Marie Force's Blog, page 10
May 16, 2013
Celebrating a Special Anniversary with THREE Freebies!
This week marks EIGHT YEARS since I wrote THE END for the first time, and I have a very special offering of all three of the first books in each of my series FREE for a limited time! See below for details about how you can pass this info along to your friends and be entered into a drawing in which you AND your friend(s) can win a $250 gift card to the book retailer of your choice!
The book that started my writing career, TREADING WATER, book 1 in the four-book Treading Water Series, is free for the first time ever!Kindle: http://amzn.to/10ugEpi
iBookstore: http://bit.ly/WA9Cwb
Kobo: http://bit.ly/11BZKJN
Not yet free at Nook, but coming soon, so check back often: http://bit.ly/WNAs3R
Also free, FATAL AFFAIR, book 1 in the soon to be six-book (plus a novella) Fatal Series:Kindle: http://amzn.to/15tB9do
iBookstore: http://bit.ly/10wel9G
Kobo: http://bit.ly/10J2QpK
Nook: http://bit.ly/18wRSvh
And MAID FOR LOVE, book 1 in the soon-to-be nine-book McCarthys of Gansett Island Series!Kindle: http://amzn.to/146hHyP
iBookstore: http://bit.ly/1267O6N
Kobo: http://bit.ly/XSNijt
Nook: http://bit.ly/ZJtdCC
Interested in winning the gift card? Make sure you're on my mailing list at http://marieforce.com/. Details coming soon to those who are on the list!
March 26, 2013
Proof that FREE Really Works...
I've been wanting to speak out a little more often on what works—and what doesn't—in selling books in an attempt to aid those who are navigating the maze of publishing these days, whether you've chosen self-publishing or traditional publishing. I've got a foot in both camps, but I don't mind saying publicly that my self-published books make way more money than my traditionally published books do. It comes down to the law of averages: if you are earning less than $1 per book, you have to sell a LOT more books before you hit thresholds anywhere near what you reach when you are making $3.87 per book. I've blogged before about the runaway success of my free offering of Maid for Love last year. Beginning June 15, Maid for Love, book 1 in my McCarthys of Gansett Island Series, was free at all major retailers. I set it to free at Apple and Kobo (very easy to do at both retailers) and then notified Amazon of the price change. They matched it. To my knowledge, there is only one way to make a book free at B&N: I distributed a free copy to B&N via Smashwords, and eventually that copy appeared on the retail site. At that point, I took the paid book "Off Sale" on my dashboard, so only the free Nook version showed up on the retail site. Over the next few months, we saw more than 600,000 downloads of Maid for Love across all platforms. Sales of books 2-6 exploded. Book 7, Longing for Love, was released in October of 2012 and had the strongest week one showing of any book of mine to date. Because it was initially offered as a Kindle exclusive, it didn't make any of the bestseller lists, but it posted numbers that were definitely in the bestseller range. Book 8, Waiting for Love, was released Feb. 18 on all platforms and hit no. 6 on the New York Times ebook list, no. 11 on the NYT combined print/ebook list, no. 15 on the USA Today list and no. 6 on the Wall Street Journal ebook list. I believe the bestseller list showings tie directly to the free offering of Maid for Love.
Because the Maid for Love offering was so successful, I asked Harlequin to offer Fatal Affair for free around the release of book 5, Fatal Deception, last November. It took a bit of begging and some pleading, but they decided to put Fatal Affair up for free for the month of November. It did so well that I begged for a second month and December was added as well. I haven't heard exact numbers but the downloads were in the 300,000 range and sales of the other four books were in the 180,000 neighborhood. Book 5, Fatal Deception, became the first of my books to hit a major bestseller list, coming in at no. 99 on the USA Today list. Did the free offering spur that placement? What do you think? I say definitely!I've done some messing around with the price of Maid for Love in recent weeks. I set it back to $3.99 for a while and it did okay, with maybe 100 sales per day across platforms, but I noticed an overall slowdown of sales for books 2-8. So I dropped the price to 99 cents. Again, it did okay, but not great. So I've set it back to free on Apple and Kobo, distributed a free version from Smashwords to B&N and notified Amazon of the lower prices. Maybe they will match, maybe they won't. For now, it's 99 cents at Amazon. On March 24, there were 150 Apple downloads of the free version in the U.S. iBookstore. I figure if even HALF of that 150 buy the other seven books in the series, that's 525 books sold at a profit of $3.87. That translates to $2031.75 in profit as the result of ONE DAY of free sales at ONE retailer—and that's if only HALF the free readers like the book enough to buy the rest of the series. If they all do, that's a profit of $4062 for one day of free downloads at one retailer. That more than offsets the "loss" of offering book 1 for free. If they love the McCarthy Series, I have 17 (soon to be 18) other books available, and if they buy all of them over time as well as any future books I may publish, then that's a huge win, all thanks to one free book that acted as a gateway between me a reader who is now a fan for life.
