Drive-by Sales
My favorite thing about having a published book has been witnessing all the attention and support that my mother (after losing two sons) has received in my hometown of Hull, Massachusetts because of it – and if the book were a vacuum cleaner, she would be the salesperson of the month. After the article about the book, “Hull Native Mines Memories for First Book,” appeared in the Hull Times Newspaper, my mother had people coming to her house wanting books; some she knew and some she didn’t. One woman wanted my mother to sign the book, another said, after reading it, “Barbara, what a wonderful family you have!” Then there was the call from a local hairdresser asking my mother if she could drop by with a book because a customer there wanted to buy one. She doesn’t go out without a couple of books in her pocketbook now, just in case. ~ Taken from my web page, Silver and Gold, What’s New? Nov 22, 2003, in which I describe selling the first 300 “Jim and Dan Stories” in just over month.
Did you know that the well-known author John Grisham self-published his first book and sold it out of the trunk of his car? “The Joy of Cooking,” a book I own, was self-published in 1931 and currently sells more than 100,000 copies a year. “Mutant Message Down Under” and “The Celestine Prophecy” are two books I’ve read that were also initially self-published.
Dan Poynter, author of “The Self-Publishing Manual” (who comes from the Massachusetts city I was born in), compiled a list of authors who had self-published at one time or another. I was surprised by some of the names on the list, which include: Deepok Chopra, Louise Hay, Mark Twain, Ken Key’s, Jr., Gertrude Stein, Zane Grey, Upton Sinclair, Carl Sandburg, James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence, Ezra Pound, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Stephen Crane, George Bernard Shaw, Anais Nin, Thomas Paine, Virginia Woolf, ee. cummings, William Blake, Edgar Allen Poe, Rudyard Kipling, Henry David Thoreau.
If you were going to write a book, what would it be about?
September 10th, 2005 10:16 am
Mine would be a book about rug making – not a book of instructions for that can be gotten anywhere, but about the flow that is experienced while hooking or braiding, which is the secret of staying in the ever present NOW. I imagine writing a book and other creative pursuits are similar. I once wrote this about hooking: In making one of my rugs; hooked in this case, I draw what I see in my mind’s eye onto a blank piece of burlap and with individual cuts of wool, one strip after another is pulled into place with a rug hook, the juxtaposition of which brings the picture to life. The act of selecting and deciding what to use and where it fits is endless and is mine to make. The prize upon completion is a rug and the frosting on the cake is that no two rugs will ever be the same.
Similarly we are all unique. At our birth we begin with a clean slate. One baby step after another is taken in the adventure to find our way. There is no right or wrong path and the maze of choices and decisions are infinite. Every side road taken creates a different fate changing us and moving us along to our eventual destination. More often than not the map changes as the work develops; almost as though a driving force is making the rug, or taking the next road around the bend and “my work” is but a contribution in bringing it to completion.
September 10th, 2005 10:18 am
But Grisham didn’t sell squat on that first book. A better example would be Redfield’s The Celestine Prophecy or Frazier’s Cold Mountain.
Michele sent me, Colleen!
It’s great that your Mother is able to bask in the glow of your book, Colleen. I love the idea of writing though the day to day aspect of it isn’t as rosy as the concept. Ha!
September 10th, 2005 10:23 am
Yes, I think the act of creating easily translates into all mediums, and when we express ourselves creatively, I think we tap into the best part of ourselves… spirit moving through us.
You already have your book started, Kath!
September 10th, 2005 10:29 am
I get all kinds of ideas for books, now if I actually wrote down the idea then maybe something would happen. I do get very vivid dreams that seem like scenes from a book.
That is so neat about your mom.
September 10th, 2005 10:46 am
Like most every English major, I had dreams of writing the great American novel. Didn’t happen -and probably won’t. I am content to spew my drivel in blogland.
Note: a former boyfriend gave me a copy of “The Joy of Cooking” in 1960, and I still use it frequently.
September 10th, 2005 2:30 pm
Hmm, I think I would write a book encouraging women who are living a diminished life to reclaim their souls and search for the feminine divine.
September 10th, 2005 9:20 pm
I think that’s my problem. I have wonderful ideas for characters and settings. But theme and plot, and how to connect them to those characters and settings–I can never narrow it down. I start books all the time (usually they are very brief starts). I haven’t finished one yet.
September 11th, 2005 5:11 pm
Wow, that’s fascinating how many people self-published. I’m afraid, it would poetry if I self-published.
It would probably be better for me if it was Joy of Improv cooking scattered with idiosyncratic tidbits, jokes, puns and cartoons but then, I wouldn’t want to cut into the market of Crazy Plates, and their Worth Every Penne recipes.
We’ll see what shapes up.
September 11th, 2005 6:37 pm
Hiya!! Michele sent me!
I suppose if i wrote a book it would be a compliation of stuff from my blog. But I think I’d rather stick with blogging than booking. :o)
September 15th, 2005 7:24 am
Well … I think you know how very timely this bit of advice is. Wonderful links in there, Colleen. Can’t wait to start reading more about this, and to gitrdone. 🙂
I can safely say that any published works of mine would lean heavily toward non-fiction or children’s stories.