Interview with Brenda Novak, continued
What inspired you to write your first book? I caught my daycare providing drugging my children with cough syrup while I worked as a loan officer. After that I couldn’t trust anyone with the care of my children and quit my job to stay home with them—but needed to find some way to help out financially. I was reading a good book and thought, “Hey, maybe I can do this!” LOL
Who or what has most influenced your writing? The way my husband jumps into anything he’s interested in set a great example for me to do the same, so I think he was a big influence in getting me started. But it was the classics that really inspired me, that made my imagination take flight. I trace my love of reading and writing back to the fifth grade when I discovered a whole row of books that were beyond anything I’d ever experienced—JANE EYRE and THE SECRET GARDEN are the two I remember most clearly.
If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor? I can’t choose one person. I haven’t had anyone to teach me or guide me, but there has been a sort of collective contribution from all the authors I’ve met and read over the years (teaching by example). If I had to pick a mentor, I’d say RWA has been my mentor. It’s provided craft workshops, access to agents and editors, market information and updates, critique partners (which I’ve used occasionally) and encouragement.
I’ve heard that no matter how successful, most authors set higher goals for their career. Is this true for you? Definitely. I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished so far—and grateful. But there are certainly goals I haven’t met and I’m continuing to march forward.
Are you a plunger or a planner? How much plotting, outlining, etc. do you do? I’m a plunger (or pantser). I do absolutely no plotting or outlining. I sit down and start to write…and let the story unfold in my imagination. Sometimes this requires me to go back and reshape certain characters or events, but the story seems to grow more organically for me if I don’t have a preconceived idea of where it should go. I like being surprised as much as the reader.
Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work? Who’s still living? Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Her characterization is exquisite. She has a way of making me laugh and making me cry, all in the same book. I can’t get enough of her work (and have read every novel she’s written).
Are there any new authors who have grasped your interest? My sister and my good friend have both recommended I try Stephanie Meyer, and I’m definitely planning to do so.
What books have influenced your life? Wow, there are probably too many of these to list, but off the top of my head: James’ Clavell’s SHOGUN, Ken Follett’s EYE OF THE NEEDLE, Barbara Taylor Bradford’s A WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE, Margaret Mitchell’s GONE WITH THE WIND, Charlotte Bronte’s JANE EYRE, Jane Austin’s PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, Kathleen Winsor’s FOREVER AMBER, John Jake’s THE BASTARD, and Daphne du Maurier’s REBECCA.
I’ve read your Stillwater Trilogy and have to tell you that I fell for Clay in the first few pages of Dead Silence. I was disappointed I had to wait until the second book for his story! Were any of the characters in these stories more dear to your heart than others? I, too, loved Clay from the beginning. That’s why the second book of the trilogy, DEAD GIVEAWAY, is my favorite. It’s his story, where we get an intimate look inside his head, and I think he’s a truly courageous man. Grace was also dear to me, but Clay will always be my favorite. His background is just so tragic, and the way he stood up beneath the load he was called to bear at such a young age—that really tugged at my heartstrings. LOL
One of the reasons I enjoyed the Stillwater Trilogy was because the books are all about family loyalty. Although I liked the mystery and suspense, the strength shown by this family in dire times endeared each character to my heart. Is this something you weave into all your trilogies? I liked putting these characters in such a difficult moral dilemma, but the theme that comes up again and again in my work is one of redemption. I find the whole concept, as well as our search for such a thing, very intriguing.
Please tell us a bit about your next series, The Last Stand Trilogy. I understand the first book, Trust Me will be available on June 8, 2008. TRUST ME, STOP ME, WATCH ME will come out next summer in back-to-back months (June, July, August) and will center on three women who, somewhere in their past, have been traumatized by violent crime. After meeting at a victim's support group, they become good friends and decide to fight back by starting their own victim's charity—The Last Stand--where they take on all kinds of different cases. In the first story, TRUST ME, the heroine has survived an attempted rape in her own home (rapist came through the window to surprise her in bed). She managed to fend him off and testified against him in court--but because he didn't actually get away with the rape, his sentence was short to begin with and, at the beginning of the story, he's getting out early. Skye Kellerman believes he'll be back, that he'll try to punish her for testifying against him, but hardly anyone else is worried. He was a dentist with a wife and kids, a highly respected member of the community, and most believe his side of the story, which is nothing even close to the truth. Except Detective David Willis. He knows Oliver Burke is guilty of attempted rape--and a lot more.
