Mark Leslie's Blog

I do try to put careful consideration into which author photo goes on which book.

My author photo for The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles for example, was relatively easy. All I had to do was take a shot of me reading the book with a backdrop from the scene at LGA where Del Griffith (John Candy) and Neal Page (Steve Martin) first meet (at least officially).

So when I was creating my author photo for Yippee Ki-Yay Motherfucker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard I wanted to come up with something that would "speak" to the look and feel of the original Die Hard film, if not the franchise in general.

 Here's what I did for that shot.

1) I used fake blood/paint and splotches of grime onto an undershirt

2) I purchased a Baretta brand BB gun so that I could take the same stance that John McClane (Bruce Willis) takes on several of the more popular versions of the movie poster.

3) I splashed some water onto my face to denote sweat (and even added a few post-photo beads of sweat onto my face)

4) I purchased a Toronto city-scape piece of stock art as well as stock art of explosions and had explosions at the top of the CN Tower. (I figured why not make it a more local/Canadian backdrop since the author is Canadian). I also went with an orange colorized sky like in several of the movie posters. My attempts at creating a multi-colored sky ended up distracting too much from the buildings in the background, so I opted for a single shade of orange.

5) John McClane's skull in a top-hat tattoo isn't visible in the movie posters, and is only seen in fleeting glimpses throughout the movie. But it does appear in a few of the Die Hard 2 promo images. So I added that in.

6) John McClane isn't bald until the later films in the franchise, and he never had facial hair. But I wasn't about to shave or grow back my receding hairline for the photo. And besides, I'm a huge fan of Weird Al, and he's done plenty of parodies over the years without losing that trademark Weird Al mustache.

7) I thought the photo should be framed by something and so went with bits of broken glass, to call out that "Welcome to the Party, Pal!" scene from the film.

8) And though I didn't end up in the same pose as John McClane for the more popular movie posters, I felt that this shot of me (from the out-takes seen below) at least had enough of the trepidation in my eyes to convey something similar to the look Bruce Willis was conveying.

Here are a few of the out-takes from the photo shoot I did in my home office. (I used an Android S21 propped up on my standing desk with a 5 second time delay for the shots, and a small USB ring-light and of course, a green screen tacked in to the ceiling in front of my book cases). I took perhaps a dozen shots.

Putting together an author photo for a specific book can be a lot of fun.

Are you interested in venturing any guesses as to what I'll be doing for the author photo for my 2024 release of Merry Christmas! Shitter was Full! A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation?

Because I do so much writing for the Kobo Writing Life blog as well as Spirits Untapped, I haven't been updating this blog as often. (I know, I know, there's always SOME excuse, isn't there?)

But I wanted to share an excerpt from a recent guest blog post that I wrote for Dundurn, the publisher of the newly released Haunted Hospitals, a book that I co-authored with Rhonda Parrish.






The article is entitled A Recipe for Author Collaboration and talks about the origin of this book project and how the proper "ingredients" need to all be lined up for a collaboration to happen.

In much the same way that fire is created from the combination of the three elements of oxygen, a fuel source and heat, the ingredients necessary for a writing project are Inspiration and Commitment and Timing.  - From "A Recipe for Author Collaboration" on Dundurn's Blog

At When Words Collide, the Calgary conference where we met and decided to collaborate, we recorded a quick Facebook Live video that was originally posted to the Haunted Hospitals Facebook page.


If you're a fan of video over text, there are a few other videos on the Facebook page as well that I recorded at two of the locations from our book (The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston, West Virginia and Century Manor in Hamilton, Ontario)

I have been a writer since I was about thirteen years old and spent the summer hammering out a fantasy adventure novel on my Mom's old Underwood typewriter. And I started submitting stories for publication at the age of seventeen.

My first fiction sale happened a few years later, in 1992, for which I received five US dollars and a contributor's copy of the small press magazine the story appeared in.

Since 1992, I have either made money or the "payment in copy" equivalent of actual payment that I, as a young and desperate writer seeking to build a "name" was willing to accept in the very early days. Of course, as time went on, the pay I was willing to write for moved upwards towards what is considered "professional rates."

Along the way I have always had a day job in order to keep a roof over my head and food on the table. This came from the oft-given parental advice I received when I said "I'm going to be a writer." My folks reminded me of the importance of having a good day job so that I wouldn't go hungry while pursuing my dreams. So I sought a "day job" that would keep me as happy as writing makes me. Hence, my ongoing role as "bookseller."

In terms of "day jobs" I've been extremely lucky - always working within my field.  And, as the Director of Self-Publishing & Author Relations at Kobo via Kobo Writing Life (a role I've had since October 2011), it continues to be a rewarding and fulfilling career.

