RELEASE WEEK!!

OMG! I still can't believe that it's almost the release of A CHARMING FATALITY!

Sometimes I have to pinch myself because it's the seventh novel, not including the two short stories, in the Magical Cures Mystery Series. Who knew that my little witch and her familiar would take the mystery world by storm?!

AND....
the series has their own cookies made from them!
Check out Cooper's Cocoa and Cookies and order your June's Gems and Magical Cures Mystery Sugar Cookies today so you can enjoy them while reading A CHARMING FATALITY on Friday!!

FriYAY!!!

We made it!!!

I do a lot of giveaways, so on FridYAY, I'm going to be posting all the winners from all the platforms.
With each giveaway, you have ONE week to claim the prize.

Monday Giveaway: Kappes changing cups: JEN SCOTT
Tuesday Recipe: Susan P.
The share photo will continue until release day :)

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

My son, Austin, is in full college mode. Since my husband works out of the home and I'm home working (obviously my work travels), I'm putting the final college visit plans together. We are traveling a few places with over night stays since the lacrosse teams want to "talk" to us and show him around the campus. We are also getting ready for all the lacrosse camps he is doing this summer, starting next week!

What are you doing this weekend?
Let me know in the comments to win a Kappes mystery box!

Be sure to continue to share the photo!

Preorder today!
Kindle: http://amzn.to/1Lizrya
Nook: http://bit.ly/1ByliL6
iBooks:  http://apple.co/1J1QwtO
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1IbEiAg

Christmas Gifts!

Remember to promote the gift of reading this Christmas during your gift giving time. I'd be honored if you gifted one of my novels, if not mine, another author would be GREAT! 

Let's READ!

Thunder...HUH?

I've jumped into the social media world of Thunderclap!
Thunder. . . huh?

Thunderclap is an amazing campaign free to me and to you. It really helps get the word about about the campaign you are supporting by connecting to your Facebook, Twitter, and Tumbler.

If you sign up or participate, on the day of the campaign, mine is January 1st, the campaign message will go across social media in one big THUNDERCLAP.
No...you won't hear it, but everyone will see it! It's just spreading the word and that is the best thing a reader can do for an author. SPREAD THE WORD!

All you have to do is follow the link below and Thunderclap does all the work. You don't have to do anything on January 1st. Thunderclap does it all! Easy peasy!


If you sign up for my THUNDERCLAP, Here is what you will be spreading to the world. 

I want everyone to discover the magic of the MAGICAL CURES MYSTERY SERIES NOVELS! But I need your help in promoting my Thunderclap. I'm asking for 100 supporters. If I get the 100 supporters by January 1st, all the novels will be .99 for a limited time! Please help me spread the word! 
http://thndr.it/1w2sTI0

I'd love to have your support! Happy weekend! xo

Tsu....who?

Most of you have heard about the new social media Tsu. Of course I'm over there! Come find me!

Tonya Kappes on Tsu.

Here are my thoughts....
1) It's easy to use.

2) The timeline feed is called a diary. It doesn't trickle like and move like Facebook's feed. AND it doesn't show me last status updates from a few days ago like Facebook does. It shows me the true up to date status of my friends/followers! I love that!!

3) It also give me the reach of ALL of my friends and followers, not like Facebook. For instance....I have 3k LIKES on my Facebook page. These are authentic likes from people who want me in their feed. Not just friend and go. They are LIKES.  I had a Holiday ISpy party and Facebook ONLY let 261 of my likes see the post. 

Facebook is making it harder and harder for authors to connect with their readers. 
4) Tsu is helping cut back on trolls. You aren't allowed to just share to be entered into a contest, or like to be entered into a contest. You really have to LIKE someone in order to use a share. This is priceless!

5) You can like, share, and comment to get a cut of their cash...I'm not really sure what I'm talking about here (hahahaha!), but it's still something Facebook isn't doing!

So are you going to TSU???

