Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: An Interview with Mario Acevedo

You won't want to miss this fun interview with the president of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America and well-known member of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. Author of the Felix Gomez vampire detective mystery series, Mario has shared a couple of very interesting secrets. To get the scoop on Mario, come on over to Chiseled in Rock.

And the Winners Are...

Bob Sanchez has chosen the winner of the free e-book of Little Mountain from the comments left at this last stop of his virtual book tour, and he has also announced the name of the winner (from all comments during the whole tour) of the signed copies of all three books.

The winners are:
Simon Hay wins the free e-book version of Little Mountain.

Cheryl C. Malandrinos wins the three-book ouvre consisting of When Pigs Fly, Getting Lucky, and Little Mountain.

Congratulations to the winners!


And Just a Reminder

I am now officially on a blog vacation until Tuesday, July 5th. However, there will be a few little posts or photos along the way, like next Tuesday at Chiseled in Rock. My interview with Mario Acevedo turned out to be a real treat because Mario, author of the Felix Gomez vampire detective series, is a very interesting guy with a great sense of humor. I'll post a reminder on Tuesday so you don't miss it.

The Best Way to Make a Profit by Bob Sanchez, Guest Blogger

It's my pleasure to welcome Bob Sanchez to talk about good and bad marketing decisions and how to make the right choices for you and your book. I first met (a virtual meeting) Bob while taking Dani Greer's blog book tour class. He was very helpful to those of us who were blogging rookies.

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The Best Way to Make a Profit by Bob Sanchez, Guest Blogger


Thanks for hosting me, Patricia. This is the last stop on my Blog Book Tour, and I will give a prize to one of the commenters on the tour: signed copies of my three books. In addition, I have been giving away Kindle versions of my latest novel, Little Mountain. So for goodness’ sake, please leave comments.

This tour experience makes me wonder how much marketing effort is necessary to make a self-published or small-press book successful. That question in turn begs the question: What is success? That’s a definition that’s probably unique to each of us. My experience so far is that when I promote my work, it sells; when I stop, the sales stop. So my definition of personal success would be having a book that sells by word of mouth apart from my involvement, for an extended period of time. That’s not to say I’d like to stop flogging the books, of course. Along with that, dare I hope for a paltry profit, merely enough to sate a hungry ego?

The best way to make a profit, I am convinced, is to keep a close eye on your expenses. Someone may try to sell you an ad in the New York Times or Publishers’ Weekly or tempt you with an emailing to 500,000 book buyers or entice you with your novel as a screenplay for only ten grand. Hold tightly to your wallets, dear friends. The dumbest thing I ever did was to agree to give a talk to a writers’ group 800 miles away, Deep in the Heart of Texas. Sure, I combined it with a trip to see my son in Austin, but it was still a whole lot of effort to sell two books and get a free lunch. A lot of us writers figure we have to spend money to make money, and that idea has merit. But there is a whole subclass (and I mean sub) of people out there who are skilled in relieving writers of their cash. Writers can do a lot for themselves for free on the Internet. Marketing takes patience and persistence, as I am learning. But if you haven’t invested a lot of money, you can afford to be patient.

For Little Mountain, I switched from iUniverse to CreateSpace, which saved a lot of money. You may want to hire out certain tasks, depending on your skills. I paid a graphic artist to create the cover, for example, but that was all.

So it all comes down to this: Marketing is a different skill from writing, but it’s something you can do. Trust yourself, keep your checkbook closed*, never give up, and have fun. It’s working for me.

Purchase Little Mountain at amazon.com.

*Except, of course, for worthy books.

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Bob, thank you so much for being our guest today.

For those of you who are interested in a chance to win copies of Bob's books, please leave a comment and make sure to include your contact information or have it available in your Blogger Connect profile. I'm going to leave Bob's post up until noon tomorrow (Mountain Time). At that point Bob will cut off the entries and select the winner from comments left during all of his blog book tour stops.

Bob will also select one winner of the ebook editon of Little Mountain from the comments left at today's post. You definitely want to leave a comment here.

