Elyse Salpeter's Blog, page 12

How would you like to win one of 5 signed copies of THE QUEST OF THE EMPTY TOMB?

The Hunt for Xanadu – Book #1 in the Kelsey Porter Series

Hello lovely readers,

Here’s something totally fun! How would you like to be one of five lucky winners to win a signed hard copy of Book #2 in the Kelsey Porter series? I’m launching THE QUEST OF THE EMPTY TOMB on February 28th and doing my first Instagram/Twitter contest to kick it off. All you have to do is upload a snapshot of yourself holding a copy of THE HUNT FOR XANADU, or of you with the cover showing on your Ipad or Phone and UPLOAD it to Instagram and/or Twitter with the Hashtag #xanaduquest Don’t forget the hashtag #xanaduquest as that’s how I’ll find you. I’ll keep a record of all the names and FIVE people will win a signed hard copy of THE QUEST OF THE EMPTY TOMB in a random drawing. Contest ends on 2/21/15.

Don’t have an instagram or twitter acct? Then feel free to flood my Facebook author page at http://www.facebook.com/elysesalpeterauthor with the photo and hashtag and TAG me! Good Luck! (and yes, I’ll ship to any winner, wherever they live throughout the world)

Want your photo up on my website at http://www.elysesalpeter.com? Check out my “FAN SHOUT OUT” of folks who have already given me their approval to put their photos up. Let me know if it’s cool for you and you, too, can be on my webpage.

Don’t have a hard copy or ebook yet of THE HUNT FOR XANADU? Come on over and grab one here on amazon at:

US AMAZON: http://amzn.to/1CEvEab

UK Amazon: http://amzn.to/1Cp2awz

Twenty-two year old Kelsey Porter has dedicated her life to avenging the death of her parents, murdered in their quest to find the mystical land of Xanadu. Before she can locate the murderers, she has to discover their motives for the brutal crime and finds herself at the epicenter of a Buddhist mystery as old as time. With the help of her companion, Detective Desmond Gisborne, she hunts the killers across the globe and discovers a darkness in her spiritual past that tests the very limits of her soul. Soon she realizes that it is not she who is doing the hunting, but the one being hunted. Kelsey must find a way to survive, while ancient demons attempt to destroy her.

Come join the fun, I’d love to see you and feel free to follow me here:

Twitter: @elysesalpeter

Instagram: elysesalpeter

http://www.facebook.com/elysesalpeterauthor (give a like to the page)

http://www.elysesalpeter.com for more details.

Soooo, want to hear what THE QUEST OF THE EMPTY TOMB is about? Where XANADU took you to Tibet, QUEST is taking you to…. EGYPT!

On the heels of THE HUNT FOR XANADU, Kelsey returns from Tibet with Desmond to begin a new life in New York City. But peace is not to come to her. One night, a stranger appears at her door with a note from a man from her past, begging for her aid. It involves her parents and Kelsey leaves for Egypt to learn the truth. But the truth is more than she bargained for. What secrets did her parents hide? Why is she now plagued with odd aches and pains and why is she having nightmares again? Kelsey must find answers and the only way to get them is to confront her demons and solve the ultimate mystery: The Quest of the Empty Tomb.

See you all on social media!

How many social media sites can I possibly be on? No… really, how many?

Ok, let’s talk social media and how many platforms should we be on? I have read so much about this and the consensus is you can’t be effective on every single one if you are on too many at once. (unless you have no life, never sleep and work them 24/7, which is unrealistic) I do Twitter, FB (communities and groups), Goodreads and Google+ (communities and groups), Pinterest regularly (and my blog) and built up, through hard work and sweat, excellent followings. I’m even on Linkedin but I do this strictly for work and my day job. But being active on all of these outlets is very time-consuming and frankly, I’m seeing some sales, but not as much as I’d expect with the amount of followers I have on some of these platforms (I mean, I have over 150K on google+ so what’s the point?). Now, there are some authors that say I should also be on Tumblr and Tsu and others as well. I guess at the end of the day I just want to know “Where Are My Readers?”

