If you know what this is, I don't have to explain.If you don't know what this is, especially if you're an author looking for new and innovative ways to reach out to readers, read this CNN article.
*
Why yes, I am a geek. Why do you ask?
Monday, March 28, 2011
If you know what this is, I don't have to explain.
Rollercoaster week.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Wow, what a week. My bff moved back in a couple of weeks ago, and brought her cat (which she had before when she lived with us) and her daughter's cat (daughter couldn't take care of her anymore). The daughter's cat, Hekate, we adopted.
I took her to the vet on Monday and left her to be spayed on Tuesday. No big deal, healthy 7-month-old cat, routine operation.
While I was in Tampa on Tuesday with my mother at a doctor's appointment for my grandfather, I received a call from my vet. She was in tears and explained Hekate died in post-op. They tried to revive her and couldn't.
Wow.
I was stunned. I'd gone from enjoying having a cat I could actually let have the run of my house (unlike our old cat who had...issues with his litter pan) to...not. I'd fallen in love with her in the short time she'd been with us.
When hubby got home that night he hugged me and told me to go to the shelter and adopt another one. So bff and I went over yesterday and...
Well, after having to haggle with the first adoption counselor (who was insisting I bring all FOUR of my dogs in to the shelter and I told him under no circumstances was THAT happening) and getting a supervisor involved who obviously chose to use reason and common sense over "da rulz" we brought home Sapphire.
She's a gorgeous Siamese mix, she looks a lot like a tabby but she's got the Siamese mocha coloration. She's VERY mellow and I could tell from her reactions she was miserable at the shelter. Not spooky at all, 7 years old, and just sat there and let my four dogs sniff her all over without trying to bolt or anything. LOL
Now comes the journey of renaming her. I'm leaning toward Ganesha or Brigid, but not sure yet.
I took her to the vet on Monday and left her to be spayed on Tuesday. No big deal, healthy 7-month-old cat, routine operation.
While I was in Tampa on Tuesday with my mother at a doctor's appointment for my grandfather, I received a call from my vet. She was in tears and explained Hekate died in post-op. They tried to revive her and couldn't.
Wow.
I was stunned. I'd gone from enjoying having a cat I could actually let have the run of my house (unlike our old cat who had...issues with his litter pan) to...not. I'd fallen in love with her in the short time she'd been with us.
When hubby got home that night he hugged me and told me to go to the shelter and adopt another one. So bff and I went over yesterday and...
Well, after having to haggle with the first adoption counselor (who was insisting I bring all FOUR of my dogs in to the shelter and I told him under no circumstances was THAT happening) and getting a supervisor involved who obviously chose to use reason and common sense over "da rulz" we brought home Sapphire.
She's a gorgeous Siamese mix, she looks a lot like a tabby but she's got the Siamese mocha coloration. She's VERY mellow and I could tell from her reactions she was miserable at the shelter. Not spooky at all, 7 years old, and just sat there and let my four dogs sniff her all over without trying to bolt or anything. LOL
Now comes the journey of renaming her. I'm leaning toward Ganesha or Brigid, but not sure yet.
Go fly your own damn kite.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
I know that not everything I write is…mainstream. *cough* It’s not everyone’s cuppa. That’s fine, I get that. What I don’t get is when someone slams something I write not based on the writing or story or, say, something logical like editing or whatever, but because it’s not the way THEY do things.
Huh?
Um, yeah.
Now, when writing BDSM, believe me, I’ve researched the topic. I’ve had manuscripts vetted by people with decades of lifestyle experience. I’m not pulling stuff out of my ass and making it up. (Well, I’m making up the story, of course, but I’m talking about the technical aspects.)
I write about aspects of BDSM that work with the characters and the story I’m weaving. Is it the way everyone does their BDSM? No, of course not. No two people in the lifestyle are exactly alike. It’s like any other hobby. It’d be like slamming someone who flies kites for not flying the same type of kite you do. Does it get off the ground? Do you enjoy flying it? Yes? Then STFU and let me fly my kite.
I realize that a gay Leatherman in San Francisco might practice a different type of kink than a married het couple in Florida, which will be different than a twenty-something in New York City. But it doesn’t make it wrong, just different.
Instead of slamming a book for portraying a different kind of kink than you’re familiar with, try learning from it and relaxing into the story. But don’t slam the book just because it’s “not the way you do it.”
