Sunday, December 09, 2007

Weekly update

Life doesn't slow down much at this time of year but everything around IoPress seems to. A lot of people are coming to the site to look at the two Dr.Wrighting essays, but I don't think anyone has bought any of the books on the past month! I wonder if anyone will give them as Christmas presents? I have too much to do through New Years to even try and think of any way of getting readers more interested, and while I'm working well on the next book that's going to be long (which makes it expensive), which I feel a bit bad about. And it's still going to be a while before it's ready.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Weekly update

Everything seems to have slowed down - slow book sales, slow writing. So the new book will definitely only be a 2008 production. I like the way it's shaping up, but it is taking longer to shape than I expected.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Weekly update

For a while I was kind of down about the slow sales of the books, but once I was working on the next one again it didn't bother me as much. Being able to sell them is a good excuse for writing them, but I really like the creative aspect - telling a story and figuring out how to write it. I am a bit worried about how long the next one is going to be - maybe I'll try soemthing really short after that!

I did take the girls to see Nancy Drew which finally opened here. Emma Roberts actually looks so young in it that maybe she could have worn braces for the part! It wasn't like the Nancy Drew I grew up with, but once you get over that and accept the need for a lot of modern updating it wasn't too bad. And the girls liked it.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

More feedback

Anonymous left a comment to my last post and suggested some reasons for the low sales. It's always good to get feedback - thanks!

It's great that he liked Love and Braces as a "braces fan" and I guess I am beginning to wonder whether the appeal of the books maybe really doesn't reach beyond fetishist readers. But I still find that hard to believe. With millions of kids going through having braces I would think that there's a broad continuum of different reactions to having them, from forgetting about them completely as soon as the treatment is over to, I guess, becoming obsessed with them. And I thought my books would fit in one big part somewhere in the middle of that continuum, but maybe they really are much closer to one of the smaller extreme parts of it.

Anonymous points out some of the parts of L&B that are apparently fetishist. I guess some of that, like especially the exaggerated braces, makes sense, but some was just necessary or natural for the story. Colleen's braces (she's the one who doesn't really need them) are obviously unrealistic, but I needed an adult with braces as a friend for Sylvia and I thought it would be good to have a contrast - better than if Colleen were going through the same thing Sylvia is, even if it meant inventing an unrealistic reason for her to have them. And the kiss between the female characters seemed appropriate in those circumstances (just like the different kisses between Sylvia and some of the male characters).

I almost regret not having more of the "hot" stuff in L&B, but I find it hard to try to imagine what would work. There's only so often I can describe the glistening silvery metal and all that sort of thing....

Anonymous also mentions the lack of information and lack of juicy excerpts. I'll have to try and think how to improve that, but it's hard to figure out what to post on the website. There aren't that many passages that are self-contained, which I think is the best kind to post, and I also don't want to give away some of the good parts. But obviously I have to do a better job at getting readers interested, so I'll try and see if I can come up with better or more descriptions of the stories, and maybe some different or additional excerpts.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Weekly update

This month alone over 1000 people have come to the IoPress site and read the 94 Weeks and Single Episodes essay about braces on TV and over 200 have read the essay on Lolita's Braces. That's awesome, and it's gratifying to see so much interest in some of my writing. But even though all these readers also see some information about the IoPress books when they come to the site it's really disappointing how few copies are being bought. Even if only 1% of the readers of the essays bought them, that would already be quite a few copies sold, but in September it's been a lot less than that.

I'm not sure whether I have the wrong information about the books at the site, or not enough information, or whether the books just don't sound interesting to everyone who comes to look at the site. It's very confusing, and also kind of disappointing. I really thought that with all the people who get braces every year - literally millions in America alone! - there would be a good audience for books like mine, but either I haven't been able to reach that audience yet, or they're just not there. It's frustrating and I'm not really sure what to do about it. I like writing the books, no matter how many or few I sell, but it is a bit harder to be as enthusiastic if I can only get so few people interested. And I would like it if the books at least paid for themselves - I'd like to make enough to cover the Lulu and website costs. It's not that it's a lot of money, but it would be easier for me to justify continuing to do it to myself. Right now it seems almost like a vanity publishing project. If I sold enough to cover my costs then it would be like being a real author and publisher (even though lots of publishers don't seem to make much money with their books either!).

