Seven months ago yesterday, I launched One Girl One Novel and brought Sometimes That Happens With Chicken directly to readers. Many months of preparation went into that launch and the release of my first novel and by anyone’s standards, I was taking a bit of a leap.

Deep down, I believe indie literature has the same mainstream market success potential as indie music and indie film already have. But unlike them, I don’t have an indie literature sensation before me against which I can measure my progress and success. I had made my decision to cut out all the publishing middlemen but on February 6^th I couldn’t really tell you what life would look like at the end of the summer of 2010. Would anyone go to my site? Would I actually sell books? Would people care about indie literature? Would readers love Sometimes That Happens With Chicken? According to my plan, yes, but there was a certain amount of faith involved.

Seven months later, my faith has been solidified by progress.

Since February, onegirlonenovel.com has had almost 2000 unique visitors and people are calling me a one-woman Random House. I’ve had four events in three cities and I’ve had people look at me and say, “Right, why don’t we have indie literature…?” I have 850 followers on twitter and Chicken has its own fan created facebook group. People are passionate about indie literature, even though many of them have never heard those two words used together, and my grassroots publicity campaign has gotten great traction.

I’ve had two newspaper articles written about me and one very insightful newspaper review of Chicken. I’ve been interviewed on lots of blogs, had two online articles published about my startup experiences, and I’ve gotten numerous mentions in blog posts and event calendars. I even had a live interview on an award winning radio show. But none of the publicity listed in my newsroom compares to the feedback I’ve received from readers.

Remember, my plan for selling Chicken without a publisher was all about readers, like you, and all your friends.

Chicken has seven five-star reviews on Amazon and on my site there are twenty-three reviews left by readers, twenty-two of which are positive. One reader said, “Sometimes That Happens With Chicken…blazes beyond what we have come to expect from modern fiction,” and at one of my events this summer a fan told me Chicken has cult-classic potential. Since February I have been compared to Hemingway, Salinger, Burroughs, Hitchcock, Calvino, and Marquez (which is a bit surreal) but, it’s this kind of feedback from readers that now bolsters my faith and keeps me tirelessly walking down the indie literature path.

And I don’t just have readers. I actually have fans. Talk about surreal!

The last seven months have been quite an adventure. I’ve come a long way since I launched One Girl One Novel with nothing but a free download of Sometimes That Happens With Chicken. My novel is now available in paperback and on Kindle and it’s coming soon to an iPad near you. I’ve made amazing connections with countless readers (and writers) this year and I no longer wonder if my plan will work.

Now the only question that remains in my mind is how long will it take? But I’m patient and I’m stubborn and I really do have the kind of work ethic that died with the 50s. I’m running a post-industrial startup, but I work like a 19^th century entrepreneur and I’ll work two full time jobs for as long as it takes if it means I can write more novels.  

I don’t usually take time like this to reflect, but I’m glad this milestone weekend provided this opportunity. I spend most of my time looking forward and these days I have a lot to look forward to. Last week I was invited to a book fair in the Adirondacks, which I’m seriously considering, and a fan on twitter has invited me to Exeter, New Hampshire. She’s reaching out to an independent book store there and she’s determined to get me to her neck of the woods for an event. And I’m looking for a venue for an event here in LA. I’m pretty sure a friend of mine found the perfect place but I have to go see it in person this week.

Many thanks to all the people who continue to support Sometimes That Happens With Chicken and indie literature. You guys keep reading and you guys keep talking and I’ll keep working as hard as I can.

 Thanks again and ttyl

Wanda

http://www.amazon.com/Sometimes-That-Happens-Chicken-Novel/dp/0615340229/

I personally haven’t tranistioned my reading habits to the very sleek and tempting Kindle but I can feel myself getting closer to taking the leap. When I was testing my Kindle file I got help from a friend who seems to have given up paper books almost completely. It was the first time I had actually used a Kindle and I must say, I was impressed. I’m even a little more tempted now that the price has dropped a bit with this latest release.

I know some of you indie authors are curious, so once I finish rolling out the iPad version, I promise I will write a post about all the technical stuff and the process of ebook publishing. The short of it is: it’s a remarkably easy and inexpensive publishing model which allows authors to reach a growing segment of the book market. And a few months ago, the terms became very favorable for indie authors.

