Tag Archives: Her Ghost Wears Kilts

Submitting Your Proposal? I Did.

23 Feb

Nothing seems more stressful than having to pare down a novel into a page or two synopsis, or worse yet a back cover blurb. As an author of romantic comedies, my characters and story lines tend to run in the hundreds of pages per book, with plots and subplots carved into the running chapters.

Yet submitting to an agent or publisher means first drafting a query letter, including a short blurb or paragraph encompassing the essence of the story hooking the person into wanting more. An elevator pitch, if you’re familiar with the term, describe your book in the few seconds you might have if a literary agent or publisher stepped into an elevator with you. Not many details, but must grab the person’s attention through emotion s or action.

If you pass this hurdle, next is submitting a synopsis of the book. In two to four pages you must describe the highlights of the plot and subplots, the ins and outs of the main characters and reveal the ending. Shocking, I know, but the publisher or agent needs to know you have a tightly wrapped up ending, nothing dangling in midair by the last page.

I just sent a proposal packet to Crimson Romance for the sequel of “Her Ghost Wears Kilts.” Now begins the waiting – will it be accepted or not? The new book is titled “Frolic and Foibles” sharing the same crazy characters with a new villain. Think good thoughts to the publishing fairy it will be picked up for 2015.

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Baillie Makes Her Interview Debut

6 Oct

On the first stop of my Pump Up Your Book virtual book tour, The Literary Nook interviews the main character of Her Ghost Wears Kilts – Catharine Anne Baillie. Find out what this protagonist really thinks.

How sheltered was I in my bookstore all those years? I’d never met such an oily psychopath.
– See more at: http://www.theliterarynook.blogspot.com/2014/10/character-interview-catharine-anne.html#sthash.zEDb8QEp.Itf1jSk2.dpuf

Image by Pump Up Your Book, virtual book tours.

Image by Pump Up Your Book, virtual book tours.

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4.5 Star Review

9 Oct

Time has swished by as quickly as the blustery Northwest winds outside have scattered falling leaves. Too fast. I’m nearing the end of my  first virtual book tour with much gratitude to Bewitching Book Tours for making it doable and quite an experience.  This month-long adventure still has an exciting week to go.

I received a fabulous review from Lexi at Book Bliss last week that I wanted to share. She nailed quite a few components of the book and made my day. HGWK is more romantic comedy than typical paranormal and I cheered reading Lexi’s remarks about the hilarious side characters.

A very quirky book with something for everyone to love really from drag queens to romance to sentient ghosts! I thought it was great having a non conventional hero, it upped the book a lot adding different plot obstacles that aren’t always present. The world building for the rules of the afterlife was well thought out and I hope to see some more from it because it was laid out so well. The overall concept was strong.

However there were two elements that threw me out for the perfect 5 star review. The first was I almost felt it was too amusing for the category it is listed in. I loved the comedy but wasn’t expecting it to be such a central focus on the book and to an extent, felt it took away from the rest of the novel in some experience. The other was my strong love of the supporting characters of the main. Now anyone that’s been reading these reviews knows that my number 1 book love formed for a supporting character in book 1 and his book wasn’t until book 10 so it can happen. However I felt these supporting character and their hilarity stole the show and I would’ve liked to feel more invested in the romantic leads, Baillie and Kai, who were both fantastic separately but together I wanted a bit more.

My next virtual book tour will include more chick-lit or light heart, contemporary romance blogs. Focus more on the frolic instead of the super-natural. Any suggestions or blogs you’ve run across that might be a good fit, please let me know. I’d love to see sales soar this autumn for “Her Ghost Wears Kilts.”

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Getting Ready for Virtual Book Tour

31 Aug
Tour dates Sept 16 to Oct 16.

Tour dates Sept 16 to Oct 16.

 

In just over two weeks I’ll be working with Roxanne Rhodes, creator of Bewitching Book Tours, for a month-long virtual book tour. Here is a blurb from her website: Bewitching Book Tours is the brainchild of Roxanne Rhoads– freelance writer, erotic romance author, book lover and paranormal aficionado.

What is a virtual book tour? It’s a wonderful opportunity to spread the word about your book from the comfort of your own office or living room by using bloggers and other promotional venues on the Internet. Being a guest blogger or answering a Q&A session or an interesting interview reaches out to the audience of that particular blogger who already has interest in reading your particular genre. It’s possible a copy of the book cover and buy links will be included in each blog.

A virtual tour is extremely important if your latest title is an eBook. It’s digital format does not lend to taking a box of copies to a coffee shop for a reading and making back of the room sales as you can with a printed edition.

Stay tuned for additional information as it becomes available of upcoming posts and guest blogs. I hope you’ll visit each blog and comment on the article to show support of this wonderful venue.

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Postcards by Ninth Moon

4 Aug

KS_PSTRCD_FT_1aI love the quality of my new postcards designed and printed by Ninth Moon for writers here in western Washington. I’ve already passed out quite a few and will keep at least a dozen in my purse and notebook. You never know who you may be talking to during the day. And for a romance book, I’m checking out the women in line with me at the grocery store or in mini groups during football practice.

I didn’t have my mailing list ready to go once they got here. Note to self and others: best thing to fill the time waiting for the cards is ordering or buying postcard rate stamps and revise your address list to included anyone and everyone you feel would be responsive to your title.

Her Ghost Wears Kilts come out in three weeks which is a great time to send out postcards. People can display them on their desks, tuck into their desk calendars and pin to their bulletin boards. Hopefully it’s in a public location where others will see it and comment on the bright cover design starting a word-of-mouth campaign.

For some of those I’ve chosen for my Street Team, I’ll send them ten postcards, pre-stamped, to address to their friends and send out. This will reach another level of readers I wouldn’t normally know.

It’s a warm Sunday morning, a load of laundry is running, the dishwasher is humming and I’ve exercised the pups. Now it’s time to start addressing the postcards to go out in tomorrow’s mail. Three weeks and counting.

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Sunday Dilemmas

21 Jul

It’s early morning and an entire day stretches out before me – no errands, no visitors expected. How do I fill the hours from the basket of writing possibilities? I don’t want to reach the end of “60 Minutes” tonight and play the shoulda, woulda, coulda game. That’s a given. But we’re running out of forks, so doing a load of dishes is a must sometime today. Think, think.

Do I block two-hour increments toward marketing for HGWK, which then has a list of subcategories I could block time for? One of which is reading my copy of “Red Hot Internet Marketing” by Penny Sansevieri and highlighting ideas and concepts. Read one chapter and make a to-do list – that’s a feasible goal. One post on Facebook, one tweet on Twitter, check. What about working on the sequel “Murder in the Castle” (working title)?A 72,000 word manuscript doesn’t write itself. The characters are tapping their toes wondering when it will be their turn to dazzle on a blank page. Goal today? One to three pages – a page a day finishes a manuscript in a year.

Baby steps – isn’t that what I always say in my classes? Whether a newbie writer or a well-published author with a new book on deck, don’t overwhelm yourself – succeed at a few things consistently, baby steps.

Now, do I hang a copy of the schedule on my back so that family members will respect my time? Hmm, why bother as they won’t see it from shouting my name from the next room. But I can pin it to the front of my shirt and remind myself of my priorities.  It’s my passion, my books are my dreams and no one is going to magically part the waters of responsibilities and life for me. I must demand the time of myself because I deserve it.

Ready? Begin!

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