Can you give readers a hint of what to expect next from you after The Last Stand trilogy? Actually, after the first three books, there will be three more, due out in August, September and October of 2009. I’ll also have a Christmas anthology coming in 2009.
What book are you reading now, although I’m not sure how you’d find time to read anything! I’m currently reading Stephen King’s ON WRITING and Allison Brennan’s KILLING FEAR (I was lucky enough to get an autographed ARC).
Do you have anything specific you’d like to say to your readers? I’d like to thank my readers for their support and encouragement and for helping me raise money for diabetes research. Each year they return to my Web site to bid and to thank me for my work in this area. They’re great!
Each year I look forward to the month of May. Not only does it signal an end to winter in Maine, but your on-line auction to raise money for juvenile diabetes happens that month. Would you tell us about your efforts on behalf of juvenile diabetes? I started my fundraising efforts not long after my son was diagnosed with diabetes. It wasn’t until I learned more about the disease that I realized how terrible it really is—and how many people are affected. Not only is battling diabetes a minute-by-minute endeavor, which means you’re never free from worry, it’s a disease that affects every major organ in the body. It’s also a disease I believe we can beat. That’s why I spend so much time every year building and running Brenda Novak’s On-line Auction for Diabetes Research. Thanks to the generosity of my item donors (people like you, Pam) and my shoppers, I’ve managed to raise more than $250,000 in just three events. I’m hoping this year’s auction will double in size and fundraising power yet again. And we should definitely make it. For readers, we have some of the biggest names in fiction, people like Laurell K. Hamilton, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Christine Feehan, Jayne Ann Krentz, Debbie Macomber, Susan Wiggs, Sandra Brown, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Catherine Coulter, Ridley Pearson, etc, donating autographed books, baskets and personal meetings (lunches, dinners, wine tours, and more). For writers, we have opportunities to get in front of some of the most powerful agents and editors in publishing. And for everyone else, we have everything from exquisite jewelry to travel packages to Get Your Name in My Next Book to the services of a good Web designer. It’s more of a celebration of life and love than anything else. Don’t miss it! It’s May 1 – May 31st at www.brendanovak.com.
Thank you Brenda for taking time from your busy schedule to do this interview. Read about Brenda’s latest and upcoming books at http://www.brendanovak.com/.
How did you get started making jewelry? Did you create in other media first before settling on jewelry? I do a fair amount of needlework, crocheting, painting and paper crafting, but jewelry has always been my thing. My first jewelry pieces were made of paperclips and contact paper, and then safety pins and plastic beads. Then I discovered pliers and all hell broke loose, because I figured out how to take things apart and make other things out of them. Nothing was safe from me. When my daughter was very young and I was going bananas as a stay-at-home Mom, I bought a couple packages of polymer clay and for the first time truly became enamored of a medium. I've been making jewelry for thirty-plus years and using primarily polymer clay for the last fifteen. It never bores me - and that's some trick.
What inspires your creations? Truly? A combination of attention deficit disorder, a lust for color, and the second law of thermodynamics. I am not a tidy worker, so colorful stuff piles up on my work surface all the time and I am constantly shoving things aside and working in a four-inch square of space. Eventually the piles fall over, and something catches my eye, and we're off in another direction. There are two other polymer clay artists who provide the remainder of my artistic inspiration - Donna Kato and Dan Cormier. Donna is the queen of thinking outside the box, and Dan is the king of precise craftsmanship.
I understand you sell your pieces both online and at various Ren faires during the summer. I’m sure running a faire booth involves a lot of planning ahead. What is your process for preparing for the summer season? this is probably going to sound very irresponsible, but I have discovered that no amount of good planning can prevent Mother Nature from knocking you on your ass. I have been rained on, blown over, roasted whole, and frozen stiff at outdoor faires. What I do is keep my tent upright, my jewelry out, my tankard full and my attitude positive. Beyond that and making sure I have a solid roof over my head each night on the road, I DON'T plan.
