Name the next Charming book!

Yes! The next title is in your hands!
So PLEASE enter to win the NAME THE NEXT CHARMING BOOK!

Here are the rules:

1) The title has to start with A CHARMING _________
The first book in the series is A CHARMING CRIME
The second book in the series is A CHARMING CURE

2) If you win, you have given me all rights to the name and in no way receive any royalties.

3) You get your name mentioned in the dedications at the beginning of the novel and a free autographed print copy.

4) The winner will receive a $50 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble or Amazon.

The contest will run from now until December 12th. Anyone can enter by leaving your entry in the comment section of this blog post. Please leave your name and email address in the post so I can reach you!

I'm so excited! Let the creative juices begin! Good luck!

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!!

How To Sell More Ebooks

Okay....did the title grab you?

Most of the emails I get from other writers are asking me the same thing: What do you do to sell so many books?

My answer:  there is NO guaranteed one thing that will help sell your ebook.
But there are things that will help contribute to selling your ebook.

1) Have a good cover!

No matter how much you hate the saying "don't judge a book by it's cover," well, we do! You have to have a great, professional cover. If you are making your cover and have zero graphic art background, please I beg you, invest in a cover artist OR make the cover super simple.

2) Edit, edit, edit!

Your mom, aunt, grandmother, sister, neighbor etc....love your book and helped you edit it. Do you want to sell ebooks or not? Did I hear you say yes? Then invest in a real-to-goodness editor! Take your career seriously and invest in it!

3) Format

There is nothing more annoying than a poorly formatted book. Just a year ago, most place you could upload an ebook had a different format requirement and I learned to do epub since it is a universal format, today it is much easier and most of them take a word document. BUT keep everything the same format in the doc. If you center the chapter heading, make sure you center ALL of them!

You can always hire someone to format for you.

4) Think rollercoaster

What? Yes, hands in the air!!! Unfortunately, sales fluctuate. That is something you can't control. You just have to ride it out. There are some months that I have found to expect not so many sales...like August when kids are going back to school, AND May/June when people are getting out of school and going on vacation.

Don't be discouraged. You have to remember that even though you might have to reformat your novels as the technology gets better, your ebooks are forever!

5) Number of books

I swear this is a big one if you do numbers 1-3 above!! I can proudly say that LAST MONTH, for the first time, my books made more money than my day job as a child therapist! I've been self-published for over a year and a half, in June I published my ELEVENTH book!!! I've always heard that it takes at least five novels to really start selling...it took me ELEVEN!!!

6) BE EVERYWHERE!

The KDP select thing has taken off, but I still believe that it's not a great idea to have all your eggs in one basket. Of course I would take a deal with Amazon like my friends, Jessica Park and Nancy Naigle, just did, but across the board I think you should have your books everywhere so everyone can find you.

With all six of these, I'm NOT guaranteeing you success! Still. . .if you want to have success, you have to put the time and energy into what you want successful. Being an author is NOT an over night successful career. It takes time, great writing, and chipping away at what might/might not work.

Do you have anything to add?

Put the FIRE in your MARKETING!

As an author, have you really thought about how you can use the E-reader to network with your true reader?

I'm lucky in the fact that I have a Nook, Ipad, Iphone, Kindle and Kindle Fire. But the Kindle Fire has an amazing feature that allows you to connect straight to your target audience. . .your READERS!! The actual people who bought your novel!!

Yes!!

The THOUGHT feature allows you to not only see what readers have to say, but to schedule an author chat! How cool would it be if you were on the THOUGHT feature of your favorite book, and the author got on and responded back?

NOW THAT'S PRETTY COOL!

How does the feature work?

Open your book in the FIRE and tap on the screen. The menu bar will come up at the bottom. You will see the symbol of a house, notes, and a bubble (plus more).
Tap the bubble.
It magically takes you into your book.
The title is SHARED NOTES AND QUOTES.
You can also share your THOUGHTS with Twitter and Facebook by clicking the boxes.

Before I decided to host a FIRE BOOK CLUB, I wanted a few answers from Amazon. Why? Because I put the invite out to a lot of random people:


Book club meeting for A CHARMING CRIME!! Tonight at 9-10 pm EST on the Kindle Fire!! It's for everyone ♥ AND some surprises too! Hope to see you there!


When I asked Amazon the question about etiquette issues, they sent me this link to refer to. It's the same link that has their rules for reviews. Another question I had was how long does the THOUGHTS stay connected to the book and if the THOUGHTS can be downloaded.

Amazon informed me that the chat is there for the lifetime of the book or if the owner of the THOUGHT decided to delete it, they could delete by going into the chat and clicking on the X by their THOUGHT. Unfortunately, it can not be downloaded.

