Seekerville: The Journey Continues

Happy Friday, Seekerville!

I'm delighted to be back with y'all today. I've taken a break for the last few months as we dealt with some family changes. My father died in December, so I've of course been working through my grief and figuring out how to do life without his hugs or his steadiness. Then my father-in-law moved here to Georgia from Kansas after some significant medical challenges, and the tentative new normal we'd established after my dad's death was altered again. So needless to say this year has been one of adjustment, but I'm happy to say that I finally feel able to breathe again 💜

When I first started blogging here at Seekerville (gosh, that feels like just yesterday and forever ago, all at once) I had ZERO intentions of ever publishing a book. There were several reasons for this, but the main reason is that I am almost exclusively a fiction reader and I don't have any stories clamoring to be written. I'm content reading the ones that authors like my Seekerville sisters write - and then talking about them to whoever will listen haha

And thus a book was born. 

What can you find in Getting Past the Publishing Gatekeepers? 

1. Candid conversations from an agent (Hope Bolinger), a publisher (Linda Fulkerson), an editor (Rowena Kuo), and a reader/influencer (me) on how to align yourself, your platform, and your writing in ways that will make you an appealing author to each of these gatekeepers. 

2. Among other practical tips you'll learn how to work with your agent as a team, how to polish your manuscript before submitting it, and how to build a platform that publishers AND readers will gravitate toward.

3. Behind-the-scenes insight to make you more aware of what it's like on the other side of the aisle, such as the work that goes into your manuscript from agents, publishers, and editors ... and how to find and approach influencers.

What can you find specifically in my section of the book? 

• where to find readers of your type of book
• prioritizing your focus instead of trying to promote in all the places
• how to determine which influencers truly want to help & which influencers are only in it for the free books
• how (and how not) to approach influencers
• what makes readers try a new-to-them author
• the importance of cover, blurb, and author website must-haves in making a good first impression on readers
• how to make word-of-mouth work for you
• the importance of community in reader engagement
• why your story matters

Carrie Schmidt is someone I've learned knows more about Christian fiction and how to promote it, than anyone I've ever known...certainly more than me. For Carrie to gather her knowledge together in one place and share it with the world is a true gift. I can't wait to get my hands on this book and keep it close. – Mary Connealy, author of The Lumber Baron’s Daughters series

What author hasn’t wondered how to reach readers? Carrie Schmidt speaks to writers – not only the successful and accomplished author, but the introverted and overwhelmed author – giving them tools to engage readers in authentic and personal ways. From tips on participating in a successful blog tour to finding and retaining enthusiastic readers, Carrie gives the author the tools they need to reach those most important of all people – the readers they long to share their stories with. You will be putting this book on your “keeper shelf” and referring to it often! - Jan Drexler, author of The Sign of the Calico Quartz 

Carrie Schmidt not only draws from her years of involvement in the bookish world and her love of books, but also her heart of readers and authors alike. As she’s done so well in her blogging and social media outlets, Carrie continues to use her encouragement, knowledge, and passion in helping build a bridge of understanding between readers and authors so that we can all tell one big and beautiful story together. ~ Pepper Basham, author of The Mistletoe Countess and Authentically, Izzy. 

Want a copy for yourself? 

Getting Past the Gatekeepers is available for preorder (releasing October 11th) in ebook & paperback, with hardcover & audiobook versions coming soon!

The path to publication is like that. Agents, and Editors, and Publishers, oh, my! Each one is a barrier between you and a publishing contract. 

But what if you understood what agents, editors, publishers, and readers really want? 

If you’re struggling to get past the publishing gatekeepers, this book will give you a behind-the-scenes peek at how to win the heart of each type of publishing professional. In fact, Getting Past the Publishing Gatekeepers won’t just give you a peek—it will give you a guided tour. In this book, four publishing professionals—an agent, a publisher, an editor, and an influencer—share what it takes to unlock each “gate” within the publishing industry. 

Getting Past the Publishing Gatekeepers is a must-have resource for all aspiring authors, and it offers insights to help multi-published authors as well.

