A Saturday Quote

Happy Monday!

Oh I'm slacking again. Well that New Year's Resolution didn't last long. I have been busy writing, rewriting, editing and critiquing, but I guess that's still not a good enough excuse. I'm still trying to find a balance between work, writing, blogging, reading and everything else in life. I really don't know how people do it. And I envy those that do it so effortlessly or at least make it seem that way.  Any advice? Pointers?

Keeping it short today.

Happy Monday.

A Saturday Quote

A Saturday Quote

Marketing Wednesday

Today's topic: Bloghops

First off, I encourage you to join as many bloghops as you can. When I had the time to do so I did and I can tell you because of these hops I met some amazing people, formed new friendships and watched my number of followers grow. It is the best way to become a part of the huge community here in the blogosphere. However, if you join a bloghop with the hope of gaining followers and not taking the time to hop from blog to blog, please just don't join. That is not the purpose of a hop, it is an added bonus.

A bloghop is also a great way to help promote your book. There are so many ways you can spin this to relate to your book and to get people talking about it. This is where you need to be creative.

A bloghop I participated in last year wasn't about promoting a book but it could have easily been. So I'm going to use that as an example. The hop was called Oh those High School Dances Bloghop hosted by Kelley Lynn and Emily R King.  The rule was to post a picture from a high school dance and talk about it. If one of them had a book that revolved around a high school dance this would have been perfect.

The original post could have included a synopsis of the book maybe an excerpt to show how the hop relates, giving insight to the story and the main character. As well as the rules and what the category/categories are for winning. From their you get people to sign up. The prizes could have been the book the hop revolved around. Anything that would have related to the book in anyway. Say the girl in the book was obsessed with Sharpie markers, one of the prizes could've been a variety pack of Sharpies. Or book swag made just for the book. The ideas are as limitless as your imagination.

In order to spread the word about your hop, create a badge, which can be done in PowerPoint, Photoshop or any similar program. I have a few I participated in and one I hosted with Cortney Pearson posted on the right side of my blog. All of which if you click will bring you to that particular hop.

Have friends post it on their blogs linking back to yours. Tweet about it. Write about it on Facebook. A few steps to spread the word and it will continue to spread without you doing anything else. 

As the host of the bloghop you have to make sure to make it to every blog that participates and leave a comment. Don't leave a generic comment either. Read their post and write a thoughtful note, including a thank you for participating. And follow back.

Do you participate in bloghops?  What has been your favorite so far?

2013 Movie List

There are so many movies I want to see. I just never get around to it. So here's my 2013 list of movies I plan on making time for.

1) All the Harry Potters (After I read the books of course)
2) Breakfast at Tiffany's
3) Gone with the Wind
4) Casablanca
5) Hunger Games
6) Pitch Perfect (A day doesn't go by where I don't see someone raving about this movie on Twitter)
7) All the Lord of the Rings
8) It's a Wonderful Life (I can't tell you how many years I've said this is the year I'm watching it then never do)
9) Meet Me in St Louis
10) Horton Hears A Who
11) The Godfather
12) Star Wars
13) Citizen Kane
14) Interview With A Vampire
15) Gran Torino (I watched a little at a restaurant with captions and didn't want to leave)
16) The Shawshank Redemption

What movies haven't you got around to watching?

A Saturday Quote

Becca Ann Reasons I Fell For the Funny Fat Friend

I'm thrilled that I can finally talk about the awesomeness that is Becca Ann's Reasons I Fell For the Funny Fat Friend. I'm in love with Brody and may possibly love Hayley even more. I wanted to jump in the book and be friends with Hayley and stalk Brody. No that's not creepy. Trust me you'll want to stalk him too.

If I haven't convinced you to purchase this book on its release day January 8th then maybe this will:

 

What's that? You want more convincing! I can do that:

It’s stupid to fall for your brother’s ex. It’s even worse to enlist another’s help to win the ex over. But Brody is desperate and Hayley, his partner in American Sign Language, is more than willing to lend him a few tips.

She’s the school’s matchmaker,’ and with her bizarre and positive personality, Brody finds her easy to talk to, even about the most awkward situations. Hayley’s tips seem to be working, but as Brody learns more about his matchmaker, he starts finding reasons to spend time with her, and not the girl he thought he was in love with.

But Hayley isn’t ready to fall for anyone. Labeled the “Funny Fat Friend” within her group, her self image makes it impossible for Brody to share his feelings without Hayley shrugging it off as a joke.

