Books in Brief– Publishers Weekly, 3/8/2010 12:00:00 AM
Crossing Oceans Gina Holmes. Tyndale House, $13.99 paper (400p) ISBN 978-1-4143-3305-2
Jenny Lucas has returned to her childhood home, a refuge of picket fences and lace-covered tabletops. But with an intensity likely garnered from years of unpublished suspense writing, debut novelist and blogger Holmes slowly unveils the hidden angst in this homecoming. A single mother, Jenny must find caregivers who will raise her five-year-old daughter when she’s gone. She’s forced to mend relations with two possible custodians: the baby’s father, who doesn’t know he has a child, and her own cold-hearted father. As Jenny comes to face her future as well as her past, dramatic emotions yield to an appreciation of life and an enjoyment of the grace of fleeting moments. There can be no happy ending, but Holmes ties a neat bow of acceptance around this haunting tale that packs an emotional wallop. Keep tissues near. (May)
Book Trailers–Making Your Own– And are They Effective?
I’m not sure how the modern phenomena of book trailers came about but here they are.
Do they work?
I haven’t really thought so to be honest, but I was uncertain enough to make one myself for my debut, Crossing Oceans.
First, of course, I watched as many as I could and tried to decide what did and didn’t work about them. Most of which I thought did nothing to make me buy a book. There were one or two that I thought were well done, so I tried to dissect what I thought worked about those few.
Here’s what I came up with:
*They had a good music score (one that I didn’t recognize as one of those freebies you can get off the web that everyone seems to use.)
*They were very short. Like around a minute. I tended to zone out at about the minute mark as I watched longer trailers.
*They raised at least one question that I wanted to know the answer to.
*They promised a good read (often in the form of a tantalizing endorsement).
*They had voice overs, not just words on a screen.
*And lastly, they had animation, not just still pictures, so the trailer ended up looking more like a short movie trailer than what most book trailers were presenting.
So, now I had my basic formula. I set about writing a short script, trying out Windows Movie Maker since it was a free and easy to use program I already had.
Next I asked my super talented husband, Adam to score me a song for it. He came up with something I absolutely love.
Then, I went on I-Stock and downloaded a few still images I thought would work and a few short movie animations. (All in all it added up to under a hundred dollers.)
It took me a few days to put together and my first attempt resulted in the rating of “Cheesy!” from my wonderfully honest and genius critique partners, Ane Mulligan and Jessica Dotta. But, my sixth attempt produced this:
At the time, I didn’t yet have any endorsements, thus my filler quote of “This novel doesn’t suck.” Never did I dream that would stay there forever because my laptop completely died, taking with it that work in progress.
Happily my publisher was working on one of their own:
One for the Sunshine Folder
My agent, Chip encouraged me a long time ago to keep a sunshine folder and fill it with nice, encouraging things that when I’m feeling a little down, or second-guessing myself or my talents, I can go open the folder and be lifted up. The letter I just received will get tucked away in there. I asked if I could share it and she graciously said yes. (I removed her and her organization’s name to protect her privacy.)
Gina,
Hi! My name is (removed) and I’m one of the Book Buyers at (National chain). I buy several categories but fiction is my baby and takes up most of my time, Twice a year I do a fiction catalog that goes out to our best fiction customers. I’m working on the one that will run in May right now. Within the catalog, we do a “Buyer’s Choice” feature where I get to give my thoughts on several new books. I like to blend these features with established authors that our customers know along with brand new novelists to help give them some exposure.
When my sales rep presented Crossing Oceans to me back in December I knew it was one I wanted to review for my feature! Fortunately my rep had an advanced copy on him that he left with me. I finally worked it into my reading schedule last week. I devoured it within two days! What a powerful story. I am not a person who cries when reading a book but this one had me blubbering like a fool. I finished the last couple of chapters while sitting in a Panera Bread. I’m sure the people around me were wondering what was wrong with me as I sat there crying into my iced tea!