In this digital age of publishing, "discoverability" remains our greatest challenge. How do we get readers to find our books? Most of us are readers in addition to being writers. Most of us have taken a chance on a new-to-us author because they offered a free book. Most of us might not have paid even 99 cents to try a book by an unknown author. But what is lost when you try something for free? Nothing. What can be gained by offering a book for free? See above!
Questions? Feel free to ask away. I hope to post more often about my self-publishing journey, so let me know if there are topics you'd like to hear more about.
February 20, 2013
Waiting for Love Contest Ends Sunday, Feb. 24!
Are you ready for a reader contest like no other with the most FABULOUS prizes? Coinciding with the release of Waiting for Love on Monday, Feb. 18, the contest will run from Monday, Feb. 18 through Sunday Feb. 24 at 6 pm ESTand will require in-depth knowledge of Waiting for Love. Those who achieve a perfect score on the quiz, are members of the McCarthys Series Readers Group on Facebook and are subscribers to the mailing list will be eligible for one of the amazing prizes listed below.
Remember you'll need to read the entire book to be able to answer the quiz! No discussion of quiz questions or answers will be permitted on the Facebook readers groups or other public sites online. Those who do so may be disqualified from the contest.
Get Waiting for Love at:Kindle | Kindle UK | Kindle Canada | iBookstore | Kobo | Nook | Smashwords
Get Waiting for Love in Print!
Join the Waiting for Love Readers Group on Facebook!
GRAND PRIZE is a visit to Block Island, RI that includes:
$750 toward airfare (Continental U.S. only. If you are overseas, you will have to get yourself to the U.S.)Transport from T.F. Green Airport in Providence to the Point Judith ferry landing in Narragansett, RI.Round trip ferry tickets to Block Island.Two nights lodging for two at a hotel on Block Island. (The winner can tack on extra nights at their own expense.)Two $100 gift certificates to Marie's favorite restaurants on Block IslandLUNCH with the author at the famous Oar Bar and an island tour with Marie (subject to author availability when you choose to come).Signed print copies of all eight books in the McCarthy of Gansett Island Series, the Gansett Island beach bag and towel and the McCarthys of Gansett Island bumper sticker.SECOND PRIZE:
Winner's choice of an iPad Mini or Kindle Fire, $250 gift card to the accompanying retailer and signed print copies of all eight books in the McCarthys of Gansett Island Series, the Gansett Island beach bag and towel and the McCarthys of Gansett Island bumper sticker.
THIRD PRIZE:
$100 gift card to the ebook retailer of the winner's choice and signed print copies of all eight books in the McCarthys of Gansett Island Series, the Gansett Island beach bag and towel and the McCarthys of Gansett Island bumper sticker.
Two Runner Up Prizes:
Signed print copies of all eight books in the McCarthys of Gansett Island Series, the Gansett Island beach bag and towel and the McCarthys of Gansett Island bumper sticker.
Prizes must be redeemed by December 31, 2014.
By participating in this contest, all entrants agree (a) to abide by these and any additional specific official rules and the decisions of the HTJB, Inc./Marie Force Author, its employees, subsidiaries and agents and any affiliated companies, sponsors or other entities furnishing prizes or otherwise connected with the conduct of this contest ("Contest Entities"), which will be binding and final in all respects; (b) to the use of information by the Contest Entities for marketing and advertising purposes as allowed by applicable privacy policies and law; (c) to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Contest Entities and their officers, directors, employees and agents from any and all liability, claims, lawsuits, costs, expenses, fees, injuries (including death), losses, and damages resulting or alleged to result from participation in the contest, acceptance or use of any prize, and/or from entrant's fraudulent or otherwise wrongful acts or omissions; (d) not to sue the Contest Entities for any damages alleged to arise from winner's acceptance of or use of the prize(s); and (e) to the use of the entrant's, name, voice, biography, and likeness by Contest Entities without further notice or compensation for promotion, advertising, filing, and dissemination purposes, except where otherwise prohibited by law. Contest Entities make no warranty, guaranty or representation of any kind concerning any prize and disclaim any implied warranty. Contest Entities are not responsible if the prize cannot be awarded due to delays or interruptions due to acts of God, acts of war, natural disasters, weather or acts of terrorism.
January 2, 2013
Welcoming My New Assistant, Julie Cupp!
From Marie: I asked Julie to say a few words, and then I'll be back!A Yellow Rose Moment
Who is Julie Cupp and how’d she get a gig as Marie’s assistant? Let me tell you it’s been a long interview. Marie has seen me at my best and my worst in the 10 years we’ve known each other. When I met Marie in 2002, we were working for the same organization.
She told me she had started a book but was apprehensive to send it to me. I’m not expert in writing, grammar, or plot and character development, but I knew she could write. I’d seen her do it so many other times on topics not of her choosing. Giving her the chance to write what she was most inspired by really brought out the best in her.
Marie would email a few new chapters every few days. I’d read at night, staying up as late as necessary to get my chapters done. I expect I’m not the only one around here who’s done that with one of her books. But this was different. She’d never written a book before. Never developed characters and a plot full emotion, love, family, friendship, and romance. And it was all balanced so perfectly!
