Lorraine Harris's Blog (6)

It is great being an author but how many of you have taken on the role of speaker? I decided that if I am going to obtain more visibility then I had to do other things. One of them is becoming a speaker. Every year, The Villages, Florida sponsors a book festival. I volunteered to do a workshop. It went off very well and I ended up selling books. That was not my intent but that was the result.

After my book was published the most exciting thing that happened to me was being invited by Barnes and Noble to participate in a book signing, along with nine other authors. The day of the event I was in heaven. I was having a book signing at Barnes and Noble--my all time favorite bookstore--me the author. In addition, my book would be on the bookshelf.

As you can see, it does not take much to excite me. I have to say, I had a successful book signing but only after I did my own…

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I have four published books and every book has had errors in them. This was after I read it, read, and reread it. I also recorded each chapter, played it back and went through the book in hope to find errors--which I did but I still missed some. I read each line backwards. Lastly, the insult to injury--two books, I paid $2.00 a page for someone to proofread and edit and I do not have to tell you what happened--errors.

Did I attempt to have the publisher correct the errors? No, because…

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Now that I am retired there are things that never occurred to me until I could write on a regular basis and my book was published. I want to share them with anyone who writes.

1. A comfortable chair is a necessity especially with the amount of hours you sit in front of a computer or typewriter.

2. Since an author's time is limited, you need to learn chair exercises to keep in shape and to avoid weight gain.

3. Do not be discouraged when you sit down to write and it takes…

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I have been reading, reading, and reading books regarding marketing, promoting, and selling your book(s). What I have tried and what works is the difference between night and day. The best idea that I have used and it has worked for each book that I had published was to invite people to the book signing. How?

When I had my first book signing at Barnes and Noble I was afraid no one would show up or buy my book. I sent invitations to my friends and neighbors and hoped they would show…

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I have four published books. The first question is always, "Who is your publisher?" When I tell them PublishAmerica and Jawbone Publishing. There response is, "Oh, you self-published."

My response is, "I used an alternative way to have my book published." Some how these individuals think that your book does not meet the standard of a published author. It is unfortunate that writers cannot support those of us whose goal is to have our books in print. Trust me, a traditional publisher…

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