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Once upon a manuscript…by Jina Bacarr

June 11, 2018 by in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as , , , , , ,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You know the drill. You write a wonderful story, pour your heart into it, and send it off.

Then you wait.

You drink coffee, refuse to let anyone come between you and your phone so you can check your email 24/7, you obsess, eat chocolate, exercise to work off said chocolate so you can eat more, then give up eating altogether because your throat is so tight from the stress, you binge watch everything you can on TV so you can forget the horror of waiting and wish you’d fall into a hundred years’ sleep so the pain will go away.

A major run-on sentence. But that’s life in the “waiting to hear back from the publisher who requested the full” in the manuscript world.

Okay, so what do you do?

Write another book.

You’ve heard it before and I agree, but it’s also important to take some “me” time. After all, you’ve been taking care of your characters, who can be quite demanding, keep you up at nights, make you cry and drink coffee nonstop, so now it’s time to put your feet up and relax.

Then work on another book.

Writers are not machines.

We need nurturing, healthy food, exercise, fresh air, and social interaction. So as I sit here writing this and waiting to hear back on my manuscript, I’m going to do just that.

I’m going for a walk to the nearby coffee shack, have a mocha coffee and, God help me, a warm croissant oozing with raspberries and melting chocolate chips.

And just breathe.

And yes, I’m bringing my phone with me.

Just in case the editor calls…

Jina

PS – I’ll update my post when I hear anything on my m/s – an Italian billionaire prince story and his Cinderella. 

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Am I crazy…or just a writer? by Jina Bacarr

November 11, 2016 by in category Jina’s Book Chat tagged as , , , , , , ,

I’m exhausted.

I finished a nearly 70,000 new Royals of Monterra novel, ROYAL BRIDE, edited it, formatted it, did the cover, and made three videos.

All in the past week.

(No, I didn’t write the novel in a week…but I was editing up to the last second).

Which makes me wonder, why do we do it?

Are we crazy, insane, both?

Yes, we’re writers.

It’s how we work. Think. Create.

Even more wild, the morning after I uploaded the manuscript for Royal Bride, I woke up with the next story zipping through my brain like a live current of electricity.

I wrote it all down and put it away.

Why?

Because the brain like the body needs rest. I love the idea I have for the next novel, but beyond that initial spurt of inspiration, my brain is….well, fried.

So this month, I’m on vacay, holiday, on the road…whatever it takes to, as the saying goes, to let the wells fill up again.

Somtimes you just gotta…

~Jina

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Here’s my new Royals of Monterra novel: ROYAL BRIDE

Royal Bride: “I’m not your ordinary Cinderella…” from Jina Bacarr on Vimeo.

She’s a Cinderella with a past she can’t forget.
He’s a charming prince with his own dark secret.
They fall in love, but what if the glass slipper doesn’t fit?

At thirty-six, Zoey St. John may not be your ordinary Cinderella, but when Prince Maximiliano Risconti di Montevecchio dances with her at a royal ball in Monterra, taking a chance on love is so much better than being alone.

She’s at a crossroads in her life and being the heroine in a good, old-fashioned fairy tale is just what she needs. With his dashing good looks and brooding dark eyes, the Alpha Royal makes her feel alive again after living alone for years with a tragic secret from her past.

Prince Max is a man born to duty and thrives on routine since that’s how everything has been done
since his royal title was granted centuries ago. He’s devoted to his family, he just doesn’t understand them until the pretty signorina makes him confront the truth about himself and question why he can’t stop thinking about her.

He’s drawn to her even if he won’t admithttp://wp.me/p2DHSo-N1 it and finds out he can’t let her go. The only problem is, the prince has no idea he needs a glass slipper to win her.

When an unexpected turn of events sends the prince’s royal household into chaos and threatens to destroy his family, Zoey takes on the prince and his old-fashioned methods to save them. She pursues her passion for helping others, even if it means the prince may break her heart in the process.

But when her painful past is revealed and turns this fairy tale upside down, can her love for the prince triumph and turn this story into a happily ever after?

