Tag Archives: marketing

Don, In-Person, Tom, WOWI Session

Just Tom And Don And A Bit Of Randomness

author
See Tom

Well, that didn’t go as planned; but it may have come out better. Don and I decided to book ourselves for the last interview of the year. Gaps in our schedules coincided, Coupeville Library was nice enough to let us use their meeting room, and the two of us sat down to talk about Don’s books and projects, and my books and projects. We did that, but the conversation drifted over to what life is like for authors in the shopping and selling season. 

Bake cookies author food recipe
See Don

We also talked about the value of talking to other members of our writing community. Writing does not have to be a solo venture. Fellow writers can provide insights into how readers perceive a book. The author may have one intent, but readers may find something else that is not obvious to someone who wrote, edited, and repeatedly read the book before it was published. Bicycling books may appeal to RV owners. Travel books may appeal to people from countries that weren’t visited or even mentioned. 

Tom Don bagpipe presentation Scotland speaking
See Tom and Don in the library

This podcast has become an unplanned, informal, yet possibly useful resource built from the contributions and interviews of dozens of members of Whidbey Island’s writing community. Book store owners can bring some reality to expectations. Librarians can point to overlooked resources for research or even funding. Writers from your genre undoubtedly have encountered surprises, the good ones the bad ones and the weird ones. Successful and failed campaigns are useful as long as we learn from them. And, of course, writers can support writers simply by listening to frustrations or understanding otherwise obscure celebrations. (You finally found the right font!)

Thanks to everyone who participates by listening, being interviewed, and sharing.

I hope you enjoy the podcast, and I hope your sales treat you well.

Writing on Whidbey Island (WOWI) episode 42 – Don And Tom And Marketing

 

Some self-promotion which should have no shame involved (because each completed work is a celebration):

Don Scoby

Patriotic bagpipe sheet music food recipe cook bookWebsites
Whidbey Island Baking Company
BagpiperDon.com

Books

Tom Trimbath

Website – TrimbathCreative.net
Email – tetrimbath@gmail.com
Narratives – Amazon Author page

Books

  • Just Keep Pedaling, a bicycle ride across America (one man’s failed attempt to lose weight, really)
  • Twelve Months at Barclay Lake – from the wet side of Washington’s Cascades (party party)
  • Twelve Months at Lake Valhalla – from the cold crest of the Cascades (frozen more than thawed)
  • Twelve Months at Merritt Lake – from the dry side of the Cascades (with more than a whiff of smoke)
  • Dream. Invest. Live. – personal finance for frugal folks (by request)
    Walking Thinking Drinking Across Scotland – but could’ve used more drinking
  • Kettle Pot Cup – a light-hearted look at the way we really drink tea
  • Firewatcher – book one of the Exodus/Genesis sci-fi series

Photo essays – Blurb https://www.blurb.com/user/tetrimbath

  • Twelve Months at Cultus Bay
  • Twelve Months at Deception Pass
  • Twelve Months at Admiralty Head
  • Twelve Months at Penn Cove
  • Twelve Months at Double Bluff
  • Twelve Months at Maxwelton Beach
  • Twelve Months at Possession Beach
  • Twelve Months at Possession Preserve
  • Twelve Months at Dugualla Bay
Blog Post, Don, In-Person, Tom, Workshop

Getting Ready For Our October 15 Self-Publishing Workshop

1 Comment

Our workshop about self publishing is coming soon. October 15th we’ll be conducting an all-day (9AM-9PM) workshop: From Inspiration To Publication. In one day we’ll discuss topics from writing to editing to formatting to publishing to selling your book. 

The previous time we made the presentation was at the local library (thank you, Sno-Isle Libraries and the Friends of Langley Library); and we covered as much as we could in under a couple of hours. It was a bit of a rush. (#massiveunderstatement) This time we’ll give each topic more time. We’re also hosting it in downtown Coupeville, at the Rec Hall, so the setting is sweet, again. 

But what should you bring?

The good news is that you don’t need to bring much, but you can also bring a lot. Whatever way you prefer to take notes, laptop or paper, bring it. (Sorry, no recordings for privacy concerns.) You may just have an idea or you have a completed manuscript; either way there’s enough to get started with. Don’t be surprised if we ask you to describe your project in three sentences. Aside from that, Coupeville has the rest like plenty of restaurants. Park at the building. Pay that day. (check, cash, PayPal) Take breaks if you need to. 