Wednesday Scramble

Thursday’s Guest

Bob Sanchez is making the last stop of his virtual tour for Little Mountain and will be giving away signed copies of his three books as well as a copy of his e-book for Kindle. You’ll need to leave a comment to be eligible.


My Blog Vacation

Since I’m going to be concentrating more on my grandmotherly duties than blogging and writing tasks for the next week, I’ve decided to take a blog vacation. I may toss in a couple of short posts just for fun, and I will have an awesome interview with author Mario Acevedo on Tuesday over at Chiseled in Rock, but there will be no long posts and no guest blogger here from Saturday, June 25th through Monday, July 4th.


Guide to Literary Agents “Dear Lucky Agent” Contest for Women’s Fiction

The 9th "Dear Lucky Agent" Contest: Women's/Upmarket Fiction is on at Chuck Sambuchino's Guide to Literary Agents Editor's blog, and the deadline is end of Sunday, June 26th, EST. There are rules and tasks associated with entering this contest, so read carefully.


Still Waiting for Internet Service

We’ve been promised our new modem will arrive on Thursday and that our service can be turned on late Thursday afternoon. I think it’s really going to happen. Probably. Maybe.


The Writing Bug

Do you follow The Writing Bug blog? An arm of Northern Colorado Writers, The Writing Bug will soon be featuring guests from the NCW membership on Saturdays. The posts will range from essays on the writing life to samples of member poetry and fiction.


Cavern Between Worlds by M.K. Theodoratus

This story is available free on Smashwords in a variety of formats. It’s a good read for adult fantasy lovers. The main character is a female captain in the Half-Elven rangers. Her scary adventure is fast-paced and has a very satisfying ending. I don’t want to give anything away, so I can't tell you any more, except that I enjoyed the story.

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: Blessing in Disguise

How I've made the best of this unexpected and prolonged loss of internet access from home. Check out "Blessing in Disguise" at Chiseled in Rock blog.

I'll be back here tomorrow with my usual Wednesday Scramble.

Awwk! No Internet?

My husband and I decided to change internet providers after Old Provider decided we should be paying a lot more money each month for services we’d been using for fifteen years. Apparently we slipped through the cracks when one company bought another company and changed all the rates and schedules. Well, fine, but did they try to keep our business by offering us a sweetheart deal as a transition to full service. Nope, not during that first call.

My husband was most inconvenienced because he had to give up an e-mail address he’d had for all those years, but he went to work setting up a new account and getting all his mail and contacts transferred. Once that was done, and he’d had preliminary talks with the New Provider to verify their services and costs, he called Old Provider to discontinue service.

It took over an hour on the phone and extensive repetition of the word “No” to the new improved offers from Ricky in India to finally get free.

Then it was time for the call to New Provider to set up service. My husband spent nearly an hour on the phone with Young Lady H_ and when all was arranged, wrote down the contract’s confirmation number.

The next day, Friday, Young Fellow J_ from New Provider called and asked if we had been talking to Young Lady H_ and did we still want the service discussed. I said yes. He said H_ had to leave and that he’d call back in a few minutes from his work phone. A half-hour later, he called again to say it would be another hour or so. Two hours later, my husband called New Provider and talked to someone new, Young Lady C_, who said the original confirmation number was invalid because there were mistakes in it.

My husband went through the whole setup process again, discovering new costs and charges never mentioned in the past, but still more favorable than Old Provider. He was given a new confirmation number, and the promise of a confirmation e-mail which C_ was in the process of sending as they spoke.

As of Sunday afternoon, we had received no confirmation e-mail.

The thought of being without online access at home was pretty scary at first, but now I’m resigned to the situation and making the best of it. My Tuesday Chiseled in Rock post will explain why this adventure has turned into a blessing in disguise.

What? Tom Cruise as Reacher?

Tom Cruise is in negotiations to play the part of Jack Reacher in the movie version of One Shot?

And Lee Child says Reacher's size is a metaphor for what?

This is the thanks I get for being a Child/Reacher fan since book one?

Totally unacceptable.