The other day I chatted with a woman who does promotions for authors. We were discussing her services, I explained what I do and she took a peek at my activity and she said “you actually do more than I do for my own clients.” Okay, then what does that mean? I’m active on so many social media sites, and I get tons of conversations, but how do I translate that to consistent sales? I honestly don’t know.

She suggested I start looking at bloggers. I said “but “I’ve been on a ton of blogs.” She said, “no, get on the RIGHT blogs. The fandoms, the biggies.” So, now I’m thinking about how to find book bloggers, and will start spending some of my social media efforts on finding these people.

Where’s the easiest place for me to find book bloggers? Turns out on Instagram. I’ve done some small little things are Instagram, but true to form, now I want to conquer it. So, I updated my profile, started following book bloggers and started to learn how this works. The ins and outs, the hashtags, the little nuances that Instagram offers that are different than FB, Twitter, and all the other sites. The first thing I can tell you is that younger people are on there. The teens and twenty year olds. People in their 30’s, definitely 40’s and 50’s, are on Facebook. I hardly see the kids on there unless they’re following adults who only put information on FB and that’s the only way they can reach them.

So, how many social media sites can I possibly be on? Apparently a lot. So how about following me on them? I love to interact with people and I’d love to hear from you. You can reach me on any of them here:

Instagram user name: elysesalpeter

Twitter: @elysesalpeter

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/elysesalpeterauthor

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/115455594389801672671/posts?tab=XX

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3054679.Elyse_Salpeter

Blog: http://www.elysesalpeter.wordpress.com

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/elysesalpeter/elyse-salpeter-author/

And lastly, want to know about new releases? Come on over and sign up for my newsletter: http://www.elysesalpeter.com/contact-me.html

As for tumblr (sorry, ain’t happening yet – I can’t even figure out how to get off the first page), tsu (sort of like FB but I’m too invested in FB to worry about this yet), Stumble Upon (I’ve got an account and never used it) Reddit (not quite sure what this is), flickr (completely not sure what this is), myspace (is that even still around?), youtube (yeah, I’ve put some book trailers up there) and the others? I think I’m maxed out for now, thank you very much.

Of course, if there is something new and BIG, something that will help me reach readers better – please let me know. I do love to hear about the newest stuff out there.

It’s Taken Me Seven Books to Finally Call Myself a Writer

I can’t speak for the rest of you, but when I started writing and publishing my novels, I kept expecting people to “discover what a fake” I was. I mean, I couldn’t wrap my head around calling myself a writer, even though I had a book out.

Then, I published a second one and most people still thought it was a cute little hobby. A cute little hobby I sweated and slaved over, got edited, beta’d, proofed, worked on covers, formatting, advertised, etc. Then, came numbers three and four and people thought, “wow, how adorable, she’s really trying to do this.”

I wondered when the day would come when someone said, “Hey, what do you do?” and I’d say “Oh, I’m a writer.” (without being embarrassed) Is it because I still don’t bring in enough money to actually write full time? Or something else? All I know is that publishing is vastly different than it was twenty years ago. I swear if I had done this back then, I may have been more successful. Well, maybe. For me, now, I’ve accepted that it’s going to be a slow and steady process. My goal has always been to get the books out and THEN to get the series out for each one. I was told I actually did it backwards, that I should have concentrated on one series at a time, but that wasn’t how life worked out. I had single books written, so I put them in market, and as the muse hit me, I wrote the sequels.

And that’s where I am today with the Kelsey Porter Series. I wrote THE HUNT FOR XANADU, which is book #1 in the series and next month I’m publishing THE QUEST OF THE EMPTY TOMB, book #2 in the series. I have high hopes for this series and my desire is that it continues for many books to come. So, to wrap up this entire post, I guess after this novel finally launches, and I officially have seven books in market, I can officially answer the question, “What do you do?” with “I’m a writer.” (hey, I didn’t even cringe too much writing that!)

Interested in learning more about this series? I just got a fantastic review from a Top 500 Amazon Reviewer just a few days ago. Feel free to read it here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R2LKVFHKRYK06C/ref=cm_cr_pr_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00H6TM1MI

For any writers out there – how many books did it take for YOU to consider yourself a writer? Love to hear!