Having lost three people very dear to me within a 6 month time frame last year, one of them from cancer, the story just resonated with me. It showed me how we as Christians can have hope even in the midst of our dying. What peace! I know it’s going to minister to a lot of readers. I can not wait to get it in the hands our customers this spring! I’m already recommending it to people and even gave my advanced copy to another buyer I work with. It’s never too early to get the word out!
Thank you for using the gift that God has given you in such an amazing way! May he richly bless you as you continue to write!
Book Buyer
I was recently invited to Carol Streams Illinois to speak with the sales team at Tyndale about my upcoming debut, Crossing Oceans.
The novel doesn’t release until April/May. (It has what they refer to as a rolling release date, which means it will start shipping in April but probably won’t be in stores until May. Though it could be.
Anyway, so I learn very quickly that being invited to speak at a sales conference isn’t something that happens to an author every day, and ever more rarely, a new author.
I asked the folks at Tyndale if I could share some pictures of inside the publishing company. They seemed a little perplexed, after all, it’s not interesting to them. I, on the other hand, felt like I had found one of Willy Wonka’s golden tickets.
Inside the publishing company… nirvana! Books, books everywhere! And where they’re aren’t books, there are pictures of books. How lucky are these people who work there?!
So, What did I do while I was there?
Well, it all started at the airport when a Lincoln picked me up. There was no driver holding a sign “Gina Holmes” or anything. I called a number when I got to the airport and they told me where and when to look for them. Still, I’d never been picked up by a driver before (wait, there was that once, but that was different).
Then, I show up at my hotel with lots of time to spare before dinner. I bought myself some White Castle hamburgers since I’d never had any. Apparently not all the sizzles is gold. Then, I took a nap. Exciting, eh?
Yeah, well… a little later, I have dinner with some nice Tyndale folk who asked me lots of questions about myself, how I came to write Christian fiction. Mostly we just chatted over Thai.
The next day, I was picked up by one of the same editors I’d eaten with, (Stephanie Broene) She brought me to Tyndale. I already told you how excited I was to be there. I may have squealed once or twice, I can’t be sure.
I was whisked into a large room full of maybe seventy people, including the sales team. (These are the guys, (yes guys), who sell to the indiviudal stores. They work long, hard, hours and travel more than any family man should have to. Their territories are huge, including several states in many cases. Like I said, LOTS of travelling.
So, I walked up on stage, leaned against the podium and told my story. I told them how I became a Christian and how I came to write Chrsitian fiction. I told them about being born to a teenage mother. My parents divorce, and my own. I told them all of this very painful and revealing information, not to make them uncomfortable or me look like the sinner that I am, but because I wanted to encourage them. To remind them that what they did matters. That Christian fiction matters. I told them of how I cried and hugged Francine Rivers’ Redeeming Love when I finished it. How that book made me feel that I too was worthy in God’s eyes despite my failures and past.
Okay, so after bearing my soul and feeling vulnerable as I could be, I looked out to see lots of smiles and nods of encouragement.
I gave the sales team a little gift of appreciation and it felt so very little for all they do.
Right afterward, I was whisked away so that the meeting could continue. I nearly broke my neck trying to see what was going on without me.
So, maybe no real secrets are going to be revealed here. I was curious to see what a sales conference in its entirety looked like, to see how other books were presented, but I was off for my tour of the company. And if anything could sound more exciting to me that a publishing sales conference, it would be a tour of a publishing house.
I was able to meet the publisher, Ron Beers, my book cover designer, Jennifer, as well as my publicist, editor, the marketing director and receptionist.
I also got to tour the warehouse where the books are shipped from. So many books… sigh.
While I was there, I video taped an interview for publicity purposes and Tyndale asked if I wanted to tape anything for Novel Journey. I was caught off guard, but didn’t want to waste the opportunity, so when you see that video thank you card, know that it was impromptu. If I look like a deer in headlights, it’s because I kinda was.
After my tour, the team took me to lunch where we mostly made girl talk. You know, husband’s, kids, that sort of thing.
When it was time to go home a limo pulled outside of Tyndale and the receptionist said, “I think your ride’s here.”
I said, “I don’t think that’s for me.”
Apparently, it was. It seems when you order a car with this particular car service, you get what you get. A towncar one time, a stretch the next.
