Friday, July 31, 2015

Dog Days with The Dawnflier (August 2015) #MFRWOrg #ASMSG #IARTG

(c)2015 by Kim Headlee.
I don't often remember to photograph my booth setup, but this time I wanted to make sure I did, since I was graciously given permission—and equipment—to display two of my antique quilts at the 2015 Patchwork Quilters Jamboree. 

The quilt on the left is a twin-size hexagonal pattern I plan to give to my daughter after she finishes college. Its colorful top was one of the last assembled by my husband's grandmother, who died in 1965, and I squared it off, added the backing, and quilted it with individual French knots made of multicolored yarn. On the right is a quilt top that's perhaps twenty years older, composed entirely of feed sack fabric, which I backed with solid cotton and turned into a patio curtain.

In spite of the presence of numerous industrial fans, as well as a smaller unit that the event organizers encouraged me to bring for my booth, I felt the Dog Days quite keenly that weekend!

With August comes the return to the classroom for my husband the high school math teacher, as well as our daughter. In fact we help her move back into her apartment in a couple of weeks. Once that emotional dust settles—and I get the house back to myself!—I look forward to returning to a much more productive writing schedule.

My next scheduled public appearance is Saturday, August 29 at Celebrate the Arts, Main Street, Tazewell, VA. In the meantime, I invite you to check out my latest release that's set in the realm of The Dragon's Dove Chronicles titled The Challenge. Also, the review tour for Liberty will be starting soon; stay tuned! And thank you very much if you are one of the bloggers who has agreed to host Liberty or any of my other books. :)

It's really too hot to write any more today, so keep cool and keep reading!

***

All this month, you are invited to...
— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Add Kim to Google+
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter and/or YouTube follow
...and each action this month is good for one chance to win an e-book copy of Snow in July. Please enter often, and good luck!

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

The Business of Writing: Professional Editing #indiepublishing #ASMSG #IARTG

Madeline McDowell Breckinridge ca 1920,
US public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
You can slap together a collection of words, dash off a DIY cover, upload it all to Amazon, and call yourself a writer. You might even make some money doing so, and good for you if that happens to be the case. 

Being a professional writer, however, entails ever so much more than the technical definition of earning money for one's efforts implies. 

One of the biggest complaints I hear—and seewith books written by independent authors is the sheer volume of grammar, punctuation, and spelling mistakes. In fact I would go as far as to say that poor editing is a leading contributor toward the subpar reputation of indie books as a whole. 

Mistakes will catapult a reader out of a story faster than you can... think. And if you believe your readers won't notice or care about poor editing, then I respectfully suggest that you are underestimatingand alienatinga large sector of your audience.
 
That's not a risk that I'm willing to take with my own fiction, and I hope you agree.

To be fair, books churned out by the Big Six (or Five, or whatever the ever-collapsing count du jour) publishers often contain glaring errors too. The first edition of my novel Liberty, published by HQN Books in 2006, had sections of missing and repeated pages in three different combinations (!!), which proved to be a nightmare for me when trying assemble good copies for personal appearances. That wasn't an editing issue, of course, but it's a graphic illustration of my point that mistakes do happen at even the highest levels of the publishing business.

The bottom line is that authors who are contracted by large publishing houses already enjoy a level of respectability that's built in to the system. The rest of us must do our level best to achieve respectability on our own, and the first step toward that goal is to hire a good quality professional editor, and perhaps even two: one for content editing and one for copy editing.

My primary editor is Deb Taber, and I simply cannot say enough good things about her work. She is the consummate professional, she knows the English language inside and out (and, with regard to my projects, sideways :D), and she offers encouragement along with suggestions for improvement. I get nothing for mentioning her here other than the satisfaction of knowing that you will receive the highest quality feedback if you choose to hire her to edit your work.

Someone else whom I commend to your attention is Robin Allen of Griffin Editorial Services. I have known her for going on 15 years now, and all the copy editing work she has ever done for me has been absolutely top notch. Again, I get nothing for the mention other than knowing that you will be as delighted with her editing work as I have been.

You say you cannot afford to hire a good editor? I say you cannot afford NOT to.

Budget for it, or set up a crowdfunding campaign if you must, but please do not be tempted by those who claim that you can successfully edit your own work. The fact is that the human brain is wired to see what it expects to see, thereby making it impossible to remain objective where the editorial process is concerned. 

I implore you to help halt the downward spiral in perception of the quality of indie writers' works by hiring professional help to make your work be the absolute best product that it can be.


***

All this month, you are invited to...
— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Add Kim to Google+
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter and/or YouTube follow
...and each action this month is good for one chance to win an e-book copy of Snow in July. Please enter often, and good luck!


Monday, July 27, 2015

#RockinSummerRomance Spotlight on Lori's Redemption by Pamela Thibodeaux @psthib

Add more fire to your summer with this short-story spinoff of Tempered Fire by Pamela Thibodeaux, Lori's Redemption!

Synopsis:
Lori Strickland (introduced in Tempered Fire) has always been known as her father's "wild child" with no desire to change until she meets ex-bull-rider-turned-preacher Rafe Judson. Her attempts to change her wanton ways come to naught until she realizes redemption only comes with true repentance.

Excerpt:

Lori headed toward Recluse, Wyoming after another round of rodeos where the cash and prizes vaulted her to the next level of achievement. She hadn’t thought of Rafe in months. Hadn’t allowed herself to think of him, and wouldn’t indulge in useless fantasies now.

She’d made peace with the fact she was nothing more than a bad seed and there was no way around it. Oh she tried to be good. She stayed out of the bars for weeks on end, attended the prayer services before or after each rodeo when available, even visited with a group of supposedly devout believers who traveled a state-wide circuit within the national itinerary, but nothing seemed to help or make an impact on her life. Nor had she found the support she’d hoped, only judgment and criticism. Answers to her questions only incited debates until she was scorned for her doubt and unbelief or shunned completely. Maverick was right when he said there was no in between and since she couldn’t succeed at being good, Lori figured she’d be bad.    

