The person who risks nothing, has nothing, is nothing.
So I have another opportunity coming up this weekend to go sell my books at the La Veta Holiday Crafts Fair. Yes, I never thought of writing books as a craft, but apparently it is. In the dictionary, crafts are defined as “an activity involving skill in making things by hand.” Synonyms are occupation, profession, line of work and pursuit. I don’t make my books by hand, but I do make them “by brain,” so I guess that counts.
By producing a book, I feel like I do put myself out into the world. There are certainly many expenses and risks. I share my life and hope others can relate on various levels. No, I don’t write fiction, I write real life, and cannot imagine writing fiction at this point in time.
I have focused thus far mostly on the many emotional gifts of midlife, a rite of passage no past generations of human beings have ever experienced. I had no awareness of this gift when I experienced a number of personal crises starting in 2001. Being an academic librarian, I read up on this subject, learning about the essential work I would need to do to improve the rest of my life. I learned how midlife change works, and then I got to work changing everything I could.
Most importantly, I learned there really are do-overs BEFORE it’s all over, and I chose to share that knowledge with anyone interested in transforming themselves.
Unfortunately, I have quite a love-hate relationship with selling my work. I love getting out and meeting new people. I love explaining what I write about and why, but whenever money comes into the equation, I become uncomfortable. I suppose I am not alone in that feeling. Nobody likes to feel like someone is selling them something, do they?
But I will attend this new crafts fair and stay as long as I enjoy it. Perhaps I just need more experience in “selling” my ideas and words. Perhaps some day this will begin to feel good…
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” – T. S. Eliot
I’m a newcomer to rural southern Colorado. After two years I decided to compile a short journal about the ups and downs of moving from a good-sized city to rural America to build a passive solar retirement home in the foothills: A Memoir of Retirement: From Suburbia to Solar in Southern Colorado
Please share this information with your friends if they are considering similar life changes. Feel free to contact me directly to discuss any of these challenges, and to order your own signed copies of any of my books! Cheers, Laura Lee (email me: MidlifeCrisisQueen@gmail.com)
Good for you for taking a risk and attending the crafts fair. I am a writer too and don’t care to sell books, though I love talking about my books and what they offer to people. I am a member of a writers’ group and most of us are introverts so we prefer to write over selling. I see you and I have being librarians in common too.
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Yes Terra! I’m an introverted extrovert: https://adventuresofthenewoldfarts.com/2016/10/14/do-you-have-an-introvert-room/
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I believe that the way we talk about our books, products, services etc with passion, enthusiasm, authenticity, and love for our work is what influences people to buy…xx
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Making your books “by brain” – Makes total sense to me. Good luck! Hope you make a bunch of new friends and sell lots a books!
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Thanks Mona! Me too!
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Marketing must use a different part of the brain. I know very few writers who enjoy getting out there and selling their books.. In this era of social media, it’s even more complicated than it used to be. We may not have to be extroverted to use FB and snapchat and Twitter (and all the rest of the platforms that I don’t even know about), but we do have to know how to use them effectively. Age gap anyone?
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My audience would love your book topics. I would be happy to do some reviews in 2017.
http://Www.almostemptynest.net
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I had so much FUN at the La Veta Christmas Crafts Fair, connecting with some of the amazing folks who live around here…and I sold 2 books!
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Let us know how it went!
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