Ten Reasons Why You Should Enter the Golden Rose …. By Nancy Brophy
1. You are a romance writer who hasn’t met the RWA qualifications for PAN (published author network).
2. Precursor to the Golden Heart and national recognition
3. Quality feedback from three writers (at least one of whom will be published)
4. Great judges in the final category
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Contemporary Series Romance |
Nicole Fischer, Avon/HarperCollins |
|
Contemporary Single Title |
Rebecca Strauss, DeFiore and Company |
|
Historical |
Jennifer Udden, Donald Maass Agengy |
|
Mainstream Novel with Strong Romantic Elements |
Emily Ohanjanians, HQN |
|
Paranormal |
Amy Boggs, Donald Maass Agency |
|
Romantic Suspense |
Eric Ruben, Ruben Agency |
|
Young Adult |
Lauren Ruth, Entangled Publishing |
5. You are a contest slut and love flaunting your winnings. Oh, wait, that may only apply to me.
6. You support Rose City Romance Writers and we love you for it.
7. The idea of a real golden rose appeals to you – particularly since you won it.
8. You know you are a better writer than everyone else – and this will prove it.
9. 10,000 words – no synopsis until final round.
10. It wouldn’t hurt to give NY one more chance.
Here’s the URL. http://rosecityromancewriters.com/contest-home/
Entries accepted beginning June 1. Enter early. Enter often. Make Favorite Aunt Nancy proud.
Rolling On After A Crisis Of The Keyboard …by Susan Lute
This week I got a tattoo. I went on a two-week vacation and when I got home, I got a tattoo on my leg where I can see it. It’s a 
dragon. Sassy. With attitude. Refreshed, feeling a little full of myself, with a clear mind, the next thing I did was have a crisis of creativity. Actually it was less a crisis and more…why am I writing this? Hero’s Don’t Lie is coming along great. The characters are fleshing out, the plot is interesting, I like the story…but why am I writing it?
I’m preparing to give a workshop in August, and one of the questions I’m asking the participants to think about is why they are writing their current work-in-progress. There are, of course, a lot reasons to write a story – to continue a series, try something fresh, to push your writing chops to the next level, to revisit characters or a town you’re grown familiar with and have enjoyed, perhaps because you’re excited to write the next book. But here’s the thing. If you are writing a story because you think it’s expected of you, because you might feel guilty because you are “abandoning” the series (in my case) before it is completed, then you have to think very seriously about WHY you’re writing that particular story.
A good friend told me – ’cause when I go through these things, which is quite often you’ve noticed, I spill my guts. She told me, “you’re not really abandoning the project, you’re just setting it aside for awhile.” Always wanting to be honest with myself at least, I gave her sage advice considerable thought, and the real truth is, I don’t want to write contemporary romance any more. I won’t say I would NEVER write it again, because in this business you never say never, but I want to write something else. The Dragonkind Chronicles, Book Two is waiting, a little impatiently now, I might add, but even more exciting, I ran across a scrap of a note the other day on which I’d written a story idea, and pow!, I can’t stop thinking about how to make it into a story. It requires a lot of research, so I’m starting there. And it’s urban fantasy, which will push at my chops.
At the fork in the road, I turned right instead of left. Again all is right in my world. But there’s one more thing I want to say. There are so many changes going on in publishing these days, it’s like being in a speedboat racing down a rushing, white-water river without oars or wearing a safety belt. And it’s all happening on the net. Probably writers have always been busy at their craft, but not working ten hours a day at the “business” of publishing and eking out maybe two at the actual writing of the book. It’s okay to get out of the boat and take a step back. Maintain a web presence, but don’t let the business take over your writing time. And don’t let it take away the reason you’re writing your story, the passion behind discovering the characters, how they will survive the situations you throw at them, and the unveiling of who they (and you) have become during their journey.
Until next time, happy, passionate writing.
Mother’s Day… by Nancy Brophy
This mother’s day weekend I’ve been missing my mother who died two years ago. I could use her use her wisdom and advice.
My mother was an early feminist. That designation was thrust upon her because she refused to follow the rules. When she graduated from college during WWII her career options were limited. Teachers, nurses or office help were available and very little else. Her father and grandfather were small town lawyers who had never told her that her gender would hold her back until she wanted to go to law school.
Her father believed she was bored because all the men were at war. But the war would eventually end and my mother would get married, so any money he spent on law school for a daughter would be wasted. He was wrong.