How do you decide what kinds of pieces to make? Is it a balance of what has sold well in the past against taking a chance on something fresh? I have some stock pieces that people readily recognize - my Celtic knot pins or the Balinese filigree barrettes, for example - and I try to have a decent selection of those. Otherwise, your guess is exactly as good as mine. I have had shows where I sold nothing but bracelets, and other shows where I couldn't sell a bracelet if my life depended on it. So, I make what pleases me at the time and hand the reins off to Fortune. I get bored very easily and I hate making the same thing over and over again. I am blessed to work with a medium that is just as willing to try new things as I am.
What is your ultimate goal for your jewelry making, and what steps are you taking to get there? I am very fortunate in that I do not need to try to support myself financially - but I'd like to be able to. As it is, I am just able to stay out of debt, and in this business that's pretty good. I will continue to do faires and home shows, and build through the websites. In terms of personal goals, I very much have the sense that I am just now beginning to reach my potential as an artist, which is really an amazing, exciting feeling. So I'm using the occasion of the new calendar year to set some artistic goals, rather than business ones, and the biggest step I am taking toward those goals is putting myself in the studio every single day.
What do you do to recharge your batteries?
Recharge? You can
do that? I just run around until I fall down unconscious. Then I
get up, have some coffee, and start the process over again. I am
horrible at relaxing. I can't even just sit and watch television
- my hands have to be doing something, whether it's needlework or
whatever. I do yoga, though, and I do meditate, known around here as
"Dad! Mom's staring into space again."
What's funny is, my
brain hemispheres are backwards. In art, I am left-brained, very
much a technician. I am a process junkie and very into the details.
In left-brain situations where this kind of thinking would do me
some good, I go all right-brained, and rather than take logical
steps, I take leaps of faith. But I digress. (See?) I like to try to
find the limits of whatever medium I am working with, then see if I
can break those limits. Creativity is nothing more than
problem-solving. For example, I have been working recently with
vintage buttons and the engineering involved is keeping me very
entertained. How do you make a centered, flat object hang so it
faces in a specific direction on a vertical axis? I have not read new fiction in so long it's embarrassing. My current pile of books is almost all instructional, craft stuff. My guilty pleasure is the paperback releases of novels by Robert B. Parker, Nora Roberts' "JD Robb" alter-ego, and Janet Evanovich. I love them all. Happy new year! You too, Juli! Thanks for talking with us!
Author’s Note: I’ve been acquainted with Juli McCarthy for about two years now, having first met her through LiveJournal. I instantly fell in love with her wit, humor, and bright spirit. And this was before I saw her jewelry designs.
Juli is, quite simply, gifted. I hope you're as struck, as I was, at how similar her creative process is to that of a writer. http://www.paganbeads.com
Carolan Ivey writes award-winning paranormal and Celtic-flavored fantasy romance. Check out her latest releases at www.carolanivey.com.
Goal Setting – Get It In Writing!, continued
Now, some say you need to post your goal where you will see it every day. On the mirror, on the door you walk out each morning, on your computer monitor. All good ideas if you’re willing to put your aspiration out there for the world to see. When I first tried this in January 2006, I wasn’t so brave, so I tucked my paper, about the size of an index card, into a rarely used (because nothing else would fit) pocket in my purse. The goal I’d written was directly related to my writing and I must admit it was put down on paper in a frenzy of frustration and doubt (a common frame of mind for most authors!) I remember after I wrote it down I looked at it for a long time, repeating it over and over in my mind and then I put it away. Another thing about your goal? Make it specific and make it positive. Write in detailed and upbeat words. They say our subconscious mind files away your ambition as soon as it appears on paper and starts working on it. Give it something constructive to do. Instead of wanting to lose something—pounds, dead-end job, loser significant other—turn that around and tell yourself you are going to gain a strong and healthy body, a position that fuels your creativity and pays the bills and a person who will treat you like the Goddess Divine you are! Be prepared: the temptation to toss this scrape of paper into the trash will be appear often in the coming months. Tearing it into tiny pieces or feeding it to your dog will hold great appeal more times than you will know, but use all your powers to resist. Curse at it, shove it beneath your lacey unmentionables in the dresser drawer or like me, tuck it into that tiny corner of your purse that won’t even hold a little tube of Chap Stick. But hold onto it and keep the faith. How can I be so positive? Well, the single goal I wrote down two years ago this month was this: Sign my book at 2008 Romance Writers of America’s Booksigning at the national conference! And yes, the exclamation point was most definitely needed because at the time I was armpit deep in a manuscript that just wasn’t cooperating and I had nothing submitted anywhere. But before 2006 I had sold to Samhain Publishing and I will be signing REILLY’S PROMISE in San Francisco in July. My goal (three goals actually) list is already made up and again, tucked away. I’m still not brave enough to put it out there for everyone to see, but I know what they are and that’s what important. Best of luck to all of you with your goals!
