PUYB Author Talks: ⭐A Bookish Conversation with 'THE KEY TO CIRCUS-MOM HIGHWAY' Allyson Rice⭐ @circusmomhwy #TheKeytoCircusMomHighway #interview

 

Allyson Rice is a writer, an award-winning mixed media artist, and a producer with Atomic Focus Entertainment, currently splitting her time between Los Angeles, CA, and Rehoboth Beach, DE. She’s a graduate of Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Science in Communication. After spending many years as an actress on stage and on television, she left acting and spent the next decade running yoga/meditation retreats, women’s retreats, and creativity retreats around the country. After that, she pivoted to focus once again on her own creative work. In addition to her writing and art, she’s also a photographer (her work was most recently chosen for an exhibition at the Soho Photo Gallery in NYC).


Some random bits of Allyson trivia: 1) She’s been skydiving, paragliding, bungee jumping, ziplining through a rainforest, and scuba diving with stingrays; 2) she has an extensive PEZ dispenser collection; 3) she played Connor Walsh on As the World Turns for seven years; 4) she’s been in the Oval Office at the White House after hours; 5) she’s related to the Hatfields of the infamous Hatfield/McCoy feud; and 6) her comedic rap music video “Fine, I’ll Write My Own Damn Song” won numerous awards in the film festival circuit and can now be seen on YouTube https://youtu.be/7Xe3nuVDkC4.


Also available from Allyson Rice is her line of women’s coloring books (The Color of Joy, Dancing with Life, and Wonderland), and The Creative Prosperity PlayDeck, an inspirational card deck about unlocking and utilizing your creative energy in the world. She’s currently at work on her second novel and her fourth women’s coloring book. But she is most proud of being mom to musical artist @_zanetaylor.

Website: www.allysonrice.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CircusMomHwy

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AllysonRiceAuthor/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allysonriceauthor/

https://www.instagram.com/allysonriceart/

https://www.instagram.com/officialallysonrice/

My e-commerce site:

https://www.allyson-wonderland.com

 

Before you started writing your book, what kind of research did you do to prepare yourself? 

 

I didn’t do a lot of research before writing The Key to Circus-Mom Highway, except to see if there were many books written about family road trips. I did a huge amount of research during the writing of it. I went into it with not much more than a skeletal idea of what the plot was. I built it piece by piece by answering each next question that arose. 

Many of the answers to questions I asked opened up a direction that required research. I had to research distances and driving times and routes, Cajun words and phrases, southern foods, types of guns, details about alligators, types of herbs used by traitures in their healing work, whether there were any songs written about Jackie Onassis, how a military convoy is structured, pop culture references, types of Union memorabilia from the Civil War, the types of nocturnal birds and insects you would hear in October on a Louisiana bayou, early American flags and what they’d now cost, details about a haunted places tour in Savannah, and so many more things… Then I had to do a great amount of research tracking down the rights holders to various quotes and song lyrics to get permissions.

Once I finished the first draft using all of my virtual research, then I went on the road trip that the three siblings had to go on in the book, so I could take reference photos and collect notes about sensory details in all the locations to really bring them to life.

Did you pursue publishers or did you opt to self-pub? 

 

I would’ve loved to have pursued traditional publishers. But publishers only accept manuscript submissions from literary agents, and I had zero luck getting a lit agent to read the manuscript, even after sending over 100 query letters out. I really didn’t want to go the indie author route, because all of the book marketing and promotion is up to you. You have no traditional publishing “machine” behind you to help with sales, and to help line up reviews and interviews, and get your book placed in bookstores. But at a certain point, my desire to get my book out into the world became greater than my dread about marketing. And that’s the day I decided to do it myself, and learn whatever I needed to learn.

If published by a publisher, are you happy with the price they chose? 

 

Though I wasn’t published by a traditional publisher, I did get advice from someone in publishing about the pricing of the book. The woman I hired to do the professional proofreading was a fantastic editor. When I found out she also had seventeen years of marketing experience in the publishing world, I hired her and her business partner to help me with that. I had originally set the book price lower to be competitive, but she broke down how much I’d actually make from book sales at the lower price after all the costs were subtracted, and it was too little. So she convinced me to raise it by a few dollars, saying, “This is your work. You need to be able to make money from it.”

Did you purposefully choose a distinct month to release your book?  Why? 