As the end of the book was looming, Marie was giddy with excitement, but I knew there was some apprehension as well. She didn’t want to let these characters go. She also wasn’t sure how to celebrate. I told her to get a bottle of champagne and share the moment with her family. I sent a dozen yellow roses to be delivered on the day she wrote the last line of the book. A simple gesture that has bonded us ever since. That book was Treading Water. She may write 1,000 books but I’m not sure any of them will mean as much to me as Treading Water. Maybe I’m not supposed to have a favorite, but I do. (And if you'll recall, in Treading Water, Jack always brought Clare's favorite yellow roses to her when he visited her while she was in the long coma.)
So now Marie and I use the term, “a yellow rose moment,” to signify an accomplishment like the day signed her first book deal or when she knew Gansett Island was something she wanted to share with readers. And fast forward to last month when she made the USA Today Bestseller List for the first time. Yellow roses are how we’ve celebrated her successes.
And now Marie and I are working together again, and I got my yellow rose moment.
From Marie: I couldn't be more delighted to have my long-time friend Julie joining my team at HTJB, Inc. I wish I had a dime for every time we've talked about this day way off in the future when she would come to work with me and whip me and my business into shape with all her many skills. Julie is the perfect person for the job. Not only has she been with me since day one of this crazy journey—and shared all the highs and lows with me—but she has the ideal set of skills, too. In addition to her insane Excel skills (always an asset in today's work environment), she is also a professional meeting planner, so I expect that she will share her event planning skills with all of us to put together fabulous book signings and that long-awaited reader weekend in Rhode Island, maybe in 2014. Because it's too funny, I also need to add that AFTER Julie wrote this blog post, but BEFORE I read it, I sent her a dozen yellow roses to celebrate her last day at her former job. She said she returned from lunch with her boss, saw the roses on her desk, knew who they were from and why they'd been sent before she read the card, and burst into tears.
Today is a dream come true for both of us, and Julie and I thank all my wonderful readers whose support of me and my books has made it possible for me to bring Julie onto my team. I love this picture of Julie having "breakfast" in a British pub during her trip to London. She said it's not very professional for her grand debut. I said, we like to have fun around here!
Welcome, dear friend. Can't wait to work with you again!
November 12, 2012
The Book That Almost Wasn't: Fatal Deception's Bumpy Road to Publication
Fatal Deception, book 5, in the Fatal Series hit the e-book shelves today after a long and winding road to publication. In the midst of my 23rd book, something happened that had never happened to me before. I dropped my laptop and FRIED my hard drive, taking TEN chapters of Fatal Deception with it. If you'd asked me when the last time I'd backed up was, I would've said a week, maybe two. It was more like a month. Painful lesson learned. I was also working on one of my Gansett Island books when the fry-o-lation occurred. I very easily recreated the chunk I was missing in that book. Not so easily done in Fatal Deception.I always say the Fatal Series books are my most complicated. Because they are so bendy and twisty, there was NO WAY I could easily recreate 10 chapters. My brain was resistant to even THINKING about it. Thus, I had to bring in the experts. To make a very long and UGLY story short, it took TEN WEEKS and THREE THOUSAND dollars to recover my ten chapters. Yep, you read that right. Disk Doctor in California got back the missing chapters, but it wasn't cheap. Since my choice was either to abandon the book or pay the money, I paid. During the ten weeks in the abyss, I kept plugging forward with Fatal Deception from where I'd left off, not knowing if the missing chapters would ever be recovered. When I got back the missing chapters, I pasted the whole thing back together and finished it up--in time for the deadline. Minor miracle! I don't recommend writing a book under these conditions. I now have extremely sophisticated backup systems that I rely upon to keep this from ever happening again.
Fatal Deception, the book that almost wasn't, is out TODAY! Here's what you can expect in this latest installment—my favorite yet in this series. Jealous Nick, Kinky Nick, Sam more obnoxious than ever! Fun, fun, FUN!
The wife of the White House deputy chief of staff has been beaten to death, and their one-year-old daughter is missing. D.C. Police Lieutenant Sam Holland is in charge of the murder investigation, but she's forced to collaborate with Special Victims Unit detectives as well as thorn-in-her-side FBI Special Agent Avery Hill. Then, a cold case of her father's resurrects old hurts—a distraction Sam cannot afford.As Sam's investigation heats up, so does Nick's political career—and the heat carries over to their bedroom. Will Sam put the pieces together in time to catch a killer and find the baby, or will ambition, greed and lies prove fatal?Get it now at Kindle • Nook • iBooks • Kobo • Carina PressRead an excerpt.Join the Fatal Deception Readers Group on Facebook when you're done with the book to dish about the story with other fans of the series.And don't forget: Book 1, Fatal Affair, is FREE this month everywhere ebooks are sold! Hope you enjoy the latest installment in Sam & Nick's ongoing love affair!
October 28, 2012
True Confession
My name is Marie Force and I am guilty of ignoring my blog. There. I said it out loud. I can't believe it's been almost three months since I posted here! You'd think I had nothing to say, which couldn't be further from the truth. If you've gotten to know me at all, you know I've always got plenty to say! So what's new?
