How much is too much?

Opting to be self, or indie, published means the author has to wear many hats, and promoting your work is one of those areas you can't skimp on. As I'm getting closer to my tentative publication date I'm trying to get the word out and garner interest for Near Death.  The problem being, how much is too much? I want people to check it out. I want people to be interested and put it on their to-read lists, but I don't want them to feel spammed and annoyed that I'm mentioning it so often.

Goodreads has a option to let you recommend books (yours or someone else's) to your friends. Sounds like an awesome way to get the word out right? I have a couple hundred friends on Goodreads. I can hit them all up in one blow! Problem? I've been hearing some horror stories about how some Goodreads members react to such a thing: nasty response emails, unfriending, bad mouthing to their other friends.  Really people?  I could understand if you were constantly getting spammed by the same person with such recommendations, but just sending one out is a bad thing? I thought helping new authors get exposure is something Goodreads is known for. I thought half the reason for having an account and friends there is to find new things to read. Once my cover art is ready, I still plan on taking advantage of the option so I'll apologize in advance, but if any of my  "friends" on Goodreads think one email is spamming, then perhaps they shouldn't have authors as friends.

When it comes to Twitter, I think, depending on how many followers you have, you need to repeat the message several times. People are on at different times of the day and if they follow a lot of people, it's easy for your messages to get lost in the stream.  Does that mean you should post "BUY MY BOOK!" 50 times a day, everyday? HELL NO. If all you post is messages asking people to buy your stuff, you're going to bore people and loose followers. Make yourself a schedule and if you use a Twitter client like Hootsuite, you can set up Tweets to post at specific times, so maybe you plan to tweet about it a couple days a week at different times of the day. Done that way, you're hopefully mostly hitting a different group of followers each time.

Another thing to try and keep in mind is cross networking. It's very likely that you have several of the same people on more than one social networking site. Maybe they follow you on Twitter and have liked your Facebook author/book page. Maybe they are in your G+ circle and on your Goodreads friend list. Be cautious not to accidentally spam your friends by re-posting everything on all your networks at the same time. Again, spread things out and pay attention to your timing.

You need to get the word out and promote your work, but there needs to be a happy medium. Every post you make shouldn't be badgering your friends and followers to buy your wares. Continue to be your quirky selves and make comments and ask questions. On occasion, peddle your product. Also, remember everything doesn't have to be a request for people to buy. You can gain interest by doing blog tours, holding contests, having trivia questions, making promotional posters and bookmarks, posting snippets of the novel, etc. Remember, if people like you, if you make them laugh or think, they are apt to be interested in your work without you shoving it in their face. They just need to be aware that it's out there. Happy medium. You can do it.

What are your thoughts?

Since I'm getting close to releasing my first e-publication, I thought I'd take the time to ask you folks some questions in regards to e-books.

Let's start with covers. I love a good cover and one of the things I get sad about with e-books is the fact that you don't really get a good look at it unless you hunt it down (in your reader menus you can normally click to go to it). Sometimes, they have the front (and if you're lucky back) covers all the way at the end. That's a nice surprise, but I wonder why they don't put it in the beginning. I can understand that if you have too much front end info, people might get annoyed about how many times they have to click to get to the start of the story, but I'd think to have the cover image come up first, it'd be just like reading a hard version. What do you guys think? Would you be annoyed by having the cover image come up before the title page or first page of text (chapter/prologue)?

Then there's a table of contents. I kind of never understood why fiction books have them. I guess maybe if you always stop reading at the end of a chapter and don't use a bookmark, they'd be handy, but do people really read like that? In an e-book, the only plus for them I can think of is if you know something is in a certain chapter and you want to go back and look at it, the table of contents is a quick way to get back there, but again, how often do people do that? I think they're kind of pointless for the most part. Do you ever use it in a fiction book?

I've already discussed bio pictures before. I'm putting one in. You don't want to see it? Too bad! ^_^  I dislike most pictures of myself but I know I like to see what an author looks like so I figure you guys might want to see as well.

What are your thoughts about excerpts from other novels at the end of the book? Does it have to be from the book's sequel (if they have one) or is another novel from the author acceptable? Do you even bother to read them?

I think that's about all I can think of at the moment. If I've missed something important you want to comment on, please feel free! I want this to be an enjoyable experience for everyone so your thoughts and comments are really helpful. Thanks in advance everyone!

