Mimi Barbour's Blog: Believe!, page 22

This is fun! The 10th occupation for the busy author! #amreading

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The last on my list of the many professions successful Indie authors will have to be able to assume. Original post January 8th, 2015
     10.     Professional Reader – reading is extremely important to you now. Much more so than when you did it to be entertained. Oh those good old days!Now, your reading must include other’s blogs about the business, books on craft, editorials about the future we face and hundreds of e-mails to sort through in a day/week. And as everyone tells you – a good book by someone in the same genre who is already reached the golden heights of the New York Times and the USA Today’s land of success is a huge learning tool also.

This can be the fun part of the job or your worst nightmare. I personally have found myself praying that of the 200 or more e-mails I get every day (many Facebook and Twitter notices) that they aren’t going to make more work for me. I gotta tell you - I just loovvvee the delete button.

Then there’s our favorite blogs that can draw a person in, and for me, I have tocheck them out to see what’s new in the professional quagmire of constant changes. And… there’s always something that seems important to look into, learn about and find out if it affects me personally.  

Other types of reading that seems necessary is the writing or marketing craft books. Let’s face it – we can never be good enough, never stop learning about what others, successful in their careers, have used to reach their goals. And… every time I do get caught up in these types of books, there’s a huge list of to-do’s that one day I want to follow up on….laughing hysterically!   

Enough doom and gloom. Since we want to learn from others who are travelling along our path, it’s a pleasure to pick up a good book. Reading fiction written by others is not only a treat but a must. Consider it a learning tool. Nowadays, finding a good book published by one of my favorites is still a thrill.

Funny thing is, I can remember when I would be captivated by the first page, swallowed into the story and within the first chapter, if it was a really riveting, I’d be glued to the book, I’ll admit that, nowadays, I’m not as easily enthralled. I bring my knowledge of the craft unintentionally to my reading, darn-it anyways– and it takes a really good plot, well-written, to draw me in.

But when that happens, I’m in heaven... 

@TaylorLeeWrites - A provocative new series called Ladies of the Night !

Sapphire by Taylor Lee Series: Ladies of the Night Sexy Suspense Collection, Book OneGenre: Romantic SuspenseRelease Date: April 15, 2015

Join the Facebook Party to celebrate the release of Sapphire!Friday, April 17 ~ 12:00pm - 2:00pm ESTClick the banner to join!

Sapphire is the first book in Taylor Lee’s provocative new series, Ladies of the Night. The Ladies are covert agents in a secretive, off the grid security organization.  Highly trained fighters, they’re as gorgeous as they are dangerous to the evil men they’re hired to bring to justice. The only thing these formidable women are NOT is “ladies.”

Gabriella Shaw, Code Name: Sapphire, is hired to seduce and capture the leader of a lucrative international human trafficking enterprise. The epitome of the mastermind’s targeted women, Sapphire is the consummate bait.  Unfortunately for the evil man, Sapphire is as deadly as she is beautiful.  Paired with former Col. Jase Malone, the two agents enter the Caligula Club to trap their prey. The club is the salacious playground for the rich, famous and deviant, and the conduit to the human trafficking horror.  The only thing more challenging than the mastermind to the fiercely independent Sapphire is her commanding partner. The sparks fly as Sapphire and Malone fight to capture the criminally insane mastermind while their fierce personal attraction threatens to bring them both—and the mission—crashing down.






USA Today Best Selling author Taylor Lee writes Suspenseful Mystery Thrillers – with a heavy dose of Sexy to Sizzling HOT Romance.

In the less than four years that she has been writing, Taylor has written more than thirty books.  Her six, soon to be seven, series track her Special Operatives, Covert Agents, Cops, Firefighters and other iconic heroes and heroines, through the harrowing situations that make up their lives. From human trafficking rings to corrupt politicians, Taylor investigates the underbelly of society and the criminals who flourish there.

Taylor says: “From the residue in my personal blender of mixed races, cultures and world views, my characters emerge. It comforts me to know that while evil slinks in the shadows, the “good guys” of the world sniff it out – and snuff it out.