Christyne Butler is a firm believer in getting it down on paper, be it her goals or her romance novels. Her first release from Samhain Publishing, Reilly's Promise, is currently available electronically and will be in print in May 2008. You can get more information about Christyne at her website www.christynebutler.com. The Procrastinator’s Guide to New Years Resolutions, continued
Once you’ve got the perfect paper, you need a really good pen. No point in writing down these momentous goals that will keep you motivated for an entire year with bad, runny ink. And you need to enjoy the writing process. To do that, a good pen is required. Again, this hunt may take some time, but don’t worry, you’ll be glad you’ve invested the added time. Now, you’ve got the perfect pen and the perfect paper. Next, you need a really good cup of coffee. Because how are you supposed to think about goals without a jolt of caffeine? And while you’re in the kitchen, you should probably prepare yourself a snack. You may be working on your resolutions for a long time. You don’t want to get distracted by hunger. Next, make sure you’ve made all the phone calls you’ve been putting off. A ringing phone will only distract you. Preempt the distraction by calling everyone you know and having that long overdue chat. At this point, you’ll need another cup of coffee. And there are probably dishes to be done after your earlier snack. It might even be time for a little more food. Give in to that need. A growling belly will only throw you off target. Then you’ll need to check your emails and make sure you’re all caught up there. You won’t want to get side-tracked by emergency emailing while you're in the middle of working out those goals! Next you need to get your thank you cards from the holidays written. Having that chore hanging over you will only haunt you while you’re trying to concentrate on the bigger project of planning your goals. And while you’re at it, you might want to get your holiday shopping for next year started. After all, once you know you’ve made a start, you’ll think less about the stress of the holidays just looming out there at the end of the year. And, I don’t know about you, but I can’t seem to concentrate if I have a lot of laundry and a messy house crowding me. So be sure to take care of those household chores you’ve been putting off. This is no time to let the dust bunnies under your couch cause you background anxiety. Your resolutions are too important. So now, you’ve got a clean house, the laundry is done, the dishes are drying, your belly is full and you’re working on a fresh cup of coffee. The emails, letters and phone calls have all been made, and you’ve done some of that early shopping that will save you time at the end of the year when you’re busy working on your goals. You’ve got your excellent paper and the perfect pen. Now’s the time to sit down and write out your resolutions. But remember, these are your goals for the year. You have to seriously think about them. They will affect how you feel about your entire year! You don’t want to write something down that might make you feel inadequate six months from now. An unachievable or ridiculous goal should be discarded too. These have to be things you can do in a year’s time. The importance of your resolutions can not be underestimated. Take your time in composing them. If needs be, go through several drafts. Even after you’ve got one draft done, you’ll want to take a few weeks to consider if that’s the final list. Remember rushing will only cause you more trouble later on. Once you’ve finalized your resolutions at last, be sure to hold the list up and admire it. Pin it up over your computer where you’ll see it every day. Continue to admire the neatly written list for as long as you like. And finally, it’s time to start going after those 2008 goals. At this point, it’s probably October, so you won’t have much time, but you can do it. And if you don’t quite achieve everything you planned, well, you can just add those goals to your 2009 New Year Resolutions. Good luck all you fellow procrastinators! Here’s to a productive year!
(For ways to set goals this year that might actually work, be sure to read the other excellent Samhellion articles in this months newsletter!)