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | BookDepository

Subscribe to the Publishing Gatekeepers newsletter and receive a tip sheet on 12 ways for getting past the gatekeepers.

Starting today, you can read the introduction to each section (a new one releases each day) in the four (!!!) days leading up to release day! You can click the preview graphic above or go to gatekeepers.link/preview.

Getting Past the Publishing Gatekeepers is also on tour with JustRead Tours this week, and by leaving a comment on this post you can gain an entry when you fill out the Gleam entry form!

 

Carrie Schmidt is an avid reader, book reviewer, story addict, KissingBooks fan, book boyfriend collector, and cool aunt. She also loves Jesus and THE Story a whole lot. Carrie started the popular blog ReadingIsMySuperPower.org in 2015 and since then has had the honor of co-founding the Christian Fiction Readers' Retreat and JustRead Publicity Tours. In addition to these endeavors, she is a regular contributor to Seekerville and has written for magazines such as RT Book Reviews and Christian Market. Carrie now lives in Georgia with her husband, though her roots range from East Tennessee to Central Kentucky and northern Illinois. 

Today, let’s talk a bit about figuring out what makes someone engage with your newsletter and what keeps them engaged.

I have more thoughts on this and we’ll get to them next month, but today’s topic is going to be VERY narrow, maybe because the remnants of a summer cold has my ears stopped up and I have tunnel vision …. uh … hearing, but a nice, simple, detailed topic seems to fit the bill today.

Reader "A"

I bought this little ebook a few months ago called Newsletter Ninja by Tammi Labrecque. It’s an interesting read and the more I dig into managing my own list, the more some of what she says in the book makes sense, like segments and tags, and autoresponders and all that stuff. I’m slowly learning, but trying not to become so focused on the nuts and bolts of my newsletter list that I forget the purpose of my newsletter.

Which brings me to Tammi’s mailing list philosophy. She says, “First, you are not selling what you think you are. Second, if all you’re using your list for is selling, you’re doing everything wrong.”

Okay, that makes sense. For those of us who’ve been around the marketing block a few times, we understand what she’s saying, but if not books, what are we selling?

Reader "B"

Tammi declares that we are selling ourselves. But I’ll go one better. We’re selling relationships. Or, more accurately, we’re creating relationships.

Generally, people signed up for our newsletter either because they found us through a blog tour or giveaway, as a direct contact at a festival or event, or they read one of our books.

I think about those people that I’ve met at events and we had time to chat and get to know each other a bit, and they signed up for my newsletter. I feel really good about our relationship as an author and an engaged subscriber and reader.

One lady I met at a book fair several years ago stands out. In her 70s, petite, short permed hair, twinkling blue eyes, Margaret emails me almost every time a newsletter goes out. We’ve only met that once, but I’ve never forgotten her because SHE keeps he lines of communication open. Now, isn’t that cool?

Reader "C"

Another one of my #1 fans is Clent. Clent and his wife had a booth across the way the first year I had a print book out. It was Claiming Mariah. I was so nervous selling my ONE book that year. I had a few minutes to spare once I got my booth set up, so I chatted with Clent and his wife Reba. Clint was there for moral support for his wife who was selling homemade soaps, lotion, jewelry, etc. About the time the festival got under way, Clent walked over and bought a copy of my book. Then he spent the rest of the day reading. And he’s been reading ever since. He always makes sure to seek me out and buy a copy of my latest novel. Clent’s a truck driver, if I’m not mistaken.

Then there’s Caroline (18) and her aunt Anitrel (40s)….

Margaret: Female. In her 70s, petite, owns a printing and frame shop.

Clent: Male. Early 60s. Truck driver.

Caroline: Female. 18. Just graduated high school. Wanted ALL my books for Christmas.

Anitrel. Female. Guessing she’s in her 40s, and refuses to share he copies with her niece and vice versa.

