January Member News

Andrea Downing, Dances of the Heart, Successful, workaholic author Carrie Bennett lives through her writing, but can’t succeed at writing a man into her life. Furthermore, her equally successful but cynical daughter, Paige, proves inconsolable after the death of her fiancé. Hard-drinking rancher Ray Ryder can find humor in just about anything—except the loss of his oldest son. His younger son, Jake, recently returned from Iraq, now keeps a secret that could shatter his deceased brother’s good name. On one sultry night in Texas, relationships blossom when the four meet, starting a series of events that move from the dancehalls of Hill Country to the beach parties of East Hampton, and from the penthouses of New York to the backstreets of a Mexican border town. But the hurts of the past are hard to leave behind, especially when old adversaries threaten the fragile ties that bind family to family…and lover to lover. Also available on Amazon.

Gail Jenner A western love short story, “Valentine Angel” will be included in the upcoming anthology, Cowboy Kisses,( Prairie Rose Publishing” targeted for Valentine's Day. Available on amazon.com - Kindle/paperback.

Gail has been interviewed for and will be appearing this spring in an episode of “MysteriesFrom the Museum”, on the State of Jefferson movement in Northern CA/Southern OR in 1941,  and also appeared in a PBS episode of “Oregon Experience”, on the State of Jefferson movement (Nov. 2014).

Gail also writes three historical essays a month for PBS/Jefferson Public Radio, which is heard all over Southern Oregon and Northern California. Link: http://ijpr.org/programs/it-was and an historical profile/article for the regional monthly publication, Jefferson Backroads.

C.M. Mayo, Marfa Mondays Podcasting Project: Exploring Marfa, Texas & the Greater Big Bend Region of Far West Texas in 24 Podcasts, including "Gifts of the Ancient Ones: Greg Williams on the Rock Art of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands" and  "Tremendous Forms: Paul V. Chaplo on FindingComposition in the Landscape".

Awards

Cynthia Leal Massey Death of a Texas Ranger, A True Story of Murder & Vengeance on the Texas Frontier,  is a 2015 Winner of the San Antonio Conservation Society Publication Awards. The award will be presented in March.

This is the story of the murder of Texas Ranger John Green by Cesario Menchaca, one of three Rangers of Mexican descent under Green’s command. Immediately word spread that the killing may have been the botched outcome of a contract taken out on Menchaca’s life by the notorious Gabriel Marnoch, a local naturalist who had run up against the law himself. But was it? 

November Member News

Just in time for Christmas shopping! New releases from our prolific WWW members!

Sherry Monahan, Frontier Fare

Drawn from the author’s ongoing column in TrueWest Magazine, this cookbook combines myths, nostalgia, and legends with usable, delicious, and fun recipes for use at home or on the trail--all with a western theme. Readers will be surprised to learn the stories behind some of their favorite recipes, and they’ll find inspiration from the days of cooking along the trail or in the old iron cook stove in these dishes interpreted for a modern cook’s kitchen.

Andrea Downing, Dearest Darling Stuck in a life of servitude to her penny-pinching brother, Emily Darling longs for a more exciting existence. When a packet with travel tickets, meant for one Ethel Darton, accidentally lands on her doormat, Emily sees her chance for escape. Daniel Saunders has carved out a life for himself in Wyoming—a life missing one thing: a wife. Having scrimped and saved to bring his mail-order bride from New York, he is outraged to find in her stead a runaway fraud and, even worse, the impostor is the sister of his old enemy…

Gretchen Wiegand and Anna McDermott, The Circle of Na'mow In 1974, Bridget, Ella, and Lola, three naive adolescents, leave behind their mundane, predictable lives to pursue unconstrained passion and adventure. They find their way to Na’mow, a mountain hidden behind Boulder’s majestic Flatirons in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. For two decades, the polarity of nature – the blizzards, windstorms, and wildfires coexisting within Na’mow’s mesmerizing landscape – serves to shape the character of these young, spirited, and undaunted women.

Nanette M. Day, pen name Corrissa James. Heart So Sweet is the third in the Great Plains romance novella series. With four older brothers, rancher Susannah Clark is used to dealing with men and getting them out of trouble. But when her childhood crush Tate Trudell returns as sheriff of Harrington County, Susannah must decide whether to save her brothers yet again, even if means losing the man she loves. When Tate Trudell unexpectedly returns to Harrington, a lot has changed, but not the bad blood between him and his former best friend. To get the woman of his dreams, he must work through his issues with the Clark family—if his best friend doesn’t kill him first.   

