Joylene Nowell Butler's Blog, page 12
January 3, 2018
IWSG – January 2018

It’s time for another group posting of the IWSG: Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month and encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.
Be sure to link to IWSG and display the badge in your post.
IWSG is the brainchild of our noble Ninja Captain and leader Alex J. Cavanaugh!
January 3 question – What steps have you taken or plan to take to put a schedule in place for your writing and publishing?Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG
Aex’s awesome co-hosts for the January 3 posting of the IWSG are Tyrean Martinson, Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor, Megan Morgan, Jennifer Lane, and Rachna Chhabria!

Can you believe it’s 2018! Seems surreal for some reason. I almost didn’t post today because I couldn’t think of anything to say. Feels as if I’ve been invited to a party and I’ve just arrived at the front gate. I’ve no idea what’s waiting for me on the other side of the door. I’m excited and speechless. I wish you all the very best in 2018. I know it wasn’t an easy year for many people. I think 2018 is going to be much better. As my friend and fellow writer, Marie Anne Beswick wrote, “I’ve been waiting my whole life for 2018.” May you know joy, peace and fulfilment throughout the year.
If you’re in the Banderas Bay, Nayarit area Friday, January 5th, come by the VIP Lounge at the Marina Rivera Yacht Club in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle. It’s the annual Meet the Author event from 5 to 7pm. Besides myself, authors Susan Appleyard and Wanda St. Hilaire will be there. I would love to see you. What better way to spend the evening than talking shop.

The post IWSG – January 2018 appeared first on Joylene Nowell Butler.
December 6, 2017
IWSG – December 2017

It’s time for another group posting of the IWSG: Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month and encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.
IWSG is the brainchild of our noble Ninja Captain and leader Alex J. Cavanaugh!
Every month, a question is offered that members can answer in their IWSG Day post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say. Remember, the question is optional.
December 6 question – As you look back on 2017, with all its successes/failures, if you could backtrack, what would you do differently?Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG
IWSG’s awesome co-hosts for the December 6 posting of the IWSG are Julie Flanders,Shannon Lawrence, Fundy Blue, and Heather Gardner!
Be sure to stop by and thank them for their time.
Be sure to visit theInsecure Writer’s Support Group Website!

I admitted to a friend a few days ago that over the course of the year I had lost my confidence. So much had happened safety and health-wise that I found myself waiting for the next bomb to drop. This dear friend looked at me and nodded. She said it was natural for me to feel this way. The problems I’d faced had come out of nowhere and continue as such for almost the entire year. One thing happened after another.
She helped me realize that I’m not the only one out there who feels this way. We sit here waiting for the year to end in hopes that all our fears will end with it.
What is confidence? The ability to have faith and to believe everything will be alright. And don’t we generally feel that way? Until stuff happens. And more stuff. Life isn’t always compliant. Nor should it be. But while we’re in the thick of things, it is very nice to have IWSG to go to. Thank you, Alex.