How to Break Writers Block by Jacqueline Seewald, Guest Blogger

Multi-award winning author Jacqueline Seewald has taught creative, expository and technical writing at the university level as well as high school English. She also worked as an academic librarian and an educational media specialist. Eleven of her books of fiction have been published. Her short stories as well as poems, essays, reviews and articles have appeared in hundreds of diverse publications and numerous anthologies.

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How to Break Writer's Block by Jacqueline Seewald, Guest Blogger


Readers often don’t realize that even published authors occasionally suffer from writer’s block. So we must employ techniques to help us remove this impediment.

Here is an exercise I used when I taught Creative Writing classes at both the university and high school level. You might enjoy trying it just for fun whether you consider yourself a reader, a writer or both.

"Stream of consciousness" is a style of writing which attempts to recreate in words what characters may be thinking either in repose or at moments of high conflict. There is no action, and the point of view is entirely within the mind of the central personality. As a technique in fiction writing, it can be very effective. Many modern writers such as James Joyce have attempted to use "interior monologue." Most professional writers often write freely. When producing writing by steady, daily effort, they may break a log jam in the river of their associations and find their thoughts and words flowing rapidly downstream. Writing anything well is a combination of conscious and unconscious production.

For approximately thirty minutes, write as fast as you can, never stopping to ponder a thought. Put down whatever comes into your mind. Write freely without restriction or concern for mechanics. Begin by looking out the window and describing what you see or focusing your attention on something in the room. Conclude by returning your attention to that same focal point.

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Jacqueline's paranormal romantic mystery novels, The Inferno Collection and The Drowning Pool, have been widely acclaimed. The third romantic mystery in the Kim Reynolds series, The Truth Sleuth, is a new release and has received very good reviews. It can be requested at libraries worldwide.

Her recent historical romance set in the Regency period, Tea Leaves and Tarot Cards, is available in both hardcover and large print editions. A young adult novel, Stacy's Song, was also published to excellent reviews.

Wednesday Scramble

Tomorrow's Guest Blogger

Jacqueline Seewald, author of the new Five Star mystery release The Truth Sleuth, will be here to give us a technique for breaking through writer's block.


On Again Off Again Internet Access

We're changing wireless service providers at our house and due to a technicality I totally don't understand, we'll be without service for up to four days. As a result, I'll be checking in whenever I can.


And Finally, What You've Been Waiting For:

Monday's "eye on you" belonged to a burro, one of the descendants of the burros that served miners during the gold boom days in northwest Arizona. Oatman, AZ, to be exact. These burros roam the streets, begging carrots from the tourists.

And why is that kinda sorta writing related? Because part of The Desert Hedge Murders is set in Oatman, and some of these burros make a cameo appearance in my story.







That's all for this Wednesday. I hope you'll join us tomorrow for Jacqueline's guest post.

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: Killer First Sentences

I've posted on killer first sentences at Chiseled in Rock blog today. Those of you who've followed since early 2009 will have seen some of these before, but I've added a couple of new ones too (which means two more authors to take a look at for your own reading list).

We've Got Our Eye on You

Okay, this bit of fun is kinda sorta writing related.

Don't you love this critter's eyelashes?

Can you identify the critter?

I'll reveal the correct answer in my Wednesday Scramble.

50 Dos and Don'ts for Wannabe Writers from Steve Hockensmith, Writer Guy

All is well and I have my nose to the grindstone, so I'm going to refer you to a fun and interesting post: 50 Dos and Don'ts for Wannabe Writers from Steve Hockensmith: Writer Guy.

I hope you have a great weekend.

A Virtual Launch Party by Carolyn Poling Schriber

Carolyn has been kind enough to let me re-post her article and her mini-introduction about the virtual book launch party she put together for Beyond All Price, a novel based on the life of Civil War Nurse, Nellie M. Chase. Thanks, Carolyn!

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Eight Reasons to Love an Online Book Launch
by Carolyn Poling Schriber

It's an introduction to a new book that:

(1) doesn't' require you to get dressed and travel anywhere -- just log on to the website;
(2) doesn't require you to be on-time; it lasts for three days;
(3) tells you a joke or two, but doesn't expect you to laugh;
(4) lets you meet famous writers, but doesn't force you to listen politely if you don't like them;
(5) offers you interesting food -- with no calories, just the recipes;
(6) lets you register for door prizes, but you don't have to be present to win;
(7) provides interesting new information -- painlessly;
(8) lets you investigate the new book without forcing you to buy it (although I hope you will!)