So if you’ve been waiting to read Sometimes That Happens With Chicken on your Kindle, the wait is over! Happy scrolling in support of indie literature and I’ll keep you posted when the iPad edition becomes available.

Many thanks to Janet for the use of your Kindle for testing purposes!

ttyl

Wanda

P.S. – If you’re an indie author and have questions about Kindle publishing, feel free to contact me or post your questions below so I can include the answers in my upcoming how-to blog post.

This post is particularly meaningful to me since I had to make this decision when I finished my first novel. As you all know I came down on the indie side but Dino includes a lot of great information in this post for those of you facing this very big decision. 

________________________________________________________________________

Click the link below to listen to Dino’s audio post. Click “open” when prompted and your computer will launch your default mp3 player.

I’m a Writer. Should I Get a Book-Deal, Self-Publish or Self-Distribute? by Dino Dogan

(text version)

________________________________________________________________________

Links referenced in audio post:

The Long Tail (affiliate link)

To learn how first time authors like Wanda Shapiro use Bit Torrent for large-scale distribution, click here.

Unleashing the Ideavirus (affiliate link) 

Radical Honesty (affiliate link) 

________________________________________________________________________

Dino Dogan spent many years researching ways adults learn, seek and receive information, communicate (both internally and externally) and apply learned info, specifically as it pertains to Human-Dog Relationship. In his quest to develop the Human-Dog Problem Tree he still finds time for his music and fitness. He is a singer/songwriter who is also a biker. But mostly he calls himself ‘a life-long student’. Visit http://dogandogs.com/ to learn more about Dino.

Jessie Mac is an aspiring novelist and an actress out of London. Visit  http://www.jessiemac.com/ to learn more about Jessie.

________________________________________________________________________

Thanks again Dino and Jessie!

ttyl

http://marionjensen.com/2010/08/author-interview-wanda-shapiro.html

Some people look at me like I’m crazy when I tell them my novel is both for sale and available for free but to me it’s the most obvious method of distribution. I’ve tried to stop looking at them like they’re crazy in turn but sometimes I do scratch my head when I see artist/companies/people jealously gaurding their content. I wonder how they missed the turn that happend right in front of all of us. But somehow, some artists/companies/people still think (and operate as if) you can’t sell something if you give it away for free.

IMO you’re more likely to sell content these days if you’re willing to give it away for free, at least for a while. But I’m a real purest, and don’t subscribe to the give-it-away-free-for-a-while model. There will always be a complete, free novel on my site for potential fans to jump right into. And if they can’t put it down and they read the whole thing for free right their on their computer, well, that’s the best thing that could happen.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised when people look at me funny. Free sells is a new paradigm and new paradigms require a little catching up to. But thankfully, there are people like Marion Jenson, with blogs like the Open Author who are proactively exploring this new paradigm for the good of the larger change.

Many thanks to Marion Jenson for the interview. I’m glad I found this blog and it was a pleasure to be interviewed by someone who understands the changes afoot in the publishing industry.

ttyl

We used to share the building that houses the VARGA Gallery but now Christina has expended into the whole building. So it was pretty amazing to be reading in the gallery, part of which used to be my living room. I wrote a good portion of Chicken under that roof and it was amazing to see what Christina has done with the space since she expanded into the whole building. Here’s a pic of what used to be my living room where I wrote a lot of Chicken. It was in this room that I had a giant timeline on the wall and a big chart where I kept track of all the characters.

This event was also very special because I had some fans come all the way from Vermont just to hear me read and get a signed copy of Chicken. Chris Haas brought his lovely family of four to Woodstock, about a 150 miles from their home in Vermont. It was lovely meeting Chris, his wife Jasmine, their daughter Niobe, and their son Holden and I got to spend a lovely afternoon getting to know them at the VARGA Gallery. Here’s a pic of me and Niobe that I love.

It was particular poignant meeting Chris and his family because Chris sent me my first ever piece of fan mail. He friended me on facebook and sent me a message asking if he could start a facebook group for Sometimes That Happens With Chicken. Fan mail is always nice, but there’s something special about your first ever piece of fan mail. And the amazing part for me was that it was February 12^th, a mere six days after I launched my website. Chris Haas was one of my early signs of hope for my indie literature plan and he compared me to Salinger – gotta love that!

