Get "Lost" for FREE!

Brrrr! Just dipped a toe back into this blogwater, and it's cold enough for a polar bear.

But I'm back, after two months off, to share some important news. Lost in the Ivy, my book and the reason for this blog, is now available for free as an e-book exclusively through the Chicago Underground Library (CUL). The link to the catalogued entry for my book at the CUL is here. You will find the link to download the book at the bottom of the page.  Note that the PDF is watermarked and encrypted so it is only printable at lo-resolution for reference and it cannot be changed or have any text copied from it.

You might ask, "Why would I do this?" There are a number of reasons. The main one being that I'd just like the book to be more readily available and widely read. I've had some success getting it into local libraries (about a dozen Chicagoland libraries) but it's in only a couple of libraries outside of Chicagoland. The Internet provides the ability to be sort of the world's library, but as you all know, it is also a place filled with lots of potential landmines. I'm also doing this because I think it is the way of the future. I'm curious to see where it goes, if anywhere. The CUL came up with this ambitious project to start an online library, and it's one that I support. My book just happens to be the first that they've released in this fashion. It is their hope and goal, however, that others will follow. I'd note that other authors have found success by releasing their published books as free e-books. Finally, since the book has been out now for 1 1/2 years, sales have slowed to a trickle. I've got little to lose and everything to gain. I think. Things could always change. My book could be picked up by a major movie studio and be turned into a best-seller, but that seems like a pipe dream.

So check out my book at the Chicago Underground Library. You don't even have to return it. Just read it and pass on the link to the e-book to others. It's that simple.

While I'm here, a couple other short news items:

• A slimmed down version of my kid essay, "Pickles and Hiccups", won an Honorable Mention in the December 2006 / January 2007 "America's Funniest Humor!"(TM) Writing Contest & Book Publishing Project! " sponsored by HumorPress.com. You can see it in the online Humor Showcase. Also, it will be published soon in a humor anthology from HumorPress.
• My short, short parenting story "Breast Stroke" was chosen for the March 2007 Motherwise Mug Shot Contest. Vote for my story here. I don't drink coffee but the competitor in me still wants to win that mug.
• At least one of my kid essays, possibly two, will be published in the April issue of Minders' Keepers, an anthology of parenting stories from Motherwise.
• I'm quoted in this March 1, 2007 Chicago Tribune article, "Writers find praise - and pointers - for their prose," by Trine Tsouderos.

That's all, folks. Now back to that novel-in-progress.
 

Update on Friday, March 30, 2007 at 09:50PM by Randy Richardson

Hey, check out author-blogger and fellow Chicago Writers Association (CWA) member Cheryl Hagedorn's interview with me over at Murder.Booklocker.Com about the ebook.

Update on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 at 01:29PM by Randy Richardson

Another kid essay, "From Crib to Cubicle", won an Honorable Mention in the February / March 2007  "America's Funniest Humor!"(TM) Writing Contest & Book Publishing Project! " sponsored by HumorPress.com. You can see it in the online Humor Showcase. Like my previous winning entry, it will be published soon in a humor anthology from HumorPress.

The Table-Sitter

In baseball lingo, the lead-off hitter is commonly referred to as the table-setter. The one whose charge is to, well, set the table for the rest of the batters. It's his job to get on base, so that the other hitters can drive him home.

On a blustery Friday the 13th, the Chicago Writers Association held its first-ever reading event at The Book Cellar, in Chicago's trendy Lincoln Square neighborhood. Eight authors representing a mixture of fiction, non-fiction and poetry read from their works.

I was the one chosen to bat lead-off, to be the table-setter. At a little after 7 PM, I took a seat at a little table that had been set up for readers in the middle of the room, against a wall of books and magazines. Looking out from my vantage point, I noticed that every seat in the room was filled. Outside of the readings that I had done on my wedding day and at my book release party, this would be the largest crowd to which I'd ever read my words. The difference was, this time I didn't know most of the people to whom I would be reading.

Just about every night, I read to my son, age three. Even though the books I read are for kids, reading them out loud has made me more comfortable with hearing my voice when I read my own words. If you think about it, most people rarely, if ever, hear themselves read. When you read a book, ordinarily you don't speak the words. 

Now when I go out in public to read my own words, I put my mind in my son's bedroom, sitting on the floor, pillows plopped against his bed. That's the place where I was for the fifteen minutes when I was "on the stage" at The Book Cellar.

When I folded up the pieces of paper on which were the words to the first chapter of my novel-in-progress and placed them in my book, I felt pretty good about my readings. The reactions from the crowd were good. I got laughter and attentive quiet in all the right places.

Then something happened. The next author came up to replace me but didn't sit down. For fifteen minutes, she stood and read, her theatrical background clearly in evidence. She, not me, had set the table, as one author after another followed her lead and stood for their readings.

At one point, my dear wife commented, "You should have stood for your reading."

I nodded and gulped down the rest of my glass of Pinot Noir, realizing that I was not the table-setter for the night, but the table-sitter.

You can see all the other wonderful authors standing and yours truly sitting in this photo journal that I put together for the Chicago Writers Association's Web site.  

Takin' Care of Business

You get up every morning
From your 'larm clock's warning
Take the 8:15 into the city
There's a whistle up above
And people pushin', people shovin'
And the girls who try to look pretty
And if your train's on time
You can get to work by nine
And start your slaving job to get your pay
If you ever get annoyed
Look at me I'm self-employed
I love to work at nothing all day
And I'll be

Taking care of business (every day)
Taking care of business (every way)
I've been taking care of business (it's all mine)
Taking care of business and working overtime

~ lyrics from Bachman Turner Overdrive's "Takin' Care of Business"

Those lyrics are about the life of a musician, but they could just as well be about that of a writer. Or any artist for that matter.

