Readers' Corner

Going crazy trying to figure out what to read? The Athens, GA, Regional Library System has a great website. Look under "Readers' Corner" for tips on books, Internet resources, and writers in different genres -- African American authors, Civil War fiction, Family Sagas, and tons more.

Writers' radio

This looks like a great radio station for writers and readers... Clearstory Radio (107.1 Nashville) features an array of authors and is live on Fridays at 9 a.m. CST. You can listen via a link on their website. Here's a list of upcoming authors:

• Catherine Coulter, Author Thrillers, FBI Series, Historial Fiction




• Olivia Byrd Cooley, Author Miss Hildreth




• Jeannie Cummings, Author The Outside Boy & A Rip In Heaven




• Dr. Mark Green, Author My Night With Saddam




• Shellie Rushing Tomlinson, Author/Radio Host

Meet the author...

C.C. Jackson is a Louisiana writer who recently self published her young adult novel, Stay. I interviewed Jackson via email to find out more about her writing journey.

Please tell us a little about yourself and your novel.

I grew up in a small town in northern Maryland and moved to southern Louisiana after meeting my husband 15 years ago. I really enjoyed growing up in Maryland but have definitely fallen in love with the deep south.

I wrote my first book when I was in the fourth grade. It was about six orphans that became friends and traveled to Paris. In Paris they rode horses and met Michael Jackson. It was featured in an exhibit at our local mall at the time. My parents still have and cherish that little book.

When I was in the tenth grade, I won a local Sci-Fi writing contest. It was very exciting and really let me know that I could do this. I have been writing and blogging ever since. Stay just sort of came to me one day. I just sat down and started writing all of the things that popped into my head.

It is about a girl named Callie Rose. She grew up in southern Louisiana, leading the life of a normal teenage girl. One night she was stolen away from her home only to be told that she was destined to become queen of the fairies. The story is about her struggle to grow up in a harsh underground environment, putting aside everything that she thought that she wanted for her life prior to being kidnapped. She gets her first dose of love and heartbreak when she finds herself torn between two guys. She must also decide if she is willing to challenge the current queen, who is a tyrant, in order to take her rightful place on the throne.

What made you decide to self publish your novel?

My husband purchased a Nook Color to give to me as a Christmas gift. I think that it is one of the best gifts that he has ever given me. I have always been an avid reader, and I was reading at about a three-book-per-week pace.

It was during the exploration of my new toy that I first discovered Indie Writers. They were putting out all of these really great books themselves. I had written several stories over the years just for fun and thought… Hey, I can do this. That’s when I sat down and started writing Stay. Six weeks later, it was published.

I never even considered submitting to a large publishing house. As an Indie, I was in total control. I could set my own price, or even change it if I chose. I was able to price my book at a price that people could afford, especially in this economy. I didn’t have to sit and wait for years just to see someone else read my work. Self publishing has been very rewarding.

How did you juggle three children, a part-time job, and writing?

I am very fortunate to have a wonderful husband that works very hard so that I only have to work a part-time job. It started out that way when the kids were small. I was able to be at home with them through the week, and just pick up shifts on the weekend. I am also very fortunate to work somewhere that offers such a great shift. I just work two nights, twelve hours each shift. It’s great and works out perfectly for my writing.

Now that the kids are getting a little older, I have all day to write while they are in school. So, I have decided to keep my weekend shift at work and continue to concentrate my free time during the week on my writing.

Your novel is available on Kindle and Nook – could you briefly describe the process of creating an ebook?

After reading some great books by Indie Authors on my Nook, I started paying attention to who they listed as their publisher. Smashwords was the name that kept popping up over and over. When I finally went onto the Smashwords site, I found a great tutorial that talked about formatting and such so that your book could be converted into ebook format. The main things that it talked about were things like paragraph indentions and spacing. It was pretty easy really.

When my book was finally ready to be uploaded, I opted to publish to Kindle and Nook directly. Those are the main sites that your book will sell through and I felt that a one-on-one relationship with those networks was pretty important. I still use Smashwords to publish to iBooks, Kobo, Sony, and a few others.

What has been the biggest challenge in making your novel a reality?

The biggest challenge by far has been marketing. Going from a complete unknown to trying to sell your work is a daily battle. Social networking has been my biggest asset, but it can become very time consuming and leave little time for actual writing if I’m not careful.

What’s been the most rewarding part?

The most rewarding part of getting my work out there is when someone sends me a comment, whether it be on Twitter, Facebook, or my website, that says I really loved your book and can’t wait for the sequel. It just gives me such a feeling of satisfaction. That’s what it is all about.

