Rachel Carrington's Blog, page 41

Just completed…

the brand new book video for New York Times Bestselling Author Lisa Renee Jones’ upcoming book, Being Me. This is the second book in her Inside Out Trilogy published by Pocket. I was fortunate enough to create the first video as well. (See below)

Lisa’s video will be available for the world to see in a few days. In the meantime, check out Lisa’s website at www.lisareneejones.com for more information about the book and the series which, by the way, has been optioned by Starz for a television series!

House painting is complete!

I’ve posted on Facebook a few times about my new house and how the painting was underway. Now it is complete, and though I don’t have pictures of all the rooms (waiting for decorations to be completed), I wanted to share my new living room wall color. I love it!

And now for the bedroom color!

Oblivion…I’m so confused

So I saw this movie tonight, and I left the theater so confused. I honestly didn’t know what was going on most of the entire movie. That’s never a good thing. Kind of like a book that you start to read and put down halfway through because you’ve lost track of the number of characters. While Oblivion doesn’t have too many characters, it does have a lot of plot holes. And I do mean a lot.

SPOILER ALERT

If you haven’t watched this movie, don’t read further…unless you want to save yourself $10.00 or so.

SPOILER ALERT ONE LAST TIME

So here are my questions….

Why was Tom Cruise’s character (Jack) cloned so many times? There weren’t other guys that could have worked just as well? Was he the only human left they could catch? No, they caught Victoria, too. So there were absolutely no other people they could catch and clone. Okay so, how did Jack get caught and his memories wiped? That’s never explained other than a short scene with a bright light. Was Victoria real or was she simply a clone? How did the other humans manage to escape the radiation or was there no radiation to begin with? I’m sure by now you can see my confusion.

And finally…was that the real Jack at the end or a clone?

When someone leaves the theater this confused, it’s never a good thing. The plot could have used some work. A little less showing us the beauty of the landscape and a whole lot more explaining what happened. It’s always my preference to know what’s going on when I’m watching a movie.

I love science fiction, but this movie was a complete bust for me.

 

Things I love today…

Since I’ve been sick the past two weeks, I was starting to feel a little sorry for myself. So I made myself stop and count the things I’m thankful for and the things I love today. Here they are in no particular order:

1.  Kleenex

2.  Hulu Plus

3.  Netflix

4.  My laptop

5.  Orange juice (and friends who will drop some off when I run out!)

6.  Vick’s Vapor Rub (Rub that stuff on your feet and cover with socks, and the coughs are silenced for the night! Who knew?”

7.  Tylenol Sinus (and friends who will drop some off when I run out!)

8.  My home

9.  Comfy pajamas

10.  Electricity

Even in the pits of sickness, I can summon up some gratitude!

Creativity Abounds

I get to create another video for Lisa Renee Jones! In case you don’t know who this wonderful author is, take a moment and visit her website. (She’s awesome!) I created the first video for her Inside Out series, If I Were You, and the video received a mention in USA Today thanks to Lisa. So I’m especially pumped to put together the commercial for Being Me. Have you seen this cover????

And in case you missed the video, I’m including it below. Hope you enjoy! (Need to update the cover!)

My First Non-Fiction Book Releases on April 25th

Because I love audio books and love helping authors, I combined the two loves and have written a book, Gangbusters Audio. Check out the cover below. It releases in nine days from Amazon.com and will also be available at Nook, and, of course, in audio soon.

 

 

Marketing and promoting is hard. Getting attention for audio books can be a bit tougher, especially if you’re not familiar with the process and you just don’t even know where to begin. From crazy to clever, these tricks and tips will get you started on the path toward bustling audio book sales.

Did you know you can promote your audio book without using your book cover?
How can random tweets and FB posts help?
Can you really ignite your book sales on a less than $50 per month advertising budget?
Want some really far away from the cardboard ideas?

The answers to these questions are just the beginning of a successful marketing campaign, and Gangbusters Audio is your first step toward audio book sales success!   

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Things Unpublished Writers Need to Know

1.  At one time, all of the authors who’ve written all of the books you’ve read and want to read were new writers. So don’t beat yourself up over your mistakes.

2.  Rejections aren’t life-threatening. You will overcome them.

3.  Not everyone wants you to succeed. It’s a sad, unfortunate fact of life. Take the knowledge and be prepared.

4.  Just because you can self-publish a book doesn’t mean you’re ready to self-publish a book.

5.  Good grammar and a great editor. If you don’t have the first, the second should also be accompanied by an excellent proofreader.

6.  How to network. Word of mouth is by far the greatest way to sell books. You shouldn’t wait until your book is released to start promoting it.

7.  When it’s time to move on to the next novel. You can overwrite a book. Don’t spend so much time on one novel that you lose precious time writing your next one.

8.  How to promote without coming across as pushy. Read books on marketing and promoting. Follow some of your favorite authors on Twitter and Facebook to see how they do it.

9.  Not everyone will love your writing. Reviews that aren’t favorable are a fact of life in this business.

10. When to turn off the computer and focus on life outside the book. There is no scheduled day you have to finish the novel you’re writing. So don’t set unrealistic goals. Enjoy life while you’re writing so you’ll still be able to enjoy life as a writer.

The Jeep Diva Reviews Extreme Measures…

Look what The Jeep Diva had to say about Extreme Measures. Yes, I’m grinning.

“Extreme Measures is a great suspense with a side of romance. It was refreshing to read more suspense then the romance aspect of the story. It worked for me and made it believable.”  Read the entire review here.

Four Stars for Extreme Measures

Naomi from Nomi’s Paranormal Palace gave Extreme Measures 4 stars!  Check out the opening paragraph of the review!

I have read a number of books by Rachel Carrington and they have all come from different genres. They have all been unique and with each one, Rachel was able to captivate me right up to the final page. So it is not surprising to know that Rachel enthralled me with Extreme Measures as well.

Awwww. A big thanks to Naomi, and if you want to read the rest of the review, just stop by Nomi’s Paranormal Palace here.

Update on speedy writing…

Okay, remember that post I wrote a few days back on my writing speed? Well, I guess I should have stayed quiet because tonight I fell, and my hand slammed against the concrete. No, it isn’t broken, but you couldn’t tell it by me. It’s throbbing and making it quite difficult to type. My doctor says continue to use it so it won’t get stiff. Ha! I just want to curl it next to me and not move it a fraction of an inch.

This is what I get for mentioning how fast I write. Back to my ice pack!