So while I don't yet make enough money from writing to support being a writer full-time I must pause to admit that, even if I did earn enough from writing, I'm not sure I COULD leave the fulfilling and satisfying career and role I play.

But with respect to looking only at that "writerly earning" I just finished putting together the numbers for my writing earnings and expenses for 2015.

And, even though my "day-job" involves supporting thousands of authors who are able to earn enough money from self-publishing to be full-time writers (something I'm extremely pleased to be assisting them with), I don't yet fall into that particular bucket myself. In fact, though I'm a huge advocate for self-publishing as a viable option for writers, I personally earn more than half of my writing income from "traditional publishing."

Here's the breakdown of my writing income sources for 2015:

Income from Traditional Publishing:  52.75%
Income from Self-Publishing: 36.10%
Income from *Mixed Sources:  11.18%



* Mixed Sources refers to income that doesn't come directly from publishers or from direct self-publishing royalty sources. It includes other writer-related income from things such as Public Lending Rights (mixed titles), direct sales of print books, speaking and writer appearance honorariums, etc.

I should add a few caveats to this pie-chart, of course:

First, my numbers show that in the previous year almost 60% of my income came from self-publishing, while only about 35% came from traditional publishing. So it's interesting to see how, in a single year, things can change. This, to me, highlights the importance of being OPEN to all opportunities available as a writer. You never know WHERE the income might come from in the next 12 month period.

Second, if I were to break the income down and only look at eBook sales, self-publishing still leads with almost 90% of my income. The Traditional publishing game, for me, is all about PRINT books. Fortunately, my non-fiction books continue to do well in traditional print venues. However, I barely earn anything from the digital sales of my traditionally published books.

Third, if I were to look only at non-fiction sales, traditional publishing accounts for about 95% of my income. When it comes to fiction, the exact opposite is true. About 90% of my income from fiction comes from self-publishing.

All this is to say that there are pros and cons to each side and I benefit from being open to both.

A few take-aways for this particular writer:

1) Traditional publishing continues to be a good experience for me, particularly with respect to non-fiction titles that are distributed to print retail markets. I'll likely work on at least one book per year for that market.

2) I will continue to self-publish in both digital print formats (using POD - print-on-demand) for projects that earn me decent income but are not likely to appeal to a traditional publisher. Niche market material, etc.

3) Being open to new opportunities and new revenue sources remains a focus for this writer -- I have begun the process of getting books converted into audio, and will continue to be open to new opportunities as they present themselves.

I do a lot of talks for authors at conferences in various different cities. One of the things that I share is the importance of the author brand. I ask authors to consider who their target audience might be for their writing and whether or not they have a distinctive author brand that might click with such an audience.

I typically use concepts such as my own use of Barnaby Bones, the "mascot" who attends various author events with me. Barnaby is my personal example of an author brand. I write horror - therefore, the props of tombstones and skulls and a life-sized skeleton create an instantly recognizable and classifiable "brand" that speaks of "Mark Leslie"

And just a few days ago, I took the "author branding" to a more literal level.

I branded myself - my skin - with something quite appropriate for a horror author, when I finally got a tattoo.

It all stems back to the early 1990's when I remember sitting at my desk when I lived on Craig Street in Ottawa. I should have been studying, but instead, I was looking at three things on my desk -- the pencil cup on the edge of my desk, the coffee mug in front of me, and a cool drawing of an eerie skull with flesh melting off of it from one of the small press horror magazines that I was either published in or had ordered a sample copy of/

I ended up combining the skull, the mug and the pencil cup into a single sketch that I quite liked. I later inked the sketch in, enjoying the feel of the piece.

A copy of the original "Skull cup" sketch I had created

But I didn't know what to do with it. When I released my self-published short story collection One Hand Screaming in 2004, I considered using that sketch for the front cover. But my buddy Steve who designed the cover for me, did something much better - so I went with that.

The skull cup sketch sat, like many stories often do, in a drawer.

And it wasn't until I had decided to get a tattoo earlier this year that I realized I could use this. (And it took me several hours of digging around in boxes of my misc creative and writing files to find it)

So this past Friday, I had the tattoo done at Skinners in Hamilton.

I was relieved to learn the tattoo could easily be removed should I change my mind

My appointment was for 2 PM on a Friday - I arrived for the appointment on a bright and sunny afternoon. I was delighted to learn that, should I ever change my mind, there was an easy way to remove the tattoo.

The artist began by shaving my arm with a little Lady Bic razor and then rubbing my arm done with some sort of warm liquid then transferring a stencil from my sketch onto my arm.

The stencil is on. "Look Ma, no pain!"

That was pretty cool and also quite painless.