Reader "D"

So back to Tammi’s advice in her book Newsletter Ninja. Tammi suggests creating the ideal subscriber and write to that person. She declares it works. How do you create a relationship with 2000 or 10,000 subscribers when they’re all SO different? I just listed four who I’ve met personally and on the surface none of them (other than the aunt and her niece) have much in common with each other. 

I’ll call my perfect subscriber Tammi (fitting, since the author of Newsletter Ninja called hers Pamela!). Tammi is 39 years old and is a school teacher in rural Tennessee. Her husband works for the electric company. He works a M-F shift, but is on call during storms and bad weather, so reading keeps her mind off the danger her husband is in while working during storms. Tammi reads historical romance, and she enjoys long weekends out of school, winter breaks and the long summer break so she can relax and read as much as she wants to.

This is such a fresh concept for me that I’m not sure I can really picture my fictitious Tammi when I’m putting together my newsletter, but I sure can picture Margaret, Clint, Caroline, and Anitrel. So that might work for me.

Reader "E"

What about you? Do you have a newsletter subscriber or a #1 fan that you picture in your head when your writing or putting together your newsletter.

For fun, pick one or more of the people in today’s post and develop a reader/newsletter subscriber around them. Give them a name, age, occupation, family (or not), where they live. The whole works. 

Make them somebody who’d be YOUR #1 FAN.

For the last several years, my husband has been fine-tuning a marketing approach that he learned via Rob Hardy called “Identity Marketing.” It was originally created for filmmakers but was oh-so-easily adapted to the book world that he invested quite a bit of time into writing out those adaptations…and of course, sharing them with me, mwa ha ha ha. The whole system is amazing and works super well with the outlook I’ve always tried to have—that it’s not about selling, it’s about serving. And one of the tenets of this system that I especially latched onto was the principle of “Surprise and Delight.”

What is it? Very simple—whenever you can, come up with something that will surprise (in a good way, of course!) your readers. We all love plot twists in stories, right? Well, one of our goals should be delivering little twists in our marketing too. Things that our readers don’t expect, and which put big smiles on their faces.

Great in theory…but what about in practice? How do we actually come up with these things? I have a whole list of things I’ve done and tried, and many have worked quite well. But today I want to tell you about my absolute favorite.

So around two years ago, when we were just beginning to test this system, I had the idea for an online Tea Party Book Club. Now, this was before the world went virtual thanks to The Pandemic That Shall Not Be Named. The inspiration came in May of 2018; I had a book coming out…I went to a tea with the ladies from my church at a local tea house…and my husband had been running some virtual events via online meeting tech similar to Zoom. All these things swirled together in my mind and made me say, “Hey! Why couldn’t we do a tea party online?? I could put together packages, mail them out, and then get together with readers to chat about the book and have tea and treats together!”

I quickly became OBSESSED with this idea. (This is pretty typical of me, LOL.) I priced bulk tea. I priced pretty vintage teacups. Spoons. Sugar cubes. Individually wrapped treats. Candy. Mints. I weighed and priced postage. I considered how much I pay for this sort of thing at the local tea house. I came up with a package price and built it out on my website. And then… then… I presented it to my readers.

Would they love it too? Hate it? Not want to pay for that sort of thing? I didn’t know—all I knew was that I found the idea delightful, LOL, even though it would be a ton of work on my part.

I didn’t have to wait long to find out how my readers would receive it. Within a few days of announcing the idea, I had people filling the parties, ordering “starter kits” that involve tea pots and vintage cups and spoons, a lady from my church volunteered to make tea cozies for me, and I even had some people so excited that they signed up for all the extras and then realized an hour later that, oops, they were out of town that day or already had a tea set they could use.

But this was my answer—this idea, unheard of at the time, sounded so fun that my reader friends JUMPED to be a part of it. Where else did they get an hour with other fans of the book and the author and receive a hand-selected package of goodies to go along with it?

Now, granted, in the last year and a half everything has gone online, and we’re beginning to see a lot more things like this. But I’m thrilled to be able to say that I’ve been at it for over two years, that kinks have been worked out, processes have been streamlined…and that the seats keep filling up.

