Why I Wrote This
If you
have a message that will inspire, make your readers smile, or teach them a
truth that can change their lives, then you deserve to know how to get
published with the least amount of wasted time and money. In my booklet that
follows, I will attempt to tell you how.
About
Lisa Saunders
Lisa lives in Mystic, Connectiut,
with her husband and beagle/basset hound, Bailey. A speaker and award-winning
writer, she gives talks on her books, Mystic
Seafarer’s Trail (includes
little-known details about Amelia Earhart’s wedding in nearby Noank); Ever True: A Union Private and His Wife (also
a one-act play); Ride A Horse, Not an Elevator; How
to Get Published; and Anything But a Dog! The perfect pet for a girl with
CMV. She was awarded the National Council for Marketing &
Public Relations Gold Medallion. See her work and availability to speak at
www.authorlisasaunders.com
Table of Contents
Introduction
Summary of
What Works
My Humble
Beginning—will I ever get published?
The Truth
About Publishing
Where to
Begin: “Will you be my publisher (or agent)?”
Finding an agent or book
publisher
Self-Publishing
Self-Publishing Through Smashwords
and Amazon
Query Letters
Book
Proposals
Promoting Your Book
Building an
Audience (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn)
Links for
Writers
About the Author
Introduction
My story
that follows is meant to be a starting point for you—it is based entirely on
what has worked for me. In this booklet I will share my
experiences getting published and also address the publishing process at large.
I cover the publishing of short stories, articles, non-fiction, children’s
fiction and memoirs. Although I’ve never written an adult novel, many of the
principles still apply. Also included are lists of free resources available to
writers seeking a publisher. Self-publishing is an increasingly popular
alternative, so I will discuss that option as well.
Summary of What Works
If
you're just starting out, you might as well know the truth now--you have to be
"famous" (at least well-known) to get published by a major publisher.
Unfortunately, I'm not kidding. (Don't believe me? Then how did Paris Hilton's
dog, Tinkerbell, get published?) At the very least, the publisher needs to know
you personally or know your best friend personally to consider your manuscript.
It is difficult to convince them to take a chance on an unknown unless you have
unique credentials to cover a topic that fits in with their general themes. One
intern at a major, glossy magazine finally told me what I always suspected,
"We never read unsolicited manuscripts."
If you
want to get paid (or at least read by more than your mother), then you need to
find a way to start writing about topics of interest to readers. Once editors
and readers get to know and trust you, then you can start branching out with
your own personal stories.
How to
begin:
1. Build your portfolio--local newspapers and magazines
WANT to print your words
The
easiest way to get your thoughts into print and begin gathering
"your" audience, is to submit letters to the editor (don't forget to
include your hometown when you do) and to submit stories to those free weekly
newspapers and monthly magazines you see lying around. They are short staffed
and welcome free stories with a good photo or illustration (thoroughly caption
your image and only send them work that won't violate anyone's copyright).
2. Call local editors directly,
offering a story for free
I
finally began earning money as a freelance writer when I called a Rockland
County magazine offering them a story I did on a friend in the area who beat
the Guinness World Record time for paddling down the Mississippi River. The
editor replied, "That sounds very interesting, but we have a limited
budget and won't be able to pay you." I assured him that was fine. I just
needed to get my foot in the door.
That
article lead to my very first assignment (though still unpaid) from the
magazine: "Will you go to Nyack and find people to discuss Russell Crowe's
stay there while he's working on his current film in New York City?" I
have to admit, it was a bit exciting to walk into bars with a reporter's
notebook and pen and ask around if anyone had seen Russell Crowe. After
uncovering a few "Russell Crowe" sightings, the magazine offered me
the chance to write the cover story, "The 7 Wonders of Rockland," and
I was to be paid! The response to the story was great--not only did people call
the magazine asking for several copies to use as a sightseeing guide, but a
local developer contacted me with an offer to write about the towns where they
were building. They paid my expenses to sleep in a bed & breakfast and eat
in fancy restaurants in order to review them. They also paid for my husband
Jim's expenses in exchange for digital photographs of our travels.
Although
this magazine and developer were paying me to write on a specific topic, I was
still able to share my personal insights and "voice" within. The
local magazine went on to hire me to write reviews of hair salons (thus I got a
free haircut from a lady who styles the heads of celebrities), and other places
in my area.
3. Contact editors by name at
national magazines
It's
almost pointless to send a query letter to an editor without addressing it
directly to them. You can find an editor's name by flipping through the pages
of the big general books like the "Writer's Market" and
"Literary Market Place," which are probably available at your library
or local bookstore. I've always found my updated contact information by sitting
on the floor of bookstores and libraries and skimming through magazines looking
for the current editors, or I call publishers to find out who the submissions
editor is.
4. Write a query letter that
grabs their interest right away
The next
step is the query letter, which introduces you and your work to a publisher.
I've had the most luck when I begin the letter letting them know I've read
their publication or I simply jump right into my story, hoping to catch their
interest in the first sentence. For example, this query letter landed me a
publisher for my memoir, "Anything But a Dog!" It began:
"Inevitably, most kids ask for a dog. And who can blame them? Dogs like
Lassie adore you, keep you warm when you're caught in a blizzard and drag you
out of burning buildings when you're unconscious. But by the time we're adults,
we've learned the truth: dogs urinate on your new wall-to-wall carpets; dig
holes in your leather recliners to hide their rawhide bones, and bite your
neighbor's kid. So when my seven-year-old daughter Jackie asked for a dog, I
said no. Our younger daughter Elizabeth was disabled and wouldn't be able to
protect herself from a frisky animal. But I did make Jackie a promise: 'If God
brings a dog to our doorstep, you can have it.' In the meantime, I offered her
a hamster..."
5. Learn how to use a digital
camera
Magazines
and newspapers need images to make their pages come alive--and many have had to
lay off their photographers. Offer to provide images with your story, and if
that's not possible, suggest in your query letter an image they might want to
consider. In my historical story, "The Hanging of Henry Gale," I
wrote to the magazine: "After reading the article about the Revolutionary
War in your June issue, I thought you'd be interested in my story, 'The Hanging
of Henry Gale.' My ancestor Henry Gale was a captain in the war who later
became a leader in Shays' Rebellion. He was found guilty of treason and
sentenced to hang. I can submit a photo of his headstone and suggest an
illustration of Shays' Rebellion from the New York Public Library image
database."
6. Get out from behind your
computer and network
Meeting
people in the industry is important. You'll never be "discovered"
spending all of your time at a desk. Attending a writer's conference or taking
a writing class improves your chances of finding work. At 45 years of age, I
finally took my first writing class at Rockland Community College--Introduction
to Journalism. Not only did I finally learn that periods should be placed
before the end quotation mark, but the instructor was a copy editor who helped
get my work published in her newspaper. I also joined the 18-19 year-old
student staff of the College paper and learned how write and edit for that.
When the College had an opening for a writer in their Camus Communications
Department, I was offered the job.
7. Give readers what they
want--but stay true to your voice
Why do
you need to please your editors/readers first when starting out as a freelance
writer? Only when you have developed an audience can you can branch out and
truly say what you want to say.
When it
came time to write the humorous account of how a homeless dog found his way
onto my disabled daughter's couch, I wanted to secure a publisher before
spending the time finishing the manuscript. So, I wrote a book proposal
(required when seeking a publisher for non-fiction), sharing my harrowing
search for just the right pet and analyzing the market, stating who my "readers"
already were and who I thought would also be interested in my story. My query
letter interested a few agents and publishers enough to ask for my book
proposal. One publisher liked the proposal, so we signed a contract and
"Anything But a Dog!" was published.
8. Write from your soul
When you write, write from your
heart--really share your soul. Don't write what everyone else is writing. If
you lay your heart bare, your readers may just find a kindred spirit in you.
My Humble Beginning—will I ever get published?
My Humble Beginning—will I ever get published?
by Lisa
Saunders
(skip this if
you don’t want to read one of my many humiliating publishing experiences)
"Is this Lisa Saunders?"
the caller asked.
"Yes," I said, irritated, sure it was a telemarketer interrupting me in the middle of writing a story featuring myself as the heroine. Recently recovered from years of writer’s block, I was on a roll and didn’t want to stop—despite the fact that I couldn’t get an editor to adore me—or even to look at me.
