Awesome Cool: You Can Preview My Book Right Here!

Amazon just rolled out an embed feature with their book sharing choices and I just had to give it a test run right here!  So if you've ever wanted to PREVIEW Loving Ashe without leaving this site, check out the preview below.

So where can you find this option? Right here:

You'll find it on the right side of the page, underneath the Buy box (at least on my Mac, that's where I see it on the website version).  They also have a HTML option for Wordpress.com sites which don't usually allow certain frame html on their page.

So I'm on Authorgraph

There are so many different ways to promote one's book that it's actually mind-boggling, and I've just recently discovered a site that allows you receive a digital autograph from your favorite author!  It's called Authorgraph.

Authorgraph makes it possible for authors to sign e-books for their readers. Really! Getting an Authorgraph is easy: 

• Search or browse for your favorite authors or books 

• Click "Request Authorgraph" (you can include a short message to the author) 

• Receive an email when the author has signed your Authorgraph 

• View your Authorgraph in your favorite reading apps and devices

I actually found a few books that I own so I'm going to request an author-graph from the respective authors and just have fun with it.

But don't let me be the only one to have any fun!  If you have my books, you can even get me to author graph your copy! Yup, I signed up with them and here are my books on their site which I recently added.  You'll probably end up searching for my books once I cycle through the "Recently Added..." section but it would be fun, wouldn't it?

Growing Pains of An Indie-Author

I'm still trying to navigate this overwhelming new world of marketing for writers, especially self-published writers like me.  There's so much to do that I have to keep a notebook and jot down all the notes, all the websites, all the tips that everyone else swears will work to promote your book - turns out I'm such a visual-kinesthetic learner that I have to actually jot down, scribble, sketch the ideas on paper before it makes its mark a bit more permanently than just plain reading or watching some how-to video on Youtube.   And while my notes are constantly growing, the toughest part will be the execution of these tips successfully.

And in the process of the execution, there will be mistakes.  And because I'm easily distracted, there will be lots of mistakes.

Take Loving Ashe for example, which is going through a re-release party of sorts in mid-November, when the paperback version will be released.

When I first published Loving Ashe, it was to no fanfare at all. Why? Probably just excitement, but part of the reason was that I wanted to gather reader reviews on sites such as Amazon and Goodreads, even Smashwords.  Then barely one month after publication, I made the decision (as an experiment) to have the book exclusive to a Amazon's Kindle Direct Select or KDP for 90 days.  I figured, I'd see if that would help increase my sales.  It's also part of the Kindle Unlimited lending library.

With only one month left to go in the 3-month term, I've un-checked the box that says "Automatically renew this book to KDP in another 90 days..." because while there are sales, right now 1 book per day and sometimes 2, when I went to check my Smashwords dashboard, I found out that I made more money selling Loving Ashe on iBooks, Barnes & Noble, and even Scribd in less than a month than I have on Amazon.

And I also hate having all my eggs in one basket.

There are also many people who refuse to buy from Amazon, and from among my bodywork clients alone, I've counted 6 people alone.  That's 6 sales I would have lost - and am losing - while my book remains solely on Amazon.

So starting November 10th, Loving Ashe will be back up on Smashwords and made available to other retailers like iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, though I think Scribd is out of the running if Loving Ashe is categorized under Romance since they've pulled out romance books from their library. Turns out, romance readers were driving their company model to the ground - they were gobbling up more books in a month than was financially feasible.  I'm actually a Scribd subscriber and one who barely has enough time to read any of the books that I've earmarked in my library. Most of the books I read on Scribd happens to be Charles Bukowski's poetry - go figure.

Anyway, so if you haven't yet gotten your copy of Loving Ashe because you refuse to buy it from Amazon, which is the only place you can get it right now, don't despair.  November 11 (hey, that's 11/11!) is the date it will go back up to all the other online retailers and I'll be doing a happy dance then, too.  Now my only problem is figuring out how to get the paperback available from sites other than Amazon.  But then you can always buy that from me :)

A Writer Keeps Writing

Though Collateral is currently ranked at #3 under Mystery/Thriller category on Wattpad, it's not among the Top 50 semi-finalists in Harlequin's So You Think You Can Write competition this year.  Sad, I know, but I'm actually glad.  For one, it's not what Harlequin wants in a romance and I knew that already, not when it straddles chick-lit and romance that's set in a mystery.  