Meanwhile, the next book is going well, except I want a better title than "The Girl Next Door" which is the working title I've been using. Parts of the book have gone off in directions that I didn't expect, and that's a lot of fun. The characters really take on identities of their own and they sort of force me to let them act in particular ways. But it's still a long way from being finished. And it's also going to be really long - which is a pain because it means it will be more expensive too.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Another target audience?

Bracer left another comment - thanks! - and thinks fetishists might be a target audience for my books. Since I started publishing these books I have become more aware that a lot of people have this sort of greater interest in braces, and I have wondered how what I'm doing fits in that.

I think what I do in the books is try to convey the intensity of the experience, of what having braces means. I can see how a lot of that would appeal to fetishists. But is it enough? I think there's also stuff that is missing. Especially the sex. I'm not really sure what fetishists expect. If they want a lot of descriptions of braces and getting them and people's reactions to them I guess the books do have that. But there's almost no sex, and even in the book with adults with braces, Love and Braces, the braces don't have that much to do with the little sex there is. I mean, they're always there in all the situations that I describe, and Sylvia always thinks about them. But are the braces sexualized enough (if that's the word)? I mean, they take on all this importance, but does that make them fetish objects?

Maybe the intensity I'm trying to recreate is a lot like what fetishists feel. Maybe it's the same thing, except that I don't think of it sexually so much. But I don't know if it's right to say that fetishists are my target audience, because I think they'd probably feel let down by the lack of sex, or at least by the way the romance or sex is described. Of course all my characters are worried about how braces affect their love-lives, but since most of them are teenagers the main worries are just exaggerated adolescent concerns that almost every girl has. Except for in L&B they're almost all just trying to begin to come to terms with the feelings they have for boys. The braces are just an added complication. For a lot of them dealing with the braces is just a different way of dealing with all the confusing growing-up issues they are facing (and even Sylvia in L&B is sort of like a bigger teenager, I think, still dealing with a lot of the same issues). That's why I thought older teenage girls or college students who had a hard time going through all that were the likely target audience for my books.

Another part of the books that might appeal to fetishists is the way the braces and the treatment are exaggerated. There's not too much of that, at least of things that are completely unrealistic, but a few things are different from "real" braces. The one element I thought about hardest was how Dr.Wrighting straps her patients down in the examination chairs. I don't think any orthodontist does that anymore. But I think it's really effective in getting across that feeling one has in the examination chair, so that's why I decided to do that. Plus I wanted the Dr.Wrighting experience to be different from a normal orthodontist visit. But I always try to make it as harmless as possible. No one gets tied down against there will or anything like that. Dr.Wrighting always makes sure everyone is comfortable. The way I like to think of it is like the way young kids are strapped in car safety seats.

The other exaggerations, especially how the devices look and how uncomfortable or embarrassing they are, are also more to make the experience seem more intense. For most people having braces maybe doesn't seem that bad, especially in retrospect, but I think there are moments when everyone feels it really, really is. And I think in my books I try to focus on those moments.

So I'm glad Bracer likes L&B but now I'm worried that I don't have any target audience at all because the books are too inoffensive for fetishists and too weird for "regular" readers! I hope that's not right, but I don't know. It's so weird, because I know they're exactly the books I would have loved to read, or would still love to read if someone else wrote them. And I would have thought that with the millions of kids who get and had braces there would be some who felt just like I did!

(I'm not sure how I would feel if the only ones who liked the books were "fetish" readers. As long as the readers get something out of it I guess it is sort of satisfying, even if this isn't really what I had in mind. But I guess I would be a bit disappointed if I wasn't reaching those readers who I think would get the most out of the books - readers like me!)

I'll probably write more about this too, once I've thought about it more. The next book also raises some issues of who the target readers are, so I'll have to deal with it then too.

It's also cool getting some feedback, especially since I hope that helps other readers decide whether or not they want to read the books. Now I hope some readers leave reviews at Amazon or Barnes & Noble or Lulu or wherever they bought the books! I think it would be great if those who might be interested in the books could see what others thought of them, since even with all the information I put up at the Intraoral Press site maybe I'm not able to convey exactly who might like the books best, and for what reasons.

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Target readers?