FATAL DECEPTION, book 5 in my FATAL SERIES, will be out on November 12. I'm really excited about this book, which in my humble opinion, is the best one yet. Sam and Nick are back with more married adventures. You'll see more of series favorites Freddie, Gonzo, Jeannie, Skip, Graham, Laine and of course, SCOTTY! I've also come up with what I think is a fun way to get our superstar wedding planner, Shelby Faircloth, back onto the canvas in a more enduring role. She was so damned fun to write and her dynamic with Sam made me laugh out loud more than once, so how could I not find a way to get her back into the series? If you haven't already pre-ordered your copy, you can do so now at:
Kindle
Nook
Apple
More retailers coming soon! Here's a bit about what you can expect in FATAL DECEPTION:
The wife of the White House deputy chief of staff has been beaten to death, and their one-year-old daughter is missing. D.C. Police Lieutenant Sam Holland is in charge of the murder investigation, but she's forced to collaborate with Special Victims Unit detectives as well as thorn-in-her-side FBI Special Agent Avery Hill. Then, a cold case of her father's resurrects old hurts—a distraction Sam cannot afford.
As Sam's investigation heats up, so does Nick's political career—and the heat carries over to their bedroom. Will Sam put the pieces in time to catch a killer and find the baby, or will ambition, greed and lies prove fatal?
Read an excerpt here.I get a lot of questions about the Fatal Series, so let me answer a few of them here.How many books do you plan to write in the Fatal Series?I don't know yet. I figure as long as I'm having fun with Sam and Nick and readers are enjoying their adventures, I'll keep writing the series. What will the next book be called and when will it be out?Book Six will be called Fatal Mistake, and I believe it's scheduled to be out in June 2013. Will the Fatal Series be coming to print?YES! I'm pleased to report that books 1 and 2, FATAL AFFAIR and FATAL JUSTICE, will be out in 2013 in what's called mass market paperback format (meaning they will be in bookstores and retail outlets close to your homes) from HQN, which is a Harlequin imprint. I'm hoping the rest of the books will follow soon after. In the meantime, the series has been coming to print via eHarlequin.com. Fatal Consequences is currently available there in print.Will Sam ever have a baby?I'm not sure yet how that will play out. I do know that bringing a newborn in their lives would vastly change the landscape of the series, and not necessarily for the better. So if and when Sam has a baby, I do expect it to be much later in the series. Will we ever find out who shot Skip?I believe we will, but I'm not sure when yet!If you have other questions about the Fatal Series, please feel free to post them in the comments. I'm happy to provide the answers—if I have them!In other news...Right now I'm working on two books at the same time. COMING HOME, book 4 in the Treading Water Series, will hopefully be out by Christmas, and WAITING FOR LOVE, book 8 in the McCarthys of Gansett Island Series, will be out early next year. Right after that, I'll be diving into FATAL MISTAKE as well as book 1 in my new Green Mountain Country Store Series that's coming in late 2013. If you're interested in audio books, watch for the McCarthy Series coming to audio in 2013!So that's what is keeping me busy at the moment! Hope you're doing well and getting lots of reading time!
FATAL DECEPTION, book 5 in my FATAL SERIES, will be out on November 12. I'm really excited about this book, which in my humble opinion, is the best one yet. Sam and Nick are back with more married adventures. You'll see more of series favorites Freddie, Gonzo, Jeannie, Skip, Graham, Laine and of course, SCOTTY! I've also come up with what I think is a fun way to get our superstar wedding planner, Shelby Faircloth, back onto the canvas in a more enduring role. She was so damned fun to write and her dynamic with Sam made me laugh out loud more than once, so how could I not find a way to get her back into the series? If you haven't already pre-ordered your copy, you can do so now at:Kindle
Nook
Apple
More retailers coming soon! Here's a bit about what you can expect in FATAL DECEPTION:
The wife of the White House deputy chief of staff has been beaten to death, and their one-year-old daughter is missing. D.C. Police Lieutenant Sam Holland is in charge of the murder investigation, but she's forced to collaborate with Special Victims Unit detectives as well as thorn-in-her-side FBI Special Agent Avery Hill. Then, a cold case of her father's resurrects old hurts—a distraction Sam cannot afford.
As Sam's investigation heats up, so does Nick's political career—and the heat carries over to their bedroom. Will Sam put the pieces in time to catch a killer and find the baby, or will ambition, greed and lies prove fatal?
