KAREY SHANE

My First Book Signing Ever

Wow, I thought I was busy before the book was released. I had no idea what was coming, but it's all good! Here are a few pictures from my first book signing ever...r...r...r. It felt so, hmmm what's the word, complete--yes, that's it--to be there meeting people who were going to be reading Fair O'Nelli's story. My husband stopped by to bring in that easel you see, my sisters, Mom and Pops came by, too. It was one big hug of a day. And when I texted my children to tell them how many books people bought, they were proud as punch. I feel so blessed to be at this point in my life.

Kids loved the Secret Speakers glowing orb.

I wouldn't be here without you Mom!

Love you, Pops!

I love this picture. This little boy, and so many other children LOVED touching the Secret Speakers orb, or Luminamen.

Predict Oprah's Next Book Club Pick

Secret Speakers is in the #2 spot on Goodreads Listopia! list called Predict Oprah's Next Book Club Pick. Thank you to everyone who has voted. If you haven't yet, and if you feel Secret Speakers would make a good Oprah pick, please vote! I'm having a lot of fun watching the Secret Speakers community reach out to support Fair O'Nelli's story. Our 15 year-old son has Spring Break this coming week, so I'm busy finishing up a bunch of stuff so we can relax and enjoy being together. I won't be posting or getting online much during out time together, so let me know what you think by leaving a comment and I'll check back in early May. Thank you.

 

Secret Speakers Online Launch Party!

Secret Speakers has officially launched as of today, Monday, April 8, 2010. A big day. It's an online party with a fun contest at Bitten By Books. Click here to drop in and say hi:  I'm coming to your Secret Speakers launch party right now!

If you want to enter a contest that we're holding during the party, all you need to do is RSVP for the Party to Enter the Contest

The Secret Speakers Giveaway

I'm holding a Secret Speakers Giveaway, where anyone who enters has a chance to win a Kindle, and more. I just put the sign-up form on the Secret Speakers website today. Hop on over! The winner will be announce on June 1st. I'll print up the names, cut each one into a fold-able piece of paper, and shake 'em all up in a jar. Just to be 100% on the up and up, I'll video tape it and pull out the winning name for all to see. Read more about the other prizes . . .

The Secret Speakers Cover

If you know someone who is publishing a book the self publishing route, here's a tip: make sure they know the printers guidelines before they create the files for the book cover and the manuscript. In my case that means knowing in advance what they use for .dpi image size, CMYK vs. RGB color, and text "blackness." I've spent hours and hours ( the key word is trying) to get things right for the Secret Speakers cover in order to meet guidelines for the book printer. Offset printing is definitely a different animal than digital printing. Long, long days working until I can't see straight. Lots of Pepsi. This is the final product.

I've come to the conclusion that independent publishing is like running a marathon with dozens of finish lines. You think you're done, then WOOPS, you realize there's something else. Someplace warm with no computer and no cell phone sound really good right now.

Books of Wonder

I stopped in Books of Wonder to drop by some pre-publication copies of Secret Speakers when I was in New York with my husband last week. In a spirit of 'hope for the best, but prepare for the worst,' I walked in with visions of having a delightful chat with Peter Glassman, whom I had emailed. Of course he would set aside a cozy spot of time to visit, just for me. I was sure of it, at least on the hope for the best end of it.

8 Steps on How to Get Your Book into Costco

I want to thank Jodi Jill for her article on how to get your book into Costco. I made myself known to our local Costco manager months ago. In fact, we had a couple sit down face-to-face visits and he was happy to share statistics with me on how well local authors are doing. Now we wave at each other in the aisles! Now I just have to follow the rest of these steps fromJody. Stay tuned to see how I do by the time April rolls around! Let me know if you have other suggestions.

Here are Jill's Instructions:

Step 1

Your first step is to head down to the local Costco. What you need to decide is whether your book or guide actually belongs at a Costco. You are looking for similar products in price point and area, but not so much in content.

People Buying Boxloads. Wow.