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A Virtual Launch Party by Carolyn Poling Schriber

Previously posted at Katzenhaus Books on Thursday, February 03, 2011

I've been asked by several people to reflect a bit on the virtual launch party I held for the release of my new Civil War novel, Beyond All Price. For those of you I am meeting for the first time, I am a retired history professor, now fulfilling a lifelong dream to become a novelist. Because I wanted to have my book available by the beginning of the Sesquicentennial Anniversary of the Civil War, I decided to self-publish the book.

Like most self-published and print-on-demand authors, I have complete responsibility for promoting and marketing the book. If I didn't call attention to it, no one else was going to. I also happen to be a firm believer in the future of the e-book, so it seemed particularly appropriate to have an e-party. It was also cheaper, of course, and a bit less congratulatory, to use the internet for the book's introduction, rather than just holding a small party for the folks I knew. Here's how I went about it.

My publishing imprint is Katzenhaus Books, and the company website was already up and running at Vistaprint. I wanted the launch to be connected to that site somehow, but at the same time separate and special. The answer was a second site, opened for just a four-month period, that could be linked to the company materials when needed. I started planning the party in July 2010, just as soon as I had finished approving the final proofs for both the paperback and the Kindle editions. The party itself was set for September 15-17.

The party website had many pages, starting with a welcome page that set a festive tone with balloons and confetti. The book itself had its own page, with pictures of the cover, the cover blurb, an excerpt, and links to the company website, including the ordering information. Next came a fun page--what's a party without a few games? There were some bad jokes, a mystery puzzle, and a cartoon cat video, among other oddities. Refreshments were easy. Visitors found a revolving buffet table with pictures of the food on offer and the recipes if they were really hungry. All the items on the buffet were dishes from the novel. Door prizes and give-aways had their own page, which also included an opt-in box, so that I could begin to create a dedicated e-mail list.

The real key to the success of the party, however, came from my invited guests -- seven authors and seven internet experts who wrote about writing. I interviewed the authors about their books and their similarities to my own work; the bloggers wrote articles about their own specialties -- everything from creating a website to the value of visiting their settings, proofreading, punctuation, and the future of the publishing industry. Each one had a page that was featured for an 8-hour period during the launch. There the guests could post their own picture, pictures of their books, list their internet addresses, and invite followers. All these materials were accessible for the entire launch period and for a month afterward through list of guest links.

I cannot begin to praise my guests enough. They not only took the time to write their articles; they also publicized the launch for me on their own blogs, websites, and social networks. When a well-known author twittered a note saying "I'll be appearing at this book launch at this time at this URL," their fans and readers came to visit, and learned about my book along the way. Their help was invaluable!

Questions remain, however. Was it successful? Would I do it again? What would I change? Well, for starters, I found out the party lasted too long. I thought I was cutting back from the only other online launch party I had seen -- one that ran for an entire 7-day period. Mine started on Wednesday with a respectable number of visitors. The visits peaked around noon on Thursday, and limped through Friday, falling off to near nothing by Friday evening. I should have stopped Thursday night. The fun and games page was not particularly popular. People who took the time to visit the site wanted to know about my book or what my guests had to say. They didn't come to be entertained by other means. The opt-in box was badly placed. It should have been at the front of the site, not buried in the back. On the plus sign, people loved the recipes from the book and reacted well to most of my guests.Who doesn't love food?

Sales were slow but steady through the first two days. I didn't sell as many copies as I would have liked, but those who ordered the book were new customers, most of whom I would not have met if it had not been for the launch party. And sales continued at the same pace for several weeks after the actual launch. I also gained new Twitter followers and Facebook friends. I'm glad I did it, and when my next book comes out, I'll probably do it again. Honestly? I had a blast!

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You can find out more about Carolyn and her book, as well as her thoughts on getting published, at her blog Roundheads and Ramblings.

