IWSG: Newsletter?

Hosted by Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh

with co-hosts:

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My insecurity this month: I'm trying a newsletter . . . again. I started one over a year ago through mailchimp and I never got it off the ground. In fact, I became so nervous about it that I never actually wrote a newsletter. I started one or two, but I never sent them.

This time, I'm three months into a new newsletter with Mad Mimi, and I'm enjoying myself, even if my audience is literally: my parents, my husband, and one friend. 

I'm only putting out one newsletter a month, but I finally put the "Newsletter Sign Up" button on the right. Yes, it took me three months to get that integral part done. 

And, for the March/April newsletter (Mapril), I'm running a promo: whoever signs up for my newsletter will receive a 100% off coupon for Flicker: A Collection of Short Stories and Poetry at Smashwords. 

So, I admit I don't know what I'm doing. I'm taking advice from my teen daughters who told me to "keep it simple, mom." (Hmm, was that last change of word intentional?) Each month has only three to five sections. The Mapril newsletter has the Special Offer (Flicker), News, New in 2016, and For Writers sections. It's pretty short. 

Why am I so nervous about newsletters when I write blog posts all the time? 

Because they are supposed to be the biggest marketing tool of authors today. 

Yikes! That means it has to have it all, right? Meaning, beauty, perfection? 

That last word strikes a painful G7 minor chord played on a dusty organ in my soul. 

I don't do perfection. Ever.

(To prove my point, I just used a sentence fragment and I hate those in essays and most fiction, so why do I use them on my blog? Agh. The truth is out. I sabotage the word perfection with every fiber of my "I refuse to be type A even though I lost hair in high school over an Honors Society event I had to organize as HS V-P" purposefully type B self.)

On the plus side, I had an article accepted for and published in the March IWSG Newsletter, so I'm learning how to do newsletter writing with some help from all of you!

So . . . do you think newsletters are the biggest marketing tool of authors today? And, do you have one? If so, how do you tame the newsletter beast? And, how often? And, do readers actually sign up for these dastardly things?

My newsletter sign-up

Email*

The IWSG Newsletter sign up is here!



News:
Chrys Fey has a new book out!

An Internal Affairs Investigator was murdered and his brother, Donovan Goldwyn, was framed. Now Donovan is desperate to prove his innocence. And the one person who can do that is the woman who saved him from a deadly hurricane—Beth Kennedy. From the moment their fates intertwined, passion consumed him. He wants her in his arms. More, he wants her by his side in his darkest moments. 

Beth Kennedy may not know everything about Donovan, but she can’t deny what she feels for him. It’s her love for him that pushes her to do whatever she has to do to help him get justice, including putting herself in a criminal’s crosshairs. 

When a tip reveals the killer's location, they travel to California, but then an earthquake of catastrophic proportions separates them. As aftershocks roll the land, Beth and Donovan have to endure dangerous conditions while trying to find their way back to one another. Will they reunite and find the killer, or will they lose everything? 
Seismic Crimes at Amazon

Milo James Fowler has a new book coming soon!

Private eye Charlie Madison saw his share of murder and mayhem during the war. But he's never seen anything like this on home soil. The culprit can't be human. A mandroid, then? Cyborg?

Madison's investigation takes him deep into the underground world of extreme fighting -- duels to the death, showcased beneath the city's biggest casino. Along the way, he discovers a new steroid quietly coming out of Little Tokyo. If rumors are true, it can turn a man into a killing machine.

Before vengeful police can find and execute the murderer, another officer is found slain. With rogue yakuza, the Russian mob, and Federal agents in the mix, Madison must put the pieces of this violent mystery together before the city loses another good cop.

Problem is, the killer may be one of his own clients.

Death Duel pre-order at Amazon

Angela Brown has a new MG book out!

Twelve-year-old Casey doesn’t think life could get any more unfair. Plans for her special basketball tournament are tossed aside by her sister’s wedding plans. She even has to be a bridesmaid now, with all the lace and silk and—oh, the horror! All she wants is an escape, but she never imagined she’d be swept away to a world of Mother Goose rhymes, fairy tales, stories of Arabian Nights, and oh, by the way, all but one fairy godmother has been kidnapped. 

Casey learns she’s been summoned as the Fable Ranger to lead the search and rescue of the missing wish-makers. But she’s not the hero they want. In the world of fairy tales, damsels aren’t meant to swoop in and save the day. 

Now all Casey wants is to go home, but the veil between worlds is on lockdown. Taking fate into her own hands, she embarks on an airship flight to find the phoenix tears that can open her way home. Her journey would’ve gone as smooth as the perfect layup if it weren’t for that pesky bounty the evil Dovetail has placed on her head. But if Casey fails, the Arabian Nights will disappear forever—and leave her trapped in a world unraveling one fairy tale at a time.