I felt a little wierd to be honest, sitting in the back of a stretch limo all by my lonesome, but I also tried to enjoy it. For all I know it may be the last time I ever step foot in one.
So, there you go. The exclusive, (or not), look inside a publishing company’s sales conference.
(If you notice that the pictures often don’t corelate to the text they’re by, blame blogger. It’s a bear to try to load this many pictures. If you blog, you know what I mean. Sorry!)
Okay, so maybe a line from a Johnny Cash song is a corny title for a post about the publicity dilemma, so sue me. (Please don’t, I’m poor and stressed enough as it is.)
As you probably have heard by now, (because all the world cares about the fabulously exciting life of Gina Holmes), my debut novel, Crossing Oceans is releasing with Tyndale this May.
Does that seem like a long way away to you? Not to me. Funny how time flies when you’re trying to publicize your novel. Do you realize that many media outlets, such as magazines have a six month or greater lead time? (A lead time is the amount of time pre-publication they require to get a story, review, whatever written.)
Many reviewers also require many months with an arc, (advanced reader copy), before they will agree to consider a review.
All of this translates into a hurry up and wait scenario and lots of comfort food gorges.
The stress of trying to do my part to help my my publicity department get the word out about Crossing Oceans well in advance, has me chewing my toenails (I’d chew my fingernails, if I had any left.) And yes, I’m quite agile … and disgusting.
Besides the stress of trying to write my second contracted novel while trying to promote the first and all the work that entails, from filming interviews, to giving book trailer input, to taking promo photos, etc. I find myself questioning how much self-promotion I’m actually comfortable with.
I know I need to do my part to promote the investment Tyndale has made in me but it feels ookie to promote myself. There’s a fine line between promoting one’s work and promoting one’s self. I want to do the former. Crossing Oceans is a good book. Gina Holmes, however …
Anyway, I asked some industry folks what their thoughts were and they agreed to share their wisdom. Here’s the question I posed:
Many writers struggle with the self-promotion required to sell their books. The Bible says, “Let another praise you and not your own mouth.” Yet, authors are expected to promote their books to potential readers. What advice would you have for authors grappling with this issue?
I feel an author should take all reasonable opportunities to present a new book to public. Authors can achieve a lot by introducing their material, responding to interviews in which they have a chance to explain or amplify their aims as writers, and it is also a good idea through a Facebook page to print links to good reviews that you receive so that all can read them. It is a real challenge to effectively distribute a book and introduce it to the public. Do not hesitate to do your best in this regard. —- Anne Rice, author of Angel Time.
TYNDALE’s fiction editorial/marketing/publicity group response:
In our opinion, author self promotion is one of the most important ways that authors can partner with their publisher in today’s social networking environment. In the past, publishers have relied on booksellers, librarians, and media to communicate our books to the public. That landscape has changed dramatically with the rise of Facebook, Amazon, online book clubs, and countless other direct to consumer Internet sites. We now have the power to contact the consumer directly.
That said, we recognize that many authors are hesitant to “toot their own horn” or self promote. They worry they won’t appear humble and that others may perceive them as being tacky or pushing their book on others. And sure, occasionally there is the author who over promotes to a fault—even risking a solid relationship with a retailer.
But self promotion needn’t be obnoxious or pushy. If you worry you might be over doing it, you simply need to ask yourself if you’re investing in a new promotional venture or calling your publisher with a promotional idea because it makes sense for addressing a good potential audience . . . or if you’re just anxious or insecure about “how the book is doing.” This should help answer your questions and calm your worries.
If we look at this practice of reaching out to the consumer less as self promotion and more as finding genuine ways to connect readers, every author can strike a happy medium and really help push their name and book into the marketplace in a natural way.
We encourage our authors to write articles for publications, keep a blog for their fans, connect through Facebook or other social networking sites, build a relationship with their local bookstore, and even engage with book groups. Sure, the publisher can do what they can for the author, but the modern consumer can see through this. If an author can take a couple minutes out of their day to connect with readers personally, they gain a fan for life.