Several months earlier I had sent my first story to Snooty Home magazine (name changed in case I ever work for them), thinking they’d be thrilled to get the first crack at my work—a humorous piece about what a slob I am and what it takes to prepare for a guest. But instead of sending me an offer to be their next great columnist, I received a “Thanks, but no thanks,” form letter. I’ll show them! One of their major competitors will snatch me up. I’ll become a household name! As quickly as I could address the envelopes, I sent my stories to other popular magazines. Still no nibbles. Although the wind was leaving my sails, I pressed on, now querying magazines that nobody's ever heard of.
The caller, sensing I was annoyed at the intrusion, continued, “Mrs. Saunders, I’m sorry to bother you. I’m from Nice Home magazine (name changed so they won't know I lumped them in the “nobody’s heard of them” category). We really enjoyed your “Oh No, Camping” and “My Apple Obsession” stories. Do we have your permission to publish them? We’d like to run the camping one in September and the apple one in October, but we can only pay you in three complimentary magazines. Is that okay?”
Somebody finally liked me! So what if I wasn’t going to be paid and I didn’t know anyone who read the magazine--now I’d have samples of my published work to show editors. Hanging up, I called everyone I knew along the Eastern Seaboard, “I have been discovered and am on my way!”
It was more than 10 years earlier, during my brief stint as a high school newspaper columnist, that I first thought of becoming a famous author. So I read books on how to write, scrolled a sheet of paper down into my father’s old typewriter, placed my fingers on the keys and waited. I couldn’t think of a thing to say! And that was it. I went off to Cornell University, majored in business, found a husband, worked in accounting, and had a daughter.
Writing never crossed my mind again—until the birth of my second daughter, Elizabeth. Born with a severely damaged brain as a result of a virus—cytomegalovirus (CMV)--doctors told me that she would never walk, talk, or even feed herself. Suddenly, I had a lot to say! As a way to deal with my grief, I began writing letters to friends and family to express my feelings about her prognosis and our future. Eventually, I no longer focused on what we didn’t have, but on what we did have, and the letters began regaling fun family adventures. Writing soothed my soul--perhaps getting my stories published would soothe it even more! I bought the Writer's Market, a fat book full of publishers and directions on how to submit your work. How hard could it be?
My September issue of Nice Home magazine finally arrived in the mail. I couldn’t wait to show it off! I pulled the magazine from the mailbox and stood on the porch, opening it to the table of contents. Wait a minute. I don’t see my byline. I flipped through the rest of it. My camping story was nowhere to be found! I called the magazine.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Saunders, we ran out of space,” the editor explained. “We found a humorous piece about laundry that fit better with this month’s theme.”
Devastated, I read the article that ousted mine. I had to admit, it was pretty funny. But I had funny laundry too. Why didn’t I think to write about what a riot doing my laundry was?
When October came, so did another issue of Nice Home magazine. I was scared to pull it out of my mailbox. Was more humiliation in store? But there it was—“My Apple Obsession.”
“Not your best piece,” was my husband Jim’s first comment after reading it. On second reading, I kind of agreed—I doubt I had made Snooty Home sorry they hadn’t grabbed me first. But I didn’t care--I was finally a published author!
Eventually, several of my little stories made their way into specialty magazines and local newspapers. I wasn't exactly a household name, but I was having fun--sharing the ups and downs of dieting, of trying to get a major publisher to notice me, remembering my eccentric relatives who hid false teeth and Twinkies, and of raising a severely handicapped child.
The Truth About Publishing
"Yes," I said, irritated, sure it was a telemarketer interrupting me in the middle of writing a story featuring myself as the heroine. Recently recovered from years of writer’s block, I was on a roll and didn’t want to stop—despite the fact that I couldn’t get an editor to adore me—or even to look at me.
Several months earlier I had sent my first story to Snooty Home magazine (name changed in case I ever work for them), thinking they’d be thrilled to get the first crack at my work—a humorous piece about what a slob I am and what it takes to prepare for a guest. But instead of sending me an offer to be their next great columnist, I received a “Thanks, but no thanks,” form letter. I’ll show them! One of their major competitors will snatch me up. I’ll become a household name! As quickly as I could address the envelopes, I sent my stories to other popular magazines. Still no nibbles. Although the wind was leaving my sails, I pressed on, now querying magazines that nobody's ever heard of.
The caller, sensing I was annoyed at the intrusion, continued, “Mrs. Saunders, I’m sorry to bother you. I’m from Nice Home magazine (name changed so they won't know I lumped them in the “nobody’s heard of them” category). We really enjoyed your “Oh No, Camping” and “My Apple Obsession” stories. Do we have your permission to publish them? We’d like to run the camping one in September and the apple one in October, but we can only pay you in three complimentary magazines. Is that okay?”
Somebody finally liked me! So what if I wasn’t going to be paid and I didn’t know anyone who read the magazine--now I’d have samples of my published work to show editors. Hanging up, I called everyone I knew along the Eastern Seaboard, “I have been discovered and am on my way!”
It was more than 10 years earlier, during my brief stint as a high school newspaper columnist, that I first thought of becoming a famous author. So I read books on how to write, scrolled a sheet of paper down into my father’s old typewriter, placed my fingers on the keys and waited. I couldn’t think of a thing to say! And that was it. I went off to Cornell University, majored in business, found a husband, worked in accounting, and had a daughter.
Writing never crossed my mind again—until the birth of my second daughter, Elizabeth. Born with a severely damaged brain as a result of a virus—cytomegalovirus (CMV)--doctors told me that she would never walk, talk, or even feed herself. Suddenly, I had a lot to say! As a way to deal with my grief, I began writing letters to friends and family to express my feelings about her prognosis and our future. Eventually, I no longer focused on what we didn’t have, but on what we did have, and the letters began regaling fun family adventures. Writing soothed my soul--perhaps getting my stories published would soothe it even more! I bought the Writer's Market, a fat book full of publishers and directions on how to submit your work. How hard could it be?
My September issue of Nice Home magazine finally arrived in the mail. I couldn’t wait to show it off! I pulled the magazine from the mailbox and stood on the porch, opening it to the table of contents. Wait a minute. I don’t see my byline. I flipped through the rest of it. My camping story was nowhere to be found! I called the magazine.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Saunders, we ran out of space,” the editor explained. “We found a humorous piece about laundry that fit better with this month’s theme.”
Devastated, I read the article that ousted mine. I had to admit, it was pretty funny. But I had funny laundry too. Why didn’t I think to write about what a riot doing my laundry was?
When October came, so did another issue of Nice Home magazine. I was scared to pull it out of my mailbox. Was more humiliation in store? But there it was—“My Apple Obsession.”
“Not your best piece,” was my husband Jim’s first comment after reading it. On second reading, I kind of agreed—I doubt I had made Snooty Home sorry they hadn’t grabbed me first. But I didn’t care--I was finally a published author!
Eventually, several of my little stories made their way into specialty magazines and local newspapers. I wasn't exactly a household name, but I was having fun--sharing the ups and downs of dieting, of trying to get a major publisher to notice me, remembering my eccentric relatives who hid false teeth and Twinkies, and of raising a severely handicapped child.
The Truth About Publishing
You have to
be famous to get published by a major publisher. If you’re not famous, or somehow
“in” with a major publisher, you’ll have to start with a small one.
The
reason you have to be famous? In book publishing, it costs a lot of money to
promote a title and the profits on books sold in stores are slim. It is only
worthwhile to the publisher if you already have a large following they can
count on to buy your book. So that’s why it was a lot easier for Paris Hilton’s
dog to get published (remember The
Tinkerbell Hilton Diaries: My Life Tailing Paris Hilton by Tinkerbell
Hilton?) than many great writers. Now that’s depressing!
And in the
magazine industry, they already have several trusted writers they work with. It
is difficult to convince them to take a chance on an unknown unless you have
unique credentials to cover a topic that will fit in with that month’s theme.
It is much
easier to get non-fiction published than fiction. Sorry, but it’s true. But by
no means should you give up if you believe in your story. If you can tie in
your novel to a particular group of people, you’ll have a shot at getting it
published or selling it if you self-publish. For example, my children’s novel, Ride A Horse, Not an Elevator, sells
well to horse enthusiasts (even though it’s about my terror of horses), because
it has “horse” in the title (however elevator buffs don’t seem to be buying it
and I haven’t figured out why yet). I met a poet at a writer’s conference who
was doing very well with his book of car poems because auto show attendees
loved to buy it.
