LA Review Visits Redmond tonight at Soul Food Books

In case you are looking for something fun to do on a Friday evening in Redmond, Soul Food Books is hosting a Poet Laureate Event called “Freaks and Geeks: LA Review Vists Redmond!” Here’s a little bit about it in the local paper:
http://redmond.patch.com/articles/freaks-geeks-poetry-event-los-angeles-review-to-visit-redmond
LA Review Editor Kelly Davio and I will host several local contributors and we’ll have a celebration and refreshments! It’ll start at 8 PM.

How to Get Your Small Press Poetry Book Some…Well…Press

I just read some statistics that showed that most small press poetry books sell less than 1000 copies – less than 500, even. With my own third book coming out in, er, moments, I feel like I want to give the book its best possible shot. I like this book, I think it’s pretty good, and I hope other people get the chance to read it too. So how do we small press authors help make that happen?

You all already know that a book’s work is not done the minute it’s written, the moment it’s sold, or the moment it appears in bookstores or Amazon. You already know you can’t just say: I wrote this book, and it’s the publisher’s job to sell it.

I also read that most books that “make it” have at least 10-25K of publicity money behind them in a publishing industry mag, that social media still can’t do the work that old-fashioned paper and radio publicity does. That may be true, but as you know, most poetry books – or most small press books – aren’t going to get 10-25K in publicity behind them – or even $1000 – so what can we do?

1. Well, you can try using Facebook and twitter as much as possible (I have found twitter in particular a wonderful way to connect with new readers) which only takes time, not money. Try thoughtful posts that offer something of you and your personality to your readers, with a little bit of promotion in between. I hope that’s what I’ve been doing, anyway! Go on guest blogs and interviews if you get a chance.

2. Enlist help. This time around, I employed the services of a new little company called “YouDoPR,” which for a small fee helps writers get out their own press releases, puts our books in NetGalley, etc. (A little more about this here.) Befriend book bloggers and ask for some aid. I mean, I have friends who blog about books because, you know, I tend to like those kinds of people, but I’m usually too ashamed to ask them to do anything for my book. Do you feel the same way? Is that good/modesty, or bad/getting-in-your-own-way? Do you ask your friends and family to help get the word out about your book? Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don’t. This time, I’m going to make sure I ask.

3. Readings. I’ve talked about this before, here and here. If you can get a reading on the radio, do it. Readings make poems come alive for people. They help you connect to an audience – it’s a small audience that might care about poetry, true, but it’s out there.

4. Book cards: send them out if you’ve got a mailing list put together of people who have actually asked to find out about your work. And you have a mailing list, right?

5. Reviews. Well, as a reviewer, I’m not sure it drives sales, but it’s important to send out review copies, as many as possible, to the big reviewers and the small reviewers, to people you’re sure will like your book and people almost as sure won’t. Word of mouth does drive sales, and if one extra person looks at your book because of a review, it’ll be worth it.

What else would you all suggest? Keeping your web site and blog updated (yes, I’m getting ready to launch a completely overhauled site soon!) What about book trailers? Bookmarks? Skywriting?

A poem up today on Escape Into Life for Women’s History Month and a Reading in Duvall

Yes, it’s a celebration of Women’s History Month over at Escape into Life, and one of my poems, “Hedy Lamarr Told to ‘Stop Silly Inventing'” is up there. True story: Hedy Lamarr, a beautiful actress known best for her sexy demeanor, invented a frequency-hopping device, but when she offered this device to the US government (along with information about Stalin, whom she had seen at dinner parties for her first husband) she was told basically to shut up and use her looks to go raise money for the war effort instead. Many years later, the Navy adopted her device, but only after her patent had run out. She was finally recognized with a major award for her invention in her eighties, right before she died. 

This evening I’ll be reading in the nearby town of Duvall, at the Duvall Visitor & Centennial Center. There is an open mike along with the reading, which I believe starts at 6:30, and the featured reading will start at 7 PM. Hope to see some of you there! I don’t have my new book in hand yet, but I’ll bring along my lone uncorrected proof (and of course, copies of my first two books.) I might even read some new work!

