Jerri Corgiat

JERRI CORGIAT’S NEWSLETTER
January 2004
www.jerricorgiat.com

CONTENTS:
News: Contest Winner/SING ME HOME is Romantic Times BookCLUB Top Pick!
Feature Article: THOSE LAST FEW DAYS BEFORE THE BOOK HITS THE SHELVES
Recommended for Other Writers
Best Book I’ve Read This Month

------

NEWS:

Shelly S. of Easthampton, MA was the winner of the January contest. Congratulations, Shelly! (No new contests right now, but I’ll let you know when one appears on my web site.)

BIG news for me... in the February edition of RT BOOKclub magazine, SING ME HOME received a four-and-a-half-star rating (“Fantastic! A keeper!”) and a TOP PICK! designation. (There’s also an article on little ol’ me.) For a brand new novelist, it can’t get much better than that.

Only nine days left until SING ME HOME hits the shelves—although you might see it earlier. I did, at an independent bookstore! And, yes, that was a thrill!

Once again, if you have any writerly topics you’d like me to address, please feel free to email me: email@jerricorgiat.com

------
FEATURE ARTICLE:
THOSE LAST FEW DAYS BEFORE THE BOOK HITS THE SHELVES

So, I’m sitting here in my office, arctic temperatures and a layer of snow outside my windows, and wondering what more I can tell you about these last days leading up to the Really Big Deal in SING ME HOME’s history—the day when it arrives on bookstore shelves. I’ve talked about titling, and cover art, and revisions, and promotion. What’s left?

Maybe the fact that when the book hits the stores next week, it’s not really the Really Big Deal. The Really Big Deal in SING ME HOME’s history will be...

You.

There have been both highs and lows over the last year with SMH—mostly highs, which began with the sale of the book, and most recently spiked again with the RT review I mentioned above. But in the midst of all that, I’ve moved on—finishing a second book, promoting the first, now nudging the muse into the third while my agent takes care of the next contract negotiations. Today, I’m more concerned with figuring out what in blue blazes my third book’s heroine Mari sees in the hero No-Account Andy. And wondering what’s going on with that contract, of course.

At odd moments when it does hit me that the first book will soon appear on the shelves, I don’t feel compelled to reserve a day to run from bookstore to bookstore to see it displayed (hopefully see it displayed!), nor do I feel obliged to cull the internet for reviews (no telling what I might find!). What I think about is you.

Because it doesn’t really matter what kind of reviews I get, or what kind of thrill there is in seeing the book on the shelves. What matters to me—as it does to most writers—is making a connection with readers.

I know books don’t work this way—there’s no possibility everyone who picks up my book will love it—but I do hate thinking anyone will feel they spent their seven bucks for nothing. So if you tell me I inspired, enlightened, or just entertained you for a few hours—that will be the Really Big Deal.

-------
RECOMMENDED FOR OTHER WRITERS:

Relatively cheap promotion options:

www.postcardpress.com - snail mail postcards at a good price; efficient service. And you don’t have to be a computer design wizard to get the ball rolling.

www.newandusedbooks.com - offers inexpensive advertising in an e-newsletter that hits over 15,000 readers.

www.booksense.com - offers the most up-to-date database I’ve found of independent bookstore addresses and their locations. Very useful if you’re planning an indie bookstore promotional mailing.

Surf the internet, then surf it again—you’ll find a ton of directory sites that are willing to list your name and book title(s) for free.

-------
BEST BOOK I’VE READ THIS MONTH:

THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE by Audrey Niffenegger
This book defies categorizing, except under the heading of “danged good book.” If you haven’t heard of it, you’ll roll your eyes when I tell you it’s a love story told from the first person viewpoints of a normal timebound woman and a man with chrono-displacement disorder—a fantastical disease that causes him to disappear without warning into the future or past. I loved it. So did my husband.
-----

One last note: I love getting mail—keep it coming! I read every single thing you send and am so far managing to respond personally to each note. Please forgive delays, though... sometimes I get behind!

I hope you’ve all kept warm this January—in some parts of the country that’s been a pretty tall order.

Happy Reading!
Jerri