By Lisbeth Coiman
My promotional budget began with a plan and the specific goal to take my book to several cities in North America. A book club from Mississauga, ON had contacted me at the beginning of the year to let me know they were reading my debut memoir I Asked the Blue Heron. I was elated. So I decided to start in Canada with a budget of US$1000.
With the help of a wonderful brand strategist (Vicky Ayala, US$150/2hrs.) who teaches me marketing for writers, I designed a promotional kit that includes a sell sheet, a postcard, and a business card. Then I printed the promo kit for (US$250) with enough copies to use for a year. Finally, I wrote my elevator pitch to introduce my book at the bookstores and libraries.
The cost of the promo kit is an investment and is calculated against my annual budget since I’ll use it for many other promotional efforts.
With a credit card that offers 5% cash back for purchases in selected businesses, I was able to purchase a discount airplane ticket for US$440. The sight of Pearson Airport made me teary and proud to be back to Canada and its diverse population. The immigration officer had a look at my Canadian passport and said, “Welcome home.” I declared the 25 books I brought with me, and answered all the respective questions in the uneventful arrival. My friend Nacho picked me up from the airport.
As far as lodging goes, I was lucky. As soon as I announced that I was going to Canada, a few friends reached out and offered me to stay with them. The Torrejon family hosted me and treated me like a sister while I enjoyed the World Cup in their company. I didn’t rent a car, and only used Lyft when absolutely necessary. I moved around using public transportation, and in several opportunities walked for hours going from one bookstore to another.
On the first day of my trip, my friends Elsa and Victor Torrejon took me to the places I had lived on Battleford road, and Dunnview Court. They drove me to Lake Aquitaine to select a spot for my reading the next day. It was a trip down memory lane, the sweet images of my young children coming back to me.
On day two, I read excerpts from I Asked the Blue Heron to a small group of nine people, a mixed of old friends and new readers in the Meadowvale Community Center on the Lake Aquitaine Park. We had planned an outdoors reading, but it was raining, so we moved the meeting indoor.
What a pleasure! The book club ladies had questions for me, and wanted me to read specific passages from the book. I sold a handful of copies that day, and gifted some to my friends. With each book that exchanged hands I repeated my request. “Please, talk about my book or recommend it to your library. If you are so inclined, please, write a review.”
On day three, I headed to the Mississauga Public Library to pitch my book. The librarian, a handsome man in his 50s, listened to my pitch, grabbed the phone and talked to somebody. He then turned to me and said there is no logic in refusing a book given for free but that is the new policy.
I said, “I am not asking you to display my book in your library without reading it. I’m giving you the book so you can read it and decide if it is something your cleints will be interested in. Part of the story happens in this city.”
“Do you name the city?” He asked with a smile.
I got his attention. “Of course. Not only the city, also the streets, the hospitals, the places I went when I lived here.”
When I felt his eyes on me, I continued, “If anything else, my story has a strong sense of place, and one third of the story happens in Mississauga. I described the first time I experience snow, my first blizzard. It’s a story about immigration and what we bring with us that can’t be seen.”
Then I placed the book on his desks, three postcards and two business cards. “Please, read it. I hope you like it.”
“Thanks,” he said with a nod.
“I look forward to hearing from you. Good bye.”
I left the library telling myself, “Do not be discouraged by rejections. Think Women Who Submit.”
I crossed Celebration Square in front of Mississauga City Hall where two gigantic screens showed two simultaneous World Cup matches: Saudi Arabia vs. Egypt, and Iran vs. Portugal. I passed by women in burqas and hijabs sitting alongside their partners cheering for their respective teams, while small children payed with soccer balls on the artificial turf of Celebration Square. On the west corner of Square One, one of Canada’s most luxurious malls, I observed elastic flags covering the hood of the cars in the parking lots. I headed north to Indigo. Along the way, I marveled at how the city changed since I landed there 21 years ago, from a recently incorporated city defined by the size of its parking lots, to a slow-paced, futuristic metropolis, multicultural and gentle.
