Marketing your book in person

When the Crescent City public library hosted “Meet & Greet the Authors” at the Crescent City Woman’s Club last weekend, this well-organized event gave me an opportunity to meet other writers and readers in my area. I sold more books in our small town than I’d sold over the past few months on Amazon, and I also learned a lot!

People want to get to know you before they buy your books.

Since most readers also want to know more about the area in which they live, book browsers seemed especially interested in my poetry from a natural Florida perspective. And, they hung around book tables where other authors had histories and mysteries set in our state or county.

Books on your locale will be most apt to sell.

Although it’s not yet November, I made a point of mentioning how some of my books might make nice gifts for Christmas. Then, I asked if the buyer wanted me to sign a book with the name of the person for whom they’d bought the gift or, in case they seemed unsure, if they wanted an autograph with a greeting appropriate for anyone.

Children’s books do particularly well as gifts.

Generic signings might be “God bless” or “Happy reading!” followed by an autograph.

Did I mention that I sign in pencil? My handwriting has deteriorated a bit, plus I’m apt to misspell my own name! An ink pen would have marred 3 signings, but as it was, I could easily erase.

Having someone (in my case, my supportive husband) to take monies, make change, and note which titles sold was another big plus as this left me free to chat with people, answer questions, and simply ask, “What do you like to read?” That latter question helped me to direct buyers toward titles that might interest them the most – even though they said they don’t normally buy poetry!

In addition to this event, which featured about a dozen writers and their books, our public library often invites locals poets and writers to give readings, which can be another opportunity to market a book. Those occasions also give a chance to answer questions and talk about what evoked a subject, scene, or poem, which inevitably interests potential book buyers even more.

Besides investigating what your local library has to offer, other opportunities for marketing your books in person can occur when you’re a guest speaker in a public school, bookstore, community building, church fellowship hall, or club meeting. If no such events have been planned, consider asking about the possibilities or organizing an event yourself.

Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2017, poet-author

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The imperfect life of perfectionism

This morning I woke up thinking about the difference between perfectionism and Jesus’ appeal to us to be perfect. I suspected the thought meant God wanted me to write about these differences, but, to be sure, I prayed for a word of confirmation.

When I checked my email for the Daily Bible Verse from Bible Gateway, I did not see Matthew 5:48 as expected: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,” King James Version (KJV.) But….

Today’s verse came from Romans 12:2:

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect,” New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Or to put it another way:

“Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect,” New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE.)

As you can see, both translations say the same thing, just with slightly different choices of synonyms, and both emphasize a connection between discernment and the kind of perfection intended. In other words...

To be perfect means clearly knowing and acting on God’s will.

Contrast that understanding with definitions for perfectionism found in Word software:

Fastidiousness
Fussiness
Hairsplitting
Nitpicking

The “nicest” word in the list is “conscientiousness,” but then, that begs the question, “Of what or Whom are we constantly conscious or aware?” If ourselves, we’ll not only be apt to be nitpicking but self-absorbed and, oh, self-conscious!

Jesus’ call to perfection asks us to be God-conscious.

We’re to be so in-tune with God’s Word that scripture begins to transform our minds from the world’s ways to The Way of Christ. Then, we continue this transformation throughout our lives by choosing to renew our minds as we regularly read the Bible, pray, and worship the Lord in communion and church fellowship with others.

What joy! What grace we receive as we put aside our own need for personal acceptance and perfection and, instead, accept the wisdom, way, and will of our Most Perfect Lord.

by Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2017

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God calling, Can you hear Me now?

While studying Luke 8 for my Bible discussion group this week, I kept being drawn to verse 18, which in the King James Version says, “Take heed therefore how ye hear.”

Immediately the verse brought to mind how severe critics of a church denomination, political person, or anyone else just cannot seem to hear what’s actually being said. No matter what’s said or done, the people set against them will not (cannot?) hear what’s meant or even have a clue where that person or group is coming from.

Jesus wants us to know where He’s coming from! He does not want to leave us clueless.

In verse 21, Jesus clearly states, “My mother and brothers are those who hear (listen to) the Word of God and act on it.” Obviously, this statement did not push Mary aside, but included her as one who heard and immediately responded to God’s Word. Otherwise, she never could have given birth to Jesus!

Like Mary and Jesus, some people are related by blood, but we relate to Jesus through our ears – by what we hear and how we respond.

To fine-tune my own hearing, I visited the Bible Gateway website and looked up Luke 8:18 in a variety of translations:

English Standard Version says, “Take care then how you hear,” and the New American Bible (Revised Edition) adds only commas, “Take care, then, how you hear.”

New Living Translation says, “So pay attention to how you hear.”

New Revised Standard Version says, “Then pay attention to how you listen.”

New International Version says, “Therefore consider carefully how you listen.”

That’s the first part of hearing God: really listening, paying attention, and carefully considering what we hear. But there’s more to the verse than that.

The complete verse in the new Amplified Bible says:

“So be careful how you listen; for whoever has [a teachable heart], to him more [understanding] will be given; and whoever does not have [a longing for truth], even what he thinks he has will be taken away.”

May God help each of us to have a teachable heart, long for the truth, and clearly hear God’s Word. Perhaps then, we – as a Christian person, church, and country – can better discern God’s voice and know where we’re to go from here.

Mary Sayler, ©2017, poet-author of over 30 books in all genres, including the new nonfiction book, What the Bible Says About Love

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