Just as she had all of her life.

More than once she thought about calling Stanley or Amber or even Lexie for counsel, but was too ashamed to admit the total mess her life was in. She even considered quitting. Just give up and go home. But she was too close to making pro status, too close to the culmination of the dream that began in her heart nearly four years ago.   

A dream she once thought came as a directive from God.

Now, she knew better.

God didn’t give success to losers; the devil lured them into it then left them to their own devices no matter how hard they tried to be good. Besides, even at her best, there was no way she’d ever be good enough for a preacher.

Purchase links:
Kindle | Nook | Smashwords | Deeper Shopping |

About the Author:
Award-winning author, Pamela S. Thibodeaux is the Co-Founder and a lifetime member of Bayou Writers Group in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Multi-published in romantic fiction as well as creative non-fiction, her writing has been tagged as, “Inspirational with an Edge!” ™ and reviewed as “steamier and grittier than the typical Christian novel without decreasing the message.

Find Pamela at:Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter @psthib

***
To learn about Sir Robert Alain de Bellencombre, hero of Snow in July, and Kim's unique challenges in writing about him, please visit the RLF Blog. (And help her earn "Top Blogger" points there, thanks! :)

***
Enter this great Rafflecopter giveaway for a $25 gift card!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 
***

All this month, you are invited to...
— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Add Kim to Google+
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter and/or YouTube follow
...and each action this month is good for one chance to win an e-book copy of Snow in July. Please enter often, and good luck!

Friday, July 24, 2015

Spotlight on More than Ready by @AnitaPhilmar cowboy #RockingSummerRomance

Add sizzle to your summer with More than Ready, an installment in the Naked Bluff series by Anita Philmar!

Synopsis:
After losing his brother, Kirk Pepperman planned a future with Richard’s wife, Sadie. Kirk wanted to honor his brother and take care of Sadie.

She had other ideas and married another man.

Now, Kirk is uncertain what he should do with his life.

Mary Beth Owens knows her parents are arranging for her to marry Kirk. The problem is he’s been stuck on the wrong woman for years.

She is determined to find out if he can please her. If not, then she has no desire to marry him either.

Can these two let go of the past and move into the future?

Available for 99 cents and free for Kindle Unlimited.


Excerpt:
“Kirk, where are you?”

Unhappy about the interruption, Kirk Pepperman debated not answering Mary Beth Owens’ call. He’d snuck away to the barn’s upper floor to escape his parents and to have a few moments to himself.

The view outside the open loft door showed the sun drifting steadily toward the horizon. A nice cross breeze blew inside and cooled the large space. For the last couple of weeks, he’d found he enjoyed sitting up here alone, maybe because it helped him forget.

“Kirk?” Mary Beth’s voice rang from the ladder, leading to the stalls on the ground floor.

Not bothering to turn, he leaned forward and gripped his hands over his knees. The three-legged stool, where he sat, was right in front of the center pole for the barn. The position afforded him a backrest if he should want one.

The floorboards squeaked, telling him Mary Beth stood behind him. He pictured her in his head. A petite blonde, she had small breasts and appeared much younger than him. In truth, they were around the same age.

Hoping, if he remained quiet, she’d leave. He continued to stare out across his family’s property. The last days of summer and the recent harvest had turned the parched land to dust. What did this place hold for him?

He’d never ventured outside of Naked Bluff to travel or to experience another way of life. Depression filled him at his brother dying so far away from home. Now, though, Kirk understood Richard’s desire to leave.

What future could Kirk have here?

He toyed with the idea of heading off to join the Confederate army. The latest news from the returning soldiers was the south wasn’t faring too well against the Northern armies. Maybe, if he had something to fight for, he’d feel alive again.

The familiar noise of a rope flying through the air alerted him. The lasso fell over his head and circled his chest before it tightened, pinning his arms to his side. “What the...”

With a sharp tug, he fell back against the center pole and hit his head against the solid bulk. “Mary Beth, what are you doing?”

About the Author:
Anita Philmar enjoys writing hot stories to get the blood a pumping. She grew up in Texas and enjoys sharing information about the state with her readers.

Currently, she is working on a historical series call Naked Bluff, Texas. No, it is not a real place, but the people there do have problems and with the gift of love they do find happiness.

Find Anita at:
WebsiteBlog | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter |




***
To learn about Sir Robert Alain de Bellencombre, hero of Snow in July, and my unique challenges in writing about him, please visit the RLF Blog. (And help me earn "Top Blogger" points there, thanks! :)

***
Enter this great Rafflecopter giveaway for a $25 gift card!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 
***

All this month, you are invited to...
— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Add Kim to Google+
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter and/or YouTube follow
...and each action this month is good for one chance to win an e-book copy of Snow in July. Please enter often, and good luck!


Wednesday, July 22, 2015

The Business of Writing: Book Reviews #MFRWOrg #ASMSG #IARTG

Have you ever bought a new car, and then suddenly you're seeing "your" car all over the road? That's what happened to me this past week when I decided to write about book reviews. Suddenly bloggers were sharing "my" topic all over the Information Superhighway!

It's a good thing that there's plenty of room for all of us out here. :)

I'm going to share those links first, and then I invite you to come back and read my tips on requesting reviews. Oh, and don't forget to scroll all the way down to enter the $25 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card giveaway I'm sponsoring!

Review meme (c)2015 by Kim Headlee.
Sunset photo (c)2008 by Alexstar, Dreamstime ID 10088688.
The importance of book reviews.
If you have even one title in a retail catalog, then more than likely you have noticed the fluctuation in sales in response to receiving a new review. Instinctively we authors know that reviews are important, but longtime author Gail Z Martin offers an interesting perspective about why in her guest blog post on No Wasted Ink.


Reacting to reviews.
The first review I ever got, for the first edition of Dawnflight in 1999, the reviewer sent me a copy via email. I think I must have stared at the subject line for at least an hour, terrified to open it! But I'm glad I did, for it was a glowing one.

