 I had no intention of writing about the importance of a book's blurb or how to go about writing one. I've done that post before HERE. I was actually going to blog about my reaction to the DEXTER series (just finished it up this weekend by watching several missed seasons on NETFLIX, including the final episode of season eight. This blog post will come. I have too much to say about it not to--Darn you, DEXTER!)
But low and behold as I was scanning my news feed on Facebook this morning a sponsored ad popped up about a book that I thought looked interesting. I clicked on the link and it directed me to Amazon for the purchase. Once there, I decided to read the description or blurb. It went a little something like this: "The entire earth's population is annihilated by a horrible virus, but somehow Jamie lived through it and through a telephone call with his mother, who happens to still be alive on the opposite side of the USA and who also works for a company that makes cures for terrible diseases, she tells him she has the cure for this one. He just needs to get there and find her before it's too late. So Jamie and his two best friends take his family car and start driving to New York. As they drive, they realize that no one is around. It's a really bad situation. They stop at a gas station and guess what? They find another survivor. They add the girl to their group and keep driving. Then they come across a huge fire and several road blocks as they drive. It seems like these things aren't nature made but human made and that's scary. Who would do it? Jamie doesn't want to find out. They keep going, but decide to get some guns, just in case. At a small town they find two more survivors, a boy and his dad, and add them to their group. They keep driving. They get hungry. They stop and eat. Several times they do this. They find a dog and add him to the group. He's a cute dog and very friendly. Dogs are great to have on road trips. He comes in handy too when they run into bad guys. The dog attacks one of the bad men and he kills him in a gruesome way. The other men run away. Good thing too, because Jamie's journey isn't over yet. He still has to fight a flash flood, a burning mountain, and a flock of crazy birds. He does all this successfully and arrives at his destination to only find out that he had the answer all along. The medicine he takes for his asthma is what kept him alive while others died. Come to find out, everyone in his group has asthma. What are the chances of that? Come follow Jamie on his journey across the nation...." Umm...no. Okay, I exaggerated this blurb a bit, but SERIOUSLY, the one I read followed this exact pattern. That's not good. Let me tell you why.
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 Who am I to give ANYONE any kind of writerly advice? I'm no one, really. And that is the same for ANYONE else out there spouting advice to young/new writers. Advice isn't concrete, so be wary. Be careful. Advice, even from professionals, is simply an OPINION. As with nostril holes, we all have them--opinions that is. Some are HUGE. Some are in need of trimming (you've seen those hairy noses. You know what I mean), and some are just plain nasty.
But in the case of all (well, almost all), we're simply trying to pass on what we've learned to help others along their path. That's all I'm doing. I admit that. I also admit that for the most part, I haven't got a clue. I'm still trying to work out the basics of finding writerly success, but what I do know is what works for me. That's all I can ever offer here on my blog. If others can gleam something from my ramblings, then fantastic. If I can gleam something from someone else's ramblings, all the better for me. But I will NEVER tell you THIS is the way YOU have to do something. Never. There are too many contradictions out there for anything to ever be set in stone as the right thing to do. Get you book professionally edited before publishing it--I still believe there is merit in this (lots of merit). This is a step I will never skip. But does that mean that every best seller out there is edited to a perfect shine or that your book, once edited perfectly, will become a best seller? Nope. There are many best sellers that I can't even get past reading their sample due to so many errors. There are also AMAZING books out there that only sell a handful of copies that put those bestsellers to shame because they're written so well and edited the same. How can that be? Right place, right time, I guess. No one really knows for sure, and if someone tells you they do--RUN. It's impossible to know--just like a fortune teller. Oh, they can get close, and may even get a few things right in the process, but it's impossible to predict the future (feel free to argue with me on that if you'd like). So, if you come to my blog and read my "ADVICE" remember, it is only my opinion. That is all. If it works for you, fantastic. If it doesn't, move on and find what DOES work for you. Regardless of what advice you listen to, keep writing and keep loving what you do. Create your very best work. Everything else will fall into place after that. Remember to leave a comment. Once a month I will award a random commenter a fancy shamcy prize. Check it out HERE to learn more.  Okay, I admit it...I like a little romance, so the other day while I was sitting at the dentist's office, I decided to scan through the Kindle Freebies in hopes of snagging up a new read. Something sweet. Something romantic. Then I noticed something... a trend, if you will... BILLIONAIRES. Lot's and lots of billionaires.
Here's just a sampling of the titles that scrolled over my screen under FREE ROMANCE: MY BILLIONAIRE BEDDING THE BILLIONAIRE MAID IN THE USA (Bad Boy Billionaire Series) MINE FOR TONIGHT (The Billionaire's Obsession) HIS ONLY DESIRE (Taken By The Billionaire) LOVE IN HANDCUFFS (The Secret Billionaire) MY BILLIONAIRE MASTER BOUND TO THE BILLIONAIRE THE BILLIONAIRE'S DAUGHTER INTERVIEW WITH A BILLIONAIRE What in the world, folks? What in the world? When I picture billionaires I see this:  Here's the thing: Even though I get a TON of hits on my blog every day (more than I ever used to), the comments have gone WAY done (almost nil).