Coming Soon… THE QUEST OF THE EMPTY TOMB

Book Signing at a New Leaf

To everyone who had the chance to read THE HUNT FOR XANADU, Book #1 in the Kelsey Porter Series, Book #2 is finished. It’s getting some final editing and proofing, cover is being created, and then it will be out to the world.

This series is near and dear to my heart. I wanted to write something that featured a strong female heroine, but be sexy and smart and action-packed. I wanted the characters to be well-rounded and have a history to them that was deep. I actually have written a 26 page character file with information about everyone in these books. Kelsey Porter’s sheets are actually six pages long and still growing as I develop her character further.

If you’re interested in picking up Book #1, THE HUNT FOR XANADU, feel free to click here:

United States Amazon: http://amzn.to/1F4SsmH

United Kingdom Amazon: http://amzn.to/1KbXkXa

Canada Amazon: http://amzn.to/1BlXk2P

So, without further ado… I give you the beginning of Chapter 1 of THE QUEST OF THE EMPTY TOMB…

Chapter 1

The Pier

���Dammit, they were supposed to be here two days ago. Gisborne, I���m telling you, the intel was wrong.���

It was two a.m. and the detectives were back at the docks for the fifth night in a row. A rash of illegal and classified weaponry making their way to the United States from the Middle East had been reported and tracked to this location. They���d been told another one was due to have arrived two days prior, but it still hadn���t shown.

Detective Sean Flanagan swiped at the sweat dripping from his brow. It was hot on this breezeless August night and his partner knew he wasn���t happy. ���We���ve been had. It had to have come in somewhere else.���

Desmond stood on the edge of the platform and examined the dock, searching for anything he might have missed. The abandoned warehouses were silent and empty and the pier was quiet. Light waves from the Hudson River lapped gently against the broken and decayed planks. An occasional coo from a dove, or a flap of pigeon wings, were the only sounds to mar the silence and tranquility of the evening.

���We definitely missed something,��� Desmond mused. ���Sharif was sure it was coming in here. He tracked the shipment leaving the Middle East.���

���Sure, my ass,��� Flanagan snorted. ���Wheedling the info out of a bunch of drunken Syrians isn���t what I���d call ���sure.��� Probably blitzed out of his mind on Barada Beer the entire time. Not so hard when you���re partying on the government���s dime.���

Desmond exhaled. ���Let���s do a final check of the wharfs on Harper���s Row and then call it a night.���

The Detectives moved across the jetty and made their way downtown to the last set of piers.

*******************************

That was just a little taste… If you’re interested in joining my mailing list to find out exactly when it’s launching, please feel free to join here: http://www.elysesalpeter.com/contact-me.html

So, what do you think? Have you read book #1? Are you intrigued? Love to hear!

New Year’s Resolutions… versus New Year’s Goals…

Every year people make resolutions, and every year I think about making some, and then I don’t. Maybe it’s because I’m so goal-oriented to begin with that I don’t see the need to set up additional resolutions for myself. But the more I think about it, I realize that while I do a lot, there are things I put aside because of the time and effort it takes to get them done.

For example. I write books, but they are presently only available on Amazon. My writing “goal” for next year is to publish another novel in the Kelsey Porter series and put out a horror anthology. My “resolution” is going to be to finally get all my previously published books formatted and put on other platforms besides just Amazon.

Another goal I try to do is to socialize as much as I can. I go out with friends, get together for special family occasions, etc. But my resolution this year is going to be to “bring more people together.” I want to throw a few random parties where it’s not because of a holiday or a special event. Maybe I do “Thanksgiving in February” and invite people in the neighborhood I’d love to see more of? Maybe I do a holiday dinner “a week before the actual holiday” so that I can be assured that all the different families are around and not already booked with their immediate family celebrations? My goal has always been to let my children know that they have a wide community of people that care about them. So my resolution this year is going to be to foster stronger ties with those people and create a stronger sense of community with those neighbors and friends I’d love to see more of.