I looked around at some of my favorite books to see if anyone had any THOUGHTS, and was pleasantly surprised to notice that they had. I hadn't seen it used as a review site for the books, but a way to share a passage you might love or quotes. I'm sure there are negative THOUGHTS out there, but I think if an author interacts using the cool THOUGHT feature, it will help negate those negative people.

Readers can simply type a THOUGHT  or go into the book and share one of their highlights by clicking the share button after you highlight the passage.

Anyways.....
I decided to host a BOOK CLUB CHAT with my STREET TEAM members and Facebook friends. It was great getting "my friends" feedback when I first announced that I wanted to do this.

Why did I do this?

First and foremost it has everything to do with me connecting to my reader on a more personal level, and making them comfortable alongside other readers.

I wanted it to run just like a book club chat. When someone came into the chat, I welcomed them for that personal touch. Once everyone said hello, it started.
I asked them a few questions about the book, the plot, and where they saw the series going.
It was great! They were enthusiastic about the series and told me some things they like to see as the series progress.

At the end of the very quick hour, this is what I found out:
1) Everything I typed was seen on Twitter and Facebook because I didn't uncheck their boxes.
2) Every time I wrote a THOUGHT, I had to refresh the page to see what everyone else said.
3) I have some FREAKIN' GREAT readers!!!

All in all, it was a learning curve. I found it to be a great way for readers to connect with a favorite author and vice-versa. I also think it's a great tool to put in your toolbox if you are in introvert! It made me wonder if this was the new book signing..... Go on and look in my book! Open up A CHARMING CRIME and hit the bubble. Read through our chat and see how to interact effectively using your FIRE!

What about you? Is this a new way to be involved in book clubs? Or the new way to connect with your readers?

Write Smarter, NOT Harder!

If you are anything like me, writing does not stop at writing your book. You tweet, write blogs, status updates on Google + or Facebook, responding to blog comments, guest blog. . .the list goes on and on. But how present are you? I mean really present?

Yes! Sometimes we are just DEAD TIRED!!! (no pun intended because I am a mystery writer!)

Anyways. . .the more time you are on-line, the less time you live in the real world. And the real world is how you became a writer.
At least that is the case for me. Over the past couple of years I have worked endless on my writing and on-line presence. Both are very important for success in this industry and we still need to maintain the presence.
Can we maintain it without living on it?

Over the past couple months I have been finishing my novel, A Charming Crime. It's the first book in a new series, Magical Cures Mysteries. Along with this I decided to do a blog tour and send out ARC's (advanced reading copies) to several review blogs/sites. This all takes time, a lot of time to set up.

I was exhausted by the time I got my writing, edits, and blog posts written, not to mention keeping up with all the on-line stuff. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my on-line groups and I wouldn't be where I am today without them. But it was leaving little time for my family, friends, and getting my blog tour nailed down.

So I came up with a plan. I made a list of items that needed to get completed for the week. This also included everyday life things like pay a bill or go to the grocery, tweet team, streat team. It isn't a list with times or days, but two columns. One for to-do today and a to-do for the week. Daily I set a timer for twenty minutes and do all I need to do on Twitter and Facebook. I could spend HOURS on these two social medias, so when I have to get my work done, I set the timer!
Under pressure or timer, you'd be surprised how much you can get done and NOT stray.

What have I learned? A TON!
I have become more proficient with my tasks during the day. I'm getting more accomplished including writing and leaving time for family and friends! It's also boosted my creativity. Without looking up everything and anything under the sun or clicking on a link from the yahoo mail page (yes! They suck me in!), I'm living my everyday life and that includes my writing career! I'm more fulfilled and satisfied instead of scatterbrained about what and when I need to do something.

I'm happy to say that I'm writing another book, the blog tour is all ready to go, and I get to close my laptop before dinner to be with my family and friends. It's nice to be back in the present!

What about you? Are you a PRESENT writer? If so, what do you do? If not, what can you do to be present?

Great article on successful writing tips!

Happy New Life Free For A Couple Of Days!

Happy New Life is free for the next couple days! I wanted to thank everyone for your support, and the only way I can do that is to offer you a free book! If you have it, please pass it along and let someone else discover Grandberry Falls.

Interior decorator and divorced mom, Liz Day, is living her dream by opening up The Mole Hole Interiors. Life couldn't be better with best friend Jenna Greenlee and boyfriend, Cole Michaels by her side. Until she discovers a deep secret between Jenna and Cole that will change the lives in Grandberry Falls.

Jenna vows to make the new year, the beginning of a NEW LIFE. . .HAPPY NEW LIFE.