Read an excerpt here.I get a lot of questions about the Fatal Series, so let me answer a few of them here.How many books do you plan to write in the Fatal Series?I don't know yet. I figure as long as I'm having fun with Sam and Nick and readers are enjoying their adventures, I'll keep writing the series. What will the next book be called and when will it be out?Book Six will be called Fatal Mistake, and I believe it's scheduled to be out in June 2013. Will the Fatal Series be coming to print?YES! I'm pleased to report that books 1 and 2, FATAL AFFAIR and FATAL JUSTICE, will be out in 2013 in what's called mass market paperback format (meaning they will be in bookstores and retail outlets close to your homes) from HQN, which is a Harlequin imprint. I'm hoping the rest of the books will follow soon after. In the meantime, the series has been coming to print via eHarlequin.com. Fatal Consequences is currently available there in print.Will Sam ever have a baby?I'm not sure yet how that will play out. I do know that bringing a newborn in their lives would vastly change the landscape of the series, and not necessarily for the better. So if and when Sam has a baby, I do expect it to be much later in the series. Will we ever find out who shot Skip?I believe we will, but I'm not sure when yet!If you have other questions about the Fatal Series, please feel free to post them in the comments. I'm happy to provide the answers—if I have them!In other news...Right now I'm working on two books at the same time. COMING HOME, book 4 in the Treading Water Series, will hopefully be out by Christmas, and WAITING FOR LOVE, book 8 in the McCarthys of Gansett Island Series, will be out early next year. Right after that, I'll be diving into FATAL MISTAKE as well as book 1 in my new Green Mountain Country Store Series that's coming in late 2013. If you're interested in audio books, watch for the McCarthy Series coming to audio in 2013!So that's what is keeping me busy at the moment! Hope you're doing well and getting lots of reading time!
August 6, 2012
News!
Since my agent has made it official today on Publisher's Marketplace, I guess I can too!
Best-selling author of The McCarthys of Gansett Island series, Marie Force's first two books in a new small-town contemporary series THE GREEN MOUNTAIN COUNTRY STORE, set in a rural mountain town, to Kate Seaver at Berkley, in a very nice deal, by Kevan Lyon at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency (world).
Hoping to take the magic of the island and move it to the mountains with the Abbot family, purveyors of the odd and hard to find relics of a time long gone by in small-town Vermont. Hope you'll come with me to the Green Mountains! The first book is due out in early 2014.
Best-selling author of The McCarthys of Gansett Island series, Marie Force's first two books in a new small-town contemporary series THE GREEN MOUNTAIN COUNTRY STORE, set in a rural mountain town, to Kate Seaver at Berkley, in a very nice deal, by Kevan Lyon at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency (world).
Hoping to take the magic of the island and move it to the mountains with the Abbot family, purveyors of the odd and hard to find relics of a time long gone by in small-town Vermont. Hope you'll come with me to the Green Mountains! The first book is due out in early 2014.
June 19, 2012
My Painful Breakup
This summer, I've decided to end a relationship that has meant the world to me for most of my life. Through summers on the beach and my parents' boat, to vacations in Florida and the Caribbean, I've carried on a life-long love affair with the sun. And now, it's over... Sob...
I'm in my mid-forties and am suffering from what my friend Chris calls LIS Disease: Lousy Irish Skin Disease. In short, my skin in a disaster area, and I really have only myself (and Mr. Sun) to blame. For years during my misspent youth, I was under the impression that the fifty percent of me that is Portuguese would eventually trump the 50 percent of me that is Irish. No such luck. My brother, who got the Portuguese skin, tans like a God. We'd go on family vacations when we were in high school, and he would return to school brown as a berry while I was red, scabby and peeling. People would ask if we went to the same place. Hardy har har! Not much has changed since then except for the sudden onset of wrinkles and ripples and other stuff that just doesn't belong on anyone's skin. I've already had several "suspicious" moles removed. After one such removal, the dermatologist said, "Congratulations. Now you'll live to see your grandchildren." Great...
Remember the baby oil and iodine years before we all knew that the sun could be bad bad bad for us? Remember the scorching sunburns of childhood before everyone had SPF 250 in their beach bags? Yep, that was me. Burnt to a crisp for most of my life. My parents used to talk about the time my mother took me to the beach as a baby, had me in a playpen under an umbrella and I STILL got burnt. My father was apparently beside himself over this incident, to which my mom said, "SHE WAS NEVER IN THE SUN!" They decided the sun reflecting off the sand had gotten to me. It was an ominous start to my relationship with Mr. Sun... I once had a blistering sunburn on my arm as a kid. Every dermatologist I've ever been to as an adult points to that spot on my arm and asks, "What happened here?" During my five years of working on the docks at a marina, I wore a Panama Jack-style hat that was tied to my belt loop with a shoelace. I'm convinced that hat is the only reason I don't look 90 years old now.
In the ultimate irony of life, my late mother (who also got the Portuguese skin) hated to lay in the sun but tanned effortlessly nonetheless. Traversing from the house to her car, from the car to the boat, from the car to the grocery store, she'd get in five minutes the tan I spent a summer cultivating. Over time, I managed to convince (or perhaps SHOCK) my skin into believing that it could in fact tan. But this past winter, I couldn't deny any longer that the damage I've done over the years is getting worse, and if I don't break up with Mr. Sun NOW, I'm going to look 80 when I'm 50. One of my dad's best friends, a gorgeous red head who has studiously avoided the sun her entire life, looks better at 85 than I do at 46. She says that's ridiculous. I say it's TRUE.