I recently signed up with promotion site called CarterNovels for a very reasonable price. They’re placing the cover of my books and audiobook everywhere. For more info click on https://carternovels.com/indie-author-promotions.html
The post IWSG – December 2017 appeared first on Joylene Nowell Butler.
July 21, 2016
Playing Cards Giveaway.
https://cluculzwriter.blogspot.ca/201...
July 10, 2016
Ask PZM: July 2016 - Free eBook Promotions
In June I ran a 5-day KDP Select free promotion for my Navy thriller LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS (written with my husband Mitchell R. Miller). I decided not to spend a lot of time and money on the promotion and just see what happened.
Google Plus:
I discovered that on Google Plus I was a member of communities on which I could post information about the free promotion.
Why did I not remember this?
Here is the tricky part. Whenever I go to Google Plus to post an update, my account opens in my feed, where I post the update. I rarely go to my Google Plus profile. But I needed to go to the profile to check something, and lo and behold, scrolling down the page (on the right-hand side) I found I belonged to a few communities. And checking these out, I learned I could post my free ebook promotion to some of them.
Here are the three on which I posted and there are surely more that would be appropriate:
Cap'n Joe's #FREE #Promo: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communiti...
Kindle and eBook Writers And Reviewers: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communiti...
Kindle Ebook Promoter: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communiti...
Now will this result in any additional downloads? I have no idea. But it is worth keeping in mind.
Note: Yes, there are tons of Facebook groups on which you can post your free ebook promotion, and I assume many of you know about these groups. I wrote here about the Google Plus communities because I suspect that fewer people know about these posting opportunities.
Goodreads:
I wanted to be able to post an update on Goodreads about the free ebook promotion as I had posted such an update on membership sites such as Stage32.com (screenwriting site — see my profile at www.stage32.com/pzmiller)
Yet I couldn't find a place to post an update on Goodreads because an ebook promotion clearly didn't fit into the "Ask the Author" section.
Then I realized that, although my author blog posts automatically feed into my Goodreads author account, there is the option to add a post right on the account.
So that's what I did — I wrote a post directly on Goodreads announcing the free promotion — see www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/1...
I found this option on my Goodreads Author Dashboard under “Your Blog” — scroll down to “Write a New Post.” This new post then appeared at the top of the automatic blog post feed from my author blog.
Note: I could have written this post on my blog and had the post automatically feed into Goodreads. But I didn’t want to write the post on my blog for various reasons, so being able to just write the post on Goodreads was very handy.
P.S. And I pinned the LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS book cover from the Amazon Kindle page onto one of my Pinterest boards with the announcement of the free promotion.
Q: Have you tried the Amazon Giveaway program for any of your books or ebooks?
Yes, I have tried the program, choosing to give away ebooks rather than books so that I did not incur shipping costs.
I made a huge error the first time I tried this program: I gave away an ebook to everyone up to my designated number of giveaway ebooks (what Amazon Giveaway calls “First-come, First-served”). This meant the promotion ended almost immediately. I should have done what Amazon Giveaway calls “Lucky Number” (every X entrant wins).
Now, if I were doing a private Amazon Giveaway &dmash; privately sending the URL link only to people whom I wanted to redeem the giveaway — the “First-come, First-served” method would make sense. But this isn’t the right choice for a giveaway whose purpose is to publicly share the giveaway URL in order to get publicity exposure for a book or an ebook. This should be a “Lucky Number” Amazon Giveaway.
FYI — You can use an Amazon Giveaway for almost any product sold on Amazon, not necessarily your own books or ebooks. But obviously for us authors it makes sense to give away our own books. And as we have to buy the ebooks or books via Amazon for the giveaway, we do make back part of the expenditure, depending on our royalty percentage on a particular book or ebook.
Learn more at www.amazon.com/gp/giveaway/home and, if you have tried an Amazon Giveway, do add your feedback in the comments below.
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) blogs on book-related topics at www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com and her fiction ebooks on Amazon can be read for free via a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription at www.amazon.com/author/phylliszimblerm... and her nonfiction ebooks on Amazon can be read for free via a Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription at www.amazon.com/author/phylliszmiller
June 27, 2016
