Peggy Jaeger's Blog, page 16

#mondaymusings 10.28.24

If I’m on a roll, I go for it and read the whole book in one sitting or in one day.

#Entertowin at Romance Devoured!

All this week, I’ve been featured on ROMANCE DEVOURED because they’ve been helping me prompt my upcoming book A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS and trying to get me some preorders!!! SO if you don’t know yet, the preorder price is only 99cents for the kindle copy until 11.18.24. Then, it goes to its full price of 2.99, so get in on the cheaper price now!!! And preorder@amazon

There’s a giveaway for 2 Amazon Gift cards, too. You can enter here: GIVEAWAY

#fridayfive 10.25.24

Today, here are 5 reasons you should preorder A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS

99cents for the preordered e copy ( Kindle) After 11.18 the price goes up to 2.99grumpy sunshine trope, one of my favorites!slow burn romance. If you know me, you know I love a slooooooow burn because the reward in the end is sosososo much better ( and hotter from anticipation!)HEA. Hey, it’s a romance! Lolfabulous recipe in the end of the book. One recipe is mentioned several times in the book and I’ve included it as a present from me to you. And it really is fabulous!!!

#tbt 10.24.24

Today, I’m going to share 5 reasons I think you will love my newest release, RETRIBUTION. (I’m not too conceited, lol)

Two kick-ass heroines. Kella O’Brien Calloway and FBI Agent Anna Langdon are two very dissimilar women, but they both are strong, smart, and articulate. And both shoot ambidextrously. ( A fact you need to know when you read the book!)A really good backstory about the serial killer. No spoilers here, but there’s a lot of depth to the killer’s character arc.Two Swoon-worthy heroes – Sean Calloway and Ticker Petrie. Two men who couldn’t be more unalike, but they both love Kella in their own way and would die for her.A fast-paced story ala Criminal Minds. The SPCD ( Sexual Predators of Children) Division of the FBI are a group of dedicated G-men who fight for kids every day of their lives.It’s like nothing else I’ve ever written. If you aren’t a fan of romance ( shame on you!) but like gritty, psychological crime dramas, this book has your name on it!

YOu can preorder an autographed print copy from me, here PRINT

or get the ecopy from Amazon, here. KINDLE

The book will also be available in KU for a limited time.

#WednesdayWisdom 10.23.24

#tuesdaytease 10.22.24

So today’s tease is an unusual one. It’s not a snippet from a book that’s upcoming or that I’m working on. Today’s tease is a date and location.

Let me e’splain…

On Saturday, NOVEMBER 23, 2024 ( that’s the date) I will be at the TINY TUMMIES HOLIDAY BAZAAR at the Keene, NH REC Center ( the location)

selling all of my Holiday ROmance books – that includes all the Dickens Holiday Romance ones and The San Valentino books.

Just so we’re clear, here are the books I’ll have with me that day so you can buy the ones you don’t have:

ANGEL KISSES & HOLIDAY WISHES
SANTA BABY
FIXING CHRISTMAS
SASHA’S SECRET SANTA
DON’T MESS WITH THE MISTLETOE
A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS

A KISS UNDER THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS
CHRISTMAS AND CANNOLIS
MISTLETOE, MOBSTERS, & MOZZARELLA

I’m going to have special purchase gifts, as well…but you won’t find out what they are until you come to the event, LOL!

#mondaymusings 10.21.24

FromMary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN:

“Beware. I am fearless and therefore powerful.”

This is the anthem for women in 2024!

An open letter…

Hey, Kids.

I’ve wanted to write this for a long time, but…life gets in the way, and things happen, and I just didn’t feel as if I was able to put into words exactly how I feel.

But now is as good a time as any, I think, especially with the publishing world the way it is.

You all know I started out as a traditionally published author back in 2015. The fabulous Rhonda Penders, RJ Morris, and their company, The Wild Rose Press, took a chance on a chubby, menopausal, bottle blonde, frustrated writer ( Me!) and published my book SKATER’S WALTZ, which, again – if you know me – know was written between the hours of 1 and 3 am for 3 months, while I was going thru the worst menopausal night sweats Mother Nature ever bestowed.

After that, and through the past 9 years, I’ve had over 16 titles published with them and have had a wonderful experience with this nurturing publisher.

Along the way, I pitched to various other publishers at conferences and was lucky enough to score contracts with three others: Kensington/Lyrical, Limitless, and Magnolia.

Then, I decided to explore indie publishing (self-publishing) because I was dropped by one of those publishers without any reason and already had three more books in the series ready to go. I decided to publish them on my own, and since then, I have almost exclusively self-published. One of those publishers went out of business, and the other decided three books were enough for me to prove I was worthy of more contracts.( p.s., I wasn’t in their eyes.)

No shade, just fact.

Now, all this happened without the benefit of a literary agent. I’ve pitched to many agents over the years, both in query letters and in person, and no one has ever taken me on as a client, one even telling me point blank at a meeting she “didn’t like my voice.”

