Thanksgiving eat-a-thon is officially over (I hope you had a lovely, gluttonous day)—now it’s time for the next wave of holidays, are you ready? At our house the lights are up inside, now hubby just has to apply his luminary magic on the outside (get ready fuse box–we’ve had our first outage!). Big news here in southern California is that we may get rain this week, hurray! I’ll believe it when I see it…if I remember what rain looks like…
In addition to holiday prep, I have my next wave of writer work to begin–the lovely world of book promotion (the good news is you wrote a new book, the best news is now you have to promote and sell it!)! My holiday wishes will be for miraculous insight as to what works, and what doesn’t as I dive into this newest labor of writer love. It’s Wednesday, time for #DearDiary:
Ta-da, featuring my new book cover mock-up once again (all about getting the picture out now-days) As I’ve mentioned previously, I am working with BookBaby services this go around for Deadly Receptions; the Debut of Castlewood Manor. This is a new service provider to me (Createspace was previous provider for the first 2 books). My goal is to share info about the services I’m engaged with, their scope, outreach and deliverables–as well as the expectations they have of me, the writer.
For marketing and promotion, these are the new BookBaby services I am considering (as well as looking at other service options):
Book Marketing Planner We’ll focus on crafting ideas for your overall strategy and tips to establish your online author platform.
Maximizing your Amazon Retail Listing (this is a biggie to me) We’ll help you learn how you can boost your book’s discoverability on Amazon, build an author platform, and teach you techniques to showcase your book.
Social Media Book Promotion (another biggie, how to crack Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) Learn the ins and outs of book promotion on the world’s most popular social media platforms and how to leverage their respective benefits.
Metadata Optimization (I have purchased this service pack)
Giving your book the best chance to be discovered.
All of these service packs come at a price, but I think it will be worth the investment. I’ll be learning more about the individual services and will highlight the details and options I choose in the next post.
In between having the hourly slice of pie (I know, I know, it’s obscene) I had extra time to read this past week. This week I’m honored to feature reviews of two books I read from the very talented pool of Twitter writers:
Author Craig Wainwright’s The Last Titan, 5 STARS
Author Craig Wainwright’s sci fi tale takes the reader on an epic journey between Earth and the planet Hellas, with alien upheavals, survival, and everlasting love components woven throughout the story. Main character Daniel White has known he was different, his strength and aptitude giving him super-human traits that he does not quite understand. Enter the beautiful Andromeda, a woman of his dreams who comes to earth to hone his powers and help him understand his legacy and true origins. Their journey together takes them on an action packed adventure, avoiding the Earth based powers that want to capture Daniel for research, and the alien Omicron, a shape shifting alien who comes to Earth to stop Daniel in his quest, permanently. I enjoyed this sci fi adventure very much. Author Wainwright introduces the reader to alien world Hellas, unfolding its history and struggles, and its tie to Earth to help save its destiny in vivid detail. The characters and their adventures capture the reader’s imagination in this action packed tale. Will they survive? Or has their journey just begun? A great read!
Author Martha Perez’s Fear of the Mind, 5 STARS
Author Martha Perez’s collection of life story vignettes lets the reader experience the nice, erotic, and evil elements of human nature, with unexpected twists throughout. This collection was a page turner for me—the characters come to life with their unique personalities—their desires, revenge, and sorrows give the reader a private, brief window into their lives and the events that drive them to do what they do. The details take the reader side by side with the characters as they experience their dilemmas and fates–spine tingling drama, steamy encounters, spiced with great wit. An entertaining read, highly recommended!
Next in the reading queue:
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas…
Him: “I have a few more strands of lights I could add to the tree…” (Tim Allen Tool Time laugh, ho ho ho)
Me: “Um, I think the 800 lights on there now look just fine…” (I think I need another crown or two with red and green gems–that would look festive….quickly pulls up Amazon website)
Him: “Home Depot had a great sale, I stocked up just in case…” (Looks around the house for possible targets, stumbles over current crown collection)
Me: “I have to wear sunglasses at night inside as it is dear…” (There are no more available outlets, #JustSayin. Ooh, found the red and green gem crowns–they can be here Friday!)
Cats: “Well at least we get lots of Amazon boxes to hide in…” (Humans are a bit out of control during the holidays. Good thing we can hide under the Christmas tree for the next month…)
Welcome to my world—enjoy the rest of your week and the weekend, friends!
Crowns and Kisses,
Veronica
P.S. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving and have a wonderful start to the holiday season. Gemma would approve 🙂
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