We're looking for a few good men & women

 Did a vampire kill your brother? A mother? Another
loved one? Are you filled with unquenchable rage and
sadness?  There's a way you can heal and help your
community at the same time!

Follow the information on
the attached PSA posters and
join your local Vampire Force!

For more information, pick up Patricia Lynne's
vampire story,
Being Human
today!

The illustrious author has this to add:
In Being Human, vampires are not a myth, they are a reality to humanity - a scary one. In order to combat vampires, a special branch of police force was created: Vampire Forces. But they don't use stakes or garlic to combat vampires; that ended up being a disaster with a lot of deaths. VF is very much like a normal branch, guns are issued, tasers and batons. As such, they will seek out people to join in a very normal way.  Thanks MaryBeth for creating these Public Service Announcement Posters. And thanks to the people who provided the images. Remember VF needs you to shine a light in the darkness!

  

 
/photo credit goes to the following people. Thank you!

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image: phanlop88 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image: Pixomar / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It's a whirlwind!

Announcing the In Leah’s Wake Social Media Whirlwind Tour—WooHoo!

You guys might remember I interviewed Terri Giuliano Long a couple of months ago about her book, In Leah's Wake. Things have really blown up for her since then and when I was approached to be a part of her Whirlwind Social Media Tour through Novel Publicity, I couldn't pass it up. Not only did I enjoy the book, but I've spoken with Terri often since then and she is a lovely person and a great writer. I hope you guys will take part in the festivities and learn a little more about her and perhaps pick up the book!

As part of this special promotional extravaganza sponsored by Novel Publicity, the price of the In Leah’s Wake Kindle edition has dropped to just 99 cents this week.

What’s more, by purchasing this fantastic book at an incredibly low price, you can enter to win many awesome prizes, including a Kindle, 5 autographed copies of the book, and multiple Amazon gift cards (1 for $100, 3 for $25, 5 for $10, and 10 for $5 – 19 in all)! Be sure to enter before the end of the day on Friday, August 26^th, so you don’t miss out.

To win the prizes:

               
1. Purchase your copy of In Leah’s Wake for just 99 cents
               
2. Fill-out the form on the author’s site to enter for prizes
               
3. Visit today’s featured event; you may win an autographed copy of the book!

And I can win $100 too if you vote for my blog over on the author’s website. The blog host that gets the most votes in this traffic-breaker polls wins, so please cast yours right after purchasing In Leah’s Wake and entering the contests!

The featured events include:

Monday, Blogaganza on Novel Publicity! We’re kicking-off on the Novel Publicity Free Advice blog. We’ll ask the writer 5 fun and random questions to get everyone talking. Leave a comment or question in response to the post, and you may win an autographed copy of In Leah’s Wake. Don’t forget to visit the author’s blog to enter for the other prizes!

Tuesday, Twitter chat with the author! Tweet with us between 4 and 5 PM Eastern Time, using the hashtag #emlyn. We’ll be talking with the author about her favorite books and best writing advice. Bring your questions about In Leah’s Wake and don’t forget to use #emlyn or to follow Terri @tglong. By joining in the tweet chat at the designated time, you may win an autographed copy of In Leah’s Wake. Don’t forget to visit the author’s blog to enter for the other prizes!

Wednesday, Google+ video chat with the author! Join our hangout between 12 and 3 PM Eastern Time to talk with the author and us via video chat. We’ll be gabbing about great books including In Leah’s Wake and about writing. Did you know that Terri is a creative writing instructor at Boston College? She’s got tons of good advice for aspiring writers. By joining in the Google+ video chat at the designated time, you may win an autographed copy of In Leah’s Wake. Don’t forget to visit the author’s blog to enter for the other prizes!

Thursday, Facebook interview with the author! Stop by Novel Publicity’s Facebook page and ask Terri questions. She’s chosen three of her favorite topics to talk about:  writing, parenting, and gourmet cooking. Of course, you’re welcome to ask about In Leah’s Wake too. Leave a comment or question as part of the thread, and you may win an autographed copy of In Leah’s Wake. Don’t forget tolike Terri’s Facebook page or to visit her blog to enter for the other prizes!

Friday, Fun & games based on the book! We want to close this whirlwind social media tour with a gigantic bang, which is why we've set-up two interactive book-themed features on the author’s blog. You can take the official Facebook quiz to find out which In Leah's Wake character is most like you and learn how that character ties into the story. Then try out our crossroads story game. Throughout the course of the narrative, you'll have several decisions to make. What you choose will affect the outcome of the story. Play as either rebellious teenager Leah or the trampled peacemaker and mother Zoe. Leave a comment or question on any of Terri’s blog entries, and you may win an autographed copy of In Leah’s Wake. Don’t forget to check out the other give-away contests while you’re on Terri’s blog!