Then the actual tattooing began. It felt, basically, like a simple and relatively painless needle going into my arm (which, I suppose, is exactly what it is - a needle that is injecting ink into the skin) - the second that it was out, the pain was over. Only, it was followed by another relatively mild pin prick sensation, then another, then another.

Here is the Tattoo outline as completed

Then, once the outlining of the tattoo was completed, the "filling in" of the shadowing and the eyes and nose, etc began. (There was a good 5 minute break while the artist was attending to some other customers - and it gave me a good chance to move my arm around and get the feeling back into my hand - for the procedure, I had to sit with my arm danging straight down and my hand went to sleep being in that position for so long)

The tattoo as complete - is all that red part of the design or just irritated skin?

Admittedly, the series of pin-pricks that accompanied the "filling in" of the "black space" was quite intense - but again, it was just a pin prick, following by another, and another, and another, and another, and another, etc, etc, etc.  To be honest, the numbing feeling of my hand falling asleep was more painful than the tattoo itself. And there was a TV on and which I amused myself by watching from the multiple mirrors set up in the shop, likely for just that purpose.

Then, I was coated in a cream, a bandage was applied and I was given instructions on how to treat it for the next couple of weeks. (Basically, applying a Vitamin A/Vitamin E cream, keeping from submersing it in water for 2 weeks, keeping it out of the sun and keeping the skin lubricated while I go through the process of scabbing and flaking and healing.

Oh no! Blood! ;)

I was a bit surprised when I got home to see that there was quite a bit of blood leaking out from the bandage.  But the next day, when I removed the bandage, it was starting to look good. (Although, sure, there's still a lot of redness around the tat -- and the feeling is more like some sort of sunburn)

The day after tattoo look

In any case, I'm now going through the process of applying the vitamin A/ vitamin E cream multiple times a day and, of course, showing the tattoo off.

But I have to say that this is quite the appropriate tattoo for a horror writer to spot, which the brilliant horror author Jason Brant pointed out in a tweet that day.  (Quick side note for horror fans, if you haven't yet checked out Jason's writing, do yourself a favour and go buy one NOW.....you'll be sorry if you don't)

Tweet by horror author Jason Brant

As Jason says, I'm taking author branding to the extreme.

I suppose I might use some of this in my next "author branding" example.

I attended the official launch for No Relation by Terry Fallis last night.

Sure, the book has been out since May and has climbed the charts on the Globe & Mail Bestseller list (no surprise there - it's a fantastic novel filled with both hilarious moments as well as poignant ones), but the evening was Terry celebrating his new novel with a group of friends, associates, family and colleagues.

Tim Fallis kicks off the evening, admitting he has "some relation" to his twin brother Terry

It was a packed house at Dora Keogh on Danforth; standing room only as we cheered and celebrated Terry's latest book. Book City, the very first bookstore to carry Terry's first novel The Best Laid Plans back when it was self-published and Terry was an unknown author, was on hand selling copies of Terry's novels as well as Douglas Gibson's Stories About Storytellers. (I'm proud to state that, while Book City was the first bookstore to carry it, I was the second bookseller to pick up his book and one that insisted we do a book launch for The Best Laid Plans at McMaster.)

Terry's twin brother Tim (who exudes the same charm and wit as his brother), kicked off the evening, congratulating and teasing his brother before introducing Douglas Gibson, Terry's editor and a master storyteller in his own right, who introduced Terry.

Doug Gibson talks about the joy of being Terry's editor and friend

Doug spoke about Terry's reputation among booksellers as a "nice guy" and, speaking with booksellers, you get a true sense that Terry is adored both near and far by booksellers and is an avid supporter of his friends in the bookish trade. He mentioned in his opening remarks last night that when a neighbourhood bookstore closes, it's not just the loss of a handful of jobs nor the inconvenience of not having a local bookshop to check out that occurs, it's that a piece of the very fabric of culture itself has been torn from that community.

Listening to Terry do a short reading from Chapter One of the novel made me want to read it again.I had read the advance reader's copy of the novel, but I want to enjoy the story once more and figure I'll go back and listen to the podcast of Terry reading the novel.

Reading the novel was great - but the humour was much stronger when delivered by Terry's fine reading of the piece. I'm looking forward to enjoying it again, this time through Terry's narration. (Yes, there's a podcast where you can listen to the entire book for free - Terry has done that with every one of his novels and I applaud Random House, his publisher, for allowing him to continue to use this vehicle as a promotional tool to help sell more copies of his book)


The novel is truly Terry at his finest form. I have adored all of his novels, and while I still have quite the fondness for Angus McLintock (brought to life wonderfully by Kenneth Welsh in the CBC MiniSeries based on Terry's first novel) this is my favourite novel so far.

Perhaps there's something about the way Terry addresses family in this novel that provides the ring of truth for people to embrace it.