 

I did! Originally, I thought I would release it in late August of 2022 before I moved out of L.A. But when I started working with Jessica and SarahBelle on marketing/promotion, one of the first things Jessica advised me to do was to focus on lining up editorial reviews, because “reviews sell more books than ads do.” And that a great sentence, or phrase, or even one word, from someplace like Kirkus Reviews or BookLife/Publisher’s Weekly can be added to your book jacket. 

Well, it was already July by this point, and she said that many places have a 3-4 month lead time for review submissions. A few places have a 6-month lead time. That’s when I moved the release date back. They suggested that even though I’d miss a possible sales bump over the holidays, to consider releasing it in January. They said that the big traditional publishing houses would be releasing a lot of their major books in the final pre-holiday months of the year, so there would be fewer major releases in January that I’d be up against in terms of competing for possible coverage in newspapers and magazines. That sounded like a good plan to me. 

And I ended up selling my condo and having to pack everything up and drive it all across the country in Sept and Oct, so I was VERY relieved not to be dealing with an earlier book release and promotion during all of that! And very relieved that Jessica and SarahBelle kept all of the outreach moving forward while I was overwhelmed with the move.

How did you choose your cover?

 

I designed the cover concept and gathered the images I wanted to use. Then I sat with a friend who’s a graphic designer and he assembled the pieces for me more quickly than I would’ve been able to do. I wanted a brightly colored cover that was reminiscent of a travel postcard, but with elements that were slightly “off.” Like the cluster of road signs that are all warning signs, and an alligator in the road. There are clues in the cover design about elements within the story.

Did you write your book, then revise or revise as you went along? 

 

I totally revise as I go. I have loose plot points, but I feel like the actual book unfolds in front of me as I answer the basic questions that arise, and see how the characters react to events that happen, and as I ask myself, “What would make things more interesting right now?” and “What would catch the characters off-guard?” Because that’s what happens in life. We never really know what’s coming down the pike. As I add a new wrinkle, it often sends me back to earlier in the story so that I can set it up better, or tie it into another character’s backstory. I love how I’m constantly surprised as the story progresses. That’s part of the fun.

Did you come up with special swag for your book and how are you using it to help get the word out about your book? 

 

Special swag for my book?? Um… This is the first I’ve heard of “special book swag”! So, I guess that would be a no. (Note to self: Create special book swag for my next novel.) 

I’ve been creating several documents as I’ve gone through this whole writing and publishing process. I make notes about what I need to do and in what order and timeframe. Invariably, I learn about something else that I should’ve done but didn’t know about and missed my chance this time around. So I add it to the list for the next time. I’m at work on my next novel right now. Or, rather, I’ll be back to work on it after the bulk of post-release promotion eases up a bit.

Did you consider making or hiring someone to make a book trailer for your book?  If so, what’s the link? 

 

Book Trailers were not on my radar either, but I signed up for a Virtual Book Tour with Pump Up Your Book, and part of the Silver package included a book trailer. Honestly, aside from all of the actual stops on the tour, there were also so many book graphics created for social media, along with the book trailer, as part of this PUYB Tour, it created incredible value for the cost. Here’s the trailer: https://youtu.be/L4y3lFNDevM

What’s your opinion on giving your book away to sell other copies of your book? 

 

I think it’s necessary at times. If you’re contacting bookstores to try and line up book signings, and they want a perusal copy before they commit to hosting you and ordering copies of your book for the event, absolutely. But be selective in terms of the stores. If you have to send a physical copy to a Bookstagrammer or a BookTok influencer, but they have a huge number of followers that will hear about your book, that’s a no-brainer. Just be careful about giving away too many copies where there won’t be a potential return on your investment, like all of your neighbors, or your third-cousin in Sheboygan (unless he’s a book blogger!) Most authors aren’t getting rich off of their books, so you need to weigh all factors.

What are three of the most important things you believe an author should do before their book is released?

 

Like I mentioned earlier, line up editorial reviews! You can submit to places like Kirkus Reviews, and Publisher’s Weekly, and Foreword Reviews for free, but the chances of getting chosen for their limited spots (especially as an indie author) are slim. But all 3 of them have paid options. You’re not paying for a guaranteed good review–you could pay hundreds of dollars and still get a bad review–you’re paying for the guarantee of being reviewed. Personally, I think it’s worth the gamble. 

