Long Overdue Newsletter - May 2025
- Chris OBrien
- 15 minutes ago
- 3 min read
These Are the Good Old Days:
From Texas Book Festival to Long Overdue Book
Back in November, I met Russ, an Austin, Texas resident, at the Texas Book Festival. He shared his children's book in progress that encourages people not to just look at the past, and say, "Those were the good old days," but to appreciate the present and enjoy the moments now with the people around.
Proud to say this is our newest Long Overdue book! Here's a write-up about the book, an interview with the author, and this is where you can order in the Long Overdue bookstore.
Safe Landing Turns 3!
Plus Author Event at Elmwood Library
Hard to believe it, but Safe Landing has now been published for three years! Kim and Melody are fresh off an author talk at Elmwood Park Public Library, and check out this video below that shares the story behind the Borchers' family headstand.
New article/interview over on CanvasRebel. I shared some of the history of Long Overdue and a few lessons I've learned along the way.
First Time Authors: Your Book is Always New
I was thinking about this the other day, the new Mission Impossible movie is only in IMAX for so long, only in theaters for so long. If you look at any major movie release or book release, there's a lot of pressure to do a media blitz and drive up sales for that limited window before the next new thing comes out.
This strategy makes sense because they're casting a wide net to millions of people. But for first-time and early-stage authors, we don't have that wide of a net. Our reach may only extend to friends, family, and our connections on social media.
One positive to this: You're not in the same type of rush. You can focus on different audiences and drive different campaigns when expanding the reach. Even if your book is five years old, people outside of your immediate network are hearing about it for the first time.
No need to put up billboards or buy expensive ads. You're not running out of time. Focus on bookstores, libraries, author readings, small events, smaller podcasts, and gradually build an audience for your book that will remain a new release well into the future. It’s a lot of work and effort but it’s not… an impossible mission 😜
Norm!
George Wendt, the actor who played Norm on Cheers, passed away a few days ago. Here's a classic scene from Cheers, and perhaps the best "Norm!" moment of all time.
"Hey, why don't you listen to that Russ guy. These are the good old days... for walking a dog. Let's go!"
-Crash, Team Dog
Keeping up with Long Overdue
Best place to keep up with all things Long Overdue is a tie between our monthly newsletter and our Instagram page. If you enjoy this newsletter and know someone who might enjoy it as well, let us know, we'll make sure to add them to our subscriber list. We also got back on Facebook recently, you can follow us here.
And check out the rest of our website - Long Overdue Books. Long Overdue Books is a community for creating books. It's a place for authors (and soon-to-be-authors), readers, editors, artists, and designers to come together and move their stories from ideas to finished books.
Also, if you have any questions, ideas, stories to tell, you can reach Cal the Librarian at - library@longoverduestories.com