Wednesday Scramble

Tomorrow's Special Guest

Carolyn Poling Schriber, author of Beyond All Price, wrote an informative post on how she planned and presented her book launch party online. She has graciously allowed me to re-post her story. Anyone who has a book release coming up later this summer or in the fall may find this article very helpful.




Nannie Goats in Panties

This is a cute humor blog with a lot of followers. I especially liked the May 31st post, Marriage 101: How to Keep Romance Alive Through Your Grocery List.


On Critique Groups

This excellent article at Jane Friedman's Writers Digest blog, There Are No Rules, is called 4 Ways to Make the Most of a Critique Group.


Focus, Focus

“Focus! How Writers Can Improve Their Productivity” by Lisa Morton at Cemetery Dance Publications is pretty interesting.

I need to read this article at least once a week.


Scheduling Thursday Guests for This Blog

I've issued the call for more guests to sign up for the available Thursday spots through the rest of 2011. If you have a book coming out this fall, and especially if you're planning a blog book tour, you might want to schedule your guest appearances well in advance of book release date.

Contact me through the e-mail link in my blog profile.

Chiseled in Rock Tuesday: What's New from Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers?

It's that time again. I'm over at Chiseled in Rock blog reporting a few of the new releases from members of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. If you're into history, vampires, or romance, check us out.

Writing on a Merry-Go-Round

Doesn't it seem like writers do the same things over and over?

Write
Tear up pages or delete chapters
Write
Submit for critique
Rewrite (many times)
Submit to first reader
Rewrite
Self-edit (finally)
Submit
File rejections
Repeat above steps as many times as it takes
Get sale if we're lucky
More edits
Maybe more edits
Promote

Sometimes I think, "Stop this carousel, I want to get off."

But I don't.

San Francisco, 2010

I climb off the carousel for a few minutes..or months, maybe a bit dizzy from the experience, and stagger around for a while. But then I climb right back on for another ride...I mean write...as soon as the music starts.

A Bit of Truth from Og Mandino

Since I'm still suffering from a case of brain freeze, mostly likely brought on by my focus on manuscript revisions, I'm recycling this post from December, 2009.

I saw this quote today . . . my apologies to whoever posted it because I failed to jot down the site's url so I could link back to it later:

"Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again."
--------------------Og Mandino

This struck me as a great truth.

I didn't recognize Og Mandino's name, so I looked him up.

Augustine Mandino was an Italian immigrant (whose mother was Irish) who became an American author of books about success. He was born in 1923 and died in 1996. His personal story is fascinating. You can listen to it as well as read it at Og's Story.

Twenty-two books are listed on the author website, among them titles such as The Greatest Salesman in the World, The Greatest Secret in the World, and Secrets for Success and Happiness. You can even get a daily dose of Og if you want.

I couldn't help popping over to brainyquotes.com to see if there was any writerly advice from Og Mandino I could post. Here's what I found:

"To be always intending to make a new and better life but never to find time to set about it is as to put off eating and drinking and sleeping from one day to the next until you're dead."

"To do anything truly worth doing, I must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in with gusto and scramble through as well as I can."

There seems to be a theme running through the quotes that speak directly to those of us who are victims of too many interests and a lack of focus:

"It is those who concentrate on but one thing at a time who advance in this world. The great man or woman is the one who never steps outside his or her specialty or foolishly dissipates his or her individuality."

I can't really argue with Og's words. When we read interviews with the greatest athletes, musicians, dancers, writers -- whatever the specialty -- we see a common thread. These folks knew what they wanted at a young age and they made a commitment in time and energy to succeed. That's what we need to do, you know, no matter where we are or how old we are. Recognize what we want to do and commit the time and energy to do it. Og Mandino figured it out. So can we.

The Road to Rogue Patriot by Gerald Meunier, Guest Blogger

Today's guest is Gerald Meunier, author of the debut Clay Holt thriller, Rogue Patriot. This novel was released in May and is available in hardcover and ebook editions.

I learned of Gerald's novel through my work on Chiseled in Rock blog where I help promote the published authors of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers.