As a mother, I've been MILITANT with my kids about sunscreen. Last year, my son and husband attended the Indy 500 and Jake got a wicked sunburn on his neck--the one spot they missed with the sunscreen. It was an ugly, blistery mess by the time they left Indiana to come home. Knowing this is one of my pet issues, my son called me from the airport to give me advance warning about the ugly burn and to tell me, "It wasn't Dad's fault." (Haha, of course it was his fault! LOL) The warning didn't stop me from SHRIEKING when I saw just how badly he was burnt. Whenever one of my kids gets even the slightest sunburn, they apologize to me because they know how crazy I am about them avoiding the same mistakes I made with my skin. Sadly, their skin is fairer than mine, if that's possible. Poor kids. When attending sailing camp in the summer, Jake's EYES get sunburned even with SPF-protecting sunglasses on all day. Their dad, however, tans like a brown berry. When Emily was younger and drew pictures of our family, Dan was always drawn with a brown crayon to reflect his perpetual year-round tan. I'm after him ALWAYS about using sunscreen so he doesn't look like shoe leather by the time he's 60. He's starting to get a clue, but it might be too late to save him from a leathery fate.
So my dear friend, Mr. Sun, we had a good run, you and I. I had lots of fabulous days on the water basking in your glow. I spent lots of days hiding my now-wrinkled toes from your wrath by burying them in warm sand. But the sunscreen people have yet to make the SPF that will protect my disastrous skin from your mean side. Now, just because you and I are through doesn't mean I'm forsaking the beach or the boat. No way! Before my first trip to the beach (and day now), I'll be purchasing a large umbrella and a sledgehammer that will live forever in my beach bag to make sure I can get that sucker deep enough that I won't be chasing it down the beach at the first strong gust.
I'll miss you, dear friend.
Have any of you broken up with Mr. Sun?
I'm in my mid-forties and am suffering from what my friend Chris calls LIS Disease: Lousy Irish Skin Disease. In short, my skin in a disaster area, and I really have only myself (and Mr. Sun) to blame. For years during my misspent youth, I was under the impression that the fifty percent of me that is Portuguese would eventually trump the 50 percent of me that is Irish. No such luck. My brother, who got the Portuguese skin, tans like a God. We'd go on family vacations when we were in high school, and he would return to school brown as a berry while I was red, scabby and peeling. People would ask if we went to the same place. Hardy har har! Not much has changed since then except for the sudden onset of wrinkles and ripples and other stuff that just doesn't belong on anyone's skin. I've already had several "suspicious" moles removed. After one such removal, the dermatologist said, "Congratulations. Now you'll live to see your grandchildren." Great...
Remember the baby oil and iodine years before we all knew that the sun could be bad bad bad for us? Remember the scorching sunburns of childhood before everyone had SPF 250 in their beach bags? Yep, that was me. Burnt to a crisp for most of my life. My parents used to talk about the time my mother took me to the beach as a baby, had me in a playpen under an umbrella and I STILL got burnt. My father was apparently beside himself over this incident, to which my mom said, "SHE WAS NEVER IN THE SUN!" They decided the sun reflecting off the sand had gotten to me. It was an ominous start to my relationship with Mr. Sun... I once had a blistering sunburn on my arm as a kid. Every dermatologist I've ever been to as an adult points to that spot on my arm and asks, "What happened here?" During my five years of working on the docks at a marina, I wore a Panama Jack-style hat that was tied to my belt loop with a shoelace. I'm convinced that hat is the only reason I don't look 90 years old now.
In the ultimate irony of life, my late mother (who also got the Portuguese skin) hated to lay in the sun but tanned effortlessly nonetheless. Traversing from the house to her car, from the car to the boat, from the car to the grocery store, she'd get in five minutes the tan I spent a summer cultivating. Over time, I managed to convince (or perhaps SHOCK) my skin into believing that it could in fact tan. But this past winter, I couldn't deny any longer that the damage I've done over the years is getting worse, and if I don't break up with Mr. Sun NOW, I'm going to look 80 when I'm 50. One of my dad's best friends, a gorgeous red head who has studiously avoided the sun her entire life, looks better at 85 than I do at 46. She says that's ridiculous. I say it's TRUE.
As a mother, I've been MILITANT with my kids about sunscreen. Last year, my son and husband attended the Indy 500 and Jake got a wicked sunburn on his neck--the one spot they missed with the sunscreen. It was an ugly, blistery mess by the time they left Indiana to come home. Knowing this is one of my pet issues, my son called me from the airport to give me advance warning about the ugly burn and to tell me, "It wasn't Dad's fault." (Haha, of course it was his fault! LOL) The warning didn't stop me from SHRIEKING when I saw just how badly he was burnt. Whenever one of my kids gets even the slightest sunburn, they apologize to me because they know how crazy I am about them avoiding the same mistakes I made with my skin. Sadly, their skin is fairer than mine, if that's possible. Poor kids. When attending sailing camp in the summer, Jake's EYES get sunburned even with SPF-protecting sunglasses on all day. Their dad, however, tans like a brown berry. When Emily was younger and drew pictures of our family, Dan was always drawn with a brown crayon to reflect his perpetual year-round tan. I'm after him ALWAYS about using sunscreen so he doesn't look like shoe leather by the time he's 60. He's starting to get a clue, but it might be too late to save him from a leathery fate.
