Facebook Author page

Just wanted to post a quick note to let you know that I now have a Facebook author page. You can check it out here. I'm hoping to do a giveaway when I get to 25 likes- and everyone likes free stuff!

Also, I'm hoping to do a week long writing series soon because a lot of people have been asking me for writing advice. I'm not sure how helpful i'll be since I still consider myself a newbie at this writing game but hopefully I'll find something worth sharing. Anyways, keep an eye out from my upcoming posts and head over to the FB page if you get a chance!

Promotion Tips for Authors

Nowadays, authors are expected to invest a lot of time and energy in promoting their books. While some people hate this idea, I think it’s a great chance to be creative. Besides, it’s YOU you’re trying to sell. No one else will be able to do a better job. So here are a few promotion ideas I’ve come up with while trying to think of ways to promote my upcoming book. I hope they will be of some help to other people as well.

1. Print up promotional material. This takes a small financial investment on the authors part, but the potential for sales can easily equal a long term profit. I plan on printing up a few hundred business cards with my books title and a link to Musa’s site. I’ll be able to pass them out to people, leave them at certain businesses, and give them to other people to pass out.

 I may also print up some flyers/poster to hang up on local bulletin boards. Grocery stores, laundry mats, and college campuses all usually have places for people to put up material. This is basically free advertising space. You might as well use it. Just ask permission first.

I’m also going to look into having a T-shirt made up with my books information. Every time I wear it, I’ll be a walking billboard. People will often approach someone wearing an interesting T-shirt, so it’s a great way to start up a conversation about your book. These also make great give away items because everyone loves free T-shirts. Plus, everyone who wears a shirt with your information on it will be advertising for you.

If you’re not sure about how to go about doing this, I’ve used Vistaprint in the past and have been please with the finished product. If you’re really crafty, you can probably do all of this with your own computer.

2. Recruit your friends and family. That doesn’t mean harassing them, though. Just give them the option to help you. Post a link on Facebook, or Twitter- if you’re lucky, people with repost it to help you out. I would also recommend giving them some business cards to hang onto, in case they run into someone who is interested in your book.

 

3. Join online forums. You can find forums discussing almost every topic under the sun. Many of these forums will let you leave a link to your book in your signature (the thing that appears at the bottom of every post you make.) Every time you say something, you’ll be leaving a link to your book. It's free and easy to use. Just be careful not to spam them with self promotion. Engage in conversation and get involved in the community. The Kindle boards are a great place to start because a lot of potential readers hang out there.

4. Take out advertising space in a local paper. There’s a small free publication near me that gets delivered to thousands of homes. I know a lot of people read it. They only charge around ten dollars for a short add. Some may even let you do a free announcement if you play up the fact that you’re a local author.

5. Throw yourself a launch party. This one can be expensive if you aren’t careful but it will get people talking about your book. You can invite close friends and family, editors, and even members of the press. It’s really up to you how big you want to make it.

6. Talk to local book stores and libraries. Many of them will let you set up a signing or speaking event. I was just at a library signing where the author sold every book she brought. Even if you don’t sell a bunch of copies, you will get your name out.

7. Blog. Most of you are probably already doing this, but participating in blogs is a great way to get your name out there. Join blog hops. Do interviews. Put up blog posts about other authors. The blogging world is huge, influential, and always growing. Don’t let it go to waste.

The Fear of Failure

Something interesting happened when I made my official FB announcement about signing a publishing contract. Along with happy congratulations, many of my friends, family members and acquaintances started confessing (to my surprise) that they were writers. Many admitted that they someday want to have a book published. “I’ve always wanted to do that,” they said. I’ve been trying to encourage them as best as I can, and point them to sites that might be helpful.

Another thing many of them confessed to me was that they are afraid of having someone read their writing. “Aren’t you terrified of putting your writing out in the word?” they asked.

Of course I am. I’ve always been pretty secretive about my writing. If I’m working on something and a family member (or anyone) walks into the room, I close the laptop. I don’t want anyone to know what I’m doing. I have no idea why.

So the idea of putting my hard work out in the world to be read and judged by everyone is really, truly, scary. I know everyone isn’t going to like it. I mayfail and fall flat on my face. There are going to be bad reviews, critics, and people who just don’t get it.

And I don’t care. Or at least I’m pretending not to. At the end of the day, I’ve created characters and a world I love. All I can do is hope a few other people feel the same way.

Do you write? If so, are you afraid of sharing your writing with others?

Exciting News!

So I got some exciting news this week- I've sold my first novel, Nightfire, to Musa Publishing! I'm still kind of in shock about the whole thing. I keep waiting for an e-mail saying something like "sorry, we meant to offer that contract to someone else," but the signed contract is still sitting in my e-mail box. Musa is a fairly new E-publisher, but they have some great books for sale and are really author friendly. I'm pretty honored that I'm going to be sharing virtual shelf space with their authors (some pretty big names have signed on.) So, If you haven't checked them out-you should.  I don't have any real details yet, but I'll be sure and post updates when I know something!

Time for another poem

So it's been a really long time since I've posted anything here, mostly because my summer has been so busy. But I'm hoping to get back to posting more frequently. Since i've been so bad about posting, I thought I would start back up by posting another poem. This is one of the more personal ones i've written, so it's a little strange sharing it, but it's better than having it just sit in a drawer somewhere.


Almost

The creases from the lines of your body

Still linger on our cotton sheets

In the dark of night I’m sure I can still hear

The faint sound of you hearts beat

I can almost feel the warmth from your breath

And your dreams soft song

Until I reach out for your touch

And remember that your gone.

Here's a list of 5 of the best blogs for writers (in my opinion), in no particular order.

1. Nathan Bransford
 Nathan used to be a literary agent (and is currently a writer) and he offers all kinds of advice for people interested in the publishing world.

2. Pimp My Novel
Written by someone working in the sales department of a publishing house, this blog provided really unique insight into writing and how to improve novels.

3. A Newbies Guide to Publishing
J.A. Konrath is a legacy published author turned self-publisher. He offers advice and encouragment to people seeking the self-publishing route, along with interviews and all kinds of information.

4. Write to Publish
The owner of this blog runs a small press and shares all kinds of knoweldge about the writing world with her readers.

5. Fiction Groupie
This site is written by romance author Roni Loren, who offers all kinds of tips and tricks for writers.


Of course there are tons of other great sites out there. Feel free to leave your own favorite writing blogs in the comments!

YA Saves

So last week the Wall Street Journal ran an article about YA fiction and started a firestorm of online debate on the subject. If you haven’t read the article (which I doubt) it basically said that most of the YA fiction out there is too dark and inappropriate for its audience. You can read it here.

People are angry, especially people who write and read a lot of YA fiction. The article makes it sound like YA readers aren’t savvy enough to handle adult themes in stories. If the writer had their way, YA fiction would be little more than really long children’s stories. Nothing too bad would happen and every story would have a happy ending.

I think that’s actually the article’s author’s problem. They assume that the people reading YA are children. Very few children read YA. Teenagers read YA. Young adults read YA. Grown adults read YA. And teenagers, and adults generally have enough real world experience to read about the real world. Life is dark sometimes. There’s violence and sex and swearing all over the place. All you have to do is walk down the street to see it. Burying our heads in the sand won’t make it go away.

The positive part of this story is that it has brought hundreds of people together to defend YA fiction. People are banding together because they don’t want to see stories they love thought of as little more than poison for the children of the world. People have been unifying to defend the fiction that helped them and that’s a beautiful thing. The ultimate message of the movement is that YA Saves. And I believe it does.