Goodreads

Are you on Goodreads? I am! I hope you come over and join me. 
Tonya Kappes Goodreads 

But I want to know exactly how you use Goodreads. Do you only mark the books you want to read? Do you actually go to the author's pages and look around? Do you take advantage of the 'ASK THE AUTHOR' feature? 

I truly want to know how to connect with you on Goodreads!

Book Club Love

Over the weekend I was able to make it to my Diva-Lit Couture Book Club! These girls are amazing!!! We get together once a month and discuss a book. There is even a quiz about the chosen book and you can win a prize! Fun! 

It's truly not about prizes. It's about making the time to get together with friends and share our love of reading! 

And if you do have a book club and you are reading one of my books, I'd love to know about it. We can Skype, Google hangout, and I send swag!

Do you have a  book club? Tell me about it!

Giveaways Galore!

Today I'm hanging out on Facebook with Jana DeLeon and Denise Grover Swank at their release party of their co-authored novel of Rose and Helena Save Christmas! 
Denise Grove Swank's Rose Gardner from her award winning Rose Gardner Series and Jana DeLeon's Helena from her Ghost In Law Mystery Series has teamed up to SAVE CHRISTMAS!

You can purchase their book today!

Amazon

I'm excited to be part of their release party today at 3 pm CT (4 pm EST)! I'm giving away a lot of stuff! BUT the party starts at 2 pm CT, so jump on over and join in the fun!! Here is the LINK
Here is the line up, remember the times listed below are CT:

2:00 Jana DeLeon
3:00  Tonya Kappes, Author
4:00 Leslie Langtry
5:00 Jenna Bennett & Jennie Bentley
6:00 Lyla Payne
7:00 Traci Andrighetti
8:00 Larissa Reinhart
9:00 Denise Grover Swank

Lots of prizes and fun, including a $100 Amazon or iTunes gift card! grand prize!

Remember! You can order your June's Gems today from Cooper's Cocoa! They are also giving away any Tonya Kappes ebook with purchase!
Plus they have a bunch of other awesome treats you can purchase or send to family and friends. 
Check them out right here!


And...it's not too late to send me coloring books/crayons for Alyssa's Coloring for the Cure! Check out the blog post here for details about why I do this every years.  

JUNE'S GEMS!! and GIVEAWAY!

Seriously! How lucky can a gal who write about a fictitious magic village where there are talking crystal balls, fairy-God cats, and fun witches galore be??
Last year I was lucky enough to have a clothing line named after the characters and places in the Magical Cures Mystery Series.

These are just a few of the clothing items that sold out in hours!!! Now I'm beyond thrilled to have real life JUNE GEMS available for sale from Cooper's Cocoa and Cookies! Seriously! How adorable are these??

Plus they have a bunch of other awesome treats you can purchase or send to family and friends. 
Check them out right here!

If you haven't checked out the MAGICAL CURES MYSTERY SERIES, you can get the first three for only $5.99!!! 

If you place an order with Cooper's, send me a receipt of your purchase and I'll enter you into a drawing for any print book you desire plus some JUNE GEMS!

And...it's not too late to send me coloring books/crayons for Alyssa's Coloring for the Cure! Check out the blog post here for details about why I do this every years. 

No Tooth Fairy In The Deep Ocean

I really only thought this fish was in Nemo!





Seriously....what would you do if you saw this fish in the ocean??

Author Envy or Jealousy And How NOT To Fall Into It!

This post was originally posted in 2012. Unfortunately I have succumbed to this whole jealousy thing again! It's so sad because as you will read on...things have not changed. The only thing that has changed is the fact I'm considered a Hybrid author; meaning I'm self published and traditionally published. 

The saddest part about this whole jealous things is there are no lines. Jealousy and author envy are higher than ever. . . .enjoy!

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This post was originally posted in January, but lately I have seen a lot of jealousy going on in the indie community and this post got a lot of attention then, so I hope to spread it around again. Please be sure to facebook, tweet, and social media to death this post. 

