The holidays are here! I've written a new note to readers on the HOME page of my website and included information on The Roses of Prose free holiday read, A Holiday to Remember there and on the BOOKS page. Check it out....
Speaking of A Holiday to Remember, the first chapter is available now at The Roses of Prose. Be sure to check back every day of December for further installments....
I'll be at Sweethearts of the West tomorrow discussing more holiday reads. I'm bringing some Bing and roasted chestnuts, too, so don't miss out....
And finally, I've updated both my Facebook and Twitter pages for the holiday season. A shout-out and thank you to all friends and followers!
Showing posts with label facebook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label facebook. Show all posts
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Jenna McClure: A Newbie’s Guide to Facebook & Twitter
Today we continue 30 Days of Promo Goodness with author Jenna McClure! Jenna
grew up in the urban south, but moved to Colorado to satisfy her desire for fresh air, mountains, lots of snow and wide open spaces. She became a vegetarian in 2003 after seeing a graphic film about animal cruelty. A long-time romantic, she has been reading romance novels since her sister introduced them to her as a teenager. She finally decided to merge her love of animals and studly men into a romance novel. She lives outside Denver with a gloriously goofy greyhound and two cats, one is deaf and the other extremely talkative, and all of which are named after some of her favorite fictional characters. Animal Attraction is her first published novel.
Take it away, Jenna....
If you’re like me, then the thought of doing anything approaching marketing and promotion of your new book gives you the heebie jeebies. You may be thinking “What does the word promotion even mean? Isn’t that where I get more responsbility and more money at work??” For those of us who work in the corporate world, yes, that’s what the word usually means. For an author, however, it means getting out of your comfort zone and learning how to sell yourself and your book so you can make money and become rich and famous. Doesn’t sound too hard, does it??
For me, it sounded VERY hard. I’m in introvert, which means I need more alone time than I do time with other people. So thinking about how to deal with strangers and telling them why they should read my book made me lose sleep and gain weight. But I’ve come to realize you can still be an introvert and deal with those strangers in a relatively pain-free and stree-free way. Want to know how?
It’s call SOCIAL MEDIA!
In this digital age of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and all the other media I don’t even know about, you can easily and quickly promote yourself and your book without leaving the comfort of your own home. You can even do it in your pajamas if you want. The two I use most often are Facebook and Twitter.
Facebook
If you already have a Facebook (FB) account, you’re halfway there. But did you know there is a difference between a FB profile and a FB page? Now, you may be thinking “What the heck is a FB page?”. It’s basically another way to manage your account with having to add “friends”. For example, here is my FB profile. You can see that I am able to find and friends, edit my personal profile and share what’s on my mind. But if you go to my FB page here, you can see that I have no friends, only “Likes”, and most of my personal profile information is not showing. I can still edit my page and determine if I want users to be able to post to my page, but my friends’ posts do not automatically show up, nor can they see who my friends are. Basically, one of the primary differences between a profile and a page is the information that gets shared and how you manage it. For more information on this, please visit the Facebook Help Center here.
Twitter
When I first learned about Twitter, my initial reaction was “Why would I want the whole world to know what I’m doing every five minutes, and why would anyone care?” Now that I’m an author, however, my viewpoint has changed. I do want the whole world to know about my book, and I do care if people are reading it. So I’ve learned how to tweet. A “tweet” is simply a 140-character message that is sent out to your “followers”. Followers see what you’ve tweeted about, and can re-tweet your tweet to their followers, so potentially your message can reach a LOT of people. You can even link your FB account to your Twitter account, so every time you post on FB, it gets out on Twitter too.
The key to both of these outlets is to actually use them! You have to share what’s going on with your book – the release date, the cover art, a blurb and an excerpt, your website, your blog, etc – anything and everything you want potential readers to know about it that will make them curious and tempt them to read it. And don’t be shy! Start following people and groups on Twitter. What do you like to do? Chances are there is a Twitter feed from someone in that hiking or quilting club you can follow. Who are your favorite authors? I bet most of them tweet. The more people you follow, and the more you tweet, the more followers you will get. Post news and updates on your FB account. If your budget allows, create a FB ad and let it help you promote.