The very first book launch for Terry's first book - back in Sept 2007 at the campus store formerly known as Titles (McMaster University Bookstore

In my review of the novel on Goodreads, I called the book witty, wry, cunning and clever and said that "the story combines silly humour, slapstick situations and unexpectedly touching moments with intriguing twists, knots and turns, creating a pleasurable, well-rounded and ultimately satisfying journey."

Join me and the smartest booksellers in the land in checking out this book which I highly recommend you add to your summer reading list.

Margaret Atwood's latest book MaddAddam is just out (Kobo eBook / IndieBound Print Book Link / Amazon Link).  Earlier this summer, she was at Kobo's home office in Toronto for a Kobo in Conversation with Carol Off to discuss her new book.


During the conversation, Margaret began discussing the Wattpad novel (The Happy Zombie Sunrise Home) she had co-authored with Naomi Alderman of Zombies, Run! (an absolutely wonderful GPS-based interactive running app).  They ended up having a little side-bar conversation in which Atwood explained how a character could get out of a perilous seemingly dead-end situation being trapped in a cabin with a ravenous zombie trying to break in.

Kobo edited a snippet of that conversation into a video entitled Margaret Atwood VS Zombies.

Is there really any doubt as to who would win such an encounter?  Atwood FTW!

I have long been a fan of her writing. But I am also a fan of her spirit, energy and playfulness.

After decades of enjoying both reading and selling her books, I had the distinct privilege of being able to present her with the Canadian Booksellers Association Lifetime Achievement Award last year, which was an absolute honour for me.  And yes, I never get tired of sharing this picture.

A Bucket-List Type Thrill - May 2012 - Presenting Margaret Atwood a CBA Libris Lifetime Achievement Award

I was too nervous the night of the CBA Libris Awards to remember to ask for her autograph, but I did manage to get her to sign the back of my Kobo Glo when she was here at Kobo.

One thing I did neglect to remember to ask her, though, was for some tips on how to ensure I didn't get ambushed by the random zombie mobs when I run using the aforementioned Zombies, Run! app.

I spent 5 wonderful years working at McMaster University for the campus store formerly known as "Titles Bookstore."  McMaster was a fantastic place to work, the people, both at the bookstore as well as the amazing staff and faculty that I got to know while I was there were amazing, and it is an opportunity and experience I cherish.

I am delighted, next week, to return to my old McMaster stomping grounds as part of a pretty amazing multidisciplinary celebration of Robert J. Sawyer's archival donation to the University Library Collection.

In honour of Rob's generous donation, the university is hosting a special three day conference entitled Science Fiction: The Interdisciplinary Genre from Friday September 13th through Sunday September 15th.



Special guests at the conference (apart from Robert J. Sawyer) include John Robert Colombo, Julie E. Czerneda, David G. Hartwell, Élisabeth Vonarburg, Robert Charles Wilson, and Chris Szego. 

Never mind the amazing content and people involved, but get this:  The conference is FREE.

There is more information here.  Here's the Tentative Program.  And you can check out the Facebook Page.

Rob and I in front of McMaster's Espresso Book Machine - 2010

I am delighted to be doing a talk and presentation called "Digital Pi: The Transcendence of Digital Publishing" -- I will be sharing some of the things that I have learned, in over twenty years of bookselling, about how digital technology is allowing authors, publishers, academics, students and readers amazing opportunities to share and explore the world around them in bold new ways.  I will, of course, be talking about the Espresso Book Machine at McMaster, how publishers and universities have embraced a "deliver digital / print local" methodology, how innovative publishers are evolving to embrace eBooks and other born-digital projects that take publishing to exciting new levels.

And I will, of course, tie much of my thoughts back to the writings of Robert. J. Sawyer.  I mean, the man owns virtually every eBook reader known to mankind and has been doing readings off of a handheld digital device of one form or another for as long as I can remember.

Rob doing a reading from his novel WATCH on an ereader March 31, 2010 at Titles Bookstore

When I was at McMaster and working on various POD experimental projects in publishing, such as CAMPUS CHILLS, an all original anthology of Canadian horror stories set on campuses across Canada by some of Canada's most amazing writers of dark fiction and printed and launched on the EBM's at McMaster, Waterloo and University of Alberta bookstores, Rob was an avid supporter of the project, and wrote a wonderful introduction for the book.

Campus Chills Contributors: Kelley Armstrong, Kimberly Foottit, Mark Leslie, Sephera Giron, Michael Kelly, Edo van Belkom (McMaster Book Launch October 2009)

Rob has given so much to the science fiction and academic communities.  It will be a special thrill and an honour to participate in an event that celebrates him and his donation to a wonderful university.