It's a sad day when a member of the indie community publicly scorns another indie author. It's classless to do these things. I live by the saying "actions speak louder than words." Always take the high road when and indie is blatantly trying to destroy another author, no matter which side is right. 

If you have an issue with another author,  do the right thing and contact them off line to let them know your issues with them. The writing community is very small and it may very well come back one day and bit you in the butt. OR Karma will get you.

"That Susie Q, she's.... God, bless her heart."

This is the southern way to put someone down, but make it sound like you aren't gossiping. How do I know this? I'm southern as can be, and grew up with a lot of these sayings.
Another great lesson you learn when you are southern. . . don't be jealous. It's not a good quality to have and it's the best form of flattery.

JEALOUSY. . .
It's the biggest white elephant among writers. But why?
This is something I've never ever understood. I've always been taught to be happy for everyone and be considerate of other's feelings no matter what journey their life takes them on. After all, it's their story to tell, not mine. But I do encourage and cheer for my fellow author friends. Why? Because it's good moral spirit. It's good to pay it forward, not to mention good Karma!

But why are so many writers/authors jealous or envious of each other?

This writing life is so up and down. And there will always be someone ahead of you and behind you. So why not embrace each other? Who else knows what it's like to be a writer other than another writer?

I go on and on about writing 24/7, telling my husband how much my protagonist wasn't cooperating in a scene. Does he really understand?
No! He pretends he does, as most good husband do, but he doesn't.

This is when we, authors, should be able to talk and share, not be jealous of each other's success. I've been published for one year and have sold over 150k ebooks. I've come across some really GREAT cheerleaders and some really green monsters!

For a bit,  you align yourself with both, especially on line. Then after a while, you begin to get the emails that are a little snarky or the Facebook messages that question why you did something. The real person you have aligned yourself with begins to shine through.

This is where you begin to ask the question about those deep feelings in your stomach as to whether these people are good for you, for your career.

This is when you need to step back, take a deep breath, and remember this is your career, not someone else.
Claim your positive attitude back! Do something nice for another author! Give a deserving author a shout out, a plug, a good review (if you've read their book), truly pay it forward with out expecting anything back. And soon you will be rid of those negative, jealous authors.

You ARE not one of them! You are positive. You pay it forward!
The Absolute Writer has a great article on jealousy in the writing community here.

Besides, jealousy can really zap your mojo and you could be putting all your energy into your writing. Put those emotions into your writing. Make a great scene by digging deep into those feelings, put them on the page and I bet you end up with a great scene!

Patti Hill, author and blogger at Novel Matters has another great article on jealousy.

My Title: AUTHOR!

As I go into NaNoWrimo on Thursday, there is a lot I have been thinking about.

How many of the participants are traditional writers and how many are self published writers? But when you break it all down....does it matter?

That is what is so great about NaNoWrimo! It brings the writing community together for ONE COMMON GOAL!

Goal: SIT BUTT IN CHAIR, HANDS ON KEYBOARD, AND WRITE!

But (yes, you know I always have a but), it goes deeper than that for me.

There is a forum in the NaNoWrimo for Indie Authors. BUT why?

Is that divide still there? Has my head still stuck under the cover and not paying attention to the world of authors?

Good for me! My head is stuck in the interaction with my readers and that is where it should be. My readers don't care if I'm self published or traditionally published, they only care that they can get their hands on one of my books.

As I wake up in the morning, NOVEMBER 1st, and sit down at my computer, I will not have the thought of "I'm an indie author or self published author." I will have the thought of my readers in my mind, creating words that will flow through my fingertips, and spill out over the white screen of my computer.

And on DECEMBER 1st, I will wake up with a smile on my face, ready to face the first round of layering and revisions of the 50k words that I just wrote WITH MY READERS IN MIND.

CHEERS!~to a great writing month!

To check out my tips on making it through NaNoWrimo, check out my blog post from Monday!

The Secret To Publishing

IT'S BEEN A YEAR!!!!