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The Road to Rogue Patriot By Gerald Meunier, Guest Blogger


You’ve all heard this before: “I’ve always wanted to write a novel.” After living most of a life—my life—I realized I still hadn’t written it. I knew what I wanted to write about, but the business world constantly lured me away.

I’d always been good at “writing”. I cut my teeth on writing in the business world by becoming adept with marketing-related material. People found value in my “creativity”. Eventually my creativity channeled into business plans and advising small businesses. That was never my goal as a writer, but it usually paid the bills. Sometimes very, very well. (Excuse the use of adverbs to make my point, lol).

I began to research the world of fiction to determine where my “great American novel” would fit. Throughout my life, I’d been drawn to quite a variety of fiction—literary and commercial—action/adventure, mystery, suspense, humor, some science fiction. I relished Hemingway and read the works of many highly-acclaimed “literary” novelists. During my research, I pondered the meaning of a category called “mainstream”. Before I figured out what it meant, a car accident changed my life.

It took years to get back on my feet, both physically and financially, all the while trying to fit writing into my life. At that pace, I knew I’d never realize my dream. I had to change my approach. To do it, I had to turn my thinking and my lifestyle upside down. I needed to fit my life into my writing.

It wasn’t easy. I learned that publishing as a first-time novelist was difficult without other types of publishing credentials, such as short stories, articles, or non-fiction books. I had developed specialized backpacking techniques in Colorado, so it seemed logical that I should write a non-fiction book on that subject. I joined the Colorado Mountain Club in 2000 and quickly attained Trip Leader status. I knew this would help me get published.

Through the 1990s, I’d grown concerned about political issues. After 9/11, I paid more attention to border security and the lack thereof. Illegal immigration naturally entered the realm of national security while politicians did nothing. I researched these subjects so much that I put the backpacking project aside thinking I could channel my patriotic passions into a non-fiction book about the disintegration of our country. However, my marketing background helped me realize that without something called a “platform”, I had no chance of publishing that book.

In 2004, I abandoned non-fiction projects in favor of writing short stories to give myself credentials directed more toward publishing a novel. I found immediate success when the CMC published a story about a hiking incident in the mountains.

I continued working on short stories, but life had a way of interrupting my efforts. I devoted hours researching the meager markets for short fiction. With little time available to market my stories, I made feeble attempts anyway, sending a story out to one or two publications at a time. I got nowhere.

Then, I got serious. I joined Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers in 2006. After coming up with the concept for my thriller, I joined critique groups immediately because I knew feedback would be important in developing my craft. It was painful, but I stuck it out for nearly one-and-a half years. My writing improved. I continued to pay attention to politics and the issues I cared about. Meanwhile, I’d heard about published authors using “readers” to provide needed critique of their manuscripts. It turned out that their readers were usually their agent or their spouse. I had neither, so I trained a friend to be a reader.

I moved to Wyoming in 2010 and found another active writer community where I found three more readers. That was the turning point for getting my novel published. Because it deals with timely issues and because of the turmoil in the publishing world, I gave up trying to get an agent and went with a small publisher. Rogue Patriot was released in May.

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Thanks, Gerald, for telling us about your path to publication. Each author's story is a little different, yet we all have the same end goal.

Like Gerald, I also highly recommend critique groups and critiquing readers to help us along the way.

For more information about Gerald and his novel, Rogue Patriot, visit his website and blog. Gerald is on Facebook and Twitter.

Wednesday Scramble

Thursday's guest blogger

Gerald Meunier, author of the Clay Holt thriller, Rogue Patriot, is tomorrow's guest. As Gerald tells us about his path to publication, he offers some great advice on how to get the job done.

Check out this book trailer for Rogue Patriot, and then join us tomorrow to learn how it all came about.





Ready to Make Plans for 2012?

C. Hope Clark has an excellent blog post called "What Are Your Writing Plans for 2012?" It may seem silly to be thinking about next year already, but Hope tells you why you need to plan ahead.


Should You Use RT or the Retweet Button on Twitter?

For those of you who use Twitter, this excellent question is answered by author Nathan Bransford on his blog.


Brain Freeze

I cannot think of one other thing to say.