Where to Begin:
“Will you be
my publisher (or agent)?”
What
kind of publishers would be interested in your work? You can start by flipping through
the pages of the big general books like, Writer's
Market and Literary Market Place,
which are probably available at your library or local bookstore, to get ideas
on how to submit query letters and manuscripts to major publishers. Children and
other specialty publishers also have their own publishing guides. For example, if
you have a child who wants to get published, read The Young Writer's Guide to Getting Published by Kathy Henderson.
Although
I’ve learned a lot looking through those general books, I’ve rarely found a
publisher through them. I’ve always found mine by sitting on the floor of
bookstores and libraries and skimming through magazines and books looking for
the names and contact information of the current editors, or I call publishers
to find out who the submissions editor is. I often find publishers by doing
searches on the Internet and clicking into their submission guidelines, which
tell me their required procedure and format for submitting manuscripts. Sometimes
I find publishers through word of mouth (my sister-in-law: “Lisa, I just met
the editor of a magazine on disabilities at a party and she said she would be
interested in considering your story about Elizabeth). In my early years of
seeking to be a freelance writer, I found a lot of support and advice in a
writers group. You can probably find one by asking your library and bookstore
if there are any locally or look at Meetup.com for one near you (I include this
and several other valuable links toward the end of this document).
The next
step is the query letter, which introduces you and your work to a publisher. I
usually start my query letter saying something like, “After reading the article
about the Revolutionary War in your June issue, I thought you’d be interested
in my story, ‘The Hanging of Henry Gale.’ My ancestor Henry Gale was a captain
in the war who later became a leader in Shays’ Rebellion. He was found guilty
of treason and sentenced to hang. I can submit a photo of his headstone and
suggest an illustration of Shay’s Rebellion from the New York Public Library
database.”
I
finally began earning money as a freelance writer when I called Rockland
Magazine offering them a story I did on a local man who beat the Guinness World
Record time for paddling down the Mississippi River (he did it in order to
raise awareness of Rett syndrome).
The
editor replied, “That sounds very interesting, but we have a limited budget and
won’t be able to pay you.” I assured him that was fine. I just needed to get my
foot in the door. That article lead to my very first assignment from the
magazine: “Will you go to Nyack and find people to discuss Russell Crowe’s stay
there while he’s working on his current film in New York City?” I have to admit, it was a bit exciting to
walk into bars with a reporter’s notebook and pen and ask around if anyone had
seen Russell Crowe. After uncovering a few “Russell Crowe” sightings, the
magazine offered me the chance to write the cover story, “The 7 Wonders of
Rockland,” and I was to be paid—(although when all was said and done, I only
made about $4/hour because of the extensive research and driving involved).
The
response to the cover story was overwhelming. Not only did people call the
magazine asking for several copies of that issue to use as a sightseeing guide,
but a local developer contacted me and asked me to write about the towns where
they were building. They paid my expenses to sleep in a bed & breakfast and
eat in fancy restaurants in order to review them. They also paid for my husband
Jim’s expenses in exchange for digital photographs of our travels (advice: learn
how to use a digital camera so you can offer photos with your story).
Attending
a writer’s conference or taking a writing class also improves your chances
finding work. At 45 years of age, I finally took my first writing class at Rockland
Community College--Introduction to Journalism. Not only did I finally learn that periods
should be placed before the end quotation mark, but the instructor was a copy
editor who helped me get my work published in her newspaper. I also joined the 18-19 year-old student staff
of the College paper and learned how write and edit for that. When the College
had an opening for a writer in their Camus Communications Department, I was
offered the job.
The
easiest way to get your thoughts into print is to submit letters to the editor
(don’t forget to include your hometown when you do) and to submit stories to
those free weekly newspapers and monthly magazines you see lying around. They
are short staffed and welcome free stories with a good photo or illustration
(thoroughly caption your image and only send them work that won’t violate
anyone’s copyright).
Finding an agent or book publisher
It is so much easier now to
contact publishers and agents because of the Internet. Although small publishers don’t require you to have an agent, most large
publishing houses won’t even look at you without one—especially if your book is
a novel. To sell a novel, you need to be prepared to present the entire
manuscript once they tell you they like your synopsis and first three chapters.
To sell non-fiction, you’ll need to submit a book proposal—which takes more
work than writing the actual book—and I suggest you write the proposal before
completing your entire manuscript because it may cause you to take a direction
that will make it more marketable to a publisher (I’ve included an excerpt of
my book proposal for Anything But a Dog! that resulted in securing a publisher). Most publishers and agents have
their submission guidelines available online.
Self-Publishing (may lead to finding
a publisher)
If you’ve tried everything
and just can’t find a publisher, there is a very good alternative to those
elusive publishing contracts. Self-publishing not only gets your book out there
faster, but you maintain control of the content and how and when you promote
it.
In the mid 90s, on a high
after getting several of my stories about life with my severely disabled
daughter, Elizabeth, published in a variety of magazines and newspapers, I
decided to write a book about our journey as a family caring for a profoundly
handicapped child. I called it, “A Time to Weep; A Time to Laugh.”
A round of rejection slips.
Despite all sorts of excuses like, “We already did a story like that”; We don’t
do personal experience stories” and, “Our editor died,” I still felt the need
to have my story told.
I’ll publish it myself! I
was inspired by the self-publishing success story of Richard Paul Evans, author
of The Christmas Box. His book was so
successful he printed it in several languages and it was adapted for TV
audiences.
I had my manuscript
professionally edited and typeset. Sweltering in my garage during a
particularly hot summer in Maryland, I attached the pages together with an old
comb binding machine and made a hundred copies.
At first I felt embarrassed
promoting a book to the news media that had been rejected by publishers…until
the day I received my first letter from a reader:
“Dear Lisa Saunders, I
recently read an article…about your daughter Elizabeth. I just had to buy your
book…I’ve had a hard time with accepting [my daughter’s disabilities]…Thank you
for writing your book. It helped a lot.”
Her letter meant the world
to me. My story did have a purpose.
Then, unbelievably, a
publisher contacted me. The editor said, “I am attracted to your book, not only
because it’s a good story that fits into our market, but because you have
already laid the foundation for a good promotional campaign.” I signed my first
contract with a publisher. This was it! Or so I thought…
I gave up the right to sell
my self-published version (which hurt when I received an order for a hundred
copies from a hospital) and spent an entire summer rewriting the manuscript
according to the editor’s specifications. But on the good side, I attended the
publisher’s book parties, mingled with other authors, and received a copy of my
book’s press release, bearing the publisher’s logo and a picture of Elizabeth
and me. It featured rave reviews and announced my book’s imminent publication.
I had arrived.
But wait. Moments before the
book went to press, the publisher downsized. My editor was let go…and so was my
book. Utterly defeated, I shelved the manuscript. I just didn’t have it in me
to pursue another publisher or to self-publish it again.
I moved on. Besides, the
voices of my eccentric relatives from childhood summers spent in upstate New
York were calling me. Memories of my great-grandfather’s bed clanging back and
forth in his bedroom on railroad-like tracks, my aunt making me use the
outhouse, and the terror of riding my ornery pony, blossomed into the
children’s novel Ride A Horse, Not an Elevator. It is basically a true story except the part where I, the heroine,
overcome my fear of the pony to ride alone for help when my grandfather’s chest
is smashed by a charging cow (in reality, my grandfather and I walked slowly
back to his house with him holding his broken ribs together).
While the Sentinel newspaper in Maryland
serialized Ride A Horse, Not an Elevator, I searched for a publisher. Another set of rejection slips convinced me
to try getting an agent instead. Even getting one of those was difficult, but I
finally did and signed a one-year contract with her. But she was unable to sell
the story to a publisher within the year so I decided to self-publish again. This
time I had a printer bind it to look like a real paperback book (called perfect
bound) and I sold it to local school children, horse enthusiasts, and New York
and Iowa featured it as part of their state-wide 4-H program called, “Horse
Book in a Bucket.”
Once again I was back on the
road of self-promotion (it would be so much easier if I was famous so someone
else would promote me!). However, I do love sharing my experiences before a
live audience and I particularly enjoy speaking to children at elementary
schools. They’re excited to meet an author and pepper me with questions like,
“Did your grandfather really knock over outhouses?”; “Did you really get gum
stuck all over the dog?” and “Did your aunt really hide her Twinkies in the
dishwasher?”