You can check out Chris Haas’ review of Chicken on my Review page or on the back of Chicken. He wrote such an amazing review it became one of the fan reviews on the back cover of the paperback. And you can join the facebook group Chris created where I keep everyone posted re: all things Sometimes That Happens With Chicken.

And on top of all the serendipity and fan connecting, this event got me the best publicity I’ve gotten to date. And if it weren’t for Christina and this event, I never would have sent that press release to Northeast Public Radio and gotten that interview on The Roundtable. Here’s a link to the achived WAMC interview where you can listen now.

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wamc/news.newsmain/article/231/0/1680177/The.Roundtable/Wanda.Shapiro

It was a huge success on top of three other successes and I would like to thank Christina Varga for putting it all together. Christina is the soul of Woodstock and if you haven’t checked out the VARGA Gallery you absolutely must the next time you’re in the Catskills. And thanks to the whole Haas family for their support. After four events in eight days I was absolutely exhausted, but Christina took one of her signature self-portaits of the two of us at the end of the night. I just love this woman and I love the VARGA Gallery!

Now that I’m done with my post event blog posts, I have a bunch of other follow up to do. I have a lot of fans and volunteers to thank and I look forward to reaching out to everyone who supported me on and leading up to my first book tour. I also have to get Chicken up on Kindle and in the iBookstore so all those ebook readers can get their hands on it. I had to put that off until after these events but now I’m ready to upload the files and start selling those Kindle and iPad downloads.

More on that coming soon…

ttyl

This was my third event in eight days and I’d been to Albany and back earlier in the day for my interview on WAMC Northeast Public Radio. It was a long day but I was overwhelmed by the hometown support I got that night. There were some very special people in the audience and there were even two people who came because they heard my interview on the radio earlier that day. I met a lot of fans, including one of my very first fans – Larry Deloria who I had previously only known on facebook and who had read ten chapters of Chicken before my website was a whole day old.

I had the honor and privilege of being introduced by Sue Rawson (a.k.a. Mrs. Stafford) who was the elementary school librarian at Johnsburg Central School where I spent thirteen years being educated. Here’s a pic of Sue introducing me.

The only word that could explain Sue Rawson’s role in my life is angel. Librarians tend to touch people’s lives, but this librarian made it her business to spot readers at a very young age and feed them books that were perfect for their particular stage of development. And she had a special cabinet with a shelf of books for those of us who outgrew the elementary school library before we outgrew elementary school. And her delight was palpable when you would go to her looking for a book to read. It didn’t matter how busy she was or what she was doing, Sue Rawson always had time to help you find a book. And it was always a book I fell in love with.

I couldn’t help but tear up when Sue introduced me. She’s a big fan of Sometimes That Happens With Chicken which, as you can imagine, is also a real honor. Thanks for a beautiful introduction Sue and I hope to make you proud with many more novels.

I read that night from Chapter 11 which is one of my favorites and seems to be a fan favorite as well. I didn’t read the whole chapter, but I read a large portion of it starting a few pages in through the end. I was getting a little hoarse by this point in the trip but I made it through the end of the chapter and the question and answer session. And the audience at Common Roots asked great questions. I got questions about character development and about my next two novels along with the most frequently asked question I hear which is how did I come up with the title Sometimes That Happens With Chicken.

Thanks again to Jake and Katy for having this wonderful event at Common Roots. It was a huge success and you two made it perfect. Thanks to everyone who came out to support Chicken and indie literature. I’d also like to thank my mom Millie Ordway and my two cousins Michelle Gosnell and Shanda Gale for setting up and manning the One Girl One Novel table at the event. They call me a one-woman Random House but I couldn’t do it without a lot of help!

Now off to write yet another blog post. Only one more left on my blog post catch-up marathon. Coming next…One Girl One Novel at the VARGA Gallery…

ttyl

It was a memorable day but before I go on and on, here’s a link to the archive of the show where you can listen now.

