Marketing SIGHT

So BLIND SIGHT is coming out the middle of  April, and I need to get the word out. The Wild Rose Press is publishing my book, and doesn’t have a marketing budget. But most authors, even those with New York  houses, don’t get a marketing budget these days. For almost any new author to sell books, the monkey is on her back.  

Thing is, I’m not sure how to do it. I asked publicist Sherry Rowland of Two Sisters Promotion to speak to our writers’ group last year. Sherry did a wonderful job! And what’s really funny is that it turns out she’s from a town about ten miles north of here, and her father goes about once a week into a business my family owns to hang out with the guys who work there!

Is it a small world or what?  

Like I said, her program was wonderful, she was very personable, and her talk was full of info. But looking at it now, I’m overwhelmed. In fact, when I think about doing what she suggests, I have trouble drawing a full breath.

So what am I going to do? Good question. And I’m sincerely looking for some answers.

Anybody out there who’s published and experienced at this . . . help! I’d so appreciate some words of wisdom.

And those of you who are yet to publish, who are still thinking about someday. Would you share those ideas with me? I really believe you guys are best at thinking outside that particular box. No matter how outlandish, tell me about it. You never know where the wild ones will lead.

BTW: I have had one idea given to me. #4’s DH suggested I have a book signing wearing a bikini. I had to tell him that it was a negatory, good buddy.

I refuse to make people ill just to get them to buy a book. 😉

Confessing Love

It’s Valentines Day, and as a romance writer, I’m duty bound to write about it.

Actually, I’m not all that wild about the day. (I started to write VD but one of my friends out there would probably answer me with a big, “Duh!”) I tend to think of it as a Hallmark holiday. A day invented to sell cards.

But since my DH is one of those sweeties who never forgets Val Day, I get into the spirit.

I took off work early yesterday and DH and I went shopping. And it didn’t take us long to find what we wanted. He bought me a beautiful pair of earrings. (After I open them, I’ll try to post a picture for you.) I bought him a new watch. This watch is gold, and it has tiny diamonds instead of numbers on the face. I love it! I just hope he enjoys it.

Then we picked up Chinese food at a place we’ve both frequented since before we knew each other.  

I think there’s a confession there.

A confession, for those of you who don’t write romance, is a short story published in a magazine such as True Confessions, True Love or True Romance. It’s an “easy” way to get published when learning the craft. 

I sold a pile of confessions before I sold my first full length book. My favorite (and my first) was called, “Pistol Packin’ Soccer Mom”. 🙂 It was about a woman who got really mad at a soccer game because the refs were cheating her kid’s team. So she pulled out her gun and blew away the ball.

In case you’re wondering, she went to jail. <G>

I’ve always told people that to write a confession, you had to make the characters whine. It worked for me, but it’s not the only way. 

A friend of mine, Peggy Fielding, who is a shirttail relative by way of my DIL, wrote a book about it called, “Confessing for Money. Writing and Selling to the Secret Short Story Market.” Peggy is the last word in confessions, and an absolute delight to know. Check out her website: www.peggyfielding.com

If you’re looking for a way to get some publishing under you belt and make a little $$ to supplement your writing habit, it’s a great way to go. You’ll learn to add emotion in your work, which isn’t easy for some of us.

Back to Val Day.  For dinner tonight, I’m fixing T-bones, baked potatoes and salad. Yummers! And I might buy strawberries and do something with them to knock us completely off our diets–like strawberry shortcake or chocolate dipped strawberries.

So how do you celebrate the holiday? Gifts? Weekend vacations? Fly to Paris for a day or two? 

Come on. Confess. I’d really like to know.