At Indigo, the corporative nature of the large bookstore made the process a bit more complicated and got me calling a 1(800) number. But I Asked the Blue Heron is now on KOBO, the Canadian equivalent of Kindle.
I spent the following days meeting with friends over lunch or dinner. One of those friends helped me brainstorm ideas to promote my book in Mississauga and Toronto. I typed her suggestion on my iPad to work out a plan later. I only spent money on the Lyft rides or bus fare, and some restaurant expenses. I add the foreign transaction fees for my credit card, and currency exchange at the airport for a total of US$680.
On third to last day of the trip, and for the price of a commuting train ticket, I made it to Toronto, where I visited three independent bookstores, and repeated the same pitch. Of the three bookstores I contacted in Toronto, only one rejected me on the spot, which I didn’t allow to deter me. Instead, I crossed the street and found an excellent Cypriot restaurant, Rikkochez, and had my only meal of that day for under CAN$17. I chatted with the owners, took pictures, posted a note on Instagram, and then took the train back downtown to the next bookstore, Ben McNally Books. I sat down in the cool air of the bookstore for a few minutes, happy for the welcoming smile of the clerk and the promise of a call back.
After catching my breath, I headed west on Queen Street to Type Books a couple of miles away. I passed the busy Spadina/Queen intersection and entered an area of mom & pop’s shops offering handcrafted clothes, or eccentric shoes, and millennial drinking beer in tiny terraces on the side of the street. At Type Books, a nice man accepted my book with a smile and said the manager will call me. I thanked him profusely and took his suggestion for a beer next door, where a queer bartender flirted openly with me.
I came back to the US on Canada Day, July 1, afraid of US Customs and Immigration, afraid my skin color, my accent, and my country of origin, Venezuela, clearly displayed on my American passport would be a reason to hold me. He looked at it and asked for my Venezuelan passport.
I said, “I don’t have one.”
“But you have two passports?”
Don’t lie, I thought. “I do. I’m Canadian – American. Do you need to see my Canadian passport as well? I have it with me.” I said quietly.
“Use your Canadian passport to enter Canada if you want. But when you enter the US, make sure to show the American passport, and buy your ticket with the American passport.” He didn’t say this in a mean way, his tone quiet and friendly. I felt it was a good advice, but a clear warning.
Of course my little promotional trip was far from a book tour, just an attempt to self-promote my debut memoir. With a budget of US$1000, I visited friends in a city I hold dear in my heart. I also gathered ideas and experience for a real book tour in the future. And even collected a useful piece of advice from an immigration officer.
Submission Calls for Emerging writers
ZYZZYVA
Genre: fiction, poetry, essays, and artwork
Reading period: Sept. 1 to Nov. 30
Word count: Read past issues to get a sense of length and quality.
No online submissions
For submission guidelines click here.
NIMROD – The Ringold Awards for New Writers
Prize: $500 and publication
Genre: Poetry and Fiction
Deadline: July 15
Word count: Poetry – 5 pages. Fiction – 5,000 words.
For submission guidelines click here.
COSMONAUT AVENUE 2018 Nonfiction Prize
Prize: $500 + publication
Deadline: July 23
Word count: max 20 double-spaced pages
Submission fee: $12
For Cosmonaut 2018 Nonfiction Contest Guidelines click here
Also Cosmonaut is open for submission of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction.
For regular submission guidelines click here.
Lisbeth Coiman is an emerging, bilingual writer wandering the immigration path from Venezuela to Canada to the US. She has performed any available job from maid to college administrator. Her work has been published in Hip Mama, the Literary Kitchen, YAY LA, Nailed Magazine, Entropy, and RabidOak. She was also featured in the Listen to Your Mother Show in 2015. In her self-published memoir, I Asked the Blue Heron (Nov 2017), Coiman celebrates female friendship while exploring issues of child abuse, mental disorder, and her own journey as an immigrant.
She lives in Los Angeles, where she teaches and speaks for NAMI about living with a mental disorder. She dances salsa to beat depression.