I'm super excited to be a part of the Meeting Destiny Blog Tour, put on by the awesome Heather from SupaGurl Books!
Meeting Destiny Blurb: Lauren
is visited in her dreams for years by a stranger claiming to be her
destiny. Destiny becomes reality when paths cross during a failed
robbery attempt. Lauren and the stranger experience chemistry like no
other and now her doubt over her long time relationship with her high
school sweetheart is not her only secret…someone else knows about her
keen intuition and sixth sense.A mysterious clairvoyant seeks Lauren out
and tells her not only of her life now but what the future may hold.
Soon Lauren is in the middle of a murder investigation and a
questionable friendship with the key suspect. Law enforcement, friends
and family are concerned for Lauren but unfortunately they are unaware
of the true danger…Sinister forces are at work and will stop at nothing
to destroy Lauren’s abilities.
Author Bio: Nancy
was born in Sioux City Iowa, left the cold of the Midwest in 1991 and
only returns to see family in the summer time. She spent ten years
traveling the world as a US Marine and settled in rural SC with her
husband, two children and three dogs. She enjoys RVing with her family,
writing Paranormal Romance / Urban Fantasy and reading all types of
Paranormal and Young Adult literature.
***
I'm lucky enough to have author Nancy Straight on my blog to answer one of my favourite questions: What advice do you have
for aspiring writers?
Thanks so much for
hosting the Meeting Destiny blog tour!! Let me preface this
advice with: I’m
still a big-time rookie myself. I’ve learned a lot in the
last nine months and am happy to share things that have
worked for me. If
any writers out there are reading this post, and have advice
for me – I’m all ears. Rather than just put out advice, I
thought I'd write about a few of the myths that I've run
across.
Myth #1: If you write a book
you love, that you believe in (or an entire series) - it
will sell thousands of copies. It turns out readers rarely “stumble” onto
a good book. Normally
someone has to point them to it. I had published nearly the entire Destiny
Series before I realized I needed to find readers. I’m not necessarily a
social butterfly so it was hard in the beginning. What I looked for
instead of readers were new friends. People that enjoyed
the same type of books that I did that I could chat with
about great books I had read.
If I found a book I LOVED, I contacted the author to
tell them how great their book was and asked for advice for
everything from cover design to book pirating. Books won’t sell
themselves no matter how good you believe they are.
Myth #2: I’ve read the book
twenty-five times, all the spelling and grammar is perfect. WRONG! Spend the money on an
editor. If you’re
on a tight budget, solicit friends that will give you honest
critiques. I
actually have a whole posse of people that read mine, some
are grammar fanatics, some avid readers and my actual editor
is my aunt who was a creative writing teacher for more than
thirty years. It’s
safe to say that when I thought Meeting Destiny was ready to
be published she still nearly drained the ink from her red
pen with edits!
Myth #3: I have Photoshop, I’ll
make my own cover. Okay,
I’ll preface this comment with: there are some extremely talented authors
out there that have made their own beautiful covers, but
that tends to be the exception rather than the rule. From my own
experience, I put my heart and soul into writing the Destiny
Series (Meeting Destiny, Destiny’s Revenge and Destiny’s
Wrath). It had
fabulous reviews, but sales were still low (2-3 per day). Another author told me
my covers were horrible – I agreed because, well – Duh, I’m
not a graphic artist, I’m a writer. I spent the money to
have covers designed for the series. Sales increased enough
in the first month to pay for the cost of the covers. Keep in mind that most
people will only see your cover when it is the size of a
quarter, so don’t look at your cover when it is “book” size,
look at it when it is only as large as your thumb. The cover has to be
eye catching enough for a potential reader to click on it,
to read the book’s synopsis.
Myth #4: I have to be
inspired to write. Not! I recommend writing every day. There are days that I
am able to write 1000 words and other days I write 2, but I
write every day. Sometimes
I’ll go back and read what was written the previous day and
delete the whole section; but setting a goal like: I am
going to have a first draft ready in three months, is not
nearly as effective as: I’m going to write 500 words per
day. Then reward
yourself when you exceed your goal.
Myth #5: I don’t want the
stigma of being a self-published author. I see this statement
frequently on blogs and on the internet. Although I don’t
begrudge any author that chooses to publish the traditional
way, there are things that make self-publishing much more
attractive for me. I
don’t have an agent or a publicist representing me,
absolutely every reader that contacts me, gets a response,
from me. I feel
connected to the friends I’ve made that enjoy my books and
they are an exceptional source of motivation on the days
when I’d rather park myself in front of the television. I have full control
over my books, I can change covers, I can change text, I can
even give a whole bunch of them away and no one can stop me
(Meeting Destiny’s e-book is FREE right now).
Myth #6: Bad reviews are
bad. Bad reviews
may want to make you cry, or go slash someone’s tires, but
they’re an opinion. Not
every book is for every person, that’s why there are
millions to choose from. It’s
natural to focus on the bad, but if you have 50 reviews and
45 of those reviews are 4 and 5 stars – try to start a
friendship with those 45 people – the ones that love your
writing.
Myth #7: My writing is my
hobby. Although you
may enjoy writing, I think the more successful authors think
of their writing like a business. I dedicate 2 hours each day to “author
stuff.” This
can be twitter, email, guest posts on a book tour, or
writing. It’s a set
part of my schedule and it allows me to still meet all the
other commitments I have as a wife, mom, and friend while
giving me a set amount of time to balance all the things
that I love.
I’m sure you didn’t want
this post to become a book in itself so I’ll add just one
last piece of advice: Tell
Book Bloggers how much you LOVE them! I have a whole page
dedicated to favorite book bloggers on my blog and I tweet
at least once a week asking friends to follow them. They are the unsung
heroes that find diamonds in
the rough and convince readers to give a novel a test drive. For any bloggers that
are reading this that have helped promote my series –
“Thanks” will never be adequate, I will forever be grateful
to each of you!
***
Great advice, thanks so much Nancy! And stay tuned for my review of Meeting Destiny, which will be posted April 27.
And now, I'm super excited to announce that Nancy will be giving away a signed copy of Meeting Destiny. This giveaway is only open to US readers, but if you're international, no worries! You can snag a free ecopy on Smashwords!
New Authors Challenge:
12. Monica Leonelle - Socialpunk
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