Best of all, relationships have been developed. I have regular attendees, and they greet each other like friends when they see a familiar face come back for this month or that month. Readers have become friends. And the conversations have been AMAZING.

Will I do these tea parties forever? Who knows. But I’m having a blast doing them now—especially because my readers are too. It’s just one thing in the many that I do to try to reach out to them, but it’s been a total success. It’s one way to Surprise and Delight them…and seeing how well it’s worked, it’s an inspiration to keep coming up with new ways to do just that in the future.

~*~*~*~*~*~

You can learn more about her and her stories at www.RoseannaMWhite.com.

Roseanna is offering a $15 credit in her online store to one commenter!

Authors, what questions do you have for Roseanna about her tea parties or her 'surprise and delight' strategy?
Readers, what are some ways other authors have 'surprise and delight'-ed you? 

 

by Carrie Schmidt

At the end of 2020, my husband and I moved from Kentucky to Georgia. Yes, yes that does mean we sold our house in one state and bought a house in another - in a pandemic. I don't recommend it. It's certainly not for the faint of heart. Something else that isn't for the faint of heart... moving when you hoard* collect books! Nevertheless, I survived to tell the tale, and because I care for all of you and want to save you some stress when the time comes for you to move your book collection from one residence to another, I have some tips to help you survive it as well.

*It's not hoarding if it's books. The internet says so. 

My perspective is that of an avid reader & reviewer & book marketer who reads mostly on her Kindle these days but needs to have the paperbacks around to hug on occasion too. But I also know that authors have copious author copies laying (lying?) around - and the more books you've published, the more author copies you have. Hopefully, all of us can relate on some level to my survival tale, even if just with empathy :)

Boxes, Boxes Everywhere

The first thing you need to know about moving with books is how to select the right boxes in which to pack them. Now you might be tempted to go for the bigger boxes to pile in as many books as possible and make quick work of your task. Beware of that temptation, dear reader, and arm yourself against it. The more books per box, the heavier those boxes be. While this seems like a basic concept, when you're neck deep in boxes and to-do lists and sleepless nights, it can be more difficult to think logically. 

The moving experts I consulted (aka Google) said the best boxes for moving books are the 10x10 or 12x12 sizes. I ordered one hundred 12x12 boxes*, and they seemed to be pretty much perfect for the job. I also tried to limit myself to packing only about 20 books per box (and filling in the rest of the space with packing paper or towels or pillows, etc. as another safeguard to keep the weight down. To protect the books in case the movers dumped the boxes in a puddle or, you know, something equally horrific, I lined the bottom and sides with sheets of newsprint and made sure that the spines were up against the sides of the box, rather than the pages. 

*I had to order 25 more... if you want to do the math, about 20 books per box, 125 boxes... you'll have a good idea of how many books i own.

You Did Not Just Say That

Finding the right box size and getting all those tomes packed is but one hurdle to moving with books. Another hill you must climb is the perhaps-well-meaning-but-still-painful comments you'll get from your realtor, your father-in-law, and other misguided people. You'll hear audacious things like:

• You can only keep about twelve books out for the pictures,
• Are you really taking all those books with you?,
• and the (closely related) Can't you get rid of some of those books so you don't have to move them all?
  

Dear reader, when you inevitably hear one of these statements, do not panic! It merely makes the situation worse. I found it helpful instead to smile as sweetly as I could muster and say, "Yes of course I'm taking all of my books. They are my friends." I mean, they already think I'm a little kooky for reading so much (it used to be an offense worthy of committing someone to a mental hospital, after all) so I figure calling books my friends can't damage their opinion of me much further lol.

Let Them Go, Let Them Go 

And no, I don't mean donating them or giving them away - we've already put that idea from our minds. I mean, once they are packed, there are some things to adjust to. 