Since then my books have received dozens of reviews, falling at all points across the starry spectrum, and for numerous reasons.

You know how to handle the 5- and 4-star reviews, right? Since chances are I'm old enough to be your mom, I will do my "Mom Thing" and make sure you know: be gracious and humble. And then tweet/pin/share the bejezus out of them! :D

I've found 3-star reviews of my books to be a mixed bag of anything from ripping my book a new one to containing far more praise than the star rating would seem to indicate. Sometimes I find tweetable tidbits in these reviews, and sometimes not. Either way, I read them and then go about my day.

But how should one react to the 2- and 1-star wonders?

If you are a member of the Romance Writers of America, then perhaps you may have heard the humorous presentation given by Sarah Wendell from Smart B*tches, Trashy Books. I don't have a link to share for this proprietary presentation, but for those who have purchased the audio collection from RWA National 2014, I direct your attention to Session 19-159.

Indie Author News gives an excellent list of tips in 10 Ways for Authors to Respond to Bad Reviews. Don't have time to click the link? I will give you my #1 tip, which is their #2: Never interact with reviewers in a public forum regardless of the review's content or star rating. Ever. Period.

The only exception to this is to post a "thank you," even in response to a low-star-rating review if it contains constructive criticism that you find useful for improving your work. A little courtesy goes a long way.

Tip #8 from the Indie Author News list is Don't rush to your favorite social media site to rant. You would be well advised to take that one to heart too. My first inclination upon reading Why Receiving 2 Horrible Amazon Reviews Made Me an Invincible Author was to not share that link in this post; the article came across to me as being incredibly egotistical, presumptuous, and, frankly, childish—even if the underlying message about thickening one's skin to the presence of bad reviews is a good idea. At the very least, that blog post ensured that I will never download, even for free, anything from that author. Ever. Period.

Writing reviews of other authors' books.
An excellent blog post about writing reviews for Amazon, especially given their recent announcement to begin weeding out "fake" reviews, may be viewed on A Word With Traci blog.

As a professional reviewer—and by that I mean that I have been paid cash for my content by the review site, never directly by publishers or authors, which is a violation of Amazon's review policy—I take a dim view of "review swapping." This along with the ethically challenged practice of purchasing reviews have done more to undermine the value of reviews than coercing your family and friends to leave good reviews ever will.

Requesting reviews.
Done correctly, this can be a tedious and time-consuming process. I confess that I now employ an assistant to work on this project for a few hours per month. Since I am now an independent publisher, I started her with the Indie Reviewers List maintained by The Indie View e-zine and identified the genres wherein each of my books fits. She conducts all the querying, submitting, and follow up. Her guidelines, which will work for you too, are:
  1. Pay attention to what the blogger prefers to read. Don't waste his/her time—or yours—by submitting your book anyway, unless the blogger specifically states that exceptions are made for exceptional works. When in doubt...
  2. Read a few posted reviews, especially the negative ones. You may decide that you don't like the reviewer's style, and that could save you and the blogger some time.
  3. Follow the reviewer's stated submission guidelines to the letter. If s/he does not want your book's file right away, for God's sake do not send it. That's the fastest way of getting it dumped—and potentially getting yourself labeled as an Author Who Does Not Read. This goes double for responding to sites that state they are closed to submissions.
  4. If the site is open to submissions but no guidelines exist, write a brief but courteous email giving your book's title, genre(s), and tagline, which ideally describes your book in twenty words or fewer. Don't waste his/her time (or yours) by including a twenty-page synopsis, a ten-page author bio, and your manuscript in its entirety.
When following up with potential reviewers after you have submitted your book:
  1. Heed their stated follow-up policies to the letter. If s/he specifies "do not contact us" and you go ahead and contact them anyway, then you run the risk of being labeled as an Author Who Does Not Read.
  2. Add at least one month to any stated follow-up period, if follow-ups are permitted.
  3. If no follow-up guidelines or review-posting turnaround times are stated, and the site has not posted a "do not contact" policy, wait at least three months before following up with the blogger. Reviewer-bloggers are busy people too, and they do not need to be hounded by anyone.
If all of this seems daunting and you wish to explore the idea of hiring my assistant to do this type of work on your behalf, leave a comment indicating some way that you can be reached, and I will be delighted to put you two in touch.

Less tedious and time-consuming is the blog tour. In a properly coordinated tour, potential reviewers might be incentivized to participate via the chance to win a gift card in a bloggers-only giveaway, but they are not compensated financially for writing the review itself, because they are never under any obligation to write it. To protect authors, the usual stipulation is that if they dislike the book and cannot rate it more than two stars, the tour coordinator asks that the review not be posted until after the tour is over.

Of course "less tedious and time-consuming" equals greater cost, but all of my books have benefited from being featured in blog tours, and I feel that they are marketing dollars well spent.

***
To learn about Sir Robert Alain de Bellencombre, hero of Snow in July, and my unique challenges in writing about him, please visit the RLF Blog. (And help me earn "Top Blogger" points there, thanks! :)

***
Enter this great Rafflecopter giveaway for a $25 gift card!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

***

All this month, you are invited to...
— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Add Kim to Google+
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter and/or YouTube follow
...and each action this month is good for one chance to win an ebook copy of Snow in July. Please enter often, and good luck!

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Book spotlight: SONS OF THE SPHINX by Cheryl Carpinello $50 Amazon/Paypal #giveaway

Sons of the Sphinx - New Banner

BOOK INFORMATION

TITLE – Sons of the Sphinx  
SERIES – The Quest Books  
AUTHOR – Cheryl Carpinello  
GENRE – YA Historical Time Travel  
PUBLICATION DATE – October 10, 2014  
LENGTH (Pages/# Words) – 192/36,000  
PUBLISHER – Beyond Today Educator  
COVER ARTIST – Bernistevens Design

Sons of the Sphinx - Book Cover

BOOK SYNOPSIS

Two souls
Separated by three millennium
One with a gift that is more like a curse
One on an almost impossible quest
Destinies entwined; one seeks to find herself while the other seeks his lost queen. To succeed, the pair must right the injustices 3,000 years in the past.
Only together can they fulfill The Prophecy, but in the process they must defeat the Pharaoh Horemheb.
Dishonor and death are the fate of the defeated.