Isabo Kelly’s fantasy romance, The Heron’s Call, will be available in paperback in the In the Gloaming anthology, out in February and available for preorder from Amazon.com. Look for her erotic science fiction romance short story, Hali’s Rescue, in Tales from Lachmuirghan available now. To learn more about Isabo, visit her website www.isabokelly.com
Think Big!-Start small!, continued Avoid drastic resolutions and goal-setting. The pressure of these monstrous goals often ends in frustration and disappointment. Opt instead for small goals that can add up to huge accomplishments. Ideally and safely losing one and a half to two pounds a week is an easier goal to obtain than "I have to lose fifteen pounds in two weeks!" With an attainable and healthy pounds per week goal set, now all you need is thirty minutes at least five days a week. Why thirty minutes? Thirty minutes five days a week is the minimum amount of time needed to start an effective weight loss pilgrimage. However, trying to carve out thirty minutes from a busy day can be a daunting task. There's no law that says it has to be done all at once. Break it up during the day until you've accumulated thirty minutes or more. Talk to a Personal Trainer; a professional can tailor a program you can follow at home—or even at work! Let's not forget another important component. Diet. Crash dieting is instant gratification that doesn't last. Gradually change your diet so that it becomes a permanent change. Set small food goals such as using portion control. Substitute healthier foods for unhealthy ones until your everyday diet is not a diet but a healthy habit. Taking all the sweet pleasures from your life at once can be sabotage. Your body will crave these and make it much more difficult to stay on track. Choose the time you indulge in pleasures wisely. Perhaps at lunch or at dinner with friends. That way all of you can split the delectable treat and the calories as well. New Year's Eve is the harbinger of goals and resolutions that often get thrown by the wayside. Just remember that the big things in life are made up of smaller ones. A series of small goals set and met will add up. So think big—but start small!
Toni L Meilleur - Ace Certified Personal Trainer - am48174@aol.com
As further proof of this lighter side, also consider the singing urinal. If the urine stream is strong enough--prostate in good working order--the urinal sings out the European football cheer. If not, a recorded message tells the man to go see his doctor. Of course men have always needed some sort of push to go to their doctors (references available on request) but they may need a different doctor than a Urologist after a public encounter with a singing loo. Unless perhaps, they can link the resultant, deplorable destruction of property to detonating dungarees. But I dissemble and digress. Whew! Okay, where was I? Oh, yes. Scientists. The Universe. Important questions. And the most important question of them all---what is happiness? And its corollary--how do I get some? You will be thrilled to know that finally, finally, this question is being subjected to systematic, scientific study. Already, several remarkable discoveries have been made. Perhaps none with quite the pizzazz of detonating dungarees or singing loos--but remarkable nonetheless. Happiness research has discovered, for example, that depressed, pessimistic individuals often have a stronger grip on reality than do happy, optimistic people. In other words, to be happy it pays to be in touch with your inner ditz. Here's a happiness experiment you can do at home with little or no worry that a scientist will come calling. Simply read the following words slowly and attentively: anger, hate, landmine, massacre, famine, war How do you feel? Quick, is that a frown? At the very least, I bet your lips started to turn down. Mine sure did. Now let's see if that effect can be reversed. love, peace, joy, fun, Phyllis Diller, exploding trousers, singing loos, scientists And there you have it. Your own personal evidence. And to think, scientists doing the experiment had to employ complex biochemical testing, brain sensors and CAT scans to come to the same conclusion you just reached. That Mom was right. Negative thoughts and images do drag us down. And positive thoughts and smiling, whether we feel like it or not, can make us feel better. The bottom line here? It just might be worthwhile to go into training in 2008 to practice being positive rather than negative, hopeful rather than pessimistic, grateful rather than oblivious. And who knows, we might not only be happier, it may increase our productivity as writers, help us to overcome rejection more quickly, and... well who knows. The sky, as we now know, thanks to scientists, is no longer the limit.
