Book Sales

by Mary Aalgaard

Like most authors, I struggle with self-promotion. While I am proud of my writing, classes, and work, and want people to support them, I am also a Midwesterner, and we are a little shy about tooting our own horns. However, when asked, I cheerfully start tooting away, and find that people are interested. Also, changing up your day to day activities can have positive results.

I am a member at our local YMCA health club. I enjoy the group fitness class at noon on Mondays and Wednesdays. I also teach piano lessons, and on Wednesdays, my students started arriving by 2:30, which made that noon class a little tight for me to go home, each lunch, clean up and be ready to teach. So, I started going to the earlier group fitness class. Sue, who I had met at the noon class, but switched to the earlier time, saw me there and asked about my writing. I told her about my short story "One More Minute" that is included in the Tick Tock Anthology.

"How can I get that book?" she asked.

"I can sell you a copy," I said, as I loaded up my weights.

"Great. I'll be volunteering at the library on Friday morning."

"Thanks," I said, feeling a little stronger, "I'll bring a book over."

Not only did Sue buy a book, but also another person who walked in while we were doing the transaction did as well. I was thrilled because it was Meg, the editor of the local women's magazine, who was the first person to publish my work and call me an author.

I set a couple books out in my piano studio, thinking that maybe one of the parents would ask about it when they were dropping off or picking up their kids. Turns out, the kids were interested in the book. The sweetest moment was when a boy, then later the girl (pictured below), came with their money clutched in their hands, asking me to sign their book.

Of course, all the authors are sharing the book with friends and family, asking local bookstores and libraries to buy a copy, sending out tweets, and promoting on all their social media. It feels great to have created something that other people are interested in, and that might inspire a young writer, too.

If you'd like a copy of Tick Tock: A Stitch in Crime, you can find it at these various locations.

 Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes

Want to join the community of people talking about Tick Tock: A Stitch in Crime? Add the book on Goodreads or like our Facebook page. 

Mary Aalgaard is a playwright and piano/theater teacher, living in the heart of Minnesota. She writes theater reviews and supports the arts through her blog Play off the Page. She teaches youth theater workshops in the Brainerd lakes area, writes articles for regional magazines, and works with both seniors and youth in multi-generational programs to enhance quality of life and build community. Her website is PlayoffthePage.com. You can follow her on her Playoff the Page Facebook page, @MaryAalgaard on Twitter, and email her at Mary@playoffthepage.com.

Go. Create. Inspire!

Mary Aalgaard, Play off the Page!

Why Do We Love This Horror Stuff So Much?

I've read many stories in my lifetime, and these stories vary as widely as the human experience-- everything from comics to biography. But the ones that stick in my head as vividly as the time I read them and shoot a rapid pulse into every part of my body were penned by writers like Poe and King. 

When I want to explore my greatest fears I read The Tell Tale Heart or The Cast of Amontillado or The Shining. Brrrr.

King says that people read horror to explore death through fiction. And to some extent I think he's right. Reading about death has a therapeutic release. It allows us to be anxious and fearful, but at a safe distance. 

He also maintains that horror appeals to us because it gives us a chance to experience emotions our society demands we keep under close control. (King, 47, Danse Macabre). It's wrong to kill and to torture, but inside a horror story, we're free to watch and feel those terror-inducing acts through characters.

But here's something even more primal, and it's what I think is at the root of our love for horror. I found the following quote HERE if you want to read more.

"If you go to your video store and rent a comedy from Korea, it’s not going to make any sense to you at all,’ says literature scholar Mathias Clasen based at Aarhus University, ‘whereas if you rent a local horror movie from Korea you’ll instantaneously know not just that it’s a horror movie, but you’ll have a physiological reaction to it, indicative of the genre."

Horror crosses cultural barriers, and it's timeless. Our pre-historic ancestors whose greatest fear was being eaten by another carnivore. (Center for Evolutionary Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara) are at the root of our craving for horror. It's human nature to be fearful. Surviving depends on it, so stimulating the amygdala (fear's command center) shoots our adrenaline to full flight mode, and we live to hunt another day. What better way to stimulate this part of the brain than to read or see a good horror story, but today from the safety of our home?

If you think about it, most horror tales focus on characters who are about to be eaten by some creature. Think Tremors or The Rats or Jaws. With stories that have human-type predators, they come equipped with over-sized claws like Freddie Krueger or dreadful teeth and a love of Chianti to pair with human liver like Hannibal Lecter.

Just writing that shook up my amygdala, and I'll leave the lights on a bit longer tonight.

BUY NOW

I hope you'll pick up a copy of Tick Tock A Stitch in Crime and stir up your own amygdala. Eleven writers have offered up horror, crime and some thrillers for your reading entertainment.

#IWSG:Titles and Names

 by Rebecca M. Douglass

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Every month there's an optional question members can answer in their IWSG post. This month's question is:

 What's harder for you to come up with, book titles or character names?

The awesome co-hosts for the June 6 posting of the IWSG are Beverly Stowe McClure, Tyrean Martinson, Tonja Drecker, and Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor!

I love this question! Mostly, I love it because it tells me I'm not the only one who struggles with these things. In my first book, most of the names came easily--Big Al, Tom the Ninja Librarian (well, his name was a given since he was written for a real librarian), the children in the school. The title of that first book was easy, too.

I thought that was how it would always be.

Boy, was I wrong (I'm good at being wrong).

To answer the question, titles are harder, because I can cheat with character names--when I'm stuck, especially for minor characters, I use a random name generator, hitting the "generate name" button over and over until I piece together something I like. My own inventions aren't always so good. An early reader pointed out that in the first draft of Death By Ice Cream I had an unusual number of characters with alliterative names. That got fixed. And I have trouble with names that suggest different ethnicities (without being cliches). Too bad I didn't realize until too late that "Brian" is a really bad name for an author who types faster than she should. Spell-checker won't tell me when I've changed the poor boy to "Brain"! That was left to a reader (thanks, Deirdre!). Still, there are ways to get help naming those characters who resist an easy naming.

But book titles... I have never been happy with the title on my middle-grade fantasy, Halitor the Hero (just sort of a statement of who the book is about. Surely I could do better). And I ended up holding a poll on my blog to pick the title Death By Ice Cream. I also check each title against the listings on Amazon, because I don't want to be one of a dozen books with the same title.*  

I waffled about the title for my Tick Tock story, too. Should I use the whole adage, and call it "The Tide Waits for No Man"? Or was there a better option entirely? As with the "Death By..." series, I ended up appealing to others for help, and chose to go with "The Tide Waits." I realized after that it's a much better title, since it both evokes the adage and also suggests something lying in wait... much like the evil that drives the killers in these mysteries!


*On the other hand, I've made at least one sale of The Ninja Librarian to someone looking for the more widely-publicized Ninja Librarians--with an ess. I even got a good review from that person, which is how I know!

So tell us about your characters or titles--what was the best or worst you did?