And the ride continues...

You know, when you have a dream or a goal, you build it up in your mind how it's going to be when you achieve it.  Part of what kept me working toward my goal of being an author is that I had envisioned how wonderful everything in my life would become.

Not really the case.

The reality?  It's been kind of anticlimactic.  Don't get me wrong, things have been exciting and honestly, it's like a roller coaster ride with amazing highs and terrifying drops and things speed up and happen faster than you thought possible and then it will slow down to a near stop.

I'm not a huge fan of the roller coaster.  

This has been my ride thus far:

November of 2011, I released/self-published my very first novel, "Jordan's Return".  It didn't do much sales-wise and I didn't do much marketing-wise but I was just happy to say that I had a book out there.  

November 2012, I released a little holiday novella called "The Christmas

Cottage".  It was a fluke.  I had planned on releasing it as a free read on Amazon to get my name out there until I released my next book.  A week after it was released, it was on the best-seller list on Amazon.  Now, here's the thing, I was so new to the game and so uneducated on the publishing industry as a whole, that I didn't pay attention to any lists other than Amazon because I honestly didn't think that anyone else paid attention to indie authors.  I can kick myself now because now I wonder if it had made it on to maybe the USA Today list or even the NY Times list because the sales were that high!

February 2013, I released the follow up to "The Christmas Cottage" with "Ever After".  I was still so uninformed with what the norm was for book sales that I just assumed that every book sold as well as the Cottage did and that was definitely NOT the case.  I was devastated by the numbers and although it did fine, it did not come close to the success that "The Christmas Cottage" had.
 
March 2013, I released "Catering to the CEO".  This book was a personal favorite of mine that I had written two years ago for NaNoWriMo and all I did was polish it up a bit and put it out there.  The sales on it were okay but again, certainly no competition for "the Christmas Cottage".  It's hard to say that I'm not disappointed because I am.  While I know not every book is going to be a bestseller, it's still a little disheartening when one book does so well and the next one doesn't.

May 2013, I released "Wait for Me" - book one in my first-ever trilogy, "The Montgomery Brothers."  I didn't do anything different with this book than I did with the others and yet it has been consistently on the Amazon bestseller list and hit #4 on Barnes and Noble!  Again, I could kick myself because I didn't think of the possibility of it hitting any other lists!

June 2013, I release "Trust in Me" - book two in the Montgomery Brothers set.  It didn't come close to the numbers that "Wait for Me" hit but it certainly held it's own out there on Amazon.  It wasn't a personal favorite of mine as a writer but overall the response to it was positive.

July 2013, I released "In the Eye of the Storm".  This book is KILLING me.  This was the book that was a top five finalist with an international contest through Harlequin (though they passed on publishing it), I had a New York literary agent sign me because of this book and then she couldn't sell it, I had a critique partner who just GUSHED over this book and yet commercially, no one wanted it!  So I got it back from the agent and released it myself.  It hasn't done exceptionally well; it didn't hit the levels of the first two books of the Montgomery Brothers series and barely eeked onto the bestseller list on Amazon.

July 2013, I also collaborated with four other authors on a contemporary romance box set called "Loving the CEO"; five books where our main characters are all CEO's.  This little set (which essentially is a collection of five books that have all been previously published as singe titles) has just taken off.  We have been on the USA Today bestseller list for three consecutive weeks and hit the New York Times bestseller list.  My book "Catering to the CEO" was my contribution and I cannot even begin to tell you how much I am looking forward to doing another set like this.  

August 2013, I released the final book in the Montgomery series, "Stay With Me" and in it's first week of release, I have hit the top 100 on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble .  I will be watching the USA Today and NY Times list more closely this time around because now I know that anything is possible!

I'm now in the middle of the book that I will release in September and working on the next box set that will be released in October.  I'm mentally and physically exhausted and much to my dismay, an Ed McMahon wannabe did NOT show up at my house the day that we found out about either the USA Today list or the NY Times list with a truckload of balloons or a slew of photographers.  The papparazzi are no where to be found.  I'm thinking that I'm all that and really, it's been like any other day.  

I've been nominated for THREE Indie Romance awards (but didn't win), I was interviewed by a local TV show (still don't know if it ever even aired!), had my book trailer for "Wait for Me" awarded an Oscar for best Indie Romance video book trailer,  and I've been able to essentially quit my day job and do what I love now as a career.
 
I'm sitting here now wondering if my appendix are about to burst, I have to go in to work tomorrow (I'm finishing up my office job - like the long goodbye) and life goes on.  In my fantasy version of my life when I hit these writing milestones, I whisk myself away on a vacation; I'm interviewed by the local paper and People magazine...and I'm about 25 pounds thinner.

The reality version is kind of boring...and not glamorous at all.

Bottom line is that it was silly to build it all up so much in my mind because while I'm not front page news, I am still proud that I have accomplished so much in such a short amount of time.  Why did I wait so long to start this???

New Book Series Coming Your Way!

So let me start with an apology for stepping away from the blog for so long.  I have been wrapped up in a new book - which will be part of a series - and setting up an actual website for Samantha Chase.  I was pretty darn proud of myself because I managed to design it and set it up all by myself and it was NOT an easy job!  You can find it at Chasing Romance and it will have links to all of my books as well as news on upcoming releases.  Yeah, me!

Next up is my newest endeavor - a trilogy!  My very first one!  When I wrote "The Christmas Cottage" it was meant to be a stand alone book but people wanted to know what happened with the best friend so I wrote a part 2.  But this next book?  It was always meant to be a series and I am very excited about it!