As a former professor of Toxicology, Ann Warner helped solve medical mysteries. Now, as an author, she explores the mysteries of the human heart. Her novel, Dreams for Stones, has just been released by Samhain Publishing, and a short story, Oz (Wild Rose Press), is a nominee for best short romance of 2007 by The Long and the Short of It Reviews. Visit Ann at www.annwarner.net
At two-o’clock, my eyes began flicking nervously toward the clock. I looked at each remaining item on the agenda and did a mental calculation as to how much time we’d need to address each point. Hurry! Hurry! At two-forty the meeting came to a close and I bolted for the door. I raced to my car and slammed it into reverse, nearly running over a group of students in my rush to leave. My own children would be getting out of school in twenty minutes and I had a twenty-five minute commute. On the race across town, I took every short-cut I could think of. My pulse quickened and I imagined my poor children sitting on water-soaked pavement, chilled and forgotten. (Okay, it was a sunny seventy degrees and if I actually did forget about them, the teachers would simply pop them into an aftercare program and hand them a snack. But the feelings were still there! I was a bad mother...) As luck would have it, I managed to make every light and avoid every school bus. With ten minutes to spare, I realized I was only seven-minutes from my destination. My pulse slowed and my breathing returned to normal. My children would never know how close they’d come to catastrophe, and I had once again dodged the evil-eyes of the parenting police. With all threat of exposure removed, I began reflecting on my colleague’s earlier comment: “I want to be a princess too.” I realized that I had once been a princess. A handsome prince invited me to a “ball” and I attended in my flowing white dress. All eyes turned to stare at us as we declared our love and danced across the floor. Ooooh, aaah… But the traditional fairy tale ends far too soon. Cinderella takes a final spin and lives happily ever after. The true story of Cinderella has quite a different ending. You see, Cinderella had a few children of her own and before long she was relegated to her former position as housemaid and cook. Time passed and our princess grew older and wider (no, that’s not a typo). Now, instead of glass slippers she sports a pair of Easy Spirits with arch supports. Her flowing white gown is a velour sweat suit, three sizes larger than that twirly dress—before alterations. She no longer dreams of stepping into a crystal pumpkin coach, complete with a footman and a driver. No… she IS the pumpkin coach. Truly, as I pull into the circular dismissal line, mentally preparing for the next round of travels, I realize I have much more in common with the pumpkin than the princess. In the afternoon, I still look pretty put together. I’m smiling, and my energy runs high. I wave at friends and laugh as my children bundle into the car, rambling about the events of the day. I taxi them home and prepare a snack, rustle through laundry bins and duffle bags for the right costume to wear to karate, dance, or whatever else is going on, and then whisk my charges off to whatever exciting event awaits them. While they’re entertained, I dash to the grocery store to pick up a few items for dinner, scoot to the dry cleaner, and refill my car with gas. At five, I feel myself starting to fade. I pick up the children and dash away home. When the clock strikes six, as predictably as midnight turned that crystal coach into a round orange squash, my facade of efficiency fades. Remnants of dinner are stuck in my hair or spilled on my shirt. My hair’s a mess and I’ve taken on the dark-eyed look of raccoons. By seven, I’m wearing the velour sweat suit, or worse-yet, a bulky purple sleeper sack my sister dubbed my “Barney Suit.” When the clock strikes eight, I’m officially transformed—nothing more than a pumpkin, round and still and of little use to anyone. But it’s okay, because I know, come morning, when my princess and prince rise from their beds I’ll be stupendous once again, transformed by the magic of motherhood. Do I want to be a princess? Sometimes. But I’ve already danced at the ball. And for now, I’m happy to watch my children spin. For now, a pumpkin’s good enough for me.
Kerri Augusto is a professor of clinical psychology and a regular columnist for Baystate Parent Magazine. She lives in MA with her veterinarian husband, two children, and a variety of misfit pets. On January 29, she will release her first Samhain novel, Strawberries in Winter.
Not all of them are strikes. Some ideas start out as a whisper in the back of my head. But whether it’s a strike or a whisper, the only thing that separates a writer from somebody that wants to write is this… Getting it written. Great ideas aren’t limited to writers. A lot of people have great ideas. A lot of writers get those lightening strike ideas that seem too huge, too complicated, too complex, or just too different, from what they are used to writing. But even if we’re scared to write the idea, us writers are going to at least give it a try. If it falls flat, sucks, makes no sense, never sells… we tried, right? Have a great idea? Always wanted to write a book? Then do it. Where to start? That can be an easy answer…or not. Try starting from the beginning, jot down whatever your idea is. Give your people names. Give them a history. Make them real…to you. Once they are real to you, it’s a little easier to make them real to others. Your idea doesn’t exactly have a beginning? Or at least not one you’re aware? Then just down whatever your idea is, the basics…don’t think of it as writing a book if the idea of that makes you nervous. Just think of it as doodling. Pretend it’s an assignment that nobody but you and your teacher will ever see. Promise yourself a reward...If I can write just the first couple pages, I’ll get a manicure, I’ll get dessert when we eat out Friday, I’ll buy a new Shiloh Walker book on payday…(or whoever!). Find whatever motivates you, put your pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, and write. That idea of yours may very well be great…but you won’t know until you write it.
