PRESENTATIONS
From Manuscript to Book on the Shelf
My first published book, Frontier Madam; The Life of Dell Burke, Lady of Lusk (November 2008), was both a long production and an education. Three processes were involved. First, interviews and literature research and writing (4-5 years), then submission for publication (rejects by five agents and three publishers before Globe Pequot accepted the ms = 1+/- year), and lastly promotion and sales (the rest of my life).
The first reading and signing was held at Barnes & Noble in Greensboro, NC right after the book was published in November 2007.
As I studied the market for Frontier Madam, I realized that this western biography would draw a greater crowd in Wyoming and the surrounding states. As soon as winter had lessened out west, I took off for a book tour. Logistically, this took four months (mid-May to mid-September), covered 10,000 miles (about 3700 enroute) and cost $4,000 more or less.
My first objective was to promote immediate sales in the region. A second objective was to place the book in stores where sales to tourists and other interested folks could take place after I left.
The first Wyoming event was a reading and signing at the old Yellow Hotel in Lusk on a windy rainy May day. During the summer, I attended 17 events that ranged from book clubs where my book was reviewed to readings, presentations and/or signings at libraries in Torrington, Sundance, and Worland in Wyoming and one in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. In addition to events at the museum in Lusk, signings were held at museums in Sundance, Torrington and Douglas. A few more were held in bookstores, such as in Casper, Thermopolis and Wheatland.
During class reunion weekend in Lusk, the Stagecoach Museum sold 88 books and I signed many more. At each reading, book sales ran from a few up to 45.
In May, I was in Cheyenne visiting various museums and walked into the Wyoming State Museum. I was shocked and delighted to see copies of Frontier Madam prominently displayed at the edge of the lobby.
One highlight of the summer was the Victorian Tea held at the Laramie Plains Museum in a 1800s historic Laramie mansion. Over 100 ladies, many dressed in Victorian styles, listened quietly as I described the tumultuous 1930s Dell Burke dealt with. Over 75 books were sold that day.
Promotion continues now that I am back home in North Carolina. Next up is a day in April when I am scheduled to speak to several groups of students at Lynchburg College about Dell as an entrepreneur and my research methods. When I come back from that, I’ll participate in the Literary Festival at UNCG.
I have contracted to teach a writing class at GTCC in June. Books have been sent to the Greensboro SPCA for inclusion in their silent auction at the fall Fur Ball, as well as to Wyoming Writers for inclusion in a silent auction during the Cheyenne Frontier Days Scholarship Fund Chili Feed.