Some other ways to promote are to join groups, loops and guest blogs. Yahoo! has a lot of groups from which to choose. Look at what your publisher offers – do they have blogs and loops you can join? If so, join them. Look at what other authors are doing. Offer to be a guest blogger for a day, or ask for someone to be your guest blogger. Create author pages on Amazon and any other legitimate site that has to do with publishing and/or writing. Have business cards or bookmarks made with your cover art and a blurb, and pass them out to book club members, family, friends, coworkers and random strangers you see reading (just be polite!). If you have a nice family and friends, they may even pass them out for you! Talk to your local bookstores. Do they offer any special opportunities for local authors?
The ways you can promote your book are seemingly endless, but the important thing to remember is…you have to do something if you want readers to find you. Good luck!
Thank you, Jenna, for the advice for newbies! Readers, tune in tomorrow for a glimpse into Jenna's debut novel, Animal Attraction!
grew up in the urban south, but moved to Colorado to satisfy her desire for fresh air, mountains, lots of snow and wide open spaces. She became a vegetarian in 2003 after seeing a graphic film about animal cruelty. A long-time romantic, she has been reading romance novels since her sister introduced them to her as a teenager. She finally decided to merge her love of animals and studly men into a romance novel. She lives outside Denver with a gloriously goofy greyhound and two cats, one is deaf and the other extremely talkative, and all of which are named after some of her favorite fictional characters. Animal Attraction is her first published novel.
Take it away, Jenna....
If you’re like me, then the thought of doing anything approaching marketing and promotion of your new book gives you the heebie jeebies. You may be thinking “What does the word promotion even mean? Isn’t that where I get more responsbility and more money at work??” For those of us who work in the corporate world, yes, that’s what the word usually means. For an author, however, it means getting out of your comfort zone and learning how to sell yourself and your book so you can make money and become rich and famous. Doesn’t sound too hard, does it??
For me, it sounded VERY hard. I’m in introvert, which means I need more alone time than I do time with other people. So thinking about how to deal with strangers and telling them why they should read my book made me lose sleep and gain weight. But I’ve come to realize you can still be an introvert and deal with those strangers in a relatively pain-free and stree-free way. Want to know how?
It’s call SOCIAL MEDIA!
In this digital age of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and all the other media I don’t even know about, you can easily and quickly promote yourself and your book without leaving the comfort of your own home. You can even do it in your pajamas if you want. The two I use most often are Facebook and Twitter.
If you already have a Facebook (FB) account, you’re halfway there. But did you know there is a difference between a FB profile and a FB page? Now, you may be thinking “What the heck is a FB page?”. It’s basically another way to manage your account with having to add “friends”. For example, here is my FB profile. You can see that I am able to find and friends, edit my personal profile and share what’s on my mind. But if you go to my FB page here, you can see that I have no friends, only “Likes”, and most of my personal profile information is not showing. I can still edit my page and determine if I want users to be able to post to my page, but my friends’ posts do not automatically show up, nor can they see who my friends are. Basically, one of the primary differences between a profile and a page is the information that gets shared and how you manage it. For more information on this, please visit the Facebook Help Center here.
When I first learned about Twitter, my initial reaction was “Why would I want the whole world to know what I’m doing every five minutes, and why would anyone care?” Now that I’m an author, however, my viewpoint has changed. I do want the whole world to know about my book, and I do care if people are reading it. So I’ve learned how to tweet. A “tweet” is simply a 140-character message that is sent out to your “followers”. Followers see what you’ve tweeted about, and can re-tweet your tweet to their followers, so potentially your message can reach a LOT of people. You can even link your FB account to your Twitter account, so every time you post on FB, it gets out on Twitter too.
The key to both of these outlets is to actually use them! You have to share what’s going on with your book – the release date, the cover art, a blurb and an excerpt, your website, your blog, etc – anything and everything you want potential readers to know about it that will make them curious and tempt them to read it. And don’t be shy! Start following people and groups on Twitter. What do you like to do? Chances are there is a Twitter feed from someone in that hiking or quilting club you can follow. Who are your favorite authors? I bet most of them tweet. The more people you follow, and the more you tweet, the more followers you will get. Post news and updates on your FB account. If your budget allows, create a FB ad and let it help you promote.