If an author is still hesitant, we gently remind them that in the Christian marketplace, not only are we encouraging readers to pick up a book, but we are hoping the reader may find a valuable ministry message in the book. In this way, a Christian author can look at self promotion as a way to really evangelize to Christians and seekers. Books have the power to change lives in unimaginable ways.
Tyndale’s mission is “Minister to the spiritual needs of people, primarily through literature consistent with biblical principles.” We publish authors and books to accomplish this mission and our greatest hope is to have authors who join us in this journey with a real desire to connect with our readers.
Self-promotion doesn’t mean talking about the quality of my work, or how fun or interesting or exciting it is. On my website I just post reviews and list awards and leave it at that. In interviews I try to talk about the thematic issues raised in my fiction, which is much more comfortable territory than discussing whether my work is any good or not. And I think the most important thing I’ve learned about promotion is the importance of just enjoying being with people, talking to them, trading emails and meeting them in person. I’ve made a lot of friends through my blog and Facebook page and emails via my website, and once I started thinking of self-promotion that way, it became fun.
It’s true. Many authors have trouble tooting their own horns. This is especially true for those who work and write in the Christian arena. After 30 plus books, I still struggle with this, especially when some interviewer asks, “So what makes your book so great?” I find it easier to brag on others than on myself. That said, I have come to see promotion as something far removed from bragging. Promotion is the act of making a case for one’s work. It’s making readers aware of what is available to them. It is not a sales pitch; it is communication. It helps me to remember that I am not promoting myself, but a useful product created by my partnership with a publishing company. I’m uncomfortable promoting myself; I have no problem promoting my work.
“Promotion” and “overweening pride” are two separate things, Gina. Scripture says we’re to beware of pride — to have too high an opinion of yourself, to take all the credit, lord your success over others, or brag about how wonderful you are. When we do that, we lose perspective as to where our talent comes from. Promotion is different — it simply means we are encouraging or advancing something (and with a clear conscience, it’s promoting something we believe in). Move this out of the realm of books for a moment… If you were selling vacuum cleaners, would your faith keep you from advertising them? (”I can’t tell anyone about my vacuum cleaners… they’re really good, and it would look like I’m too proud of them.”) That’s crazy.
If you work hard, are proud of your work, and feel your product is really helpful to others, should you feel awkward about telling others about it? I don’t think so. An author is creating art, so should a singer feel he should not sing in public, or a painter not hang her art in a gallery, for fear of letting others notice their gifts? Of course not. Similarly, I think authors can promote the books they create. Sure, that can cross over into the realm of pride, but we need to take steps to make sure that doesn’t happen. I see nothing in Scripture that tells me not to the products I believe in with others.
It may seem onerous to the new author to be asked to take on the role of book promoter, after all, wasn’t writing the book work enough for anyone? But the truth is, thanks to the Internet and its social networks, it is easier than ever for authors to promote their latest work to fans. If you are uncomfortable praising your work to others,don’t do it. Leave the reviewing to those more qualified and objective.But don’t miss the chance to tell your readers, who surely will want to know, that a new novel by you is about to be launched. I see no Biblical conflict in that.
Bonnie Calhoun, President of the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance & GPCWC Writer Of The Year :
The Bible also says not to hide your Lamp under a bushel, and there is another verse in II Thessalonians 3:10 that says, “If Anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.” I would never have enough bravado to tell God, well you gave me the message to spread, or You put the story on my heart….now You go do all the work and make me a success. And then there are writers who have not been called to write as a ministry, but desire to write, and give it to the Lord as an offering, which is another case of you needing to accomplish the work to submit the offering.
Rebeca Seitz, President of Glass Road PR & novelist:
Matthew 10:16 is one of the most appropriate verses I’ve ever found for an author who is faced with this dilemma. Jesus said, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”
The shrewd part allows us to take stock of the world in which we live and notice how it functions. In publishing, name recognition sells fiction (in the long-term), which leaves you in a position of needing to push your own name. Is that contradictory to the Christian life of placing all others before yourself? Not if God has called you to be an author of books in this culture.