"Wait for Me" is book number one in the Montgomery Brothers series.  First up is youngest brother, Lucas Montgomery.  Here's the blurb:

 There’s no time like the present…

Executive assistant Emma Taylor is desperate for a little time away; away from her job, her life and from thoughts of her boss’s son who doesn’t seem to know she even exists.  Tired of waiting for the time to be right, she takes advantage of her boss’s generous offer for a little weekend getaway to thank her for helping out with a difficult business deal.

Unless you’re still running from your past…

Former NFL superstar Lucas Montgomery is still suffering from a career-ending injury.  His self-imposed exile from life is exactly what he wants; a sanctuary where there’s no chance for disappointment or distractions and that’s exactly the way he likes it.  While his family has been patiently waiting for Lucas to come around and embrace life once again, they don’t realize that it wasn’t just his career that was lost, but his sense of identity.

…And afraid to hope for the future

Lucas thought everything was fine until sweet, sexy and completely off-limits Emma Taylor comes crashing into his carefully constructed world one snowy weekend and turns his entire life upside down.

Was Mother Nature really to blame or did someone else lend a hand?

I am VERY excited about this book (as if I'm not excited about them all!) and I have to just say that I LOVE the work that my cover artist does.  I would be totally lost without her!  "Wait for Me" will be out this week and as soon as the link goes live, you will hear it here first!!!

If you don't like happy endings, find something else to read!

Everyone's a critic.

Honestly, I am having to learn to have thicker skin because as a writer, when you put your work out there, everyone has something to say.  Whether it's a 'well-meaning' friend, co-worker or family member, it seems that because you publically put your writing in print, that clearly means that you WANT to hear what they're thinking.

When my first book came out, I didn't market it very much so a lot of the people who reviewed it were friends who were just being nice.  I think they all thought "Hey, Stace wrote a book.  Let me cheer her on."

By the second book they were like "A second one?  Really?  Oh, good for you!" and they wrote very nice reviews.  But because "The Christmas Cottage" got a lot of publicity - mainly because it was a Christmas book at Christmas and everyone LOVES Christmas time, I was suddenly dealing with people I didn't know leaving reviews.  For the most part, people were nice but there were a few that were SUPER critical.  I was hurt but I moved on.  The biggest complaint?  Grammar errors.  I mean, they were completely right and it was an easy fix.  It was my own damn fault for rushing things so I couldn't be too terribly upset.

When the third book came out, it was not received very well.  The friends and family were like "Another one?  Already?  Well, I'll see if I have time to write a review".  Okay, fine, I get it.  You only want to help - to a point.  So most of the reviews on "Ever After" are solely from strangers.  The biggest complaint?  They didn't like Ava - the main character.  They said she was annoying.  Um...if you'd read "The Christmas Cottage" ("Ever After" is the continuation) you would have known how over-the-top her character was.

Then we got to "Catering to the CEO".  Seriously, for the first week or so, NO ONE wrote a review and I was a little devastated.  I didn't really ask anyone but I figured that since I was promoting it all over Facebook, SOMEONE would have gone and written one.  Finally, a friend of my in-laws (who has been my absolute biggest supporter!) wrote a wonderful review.  The others all came basically from strangers.  

Now here's the funny part and something that you need to keep in mind - I write romances.  Okay, when you THINK of romance, what comes to mind?  Love, relationships, sex...happily ever after?  Right?  Well, I had someone complain about the happily ever after!!  Ever romance I ever read consisted primarily of a couple getting together, having some sort of conflict, then someone apologizing and admitting their love and then, THE END!  

**SPOILER ALERT***  DON'T READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK!!  So when my character Adam (who had been a controlling jerk for most of the book) finally came to his senses and confronted Cassie about how wrong he'd been and tells her that he loves her, she forgives him!  Why?  Because what good would it have been if she had responded with "Um, yeah, that's great but it's too late" and walked away?  I would have wasted 170 pages building up to something that wasn't going to happen!  

For real, lady.  She said women were pathetic.  Clearly this woman had run someone off who never came back and said they loved her.  Sorry, mean girl moment, but when you read a romance book, you WANT the happy ending; you want the man to realize he's been a jerk and that he can't live without the woman.

Maybe I need to put the spoiler alert in my book descriptions.  Something like "Warning:  This book contains a happy ending.  If that doesn't appeal to you, go find another book".  

What do you think?

Settling for Number Three When Number One is So Damn Close!

I am a tortured artist.

No, I'm not being dramatic.  At this moment in time I am, indeed, tortured and as a writer I am technically an artist.

This self-publishing thing is making me crazy.  I'm completely losing my mind and it's not a good thing.  I watch numbers, rankings, reviews and it's enough to make a grown woman cry.

Which I do.

A lot.

So as part of the Kindle Select program that I have done with my current book, "Catering to the CEO" and my previous book, "Ever After", I get the option of offering the book for free for up to five days.  I get to choose the dates and for the most part, it's a cool marketing tool.

Unless you are SO CLOSE to being number one but you just can't do it.  I mean, it's a FREE book.  It doesn't cost your friends or family ANYTHING to just download the damn thing.  You don't have to read it, just download it and give me a freakin minute of joy today.  But are they?  Um...no.

I hit number two in Free Women's Fiction, number four in Free Contemporary Fiction and number 21 in the Free Kindle Store.  Seriously?  I cannot break that invisible barrier and get my minute in the spotlight?  IT'S FREE, People.  As in NO COST TO YOU.

I'm cranky.  I'm annoyed and I am going to have to eat some brownies to deal with the pain.