"Another wonderful, heart-felt trip through Grandberry Falls. 
Recently divorced all Liz wanted was a place to call home, where she could raise her son apart from the life she was leaving behind.

Life was coming together, finally. Every other weekend saw her traveling, taking her son to visit his father. The rest of the time saw her running her business and falling into place perfectly. Still, something was missing . . . or is that someone was missing. 

Enter Cole. Sparks fly almost instantly between Cole and Liz, but when Liz sees the reaction her BFF Jenna has to him . . well, things get a bit confusing for Liz. Does she follow her heart and check out this connection with Cole that she can't deny is there? Or does she stay true to her friendship and dis him because her BFF has a problem with him, even if she doesn't understand what that issue is? It also doesn't help matters that when Liz moved to town she was talked into getting a dog and Cole just happens to be the dog trainer and local vet. 

I tried really hard to make this book last a few days. I was making sure to only read a little bit each night, and I did good for a few nights. Then last night when I picked up the book, it had other ideas. I started reading and before I knew it, the book was over! 

If you haven't had the chance to visit Grandberry Falls, I highly recommend that give it a go . . you won't be disappointed." Reader, Stephanie Overton

" With Happy New Life, her 4th novel of the year and 2nd in the charming Grandberry Falls series, I can honestly say her work just gets better and better. This is my favorite so far, which is really saying something as I have adored everyone of her completely refreshing stores. I love how this one centers on 2 people brought together by a sweet dog, Tramp. There's a little romance, a little mystery, but above all else it's a heartwarming look at the power of love, friendship, and forgiveness. And set during the holiday season in a picturesque little town is just the icing on the cake. " Reader, Melissa Lapiere

You can download your copy of HAPPY NEW LIFE on Amazon.

Apple making a big MOVE for EBOOKS

It looks like Apple is getting in the game of self published authors this month. Good eReader is reporting that Apple is going to "launch an new digital platform" that will get their share of the success that Amazon (KDP) and Barnes and Noble (Publit) has seen over the last fifteen months.
eBookNewser reports: “There’s no word yet on when the event will take place, but the fact there are 2 inside sources does lend a lot of weight to the rumor. Also, consider the timing of the leak. CES is next week, and once again Apple has managed to upstage the trade show. This is exactly what they did with the original iPad launch 2 years ago. Everyone at CES 2010 talked about the Apple event, and that’s probably going to happen here, too.”
What does this mean for authors? 
This is great for self-published authors because the only way to published on Apple products is through Smashwords. And that can take up to six weeks. With the option to upload to an Apple publishing, the author will be able to get their product out faster like they can do with KDP and pubit.
Is this something we saw coming? YES! As soon as we heard that KDP was coming up with an Amazon exclusive, we knew that some other type of epublisher like Pubit or Smashwords might come up with something similar. But Apple? 
The fact that we do know is that Apple will announce their new venture this month and it has nothing to do with products. 
TechCrunch is reporting that “the event will not involve any hardware at all and instead will focus on publishing and eBooks (sold through Apple’s iBooks platform) rather than iAds. Attendance will also be more publishing industry-oriented than consumer-focused.”Apple "will use the EPUB format and make it very easy for people to convert their documents or existing books to comply with their format."

Why now? The CES, the worlds largest consumer technology tradeshow, is next week in Las Vegas. This isn't the first time Apple has announced something big before the show to steal the thunder. Apple did this two years ago with the IPad. So more than likely, Apple will take the show again with this news.

What do you think? Would you go with an exclusive Apple over Amazon's KDP select?

Merry Christmas A Superstitious Christmas IS FREE FOR TWO MORE DAYS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Come back to Grandberry Falls in this novella and spend a little time getting to know Hazel Greenlee and her bunch!

Maggie Greenlee can’t wait for the Greenlee traditions to start, especially the annual ornament exchange.
Only things don’t go as planned once Maggie announces to the Greenlee clan that she’s engaged to Grady Cohen, one of the wealthiest bachelors in New York City.
There are two problems. One, Hazel Greenlee, Maggie’s granny and Grandberry Falls’ local matchmaker, has already determined that Maggie is going to marry Mayor Mitch Dozier. And two, Grady thinks the superstitious beliefs that have ruled Maggie’s life, are child like.
With Grady deliberately breaking every superstitious tradition, and Granny Hazel pushing Maggie in the arms of Mitch Dozier, Maggie isn’t sure she’s going to survive Christmas in Grandberry Falls.

I'm giving it to you for FREE!! Only for five days. If you don't have an ereader~no big deal!! You can download Kindle for free for your PC!! 


Merry Christmas to you and your family!!


GET YOUR COPY HERE!
xoxo
Tonya