He gave you a story, a beautiful picture of His truth, an incredible illustration of Himself and His work in you, and then called you to an industry that (usually) requires your name to be known among consumers for that story to get to the masses. He knows the industry. He also knows your heart – the place where you can be as innocent as a dove if you so choose. He knows if your intent is to get His story into the most hands so that they will see Him. Trust Him to know you.
The very fact that you wrestle with this dilemma shows that your heart is, first, for Him. He knows that. He loves that. Now go get your name out there so the masses know of this story He gave you. At the end of the day, it’s His name they’ll remember and praise. Yours is just an arrow pointing the way.
A Week in the Life of a Debut Novelist
The phone rings. It’s my bff. We talk publicity, editing, writing, publishing news, kids, dogs, eyebrows, husbands and house chores. We end the conversation with, “Go write.”
I pick up my coffee, take a sip and grimace. It’s cold. I reheat it for the third time in the microwave. As I wait, I open the fridge to see what to have for breakfast. Two eggs stare back at me, along with a block of cheddar and a piece of last night’s chicken pot-pie. I pull out the cheese and break off a hunk.
Coffee in hand, cheese in mouth, I saunter to the couch where my laptop awaits.
I decide that before I get writing, I’d better check my email. I might have finally heard back from the producers of Ellen or Oprah. You never know. Instead, I find an email from my agent who writes to say that the manuscript I’ve been working on for three months is well written but not the best choice for my next book. I sigh and think, crap, he’s right. I’ve known it all along, but was hoping no one else would. Back to the drawing board again. After tearing out a wad of my hair and trying to fashion it into a noose, I decide that maybe I’m overreacting.
No worries, I tell myself, it’ll be fine. I still have six whole months to write the next book and I’ve got a great new idea that the publisher seemed to like. It will be even better than the last! It will be To Kill a Mockingbird, Peace Like a River. Watership Down, and Jane Eyre all rolled into one! “Yessss,” I hiss to my hound, Maggie who lies at my feet. She raises her eyebrows and sniffs the air—just in case my excitement has something to do with food. Since it does not, she groans and lays her head back down on her paws.
After deleting ninety-six emails sent by Facebook, I set to work on my new manuscript, trying to push from my mind the crippling thoughts of how important a second novel is to a writer’s career, the five articles I’ve promised to write for various publications to publicize my soon-to-release debut, the laundry, whether or not my day job will lay me off and … Oooh, I have the perfect title for book two!
Let me google it real quick to make sure it’s not already taken. It is—twenty-two times. I’ll go with my second choice. Also taken, but only twice. One to a vanity press self-help book and the other to a thriller that released more than a decade ago.
Should I still use it? Yes, I will. No, I won’t. Oh, I don’t know. I decide for time’s sake, I’ll just keep it as a working title for the time being until something better comes along. Something perfect will come from a line I write, it always does.
As I open a new word document to begin, the pattering of feet alarms me. Someone is in my house! My heart begins to beat wildly … until I see my son shuffling toward me, rubbing his eyes. “Morning Mommy.”
“Why aren’t you at school?” I ask.
“Today’s Election Day,” he replies.
I sit confused a moment. I could have sworn I’d dropped that child off at school. I guess that was yesterday. Am I getting Alzheimers? I call my bff back and ask her. She responds that all writers do the same thing. “Yesterday,” she says, “I took my daughter to her soccer game and no one was there. It seems I was looking at last month’s schedule. Apparently the season has already ended.”
Only half-convinced I’m normal, (for a writer at least), I thank her and hang up.
“Fix yourself some cereal” I say to my son. “Mommy’s writing.”
He hugs me, then runs away. Two seconds later, I hear screaming from the next room.
“Get off of me. I’m sleeping!” The angry voice belongs to my older son.
“Mommy said get up!” my younger son screams.
“I did not,” I yell back. “Leave your brother alone!”
Ten minutes later, there is quiet, except for the snoring dog at my feet, and boys at the kitchen table slurping milk from their cereal bowl.
Excitement and hope fills me as I type my working title into a blank word document, and then “Chapter One.” I know exactly how my story will start. I love beginnings. They are by far the funnest and easiest part of the process for me.