I think I'm disappointed more than anything else.  I watch people share ridiculous posts on Facebook or tweet utter nonsense but to do something that cost nothing that would actually HELP someone, and they can't do it.

So, I'll sit here with my brownie bites while I give away my 13,000th book in three days and STILL not get that coveted spot at the top of the list.

Sigh...

WHAT DOES A GIRL GOT TO DO???

Getting Votes, Gaining Stats and What the Heck, Amazon!

It is a very busy time to be me.  Seriously.  I just released my fourth indie book (this time a full-length novel), I'm editing a completed novella, writing a follow-up to said novella, and trying to figure out which work-in-progress I want to finish up/polish to submit to my agent.  

As if that isn't enough, I am doing 95% of my own marketing and promotion on all of my books and just found out that I have been nominated for THREE Indie Romance Awards that I have to campaign to get people to go and vote for me!  It's exhausting.  All of this WHILE being a wife and mother, working a full-time job and just fighting to survive.

WHEW!

So how can one person with a VERY limited budget do it all?  It's not easy, I can tell you that!  Okay, the fourth book, "Catering to the CEO", is out on Amazon.  I went with the Kindle Select again just because.  Honestly, it's very time consuming to submit your file to multiple sites because they all want it in different formats and whatnot and I just don't have the time or energy.  I am trying a little bit different of a marketing strategy on this one and I'll see if it pans out for me.  Being that this book is a full-length novel, I was able to justify pricing it a little bit higher.  Again, we'll see if it pays off.

I'm guessing that the "Like" button on Amazon is a thing of the past because I have used multiple browsers on multiple computers and asked dozens of people and nobody seems to see the dang thing.  Why would Amazon take it away?  Probably because people try to manipulate results and do the "I'll like your page if you like mine" and so the results are kind of not an accurate telling of what people honestly think of the book.  I can admit that I am guilty of that.  But still, I wish there was a way that they could track traffic just to see if there is interest in your book!
 
Then the Indie Romance Awards.  I'm pretty excited about these but this offers a challenge all its own.  Getting votes.  Good grief, you'd think I was asking people to donate a damn kidney.  With 500 fans on my Facebook Author Page and another almost 900 on my personal page, do you know how many votes I have?  21.  TWENTY-FREAKIN-ONE.  I can't even get angry anymore but I'm still seriously annoyed.  This whole self-publishing thing is hard enough - with just the actual writing and editing.  Add marketing and promotions and then campaigning for votes?  There aren't enough hours in a WEEK! 

There's a site called "Get Online Votes" that you can submit your info too that will direct people to your site where you need votes.  It's not as sketchy as it sounds because people have to actually go to the site, click on your link and go and vote; it's not like it's hacking the site or anything.  And believe me, I don't know enough about computers or programming to even try to hack anything!   No, right now I'm seeing if I see any results from them to help me gain some votes and in return, I go and vote for other people's stuff.  We'll see.

Stats, Votes, Sales...Oh, my!

If you can, please vote for me on the Indie Romance Convention site.  I am nominated for Best Indie Contemporary Romance for "The Christmas Cottage", Best Indie Romance Novella for "The Christmas Cottage" and for Indie Author of the Year - Samantha Chase.

If you're looking for something to read, "Catering to the CEO" is out on Kindle along with "Ever After", "The Christmas Cottage" and "Jordan's Return".  

HELP A STRUGGLING INDIE AUTHOR MAKE SOMETHING OF HERSELF!!!  

A New Release and a Freebie!

So it's new book release day!  "Catering to the CEO" was released today on Kindle and I am very excited about it.  This is a full-length novel (my last two were novellas) and is $2.99 right now on Amazon for the Kindle version.

And as a gift to you to celebrate CEO's release, "Ever After" is FREE today!  So happy reading everyone!!!

What makes a best seller on Amazon?

This whole indie publishing thing is a daily learning process.  Just when you think you've got it worked out, your formula doesn't work.  When I wrote "The Christmas Cottage", I did not set out to write a best seller.  It just happened.  Only I didn't realize that until about two months after its release.  

What does that mean?  Well, here I was thinking that I was doing something phenomenal with my cheap and free marketing.  The truth was that I released a romantic holiday novella at Christmas time and people enjoy a holiday themed book.  It was priced at .99 cents as an ebook and so basically, the planets lined up on that one and I had a best seller.  

When I wrote the follow-up, "Ever After", there was no hook; there was no holiday that it was tied into and so I was just hoping to ride the coattails of the success of "The Christmas Cottage".  I marketed the same way; utilized a lot of the same websites that offered free or low cost promotions.  And I got two VERY different results.  "The Christmas Cottage" went into the top 100 Best Seller List in the Kindle Store in eight days.  "Ever After"?  It has never gotten that high on the list.

Well, that's not totally true; let me clarify.  The Kindle Store is the listing of ALL Kindle books.  Then it gets broken down into genres.  So while "Ever After" has (just recently) been on the best seller list, it was in sub-sub-SUB genre categories.

I did the free promo option on "Ever After" and STILL didn't break the top 100 in the Kindle Store.  And I did not get the bounce-back sales that I've heard people talk about, either, after their free days.  

I have blogged, tweeted, Tumblr'd, Facebooked...everything I could to spread the word about BOTH books and lightning did NOT strike twice.  I've come to learn through multiple indie authors that what happened with "The Christmas Cottage" sales-wise, was not the norm.  What I am experiencing with "Ever After" is.  A month after it's release, some random romance web-site promoted it on their bargain e-book day and I sold almost 800 books on that day alone!  That was more than I had sold in the month!  That was pure luck.