Some other ways to promote are to join groups, loops and guest blogs. Yahoo! has a lot of groups from which to choose. Look at what your publisher offers – do they have blogs and loops you can join? If so, join them. Look at what other authors are doing. Offer to be a guest blogger for a day, or ask for someone to be your guest blogger. Create author pages on Amazon and any other legitimate site that has to do with publishing and/or writing. Have business cards or bookmarks made with your cover art and a blurb, and pass them out to book club members, family, friends, coworkers and random strangers you see reading (just be polite!). If you have a nice family and friends, they may even pass them out for you! Talk to your local bookstores. Do they offer any special opportunities for local authors?
The ways you can promote your book are seemingly endless, but the important thing to remember is…you have to do something if you want readers to find you. Good luck!
Thank you, Jenna, for the advice for newbies! Readers, tune in tomorrow for a glimpse into Jenna's debut novel, Animal Attraction!
Monday, June 13, 2011
June Newsletter
This month's newsletter has officially been sent out! If you did not receive this email, you can access it for a limited time only here or join my exclusive reader newsletter by clicking the pink button on the right sidebar. The June newsletter includes a free audio book via Facebook, a special Kindle announcement as well as a character interview with one of my favorite cowboys!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Fool for Romance Contest
FOOL FOR ROMANCE CONTEST: To enter the Fool for Romance Contest for a Kindle, a $15 Starbucks Gift Card and other awesome prizes, read carefully the rules at the bottom of this post. Thank you!
I'm a fool for romance! That's why I thought becoming a participant of this year's Fool for Romance Contest was appropriate. And since I added a coffee-related prize to the contest, I thought I would include this coffee-related excerpt from 1st Place Novella Blackest Heart....
Stella snuck into the kitchen early the next morning, hoping no one was up and about yet. She still didn’t know if she could face her father or Casey. After pulling a mug off the cabinet shelf, she poured steaming, fragrant black coffee from the fresh pot.
Taking the first sip, she closed her eyes on a blissful sigh. Starbucks was nothing compared to Nuala.
She went to the bay window overlooking the Range. The light of dawn was so fragile this time of morning. The sky was just beginning to turn from that dreamy blue hue to delicate pink. She usually didn’t wake up so early, but she hadn’t been able to shake the nightmares on her second night home.
The sound of a truck engine reached her ears moments before a pickup came into view, pulling a small horse trailer. She pursed her lips, curious, when she didn’t see the Range logo on either and waited while the driver backed into a spot near the stable entrance.
Her heart stuttered when Judd Black got out of the driver’s door. A stunned breath filled her lungs, surprising her. She watched him open the trailer doors and guide that big, black stallion out. Something inside her warmed when he lifted a hand to the diamond between its eyes and caressed, standing close in that sweet, predawn light.
She tore her gaze away from them, feeling like a giggly teeny-bopper spying on her first crush. With a shake of her head, she remembered how she’d lain in bed for hours the night before trying to get his mysterious eyes and the feel of his hands on her face out of her mind.
No more, she vowed.
Alas, I'm not able to offer a trip out west to Nuala's kitchen at Ridge Range, but I am offering the next best thing to the winner's prize package: a $15 Starbucks Gift Card!
***In order to qualify for a Kindle and tons of other awesome prizes listed here, readers must do at least one of the following...
1. Comment to this post
2. Friend me on Facebook OR tweet #foolforromance and a link to this page to @ALeighWilliams (Be sure to mention @ALeighWilliams or I won't see the tweet!)
3. If you do not have a Facebook or Twitter account, send an email to amber@amberleighwilliams.com. I will count that as an entry!
4. When commenting to this post, be sure to let me know that you have either friended me, tweeted me, or send me an email. If you have any questions, include them here in the comment section. I should answer quickly!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Reader's Choice: Academy Awards Party
So this year I'm hosting my first Academy Awards Party - really just an intimate watch party here at home with hors d'oeuvres and sparkling cider but I will be taking this opportunity to dress up. I went into my closet this morning to see what I have to wear. I came up with a couple of options, but just like Halloween last year I want the readers to vote on their favorite. I will take the majority favorite and wear it Sunday for the event. The good news is that my new Gianni shoes go with both of these options! Here are the nominees....
