author websites – Norma J. Hill

Oh my! It’s June 6^th … almost a month since I posted on May 8^th about my May 4^th book launch! Of course, just because I had a successful launch doesn’t mean my A Summerland Stories Scrapbook: Memories & Memorabilia 1930s-1960s book project adventure is over, and I can just let it rest. So, you may ask, what have I been up to, book-wise, in the past month? Well, let’s see….

Naturally, I’ve continued to keep track of my book sales and reviews…. Checking regularly on my Amazon site, on Goodreads, on this normajhill site too, on comments on Facebook, and keeping track of the books I’ve sold personally (as well as depositing book income in my business account … It’s important to have a separate account for your book business, you know!).

From the start of this project, back in October 2024, I’ve been filing all kinds of related information in a binder, to keep everything in one place for handy reference. However, over time it got less and less handy, as the items were definitely not very well organized. And since I’m told “organization” is my middle name (LOL), I got busy after the launch and organized the binder so I can quickly and easily access the items I need at any time. I do recommend, if you’re doing a book project like this, that you also keep a binder—but please, start organizing it right from the start! You’ll save yourself a lot of time and energy.

On May 11, we went out to get in our van … and the battery was dead. There was also an odd smell when we were able to get the battery going. So we took the van to the garage … and it turned out the battery was old and needed to be replaced. (Do you have any idea how expensive van batteries are? Yikes!). While getting that done, the garage noticed we had a bad radiator leak. They had to order a replacement radiator, and so we were advised to use the vehicle only locally and as little as possible. Finally, 2 weeks later, we took the van into the garage to get the $1000 radiator repair done … and it turned out that the radiator was fine; it was just the radiator hose! Wonderful! Only 1/10the the cost. Whew! Meanwhile, I had been planning to drive around to libraries, museums, bookstores, etc. to see where I could maybe place my book. So that job went on hold till nearly the end of May!

Meanwhile, I began reading Jane Friedman’s 2^nd edition of her book The Business of Being a Writer. If you are serious about writing and publishing (whether traditional publishing, self-publishing, or another of the publishing approaches which she explains very clearly here, I highly recommend purchasing her book; it’s up-to-date, easy to read, and covers just about every question you might ask! (I had the first edition, and it was helpful for sure, so I was excited to get this new edition as soon as it became available).

On May 13^th, I signed up my book on IngramSpark so libraries and bookstores can order copies, and I also ordered a sample copy for myself to make sure it looks fine. Apparently, the book was printed in Tennessee on May 17^th and mailed out to me; two weeks later, I’m still waiting for it (I emailed them yesterday, May 5. Haven’t heard back yet, but from what I gather, books from their printer can take quite a while to arrive…).

Also, on May 13^th, I checked out how to sign up for an Indigo (Coles, Chapters) account, and I sent out requests (by email) for reviews from folks who had let me know they ordered my book from Amazon … thanks to Lili and Gerald for their wonderful 5 star reviews (and if you ordered the book from Amazon, I’d be delighted if you could add your review, too). And if you are on Goodreads, please feel free to give a review there, too! Thanks to Taryn for her 5-star on Goodreads 😊 I’ve also printed out some reviews (from Amazon, Facebook, etc.) to use on my updated book page and have posted my book cover photo on all pages of my website.

On May 14, I went to the local Coles store (a branch of Indigo), talked to Carmen about possibly doing a book signing there, and left a copy of my book for her and the manager, Vanyel, to check out. Great folks! Vanyel emailed me with information about the process, both at the local store and with the Indigo company generally. So helpful! I now have a book signing set up for July 12 at Coles in Penticton. I have also filled out the online forms about my book for Indigo and submitted them, and have also filled out their Indigo Vendor Hub forms a couple days ago.

I’ve been carrying around some copies of my book, and I have sold some to folks I’ve met at our local mall, at the farmer’s market, at our local writers’ group, and other locations. Also, some local folks who couldn’t make it to the launch have contacted me and have picked up book copies, too.

I’ve been posting some of my old Summerland photos (related to the time period of the book) on the Summerland history pages on Facebook here and here and have been getting some great comments and conversations. A good way to keep people learning about and/or interested in the book!

I’ve organized all my computer files related to my book, into a single folder on the computer, and also backed it up on the cloud and on a flash drive … don’t want to lose anything!

The Summerland Museum has bought a number of my books for their museum gift shop, and posted a wonderful notice about it to all their members! Also, I brought a copy of my book to a former tutoring student, Ty, who constantly encouraged me to write and publish my book, and his mom took a photo of us together and posted it on Facebook for everyone to see (check it out at the top of this post). And another friend, Leila, one of my editing clients, posted about it on Facebook, too, with lots of comments following.

Oh! And I also uploaded my book launch slide show to my website … and here it is if you’d like to check it out. Grab a cuppa and sit back and enjoy! (It takes about 20 minutes or so … and you’ll probably have to wait a bit while it downloads to your computer… If it doesn’t work for you, email me at nlhills@shaw.ca and I’ll send you a copy).

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Norma J. Hill

a pen and paper mama site

Category: author websites

Summerland Stories #23 – Post-launch update and my launch PowerPoint!

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