Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Will You Be One of My 100 Today?

I'm tired of being invisible.

Don't get me wrong, I love my fans. I adore my fans. I just think they may be a little lonely. ;)

This week, I hired a personal assistant. He's going to spend his time booking school visits and calling stores to see if they will carry my books and/or let me do signings. I'm also putting plans in motion to branch out online and extend my presence.

I have a singular goal in mind: to drive up my print and ebook sales.

Why?

Because I have a deep, dark secret. It actually is a secret with two sides.

And I am going to confess all to you here today.

I write books and stories and poems because I have a deep desire to share my words. Not because I think I'm any kind of genius or that I stand above all other authors out there (quite the contrary, actually) but because my heart, soul, and spirit BURN to share the stories born from my imagination.

Whew. That was heavy. In short, I write because I love it. But somehow it's more than that. So much, much more.

Here is the other part of that deep, dark secret. I have a need to make more money than I am right now. Why? Because I have kids that need braces next year (yes that's *kids* plural and *next year* as in 5 months from now). There are other things--like car repairs and home expenses, and that burning need to never lose another home--but I won't go into all that right now. What I want to do is to share with you my plan.

Which is simply to sell 100 copies of any of my print or ebooks a day (except Sunday). As many of you know, I don't believe in working or shopping on Sundays, and I wouldn't ask anyone to do that for me whether they share my belief or not.

I've done the math for you. In a year, that's roughly 31,500 copies of my books. Since by the end of 2012 I plan to have 5 books or stories available for purchase, that gives my readers quite a selection to choose from. And, with success, I will have time to write more books for the next year, making it a perpetually self-sustaining plan. I also plan to offer free ebook codes for "secret" books I'm writing with each purchase to add incentive for the buyer.

Why am I doing all this? Besides the burning desire to write and the very mundane need for money?

Because I write good books. And I'm getting better with each one. I want to make good use of this talent God has given me, and what better use of it than to spread good books while supporting my family? That is truly the limit of my ambition. I don't need to be a bestseller, or be an award winning author. Those things are nice, I'm sure, but not on my goal list.

I've tried to be completely honest with you. If my plan offends you, I am sorry. It's not my intention to offend. I am only being myself, which is an open person with very mundane needs--like everyone else.

So, will YOU be one of my 100 today?

Monday, July 23, 2012

So I'm a Day Early...

...but I couldn't wait to share the news.

The Tyrant King is an ebook!

Click this link if you have a KINDLE.

Click this link if you have a NOOK.

Click this link if you have another e-reader, or simply prefer SMASHWORDS formats.

If you're holding out for a print copy, rest assured I have the typeset file on my computer all ready for me to review. I expect to have print books available online before the end of the month, and IN MY POSSESSION by the first week of August.

Yeah, I'm a bit excited. :)

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Oh, My...

It's Wednesday, and SOMEBODY (read *me*) didn't post yesterday.

Slacker.

Anyway, I have some exciting news on The Tyrant King front. I finished the edits and now it is off to the amazing and talented Karen Hoover for formatting. It's really happening, people. Each day brings us closer to publication. July 2012 is the month of The Tyrant King!

I don't know about you, but the wait is KILLING me. I am so anxious to get the finished book into reaaders' hands that I almost can't stand it!

I even considered putting up Chapter 2 just to help keep the magic alive.

September is going to be a super exciting month, because that's when we've scheduled our blog tour. Remember, The Tyrant King will be riding the waves with my sis-in-law's debut pirate novel, Adversarius.

In other book news, I got a sneak peek at my contribution to Diony George's book A Sisterhood of Strength and I'm so excited to buy a copy for the lady I wrote about. Makes me happy. I've also contributed to a Christmas anthology put together by Michael Young, and I contracted with the brilliant Deirdra A. Eden for illustrations on my Lizzie Lilac children's book.

And did I mention I'm drafting City of Light this month for a November 2012 publication?

There's so many exciting things happening in my writing world, I feel just as happy as can be!

Stay tuned. :)

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

So...

Recently a friend of mine POSTED about a growing trend in books today that isn't great. Some trends are, and we look forward to them, but others need to be nipped in the bud as quickly as possible.

Interestingly, it's not just writers of clean fiction who see the trend upsetting. Check THIS post from a literary agent.

Now I'm going to talk about why this is personal for me.

I write clean fiction. I strongly believe a good story does not have to have graphic content in order to be gripping, believable, and a thrilling read. My grandma reads my books, and I would hate to ever have to explain anything like that to her (or, more likely, why I included it).

As challenging as writing is for me, I have CHOSEN to take the high ground--which, to me, means not resorting to graphic content to tell a story or sell a novel. A friend my husband used to work with once said swearing and foul language demonstrated a lack of knowledge. Their theory was that a person who lacked the vocabulary to appropriately express their feelings resorted to swear words. I remember that when I write.

This doesn't mean my novels are all light and fluffy. In my most recent work, a character is brutally tortured and raped. There's no way to make light of that. And characters die. There are ways to have darkness and evil in your novels without compromising who you are and what you stand for. I know dozens of authors who successfully do this with every book. They write compelling, gripping works without describing someone naked or having foul mouthed characters.

This is important to me. Many, many YA novels out in the world are full of profanity, sex, drug use, and violence. My goal is to provide an alternative to readers who may want something different than that. And, I have to answer for my works someday--I don't want to be embarrassed by my own writing.

All of this leads me to one more thing, and that's the GOOD news of the day. The Tyrant King will be released THIS MONTH!

Keep an eye out for the links to purchase books. :)