TROUBLE BY ANY OTHER NAME by Lori MacLaughlin
What I Love
I know I've probably said this a zillion times, but I love to write fantasy adventure — stories with lots of action, strong female characters, a bit of levity, and sighs of romance. Not the jump-into-bed-every-five-minutes type of romance, but the kind where the attraction builds into a true, caring relationship that, if given the chance, can transcend all the challenges the heroine and hero must face.
But in Book 1 of this series, Lady, Thy Name Is Trouble, love is not what the heroine of the story wants. Tara Triannon and her sister Laraina are swords for hire whose exploits across the Western Kingdoms are legendary. The one time Tara let her heart be touched, love burned her badly, and she has no intention of getting caught again by love's fickle ways. However, when things go terribly wrong, the one man whose help she needs is the one man who can threaten her resolve. Jovan Trevillion, though, is a man of many secrets and accepting his help may be even more dangerous than keeping to the perilous path she and her sister already follow. But with the Butcher on their trail, their choices are limited.
Captain Natiere, the Butcher, an assassin with a tortured soul and the heart of a wolf, pursues them relentlessly. Harboring secrets of his own, the Butcher wants only to kill Tara and her companions to discharge a debt, and then he will be free to return to the wilds and perhaps find some way to fill his empty existence. Much to his surprise, his fate becomes more and more entangled with Tara's with every passing step.
In Book 2, Trouble By Any Other Name, all of their fates become even further entwined. Tara desperately searches for a way to destroy the evil creature attacking her through her dreams before it kills her. Jovan struggles to help her while battling with an ancient Being that mentally torments him. And the Butcher is closing in.
Who will survive and who will fall? Only the reader knows. And me, of course. ☺
******
Trouble by Any Other Name
TITLE: Trouble By Any Other Name
Sequel to Lady, Thy Name Is Trouble
AUTHOR: Lori L. MacLaughlin
RELEASE DATE: May 16, 2016
GENRE: Fantasy
******
About the Book:
Tara Triannon is no stranger to trouble. She's yet to find an enemy her skill with a sword couldn't dispatch. But how can she fight one that attacks through her dreams?
With her nightmares worsening, Tara seeks answers but finds only more questions. Then her sister, Laraina, reveals a stunning secret that forces Tara to go to the one place Tara's sworn never to return to. Her troubles multiply when Jovan Trevillion, the secretive soldier of fortune who stole her heart, is mentally tortured by an ancient Being intent on bending him to its will. And worst of all, the Butcher — the terrifying wolf-like assassin she thought she'd killed — survived their duel and is hunting her again.
Hounded by enemies, Tara sets out on a harrowing quest to discover the true nature of who she is, to come to grips with the new volatility of her magic, and to defeat the evil locked in a centuries-old trap that will stop at nothing to control her magic and escape through her nightmares.
Buy Links:
https://www.amazon.com/Trouble-Other-...
Author Bio:
Lori L. MacLaughlin traces her love of fantasy adventure to Tolkien and Terry Brooks, finding The Lord of the Rings and The Sword of Shannara particularly inspirational. She's been writing stories in her head since she was old enough to run wild through the forests on the farm on which she grew up.
She has been many things over the years – tree climber, dairy farmer, clothing salesperson, kids' shoe fitter, retail manager, medical transcriptionist, journalist, private pilot, traveler, wife and mother, Red Sox and New York Giants fan, muscle car enthusiast and NASCAR fan, and a lover of all things Scottish and Irish.
When she's not writing (or working), she can be found curled up somewhere dreaming up more story ideas, taking long walks in the countryside, or spending time with her kids. She lives with her family in northern Vermont.
You can find her here:
http://lorilmaclaughlin.com/
June 21, 2016
A LOVE THAT DISTURBS by Medeia Sharif
A LOVE THAT DISTURBS by Medeia Sharif
Evernight Teen , June 17, 2016
Purchase from Amazon (merchant sites will be updated on the author's site)
Maysa Mazari is alarmed by her mother’s talk about arranged marriage. As a hijab-wearing Pakistani-American, she wants to find love on her own. Her judgmental Muslim clique has protected her from racist taunts, although the leader is turning on her as Maysa strays from the group because of her attraction to Haydee.
Haydee Gomez is a former gang member and juvenile detention student. Now living with a clean-cut aunt, she wants to turn her life around, even though one person will never let her forget her roots—Rafe, her abusive pimp. Haydee attempts to pull away from a life of prostitution when she develops feelings for Maysa, although Rafe isn’t willing to give her up too easily.
Finding themselves in danger from Maysa’s friends and Haydee’s pimp, it’s apparent their love disturbs everyone around them as they fight to stay together.
Find Medeia – YA and MG Author
May 15, 2016
An Interview and A Goofy Poem