Fable Ranger at Amazon

And, Randi Lee with Stay Classy Publishing and a huge crew of wonderful authors has a new Anthology coming out soon!
The Thing That Turned Me: Anthology

I'm honored to have a story included. :)

Lastly . . . I'm not joining A to Z this year due to family requests and general craziness. 

Best wishes to all who are A to Zing and writing posts every day!

I'll be lurking but not posting most of the month, and prepping posts for the 5 Reasons to Write Series (with guests) kicking off in May. 

Have a newsletter? Have you read the latest books? Know of more releases?

IWSG: Many Thanks and a Fear Spiral

Many thanks to the fearless Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh and his co-hosts for IWSG!!! And for those who run the website and the facebook page, many thanks to you as well!

And many, super, huge thanks to DL and the Blitz Team! You rocked my blog yesterday, and I don't think there are enough words to express how thankful I am!!!!

THANK YOU!!!!

 

However I still have a fear this month: I'm a terrible marketer. My friends and family must be tired of the tweets, facebook posts, blog posts, and even, yes, e-mails, about my second novel, Champion in Flight.

And yet, I received a message last week from a distant friend.

"I'm so excited for you getting your first book published!"

Um, wait. She didn't know I published my first book last year? Even after I tweeted, posted, blogged, e-mailed, felt like an uber-obnoxious-salesperson?

So, I'm not a good book marketer. Some people have heard it to their eyeballs, and some haven't heard any of it.

And three days into my newest book release, the crickets are chirping.

 Seriously, crickets and frogs have a concert outside my house every night . . . and in addition to that, the books aren't selling. By not selling, I mean hold up both your hands, and then hide one behind your back. You are holding up more fingers than books that have sold.

And that's where the fear starts spiraling into a horrible attitude like this:

Maybe it's just the wrong book. Maybe even the reviews for the first one were just "nice" and not real. Maybe no one likes openly Christian fantasy. Maybe I should have written about vampires at war with zombies with a star-crossed undead lovers twist? Maybe I'm just a terrible writer. I don't know.

Ugh. Shudder. Shake it off. Focus.

I am still going to keep writing, keep marketing (obnoxious or not), and keep celebrating the awesome encouragement I have received.

And yes, I'm going to plug my book for just a moment, along with a few others that I know about:

Reborn (The Fate Challenges #1)
by Cherie ReichTo save a kingdom, a prophetess must challenge Fate.

Seventeen-year-old Phoenix Prophetess Yssa is cursed instead of blessed, and her duties at the Temple of Apenth prove it. Yet her boring temple life screeches to a halt when visions of her parents’ murders consume her. Yssa races across an ocean to stop the future. If she can’t change Fate, she’ll refuse to be the Phoenix Prophetess any longer. Fate, however, has other plans for her and the kingdom. Yssa must either accept her destiny or fight against Fate.

Now Available in Print and Ebook!
Print: Amazon /Barnes and Noble / Book Depository / Createspace

Broken Branch Falls
Gabe is an average fifteen-year-old goblin. He’s in the marching band, breezes through calculus, and gets picked on daily by the other kids at school, especially the ogres. Gabe’s closest friends are goblins like him, but Gabe is tired of being a goblin – he’d like to try other things. And he has his eye on the new ogress at school. It’s against all beastly rules, but there’s just something about her.

Coming on June 24th by Tara Tyler!

As part of a global, cross-industry promotional project for audiomachine’s upcoming public release, PHENOMENA—by celebrated composer, Paul Dinletir—we’re introducing a groundbreaking campaign to encourage the next generation of authors, artists & musicians! With each download of the upcoming FREE PHENOMENA companion ebook, audiomachine will make a donation to the LA Youth Orchestra.

Available today or tomorrow!

Put together by Samantha Redstreak Geary and featuring many bloggers we know!

Rachel Schiefelbien's Don't Fall

In this contemporary retelling of Rapunzel, seventeen-year-old Anya leads a secluded life in a house on the edge of town with her adopted mother. She doesn't go to public school, doesn't even have a best friend. But Anya doesn't seem to mind. She has her books, her photography, and her daydreams and would do anything to please her mom.

Annalisa Crawford's Our Beautiful Child

People end up in this town almost by accident. Ella is running away from her nightmares, Sally is running away from the memories of previous boyfriends and Rona is running away from university. Each of them seek sanctuary in the 18th century pub, The Boathouse; but in fact, that’s where their troubles begin.

Jack Lewis Baillot's cover reveal for A Test of Loyalty!

Upon learning he is one of the sons of the now dead king, Prince Lachlan is forced to leave the only home he has ever known. Fleeing for his life, his step-brothers a step behind, Lachlan finds safety and friendship with a young seamstress named Magda, a hermit, an Elf, and two Dwarf brothers. Determined to keep the young prince alive, Magda and the others seek out help in the surrounding Nations.