PS  **************

The Grinch is early!
My “Royal Bride” Look inside on Amazon doesn’t work, so…I’m posting excerpts from Chapter 1 Part1 HERE

 
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 Website: www.jinabacarr.com
Blog: www.jinabacarr.wordpress.com
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Cinderella’s got new glass slippers: My Kindle Scout Experience Part 4 by Jina Bacarr

August 11, 2015 by in category Writing tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

(You can read my previous posts about my experience with the Kindle Scout program by clicking on Part 1 , Part 2 and Part 3.)
 
Glass slippers don’t last forever…

But Kindle e-Books do.

So when Cindy discovered her treasured glass slippers had a crack in them…ow! It was time to get a new pair.

And that’s what’s been happening in publishing. It’s time to embrace new and different ways of getting our books to readers. That’s where the Kindle Scout program fills the gap. As I’ve discussed in previous posts, it’s been an amazing journey for me since I started my campaign with LOVE ME FOREVER, my Civil War time travel romance.

Last week I danced in my slippers when LOVE ME FOREVER went on sale.

Amazon sent me an email with the screenshots, showing LOVE ME FOREVER PR. My book was in the first slot on page one.

I’ve been blogging, too. Check out my posts on www.jinabacarr.wordpress.com  

Facebook Launch Party

 The Kindle Scout Authors did a 3-hour Facebook party. It was amazing…you can read all the comments and see what happened here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1755873821306210 

Time travel is my favorite genre, so I was thrilled to hit the Kindle e–Books>Romance>Time Travel Top 100 list several times. Here’s a graphic I made:

But most gratifying to me are the reviews:

“This is one of the best time travel historical novels I have ever read. I was hooked from page one. The descriptive scenes of the Civil War battles are so realistic that you find yourself imagining you are actually on the battlefield. I highly recommend this book.”

“Gripped me from the first page and wouldn’t let go until I finished the book HOURS later.”

“Rich in history and social issues, Love Me Forever is both deep and emotionally compelling. Another fine read from a Kindle Scout winner.”

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What’s next for me? I’m writing the sequel to LOVE ME FOREVER, “Love Me Always,”  where we meet up with the offspring of the one of the heroines and send her off on her own time traveling adventure!

Thanks for coming along with me on my journey.

~Jina

Website: www.jinabacarr.com
Blog: www.jinabacarr.wordpress.com
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Cinderella’s Happily Edit After: My Kindle Scout Experience Part 3 by Jina Bacarr

July 11, 2015 by in category Jina’s Book Chat tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

(You can read my previous posts about my experience with the Kindle Scout program by clicking on Part 1 and Part 2.)

Remember when Cinderella was all aflutter getting ready for the ball? Her fairy godmother shows up and poof! Cindy has a gorgeous gown, a carriage, and the sexiest pair of glass slippers. Next, she meets the prince, loses her slipper, gets it back, and marries the handsomest man in the land.

Then comes a reality check.

Cindy is a princess with a hundred and fifty room castle to manage, servants galore, royal obligations, and a demanding mother-in-law who can’t wait to show her off at high teas.

First, she must learn how to be a princess.

Kinda like putting out a good book. It’s a lot of work. Period.

After my 30-day campaign with Kindle Scout for LOVE ME FOREVER, my Civil War time travel romance, being on and off the Hot and Trending list, then waiting to see if I made the cut, came my reality check.

Edits.

Most writers would rather clean bathrooms for a week than open the Editorial Letter.

I was shaking in my slippers when mine came. I worked more than two years on LOVE ME FOREVER, getting the research right, the romance, settings. Not an easy task. My story is over 150,000 words.

Which brings me to one of my favorite things about Kindle Scout: the Kindle Press Team. With everyone jumping into the self-publishing arena, it’s easy to want to write, write, write and get it out there. Do-it-yourself, especially if you’ve been writing for a long time. I can wrap my head around a story pretty well. I’ve written several novels for trad publishers, non-fiction books, kids’ TV scripts, and plenty of magazine columns and stories.

But no writer is an island.