I'm learning to not obsess about the numbers and to not rely on this income.  I thought that I was going to be a bit more on easy-street when I was seeing the sales from "The Christmas Cottage" but have quickly learned that that was a seemingly one-time deal and I was lucky to experience it.  

So what makes a best seller on Amazon?  There seemingly is no direct answer.  They took away the like button so there goes that.  You need to get reviews.  THAT is a biggie.  The more reviews the better (and even more so when they are GOOD reviews).  But I've seen well-known authors having to essentially beg for reviews so imagine how hard it is for little ol' unknown me to get them!  

I'm going to keep writing.  I'm going to keep marketing the way that I do and maybe someday I'll luck out and get noticed by a big review site or by someone who just likes my work and I'll be able to get on and stay on the best seller list again.
 

Why I Write What I Write

Being an author is a funny thing.  When people hear that you're an author their first question is always "What do you write?"  Depending on who is asking the question normally alters my answer.

I live in a Southern Baptist town.  Seriously, the Baptist Seminary is less than a half a mile from my house.  There are churches on every corner.  Now, I am a Christian; have been for almost 20 years.  And yes, I read and write romances.  Saying that in certain circles, will have people praying over me or throwing me out of church groups.  I've learned to lean more toward saying that I write women's fiction.  It's clearly a more acceptable response.

What kills me?  Is that most of the bible thumping people who gasp and look at me with disdain, are the same people who stand in judgement on those around them (though the Bible tells them not to), will gossip amongst one another about who is acceptable and not acceptable (though the Bible tells them not to) and are the ones secretly ready 50 Shades of Gray.

Which I have not read.  I have it; ordered it from Paperback Swap, but haven't brought myself to read it.

And you know who you are.  I've seen them in the aisles of Barnes and Noble looking at it and have heard of multiple book clubs in the area that many belong to promoting it.  Honesty should be what you're all about, not judgment.

But judgmental people aside, I enjoy reading romances.  Not erotica; romances.  I love the development of a relationship; I love the building of attraction.  I enjoy reading it and I enjoy writing it.  Relationships fascinate me and I don't think I'm too hideous at writing about them.  I'm not the best at it but I am certainly not the worst.  

What I have learned recently is that you have to write what is in your head and in your heart; not what other people tell you to write.  Case in point?  "Ever After".  I had no intention of writing that story when I did.  I wrote "The Christmas Cottage" and then was working on other stories but people wanted to know what happened next.  What was Ava's story.  So I went with it.  It's not a hit.  People don't like her very much and to be honest, she's not a favorite of mine either.  But I created a character who was flawed and had to stay true to that end.  

Do I regret writing it?  No.  Do I regret writing it too soon?  Yes.  Maybe in time, without the pressure to get that particular story out, I could have made her a little more likable.  Now I'm stuck with it and can only move forward.  

So the next book that I am releasing is called "Catering to the CEO".  I have to admit, I had written this one specifically for one of Harlequin's lines.  I never submitted it to them but I think that I met all of the criteria for it.  I probably could submit it, but I'm just not ready for more rejection right now.  I'd rather self-publish and deal with that.

Here's the new cover and here's the blurb:  Jaded CEO Adam Lawrence knew exactly how to get what he wanted in business and in the bedroom. When independent, sexy and impossible to ignore Cassie Jacobs dares to best him on a business deal, Adam vows revenge. But how far can he go when the two find out they about to become family?

Actually, my agent asked for another book and I have several in various stages of progress so I am having to go through them and see which of them I want to use for the next submission.  In the meantime, I'm having fun with the self publishing thing.  It gives me something to look forward to and to work toward.

So the quest to become an established author continues...

Life or Launch?

Okay, so I've been M.I.A. again and for that I apologize.  But seriously, it's with good reason.

Life.

I took my week off from work and yes, it was quite refreshing.  We did the Great Wolf Lodge, we went and visited Nick at school, I had breakfast with friends and read two FABULOUS books (thank you, Kristan Higgins and Jill Shalvis!) and did very little writing.

Bad author!

While we were visiting Nick at school, something very traumatic happened.  We went out to dinner Saturday night and while waiting for our table, I pulled Nick aside to talk to him.  I've been a little concerned about Michael and he won't talk to me or Frank but I thought he might actually talk to his brother.  So I had a very adult conversation with my elder child and asked him if he could maybe talk to his younger brother and just sort of see what was going on with him.  I had overheard a conversation Michael had with a friend while playing Xbox where he admitted that he'd asked a girl out and she said no.  I wanted to make sure he was okay.

Never send a snarky 21 year old to do ANYTHING.

Basically, rather than just talking TO Michael, Nick decided it would be better to talk AT Michael and dump on him everything that he doesn't like about it.  By Sunday afternoon, Michael had essentially been told that everything about him is...wrong.

Thank you, Nick.  Don't go in to motivational speaking.

We arrived at Nick's place to take him to lunch before we headed back home and he convinced Michael to basically shave his head.

Moms, are you as outraged as I am???

Did I mention that Michael has BEAUTIFUL curly hair???

Did I also mention that Nick essentially had some dull utility scissors and a fairly useless electric razor to take on this task???

I asked Michael if he was okay with it and he said that he was but I sort of feel like he was trying to save face here.  Then Nick and his fiance took him into the bathroom to get him ready.  When the razor turned on, I had to step in.  I told them they were NOT allowed to shave his head.  No buzz cut; I did NOT want to see scalp.  So they cut it really, really, REALLY short.  I don't recognize my child.  There was about three pounds of hair on the floor and the look on Michael's face broke my heart.

