Sandra's Book Club: Blog Tour: THE KEY TO CIRCUS-MOM HIGHWAY by Allyson Rice

The Key to Circus-Mom Highway

by Allyson Rice

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GENRE: Contemporary fiction (family dramedy)

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BLURB:

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.

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Excerpt One:

Westley re-entered with five boxes of food that said Zunzi’s on the side. “Best sandwiches in Savannah! We’re going on a traveling picnic. There’s a young couple, just got married, staying here tonight too, so they’re going to join us. I hope you don’t mind.”

Duke and Ivy Parker had met at the Monster Truck Destruction Tour in Lubbock, Texas a mere two weeks ago. Christian Rock radio station KZOL was having their annual Monster Truck ticket giveaway to the first two callers who could answer these two questions correctly:

1) What former WrestleMania star has driven a Monster Truck in a movie and has also founded a church? (answer: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson); and,

2) According to Wikipedia, what Christian Grindcore band has said that their band name was inspired by Revelations 3:15-16? (answer: Vomitorial Corpulence)

Complete strangers, Duke and Ivy had been the first two correct callers, at number fourteen and number thirty-one, respectively. When they both showed up at the Monster Truck event wearing the same vintage edition Bigfoot Monster Truck t-shirt, they were convinced that it was The Lord that had guided them to each other in Section 104 Row 25 Seats 16 and 17. They knew it was literally “a match made in Heaven,” and so they eloped.

Right on cue, Ivy and Duke, an excruciatingly gung-ho couple in their early twenties dressed in color-coordinated NASCAR gear, entered, holding hands.

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What I’ve Learned from Being a Published Author:

Book Marketing is the Monster Under the Bed

I initially thought completing my novel was the Herculean aspect of being an author. Not to downplay the accomplishment of actually finishing a book–I’m extremely proud of the fact that I got from the seed of an idea to a finished product–but… one of the biggest things I’ve learned so far as a debut author is that writing and publishing a novel is not unlike a massive iceberg. The writing of the book is the tip of the iceberg, the visible part. But the other part, the ginormous part below the surface, is the aspect of marketing and promotion. It’s gargantuan.

Honestly, the complete mystery (to me) of book marketing and promotion was the primary reason I didn’t want to be an indie author. But, eventually, my desire to have the book out there in the world was greater than my aversion to learning about marketing. Though I was suddenly regretful about the shortsightedness of not expanding my social media presence before now. (Kind of like when I didn’t take typing class in high school. As a burgeoning actress, I had this flawed idea of not wanting the “fallback option” of secretarial work. Fast forward a decade or so to me hunting and pecking with two fingers on each hand on my new personal computer keyboard… Who saw that coming?!)

If you’re an indie author, you’re familiar with the overwhelming number of books for sale about marketing, YouTube videos, and people trying to sell you their online video classes. It could take another year to weed through it all. I didn’t know what to spend my money on.

Meanwhile, I found a professional editor for the final proofreading on Reedsy with years of experience in the industry as a publisher/editor/book marketer. She was excellent, so I asked about her marketing services. There were three tiers in terms of cost. Though I had zero money set aside for this, I went with the third tier anyway, because it included having her and her business partner do all of the promotional outreach, and having someone reaching out on your behalf is almost always preferable. So I went into debt on my credit card, did the initial several-hour information-dump Zoom call and took detailed notes, I received the contact lists of specific people at newspapers, magazines, blogs, etc, and I opted to be blind-copied on their hundreds of outreach emails so that I could see how they were worded, what the tone was, and what information was presented. I wanted to absorb every precious drop of experience in case I needed those skills in the future.

I’ll share one of the best pieces of advice I got from her throughout this process: reviews sell more books than ads do. I had no idea that some of the most respected outlets offer paid review options. You’re not paying for a guaranteed good review; you’re paying for the guarantee of being reviewed. You can submit your manuscript for a potential review for free, but indie authors are not often chosen for those limited spots. So you’re rolling the dice with your money (it would be horrible to pay hundreds of dollars only to receive a bad review), but she said that a good phrase or sentence from an outlet like Kirkus Reviews, BookLife/Publisher’s Weekly, or Foreword Clarion, can be worth its weight in gold in terms of marketing.

You’ll come across conflicting opinions about this online. But if someone is considering purchasing your book (in an over-saturated market), knowing nothing about you or your writing, review excerpts can convince them that their money will be well-spent. Thankfully, I got great review excerpts to put on my book cover. And when you send your book to reviewers or contests, don’t underestimate the subliminal effect those review excerpts will have as they look at your cover before they even begin reading it, creating a snowball effect. The more advance reviews you gather over the six months before your launch, the more you can incorporate them into your book’s sell sheet, in the editorial review section on Amazon and other bookseller sites, and in the metadata on Ingram if they’re distributing your book for booksellers and libraries to see.

After you’ve met the marketing monster under the bed with some good review excerpts in hand, the next step… virtual book blog tours!... That’s what I’ve learned (so far) as a published author.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Allyson Rice is the author of the novel The Key to Circus Mom Highway. ("Fans of family drama, road trips, and non-stop laughs will love this cross-country adventure."–BookLife/Publisher's Weekly). She's an award-winning mixed media artist, and a producer with Atomic Focus Entertainment.

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 seen in 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.

My Websites:

www.AllysonRice.com (My Author Site)

www.Allyson-Wonderland.com (My E-commerce site)

Social Media Links:

IG:

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

https://www.instagram.com/officialallysonrice

https://www.instagram.com/allysonriceart

FB:

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

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/CircusMomHwy