that readers wouldn’t like it, that book reviewers would stab me in the heart (sorry, there I go with the dramatics again), and that Simon & Schuster would be left shaking their heads and saying: “Geez, that was a mistake!” So there was a kind of audible, if somewhat shaky sigh that escaped my mouth with that first review (and I’m pleased to say the good reviews keep coming!).

Of course, the best thing about publication week is the book launch; planning for such an event started years … err … I mean months ago. I decided to hold the event in the best little, big bookshop. The Book Warehouse at Toormina was going to be perfect for the small no-one-will-come-anyway event.

Hmm, fifty-plus RSVPs later, poor Julie spent sleepless nights wondering how she was going to rearrange the shop to accommodate the growing guest list. (Not to mention the added angst with The Mayor of Coffs Harbour – Denise Knight – officiating on the night.)

Totally out of the blue, a visitor (and a much-needed distraction) lobbed on my doorstop the day before the launch. Carolyn and I started hairdressing together at sixteen; she’d driven up from Sydney as a surprise guest. We hadn’t seen each other for 25 years. (Here she is as my bridesmaid thirty-odd years ago and you can tell one of us is still in the beauty industry, while the other is a struggling artist without a hairdressing budget!)

I admit that my publication dream has always included the glamorous book launch – a fabulously flamboyant affair – author swanning around, signing books and hobnobbing with literati, with much muttering about literary awards and movie deals. And that’s EXACTLY what I got (okay, minus the literary awards and movie deal). But the night was everything I could have hoped for – and more – with a humbling number of people coming from far and wide to help me celebrate. Most importantly though, as I read the first chapter – seven whole minutes (I timed it) – not one guest fell asleep, or if they did we were so crammed into that little store that they couldn’t have fallen anywhere anyway!

If I could do it all again, I wouldn’t change a thing (and in fact I probably will do it all over again this same time next year when The Simmering Season comes out. (I hope the sun has come out in Coffs Harbour by then too!)

Thank you to everyone who attended. Those who sent messages. Those who braved the elements. Those too far away to even try. Those watching over me. You were with me.

I think the Chinese proverb from the card I received from The Book Warehouse team says it all:

“I dreamed a thousand paths. I woke and walked my own.”

Enjoy these images of the launch – House for all Seasons March 4, 2013.

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What people are saying:

Daystarz Book Review – (full version)

Told from the alternating perspective of each of the four women, once childhood friends, House for all Seasons is a delightful read. I found myself engrossed in this story from the first few pages. It is a book that holds your attention throughout with enough interesting detail about the characters to have you wanting more. This book is believable and it draws you in as each of the women faces their past and their relationships with each other during their youth.

It takes the reader on a journey back to the days of the girls youth in Calingarry Crossing and to a tragic event that initially tore them apart yet now reunites them. It’s fascinating to read how each of the girls perceived this event, their part in it and what impact it still has on their lives.

We follow along as each of the four main characters confront their past and present in a way that enables them to shape their future, leaving old demons behind.

I thoroughly enjoyed the depth of character development and by the end of each of the women’s stories felt that I knew them personally. Each of the women’s personalities and lives were so different; their back stories so interesting that at times I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. I really liked Poppy and Amber probably just because they were the most contrary and seemed to have the most growing to do.

There is a significant twist to the story that I just didn’t see coming and which really makes for a great ending to this book.

Jenn J McLeod has written a brilliant book in House for All Seasons which has me eagerly awaiting her next literary venture. This book is a must read and is the first on my top ten books list of 2013. I cannot say enough good things about this book, I highly recommend it as a must-add to your personal library.

Gotta be happy with that!

More reviews:
Book’d Out
1girl2manybooks
Goodreads – Helene Young