In Short Stories:
Milo James Fowler has several awesome stories out, but the latest two that I know about and have read and loved are: "Drawn from a World of Hurt" at Fiction Vortex and "Captain Quasar and the Fastest Thumbs on Zeta Colony Four" at Comets and Criminals.

And, Christine Rains has an excellent story out at Luna Station Quarterly. Check out "Ladgarda" - it's a great read.

Champion in Flight

A year after she won the battle for Septily, Clara feels trapped in Skycliff by the Allied Council. As the last pieces of information about the Healing Caves fall into place, Clara is attacked by an assassin. Covert Drinaii mercenaries and the Council aren’t going to stop Clara from her quest to heal her broken blade. As Champion of Aramatir, she must act.

 

Meanwhile, in the joint kingdoms of Rrysorria and Wylandria, the youngest and still cursed swan prince despairs of ever being whole again. In a moment of anger and desperation, Liam discovers a blood link between him and a dark sorceress.

 

Clara won the battle for Septily, but her battle isn’t over.

Smashwords
Amazon
Goodreads


What do you think is the best way to market your writing? Have you ever been blitzed? Isn't it awesome?
And . . . if you could choose a favorite way to fly, what would be your choice and why? Griffin? Dragon? Millennium Falcon? Enterprise? Cessna?

And do you have news to share? I'm planning on starting a monthly (I can't keep up otherwise) feature on my blog for blog/author news so I can showcase everyone's accomplishments. If you have news to share, please e-mail me at tyreantigger@gmail.com

And if you are a blitzer - THANK YOU!!!

IWSG - Fill the Glass

 Brought to us by Alex J. Cavanaugh, and supported by Sheena-kay Graham, Suzanne Furness, and Laura Eno.

So, I had a few stressful weeks. Somewhere in the midst of them, I stopped writing.

I thought, hey, I can forgive myself for that, right? I mean, it's been stressful, and when I'm stressed, I cuddle with my family, and sometimes blank out the world with a lot of reading (that I don't really have time for, but I do anyway).

But I stopped writing. I stopped writing, when maybe it could have helped me stay a little less stressed.

And when I wanted to start again, I struggled.

It felt like everything was all junk, all . . . well, I stopped swearing 16 years ago and I don't want to start seeing the world through a glass-half-empty outlook again and that's what swearing does to my mind so . . . I won't say what I was thinking.

I realized what I was doing, letting those annoying insecurities eat into my brain and my soul, and I decided to look for ways to fill the glass.

Somehow, I think that decision led to the following events. Or, at least, the fact that I noticed the following events.

That morning, I met a fellow neighborhood walker who is a published author, and for the first time, I told her about my book. She just seems so professional and amazing, that I admit I was afraid to tell her before . . . and she told me she had a tough time marketing for several years before she started speaking at conventions, and having phone interviews with radio stations. She told me to start using e-mail to promote my book - just ten minutes a day, one bookstore, organization, group, radio station, etc. at a time, and then she told me to keep writing.  Her most recent success, Vegan in 30 Days: Get Healthy, Save the World, is on my mom's bookshelf and I've read it, even though I'm not vegan. (and yes, that's a picture of Sarah on the cover)

And then, I met a new friend (or at the very least a kindred spirit), and she and I had this awesome conversation that included homeschooling, classroom teaching (we both like both kinds of teaching), and our passions (she's really into science, I love language arts), and she gave me ideas for marketing my book, and gave me huge encouragement. Wow! (The idea: sending information about my book to each homeschool co-op in the area and ask if I could do an author talk/book signing - there are at least 5 within easy driving distance.)

And if, that wasn't enough to get me started again, I meandered over to my book page at amazon, and thought I could use a little book review uplift (hoping that there were no negative reviews that had popped up in the night), and whoa . . . look a review I hadn't seen before, that somehow I had missed, from the daughter of a friend . . . a five star, seriously sweet review! Wow!

So, I sat down and wrote in my journal. And then, I revised a chapter and wrote a completely new one for Champion in Flight, Draft #2.

I'm back, and I'm filling my glass. Now, there's not question about whether it's half empty or half full.

How do you fill your glass?

An Interview with Miss Jack and Celebrate the Small Things

I'm excited to be interviewing the one and only, However Improbable, Miss Jack Lewis Baillot:

Miss Jack Lewis Baillot is the author of the Steampunk adventure book, Haphazardly Implausible as well as the other three in this series. She has also written many other books which she hopes to publish someday.

She's also a fellow Sherlock and Psych fan, as well as a well-read fantasy reader, and usually has awesome quotes in every post at her blog. (Oh, and once in a comment section she gave a nod to my crazy idea that Psych is a very Americanized type of Sherlock (Shawn=Sherlock, Gus=Watson, Lassiter=Donovan or Lestrade, Julia=romantic Lestrade?) Anyway, on with the real interview:

Tyrean: What part of writing do you love the best - the daydream/prewrite stage, the first draft, the revision, the final publishing stage?