My mother did become a lawyer and practiced law for over fifty years. When the woman’s movement reached the forefront of American awareness in the late sixties, a lot of women were overjoyed to have thrown off the oppressive yolk of male domination. I, however, had not been raised with limited options. My mother raised me with these words. “You need to have a career, because while you might marry a man who can support you, he could die and you will have to go to work.”
We laugh at that advice now, because everyone works, but in the fifties and early sixties that was not true. The woman’s movement changed the relationship of men/women. As women became empowered, men struggled to figure out their role in a changing society.
Statements like, “a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle” told women it was okay if they weren’t marching in step with a man, but it didn’t tell men what their options were. The seventies were a decade where men did not fare well.
Fast forward to present day. The pendulum has definitely swung in the other direction. It appears easier to be male than female.
Why? Well, one reason I believe is because we are living our lives on social media so every decision is dramatic for high impact. The drama exhausts me, but there are no longer any easy decisions. Everything has consequences and maybe always has, but it seems more so now.
Thirty years ago there was a time when I sat in my mother’s office and believed God was in His heaven and all was right with the world. My mother emitted that kind of confidence, but also crazy people didn’t dominate the landscape. I clung to the illusion that America was the most powerful nation on earth. The world wasn’t at peace, but we, as Americans, felt safe on our soil.
My mother couldn’t have solved today’s problems. I know that. And in fact as she aged she worried more and more. In reality it would probably be me saying “there, there, now, now” to her rather than the other way around.
But she was my first anchor. And when the world appears to be staring into the abyss, I find the need to ground myself in sanity more and more. Today I wish I was scrambling to send her flowers or Harry and David’s because this weekend has crept up on me rather than remembering how much I miss her.
I am also thinking about my heroine and her relationship with her mother. Incorporating these feelings into a story is what we do because the first rule of being a writer is to bring universal truths to the reader even if they are only from your own perspective.
Guest Author Interview: Elizabeth Naughton …by Susan Lute
Recently we had the thrill of watching fellow Pacific Northwest author and chapter-mate, Elizabeth Naughton stay at the top the USA Today Best-Selling Books list for nine weeks. You can read about her journey at her blog, April 6th post, Self Publishing #1. Of course this Jane had many questions, which Elizabeth agreed to stop by and answer. Please join me in giving her a big See Jane welcome…
So Elizabeth, what would you say is the most important element to your success as a self published author?
For me, it’s been having a lot of books out that readers can purchase. Every time a reader reads your book and falls in love with it, they immediately rush out to buy everything else you’ve ever written. If you have no other books out, your readers will quickly lose interest and move on to a different author. Romance readers are voracious readers. When they find authors they love, they’re loyal. The key to self publishing is giving them books on a regular basis so they continue to look for more.
What is metadata? Can you explain how to adjust metadata to sell books?
Metadata is crucial to discoverability. When a reader types in a keyword search, metadata tags take them to a listing of books about whatever subject they’re looking for. If your book is about a southern belle romance in the Civil War era, your metadata tags should reflect that so readers looking for that kind of book find your work easily.
Metadata is also what’s responsible for getting you on bestsellers lists. Amazon, Kobo, Apple, etc. all have genre specific lists, and readers troll these lists looking for books to buy. If they find six of my Eternal Guardians books on the fantasy romance bestseller’s list, they’re more apt to stop and say, “Hm, that must be a good series if all six books are on the list.”
Each online retailer has a different place to refine your metadata tags when you upload or edit a book. The key for most authors is figuring out what category your books fit in. Sometimes they cross sub-genres. For example, my RS books can be classified as both romantic suspense and contemporaries, and my Eternal Guardians books are tagged as both Sci-fi/Fantasy and Paranormal.
What is the best strategy when pricing books? When and how do you offer free books to increase sales?
I experiment with pricing all the time. That’s one of the great things about Indie publishing…if it’s not working, you can change it! I’ve given thousands of books away for free, I’ll do sales, I combine books in box sets, anything to get a book visibility and create.
As for free sales, it usually works best if you offer the first book in a series free (though there are exceptions…see my answer below). Readers read that first book, love it, then go buy the rest in the series. As for length of time to leave a book free…that’s really up to the author. I’ve left books free for a week, a month, even several months. The key—for me—is never being stagnant. At any one time, I always have a book free, or marked down or a new book releasing. When your books are stagnant, readers can’t find them. And when they can’t find them, your sales will drop.
What are the three best tools for marketing books?