I throw the idea down on computer with fervor, not pausing to edit. I’m scared to lose my groove. The muse is like a little bird perched on my window, if I disturb him, he’ll fly away and maybe never return. He’s fickle that way I hear.
At the end of the day, I smile at my genius. Laugh maniacally at my good fortune. At one chapter a day, I’ll have this baby done in a month and a half. I’ll give Karen Kingsbury a run for her money.
I don’t think I’ll need the full six months to write this. At this rate, I’ll have it done in a few weeks. What will I do with my extra five months? Whip out another classic? Take a vacation? I daydream for a few minutes, until I hear my oldest son ask, “Mom, what’s for dinner?”
Dinner? What happened to lunch? I wander to the kitchen confused as to where the time has gone. I see plates left over from lunch. Apparently someone had made tuna sandwiches and apple slices. I’m not sure if it was me, and I’m too embarrassed to ask, so I just wash the dishes and rummage through the cabinets looking for something to fix.
My writing day is now over and it’s family time. I love family time. Halfway through dinner, I jump up from the table. “She didn’t kill him,” I exclaim. “He killed himself!” My husband’s blue eyes are fixed on me, wide and alarmed. After a moment, his face relaxes. “In your story you mean?”
My children continue to eat, not responding to this conversation. They’re used to their mother’s strange outbursts
The next day, I have a great idea for the next chapter, but before I begin, I decide to read what I wrote the day before just to get the feel of the story right.
The smile drains from my face. Who wrote this piece of crap? Surely it was not I. I am a genius. I write fine literature for the ages. Sigh. No matter, it can be fixed.
I spend the day adding quotes and periods, mundane things that any old hack could do. It feels like a waste of my genius and time, but I know one must shovel dung if one wants to own a purebred. A necessary evil. I’m not too proud to shovel.
At the end of the day, I reread my chapter, surely it must be brilliant now. I’ve labored two days on Monique (Monique is this chapter’s pet name. Don’t ask.).
With a grin I begin reading, with a grimace I end. This is not genius. This is trivial. Mediocre at best. Mundane word choices, half-baked ideas, absolutely no symbolism or foreshadowing what so ever. While reading it, I didn’t burst into tears or laughter even once.
A realization hits me like a wrecking ball to my chest.
I can’t write! I probably never could. Crossing Oceans is a good story, everyone says so, but obviously it was a fluke. The rest will be garbage. After I turn in my second book I’m sure Tyndale will cut me loose, wondering how they were fooled by my weak impersonation of a novelist.
After a light vomit, I call my critique partner who tells me, “You’re a great writer, Gina. Really. One of the best. I’ll bet the chapter is good. Send it to me.”
Reluctantly, I do. An hour later I get a call, “Yeah, that sucked. Sorry. What about writing a story about a child who gets abducted and ends up living in the same neighborhood as …. oh wait, I think I’m describing The Deep End of the Ocean. Well, you’ll think of something. The writing was good. REALLY good, but that’s not the right story for you.”
She goes on to talk about a plot thread in her own manuscript, and I try my best to listen and offer suggestions, but my mind is onto a new story.
When I start writing again, I’m completely confident, until paragraph two. What would it hurt if I just ran this new idea by my editor? I do and she likes it! I start to write again, but by paragraph five, I’m thinking I should probably get my agent’s too. It could work, he says. Not as enthusiastic as my editor, but he didn’t shoot it down. It’s a good story. A great story! Maybe I’ll just ask my two critique partners for the heck of it. One loves it, the other isn’t sure.
I sigh and decide I need to chew on this idea a day or two. Meanwhile, I have plenty to keep me occupied—Twitter, facebook, shoutlife, myspace, blogger, after all, a novelist has to network. After several hours of updating my status, commenting on my friend’s pages and blindly staring the Twitter bird, I write a post for Novel Journey. Two hours later, I query five magazines to see if I can write articles for them to publicize Crossing Oceans. I’ll worry about where I’ll find the time to write them later.
To reward myself for a hard day’s work, I do a voice over for the book trailer that I’ve had to learn to put together, since I’m A. poor, and B. picky.