A year for what?? I'm glad you asked! It's been a year since I decided to blog and blog three times a week!! Happy BLOGAVERSARY to me!!

A year ago I was receiving over 100 emails a week from writers asking me from: how my books made the best sellers lists so quickly after they were released, what do you do to market, how do you reach your target audience of readers, etc....

That is when I decided I was tired of answering those emails and wanted a place to send the writers. This blog was my idea! I have covered almost every single topic that I do to make my career a success.  There isn't a magic formula, but I can promise you that it's been consistency.

Consistency....Consistency is the secret to publishing!

THINK. ABOUT. THAT. WORD.

On this anniversary, CONSISTENCY is going to be my new word going forward into this next year of blogging.

How does that equal NOVEL SUCCESS?

As writers we know that we can't wave a magic wand and mysteriously get words on a page, we have to do one thing....

SIT OUR BUTT IN THE CHAIR AND WRITE. Plain and simple as that. Nothing more, nothing less.  i can guarantee that if you don't put your butt in the chair, you will not succeed, you will fail. No matter how much advice I have provided you on this blog, it will NEVER work for you if you don't sit your butt in the chair and write.

Just like this blog. I had to consistently plan Sunday night, Tuesday night, and Thursday night a topic to blog on. I had to come home after working my day job, get my guys to their after school functions (plus sporting events and games), cook dinner, do laundry, dr. appt (because all my guys have to go to monthly ortho and dermatologist appt), four legged children needs (we walk at least two miles a day), and every other thing I do. Guess what....you have those same set of obstacles or more! Which means that all writers have the same issues. No matter if they are a best seller or not! Everyone has issues.

I was consistent with my time and schedule and fulfilled my quest to not only put out four novels and blog three times a week! And my family survived through it all!

Over the next  couple of months I will be blogging only once or twice a week. I participate in NANOWRIMO and get my publishing schedule for 2013 ready. Blogging here does take up about five hours of my weekly time and I'm going to be spending that time in November to participate in NANOWRIMO.

I have guest blogs that I will be putting up and if you would like to guest blog, please check out the guest blog tab on top. I know that each and everyone of you have something to add to our little community here.

So go ahead:

1) Put your butt in the chair with a few goals in mind. Put on a timer starting for ten minutes and just write. Don't go back and edit. Just write for ten minutes! Take a break and go back and write for another ten minutes.

2) Surround yourself with like-minded people. I want you to reach out for support on Facebook, writing loops, people who are going to encourage you to continue on your goals and road to publication.

3) Look at your writing as a career. If you have a day job, you have to show up everyday in order to get a paycheck or NOT to get fired. Same with writing! Show up everyday!

If you want to succeed, you have to show up everyday and perform. OR your readers will fire you.

NOW....GO DO IT!

Marketing for the HOLIDAYS!

Boo! Gobble, gobble! Ho, ho, ho!!!

No! I have not lost my mind!! I know it is ONLY September. . .but now is the time to start thinking about marketing and scheduling marketing for the holiday season!

If you aren't~TODAY IS THE DAY TO START!!!

1) Holiday Cards

I hope you have started an opt-in newsletter on your site or blog where you have gathered your readers. You will need to put together a small letter telling them how much you appreciate them and maybe add a coupon code for a discount on one of your novels or gently ask them to gift a copy of your novel to one of their friends. Give something back to your readers!!!! 

I keep an address book with the physical address of my STREET TEAM members. Not only do I send out a few little notes each month, but I send each and everyone of them a real card for the holidays. I think it's so important to reach out to your readers and let them know how much you appreciate them.

2) On Line Holiday Party

Everyone loves a good party! Especially one where you don't have to leave the comfort of your own home or even dress up!! 

It doesn't matter what your PR personality is. You can host a fun party with virtual food, drinks, music, etc...Video tape yourself welcoming them to your party. Give away a couple holiday gifts. Nothing expensive...what about one of your writer friend's book? Or ask your writer friends to donate a book and give them away! 