A) Pink Sheath - I love this dress first and foremost for the color and secondly for the beading which angles up and gives it a little something extra. It's very springy yet elegant enough for my imaginary red carpet. Yes, we will be practicing our red carpet cat walks as well as our winning moment faces....
A) Pink Sheath - I love this dress first and foremost for the color and secondly for the beading which angles up and gives it a little something extra. It's very springy yet elegant enough for my imaginary red carpet. Yes, we will be practicing our red carpet cat walks as well as our winning moment faces....
B) Ivory Halter - I bought this dress for my rehearsal dinner but never got to wear it. It really needs a night out soon, I think. It's very light (don't worry, it's 70-something degrees on the Coast and we'll have a nice fire going for ambience, I'm sure) and flirty....
And here, just for reference, are the Gianni Bini's I got for Christmas which I haven't had a chance to wear either! Whichever dress you choose, Cozies, I'll be pairing them with these puppies....
Feel free to comment with your answer to this post or, if you prefer, tweet your preference t0 @ALeighWilliams! You can also reply with an answer on Facebook. Saturday evening I will tally up your votes and announce the winner. And, of course, on Monday I'll post party pics with my Oscars recap!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Website & Banners
Hi Cozies! This week I'm doing a number of promotional projects. The Cozy Page's 20 Questions Valentine's Event is well underway. Within forty-eight hours, the fourteen guest spots were booked tight. I'm excited to announce that there are tons of surprises and goodies in store. In a day or two, I'll pin up the official guest author list and more details!
Secondly, I finally decided to take the plunge and design a website through Wordpress. It's an intense, learning process, but it's the best option for me. This way I'll be able to do updates on a regular basis. The good news is that I'm confident my current website domain name (http://www.amberleighwilliams.com/) will not change. As soon as Wordpress is mapped to my existing domain, I'll get started on building my new ALW Website! Of course, as soon as I'm satisfied with the new site there will be a big announcement here at Cozy and I'll send out a reader newsletter!
Last on my to-do list this week is a promotions workshop administrated by fellow GCCRWA member and TWRP author, Sayde Grace. I'm always excited to learn new skills, especially in the book marketing milieu. I now have several website and book banners to show for it. Readers, if you'd like to grab a banner, be my guest. I've uploaded a few to the Miscellany album on Facebook. As soon as I develop an 20 Questions Valentine's Event banner, I'll be posting it here!
Secondly, I finally decided to take the plunge and design a website through Wordpress. It's an intense, learning process, but it's the best option for me. This way I'll be able to do updates on a regular basis. The good news is that I'm confident my current website domain name (http://www.amberleighwilliams.com/) will not change. As soon as Wordpress is mapped to my existing domain, I'll get started on building my new ALW Website! Of course, as soon as I'm satisfied with the new site there will be a big announcement here at Cozy and I'll send out a reader newsletter!
Last on my to-do list this week is a promotions workshop administrated by fellow GCCRWA member and TWRP author, Sayde Grace. I'm always excited to learn new skills, especially in the book marketing milieu. I now have several website and book banners to show for it. Readers, if you'd like to grab a banner, be my guest. I've uploaded a few to the Miscellany album on Facebook. As soon as I develop an 20 Questions Valentine's Event banner, I'll be posting it here!
Monday, December 20, 2010
A Year in Review...
We're getting to the end of the year. Only a couple of weeks until 2011. It's natural for us all to consider our yearly achievements as December comes to a close. Since I did something similar last year, here's a list of the exciting things that happened in my writing life and here on The Cozy Page:
January's Cowboy Lovin' - This time last year I was brainstorming how to get all my favorite western romance writers together in one place to have the ultimate western romance extravaganza! Friends and readers came to The Cozy Page in numbers to participate in cowboy-themed giveaways, see their favorite western guest authors, and join in the cowboy round robin. It started 2010 with a bang here at the ol' blog and I loved seeing all the western romance supporters coming together to celebrate the sub-genre. In fact, I'm thinking about doing something similar in Spring 2011. Stay tuned ;)
Back-to-Back Releases and Goodbye to the Ridges - In early January while we were throwing down with Cowboy Lovin', I marked the launch of the second book in my Wayback Ridge trilogy, Bluest Heart, which to date is the bestselling book in the trilogy. Two months later, in March, I had a parting of the ways with all those entertaining Ridge family characters when the final book in the trilogy, Bet It On My Heart, was published by The Wild Rose Press. That same week, it was voted Book of the Week by readers at Long & Short Reviews. This release was the most bittersweet I've experienced. I worked on the three Wayback Ridge novellas for nearly two years and didn't want to say goodbye. The occassion, however, was an especially sweet one not just because Blackest Heart, Bluest Heart, and Bet It On My Heart are my most successful titles to date or because Bet It On My Heart was one of the last titles published under TWRP's much-loved Wayback, TX series. I became the only author with three books in the multi-authored series, and I'm still thrilled that the editors at TWRP thought these works worthy of such an honor.