About In Leah’s Wake:  The Tyler family had the perfect life – until sixteen-year-old Leah decided she didn’t want to be perfect anymore. While Zoe and Will fight to save their daughter from destroying her brilliant future, Leah’s younger sister, Justine, must cope with the damage her out-of-control sibling leaves in her wake. Will this family survive? What happens when love just isn’t enough? Jodi Picoult fans will love this beautifully written and absorbing novel.

A Twitterview with Terri Giuliano Long, author of In Leah's Wake

*twitterview conducted by Novel Publicity

You can tweet Terri @tglong. Please do!  To learn more about twitterviews, go here.

Calling all book bloggers!

We interrupt the typical Tuesday/Thursday blogging schedule to light the bee signal (well I couldn't very well use the Bat Signal TM as I'm sure I'd get in trouble for that...) to call out to book bloggers and reviewers.  As I have finished a major second run of edits on Near Death (just waiting on some line edits now/the little stuff, so nothing major will change) I find myself anxious to get it out into the world.  This is where you lovely book bloggers and reviewers come into play.

I am looking for people I can send an ARC out to (in digital form - sorry, I haven't gotten anything printed yet since cover design is still in the works). In return I would ask two things of you:

1) Please read and review (honestly!) for Goodreads (and then if you wouldn't mind copy & pasting that info into Amazon when it's up there, that'd be super duper awesome as well!)

2) Review it on your blogs closer to the publication date (right now it's tentatively in mid-September, but I'd give you a definite date as it gets closer). I'm fine if you don't do the typical kind of review on your blog. You'd be free to interview me (or one of the book characters if you'd like!), write a song, do an interpretive dance, draw fan art, whatever you'd like to show how you felt about the book. I'll leave it up to you.

On the day your post goes live, I will direct folks from this blog and Twitter to go check you out as well and ramp up your attendance.  I think it's a decent trade off. ^_^

If you would be interested, please leave a comment along with the URL to your blog (or if you don't have a blog & just do reviews on Amazon or Goodreads, leave me your name for that site so I can check it out). Oh! I need an email address too please.

Thanks folks! I look forward to reading comments from everyone who participates!


/as I don't know what the response to this will be, I may have to set a limit on the amount of ARCs that go out. If I need to cut it off somewhere, I will update the blog and let you know

Book Review - A Line in the Ice

Title:  A Line in the Ice

Author: Jamie Craig

Genre:  Sci-Fi Romance

Amazon Summary: 

Bloodthirsty monsters are emerging from the Antarctic ice, the same creatures that once stalked the battlegrounds of World War I. Back then, a group of soldiers valiantly fought off the beasts—and were never seen again. A century later, an elite military squad stands between civilization and the mysterious return of the enemy. Captain Charlie Weller thinks she’s seen everything—until a man crawls out onto the ice, barely alive and muttering about a place called Illyria. Lysander Davies claims to be the descendant of one of the missing soldiers. He insists the monsters are actually gentle creatures, under the control of beings far, far more dangerous… Drawn to the stranger, Charlie believes his stories and agrees to help him. But they both know nothing can come of their feelings for one another, for the only way to save earth is for Lysander to return to Illyria and close the rift behind him, forever…

Personal reaction:

I love a good romance and A Line in the Ice certainly delivers. Sci-fi related romance is new to me, but I enjoy many aspects of a good sci-fi book and this one has just enough to make it interesting but didn’t leave me scratching my head over complicated gadgets or weird political systems, etc. 

I appreciate the strong female character of Charlie. A romance with a woman in a military group is unfamiliar to me too, but the author(s) made her believable and realistic. She was hard when she needed to be, and soft at the appropriate times.

It was an exciting and enjoyable read with action and romance. A good combo.

Questions:

Q) Please explain who Jamie Craig is.

Jamie Craig is the joint effort of Pepper Espinoza and Vivien Dean.

Q) Is this your first collaboration?

It’s definitely not the first book we’ve collaborated on together. We’ve never attempted to collaborate with other people before we began working together, though.

Q) Romance books with Sci-Fi themes don’t seem to be the norm. What prompted you guys to write one?