Yeah, let’s just talk about how fragile my ego was for months after that why don’t we?

Sarcasm aside, no agent and now no publishing house, and the self-pub route is my go-to.

I tell you all this because – if you don’t already know – self-pubbing is hard work. Really hard. You are a business of 1. You are the writer, the editor, the cover designer, the promoter, the distributor, the publicist, everything that there are several people on a team doing in a traditional pubbing house.

If you self-publish, you are IT! CEO and all the minions underneath that.

Now, if you have the money to, you can pay people you contract to design your covers, do your edits, your publicity, and your distribution.

Notice I said that you can do all those things IF YOU HAVE THE MONEY TO.

I, and I’m not ashamed to admit this because it is the truth, am not independently wealthy, nor do I work outside the house. I left my job once I got that first publishing contract and, truthfully, have never looked back.

So, I do it all.

And I mean ALL.

I write the story, edit it, design the covers for the books, and format the manuscripts. I am in charge of uploading the books to a publishing company, aka Amazon. I am in charge of any and all publicity to promote those books. I am the one who must call indie booksellers to get my works into their stores (Quick Aside, I have been in only one.) I have to order proof copies and find arc readers for them. I have to design ads, graphics, and publicity shots for promotion. I decide what the prices are, where the books are distributed, and then I am the CFO to keep all the expenses in check. I have to find unique ways to market my books so they stand out from the other 100,000 indie books that are pubbed every week.

In a nutshell…I am it. All of it.

And I’m tired.

I’m tired of making self-promotion videos every day for my books that only a handful of people see.

I’m tired of trying to find new readers on platforms that confuse me, like TikTok and Instagram. The algorithm doesn’t support my stuff, so about 200 people see my videos every day, and they are already following me. Plus, I hate doing those promos. I am, basically, an introvert and not a salesperson. Those two combined do not make for an enigmatic speaker or “hawker.”

I’m tired of seeing zero sales on my Amazon royalty sheets, months at a clip. If I had to support myself financially, I wouldn’t be able to and therefore wouldn’t be able to write. I’d need to go back into the workforce at 64 years old. Yeah, how many job opportunities are there for someone like me? I hear Walmart is hiring.

I’m tired of doing everything every day with no help. I don’t have a PA and can’t afford to pay one because — no sales. Vicious cycle, much??

I can’t afford to attend big book signings with multi-authors anymore because of the expense involved. Table fees, hotels, gas, plus purchasing the books that I hope will sell and yet never do. Also, since I am a business of 1, I have to schlep everything to the sites, set it up, and be responsible for sales, self-promotion, and inventory. My brain is only so big, Kids. Only so big.

I have to admit this here, even if it makes me look like a loser, but it’s demoralizing and soul-killing to go to a big signing and have hundreds of people walk by your table on their way to a “bigger name” or someone they already follow, and never even make eye contact with you, or dismiss you and your table with a glance. I am the type of person who will try and establish a connection with people I don’t know at signings, but I must come across as weird or desperate(!) because 9 times out of 10, readers just walk by. Some smile. Some make a comment telling me they don’t read what I write. Yeah…demoralizing.

Pity party, table for one?

That’s the way this is sounding right now, and I don’t want it to be a whine fest.

But…it’s also ego-crushing when you know authors who have written books that are – let’s just say, not great literature – making a killing in sales, propelling the writer to celebrity status, and you know – you know! – the stuff she writes is crap.

And that makes me sound petulant and childish and jealous, but…pot, meet kettle and call her Peggy.

Do I still query literary agents even after all this time? Yes.

Do I still receive form letter rejections from them? Absolutely. Weekly. My total of negative responses to queries is up to 503 right at this moment.

Have I tried unique ways to get new followers through giveaways, both on Goodreads and other platforms? Yes. The results have been okay at times, poor at most, and just served to lessen my savings account total and not garnered me any new followers or readers who want to read more of my stuff.

Last year I spent over $10,000 on book signings ( travel, hotel, table fees, books), and my total income from them was only $798.00. Not even girl math can make those numbers make sense in the real world.

If I owned my own business I would have declared bankruptcy by now. Hell, five years ago!

Every day I ask myself why am I doing this? Why am I setting myself up for hurt and failure once again? Is there something in me that has a pain/pleasure response ( not to get kinky!) But who enjoys failing so many times? And I know the knee-jerk response is that “you are not a failure. Look at all you have done.”

I get that argument. I really do.

But… having a sound ego about your accomplishments is one thing. Going broke trying to attain those accomplishments? Quite another.

And every day, the only answer I can come up with to my question – because it’s the truth – is that I love to write. Writing truly is, as my website states, my oxygen.