Not inspired to write a
sequel to Ride A Horse, Not an Elevator, or to dust off my book about Elizabeth again, I feared a long season of
writer’s block would hit. Little did I know that the inspiration for my next
book sat languishing in the dark, right in my mother’s attic. And then it
happened—I found them—the Civil War love letters between my great-great
grandparents stuffed in a little, old wooden box. Through their correspondence
I traveled more than 100 years into the past catching glimpses into the humble
spirit of President Lincoln as well as a couple’s commitment to each other and
their country despite the war’s infidelities and ever-present threat of death.
I scoured overgrown forts and battlefields as well as out-of-print books and
the National Archives to uncover the facts and family secrets behind those
telling letters. My book, Ever True: A Union Private and His Wife, was born.
And this time, publishers
were interested. It was released by Heritage Books in 2004. Although it was
great to finally have a book published by someone else, the work of promoting
myself was almost the same (but with their connections, they were able to get
the book reviewed in a major Civil War magazine and it was a little easier to
get certain media to interview me). I have heard that even if you’re published
by a major publisher, if you’re not famous, you’ll still be out there promoting
yourself. Although self-publishing is more work, there are certain
benefits--especially if you are the type that doesn’t mind contacting the media
and event planners. Carefully research the pros and cons of self-publishing
before you jump in.
Self-Publishing Through Smashwords
and Amazon
Amazon has
made it so easy (and free except for their commission) to print and sell books
through Createspace.com (e-books are published through their Kindle company).
If you want your print book distributed to bookstores and libraries, you will
have to pay a $25 fee and use their ISBNs. You can also publish your e-books on
Smashwords in addition to Kindle (Smashwords lets you publish free
e-books--which is good if you want to publish a "teaser," but
Amazon's Kindle makes you charge a minimum of $.99 for an e-book). My
experience has been both Amazon and Smashwords have great distribution channels
and they both offer free ISBNs. Amazon's e-books don't even need an ISBN, but
Smashword's e-books do, but they offer you the chance to use their free ISBNs.
Others also use and love the print-on-demand printer/publisher, lulu.com, but I
haven't gone through their procedures yet.
Both
e-books and soft-cover books can handle images, charts, anything. If you know
how to insert then into a Word document, and use the formatting criteria both
companies give you, your document will come out looking like a real book. I
wish I had only used Endnotes instead of Footnotes and Endnotes in my print
version of Mystic Seafarer's Trail because the e-book
version can only handle Endnotes, so I had to convert all my Footnoes into
Endnotes when converting my print version into an e-book version. (In addition,
an e-book cannot handle an Index, so I warn people in the first opening pages
of the free preview they are given that if they want the Mystic Seafarer's Trail's Index of ships
and famous people, they should consider buying the print version instead of the
e-book version).
The
following is what I've learned recently about Amazon and Smashwords. I started
with Amazon's print-on-demand service because they provide free templates for
the book covers, which I could then use with the Kindle e-book version
available on Amazon (you don't need a Kindle to download e-books--both
Smashwords and Amazon make them available in all kinds of formats so they can
be read on any computer, phone, etc). Here is an excerpt of an email I sent to
someone in response to how you self-publish online:
To
begin, you might want to check out this link for the print on demand service
hosted by Amazon (where I did the print version of the Mystic Seafarer's Trail): https://tsw.createspace.com/getstarted/productselection
(You
will also want to publish as an e-book through Kindle on Amazon and on www.smashwords.com)
It cost
nothing to set up my book (and make changes) because I didn't use the extra
services they offered. I have self-published before so I knew a little of what
I was getting into and I was able to fit my book cover material into the
templates they offered. I don't have the skill/interest to come up with my own
templates. You can find out how much your book will cost YOU by clicking on a
link they provide to tell you that. Since this is a print on demand service,
you don't have to buy a zillion books to get a good price per book. I chose to
use black and white images within my book to make it cheaper for me. You have
to have at least 24 pages to make a print book. Even though I'm doing a short
fairytale right now, I have gotten it to 24 pages because I have a dedication
page, title page, an addendum, and excerpts of my other work in the back.
I chose
to do the print version before the e-book version of the Mystic Seafarer's Trail because the print
version gave me templates and directions that were easier for me to understand
than the e-book instructions. I was then allowed to take the book cover I
designed on Create Space and use it for my e-book on the Kindle site hosted by
Amazon. They are two separate companies, so you have to have two accounts and
transfer your print book set up over to it.
The
Kindle site is: https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/
I chose
to use the free ISBN provided by Amazon for my print book. You have to use
theirs if you want the book available through Baker & Taylor (libraries
like to go through that distributor) and Ingram (bookstores like to use that
distributor). I had to pay a $25 fee to make my book available through those
distributors. You don't need an ISBN for Amazon's e-book version.
For
future books, I will probably use the ISBNs I purchased several years ago at
You may
also want to make your book available as an e-book on Smashwords as Barnes and
Nobles distributes their e-books on Nook.
Smashwords
has an agreement with Podiobooks. I am going to turn my book, Mystic Seafarer's Trail, into an audio book
at some point: https://www.smashwords.com/links/podiobooksExit
The Query Letter
If you are
trying to get your book published by someone else, you will need to compose a
query letter. Query letters tell the publisher about your story, your audience
and your credentials. What the publisher really wants to know is, “How many
books can this author sell? Do I already have the contacts and means to market this
book successfully to this author’s particular audience?”
After receiving an invitation to
speak at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about my
daughter’s life with congenital CMV (the invitation came after I interviewed doctors
for an article I was writing about CMV), I decided it was time to update my
earlier book about Elizabeth. But this time, I would focus mainly on the fun
side of her life growing up beside a tomboy sister who wanted a dog. The
general public likes animal stories so I decided to recount my harrowing search
for just the right pet—one that would satisfy my oldest while not harming her
disabled little sister.
The following is my query letter
that gained a publisher for my light-hearted memoir, Anything But a Dog!, which
is the true story of how a big, homeless dog found his way to my disabled
daughter Elizabeth’s couch.
Dear [editor’s name],
Inevitably,
most kids ask for a dog. And who can blame them? Dogs like Lassie adore you,
keep you warm when you're caught in a blizzard and drag you out of burning
buildings when you're unconscious. But by the time we’re adults, we’ve
learned the truth: dogs urinate on your new wall-to-wall carpets; dig holes in
your leather recliners to hide their rawhide bones, and bite your neighbor’s
kid.
So when
my seven-year-old daughter Jackie asked for a dog, I said no. Our younger
daughter Elizabeth was disabled and wouldn’t be able to protect herself from a
frisky animal. But I did make Jackie a promise: “If God brings a dog to our
doorstep, you can have it.” In the meantime, I offered her a hamster.
My
nearly completed 40,000-word manuscript, “Anything
But a Dog,” includes the accounts of our dysfunctional pets like the
hamster who wouldn’t run in her wheel, a Stinky Rabbit who did even less, an
ant farm that killed off its ants, the cat who attacked Elizabeth’s face and
the inevitable appearance of a dog at our door. Of course we also had other
concerns-- keeping Elizabeth alive and happy. Elizabeth was born severely
disabled as a result of a virus I caught, CMV. Although congenital CMV causes
more disabilities than Down syndrome, most women have never heard of it or how
to avoid it through cautious handling of the saliva of young children. OB/GYNs
often don’t realize how common the virus is or they just don’t take the time to
warn their patients how to avoid it. The back matter of my book includes
interviews with the country’s leading CMV experts about the latest prevention
methods and emerging treatments.
Dog
lovers or those who care for someone disabled will find “Anything But a Dog” a place to get comic relief from the very
difficult worlds they have chosen, or have been forced, to enter.
Short
stories about our dog and Elizabeth have appeared in newspapers, magazines and
newsletters. I am the author of the books, Ever True: A Union Private and His Wife,
published by Heritage Books, and the children’s novel, Ride A Horse, Not an Elevator,
serialized in the Sentinel and
incorporated into Cornell University’s statewide 4-H programs. I write public
relations material for the State University of New York at Rockland and am a
graduate of Cornell University. A public speaker, I have appeared at Cornell
University, Johns Hopkins, West Point Museum, on radio and television, and at
several libraries and schools. I will also be speaking at the international
2008 Congenital CMV Conference to be held at the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. To see samples of my work, visit www.authorlisasaunders.com
Please let me know if you would
like to see my book proposal for "Anything But a Dog," which includes
an overview, samples chapters, the target market and promotional ideas.