AWP Survival Guide tips and How to Survive Not Going to AWP 2013

For those of you attending AWP 2013 Boston, there are some great tips for AWP-goers this year at Sandra Beasley here:
http://sbeasley.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-ides-and-awps-of-march.html
and a roundup of survival guides for AWP here at Review Review:
http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=8932d28d7dfbfd59c40907dc7&id=81a3a4a22f

But, for those of you (like me) NOT attending AWP Boston 2013, some survival tips:

1. Try not to spend too much time jealously reading the twitter feeds and Facebook posts about all your friends having a great time at AWP kissing famous poets and drinking with literary idols while ruling their offsite reading. Just remember, they’re not including posts about the bad side of AWP:  bookfair with its inevitable crowding, body checks, odd odors and inevitable dry mouth from making too many awkward conversations with too many strangers, that coughing guy sitting next to them at the bar, how exhausted they are, or how their back hurts from lugging a really heavy AWP tote…not to mention – Boston in March? Brrr….just think of how many layers they’ll be wearing!

2. Do something this week to connect with your local literary community. Go to a reading, or invite some literary friends over for coffee. Visit your local library’s poetry bookshelves – and ask them to order a new poetry book – and visit your local independent bookstore to check out new releases and maybe some lit mags you’ve never read before. (In Seattle, I recommend Open Books, a poetry-only bookstore in Wallingford.)

3. Read something brilliant. Write something brilliant. Send something out. See? You are advancing your career right in the comfort of your own home.

4. Think ahead. Remember, next year’s AWP in Seattle in 2014 will be THE BEST EVER. So, you can look forward to coming, because you are coming to Seattle, right? I will be here to help guide you to the best coffeeshops, bookstores, wine bars, and art galleries as well as cupcakes, and Seattle publishers and poets are some of the most friendly and warm you will ever meet.

Things Authors Can Do to Ensure a Great Reading

I promised this post as a follow-up to my previous post on book tours and how to make them successful. So, what can an author do to ensure a great reading?

–First of all, you need to become a great reader, and that is not an automatic skill set most writers are born with. Practice. Try your reading skills out on a friendly audience of family or friends if possible, and have them point out, kindly, how you can improve. Slow down. Breathe. Don’t talk in a weird “poetry voice.” Avoid substance abuse beforehand (seriously, people! I have suffered through too many readings where the readers were dead drunk or stoned or both. It does not improve your performance, though it may enhance the way you feel about the performance at the time…) Have your poems picked out so you’re not shuffling papers into the mic. Time your reading so that you actually read for the allotted time, or preferably an even shorter amount of time. Etc.

–Make friends with professors of giant creative writing classes of 200 students and up, and have them assign going to your reading as extra credit. Ha ha ha. (But seriously, if you can make that happen, you really should.) Think about people in the community you’re visiting whom you would like to hang out with, before or after the reading – that way, you’ll have something to look forward to and will be less nervous. Plus, making friends along the way is really one of the best reasons to go on a book tour. If there’s a restaurant or wine bar or coffee shop you’d particularly like to visit in the city you’ll be reading in, try to meet there – again, try to make the whole experience as pleasant as possible, because, you know, if you end up with a two-person audience, having something to look forward to afterwards will make you feel a lot better.

–Publicize your reading, and help your host (be it a professor, bookstore, or library) do the same. Provide a picture, a bio, a blurb. Social media is fine, but Facebook and twitter will only get you so far. Put up some flyers if you can, contact people in local poetry societies or book clubs. E-mail people you know to invite them personally. If you’re reading with someone else, help them publicize themselves as well – that never hurts! And newspaper/radio coverage – in Seattle, this would include alternative newspapers, which are widely respected here – is great if you can get it.

–If you’re traveling to a distant city, be sure to ask to read with a local. Once again, this person will probably become a friend, and reading with someone local means at least their parents/significant other will be there. I actually prefer reading with someone I like and admire rather than reading by myself – it just makes the night more festive, more social, less focus on me…(I call myself a half-introvert, so that may not be true for everyone, but when I read with someone whose work I specifically like I always feel like the evening was a success.)

–Mix it up. Invite a visual artist friend to display some work with your reading, or a musician friend to play with you. Interact with the audience a little. Give them chocolate, or, if possible, alcohol. (I don’t drink myself, because of some kind of weird genetic trick that keeps me from breaking it down properly, but I have observed it does great things to audiences. Think about the audience in advance, about what might make the night more fun for them.