We’ll have wi-fi and presentations, of course, but we’ll also bring publishing and merchandising examples. The very nature of the presentation means we’ll also have the props and support ideas that we use when we present our books at readings and signings.

Don’t worry about signing up. We appreciate knowing how many people to expect, but this is an island thing. There’s no need to be formal. 

We’ll start at 9AM, but should have the doors open before then. We’ll close at 9PM, but there will be breaks throughout the day. We have a schedule but will be flexible because we’ll try to emphasize what you want to work on.

There’s always more to say, but it may be best to hear your questions directly from you. (Contact us)

Looking forward to it!

Don, Guest Interview, Online, Tom, WOWI Session

Joe Menth Does More Than Hit Print

Don’t judge a book by its cover, except people do. Joe Menth has helped many of Whidbey’s writers by helping them fix their covers, polish the graphics inside, produce posters and cards and plenty of other marketing materials. Joe’s shop, Feather and Fox which is owned and operated by him and his wife, is in Langley, but if you follow local writers or local artists you’ve probably seen his work.

Writing On Whidbey Island is about the writing community, which previous episodes have shown to be about the support network that wraps around the writers. Librarians, booksellers, editors, publishers, etc. add to the unofficial community that already includes hundreds of writers, poets, and screenwriters. Some writers can do it all, but many of us call for help because we don’t have those skills, or are already so busy that hiring a professional for an hour can save a day’s (or a week’s) effort.

Joe talked with the two of us in a conversation that had to wander around what he does and what he’s asked to do because his skills are so varied. His skills are so varied that sometimes he has to be reminded of them. (Personal note: He’s helped me with at least ten books, so far. Insides, outsides, and marketing besides are demonstrations of more than hitting print.)

Welcome back to a virtual call because, as the pandemic has proved, sometimes the only way to get three busy schedules to align is by having everyone phone it in. Hopefully, you find the episode more engaging than that.

Writing on Whidbey Island (WOWI) episode 35 – Joe Menth of Feather and Fox – fine art printer, graphics expert, creativity enabler

Link: Feather and Fox Print, Co. FeatherAndFoxPrintCo.com

Don, In-Person, Tom, WOWI Session

Don And Tom Reconnect WOWI

4 Comments

On a typical marvelous day in Coupeville, Don and I found an opportunity to set these podcasts back on their original track. At the start, we crafted these episodes based on our resources, i.e. two guys, a microphone, an interest in highlighting the writing community of Whidbey Island, and a willingness to adapt and learn. Writers are creative people. We did what we could with what we had. The pandemic changed things (understatement.) And now, thanks to responsible folks wearing masks and getting vaccinated, enough progress has been made that we could return to something like our original concept. Uh. How did we do this a little more than a year ago? We begin again. 

We started with live, largely uncut interviews and discussions with various members of the expansive yet unofficial Whidbey Island writing community. Guests included writers, of course, but also editors, publishers, poets, librarians, book sellers, book collectors, etc. Our community is varied. Whidbey Island is varied, too. So, we recorded at a variety of locations. The background became part of the show. Listen for ambience that includes jets, turkeys, dogs, businesses, pedestrians, etc. The island provides a long list to include.

Then, the pandemic hit. Zoom this. Google Meet that. Everyone was remote. Everyone was required to have a bit of technological skill. And of course that thing we all needed, a sense of humor, somehow.

Now, we’re back – or at least we hope we are – sort of. For the first time in over a year, Don and I recorded a live, masked-face-to-masked-face episode. The bonus was a setting that included the sounds of eagles, people, and maybe a ferry. Our personal bonus was a view of the Sound, Port Townsend, the Olympics, and the usual extraordinary panoramas from near the Admiralty Head Lighthouse. Why not include someone as a guest? Well, partly, we had to see if we remembered all of the gadgets and setup considerations. (Good thing Don remembered the extra batteries.)

It was good to reconnect and remember those other bits of communication that are harder to convey online. Body language, hand signals, stifled laughs – as well as a reminder to not bump the microphone.

And there was a lot to talk about. Those months weren’t wasted. Turning binge watching into a way to research writers’ styles. A surplus of uninterrupted time to write. Dealing with a support network, or at least fellow writers, that are necessarily more remote. Marketing campaigns that can’t rely on readings, signings, panels, or talks. 