Sincerely,
Lisa Saunders
The above query letter intrigued
a few agents I found through QueryTracker.com, but ultimately I found a publisher,
Unlimited Publishing LLC, by searching online for one that would be interested
in my type of book. After reviewing my book proposal, a contract was
signed. Anything
But a Dog! The perfect pet for a girl with CMV was published in 2008 (the official date turned out
to be December 18—my daughter Elizabeth’s birthday!).
Book Proposals
Excerpt of my book proposal that
landed me a publisher for Anything
But a Dog! The perfect pet for a girl with CMV:
Book proposals are usually
required when presenting a non-fiction book for publication. Below is just a
brief excerpt and doesn’t include all of the components of the following table
of contents (but you must be prepared to do so). Book proposals, like
manuscripts, should be double spaced with page breaks for different topics—I’m
just trying to save paper here!
by Lisa
Saunders
Book Proposal Table of Contents
Summary, Page _
Format, Page _
The Market, Page _
The Competition, Page _
Anything But a Dog! Table of Contents, Page _
Sample Chapters: Chapter 1, Page
_
Author Biography, Page _
Author Promotion, Page _
Chapter Summaries, Page _
Possible Reviewers, Page_
Author Resume, Page _
Sample
Chapter (an excerpt of one)
.1.
“No,
you can't have a dog.”
“Mom, can I have a dog?” my
six-year-old daughter Jackie asked, standing next to me while I washed the
breakfast dishes.
I
cringed. The dreaded day was here—all kids inevitably ask for one. And why
wouldn’t they? Movie dogs like Lassie drag you from burning buildings and keep
you warm when you’re lost in a blizzard. But by the time we're adults, we've
learned the truth about them: they urinate on your new wall-to-wall carpets,
dig holes in your leather recliners to hide their rawhide bones, and bite your
neighbor's kid.
“No, you can't have a
dog,” I said, bracing myself for the age-old argument.
“Why not?” she
demanded.
My mind raced for
good excuses to make my point. Might as well start with the standard one: “A
dog is too much work. And I know I'll end up being the one who walks it in the
pouring rain.”
“I promise I'll take
care of it. I will, I really will! Honest Mom!” Jackie exclaimed.
“Sure,” I thought,
“that’s what they all say.” Avoiding her pleading eyes, I picked up a plate
sticky with leftover syrup. “The truth is,” I said, “we just can't risk a dog
around your sister.” I hated admitting that. I didn't want her to blame her
little sister, three years younger, for being so fragile. But taking care of
Elizabeth, who was quadriplegic from cerebral palsy, was already enough work
without adding a dog that might playfully nip at her.
I know! I’ll give
Jackie the “lip-severing story.” That’ll convince her we can’t have a dog
around her sister.
“When I was 13,” I
began, “I talked Grandma and Grandpa into letting me have a Weimaraner. His
name was Bogie—short for Humphrey Bogart—and he was a nipper. One day, my
two-year-old cousin Suzannah was playing on the floor underneath the table with
a Popsicle stick in her mouth. Bogie snapped at the stick and bit her lip off!
My grandmother got the lip off the carpet and wrapped it in a paper napkin to
take to the hospital. But it couldn’t be sewn back on. A surgeon fixed
Suzannah’s face, but when we got home, my mother loaded Bogie into the back
seat of the car and took him to the vet’s. I never saw him again. He took the
‘long walk’ as they say in the Lady and the Tramp movie.”
I paused so Jackie
could let the horror of the incident sink in.
But all she wanted to
know was, “Where’s Suzannah’s lip now?”
“Gosh, I don't know!
The last time I saw her lip it was stuck to the napkin, all shriveled and
mummy-like on my grandmother’s bookshelf. But that’s beside the point; can't
you see how dangerous a dog could be for your sister? She can’t speak—how would
she call out to us if she was in another room and the dog was bothering her?”…
[Dear Reader of this free e-book,
How to Get Published,
About.com
published the following review of Anything
But a Dog! The perfect pet for a girl with CMV: "If
you're an animal lover, you'll love the critter tales as much as the
special-needs storyline...really lifted my spirits."
--Terry Mauro.
To help
prevent congenital CMV from happening to other children, please consider
ordering the book to share with women of child-bearing age and/or asked your
library to add a copy to their collection to help raise CMV awareness in your
community.
Anything But a Dog! The perfect pet for a girl with
CMV is
available through Amazon and Unlimited Publishing LLC, and if purchased through
the National
CMV Disease Registry or the UK
CONGENITAL CMV Association, a percent of the proceeds are donated to
raising CMV awareness and parent support. Thanks in advance for your support!]
Promoting Your Book
It doesn’t matter whether
you published your book or if it was published by someone else, you must
overcome any shyness and call places like public libraries and schools to offer
yourself as a speaker. You must also learn how to write press releases about
your work and send it to newspapers (although publishers do this, if you’re not
famous, you have to do a lot of this work yourself too). Before I knew what a
press release was (it’s just an e-mail/fax to the media alerting them to your
latest news), I simply called newspapers and told them about my book and that I
was available for an interview. Now I write press releases for my job as a
Campus Communications writer. You can see my press releases at: http://www.sunyrockland.edu/news
Think of creative ways to
sell your book (book stores are the worst place for a non-famous person to sell
their books). Most of my book sales come from my public speaking engagements,
sitting at events or by using them as fundraisers.
Building an Audience (which can help you get a publisher
and/or sell books)
You can
start your own blog or website for free using tools set up by http://www.google.com/
and you can submit your articles to sites like http://www.ezinearticles.com/
and http://www.articlesbase.com/
When
people do a search on a topic, well established websites pop up high on the
search. You can also submit your memoir to places like http://www.storyofmylife.com.
I have
my own website for which I pay a monthly fee. Websites that you pay for show up
higher on the list when people do Internet searches (one man told me that’s not
true—but that has been my personal experience). I began the process of setting
up my personal website page, www.authorlisasaunders.com, by registering my
domain name on www.register.com
(they allow you to set up a very basic Website for free). You’ll then need a
service provider to host your site. Register.com walks you through the steps. One
advantage of my website is that it has a guestbook to keep track of the e-mail
addresses of people who want my occasional news in their inboxes. If you’d like to receive my news, you can
go directly to my guestbook and sign in at: http://www.authorlisasaunders.com/pageemail.htm
People are sending strangers to
their blogs and websites using Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
You can visit me on my following
URLs:
Web site:
http://www.authorlisasaunders.com
Twitter:
http://twitter.com/saundersbooks
It is
important that you know your book details at all times to join in on sites that
promote books. The following are my book
details:
Mystic Seafarer’s
Trail: Secrets behind 7 Wonders, Titanic’s Shoes, Captain Sisson’s Gold, and
Amelia Earhart’s Wedding. Published
by Createspace on October 29, 2012. ISBN: 1480085847
Anything But a Dog!
The perfect pet for a girl with congenital CMV (cytomegalovirus). Published by Unlimited
Publishing LLC on December 18, 2008. ISBN: 1588329968
Ever True: Union
Private and His Wife,
Published by Heritage Books in 2004, ISBN: 0788425269
Ride a Horse, Not an
Elevator,
Published by Lisa Saunders in 1995, ISBN: 0964940302
You can
set up a Facebook “page” versus a “profile,” which allows strangers to click on
“Become a fan.” Then they can read your latest thoughts attached to your blog
links you post with your updates. You can find my Facebook “page” at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lisa-Saunders/403960002971840?ref=hl
Posted on it is a place for you to click to set up your “page” by clicking on “Create a Page.”
LinkedIn has groups for writers.
You don’t have to know the members in the group to be allowed to join, although
you do need to request permission. To set up an account, visit: http://www.linkedin.com/
Why
Twitter?
- The
media can follow your latest thoughts/news
- If you
want to follow breaking news from your favorite organization or person
like: http://twitter.com/Saundersbooks,
Oprah,
whitehouse, CDCemergency,
Reuters_TopNews
- You
don’t have to be someone’s friend to see what they’re up to and vice
versa.
Begin:
Go To: www.Twitter.com
Click on: Get Started—Join!
