Rainbows and Fresh Cut Grass

The sights and scents of Spring -- so refreshing!

Happy April IWSG day, my writer friends. It's time for new life, blooming fields, baby animals, and thunderstorms! Spring can be violent as the cold, stubborn winds of winter spar with the waves of warm breezes headed for summer. It's never a smooth transition. I hope you are safe as the changes blow through.

As for me and mine, we are enjoying our new puppies! The house was so empty when our sweet, old dog passed, especially for my hub. Now there's new life and chaos again--just like we like it. The fond memories linger as new ones are created.

Two last notes:

1. The IWSG Anthology Blog also has new life. We've had a good response from our writers to keep it going. Today we have a post about Character Creation from Sylvia Ney who has appeared in both PARALLELS and FIRST LOVE anthologies. Check it out!
2. You know it's been a while since you've written when your newsletter website informs you they are shutting you down for abandonment! I can't believe I haven't sent out a newsletter in two years. Shame on me. So I got off my duff and sent one out.

So tell me: What are your favorite parts of Spring? Drop me a descriptive Spring scene in the comments. Or let me know what writing endeavors you're up to. You inspire me!

Thanks for stopping by!

Now enjoy these puppies and spring animals...

via GIPHY

How to Stand OUT!

Welcome IWSG-ers!

Are you outstanding in a field? or just out standing in a field?

my grandparents' Maplevale Farm--yes, that's a plane!

I think more often I feel like the latter... lost in a sea of hay fever. But seriously, have you seen how many books are out there? It's very hard to get noticed when you're five-foot-three in a forest of Amazons (ha ha) So what's a shorty to do? How can we get our books noticed?

Not that I'm a pro at this, but I do have some suggestions:

1. Have an incredible, impeccable COVER - it has to be eye candy, but not too detailed or busy. The title has to shine and the font/graphics should give readers a feel for the genre. It's hard to be unique, but not impossible - and worth a pro.
2. Be more SOCIAL - I'm not good at this. I don't want to post too often for fear of being obnoxious. But I've noticed people who are posting regularly and as long as it's not "buy my book" twenty times a day, it's good press. If what you say is funny and relatable, you'll get noticed and retweeted. I just wish I had more time to think up cool things to say... But that's where scheduling tweets and posts comes in handy. When I do get some spare time, I prepare several tweets/posts and spread them out over a week or two. I'm working up to more postings, but I still have that nagging - don't nag! feeling!
3. Be more VISIBLE - This one, I do. And I talk about it a lot because it's where I connect with the most readers and sell the most books. Get out there! Whether it's a book event, genre-con, or even a craft/vendor show, people want to meet the author! I just did an event this past weekend - see my NEWSLETTER for pics and details!
4. Reach out for Reviews and online Guest Appearances - This can be difficult, but you are your own publicist. There are many review websites, but most are clogged with a backlog of books to review, so ask early as you can. Other people to ask: people who liked your other books or that are friends with you on Goodreads. 
5. SALES and GIVEAWAYS - I've had good response on Goodreads and Amazon with raffles/giveaways and putting books on sale, but less so with giveaways on the blogs. This is something that needs constant promotion and outreach to get people to sign up... Hit or miss, but if done once in a while, worth a shot! The best way is to do a group giveaway, then there's cross-promotion!

If you have any thoughts or additional ideas - fire away!

And now for the results of our little #writerslife survey 16

Have you ever won a writing contest?

How many paper books do you own?

How many ebooks are on your device right now?

What percentage of your books/ebooks are unread?

How many story ideas do you have waiting to be written?

What is your go-to book/movie/place when you need inspiration (of any kind)?

• Harry Potter - still popuar with multiple entrants!
• Music, music, and more music - my guitar, or music that jives, but sometimes sad music
• My mind - Brain space!
• By accident
• The Prince of Persia, plus Star Wars, & Kevin Costner movies!
• Youtube
• Barnes and Noble
• Nature!

Some results were surprising, some were not, but all were fun to tally!

This month's survey will be about MARKETING - and to boost responses, I'm adding a GIVEAWAY for all participants! Look for it on April 16.

Lastly, I mentioned my Newsletter earlier, but it also has a sneak peek of the PRINCESS B cover. I finally found the perfect illustrator to represent her...

Got any outstanding advice? Can you relate to the survey results?

Enjoy the Spring! Happy Writing!
And Happy A to Z Blogging Month!! Tell me your theme if you're playing!

Give until it hurts?

Life is chaos - if you try to control it, you'll just get frustrated.
The more life I experience, the more I realize this. So, I've been trying to go with the flow, do my best, get as much done as my frail, aging, human body allows. I want to make the most of my time here.