Best Book of 2009 Nomination - In February, I learned that my historical romance, Forever Amore, was nominated for Best Book of 2009 by the reviewers of Long & Short Reviews. I do believe the hero and heroine, Charles and Lucille, are still beaming with pride - as, of course, am I!
3rd Paranormal Romance Completion - March and April weren't easy months. Among other things, my beloved laptop, Keats, died in an electrical surge and I was without a computer for several weeks. For a writer, there is nothing worse than not having the proper technological channel for creative venting. As it happened, I was in the midst of my third paranormal romance - all of which I thought had been fried on the hard drive with other works in progress. I was devastated until a saintly computer specialist (who shall be receiving a Christmas card this year from these grateful peeps) recovered the files. Meanwhile, my parents gave me a desktop that had belonged to my sister on which I completed the third paranormal. It came out to be a whopping 107,000 words - my longest manuscript since completing Forever Amore's first draft in December 2004, which came in at 140,000 (later revised and published at 75,000). This also marked the mid-way point for a five-part series I officially began work on in November 2008.
Literary Representation - In early May, six years of searching for an agent as passionate about my work as I am came to a close. Many thanks and heartfelt wishes go out to Joyce Holland and the D4EO Literary Agency!
The Ridges Go Audio - When I learned that TWRP would be selecting several titles to be published in audio book format, I had no idea that the Wayback Ridge trilogy would be among them. In July, I received the news that the Ridges were going to be strutting their stuff in the audio-verse! It was such a pleasure to work with AudioLark and the Ridges again. The audio book collection launched in September, becoming my first foray into audible and capping off my first publication triad - paperback, ebook, and audio!
Sweethearts of the West - In October, I was invited to become a part of a new western romance grog called Sweethearts of the West along with several authors from The Wild Rose Press and Harlequin/Silhouette. I blog with the Sweethearts once a month, usually around the 3rd, and I'm having a lot of fun discussing my favorite subject - cowboys and western romance - in more detail.
Social Networking Surprises - My author profile on Facebook reached 500 friends this winter! Similarly, I also reached 300 Twitter followers and may even reach 400 before the New Year. Thank you to those who have connected with me via social networking. I promise to be just as, if not more so, interesting in the new year ;)
As for non-writing related notables, I watched oil wash onshore at my local beaches in May and my favorite college football team is going to a national championship for the first time in 50+ years. On a more private note, I experienced a lot of things I never thought I would have to go through and learned quite a bit about myself and others along the way. It's been a turbulent and remarkable year in equal measure and I'm looking to the new year with much anticipation!
Merry Christmas, Cozies!
January's Cowboy Lovin' - This time last year I was brainstorming how to get all my favorite western romance writers together in one place to have the ultimate western romance extravaganza! Friends and readers came to The Cozy Page in numbers to participate in cowboy-themed giveaways, see their favorite western guest authors, and join in the cowboy round robin. It started 2010 with a bang here at the ol' blog and I loved seeing all the western romance supporters coming together to celebrate the sub-genre. In fact, I'm thinking about doing something similar in Spring 2011. Stay tuned ;)Back-to-Back Releases and Goodbye to the Ridges - In early January while we were throwing down with Cowboy Lovin', I marked the launch of the second book in my Wayback Ridge trilogy, Bluest Heart, which to date is the bestselling book in the trilogy. Two months later, in March, I had a parting of the ways with all those entertaining Ridge family characters when the final book in the trilogy, Bet It On My Heart, was published by The Wild Rose Press. That same week, it was voted Book of the Week by readers at Long & Short Reviews. This release was the most bittersweet I've experienced. I worked on the three Wayback Ridge novellas for nearly two years and didn't want to say goodbye. The occassion, however, was an especially sweet one not just because Blackest Heart, Bluest Heart, and Bet It On My Heart are my most successful titles to date or because Bet It On My Heart was one of the last titles published under TWRP's much-loved Wayback, TX series. I became the only author with three books in the multi-authored series, and I'm still thrilled that the editors at TWRP thought these works worthy of such an honor.