Full name: (can have spaces in
it-people will see it)
Username: How you want people to
see you
Password:
Email:
Type in those security words
Click on: Create my account
Tabs in upper right:
Home: Where you can type your updates
and read others.
Profile: Lists all your
updates—this is what people see when deciding if they want to follow you
Find People: Provides ways for you to invite by email, find on Twitter, on
other networks. If you still can’t find someone, click into “search” at the
bottom which allows you to do a more advanced search on a person or topic.
Settings: Has your info about who you are.
Other
important social networking sites:
Join any
social networking sites that cover topics of interest to you. I joined the site,
“Moms Like Me,” because I wanted to post information about congenital CMV,
figuring that those women are in the high risk group for transmitting the virus
to their unborn children. One day, thinking they might also be interested in
knowing I just published a free e-book on how to get published (because I
became a freelance writer after the birth of
my children), I posted the link to the e-book under the discussion board
category, “My Story.” Dominique, a freelance writer and founder of Mommy Writers,
downloaded my “How to Get Published” e-book, read it, enjoyed it and then
contacted me for an interview to be published on her blog and incorporated into
a future article. A book reviewer, Dominique also plans to review Anything But a Dog! I, in turn, was so
impressed by her work and mission to help writing moms find publishers, that I
posted an excerpt of our interview on my blog and included her link so my readers
can find out more about her. The following is the excerpt published in my blog,
How
to Get Thin and Famous (or at least published!) at: http://howtogetthinandfamous.blogspot.com/
[Dominique]: What would be your best advice for beginning writers?
[Lisa]: Find out what audiences want to read and then find a way to write about that while remaining true to your “voice”—your unique way of expressing your thoughts. Only when you have developed an audience can you can branch out and truly say what you want to say. When you write from your heart, really share your soul—don’t write what everyone else is writing. If you lay your heart bare, your readers may just find a kindred spirit in you.
Visit Dominique’s blog for the rest of the interview at:
http://freelancerforhire.wordpress.com/2009/08/28/qa-with-published-writer-lisa-saunders/
[Lisa]: Find out what audiences want to read and then find a way to write about that while remaining true to your “voice”—your unique way of expressing your thoughts. Only when you have developed an audience can you can branch out and truly say what you want to say. When you write from your heart, really share your soul—don’t write what everyone else is writing. If you lay your heart bare, your readers may just find a kindred spirit in you.
Visit Dominique’s blog for the rest of the interview at:
http://freelancerforhire.wordpress.com/2009/08/28/qa-with-published-writer-lisa-saunders/
Links for
Writers
Magazine Publishers: http://writingcorner.com/resources/magazines.htm
Writer’s groups: www.meetup.com
For tips on writing memoirs, visit my blog: http://authorlisasaundersmemoir.blogspot.com/
My blog, “How to Get Thin and Famous (or at least published!)”: http://authorlisasaunders.blogspot.com/
Literary agents
http://www.querytracker.net (helps you
search for an agent and keep track of what you sent them)
http://agentquery.com (has great links to
lead you directly to large and small publishers)
http://www.aaronline.org/ (lists agents)
Book Publishers:
HelpAPublisherPublishYou.com (Sign up for
their free e-newsletter that provides publishing contacts)
http://agentquery.com/publishing.aspx
(Provides links to large and small publishers)
Children’s Publishers: http://www.everywritersresource.com/childrensbookpublishers.html
Disability Publishers: http://www.rnceus.com/fam3/sidebar.htm
Self-Publishing reference e-newsletters & books: I recommend subscribing to the free e-newsletter, http://www.u-publish.com/ and the books: U-Publish.com 4.0: A ‘Living Book’ to Help You Compete with the Giants of
Publishing, by Dan Poynter and Danny O. Snow. Order
at: http://www.u-publish.com/
Also check out: The Self-Publishing
Manual by Dan Poynter
Book Promotion: The books I
recommended on self-publishing plus the following links will help you get
started:
Make yourself available as a
quotable source for writers/reporters at: http://www.helpareporter.com/
I also get several helpful promotional tips through these free
e-newsletters:
http://www.u-publish.com/ and http://www.publicityhound.com/ and I have several links with
ideas for the endless job of book promotion on my publishing blog: http://authorlisasaunders.blogspot.com/
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
Lisa Saunders is an award-winning writer and speaker
living in Mystic, Connecticut, with her husband and hound. She works as a
part-time history interpreter at Mystic Seaport and is a member of the Mystic
River Historical Society and Daughters of the American Revolution. A graduate
of Cornell University, she is the author of several books and a winner of the
National Council for Marketing & Public Relations Gold Medallion. She is
the Congenital CMV Foundation parent representative.
Lisa’s other work, plus her free “How To” e-books
and availability for speaking, can be found on her website at:
www.authorlisasaunders.com. To continue to read her exploits, sign into her
blog at: http://authorlisasaunders.blogspot.com
Lisa’s books (and short video of her hound in
Mystic) are available through her author’s page on Amazon at:
www.amazon.com/author/lisasaunders
Lisa can be reached directly at
saundersbooks@aol.com
BOOKS
BY LISA SAUNDERS
Excerpt:
Chapter One
Wanted: Epic Adventure
Moments
after I stepped out of my new home with my hound for our first stroll through
the historic seacoast village of Mystic, Connecticut, a woman pulled over in
her van and yelled, "Excuse me."
Assuming
she was a tourist wanting directions to Mystic Pizza or some other attraction,
I wasn't prepared for what she really wanted to know.
"Do
you realize the back of your skirt is tucked into your underwear?"
What
a debut in my new hometown—I don’t think this is what National Geographic
meant when they named Mystic one of the top 100 adventure towns in the United
States.
Once
recovered from my wardrobe “malfunction,” I continued toward downtown Mystic
with Bailey, a beagle/basset hound mix, to embark on a new life—to shake off my
old, sedentary landlubbing ways.
No
longer did I want to be known as the lady who always talks about losing weight
but never does it. No longer would I sit around daydreaming about becoming thin
and famous so I could hire someone else to clean my house. I had a real shot at
it now that I lived in a place where I couldn’t help but fall into a
swash-buckling adventure—the kind that might inspire me to write a bestseller.
Straddling
both sides of the Mystic River in the towns of Groton and Stonington, the
village of Mystic takes its name from an Indian word, “river running to the
sea.” With its scenic views of tall ships, islands, lighthouses, and secluded
coves, it has attracted such legendary honeymooners as Humphrey Bogart and
Lauren Bacall. It is a place where those who cross the oceans gather to swap
stories and repair their boats. It is where famous explorers are born, visit,
or come to live.
To
launch my career as an adventuress, I decided to walk Bailey to the haunts and
homes of such celebrated adventurers as Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly
solo across the Atlantic; Dr. Robert
Ballard, the discoverer of Titanic’s watery grave; Rear Admiral Richard
E. Byrd, the first aviator to fly over the South Pole; and Captain Nathaniel B.
Palmer, who accidentally discovered Antarctica.
Now was the time for me to join their ranks, to
start living life on the edge. Maybe I could become thin and famous like Amelia
Earhart. Like her, I am fairly tall, my middle initial is M, I have a gap
between my two front teeth, and until I looked it up, I couldn’t spell medieval
either (more on that and her wedding day later). Unlike Amelia, I wasn’t skinny,
but that was about to change. I would stop lying around reading about
adventurers and do what it took to become one.
My
husband, Jim, and I were transferred to Mystic by his company, which meant I
had to quit my job as a writer for a college and search for a new one in a
community that revolves around life at sea—not easy for a confirmed desk sitter
like me. Finding the area already teeming with underemployed writers and
publicists, I was grateful when my former employer hired me back as a
consulting writer. Although freelancing allowed me to work from home in my
pajamas, it offered no retirement benefits—hence the need to become famous.
Being famous not only helps pay the bills, but it gives you an edge when trying
to accomplish other goals.
Now
was the time for me to follow in the path of prominent authors such as Herman
Melville who went to sea on a whaler (a ship designed to catch whales and
process their oil) when he couldn't find a job. Although he deserted and had to
live among cannibals for a time, he found the inspiration to write his first
novel. Further sea adventures, which included mutiny and learning about a whale
that rammed and sank the Essex, led to the creation of his magnum opus: Moby
Dick. I, myself, could barely get through this “Great American Novel,” but
somebody must like it. And now that I lived within walking distance of the Charles
W. Morgan, the last wooden whaleship in the world, I felt that was a sign.
Perhaps I could enlist as a deck swabber for some epic voyage on it. The house
we purchased came with a brass, whale-shaped door knocker. That had to be a
sign.