I don’t do a lot of promo for my books outside social media, my website, and an occasional ad (BookBub has been great to me). In my opinion, the best marketing an Indie author can do is 1) Write an awesome book, 2) Create an eye catching cover, and 3) Experiment with pricing until you find the sweet spot. But by and far the most IMPORTANT piece of this puzzle is this…WRITE THE NEXT BOOK. Without a backlist, all the promo in the world won’t drive sales the way releasing the next book will.
What is the single most important strategy that set your course for success?
The best part about Indie publishing is that you can try different strategies, see what works, and adjust those that don’t. Gemma Halliday once said that in order to be successful in the Indie world, you have to stop looking at your books as works of art and view them as products. That’s not easy to do when you’ve toiled over a story for months (sometimes years!), but if your goal is to sell books, you have to be both artist AND entrepreneur. Every time I finish a book, my goal is not just to sell that book, but to sell all my books. To that end, I will try any type of promo if it looks feasible.
At this point, the best strategy I’ve implemented is giving books away for free. I’ve done free promos several times
– usually with the first book in a series – with great results. Every time I’ve done this I’ve seen a jump in sales of ALL my books. But the best response I’ve had with free was with WAIT FOR ME. In December 2012 I decided to make WAIT FOR ME free with the hopes of drumming up a little visibility for a book that was (at the time) my slowest seller, but highest rated story. All I was hoping for was a few more reviews. What I got was a book that shot to the top of the free list on Amazon. Reviews exploded, and over the course of four weeks I gave away more than 500,000 copies. When I took WAIT FOR ME off free, it jumped to #6 on the USA Today List and #3 on the New York Times Ebook List (and #4 on the combined print/Ebook list). It spent 9 weeks on the USA Today list and 5 on the NY Times. My agent has sold countless foreign deals, audio rights and we’ve even had Hollywood interest. I’m convinced none of this would have happened if I hadn’t made WAIT FOR ME free.
Thanks so much Elizabeth for sharing your insights with us.
Here’s Elizabeth’s bio: Bestselling Author Elisabeth Naughton writes full time from her home in western Oregon where she lives with her husband and three children. Her books have appeared on every major bestsellers list, including the New York Times, the USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, Digital Book World and IndieReader, and have been nominated for numerous awards such as the prestigious RITA® awards by Romance Writers of America, the Australian Romance Reader Awards, The Golden Leaf and the Golden Heart. When not writing, Elisabeth can be found running, hanging out at the ballpark or dreaming up new and exciting adventures. Visit her website at www.ElisabethNaughton.com to learn more about her books.
Ebooks And The Power Of Free …by Susan Lute
Next month will mark our two year anniversary doing this blog. Hard to believe, isn’t it? It’s been an interesting journey. I’d say we’ve learned a lot, but we’re not done yet. Personally, I’ve arrived at the portal of the free ebook. Does it have the power to boost sales?
If you’ve been watching Darla Luke’s column USA Today Best-Selling Self-Published Books, you’ll know one of our Pacific Northwest Authors, Elizabeth Naughton stayed on that list for nearly two months. You can read about her journey at her blog, and on May 9th we are excited to have Elizabeth right here at See Jane Publish answering our own questions about how to boost sales.
There are as many opinions about the effect of the free ebook on sales as there are Indie authors, the most predominant, Yes, it works; No, it doesn’t! My humble opinion is that it does work, but with a caveat. And maybe lowering the book price to $.99 would do the same thing. I haven’t tested that out, so I don’t know. Keep in mind others will have differing experiences. One of the things I know about self-publishing is that it’s one great big science experiment. What works for one author doesn’t always work for another.
Marie Force gives away her first novel in her McCarthys of Gansett Island Series, Maid For Love, as part of her strategy to introduce new readers to her books. Her sales have been phenomenal and have allowed her to quit the day job, which I think is most writers number one goal. What Elizabeth and Marie have in common is that they both have long series; Marie, her McCarthys and Fatal series; Elizabeth, her Eternal Guardians. Even though Wait For Me was contemporary romance, it has still stimulated sales of all her books.
And then there’s Alexandra Sokoloff who gave away 50 ebooks of her new release Blood Moon for the potential opportunity to get reviews (check out her post, Blue Moon and e publishing, again). I love this idea. How many of you would perhaps be willing to post reviews to Amazon, BN, and Goodreads for a free e-copy of a novel?