Best Book of 2009 Nomination - In February, I learned that my historical romance, Forever Amore, was nominated for Best Book of 2009 by the reviewers of Long & Short Reviews. I do believe the hero and heroine, Charles and Lucille, are still beaming with pride - as, of course, am I!3rd Paranormal Romance Completion - March and April weren't easy months. Among other things, my beloved laptop, Keats, died in an electrical surge and I was without a computer for several weeks. For a writer, there is nothing worse than not having the proper technological channel for creative venting. As it happened, I was in the midst of my third paranormal romance - all of which I thought had been fried on the hard drive with other works in progress. I was devastated until a saintly computer specialist (who shall be receiving a Christmas card this year from these grateful peeps) recovered the files. Meanwhile, my parents gave me a desktop that had belonged to my sister on which I completed the third paranormal. It came out to be a whopping 107,000 words - my longest manuscript since completing Forever Amore's first draft in December 2004, which came in at 140,000 (later revised and published at 75,000). This also marked the mid-way point for a five-part series I officially began work on in November 2008.
Literary Representation - In early May, six years of searching for an agent as passionate about my work as I am came to a close. Many thanks and heartfelt wishes go out to Joyce Holland and the D4EO Literary Agency!
The Ridges Go Audio - When I learned that TWRP would be selecting several titles to be published in audio book format, I had no idea that the Wayback Ridge trilogy would be among them. In July, I received the news that the Ridges were going to be strutting their stuff in the audio-verse! It was such a pleasure to work with AudioLark and the Ridges again. The audio book collection launched in September, becoming my first foray into audible and capping off my first publication triad - paperback, ebook, and audio!Sweethearts of the West - In October, I was invited to become a part of a new western romance grog called Sweethearts of the West along with several authors from The Wild Rose Press and Harlequin/Silhouette. I blog with the Sweethearts once a month, usually around the 3rd, and I'm having a lot of fun discussing my favorite subject - cowboys and western romance - in more detail.
Social Networking Surprises - My author profile on Facebook reached 500 friends this winter! Similarly, I also reached 300 Twitter followers and may even reach 400 before the New Year. Thank you to those who have connected with me via social networking. I promise to be just as, if not more so, interesting in the new year ;)
As for non-writing related notables, I watched oil wash onshore at my local beaches in May and my favorite college football team is going to a national championship for the first time in 50+ years. On a more private note, I experienced a lot of things I never thought I would have to go through and learned quite a bit about myself and others along the way. It's been a turbulent and remarkable year in equal measure and I'm looking to the new year with much anticipation!
Merry Christmas, Cozies!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Facebook Hurrah & New Friday Rose
Hey Cozies! Great news - I'm only 9 followers away from 500 friends on Facebook! Yay, I'm excited! Thank you to all my current friends on Facebook - it's been a pleasure networking with you all. My new mailing list is now open to subscribers. Just find the pink button on the right sidebar and fill out the short-and-sweet form to join!
For those who didn't catch it, my latest Sweethearts of the West post can be found here where I discuss my idea of what the spirit of a western Christmas is as well as my favorite Christmas re-reads and tunes!
Also The Roses of Prose are looking for our new Friday Rose! Here's more details on how you become the newest member of our group blog:
We're seeking another flower for our garden. Here are our guidelines:
- A female writer of non-erotic fiction that is geared toward women
- All reading levels, starting at Young Adult
- At least one contracted or published work - self-published works are acceptable
- A genuine interest in promoting reading and literacy
- A genuine interest in mentoring other writers
If you are interested, we'd love to hear from you! Please send us a blurb of about 200 words telling us about yourself, what you write, and why you love it to rosesofprose@gmail.com.