Last week Bracer left a comment on the blog (thanks!) asking who I am aiming these books at. I think the explanation at the page about IoPress still covers a lot of that, even though I wrote it just when I was starting everything. I guess I think that there are some kids who have braces and then when they're done with them are able to just put that behind them, but that there are also a lot who find it more difficult both having braces and then forgetting about them. Not that it was necessarily a totally traumatic exerience or anything but it was a big deal and something that's hard to totally get over and where they might want to read about others' experiences dealing with braces. I know that when I was a teen, when I had braces and afterwards, I was really disappointed that almost no one in all the books I read had to deal with all this braces stuff, and even if a character had braces it was maybe mentioned but the author never really wrote about what that meant and how it affected the character. My books are sort of the other extreme. All braces, all the time. I know they're the kind of books that would have helped me, so I guess I just think there are others out there who feel the same way I do.

I think I would have especially needed the books AFTER I had braces, almost more than when I did have them. Letting me relive and work through the experience. Which is also what I guess I'm doing by writing them.... I don't know if that works for other readers, but I hope so.

The books I've written so far probably aren't right for younger patients going through having braces now. Like I think my girls would still be too young for them. But Retainer Girl might be helpful for a teenager with braces. I'm not so sure about Love and Braces and The Braced Experience. On the one hand, I would have devoured them when I was like fifteen or sixteen. Especially L&B. But now as a protective mom I'm worried what my kids are exposed to, and even though the books aren't explicit the total focus on braces, and the fact that there's some fantasy and exaggeration about the actual orthdontic treatment makes me worry a bit that kids who can't handle it would be upset by them. But then I think that when I was a teen my mom would have thought the same way, while I would have totally been able to handle them....

So who are my target readers? I guess anyone who wants to read about what it's like having braces - not just what it's really like, but a sort of heightened fictional version. Because some of the stuff is exaggerated it probably isn't right for people who haven't had braces yet but want to know what it will be like - especially kids! - but I think anyone who has or had braces will get the exaggerated parts, and will find the books more entertaining because of them.

I think the readers who will enjoy my books most are those who had a bit of a tough time with braces and still have strong memories of those years - readers just like me. If I had to narrow it down to one person, I think my target reader would be a 17 or 18 year-old girl, maybe just starting college and away from home for the first time, who had braces during those awkward years of puberty and had a bit of a rough time handling that and everything else. I see her getting ready for bed, putting in her retainers, and then opening one of my books....

I haven't had much feedback yet on the books, but the few readers who have e-mailed say they've really liked them, which I think is great. I don't know if I'm reaching my target readers yet, but I'm glad that some readers are finding the books, and are enjoying them!

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Weekly update

Back again, and I'm glad, even though it takes a while to settle in again - and catch up with everything! For a few more days the new book and the old books and all the IoPress stuff will have to wait.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Other books on Google?

Someone left a comment, asking whether or not The Braced Experience would also be available on the Google-books-site, like Retainer Girl where the whole text is there.

For now I don't plan to add it (or Love and Braces). I put the first book there to see if it would help get attention and interest readers, but I don't think it has. And with one book there and the others not I can compare in the future whether it makes any difference. So for now readers will just have to risk it and buy the books - although there are a few excerpts on the site which should help them decide (and there's more on the Lulu pages: check out the samples at the pages for TBE, L&B, and RG).

It's too bad no one has reviewed the books at Lulu or Amazon or Barnes & Nobles. Maybe that would help people make up their minds. But I think if you liked one you'll like the others as well. I feel bad that the books are so expensive, but The Braced Experience and Love and Braces are both a lot longer than Retainer Girl so I hope readers get more for their money too.

Each book is a bit different. Love and Braces is definitely more mature, and describes the whole experience of having braces from beginning to end. The Braced Experience gives you lots of different stories about having braces. I think you should try them all of course!

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Weekly update

All of a sudden the essays are really popular, with a lot of people coming to the site to read about Lolita's Braces and The Unfabulous Appearances and Reality of Braces on TV - but it doesn't seem to have helped sell any more books! Is the audience for Retainer Girl and Love and Braces and The Braced Experience so totally different? I was sure readers who were interested in the essays and the way wearing braces is shown on TV and in movies would like the books too. I still think they would, but nobody seems to be trying them out.

So maybe I should just publish a collection of orthodontic essays....

It's nice to be on vacation, but I'm not getting much done on the next book yet. But maybe not that many people want to read it anyway....