3) Box Set Your Books

I'm currently in the process of boxing my Grandberry Falls series into a box set that will be out just in time for Christmas! I will be pricing them a little under the $9 that it would cost to purchase all three separately  because I want my reader to feel like they are getting a bargain. Plus it's a great gift to give!

4) Holiday Sampler

Now...this is a good one too! This year I'm putting together a group of award winning authors for a Holiday sampler! The sampler is just that (I'm NOT revealing the title yet), we have all submitted a sample of one of our novels in a combined free download with all the author's information. It's a great treat for readers to find some really great reads by sampling them first.

I will blog on this process later.

5) Specific Holiday Promotions From Major Sites

I love Kindle on the Cheap and Nook on the Cheap! They are offering a great promotional deal for authors that is pretty sweet. Check out the video:

Check out the Santa Sampler HERE 

"What happens when you put an author in charge of your advertising program? Great things, if you ask April Floyd, owner and leader of numerous Facebook reading groups and The-Cheap.net. You know April if you've ever listed your book with the Facebook group Authors on the Cheap. After two years of always giving authors shout outs for free, Ms. Floyd has expanded the site, her Facebook groups and finally caved to author pressure for an ad program where they could schedule dates for a nominal fee.

Teamed up with author Elizabeth Ann West, the new marketing director for The-Cheap.net, this autumn and winter the Piggies have something new in mind when it comes to holiday promotions: make everyone happy.

“I wasted over a hundred dollars myself last year on promotions that were my book with dozens of others, a Kindle Fire giveaway, and massive social media likes that meant nothing to the person clicking hundreds of author pages to enter the giveaway.” said Ms. West.

The Piggies are proud to announce Santa Sampler, a reading competition for their readers that will provide raw market data back to every author who signs up.

“Our readers have enjoyed our recent ebook giveaways where they read the sample and answer a trivia question.""

I thought it sounded like a great opportunity. But the point is that there are so many promotional tools out there for you to take advantage of! Use all your resources, which include your writer friends. Put your heads together and think of some GREAT PR buddy promos you can do for the holidays. It might even be to host a party together...anything...just don't let the days slip away and the holidays creep in without you looking at your marketing plan!

Do you have anything cool planned for your holiday marketing plan?

A CHARMING CURE RELEASE DAY!

Today is the day!! It's a new release for the Magical Cures Series! A Charming Cure is the second in the series and full of June Heal and all her fun!!

How did I prepare for this release?
I did exactly what has worked for me in the past.

1) Street Team

As you know I have a very active STREET TEAM. A month ago I posted a poster to my STREET TEAM with the date and time on it. Of course it started the hype of my GRATITUDE TO THEM.

2) Put an all call out to my author friends

I posted on my writer groups, goodreads, and blogs asking for donations. Why? At the release party I don't promote my book. . .directly. . .I promote all my author friends books.

I had over fifty authors donate their ebook or print book to the release party. I want to give back to my readers too! They love finding new authors and what better way to find some than by getting free books?!

If my readers like their books, I can guarantee my readers go back and buy all of the rest of the author's books. My STREET TEAM is so amazing and full of avid readers.

3) Release the book!

Why did I release the book three days before the online release party?

Simple.....to spread the buzz! The release party is all about gratitude. I ask the authors that donated to spread the word about the release and in return they get access to my 300 + STREET TEAM members on the release day!

I ask my 300+ STREET TEAM members to tweet and facebook the release so we can party at the release party instead of trying to spread the word.

4) More marketing....

I posted to all the groups that allow you to post and promo new releases on Facebook. Groups like Kindle Mystery, Cozy Mystery Cafe, Kindle Nation Daily, Cheap e-reads and many, many more!

I looked at my @ feed in Twitter and thanking everyone who tweeted the release and retweeted their tweet.
Clicked on the Facebook feed and thanked everyone who put the release in their status.