If
following in the footsteps of a whaling writer didn’t work, there was always
the chance I could get famous by finding a dead body—just like Bailey and our
older daughter had. Although it didn’t make her into an international
celebrity, I use it as a party stopper whenever I want to be the center of
attention. Of course, I should really find my own body, preferably of a
well-known person. Celebrities are always coming to Mystic to film movies or
vacation.
Since
I couldn’t count on finding a dead body, famous or otherwise, I decided to
start small. First, I planned to compile “The 7 Wonders of Mystic”—something
quick I could shout to the tourists who rolled down their car windows asking
what they should see (besides my underwear).
National
Geographic’s website
suggests that Mystic adventurers bike what it calls the 25-mile Vineyard Loop
that includes “some hairy climbs that stops at two of the best wineries.” Hairy
climbs? I hoped to get thin, but did I have to go uphill to do it? I thought
not.
Instead,
I would conquer a trail of my own design—one that would avoid hills where
possible—and call it the “Mystic Seafarer’s Trail.” It would include “The 7
Wonders” (once I figured out what they were) plus the spots where legendary
adventurers lived, worked or got married in Mystic and nearby Stonington and
Noank. It would include not only the haunts and homes of those adventurers
already mentioned, but also of those you may have never heard of—such as Kate
the acupuncturist who gave birth on a schooner and rowed to shore to weigh her
baby on a lobster scale.
With so many potential wonders to
consider and adventures to try, I had a lot of ground—and water—to cover. So,
every afternoon, I checked my skirt and off Bailey and I went to follow a scent
of our own.
More about Mystic Seafarer's Trail:
While searching for the Seven Wonders of Mystic with her beagle/basset hound, author Lisa Saunders uncovers the secrets behind the Titanic's shoes, Captain Sisson's hunt for gold, and Amelia Earhart's Noank wedding. But will she ever find an adventure of her own--one that will make her thin and famous? Enough to afford a housekeeper? When walking the Mystic Seafarer's Trail (which Lisa designed for those who don't like to go uphill), she meets a blind sailor who invites her on a long, winter voyage. Can this plump writer defy squalls, scurvy, and her fear of scraping barnacles to survive this epic journey?
More chapters of the Mystic Seafarer's Trail, which is available as softcover or e-book, are available for viewing by clicking on the "LOOK INSIDE" image on: http://www.amazon.com/Mystic-Seafarers-Trail-Titanics-Earharts/dp/1480085847/ref=la_B001K7Z5AC_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355776710&sr=1-1
More about Mystic Seafarer's Trail:
While searching for the Seven Wonders of Mystic with her beagle/basset hound, author Lisa Saunders uncovers the secrets behind the Titanic's shoes, Captain Sisson's hunt for gold, and Amelia Earhart's Noank wedding. But will she ever find an adventure of her own--one that will make her thin and famous? Enough to afford a housekeeper? When walking the Mystic Seafarer's Trail (which Lisa designed for those who don't like to go uphill), she meets a blind sailor who invites her on a long, winter voyage. Can this plump writer defy squalls, scurvy, and her fear of scraping barnacles to survive this epic journey?
More chapters of the Mystic Seafarer's Trail, which is available as softcover or e-book, are available for viewing by clicking on the "LOOK INSIDE" image on: http://www.amazon.com/Mystic-Seafarers-Trail-Titanics-Earharts/dp/1480085847/ref=la_B001K7Z5AC_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355776710&sr=1-1
OTHER
BOOKS BY LISA SAUNDERS
Anything
But A Dog! The perfect pet for a girl with congenital CMV (cytomegalovirus)—the
true story of a big, homeless canine and the little girl who needed him.
Reviews:
"Saunders takes readers on a road trip as
harrowing as any Dog Whisperer training challenge...Beyond the laughs about a
dizzying pet search, Saunders' dog tale is about a mother who candidly reveals
her family's burden, love, and acceptance of a daughter born with severe
disabilities-and the people, and pets, forever touched by her life."
Tonia Shakespeare, Rockland Magazine
"Sheds light on a disorder that is preventable
and not talked about enough. If you're an animal lover, you'll love the critter
tales as much as the special-needs storyline...really lifted my spirits."
Terri Mauro, About.com
“A hilarious set of pet tales! This mini-classic
shines with the assurance that every child is beloved and valuable."-- Dr.
Elisabeth Schafer, author of Vegetable Desserts: Beyond Carrot Cake and Pumpkin
Pie
Excerpt
from Chapter One:
“Mom, can I have a dog?” my six-year-old daughter
Jackie asked, standing next to me while I washed the breakfast dishes.
I cringed. The dreaded day was here—all kids inevitably
ask for one. And why wouldn’t they? Movie dogs like Lassie drag you from
burning buildings and keep you warm when you’re lost in a blizzard. But by the
time we're adults, we've learned the truth about them: they urinate on your new
wall-to-wall carpets, dig holes in your leather recliners to hide their rawhide
bones, and bite your neighbor's kid.
“No, you can't have a dog,” I said, bracing myself
for the age-old argument.
“Why not?” she demanded.
My mind raced for good excuses. Might as well start
with the standard one: “A dog is too much work. And I know I'll end up being
the one who walks it in the pouring rain.”
“I promise I'll take care of it. I will, I really
will!" Jackie exclaimed.
“Sure,” I thought, “that’s what they all say.”
Avoiding her pleading eyes, I picked up a plate sticky with leftover syrup.
“The truth is,” I said, “we just can't risk a dog around your sister.” I hated
admitting that. I didn't want her to blame her little sister, three years
younger, for being so fragile. But taking care of Elizabeth, who was
quadriplegic from cerebral palsy, was already enough work without adding a dog
that might playfully nip at her.
I know! I’ll give Jackie the “lip-severing story.”
That’ll convince her we can’t have a dog around her sister.
“When I was 13,” I began, “I talked Grandma and
Grandpa into letting me have a Weimaraner. His name was Bogie—short for
Humphrey Bogart—and he was a nipper. One day, my two-year-old cousin Suzannah
was playing on the floor underneath the table with a Popsicle stick in her
mouth. Bogie snapped at the stick and bit her lip off! My grandmother got the
lip off the carpet and wrapped it in a paper napkin to take to the hospital.
But it couldn’t be sewn back on. A surgeon fixed Suzannah’s face, but when we
got home, my mother loaded Bogie into the back seat of the car and took him to
the vet’s. I never saw him again. He took the ‘long walk’ as they say in the
Lady and the Tramp movie.”
I paused so Jackie could let the horror of the
incident sink in.
But all she wanted to know was, “Where’s Suzannah’s
lip now?”
“Gosh, I don't know! The last time I saw her lip it
was stuck to the napkin, all shriveled and mummy-like on my grandmother’s
bookshelf. But that’s beside the point; can't you see how dangerous a dog could
be for your sister? She can’t speak—how would she call out to us if she was in
another room and the dog was bothering her?”...
Anything
But a Dog! is available through:
Amazon (e-book or soft cover) at: www.amazon.com/dp/B005GRAE0I
National CMV Disease Registry at: www.unlimitedpublishing.com/cmv
(If purchased through the CMV Registry, a portion of
the proceeds is donated to CMV research and parent support.) Publisher at:
http://www.unlimitedpublishing.com/saunders
RIDE
A HORSE, NOT AN ELEVATOR
Lisa leaves the bullies and elevators of New York
City to confront the outhouses, horses and eccentric relatives on her
grandparents’ farm. Chosen by Cornell University for its "Horse Book in a
Bucket" program.
Reviews:
“A special treat for children and adults!” Mary K.
Henderberg, Wayne County Star.
“A ‘warm fuzzy’ in paperback form. It is a tangible
tale for storytelling that provides a springboard for discussion between
children and adults.” Ruth Zwick, Educational Director, Sentinel Publications
Ride a Horse, Not an Elevator, is a children’s novel
about a test of young courage. In this story, based on Lisa’s childhood
summers, Lisa is a chubby city girl searching for friendship and excitement.