My characters are arrogant alpha males and the feisty women who bring them to their knees – and vice versa… They fight hard, love hard and don’t mince words. They are dangerous men and women in dangerous times. Love, passion and ridding the world of evil? What’s not to like?”




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Money! Yes the dirty word matters in the life of an author. Or should… #asmsg

We're still working through my list of the many professions successful Indie authors will have to be able to assume. Original post: Original post January 8th, 2015

9.      Accountant  – because this is a business, someone needs to keep track of your income and expenses. Who else but you can know what those are? I’m lucky that in my working life, I was a pay-mistress with a goodly amount of bookkeeping experience. But that doesn't help the rest of you.

Right from the beginning of this late-in-life career, I've understood that I’m not just an author who writes books, but a woman who has started her own business. Because of my background, I've always measured success on whatever profit I see each month. It’s made it easier for me to make the choices I have to when faced with hard decisions. Do I want to give up any of my control over my product or not? 

Yes, your books are your product and don’t ever think differently unless your earnings and the bottom line don’t matter to you. And there are many authors who feel this way. Seeing their book in print feeds something in their ego and it’s enough.

Not for me!

It’s true that in any new business, you must put the majority of your earnings back into the pot for the first few years. Then work hard to finally see black at the end of a that period. But the more you invest (in good covers, top editing and lots of paid promotions) you’ll see the differences in your sales. It’s really that simple. A slow, hard-working process but nonetheless, a winner if you stick at it.

And… by keeping clear, concise records, you’ll be able to see your expenses versus your income. That should show you where you've made good investments and where you might like to rethink things. For example: For the first few years that I was an Indie author, I promoted with a group called the Freepartay. Every month and then eventually, every couple of weeks, I was handing over anywhere from $100 to $200 for the opportunity to be involved in their very convoluted advertising set-up. The thing is, at first, I didn't really make a huge amount of money. But what I did see was that I was getting thousands and thousands of people downloading my free books and the backlash gave me enough sales, that every month, my bottom line grew. Within the year, not only was I earning back my investment, I was gaining readers.

And I was able to compute that because I kept records. I did my accounting and made sure I always knew where I stood. I understood what ROA (Return on investment) means and how to assess it. 

And I judged the importance of gaining readers versus the cost not repaid. It’s a long-term kind of a business, isn't it? We need to think ahead and know that the number of books we have circulating with that wonderful “Also Author of…” page will do its magic. That when the satisfied reader who just loved your book goes to see what else you've written, he/she will find the list that shows a prolific author who has a lot to offer. More sales ensue and the business grows…and grows.

Slowly! But it grows.  


Then wham!! New York Times list!!! 
Yessss…..

Author’s lament - what do I know about websites? #amwriting

Original post January 8th, 2015
We’re up to #8 in our list of different careers an Indie Author has to take on nowadays. (Correction – any author)


Website Manager – at the beginning of our journey, we were all told that having a website was one of the most important choices we could make when starting out. Having a blog was a preference but the website was a must.


I believe it’s true. In fact, I was also warned that blogs could be lost and I know that to be heartrendingly true because it’s happened to friends of mine.


But it won’t happen to a website. That is your storefront so to speak – the permanent office for your business. It’s your home base where readers and fans can always find you. Therefore it matters.


A lot!


I've had my website renovated recently and it’s become a very efficient place for folks to visit and find out about me. The Home page explains about my start as an Indie Author and my achievements since the beginning. Next is the About page with my bio and picture, which, by the way, I've never had professionally done. My husband was so proud of the photo he took of me; I didn't have the heart to replace it with one taken by a stranger. Following this is the most important page. My Book page listing all my work in the appropriate series, excerpts for most and here we've added all the links to the various venues to make purchasing easier.


The subsequent two pages News and Extras are pretty self-explanatory. I actually found it difficult to fill these spots and I know I need to make more of an effort…will do…one day! I will….!


