March On!
I got an extra mile of steps in on July Fourth by marching in our town’s home-grown parade. Not just anyone can march, you have to have either a float or music of some kind or belong to an organized group. I threw some extra red-white-blue garland around Zoe the grandpup’s harness and leash and voila! – we joined the “Dogs of Barnstable” section. Of course, since I prescribe to the idea of “always be marketing” for my books, I also used the parade route to distribute small American flags to parade watchers who looked like my ideal reader. My DIL also knew the profile, so she took one side of the route and I took the other. The flags represented the small American flag that Josephine Marzynski kept with her during her 13 months in Germany, whose story I tell in UNDER TWO FLAGS. We handed out 48 flags which also had a notecard attached with more information about the book. Will it drive sales? Maybe. At the minimum, it generated a new route to engage readers and introduce them to my books.

The rest of July I continued to “hawk” my books at in-person events, sharing booth and tent space with a couple of author friends. There’s little rest for the weary author who wants to get her books into the hands of readers! So onward I went from three days at an artisan shack to a two-day craft fair with a pop-up tent shared with fellow local authors Judy Lannon and Jenn Bouchard. Wanna know another insider tip about the wacky world of being an author? No one ever told me you had to develop MacGyver skills to set up a tent after the frame got bent. Somehow, we managed to get it up and remembered to tell anyone over 5’4″ to “duck your head!” as they entered the booth. The good news? Our pathetic tent must have earned us the pity vote as we attracted lots of customers and each sold enough books to afford to buy a new tent for the second day.

By the end of that last event, I tallied up my successes and rewarded myself with a trip to a Cape Cod landmark, Four Seas Ice Cream, for a dish of homemade mocha chip. No more chocolate jimmies available (Boston word for “sprinkles”) so I splurged for a drizzle of homemade hot fudge. I think I need to find another parade to march off those extra calories!

Wheels up on Wednesday landed me in Nashville for a two-day conference with my publisher, Black Rose Writing. As I finish up this post, I’m grateful to pause and reflect on all the great information shared from the BRW team and other authors on how we can continue to move forward with our writing and marketing to realize book success. I spoke about the importance of connecting with readers through newsletters, blogs, and Substack. In addition to the great food shared over meaningful conversations, we snuck out one night to The Listening Room for a slice of local music. Writers united! Those who write books and those who write songs. Great talent all around.

Read on for my August book picks and recs, book club tips, and featured giveaways.

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