Create a dedicated author website. When someone first told me to do this, I was like, “Why can’t I just add my author info and book to my already existing https://allyson-wonderland eCommerce website?? Answer: Because if you want to be taken seriously as an author, you have to present yourself as a serious, dedicated author. You don’t want your book thrown into the pot with your artwork, and women’s coloring books, and handmade jewelry, etc. So now, in my bio on my dedicated author website, http://allysonrice.com,  I include a link to my other website if someone is interested in checking it out. But the focus of the author website is only author-y stuff. 

Because this is an area I’m still currently challenged in… I’d say start making a very concerted effort to expand your social media following on all the major platforms early on, while you’re still writing the book. Don’t be scrambling during the final busy weeks before and after your book launch, trying to catch up. This way you can take advantage of having a bigger following in place when you need it. Trust me on this. 

 

What are three of the most important things you believe an author should do after their book is released? 

 

I’m still discovering the answer to this because, as of this moment, my book just launched a few days ago. 

So far, the main thing I can advise is to double down on book promotion. If I’m being totally honest, I don’t enjoy spending lots of time on social media. I find it incredibly draining in terms of energy and time. Some people thrive on it. I’m not one of them However… when I start desperately wanting to get off the computer or wanting to throw my phone across the room, I remind myself how many years I spent writing and revising my, and how that kind of work and accomplishment deserves to have the best shot possible in terms of being discovered by readers. That keeps me going.

I would highly recommend signing up for a Virtual Book Tours. I learned about VBTs when I was trying to figure out how to get exposure for my book when I’m a debut author, so no existing fan base as a writer. Between the tour company itself, and all of the various bloggers they line up, it’s a way to increase your book’s social media exposure exponentially (and get you some more followers!) Just make sure you choose a company with an established track record and a large social media following of its own because it will attract better blogs.

A word of advice though. If you plan on doing multiple Virtual Book Tours, I wouldn’t suggest overlapping them. I hadn’t realized how much work/writing would be involved. Know that you will be answering a great deal of interview questions that need to be uniquely worded from blog to blog (no copying and pasting), and they shouldn’t be too brief. And you will be writing many guest blog posts, each btween 250-700 words. I have three tours going on simultaneously right now, and between those tours–which also include retweeting, reposting, and interacting with readers who’ve commented on your tour stop throughout the day–in addition to the actual writing, it’s nonstop from the minute I open my eyes in the morning until I fall asleep at night. 

Don’t get me wrong, this is a great problem to have! I’m extremely grateful for the tours, the organizers, the blog hosts, and the tour stop visitors I get to interact with.  I would just suggest that there’s a better way to organize it than the way I did it, and that would be focusing on only one tour at a time.

What kind of pre-promotion did you do before the book came out? 

 

I signed up for 6 months on NetGalley and did a paid promotion to have my book listed at the top of the page during Women’s Fiction Week. That’s when I got the most downloads.

Outreach emails were sent out by SarahBelle to people at magazines, newspapers, radio shows, libraries, local bookstores, blogs, podcasts, etc. They mentioned my background as an actress as well as my upcoming book. They included great review excerpts as they came in, and included a link to the digital media kit with the one sheet they created for me, an author photo, the book cover, and a pdf copy of the book. Having them do that outreach on my behalf felt to me like it added credibility – definitely better than me trying to contact media people to promote myself. I suggested focusing on the local outlets in Delaware where I was moving, and the West Virginia media since I was born there. With the debut novel combined with the old job on As the World Turns, it was definitely a “hometown girl makes good” kind of an angle. It worked. Some lovely feature articles have been written, and I’ve done interviews on podcasts and radio.

Meanwhile, I created dedicated Author accounts on social media, and I created Author pages on all the bookseller sites, and enabled pre-orders. (*I tried to figure out how to engage with readers on Goodreads, but I swear I cannot figure out that platform as a new author. Authors and readers seem to be very separated on that website. I even did a Giveaway of 50 ebooks on Goodreads, but you can’t even see who’s added your book to their “want to read” shelf in order to enter your Giveaway. If anyone has any advice about navigating Goodreads as an author, please share that info with me! I’m in the dark.)  

I also posted reviews on Facebook and Instagram as editorial reviews came in. And I posted short book excerpts on both platforms, mostly focusing on the funny supporting characters, and boosted them on a very small budget. There’s a funny backstory created for most of the supporting characters, and I would share some of those in order to introduce the comedic tone of the book and hopefully make people curious. And by “people” I mean all two of my followers. (So what if one of them is my mom?!? She’s my biggest fan!)

