Guest Post: Rhiannon Paille

"I've met some writers, but none of them take it as seriously as you do."

That's what Myles had to say about me at comic con. He was a teenage boy who stopped by my table and bought a book so he could get a free hug from my cover model.

My table design wasn't elaborate, bookmarks, posters, books, a couple of decorative pieces, a whiteboard with prices, a table cloth and a fancy shawl. I don't know how all of that translated into me taking my writing seriously, but it did.

When I began my journey into publication I had one thing on my mind, make a good show. I've learned that book sales are one thing, book quality is another thing and how you make it look is the important thing. I found that for me, some of the most important things were the little things, not the money made off the book. It's the opportunity to appear on other blogs, the opportunity to have a killer book cover, to have bookmarks, posters, appear at events, talk with fans, geek out with people, celebrate with people, have a killer book trailer, etc. etc.

I have a small fan club for the book growing locally, and we're soon going to put something online because honestly? When we all get together, the energy in the group is just so amazing and every single one of them is behind me 100%. At the end of the day, all I wanted to do was go out there and make it look good. Just because I didn't have a big publisher behind me didn't mean I couldn't have pretty bookmarks and an awesome book trailer. It also didn't mean I couldn't have die hard fans of my work.

When I was a head coordinator for comic con, one of our mottos was that we were going to go big or go home. There was never any point in doing something if we weren't going to dedicate ourselves to it 100%.

If I wanted to depress myself with the truth I could. I'm ranked in the 350,000's on Amazon right now, but this past weekend someone stopped at my table and said, "Oh this was the book I wanted to pick up." The girl, Jamie, already knew I was going to be there.

I also had someone say they had my other book. My reaction was, "Really!? Wow!" (because nobody bought that book, seriously, he must be like the one guy in Winnipeg that did.)

Myles came back the next day to tell me he read the first few chapters of my book and they were so good he told his parents about me. They own a local used bookstore in Winnipeg that wants to put up a display of my book around Christmas. They also invited me down for a signing and maybe a reading.

So you see? Being serious isn't a bad thing, in fact, I think it's a very good thing.

Namaste,
Rhi

Website: www.rhiannonpaille.com
Blog: http://rhiannonpaille.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/psychicrhiannon
Twitter: @RhiannonPaille

About Flame Of Surrender:

The boy who follows death meets the girl who could destroy the world.

Krishani thinks he’s doomed until he meets Kaliel, the one girl on the island of Avristar who isn’t afraid of him. She’s unlike the other girls, she swims with merfolk, talks to trees and blooms flowers with her touch. What he doesn’t know is that she’s a flame, one of nine individually hand crafted weapons, hidden in the body of a seemingly harmless girl.

Nobody has fallen in love with a flame until now. She becomes Krishani’s refuge from the dreams of death and the weather abilities he can’t control. Striking down thousand year old trees with lightning isn’t something he tries to do, it just happens. When the Ferryman dies, Krishani knows that he’s the next and that a lifetime of following death is his destiny.

And Kaliel can’t come with him. The Valtanyana are hunting the flames, the safest place for her is Avristar. Krishani can’t bear to leave her, and one innocent mistake grants the Valtanyana access to their mystical island. They’re coming for Kaliel, and they won’t stop until every last living creature on Avristar is dead. She has to choose, hide, face them, or awaken the flame and potentially destroy herself.

Source: Info in the About Flame Of Surrender was taken from http://rhiannonpaille.blogspot.com/p/books-in-progress.html.