Shanna Hatfield The Christmas Calamity   

Dependable and solid, Arlan Guthry relishes his orderly life as a banker’s assistant in Hardman, Oregon. His uncluttered world tilts off kilter when the beautiful and enigmatic prestidigitator Alexandra Janowski arrives in town, spinning magic and trouble in her wake as the holiday season approaches.

Wanda Porter Riding Babyface   

More than anything, fourteen-year-old Winna Beckman wants a horse, unaware when she gets one, riding Babyface will teach her about life, love, and true friendship.

Gail Jenner has two short stories recently published in two anthologies by Prairie Rose Publications: Lassoing a Bride and Present for a Cowboy (coming out for Christmas).

 Ankle High and Knee Deep (Globe/Pequot/Two Dot) was listed as #3 in June on amazon.com's list of Top Books about Country/Rural living and has continued to stay in the Top 20 since then. A number of WWW members were part of the 40+ authors who contributed to the anthology.

Randall Platt Incommunicado (Sky Pony Press) Patriotism blossoms into paranoia when the residents of a small, Oregon Coast town turn on its leading citizen, a Japanese-American, in the first turbulent months of World War Two. The town’s most bullied girl, a dopey bloodhound, and a weak-kneed priest join forces to stand up for what is right.

Susan Marsh War Creek (MP Publishing) When ostracized daughter Agnes Clayton, now in her thirties and alone, returns to the wilds of the Pacific Northwest after a life in various western cities, she is determined to make moving her father out of their family home at the old War Creek Ranger Station as quick and painless as possible. Reconnecting with her estranged father, a retired forest  ranger, proves difficult at best, and extracting him from his fiercely beloved ranger station seems impossible. Over the course of a long summer Agnes becomes entangled with opposing forces in an isolated rural community in the North Cascades. Agnes hopes to answer questions from her past and find not only closure but redemption. 

Susan Marsh A Hunger for High Country, part memoir and part profile of place, is set in the mountains surrounding Yellowstone National Park. As a woman in the U.S. Forest Service and one of many professionals hired by the agency in response to environmental laws passed during the 1960s and 1970s, the author finds that her background and values often place her at odds with the agency she works for, and her dream job in Montana ends in sorrow and frustration after six years of trying to fit in. Humbled by her failures and the part she played in her downfall, she begins again in the mountains of western Wyoming. Here she comes to understand that technical expertise and excellence do not bring the success she hopes for, while the beauty and grace of the wild world shines new light on her personal world and the importance of conserving the national forests. Her journey of deeper self-awareness brings greater understanding of the relationship between people and nature and what that relationship can teach us all.

Costco Book Signing Part 2

by Gail L. Jenner

Unfortunately, this year's first signing arranged at the Roseburg, Oregon, Costco for the Christmas season had to be cancelled because of deep snow and ice. Interstate 5 was closed and I ended up getting stuck in Ashland, Oregon, overnight. I immediately called both Costco and Arcadia to update them.....then eagerly suggested I return the next week or whenever (as it turned out, the next week was again hit hard by ice and deep, cold temps). I didn't want to let any time lapse before getting a commitment from both Arcadia and Costco!

 A week later, when I finally arrived at Costco in Roseburg -- after a slip-slippery trip north over three mountain passes -- the very busy Costco manager met me, assuring me that he was impressed by my perseverance. He also noted that a couple of authors they'd lined up had refused to make the trip in winter again. For me it was a roundtrip of about 7 hours (in good weather), but it didn't matter! Knowing that Costco purchases at least 75 books if they're arranging a signing, I had to go. Last year I was fortunate to do the Roseburg Costco signing with Diane Gardner (WWW member and awesome author!). Not only did she allow me to stay the night with her and her husband, but we spent a wonderful afternoon together signing books (unfortunately this year she had to miss the signing). Fortunately, I sold almost 30 books in this year's 3 hour signing AND also signed all remaining books Costco had ordered.

One of the lessons every author needs to learn is that books to be sold, IF autographed, are "as good as sold" for the author. Don't let any of them go unsigned!

All of this suggests that any author hoping to arrange a successful signing, whether small or large, must:
1. Be willing to go wherever she's asked!
2. Be available and assertive in making contact and maintaining communication, not "waiting" for others to contact her.
3. Arrive on time and with energy and enthusiasm.....I even brought additional posters and marketing postcards, etc., with me this year, which the Costco manager appreciated (esp. since my original signing had been postponed and not as much "in-store" publicity was available).
4. Encourage whatever publicity agents she's attached to to seek out more opportunities...assuring her that she can/will promote the signing through news items, radio interviews, and social media outlets.