And, no, I wasn't posting on Twitter yet. I really procrastinated with Twitter because I’ve never been drawn to use that platform. I don’t really get how it’s effective for book sales. And I don’t really get how it works in general. I know it’s supposed to be very effective for authors, but I find the whole process on Twitter confusing and annoying. Hrumpf!

Do you have a long term plan with your book? 

 

Honestly, I haven’t been focused on the long-term plan yet. There haven’t been enough hours in the day to focus on all of it (largely due to the cross-country move in the middle of the process–I’m still not completely unpacked). I don’t have the money to keep doing paid promotional work. I have to finish paying off what I’ve already charged on credit cards. So once I can sit back and breathe for a moment, I’ll figure out how to get creative with the long-term book plan. 

(Watch my long-term plan end up being exclusively on Twitter because once I finally dive in I end up absolutely loving it. Wouldn’t that be ironic?! Hahaha)

What would you like to say to your readers and fans about your book?

 

First, if you’ve read this interview all the way to the end, thank you! I do consider it a great privilege to interact with current and future readers and fans. There are millions of good books out there to choose from, I know. So the fact that my book might be one that you choose to read at some point is very gratifying. If you read it, I hope you enjoy it! I hope it makes you laugh consistently throughout (and maybe tear-up at a couple of the more poignant moments). It was written with the intent of being a fast, fun read that ends on a hopeful note. The kind of book that I, myself, love to read!

I also want to mention to BOOK CLUB MEMBERS that if your Book Club happens to choose The Key to Circus-Mom Highway as one of your selections, I would be happy to make a Zoom appearance for an Author Q&A. I also created a “Suggested Topics” sheet I can send to you if you’re interested, and you can decide if you want to use them or not.

Also, anyone who goes to http://allysonrice.com and signs up for my periodic newsletter is entered into a chance to win a free copy of the book with every newsletter, as well as the possibility of having one of the funny supporting characters in my next novel named after you. Plus, random subscriber-only discounts for the other products I’ve created. Who doesn’t like discounted or free stuff, am I right??

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Inside the Book

Title: The Key to Circus-Mom Highway
Author: Allyson Rice
Publisher: The Total Human Press
Pages: 270
Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Women’s Fiction

In an attempt to secure an unexpected inheritance—and hopefully find a few answers—two estranged sisters and their newly discovered brother embark on a comically surreal trip through the Deep South to retrace the life of the mother who abandoned them as infants.

On a Tuesday afternoon, sisters Jesse Chasen and Jennifer McMahon receive a phone call notifying them that their birth mother has died, leaving behind a significant inheritance. But in order to obtain it, they must follow a detailed road trip she designed for them to get to know her—and that includes finding a brother they never knew existed.

For the next week, this ill-assorted trio treks across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia to meet their mother’s old friends, from circus performers to a juke joint owner, each of whom delivers a shocking vignette into the life of a young mother traumatized by loss and abuse. Along the way, these three siblings—Jesse, whose fiery exterior disguises a wounded, drifting musician stuck in a rut; Jennifer, whose carefully curated family life is threatened by her husband’s infidelity; and Jack, whose enigmatic Jackie, Oh! persona in the New Orleans drag queen scene helps him escape the nightmares of Afghanistan that haunt him at night—must confront their own demons (and at least one alligator). But in chasing the truth about their real mother, they may all just find their second chance.

This uproarious debut novel is a reminder that sometimes, the family you’d never have chosen may turn out to be exactly what you need.

“This breezy, charming tale incisively shows a family’s bittersweet facets.” –Kirkus Reviews

A “feverish, entertaining novel” –Foreward Clarion Reviews

“In this rollicking family dramedy, debut author Rice sends three lovable siblings on a zany yet touching road trip… Rice’s sharp observations of society’s absurdity verge on the satirical… Fans of family drama, road trips, and non-stop laughs will love this cross-country adventure.” –BookLife

Release Date: Paperback: November 27, 2022; Kindle: January 3, 2023

Publisher: The Total Human Press

Soft Cover: 978-0982185544; 270 pages

Amazon:https://amzn.to/3XHsOiU 

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-key-to-circus-mom-highway-allyson-rice/1142037363?ean=9780982185544

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-key-to-circus-mom-highway 

Target: https://www.target.com/p/the-key-to-circus-mom-highway-by-allyson-rice-paperback/-/A-87939489

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62003645-the-key-to-circus-mom-highway