My last one is a tricky one. The number one resolution everyone always seems to make is to exercise and eat better. Well, I do that all the time. It’s always something I try to do and with a bad back, it sometimes gets in the way of this goal. My resolution this year is not going to be “I’ll exercise and eat better” but it will be to “not allow my body to dictate my life.” If I need to rest it to heal, I will, if I need to kick myself to get down to the treadmill, I will. In 2015 I’m not going to let my “body” be one of my goals – it will simply be there as part of “me” and my resolution is to not let my limitations dictate how I live my life.

So, do you have goals and resolutions? Do you have things you always say you’re going to do, but don’t? I suggest you think about them differently. Come up with ones other than eating healthy or exercising. Find some new ones that speak to your sense of community, your family, your inner circle and run with them. You may be surprised at what you accomplish.

The Allure of the Give-away…

Come enter to win…

I love contests. As a kid, I was the one that got suckered and would send out money (my meager dollars) to those bogus contests where “just send $5 and you get an extra twenty chances to win $10,000!” And then the next letter would come, telling me that I’d “progressed and to send more money and I’d be up to win the $1,000,000 grand prize!” I believed all of it. When my father found out what I’d been doing, he freaked and sat me down and explained to me that these contests were complete shams. (not to mention how illegal it must have been to take money from a kid)

But the allure of contests never left me. I used to enter them all the time. I got the free cans of food, a few watches, some pens, once tickets to a basketball game, and my biggest haul was a Weber Charcoal Grill that sat under my kitchen table in NYC for three years since we didn’t have a balcony to use it (thankfully we eventually moved and were finally able to break that baby open).

So, now I like to actually DO giveaways and have one going on Goodreads for my novel THE MANNEQUINS. Until December 24th, people can enter to win a free hardcopy of the book here: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/119558-the-mannequins

In the deep woods of California, there���s an old decaying mansion with a terrible secret. When any enter its doors, the house claims them, propelling them to a land in a different reality, run by a man who calls himself, the Preacher. If you play by his rules, you live a life of luxury, but if you displease him? With a flick of his wrist, you are transformed into a living doll, a mannequin, and there is no escape��� until the madman is done playing with you.

Sorry that it’s only open to US Peeps – the next give-away I’ll open up to folks overseas. If you enter, or for those who can’t, please consider also putting it on your shelf. If you don’t win, you can always check it out another time. If you just can’t wait and the book sounds SO GREAT that you just have to have it right now, well, by all means, click here for it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/12YQVwR

So tell me, do you love to enter contests? What’s the biggest thing you’ve won so far?

Making Excuses

Let’s put it out there right now. We all make excuses. Excuses for not wanting to exercise, excuses for not being able to eat right, for not wanting to go to work, school, do homework, put our laundry away, write. “I have a headache, I’m tired, my back hurts, or the best, I just don’t have the time.”

I get it. We all make excuses. I’m known for my piles. I have papers, letters, scraps of stuff I just don’t know what to do with, so I put them in piles and then make excuses as to why I can’t put them away. I have been making an excuse for the past two weeks why I can’t exercise. I blamed “I lost my iPod.” (which I did) But I found it today and suddenly my excuse is gone and I’m like “Uh oh, I have to exercise now.” (now I’m frantically thinking if my bad back, which I have, is enough of an excuse not to work out – I’m thinking not)

I think the thing is, we have to think about why we’re making an excuse in the first place. Is it avoidance of an issue, plain laziness, or is the effort too much?

I’m staring at two piles of papers in my room now. Today I put away 10 pieces of paper from one pile. I know it doesn’t seem like a lot, but I had to figure out WHERE to put those things and while I’m feeling pretty good about it, I realize I have about 100 more papers to go. After I’m done with this post, I think I’ll put a few more away. I think.

But you see, while I do have these piles, I’m anything but lazy. I made a lasagna today and a pot of sauce and meatballs, I made a photo album for my kid’s birthday party, I edited a horror anthology I’m working on and spoke to two beta readers who are reading Book #2 in my Kelsey Porter series. (Book #1 is THE HUNT FOR XANADU which you can check out here if you’d like: http://bitly.com/1tzIna2 ) I also went food shopping to two stores, cleaned my bathroom and hustled one kid to classes AND played Minecraft to appease another child. (dang it’s hard to move on that game!)

