15 Months in This Author's Life
The best and hardest year, detailed in an illustrated list
I’m going to start the post with a link to an essay I wrote for
of . Alicia put out a call on Womancake for short essays about our Power Songs and I sat down and wrote 1000 words about dancing at the Blue Whale on Fire Island back in 1984. Here’s the link to the essay; please subscribe to her newsletter while you are there. It is very worthwhile, I especially love listening to her Monday Memos. I am not going to be recording audio for this post, because half of the post is going to be a long list, and I’m just not interested in reading a long list to you. It’ll be a quick read, I promise, and I’ll decorate it with fun images like this one.
So, I’ve been working on this list for a couple of weeks, off and on. It all started during a conversation with
of when we were preparing for our second Book Marketing 21st Century podcast together (click on either of the links to see that podcast and others and subscribe to her Substack). She asked me to make a list of everything I’d done to promote Honeymoon at Sea (yeah, I am gonna spell the title out and include an Amazon link to it, too, because I keep getting new subscribers every week now—welcome all!). Here’s a recent HatS ranking:
That first list prompted me to add a few things that were part of being an author, like recording the audiobook; then today I decided to go back to the very beginning—the day I got the call from Rebecca Eckler of Re:books of Toronto offering to publish my book. I am going to include all the big dates, but not every day I worked on the manuscript or on marketing materials, writing essays, and prepping for interviews, or the days spent shopping for a microphone (Russel found the Yeti Blue X, which I love) or other tools of the podcasting trade. I am also not going to include the many days I worked on my day job as a book editor—I do content edits about once a month, and sometimes I work on line-editing another manuscript simultaneously.
Okay, enough with the set up. Here it is:
15 Months in the Life of This Author
January 24, got the call from Re:books about publishing my memoir
February 16, received the contract with Re:Books (signed soon after)
February 17-19 Taught at the Southern California Writers Conference
March 4, had my first meeting with my new content editor
March 15, sent the manuscript to my content editor
March 16, Title information sheet for HatS is completed
March 18, pub date set for Aug 29
April 14, sent final ms to content editor
April 18, sent author photo to Re:Books. Photo credit Russel Redmond, of course!
May 8, final ms okayed and sent to copyeditor
May 12, first book testimonial (blurbs) came in
June 2, pub date pushed to Sept 19
June 11, reviewed copy edited ms, sent final changes
June 28, chose cover—after much work!; got a five-star review from RF
June 29, started this HatS Substack newsletter
June 30, Latitude 38 published my sailing article
July 14, final final copyediting changes submitted
July 26-29 recorded the audiobook at Mirror Sound in Seattle
July 30, did my first podcast: Jake’s Take. It was fun.
Aug 4, okayed final printers proofs, with final final final changes
Aug 9, did a podcast: Real Life Matters with D’Boss
Aug 10, did a podcast with Lisa Angle: Literary Gumbo
Aug 20, Final book cover okayed, subtitle moved
Aug 25, did a radio show interview for Positive Talk Radio
Sept 5, did a podcast: Too Opinionated
Sept 7, did a podcast: Chatter that Matters
Sept 8, did a podcast with August McLaughlin: Girl Boner Radio
Sept 10, Medium’s Authority Magazine runs interview with me as a marriage expert
Sept 13, did a podcast: Finding Your Bliss on Zoomer Radio and did interview for Positive Talk Radio
Sept 15, Discover Baja Article comes out online
Sept 16, my Baja book list went live on Shepherd.com
Sept 16 & 17 I did virtual author meetings at SCWC
Sept 19, pub day—posted on A Mighty Blaze
Sept 22, did a podcast: Words and Pictures UK
Sept 23, Taught SDWI class online about writing memoir
Sept 24, posted event notices for Library event in Oct
Sept 26, did Zoom interview with Carmel for Keepin it Real
Sept 29, did Positive Talk Radio show live Seattle KIXI
Sept 30, did phone interview with Port Townsend Leader
Oct 2, Baja Traveler video and photos posted
Oct 4, Port Townsend library event 7pm
Oct 7, did write up for Yacht Club meeting/newsletter
Oct 10, did book marketing podcast with Marla Miller
Oct 16, Meeting with Northwest Women Who Sail on Zoom
Oct 17, did a podcast: Author Wheel (Greta and Megan)
Oct 19, did a live recording for a podcast: The Boat Geeks
Oct 26, Small Craft Advisor online HatS prologue was live today
Nov 14, did a slideshow at PT Yacht Club meeting 7pm
Dec 3, my Best 3 books of 2023 list went live on Shepherd.com
Jan 2, did a zoom interview with Alicia Dara of WomanCake Mag
Jan 24, WomanCake Mag interview published today
Jan 26, Attended Local Authors event at Library downtown San Diego
Jan 27, My book launch & book-signing event at La Playa Books
Jan 31, Meeting with Writers of Substack Live in SD
Feb 2, Book-signing event and reading at SDWI/Liberty Station First Friday
Feb 3, did Zoom event with Int’l Memoir Writers; plus Oceanside YC slideshow
Feb 10, Taught in person Editing for writers class at SDWI
Feb 14, in person slideshow with RR for A-16 at Helix brewery
Feb 15, did a slideshow for SWYC and Women who sail 7pm-9pm
Feb 16-18 SCWC Friday night speaker plus taught 4 classes plus book signing
Feb 21, Book signing and talk at Small World Books in Venice CA
March 7, Launch Pad appearance on Facebook Live on Bookish Road Trip
March 21, Online author appearance and slideshow for Discover Baja
March 26, my marketing afloat feature on SoNovelicious went live today
March 30, Medium Authority Magazine runs with “5 Things I wish someone had told me before I became an editor”
March 31, did Oldster Author Questionnaire (to be published)
April 17, did book marketing podcast interview with Marla Miller
April 24, “I Will Survive” essay on Womancake mag went live
Whew! What a year! I didn’t quite believe it when my author friend Helen Landalf warned me about a year ago, “This will be the hardest year of your life.” It was. Lots of work, lots of stress, not much sleep, and—eventually—a whole lotta fun!
And that’s it for this week…hasta pronto!
What I'm pleased about is that writers-no all-just the serious ones-appreciate what it takes to sell your book AFTER you've written it. I tell this to every writers group I stand before, "Writing your story is the easy part..." Experienced writers understand that getting readers to plunk down hard earned money requires a skill set that extends FAR beyond writing their stories. If we didn't know that 20 plus years ago when the publishing landscape began its shift, we do now. Great piece and as I said in our podcast, (https://writergal10.substack.com/podcast) I really don't know any working writer working harder than you are out here.... keep it up. Wouldn't 'Honeymoon at Sea' be a fun film to watch, inspiring love story.....
WOW that IS a year, Jennifer! Big congrats, and thanks for being an ongoing part of the Womancake universe :)