We’re both big fans of genre--not just romance, but horror, mystery, sci-fi, and fantasy. The great thing about romance is that there’s always room to add another genre or two to the mix, and that’s what we love to do. We’ll write everything from historical westerns to futuristic Sci-Fis because we want to find the most interesting story.

Q) Tell the truth, are those sexy times scenes as fun to write as they are to read?

Of course! Sometimes it can be difficult, I won’t lie. But it’s always fun. So a lot like real sexy times!

Q) Antarctica is cold and bleak. Why choose such a harsh local to set your story?

Precisely because it’s harsh. Actually, this all started with a dream of a woman finding a man in the middle of the ice. Where did he come from? Why was he there? What was his story? The whole novel developed from those basic questions, and so Antarctica was always critical to the project.

Q) Charlie is a tough cookie!  Why make her a soldier? Did either of you have any personal military experience?

When we came up with the back story of why the rift would need to be guarded, we knew we needed to make the team military to mirror their roots. That allowed us to give our characters the skill sets they needed to survive in such a climate as well as make sure the job got done. Also, there’s a sense of self-sacrifice that comes along with the military, that belief that what you’re doing matters and you’ll do whatever it takes to save the people you’re protecting. That was core to what we wanted these people to be. Neither one of us has direct military experience, though Vivien has multiple people within her family who have served/still serve.

Q)  How much research did you guys have to do, if any, before writing A Line in the Ice ?

A lot! There was the military aspect, which we wanted to get right, as well as learning as much as we could about physiology so that we could create creatures that would survive exposure to such cold elements. We had the Shakespeare covered, thanks to Pepper, but we both had to brush up on our WWI history to make sure it all meshed well together.

Q) What can we expect from you guys next?

The final book in our Silver Maiden series will be released by Carina in September--Revealing Silver.

Q) Where can fans follow and connect with you?

Our website is http://www.jamie-craig.com/, and we’re on both Twitter (@jamiecraig) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jamie-Craig)

Q) Lastly, for fun, if A Line in the Ice was being made into a major motion picture, who would you cast for Charlie and Lysander?

Hmm good question! Even though Colin Farrell doesn’t really look like how we envisioned Lysander, we think he’d be great for the role. He can be the charming, romantic lead and then go kick some major ass.

As for Charlie, think Scarlett Johansson in Iron Man 2. The look is perfect, but as an actress, she has tremendous range. She can sell both tough and vulnerable, which is what makes Charlie who she is.

Tour Notes:

Please vote for my blog in the traffic-breaker poll for this tour. The blogger with the most votes wins a free promotional twitterview and a special winner’s badge. I want that to be me! You can vote in the poll by visiting the official Line in the Ice blog tour page and scrolling all the way to the bottom.

Learn more about this author duo by visiting their website, blog, Facebook or GoodReads pages or by connecting with them on Twitter.

Don't over extend yourself!

Facebook.
Twitter.
Goodreads.
Google +.
LinkedIn.
MySpace.  (welllll maybe scratch this last one...)

There are tons social networking sites out there for you to get involved in and use to help promote your work. The problem with having so many is that you can over extend yourself and spend all your time promoting and making connections and none of it writing!  The other problem is that when these sites keep popping up, it takes a good amount of time to sit down and learn how the site works and how best to utilize it for your own purposes. Yet another thing to take away from important prime writing and/or editing time.

 My suggestion is to pick one network to focus on at a time. Make your mark, build your friend-base and figure out how to promote yourself without it taking all your time and effort. Once you have that one down pat, you can move on and try to add another, but remember, better to just stick with a few rather than spending all your time navigating the social webs.

Another thing to be careful of is spreading yourself too thin offering to help with others. I'm all for lending a hand either with beta reading, editing or reviewing, but be honest with yourself when offering to do these things. Make sure you have enough time to help them and still be able to work on your own projects. If you make too many commitments you may find yourself under a lot of extra stress trying to get them all done on time and your own writing is pushed to the back burner. That's no good!

Do yourself a favor and utilize things like the Google Calender to show what you're working on and when things are due. That way you can refer to it next time someone asks for help and make sure you don't have three or four other projects due at that time.

I understand as an author, especially a self published one, you have to wear many hats which is time consuming and important to your sales, but remember, if there's no writing being done, there are no books to sell. Prioritize, people and don't take on more than you can handle, your stomach lacking in ulcers, full nights of sleep not filled with stress filled tossing and turning and a head lacking in aches will thank you later.