Then bringing up the rear is the Contact page. Again, this needs to be kept up to date. You won’t believe how many wonderful people have written to me from this e-mail address that I only use in two places - on my website and in the back of my books.  So cool to open an e-mail from a reader who’s contacted me to say how much they loved a certain book. Precious!


Now that I've gone through the website’s structure (mine), I hope you can see how much information is available under one address. It’s great, right? But… someone has to manage it. I do everything on my blog, but for my website, I just couldn't face the learning curve and so I hired a webmistress called Rae Monet. She’s fabulous, efficient and so fast that I never have to wait long for my updates to appear.


Except… these updates have to be instigated by – you guessed it – ME!!! She only does what I ask her to do. It’s still up to little ole me what material shows up there and how it’s placed. I won’t even begin to delve into search engines and the likes or how to get your website in the forefront on Google. That’s a whole other post.


Just more chores for the overworked, underpaid, stressed-out Indie author to deal with!

You gotta love this job. No… really! You gotta love it!


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Here's a sneak peak of my new cover for I'm No Angel that's just been released for Pre-order on Amazon. Will tell you more about the book in my next post :-)

Covert Danger by author @Jo_AnnCarson It's on my wish list!

Covert Danger by Jo-Ann Carson Series: Mata Hari, #1Genre: Romantic SuspenseRelease Date: April 1, 2015


A single woman — A double life

High fashion model, Sadie Stewart, is a dedicated undercover CIA agent used to getting her man. But this time she’s chasing a power-hungry international arms dealer stealing ancient Egyptian amulets. Brilliant, ruthless and slightly wacko, he’s a hard catch. She’s willing to risk everything to stop him, but the handsome Sebastian Wilde, who looks like a modern Viking, keeps getting in her way. Her independence is shaken as he stirs feelings in her that she thought only existed in fairy tales. Can she put their attraction aside and get the job done?

When Sebastian sees Sadie in a high speed motor-boat flying down the Grand Canal in Venice, with the Italian military police hot on her tail, her beauty and courage intrigue him. He has a personal vendetta to stop the trading of looted art, and when it looks as though she’s involved in that shady world, he decides to stop her. Could the femme fatale really be that evil?

Their adventure spans the globe with scenes in Venice, Florence, Amsterdam, Cairo and New York.

Can they work together and stop the heist planned for the Met Museum of Art? Protecting the relics becomes their shared goal, but it’s not all about ancient magic and power. Love hangs in the balance.

A cross between Indiana Jones and Covert Affairs

Award Winning
Smart Sexy Suspense



Excerpt #1: Sadie conning her fence, Delilah, to get closer to her mark:

“Sadie, sweet Sadie, do you really think you can keep evading the police by sneaking around, or leading them on spectacular boat chases? Get a grip, woman. I give you six months as a jewel thief
and then you’ll be in some cold European jail cell with Bessy.”

“Bessy?”

“A big girlfriend you don’t want to meet.”

“Oh. You gotta help me, Delilah. You know people. There’s got to be a better way. I figure I need twenty million Euro to retire in style. That’s all—twenty mill.”

Delilah smiled her gotcha-smile. “If you’re not going to marry it, honey, you’re going to have to steal it or...”

“Or what?”

“Smuggle it.”

* * * * * * * * * *
Excerpt #2: Bakari (the bad guy) asks a seer for help:
Djeserit looked back down at the table. Her mouth firmed into a straight line. “The cards are sacred. They are meant to help us on our spiritual journey on this plane. They should not be misused.” She looked back at him. “I fear for you. You have been a good friend to me. It is not wise to upset the natural order.”
“You've never been reluctant to give me a reading. Why now? Have you seen something in the cards? Did you hear news on the street? What are you so afraid of?”
“It is all in the cards.”
He’d never heard her voice so flat. “Tell me!” He hadn't meant to yell.
Picking up the deck she held it for a moment in her hands as if it held the weight of eternity. Whispering words he could not hear she brought the cards to her heart. Then her eyes locked with his once more. “Only if you are sure.”