Still, while there is some disappointment (about 10%), there's a lot of relief going on inside this noggin (80%, while the last 10% is undecided).  Last night, I transferred the edited story from Word back to Scrivener and am ready to spend the rest of October doing a second round of edits for it, including a full rewrite of its ending.  

And then there's NaNoWriMo.  Loving Ashe was actually my NaNoWriMo novel last year and this year, it's Loving Riley's turn!

So being a writer, I write, right?  Or I'm not a writer.

The Inspiration Behind Loving Ashe

©Guylty

People often ask what led me to write Loving Ashe, and other than NaNoWriMo 2014, it started a year and a half earlier with a writing prompt about an elevator. At that time, publicity was in full swing for the lead actors of The Hobbit, namely Richard Armitage.  And after seeing a picture of him during one of the publicity events in New York, I wondered what would happen if my main character got stuck in an elevator with a handsome man whom she didn't recognize was an actor because she was feeling too guilty over something she'd almost done. A bit complicated, I know, but this was the premise for Elevator, the short story that was the result of the writing prompt.

A year and a half later, with the characters slowly coming into their own like fine wine, Riley Eames and Ashe Hunter were "born" just in time for NaNoWriMo14.  Ashe became much younger at 32 than Armitage (43) and Riley remained that magical age of 23 (kinda New Adult but kinda not).

The idea to keep Ashe an actor, giving Riley a little glimpse into his life in show business is based on my experiences as a massage therapist, visiting homes of people who worked in the business, from directors, producers, managers, agents and the actors themselves.  Some were older, and part of Old Hollywood as we know it now and some were even rappers who were also actors.  

The one thing that struck me about the actors though was that while they were known as one thing in the public eye, behind closed doors - even if those doors were mansions in Bel-Air or Sherman Oaks or Malibu - they were normal people like you and me.  Sure, they had more security, had game rooms larger than my entire house, and you often needed a map to navigate your way from one end of the house to the other.  But they were still normal. They had the same aches and pains as you and I do, watch the same shows and even read the same books.  They had their dreams, pursued them with a passion and had work ethics to die for.  But they also worried about their kids the same way I worry about my kids and most of all, they were just as insecure as you and me.  

It was a far cry from the tough, often bad-boy or bitchy image they portrayed on billboards, movies, or on talk shows.  

I'm sure there are many people in the "business" who aren't so nice, but so far, I've been fortunate.  In my case, it was meeting one man, a line producer, who got me "in."  So impressed was he with my bodywork (deep tissue techniques specializing in treatment of chronic pain, plus I do tend to talk when talked to), that he referred me to the star of the movie he was producing, who then referred me to the director of the same movie, who then referred me to another actor...and so on.  One person.  

These days, I've let go of the stars and the directors and the producers since marrying and starting a family but I can never forget the inside look they all gave me into their lives and their homes and their families.  The thrill of being recognized and called by your first name is something you can't describe, but at the same time, it's something you can't buy as real.  In the end, I was still their massage therapist and it was business.  I was also bound to client privacy so whatever they were willing to share with me was to remain with me and no one else.

Maybe they'll show up in my stories but luckily if something does, it's all pretty tame.  Or at least in my fiction it is.

Loving Ashe is now available to buy from Amazon.

A Brand New Cover Reveal (And How To Update Your Purchased Copy With the New Cover)

Yesterday I did a brand new cover reveal for Loving Ashe on the Facebook page.  Honestly, I couldn't be any happier working with Daniela of SelfPubBookCovers.com to get the look I wanted, especially one to match the cover of the second book, and soon, the third of the trilogy.

It's definitely one of the lessons I'm learning about self-publishing - that not all covers are created equal, even if it says, "custom cover."

I also learned that unless I did one more step on my Kindle device settings, the new version wouldn't necessarily replace the older versions that I already purchased.  So if you've purchased your copy of Loving Ashe before today, chances are you'll need to do one more thing to make sure you get this brand new version with the appropriate credit to the designer within the copyright page.

