What a Difference a Week Makes and Scrambling Towards the Future
- At August 24, 2013
- By Jeannine Gailey
- In Blog
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First of all, thanks to Susan Rich for featuring my profile for “Poet at Your Table” at her blog. Here’s the link: http://thealchemistskitchen.blogspot.com/2013/08/meet-poet-at-your-table-jeanine-hall.html
Also, check out this cool video for Unexplained Fevers’ publisher, New Binary Press, on YouTube for the Guinness Foundation Grant Contest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0cUrrxsoB4o#t=10
My book has a cameo or two in the video, and it’s great to see James O’Sullivan talking about his press in person! (He’s in Ireland, so I haven’t had a chance to meet him IRL yet!)
So, it’s been a crazy week. After vowing to devote myself to fiction for while, a couple of things happened that have veered my attention back to poetry again. Isn’t that always the way? Had to have an emergency dental filling (not recommended for fun,) but still on the watch for a new permanent dentist since my beloved former dentist retired. Had a second opinion about the worrying health problems that have been bothering me lately, which gave me a pro-active plan going forward and a bit more peace of mind. But it’s all been a little stressful. I’ve been wishing I could just worry about one thing at a time, but that’s never how things roll. In business news, I’m happy (as a former-Microsoftie) that Steve Ballmer has finally retired – I’m hoping they get in someone great, maybe even a female techie! That would be a nice change. I’m thinking about projects I want to start this fall, about AWP coming up in Seattle, about how to generate some income, too, maybe getting back into more freelance writing (practical me has been warring with idealistic me lately, in my head.)
Speaking of worrying about one thing at a time…I’ve also been thinking about book launches, how to make them successful, what we as authors can do to help books sell. I really liked Robert Brewer’s discussion of his experiments with pre-sales here: http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/pre-selling-the-poetry-collection. It’s interesting, for each of us, and for each book, I think there will be a different success story. The stuff we worry about at the beginning – the quality of the book itself, of course, being the primary concern, then finding the right publisher – gives way to worrying about author photos, blurbs, and appropriate cover art, which then gives way to the process of actually trying to sell the book. You never really quit working or worrying for at least two years. Like a baby! (I mean, I’ve never had a baby, but I assume the first two years are pretty on-all-the-time.) I feel like I haven’t really even finished launching Unexplained Fevers, but I’m already thinking about my next book (and, to be honest, I’m working on the book after that, too!) I haven’t quite finished my tenure as Poet Laureate of Redmond, but I’m planning on what I’ll do after that is over as well. Sometimes we just have to focus on one step at a time. Get the testing first, then get the next test. Fill the worst cavity first, then worry about the next one. Focus on one book, then hold your breath until the next one gets taken.
Jeannine Hall Gailey served as the second Poet Laureate of Redmond, Washington and the author of Becoming the Villainess, She Returns to the Floating World, Unexplained Fevers, The Robot Scientist’s Daughter, and winner of the Moon City Press Book Prize and SFPA’s Elgin Award, Field Guide to the End of the World. Her latest, Flare, Corona from BOA Editions, was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. She’s also the author of PR for Poets, a Guidebook to Publicity and Marketing. Her work has been featured on NPR’s The Writer’s Almanac, Verse Daily and The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. Her poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Poetry, and JAMA.