BUY & TBR LINKS


CHARACTER BIOS

Rosa: Hi! I’m Rosa. I’m 15 years old and a sophomore in high school. I’m your typical teenager—well, almost. I don’t have many friends anymore, but it’s hard to blame the other kids. If I was them, I’d probably steer clear of me too, at least most of the time. No one is ever mean to me; I’ve grown up with most of them, and on my bad days, they try to ignore me. Wish I could do the same to those who talk to me. Mostly I just shake my head and carry on. It helps that I have a sarcastic sense of humor.
My daily life consists of trying to pass all my classes, getting a date for school dances, and dealing with Nana’s gift nearly every day while I try not to lose my mind.
Tut: My name is Nebkheperure Tutanhkame. I ascended the throne of Egypt upon the death of my father, Pharaoh Akhenaten. There has been much speculation in modern day on my death. My concern is finding the final resting place of my beloved queen, Ankhesenamun and making right that which was wronged centuries ago.

EXCERPT

Before us, nearly filling up the room and taller than either of us, stands the golden shrine of Tutankhamun. I remembered what else lay in that room. Inside that shrine are three more, each a bit smaller than the outside one. All tucked inside each other like those nesting dolls from my grandmother’s childhood. Inside the last shrine were the four sarcophagi of Tut, each displaying him in golden and jeweled splendor.
The last one holds the famed mask of the golden boy. And beneath that, the body of the young pharaoh who now stands here before me. Beyond my understanding, he has been given back his human form, allowed to return one last time to restore honor to his family, one last time to find his true love. And here I am, trying to help, trying to understand, trying to stay alive. Will I ever be able to go home again? Or will I become as lost as Hesena?

AUTHOR BIO

I am a retired high school English teacher. A devourer of books growing up, my profession introduced me to writings and authors from times long past. Through my studies and teaching, I fell in love with the Ancient and Medieval Worlds. Now, I hope to inspire young readers to read more through my Quest Books set in these worlds.

AUTHOR FOLLOW LINKS


GIVEAWAY PRIZES

A $50 Amazon/PayPal GC
This tour has been organized & hosted by
  33c16-mini2bbutton

***
To learn about Sir Robert Alain de Bellencombre, hero of Snow in July, and Kim's unique challenges in writing about him, please visit the RLF Blog. (And help her earn "Top Blogger" points there, thanks! :)

***
Enter this great Rafflecopter giveaway for a $25 gift card!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 
***

All this month, you are invited to...
— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Add Kim to Google+
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter and/or YouTube follow
...and each action this month is good for one chance to win an ebook copy of Snow in July. Please enter often, and good luck!

Friday, July 17, 2015

Announcing lots of winners! @TalkSupeBlog @FaeBooks @PalomaBeck #MFRWOrg #RLFBlog

I haven't visited the beach yet this summer, 
but I am swimming in winners to announce today on The Maze! 
Everyone has been notified. 
Please join me in congratulating them ~ and scroll down for more chances to win!


Talk Supe Blogiversary: Candace R won e-copies of my scifi/fantasy time-travel Twain sequel, King Arthur's Sister in Washington's Court (#KASIWC), Hand of Miriam by Eva Gordon, and Gone for You by Jayne Frost.

#Fae20KGiveaway: Claudette M won prize pack 8, which included my paranormal medieval romance Snow in July, plus a FaeBooks.co.uk Bookmark, ebook The Unseen Promise by Ellen Mae Franklin, ebook Whispering Wind The Legend by C.J. Medley, ebook Wings of Vengeance by Kylie Price, swag and ebook Trinity - The Prophecy by Kylie Price, ebook of Veiled by L. Chapman, coffee mug & Koozies from author K.A. Young, ebook Forever on Kindle by S.A. Smith, ebook Angel Dreams by Jody A. Kessler, ebook Blood of the Eternal Moon by Simon O'Neill, ebook Deviate by Sally Slayer, and a $5 Amazon book from Indy Book Fairy. What a haul! :)

Celebrate Freedom Blog Hop (#FreedomHop): Debby G won an autographed print copy of my ancient Rome historical romance Liberty, which recently won the Books Go Social 2015 Best Self-Published Work award!

The Color of Vengeance 3-Day Blast:

Thank you all for entering, 
and here is another great giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

***
To learn about Sir Robert Alain de Bellencombre, hero of Snow in July, and my unique challenges in writing about him, please visit the RLF Blog. (And help me earn "Top Blogger" points there, thanks! :)

***

All this month, you are invited to...
— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Add Kim to Google+
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter and/or YouTube follow
...and each action this month is good for one chance to win an e-book copy of Snow in July. Please enter often, and good luck!

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

The Business of Writing: Promoting your books online #MFRWOrg #RLFBlog #ASMSG

Woman behind veil
(c)2008 Jose Antonio Sánchez Reyes
Dreamstime ID 4932489
Last week on The Maze I introduced the concept of the Promotion Plan for authors of all stripes in the publishing spectrum.

After reading one of the comments that someone had left, I realized that online promotion is an entire topic in and of itself that I need to address! 

I selected the "Woman behind veil" image for today's post because for many authors, online promotion is a lot like this young lady: we peep out from behind our veils just long enough to interact a little bit with our audiences now and then.

