Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Untitled's new look. Kinda makes you swoon.

Have you seen it?

If you haven't...take a looksie.

Untitled has a brand new look!  I changed the cover for...reasons LOL.  There were a lot of them.  I liked the old cover, don't get me wrong, but this new one....

YUM!

I figured since I updated the Amazon file...made some revisions.  Caught some errors that weren't there before.

#ofcoursetheyweren't

And added a super fabulous Bonus Feature, I'd give it a new look.  Shout to to my AMAZING cover designer Jared Rackler for coming up with this cover within 3 hours of getting my email.

What do you guys think?
I've written 3 books.  Not a big number but it's definitely a good start to builiding my virtual backlist.

I've been active on Twitter for awhile and on Facebook, my social media platform is expanding which I hear is basically the key to Indie success.

This is where I struggle the most.

I know the basic rules of self promotion:

1) Don't spam your followers with nothing but promo posts/tweets

2) Promote onto others as you would like done to you

3) Be entertaining and educational in tweets/posts.

But how much is really too much to talk about your book?  I've had people tell me that I don't talk about them enough but when I tweet about it more than a couple times a week, I start to feel self-conscious.

Of course I'm thrilled as hell that A Hustler's Promise is sitting at the top of 2 bestseller charts on Amazon and Change of Heart has joined the rankings.  But how many times can I say that without my followers thinking "here she goes again.  I wish she'd stop bragging."?

Monday, February 27, 2012

Healthy Obsessions are Good for the Soul

My Mayer tattoo.
 Lyrics to "Perfectly Lonely"
I am a SUPERFAN.

Sounds like I should be in an AA meeting or something, right.

But I have been a superfan of various musicians, artists, and authors for a very long time.

Jackie Collins, E. Lynn Harris, John Mayer...the list is LONG people.

But what exactly is a SUPERFAN?

My definition may be different from yours.  You might think "crazy, obsessed, stalker" but NOOOO!  That is not me.

I've never stalked anyone in my life.  Not even on Twitter or Facebook.

but whether it's listening to your favorite artist and building relationships with the people who love him/her/them too or reading every book that your favorite writer puts out over and over,

IT'S OKAY.

Healthy obsessions make us feel better.  It's fun to get on Twitter or Facebook or tumblr and talk about it with your friends.

Don't be ashamed if you're obsessed with the Twilight series.  Let your hair down and fangirl it out with the rest of them.

Because at the end of the day, the fandom that you belong to starts to feel like family.  Like people you care about.

And if you're lucky like me,  you may develop friendships with people that you'd never have met in your every day life.

I met my best friend through the John Mayer Fandom.  I love this woman like a sister and I can't imagine life without her.

See how that works?

Monday, February 13, 2012

Indies Unite for Joshua

If you're following me on Twitter, you've probably seen quite a few tweets mentioning Indie GoGo and Indies Unite for Joshua.  If you haven't clicked on the link, let me give you the backstory.

Joshua is 21 years old.  He's an awesome kid and brilliant!  He's also the son of indie author, Maxwell Cynn, who is also incredible.  Joshua was diagnosed with Acute T-cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia and it has invaded every part of his body.

Finding this out broke my heart.  Not only because Maxwell Cynn is an incredible person and author and no family deserves to go through this, but also because Joshua is such a great young man.  He's the first person in Max's family to be on course to graduate from college, but because of the damn cancer, he may not be able to.

Did I mention that this young man has a perfect 4.0 GPA and three and a half years of college under his belt.

After reading Maxwell's heartwrenching post about what was going on with his son, I felt sick...useless.  After all, what could I do?  Besides pray and send those prayers and well wishes to the Cynn family?  Then I got an email from Eden Baylee (who is also freakin fantastic) and there was some light.

Click here :)

This is why I choose to be and stay Indie!  This is a fantastic group of individuals who not only support each other's writing careers but when something like this affects just one of our indie family members, we unite like the SUPERFRIENDS and get things done!



Most of us have been touched by cancer, or know of someone who has. By supporting Max and his family, we hope to lessen their financial burden to allow them to concentrate on Joshua's treatment.
 
Max is already putting all the proceeds from the sale of his books toward his son's treatment. As authors and artists, we'd like to do our part. We are offering our love and prayers, but we're also donating our books and services.  

$10,000 will pay for just some of the medical expenses not covered by insurance. It is a long road to recovery, and your donations will reduce the cost of prolonged cancer treatment. 

We don't believe in taking and not giving back, so we're offering some amazing perks for your donations. It's our way of saying "Thank you" for your support of Max, Joshua, and his family, as well as bringing visibility to a horrible disease. Please, please please check out the site and donate.  This isn't a "buy my book" plea.  There is a family that needs our help and the indie community that Max is so proud to be a part of has stepped up.

JOIN US!

Friday, February 10, 2012

Friday Faves:Music edition

I've been a little under the weather.  Well, not a little.  A lot!
Therefore, I've been spending a lot of time in bed and in the house listening to music.
My friend gifted me with a fantastic turntable and I've rediscovered my love for vinyl.  Here's a taste of who's been serenading me through my sickness.

Also, I've been writing a lot over the last 2 days and this music has been a HUGE help.


John Coltrane - Equinox


Miles Davis - Bitches Brew


Buddy Miles - Them Changes



Monday, February 6, 2012

Don't be that guy!

Last night while most of America was watching Eli kick Tom's ass, I was half watching Super Bowl (whatever number we're on) and catching up on my favorite blogs.  I also was looking for some new ways to cross promote and get my 3 books more exposure when I came across a blog post that I thought was going to be relatively interesting and one of those "we're in this together" posts.

Boy, was I wrong.

Granted, the author started off talking about how great being an indie author is and how tight the community is but then WHAM! The second paragraph became a bash fest for those indie authors (like myself) who sell their books for 99 cents.

Apparently, according this blogger/indie author, those who sell at 99 cents or OMG!!! give their books away FREE for a few days are just part time writers who just write for fun and do not understand the importance of editing, cover art, etc, because after all, we're only doing this as a hobby.

Excuse my French but I call bullshit!

It would be a complete waste of time to defend why I sell at 99 cents.  I'll let my Bestseller status speak for itself, but come on, one of the best things about being indie is the community of Indie Authors who are supportive of each other and work together to take the publishing industry by storm.

Don't be that guy who feels that because you paid a cover artist and an editor a shit-ton of money, you have to criticize other authors.

That's just not cool.

We all work hard, even the authors who write for fun and give away their books.  Sure, some books are better than others but that only applies to the books.

NO ONE IS BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE!

Plain and simple.  Because at the end of the day, we're people and who are you to say that you're better than me because you charge $3.99 for your book and I charge 99 cents for mine?

There should be a standing rule in the Indie author community..."Thou Shalt Not Bash Other Indie Authors".  You should have to agree to those terms before hitting publish on KDP.

It's okay to feel that you wrote a better book or novella than someone else and it's absolutely okay to have an opinion on the whole 99 cent pricing thing...I don't know an author who doesn't have an opinion on any and/or everything.  But when you're opinion is put forth in such a way that puts down another person's hard work...well, just don't do that.  Find a better, less meaner way to get your point across.

In layman's terms...

Don't be a douche.