Peschel Press Newsletter for October 2022

(We send out our newsletter during the middle of the previous month. If you want to get this sooner, consider signing up for the newsletter! Look for the box on the right side of this page. Bill)

Welcome back! If you’re new to our newsletter, we maintain an archive so you can catch up on back issues. I never write the same newsletter twice.

We enjoyed some successful and not so successful events (in terms of books sold), culminating in Kensington Books and the Mechanicsburg Mystery Bookshop’s CozyClub Mini-Con!

But first, where are we going to be next?

Glad you asked. We’ll be at the Winter Arts and Crafts festival on Saturday, 5 November 2022. It takes place inside Hershey High School from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and we’ll be at our usual prime corner spot.

This is a juried show, so you can expect fine local arts, crafts, and some local food vendors. It’s a fun event and you can support local artisans.

As always, we run show specials: buy one of our books and I’ll throw in a cloth market bag (which I make myself) and a satin and lace bookmark (which I also make myself).

Hmm. I can see that sometime in the future I’ll need to discuss swag.

As to my remark about some not so successful events? That would be Carlisle’s Harvest of the Arts. We had a good time, we talked to plenty of people, and I even sold enough books to pay for my space. But despite the presence of Dickinson College kitty corner from our canopy with an event of their own, classic cars, crowds of people, and wonderful artisans, in the end, I have to think very hard was it worth it. The vendor fee was high (for us). It’s a long drive to Carlisle and back, sandwiching a very long day. A last-minute rush of business was the only reason we paid for our space.

I have to think hard about applying next year. This is part of the business too, deciding if you’ll do an event a second time when the first time was decent, but not spectacular and you don’t have other compelling reasons to say yes, like visiting relatives.

This is another reason why record-keeping is so important. Your records will tell you how many books you sold at a given show and how much the venue cost you. Was the marketing worth the cost and your time? If it’s not, chalk up the show to experience and move forward.

Books, Books, Books and Chocolate Town Book Festival both worked well for us and let us meet plenty of local readers and writers.

We had a great time at Kensington Books CozyClub Mini-con. Bill enjoyed emceeing (like always) and we met many new authors and plenty of readers. I promised more information about color last month so I’ll start with our show uniforms.

Bill wore his long-sleeved royal blue shirt, the one he wears for interviewing authors for podcasts for Mechanicsburg Mystery Bookshop. It’s got a very discreet version of our logo sewn to the pocket. I repurposed one of our cloth labels that I sew into bookmarks and bags. It provides a tiny pop of color without being in your face.

As for me, able assistant, I got lucky at the thrift shop and found a sweater that was various shades of blue from robin’s egg to royal and — very important! — the yarn was the kind that has sequins threaded on it. That is, the sweater was loaded with tiny bits of royal blue sparkle. Every time I moved, I glittered just a little. Enough to be noticed but not enough to look like I was looking for the disco.

This sweater was a great choice for this event. I was noticeable, I was wearing our colors, I stood out without looking like a circus clown nor was I plastered with our logos (important since this wasn’t a Peschel Press event), and I did not look like I was cleaning out the garage.

I mentioned in the September newsletter that we fell into robin’s egg blue and sky blue and related shades. Those aren’t colors that you’d normally associate with any genre other than possibly kid’s picture books about sunny days. It works for us but we publish a wide range of books and we’ve also made it work for us. It provides a unifying color for our table when we’re out in person, as well as all our social media.

But if I was just starting out, I don’t know that I’d choose robin’s egg blue.

If you’re just beginning your writing career, you have the luxury of choice. But not too much choice! Your chosen genre strongly influences what colors will work for your branding, your social media, your tablecloths, and your uniform for events.

Do you write cozy mysteries? Kensington’s CozyClub mini-con had eleven authors in attendance plus Bill. Some of the authors were more distinctively dressed than others. Darcie Wilde looked dashing in her hat, Julia Henry was sophisticated in a tailored pink suit, and Misty Simon/Gabby Allan was striking in a black dress covered with electric blue and ultraviolet flowers, bats, and skulls. Misty made her silhouette more distinctive because her event dresses are always worn over a crinoline.

Misty never appears in public looking like she’s cleaning out her garage. She’s got about one hundred of those dresses; she’s always got something appropriate for whatever signing or book event she attends.

Thinking over the authors at CozyClub plus the covers of their mysteries, I can’t think of a single unifying color. I can say that cozy mysteries do not look dour, grim, or dismal. They’re cheerful despite the bodies. Cats abound, with dogs a distant second.

So if you’re a cozy writer looking for a brand color, you’ve got a lot of leeway in choice. You should avoid dark and grim; let horror writers have the blacks and grays. After that, bright colors or pastels should work. Pick one you that you’ll like seeing everywhere and that ties in with your chosen setting. Sea side saloon? Beachy colors. Bookshop? Darker hues like you’d see in a classic library. Cupcake baker? White with plenty of primary colors. You get the picture.

Do you write romance? Your subgenre will help determine your color choices. Contemporary comic romance means bright, poppy colors. The sweeter the romance, the more pink you’ll see. The spicier the romance, the more red. If you’re writing werewolf bondage porn, I’d expect to see plenty of black along with the red. Your subgenre also helps you decide what you’re going to wear to events. A werewolf bondage porn writer will get away with black leather and high-heeled pumps with spikes. A sweet contemporary writer shouldn’t dress like that. Look at what successful authors in your subgenre use and see if those colors would work for you.

Gritty mysteries and thrillers almost always have a darker palette. Every color is grayed; there are no primaries. Horror gets plenty of black enlivened with skull white and blood red. Pastels just won’t work for a police procedural.

Science fiction tends to be more metallic. Think space ships and ray guns. I’d expect to see deeper blues, especially ones patterned with stars. Your subgenre will help you zero in on your brand colors. Military sci-fi is going to be very metallic with all those guns. Look at covers in your subgenre and see if there are any consistent colors. That color or one two or three shades lighter or darker is the one you want.

Fantasy? Again, subgenre determines your palette. High fantasies tend to be set in wildernesses, far from a gritty, gray city so expect greens and gold for treasure. Urban fantasy will be grayer, more browns and tans and bricks.

Westerns will have those big blue skies that go on forever along with darker blue faraway mountains and plenty of browns and rusts.

Literary genre? Can’t help you there, I’m afraid other than to suggest what’s currently seen in high-end decorating magazines. You know, about a million variations on beige, neutral, sand, oyster, griege, with accents of puce.

Use what you see in your genre to pick a brand color. Settle on the shade that you like and then use it for your website backgrounds, background colors for bookmarks, and in your booth design and event uniform.

In the end, if you hate a popular but genre-appropriate color, pick something you do like but try to make it something that a reader would expect.

Remember, nobody expects fluffy, pink werewolves.

Next month, I’ll talk about your event uniform. How you dress can inspire or repel potential readers.

See you then and thanks again for joining us. We wouldn’t be where we are without you.