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Weekly update + Lolita's Braces

It's good to be back in Michigan again, even if I could do without the excess heat! The girls are glad to be here too, and maybe I'll get more time to work on the next book, though it won't be finished until the fall.

But I did finish something else, and I've added it to the IoPress site: another Dr.Wrighting essay. It's on Lolita's Braces: The orthodontic treatment of Nabokov and his nymphet. Since the first essay has turned out to be really popular recently maybe a lot of people will be interested in this too. And maybe some of them will be tempted to take a look at the books!

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Weekly update

End of term for the girls + Harry Potter + getting everything ready for going home for the summer + work as usual = VERY busy ! At least Harry Potter kept the girls occupied. Headgear girl even wore her headgear practically the whole weekend without complaint, glued to the book. God I hope we are over the hump with that, especially now that we are going to be 1000s of miles away from their orthodontist for over a month. Of course with our luck it'll be the one that's been flying under the radar for the past two months while the headgear drama has been played out that will rebel against her braces!

I have been finding some quiet time somewhere - don't ask me where! - and have been getting some Intraoral Press things done, though the next book still needs a lot of work. But I hope to have one or two surprises in the next weeks.

All of a sudden a lot of people are looking at the 94 Weeks essay. Maybe somebody linked to it, but I'm not sure why it's so popular all of a sudden. But I'm not complaining. And I hope that some of the readers also look at the information about my books and maybe they'll want to read them. If they feel the same way, about how poorly having braces is portrayed on TV then I think they'd especially like Retainer Girl, or find it most helpful. But I hope they'd at least consider looking at all of them.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

July 4 update

I miss not being home on July 4th! All there is is attention on Wimbledon and the rain here, and it just doesn't feel like summer. I want hot weather and BBQs and fireworks! It's even worse when it's right in the middle of the week like this. We always do something on the weekend, but that's still days away.... (The other news makes us all really jittery, especially since we will be flying in a few weeks but we're trying hard not to let that get too close.)

A really slow month with the books, but it's hard to find the time to try to publicize them. And I don't really know how I should do that anyway. I hoped there would be more "word of mouth" by now but I guess that only builds up really slowly.

The next book is going well. I have some concerns about it because of the story but I think I will be able to present it in a way that it works. For now what I care about is that it works for me. I am surprised that there's still so much I want to get off my chest, and that I have found another story which is letting me do that.

It's interesting writing about a girl with braces now that my girls are right in the thick of their orthdontic treament. Watching them go through it has helped a lot, reminding me of a lot of things. There are still these aha-moments all the time when I see one of them act a certain way or do a certain thing and I realize it's because of the braces. And it's weird how sometimes they seem to manage so well (one a lot more than the other, especially now) and then all of a sudden the braces are such a big deal again. I hope that I am able to make it easier for them, but it's such a hard balancing act. These have been hard weeks too, as we decided to start with the headgear. Since we are going to be away in August their orthodontist considered waiting but instead we started her at her last appointment so she can gradually adjust and hopefully be fine with it by the time we leave. It's been tough though. Her sister could handle it better, but she's only getting hers months from now, so for now she's all by herself. Sometimes I wonder if a more Dr.Wrighting-like approach wouldn't be better but their orthodontist isn't quite as strict!

Saturday, June 16, 2007

More about Emma Roberts braces

Nothing new has happened with the books for a while, and the new one is taking time, but Emma Roberts's movie Nancy Drew opened in America so there's more about the 94 Weeks-girl.

We'll probably back in America when Nancy Drew opens here. It sounds like a movie the girls would like, but the braces issue really does bother me. Seeing what they're going through I think it really would be a bit disappointing to them if they knew Roberts had braces but they were the hidden kind. So I guess I won't even mention it, though they might pick it up from some of the magazines they read.

It's twice as frustrating because Roberts seems pretty ok with talking about the braces. Someone sent me this article where they write this:

As if on cue, her mother knocks at the door and a pricelessly teenage moment - free of Hollywood issues - ensues: "Mom, don't let me forget my retainers, okay?" Roberts turns back to her discussion, as real as ever. "Yes, I have retainers. And braces, too. Removable. I'm probably going to have them for another couple of years."


It's sort of great that she talks about them like that, but it reinforces the message that the braces-look is a big no-no on the screen. And I wonder what kind of braces those are....

Saturday, June 09, 2007

Emma Robert's braces episodes

The 94 Weeks essay seems popular with readers, so I'l try and get some more Dr.Wrighting essays up!

