Cead Fáilte
Happy Wednesday to everyone. I have this interview today with Carla Vergot, an author from western Virginia where we talk about her young adult fiction series, Lily Barlow. By all accounts, these books are a wonderful read. The main character is a young woman who likes to play detective. For more about her books, visit her website at www.carlavergot.com to learn more.
She is a wonderful, warm person to talk to and I had a great time interviewing her. I hope those who take the time to watch the show see that as well. I show off a screenshot from her website of a couple of her books so that people can go out and find them at their local book retailer.
In other news, I am slowly moving towards consolidating my podcasts back into one. I also have two more interviews I have pre-recorded for the next couple of weeks ahead. Then I will start slowing that down. I am finding out that managing interviews takes up a lot of time and can be stressful at times. I need to learn to relax and quit working so hard, so herself keeps telling me.
Some of the people I interview are very nice to talk to so I plan to keep with that for the future. But they won’t be every week anymore. Finding the nice and friendly ones is a bit harder so my interviews will not be as frequent after mid-October. My interview next week is a bit political to take warning.
I am also reviewing my book, Fugitives in a New United States, for proofreading. I have requested quotes to have this done by a professional, which I expect will cost me a nice penny or two but it will be worth it. I will rest easier knowing I have done all I can to make this a book that people will like when they read it and not be distracted by grammar and spelling errors. I could have sworn we scrubbed that manuscript to the nth degree before we published it but apparently we missed a few.
That is the one thing I have learned in my book writing adventure. It is not cheap to self-publish a good quality manuscript. I have spent hundreds of dollars on a good book cover, a very fancy Amazon ad profile and now, a proofreader in order for me to feel good about this for the long run.
I have also learned about more self-publishing distributors along the way that I will be pursuing very soon as well. Retailers such as Books-A-Million (I thought they had gone out of business), Indies, Book Stop, Porchlight and Poisoned Pen. There may even be more I am not aware of, yet. As it stands right now, this book is for sale at Barnes & Noble, Lulu, and Ingram Spark. With a copy donated to my local public library.
Which brings me back to self-publishing. It looks like I may have to edit some misspelled words and fix grammar errors, such as misplaced commas. Once I am satisfied that all is as good as it can be, I will need to update the online manuscripts for all the retailers. Then, I will have a bunch of copies of my book, both hardcover and paperback, on my shelf here that will be slightly obsolete.
I plan to give them away. Maybe I can find a local school that might take them or a charity that accepts books for those who are down on their luck. I can’t imagine there will be too many critics of free to read, brand new books, despite the supposed grammar and misspelling issues.
Then I have the wonderful choice of ordering more authors copies (they are sold at cost to the author) to sell through my own website book store webpage. As I said, writing and selling books is not easy or cheap.
I will make the announcement on my media pages when I am finished with my proofreading and uploading the revised manuscripts to all of the distributors I have contracted with. It may take a while but I hope to have everything finished in time for the end of the calendar year holiday shopping.
That is all I have this week. For all of the people who celebrate Celtic holidays, happy Mabon to you. This is primarily a women’s celebration of the Moon at the end of the harvest season in Celtic lore. The rituals are usually performed under the September full moon, which also marks the autumn equinox for those interested in knowing that. Now the days will get noticeably shorter as we head towards Samhain and the Winter Solstice.
The season of the Cailleach will be upon us very soon so I hope everyone has their winter foods stored and houses snuggled up for the cold season ahead. I will be back next week with another peek into Gaelic culture. Sláinte
As I say good bye this week, I wish to leave you with an Irish blessing as you go about your day. “May your house be warm and snug, the pantry stocked and a cuppa something warm be always to hand as the days grow short and the nights grow long” Slán go fóill.
T. Ó Domhnaill — Gaelic Seanchaí
The Village Oak Tree