Being a new author necessitates all manner of begging

I have had the laziest of weekends! Thursday was crazed, as any holiday is to someone with a family as big as mine! But, since then, I have done little else but loaf around, eat leftovers, dabble in some writing, watch movies, and sleep. Such a lazy long weekend was very long overdue.

But, alas, I am up early this morning working on book stuff. For those of you unfamiliar, making a book (particularly your first) successful is a ton of work! "Success" in this case really comes down to building name recognition for myself outside of those who already know my name. That way, when book #2 comes out, you're starting from a better position to get that one out... and so on until one day, I am a well-known, professional writer and have the amazing opportunity to focus more on what I love.

Nonetheless, as a new author of one book who's only true following at the moment is friends and family, I must resort to all manner of begging, compliment fishing, and general egregious ego boosting! It's an odd feeling and activity for me.

Here's the interesting part of the social media age-- your words are more important than the creator of any product. Think about it-- if you're buying a new product is it the product description that sells you, or the customer feedback? This is especially true of books. In particular Amazon reviews, but also posts on Facebook, blog comments, and even endorsements to friends, carry an amazing amount of weight and are instrumental in the success of a book.

I have a sudden new appreciation for authors working today who live and die by those reviews. There are hundreds if not thousands of compatriates out there in exactly the same boat I am in-- with a work they are passionate about trying to create a name for themselves. But you are one title, one voice in a sea of billions and billions of other voices trying really hard to be heard. It's a fulfilling, wonderful, and exhausting pursuit!

Since I've been poking around figuring out venues for promoting my book, I've noticed how crucial this is to all authors. And so, this is my post to encourage all of you to review books! For all of you avid readers, when you read something that moves you, post a review to Amazon. Mention it on Facebook. Blog about it. Your voice is crucial to a community of authors, and to readers. Your reviews will help readers distinguish which books will move them.

Of course, reviews of my work are always welcome, but I promise you that I encourage this on more of a global scale. The internet has given us all a voice, and I think its critical to the advancement of our art that we use it!

Let's make our OWN list of the top stories of all time!

So, there is a note travelling through Facebook claiming that the BBC believes that the average person will only have read 6 books off a list of 100 very important books. Most of my friends and I scored at least 15, so I guess we’re doubly as well-read as the BBC claims we should be.

However, I have to say, I was very confused by some of the books on the list. Now, I am not doubting the merit of any of the books, particularly given that most of those that I raised an eyebrow to were among the nearly 70 I hadn’t read, but still…. I am uncomfortable with Bridget Jones’ Diary following the Color Purple.

Thus, since you all know how I love to solicit feedback and talk about the great books, I want to collaborate with you all on our own list of the 100 most important or relevant or exciting books/short stories/plays of all time.

Now, since this is my blog, I am going to be a tyrant and contribute heavily to the start of this endeavor—but please add as you see fit! Here we go, in no particular order. I am trying to restrict it to one book per author for the sake of fairness. Three or four millennia is a lot of fodder for picking a list!

1. King Lear—William Shakespeare
2. A Prayer for Owen Meany—John Irving
3. To Kill a Mockingbird—Harper Lee
4. The Dead—James Joyce
5. Native Son—Richard Wright
6. Ender’s Game—Orson Scott Card
7. The Hobbit—JRR Tolkein
8. Dune- Frank Herbert
9. Roots—Alex Haley
10. 1984- George Orwell
11. The Hunchback of Notre Dame—Victor Hugo
12. Indian Killer—Sherman Alexie
13. The Handmaid’s Tale—Margaret Atwood
14. It- Stephen King
15. The Turn of the Screw—Henry James
16. A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich-- Alexander Solzhenitsyn
17. The Once and Future King—TH White
18. Emma—Jane Austen
19. Little Women—Louisa May Alcott
20. All the Kings Men—Robert Penn Warren
21. Cry the Beloved Country—Alan Patton
22. Love in the Time of Cholera—Gabriel Garcia Marquez
23. The Odyssey—Homer
24. Catcher in the Rye—JD Salinger
25. The Great Gatsby—F. Scott Fitzgerald
26. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe—CS Lewis
27. The Lovely Bones—Alice Seabold
28. The Glass Castle—Jeanette Walls
29. Lord of the Flies—William Golding
30. On the Road—Jack Kerouac
31. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest—Ken Kesey
32. The Aeneid—Virgil
33. Beowulf
34. Dracula—Bram Stoker
35. The Color Purple—Alice Walker
36. Beloved—Toni Morrison
37. Ceremony—Leslie Marmon Silko
38. Of Mice and Men—John Steinback
39. Fahrenheit 451—Ray Bradbury
40. Things Fall Apart-- Chinua Achebe

So what else shall I add?