So, I have a few papers on a pile. Big deal. Maybe it’s not such a bad excuse after all. So tell me, what “chore” do you put aside until you just can’t put it aside any longer? Love to hear!

Stop Getting Upset When You’re Unfollowed on Twitter…

When you are new to social media, and specifically twitter, it’s all about gaining followers. The question begs, WHY are you following people and why are you gaining followers? Are you an author and wish to reach readers and other authors who will in turn do tweets for you to get messaging out? Are you an interviewer or reporter and want your words and messages heard? Are you a reader and want to tell people about the books you’re reading? Or, are you what we lovingly call a voyeur who simply reads the tweets of the people they’re interested in, never commenting or posting on their own? People on twitter will generally follow like-minded people and others will follow people because of what they’re posting.

No matter how people start following you, stop staring at your follow numbers and WORRYING ABOUT PEOPLE UNFOLLOWING YOU. Really, just stop. I used to check all the time. When I first started building my follow list, I’d be devastated and confused when I discovered people unfollowed me. I mean, why would they do this? “I’m not provocative, I’m funny. What did I do? Don’t they like me?” The reality is, they stopped following me for whatever reason they wanted. There are just so many things you can control in life, and other people’s actions are NOT one of them.

Want to hear the #1 Follow Rule on Twitter? Follow people who follow you or seek out new people to follow. Retweet people, comment on people’s tweets. Participate in twitter hashtag parties. It is the simplest and most direct way to gain new followers – and these are like minded people for the most part. That said, I still get unfollowed all the time. For this example, right now I just went to www.justunfollow.com and checked the recent amount of people who unfollowed me since I last checked, which was yesterday. In that time period four people have unfollowed me. It’s usually as high as twenty. EVERY ONE of these people are authors. I no longer get upset when I see this. But don’t think sometimes I’m not tempted to actually tweet an author and ask them WHY they unfollowed me. But that sounds a little “stalky creepy” and I’ve decided against that tactic. And don’t get me started if I discover I’ve been blocked. That ALWAYS freaks me out a little, but in an effort to stay sane, I let that go.

Now that I have over 26K followers, what is happening is many times people will follow me in order for me to follow them back. THEN they unfollow me. It’s a tactic they do to gain followers, but not have a high following count and a tactic they will do hoping I will do a tweet for them to my high follower list. It’s not nice and it’s sneaky and doesn’t sit well with me, but it is what it is. With justunfollow.com I now have the ability to see who just unfollowed me and I go and unfollow them right back. I don’t confront, I don’t retweet, I just do this non-passive aggressive thing and move on. NOW, that said, there are people who simply don’t follow others, and they have great content to share – so remember, YOU are in control of who you wish to follow at every moment.

Sometimes an unfollow is a mistake. I have had a few very good friends suddenly disappear from my lists. When that happens, I call them out on it and they are usually surprised. It really is only a simple click and someone is unfollowed.

So, I leave you with this. Stop worrying. You don’t know most of these people, you’ve never met most of these people, you’ve never interacted with most of these people. They are strangers. Stop worrying if they don’t follow you or unfollowed you. Return the “favor” and let it go. Then go follow 50 new people, commenting on a few great posts, find a few you haven’t supported in a while and retweet them, and then call it a day.

Life is way too short to be offended by people who you’ve never interacted with in the first place. My favorite phrase? “Don’t let it rent space in your head.” Post great comments and your peeps will find you. Or they won’t. It’s all good.

What I’m Thankful For… and this time, let it be about YOU…

When Thanksgiving comes around, it’s customary to go around the table and tell everyone what you’re thankful for. Most of the time the answer is “our children, health and a warm home” and they are totally acceptable answers. I am thankful I’m a mom, thankful my family is healthy and so thankful that I am now two years past our 12 days without power during Hurricane Sandy. I am thankful I can put food on the table and that my children have no idea how lucky they are and their biggest stresses are if their phones runs out of power or they have to finish their homework.