Here are some ways to lower the veil even further:

Blogging. When I first took the plunge to actively expand my social network, everyone said I needed to start a blog. Which I did. And it got very few views, something on the order of maybe a couple dozen a day. To be honest, that was a couple dozen more than I was expecting, since I had (foolishly, I admit) neglected the "care and feeding" of my readership and could host my entire fan base in my living room. To increase blog reach, I took the following steps:
  • I joined Facebook and, eventually, Twitter and now share blog posts to those platforms on a regular basis. Some aspects of social media still send me screaming off into the night, but I have embraced its usefulness in spreading the word about my books.
  • I set up automatic cross-posting of my blog to my author profiles on About.me, Goodreads, and Amazon, and posts get automatically shared to my Google+ profile by Blogger.
  • I started scheduling promo posts for other authors in exchange for their posting of my book spotlights on their blogs.
  • I engaged the services of auto-tweeting and auto-retweeting apps, both of which have long since been squashed by the TwitRNazis, but these were instrumental in boosting my Twitter following up over the 5K mark last year. Now I'm over 9K and growing daily, thanks to judicious tweeting and retweeting via Hootsuite. (The free version is a bit time consuming but still suits my needs.)
  • I started scheduling virtual book tours, which have spread the word even farther into the Blogisphere. Whenever possible, I visit the promo pages and thank the bloggers for hosting (and sometimes reviewing) my books, and I answer other visitors' questions too.
  • I began posting a version of my monthly newsletter, The Dawnflier. BTW, if you would like to receive the lovely MailChimp edition, please sign up in the sidebar on the right, thanks! :)
  • I set up contests (usually via Rafflecopter) in conjunction with my blog tours, and I run a monthly contest on my blog (please scroll down for details).
  • I joined Triberr (a post-sharing service for bloggers, of which the free service is just fine for my needs) and became a member of several tribes there. Now my Twitter reach is over 1M thanks to the sharing of posts by my 350+ tribemates. This has been the single biggest factor in jumping my blog's page views, the rolling 30-day number of which is displayed in the right sidebar (26K+ as of this writing).
Other potentially useful post-sharing software that I haven't used yet includes Roundteam and Tweet Jukebox. If you have used either of these services, or any others, please let me know what you think of them!

And of course there are other social media platforms I haven't mentioned, mainly because I don't keep a presence on them, or I use them strictly for professional rather than promotional reasons (e.g., LinkedIn). I do recommend that you claim your name on those platforms, however, in case you change your mind and decide to participate at a future date.

Content. Whether it's a blog, a Pinterest board, or profiles on Facebook or Twitter or some other platform, when I visit another author's page, I am instantly turned off when the content is exclusively about his or her own books. Think about it, people: it's like tuning to a shopping channel! At least, that's how I imagine it would be like if I actually ever did tune to a shopping channel. :D

Posting news about your books is essential for spreading the word, but balancing that content with other items will keep your readers coming back for more. I achieve balance by:
  • Scheduling spotlights of my friends' books on my blog.
  • Participating as a book tour host.
  • Cross-posting my Pinterest pins to my Twitter account and, on occasion, to my personal Facebook profile.
  • Sharing an excerpt each week--along with a writing tip or other non-writing introduction--from my current work-in-progress, Raging Sea.
  • Posting an article about the business issues related to writing each week, of which this post is an example.
  • Occasionally posting an article on my blog about a non-writing or non-book topic that interests me, such as this post about one of the last living Pearl Harbor survivors.
  • Using my Facebook personal profile mainly to interact with my family and friends. Here I post fun slice-of-life snippets, humor, and links to non-writing articles I enjoy, and I hope others do too!
  • Automatically cross-posting my Facebook posts to Twitter. If I want the Facebook post to look as if it originated on Twitter, I keep it less than 140 characters and don't include a link. 
  • Using my Facebook fan pages to post research-related articles, as well as updates about my books.
  • Sharing other authors' Facebook posts about their books.
  • Visiting the Twitter profile of each person who follows me every day. I will perhaps retweet a thing or three, and I follow back as many accounts as possible within the bounds of my conscience. If you discover that I have blocked your account, it means that I found your content utterly objectionable. Among the accounts that I don't block but don't follow back are those that advertise selling followers, those whose content is mildly objectionable and/or is not provided in English, and those wherein the profile and/or cover pics look stalker-y.

    BTW, if you're one of these authors out on an ego trip to amass what appears to be a huge fan base by following me, and then unfollowing within a nanosecond of my following you, be aware that I check my Crowdfire (formerly Justunfollow) numbers daily and will unfollow you immediately. I respectfully advise that you instead get your ego stroking from your book sales and reviews.
  • Scheduling my book-related tweets no more frequently than once an hour. If you ever happen to see more frequency than that from me, it's because I'm doing a one-time tweet of a blog tour page, or something along those lines.
  • Scheduling the sharing of other bloggers' posts that appear in my Triberr stream every day.
Lest you point to my blog layout and scream, "imbalance!" I will go on record to state that I am giving serious thought to redesigning it to offer paid advertising opportunities to other authors (within certain genre guidelines), now that The Maze's page views are clocking consistently above the 25K mark. If you think you might be interested, leave a note in the comments section, along with some way for me to contact you, and let's chat!

What are you doing to achieve balance in your online promotion, 
and how is it working for you?

***
To learn about Sir Robert Alain de Bellencombre, hero of Snow in July, and my unique challenges in writing about him, please visit the RLF Blog. (And help me earn "Top Blogger" points there, thanks! :)

***
Enter this great Rafflecopter giveaway for a $25 gift card!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
***

All this month, you are invited to...
— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Add Kim to Google+
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter and/or YouTube follow
...and each action this month is good for one chance to win an ebook copy of Snow in July. Please enter often, and good luck!

Monday, July 13, 2015

Fire Eater by Andrea Mosier (@1memphisgirl10) in 2015 Dundee International Prize anthology

Today on The Maze I would like to introduce you to Andrea Mosier, one of the ten finalists announced for the 2015 Dundee International Book Prize!