This is an ongoing marketing tool. I'm so grateful to everyone who has promoted this book. There is NOTHING better than PR BUDDIES!!

Next Friday I'm going to tell you all about the release party. It was much different than the last release party I had with the first book in The Magical Cure Series, A CHARMING CRIME.

Go ahead! If you like my blog and get something out of it....can I ask you a return favor? Will you please tweet my release and put it in your facebook status??


Tweet:
RT @tonyakappes11 #womensleuth June is back and making more #potions A CHARMING CURE http://amzn.to/NIyEud #mystery #paranormal

Facebook

Check out Tonya Kappes' new paranormal cozy mystery release A CHARMING CURE!! 
http://amzn.to/NIyEud

When to KILL A Character!

When to Kill ... A Character

During my current WIP, I've come to the conclusion that I may have to kill off one of my characters. This truth is something I have struggled with. I've poured hours into building him, researching his qualities, and now it could be that the next chapter is his last. 

Maybe you too are in the same predicament. Are you struggling with whether a character should perish? Before you hit the delete button, there are several things to consider. Here are my 5 tips:

1. Kill off a character to advance the plot. Sometimes for a story to increase in depth and complexity, someone has to die. Death requires an emotional reaction. By inputting  a "kill" or "death" scene into your story, it provides the reader with a better understanding of your surviving characters, especially your hero and heroine.
2. Kill off a character to increase elements of suspense and mystery. No mystery is complete without a dead body appearing. If your character has been well-developed, then your reader can't help but ask "who did it?" This will potentially keep the reader engaged and turning the pages in hopes of solving the mystery.
3. Kill off a character due to writing yourself in a corner. Sometimes when we write and allow the story to naturally develop, it could end up with a character going no where. Instead of trashing those 200 pages, you could kill the character off and still continue your story. This is good when it comes to a major battle scene. Let him play the hero...and go out with a bang.
4. Kill off your character because he is too unlikeable or too bland. If your character is unsalvageable, whereby editing him is still not making him 3- dimensional, and he has no purpose, then kill him off.  There is nothing worse than reading  a story with uninteresting characters. This could potentially make a reader stop reading your book. Don't give your reader a chance to become bored; instead, kill the character and bring new life to your story.
5. Merge the problem character with another character. Often, during rewrites, we notice how some characters are very alike- too much alike. In this case, take the stronger of the two and combine them into one character. Not only will it lower your character count, but it will prove less confusing for your reader.

However, disregard all of the tips above if your story needs for that character, i.e it can't progress without him in story, plot or complexity. If this is the case, then it is a good time to "almost" kill him. What would Harry Potter be if he'd died? And how great of a moment was it, when he lived?

Writing is about bringing imaginary people to life; sharing their stories and conflict. Sometimes that conflict can be all reaching and other times it circles a particular character like flies. By knowing when to rid your manuscript of characters that are weighing it down, you gain a more enjoyable read and a story that keeps the reader wanting more.

What would you add to the list? 

Tina Glasneck is the author of the suspense novel, THOU SHALL NOT, the first book in the /EKS/series. A criminal paralegal by day, she enjoys creating three-dimensional characters and coming up with new ways to kill people. She resides in central Virginia and is always looking for fodder in her everyday life.

If you would like to connect with Tina Glasneck, you can find her all over the web:

Author Blog: http://www.tinaglasneck.com

Blog: http://www.tanglemagazine.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TinaGlasneck

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/TinaGlasneck  (username @TinaGlasneck)

Tumblr: http://tina-glasneck-author.tumblr.com/

Google+: https://plus.google.com/100826698946722745057/posts

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I also wanted to give a quick shout-out to Digital Book Today for featuring A CHARMING CRIME! I had not idea and I'm so honored!!! Thank you!!

Using Libraries As A Marketing Tool

Marketing to Libraries

In today's Internet age, many authors are overlooking their local library as a great place for promotion. I'll be honest, you won't sell hundreds of books at a library booksigning, you may not sell any. You need to remember that promoting your books at the library isn't about immediate sales, it's about building a readership, and possibly your own personal marketing team.