But what if the question was “besides our family, our health and our warm homes” what are you thankful for? What are you thankful for that sits deep in your gut? The stuff that feeds your base needs and desires and for some reason we seem to feel that by saying those out loud, that makes us selfish. I don’t agree. I think those wonderful things “that make you thankful to be YOU” are the saving grace for all of us.

So, I’ll start. I’m thankful that I’m “brave.” I’m thankful that a few years ago I jumped into publishing and I tried this crazy gig getting my books out into the world. I’m on 6 books now with two anthologies scheduled to come out in 2015. So, I’m thankful I got the guts to even try it.

Meeting Douglas Preston at the Blue Labyrinth Launch in NYC

I’m thankful for social media and authors who embrace it. For getting the chance to meet, on quite a few occasions now, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child who have written the most amazing series of books that literally stay with me through my days. (might I suggest you start with Relic and go from there) I’m thankful that I took a leap of faith and after 19 years at my job I decided to try another side of the business. If I weren’t brave, I might have still been sitting at the same desk, calling on the same people that I’ve been doing for years.

I’m thankful I’ll try crazy foods and that I’ll put myself into uncomfortable situations, that I’m stubborn and obstinate at times and thankful that if someone messes with my children, I am brave enough to open my mouth loud and wide.

I’m thankful I’m a pretty decent cook and 9 out of 10 times the family eats what I make them. Lastly, I’m thankful that my 14 year old Jeep Cherokee is still working and my ferret stopped biting my feet all the time.

These are the types of things I don’t normally say at the Thanksgiving table, but they are true feelings. So, I’d love to hear what you’re thankful for that has nothing to do with family and everything to do with YOU. It’s time to let it out – don’t worry, we don’t judge.

The Day I Learned There are “Dirty” Words in Sign Language.

I had such a great response to my post on “My Fascination with Sign Language,” I thought I’d share some other stories from my Professor Larry Forrestal, who was my teacher when I took ASL in college. Larry was deaf and conducted the entire class in sign language so the students would be immediately immersed in the language.

One of the great things about ASL is that within about four chapters of vocabulary words, you can actually start speaking to each other. The language is amazing. There are a lot of technical things, like grammar, and there’s a perception that ASL is “English.” While the words are in English, the grammar is different and just like any other language, there are proper ways to say things in order to communicate more effectively. Only problem is, I’m terrible at grammar – both in English AND ASL.

But, to get back to the topic of this post, like any other language, there are also dirty words! To a bunch of college-aged kids, learning them became a source of secret pride. I remember one day in class Professor Forrestal was doing something at the front of the room and a bunch of us started openly speaking about the fact that there are dirty words in ASL. (Larry had told us previously there were not). We began to show each other all the words we had learned. (some of them from the Marlee Matlin movie Children of a Lesser God). “BS” was a big one and a few other choice words of content that I just can’t post here. BUT, the embarrassing thing was Larry had slinked up behind us and was watching us do the words and when we realized he was there, we were so embarrassed. But, true to his wonderful character, he just rolled his eyes, brought us all into a circle and proceeded to teach us the proper way to say these words. He signed “if you’re determined to do them, at least do them right!” Really loved this guy. All I’ll say is that one of the words looks like “pizza” with a double pump to the chin and another looks like “shoes.” There’s a few more, but suffice it to say that like in any language there is indeed, slang.

I’m thinking of adding some slang in my next ASL book. My main character is getting older and I’m curious if teens use it. I may have to inquire at Mill Neck Manor if I can come in and speak to the kids again to see if they can help me. They were invaluable when I was writing book #2 in the series. FLYING TO THE LIGHT is about a young deaf boy who knows about the afterlife and now people are after him for the answer. FLYING TO THE FIRE continues the tale seven years later and my main character’s life is suddenly turned upside down yet again. Book #3 is going to be called FLYING HOME… I already know what the main story is about, but now I have to figure out how to get there.

So I ask folks this: I always thought I’d end the series in a trilogy, but could this tale continue further and should I set it up to keep going? It was not something I thought about until a few weeks ago. Love to hear your thoughts.