Mark The Date

Saturday, a buddy of mine (who's also a bookseller) looked up my book, Circle of Danger, and confirmed what I suspected.  My book is coming out June 5! Not June 26 as I first thought. I'll be sure to let you know when you can pre-order.  And pre-ordering is good.  Buying the day it is released is good, but pre-ordering is better for the author. (Let's the publisher know she has fans out there waiting for more.)  Just saying...

By the way, I have my second round edits for Circle of Danger.  So I won't be here or Facebook or Twitter this week. At least, I'll try not to. Need to concentrate and be timely. So far, I've been early or on-time on all my deadlines. I can't stand being late. Quit laughing. You know who you are. 

Twitter-fest

Today, I had so much fun. Around 20 Avon Authors (includes me) chatted on Twitter about a little of everything. It was crazy. My eyes had a hard time reading all the tweets, but those I caught showed what talent those ladies have when it comes to word choices. I laughed so hard.

We plan to do it again but not sure when.

Remember To Do This

Don't forget in less than thirty more posts I will be shutting down this blog. So go to my website and click on Links. Then sign up for my newsletter. I plan to send one out soon and it will include a deleted scene from Circle of Desire. Only those who sign up will get to see what was taken out of the book. I probably shouldn't tell you this but it isn't a sex scene. It is Collin and Olivia kicking butt side by side. Personally, I liked the scene (maybe a sign of what their relationship would be like in the future), but I agreed with my editor. It didn't move the story forward.

And I also want to remind you that I will be posting on my writers' group's blog once every month. Our schedule is on the side of that blog and you can see when I'll show up. The other ladies and gentleman write some very interesting posts. Plus you can find me on Twitter every once in a while - @carlaswafford. So be sure to follow me. And ... and ... and you will see me a lot on Facebook!

Volunteer Much?

Things to remember when you volunteer, especially in a non-profit group.

1)  No one is a professional at any of the jobs.
2) If you want something done, best to do it yourself and ask for volunteers to help you and this leads into ...
3) Someone may be 'over' a program, but it doesn't mean they should do it all by themselves.
4) When suggestions are given by those chairing a program, be kind enough to listen and do as asked.  If you don't want to, fine. But don't complain later when someone else in the group gets recognition and you didn't. Or it didn't go like you wanted.  And this leads into this one ...
5) Just because you volunteer it doesn't mean everyone will thank you. Some are working hard as you (and others less) and they don't get thanks either.
6) If you miss a few meetings, no one will come looking for you. People come and go at the drop of a hat. Besides, they're all working hard and don't have time to call you. You're an adult and it's your prerogative.
7) Most important! No one is more important or better than you and you're no better or more important than others. We're not in control of world peace here.

Happy Valentine's Day

Getting An Idea

Friday night, I was watching an Asian film. Love them. This one had a wonderful love story, a lot of action scenes, and gave me some ideas. That's one of the good things about taking a break from writing. You get to re-energize.

Time Again, Come On Over

I'm over at the Romance Magicians blog today talking about things I've learn since being published. Come over and comment please.

Huh?

I had someone to lie to me yesterday.  It wasn't what they said that bothered me so much. It was the lie that hurt. I had believed the person.  :::sigh:::   Well, hell.

Can I Have Cheese With My Whine?

At my writers' group meeting last month, author Lexi George talked about being published and what she wished someone had told her.  She did a great job by making it interesting and informative.

That got me to thinking about a certain situation that has come up since I received THE CALL. In my case, an email was my first contact on Avon Impulse wanting my book now titled Circle of Desire, though two days later my editor called to talk about what they were offering.

Unlike Lexi, whose books can be purchased on the shelves of most bookstores and probably at other types of merchants (e.g., Wal-mart, Target, etc.), my books can only be purchased on-line, either by e-format or print on demand. So advertising is a number one priority for me. How else will be people know my book is available if I don’t let them know? In a brick and mortar bookstore, they have around 200,000 titles (per B&N’s website) on their shelves. While on line, the number is more like 30 million. Yes! That’s with seven zeros!  So what do you think are the odds of one e-book being noticed?  It’s not like someone can walk to a certain section (Romance) and see my book. Even they don’t buy it, it becomes familiar to them and who knows, they may purchase it next time.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. Well, not really. I’m proud that my book found a home with HarperCollins. A dream in more than one way that’s come true. And I understood in the beginning that it wouldn't be in a store.

I’ve heard a lot of authors talk about being on their own when it came to advertising their book.  My publisher has done a little advertising around the time it was released just as most publishers, but you and I know that’s not enough. I also knew they expected me to get word of mouth out by blogging and giveaways. And I did. But hey, unless you’re a New York Times best selling author, it’s hard to grab people’s attention.

[I had mentioned this in a prior post] Oh, I’ve got to tell you something so funny that proves the point I just made. In the beginning of January, my editor came across my book in iTune’s iBookstore as a featured book.  How cool is that? Anyway, it hit the Top Ten Erotica Romance list.  When I looked at it, it was number three. Of course, being a newbie and excited that my book was on some type of list, I looked at it every day for about two weeks. It got as high as number two. Then one day, I couldn’t find the link for Erotica under Romance category. Strange. I could find the section if I search my book and click on the links at the top of that page. A few days later, that section totally disappeared. Huh? I knew they were updating iBooks because they had recently announced that they would start selling text books. Okay. But what does that have to do with romance? Anyway, that section is no more.  ::sigh:: Yet during the small time I was on that list, I noticed the number of reviews increased five to ten a day.  Like someone told me, not everyone who buys a book on line does reviews, so that was thrilling. Of course, you and I know by it being on that list, people would automatically buy it. That’s how NYT best sellers sometimes can stay for weeks at the top.  That’s why BAM and other booksellers have sections showing the top selling books.  And you guessed it, the number of reviews have dropped considerably since then.  It’s hard to find my book unless you’re looking for it. Also another point I’ve made in earlier paragraphs.  

So now I’m trying to save up money to do advertising and hope to get people's attention in time for my next book.  We'll see how it goes. 

What Are The Odds?

Something tragic happened to me a few weeks ago. I lost my editor.  No. Thank goodness, she didn’t die but she left my publisher for another job (in non-fiction).  Okay, someone’s wondering, “So what! They’ll give you another editor.” And they did. A nice lady who should be sending me edits soon. But you need to understand, all authors are insecure.

The one that left is the same editor who pulled my book from the slush pile and decided it had merit, the same editor who understood where I was going with my series and took as much delight in the twists and turns as I did. She’d even suggested a story line for book number three that they hadn’t even bought, giving me a warm and fussy feeling that they might buy one, maybe two more from me. My new editor and/or my publisher could decide the series isn’t one they have faith in and not offer another contract. I may no longer have a cheerleader shouting my potential for more sales. So if you’re into odds, my odds of 95 out of 100 of getting another contract has now dropped to 75 out of 100.  And I'm actually being an optimistic as usual (still with a dash of a cynic).