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wamc/news.newsmain/article/231/0/1680177/The.Roundtable/Wanda.Shapiro

First, I must thank Christina Varga, of the VARGA Gallery for suggesting I send WAMC producer Sarah LaDuke a press release for my Woodstock event. You can imagine my excitement when Sarah LaDuke emailed me for an interview. Maybe someday such things will become commonplace, but for now they’re big drops in the bucket and I do get excited. I got even more excited when I read about The Roundtable and realized just how big a step this was for me, Chicken, and indie literature.

I had to be in Albany Friday morning for the 11:10am interview which meant a two hour drive with my Mom to Albany from her house in the Adirondacks. It made for a long day considering I had an event in my hometown that evening which I had to get back for. We got on the road really early and found the studio before we killed sometime having coffee and and a snack. It seemed prudent to leave early so we had almost an hour to kill.  

I’m not particularly prone to nervousness or panic, but I’m no zen master either and I could feel the adrenaline start to surge through my body when we were driving towards the studio. By the time I’d sat with my mom and had a cup of tea and taken some really deep breaths the worst of the adrenaline had passed but I was still pretty nervous when I arrived at the studio. I got this great pic when I arrived.

I arrived a few minutes early as instructed and sat in the front office waiting for Sarah LaDuke to come get me. My Mom sat with me and I though it seemed rude I was doing my social media due diligence by tweeting and facebooking from the waiting room. And btw, let me tell you, it’s a little hard to type an intelligible message on an iphone when you’re so nervous you’re thumbs are shaking.

But my nervousness what quickly dispersed by the lovely banter coming from the desk of Victoria Ambuhl there in the WAMC office. Victoria must see a lot of people sit in the chair I sat in, nervous or otherwise, but she was such an angel that morning. She sensed I was nervous and she chattered away with me and my Mom in a way that could only set a person at ease. She was like a jabbering jedi mind trick and I will never forget her. Thanks again Victoria!

After waiting a few minutes, Sarah LaDuke came to take me to the booth where I was interviewed by Joe Donahue. It was a tiny, sound proofed room and it was freezing. I had to sit for a few minutes by myself looking around at microphones and head phones and a clock that was ticking down to my interview time. It didn’t really help with the nervousness but I readied myself with a few deep breaths.

Joe Donahue arrived in the booth gave me some brief instructions and then it was show time. And though I would have expected another spike of adrenaline, I was perfectly at ease when the interview started. It was like I was possessed by a not nervous person and I attribute that partly to the masterful interviewing skills of Joe Donahue. The time flew by but when it was over I was in awe of how much information Joe was able to deliver in such a short amount of time.

And this interview had immediate results. My site analytics show a spike for that day, my Amazon sales rank rose, I got several comments on my site, and the best part was, two people showed up at my event that night at Common Roots because they heard this interview on The Roundtable.

On behalf of Sometimes That Happens With Chicken, I’d like to thank Sarah LaDuke, Joe Donahue, and WAMC for this opportunity. It was a great experience and a wonderful step forward for indie literature.

And now off to write another blog post. I’m determined to get caught up on all my post-event blogging – determined! Next post…One Girl One Novel at Common Roots…

ttyl

Wanda

My hometown is a very special place and the library there is a treasure. The town is a rural enclave nestled in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York state and when I was growing up, we didn’t have a public library. We had two libraries at school (elementary and high school) and we had the book mobile (picture a traveling library in a renovated bus-like vehicle). It does my heart such good that the kids growing up in North Creek now have a large modern library in which to be curious.

There were a lot of familiar faces in the crowd and despite how small the town is, there were quite a few unfamiliar faces. Like in NYC, I met some fans I didn’t even know I had and I had so many wonderful experiences it’s hard to recount them all. The library had a wonderful room arranged and we were all surrounded by books.

There were almost 30 people there which was a hefty turnout according to the director of the library. When I looked at the audience I saw friends and family and fans and despite a serious rush of adrenaline, I read three passages from Chicken about Catherine Wells and Ignatious Gillard.

Sometimes That Happens With Chicken is a difficult novel from which to read passages because I studiously attempt to not ruin the surprise beginning for my listening audience. It’s not easy to find passages that don’t give away too much or require a lot of explaining. But after much re-reading, I pieced together three passages into one continuous piece. I’m sure I will read those pages many times because they tell the beginning of the story even if they don’t appear at the beginning of the book.