They aren't allowed near him any time soon.

I cried that night for HOURS.

I know, I know, it's just hair but to me, those curls were Michael.  That was my boy's signature thing and a part of his childhood is now gone thanks to the dull-scissor-happy-duo.  Wait until they have children and I do something like this - take their first born for the first hair cut or get her ears pierced without their permission.  Ah...revenge.

Then there's our car situation.  We've known that we need another car and that we need to get rid of Frank's van.  We were kind of hoping to do it this summer when my car was paid off.

Best laid plans and all that...

The van died the other day.  Frank call's me from the damn interstate and is like, "The van died".  Well, okay.  We have AAA, call them.  No, no, no, it's just overheated and he needs water.  It's 5:00, I'm getting ready to leave work, okay, I can do it.  Where is he?  He's not sure.  He wasn't paying attention.  So I now have to head west while he was driving east and hope that I can see him on the opposite side of the side of the road!  

Wanted to KILL him.

Got there, we got the van home and essentially as we turned into the driveway it died.  Thank God we made it home.  But now there is no money from the sale of the car to help with a down payment on another one.  There goes my new computer that I desperately need and that my royalty check was going to get for me.

And speaking of royalty checks, there's me, the indie author.  Harlequin and Random House turned me down on the book my agent submitted.  I wasn't upset about Harlequin but I was pretty bummed about Random House.  It's still in with one other publishing house but they don't thrill me.  

I'm releasing another book on my own on April 2nd.  This one is called "Catering to the CEO" and it was originally written to Harlequin guidelines but I never submitted because basically it's been in the press a lot lately about how poorly Harlequin treats and pays its authors.  Thanks, I'll pass.  So I got my cover designed by the wonderful Gilded Heart Designs, I created my video trailer with Animoto and I will be releasing it with Amazon.  All in all, I'm not overly psyched like I was with "Ever After" which has been a bit of a disappointment.  I think I hyped it too much in my own mind and there was no way it was ever going to live up to those expectations.  

I should be doing some major pre-launch work right now but I just don't have it in me.  I've got work, a car to try and finance, Easter is right around the corner and just everyday wife and mother stuff to deal with.  

Are you as exhausted as I am?

Great Wolf Lodge

Let me start by saying that I am not usually a fan of the water.  I don't swim a whole lot, we don't have a pool and really, when we go to Disney I don't do the water parks.  But something about the Great Wolf Lodge appealed to me.  So with my vacation time and Michael being out of school I decided to give it a shot.

It's a 2 1/2 hour drive to the Lodge and it was completely doable for me.  So I booked a package on-line (a little expensive but I figured, why not?) that included one night in a family suite, unlimited access to the water park and dinner.  

For four people.

Now at the point that I booked it, it was only going to be me and Michael so we extended the invitation to some friends and so we had our foursome.  Yeah!  

I was pleasantly surprised by the whole experience.  We arrived a little after noon and our room was ready.  Our friends arrived about 30 minutes after we did and so we settled in to our room and went for lunch in the full service restaurant in the Lodge.  The food was excellent and the prices were more than fair.  We then hit the water park.  

WHAT FUN!!!

If you've never been to a Great Wolf Lodge, I highly recommend it.  There is something for everyone and let me tell you, by the time we left, I had come to enjoy ALL of the slides.  There are three pools (kiddie, wave and activity) and then there are four slides - each offers some serious fun and thrills.  

My main gripe with the whole thing?  The stairs.  My legs are KILLING me right now because today alone I must have climbed over 1,000 steps!  OUCH!  To get up to the two biggest slides took 100-110 steps (It's like four stories +).  Do that a couple of times and you are feeling the burn!  The whole thing is great but it's not very handicap friendly or friendly for the elderly.  I saw many older people there with the grandkids who were excited to do the slides but the stairs were a deal breaker.

The temp in the park is kept at 82 degrees and the water temp is at 84.  PERFECT for the whole experience.  

After three hours of water fun we went back up to the room and changed and got ready for dinner - which was included in our package.  It was an all-you-can-eat buffet at the restaurant on site and what a selection!  There was everything from chicken and waffles (which I still don't understand) to salmon and risotta.  Huge selection, something for everyone and your beverages were included as was dessert.  

The park closes early (8:00 pm) and so the boys hit the arcade and really, by 10 we were all asleep!  All that water fun is exhausting!  We were up and out of our room by 9:30 a.m., put most of our luggage in the cars and were back waiting for the park doors to open at 10 a.m.  We played until 1:30, hit the locker rooms to shower and change and we were on the road by 2:30.  

Oh, one more gripe:  No hair dryers in the locker room?  Really?

So here I sit at 8:30 at night and I am beat.  My legs are killing me and I feel like I could sleep for a week.  It was all so much fun and other than being a little pricier than I had hoped, it was still well worth it and we will definitely be going again!

On a side note, I was secretly hoping to run into some other moms who were hanging out and just watching the kids play while reading a book so that I could strike up a conversation about MY books, but that never happened.  I was a little bummed.  So my quest to find ways to market and promote my books continue!  

How a Writer Plans a Vacation

For the first time in...well, ever, I have been at a job that offers paid vacation time.  This is a brand new concept for me.  I have worked at many jobs but was never in a position where I was eligible for a paid vacation.

Well look at me now!

Seriously, my full-time, real job is great.  I work with some awesome people and other than the usual office/workplace nonsense, I really enjoy my job.  But as of five o'clock today?  I AM ON VACATION!!  WOO-HOO!!