What sort of publicity have you done for your novel – obviously, social networking, but any local readings? Has it been hard to do your own marketing?

The largest part of my publicity has been through social networking. Twitter is my number one asset for getting my name out there. I have also sent copies of my book to several book bloggers for review on their websites. I am hoping that they will play a large part in helping me reach a bigger audience. All of the publicity that I have done has been through the internet in some way. With my book not being available in local book stores, it’s very hard to gain an audience for public readings or book signings.

Are you working on any other writing projects now?

I am working on two projects at the moment. I am working on the sequel to Stay, as well as another young adult paranormal romance. I hope to have them both available in the next few months.

2011 Spring Okra Picks

Okra Picks are new Southern books that SIBA indie bookstores want to especially share with their customers. All the books selected are Southern in nature, and there is a SIBA member Bookstore who is really excited about the book. Here's a link to the 2011 spring picks (which include Under the Mercy Trees by Heather Newton, Tales from a Free-Range Childhood by Donald Davis, and Fighting the Devil in Dixie by Wayne Greenhaw): http://www.sibaweb.com/okra

Edible Book Festival

Watch out for the annual Edible Book Festival at Duke Univesity this Saturday. The only rule: make edible art that has something to do with books as shapes or content. April 1, 2011 - Gothic Reading Room (Perkins Library) 2-3:30 p.m. Duke University Libraries Information and inspiration can be found on the International Festival's home page at http://www.books2eat.com/.

Book Buzz in Columbia, SC

Richland County Public Library has a great section on their website called Book Buzz. It has reviews of recently published books( including one of Ron Rash's Serena) staff picks, and lists of books from the NY Times Bestseller list. It's worth checking out, especially if you're looking for something to read and don't have any ideas!

Trailfest 2011

Check out the Southern Literary Trail, where there are events throughout the South. Here's a link to events in Mississippi:

http://www.southernliterarytrail.org/events-ms.html

Events include:

• "FIELDS OF DREAMS: SPORTS IN THE SOUTH": The Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration
• The 100th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION OF TENNESSEE WILLIAMS
• Amanda/Regina: Fashioning Southern Women for the Broadway Stage
• THE 17th ANNUAL OXFORD CONFERENCE FOR THE BOOK

Buy a book, get one free!

Check out this website for info. on how to get a free book from an indie bookstore:
http://www.authorsroundthesouth.com/cos_display_arts.php

"Wanda Jewell, Executive Director of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance for nearly 20 years, is overrun with books. All kind of books, galleys, advance reading copies, advance reader editions, paperbound and hardbound, slip-covered and not, limited editions, signed and unsigned, personalized and not; and finds herself overrun with books. Books here, books there, books, books, everywhere…and when contemplating the management of her extensive personal library, had her aha moment. How to weed her collection and support her southern indie bookstores at the same time? Thus was born the Free Book Stimulus Plan."

The Blue Suitcase

Okay, so Marianne Wheelaghan is not a Southern writer -- she lives in Scotland, in fact. But she's just released her first novel, and she did it by creating her own small press, so I thought lots of writers might be interested in this...

Marianne is an established writer, editor, and creative writing teacher (see her interview in the April, 2008 blog entry). Her husband has written several academic books and is a skilled desktop publisher. When the big publishing houses failed to pick up her novel (historical fiction, by the way; I guess they thought it'd be hard to market?), Marianne and her hubby decided to do it themselves, and why not? They have the skills, talent, drive, and the strict attention to detail that is needed to produce a high-quality publication. Check out their website at www.pilrigpress.co.uk.

I'll be posting a review of the book soon, and possibly an interview with Marianne. In the meantime, what do you think of start-up presses? Is it a good idea for writers? It's a lot of work, but isn't it better than being ignored by the big presses??

Local writers' festivals

It's tempting to write off the big-chain-bookstores as the "bad guys" stealing all the business from small bookstores, but every now and then they do their bit to support local writers. A few years ago, I went to the Barnes & Noble in Durham, NC, that had a roundtable of local self-published authors. They talked about their books, and then the audience were able to buy signed copies.

Here's another example of the "local writers festival" at a B&N in Birmingham, AL. Let me know if you know of any other similar events.

Southern Writers' Festival
Author Signing
Come and support our wonderful selection of local authors in person during this eclectic event. With the collection of many genres, there is something for everyone.
Sunday October 24, 2010 2:00 PM
The Summit Birmingham
Summit Shopping Center,
201 Summit Boulevard Suite 100,
Birmingham, AL 35243,
205-298-0665