I've been doing a lot of in person appearances lately for Haunted Hamilton and will be doing more shortly for Tesseracts Sixteen.

Signed stock of Haunted Hamilton at Coles Eastgate Mall in Hamilton

As I was sitting at the author table during a recent mall store book signing, I started to make some notes on successful things I have tried for signings -- so thought I'd summarize a few tips of things that have worked nicely for me right here.

1) Have Something to Prop You Up & While You're At It Give Me Some Candy

If applicable, use props. Because I write horror, and my latest book is collection of ghost stories about the Hamilton area, the props I use to attract attention, draw people's interest, are spooky in nature.  Yorick the skull has come to book signings with me since 2004.  But I also have a spooky tablecloth, a solid standup tombstone or two, a few other skulls on the table and now Barnaby, a full size pose-able skeleton. These might be considered the hooks. Lots of people look, and those drawn to the spooky tend to wander over to check out what it's all about -- those are my target audience.

In particularly, because my book is about local ghost stories, I hung a "Ghost Stories Told Here" sign that worked nicely - some folks approached, pointed at the sign and said:  "Okay, tell me a ghost story."

Perfect ice-breakers.

One of my props happens to be a giant skull-head bowl. I fill it with small chocolate bars and treats -- Halloween style. Why? Two reasons.  One, since my table looks like Halloween I might as well offer a treat to those who come gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.   Two, and more importantly, it becomes a bit of an ice-breaker as well; allows me to a way to strike up a conversation on neutral ground -- ie, offering them something, not selling them something. Even if they don't purchase something, they leave feeling a bit better because they stopped by and got something for free.

Some might argue that people will feel a little more likely to purchase if you offer them something for free, but that's actually rare in my experience. Plenty of people take giant handfuls and walk off. Some people are like that. I merely offer the candy as a kind, positive gesture.  Perhaps I'm a believer in Karma.

Skulls, tombstone, Barnaby & a sign - I wonder if this is a spooky book?

2) Clipboard for Newsletter Sign-up

If you have an email newsletter (ie, an attempt to build a tribe of people who are interested in getting updates and learning about your next project), then you shouldn't attend a book signing without some sort of email newsletter sign-up form.

You might consider adding a couple of names onto the empty sheet to demonstrate there are already people on the list, since people tend to be a bit more reluctant to be first to fill something out -- but if there's already a list started, they're less hesitant.

A mailing list is a good way to find a group of people who are already interested in what you have to offer.  Go read Permission Marketing by Seth Godin -- it's a dozen years old, but it's still bang on and Godin Gold!

3) The Strange Mathematics of Proximity and Signage

Here's an interesting thing I have noticed. When people see an author at a table, even when there aren't intriguing props, they want to check it out, but folks tend to be a little leery of getting the "sales pitch" -- they want to know what it's all about, but don't want to feel pressured, and thus might not approach.

This is where having a display of your books nearby works beautifully.  Perhaps it's only 10 feet away.  Perhaps it's deeper inside the store, near the cash desk with a sign that simply says "TODAY: Meet author of Haunted Hamilton"

At a recent bookstore event I did, there was a display of my books less than 10 feet away -- far enough that people could check out the book without feeling me hovering over them (ie, they could relax and "enjoy" the experience of browsing, without the sense that I was expectantly waiting to talk to them, interrupt or throw a hard sales pitch at them)

I noticed that several different people who were "afraid" to approach me and took a wide berth, paused to check out my books on display further away.  Upon browsing the book without stress, 3 times out of four, they would approach the table and ask if I was the author and if I could sign the book. Without that display, they likely would have just moved past, curious but not inching close enough to realize it might be something interesting.

Alas, poor Yorick. I signed books with him, Horatio.

  

4) Sell Only To Your Target Audience

The last thing I'll ever believe is that my books are great for everyone. Horror is not everyone's cup of tea, so I'm used to the plain and simple fact that my target demographic audience is smaller than those interested in romance or thrillers or mysteries -- yes, there might be some cross-over, but my stuff doesn't appeal to everyone; nor should it. Any author who believes their book is great for everyone is demonstrating that they haven't really thought their target audience out yet.

Haunted Hamilton can appeal to three types of people:  1) Those who love ghost stories and tales of true supernatural events 2) Those who love history, particularly local history and 3) Those who love anything having to do with the city of Hamilton.  Fortunately for this latest book, that's a pretty broad target demographic.  However, I do recognize that there are those who simply won't be interested in my book.

It is critical for an author to recognize that fact -- and yet, so difficult for some to realize, particularly since us authors tend to be pretty passionate about our work, our babies.