I planned to have off this coming week because Michael is tracked out and it's Nick's Spring break.  I had BIG plans...we were going to go on a vacation.  A real vacation and Frank was going to have a paid vacation too and it was going to be great.  We were going to go to Myrtle Beach and I was going to sit and watch the surf and be inspired and write while Frank and the boys explored all of the area attraction.  Seriously, it was going to be awesome.

Then it wasn't.

Turns out Frank wasn't eligible for the paid time off.

Turns out Nick didn't want to go to the beach.

Turns out that the great deal I found expired and now all of the rooms were twice as much.

Sigh.

Okay, new plan!  Now we are taking a couple of day-trips.  Great Wolf Lodge, museums, planetariums, lunch with friends and a trip to visit the college boy at...well, college.  And somewhere in between, I have to find the time to get inspired and get some writing done.  Right now, it's difficult to keep my eyes open because I am so burned out and exhausted so I'm hoping that a couple of days of rest will clear my brain a bit and get me back on track.

I'm waiting on two cover designs and getting ready to release another book for early April and then another one for early May.  I'm getting ready to release "Ever After" as a paperback.  I wasn't going to do it this time but there are a few dear friends and family members that were adamant about getting the "real" book.  Okay, fine, that's another project for the vacation.

Now if I were to have MY dream writer's vacation where I did NOT have to take anyone else into consideration and could do as I pleased with no budget to stick to (realistically) I would rent a house on the beach somewhere (preferably south of here) and just sleep and write at will.  Ah...that would be totally sweet.  At this point in time, I'm not looking for thrills and all kinds of tourist attractions (I even turned down Disney!), I just want to have some peace and quiet to clear my head and just let the creativity flow.

Do you have an ideal "resting" vacation?  Something that would give you a time of renewal?  Where would you go?  What would you bring to do?  What books would you bring with you to read?

I've got a couple of recommendations...

The Return of the Bad Review

Wow, we are one mean spirited group of people.  I am telling you, I don't think I'll ever get used to getting a bad review but hopefully I'll get to a point where I'll stop READING the bad reviews.  Sheesh!

If I don't like a book, I'm annoyed, sure; but I don't go on to the book's Amazon page and trash the crap out of it.  I would seriously like to tell some people to get a life because they must have way too much time on their hands.  And what adds insult to injury?  These are the same people that got the damn book FOR FREE!!  I mean, come on!  I download plenty of free books that, quite frankly, SUCK.  Bad writing, bad story, unlikable characters, you name it but I don't go on there and kick a gift horse in the mouth.  I didn't invest anything and if I didn't enjoy it, I don't finish it!

Although this time around, the complaints are with the heroine of "Ever After" NOT my poor editing so maybe that's something.  LOL!   I'll be honest, "Ever After" was not a planned book.  The main character, Ava, was a bit over the top in "The Christmas Cottage" but people wanted to know her story.  I couldn't suddenly make her NOT over the top when the book was focused on her.  I had to stay true to the character so if you don't like it, too bad.  

I just don't know why we feel the need to unload so much negative stuff.  Does it make you feel better, reviewer?  Did ripping apart something that someone else worked hard at make your day any better?  Did you walk away feeling uplifted?  

As I said the last time this topic came up, I take comfort in the fact that all of the really BIG NAME authors get bad reviews too so who am I to think that I'm above it?  But criticism is criticism nonetheless and there's no getting away from feeling just a little bit crushed.

Not a good feeling.

To make myself feel a little better I actually went to some of my favorite author's books and read their reviews.  Even their bad reviews (one and two star ones) still had the decency to just disagree with the storyline or a character and NOT the author.  

I can only hope to get to that point some day - critique the work not the writer.  

So have a little pity and go and write me a nice review, will you please?  It would totally make my day!  

Marketing, Mayhem and Madness...

Today was one of those days when it probably would have been best for me to just stay home and stay in bed and not communicate with the outside world at all.  I felt like crap, I'm pretty sure I looked like crap and basically everyone around me annoyed the crap out of me.

Should have stayed home.

But something weird happened today.  There is movement on the Amazon charts.  Yes, yes, it's true.  All weekend I offered "Ever After" as a FREE promo and I ended up essentially giving away over 13,000 (yes, thirteen THOUSAND) copies away.  It hurt, I'm not going to lie to you.  The promo ended last night and when I got up this morning and checked the stats, the book was back at $1.99 and had no ranking whatsoever.

I almost threw up.

I understand that at that point, they had no sales to go by because it had been free.  It had made it all the way to #3 in women's fiction in the FREE best selling (?) category.  So now it was time to start tracking again.  

I came in at 138,971.

And almost threw up again.

I mean, before the free promo I was at LEAST in the twenty thousand range.  I was panicking; I was frantic.  I was at work and couldn't do a damn thing.  As the day went on, something amazing  happened.  It started to climb the charts.  By 3:00 I was in the 6,500 range and now I am at 5,175!  I so don't understand how it all works but I am excited.  
 
What a difference a week makes!

So while all this great stuff is happening and "Ever After" is climbing the charts, I happened to go over and check out how "The Christmas Cottage" was doing.  It's back on TWO best seller lists!  I kid you NOT!  Last week it was in the 8,000 range and tonight it is at #727 in the Kindle Store (out of like a million books) and it is #74 in best selling women's fiction and #83 in best selling contemporary womens fiction.  Go figure.

So THEN...that had me going over to my first (and almost long-since forgotten) book, "Jordan's Return".  That one never made it ANYWHERE on a best seller list and pretty much never made it below 18,000 on the Kindle store list.  It's #24,804 in the Kindle Store and it's been out for well over a year!  It's madness I tell you!

