Lunievicz

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From Ship Breaker to the Lightning Thief

I spent a few hours yesterday writing follow-up emails to all the store owners and booksellers I met on the road trip. There were about a dozen from that many indi bookstores. So here’s what I’ve figured out about this whole marketing thing. If I’m going to sell my books I have to reach four different groups.

The first group is readers. I have to let potential readers know about my book, that it exists. The internet is a wonderful tool for this as are bookstores. You would think reaching all the people who are potential readers would be easy but… it’s not. You have to get their attention and give them a reason to look at and buy your book as opposed to the hundreds of others staring at them in the bookstore or on the online page. Which brings us to group number two.

The second group is booksellers. They can be in bookstores or they can be on the internet. But the internet acts as a bookseller all by itself only it’s harder to figure out. On Amazon there are sections like, “People who bought this book also bought the following…” This is cool because I can see that people who bought my book also bought Forever by Maggie Stiefvater, Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi, and once but only once, Rick Riordan’s Lightning Thief. But how does this play out for new people finding my book? Hopefully I’m showing up on other book’s lists. Still, it’s not like you’re in a store and ask a bookseller what they read lately and like or if they can recommend a book for boys, or a new historical novel, or a book with sword fights and suspense with a touch, just a touch of family drama. Which is why as cool and helpful as the internet is, reaching bricks and mortar stores and developing relationships with bookstore owners and sellers is so important. It’s slower, but it builds over time. So far I’ve been to 23 stores (seventeen of which are independent bookstores), in nine states, and I’m just getting to my hometown, NYC this month.

As they say, people can’t buy your book if they can’t find it. It’s available over the internet, yes. But in bookstores… I’m working on that one store at a time.

Discussion of the third group, the business (agents, publishers, film, audio, and all the possible buyers of subsidiary rights) people, and fourth group, reviewers, tomorrow.

Posted by Joe Lunievicz | September 4, 2011 | Categories: Blog, Book Reviews, Bookstores, Publicity & Marketing | 2 Comments

Small Moments and Waf Hou

My son hates to write about small moments. They are part of his school work on writing non-fiction. He hates to come up with them and thinks they are a torture made up just for him.

As a writer I appreciate the technique the teacher is trying to teach him. I’m still working on the concept of small moments too in my writing.

Here are small details for small moments from my road trip:

speed limits in some states on the interstate are 70 mph which means most people are travelling between 75 and 90 mph.
if the Waffle House sign is broken and only says “Waf Hou” you should probably not eat there.
a coffee cup is a good thing to throw up in if you have nothing else available though it’s better to stop the car and avoid throwing up instead if you can.
passengers can do a lot of things on road trips but drivers can do only one – drive.
an iPad is an excellent travel aid but you do need to get the 3g service or you will be stuck hopping from wifi station to wifi station on the interstate and no matter how fast the iPad drive is it just can’t keep up.
engine lights will go on only while you are taking short cuts to avoid traffic while you are in the middle of nowhere, travelling in darkness, with your iPad on the 2% battery indicator.
engine lights will go off while you are not watching and while things are going well.
you can only drink so many cups of coffee before your hands start to shake.
when visiting bookstores in the south, smile, show them your book, mention Kelly Justice’s name (thank you Kelly!) and see what happens.

Posted by Joe Lunievicz | September 1, 2011 | Categories: Blog, Bookstores, Travel | 1 Comment

Lucky Day 13: Home and the Field of Dreams

Yesterday we hit traffic on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway and finally had to reduce speed down below 65. It’s amazing how little traffic the rest of the world has. Ahhh… New York City. It’s good to be home. 45 minutes going what would normally be 15 to get from the Verrazano to Northern Boulevard in Jackson Heights. We travelled half of New Jersey in the same amount of time on the Jersey Turnpike, and twice that in North Caroline on I-95. Did you know the speed limit is 70mph down there?

