The funny thing is I think the first run through went the best. We had the most time for questions at the end and the teens asked some great questions. Here are some bullet points of things I learned. Some were surprises and some were not.
- I worried about my clothes thanks to this post by Jen McConnel.
- I had no trouble speaking for an hour and a half.
- It is MOST DEFINITELY possible to be prepared with too much information.
- Everything is better when the students ask the questions.
- Out of about 90 students, NONE of them had heard of Goodreads.
- All of them knew about Twitter and Facebook.
- Once I got started talking I was very relaxed.
- If I could make a living touring around and talking to teens about publishing and marketing I'd be really happy.
- When asked to name an author, everyone they listed were with big publishers.
- PowerPoint presentations are a lot of fun.
- My book trailer did it's job.
- Donating a signed book to the teacher's personal classroom library can make you feel really good.
There hasn't been any writing all week though...so, I'm digging in for the rest of the week.
See you on Monday!
Until then, here are more cute puppy pictures.
Chewy sleeping on the couch.
You know you want to hold me!
The dogs playing ball with out pet dragon.
Another contortionist sleeper.
Your pet dragon looks like Father Al!
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome it went so well. The only authors they knew were the big names, huh? That is really scary. And sad. I guess smaller publishers just don't have the reach to make their authors known.
They know you now! Your website and the new IWSG page were two of the ones we visited today.
DeleteGlad it all went well.
ReplyDeleteOne word on the pups...FLUFFY!
that is all.
Fluffy if how we like them! :)
DeleteGoodreads was always for general exposure, I never thought it was the gateway to bringing in a large portion of the young set. Congrats on a great presentation and those pics have cute and happy all over it.
ReplyDeleteSecretly I think if I can find something then everyone else on the planet must have already been there. LOL. It's good to know though.
DeleteGlad the school visit went well. When's the next one?
ReplyDeleteHopefully soon. The teacher was so cute. "Is it okay if I tell the other English teachers about you? I'm sure they would love this as well."
DeleteMe, "Yeah, that would be fine." (I'm cool like that while inside I'm jumping up and down screaming please do!)
Now I just need to refine it enough to make sure we get question time. I tried to encourage them to talk and question the whole time, but it didn't work with each group. Funny how dynamics change with each group.
Wow, very brave of you!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a blast! It's definitely got to leave you with a feeling of being an author- can't wait till I'm there! ;)
ReplyDeleteIt was wonderful! And I was surprised at how comfortable and confident I felt. Seriously, I could do that every day and be happy.
DeleteWhat a great experience. Thanks for sharing. Interesting about Goodreads.
ReplyDeleteThey know about it now. :) I had them name a book and we looked it up. Then I showed them some of the books I've loved by smaller publishers or self published authors. It was mind blowing to see the difference in sheer number of ratings. Try it sometime to see the power of the big NY publishers. Makes me want in that circle again. :(
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