So my dear friend, Mr. Sun, we had a good run, you and I. I had lots of fabulous days on the water basking in your glow. I spent lots of days hiding my now-wrinkled toes from your wrath by burying them in warm sand. But the sunscreen people have yet to make the SPF that will protect my disastrous skin from your mean side. Now, just because you and I are through doesn't mean I'm forsaking the beach or the boat. No way! Before my first trip to the beach (and day now), I'll be purchasing a large umbrella and a sledgehammer that will live forever in my beach bag to make sure I can get that sucker deep enough that I won't be chasing it down the beach at the first strong gust.
I'll miss you, dear friend.
Have any of you broken up with Mr. Sun?
June 12, 2012
Why I'm a Selfish Author :-)
So it's occurred to me recently that I'm a rather selfish author. Now, now, it's TRUE. I write my books the way I want to and don't spend much time obsessing or worrying if there's something about them people don't like, or if a reader doesn't like the entire book. That's okay. That's their prerogative. I've decided it's far, far, FAR more important that I please myself than it is that I please anyone else. See how selfish I am? :-)Let me give you an example. When it comes to my McCarthys of Gansett Island Series, there is a small camp of readers who do not like the fact that I include rather extensive stories for characters other than the hero and heroine. I absolutely get why they don't like it. The thing is, though, I like it. I love going back and revisiting couples who starred in past books and seeing what's up with them. Sometimes it's big stuff. In Season for Love, for example, Grant and Stephanie from Falling for Love hit a rather big speed bump in their love story. Doesn't that happen in real life? Don't people who are madly in love one minute start to wonder in the next minute if this thing that's sprouted between them will go the distance? See, I thought so! That's right when it starts to get interesting to me. How about you?
In Longing for Love, book 7, Evan and Grace from Hoping for Love will hit a bump when her parents come to the island for a surprise visit and discover that not only does their daughter have a boyfriend she never told them about, but he's living with her, too. Something tells me Evan is going to be rather hurt by the fact that she never bothered to tell her folks about him. Will that be the main story in Longing for Love? Nope. Tiffany and Blaine will be the main attraction in that book, but life hasn't stopped for the rest of the Gansett Island community, and I like to write about that. I suppose that makes me a selfish author, and shockingly, I'm quite okay with that.The first person I have to please with my books is ME. If I don't love them, how can I expect any of you to love them? I will be the first to admit there is a LOT going on in Season for Love. I can totally see how some people might think it's too much, and I've already acknowledged that we can't have story for every past couple in every future book. Season was definitely Laura and Owen's book, but I also used it as a wrap-up of the first six books and a launch pad for the next few. Did I succeed? I'll let you tell me!
The vast majority of readers, especially those in my McCarthy Reader Group, enjoy the subplots and want more of them in future books. Those of you who agree with them are in luck, because I do, too. And since I'm a selfish, selfish author, I plan to please myself first and foremost. :-)
Of course I'm teasing about being selfish. I always hope readers will enjoy my books, but if I'm not enjoying the writing of the books, there won't be any more. I've made a career out of breaking the mold a bit, such as the Fatal Series that features the same couple in every book (supposedly a no-no in romance) and now the McCarthy Series that keeps past couples front and center in future books. You may not always get what you expect from me (hello, Seamus and Carolina?), but just as I hope to keep things interesting for you, I've got to keep things interesting for me, too. Thus the road less traveled. I hope you'll continue to come along for the ride, even if I take you places you didn't expect to go. After all, my journey would be absolutely no fun without my lovely readers riding shotgun.
So tell me, are you in the "Want more of the past characters" camp or the "Want less of the past characters" camp?
June 10, 2012
Reader Mail
It's always so great to hear from readers, especially after a new book is released. Here's a round up of some of my favorites from this week. I wish I could post them all, but please know I love each and every one of them!
This one is from Maria:
First and for most, I like to thank you for bringing your love for writing and sharing those with people like me, people that enjoy love and like to lose themselves in a good book, you have captivated me to the fullest. I have enjoyed and loved each and everyone of your McCarthys of Gansett Island Series, I really hope they never end, but I know eventually all good things come to an end, but I like to be optimistic and faithful in your work. Thank you for inviting me amongst others into a wonderful and refreshing world of love, devotion and the strength of what a relationship should really be. With that said i really hope that there are many series to look forward to, or at least until I am old and gray or even senile lol. I look forward to updates on your next book, that is of course if there is one. Thanks again
From Ilona in Australia:
Thank you so much for Season for Love. I absolutely loved it.
I couldn't put it down and am now sad that I have come to the end of your latest book (which I always anxiously await the release of!). Note to self - read slower next time to savour the enjoyment!
I have really enjoyed Laura and Owen's story. I particularly liked the side story of Carolina and Seamus as well. I love the way you capture love stories that are not necessarily "conventional" and "obvious" (I mean, that¹s life isn't it?).