Two days later, I’m still working on the book trailer. It seems it’s not all that easy to put these things together after all and not make them look cheesy. After thirty four takes of the voice over, and a flare up of my carpel tunnel, I have something I like. I send it to my critique partners who tell me I’ve got a winner—if I’ll change a, b, c, d, e, f, and g.
After hanging up, I cry, scream, rip out more hair, and get back to work. Five minutes later, my bff calls me back crying. “I’m a hack,” she says. “I can’t write. Who was I fooling?”
“Me,” I say, knowing just how she feels. “And you’ll fool everyone else who reads your work. You’re a literary genius. Yes. You are. Hey, did you remember to pick up your daughter from daycare?”
“My husband did.” There’s a pause. “Wait, what’s today?”
Gina Holmes Suggests You Become a Fan of Gina Holmes
In the last year, I must have recevied dozens upon dozens of requests through Facebook that look like this…
“John Doe suggests you become a fan of John Doe.”
What goes through my mind when I read
this?
1. Who?
2. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book by him.
3. Oh wait, yes I have. Wasn’t my thing.
4. Is he president of his own fan club? Wierd.
5. How presumptous of him to think I’m his “fan”. I mean “fan” is a pretty strong word. I’m a fan of maybe a dozen writers throughout history and not one of them has ever I suggested I become their fan. I just was.
6. Delete.
7. Note to self: Don’t make up my own fan page and suggest people become my fan.
I realize I’ve probably bruised a few egos and may receive a few anonymous comments that say I don’t know what I’m talking about. Maybe I don’t. But, I’m a pretty regular person, and honestly folks, this is a BIG turn off. For me at least.
What is okay? Here are my thoughts (and yes subjective opinion):
1. Have someone else put up your fan page and send out the invites. (Suggesting someone become your fan page on Facebook comes across as suggesting someone join your real life fan club. Would you walk up to someone and say, “Hey, I’ve just started a fan club for myself and I’d like you to join?”
They’d probably wrinkle their nose at you and subconciously vow to be sure to never become your fan. They’d probably then avoid eye contact for at least the next few run-ins with you.
2. Don’t call it a “fan page” if you’re setting it up yourself. Call it a “reader page” or “reader circle” or “friends of author John Doe” or “people who can get through John Doe’s books without falling asleep” or something along those lines. It just sounds less presumptous.
Just the other day, I was sent the jpeg for the cover of my debut novel, Crossing Oceans. Truth be known, one of my fears in the whole publishing process was getting a cover that I hated. Covers, in my opinion, matter a lot. They definitely do to me when I’m looking to buy a book.
Going in, I knew what I liked and what I didn’t. The way I figured it, what appealed to me probably would appeal to my potential reader.
Tyndale was really great about the process. They asked what sort of cover I really liked and what type of cover I would be miserable with. Being book obsessed as I am, I already had a file with covers that captured me and had already figured out what turned me off about others. I shared all of that with them.
The original cover they sent looked just like the one you see here, except the little girl’s hair was different than I had imagined it should be. I said so, and they graciously made the change.
I originally pictured a cover with lots of blues, but the pink, shell-like hues are beautiful and I’m so thrilled with my cover I could cry.
After many years and rejections, seeing my cover is one of the few sweet moments in this business and I wanted to share it with you.
Many thanks to my brilliant cover designer, Jennifer Ghionzoli. You did an awesome job. I love it!!!
July, 2009
ACFW’S Afictionado Magazine features a story about Gina in their “My First Sale” column.
April, 2009
The Roanoke Times featured a front page story about Gina and her long and trying road to publication. Click here to read.
December 2008
Gina Holmes’ debut novel, CROSSING OCEANS, sold to Tyndale Publishers, and is scheduled to be released 2010!
This work of contemporary fiction tells the story of a young mother who returns home to face the ghosts of her past and transition her little girl into the arms of a father who doesn’t even know she exists.
More to come…
2008
The literary website Ms. Holmes founded, Novel Journey, was named one of Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers, 2008! The site has featured everyone from Dean Koontz to Nicholas Sparks, to Pulitzer winning, Geraldine Brooks.
I said, “I don’t think that’s for me.”