I've lived most of my life on islands off the the west coast of Canada, surrounded by snow covered mountains, lush rain forests and pristine beaches. While I enjoy traveling, I'm most at home on the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

​In my twenties I wanted to become a writer, but being practical I chose a career in teaching.  I loved working with children for many years.

​Time flew by, but the writing itch stayed with me, as much a part of me as my skin. My family has grown up and I’m retired. Now I spend my days spinning sexy, suspense stories edged with adventure.
​
Presently, I'm working on the Mata Hari series.




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Facebook Events - do they work? More importantly, do you like them?

Do you get invitations to join these popular Facebook events? Do you accept them? I never have until I was forced to be involved. You see - I was one of the authors in a box collection presenting the party. We were all given hour spots that we were expected to host.

I dreaded it but, as you know, majority rules in these situations. The other girls knew what I hadn't understood.

That these crazy events are a heck of a lot of fun!

Unfortunately, my first experience was a nerve-wracking nightmare. I had no idea how to organize myself, how to pin a post or how to refresh a page. These are three very important steps you must understand if you want to have a successful party that you can enjoy.

Organizing is easy:
In a word document, compose the blurb you want to pin, so when it’s your turn to take the reins, all you need to do is copy and paste. In this write-up, make sure to welcome everyone. Tell them about the collection you’re advertising and then explain what it is you want them to do in order to win your prize. I usually ask for newsletter sign-ups but others want likes on their Facebook page or follows on Twitter, etc. Then ask them a question. For those who leave a comment, let them know what you’re giving away – a photo of the prize or book cover is needed here to catch the eye.






Pin the post:
See the photo above where the little arrow is clicked to open this box? It says “Pin to top” right? You click there. If it asks you to unpin the earlier post, say yes. Easy-shmeasy!

Refresh the page:
Again, this is simple if you know what it means. All I do is copy the url at the top of the page and then paste it in the same place or even just highlight it and hit enter. That will bring up the same page, which is what you want. You will have to scroll to where your slot is and most likely, you’ll have find where it says comments under the blurb and click on that or where see where it says other comments and that should open up all of the stream once again.

Hint: When I reply to comments, I always use # with the person’s name I’m answering. So they know I’m talking to them and I can see who I’ve answered and who I might have missed.

It’s true that this can get really hectic but golly is it fun! You’ll get to meet a lot of new Facebook friends who will then go to “like” your page and many will want to friend you also. Then there’s the ones who go to sign up on your newsletter, which a nice little bonus.

All in all, it’s a great way to spend an hour.

Mimi Barbour’s contacts:


Website, Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, Amazon.



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A blog too! Is there no end to an author's duties? #blogging @mimi'sgang1

Now we're at #7


A Blogger – not every person wants to blog and that’s just fine. I understand that you must sometimes feel as though you haven’t a minute to spare. After all, once you've gotten your words written every day, the thought of dragging more out of your brain can be overwhelming. I know and I sympathize.

But when I first began my journey in this career and happy to soak up any advice others were willing to share, I listened to a smart, successful author who told me this:Write a blog and make sure to put out posts every few days. You’ll be surprised at how much that practice will benefit you in the end. Plus, it’s a good way to gain followers, make friends and the perfect place to advertise your work.”

Turned out to be the truth and I still thank the good Lord that I took her advice.

For me, although it’s time-consuming, it’s helped tremendously with my writing. Because of blogging, I can write faster, smoother, my mind wraps itself around issues I want to talk about a lot quicker than it used to and I put that down to the constant training.

You know, when I started, I really worried I’d run out of material. Nah! Ain't ever gonna happen! There’s more information gathered in my poor aching brain than I would have imagined. Sharing it works for me and, I hope, for the readers.

The topic I chose - Facts and fiction about becoming an author! - was near and dear to my heart. I wanted to help others who had the same dreams of success. Some have already experienced parts of the journey and still others are now following the well-trodden path and finding it filled with many of the same pitfalls I encountered along my way. Therefore, if my blogging about the issues I came up against will stop others from making the same errors in judgement, then I’m a happy blogger.