I've done little to no marketing in the last two to three days, I had to let my assistant go last week because the book wasn't making any money and my son who is supposed to be helping me with some of this is knee-deep in mid-terms so he's not helping so that only leads to one thing...

PEOPLE MUST LIKE MY BOOK!

I wish I had confetti right now to throw.  If the damn LIKE button on Amazon would work, things would be perfect but it's not.  After all of their promises, people still can't find the like button on their Amazon page.  I am beyond frustrated.  Next up is getting people to post reviews on Amazon; you can do that without a like button!  LOL!

I may have to wreak a little havoc with Amazon tonight.  Wish me luck!!

How to Support a...

The other day I was cruising around Facebook and came across this picture:

I thought it was very cool and very appropriate and it amazed me how many people (good friends, family, etc) will NOT show you any support.  I mean, what does it take to offer a word of encouragement or to click a button?  

Tonight I had something very cool happen.  Again, I was on Facebook (maybe I should find something else to do in my spare time?) and I saw that I had a message from a friend from high school.  We haven't seen each other since graduation I'm thinking and yet she took the time to send me a note (and not for the first time!) to congratulate me on my writing and for following my dream.  I teared up.  I mean, I cannot get people who are RELATED to me to show me any kind of encouragement and here was someone who I haven't seen in 25 years writing me a note of kindness.  When was the last time you did something like that?

Being kind or supportive doesn't have to take a lot of time or energy.  So up there is how to support an Indie author but the same goes for any writer.  How about a friend?  How do you support a friend?  I am blessed with some truly exceptional friends; the kind of people who will drop you a note to make you smile, or send a text just because they're thinking of me.  People who will listen to your hopes and dreams and that I would do the same for.

How about your kids?  We may not always agree with their decisions as they get older but it's how you show that approval or disapproval that makes the most difference.  Frank and I are hotheads; we yell first, THEN listen.  We always apologize for going off the handle.  We had a situation recently where we were in MAJOR disagreement on a choice our son made.  We yelled, we screamed, we threatened...it was bad.  Then, when everyone's temper cooled, we talked.  We expressed our concerns and in the end, it all comes down to the fact that we love him and we have to trust in him.  I never want our love to be in doubt.

How about your spouse?  We have had a long marriage, Frank and I.  We've been together for 23 years and while our love for one another has never been in doubt, there have been tons of struggles over the years and many, many, MANY disagreements.  At the end of the day, we each want the other to be happy and sometimes that means taking the backseat while the other branches out a little and takes their turn in the spotlight.  

Frank is a drummer in a rock n roll band.  I love that.  Is it time consuming?  Yes.  Does it cost a lot of money?  Sometimes.  Does he love it?  Absolutely.  He deserves to have something that is just HIS that he loves and that brings him joy.

I have my writing.  I can sit for hours...days...in front of the computer.  When I'm in book promotion mode I come home from work, make dinner and then sit in front of the computer until I am practically unconscious.  And still my husband loves me.  He doesn't berate me or make me feel bad for not paying him enough attention.  He understands my needs and my dream and he supports them.  Love that man!

You know what DOESN'T support someone?  Ignoring them; belittling their dream.  Demanding something of their success when you have done NOTHING to support them.  That one gets me the most.  People who have talked down about my writing, not shared my work and certainly not even spent a DIME to purchase my work...but they want some of the glory now that I'm starting to make a little money at it.  

That's not support, that's just greed.

If someone you know and love is pursuing a dream, encourage them.  If someone you know and love is working hard to reach a goal, let them know that you are proud of them.  If someone you know and love has even a minimal amount of success with something that makes them happy, celebrate with them.

You have no idea how far your words of encouragement go.
 

Dear Amazon:

Dear Amazon Customer Service:

I would like to start out by saying thank you for offering so many wonderful products on your site.  You have made shopping for me so much easier on many occasions.

However, I am having some severe issues with your site as a seller.  In the past I have self-published books and offered them for sale through your site and have had success with them.  My recent release, however, has had nothing but issues due to technical difficulties and "testing" that you claim to be doing.  As a seller, it would have been nice to have been notified of this testing period so that I didn't release a product during this time.  Nor would I have offered a promotion on my book during this time.

By the removal of the "like" button, all of the people who have purchased my book or who are fans of my work, cannot be tracked on  your site.  This seems to be an internet-wide issue; some browsers can see it, some cannot.  I find if offensive that you would remove such a KEY issue to tracking success on your site but only seem to remove it from indie authors and not the big name ones.

In my book, that is discrimination.

I notice that you don't mind taking 65% of my royalties for a book that you had nothing to do with writing and nothing that you are doing to promote or market.  And in return for taking the majority of my pay, you took away one of the most important tools to help ME, the writer, have some form of success in moving up the charts on your site.

I even signed up for the Kindle Select program so that you had the exclusive digital rights to my book.  I thought that might work in my favor.  Clearly, it did not.  You wave around this "fund" that we get to be a part of but what difference does that fund make when we aren't getting any action or movement on your site because you've stifled us?

What do you have to gain from this?  Why would you take such an important tool away?  Why am I being punished for being a faithful customer and seller to your site?  I have had to jump through hoops for almost two weeks now for answers on when this issue is going to be fixed and I was told it would happen by today and you know what?  The button still isn't showing up!  How is that possible?  

I cannot even begin to describe all of the ways that your practices have hurt me as a writer, a seller and a customer.  I cannot even begin to tell you all of the ways that I will be getting the word out on how poorly you treat those that are loyal to you and your site.  I think what you've done here is despicable and that you should be ashamed of your business practices.

