@jinabacarrauthor The Lost Girl in Paris hit 33 on #Amazon #kindle @boldwoodbooks #booktok #booksoftiktok #authorlife #authorsoftiktok #writer #author #histfictok
Celebrating The Lost Girl in Paris hitting # 33 on the US Amazon Kindle List.
And # 2 in the Fiction & Literature category on Apple.
Amazing…
BookBub Deal:
99 cents/99p
My heroine, Angeline de Cadieux, is a Roma girl in WW2 Paris… she’s strong, fights in the Resistance… makes exquisite perfumes and comes up with an amazing marketing campaign during the war to boost morale in France.
Thank you!
From the moment that Paul and I met, thirty-four years ago, our life has been a constant stream of planned and unplanned chaos, and the last year has been no exception. Since this time last year, we’ve had the joy of welcoming our beautiful grandson, Milo, I’ve had two total knee replacement surgeries, we’ve been making a slow move to our retirement home in Arizona, which will be complete in November, and preparing our current home to go on the market, a number of extended family situations that have been heartbreaking, and as you all know there’s been a pandemic.
With all that’s happened, good and challenging, I spent very little time at my desk working, but I did manage to write one book this year, a holiday romcom titled Love & Mud Puddles. I’m excited to announce that I signed a contract with The Wild Rose Press, and Love & Mud Puddles will be released for the holidays this year.
I had so much fun writing this Christmas cookie themed story about Hannah, a young woman who can’t bake, and is challenged to bring homemade Christmas cookies to her family Christmas Eve party. She and her best friend are on a mission to learn to make a fabulous holiday treat, and after several disastrous tries, they end up in a cookie baking class with an oh-so-cute instructor. Will Hannah learn to bake a fabulous cookie…or will they all go up in smoke? And why does the cute instructor always catch her in another disaster?
Mud Puddles are my name for my favorite double Chocolate Thumb Print cookies, and later this year I’ll share my recipe, and some of the other recipes that Hannah tries on her quest for the perfect holiday cookie. Actually, if you want it now, you can find it in my facebook group, Tari Lynn & Friends.
I’m pretty sure that for the rest of our marriage, Paul and I will continue with planned (and sometimes organized) and unplanned chaos, good, challenging and everything in between. In the meantime, I’m starting a new project, and I’m hoping to spend a little more time at my desk in 2022.
I’m writing. I’m always writing, and I’m committed to write several more books that I’m working on, both mystery and romantic suspense, which is a good thing.
Even so, my mind is always churning around new ideas. Yours too? If you’re an author, that’s undoubtedly the case.
So what are some of my oddest inspirations these days? Well, for one thing, someone was attacked on my very nice residential street recently. I learned a little of what it was about, thanks to neighbors and others, and looked it up on the internet. The information wasn’t complete, but it did get my mind considering what I could do to fix that in a fictional story. But not yet.
Then there’s a neighbor who has an affiliation with the Ukraine. No, though I feel highly sympathetic and concerned about the Ukranian people, I don’t think I want to write about that. But still—I’m a writer, so my mind churns about that too.
I’ve already mentioned how I’ve wondered about writing something including the pandemic—or not. Yes, in a way that could also be an inspiration.
Inspirations that are fun instead? Well, we’re awaiting a new puppy to be a companion to our dog Cari. We lost her former companion Mystie last year. Not sure how Cari will feel about not being an only dog again when the time comes—and my mind churns about writing something in anticipation.
Then there was the fact that we were babysitting our grandsons recently in Indiana, in the snow—leaving warm California behind. Delightful to be with them, and even dealing with the snow. Is there a story in that?
How about you? What in your life or neighborhood inspires you to write? Anything? Everything?
Linda O. Johnston
Linda O. Johnston, a former lawyer who is now a full-time writer, has published 52 books so far, including mysteries and romantic novels. More than twenty-five of them are romances for Harlequin, including Harlequin Romantic Suspense and Harlequin Nocturne. Her latest release is Colton 911: Caught in the Crossfire, for Harlequin Romantic Suspense.
She has also written several mystery series including the Barkery & Biscuits Mysteries and Superstition Mysteries for Midnight Ink, and the Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter Mysteries and Pet Rescue Mysteries for Berkley Prime Crime. Nearly all Linda’s current stories involve dogs!
Linda enjoys hearing from readers. Visit her website at www.LindaOJohnston.com and friend her on Facebook.