I have tried the free ebook three times, with differing results. I don’t have ready access to the numbers – still on vacation – but I can give you the general results. Five days free at Amazon, Jane’s Long March Home (contemporary romance), inspiring results, but I didn’t have a series for readers to continue buying. I’m working on that now. The same five days for The London Affair, frankly lackluster results due in part I think, because it’s women’s fiction with a smaller audience. And just concluding five days free at Amazon, The Return of Benjamin Quincy, exciting numbers, not a spectacular as Jane’s, but exciting none the less. My conclusion: free has the greatest power when you have a long series to lure the reader into, and when you leave the book free for longer than five days, which means not doing it through Amazon’s KDP program, but by using a price matching strategy.
One last note: Jessa Slade has a new enterprise, Red Circle Ink. I can highly recommend her editing skills. She gives phenomenal feedback. Good luck, Jessa!
Boston Marathon Bombers Story Arc…. by Nancy Brophy
Putting together a cohesive story is difficult. If it wasn’t, everyone who thinks to himself, “I could write a novel,” would. And it would be a best seller, otherwise why write? And really how difficult can it be? We’re surrounding by stories every day.
Stories must have two arcs – External and Internal. The external or plot simply answers the question: What is the purpose of the story?
The external arc must be tangible. In action/adventure such as the recent events in Boston that is easy enough to see. Indiana Jones is going after the Skull, the Arc or the sacred rock. Frodo has to dispose of the ring. People have to save themselves from a disaster. The world is coming to an end. The Titanic is sinking. A run-away Russian submarine is on the loose.
The Boston Marathon bombing has a pretty straight forward external arc. Create mayhem, destruction and death – first at the marathon and then Times Square. It is the story of small men with small dreams. Movies have taught us that a big man’s dream would have been the overthrow of the entire nation.
We all know every story must evoke emotion and a senseless bombing scene will not garner public empathy. There must be a secondary or underlying arc that builds on the emotional storyline.
Once the Boston marathon bombers were captured, what was our most pressing concern?
Why would anyone do this? And we still don’t know all the details. But many of us are waiting with bated breath, because we want the story to have a nice tidy ending. We don’t want to hear that the men were simply crazy or misguided. We want to know what they thought they would accomplish and whether or not they believed they would get caught. A couple of day ago I learned that three of the younger brother’s friends helped hide and destroy evidence that had been stashed in his room pretty much in open sight. That doesn’t sound like a guy who was worried about the consequences of his actions.
One of the most shocking facts was that his friends volunteered to destroy the evidence. Where is their social conscience? How does friend loyalty trump the death of innocents? And worse where are the parents of these young men? Why aren’t they jumping up and down screaming at their sons, “have you lost your mind?”
The underlying arc must satisfy those details. It must show growth and must have a satisfying ending. For me, that usually means the evil get punished. Having written that, I’m sure you can imagine how I would like the Bomber story to end – not just for the younger bomber but for his friends, as well.
Each of the protagonists must have both an internal and external arc, not to mention the only female lead on American soil needs her two arcs as well. With enough characters the story line resembles a complex genome map. In this case both brothers had arcs, but so did the wife and the mother. I’m sure the friends also had storylines, but they appear to only be spear carriers, not plotters.
Personally, I find it difficult to believe that the wife was totally unaware of what was happening, particularly as the husband became more and more verbal about his radicalization.
And the mother…
Well, the mother is a piece of work, isn’t she? Another reason I suspect so many of us write about dysfunctional families –we are surrounded by them. Apparently being Russian does not exempt anyone.
The truth is none of us would write the bombers as the heroes. We would choose the story of one of the three who died, or one of the 260 bystanders who lives changed forever because they lost a limb, or even those who lost a family member.
The boys aren’t heroes, but I bet they wanted to be. Apparently they didn’t watch enough American television to figure out that protagonists seldom set out to become heroes. They just are.
Blood Destiny by Helen Harper – Virtual Book Blast and Giveaway!
Did that title hook you? It sure did me. Something about a title with blood in it… And I just love these covers.
Please join me in welcoming author Helen Harper to See Jane Publish and check out her interesting series. And don’t forget to read through to the end to see how you can win a chance to win a $25.00 gift certificate from Amazon! And yes, SJP commenters do win. Our own Nancy Brophy won a copy of the non-fiction writer’s book I reviewed last month.