Convincing her Brody can, and did, fall for the “Funny Fat Friend” turns out to be harder than simply falling in love.
 
And just to add icing to the cake you can check out my interview with Becca Ann over at Falling For Fiction today. And. And! Enter for your chance to win a copy. Happy reading!

2013 Reading List

There have been certain books in my TBR pile for years and I think it's time I move them to the top of the pile. Today I am sharing my list with you so I can't push them off any longer. So here it goes, my 2013 Reading List:

1) The Harry Potter series (It's time.)
2) Catch 22
3) Dreamland by Sarah Dessen (I own it have read the first chapter, but never finished)
4) Across the Universe by Beth Revis
5) The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong
6) Dracula
7) Hopeless by Colleen Hoover (If you haven't read Slammed add it to your list.)
8) Catching Fire and Mockingjay
9) Fault in the Stars by John Green
10) An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (Recommended by my BF's 18 year old cousin. He said it's amazing)
11) Linger and Forever by Maggie Stiefvater
12) The Perks of Being a Wallflower
13) Forever by Judy Blume
14) If I Stay by Gayle Foreman

What's on your 2013 reading list? Have you read any on mine? Thoughts?

Marketing Wednesday

Marketing Wednesday is back. Sorry I took another hiatus with the holidays. Hopefully no more interruptions. So last post was about covers and today we're going to talk about creating your own databases. This will prepare you for when it is time to get your book out there and is something you can do now, unpublished, that can help you in the future.

I interned for an agent about two years ago and this is one of the things she had asked me to do for her. It was a real eye opener for me to see what agents do for their authors as well as what their authors can do for themselves.

The first database I created was for book bloggers. When your book is coming out you want as many people as you can get talking about it. Book bloggers are a great way to spread the word.

First thing you have to do is open Excel and setup your spreadsheet. Mine was as simple and basic as you can get:

The first column was the name of the blog. The second the link to the blog. The third, description. What types of books did they review. If you only write one genre this is not necessary. The fourth, the name of the person you need to contact. The fifth, their email address. The sixth, the number of followers their blog has. And seven, how many Twitter followers they have.

You can add as many columns as you'd like to your database. Such as how many Facebook followers they have. How many comments they get. Anything that will be beneficial to you. The database I created listed 356 book bloggers. I'm sure that number has grown and I'm sure many of those blogs no longer exist.  That's why it is important that once you have your database created you keep it updated. Check in every so often to make sure the blog is still active.

I also created a database for independent bookstores that sold children books and YA books. This list contained 380 independent bookstores across the country. This database was also simple:

The name of the store
The address
City
State
Zip
Phone Number
Name of Contact
Email

Another database I created was for libraries that had a children's/YA section. This list contained 743 libraries across the country. It followed the same format as the independent bookstore database.

You may be wondering why you need these databases. It's simple. These people and places are the key to getting your book out there. You can send postcards to the independent bookstores and libraries with the information about your book and hope that they will be willing to carry it. The bloggers, you want to reach out to as many as you can. You want them spreading the word about your book.

Not all publishers will take every step necessary to market your book and you may have to take it upon yourself to do so. Be prepared. Don't let your hard work and dedication sizzle out and die just because your publisher doesn't fund the marketing efforts. There is so much you can do at little cost that will keep your book alive. And I want to help. So come back next Wednesday for another tip.

Have you ever thought about creating a database?

Resolution Time

Another year. More resolutions. Let's see if I can actually stick with them. Doubtful, but it's fun to pretend.

1) The most obvious and on everyone's list I'm sure. Get back to the gym. My goal is 3-4 times a week.  Please don't laugh at me.
2) Read two books a month. To me this sounds pitiful when I used to read more than that a week. However, I haven't had time, so I think two books a month is doable.
3) In 2012 I got an agent Woohoo! 2013 Get an editor :)
4) Finish one or two of my current WIP's
5) Blog 3x's a week. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
6) Reach a 1,000 followers on Pinterest. (Don't judge me lol)
7) Get organized (Ha!)
8) Finish writing the book with my Mom
9) Write everyday even if it is only 100 words. Something is better than nothing.
10) Get serious about saving money
11) Get new couches (They are hand me downs and I'm not even going to say how old)
12) In 2012 I got back on my bike. In 2013 I want to get serious, try out new trails and go more often.
13) Finish edits on all my WIP's 


Happy New Year's, Everyone! What are your New Year's Resolutions?