Our cool signage! #word
What is she talking about?? Good question. These are vague flashes of experience, but here it is, what I feel today. Life is both exhilarating (i.e.: wonderful, beautiful, surprising) and also terrifying (i.e.: disappointing, bewildering, knocks-you-in-the-teeth sometimes.) Thus is writing, thus is reading.
Now you're like, WHAT IS SHE TALKING ABOUT?
Right before I heard Susan Minot speak as the Fiction Key Note Speaker. #ThirtyGirls
I've never been a vendor at something like a fancy shmancy Book Fair before. As a perfectionist (recovering...) I like things to go smoothly. But it's impossible to know what's to come when you've never done something before. I looked at the other tables and thought maybe we lacked a little table flair (nothing vertical! everything is flat on the table! oh no!) Also when launching something new like what BookHive is doing, it takes convincing, explaining, and there's that gnawing worry - will I do a good enough job? do I have what it takes? do I seem smart, warm, friendly, not too pushy, compelling?
This unknown reminds me of when a reader picks up a book - what will they find? will it be any good? what journey are they going to go on? At BookHive we look for open minded readers who will take a brand new book and ride it through to the other side. They may sign up and find the book is not what they thought it would be. Or, they may be blown away about how drawn into the story they were from the first ten pages. Over time, our Test Readers will hopefully understand that they are reading books that are in different developmental stages, that they may be reading a first draft or the tenth draft, but that they too are jumping into the unknown.
The same is true for the writer too when they sit down to start a new project. At one of the panel discussions at the Boston Book Fair that I attended featuring Middle Grade fantasy writers, there was a variety of points of view on outlining before writing. About half of the writers loved it, insisted on it, while the other half found their story while writing it. Even with an outline, the unknown and mystery is great when starting a new project. Some writers can never get beyond an outline since the fear is too great - will what they write be any good? will it make sense? should they stop now before the ship crashes into the rocks and splits into a million pieces?
As the day progressed, the beauty and the hope started to trickle in. I saw it in the eyes of some of the Test Readers I met at the booth who seemed super psyched to work with us. I saw it in the acknowledgement of some of the writers that I met that they could use an unbiased, outside eye on their work. And even little old me starting to get my bearings! By the end of the day I had my three line pitch down of what BookHive offers. I felt grateful, too, at some of the questions I fielded from potential Test Readers and Authors. When not pushed to grow, we become stagnant. Jumping into the unknown can be terrifying, but when you come out from the other side, having read the best book of your life, or getting that draft finally where it needs to be, it can be oh-so-wonderful too.
Plus, we had candy at the booth. That helps bolster courage and joy all around.
#CandyAlways Helps
BookHive offers focus group research for Authors with actual Test Readers.
For more information, check out our website: www.book-hive.com
And a special thanks to the Boston Book Fair for making me a Vendor Virgin no more!
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