Because I feel like it...

I feel like writing something but I'm really not in the mood to write as in story, so a blog post is just the thing!

Today was an insanely busy day but it was a good one. As anyone with a Facebook connection with me knows, I will be doing my very first book selling/signing event ever on February 7th. The event, put on by local Steampunk writer Jeffrey Cook, is called I <Heart> Books and will be held at the AFK Elixirs & Eatery in Renton, WA from 14:00 to 21:00.

I will be there along with Jeff and eight other local authors from the Pacific Northwest, however, I will be the only romance specific author in attendance. Everyone else writes a variety of things, from Steampunk, to Fantasy, to Futuristic Sci-Fi to Satire and all of it is varying degrees of awesome!

In preparation for the event, I spent all day with my fiancé while he drove me around town so I could plaster flyers on every coffee shop, bookstore and community bulletin board we could find. There is no use signing up for an event if everyone on board doesn't do something to promote it in some way, am I right?

What's the use of plunking your ass behind a table with your books in front of you if no one knows you're sitting there?

Being an author is an interactive and sometimes full contact sport. ;) (No one knows this better than my fiancé when I drag him down the hall towards our room declaring that it's time for 'research'.)

There are a lot of things that go into a book besides words, a theme, and a pretty cover to house it all. When the writing is done, the editor finished, the package all wrapped up attractively it is then that the real work begins. You need people to read your book. You need to tell them about it, shout it from the rooftops, be involved in the sale of your book. You can't just send it out into the world and hope someone adopts your baby as their own, you need to make it stand out from all the other works eligible for adoption.

Here is the absolute, unparalleled beauty of the profession though. We authors are in the unique position in that we don't really have to compete. The absolute truth and joy of it is people read books, not book but books, plural which means that we can support each other, encourage each other, read each other and tell others to read one another if we really like what the next person is doing. It is this beautiful, fantastic breeding ground of never ending positive energy that can be shared and multiplied and *sigh* a huge reason I love doing what I'm doing.

I got to spend my whole day preaching to the world about not just myself but nine other fabulous artists and I can't wait for just one person to come in and say they came because they saw a flyer at their particular coffee joint. That will have made this whole long exhausting day so incredibly worth it. Hell, it already is for the good vibes I'm getting from being so excited!

Anyways, I'm done being sappy for now and I really am tired so I'm going to call it here. Hopefully we'll meet at I <Heart> Books in a few weeks!

Later!