Featuring Kidd Wadsworth, Author of the Month
February 7, 2023 by Kidd Wadsworth in category Featured Author of the Month tagged as Featured Author of the Month, kidd wadsworth
Kidd Wadsworth writes to bring to life our magical, fire-breathing world. She believes we are super heroes. It’s time we put on our capes.
You can read Kidd’s monthly column, Infused with Meaning, here on the 25th of every month. More information about Kidd is found on her website, make sure you take the time to read her “about me” section.
A selection of books that include Kidd’s short stories.
Still Groundhog Day?
February 6, 2023 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as distractions, edits, recurrence, writing
It’s now the second month of 2023. Do things keep recurring to you, as they do with me—kind of an ongoing Groundhog Day, even though that was four days ago this year.
But as I’ve mentioned before, it’s another busy year for me. At the moment, I’m working on edits for two of the books I’ll have out later this year. Edit, after edit, after edit. Yes, a recurrence of edits, though they’re for different stories.
And then I have more books to write, and at the moment they’re all in series that have already begun. Yes, another similar, but different, recurrence in my writing.
Hey, though. I like them all, and that’s just the way things are for me now. Different, yet in some ways recurring.
That, plus my puppy Roxie just had her first birthday, and I love paying attention to her and our older dog Cari. Distractions from my writing? Definitely, as I’ve mentioned before. But happy ones. And delightfully recurring ones.
How about you? What recurs in your life and your writing?
~ Linda
Some of Linda’s Books
List Building
February 5, 2023 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed
Happy February or Love month. I think this is unofficially the romance novel lovers holiday.
Let’s get right to it. I’m not sharing my goals list this year for one reason. I haven’t firmed them up.
This year my post will consist of a little of this and a little of that.
I apologize if this next statement is redundant. When I started my writing career, I didn’t know anything about marketing. I thought you wrote a book, loaded it to Amazon and an influx of sales would appear from the people I never marketed to were just waiting for my book.
It took awhile for me to learn I needed a tribe…followers…subscribers. It wasn’t until around my second or third release did I learn about newsletters. I did a few courses, webinars and read some blog posts on the subject of newsletter building.
I set up a Facebook ad along with a free download and started growing my list. I went from a few hundred to three thousand plus. I don’t know why, but I turned the ad off. Then I tried a few other list building options with some success. My list was growing and I figured it was just be a matter of time for my tribe to be five thousand strong. A number I felt was respectable. Then I started following some really big romance authors, going to conferences, doing more webinars and got a shock. Five thousand subscribers was good, but it was more on the low side. I’m not knocking anyone with a list of five thousand or less, because that’s where I am. At it’s highest my list was around 4400+.
Over the past few years, I’ve seen a major decline in my mailing list. I took another course and remember the teacher saying every time you send an email, you’ll lose some people. How not comforting when you’re trying to build your list. I think I got lax in sending my newsletter because every time I sent a newsletter, I fell victim to subscriber loss. If this continued, in a matter of months my list would be almost non-existent.
I have approximately 1000 people on my list who have opted not to receive email. I think they forgot to check the box to receive email. If anyone has a solution for how to engage them or make them email receivers, please send it to me.
If I wanted to get to my desired number, I needed to do something. I started researching NL swaps, list builders, anything that would help grow my list. There was just one little problem when it came to some of the larger or premium list swaps, low subscriber count knocked me out. I can’t be upset because it only made sense. Why would someone with 20k subs want to swap with someone who only had 3k? That plan was shot to poo poo.
New year same goal, get my list to 10,000 subscribers by the end of the year. I know it’s a lofty goal, but achievable. At the start of the year, my list was 3014 newsletter subscribers. This doesn’t include the 1000 who don’t want to receive emails.
I needed a plan that didn’t cost a lot of money. Apart from Facebook ads and the occasional NL swap, I needed something a little more aggressive. I did some research and discovered Book Funnel. I don’t know how I hadn’t tried their promotions. I’ve used Book Funnel to send ARCs and gifts.
I discovered people had great results with Book Funnel promotions. Plus, the promos were free. How did I not know about this valuable tool? Easy. I never activated the link for newsletter promotions and sales on my account.
In order to do reach my goal, I needed 6986 new subscribers. That’s I needed approximately 583 new subscribers per month for a year.
Here’s my plan…join five Book Funnel promotions a month until I reach my goal. On December 31st my first campaign launched and the others started on January 1st. I checked the numbers several times a day, because I’m a little obsessive. Things were moving along well. Then I sent out a couple of emails and like normal, I lost a few people. I didn’t freak out, because I was gaining new subscribers from the Book Funnel promotions.
In the month of January, the five promotions averaged 30 new subs a day. If I kept up that pace, I’d exceed my goal. As of this post, I have acquired 1100+ new subscribers.
Why am I so adamant about building my list is purely selfish. Building my social media is important, but if those platforms shut down I lose access to the platform’s followers. Remember the Facebook breakdown last year? No access to those readers for a brief period. Imagine if that breakdown had lasted longer. Those followers would be lost to me because they aren’t my people, but the platform’s. My mailing list belongs to me no matter what happens.