• Be prepared to get a little twitchy when you don't have easy access to your books for an undetermined amount of time. This comes and goes so keep your ereader handy to take a bit of the edge off. 
• 
  If you hire movers (and when you have as many books as I do, I highly encourage you to do so), there will come a time - brace yourself - when the book boxes get loaded into the truck and taken away from you. In our case, since it was a multi-state move and we weren't closing in Georgia for a few days after we had to vacate the house in Kentucky, our moving truck was locked away in the company's storage warehouse. (Cue those twitches I mentioned above)
• Once you and your books are reunited* they may stay in boxes for a while. I mean, you don't want to put them all in bookcases and on shelves and then realize you really need to arrange the room setup again. That's a lot of unnecessary work, and moving is enough work on its own, so I give you the freedom to let them stay comfy & cozy in their boxes for a little longer if needed. 

*When we got back to our hotel the day we closed on our house in Georgia, our moving truck was parked there too! You know what means, right? My books knew where I was & they found me!! 

Sort-of a Problem

This last thing isn't really a problem, per se - but it is something you'll want to think about at least a little bit ahead of time. Currently my books are in sorted piles all over my dining room/library floor (yes, still) but before I could even get that far, I had to decide HOW I wanted to sort them for shelving purposes. There are about as many ways to sort books as there are genres (which is one way to sort them). You could sort them by:

• author, alphabetically
• genre
  
• topic
• read status (i.e. TBR, for review, read, re-readable faves, etc.) 
  
• title
• color
• trivial pursuit category (Anne Bogel - aka Modern Mrs. Darcy - says this is how her assistant sorts her own books and I thought that was ingenious!) 

And then of course, you can use combinations of the above. For instance, I sort by author but I also have a separate bookcase for books I've been asked to review/launch teams, etc. and a china hutch that I've repurposed into a home for our most cherished books. 

My book sisters (and partners at JustRead Tours) have done beautiful jobs sorting their books by color and gave me permission to share their shelves as examples of how pretty it can turn out!

Beth's bookcase

Rachel's book nook

And of course there is the ol' tried and true method of just putting them on the nearest shelf in whichever order they come out of the box because you know you'll be double and triple stacking them before too long anyway ;)

Have you moved with books before?
Do you have any helpful tips for rookies?
How do YOU sort your books?

Chat with me in the comments to be entered to win a book from my stash (US only) or a book of choice from Book Depository if international

~*~*~*~*~*~

 Good morning, Seekerville.  

As I started to type that, I couldn't help it. My brain burst out with this.

We really are our own wonderful neighborhood here. 

So today I was hoping we could grab a mug of coffee or tea, maybe share some donuts, and just hang out and chat about reading. 

I have a couple of reasons why I've chosen to do this post today.

1) Criminal Minds  - I will come back to this.

2) Pandemic Reading

3) A question from a workshop I attended.

I'm going to do these backwards because #3 is the most recent. In a workshop I attended, we were asked to write about things we enjoyed from our childhood. Honestly, the first thing I came up with - and the only one I didn't have to think hard about - was READ.

There were other questions, but my first answer to all of them was either a book title or READ.

I've always known reading was a major factor in my life and development, but answering these questions just emphasized for me how dominant a role books and reading have played throughout my life.

Which brings me to #2 - pandemic reading. 

This has been a mixed bag. There have been books that have totally consumed me for days at a time, and then there have been dozens that (through no fault of their own) couldn't wrangle my skittish attention span. But the ones that did capture me - oh they reminded me of why I love books so much. They allowed me to step out of a pandemic-ridden world into a place of magic.

I guess my daughter knew what she was doing when she gave me this mug for Christmas.

So that brings me to Point #1 - Criminal Minds.

I've spent a lot of days this summer with day-long marathons of Criminal Minds playing in the background as I wrote my next suspense novel. I have sort of a love-hate relationship with this show. Years ago, when it was running, I couldn't watch it because frankly I found it terrifying. But I happened to stumble upon the final episode when it aired back in February, and I was captivated by the personal relationships between the characters and the very believable camaraderie.

I discovered my cable station running marathons, and I learned that I could skip the first five minutes with the bloody criminal introduction, and just focus on the profilers - their relationships and their methodology for solving the crimes. Sure I still had to cover my eyes from time to time, but I found myself feeling like I was hanging out with a group of friends.