Oftentimes I daydream of not having to wake up to that 'larm clock's warning. Then I go back to my day job.

Well, today I am takin' care of some book- and writing-related business, catching up on a few things that are going on or coming up, as I strive toward that goal of one day being self-employed.

• Mark your calendar. On Friday, October 13, I'll be joining seven of my friends from the Chicago Writers Association for a reading and book-signing event at the Book Cellar, 4736-38 North Lincoln Avenue, in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood. I'm penciled in to bat lead-off promptly at 7 PM and plan to read excerpts from both my published novel, Lost in the Ivy, as well as from my current novel-in-progress. Jen Wilding created this great promo flier (it's a .pdf, so you'll need Adobe Reader to open it) for the event. If you're a book lover, there's pretty much something for everyone: fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Come by, get a glass of wine (yes, the Book Cellar sells vino!), and enjoy the readings of some local writing talent. It's got to be better than sitting at home all night watching a "Friday the 13th" movie marathon.
• Win a copy of Lost in the Ivy. MysteryAuthors.com is featuring Lost in the Ivy all this month. You can enter a contest to win a signed copy. There's no cost. All you have to do is send them an email. For full contest rules, check out their Web site.
• Library Project Update. Thanks to all those who've been assisting me with my Library Project. A little over a month ago I launched this project to get Lost in the Ivy in libraries. At the time, I wrote: "The best way to get your book read is to get it in the library. It's that simple. The Library Project is a simple idea aimed at achieving a simple, but worthwhile, goal: getting my book read and making it available to be read." Well, that simple goal is making modest headway. Two local libraries have ordered my book as a direct result of my Library Project. It's now in the stacks at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library (my friend Marybeth even checked it out!) and on order for acquisition at the Evanston Public Library.  The other places you can find it: Joliet Public Library; Chicagoland Underground Library;North Suburban Library District (Loves Park and Roscoe libraries); Cherry Valley Public Library District; Schaumburg Township District Library; Deerfield Public Library; and Wilmette Public Library. You can search the online catalogue of any of these libraries and you'll find my book. In some cases, there's even a picture of it. Check it out, literally.

Update on Monday, October 16, 2006 at 09:00PM by Randy Richardson

An update to the Library Project Update: Two more libraries either have Lost in the Ivy in their collection or on order. My book is now in the Skokie Public Library and on order at the Oak Park Public Library. That makes it four libraries that have either added or are working to add my book to their collection since I started this project. In total, ten libraries now have Lost in the Ivy on their shelves and two have it on order for acquistion. Now my hometown, Evanston, has it on order and the two surrounding suburban libraries, Wilmette and Skokie, have it available right now to be checked out. So I can take my son to any of the neighborhood libraries and point out to him my book. How cool is that?

Holy Cow!

I'm smiling right now.

Just checked the Amazon sales ranking for Lost in the Ivy and, as of 4 PM today, it had jumped to 41,966, after being 700,000-plus earlier in the day. That's the highest ranking it has achieved, I believe, since it first went on sale. Guess that little bit of ink from the Chicago Sun-Times paid off.

It probably won't last for long, but it sure would be fun to dance naked in the streets again.

Update on Tuesday, September 5, 2006 at 10:16PM by Randy Richardson

As of 10:15 PM, the Amazon ranking was back up in the 80,000-plus range. Oh, well, it was fun for a brief moment.

Keeping Up Appearances

There are countless authors out there who claim to know the deep dark secret to selling books. This knowledge they impart in books, on blogs, in online forums, at writing conferences, in e-mail discussion groups, just about any place where they'll find attentive ears or eyes.

Here's my advice: Don't pay attention to any of them.

I hate to be a naysayer, but there are too many sages out there selling too much false hope.

The reality is that there is no secret formula that will magically transform your book into a best-seller. It's nice to daydream - and who does that better than writers - but odds are that you aren't going to be the next Stephen King or John Grisham.

I used to read all the print an online book marketing wisdom of my fellow authors but I've since cut most of it out of my life. The problem is, it's addictive, and you start to feel like a junkie, feeding on every nugget of information that is out there for the taking. Then you develop a splitting headache, as you try to sort out all of the competing theories and views and to make sense of it all, until you realize that there are no answers and that nobody's right and that nobody's wrong. Some things work for some and other things work for others.

Mostly what I got from all of it was a sour taste in my mouth, which led me to put too much pressure on myself to sell books, which led, ultimately, to the inevitable disappointment, because I could never sell as many books as I'd hoped to sell.

Looking back on it all, I wish that I'd done it differently and had gone out on the road with the mindset of just having fun while meeting fellow authors and book readers. That's my goal from now on. Instead of focusing on selling my stories, I'm going to put the emphasis on telling my stories.

And that's just what I'll be doing at two upcoming bookstore appearances:

• On Friday, October 13, at 7 PM, I'll be at the Book Cellar, 4736-38 Lincoln Ave., Chicago (Lincoln Square), reading from both my published and unpublished works as part of the Chicago Writers Association Author's Night;
• And on Sunday, November 19, at 3 PM, I'll be at the Barnes & Noble, 6685 E. State St., Rockford, as part of a Sisters in Crime/Love is Murder Mystery Authors Panel.

So mark your calendar and if you're in the neighborhood, stop by and say hello. No pressure. Just for fun.