(Published Monday, February 5, 2007 11:54:32 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Stacy Vogel Gazette staff
EDGERTON-If you think writing a book is hard, try publishing one.
Just ask Tamara Lyon, an Edgerton woman who published her first novel in the fall.
"In order to get published, you need an agent," she said. "In order to get an agent, you need to be published."
Lyon took what she calls a "back-door" approach by publishing her book, "Falling to Him," through a small Madison-based company, and now she uses her creative talents to find ways to sell copies.
Large book chains such as Borders and Barnes & Noble don't often sell books from unknown authors, Lyon said. She has submitted her book to their small press divisions in the hopes they will review it, but that process takes months, she said.
Tamara Lyon
Meanwhile, her book is available at Edgerton Drugs, Books & Brew in Milton and her Web site. Book World in Janesville will soon offer it as well.
Lyon's novel is even more challenging to sell because it doesn't fit neatly into one genre, she said. It's about Christian characters and promotes Christian values, but the characters do some "not-so-Christian things," she said.
"Some people are put off by the fact that it's a Christian novel, but it's a romance, coming-of-age story," she said. "Christianity is just the backdrop."
Lyon published the book through Goblin Press in late October. Her grandmother paid the publishing costs, about $15,000, and Lyon ordered 3,000 copies.
About 2,500 of them are sitting in her garage.
She does everything she can to promote the book while at the same time caring for her 6-year-old son and running a cleaning service to help pay for her husband to go to medical school.
She called local colleges offering internships to marketing students in exchange for a portion of the profits. She has hired two so far, one from Madison Area Technical College and one from Carthage College in Kenosha, but she has been disappointed with the results. They haven't done much yet besides organizing a book signing at Carthage, she said.
"I'm disappointed with the drive of the students because this could be a cool project for them," she said.
Mostly, Lyon relies on her own resources. She offers to speak to women's organizations, libraries, book clubs or just about any group that wants to hear her, and has sold a lot of books that way, she said. She always donates 20 percent of book sales at speaking engagements back to the host organization.
Terri Dellamaria met Lyon through a mutual friend and arranged for her to speak at the Lakes Area Women's Society in Elkhorn.
"People were interested in supporting someone locally who was interested in doing everything she could to kind of reach her dream of being a novelist," Dellamaria said.
The audience enjoyed hearing about how Lyon wrote the book and was excited to meet an author who might one day be famous, she added.
Lyon has sold more than 500 books through her methods and recouped about one third of the publishing costs so far. She hopes to sell the rest of the copies by the end of the year and plans to hire more interns from across the country to spread the market for the book.
But Lyon has a larger goal, too. She is already working on her next novel and hopes to someday be able to support herself through writing.
Despite the hardships of marketing a book, Lyon has no doubts about her career goals.
"I'm blessed in the fact that I know what I want to do with my life," she said.
If you go
Edgerton author Tamara Lyon will be signing copies of her novel, "Falling to Him," at Books & Brew in Milton this weekend. Here are the details:
