Saturday, January 24, 2009

Author Success with Patti O'Donoghue

Today I am featuring author Patti O'Donoghue!

Patti has a unique story of success. Despite her publishing path, and the unavailability of her books in stores, she has sold thousands across Eastern North Carolina. She does make bookstore appearances, but her stops at Andy's restaurants has been the key to her touring success. Selling sometimes hundreds of books at one time, Patti's fans will come to signings to buy books for their friends and to sign up for the next installment. She also has the advantage of a young assistant who does all of her online research and networking. To me, it's just amazing what she's accomplished on such a part-time basis.

So let me introduce, Patti O'Donoghue!

Patti O'Donoghue is the author of The Stanhope Trilogy. The books are Celia, Where America’s Day Begins, and The Wreck. The author has explored wrecks of World War II that can still be found in the waters of the western Pacific. Fact and fiction fed her imagination to create the trilogy stories.

She holds an advanced SCUBA rating and has traveled throughout the islands of Guam, Saipan, Tinian, Rota, the Carolines and Palaus. Her husband's Air Force career took the family to Germany, Turkey, Guam and stateside bases. Ms. O'Donoghue is the mother of five adult children.

Patti began writing as a freelancer in Goldsboro, NC. She served as Director of Public Information at Mount Olive College in Mount Olive, NC and as the President of the Mount Olive Area Chamber of Commerce. She did photography for the Goldsboro News-Argus and Kraft's Studio in Mount Olive.

Currently, Patti speaks to civic, church and school groups about writing, and a fourth book is percolating! She and her husband live in the community of Sleepy Creek, NC. For information contact Patti at author@stanhopetrilogy.com. Also, visit www.stanhopetrilogy.com

About the books:
Hey there! This is Celia Stanhope with my very best friend, Goldie O’Brien. We used to breathe in the fresh salt air at Topsail Beach, North Carolina, and gaze across the Atlantic Ocean. We wished we could find shipwrecks filled with treasure.
We dreamed of riches and, of course, we wanted it to be easy—just picking up gold doubloons and such off the ocean floor. We just had to get out of small-town Sandy Run; had to get away from part-time jobs and adults telling us what to do.
All I can say is--be careful what you wish for. Life can get harder than you’d ever imagine, and your small town will look mighty good. Love and friendship will come your way, but there are consequences.
Without support from those people you want to get away from, it’s possible that you may end up living on the streets—HOMELESS!
Find out about how two misplaced southern girls from eastern North Carolina—that’s Goldie and me-- end up on the islands of Guam and Rota in the western Pacific Ocean.
How did we decide to go there, you might ask? By spinning the globe in the library, of course. We got this great idea to close our eyes, spin the globe and point. That globe stopped on a tiny speck in the Pacific Ocean—Guam.
Never mind that we had no earthly idea how you would get to Guam, and we’d most surely never heard of a place called Rota. ‘Course, since we worked in the library we read a lot. I got real interested in a World War I German ship named the S.M.S. Cormoran. That old sailing ship breathed the word “treasure” to me.
Is there treasure? Do we find it? Perhaps real treasure is not made of gold.
You decide.

6 comments:

L. Diane Wolfe said...

And now I am off for a full day of fun with my husband, something we have not done for many, many months - will return this evening!

Prill Boyle said...

Have a great time today, Diane!

Spin the globe and point--now that's my kind of adventure!

Carolyn Howard-Johnson said...

What a wonderful success story. Not only the great teaser for Patti's book but her success with marketing is a GREAT example of the kind of thing I advocate in The Frugal Book Promoter. One must find what fits one's book and personality!

Best,
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Website: http://www.HowToDoItFrugally.com
Award-winning author of the HowToDoItFrugally Series of Books for writers, including USA Book News' award winners
The Frugal Editor http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870/
The Frugal Book Promoter http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/193299310X/

Morgan Mandel said...

It sounds like she's one of those phenomenoms that are hard to explain, plus a good marketer. Also, she knows what she's writing about.

Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Interesting author and success story. Nice post, Diane!

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Yeah, Patti would make most authors gag - she sells 100+ at her book signings!
It works for her, she's happy, and that's what is important!

And yes, we had a wonderful day - even came home with a brand new couch!