Happy March. I’ll keep this brief because I know everyone is focused on the turmoil that’s going on in the world right now. As a writer you are probably feeling a little guilty about writing romance. But we must remember, it’s our job to make people smile. I challenge you to write something that will make people smile and forget the crazy in the world and give readers an escape.
I’m coming off release month for The Good Girl Part Four. It didn’t pan out like I planned, but I’m pleased with the results. I didn’t meet my sales goal, but I exceeded my monthly sales goal by 3.7%. I missed out on money because this book and the next book in the series weren’t part of the price increase. I set these preorders up a while back and I didn’t feel good about raising the price when there were people who purchased at the lower price. This decision cost me money, but I know I’ll get the lost money back.
The Good Girl Part One and Girlfriends & Secrets were gifted some free advertising which pushed sales and preorders. I also did an author newsletter promo which generated sales and preorders. These ads put eyes on both series. I also ran a BookBub New Release For Less Ad. I hoped high for the day the ad ran, but fell a little short that day. But the ad had tails. Honestly, I think the tails are still growing. I love this BookBub new release tool and hope to use it with every release.
However, I over-estimated my writing schedule for my next release, the Good Girl Part Five. I thought I’d be finished with it by now, but I’m not. I’m pushing to complete the rough draft by March 19th. I’m hoping to end the series with book five, but it feels like there might be one more book. It also feels like the series might spin off.
As of this post, I’ve made some progress, but not as much as I would have liked for the month. I also added a couple of goals: release 3 books and increase BookBub US followers.
Here’s my updated goals list:
Get my letters
Triple my income
Triple my mailing list
Master Facebook ads – I made a change last month to how much I spend and it’s paying off. Last month, I scaled back to one ad and it’s paid off. This one ad for a first in series free has led to sales of the books in two of my other series. I’m going to ride this strategy for a little while before scaling up.
Update covers – 13 covers in total to update. 8 completed.
Learn how to write a sellable blurb
Use Ingram Spark
Direct distribution
Increase BookBub US Followers to 1000 – 1000 US are needed to qualify for a new release promotion alert
Increase my prices
Release 3 Books – One down, two to go.
How are you doing with your goals so far?
See you next month.
A California native, novelist Tracy Reed pushes the boundaries of her Christian foundation with her sometimes racy and often fiery tales.
After years of living in the Big Apple, this self proclaimed New Yorker draws from the city’s imagination, intrigue, and inspiration to cultivate characters and plot lines who breathe life to the words on every page.
Tracy’s passion for beautiful fashion and beautiful men direct her vivid creative power towards not only novels, but short stories, poetry, and podcasts. With something for every attention span.
Tracy Reed’s ability to capture an audience is unmatched. Her body of work has been described as a host of stimulating adventures and invigorating expression.
https://www.facebook.com/readtracyreed
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/tracy-reed
https://www.instagram.com/readtracyreed/
Writing together as E. J. Williams, husband and wife, Will Zeilinger and Janet Elizabeth Lynn author the INTERNATIONAL CRIME FILES, a hardboiled/thriller detective series that takes the reader to 1960s Southern California, then on to international locales.
Even after you’ve written the best book in the world, the pesky task of editing rears its ugly head! To those of you who love editing . . . our hats are off to you. We have come up with several suggestions that may help ease the editing process, whether you are editing your book for your editor, publisher, agent, or yourself.
We have found that reading the manuscript out loud to each other works beautifully with detailing. We each read two chapters at a time, totaling four chapters each day. After the reading, we make changes. We are always amazed at the details that are missing or wrong. On good days, we may get to six chapters a day, but the important thing is to immediately put the changes in the manuscript…do not wait! Some chicken scratches you may make are usually unintelligible the next day!
Though this mind-numbing task is necessary, it can bring about a great deal of pride when the process is complete. As a couple who write together, we have found these tips work well whether you are working alone or with someone.
And yes . . . we are still married!
Website: Janet Elizabeth Lynn www.janetlynnauthor.com
Website: Will Zeilinger www.willzeilingerauthor.com
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Forgive me if I failed you. Remember that I always loved you.
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More info →A Slice of Orange is an affiliate with some of the booksellers listed on this website, including Barnes & Nobel, Books A Million, iBooks, Kobo, and Smashwords. This means A Slice of Orange may earn a small advertising fee from sales made through the links used on this website. There are reminders of these affiliate links on the pages for individual books.
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