A fan e-mailed me to let me know that all the Unfabulous episodes can be watched at the Nick site. It's great! The Rhinoceros in the Middle surprised me a bit because the braces don't seem to bother Emma Roberts very much there - but then it has that stupid ending where she gets the invisible ones.... It's such a shame they didn't let her wear them longer, because she really does handle them like they don't bother her too much, despite the way she looks. Unfortunately The Party - the one where she gets braces - doesn't play right, so one can't see it. I hope they get that fixed soon!

Otherwise not too much happening. Sales of the books in May were o.k., but I wish I could get more people interested. And the new book is coming along well too but it will still take a few months.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Mid-weekly update

Sales are still low, and no reviews from readers yet either, but the new book is coming along pretty well. But it will be a while before that is finished!

Since I have nothing new, I can just point to these videos by Caroline at Youtube: when she gets her braces off (after 2 years and 4 months!) and when she talks about her retainers. Nice!

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Weekly update

It is gratifying to see that there's some interest in the books, as quite a few went flying off the shelves in the past week. A copy of The Braced Experience was even bought at Amazon (all the other copies of it so far have been bought through Lulu) - but no one has bought Love and Braces at Amazon yet (just Lulu - and the German Amazon!). So I really hope word of mouth starts spreading now (and maybe readers will leave reviews at Amazon and Lulu - good ones, I hope).

I still think Retainer Girl is the best "starter" book to see what the Dr.Wrighting books are like, and it probably also has the broadest appeal. But I guess I really think all of them are worth reading. Love and Braces is a much longer story which I guess gives more of an idea of the whole experience of having braces - and I think it's a pretty good love story to. The Braced Experience has more (10!) different stories of what it's like having braces, so maybe readers who are interested in a variety of experiences will find that one the most interesting. But I hope everybody likes them all!

The next book is coming along well too, though I still have some reservations about it. But I think it will work well as a whole. It's going to be long, too - maybe the longest one so far. But I also have all these other stories left over from The Braced Experience, so I think the book after that will collect those. The Braced Experience II, maybe.

Friday, April 27, 2007

The Braced Experience now available !

It went much faster than I expected, and the third Dr.Samantha Wrighting book, the collection of orthodontic stories The Braced Experience, is now listed in Books in Print, so your local bookseller can order it for you - and it's now available at Amazon, and the Amazons in England, Germany and so on. (It wasn't listed at Barnes & Noble yet but it should be soon, if you prefer shopping there.)

So anyone who wants to buy it can now get it pretty easily - and I hope there's lots of interest. The Braced Experience is a bit different from the two novels, Retainer Girl and Love and Braces, because it's all shorter stories, but that means more variety and more different stories about what's it's like having braces (and retainers and headgear).

I hope readers like it! Especially since I have a lot more stories I want to write....

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Weekly update

Even though I usually only check in how everything is going about once a week it's sort of disappointing how hard it is to get readers interested - or to reach them! I guess I understand that everyone is waiting until The Braced Experience is available everywhere and not just at Lulu before getting it, but Love and Braces has been available at Amazon and so on for a while now, and it looks like the only one readers who have bought it are the ones at the German one.

The piece I put up about The Unfabulous Appearances and Reality of Braces on TV also hasn't brought in that many readers. I think it's also because you wouldn't find it on search engines, so it's only the readers who are already fans and know about the site who find it. I think that the Emma Roberts and Emma Watson and Dakota Fanning fans would find it interesting too, to read about them and their braces, and all the other ways braces are shown on TV. But without knowing about it I guess they haven't seen it yet. Too bad, because I think a lot of those girls might be the ones who would also like the Dr.Wrighting books!

Monday, April 09, 2007

New book !

I do worry about getting ahead of myself, but there's a new book out! The Braced Experience,which is a collection of orthodontic stories. So far it is only available at Lulu, and it will probably take over a month until you can get it at Amazon and everywhere else, but eager fans can already get their hands on it! There's information at Lulu, and there are also excerpts from three of the stories at the Intraoral Press site. I'll have more to say about it when it is available at other outlets and everyone can easily buy it, but I hope that that's enough information for those who are considering getting it from Lulu!

I should be spending more time trying to publicize Love and Braces since that hasn't sold that many copies yet, but I'm telling myself that it's also good to build up the number of books that are available.

