Shameless Promotion II

Last Wednesday, August 27, I participated in a promotion event "Fall Into A Good Book" with fourteen other authors in the Latte Lounge at Coffee Time Romance. We posted excerpts, had contests and answered posts. And there was lots of activity, right up until the end.

It was a lot of fun, but also exhausting. Whoever thinks you're not
working when you're sitting down is dead wrong.

Still, I wonder if all the activity helped sell any books. Were lots of
lurkers watching? I hope so, because it appeared we fifteen authors
were talking to each other.

I base my observation on our contests. After I had sat for a while with
only two entries, I entered as many contests as I could, just so the
others would have some participation. All told, I received five contest
entries, each one from a participating author. Did the others receive so few?

I think so. I won six contests. Six out of fifteen?

One problem may have been access to the Latte Lounge. One author
told me several of her friends tried to get in, but couldn't.

The Latte Lounge is a forum, which is similar to a Yahoo group, but
haslots of graphics available to enhance your posts. All in all, a very
nice place to post. But it's not a Yahoo group and using it may require
a little practice.

Or maybe no one was interested. I grant you, there are lots of books
out there, and everyone wants a piece of your time.

So, I'll have to wait and see if posting on loops and forums helps to drive sales.

But if you're interested in reading some great excerpts from our Fall Into a Good Book event, click on this link. You don't need to login to read.

Thank you all,
Linda

Shameless Promotion

Buy my book! Please!

How shameless is that? I apologize for the outburst, but I'm still bouncing around from excitement. I've just received the release date for my very first published book. The Wild Rose Press will release Lady of the Stars, my Regency time travel novella, on January 7, 2009.

My Christmas present, a little late. But not if you use the Julian calendar, because January 7 using our Gregorian calendar is December 25 on the Julian calendar. Here's the calendar conversion link:

http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/calendar/

So, I really do receive my Christmas present on Christmas. Just depends on what calendar you use.

Now for some more shameless promotion--here's the Lady of the Stars blurb:

Caroline knows something is wrong the instant she steps into that unusual gazebo with two doors. But when a man she never thought to see again appears outside, she flings caution aside and plunges through the back door, crashing into an unknown man--and 1817.

A voyage through time? Impossible. Richard refuses to believe the strange woman's outlandish tale. Still, the lady is lost and alone, and he helps the stranded wayfarer.

But as attraction flares between these two lonely people, Richard's family legend grinds to its ultimate fulfillment--will it bring them together, or tear them apart forever?

And while we're talking promotion, on Wednesday August 27 from 5-6 PM EDT, I will be in Coffeetime Romance's Latte Lounge. I will post an excerpt, answer questions, and have a contest. Come and join me, especially since I have a whole hour, which I didn't expect, and I have to fill it up somehow.

How's that for shameless promotion?

Thank you all,

Linda

I'm a Published Author, Right?

Maybe, maybe not.

My first published story, Lady of the Stars, will be out soon from The Wild Rose Press. According to the Romance Writers of America (RWA), I’m a published author because an RWA recognized publisher (non-subsidy, non-vanity, which means I will get royalties) is publishing my novella (about 25,000 words—the RWA defines a novella as a work between 20,000 and 40,000 words).

Sounds like I meet all the definitions.

However, there are other definitions.

The Wild Rose Press is an e-publisher. E-publishing is the newest game in town. I think eventually e-publishing will outpace print publishing. But—and this but is a large one—it may not happen anytime soon.

Right now, e-publishing makes up a miniscule piece of the publishing market—the percentage I heard is 1%. Yes, that number is correct--one per cent. An e-published book is a best seller if it sells 100 copies. A print book can sell that many copies in the first half hour it’s on the shelves. So, as far as the print world is concerned, I’m small potatoes.

If you notice, I've said nothing about whether or not I have a good, well-written story. It all comes down to the money. As an e-pubbed writer, I do not have the audience a print–pubbed author has, translated into not as many people will buy my book.

Which is why I’m here blogging, trying to convince people that my story is good, and you should buy it.

A very good blog on publishing trends is Maya Reynold’s blog at

http://www.mayareynoldswriter.blogspot.com/

And, no, Maya isn’t paying me for the plug.

Thank you all,

Linda

To Blog Or Not To Blog, That Is The Question (My Apologies to the Bard)

We authors have to blog, right?

Maybe, maybe not.

Published authors say you have to blog. It's part of promotion.

It's also part of getting an agent's or publisher's attention. When you send out that query letter, the first thing she (I'm assuming romance agents and editors, and most of them are female) will do is click over to your blog to see how you write. Forget that she has your letter if front of her. A letter is formal, on-your-best-behavior writing, and it should be. First impressions are important. Even if you live in jeans, you wouldn't go to a wedding wearing them. A blog is, or may be, a better indicator of how you really write.

But here's another take on blogging, as a form of online promotion, on Romancing The Blog

http://www.romancingtheblog.com/blog/2008/07/25/the-bottom-line-on-online-promo

According to this article (written on a blog, natch), blogs now saturate the web. How will anyone find mine? Either I spend all my time flitting from blog to blog, or I write a book.

I grant you, I don't spend too much time on my blog, only about an hour or so week. It probably shows. And even with that minimal effort, I spend half the time cajoling it past Blogger's html, which doesn't like the header information Word puts into the master file. Ah, the wonders of technology. This week I'm trying OpenOffice. Let's see if it helps.

So, to blog or not to blog? I think I'll keep it up for a while.

And for us newbie authors out there, lose the "that" as the subject of a sentence. I'll remind Shakespeare the next time I see him.

Thank you all,

Linda

And How Did You Become An Author?

I lost the contest.

A subtitle to this blog entry should be Contests I. (Another note for newbie writers—no subtitles).

In 2007, The Wild Rose Press ran a contest for time travel stories, the winners to be published. They also promised a free critique.

Free critique! Yes! But when you don't pay for the contest, you have to write a story to the contest's specifications. So I wrote a time travel story.

As stated above, I didn't win. Looking back, of course I didn't win. I didn't even know what POV (Point of View) was when I wrote the story. I'm lucky they didn't take one look and send back a form letter saying thanks, but no thanks.

What they did send was a different form letter, saying they liked the story and would reconsider if I removed the contest-specific details.

Well, by that time I'd found out what POV was, courtesy of the Roses Self-Editing Workshop (http://www.rosescoloredglasses.com/Online%20Workshops.htm). Good course, and the Roses are NOT paying me for this plug.

I rewrote the story and resubmitted. The story returned with the instruction that the hero and heroines needed more physical reactions to the situation. I went to Joanna Waugh's website and her Body Language Cues to Emotion (http://www.joannawaugh.com/Craft.html). Joanna has a great website, full of lots of information for Regency readers and writers, and again, she did NOT pay me for the plug.

I rewrote and resubmitted. And two months later, the editor replied saying she wanted to contract my novella, Lady of the Stars.

Ah, an HEA (Happily Ever After). Exactly what romance is.

Thank you all,

Linda