Before I read from Chicken I had the honor of being introduced by Sharon Slayback-Palestri, who had an interesting perspective from which to speak. Sharon and her husband Greg Palestri where at the NYC event the Saturday before at the Michael Perez Pop Art Gallery in the Village. Sharon is mom to publicist Caitlin Slayback who was instrumental in my first book event. Sharon and Greg are big fans of Chicken and it was nice to have some unexpected carry-over from the NYC event to my first Adirondack event. And Sharon has known me since I was a baby so she had lots of memories to include from my days growing up in North Creek.

When I was finished reading, the crowd had some very interesting questions. I had the opportunity to explain what “indie” means to me and why I chose that business model. I got more requests for ebook and audio book versions of Chicken and I explained some of the decisions I have ahead of me. The question and answer portion of the evening had a priceless ending when my seven-year-old nephew Nicholas asked, “What made you write a book?” I tried to explain to him that I do not presume to understand the human faculty of imagination, but mine is vivid and I feel called to translate those images into words and sentences. He had waited very patiently to ask his question and he seemed to get it when I couldn’t thoroughly explain that which drives me to write novels.

I actually owe Nicholas a big thank you because he volunteered to be one of the photographers at the event and despite his amateur photographer status, he took some great pics. Here’s one Nicholas took of me while I was reading which is one of my favs from the whole trip.

I would also like to thank Michele Leigh, Michael Allen, and Michelle Gosnell for sharing their photos and video with me. (Video clips coming soon on youtube…) And many thanks go to my mom Millie Ordway and life-long friend Lee Ann Parker who set up and manned the One Girl One Novel table for the evening. They took care of everything while I sat and signed books on the comfy couch in the back. They set up a beautiful table and welcomed guests as they arrived.

I would also like to thank Susan Schmidt, the director of the Town of Johnsburg Library for coordinating the event and setting up a beautiful room. And thanks to Sharon Slayback-Palestri for her wonderful introduction.

My final, very large thank you goes to Caleb Eick who was the instigator of this event and whom I have known since the day he was born. Caleb works at the library and was the one who reached out to me to do this event. Unfortunately, he was unable to attend because he was attending NYSSSA 2010. That stands for NY State Summer School of the Arts, and it’s not easy to get in. I’m so proud of Caleb for his own artistic accomplishments and I’m sure he’ll be a star.

Now, I’m going to go work on a blog post about my first live radio interview. It was a surreal experience and a big step for Chicken.

Thanks again to everyone who helped make this event a great success and to everyone who came out for a night of indie literature and Sometimes That Happens With Chicken.

ttyl

Sometimes That Happens With Chicken: The Cojones Review

By: Mayowa

Mayowa has a lot to say about Chicken, it’s production value, and my indie literature journey but this was one of my favorite parts.

“Wanda’s prose is particularly honest, insightful, vulgar and hilarious. It is this raw simplicity in her writing that allows the reader to follow the gossamer threads of individual stories that form the whole without getting lost. At the end, I couldn’t believe that I had followed all those sinuous twists as easily as  I had, As a writer, I can’t help but think of that as a stunning achievement.”

I have the honor of being in touch with Mayowa and have been able to share many of my indie author experiences with him in late night and early morning emails. He has been endlessly supportive of my plan and I’m greatly looking forward to his first novel.

And yes, I’m very behind on my event blog posts but I wanted to sneak this one in tonight. I am working furiously on three blogs posts which I will most certainly all go live this weekend. I have blogging to do and pictures to post and video to process…and a ton of thank you emails to send. I’m chipping away at my post-event to-do list and trying to catch up on some sleep.

Thanks to Mayowa for the great review and all the indie support!

ttyl

Since this was my first book event, it was hard to know what to expect but the evening was full of wonderful moments, the whole list of which would be impossible to recount. I met some interesting new people and had a chance to connect with some big fans of Sometimes That Happens With Chicken. I was surrounded by Michael’s beautiful paintings and despite the NYC heatwave, we all had a great time.

I will share one particularly special moment which happened at the very end of the night. When it was all over, I was outside the gallery with Michael, his publicist, and the last guest to leave, an enthusasitic art and literature lover and resident of the West Village named Mark Herko. His copy of Chicken was the last book I signed that night and as we were all enjoying the slightly cooled off air Mark said, “This feels like the Village in the fifties.”

