A New Web Site is Coming…To Match the New Book!

So my new book, Unexplained Fevers, is finally making its debut! (You can click on that link to order a signed copy from my via Paypal, or you can order it via Amazon, or from New Binary Press directly. By the way, I am waiting anxiously for the first reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, so let me know if you put one up! Hint hint! 🙂

And with it, I’ll be updating my web site in the next few days, with graphics of art by Michaela Eaves created for the book, and the blog will become WordPress instead of blogger, a new hosting service, and the whole site will look more 2013 instead of, well, 2008, hopefully! (A little screen shot below.) My little brother Mike, a professional developer who is out in Thailand right now, and my husband Glenn have been hard at work, across the miles, putting the site together.  So, if you see some changes, don’t be alarmed! If you have any trouble with the site, shoot me an e-mail at jeannine dot gailey at live dot com.

Unexplained Fevers New Book Launch! When Nerves Attack!

Guess what came knocking on my door this morning from Ireland? A first box of my new book, Unexplained Fevers!

The curious onlooker is my cat, Bastett. She’s not much of a literary critic; she mostly wants the box!

In case you are interested in ordering a signed copy, you can order it online from me here:
https://webbish6.com/unexplained-fevers.htm
The form should automatically calculate shipping, and takes Paypal. You can also e-mail me about orders at jeannine dot gailey at live dot com.
If you are overseas, or just want to support a good independent press, you can order it from New Binary Press in Ireland, here:
http://www.newbinarypress.com/books/unexplained_fevers.html

In the meantime, I’ve got National Poetry Month events to worry about, like reading for the Redmond City Council and doing a workshop for teens at the local library, talking about building poetry community over on my former island home (Bainbridge Island.) Preparing for my debut reading in Seattle for Unexplained Fevers (with Kelly Davio reading from her first new book, Burn This House) at Open Books!

Even so, little things spring up, things like my first ever review in Dutch (of my first book, Becoming the Villainess, here or, if you don’t speak Dutch, try a translated version here) that remind me that you never know who is paying attention, or when they will pay it, or in what language. We have to be grateful when they pay attention to poetry at all.

How Poetry is Like the Hunger Games

(And since you asked, yes, this post was inspired by a dream in which I was in a Survivor/Hunger Games-esque game show, in which I turned earnestly to my love interest and said “I will do what it takes to survive.”)

A few posts ago I talked about lessons we can learn as writers from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Today I’m going to talk a little bit about how the poetry world is like the Hunger Games.

1. The most important thing you can do is survive. (And by that I mean, keep writing.) In The Hunger Games, Katniss wasn’t the strongest, the smartest, or the best fighter. She won the game by being likable enough, by being strong enough, by being persistent and wily enough, by being a genuine friend to some of the people in the game…and some luck as well. The same is true in poetry. You do not have to be the best. Most people in the “game” of poetry –  including the thousands of  MFA students paying thousands of dollars to study it – will stop writing within five years. That is the reality. If you keep writing, and you keep reading, and you keep getting better and sending your poems out and your book out, and you are a good friend to people, and you have enough resources to keep yourself going long enough, you will probably make it to “real poet” status (whatever that means.) No, this does not mean tomorrow you will wake up with your picture on the cover of Poets & Writers, but if your dream is to publish a book of poetry with a good small press, that is a very achievable goal if you send out long and hard enough, get a few breaks, and just…well…don’t give up.

2. Don’t Get Distracted from the Goal, and Pay Attention to Those Parachutes. It would have been easy for Katniss to just slow down long enough to get killed, or to play the game poorly enough that she might have become an easy target, or ignore the help she was getting in those little parachutes because she wasn’t paying attention, or to become so interested in Peeta that she lost focus. When she was injured and in pain, she didn’t stop trying to win. Bad things will probably happen to you along the “life of poetry” – you will be rejected, you will get sick or have family or money or job things interfere with your writing, you will feel discouraged or cynical – so pay attention to those little parachutes from the sky when they appear. Those rewards will be enough to keep you going – a publication in a journal you’ve loved forever, a good review of your book, someone writing you a note about how your work changed their life. (Those of you who’ve read the books, please don’t talk about the parachutes from Mockingjay…obviously that would be a different kid of metaphor.)

3. The Capital May Be Corrupt, and Set Against You; Be So Good They Have to Pay Attention. Remember the scene where Katniss gets the game designer’s attention when they are ignoring her by nailing the apple in the pig’s mouth with an arrow? Remember how President Snow wanted to kill Katniss but couldn’t, because the head game designer and the audience were all cheering for her? If you’re a female writer and have paid attention to things like the VIDA numbers, you know the deck is stacked against you. If you remember Foetry, you know that a lot of book contests – not all of them, but probably a good amount – are fixed. If you read a recent experiment where a story published by the New Yorker was sent to the New Yorker from the slush pile and rejected and feel like – well, no one can get published in the big names from the slush pile – well, you may have a point. Most poets will be ignored, their work forgotten, their books unread and unnoticed. But you know what? Be so good at what you do they can’t ignore you. Write the most excellent poems, reviews, fiction that you possibly can. Get your name out there when you get the chance. Don’t shrink from the limelight. Wear the flaming dress.

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?