I went ahead and did a screen cap of the things you'll need to do on your end to get the updated content automatically downloaded to your device or app.

Here's the more detailed look into how to turn Automatic Book Updates On or Off that will help you get the updated cover downloaded onto your apps and devices.  

The Case of the Perfect Book Cover

With the release of the paperback copy of Loving Ashe set three months after the release of the ebook, it's safe to say that I was not as prepared as I should have been.  I was plagued by paperback-release jitters mainly because I was sending one copy to my mother, to whom Loving Ashe is dedicated to.  It's one thing to send the book out the world, right? It's a whole other enchilada to send a copy to your mother.

At least my mother.

Not that it's hard to please my mother - it probably is - but this is the woman who introduced me to art and books, who had the whole collection of classics in my room, and kept her copies of Harold Robbins hidden on the top shelf thinking no one would find them.

But then I digress - Harold Robbins would be for another blog post.

So anyway, the case of the perfect book cover was the main reason I held off on the publishing of the paperback because I knew my cover was a plain stock photograph just moved a bit to the left to make room for the typography.  I always fear that someone else will publish something with the same cover and so I've been on the look-out for months for the right cover - or in the case of Daniela from Selfpubbookcovers.com, the right tweet to show up at just the right time on my Twitter feed.   And already, the cover for the second book of the Loving Ashe trilogy is now finished.

Right now, we're finalizing everything with the paperback for Loving Ashe and I am definitely excited - so excited that I'm going to hold a release party for Loving Ashe the way I should have done when I first published the book three months ago.  There will be a raffle for prizes and book give-aways, so keep your eyes peeled.

And to celebrate this upcoming book release, I've made a video with a new blurb and a whole new mood to capture the essence of this new book cover, compiled along with the best reviews for Loving Ashe since I published it, gleaned from Scribd, Amazon and Goodreads.

Who knows? You just might find your review on there!

The Morning After

It's the morning after I finished Collateral, my entry in SYTYCW15 competition and the delirium has finally subsided.  Reality has set in, and as I sit here in front of my laptop with its busted keyboard from too much writing and waiting for the coffee to kick in, I have only one thought in mind.

I'll never do that again.

Next time, instead of writing from scratch, and deliriously editing like crazy during the final days just to get to a decent word count, without even finishing the epilogue or last chapter of the novel, before hitting Complete while still wondering if the ending was right, I'm submitting a finished and edited work.  Not one that just got the NaNoWriMo first month treatment - nothing against NaNoWriMo as I've done it three years in a row but, well, you know what I mean.  I'm usually very attached to my characters but with this one, it feels like Heath and Billie were introduced to me and before I could warm up to them, they were quickly pushed out the door and out into the competition world to be judged.

So next time I hear of a writing competition, I need to go in prepared and just submit something that's already been polished.

Still, I really can't complain. I churned out a 90K+ novel in 88 days, pared down to 85K and after a bit of time away from it, I can return to it and start editing and adding in the bits and pieces that got left out from the rush.  The contest results don't even matter at all, because at the end of the day, I learned two things:

1. I learned how to do a blurb the right way.
2. I learned how to write according to a plot I had written down versus just pants-ing the story all the way. And for a self-admitted pants-er (converted from years of being an overdone plotter), that's a huge thing.  

So, I'm taking it easy the next couple of days, though there's still a lot of writing to do, as well as writing-related stuff.  I'm editing Loving Riley, my sequel to Loving Ashe, which I published in August, and while I finalize some things with the paperback version for Createspace, I'm working on a major change for Loving Ashe which I can't wait to share with you all soon.  

Loving Ashe

A booty call. A stuck elevator. A chance to move on. 

Three years after her ex-boyfriend dumped her for his Hollywood dream, barista Riley Eames' life has been on hold, plagued by questions only he can answer. So when he asks for a late-night meeting, Riley agrees, only to find herself stuck in the hotel elevator with dashing British actor, Ashe Hunter, who's in town to promote his latest movie.

 But even as sparks fly between them, it's going to take more than a celebrity romance to get Riley's life moving again, not when the answers she's been seeking finally come - and with disastrous results.

Amazon