Even librarians can’t know all the authors in a genre and when they meet an author who has presented a program at their library they are more likely to recommend their books to patrons. 

When you participate in a library book discussion, reading group or booksigning, you are building great word-of-mouth future sales. If patrons at the library enjoy your presentation, you can be assured your book will be checked-out. You did donate a copy or two didn't you?

Once it has been checked out, you'd be surprised how many patrons will purchase your book not only for themselves but as gifts, and very often, if you have a backlist that the library doesn't have, those patrons will purchase it and donate it to the library. This means even more readers will have access to your books. Library patrons are readers, and those readers love to talk about books, work to make sure it's your book they are talking about.

You need to think of library visits as a long term career investment. While you won't often sell too many books at your visit, you will gain readers and most importantly a librarian or two that will "sale" your book.

Patrons daily ask me for a good book. If you've visited and you write in the genre they are looking for, you can be assured I will recommend your book. After all, you took the time to visit my library, talk with my patrons and donate a book.

After that initial visit, don't be a stranger. Send the library a press release of your latest book, send promo's like bookmarks - yes we still use them. Send cookies - honestly you'd be surprised how far a box of cookies will go in marketing your book across that circulation desk.

If you haven't visited you library in a while, stop by, get a library card,  pick up or subscribe to their newsletter, friend them on Facebook and Twitter (most libraries today have a presence on social media, take advantage of it), these will tell you the type of programs they have.

Who to contact:

In most large libraries they have a public relations coordinator, in the smaller libraries you will want to contact the director.

Write an intro/contact letter or e-mail to the library.

If you visit their website, they usually list the staff. A few points to include in this letter:

·         Introduce yourself.

·         Tell about your book.

·         Give an overview of the intended audience.

·         List your availability for a visit, panel or booksiging.

·         Give your book information – publisher, ISBN, where it can be purchased, and ask if they would like a donated a copy prior to the event. This will allow patrons to check out the book before you appear.

·         Also, if you have foreign editions of your books, look at the library demographics.  Many serve non-English speaking residents and would love to receive those editions.

Author Panels
Do you know of other authors that live in your area? Contact them and the library about a possible panel of romance authors, mystery or sci-fi authors. Having several authors appear together can draw a bigger crowd, giving you and them more exposure to potential readers.

Use the Internet

Once you have a library event books, use the Internet to shout about it. Ask the library to link to your website or blog from their event announcement page and you should link back to them. Use your email list, group forums, and writer organizations to publicize the event.

No, you will not get rich speaking at the library. What you will gain are new readers, word of mouth advertising, a sales crew at the circulation desk, public speaking experience and the opportunity to support an extraordinary institution. Come on, your an author, the library was your first love.

Linda has been the Public Relations Coordinator at a public library for fifteen years. She is the Senior News Editor for Reader's Entertainment News, scriptwriter for COS Productions (booktrailers) and writes for many other print and online publications.

She is also the author of a humorous romantic comedy trilogy set in Wyoming. Her first book Baer Truth - Book One of the Three Baer's Trilogy (where a vegetarian punk rocker finds herself stranded in the middle of Wyoming beef country) was released last year to 5-star reviews. The second book in the series, Baer Necessities will be released on September 11, 2012 from Desert Breeze Publishing, and will be available on Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. She is also the author of The Granite Rose, an historical set in ancient Rome.

You can find Linda online at:

Website: http://www.linda-mcmaken.com/

Blog: www.makenwords.blogspot.com

Baer Truth Booktrailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaA8p65oOeo

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lindamcmaken

Twitter: http://twitter.com/makenwords

Her books can be found at:

Desert Breeze Publishing: http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/StoreFront.bok

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Three-Baers-Book-ebook/dp/B005HB1J0W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345521283&sr=8-1&keywords=baer+truth

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-three-baers-book-one-linda-mcmaken/1111901113

Are YOU a Bestselling Author?