We’re unpacked and have slept a full night in our own beds and yes, that does feel good. I even have six full days of vacation left so although the day job worries me (looming like a nuclear missile would be the appropriate metaphor I think) I can ease back into life at a slower pace. It was interesting to see the effects of Irene on the land we passed through. I-95 is like a tunnel, trees to both sides for so long, and it’s basically straight, so we only saw downed trees in North Caroline and Virginia. But the sense of being in a sort of time machine was visceral. Overall, the trip back was quick and uneventful – hard on the butt of course, but that goes with sitting for 6-8 hours a day in a car. We didn’t stop at bookstores on the way back because we were all pretty much done in by Universal and the driving. And… we wanted to get home. That’s the sign of a good vacation. It was time to be home. That and my family might have mutinied if I asked them to detour one more time – just an hour to visit one more store… no (imagine the flurry of debris thrown at me from the back seat from my son) … we headed home.

I have a list of stores to follow-up on in Baltimore, Richmond, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Charlotte, Atlanta, and Gainesville. I’ll see who has had a chance to read Open Wounds, and who may now order it to have it in-store. I’m going to make list of stores that carry it and direct folks there (people are banging down the doors to get a copy, really). Well, as they say in Field of Dreams, if you build it, they will come. In the case of bookselling, if they’ve read it, they will sell it. For those of you who’ve been following along with me on the trip to Universal and back, I’m going to take off tomorrow from blogging – I have a guest blog to do for a friend to put together which I’ll let you know about over the next few days – and I’ll be back on Friday.

I hope you enjoyed the trip.

I sure did.

Posted by Joe Lunievicz | August 31, 2011 | Categories: Blog, Bookstores, Travel | Leave a comment

Day 12: Downed Trees and the One-eyed Lady

I didn’t know there were any HoJos left (Howard Johnsons). But it seems there are some hotels still hanging around.

Okay. She didn’t have one eye, but one eye was much bigger than the other and bulging a bit like Marty Feldman’s. This was the lovely lady at the HoJo’s we stayed at last night in a nameless town somewhere between Richmond and Savannah who checked us in. I know it’s a long stretch of highway but I’m worried they have a long reach. Let’s just say, we’re hoping to never have to stop at that HoJo’s again.

Some things that worried me:

nonsmoking rooms that used to be smoking rooms – I’m sorry but the smell never leaves those rooms.
very dark upholstery, bedding, walls – just what are you trying to hide?
room doors with holes in them that have been puttied and not painted over – it just doesn’t feel… safe.
hotel doors without locks – that speaks for itself.

Some things I noticed on the way home on the stretch between Savannah and Richmond.

I-95 is long long long.
I-95 has lengths of it that have nothing at all along them but trees and marsh – long lengths.
Starbucks in Targets are not as good as stand-alones.
The signs for South of the Border are many and colorful – the compound by the interstate bright like a giant collection of christmas lights.
Hurricane Irene left its mark along the road with debri and fallen trees – a bit eerie having seen all the footage on TV the day before.
JR spends a lot of money on billboards.
Sooner or later you’re going to eat at a Cracker Barrel restaurant.
Avoid the Waffle Houses.

It’s our last night before we make it home. We’re just outside of DC. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone os on the computer and I’m late to watch it while I type this out.

It’ll be good to be home, collect the dogs, see what’s left of the apartment.

As for the one-eyed lady from HoJos…

Posted by Joe Lunievicz | August 29, 2011 | Categories: Blog, Travel | Leave a comment

Day 11: Dueling Dragons and Frida Khalo Treasure Hunt

My wife’s family is safely ensconced in our apartment – having to evacuate Rockaway Beach where they live before Irene hits. They have found the inflatable mattresses and as of this moment know how to work the cable remote and therefore the TV. We’ve been watching the weather report here. The sky is dark here also and the threat of thunderstorms – a constant in August anyway in Florida – has shut down the pool. We’re all reading, gaming, blogging in the giant lobby sitting in comfy chairs. Soon I will be drinking tea.

Earlier we made our last visit to Harry Potter-land. We will miss it. Tomorrow we leave. I left my stomach on the dueling dragon ride. Karen and Max watched me disappear into the gated line after viewing all the dozen or so warnings about quick turns, sudden drops, 360’s, and backward somersaults. Unless you are in perfect health and above 5’4″ you are not allowed to pass and ride the beast.

I rode the blue dragon.

It did indeed flip me over, twirl me around, make me go upside down and inside out all at an incredible pace and with centrifugal force keeping me plastered to my suspended seat. Yes, it is a suspended car roller coaster. I love these things. The whole ride lasted less than a minute and I felt mildly ill afterwards, even had some trouble walking straight for a few minutes after landing. But it was cool. Once was enough though, until next time.