Many of the things I write about in BDSM are either based on conversations with people in the lifestyle or things I’ve personally witnessed first-hand. I don’t go to every BDSM club or private residence to see how everyone else in the whole world does it. I write about what works for my characters and my plot and no, it isn’t the way everyone does it. It’s not even meant to be a commentary on how it “should” be done. It’s simply meant to work within the confines of the story I’m writing.
In other words, if you don’t like what someone writes about BDSM, go fly your own kite and leave the rest of us alone.
Promo is NOT Optional
Thursday, March 10, 2011
You struggle and work and sweat and cry and bleed and rip a piece of your guts out and -- finally -- you have a book and it's *gasp!* accepted by a publisher.
That was the easy part.
As an author in today's digital age, you cannot breathe a huge sigh of relief and go on to the next book without a look back. I've talked about this before, but you are competing against a huge (and ever growing) pool of writers who are just as hungry to sell their books as you are.
The problem for you, of course, is if they're even more hungry to sell books than you are.
Now, there is a right way to promo your work and a wrong way. I've briefly touched on the wrong way (spamming, annoying the crap out of people, doing diddly squat). I've also mentioned a few avenues for the right ways (Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, e-mail lists, blogging).
But if you do nothing but put out a few posts when the book comes out and then sit back and chill, don't be surprised if your royalty statements reflect that. And it's not the publisher's fault (usually).
It's yours.
In the good ole' days of publishing, publishers put money behind their authors, set up press junkets, and paid advances that allowed bigger name writers to hire publicists to help get the word out.
That was pre-social networking, and before the destruction of the archaic publishing model as we knew it for decades. Now, publishers cannot afford to spend money on unknowns, and if you're signed with a small indie publisher, they usually can't afford to spend money on ads. (There are exceptions, of course, but many can't.)
You are competing against a ton of other authors for space on readers' TBR list. You want to develop a presence with readers that makes them want to immediately click on your buy link and download your book to their device. You want to be more than just a byline on a book cover -- you want to be a personality. You want to give them value-added content, be it free stories or funny or informative blog posts or whatever. You want to keep your name out there as a participant on e-mail lists or social networking circles or whatever it is you choose to use for promotions.
If you sit back on your ass and wait for sales, good luck with that. You should be prepared to see your figures in the toilet. You should spend as much time on your promotions (and again, this doesn't have to involve money, just a lot of time and effort) as you do on your writing.
And if you can't stomach the thought of doing that, then maybe this isn't the right line of work for you. Sorry for the tough love there, but I get tired of hearing newbie writers lamenting poor sales, and when I ask them how much promo they do they say they don't. Or worse, they say they hate to promote themselves, so they don't do it.
We're not talking spamming people. We're talking getting your name out there, building a brand, a presence people can get to know, and working your tuckus off to keep you name out there on a regular basis. No, it's not an overnight thing, and sometimes it will take two or three or four books to really start to see a building sales trend from your backlist as more people get to know you, but like anything worth investing in, the more effort you put into it, the more return you will get.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
That was the easy part.
As an author in today's digital age, you cannot breathe a huge sigh of relief and go on to the next book without a look back. I've talked about this before, but you are competing against a huge (and ever growing) pool of writers who are just as hungry to sell their books as you are.
The problem for you, of course, is if they're even more hungry to sell books than you are.
Now, there is a right way to promo your work and a wrong way. I've briefly touched on the wrong way (spamming, annoying the crap out of people, doing diddly squat). I've also mentioned a few avenues for the right ways (Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, e-mail lists, blogging).
But if you do nothing but put out a few posts when the book comes out and then sit back and chill, don't be surprised if your royalty statements reflect that. And it's not the publisher's fault (usually).
It's yours.
In the good ole' days of publishing, publishers put money behind their authors, set up press junkets, and paid advances that allowed bigger name writers to hire publicists to help get the word out.
That was pre-social networking, and before the destruction of the archaic publishing model as we knew it for decades. Now, publishers cannot afford to spend money on unknowns, and if you're signed with a small indie publisher, they usually can't afford to spend money on ads. (There are exceptions, of course, but many can't.)
You are competing against a ton of other authors for space on readers' TBR list. You want to develop a presence with readers that makes them want to immediately click on your buy link and download your book to their device. You want to be more than just a byline on a book cover -- you want to be a personality. You want to give them value-added content, be it free stories or funny or informative blog posts or whatever. You want to keep your name out there as a participant on e-mail lists or social networking circles or whatever it is you choose to use for promotions.