You can visit Shiloh's website at http://www.shilohwalker.com Promotional Pointers – Your Website
Now that you’ve got your domain name it’s time for hosting. And please, please don’t use free sites. Firstly, they have popup ads in droves, which sucks for your readers. You want your website to be inviting and pelting people with popups is not inviting. Then think about the overall look and feel of your site and ask yourself some questions: 1. Is the site easy to read? Is the font some super-fancy script that makes people squint? Is it too small? Too large? Is it glaring against a dark background? Does the background overpower the type? 2. Can people find what they need? Do you have a simple table of contents or menu? Naming the pages cutesy things might seem fun but if you name your current releases page something only a small group of people understand that doesn’t help anyone find your books. 3. Do you have a booklist with buylinks and blurbs? Do you have a page or list of your upcoming releases? Do you have contact information? 4. Do you update it regularly? Having a website be out of date is a problem, if your readers go to the trouble of looking you up but your information is woefully out of date, why bother to come back? Other things are fun and help your page stand out as something unique to you, but be sure you have the basics down so you’re using your website as your best promotional tool to the best advantage!
Lauren Dane is poking her head out of the edits cave to bring you this little ditty. Her most recent Samhain release is Cascadia Wolves: Wolf Unbound and you can read an excerpt at her website – http://www.laurendane.com
Brands evoke a certain promise and emotional connection. And people are brand loyal. Just ask Procter and Gamble, the maker of Tide, Oil of Olay, and Pringles. When you look at that red can you know what you’re going to get—great, one of a kind potato chips. And just like a great potato chip, readers want a great book. So, as a new author, how do you do that? First, let’s focus on the readers and what they want. When people read, they have an emotional need they want fulfilled. Whether they want a good scare, or to experience falling in love all over again, they pick up a book to fill something inside them. And that's where our job comes in—fulfilling that need. As a new author, it’s up to you to tell readers what you write. The best way to tell them is succinctly, with powerful words that describe what you write emotionally. Not who you are, not the plot of your book, but the emotions your stories evoke.
However, you must stay true to your
brand or you will break the trust you’ve developed with your
readers. You must keep delivering what your reader expects from you,
whether it be highly emotional stories, sensual erotica, horror, or
humor—you can not let them down. What would happen if Pringles
suddenly changed their original chip? They’ve broken that trust and
as a connoisseur of potato chips, you start looking for another
brand that will fulfill their original promise to you. Linda Winfree is Sultry, Southern, Romantic Suspense. So what will we get when we read her books? Romantic suspense that takes place in the south. Elisa Adams: Passion on the edge. Oooh, I like that one. So, if you want a passionate book that pushes the envelope, Elisa is your gal. Monica Burns: Sensual historical romance with a darker, sexier edge. This one tells you exactly what you're going to get. Historical romance that's sensual, sexy, and edgy. Describing a brand is the easy part. Describing your writing is the hard part. Compile a list of words that describe your writing. Remember, not the plot, but the emotion of your writing. Below I’ve given you a list of words that might describe that fictitious author who wants her readers to cry and laugh with her characters and fall in love with her hero: enchanting, sensual, sensuous, seductive, passionate, intoxicating, captivating, enticing, alluring, irresistible, delightful, exotic, comforting, rich, enticing, inviting, invigorating, subtle, charming, soothing and delectable. I’m sure you can come up with many more. Another good place to look is your reviews. What have the reviewers said about your stories? Were there any words that stood out? Words, phrases, or concepts that were repeated? Reviews are a great place to start. So what do you do with your brand? You live it. It becomes part of your website, your myspace page, your blog. It becomes part of you. You are your brand, so make sure it’s a good fit. Now go forth and brand yourself! Oh, and let me know what you come up with.
Sharon Cullen writes paranormal and romantic suspense for Samhain and contemporary and paranormal romance with The Wild Rose Press. Her current release, Night Song, has been on MBaM's bestseller list and has been recommended by numerous review sites. Her romantic suspense, Deception, will be released in late 2008. You can visit Sharon at www.sharoncullen.net. Copyright 2007, thesamhellion.com |
