Over the past two weeks, I’ve performed two readings/presentations. The first was at the University of Toledo, where a mix of students and community members made for an appreciative audience before we engaged in a thought-provoking Q and A. It was especially exciting for me to be lecturing where I had earned my Masters of English in Literature. My host Tim Geiger, poet and English Department associate chair, was beyond gracious, and I couldn’t have felt more welcomed.
Last night, I appeared at the Reading Public Library in Reading, PA. I greatly enjoyed my time in Reading and was blown away by their beautiful library (http://www.reading.lib.pa.us/locations_main.asp) and even more so by the dynamic Teen Librarian, Ashly Roman, who heads one of the finest Young Adult departments of any library I’ve seen (http://www.reading.lib.pa.us/youngadult.asp). I was invited as part of the Reading Reads Literary Festival. Although my audience numbered fewer than twenty (Kathryn Stockett, author of the bestselling The Help spoke to an audience of more than one thousand as part of the festival – quite humbling), it was worth all fourteen hours of travel and every drop of gas. If nothing else, I met some great people and left a few more copies of So Shelly in Eastern Pennsylvania than were there the day before.
As a first time author, in many ways I’m like a fledgling rock band performing to any audience in any venue that allow them to set up and play. Sales of So Shelly have been strong locally, but in order to break out into a wider audience, I need to visit those markets and light as many fires as I can before the release of its paperback version on Valentine’s Day. To that end, I am planning to participate in as many Book Festivals as possiblie in the coming months, beginning with the Kentucky Book Fair in Frankfort, KY, on November 11th and 12th http://kybookfair.org/
Ty and Ashly Roman from Reading Public Library
Tags: advice for writers, book promotion, book readings, so shelly, ty roth, Writing advice, young adult literature