–Try readings at places like the obvious: your local readings series and libraries and bookstores, AWP offsites, universities, yes. But also consider the unconventional: ComicCon (if you happen to write about comics) or a boat show (if you happen to be writing about boats.) If you’re just starting out, a reading with an open mike will guarantee you won’t be the most nervous person in the room. Slams are really fun if you’re comfortable with competitive performance – but remember to actually perform – slams kind of demand a bit more energy and theatricality than your local book club might. Don’t be afraid to ask a venue about a reading, or to start up a reading series yourself in your neighborhood and see how it’s done. Take chances. Be brave. Yes, get your work out there, but more important, make friends, love your art, try to take in your surroundings whether you sell a dozen books or not. I recommend not trying to squeeze every reading possible into your calender, but saying yes to the ones that feel like a good fit for you and your work (Caveat: one of my favorite reading experiences when I was just starting out was reading at a Cowboy Poet gathering, which would not have seemed like a good fit for me, seeing as how the audience was mostly older men over fifty, mostly in hats. But it was super fun! So sometimes, take a chance.)

What are your best tips for ensuring a great reading? There’s no perfect reading, but doing what you can will at least make you feel like you gave it your best shot.

Guest Post at Ooligan Press: Poetry in a Tech Community

This morning I have a guest post up at Ooligan Press on what it’s been like trying to build a poetry community in the tech community of Redmond, Washington as Poet Laureate. Check it out:

http://ooligan.pdx.edu/jeannine-hall-gailey-guest-poet-post-building-community-in-a-tech-center-geeks-for-poetry-poetry-for-geeks/

Book Tours, The Best and Worst Readings, and Advice

I promised a post on book tours and how to book readings before your new book comes out. This is my third book, and I took very different approaches on my first two books – more for practical reasons (health and money both being limited at the time my second book came out) than logic or enthusiasm dictated – and I can share what I’ve learned and what I’m planning to do this time around.

This article on “The Worst Author Readings” makes some interesting points about audience commitment and how the author can ensure success. I’ve had enough experience with two-to-five person audiences to know that it’s about the most demoralizing experience a writer can have, but avoiding those kinds of readings is sometimes beyond our control, especially if you’re going to be in unfamiliar territory (i.e. a place with no family or friends) or an untested venue (like a museum.)

The article got me thinking about my “Best Author Reading” experiences. I was thinking about readings in little towns with wonderful audiences, like those reading in Bowling Green, Kentucky for WKU, or Fredonia, New York for SUNY Fredonia. These readings took some effort to get to – they were both in out-of-the-way locations – but great, enthusiastic hosts and smart, engaged students (and parties afterwards!) made the readings really worthwhile. One of my most fun unexpected readings was a night I went to go see Li-Young Lee read at a bookstore in San Diego, but he didn’t show and I ended up being asked to give a reading spontaneously with a young poet who had just had his first book out –  the terrific Jericho Brown. Some of the people in the audience ended up becoming friends of mine I still keep in touch with. Sometimes the company you keep – reading with friends, or beloved poets I looked up to, or going out to dinner with great people afterwards – makes all the difference. I’ve had great book sales experiences at “cons” – like Geek Girl Con and WonderCon – which might not seem like a normal place for poetry, and another great sales experience at an artist’s exhibition…The point is, the kinds of readings that are going to be best for you are going to be unique – some people are going to have a wonderful time at academic readings, others at coffee shops and bars, or comic book shops or art galleries. Where are the people that love your kind of poetry?

I would recommend taking readings where you’ll be able to read with poets you either love or are good friends with, too. Worst cast scenario, at least you’re hanging with people you like.

Questions to ask yourself when deciding whether or not to take the reading:
–Can you afford it? If not, can they pay you enough so you can afford it?
–Is it an area with a known friend, family member, or otherwise supportive party around? Promoting yourself in unknown territory is an iffy prospect.
–Is it an area you’ve been to before, recently? There is such a thing as oversaturation (though a fifteen-minute drive can often make a difference in audience, I’ve noticed.)
–Talk to the contact person at the bookstore/library – those contacts are valuable because the people who work at bookstores and libraries are, God bless them, often the only link between you and as-yet-unknown readers. If they don’t seem interested, that’s not a good sign.

Next time: Part II – Things Authors Can Do To Ensure a Great Reading

Jack Straw Writers, a Redmond Reads Poetry reading, and more!

If you are looking for something to do tomorrow night, February 20th, why not join us at the Redmond Library for a reading? The “Redmond Reads Poetry” kicks off its winter event with a reading by…me! I’ll be reading from Becoming the Villainess with a sneak peek of a few poems from my upcoming book, Unexplained Fevers. Refreshments will be provided, and a Q&A session after the reading means you can ask all the questions you like! Books will be available from the library for checkout and for sale!

In other news, the 2013 Jack Straw Writers have been announced! The full list is available here:
http://www.jackstraw.org/programs/writers/WritersForum/index.html
I’m honored to be part of such a great program and a great group!