Back in 2011 and 2012 I used to rack up the comments with far less hits. So what the HECK is going on?!? I have no idea. I know you're there... I see you clicking on my blog. What's the deal-E-O? No time to comment? Nothing to add to the conversation? No incentive to leave a comment? Well, let's see if we can't change that, shall we? From this point on, I will be doing a monthly giveaway for those who leave comments on ANY of my blog posts (past, present, future). Once a month I will draw a lucky commenter from that month's list and mail them out something cool--a zombie t-shirt, books, gift card, bookmark, or swag. The comment doesn't have to be fancy, just let me know you stopped by. That's all. So skim through some older posts, see if anything intrigues you and then leave a comment. WA-LA! It's that easy! (You can even leave a comment on this post too if you wanna. It's a good place to start). Just so you know, THE ZOMBIE WEST Blog Tour starts today. You can follow along HERE or join in on the fun and be a tour host HERE. Remember, if you read and review you can enter the raffle giveaway for awesome prizes HERE. Talk to ya later! Now go and write something (if you're a writer) or go and read something (we're ALL readers, right?). Go be awesome today! Don't forget to comment :) 
On Friday, January 10, 2013 I was invited to be a guest on Z TALK RADIO, Zombiepalooza with host Jackie Chin. We talked about THE ZOMBIE WEST (my books), zombies, and how I will most likely not survive the apocalypse because I'm a wimp. Anyhoo... it was fun to do. If you want to learn more about me, my publisher, or just love zombies, give it a listen.
(There was technical difficulties at the beginning of the show, so the first ten minutes aren't available, but I think the rest of the show went pretty darn good).  Sometimes I get bored. Sometimes I procrastinate doing the things I should. Today is one of those days. I decided I'm going to attempt to follow ALL the Angela's on twitter. Why? Why the heck NOT? Come on! Angela is the coolest name I know.
I would like to get to know other Angela's, see what they're up to, what things make them tick, and what life lessons they've learned. How many Angela's are out there? I haven't got a clue. This could take days or this could take a life time. There are over 600 million users with over 135,000 new users every day. So this could take forever... still, I'm up for the challenge. Angela's in twitter land, I'm coming for you. Let's unite in the one thing that makes us similar :) I don't know what I'm doing. That's a fact. Everyday I sit down at my computer, open my the file for my work in progress and think, "Okay, blinking cursor, where do we go from here. Show me the way." I'm a pantser not a plotter. Every time I sit down at my computer I'm curious as to what will be written, because often times I have no idea until I see it on the screen. But there are far more days in which I stare at that same screen, waiting for something magical to happen, and it doesn't. I think if I just KNEW what I was doing, the writing process for me would be so much easier. But do I want easy? Do I want predictable? (Not that I'm saying plotting is either of those things, I'm just trying to figure out what I want and what works best with my personality). What do I want? I think I like not knowing what I'm doing. It makes the writing process extremely interesting even if it can be long and somewhat frustrating. I guess I don't have to know anything, I just need to keep sitting my butt in the chair with my hands on the laptop and make an effort to learn. 
 My marketing strategy for 2014 is simple... I'm not going to have one. My promotional efforts will be about the same. You're probably like, "WHAT?!? That's insane! You're insane!"
Maybe you're right. But let me explain... My first book WANTED: Dead or Undead was published in March of 2012 by Evolved Publishing, almost two years ago. Since then, I've published a total of six books. Pretty darn nice, if I do say so myself (and since it's my blog , I can and no one can stop me. wa-ha-ha). But here's the thing: I started out in this writing business in debt and two years later I'm still in debt. Everything I pay for--covers, marketing, bookmarks, giveaways--comes off my line of credit. *gasp* I know, I know. I can hardly believe it either. It sucks. I have a separate account for all my writing business so I can write off any expenses on my taxes. This is how I know I'm in a writer's sink hole of no return (I added the "no return" since that's how I'm kind of feeling at the moment. Say it with an echo effect and you'll understand where I'm coming from... No return... return... return...). I'm in a pretty harsh cycle--I get my royalty check, put it on my line of credit, then proceed to buy a blog tour or some other crazy marketing scheme that puts me right back in the hole once again. It needs to stop, so I'm stopping it. Period. The one thing I've come to realize over the past two years of doing this is, which has led to this decision, is that whatever I tend to do--blog tour, Bookbub, ENT, giveaways, etc..-- is only temporary. That's all it is. I get a nice little bump in sells, but I haven't had that huge HIT that has put me ahead of the game. This is my story. I know others who've done very well, but apparently. I like to write books that no one likes to buy :) You can argue that my work must be crap then, but if reviews and awards are anything to judge by, then that isn't the case. So what is it? Why have I not had the financial success with my writing that I'm looking for? I don't know. If I knew, I wouldn't be in this mess. What I do know, is that all of this chasing my tail it isn't working for me. I have to stop spending what I don't have. Seems pretty straight forward, right?  My current work in progress deals with bunkers, bomb shelters, and end of the world scenarios. (You can read the first unedited chapter HERE).
Because I'm not super familiar with any of these things, I've had to do quite a bit of research not only online but I've also had the privilege to tour the inside of an bomb shelter at our local emergency preparedness store. Since a good portion of the novel takes place underground in a shelter, I wanted that first hand experience and get a feel for what it may be like. It's actually quite cool and more comfortable than you might think a metal bomb shelter could be.  I've never taken resolutions very seriously. I know myself enough to know that I can't be trusted to follow through. Lose weight? Oh, that would be nice, but I have a condition that keeps me from dieting. It's called HUNGER. Exercise more? I really should so I can avoid writer's butt, but I'm in no shape for that. I'm not a consistent keeper of goals. Now, let's not confuse this with meeting deadlines. I can usually meet a deadline (ever experience deadline panic? I experience it ALL the time with every project).  My creativity usually jumps into overdrive the closer a deadline approaches. I have how many months to complete a project? Well, wait until I only have two weeks left... boy, that's when I shine!
I should be better, especially where I'm starting 2014 with no deadlines of any sort. It's what I call a "My Creative Year." I have no publisher contracts. I'm not on the docket to release any new books since I have nothing written. All of my past projects are complete and any new ones are still in their wee infancy. This is a fresh year, a new year, and I can write whatever I want., which is something I've been looking forward to. |
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Ahh, the fruits of my labors...
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