Wow. I just got a call and someone wants to come buy another box load of Secret Speakers pre-pub copies for her book club who wants to discuss it already. It's sort of surreal to realize people will not only be reading what was so much in my head for so long, but talking about it! Below you can see how I wrapped the copies for my kids for Christmas . . .

Secret Speakers A.R.C.'s Are Shipped!

My husband, twin sister Gwennie and I just sent out the first 54 advance reader copies on Thursday, a momentous day. And how did I respond? Was I jumping up and down? Giddy? Whooping and hollering?

No. I blubbered like a baby. My sister hugged me and kept patting me on the back, hushing out the words, There, there now. There, there." While she was hugging me, the most beautiful thing happened right next to this table full of books: I could hear the sound of her lungs breathing in and out as I felt the rise and fall of her chest against mine. At that moment, I felt like I was back in the womb with her.

It sounds strange to say, but my memory of the sounds, the whooshing, the warm was crystal clear. I was just about to say something, then she pulled away and looked me in the eyes, "You know, something happened several months ago that I never told you about. We were hugging like this and I could hear your heartbeat. When I went home I told Stan, "I heard Karey's heartbeat when we were hugging today and I remembered exactly what it was like being in the womb with her."

Back to my blubbering: I was surprised at the flood of feelings that washed over me like a bucket full of memories dumped into me: years worth of fibromyalgia pain, fatigue, realizing the God-given gift to write was my connection to the bigger world, feelings of exhaustion, fear of what my former husband will say or do if I ever become a public name, the constant wearing down of so many unnecessary  and fruitless hearings, and the years of yearning and hoping this book will open the door to spending more--and joyfully healing--time with my family. But mostly I felt grateful relief.

This is Gwennie and Patrick, unloading boxes of packaged copies.

Patrick, Me, and our heroic lady at the post office, MehlRee.

MehlRee wanted to see how high the piles could get before she took them to the back of the Post Office. We had quite a few chuckles! Come to find out, we can print up the mailing labels at home and drop off the books. This way was much more fun the first time around. Thanks MehlRee!

 

Dancing the First Proof Jig

So a proof of Secret Speakers came in the mail a few weeks ago. My sister was just as excited as I was to see the real deal bound and--I was going to say gagged, but that's the wrong word for this scenario. Um, bound and trimmed. Even after the final edit, there are still a few errors that need correcting, ah me. Does it ever end? Anyhoo, thanks to a dear, dear twinnie-poo sister who was just as thrilled about the whole thing as I was, she took a video of me scouring the book for errors. Click play to see what came of the two of us together in a moment of glee.

Advance Reader Copies

I'm counting down the days until December, when I send copies of Secret Speakers and the Search for Selador's Gate to Kirkus, VOYA, the School Library Journal, Publisher's Weekly and Horn Books to name a few. I just made these stickers to put on the back of each copy. If I'd had my wits about me, I would have had the books printed with the image ON the cover. Oh well. I knew better, but my brain gets so fuddled with all this information. No amount of praying seems to keep me from having to learn lessons the hard way. But when I look back I can see that the hand of God was with me even in my befuddlement: if things had gone more quickly then I would have had the book come out too soon. As it is, now I have time to do a proper book launch and enjoy it.

The First Book Came

The first proof of Secret Speakers arrived via UPS just as I was backing out of the driveway on Friday. After two long, long weeks of struggling naively to get it to print, this was one moment worth waiting for. I immediately drove over to my twin sister, Gwennie's to celebrate. She was waiting in her driveway, camera in hand, for the moment. The mailman took this picture of us.

She had me pose with mailman Ted . . .

And on her porch . . .

Stay tuned for video of our little jig, and my arrival. Little did I know she was videotaping my it. When I pulled up and saw her holding the camera, I thought she was getting ready to take a picture. it turns out she was taping the whole thing. But for now, I'm going to bed early. I'm beyond tired. I slept 12 hours last night and could have slept all day. But I went to church, then with my sister's family for a drive up Provo Canyon to see the autumn leaves. Beautiful.

