New Business

Now that the book is Off to see the Printer, the Wonderful Printer of (whatever rhymes with Oz but has something to do with historical nonfiction...anyone? This would have been perfect for Peter Benchley!) it is time to turn attention toward New Business: the Business of Selling.

Truth be told, the writing part has a wee bit of selling in it as well. In my very limited experience, I've learned that first and foremost is a good story. It has to be something a publisher is willing to risk investing money in, with the hope of at least a break-even return. Janie Mitchell, Reliable Cook is definitely a good story. It is a good story because of its historical context; Janie was born in Charleston around 1854 to a free black working-class family. She references events back to 1862. When the war came along, her family ran to the protection of slavery.

Calling slavery a form of protection may seem, at best, a poor choice of words for an institution that is a vile manifestation of our baser selves. At worst, the use of the term is insulting, arrogant and racist. In Charleston at this time, however, Janie's family had very few options. Charleston was bent on ensnaring as many free African Americans as possible and running the rest out of the state. The book details the family's circumstances and expounds on the pervading climate in order to provide a proper political, social and economical backdrop for the reader to digest events in Janie's life. But suffice to say here that the white family who took Janie's family in was acquainted with them and sympathetic to their predicament. That they offered the protection of  slavery is evident in the larger context because they protected Janie’s family from the slavery that the law allowed. As a dear friend of mine pointed out, Janie’s family chose protection. And they did that by choosing “slavery,” to avoid slavery.

After the war she was free but remained with the family who had sheltered her, working as a cook, until circumstances required her to seek employment elsewhere. She had no difficulty doing so as she was a reputable and coveted employee.

Janie worked for some of Charleston's most prestigious families. In her journal, which she wrote in a burst of inspiration New Year's Day 1931, she chronicles people, places and events in Charleston through the Civil War and its aftermath. Her journal is a treasure that offers historians and history lovers a peek into a time that we desperately want to understand, to come to terms with, to learn from and grow beyond. It was a time that many say shaped our country into the strong union it is today. To read the first-hand account from a working-class black woman who lived through those times is something quite special indeed.

But a good story isn't a guaranteed path to publishing.

Some publishers have their plates full, no matter how good a gamble a book appears to be. Others have stringent foci, concentrating on just one theme or another. Sometimes national publishers just don't see the benefit in a "regional" book. That is why we found a home for Janie here in Charleston, at Evening Post Books.

A good query letter is essential for selling an idea. And even if a publisher is interested, many want several chapters for review before determining the book's profitability. A good story must be told well--sounds obvious but it really is true. Selling is the backbone of the business, from concept to forceps, when that body of work is literally pulled out of you and held up for the reading world's inspection: when the stock goes on the shelves.

For the writer, that is when the selling REALLY begins. Which brings me to the place I'm at, right now. Writing is done. Time to put my marketing cap on and think like the corporate employee I have unwittingly become. Again.

That is why today was brainstorm day. We had three categories for brainstorming: Book Signings, Publicity and Endorsements. I think brainstorming is a wonderful tool, focusing on acceptance of all ideas--the more the better--without judgment. One idea leads to another, and another, until at the end of the process hopefully there is this creative breakthrough.

Interestingly, that is not the original meaning of the word.

A "brainstorm" originally was a severe mental disturbance, but I prefer the more descriptive "series of sudden, violent, cerebral disturbances." So put that on the list with leprosy and gonorrhea. Do not want that.
It wasn't until Alex Faickney Osborn published Applied Imagination that the term morphed into what it means today: a sudden inspiration, idea or plan usually arrived at by a group think activity in which all ideas are expressed in a "say whatever comes to mind" free-for-all and none are criticized.
In our brainstorming session we came up with a nice list of spots to sign books. I'm told by people who have written books before (I just used 6 words to say, "authors." Editors do earn their money) that this is the "fun part." This is the part where you get to interact with book-buying people, people who want to meet the person who wrote the book, and get their autograph. This is the "fun" part. Maybe. But for me, this is definitely not the "easy" part.

Because "a writer writes," as that movie most aptly noted. A writer does not necessarily SPEAK. Both are valid forms of communication. Both use words, have points to articulate, something to offer. But my words come out of my fingers, not across my lips. And those fingers, along with the palms they're connected to, are going to be dripping with flop sweat. And if you expect me to say something witty, come across like a pundit, then you might want to hand me a piece of paper, show me to a corner and then GO AWAY for a while so I can quite literally "compose" myself. Even if I have written a prepared speech, it might be better for all concerned (especially me) if we just hire a ghost speaker to deliver it. (They have ghost writers--why not ghost speakers?) Someone who won't throw up in the middle of a sentence. I've heard you can lose an audience that way.

I am hopeful that the "fun" part will be just that, for me. I am hoping that I will hit a stride at some point, meet a lot of nice people who love the book, who love Janie as much as I do, who enjoy reading her story and are genuinely interested in what she wrote and my exposition of what she wrote. I pray that I am a worthy ambassador of this wonderful woman whose diary has so much to offer us, in this time. I hope in our brainstorm session we produced a powerful list of potential places to meet and greet anyone who wants to meet and greet me.

But mostly I hope that I don't have a brainstorm as a result of the brainstorm. I would hate to be the one to bring the etymology of the word full circle.

In the poet's words

Robert Frost's poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, has always been my favorite. My first newspaper column was titled "Miles To Go;" I thought it a propos to name my blog in the tradition as well. Because not much has changed since that first column 3 decades ago. I always seem to be quite a long way from my goal.

That is the nature of life though. We meet a goal and we set a new one. We are never quite done, are we? Not until we sleep.

The goal in front of me now is becoming a published author. No. Strike that. That goal has been met. Now the goal is marketing the book. Janie Mitchell, Reliable Cook, will be available next month from Evening Post Books. And right now, the introvert in me looks longingly at those lovely, dark and deep woods, more frightened of the possibility of success than of failure. I can do failure! But I have promises to keep, (and they're written in a contract) and miles to go.

Come with me?