Jack: All of it. I have ups and downs with the editing but even it has enjoyable aspects to it.

I guess though, out of the all, I like writing the first draft the best. Sitting about, thinking up the new plot, and then writing it down in a mad dash. First drafts are wild and reckless and anything can happen in them – and some of those things cause me to cringe later – but it is still fun.

 

Tyrean: How much has the original Jack Lewis inspired your writing?

 

Jack: Considering the fact I didn't even know of him until the new The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe movie came out...a lot.

He has inspired me not only by his writing but his life. For one, he would answer every letter he got from his readers. He understood children and the need for them to use their imaginations. And he kept writing even when one of his closest friends told him his books were going to flop. He is an Author I greatly admire.

 

Tyrean: Do you have a favorite book by him?

 

Jack: Well...the only thing I've ever read by him is the Narnia series. I would read his space series but I cannot find the first one anywhere. So...the Narnia series. And out of that series I think...well, it is a tie between The Silver Chair and The Horse and His Boy. Those are wonderful stories and I adore Puddleglum.(Me too)

 

Tyrean: What's your favorite quote from C.S. Lewis?

 

Jack: Friendship is born from that moment when you say, “What? You too? I thought I was the only one.” (And I've found this to be a very true quote.)

 

Tyrean: What's your favorite part of Haphazardly Implausible?

 

Jack: The characters, though I have also become very fond of the airship.

I've written many books, but these characters have become some of my favourites. They surprised me every chance they got, they pulled me along on some wild adventure I never dreamed I would go on, and they showed me that by the end of the series I didn't know them as well as an Author should know her characters. (In fact, very often they would do exactly what I would tell them NOT to do, just to keep me guessing.)

 

Tyrean:  And do you have a favorite quote from your book?

 

Jack: As odd as this sounds, aye, I do. This quote wasn't planned, it just kind of happened, and I think it captures one of the characters, Darcy, very well.

“I guess you're going to stay with us for awhile. Something about my stupid brother promising to keep you alive. Personally, I would have just fed you to the dogs.”

 

Tyrean: What's your next book planned?

Jack: A Stretch of Loyalty, because things got a little behind with book two.

The Loyalty book is one I wrote during NaNo a couple of years ago and was written before I discovered Steampunk so it will have none of those elements in it. It is more of a fantasy book, filled with somewhat evil princes, an elf with a sense of humor, grumpy dwarves, a one handed hermit, and a lot of running. And snow...

 

Thank you Jack, for visiting with me, and sharing some of your favorite quotes, and your writing! Check out Miss Jack at her blog However Improbable and learn more about her book Haphazardly Implausible while there.

 

 

Celebrate the Small Things is an awesome exercise in positivity from Viklit. We're encouraged to celebrate anything, whether it's getting the laundry done, or getting a sentence on the page.

 

1. I had only one day of feeling miserably (pickaxe pain in the head and throat) sick. I made myself rest. (Actually my kids said I stumbled around barely speaking and grading their math homework before falling back into bed) And thanks to that rest, I started getting better (no more pickaxe pain, just sniffly, achy, manageable stuff).

 

2. Somehow I made my best onion beef soup ever while sick. My kids said I leaned against the stove and stirred for 40 minutes and they weren't sure I was awake. Maybe that's the trick to good cooking . . . dozing half-asleep while stirring.

 

3. Homeschool lessons actually got done this week, and a creativity issue in writing was resolved. (It was a formal, reality based, descriptive writing assignment that took an unexpected creative twist. I finally said, fine, take that starter paragraph and write a full story. And I want it on my desk in 5-7 days - yes, I'm a tough mommy sometimes)

 

4. Before I felt seriously sick, I got the courage up to do three things: I asked the local library if they would stock my book, I asked my homeschool co-op if I could do a book signing there, and I asked a local bookstore if they would stock my book. They all said . . .wait for it . . .as I did, with my blood pounding in my ears feeling slightly light-headed . . .yes! The librarian and the independent bookstore owner then proceeded to give me a huge amount of advice and information that I'm still taking in, and feeling a bit foolish for not knowing already (although they were totally nice about it and very positive - it's me feeling like I should have known all that already).

 

5. I got a tiny amount of outlining/creative brainstorming/craziness done for my second draft of Champion in Flight. (the first draft is filled with pen marks and notations)

 

6. Two loads of laundry got done, and some of the dishes are clean. (otherwise the house is seriously messy - because I've been sick, I think)

 

 

What are you celebrating this week? And do you know Jack? If you haven't, go meet her - she rocks! (Also, have you ever wondered about a deep, undercover connection between Sherlock Holmes and Psych?)