About Andrea's entry, Fire Eater:

Part I opens with Peyton Lyden, a middle-aged woman, working at a diner in Summit, Mississippi, when a man walks in claiming Peyton’s dead husband sent him. He has word that the feds want Manny Ortega, and they want Peyton to help them put the drug lord away. In Part I, Peyton looks back on the path that took her to working shifts as a waitress and living alone in a remote corner of Mississippi. We learn of her affair with a much older firefighter, who left behind a duffel bag with a dragon logo and the words “Fire Eater’ stitched in orange. The bag takes her across two countries, and as she heads west with Dan Ragsdale, her late husband’s friend, she reflects on her life with her daughter.

In her early life, Peyton works multiple jobs slinging hash and catering weddings in Biloxi, Mississippi, as her daughter Grace slips deeper into mental illness. By the time Grace turns seventeen, she discovers heroin, and when Peyton takes her over a thousand miles into the New Mexico mountains to get clean, Grace burns down a building, puts a woman’s eye out, and runs away with Ricardo Sanchez, the top lieutenant of drug king-pin Manny Ortega. When Peyton’s rancher-boyfriend is stabbed to death, Peyton discovers Sanchez’s confederate hiding in a ravine suffering two gunshot wounds delivered by the victim’s gun. She hacks off the toe of Tico Castanuj and mails it to Manny Ortega. Her bold move catches Ortega’s attention and begins a strange courtship of like-minded adversaries. That and the evidence she gathers, including a description of the car in which Sanchez does most of his “hits,”  goes a long way toward helping Lea County Sheriff Ev Lawson put Sanchez away for the crime. But when Lawson turns the evidence over to the FBI, Sanchez escapes across the border into Chihuahua. Ev and his old friend Dan Ragsdale boost the 1974 Buick out of Juarez and hide it in Ruidoso, where it sits for over seven years while Peyton and Ev Lawson marry and live out the rest of his years in Hobbs, New Mexico.

In Part II, we pick up with Peyton heading west to New Mexico with Dan Ragsdale at the wheel. Over the course of the trip, Peyton learns that Ragsdale is a hit man who hires on to spring kidnap victims. Ragsdale learns that Peyton suffers from PTSD, an ailment he knows something about from his stint in Desert Storm. It becomes clear the FBI is more than interested in regular phone conversations between Peyton Lyden and Manny Ortega. Over the seven years until Ev Lawson’s death from cancer, Manny Ortega has called Peyton to inform her of Grace’s miscarriage and the subsequent births of two grandchildren, as well as their deaths in a hot car at the hands of their strung-out mother. As she settles into her own brand of witness protection, Peyton is drawn deeper into Manny Ortega’s sphere until she finds herself striking a deal with the FBI to help Ortega turn state’s evidence on Sanchez. Peyton finds herself abandoning Los Etadios Unidos for a life in the Sonoran Mountains where she meets Ortega’s family physician, Juan Piccarro-Vasquez. But when the FBI double-crosses Ortega, giving Sanchez immunity, they simultaneously promote Sanchez to an untouchable position in the drug empire and set Grace free from prison for her testimony against Ortega, the man who delivered both her babies at his home.

In Part III, Peyton takes Grace back to Mississippi where her daughter succumbs to the worst suffering colon cancer can offer. Peyton ends Grace’s life, giving her an overdose of morphine. When the Ortega trial begins in Los Angeles, Manny’s lawyer prepares Peyton for her testimony, but there are surprises, not the least of which is an audio tape from seven years earlier in which Grace and Sanchez discuss killing Peyton for her insurance money. The state’s attorney drops the charges, but when the feds drag their feet arresting Sanchez, Peyton, afraid of making Juan and his daughter the target of Sanchez’s lieutenants, considers taking up Ragsdale’s offer to join him in his line of work.    

Excerpt:

Long after it no longer mattered, I was told that she gave birth the first time under water. It was said that she and the man known as Ricardo Sanchez could not afford proper medical care but, in fact, Ricardo Sanchez was a man highly placed in Manny Ortega’s San Diego heroin operation and could not afford to be so close to emergency and police personnel who would easily recognize him. I discovered much later that Grace used a mid-wife in Tijuana who helped Ortega’s own wife, whom, Grace had heard, opted for a water birth, and Grace made up her mind to do the same. When the baby came, Grace sat in the birthing pool, held onto the rails, and pushed as the mid-wife told her to do. She lost her footing, and she and the baby went underwater. The baby came to life and Grace struggled for air until the mid-wife and, according to his own account, Manny Ortega himself pulled Grace out of the water calling the baby Pequeño Nadador, or “Little Swimmer.”

I had long ago stopped listening to the feds who insisted that Manny Ortega was watching me, or was obsessed with me, or somehow wanted to see me eighty-sixed because I knew the names of a few of his lieutenants. I left witness protection of my own accord and found myself slinging hash looking out the west-facing window like a spurned lover watching for a particular model truck with a particular man behind the wheel set to rescue her from her work-a-day life. I held down the swing shift, three to eleven, at Fortune’s Highway 98 Diner just outside Summit, Mississippi, and cleaned counters as the zombies ate the last of their coconut pie. And just when I thought I’d put the late crew’s fears to bed, leaving them patting their bellies and headed for their bedding, a man walked in the door.

Buy the 2015 Dundee International Shortlist at:

***
Enter this great Rafflecopter giveaway for a $25 gift card!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
***
And speaking of contests...
Liberty has won the Books Go Social 
2015 Best Self-Published Work award! 

All this month, you are invited to...
— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Add Kim to Google+
— Subscribe to her YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter and/or YouTube follow
...and each action this month is good for one chance to win an e-book copy of Liberty. Please enter often, and good luck!

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Character interview of Alain from SNOW IN JULY #RLFblog #MFRWOrg #BZBooks

Reblogged in part from Romance Lives Forever 7/7/2015. To view the rest of the post, and help me earn points toward RLF's "Top Blogger" award, please click HERE; thanks!

Interview with Sir Robert Alain de Bellencombre from Snow in July

RLF Blog: Tell us about yourself, please.