One last lesson that I took to heart THIS year was this: 

• Be assertive with the patrons. Costco is an enormous store and many people do not approach an author, thinking that she is possibly one of those store sales people!

• So put up your own sign: MEET THE AUTHOR!

• Stand (don't sit) behind the table Costco provides. I enthusiastically greeted people passing by....sometimes asking, "Have you heard of the State of Jefferson" (because the "issue" of the State of Jefferson has been in the news lately, many people stopped and smiled, sometimes asking their own questions)?

• Provide postcards/collateral with every book sold and place it for easy access on the table. I put up small easels where I could prop my books, too, since people in Costco often move quickly up and down the aisles. Making the books visible from many angles is important.

• Connect with the manager and be sure and thank him/her for all help. And send notes or emails to thank those publicity people who helped arrange your signing. They do not get enough credit for the work they do.

All in all, I am tremendously grateful to Arcadia and its sales/publicity departments for their continued support. A publicist has a tough job to do and appreciates the enthusiastic support an author can give her/him.

Though I can't guarantee a Costco signing, I do believe signings (however limited) are important. The author is any book's best and principal sales tool, so we need to cultivate a visible and enthusiastic persona. With each signing I have gained more confidence and enthusiasm, even though I'd rather be tucked away in my upstairs office -- overlooking my garden and the ranch -- working on my newest piece of writing!

Gail L. Jenner is a Past President and Willa Chair of Women Writing the West. She has written seven books, including WILLA award winning Across the Sweet Grass Hills, and has written articles for numerous magazines. She is the wife of a fourth generation cattle rancher and lives on the family's historic farmstead. For more about Gail and her writing, visit: www.gailjenner.com.

Hard Work Pays Off in Costco Signing

by Gail Jenner

Getting a good book signing organized is hard work. I am not an aggressive marketer by nature, but I'm learning that most success is based on successful marketing!! Women Writing the West members have taught me much of what I've learned in regards to marketing over the last 14 years I've been a member; that's one important reason why attending conferences and connecting with other authors is so important. I'm supremely grateful to WWW for the contacts and awesome friendships I've made.

As with most authors, I've done a number of book signings -- from small, local bookstores and county fairs to Barnes & Noble and Costco! I'm fortunate that I have now had four signings at two different Costco stores in the last three years. In reality, I had little to do with the Costco signings; it was my publisher, Arcadia Publishing, who originally arranged them. I would note, however, that most Costco stores support the idea of promoting local books so approaching them even if your publisher hasn't done so is well worth the effort. But I do believe that my energetic responses to Arcadia's initial efforts has led to my repeated signings.

 First of all, when I signed contracts with Arcadia Publishing for the four various books I've done with them, I agreed to do any book signings. In my mind, I have always added, "regardless of the miles I must travel to get there!" I recognized that I owed the stores selling my book any amount of time and energy to promote it. So when the publicity department of Arcadia contacted me about the first possible Costco signing three years ago, I immediately responded. I also continually kept them in the communication "loop," which I have since learned is a trait many authors do not cultivate. In fact, just recently my Arcadia publicist told me that I had helped her immensely, saving her the trouble of having to make contact with me -- whether it was about double-checking arrangements or responding with requested information, etc.

 A simple lesson, perhaps, but every author needs to answer emails promptly in addition to following up on dates, places, and directions, or writing thank yous, etc... I also created/submitted local news items for the paper and every FB/social outlet I could access, and I contacted our radio station and arranged an interview.

As it has turned out, two different Costco stores have arranged signings for my State of Jefferson books in the last 3 years. I know the subject matter is part of the reason for their continued interest. Both Southern Oregon and Northern California are part of the "mythical State of Jefferson" thus the attraction is fairly widespread. While tourists and history buffs enjoy most Arcadia's titles, these particular titles have attracted even more attention. I've now coauthored four different books for Arcadia, including three on the State of Jefferson: Images of the State of Jefferson; The State of Jefferson: Then & Now -- which placed as a Finalist in the 2008 Next Generation Indie Awards; and Postcards From the State of Jefferson.

Read Part 2 of Gail's experience with signing books at Costco and her adventures in getting there on this blog tomorrow.

Gail L. Jenner is a Past President and Willa Chair of Women Writing the West.She has written seven books, including WILLA award winning Across the Sweet Grass Hills, and has written articles for numerous magazines. She is the wife of a fourth generation cattle rancher and lives on the family's historic farmstead. For more about Gail and her writing, visit: www.gailjenner.com.