BLOOD DESTINY SERIES by Helen Harper
Bloodfire
Mackenzie Smith has always known that she was different. Growing up as the only human in a pack of rural shapeshifters will do that to you, but then couple it with some mean fighting skills and a fiery temper and you end up with a woman that few will dare to cross. However, when the only father figure in her life is brutally murdered, and the dangerous Brethren with their predatory Lord Alpha come to investigate, Mack has to not only ensure the physical safety of her adopted family by hiding her apparent humanity, she also has to seek the blood-soaked vengeance that she craves.
Here’s a little EXCERPT from Bloodfire to whet your appetite.
He came again. I dully wondered again how I was going to explain not shifting and regenerating when he hit me full on, knocking out my breath. He raised a paw and extended his claws and scraped them down my cheek before bringing the same claws to his mouth and sucking off the blood. My blood. I felt the fire coursing through my entire system. Anton’s face looked oddly surprised for a second then he did the same with the other cheek before lifting up his entire paw and preparing to strike. Through the haze of pain, I registered the power that he was preparing to put behind this blow and it occurred to me that this was his plan. He’d kill me with sanction and solve forever the problem of the little human. It hadn’t dawned on him that after I died the Brethren would investigate why I’d not shifted and they’d work out I was human. Then they’d kill everyone.
The rage built up inside me and the flames took over. He was playing with the pack’s lives. I sprang to my feet in one movement, ignoring the sudden streak of dizziness. He was not going to do this. Anger took over me and flooded my system but I knew with cold clarity what to do. The fire won. I sprinted back to the wall, aiming just to the left of his crouched body and ran three steps up before using it as a springboard to spin off. I was too fast and Anton had no time to turn. I put my hands round his thick neck and twisted, snapping it in one movement. My bloodfire roared in approval and he collapsed to the ground.
He was a shifter. He’d recover. I wiped a smear away from my cheek and turned and walked painfully out of the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Want to learn more about the series? Check out these other blurbs:
Bloodmagic
After escaping the claws of Corrigan, the Lord Alpha of the Brethren, Mack is trying to lead a quiet lonely life in Inverness in rural Scotland, away from anyone who might happen to be a shapeshifter. However, when she lands a job at an old bookstore owned by a mysterious elderly woman who not only has a familiar passion for herbal lore but also seems to know more than she should, Mack ends up caught in a maelstrom between the Ministry of Mages, the Fae and the Brethren.
Now she has to decide between staying hidden and facing the music, as well as confronting her real feelings for the green eyed power of Corrigan himself.
Bloodrage
Mack begins her training at the mages’ academy in the hope that, by complying, the stasis spell will be lifted from her old friend, Mrs. Alcoon. However, once there, she finds herself surrounded by unfriendly adults and petulant teenagers, the majority of whom seem determined to see her fail.
Feeling attacked on all fronts, Mack finds it harder and harder to keep a rein on her temper. Forced to attend anger management classes and deal with the predatory attentions of Corrigan, the Lord Alpha of the shapeshifter world, her emotions start to unravel. But when she comes across a familiar text within the walls of the mages’ library, which might just provide the clues she needs to unlock the secrets of her background and her dragon blood, she realises that her problems are only just beginning…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Helen Harper is an English teacher currently living abroad in Malaysia. As a long time reader of urban fantasy, she finally bit the bullet and began to develop her own series of novels.
Helen has always been a book lover, devouring science fiction and fantasy tales when she was a child growing up in Scotland. “I always loved the escapism provided by those genres,” states Helen. “No matter how bad life gets, you can always find a route out, even if only temporarily, in the pages of a good book.”
The growth of urban fantasy fascinated her – the mix of reality and fantasy along with strong heroic female characters appealed from the very beginning, and inspired her to write her own.
Facebook Author page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Helen-Harper/101590660022586
Twitter: HarperFire
Amazon.com buy links:
Bloodfire
http://www.amazon.com/Bloodfire-Blood-Destiny-1-ebook/dp/B00AU43ZXK/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
Bloodmagic
http://www.amazon.com/Bloodmagic-Blood-Destiny-2-ebook/dp/B00AU0O00G/ref=pd_sim_kstore_1
Bloodrage
http://www.amazon.com/Bloodrage-Blood-Destiny-3-ebook/dp/B00BQEFTPK/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1362894945&sr=1-1&keywords=bloodrage
Revised to add the PROPER way to enter. My sincere apologies – I absolutely missed the instructions. I can’t get the form to embed so please click here to enter the Rafflecopter for the contest.
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Good luck!!!!
