My Book Is Published. Now What?

After two years, two months, and twenty-two days, Finding Otho: The Search for Our Enslaved Williams Ancestors has been published on Amazon.com. Ten months into that incredible six hours-per-day research journey resulted in my publishing The Ancestors Are Smiling! (stories from the descendants of Otho Williams). At the fifteenth month, The Journey Home: A Genealogy Daybook of Travel and Discovery was made into a photo book chronicalling my 11 days in Maryland researching where my enslaved family lived in the 1700s and 1800s. The ancestors are appeased (for the moment) and I feel happy and humbled that I was finally able to tell the amazing story of my great-great-grandfather, Otho Williams. Now what?

My desire has been to leave a written legacy to ensure my family history lives on. "Speak my name and I will be remembered," according to the African adage. So I have always planned to send copies of my family books to research libraries in Maryland, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and California, where my family has lived.  I want to share how I was finally able to put the pieces of my puzzle together in the hope it will help others do the same for their family. I intentionally write my books as though I am chatting with the reader, encouraging them to try the same techniques for their family legacy. So how do I get readers of my books?

For The Ancestors Are Smiling! it was easy. Well, nothing about it was easy, except that in my seventh month of work on the Otho book, the Elk Grove Fine Arts Center offered me a spot in their September 2, 2017, book signing event. That prompted me to peel off part of my writing efforts into a separate book called The Ancestors Are Smiling! which I published in July 2017, On book signing day, the mercury reached 110-degrees and I feared nobody would leave their air-conditioned homes for my first book signing . . . but they did, and it warmed my heart so much! All of the books I brought sold, as well as 10 extras that I had in my car. 

A book signing is a traditional way of getting readers, but for Finding Otho, my book signing at Underground Books wasn't scheduled until March 16, 2019. The best Christmas present was having Finding Otho published on Amazon on December 22, 2018, but it would be nearly three months until the book signing. The momentum of excitement at getting my cherished book finished would be stopped in its tracks by then! What to do?

I took the opportunity to attend an innovative workshop a few months ago. Chrissi Villa, award-winning author, and fellow member of the Northern California Publishers and Authors group, regaled us with a cool idea to have a Virtual Book Release Party on Facebook. So anybody with access to Facebook could participate, whether they lived locally, in the U.S., or anywhere in the world. 

 

The gist of the Virtual Book Release Party concept is that the author would create a Facebook “page" for the book, then invite people to "like" it. We would create a Facebook “event” for the book release party and invite people to attend on the appointed day; they could join in at any point during the event. Chrissi usually gives 24-hour parties, but I didn’t want to stay up that long, so I chose to host it from 7 in the morning to 9 PM. 

 

Chrissi recommends planning the entire event in advance. She prepares video book trailers, audio clips, interviews, questions to ask attendees, giveaways for participation, etc., for the entire party length. She cautions the importance of responding to every comment issued by the attendees to keep them engaged in the process, with the hope they may become enthused enough to buy the book.The trailers should be posted on Facebook and Instagram and other social media venues, snail mail and email invitations sent to potential customers, friends, and family before the event. Her ideas all sounded great to me!

 

During December 2018, I began the preplanning process by creating a To-Do list and an itinerary of activities for each of the 14 hours of my party. The Facebook page had been created in October 2017, right after my first book was published, and I had been posting skimpy updates to my progress “Finding Otho” irregularly for a year, with weekly, then daily posts as the January 4, 2019, party date came closer.

 

But I was anxious. The book was not yet published! It had been with the copy-editor for three months (July-September 2018), then I had to find someone to help me with the correct layout of the book (fonts, font sizes, Chapter heading formats, correct pagination, etc.). Since there wasn’t enough time to contract with a layout person, I had to whip the layout into shape myself. I searched for people to proofread the finished text/layout and was still implementing their changes in early December. 

I must have printed a dozen proof copies over the two-year research/writing period. The initial proofs were 400 pages in a huge 8.5”x11” bicep-curling book. The final version is 408 pages in an efficient 6”x9” package. 

Having to learn how to upload my .pdf version manuscript to the new Kindle paperback book publishing system (KDP) that Amazon had implemented took some time . . . and the clock kept ticking away steadily. 

Finally, I pressed the button to print the last proof copy on December 14th, but the printed version did not arrive! The Christmas holiday rush must have slowed down all Amazon printing orders. I was panic stricken! I needed to see the final proof before publishing the book and the book had to be published before the Book Release Party! The anticipated delivery date came and went, and I waited and sweated and worried myself silly. The blessed proof copy arrived on December 20th, I glanced through the pages and felt it was as good as I could make it, then pressed the button to publish it. What??? KDP said they would take up to 72-hours to review my submission to ensure it met their guidelines. 

 

I was a Kat on a hot tin roof, jumping up and down in a worried frenzy, watching the clock tick tick tick. A awoke on the morning of December 22 to an email from KDP. My book had been published. I laughed, I cried, I twirled around my house, I shouted with glee, I ran up and down the hallway. It was the absolute best Christmas present I could ever have! I then order 50 copies of the finished book, hoping they would come in December. Nope. Delivery date: January 10th. Thankfully, the Book Release Party would encourage people to buy the book on Amazon, so I would not need paperbacks in my inventory for the party. And who knows? Maybe the books will arrive earlier.

 

The party plans were coming together nicely. I had released some of the funky one-minute book trailers that I had created using Apple’s iMovie. Here is my favorite: https://youtu.be/O1mx2N1k4N4. In December, I attended a workshop that taught seniors how to use social media for their businesses. I had used Facebook and Youtube for years, having uploaded 100 videos to the latter. I had a LinkedIn account for probably eight years. But I had vowed not to bother learning Instagram, Twitter, Bitly, or other social media venues. I felt my brain could not take more. But the instructor, Ted Legissiere, of Carnival Film Crews, taught me that Instagram could be a gold mine for quickly and easily letting my target audience know about my book, using carefully crafted hashtags for the various groups I was interested in attracting (e.g., African Americans, genealogists, DNA enthusiasts). Instagram is now in my bag of tricks too.

 

I am writing this on Christmas Day, 2018, only ten days away from Party Day. Wish me luck with getting Finding Otho into the homes of people it can help so they, too, can leave a legacy of history for their family.

For those of you who have published books, how do you let people know about your book?