I believe I will be looking to do business elsewhere before I do any more business with you. 

A Response from Amazon

So after five days of struggling with Amazon and trying to find answers as to why there is no "like" button and why can't they seem to diagnose this problem, I received this response from them today:

Hello,

I do understand your concern.

From time to time, we test both new and existing features on our website to determine which characteristics or services drive customer purchases and satisfaction. We're currently testing website.

During these test periods, certain aspects of our website will function or appear differently to randomly selected customers, or to the same customer using another computer or browser. We're continually fine-tuning our presentation to provide our customers with the greatest value, selection, and information for their online purchasing decisions.

However, if you're facing difficulty after next 2 business days, I'd suggest you contact us via chat or phone for live troubleshooting, please understand that issues like this cannot be resolved over email. I hope you'll understand our limitations in this regard.  

I don't know about you, but I'm not sure how much I believe it.  I mean, it would be GREAT if this was the only issue and come Sunday I could go back to sending people over to "Ever After"'s book page and ask people to click the "like" key and try to get some movement on the charts. What I don't like about this whole thing is that we, the Amazon sellers, author's, etc. whose business this "Test" period disrupted, there was no warning.  Had I known that THIS week they were going to be testing on the site, I would NOT have released a book with Amazon holding the exclusive rights to it!  I would have waited the week and released it next Monday.

I think this is just another case of the big guy doing it's best to hold the little guy down; keep him in his place.  As an Indie author with an agreement with Amazon through its Kindle Select program, and with Amazon taking the major percentage of my sales, should I not have been given the common courtesy of a heads up?

Are they telling the truth?

Will Sunday bring any big changes?

The remainder of that email gave me the phone numbers to call if there is still a problem and believe me, if all is not right by Sunday afternoon, I will have a whole team of people calling Amazon and demanding that something be done.

Only time will tell.

Social Media Marketing Part 2: Fighting for Exposure

It's not even possible to put a number on the ways that there are to utilize Social Networks or the internet to market whatever it is that you do.  Basically, any time you put your name or product out there, isn't that considered marketing?

The problem is that with an infinite number of places and ways to get your name out there, which ones are the most helpful and will yield you the biggest response?  This is something I am currently trying to work through and let me tell you, there aren't enough hours in a day to figure it out any time soon.

I blog.  Obviously you know that because you are here and reading it.  I never did the paid posts thing.  For a while there was a site called "Entrecard" that was sort of like an "I'll stop by your site if you stop by mine" and it drew traffic to your site and somehow made your site more relevant in search engines.

They went away.

I have followers here but to be honest, I follow a lot of sites that I just don't get around to visiting on a daily basis.  Or weekly.  Or monthly.  Heck, I think I follow some sites that I was only on a couple of times and never went back to again.  It wasn't that they were bad sites, but I just don't have the time that I used to.

I tweet.  I have almost 600 followers on Twitter.  Apparently this is a good number.  My son was highly impressed.  So I tweet.  I put out news about my books, promotions, when I need help and people to go to a site and click LIKE for me (curse you Amazon!) but basically, I'm certainly not getting results from each of those nearly 600 people.  

I'm on Facebook.  I'm on there as both me and my alter-ego.  I have over 800 friends on there.  My alter ego has almost 300 likes on the page.  Does that amount to anything?  Not really.  I post all the live-long day about where I need a little help from my friends and you know what I notice?  People will click like all day long on a cartoon or a picture of Grumpy Cat but I can't get nearly the same amount to click on a link for me.

I did Facebook advertising.  I spent a lot of money and got little to no return.  Sure, people looked at my page but that did not equal book sales or likes on the page.  They liked my AD, just not my page.  Awesome.

The funny thing with Facebook is that in order for a page to be a somewhat successful marketing/promotional tool, you have to have a lot of followers from all over the country/world.  If your group is just people who are local to you and you are not getting any help from the locals, don't waste your time promoting anything to these people!  WASTE O TIME!  I don't have time to waste on sites, pages or whatever that aren't going to support of promote me.

I heard of this thing called laddering.  I'm not sure I understand it but it's sort of like the whole Entrecard thing - you like my Facebook page, I'll like yours.  Great, your Likes go up but again, if you aren't promoting me or my product and vice-versa, where is the benefit?  Stats only mean something if it's helping you to promote your business!  You can have 5,000 likes on your products page.  That doesn't mean that 5,000 people have purchased your product.

I'm on Goodreads, Google +, Shelfari, YouTube and more.  And you know what?  I'm spending 3 hours a DAY on getting my name and my book out there and for all of that time and energy (and in some cases, money), it is not equaling book sales.

What am I doing wrong?  We're told that getting the word out, getting your Google rank up, getting your Facebook likes up is all what we should aspire to.  But what good is that high number when nothing is happening for you?

So here's my thought...why am I killing myself on this?  Why am I missing out on family time?  There are over 1,000,000 books on Amazon that I am fighting against.  I'm in the 20,000's.  Not a bad stat after less than a week, right?  But when will Amazon fix it's issues to help their author's who are using them exclusively and put the Like button back?  

In the case of Amazon, that's a stat that I am interested in!  That stupid Like button and the ranking are a very coveted thing!  Why won't they fix it?  Why won't they help the authors whose money they are benefiting from?  Help an indie author out.  Please go to Amazon and click on the link for Ever After and leave me a comment on whether or not your see a like button.  I would love to present them with some stats.

And while you're there, get your copy of "Ever After".