Listen for our personal adaptations and approaches, as well as progress in our individual projects – including opening hints about a possible group project for sci-fi writers. 

If you have a story to tell about your recently released book, how you managed your marketing campaign, how your business survived, how your organization adapted, whatever, send us a note about possibly being one of our guests. (If we get too many we might have to put all the names in a basket and see what luck provides.)

Writing on Whidbey Island (WOWI) episode 23 – Don and Tom Reconnect

Blog Post, Don, Online, Tom, Upcoming WOWI Session

The Show Must Go ON!

200314_quarantineCONTRARY to my recent WOWI blog post saying that Tom and I may need to put a hold on the show, we’re devising an idea how we could go forward during the Cornonavirus quarantine!

This past Monday I rigged-up my gear and met Tom in a video chat — our intention being to record a 1-off WOWI episode — both to see how using this medium might work and to discuss how how being in quarantine affects writers.  Frankly, going into this … I didn’t expect much — and yet, what came out of it was an intriguing show running over an hour long!

“How do the adjustments we are making and disruptions we are dealing with make for opportunities, affect work and art later on, what is yet to come for the world of the day-job worker?”

ce0ba7e2e67ce08adf162de05c2f03bb
The “Yellow Jack” or “Lima” signal flag is flown on ships in harbor to indicate that a vessel is under quarantine.

On Wednesday I e-met with Tom again with two purposes in mind.  One was to test an improved set-up with my gear — which produced technological success.  The other was to further discuss continuing the show from QuarantineVille.  Our aim at this point is to try and host 1 to 2 guests each month over video chat — and we each have a few authors in mind to ask.

If you are Whidbey Island writer/author, editor, bookstore owner, graphic artist or illustrator, marketing guru — or whatever as long as your work is part of the publishing industry — and you think you’d be a fit for a WOWI episode … PLEASE CONTACT US!

We’ll talk with you soon! ~ Don

Did You Wash Your Hands EDIT

WOWI Session

Writing On Whidbey Island (WOWI) Episode 4 – Susan Jensen, Cold Snap

Audio

Say hello to Susan Jensen, author of three books (Cold Snap, Island Solstice, My Dad Smells Funny), artist, AirBnB Superhost, and the star of the viral #DankSusan meme. We met in her home, the site of her AirBnB studio apartment (The Oar House, and yes, she knows what that can sound like because she has a sense of humor.)

Hear about her debates with editors and agents about issue books, including a quick vocabulary expanding opportunity with the phrase “roman à clef.” Her experiences with writers groups becomes a quick survey of which ones work and which ones don’t work, at least for her. To join, or not to join – the choice is always personal. Especially for the topics her books cover, it’s important to find writers who can critique with compassion.

With decades of experience marketing the works of others, and a teacher’s perspective for developing talent, she provides insight and support to writers – and also self-critiques her marketing. Whether about writing or not, she’s engaging in a broad range of conversations. Now, about those pet portraits…

Writing On Whidbey Island (WOWI) episode 4 – Susan Jensen, Cold Snap

Don, In-Person, Tom, WOWI Session

Writing On Whidbey Island (WOWI) Episode 2 – Self-Publishing and E-books

Audio

Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies recipe book Don Scoby
Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies recipe book by Don Scoby

Now that the introductions are done (see episode 1), time to get into some details. Co-host Don Scoby recently self-published his inaugural cookbook, “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies“. That’s a story and worth a celebration as authors know; but his experience was particularly educational because it happened as CreateSpace and Kindle became one. Yet again, the self-publishing industry changes.

Thanks to Don’s experience as a musician and an entrepreneurial baker, he understands the practical aspects of production, presentation, sales, and basically running a business based on a creative product. The transition from writer to author is also the transition from introvert to extrovert, which he describes and balances well. Within the publishing world, he also describes why and how not to rely solely on Amazon, and the value of making personal contacts. “You’re an artist” also becomes “You’re a small business.” (And remember to keep that day job.)

Amidst the rest, we also talked about coffee rings, jets again, writers groups gathering around intersections, and if you closely you’ll hear sea gulls making dinner by dropping clams onto rocks. It’s Whidbey!

Writing On Whidbey Island (WOWI) Episode 2
Self-Publishing and E-books