Unfortunately, I feel blogging is falling by the wayside... And I don't feel I'm alone in this. Many are still hard at it, but others are blogging less. I'm struggling to blog once a week! But that is my goal - and visiting as much as I can - because if I don't visit, I won't be visited. That's how life works. We give, we receive. And I thank you all for giving me your time and attention!

Happily, I have finally reached one of my goals for this year - I put out a Newsletter! It is in blog format and it's still a work in progress. The purpose of my quarterly newsletter is to let anyone who's interested know where I'm at - in person, in progress, in life... I'll be exploring Mailchimp to get the word out soon. I'm also glad I have Crystal's post to refer to for advice!

Also, this past week I had a wonderful time talking at a local Book Club - and enjoyed participating in the madness that was EPICON - geeks galore!

And now, I'm excited to give you my witty, creative, inspiring friend and her latest release!

MAGE REVEALED

Book Two of The Magic Withheld series

by CD Coffelt

Struck with enough malevolent Spirit to turn him into a raving beast of a man, Bert Reese fights to remain human. Alone, he walks a slender path between sanity and madness. Then, an unlikely source enters his life to help—one of the now-hated mages.

But Ashleigh is different and calms his butchered senses. Her fierce nature is the only rock that stands between him and the crevasse that is beast. In all ways, she walks beside him toward a new beginning. But at the end of their journey lies the one who used Spirit against him. Questions arise; did Tiarra, head of the Imperium, lose her magic, die, or simply give way to the new order? Or, like a spider, does she wait for a mage to blunder into her web?

Forced on him without a care for his humanity, Bert is the mage who should not exist, born with a different kind of magic.

And the gates of Hell are no match for the magic he wields.

Author C.D. Coffelt’s world of magic started in Wilder Mage with the words “The earthquake wasn’t his fault. Not this time.” It continues in Mage Revealed, the second book of the three-part series. Watch the book trailer on YouTube.

C.D. Coffelt lives outside Skidmore, Missouri with a bemused husband and way too many cats. She is a member of the Missouri Writers Guild. But despite that bit of conventionality, she adores all things fantasy with a special love for urban and epic. With a passion for good writing and Doritos as companions, locating Middle-Earth on a dusty road in rural Missouri wasn’t difficult. All it took was a little Magic, hours of reading, and an overactive imagination.

She blogs as Huntress on www.spiritcalled.blogspot.com, Facebook, Twitter, and her writer’s critique site, www.unicornbell.blogspot.com.

Find her books at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

hearts and moons

Happy Lovey-Dovey Day! I'm celebrating love, friends, and my awesome guest today! (thanks, Vikki!)

Many of you already know about Crystal Collier's touchy feely (paperback) release of her book, MOONLESS and lots participated in the blogfest she held on Monday to celebrate. Well, I'm giving my answer to her question today, along with some great answers I gathered, hopping around - and to save time, I'm responding here and tweeting about it... and covering #FF at the same time! Efficiency at its finest!

The blog hop question was: If you lived in a society where arranged marriages were a la mode, who would you beg your parents to set you up with? (Literary characters and celebrities welcomed.) Who and why?

Answers I collected:
Elizabeth Seckman - Thor, nuff said
Christine Rains & Sheena Kay both put Severus Snape! Plus a few more...
CR: Sirius Black & Dean Winchester, SK: Tobias Eaton (Four from Divergent!) & Arrow
Some ladies kept their spouses (ha ha, I mean awww!) - Kimberly Afe, Madeline Mora-Summonte, Tyrean
Kyra Lennon - Randy Orton?? hunky tattooed dude
Donna Hole - Connor McLeod, the Highlander (immortal benefits)
Heather Musk - the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant
Kim at Swagger - Clark Gable! A long time personal favorite of mine too
Brinda Berry - admired characters, Braden, Regulus, & Gansey
SA Larsen & Trisha - Mr Darcy, (Colin Firth, please!)
EJ Wesley - wife, did a great job combining descriptions of fictional characters
Chris Fey - Jared Leto (Jordan from My So-Called Life & leader of band, 30 Seconds to Mars) always been a heartthrob of mine, too
Ellie Garratt - Professor Brian Cox, a real stud of all trades, brainy & cool!
PK Hrezo - Legolas Greenleaf, elfen dreams!
Morgan Katz - Taylor Ambrose
Ashley Nixon - her boyfriend, Aladdin (aw!)
Heather Gardner - Malcom Reynolds - FIREFLY!