When I'm at my table sure I'm enthusiastic about and eager to discuss my book -- but I also pay attention to the person in front of  me. And if it's not clear to me that they'd be interested, I come out and ask what kind of books they like. If historic ghost stories of the local area aren't of interest to them, then I'm honest and might tell them a little but suggest they wouldn't like it.  This gives them an easy "out" if they're not interested and doesn't waste my time nor their time.

I think one of the worst things is if someone who isn't interested in the topic or genre ends up buying it.  It'll most likely NOT be a pleasant experience for them, and they're more than likely going to tell everyone they know that you and your book suck. Not a good scene.  But if someone who is likely to enjoy what you've written, chances of them liking it are dramatically improved. Again, why stack the odds against you?

5) Don't Forget Your Manners

Bookstores typically don't make much money at the average event. Sure, they might sell some books, but many times there are costs you as an author don't see.  They have to order extra stock, receive and unpack the stock - set up a display/table, etc. Potentially advertise or produce posters, etc for the event.  Then, when the event is over, they have to send the overstock back to the publisher, which also costs time, resources and money.  If you're a consignment author the work is even more manual and often frustrating for the staff/management, typically because it's a different system that requires extra effort outside the normal daily processes.

In a nutshell, having an event is a lot of work. I know this because I've been a bookseller for two decades. I know the work involved.

Thus, if, after the event, you take the time to write a simple thank-you card and send it to the manager/owner, it goes a long way.  Perhaps there was a staff member there who did something special, made you feel great, was personable, friendly, great with customers. Take the time to make sure you compliment them, praise them in some way; ideally in writing.  It'll make the manager/owner feel good about their store and about their staff.

And it never hurts to have a bookseller, bookstore manager/owner like you.  When deciding which title to put in the front window, on a limited space display, and the choice ends up being between your book and some other book that fits equally well, how do you think your previous positive kind actions will affect that decision? How about when it's time to get rid of extra stock to clear shelf space. Yours or another title? How will your interactions with them affect that?

Coles Limeridge - One Hand Screaming - Oct 2004

Your mileage, of course might vary -- and keep in mind I mostly write horror and twilight zone type stories -- so my tips align with my expected audience.

But these are things that have worked for me.  What other tips would you add -- ie, things that have worked for you?

Prompted by the charismatic Jen Knoch of the Keeping It Real Book Club, I recently recorded a video in support of the Toronto Public Library's Keep Toronto Reading Festival (which runs April 1 to 30, 2011).

Jen and I met at the CBC studios in Toronto a few months ago when we were both guests on CBC's Fresh Air and were talking about our love for Canada Reads. Her passion for reading is contagious, we had a great time in the studio with Fresh Air host Mary Ito, and I had a really fun time recording this video.

This year's theme for Keep Toronto Reading is:  Let Books Transform You.

For that reason, I chose Robert J. Sawyer's novel Rollback.

This is, in my mind, the perfect science fiction novel for people who have never read science fiction or claim that they wouldn't like sci-fi. Rollback is a novel that helps people transform their idea of what science fiction is and can be. I have been able to put Rollback into the hands of people who say they hate science fiction or have never been able to read it and have them return to me raving about the novel and to ask for more sci-fi title suggestions, as well as interested in seeing what else Sawyer has written.

Simply, if you enjoyed Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife (and you'll notice I don't risk mangling the author's name in my video), you'll likely fall for the beautiful love story unvealed in Sawyer's novel as a couple that has been together for 60 years facing an incredibly powerful and sudden change in their relationship when one of them undergoes an experimental "rollback" procedure that restores their physiological body to the equivalent of the age of 20.



In any case, I'm always happy to share great books and hope that adding my two cents to the wonderful Keep Toronto Reading festival inspires folks not just in Toronto, but everywhere, to keep reading.

A lot of people compare the music and book industry; ie, they look at how the music industry, which was faced with illegal digital downloads, had to completely change -- well, at least the distribution and sale of physical objects in that industry changed. Rock stars can bring in the majority of their revenues from live performances and the swag people buy at concerts.

During a presentation in February at Tools of Change called The Publishing Pie, Margaret Atwood made reference to the concept that while rock stars can give away their work for free and make a living off of concerts and t-shirts, that authors can't do the same.

Based on comments and feedback, she created a line of Dead Author T-Shirts featuring some of the illustrations from the slides in her presentation.

To explain the cartoon below, she looks as authors as a "primary source" -- comparing a Dead Moose (which feeds up to a dozen other sources) to a Dead Author, which sustains many other life forms in the "biological food cycle of publishing")


Of course, though the joke is author's can't make a living off of t-shirt sales, she'll likely be the exception that proves the rule because she'll likely sell a huge whck of these. I know I'm thinking of ordering one. (Although I think I'd like a combination t-shirt with the Dead Moose on the back and Dead Author on the front)

Check out the swag she has put her illustrations on here:  Dead Author T-Shirts at Cafe Press

But the presentation, if you haven't seen it, is well worth checking out. Fascinating for writers and authors or anyone in the publishing industry.

