How to Promote Like a Big Name Author

Filed in: blog | workshop    Tags: promotion | rt convention 2011 | stephanie draven | stephanie dray | workshop

When You’re Not One…Yet

So after having one person in the audience for my fight scene workshop (thank you Christine!!), I didn’t expect the promotion workshop the next morning to be packed. So I fully apologize for running out of handouts. Stephanie Dray and I have promised to post the handout online so here it is.

Handout for RT Workshop on Promotion by Stephanie Dray and Jeannie Lin.

Enjoy and let me know what you think

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Birthday Presents and the Friendly Skies

Filed in: blog | events | friends and family | slice of life | travel    Tags: alison goodman | EON | kindle | MCRW | signing | workshop

Guest spot: Trish Milburn interviewed me for Romance Bandits. The post is up today. Come by and reminisce about what games you used to play

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I got my birthday present early from hubby!

Isn’t she all pretty and shiny? I love my Kindle already. I didn’t need to hook up a single cable to sync it with my Kindle apps on my computer. Yes, apps plural, because I have an app on each laptop so I can read from anywhere. I’ve also downloaded a couple of sample chapters and bought a couple of titles on it. Hubby is happy that I like it, and I think he’s also happy I didn’t ask for the iPad instead which was about three times the price.

One book that I couldn’t find on Kindle was EON by Alison Goodman. No worries because that very same day, a package arrived in the mail from Little Sis. Apparently, we still share the same brain, because she’d sent me a hardcopy of EON for my birthday.

She said she hasn’t read it yet, but had an idea I might like it. How did she know? Just because there’s a woman wielding two swords and a dragon on the cover doesn’t necessarily mean that…Okay, so it was an easy call.

Little Sis said she sent EON to me so I’d have reading material on the plane, but she needn’t have worried. I gushed to her about the Kindle and how tiny it was. No more big bulky books on planes. No more grabbing something from the newsstand in the airport when I don’t have anything to read.

Through a last minute arrangement with the day job, I’m going to be flying on my birthday (Nov. 16) to NYC. Perhaps I can meet up with a couple friends for drinks. I feel so cosmopolitan.

After that, I get a quick stop at home before I head to Nashville for a workshop and signing. I’ll get a chance to visit with my fellow Ruby Sister Kim Law.

That’s a lot of flying for one week, so I’m glad I have my nifty new Kindle. With all the traveling I’ve done in the past, surprisingly I’ve never flown on my birthday before. Hubby said the airline gave him a bottle of wine when he had to fly on his birthday. I don’t know if service is that good nowadays. Maybe an extra bag of pretzels?

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“Selling the Hard Sell” at RWA conference

Filed in: blog | publishing | workshop    Tags: kristina mcmorris | nashville | rwa national conference 2010 | workshop

Our workshop “Selling the Hard Sell” was approved for the RWA national conference in July. I’ll be speaking with partner in crime, Kristina McMorris, debut author and fellow Golden Heart® finalist.

We came up with the idea because, as new authors, we may not have tips to offer in regards to long-term career and craft, but we know how it feels when no one wants that book of your heart because the writing is good, but it’s a “hard sell”. Kristina’s background is in marketing and her WWII set debut novel, Letters from Home, is scheduled to be released in February 2011 after a long journey through contests and queries similar to Butterfly Swords.

After some discussion,  we reflected on how we had kept a keen eye on the market, despite having “unmarketable” proposals. The workshop will outline our query and submission process and the very specific approach we each took. Beyond the tips and tricks, Kristina and I might have some war stories under our belts that writers in the query war might find heartening as well. It’s going to be an exciting conference.

I hope I don’t forget my lines. I hope the room isn’t empty. *crickets chirping* I also hope we get to speak early so I can get the butterflies over with and breathe easy!

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Workshop approved!

Filed in: craft | guest blogs | writing    Tags: first five pages | hooks | openings | submission process | workshop

I found out a workshop workshop proposal I’d submitted for a writer’s conference in New England was approved! This is so exciting. I’ll be speaking about tips for constructing a compelling partial submission through page 1, page 5 and page 50.

It’s a little nerve-wracking to do a craft workshop since I’m so new at this, but I have spent a lot of time learning how to put together the opening chapters, how to make them stand out and what pitfalls to avoid. It’s been over two years since I stood in front of a class to teach. At least I have a couple months to smooth out the presentation since the conference isn’t until March.

I’m using some of the material for the workshop in my post for Tuesday at the Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood blog which is titled, “The First Five Pages…and the Red Line of Death”. Hope you can come by! Maybe the comments from the post to help me prepare for the workshop.

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Coffee Talk: Pitching Workshop

Filed in: event | miscellaneous | pitching | publishing | writing    Tags: advice | coffee talk | d'anne avner | michael hague | pitching | workshop

I’ve been asked by my chapter to do a little talk on pitching next month. I said yes because apparently I have a weakness for teaching. I really do.

Am, I a pitching expert? No way! But I’m a very good student and I’ve studied up. As a naturally shy person who had to force myself to be able to speak publicly, I know if I can suck it up and appear confident, then anyone can.

I’ve pitched a handful of times and I’ve been reading up on pitching all over the agent/editor blogosphere to prepare. Plus, I’ve had the privilege of attending “Itching to Pitch” by fellow romance author D’Anne Avner twice. I think she does a great job of focusing on all the aspects of a pitch — not just what you say but how you present yourself.

I’m thinking the crux of my coffee talk is going to be this: According to Michael Hague, the biggest mistake authors make when trying to pitch is to try to tell their whole story.

Don’t think of it as a pitch. Think of it as a job interview with your story as your calling card. And — if it empowers you at all, consider that you can be the interviewer as much as the interviewee.

More later!

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WordPress in One Hour Webinar

Filed in: Announcements | events    Tags: training | webinar | wordpress | wordpress for dummies | workshop

I’m doing my trial run of my WordPress for Dummies training session today. I signed up for a trial run of WebEx and I have my test subjects lined up.

I’m quite excited and hope it goes well as I need to run it for my local chapter next week. If this works, I might try to do some other similar sessions, but I have to figure out how that will work. I don’t want to charge for this since unpublished writers spend so much time and money already just to be in the game.

I’ll report back after tonight.

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Historical Paranormal Workshop at Romance Divas

Filed in: Announcements | writing    Tags: historical | paranormal | romance_divas | workshop | writing

Want to know how to write romance that brings a mysterious and paranormal twist to history? Romance Divas is hosting a 2-day workshop with some of the hottest names in the Historical Paranormal genre. It will take place at the Romance Diva Forum. All are welcome. To get access to the forum you will need to register.

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