Congratulations on your latest release. I thoroughly enjoy my holidays to Gansett Island (with you as the tour guide) and always look forward to planning (and thinking) about my next trip! In saying that I have thoroughly enjoyed my other trips into the lives of your characters (Everyone Loves A Hero and Line of Scrimmage are is still a faves).
Keep up the great work Marie and wishing you all the very best,
From Jill:
Just finished reading Season for Love absolutely loved it. As soon as I saw the email announcing that it was available I had to immediately purchase it and of course start reading.Please keep up the writing I so look forward to your books. Can't wait for Longing for Love also can we expect another in the Fatal series soon? Please?
From Gina:
I just wanted to say that Season of Love was wonderful and I cannot wait until book 7. Thank you for the books you write. I read alot and while I was up at 3:30 in the morning I found this book out for sell it was a nice surprise, it made my day to read a good book.
From Tanya:
I am getting ready to buy it on my Nook right now!!!! I cannot wait, and then will be depressed when I zoom thru it. I downloaded Love at First Flight the other day, and stayed up until midnight reading it. I finished the Treading Water series right before that, and can I say wow!!! I phoned my sister and told her to buy this series of books as she would enjoy them immensely. You have truly become one of my favorite authors. When I look at the books I have purchased on my Nook that you have written, all I can say is keep writing, because there are very few left for me to purchase. I am spreading your praises with all my friends. (Also loved True North and The Fall!)
From Deidre:
I just wanted to share w/ you that I hope you write lots more Gansett Island series books. They remind me of Robyn Carr’s Virgin River series books. Please keep them coming. These fictional characters have turned into people, family and friends that we want to continue following and learn more about. Please don’t stop writing about them!!!!
From Marion in Australia:
It was rich, diverse, beautiful, sad and thoroughly wonderful.
I know you are going to get hounded with praise and thanks for such incredible work!!!! Enjoy the well deserved kudos amazing lady!!!
Thank you to all of these lovely readers and all the others who take the time to write. You make me feel truly blessed to get to do what I most love to do.
This one is from Maria:
First and for most, I like to thank you for bringing your love for writing and sharing those with people like me, people that enjoy love and like to lose themselves in a good book, you have captivated me to the fullest. I have enjoyed and loved each and everyone of your McCarthys of Gansett Island Series, I really hope they never end, but I know eventually all good things come to an end, but I like to be optimistic and faithful in your work. Thank you for inviting me amongst others into a wonderful and refreshing world of love, devotion and the strength of what a relationship should really be. With that said i really hope that there are many series to look forward to, or at least until I am old and gray or even senile lol. I look forward to updates on your next book, that is of course if there is one. Thanks again
From Ilona in Australia:
Thank you so much for Season for Love. I absolutely loved it.
I couldn't put it down and am now sad that I have come to the end of your latest book (which I always anxiously await the release of!). Note to self - read slower next time to savour the enjoyment!
I have really enjoyed Laura and Owen's story. I particularly liked the side story of Carolina and Seamus as well. I love the way you capture love stories that are not necessarily "conventional" and "obvious" (I mean, that¹s life isn't it?).
Congratulations on your latest release. I thoroughly enjoy my holidays to Gansett Island (with you as the tour guide) and always look forward to planning (and thinking) about my next trip! In saying that I have thoroughly enjoyed my other trips into the lives of your characters (Everyone Loves A Hero and Line of Scrimmage are is still a faves).
Keep up the great work Marie and wishing you all the very best,
From Jill:
Just finished reading Season for Love absolutely loved it. As soon as I saw the email announcing that it was available I had to immediately purchase it and of course start reading.Please keep up the writing I so look forward to your books. Can't wait for Longing for Love also can we expect another in the Fatal series soon? Please?
From Gina:
I just wanted to say that Season of Love was wonderful and I cannot wait until book 7. Thank you for the books you write. I read alot and while I was up at 3:30 in the morning I found this book out for sell it was a nice surprise, it made my day to read a good book.
From Tanya:
I am getting ready to buy it on my Nook right now!!!! I cannot wait, and then will be depressed when I zoom thru it. I downloaded Love at First Flight the other day, and stayed up until midnight reading it. I finished the Treading Water series right before that, and can I say wow!!! I phoned my sister and told her to buy this series of books as she would enjoy them immensely. You have truly become one of my favorite authors. When I look at the books I have purchased on my Nook that you have written, all I can say is keep writing, because there are very few left for me to purchase. I am spreading your praises with all my friends. (Also loved True North and The Fall!)
From Deidre:
I just wanted to share w/ you that I hope you write lots more Gansett Island series books. They remind me of Robyn Carr’s Virgin River series books. Please keep them coming. These fictional characters have turned into people, family and friends that we want to continue following and learn more about. Please don’t stop writing about them!!!!
From Marion in Australia:
It was rich, diverse, beautiful, sad and thoroughly wonderful.
I know you are going to get hounded with praise and thanks for such incredible work!!!! Enjoy the well deserved kudos amazing lady!!!
Thank you to all of these lovely readers and all the others who take the time to write. You make me feel truly blessed to get to do what I most love to do.