I’m thinking of putting together a blog post on Book tours: how do you know when to go? Basically, a summing up of what I’ve learned with my last two book tours, plus any advice you’d like to leave in the comments below, like, how you survived your book tour, how many readings you plan to do for your first book, or fifth, etc, and let me know if I can post your advice and name in my next post! This is on my mind because, while I’m doing a ton of local readings for my upcoming book, I haven’t planned much in terms of out-of-town readings yet…Some people report great experiences on the road, and I know I’ve had a few, especially getting to visit with friends, and I almost always have a great time at universities. Other readings have been a mixed bag, and I’m wondering how someone makes up their mind when they’re invited, and what criteria we should use…

Life Lessons for Writers from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

1. There is sometimes that sweet spot where you can get to save the day, dance with your dream date, and get a tiny umbrella in recognition of the good stuff you’ve done, but that doesn’t happen very often. Most often, you wake up, deal with people and problems that annoy you, and just go about saving the world with little fanfare. It might not always work out with your guy – in fact, most of the time, it won’t – and people will give you a hard time whether or not you’re trying to help them – but the job of Slayer (or writer) doesn’t change. We are out to save the world, every day. You do the job whether it feels good or not or someone pats you on the head or not.

2. Don’t Be Afraid or, Don’t You Think Sylvia Plath Faced Any Demons?
   Devil Dogs, Boyfriends Who Turn Evil After You Sleep With Them, Assassins and Monsters in all shapes and sizes: Buffy saw them all as a recurring annoyance rather than something to be afraid of. With each demon, she sized it up, sometimes turned to friends for help, but always, always, ended up methodically tracking it down and destroying it. There’s no avoiding some of the demons of writers: rejection, depression, you know, looking into the void (or Hellmouth) so they key is to approach each with the correct weapon and not let it keep you from going to classes, a date, or the rest of your life. It’s true that writers tend to experience more depression, dependence on foreign substances, divorce, and yes, a higher rate of suicide, probably because the mechanisms that make someone a writer also mean they’re a little damaged somewhere. (If you believe the stats  referenced here, much of the info coming from an eighties-era study of U of Iowa creative writers: http://www.the-bright-side.org/site/thebrightside/content.php?type=1&id=1083 and studies like this one: http://www.businessinsider.com/jobs-commit-suicide-2010-10?op=1 )  These are your demons. Do not let them win. Find the right weapons against them. Get a trusted group of friends to help you. Which leads us to…

3. Sometimes You Can’t Trust the Watcher’s Council
   Old white men sometimes do, and sometimes do not, have a young girl’s best interests at heart, as was demonstrated several times on Buffy. Better to be a little wary. Even Giles betrayed Buffy once or twice. People in authority are often interested in protecting their own authority rather than helping you empower yourself. I’ve always kept authority figures at a certain distance for this reason. So if you feel like doing something brave others tell you not to do – get a graduate degree at a certain age, send out a certain poem, write the novel you want to write – do it. Trust your inner Slayer (or writer) instincts.

4. There’s Always another Apocalypse
   Yes, even after you’ve saved the world, even after you’ve died and been resurrected through nefarious magic, there is always another apocalypse. In the writing sense, this means: once you’ve published your poem, you’ll always want the next poem in a better magazine. Then you’ll want a book. Then you’ll want a book prize, critical acclaim, book sales, what have you. There is always another “thing” around the corner to fight for. Part of Buffy’s strength lay in her persistence – sometimes winning just means not giving up.

5. Your Inner Resources
   (Yes, I am referencing John Berryman.) One of the most thrilling scenes in the whole series is when Buffy has a showdown with her former-boyfriend-turned-evil-psycho Angelus. It looks like, towards the end of the fight, that she will lose and the world will end. The dialogue is a classic:
   “Angelus: Now that’s everything, huh? No weapons… No friends…No hope. Take all that away… and what’s left?
   Buffy: Me.”
   Sometimes it will feel like you have nothing left, your friends and family don’t understand or support you, your boyfriend’s a jerk, and yes, your world is ending. But you know what? It doesn’t have to. You are your own greatest weapon. You are the hero.  

Happy Valentine’s Day, the Once Upon a Time Edition

Dear Readers, it’s become a Valentine’s Day tradition to post one of my few-and-far-between love poems on the blog for Valentine’s Day! I just received my first paper proof of Unexplained Fevers so I thought I’d include the first poem from the book titled “Once Upon a Time.” This poem first appeared in The American Poetry Review.