Is your book buzz worthy? Do you aspire to be a bestselling author?
Are you doing the same marketing and promoting of each book the same way? Doing the same ole things hoping that it will work with each book you put out?

Well. . .it won't!

In order to be a bestselling author you have to evaluate what works and what doesn't. You have to have a plan.

Your writing career does not afford you to keep trying things that don't work.

Let's discuss the bestseller's status. Most traditional authors turn their heads at any other bestsellers status other than the big ones like New York Times, USA Today, etc....BUT they are missing the boat on creating more buzz for their novels!

It's so important to make those Amazon and Barnes and Noble bestsellers lists. Once you make the lists, your novel gets put into those algorithms and make you more visible to the readers. Amazon will even promote you when you get high enough on the lists, which again. . .makes you more visible to your target audience. So CLAIM your bestseller status when you make one of those lists!!!

Still. . .you have to get there. Is your marketing and promoting plan doing it for you? Are YOU a bestselling author?

Now, I'm assuming that you have written a really great book. A book with an amazing cover, no editing issues, perfect formatting~NO ISSUES!

Before that book is uploaded or goes to print, you should already have your marketing plan put in place!
I'm not talking about setting up a blog tour, giving our ARCs of your novels to reviewers, making swag for your author brand. These are things that I hope you are already doing without me telling you.
I'm talking about entering major awards, do free audio podcasts for your blog site, plan reader events by using your Kindle or google plus chat. THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!!!

A few months ago the eFestival of Words announced the finalist in all their book categories. I was pleasantly surprised when I was alerted that Carpe Bead 'em was a finalist in the women's fiction/chick-lit category. I have no idea who nominated me to thank them, so I knew if I won, I was going to have to give back even more than I already do to my readers.

My readers got so involved with voting me to the WINNER status! I looked at all the winners. ONLY 8 of the winners had over 20 reviews and 4.5 ratings. Guess what we did. . .WE THOUGHT OUTSIDE OF THE BOX!!

We wanted to offer our award winning novels at a crazy price. Not to mention that we could PR BUDDY each other. My readers would LOVE my co-winners books. We all lowered our price to .99 for two days. We came up with a graphic and blog post to help get the word out.

We dubbed ourselves the GREAT EIGHT and reached out to all our blogger friends, put together a banner, contacted Amazon, contacted all REAL heavy hitters at Ereader News Today, Kindle Fire Daily, Pixel Of Ink, Digital Book Today , Indie Ereader, as well as Amazon giving us a page to ourselves!

But we didn't stop there! We each had an award winning book and we wanted to make those bestsellers lists so we could get into more reader's hands. So....we each had a call out to all our social media groups asking for people to post a blog that we had come up with. The blog had all the links and pictures they needed. There was no work on the blog owners part! We did it for them.

We have over 100 bloggers post the blog, not to mention all the Facebook and twitter status our followers had posted.

Now....a year ago when I released Carpe Bead 'em, Ereader News Today featured my Carpe on their own. I didn't pay for a thing! The owner had written me to tell me that he had heard my book was good and he was going to help me sale a few copies. FEW COPIES???

Last year I sold over 7k copies from just Ereader News Today! It was amazing. I didn't pay for an ad or even knew who Ereader News Today was. BUT Carpe went straight to #1 on Amazon's Movers and Shakers list and stayed there for THREE DAYS!!!

Fast forward to last week when my book was lumped with the rest of the GREAT EIGHT! Only on Ereader News Today, the second time around, Carpe Bead 'em found an audience of over 1200 new readers! Before the promo, Carpe was at 30k rank, after the Ereader News Today hit Carpe ended in the ranks at #375 in the paid store. WOW WOW WOW!!

Amazing! Right?!

It wouldn't have happened if we didn't think outside the box. The entire GREAT EIGHT became bestselling authors, again, that day!

Do you think that you can think outside the box and become the bestselling author you deserve to be??