Last week's HNT post, I talked about side-effect of getting to work with so many fantastic people who work in the book industry.

One of the other great side-effects of being a bookseller are author drop-ins.

Terry Fallis, McMaster graduate, was on campus yesterday evening to meet with the McMaster Alumni book club, who are currently reading his latest novel The High Road.

Terry popped in to say hi, and I, of course, took the chance to get him to sign copies of his books we had in stock, then slap the lovely CBA "Autographed Copy" book stickers onto the front of the book.

Then, after a 30 minute debate, a heated chess match that ended in stalemate and a furious arm-wrestling match, which I just barely won (but only because I had a fellow staff member distract Terry by grabbing his satchel and running away with it) I was able to convince Terry to pose with me for a picture. 


Naw, I'm only pulling your leg. Terry agreed to pose with me immediately after the 30 minute debate, likely because I finally broke down and cried when he said he'd sooner pose for a photograph with a pound of rotting meat. But whenever I pick up one of Terry's books , I'm inspired by the satire and wit of his writing, and often conjure up my own pale attempts to write something approaching humour.


But ah yes, author drop-ins are yet another fringe benefit to being a bookseller. Gotta love it.

There's an interesting article by Mark Medley in Saturday's National Post called Self-Publishing: Doing it yourself and doing it better which is part of an Ecology of Books series examining the interrelationships comprising Canada's publishing industry.

The article begins by looking at Terry Fallis who took the self-publishing route a few years ago after several aborted attempts at going the traditional way.  And thank goodness Fallis didn't give up when he faced those brick walls, because when he self-published The Best Laid Plans in 2007 he proved something. Sure, publishers do a fantastic job of selecting great books to be published each year -- but each year, many more great books don't end up seeing the light of day.

Fallis went on to win the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour for his first novel and then landed a publishing contract with McClelland & Stewart who republished the book and is releasing the sequel The High Road this fall.  (Last week I was raving about how progressive M&S is being in letting Fallis podcast the novel prior to the book's official print release)

The Best Laid Plans is currently the "One Book One Community" selection for the Waterloo Region and has been receiving consistent praise since it first came out.  I've already begun listening to Chapter 3 of the podcast for The High Road and am enjoying it as much if not more than I enjoyed the first novel.  Slipping back into Fallis's fictional world which takes a satirical look at Canadian politics is like being reunited with long lost friends.

The National Post article also mentions the Espresso Book Machine at my bookstore at McMaster University along with the huge success we've had helping self-published authors realize their dreams. Since Mark Medley interviewed me about it I've been thinking a lot about that.


I have been a bookseller for almost twenty years now and have certainly seen my share of self-published books that were obviously self-published for a reason.  (The reason, of course, is that no publisher was willing to touch the book)  And yes, I hate saying this because I as an author I'm also quite sensitive to the criticism of the world at large, but so many of the self-published titles that have crossed my path since I began bookselling are ones that rarely pass the "first page" test.  Often they simply weren't "ready for prime time" -- they either didn't capture my interest or else read like a first draft that needed either a major re-write or a fantastic editor to help them polish it up.

I'll even admit that when Fallis, a McMaster graduate, approached me about doing a book signing for The Best Laid Plans back in 2007 I went to his website to check out his book and a sample of his writing.  And yes, I was leery, cautious and somewhat dreading the whole experience. Sure, I wanted to support a Mac Author but setting up a book signing, ordering in a bunch of books that are more than likely going to just eat up shelf space and not sell takes a lot of time and expense. Booksellers everywhere need to make difficult decisions like that every day -- deciding to put a particular book on your shelf becomes an investment in the hope that that book sells; every single book you bring in that doesn't sell is akin to lost money.  And while it may be easy not to order certain titles from a giant catalog, it's more difficult to say no to the hopeful smile of a local author standing in your store.


So, yes, I did approach the Fallis novel with caution.  However, I wasn't more than a couple of sentences into The Best Laid Plans when I was immediately charmed, hooked and swept into the fictional world Fallis had created.  Despite the fact that I had virtually no interest in reading fiction about Canadian politics (I mean, really, can you imagine a more dry topic?) he had me pretty much by the first word and kept me rivetted until the end. His characters, writing style and plot were top notch. I was haunted by the ghost of Robertson Davies, I was reminded of the slightly off-centre humour found in John Irving novels. All my instincts told me that Fallis was indeed a writer to watch and so I immediately called him back and practically begged him to come to our store to do his book launch at Titles. And from that day onward, I've been proudly watching this author rise to a much-deserved success.