She leaves home, and the elevators and bullies of a big apartment complex, to spend
a summer in the country at her grandparents’ farm. Culture shock! Accompanied
only by her loyal beagle, Donald Dog, Lisa faces a summer in a very different
environment with its own challenges and dangers. Using an outhouse is the least
of her problems! She is terrified of her new pony. Lisa’s grandfather is
injured by a charging cow and needs her to ride the pony to get help.
Remembering Grandma’s lesson about how love overcomes fear, she pushes herself
past her anxieties to ride alone and obtain the help he needs. Book includes
recipes from grandma’s kitchen.
Excerpt from Chapter Three:
…My mother sighed and then smiled as if she knew
something Uncle Jim didn't. "Okay, but you'll be sorry!"
With that, Uncle Jim and I drove off.
Donald Dog rode in the back with some clothes and
packages, and hung his head out the window. As we picked up speed, his ears
flew back and his lips quivered when he faced the wind.
"Lisa, I don't know this area so I'm going to
need you to be quiet until I figure out how to get out of the city. O.K?"
"Okay." I was glad to be quiet. That meant
I could dig into the huge bag of gum balls Uncle Jim had bought me. I chewed
one gum ball until the sugar coating was gone. I wanted to spit it out to chew
on a fresh one. "May I eat another gum ball?"
"Go ahead. But please, I really need you to be
quiet so I can concentrate."
"But, Uncle Jim, what do I do with my old gum
ball?"
"Spit it out the window. I just can't worry
about it now," Uncle Jim snapped.
Spit it out the window? That sounded like fun! My
parents would never have let me do that! I carefully aimed my lips toward the
window and spit my gum through it. The wind quickly grabbed it and flung it
backwards. I chewed another gum ball. As soon as it lost its coating, I again
spit it towards the window. I repeated this several times. I was keeping busy,
just like Uncle Jim hoped I would.
Once Uncle Jim and I were on the open road driving
away from the city, he relaxed. I had almost chewed through all my gum.
"Uncle Jim, I have to go the bathroom."
"Well, you'll have to wait until I find a sign
for a rest room."
"But Uncle Jim, I have to go really
bad--now...I can't wait!"
"All right. I'll take one of these exits. Maybe
we'll find a gas station or something."
I could barely stand the ride, I was so
uncomfortable. When I turned around to check on Donald Dog, I was horrified.
Donald's head was happily hanging out the window, but stuck all over him and
the back seat were chewed up wads of gum! The gum I had spit out had been swept
right back into the open window behind me. It was all over the seats and Uncle
Jim's clothes. Donald Dog had been stepping on it and grinding it in. What was
Uncle Jim going to say about this!...
To buy: click on image at:
www.amazon.com/author/lisasaunders
To have Lisa present her book and the "Horse
Book in a Bucket" program, contact her directly at saundersbooks@aol.com
Learn more about Lisa’s Writing Workshops for
Children at: rideahorsenotanelevator.blogspot.com
Ever
True: A Union Private and His Wife—The Civil War love
letters of a Union Private and his 17-year-old wife. Published by Heritage
Books.
Reviews:
“The story of how the marriage between Charles and
Nancy survives separation, disease, the threat of death, and malicious gossip
is compelling.” Pamela Goddard, Ithaca Times
“I was thoroughly fascinated by the letters and much
impressed by the artful way the material was woven together. The story is
cohesive and informative, but charming and romantic in a very personal way - I
think this has real potential on several different fronts." Corinne Will,
Managing Editor, Heritage Books, Inc.
“From seeing
New York City for the first time, to the suffering of a soldier at war, EVER
TRUE is a compelling first-hand glimpse into the emotions and experiences of
the people who helped build our great country.” Terry Thiry, Radio Personality
To buy: 1-800-876-6103, or click on image found at:
www.amazon.com/author/lisasaunders
Excerpt:
I carefully unfolded the stiff yellowed paper, incredulous that I was actually
touching a letter written during the American Civil War. It was one of 150
letters written between my great-great grandparents that I had discovered in a
small wooden box in my mother's attic in Suffern, New York. The note I held in
my hand, authored by Private Charles McDowell to his wife Nancy, was written on
a small, plain piece of stationery--not at all fancy like some of the others in
the batch which bore sketches of the White House and battle engagements. I
gently smoothed it flat on the table, afraid I would tear it. The handwriting
was strange, the ink somewhat faded, making it difficult to read. And then
suddenly I came upon a word I recognized in an instant--Abe! It read, "We
have [Secretary of State] Seward down here about every other day, and sometimes
he fetches Old Abe with him and [he] looks about like any old farmer." I
couldn't believe it - Charles met Lincoln!
In addition to the letters was Nancy's obituary,
which reads: "MRS. MCDOWELL IS DEAD - SHOOK HANDS WITH LINCOLN. With the
death of Mrs. Nancy Wager McDowell...the town of Sodus probably loses the
distinction of having a resident who could boast of having shaken hands and
talked with the martyred Lincoln… Mr. McDowell was a member of the Ninth New
York Heavy Artillery in the Union Army and it was while stationed near
Washington that his wife had an opportunity to speak with the President. Mrs.
McDowell passed nearly a year in that vicinity and many were the pies she baked
for the soldiers stationed at the capital. Typhoid Fever caused her to return
to Alton to the home of her parents…" ("The Record," Sodus,
Wayne County, N.Y. September 18, 1931)
I took the collection of letters back to my home in
Maryland and began what was to become an exciting ten-year adventure. First I
arranged the letters from Charles by date and began to read. Once I grew
accustomed to his old-style handwriting and run-on sentences, I felt myself
leaving the present and entering his past. I traveled back over 130 years and
joined Charles in heart and mind. I felt his loneliness, his boredom, his fear.
I laughed when he found a reason to laugh. He and his brother had enlisted
despite his Canadian father's pleas to stay out of the war. As the months of
his service turned into years, I hurt over his deep longing for his wife and home
and for the life and family he left behind in Canada.
In other letters I was shocked to read of the
desertions, hangings, amputations, prostitution, and even theft and murder
among Union troops. Charles wrote home about the battles of Cold Harbor, Jerusalem
Plank Road, Monocacy, Opequon (Winchester), Cedar Creek, the Siege of
Petersburg, an attack by Mosby's Men, and the Shenandoah Valley Campaign.
Next I tackled Nancy’s writing. As her collection of
letters drew to an end, I was completely immersed in her anxious thoughts about
Charles's welfare. She hoped there hadn't been a "ball made to kill"
him. She hoped he wouldn't get too close to the Southern women when he occupied
their homes. She longed for him to return to her--even if it was just for a
short furlough. She wrote that she would rather be dead than continue to live
the way they were. I now pondered the final years of her life spent rocking in
her chair looking out the window. Perhaps she was awaiting her death so Charles
could come for her once more…
Shays’
Rebellion: The Hanging of Co-Leader, Captain Henry Gale
A Revolutionary War veteran is found guilty of
treason and sentenced to be hanged for his leadership role in Shays’ Rebellion.
The shore-book is available on Amazon or at: www.smashwords.com/books/view/55159
LISA’S FREE E-BOOKS
Visit Lisa’s page on smashwords.com to download the
following free e-books:
How to Get Published
How to Get a Job
How to Promote Your Business (or yourself)
LISA’S SPEAKING TOPICS INCLUDE:
1. Graveyard
Adventures—you never know who you will meet!
2. The
Hanging of Henry Gale—from patriot to traitor in Shays’ Rebellion
3. The
7 Wonders of Mystic
4. Finding
Humor on Life’s Adventures—and Misadventures!
5. Civil
War: Union Private & His Wife (available as a talk, one-act play, or
combination)
6. How
to Get Published
7. How
to Get a Job (Lisa is a former employment recruiter)
8. Stop
CMV (Lisa is the Congenital CMV Foundation parent representative)
9. How
to Get Free Publicity
10. Children’s
Writing Workshop (Cornell University included, Ride a Horse, Not an Elevator,
in its “Horse Book in a Bucket” program)
11. A
Time to Weep, A Time to Laugh—Moving forward after the death of a child
Lisa’s appearances: USA 9 News… Cornell University…
West Point Museum…Washington Independent Writers Association… Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)… Seward House… Lincoln Depot Museum…Johns
Hopkins University… Siemens Healthcare
Diagnostics… Rockland Community College… Three Rivers Community College…
Daughters of the American Revolution… Civil War Round Tables… Fitch Middle
School… Women’s Clubs… Genealogical
conferences… grammar schools… Connecticut Authors and Publishers
Association.
