The “bold beginning” taken at the launching of The Secrets We Carry: Journal of a Girl in Trouble last month was just that — a beginning. And unless follow-up initiatives occurred in the wake of that beginning, the potential impact of my novel would diminish rapidly. Fortunately, two events have helped me maintain the momentum: the Newark Book Festival and the Lithopolis Book Fair.
An evening reception at the Licking County Public Library preceded the Newark event. This allowed me to mix and mingle with some of the other authors who would be peddling their books the next day. While it would be easy to think of these other authors as competitors, I prefer to regard them as co-workers for the literary betterment of society. As such we look out for one another and applaud the success any one of us has. During this reception, I met a woman who has written about Jerrie Mock, a Newark native who was the first woman to fly solo around the world. This woman even had a shirt with pictures of Jerrie Mock and her airplane on it. Besides chatting with other authors and enjoying a variety of snack-type foods, I took part in a tour of the Licking County Public Library. Although smaller than a big-city library, it offered many of the same services, such as story time for children, open computer carrels, conference rooms, and lifelong-learning programs for retirement-age residents.
The Book Fair itself took place in the town’s canal market district, essentially a long open-sided shelter. We came to regret those open sides after powerful gusts of wind knocked down displays and tore off decorations. The larger the display, the more likely it was to be thrown off its table. Even my smaller display was knocked over repeatedly. It would have been worse if my young table mate, Angola Hones, had not lent me some bricks to anchor down my sign holders.
Despite the chaos created by the wind, I did pretty well, selling eight copies of The Secrets We Carry and one of The Bullybuster. There was a steady flow of people through the canal market district, and some were drawn to my table by the sign I had set up. “This book fights sexual abuse,” it declared, referring to my pledge to donate 2/3 of my sales revenue to RAINN and the Ohio Domestic Violence Network. A few “Green Flags of Healthy Relationships” flyers were also picked up.
The Lithopolis Book Fair gave me the chance to catch up with fellow author Charles O’Donnell. Charles was a reliable member of the GEM-C Writers and is one of the few people I know who has achieved some success as a self-published author. He drove us to Lithopolis, which is about 25 miles from Worthington. In terms of sales, this book fair was not nearly as successful as the Newark event, with only two copies of The Secrets We Carry sold. The second copy was a last-minute sale. I had already packed up my things in Charles’ car when a woman came to me, wanting a copy. It was good to know that under some circumstances, I can still run fairly fast.
The Lithopolis Book Fair did give me the chance to meet Kathryn Haueisen, whose book Mary Brewster’s Love Life: Matriarch of the Mayflower was also published by Van Velzer Press. Kathryn took a photo of us together and e-mailed it to Van Velzer CEO Trish Lewis. I hope it brightened Trish’s day.
I’ll be participating in another book fair in Dover in early October, and have applications in for two others in Logan and Cincinnati, respectively. In the meantime, I’ve been in contact with nearby Clintonville Books, in hopes of arranging a book-signing at their facility. My literary career, such as it is, took a long time to take wing, but now that it has, I intend to make the most of it.