We will choose 10 blurbs that we feel best fit The Roses of Prose, and we will post one each day during the weeks of December 13-19 and 20-26.
The week after, we'll let our readers vote for their favorite rose, and the winner will be announced January 1.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Votes Tallied...
Halloween costume votes have been tallied and between those of you here at Cozy and those on Twitter and Facebook, it seems that The Indian Maiden is the popular choice! Thank you to everyone who participated in the poll!
Remember that this week, on Wednesday, I will be at the LASR Blog giving away a free audio book to one lucky commenter! If you missed it, be sure to check out my Halloween-themed guest blog at AJ's Notes.
In November, I should have a newsletter finally for my website so check back in for that news. November also brings NaNoWriMo. My fourth paranormal can't wait! Are there any others who will be braving 30 days of literary abandon this year?
Remember that this week, on Wednesday, I will be at the LASR Blog giving away a free audio book to one lucky commenter! If you missed it, be sure to check out my Halloween-themed guest blog at AJ's Notes.
In November, I should have a newsletter finally for my website so check back in for that news. November also brings NaNoWriMo. My fourth paranormal can't wait! Are there any others who will be braving 30 days of literary abandon this year?
Monday, October 4, 2010
Breast Cancer Awareness & Newsletter
Hi Cozies! It's October now and Breast Cancer Awareness Month! The romance family is affected every year in some way by breast cancer so if you're a fan of romance, support Breast Cancer Awareness. Wear pink, think pink, and spread the word! Even you guys out there. Those tough NFL players are wearing the pink gear this month. Joining the fight for the cure just makes you all that more heroic!
There has also been a lot of talk about bullying recently. I was a victim of bullying at one time beacuse of my small stature - never to a degree that my life was endangered but bullied all the same. I believe that bullying is an issue that has been overlooked far too long - and if not overlooked, no one has taken an aggressive stand against it until this point. I'm happy to share this video I found of Elphaba from Wicked: The Musical who is taking an active role in fighting bullying with Bully Bust. Visit her on Facebook to hear her message!
As some of you know, the hub is no longer working for the Gulf Coast oil spill cleanup. He worked all summer long and then some seven days a week with a two-day break every fourteen days from June through September. I'm extremely proud of his commitment, but it was a tough job and now he's back home with the fam for some well-deserved rest. He's moved a worktable into my office so we can rub elbows when we're both home. It's a cozy arrangement that I love! Something that I haven't mentioned in regard to this is that just because the hub no longer works for oil cleanup doesn't mean that oil isn't affecting our waters still. As late as last Thursday, he was cleaning it off boats in Mobile. I feel like the media has kind of neglected our coastline because the well is closed and our beaches are looking clean and healthy again. Oil still is a factor here on the Gulf Coast and I ask that people please keep that in mind.
I have recommended reads coming up soon. Here's a little preview. I had to go across the bay to Mobile to find a bookstore where this book wasn't sold out. As soon as I finish the last two books on my September TBR list, third quarter recommended reads will be posted here at Cozy. There are some good ones you'll wanna see, trust me! I'm shooting for the 15th. I'd also like to take this time to announce that I am developing a newsletter. The fan mail these past couple of months has been so heartwarming that I decided it's high time I give my readers a newsletter. Hopefully by November, everything will be in place and you'll be able to subscribe. I promise not to send one unless you subscribe for it and an unsubscribe link will also be posted as well. I believe in this method because lately I've been receiving messages from new authors especially via my contact addy and my personal email address (which is inexcusable) asking me to buy their books when I never signed up to receive news from them. I consider this spam. In fact, a lot of people do. I believe that as an author it's your job to build a readership from the ground up. There is no skipping channels, not if you expect to have integrity in this industry. Developing a fan base can, yes, be hard work, but everyone starts from scratch and hard work does pay off. I can vouch for that. I hate to have to post this here on Cozy, but it needs to be said. Some publishers don't educate their authors on the differences between marketing/networking and spamming or even professionalism and unprofessionalism. New authors, please be respectful of your potential readers and go through the channels out there that are available for feedback. I know the wait for review sites to get to your title is intense and nervewracking but be patient. Develop a blog tour. Post excerpts on promotional loops. Feedback will come, I promise!
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