Think about it, and think about trying the lamb, eggplant skins at Joe Squared this week. That place is truly my muse!

Take off!

This has been an eventful couple of days, culminating with the event we've been planning since a few months after work on publishing Max and Menna began: the launch party.

For those of you who don't know, my big Irish family has instilled in me the firm belief that big events are not complete until there has been a big celebration... and we had quite a celebration. Friday evening 100 of my closest friends and family gathered in a great venue in Baltimore City for amazing food (courtesy of my very good friends at Joe Squared), drinks, music, company, and books.

Unfortunately, but in true Shauna Kelley style, I managed to sprain by knee on Thursday evening (literally by standing up from a seated position) and did the event on crutches. This might not have been SO bad, except for I most definitely did not have a dress cut for being hunched over, and I was in a lot of pain. It was a bit frustrating to spend so much time preparing for this, and then almost the entire event hobbling around and trying not to grimace.

But the people in your life make it all worth it, right? Despite hurting and being VERY loopy from the medication I was taking for the pain, my friends and family helped make this a banner evening. I signed over 80 books, which was phenomenal, and got to see people I hadn't seen in years. My core group of college friends all assembled-- 15 of us-- for the first time since probably 2002.

Importantly, the evening finally made this sink in: I have a book! Now that I see it in the hands of my friends and family, now that I know at this very moment someone might be reading it, I feel like a real author (I know, recurring theme).

Rather than continuing to blab on about the event and my feelings, I will add some photos and let pictures tell the story of one of the best nights of my life. And again, thanks to EVERYONE who came out, I love you all and I am sorry I was loopy and busy and didn't get to spend enough time with everyone.

Tricks, treats, and I AM A PUBLISHED AUTHOR!!

Today, I am officially an author! As of today, Monday November 1, I now have a published novel on the market, on Amazon, ready to go! And, according to the sales ranking, Max and Menna is not doing half bad.

Now, for those of you unfamiliar, you may look at Amazon.com and see that my sales rank is upwards of 300,000 and think “that’s not bad??” But no, it isn’t! Keep in mind that 300,000 is out of 8,000,000, which means that I am in the top 5% of books being sold on Amazon right now.

I had an odd memory pop into my head yesterday, that ties well to this. I was out taking my nephew trick-or-treating and one of my parent’s neighbors opened the door and froze. She then told me sister and I that she was trying to collect herself, because she had this really strong memory of when we moved in and our first year trick-or-treating. It was so odd to her to see the two of us with my nephew in comparison.

I remember that Halloween well. I was ten and dressed up like Louisa May Alcott. I’m not kidding. In actuality, I donned one of my mom’s old homecoming dresses, which was blue lace, dragged the ground when I walked, and actually in no way resembled the garb Louis May Alcott may in fact have worn when writing Little Women. But if my parents needed evidence of what my chosen vocation would be, that probably provided it.

Even at age 10, I was mystified by the world of books and the way they crawl inside you as you crawl inside them. And so, I want to commemorate this rather exciting day in my life with an homage to a book that crawled so deep inside of me that I have not yet (nor do I want to) shaken the feeling it left me with. This may be my second homage, but if it is, I cannot think of a more deserving title.

Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie is the fodder for these accolades. If any of you have not yet read Alexie, I encourage you to at this very moment stop reading this and go to Amazon to buy Indian Killer, Reservation Blues, and Flight at the very least.

Reservation Blues by far holds one of the most startling moments I have ever experienced in literature. It happens near the end of the book and since I am encouraging you all to read it (READ IT READ IT), I won’t ruin it. But there is a scene in this book that left me, mouth gaping, appalled and awe-struck by Alexie’s ability to create something so poignant and so powerful merely in words.

It’s a skill I hope to one day emulate with more practice!

And so, I sign off from my first blog entry as “officially” a published writer. I wish you all well, and if and when you read Max and Menna (currently available for sale on Amazon.com J) please share your thoughts. I love hearing people’s reactions, regardless of whether they are good or bad!