And I am working on more Dr.Wrighting books, though I'm not sure which will come next. There's The Girl Next Door which is a novel, and I'm also working on another story collection, for all the stories that didn't fit in The Braced Experience. But I think I might finish both before the end of the year.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Something new

I have added something new to the Intraoral Press site: an essay "written" by Dr.Wrighting called 94 Weeks and Single Episodes: The Unfabulous Appearances and Reality of Braces on TV.

I like this idea of putting up pieces "by" Dr.Wrighting, especially the sort of things that don't fit in the books and I think this one is pretty good. I had a lot of help from Ashley, who helped take care of the girls last summer and fortunately knows a lot more about kids-TV than I (or my girls!) do and used the research skills she's learning at college to find so much material.

It was also fun trying to find a voice for Dr.Wrighting. So far in the books it's all the patients describing everything, and you don't really get to know her that well. And since this is supposed to be a serious essay it also has to sound sort of professional and academic. I had some help with that, even though it was hard agreeing to some of the changes. But I think the overall result is good. And I am sure I'll try and write more of these too. (Ashley already gave me one more great idea, and I'd also like to write some about how Dr.Wrighting treats patient - maybe a mission statement or something of that sort.)

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Weekly update

The stories are coming along very well and I think that The Braced Experience will be a fun collection. But with some of them I feel it's a shame not to write "the full story" - the way I did in Love and Braces and Retainer Girl. It's tough letting a lot of these characters go after only ten or twenty pages, and in almost every case there's so much more to say about each of their "braced experiences" and what having braces is like for each of them. But I hope readers like the variety - the different stories and experiences that are described.

I'm also writing something else which I'm having a lot of fun with, but that's going to be a surprise!

I'm still disappointed with the sales of Love and Braces so far, but maybe when there's a third book available too there will be enough available that readers will come across one book and then want to try the others and the books will start reaching more people. And I really hope it catches on among the teen or college readers, because I think that is the target audience who would like these books best.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Reality and fiction

Back from taking the girls to the orthodontist. I'm working on The Braced Experience right now, which is a collection of stories, and it's the first of the Dr.Samantha Wrighting books being written while I'm also seeing first-hand what the whole orthodontic experience is like again. What my girls are going through is different from what I went through - both the technological improvements and the office-visits themselves, and I guess my stories are more "old fashioned" (and exagerrated), but I think that works. So far, it's in the smaller details that what the girls are going through has really influenced what I'm writing. Like I'll catch them looking in the mirror sometimes, and I want to try to capture that look and the way it's different from the way they looked in the mirror a few months ago. Or the small things where the expander or the braces get in the way which I'd forgotten about.

I decided to use one more personal family experience in some of the stories - "the precaution" as we call it - though the daughter in question would be mortified. But I think it fits with the whole Dr.Wrighting experience, and I think it is probably more common than most people think.

I'm amazed how much I still have to write. I think The Braced Experience will have 10 or 11 stories (I want it to be around 200 pages long), but that's only half the stories I have outlines for! And I have another idea for a novel now too.

Right now I'm not thinking too much about finding readers and all that, though I porbably should be. I'm not sure the books will ever really catch on but I have so much to write that at the moment I almost don't care. But I guess I am a bit disappointed and surprised that there hasn't been more interest in Love and Braces yet. I really think there is an audience for it and for Retainer Girl - girls who really would get something out of them and feel better.

I'm really bad trying to do the publicity things, but I did add the press release for Love and Braces at the Intraoral Press MySpace page!

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Love and Braces at Barnes & Noble

Now Love and Braces is also available at Barnes & Noble (just like it is at all the Amazons). So at least everyone who wants to should be able to get it pretty easily - but no one has bought it at any of the online stores yet, I think. Just at Lulu. (I hope some who bought it at Lulu also review it there, so others can see whether or not they like the book!)

I have to start trying to get the word out, I guess, but I'm not very good at that. (Haven't updated the myspace page in months ....)

I am a bit surprised that more people aren't interested yet, but I think it's also because not enough know about it (and Retainer Girl ....)