Alain: I am the second son of Comte Hugh FitzWalter, by his second wife, Comtesse Margaret. Formally I am called Sir Robert, but my kin and closest friends call me Alain.

The “de Bellencombre” choice of surname refers to the village in which I was born, Bellencombre, in Normandy. My sword is pledged to the service of Duke William of Normandy, now styled King William of England by God’s grace through his victory at the Battle of Hastings. I fought in this battle too, as did my younger brother Étienne—though it shames me to admit that I was unable to save him from death at the hands of a ruthless Saxon foe.

RLF Blog: What inner doubt causes you the most difficulty?

Alain: In failing to protect Étienne, I failed our mother too, for I had sworn upon my own life that I would guard his. Now I face a royally commanded marriage, when all I would rather do is live and die by the sword, and I fear that I shall not be able to protect my bride either. As a means of dealing with my doubts, I have assumed the guise of a squire to scout the lady, her lands… and the mysterious reports of hellish beasts and sorcerous acts that the king’s regent has ordered me to investigate.

RLF Blog: Tell us about your significant other, that person who makes living worthwhile.

Alain: The moment my eyes beheld my bride, her sweet angelic beauty made me forget all my fears and doubts. And yet she seems to harbor grief and secrets—and perhaps even doubts and fears—of her own. As a scout, I am accustomed to ferreting out secrets, and so I shall learn hers, for I want nothing more than to kiss away her grief and transform her tears into joy.

RLF Blog: What would that person say about you?

Background image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons,
Public Domain.
Alain: Lady Kendra would say that I am far too bold for a “squire,” for when I am in her presence I am sorely tempted to act outside propriety’s bounds. Thus far, I have restrained myself to offering her the gift of a single red rose, but I fear even that was too brash a gesture, for it caused her to flee my presence. I shudder to think how she will react when I confess my deception, but as God is my witness, I shall do whatever it takes to make amends and earn her forgiveness.

RLF Blog: If someone from your past showed up, who would you NOT want it to be, and why?

Alain: My older half brother, Philippe FitzHugh, has ever feared that I covet the title and lands he inherited from our father. Nothing could be farther from the truth, but he has never believed my assurances, and he has undercut me at every opportunity—even to the point of luring my first fiancée into his bed. If I ever see either Philippe or Marie again in this lifetime, it shall be far too soon.

RLF Blog: Why are you happy (or not happy) with the way your story ended?

Alain: Ah, fair reader, that is for you to discover. I shall not spoil it for you except to say that Kendra and I are both happy with our story’s ending… though it did not come without terrible peril to our honor, our lives, and even our very souls.

To learn more about Alain and my challenges in writing about him, please visit the RLF Blog.

***

All this month, you are invited to...
— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Add Kim to Google+
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter and/or YouTube follow
...and each action this month is good for one chance to win an ebook copy of Snow in July. Please enter often, and good luck!

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

The Business of Writing: The Promotion Plan for Traditional and Indie Authors #MFRWOrg

4th of July fireworks over Seattle
(c)2008 by Andi Szilagyi (Wikimedia Commons).
You've published your fabulous book, and now is the time to promote the dickens out of it, right? 

Wrong!

To achieve maximum sales success—whether you are a "traditional," "indie," or "hybrid" published author—you need to formulate your promotion plan in conjunction with your publication plan several months in advance of your anticipated release date.

If the book you wish to promote is under contract with a publisher, then chances are they have developed the foundation of its publication plan for you. If the title you have published with them is so hot (in terms of projected sales) that they feel compelled to alert FedEx of the tonnage of its global shipments, then chances are they are managing the lion's share of your promotion plan too. And, chances are, you are not reading this post. :D

For the rest of you, I offer the following advice, honed over the course of my 16-year "hybrid" (first as traditional, now indie) publishing career.

The ARC. No, this is not a geometry term; it's an acronym for Advance Reader Copy. The ARC may be either digital or printed.

If you're traditionally published, as I was for my first two novels (Dawnflight and Liberty), you may receive a box of ARCs that your publisher printed and expects you to distribute to reviewers and local bookstores. If you need to create a printable ARC of your manuscript, I strongly suggest converting it to PDF first. Either way, printed and digital ARCs need to get into reviewers' hands a minimum of 3 months in advance of the release date if you want reviews to be posted in conjunction with your book's release. But do your homework, and pay attention to the fine print. Some review organizations, such as Publisher's Weekly, require a 6-month lead time.

Note: If you're releasing your book yourself, Publisher's Weekly's site for indie authors, BookLife, will not accept ARCs in any format prior to the release date.

The Media Kit isn't what it used to be. My first media kit, assembled in 1999, was a physical collection that included my publicity photo and bio sheet, book cover flats (publisher slang for the physical cover with marketing information about the book printed on the back), synopsis, press release, and review blurbs. It's still a good idea to carry such a folio with you to personal appearances, especially the high-profile events where you might run into news reporters. But anymore all this information is collected and distributed digitally, along with the book's retail links, excerpts, and social media links pertaining to the book as well as the author.

I recommend keeping a separate media kit for each book, and keep them updated when new reviews, awards, and links become known.

Social Media. This is such a broad topic that I will probably delve into greater depth at a future date. But for the purposes of your promotion plan, especially if you are a brand-new author who's just landed a contract, start expanding your networks NOW. Don't do what I did and wait until after the book's release to begin that process. Unless you're lucky enough to have a blockbuster on your hands, you'll find it difficult to gain any sort of sales traction that way. For the average author, it takes between one and two years to develop a respectable following on any of the major platforms. This can be accelerated via more personal interaction, but the tradeoff is the time investment—time that could be spent writing your next book.

Blog Tours, Facebook Parties, and the like should be an integral part of your promotion plan whether you are publishing independently or not. Every event, even the ever-popular cover reveals, should be scheduled with either preordering or purchasing your book in mind. If you are releasing your book on Kindle, coordinate the virtual tour or party with either a Countdown or Free Download promotion to maximize interest in your release. If you are soliciting reviews for the event, schedule it to give reviewers as much time as possible to read your book.