Yes, the experience Terry Fallis had going the self-publishing route is a unique one and, as Fallis himself says in the National Post article, akin to a "lightning strike" -- however, since getting the Espresso Book Machine at Titles bookstore back in November of 2008, I've seen hundreds more self-published authors.  And no, I haven't read the books of every single one of them, but giving them the first line test and first page test I have to say I've been quite impressed by the quality of many of them.  In fact, in the past couple of years, I've been more impressed with the quality of the self-published titles I've seen than at any time in my bookselling career.


Several of the titles that I helped work on, such as the Alicia Snell biography Me Minus 173: From 328 Pounds to the Boston Marathon affected me in the same manner as the Fallis novel. No, I'm not a fan of self-help biographies, but Snell's prose pulled me in and didn't let go. I simply couldn't not read the whole thing. In fact, her book, which is as inspirational and entertaining as listening to Snell speak (she does fantastic motivational talks) inspired me to new heights and helped me change my life for the better.

When I asked Snell why she was paying us to print her book and suggested she send it to a publisher, she explained that the book had already gone the rounds with at least 4 major publishers. In each case, the book made it as far up the chain as an editorial round-table -- but with each major publishing house, the book was rejected due to reasons such as: "oh we already did a self-help title last month" or "we already have a diet book on our fall list."


Yet another case of a great book that didn't see the light of day in the traditional world due to nothing more than timing. Had those publishers not produced similar titles at the time Snell's manuscript crossed their desks, it would have been published by them.  But instead, the timing wasn't there, and now Snell, who has produced the book herself, is enjoying the success of having to return and getting more books printed because she keeps selling out of them.  A good problem to have, I suppose.


There are many more titles like that which I've had the pleasure of experiencing thanks to the self-publishing services offered through our bookstore. Books that are not only allowing authors to have their voices heard, but books that end up touching the lives of others and making a positive difference.  And it feels really good to be a part of not only being able to sell these books to customers, but helping the authors achieve their goals of getting the book out there.

Admittedly, yes, there is still a stigma attached to self-published titles -- but I've seen dozens upon dozens of great titles come through the print on demand option offered by our services at the bookstore at McMaster. Yes, some are published merely to be shared among a small group of friends or family. But some will reach a broader audience, be lifted beyond being carried in a single bookstore and championed by a small group of independent booksellers.

It strikes me that the publishing landscape, particularly one in which more than half of all the books published in 2009 were self-published titles, is becoming more diverse and dynamic than ever before.  I'm reminded of a comment that Richard Nash made on stage at the 2010 BookNet Canada Tech Forum -- he described the golden age of publishing as a bunch of white men in tweed jackets publishing each other. In addressing the publishing industry I must borrow the slogan from Virginia Slims: "You've come a long way, baby!"


It strikes me that the publishing world is undergoing an interesting shift, where a title might become big not because it was originally selected as a "million dollar advance" title from a major New York publishing house, but because word of mouth from readers and booksellers (typically combined with a heck of a lot of sweat and hard work from the author) helped it get there.  That the community aspect of publishing and bookselling is becoming more important than ever before.


Thanks to emerging technologies, many different companies and services geared towards helping authors choose an alternative path, and the tireless efforts authors are putting into promoting their work, the democratization of the slush pile is beginning to happen and writers who would normally not be given a chance to shine are having their voices heard.

Interesting times we live in.

Social media guru Chris Brogan recently posted An Author's Plan for Social Media Efforts on his blog.

A list of the top 21 things an author should consider doing, Brogan creates a concise and useful point form summary that, where necessary, links to more detailed posts. This is perfect for someone dipping in and wanting to learn more. Looking at the list, an author can quickly decide to take action on an item, then follow the link to get more in depth information on how to do it.

Brogan, the author of Trust Agents and Social Media 101 gives away some tremendously useful advice.

One of my favourite tips is the following...

3. On the blog [the one Brogan suggests you set up in point 2 on his list] write about interesting things that pertain to the book, but don't just promote the book over and over again. In fact, blow people away by promoting their blogs and their books, if they're related a bit

What I like most is the suggestion that the author should be providing value, not just "selling" their book repeatedly. Being a "salesperson" and constantly pushing your book is a sure-fire way to turn people away. A good deal about the book Trust Agents, which Brogan co-wrote with Julien Smith covers just that concept -- using the web and social media to humanize business.

Consider what Brogan did in this very blog post. He's not being pushing and selling his books. He's taking a step back and providing something for free -- he's offering a real value to readers. Chances are the readers who find value in what he is giving away for free are going to consider checking out his books.

I know I've read both of them and can say that if you think Brogan offers great value to authors in this post and well as on his blog, you can be assured that his books offer even more value.