Sunday, March 04, 2007

Pricing

Lulu now uses the uniform retail price that you pay at Amazon and everywhere else too. So now the books are no longer cheaper if you buy them at Lulu than if you buy them from Amazon or elsewhere. (So the couple of lucky people who bought Love and Braces from Lulu before it became available at Amazon are the only ones who saved a lot of money!). I'm sorry that readers can't get it cheaper, but I hope they think it's worthwhile. (And Love and Braces does have 280 pages, so you are getting a lot for you $21.95.)

The only inconvenience with the pricing change was that the Lulu pages about the books were inaccessible for a few hours. (And I just checked and now the whole site is inaccessible because of "site maintenance" - frustrating!) Even if you don't buy from Lulu you can read longer excerpts from the books, so the site is useful - when it's accessible! (which it usually is...)

Friday, March 02, 2007

About Love and Braces

Now that Love and Braces is available (at Lulu and Amazon and I hope soon everywhere else) I want to write more about why you might want to read it.

Love and Braces is about a woman in her mid-twenties dealing with braces. She makes a good friend who is going through the same thing, but finding love is more difficult. I guess it is a sort of chick-lit novel, describing Sylvia's struggles with her career, friendships, family and personal life - with braces on top of it all! Her time in braces is the main part of the story, but it's the rest that makes it a good read, I think.

I only realized when I had written a lot of it that even though Sylvia is an adult her story is more like that of a teen going through having braces. I didn't think I wrote that much from my own experiences, but being a braced teenager is "what I know", and you always hear that you should write what you know, and apparently I have a difficult time writing anything else. Even though Sylvia is an adult her parents play a big role in her getting braces, which I think makes her different from most adults who get braces. And looking back on it some of her reactions to wearing braces may be more childish than a grownup's would be. But I'm not unhappy with how it worked out. I think having her be an adult also gives a different feel to the book, and might make it more appealing to older teens dealing with similar issues. Showing that she is independent - living on her own, with a job - and still struggles with so many things a thirteen-year-old does makes it a universal story.

I think having it be the story of a grownup might also make it more appealing to adult readers, reminding them of their experiences with braces when they were younger (or now) but also providing more adult subject matter. So when Sylvia worries about a sleep-over her worries are about very different things than Lauren's were in Retainer Girl. Even though one of the things I think is so great is how similar all those concerns turn out to be, regardless of what age they are!

It feels weird trying to tell people You should read this book! I'm not sure who should, or who would like it. What I can tell you is that I had braces when I was in my teens and it made being a teenager even harder than it had to be and I would have loved to have had books like Love and Braces and Retainer Girl to help me get through it. Even afterwards - even now! - I think they're helpful. Writing them has helped me, and maybe there are readers who need books like this too.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Love and Braces at Amazon !

Love and Braces is now available at Amazon!

Barnes & Noble was quicker with Retainer Girl but they don't seem to have L&B up yet, but they should soon. And this probably means that you can get your bookseller to order it, too.

So now you can buy it from any of the Amazons - in the US, England, Germany, even Japan!

So I hope more people go out and check it out!

Monday, February 26, 2007

Love and Braces officially in print

Love and Braces is now listed in Books in Print so it is officially in print! So now all the retailers will finally start listing it - though it might still take a few weeks until they do. (You can already get it at Lulu - and it will always be cheaper there!)

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Weekly update

Love and Braces still isn't listed at Books in Print (the first step to getting listed at all the bookstores and at Amazon and so on), which means it is still only available at Lulu.com. So this is taking longer than I expected, but it can't be helped.

I keep adding to the story collection, but I don't want to publish that too soon after Love and Braces. But I do hope that interest in one of the books spurs interest in the others -- including Retainer Girl!

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Weekly update

Still no Books in Print listing, which means no online bookstore listings, so
Love and Braces is still only available at Lulu.com. It shouldn't take too much longer, but the waiting is hard. And I missed that Valentines Day tie-in marketing opportunity!

I wonder whether Love and Braces will also renew interest in Retainer Girl. I think it might, because Retainer Girl might sound like it's much more limited, but people who read Love and Braces and like it will surely want to read another Dr.Wrighting-novel. And I think it'll be easier to attract readers for Love and Braces because maybe it sounds more like the usual experience patients have with braces. It's also too bad that Retainer Girl is listed as like a kid's book at a lot of the places too, since it really is for older teens (and adults !).

I am confident that once I can tap into that market - of teens and adults who have or had braces - the books will take off, because there really is nothing like them. But it's so hard making readers aware of them!

