Tag: success

What was that old song from the ’50’s?

Judy Garland, mutual admiration, writing, blogging, web site consultant             Remember that song from the ’50’s?  It was in the Broadway musical, Happy Hunting.  “We Belong to a Mut-u-al Ad-mir-a-tion Society”. Best known rendition by Judy Garland.  That’s how I feel about Adato Systems and more specifically, Leon Adato.

Last year I took a long hard look at my web site and realized that it was static, lifeless and way behind the times.  Absolutely NO one visited it!  And I had loved it for so long! So began my journey looking for a web consultant that could bring me into real time with shopping cart, shipping, animation, and far better communication with my readers!

I began by asking an old friend in the computer software industry for a referral….and found Leon.  What a treasure! He’s clever, funny and patient!  As an added bonus he has a degree in theatre from NYU, so he really gets me.  Now that my site is completely finished,  I am able to come on-line and ‘play in my cyber sand box‘!  And BLOG!  Which I have grown  passionate about.

The new software is friendly and easy to learn. Did I mention what a good teacher Leon is?   I think it really shows off my books and scripts with beautiful illustrations (a nod to my wonderful team of illustrators) and is easy to navigate.  I hope my readers and theatre family enjoy it as much as I do!

And now I am a success story on Leon’s site. “………she showcases the work of others. Leveraging her own experience and insight, Trisha is creating reviews of and interviews with other authors, which creates a wonderful sense of community……..”
Click here to read it.mutual admiration, web site consultant, blogging, writing
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Start your month off right!! DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS.  A NEW SERIES, “The Writer’s Corner” INTERVIEWS with other  best-selling AUTHORS!

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and plan on featuring an interview once a month .  I have invited such luminaries as:  Anne Purser, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Tasha Alexander, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, Lisa Scottoline and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers’ special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!
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Do you ask yourself, “when will my writing be discovered?”

success,fairy tales, stage plays,confidence,believe     Okay, so now you have a publisher…your books will fly off the shelves or through cyberspace, right?  Au contra, it’s still going to take some time. Or at least, that’s certainly been my experience….

Samuel French (biggest publisher for stage plays)  picked me up in 2004 and has since published four of my stage plays.  I am so grateful to be in the same publishing house as  Louisa May Alcott, David Mamet, Anton Chekhov, and Tennessee Williams. And the staff is so nurturing to their authors.  But, here’s the reality: No sales the first year, a few the second year, more the third year and so on…….but, sadly, no BIG immediate discovery of this playwright!  Not like in the movies!!

So I kept writing and editing and submitting……and writing more!

I am happy to share with my readers the news that I received a nice fat check from French with reports that reflected my biggest sales period EVER, the first quarter, this year!  Over the last six months they have sold seventy scripts of mine.  Most orders were in multiple quantities which means a theatre company was buying enough books for cast and crew.  And that means that somewhere, out in the world, theatre companies are producing my work!  You might be saying to yourself, ‘that’s not so many’  but think about it.  That’s 11.6 scripts per month. And like I said, most of them were NOT perusal copies (of one) but the number that they would need to produce a show! One production in Bangor, Maine and the other in Phoenix, AZ.

This summer has been a benchmark for me.  We have created a vibrant, new, interactive web site and as of this writing August will exceed any other month on the other sales channels that I use besides my on-line store. My books are finally flying off the shelves of amazon.com (USA and Europe) after eight long years!!

So my message to you is: Keep writing, fellow writers.  When you get rejection after rejection  (as I did) let that be the spur to write more! Use private publishing. ‘Self publishing’ is not a dirty word anymore. ‘Vanity’ books are a thing of the past…or almost.  Most of us, as writers, have something important to say and vanity is far, far away from our thoughts.  With the advent of ‘print on demand’ self publishing is not the huge investment it used to be.  I self publish for less than $100. plus the wholesale cost of the finished book.  Sure your publisher takes a cut……but!  You’re published!!

Writing is a lonely business but keep at it.  I’ll believe in you if you’ll believe in me!