Note: Reviews cannot be posted on Amazon while a book exists in the preorder phase, so if you're trying to line up reviews to be posted right away, back up the actual release to at least a day or two before your event, to give time for your book's product pages to go live worldwide. Bloggers are busy people too, so if they visit your book's product page but cannot post their review, they might not return to do so at a later date.

HOT TIP FOR YOUR AMAZON BOOK LINKS: You can set up free links to all editions of your books that are sold via the Amazon product catalog that automatically click through to Amazon in the reader's home country—and you can specify your Amazon Affiliate ID for each country where you have one—via BookLinker.net. But be careful to specify your links correctly; I have not yet been able to find a means to remove links from their database if I have made a mistake, nor does there yet seem to be an "edit link" function... or even a means to contact the provider to ask such questions. With BookLinker you can also set up a worldwide link to your Amazon author page, and the per-country click statistics are fascinating.

In-person events. These days I sell more print copies in person than via online catalogs, so I make every effort to attend as many of these as my schedule and budget and family's patience allow. If you wish to be placed on the guest list at conventions—many of which come with perks such as free membership and table space for signing & selling books—contact the organizing committee at least six months in advance. If you can provide additional content, such as participating in panels or presenting a workshop, all the better!

Print Media. This aspect doesn't get as much attention in the promotion plan as it used to, but it's still a good idea to keep your local news media outlets in mind. Prepare a page-turner of a press release, keep it short and snappy but make sure to include all your contact information, and submit it to their news desk at least two weeks in advance.

Audio/Visual Media (podcasts, radio, TV). One of my longtime writer-friends produces his own weekly podcast about his books. That's not my thing, but if it happens to be yours, by all means go for it. I have been interviewed during conventions for podcasts, which is a lot of fun. If your budget is big enough to pay for radio and TV advertising, all the more power to you!

Book Trailers. You can do these yourself, such as this one for Dawnflight that I threw together with Windows Movie Maker. Or you can invest in high-quality products that look like you're watching a movie trailer, such as this one for Liberty! (I would gladly share the producer's contact information, but in viewing her site the other day, it appears that she might not be doing them for clients anymore, alas.)

Promotional materials come in all shapes, sizes, and functions: bookmarks, note cards, charms and other book-related jewelry, display banners, tote bags, decks of playing cards, nail files, pens, match boxes, candy bar wrappers, and a jillion other items! But their primary purpose should be to sell your book. The most efficient way to accomplish this is to incorporate your book's QR code (that little square box with the odd design that smart phones with a QR code reader app can interpret) into whatever you design.

If you don't mind someone else making a few pennies off the sale of your books, you can use Relinks.me to generate QR codes that represent the worldwide Amazon links. Or you can create your own worldwide links via Booklinker.net, and then feed the resultant links into a free QR code generator such as QRstuff.com.

Free book promotion sites are a must in your promotion plan, though you do need to follow each site's specific rules for your book's content, number of reviews, and star rating. In April, I posted information about several sites in this blog post.

Betty Book Freak no longer offers free book promotions, but some sites I've come across since then include:
Romance Readers Club for romance novels (reports a 6-month lead time for free promotion as of 3/21/2016)
Romance Lives Forever (RLF) Blog for romance novels (plan on a 3- or 4-month lead time, as of 3/21/16, if you need to time a promotion with a specific event)
BuckReads (for most book genres except erotica; hyperlink removed 3/21/2016 because the site no longer exists)

You do need to read the fine print at each site prior to submitting your titles for consideration. Some sites allow for resubmission of books, or the submission of an additional book in your backlist after a set number of days or months. Since I have my Blogger dashboard active every day, I have developed the habit of creating posts that I never intend to publish as a way to track submissions and results. I just look for the post titles that begin with *** NOT A BLOG POST... and if you ever see one like that on The Maze, you know I've forgotten to reschedule it in time! :D

Contests for published novels are a form of paid advertising that can boost sales because of the bragging rights if your book wins. Plan ahead to pick the contests you wish to enter so that you have enough printed copies on hand if that's one of the entry requirements.

Speaking of contests, I am pleased to announce that my ancient Rome historical romance novel Liberty recently won the Books Go Social 2015 Best Self-Published Work award! To read more about Liberty and what I endured to write it, I invite you to read this interview.

Paid book promotion sites may suit your needs, depending on your budget, though given a choice I will always opt for free promotion and save my money for editing and cover design. Paid book promotion venues include:
Goodreads
Book Gorilla
Betty Book Freak
The Fussy Librarian

I have not yet tried advertising on Goodreads. My browser setup (Firefox, with AdBlock Plus plugin; both are free downloads, BTW) blocks nearly 100% of all advertising, so I always forget to check into it there! My paid spot on Book Gorilla just occurred 7/7/15, so I will report on its effectiveness in another post. I was fortunate enough to get in on one of the last free listings at Betty Book Freak, and that spotlight is scheduled for September, so I will evaluate the sales boost from that feature and follow up with you later as to whether or not it was worthwhile for me.

Of course you can also pay to boost your posts on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. I tried doing that on Facebook a couple of times, with middling results, so I do not recommend spending your hard-earned advertising money on those venues since they are viewed by the general population, not all of whom are book readers.

If you have any other book-related promo ideas, links, or success stories to share, I would love to hear about them!

***
To learn about Sir Robert Alain de Bellencombre, hero of Snow in July, and my unique challenges in writing about him, please visit the RLF Blog. (And help me earn "Top Blogger" points there, thanks! :)

***

All this month, you are invited to...
— Follow Kim on Twitter
— Add Kim to Google+
— Subscribe to Kim's YouTube channel
— Leave a comment on any page of The Maze, especially if you have done the Twitter and/or YouTube follow
...and each action this month is good for one chance to win an ebook copy of Snow in July. Please enter often, and good luck!