If you sit back on your ass and wait for sales, good luck with that. You should be prepared to see your figures in the toilet. You should spend as much time on your promotions (and again, this doesn't have to involve money, just a lot of time and effort) as you do on your writing.
And if you can't stomach the thought of doing that, then maybe this isn't the right line of work for you. Sorry for the tough love there, but I get tired of hearing newbie writers lamenting poor sales, and when I ask them how much promo they do they say they don't. Or worse, they say they hate to promote themselves, so they don't do it.
We're not talking spamming people. We're talking getting your name out there, building a brand, a presence people can get to know, and working your tuckus off to keep you name out there on a regular basis. No, it's not an overnight thing, and sometimes it will take two or three or four books to really start to see a building sales trend from your backlist as more people get to know you, but like anything worth investing in, the more effort you put into it, the more return you will get.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Author Tools: Amazon
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Okay, a quick blog post for today. Did you know you can take advantage of the author pages on Amazon.com?
https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/landing
You can set up your bio, link multiple pen names into one account, edit book info (great if your back copy blurb is one mashed paragraph as sometimes happens), add pictures, and link your blog RSS feed so it shows up on your author page automagically. You can also easily access customer reviews, see your sales rankings, and more.
And don't forget product tagging. You should be tagging ALL your books with the appropriate (key word there, no pun intended) tags. For example, if your book is a steamy menage about cowboys, then you definitely want to tag with your pen name(s), erotica, erotic romance, cowboy erotica, things like that.
Do NOT tag with generic tags trying to get more hits. It won't work. The more specific the tags, the better. The more people who agree with a tag, the higher up in the ranks it will travel.
And play with tags -- you can have discussions set up by topic. For example, click on your pen name tag and voila, you'll see where you can start discussions. (Or, hopefully, fans will.)
Remember, do NOT spam Amazon discussion forums with pleas to buy and review your book. That will get you boycotted by people (NOT what you want to happen). Participate as a fellow reader and recommend books that aren't yours. If a discussion is applicable to your book, then by all means (if that forum doesn't frown on self-promotion) mention your book.
Do NOT under any circumstances mention your book if it has little to do with the discussion! I cannot emphasize that enough!
This free set of tools is invaluable. Don't overlook it!
https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/landing
You can set up your bio, link multiple pen names into one account, edit book info (great if your back copy blurb is one mashed paragraph as sometimes happens), add pictures, and link your blog RSS feed so it shows up on your author page automagically. You can also easily access customer reviews, see your sales rankings, and more.
And don't forget product tagging. You should be tagging ALL your books with the appropriate (key word there, no pun intended) tags. For example, if your book is a steamy menage about cowboys, then you definitely want to tag with your pen name(s), erotica, erotic romance, cowboy erotica, things like that.
Do NOT tag with generic tags trying to get more hits. It won't work. The more specific the tags, the better. The more people who agree with a tag, the higher up in the ranks it will travel.
And play with tags -- you can have discussions set up by topic. For example, click on your pen name tag and voila, you'll see where you can start discussions. (Or, hopefully, fans will.)
Remember, do NOT spam Amazon discussion forums with pleas to buy and review your book. That will get you boycotted by people (NOT what you want to happen). Participate as a fellow reader and recommend books that aren't yours. If a discussion is applicable to your book, then by all means (if that forum doesn't frown on self-promotion) mention your book.
Do NOT under any circumstances mention your book if it has little to do with the discussion! I cannot emphasize that enough!
This free set of tools is invaluable. Don't overlook it!
WOOT! "Good Will Ghost Hunting: Demon Seed" now in print!!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
*WOOT!* *Snoopy Dancing!*
"Good Will Ghost Hunting: Demon Seed" is now out in print, AND... as of this writing it's currently ranked at 29,165 on Amazon.com!!!! WOW on it's FIRST day on Amazon!!!
I...am...SPEECHLESS!! (Well, okay, not really speechless, y'all know me better than that!! LOL)
Woot!!
Here's the Amazon.com link: http://www.amazon.com/Good-Will-Ghost-Hunting-Demon/dp/1936356112/
And you can get it in e-format on Kindle or directly through my publisher at http://captivapress.com
And congratulations to my fellow Captiva Press authors Anthony Stevens and Vicky Burkholder, because their books, "Crazy Taylor" and "Prime Time" (respectively) are also out in print today! :)
*more Snoopy Dancing!*
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