{For anyone who may not know, Criminal Minds follows the BAU (Behavioral Analysis Unit) of the FBI as they profile unsubs and solve crimes - usually serial killers and always gory. I cover my eyes A LOT.}

Jan and Mary may never forgive me for this comparison, but it reminded me of how I used to feel as a child when I hung out with The Happy Hollisters in their books - me with a group of fictional friends. Hopefully that doesn't sound as pathetic as it sounded to me when I wrote it. 😍

So now, in my roundabout way, I've gotten to the point of this post. Because of my fascination with the characters of Criminal Minds, I read an article about it called "Criminal Minds is ending after 15 years - here's why we're OK with that." There were a lot of of interesting points raised in the article, (and some I disagreed with), but the gist of it was that the world is very different now than it was in 2005 when the show premiered, and that audience tastes have changed. Themes that were popular back then, are not tolerated now. That article really stuck in my head, and I've thought of it often when people talk about likes and dislikes with books or shows.

THAT is what I wanted to talk about today. Have your tastes as readers/viewers changed over the years? If so, is there anything you enjoyed in the past that you wouldn't want to read now? Or vice-versa. Are there topics, themes, locations that you never were interested in before but now want?

And the followup question - what stories would you like to read that you are just not seeing out there?

I know we're talking about books here, but feel free to extend the discussion to your taste in film or TV shows as well.

And if you'd like to talk about your pandemic reading or childhood pleasures, please do. Were books important to you when you were growing up? What role does reading play in your life now?

Let's chat. I'll bring the coffee and donuts.

Image by Skyler H. from Pixabay

Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay

“They key thing to remember is that 'overwhelm' isn't an inherent personality flaw. It's not genetic. It's not communicable. It's not a fault with you. Overwhelm is a by-product of 'not having a plan'.”

Today, I’ll be doing a fun giveaway! I’m giving away a hanging travel bag that’ll be great for cosmetics (you knew I had to go there :)) or other toiletries or shaving items. It can even be used for packing electronics (for the many chargers you have to haul everywhere). Please let me know in the comments if you’d like to be entered! (Giveaway item will be similar to this photo but may not be exact depending on what’s available when I order it. U.S. entries only this time please.)

• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston 
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Moby Dick by Herman Melville

     

• They immediately grab your attention. Maybe you're chuckling at some poor soul being voluntold for horrors unknown, unfortunate Eustace Clarence Scrubb of the almost-deserved name, or a crime-committing mama raccoon. Maybe you're captivated by the clever (or poetic) wordsmithing. Maybe you're just plain intrigued by what comes after that first line - where could it go from here? Regardless, each of these twelve first lines definitely (and immediately) has you committed to discovering the rest of the book. 

• They are a bit vague. By that, I mean that a captivating first line raises more questions than it answers. Who was voluntold for what? Who is Ishmael & why do we care? (spoiler alert - we don't.) Why did poor Eustace almost deserve his name, and why only almost? What caused that 'swell of instant silence and intense heat'? This immediate need for more information again engages the reader's full attention & keeps them reading. 

• They can be poetic. The first line from Pepper Basham's The Thorn Keeper is one of my very fave first lines because it's so beautiful and wistful and a bit sad, too. Reading a first line like that - or the one from Beth Troy's Lu or quote #5 in the game list above - tells me I must keep reading to discover what other poetically beautiful gems are tucked inside this book!

• But they don't have to be. Lines like the ones from The Cupcake Dilemma by Jennifer Rodewald or More Than We Remember by Christina Suzann Nelson (and even #4 from our guessing game) are more humorous and maybe a little bit snarky. That doesn't necessarily mean the rest of the book is written in that tone - though it might - but yet again it keeps me reading to find out. 

We mustache you... who is who? (see hint)

Reading 

Reviewing

Blogging

JustRead Publicity-ing

Play This or That with us! 

Carrie and Beth

Affirm Bookishness

Enable Bookishness

Bookish Gifts

Bookish Time

Embrace Bookish

Bonus Book Love