Every Saturday morning, I'd catch the bus across from our apartment and arrive at the corner of the intersection and the road that led down to the marina where the meeting was being held. It's a fifteen minute hike downhill from there.



I attended several meetings. Every single one heightened my enthusiasm for writing, which had been lacking for more years than I care to admit.
Almost immediately, I realized I was on the cusp of a new, revelation something I didn't quite understand. And so when I was asked to teach a workshop, I hesitated. What could I possibly teach world travellers? I'd forgotten that over a 32-year-career, I'd learned a thing or two about writing.
The expression on my audiences' faces as I lead those workshops gave me a profound sense of accomplishment. Later that night I drafted a query letter, worked on it over night, and actually sent it out the next day. In one week, I received two rejections. But I kept trying. Third time is a charm, you see.

Today, one of them is interviewing me on her blog: C rystal Ra Laksmi.

Crystal is an Abundance Anthropologist from Estonia. English is not her first language. Imagine writing about a subject that you are passionate about, then translating it into another language? Crystal was doing a series of interviews on ordinary people living ordinary lives and asked me for an interviewed. I am thrilled and honour to accept.
I hope you enjoy our interview.

Sorry for going on so long, but I wanted you to understand that not every interview is simply that: an interview. The end results of our four hour chat can be read here. I hope after you've finished, you'll take a stroll through Crystal's blog. She's interviewed some fascinating people.
Tomorrow, Monday, May 16, I'm at IWSG sharing a post about Mr. Adverb. Hope you can join me.
May 11, 2016
Ask PZM: May 2016 (repost)
This book marketing area is a wonderful opportunity for authors although I can only share my own experiences and thoughts on this topic.
In May, 330 copies of my paperback HOW TO SUCCEED IN HIGH SCHOOL AND PREP FOR COLLEGE were ordered from CreateSpace. I suspect that an elementary school ordered these books for its graduating 8th grade class as this is the ideal target audience for the book.
Then more recently 40 paperbacks copies of my novel MRS. LIEUTENANT were ordered from CreateSpace. In this case I suspect a book club or high school class because I have book discussion questions and a high school lesson plan on www.MrsLieutenant.com

Now I have been pondering how to get more of these sales.
First question for all of us is: What are the likely groups that might be interested in buying our books in large quantities?
Here we need to think outside the box, as the saying goes. And we need to think for both fiction and nonfiction after considering that there are two different target markets.
One potential market is the direct readers, such as book groups and schools. The second potential market is sponsored books.
Direct readers
With the direct readers you could, for example, offer an author visit or skype call in connection to a group reading of your book. Or if you have a children’s picture book, you might offer to do a classroom art activity around some aspect connected to the picture book.
You can start locally by contacting high schools or community colleges in your area. For many readers meeting an author is very exciting, so an author visit can definitely encourage group purchases.
Note that the purchases can be the ebooks instead of the physical books. And in either case, the book discussion questions and high school lesson plan, for example, can be included in the books themselves. (I have this material in the ebook of MRS. LIEUTENANT but not the paperback. It would be relatively easy for me to add this same material to my paperback on CreateSpace.)
Sponsored books
In this scenario you locate companies who could benefit from the marketing goodwill of giving away your books for free to their customers or clients. Again, these could be the physical books or the ebooks.
For example, if you have written a book about estate planning and included information on life insurance, you might approach an insurance company and ask if the company would be interested in buying copies of your book to give to their customers. You can offer a wholesale rate that provides revenue to you and costs the company less than buying the books retail.
You could even do this if you have written a novel whose storyline concerns a major plot about insurance. Even a cautionary tale about insurance could be of interest to an insurance company.
Note that you can license your ebook so that a company may give away as many copies as agreed upon for a set licensing fee. This financial arrangement can be very beneficial for both parties.
And if you have more than one book, of course those books are listed at the end of the sponsored book. In this case you’re being paid to have free advertising for your other books.
Branding opportunities
If you are a self-published author, you can also offer branding opportunities for your sponsored books. You can, for example, add content to your book about the company sponsoring the book. You can even add the company’s name to the cover, such as “The Ideal Insurance Company presents” [your book title].
While there might be cases in which two companies sponsoring the same book would not be a good idea (such as the only two department stores in a small town), in most cases you can offer branding opportunities to numerous companies.
Prior commitments
If your ebook is on Amazon’s KDP Select with its ebook exclusive requirement, you will need to end the KDP Select commitment before your ebook can be sold off Amazon. And although I am not a lawyer, I would say that this would be true even if you were adding sponsorship branding material to the ebook. It’s still the same ebook, and you don’t want to get in hot water with Amazon.
The good news is that KDP Select does not require exclusivity of the physical books, so even if your ebook is on KDP Select, you can look for bulk deals for the paperback.
Finding companies interested in sponsorship opportunities
Here I don’t have any specific advice. I personally am interested in finding high school teacher associations who might be interested in either HOW TO SUCCEED IN HIGH SCHOOL or MRS. LIEUTENANT.

Put on your thinking cap and brainstorm the different kinds of companies who could benefit from a branded sponsorship opportunity with your nonfiction or fiction book. Hopefully this brainstorming will produce several opportunities for you to pursue.
Q: Are you trying any new book marketing strategies?
I have just bundled three of my thriller ebooks into one ebook titled BRAINS BEFORE BEAUTY: A TRIO OF FEMALE PROTAGONIST THRILLERS. Then I set the price on Amazon for BRAINS BEFORE BEAUTY at half of the combined three ebook prices. (If on Amazon you see the single book cover for BRAINS BEFORE BEAUTY, just know that I'm planning to switch to a book cover that makes it clear this is a bundled ebook of three separate titles.)
Also note that I have not put BRAINS BEFORE BEAUTY on KDP Select because I have decided it may be confusing when people first see a KDP Select ebook on Amazon and the price shows $0.00 via Kindle Unlimited (all KDP Select ebooks are automatically available via the Kindle Unlimited monthly subscription). The actual ebook purchase price is somewhat hidden under the Kindle Unlimited notation. In the case of BRAINS BEFORE BEAUTY I do not want people to wonder what is special about three books in one if that bundled book is free.
Check out my new bundled book BRAINS BEFORE BEAUTY now at https://www.amazon.com/Brains-Before-Beauty-Protagonist-Thrillers-ebook/dp/B01EWHMKMC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is a digital marketer as well as a fiction and nonfiction author. She blogs on book-related topics at her author site at www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com and she is on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ZimblerMiller
ps. Insecure Writer's Support Group is on Twitter! @TheIWSG
May 4, 2016
IWSG: My Wish & Cover Reveal