A good editor is as important as Cinderella’s fairy godmother. She/he can wave their magic wand and give you that extra spin on your book, make you dig deeper, cut excess. One thing that drew me to the Kindle Scout program was the idea of receiving editorial input.

I wasn’t disappointed. The editorial guidance at Kindle Scout/Kindle Press is awesome.

I’m thrilled to say that my editor at Kindle Press was thorough, gave excellent suggestions, made me think, and complimented me along the way when she particularly liked something. She’s definitely one of the best editors I’ve ever had. The turnaround was quick: a week to complete the edits. I admit I hardly slept and I maxed out the balance on my Starbucks gold card, but the KP Team gave me a heads up three weeks before as to exactly what day to expect the email with the attached files and they delivered.

So here we are at a new juncture in my Kindle Scout experience. Edits done; book in production.

Preorder begins: July 13, 2015. 

On Sale at Amazon: July 28, 2015.

Am I nervous? You bet I am. I put my heart and soul into this story, laughed and cried with my characters every step of the way. I’m anxious to get it out there. But the best part is, I feel confident that as part of the Kindle Scout program, LOVE ME FOREVER is the best it can be.

~Jina

Website: www.jinabacarr.com
Blog: www.jinabacarr.wordpress.com

Next month: Part 4: what happens when my Kindle Scout book, LOVE ME FOREVER, goes on sale.

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5 Tips to self-publishing your mother never told you by Jina Bacarr

November 11, 2011 by in category Archives tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Psst…have you heard? Everybody’s doing it. Self-publishing.

It’s hip, it’s cool…it’s like winning the lottery.

Right?

Hmm…maybe. Maybe not. It’s the wild, wild west out in the land of Amazon, Smashwords and Nook. All you need is a dusty, old manuscript from under your bed, a sexy cover and a few .html codes and you’re dancing with the stars.

Oh, what fools we writers be.

It ain’t that easy.

Here’s the deal: You’ve written a good story and your manuscript is in the best shape possible–critique groups, professional editing, etc. Now what?

No doubt you need a good cover and nearly flawless formatting, but don’t give up if you haven’t gotten it all together. Before you push that old manuscript back under the bed with the dust bunnies, it is possible to hitch your wagon to the self-pubbed stars and join in the land rush…or should I say, digital rush.

I did it. I self-pubbed a holiday novella and a short story. There are many blogs that can help you with various aspects of the biz, from J.A. Konrath to Bob Mayer’s Write It Forward (I highly recommend both!), but here are a few tips I’ve learned along the way.

Jina’s 5 tips to self-publishing:

  1. I formatted my manuscript myself with help from Marie Force’s blog–I especially found the info about “tabs” and indenting .33 on the first line helpful.

  2. I bought my cover art from Dreamstime.com They have quality photos and high resolution. You can choose from 12 million photos available on their site.

  3. Be prepared to spend time learning how to format. It’s a high learning curve, but I’ve found both the Amazon (short video) and Smashwords guides to be helpful if you’re willing to make the effort.

  4. Be realistic about your goals. No one can predict how a book will do, but reading the Kindle forums and following other authors can give you an idea of how they’re doing. I follow OCC’s Dr. Debra Holland’s blog–she’s been open and forthright about her experience in self-publishing and her sales. Another OCC author, Jacqueline Diamond (author of 90 novels), has recently self-published books from her backlist and knows the value of promoting her books (she made the top 100 in Regency on Amazon).

  5. Write another book or story right away. Quality and quanity are both important in self-pubbing. You need product to sell. Imagine if a shoe store opened and all they had to sell was one shoe style?

Which reminds me of Cinderella and her glass slipper.

Putting your self-pubbed book out there is like Cinderella going to the ball. She had a team of cute little mice to make her dress (editing, cover and formatting) and a fairy godmother (Amazon, Nook and Smashwords) to make the magic happen.

She also had the moxie to get to the ball. That’s where you come in.

Be like Cinderella. Don’t be late to the self-publishing party.

You’ll never know if the glass slipper fits until you try it.

Best,
Jina

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