My celebrity crush has been Cary Grant forever. But I would need to know what's on the inside - that's why I picked my hub! (who happens to resemble Matt Damon - lucky me!)
 
And now, I am so excited to present Crystal Collier! She's going to enlighten us on a topic I've been considering lately - NEWSLETTERS! Help me, Crystal!

Tara, thank you for having me here today! I'm excited to share what I know about newsletters.

Why bother? Building a list is hard. It takes time. I've been building mine for about 6 months, and with some targeted promotions (contests and giveaways) have about 90 subscribers. Let’s keep in mind that some of those are just spam addresses people use when they want to sign up for free stuff. *shrugs* We all do it, right? Say 50% of those are great contact emails. Now say 50% of those people actually read the email. Now say 50% of those people decide to buy my next project. That’s approximately 11 sales for just sending out one email. Now, stretch that initial number of subscribers, and do the math. This is going to be one of your most powerful sales tools.

Where to start? For anyone who doesn't have a tech slave guru in house, a simple subscription with a service like Mailchimp is perfect. Here’s a post with 30 different services you can check out. Remember the #1 rule, DO YOUR RESEARCH. 

But why should people sign up? Think about this from a potential subscriber's view. A great way to incentivize people is to offer something of value when they sign up. Maybe that’s an exclusive short story. Maybe it’s an insider article for writers. Perhaps it’s a coupon or voucher for a book. Think about your audience and what would be of most value to them. Initially I gave the first 3 chapters of my debut novel and sneak peek at the cover—before it was released. Now I send out the cut prologue of MOONLESS—an exclusive tid-bit.

Make it easy. If a subscriber has to give you their home address, social security number, blood type, birthday, finger print, shoe size, best friends’ mother’s name…they’re not going to bother. If they have to click through two different sites, they’re not gong to bother. Put your sign-up right on you home page, very accessible. Make it PRETTY. Make it enticing. Most of all, MAKE IT EASY. Mine is on my blog sidebar AND the foot of every post.

These created by my hire-able in-house slave guru.

The guts of a newsletter. Great, now you've got a few readers, what do you send them? 

Content:  If you read web-wide advice, you’ll be told to include a body article, announcements, any special promotions or opportunities, and to customize it according to your individual personality/readers. If you’re big into cooking, maybe that includes a recipe. If you enjoy cars, maybe you share a dream model a movie racing clip. Get creative.

I’m centered around cheese, which for me means happiness, therefore my newsletter focuses on uplifting thoughts, freebies and funnies. Each time I send out a newsletter it starts with a greeting, very BRIEF news, then an inspirational thought or laugh. It always features visual aids, (because I’m a very visual person), a couple links to funny articles I've run across recently, an announcement of freebies coming up on my blog, and finally, one to two sentence book reviews on my monthly reads with cheese-head ratings. In my initial email I promise:

•          Articles to make you smile
•          Announcements of Upcoming contests and giveaways
•          Quick links to tasteful “funnies”
•          Opportunities to review books previous to their release date
•          My monthly reads, rated in cheese wedges
•          Excerpts from upcoming works
•          Meeting characters behind the scenes
•          The chance to influence stories in progress with early feedback

What should a newsletter look like? That's my newsletter to the right. When I was first getting started, I researched like crazy. Remember, your newsletter should reflect you, your personality, and should be identifiable instantly to readers. You also don't want it to be too busy. Keep it clean. I grabbed a piece of my blog banner, threw in my brand coloring, links, and of course, designed my cheese heads. Most services should have prefabricated templates you can use--just like blogging services.

Length: Please be brief. My time is worth a great deal. Isn't yours? If you have an extra long piece of information to share, give a paragraph or two with a link to read the rest online.

How often should you send out a Newsletter? Regular emails keep you in your readers mind. Still, if I get a regular monthly email from someone, it better have amazing content or I'm going to start ignoring them. On the reverse, if what I get is awesome, I’ll really look forward to it. Some authors only send emails when they have news, and that's perfectly acceptable. Once a month, once every six months, once every other month...figure out what will work best for you and your schedule. 

And there you have it! Any questions?

Crystal Collier, author of MOONLESS, is a former composer/writer for Black Diamond Productions. She can be found practicing her brother-induced ninja skills while teaching children or madly typing about fantastic and impossible creatures. She has lived from coast to coast and now calls Florida home with her creative husband, three littles, and “friend” (a.k.a. the zombie locked in her closet). Secretly, she dreams of world domination and a bottomless supply of cheese. 

You can find her here:

  Blog | Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook | Website

I enjoyed having Crystal here - Great post, girl!

Everyone gets extra hugs today - take as many as you like!