It’s time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world – or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you’d like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. We encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.
Our Twitter hashtag is #IWSG
The awesome co-hosts for the May 4 posting of the IWSG will be Stephen Tremp, Fundy Blue, MJ Fifield, Loni Townsend, Bish Denham, Susan Gourley, and Stephanie Faris!
Please stop by and thank them for their contribution.

It's a very exciting time for Insecure Writer's Support Group.
Yesterday, Parallels: Feliz Was Here was release! Congratulations to all the talented authors:
Parallels: Felix Was HereAn Insecure Writer’s Support Group Anthology

Enter the realm of parallel universes!
What if the government tried to create the perfect utopia? Could a society linked to a supercomputer survive on its own? Do our reflections control secret lives on the other side of the mirror? Can one moment split a person’s world forever?
Exploring the fantastic, ten authors offer incredible visions and captivating tales of diverse reality. Featuring the talents of L. G. Keltner, Crystal Collier, Hart Johnson, Cherie Reich, Sandra Cox, Yolanda Renee, Melanie Schulz, Sylvia Ney, Michael Abayomi, and Tamara Narayan.
Hand-picked by a panel of agents and authors, these ten tales will expand your imagination and twist the tropes of science fiction. Step through the portal and enter another dimension!
Release date: May 3, 2016$14.95 USA, 6x9 Trade paperback, 218 pages, Freedom Fox PressScience Fiction/General ( FIC028000) and Fiction/Alternative History (FIC040000)Print ISBN 978-1-939844-19-4 eBook ISBN 978-1-939844-20-0Order through Ingram, Follett Library Resources, or from the publisher$4.99 EBook available in all formats
“Pensive and manifold views into parallel earth not without a glimmer of hope.”- Edi’s Book Lighthouse
Founded by author Alex J. Cavanaugh, the Insecure Writer’s Support Group offers support for writers and authors alike. It provides an online database, articles and tips, a monthly blog posting, two Facebook groups, and a monthly newsletter.

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We've been telling you for a long time that IWSG Wednesday is a safe environment where you can share your fears and your joys without trepidation. No one's going to judge you.
We all have insecurities. My generation was reared to believe that airing them was wrong. Thankfully, we taught our children differently. No subject is off limits. Yet, I still struggle with admitting that I'm insecure. I have been my entire life. Unfounded, but those insecurities are a constant companion. I'd like to believe it's one of the reasons I am a decent storyteller.
In October, my third suspense novel will be released.

I'm extremely happy. More than that, I'm filled with gratitude. To the point that the thought of another published novel chokes me up.
[deep breath]
There's a lot to be done in preparation for Mâtowak's release. I know what's expected. I've done this twice three times (Dead Witness twice). Not while we're trying to sell our home of 24 years and then moving 3000 miles east. Simply typing that statement takes the wind out of my sails.
If I was unpublished and reading this post, I'm not sure I'd be sympathetic. Hard to feel sorry for someone who's been published more than once and who spends the winter (6 months) in beautiful Bucerias, Nayarit. Poor thing!
(There are a lot of I's in this post)
So, although, I don't feel comfortable sharing my fears:
I'm worried no one but my publisher and friends will like Mâtowak Woman Who Cries.I'm worried that third time isn't a charm. I'm worried I can't do it all: market, blog, keep the house spotless, clean, pack, write... I'm worried I'm boring.
I'm worried my muse will dry up. I'm worried that apart from writing novels, I am talentless.
I'm worried I use that unnecessarily.
I'm worried I'm full of cliches today, sorry.
What I'm trying to say is I understand where you're coming from. I'm cheering for you no matter how many insecurities you have. We're in this together. Thanks to Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh. Stick with IWSG and I promise we'll do everything we can to help you reach your dreams. And while you're up and coming, we'll be here if you need to share anything: fears or successes.
Happy Writing.