So…moving forward and leaving the pity-me train…

I am cutting back severely on the number of big book signings I am doing in 2025, and I am going to concentrate on simply writing and doing smaller signings, where the table fees and/or travel expenses are zero or at least affordable. I have already contracted to do four big signings next year and will honor those. ROMANCY CNY in April 2025, ROMANTICON in July, and BOOKSBOOKSBOOKS in September and A VERY MERRY BOOKMAS in December. But that is it for the biggies.

I do have a few smaller, more intimate ones on the line, too, thankfully.

Hopefully, I will get asked to do a few library or more local ones along the way.

For now, though, it’s break time.

I still write every day and I still have a 2024/2025/2026 book schedule for new releases that is live. 2 more this year; 10 in 2025 ( 6 reprints on books I got the rights back on) and 4 newbies; 4 newbies in 2026.

Let’s see what 2025 does for my sales bottom line. If it improves, I may come back into the world of bigger and better multiauthor signings.

But for now… I’m gonna be on the sidelines for a bit, just writing, because…I’m tired. And I love writing. Just…writing.

#fridayfive 10.18.24

Today is a post near and dear to my heart. The five things I lovelovelove about being a Grandma

babies. Who doesn’t love babies?remembering my daughter at the same age as my grandchildren are now. Teaching her, helping her, reliving milestones thru my grandchildren.unconditional love – given and receivedyou can give them back if they are misbehaving ( lol) unlike your own children when you had to suffer thru the bad times.having someone think I’m smart again, LOL

#TBT #ThrowbackThursday 10.17.24

From April 2017…

On #Libraries, #Librarians, feelings of connection, and #books

Apparently, it’s National Library Week. This is one celebration I can get behind and actually enjoy. Enjoy writing about; enjoy celebrating.

I’ve mentioned many times before in this blog that I — for all intents and purposes — grew up in my local library. I was what was called ( during my youth) a latchkey kid, meaning, after school, I was on my own, home alone, because both the adults in my life had full-time jobs that didn’t let out until 5 or 6 each night. School let out at 3, so that meant five afternoons a week I needed a babysitter until I got old enough to be left on my own for a few hours, which in my case was at the age of 7.

I’m remembering what my daughter was like at 7 and am horrified that my mother believed it was an appropriate age for independent responsibility, but that’s another blog topic entirely.

Anyway…

Every day after school I would be dismissed after the bell and then trek to my local library to stay until it was time to get on home.

I loved the library.

I loved the safety of it.

I  loved all the books.

I loved loved loved the Librarians.

I loved the quiet.

Like Belle in Beauty and the Beast, all I wanted to do was read. I wanted to be transported to other places, live lives that weren’t my own;  be loved and cherished like a princess and rule a kingdom with wisdom and grace. I could be anything I wanted to be and I could explore everything. It was in the library that I discovered my imagination and my joy of storytelling.

Once I was through the library doors each afternoon, after a 15-block walk along city streets from my school, I’d let out a sigh, safe in the knowledge that nothing bad could happen to me here. I was secure now, protected. Bad people didn’t come into the library, only good ones. People who wanted to be educated,  and who wanted to escape from their everyday, boring lives and live richer, happier, more exciting ones. The library wasn’t the place where the bullies who tormented me in school “hung out.” I was free from the cruel insults, tormenting taunts, and physical violence that had become my daily life at school.

The Librarians all knew me by name and were my first, actual, REAL teachers. I learned facts in school. The Librarians taught me about life. They’d recommend books for me to read and once I was through the kids’ section selection, they moved me onto what would now be called YA ( young adult) novels. I may have been 8 or 9 years old, but I was reading about the lives of pre-teens and teenagers, living in their shoes as they drifted through life, and getting a feel for what was to come my way once I was their age.

The Librarians talked to me about books, asked me my opinion on ones I’d read. They actually valued my thoughts. They showed me the strength there is in knowledge and the beauty there is in imagination. They fostered in me that desire to tell a tale, tell it well, and change a reader’s life. They taught me how to be entertained, and in so doing, how to entertain. They taught me how to gather knowledge, the beauty there is in research, and how to prioritize. To this day, my home library follows a basic Dewey Decimal system. To some, that may be a bit extreme. But to me, it is a real tribute to the librarians who helped form my mind and fed my soul.

In the library, we spoke in hushed tones and whispers. We used the original inside voices. In my house, the voices were more often raised than hushed, loud than peaceful, tormented than quiet.

In the library, I found myself…as a girl, a person, a student, and, ultimately, as a writer.

Every day I thank God for the women and men who worked and still work in local libraries. They are unsung heroes to countless children and adults. Where some may think that the previous statement is a tad theatrical, it isn’t to me. The Librarians I knew as a child were my heroes. They kept me safe, loved and cared about me, and opened a world for me I never knew existed.

Heroes, every last one of them.

So, help me celebrate National Library Week. Support your local libraries by donating old, in-good-condition books, attend book sales and fund drives and become a Friend of the Library.  Encourage your children and grandchildren to get Library cards and to use them! Often and with enthusiasm.

Finding your local library is just a Google search away!