Thanks for the Final Push, Kenny

Today is the day. I am doing the final review of the audiobook version of Secret Speakers performed by Simon Vance. My audio post-production friend, Kenny Hodges is a gem. He's been walking me through this process and thanks to his help I will not only have learned a lot about "post" (oh, I'm sorry. That's the lingo we AUDIO people use for post production), but he has saved us a a bucket load of money.

I'll admit there are times that I've been ready to scream, because it is incredibly TEE-DEE-ous, going through the manuscript WITH the audio and listening for errors. This is my third time through and Kenny cheered me on: "Just enjoy it. Sit on the couch with your laptop and pretend you're listening to Secret Speakers for the first time."

So I am. And the surprising thing is, I'm actually enjoying it. I'm getting choked up all over again at the touching parts, and getting chills during unexpected moments. It's amazing what happens when you create something. It takes on a life of it's own and ends up giving back to you much more than you put into it. And you become an objective observer, just like everyone else. Here's to creativity. Here's to friends to cheer you on when the last thing you want to do is DO something. And here's to moments worth cherishing when they come to you out of the blue.

Simon Vance wins AudioFile Golden Voice!

I just finished doing cartwheels and a few jigs. Why ever for? Why, the Audio Publisher's Association just named Simon Vance, who narrated Secret Speakers and the Search for Selador's Gate, to AudioFile Magazine Golden Voice status. Did you notice how I put it in bold? That's because Simon is one of my superheroes.

For those in the know, as I'm sure you are, that's basically the Hall of Fame for narrators. Last month he lost out to the worthy and also very superheroish Neil Gaiman in the Tournament of Audiobooks on Audible. But then, perhaps that leaves Simon wide open to win next year's tournament with Secret Speakers! Start strengthening that finger to push "vote" next year. Standing upside down balanced on one finger should do it.

Way to go superhero Simon! Oh, and he won another Audie (June 2009) in the Classics division for his narration of Great Expectations.

Simon Vance is recording right NOW

Simon Vance is recording Secret Speakers and the Search for Selador's Gate this week, May 4, 2009. I'm really looking forward to hearing the way the story sounds with someone else reading it besides me! I'm meeting with the folks at Audible.com this week to talk about possibilities. Yay!

If you haven't heard Simon yet, go to audible.com and choose from 23 pages worth of audiobooks done by him.

Thank you, Simon! It's been fun this week going over the pronunciation for character names. I've saved all your messages on my cell phone so I can imagine what Secret Speakers will sound like when I get the file from you next week. Then it's on to post-audio production and mastering with Kenny Hodges.

Secret Speakers Book Trailer Video

After months and months of work in between resting--and sometimes going against doctors orders to do nothing but rest--the video book trailer for Secret Speakers and the Search for Selador's Gate is done! You can also see it at SecretSpeakers.com

See what the buzz is about . . . Secret Speakers and the Search for Selador's Gate!

Secret Speakers Ratings

So far, Secret Speakers and the Search for Selador's Gate has an overall rating of 4.87 out of 5 with 31 early reader votes on Goodreads. I'm really pleased readers are liking the story so much. It's a great feeling after working on it for so many years. The book will be available September 9, 2009. (That's 09.09.09. How cool is that?) You can get a sneak peak of the audio book read by Booklist's 2008 "Voice of Choice", Simon Vance! Here's the screen shot:

I Got That New Mac!

So I finally replaced my ten year-old laptop Spunkie with a new Macbook Pro thanks to everyone who are helping me live this part of my Story Quest. Yesterday! And I'm writing on it this very minute. A big thanks to everyone who helped Secret Speakers win the Reader's Choice award as a cell phone novel at Textnovel. I used the prize money to buy Spunkie II.



Thanks to Tyler Osmond who sold it to me. Writing to you all from my very own computer sure beats having to laptop hop. (Thanks to very generous family members for your patience.)