I posted a few pics on facebook but the majority of the photography and videography is still in post-production. If you’d like to see the pics I posted on facebook you can use the link below and when the photographer and the videographer are finished I will be creating a One Girl One Novel youtube channel and a flickr feed.

http://www.facebook.com/wanda.shapiro#!/album.php?aid=2070778&id=1174526546

Here’s one pic that captured a particularly poignant moment for me. I was at the gallery all afternoon helping set up  and this was my last little breather before I got dressed for the event. The photographer, Paris Bogdanos, arrived early to take some test shots and he got several of me in my pre-event attire. I’m sitting on the stoop of 16 Minetta Lane where the event was held, a breath-taking property in the Village.

I’d like to thank photographer Paris Bogdanos and videographer Anthony Lopez, two dear and talented friends who graciously volunteered their services. I can’t wait to see the whole lot of pics and the video that Anthony is in the process of editing.

I would also like to thank all my friends and fans who came out for this event. I saw many people I hadn’t seen in years and met fans I didn’t even know I had. There are too many of you to list here but thanks to you all; you know who you are. Of that group, a special thanks goes to Alicia Dunnigan who introduced me when it was time to read from Sometimes That Happens With Chicken.

Next, I would like to thank painter Michael Perez for his support of indie literature and Sometimes That Happens With Chicken. By featuring me at one of his own events, Michael gave me an amazing opportunity to spread the word and to be recognized and supported by an artist of Michael’s stature and acclaim is a true honor. Aside from being a talented painter, Michael is a great person whom I had the pleasure of getting to know as we readied for the event.

Unfortunately, Michael’s paintings are way out of my price range (not a surprise since his work appeared on the hit TV show Friends) but he did me the honor of personalizing my trusty Dell XPS laptop at the end of the night with one of his signature motifs. And even though I can’t afford a Perez at the mo, I am in possession of one of two laptops that have been painted by Michael Perez.

The only other person in the whole world who owns a Michael Perez painted laptop is Michael’s publicist Caitlin Slayback whose thank you I have left for last. Caitlin is the one who introduced me to Michael and she is also the one person without whom this event couldn’t have happened. Michael and I work very hard as artists, but our efforts for this event cannot be compared to publicist extraordinaire Caitlin Slayback. In the days leading up to this event Caitlin was busy every minute, hustling around to make things happen. She is an unstoppable force and an unbelievably hard worker to whom I owe many many thanks.

Working with Caitlin in preparation for this event was particularly meaningful to me because she and I grew up together. We estimate that it’s been 15 years since we saw each other last and it’s a pleasure to see the power-house of a woman she has grown into. We ended up back in touch thanks to facebook and now that Caitlin’s a hot-shot celebrity publicist I get to say I knew her way back when. Michael is a lucky artist to have such a one has Caitlin in his corner.  

Here’s a pic of me, Caitlin, and Caitlin’s mom Sharon at the event. It was a wonderful big city moment for us three Adirondack girls and as she should be, Sharon was beeming with pride.

Now, I have to continue preparing for my second One Girl One Novel event which will be held at the Town of Johnsburg Library in North Creek, NY on Wednesday 7/21 at 6:30 pm. If you live in the Adirondack region and you can’t make it Wednesday, you’ll have a second opportunity on Friday 7/23 at 6:00 at Common Roots in North Creek. And if you live in the Catskill region, you can catch me Saturday 7/24 in Woodstock, NY at the VARGA Gallery for my fourth and final event of this jam-packed week on the east coast.

In addition, I’m squeezing in a live radio interview on WAMC North East Public Radio on the morning of Friday 7/23. I’ll be interviewed by Joe Donahue on The Roundtable, which is an award winning, nationally recognized show that airs weekdays from 9-noon. The show’s hallmark is thoughtful interviews with A-list newsmakers, authors, artists, sports figures, actors, and people with interesting stories to tell so this is a big step for Chicken and for indie literature. I will be posting listening instructions for those in and outside the WAMC coverage area asap.

Thanks again to everyone who helped make my first book event a big success. The support I’m receiving is overwhelming and it’s a pleasure to see so many people excited about indie literature and Sometimes That Happens With Chicken.

ttyl

Wanda