A larger list is also the gateway to more sales. I did some hypothetical math and realized if I had a larger mailing list, there was a good likelihood I’d have more preorders from my list. More preorders equals more money.
I have a few questions for you.
How’s your mailing list?
Are you pleased with your mailing list? If not, what are you doing to build your list?
See you next month.
~Tracy
Tracy’s Books
Drama King ★★Now Live on Audio★★
February 4, 2023 by marianne h donley in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Spotlight tagged as audiobook, Drama King, Penny Reid, romantic comedy, The Three King Series
Drama King, an all-new snowed-in romantic comedy from New York Times bestselling author Penny Reid, is LIVE on AUDIBLE! Narrated by Joy Nash and Ryan Lee Dunlap, we’ve got your next great listen right here!
★ ★Grab your copy TODAY★ ★
★★Blurb★★
Stuck with her off-limits, taciturn, hunky movie star client during a sudden snowstorm on Christmas Eve, an extremely capable and highly professional bodyguard must keep him alive and warm without letting the tension building between them get too hot.
Bathsheba (Beth) Ryan can’t thank her best friend enough for helping her land the job of her dreams. After being relegated to second-string security for politicians in DC, being hired as an undercover personal security specialist by a giant Hollywood studio is exactly the kind of action she’s always wanted.
Until she meets her first assignment.
Cyrus Malcom can’t thank his agent enough for arranging a blind date with seemingly the woman of his dreams. After spending the past several years playing all the parts and climbing all the ladders, the lonely mega movie star finds himself actually enjoying a night on the town for the first time in ages when he meets the gorgeous, funny, and genuine Ryaine O’Rourke.
Until she shows up at his studio meeting the next day with a completely different name.
A world-wide press tour and too many late-night parties later, Beth simply needs to get through a short, one-day visit during the Christmas holiday, and then she’ll be free of Cyrus Malcom’s confusing hot looks and cold shoulders for good.
But just as they leave the airport, it starts to snow . . .
‘Drama King’ is the second book in the Three Kings Series, is a full-length, contemporary romantic comedy, and can be read as a complete standalone.
BOOK RESEARCH—PEOPLE WATCHING by Will Zeilinger
February 3, 2023 by Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger in category Book Research, Partners in Crime by Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger tagged as Book Research, People watching, writers, writers life
Researching for a book takes many forms. When it comes to finding unique characters, I love to people-watch. That activity allows me to discover interesting physical characteristics and mannerisms I can use to flesh out some of the people (and animals) who make up the cast of characters. For most of my working career, I was a visual artist, which included being a graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, and cartoonist. Most of my projects involved sketching out how an ad or layout would appear. I always carried something to sketch out interesting people or places I encountered.
People-watching is especially helpful when writing a contemporary piece. Fashions (especially among teens) change quite often. Different age groups have certain “uniforms” but it’s best to avoid clichés. In the summer, for instance, older male baby boomers are fond of Hawaiian shirts or silk-screened T-shirts, cargo shorts, Ray-Ban sunglasses, and sandals. While women of the same age can be found wearing crop pants, tank tops or French-cut tees, and thin-strap sandals. Both genders are often found with a “fanny pack” strapped around their waist or slung over their shoulder. This doesn’t apply to everyone in that age group. More artistic women may gravitate to a caftan or flowing broomstick skirt and maybe a load of clunky costume jewelry.
Besides clothing, the way a person wears their hair can give clues about the character you are building in your mind. Do the men look like they get haircuts every week, once a month, or is it shaggy like they rarely ever get it cut at all? Do they get it cut as if they are still in active military service? Hairstyles can tell you if your character is one who is trying to recapture their youth, or if they go to the same salon/barber that their grandparents did.
Watching people can expose you to a multitude of variations. Don’t forget to look at their posture and stance. That can say a lot about the character’s attitude or general mood.
I live near the beach, and although it is not summer at the time of this writing, teens can still be found with a skateboard in hand, earbuds, and, of course, the ubiquitous cell phone.
If your story takes place in the Midwest or in New England, the whole scenario changes.
Some great places to watch people being people are checkout lines at big box stores, sporting events, airports, doctor/dentist waiting rooms, parks, libraries, post offices and other public places. Parents and grandparents are very interesting to watch when they are picking up kids/grandkids from school.
Wherever you choose to observe potential characters, remember to be courteous and subtle. Especially if you are researching children or young people. Don’t make it obvious you are taking notes. Of course, many writers rely on those they know to provide these character clues, but since we all belong to different socio-economic groups, using only those around us can skew your character descriptions.
Be open-minded and have fun looking for characters in the people you watch. It’s a great lunchtime activity—just, don’t stare. We’d all like to see these people in your book.
The Skylar Drake Series Co-authored by Will and His Wife Janet Elizabeth Lynn
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