The story collection I'm working on now is going very well, but for now I just want Love and Braces to be available everywhere so everyone who wants it can easily get it!

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Weekly update

It's exciting that Love and Braces is completely finished and pretty much available - though only at Lulu.com for now (you can buy it here). But until it's really available - at Amazon and B&N and everywhere - I don't want to say too much about it. I want it to be available before I really get into it so that if that makes people interested they can get it easily. But it is great that there are fans who already bought it at Lulu! (And it is cheaper to get it through them!)

The stories for the next collection are going very well and it's already obvious that I'm going to have enough for at least two books, and I think the first one should be ready by summer.

I'm careful what the girls watch on Youtube (never without me watching too!), but I liked these of another girl before and after getting braces. I know they have their friends to talk to too, but it's sort of neat for them to hear from someone else too, and the girl in the videos handles getting them well.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

A big step closer!

Love and Braces is beginning to become available. The final version has been approved, and that means that it is now available at Lulu.com! It still has to be listed in Books in Print and then all the retailers will pick it up (Amazon.com, B&N). I'll let you know when that happens - it'll probably be a few more weeks before it starts showing up.

But there are good reasons to order it from Lulu, especially if you're in the US. First: it's available NOW. And second: it's cheaper than it will be at Amazon ($16.50 at Lulu.com, $21.95 retail) and unless you get free shipping or some other good deal from where you buy online, Lulu is a lot cheaper. I know you have to sign up with them, but they print and ship very quickly, and the mailing rates are reasonable. If you're overseas (all my German readers!) you'll probably want to wait until it's available at Amazon there, but in the US you really should think of buying direct.

I've updated some of the information at the Intraoral Press website, and there's an information page for Love and Braces now, so you can see what you're getting, as well as an excerpt. And there are links to the Lulu page where you can buy it all over the place!

I'm very excited and can't wait to hear what the first readers have to say. I'll have more to say about the book here over the next few weeks - I don't want to say too much too early, because I want everyone to be able to buy it, and I think some people will wait until it is available everywhere, and not just at Lulu.

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Weekly update

I got the first printed version of Love and Braces and it looks fantastic. But I still have to wait for a second printing with ISBN number before it can be released into the world, and even after that it will take a while to get listed at all the online booksellers so it's still going to be a few weeks before it will be available everywhere I think. So I won't say more about it yet....

I'm really happy with the way the new collection of stories is going. One of the difficult things is what to start the collection with, because I want to have a story that introduces everything that's special about Dr.Wrighting, so that readers who haven't read Retainer Girl or Love and Braces will understand. I had one idea, and I'll probably still use that story, but then I came up with something much better, and it works really well.

The working title is: The Braced Experience I'm not sure how many stories I will include. I think I'll make the book about 150 pages, so that it doesn't get too expensive. (I think I already have enough material for two 150-page books....)

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Weekly update

Love and Braces is almost out of my hands. There's an ISBN number, and now it's just a matter of checking the printed copy and then finally saying it is done and ready. It will probably take a few more weeks before it is available at Amazon or Lulu but I hope people can start buying it soon.

I'll post as soon as it is available anywhere, and I'm going to wait until it is before writing too much about it here, because it's not that much use for me to tell you about it if you can't get it for yourself !

Getting it done has also really unblocked me. Editing and proofreading was incredibly tiresome but ever since I finished that I've been writing away at new projects. Love and Braces is really long - about 280 pages! - and that's a long time to spend on one story. I've been thinking about the next Dr.Wrigting book I want to write, anbd there are several which I have planned, but the first thing I had to do was get started on a story collection. Shorter stories of orthodontic experiences. I have about 15 story idea right now and I've already written first drafts of a couple. There might even be enough material for two books. I like the story form because it allows me to focus on specific things about having braces. But don't worry! There are more novels on the way too.

Both girls are now dealing with orthodontic equipment and regular visits to the orthodontist and that has also inspired me - and gives me a lot more material ! I'll have to write about how that affects what I am writing too at some point.

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Weekly update

Almost finished with Love & Braces. Almost. Almost. Reading it over and over to find and fix the mistakes before printing takes so long, because it really requires concentration but since I've read it so often it's often hard to stay concentrated. But I think it turned out well and I should be able to get started with the printing process soon.


Retainer Girl has done o.k. so far but I expected it to do a bit better. I think having a second book out will help.