Welcome to my first Newsletter. I promise to make each one short; we all have too much print flying at us. The intent is to share behind the scenes anecdotes and candid observations about the writing and publishing journey. Thanks for coming along!
Preparing to Launch
In January the final edits were approved and The Acquisition of Elizabeth Grace moved from a manuscript into a type set form and headed to the printers. February was a busy month, as I launched an Author Instagram, an Author Website, and learned how to use Mailchimp, so I could create a monthly newsletter. You’re now reading the result of that exercise!
During the past few months I’ve also been working on the relaunch of my first novel, The Girlfriend Book. I had run into problems with Tablo, the Australian self-publishing firm I had worked with since 2021. Over the past year, they’d stopped responding to all of their authors, and my formatted work and royalties had become trapped. Since I own the rights to my novel, I decided to republish directly with KDP (Amazon) and Ingram Sparks. Working with Indie Publishing, a consultant to self-publishers, we reformatted the book, added a new bright pink cover (thanks Joyce and Rose), and uploaded it to KDP (Amazon). As I type away, we are almost finished uploading the book to Ingram Sparks, which acts as the distributor to bookstores, big and small. However, there’s a glitch, which is how most things go I’m learning. Time and more attention will eventually provide the answer.
What’s next?
As March begins, I’ve been focusing on setting up “Meet the Author” and “Q&A” type events for April and May. A huge thanks to all who have offered to host friends, book me in as a Book Club guest author, and help spread the word. It’s cliché, but true – “It takes a village to launch a book”.
This past week the press release for The Acquisition of Elizabeth Grace went out and I am now beginning interviews, set up by Sasha Stoltz, RE:BOOKS’s PR person. I had one today with a radio station in Los Angeles that was fun. Charles Madison from Nexxlegacy was a very kind and enthusiastic host, asking about my writing journey and about themes and background surrounding The Acquisition of Elizabeth Grace. He was so engaging and wonderful to listen to as he too shared his thoughts about reading and writing. I’m hoping all interviewers will be as lovely as him!
March 26th is the book release date, and my Book Launch is on March 28th. I can imagine a very busy month ahead as we continue to find interesting ways to get the word out. Thank you to family, friends and to my team of Book Ambassadors for your support, ideas and kindness. And to all who are receiving this, thank you for reading!
Elizabeth Grace
When I began writing this character, I could see her – stunning, sophisticated and poised, but I couldn’t sense her interior thoughts and motivations. As characters and conflicts appeared, her strength and vulnerability emerged. Today she is fully formed in my head and often I sense she’s hovering nearby. I’m looking forward to you meeting her soon!
What I Read & Watched
During January I read through Streisand’s 966 page memoir. I was in no rush to finish, and began watching her movies along the way. I was struck by her strength, talent and resilience. Her break out performance in Funny Girl at age 21 on stage, and then four years later on film is remarkable. I loved re-watching that movie. I highly recommend it!
In Search of the Perfect SCONE
Scones and British tea time are featured a number of times within The Acquisition of Elizabeth Grace. As a salute to that theme I’ve begun a trek to ten Toronto locations in search of the perfect scone. (Fingers crossed my jeans will still zip up by the end of this venture!) Visit #1 at Baker and Scone – their currant scone with grated lemon was delicious, and with 3 of 10 visits completed, they reign supreme so far. You can follow these visits on my instagram.
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