And… I do understand that not everyone wants to write about the same subject. And why should you? Choose a theme that lights you up. Make sure you’re at least somewhat knowledgeable so there’s not a huge amount of research.

Don’t be fooled. Remember, that a lot of blog readers are just ordinary folks who enjoy learning something new and being entertained. And… there’re a whole lot of them.

In fact, I checked Wikipedia and this is the stats:On 20 February 2014, there were around 172 million Tumblr and 75.8 million WordPress blogs in existence worldwide. According to critics and other bloggers, Blogger is the most popular blogging service used today, however Blogger does not offer publicstatistics. Technorati has 1.3 million blogs as of February 22, 201.

Now, it only stands to reason that if those blogs are surviving, it’s because there are people who are interested and following them.

Another motivation for me to keep up my blog is because, since I joined Triberr, I have a huge number of people who view my posts. Many have become friends who support me. Some are just strangers checking out specific stories, being drawn in by the titles. No matter! Gotta tell you - I love them and I love my blog.





*Please follow me on my newsletter so I can keep in touch with you. I really do only write approximately once a month and I've been told by many that they like my newsy letters. Guess it’s because I feel like I’m writing to friends!
*****

Two Princes: The Biker and the Billionaire by Victoria Danann @vdanann

TWO PRINCES:
The Biker and the Billionaire by Victoria Danann Series: Sons of Sanctuary MC, Book 1Genre: Contemporary RomanceRelease Date: June 16, 2015

Brigid Roan is a graduate student at the University of Texas. She had no trouble getting her thesis approved, but finding a Hill Country motorcycle club willing to give her access to their lifestyle had started to seem impossible. Then she got a lead. A friend of a friend had a cousin with ties to The Sons of Sanctuary.

What she wanted was information to prove a proposition. What she didn’t want was to fall for one of the members of the club. Especially since she had set out to prove that motorcycle clubs are organized according to the same structure as primitive tribal society.

Brash Fornight was standing in line at the H.E.B. Market when his world tipped on its axis. While waiting his turn to check out, his gaze had wandered to the magazine display and settled on the new issue of “NOW”. The image on the cover, although GQ’d up in an insanely urbane way, was… him.

After reading the article, Brash threw some stuff in a duffle and left his club, The Sons of Sanctuary, with a vague explanation about needing a couple of days away. He left his Jeep at the Austin airport and caught a plane for New York, on a mission to find the guy who was walking around with his face.

Two brothers, one a player, one a playboy, neither aware of the other, are on a collision course with destiny and a woman who thought she won a prize when she was allowed a look inside the Sons of Sanctuary MC.




USA TODAY Bestselling Author Victoria Danann
Victoria writes cross-genre with uniquely fresh perspectives on paranormal creatures, characters, and themes. She is making her debut into contemporary romance with the publication of the SUMMER FIRE ultimate romance collection anthology with the intro to the Sons of Sanctuary MC series. The first full novel of the series will be released June 16, 2015.

Victoria's The Order of the Black Swan has won BEST PARANORMAL ROMANCE SERIES TWO YEARS IN A ROW (2013, 2014). Reviewers Choice Awards, The Paranormal Romance Guild.


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Making a cover is easy – I’m creative – yeah right!!

**My newest cover designed by Steven Novak from Novak Illustrations This book will be released in the May 2015 box collection - Summer Fire!

Cover designer is #6 in the list of careers many Indie authors take on when publishing their work.


In this instance, unless you are a genius with a design background, I truly believe you should hire a professional.

Let’s face it, their vision of colors, styles and understanding what works in today’s market is a whole different profession than that of a wordsmith. (don’t-cha just love that phrase??)

Okay - I know many of you slap a cover together and do it fairly well. I guess, for me, it’s like going out in public with my hair kinda fixed, my makeup kinda okay and dressed kinda nice. But I could look a whole lot better – eye-catching, stunning…. you know what I mean.

Plain and simple - it takes a different set of skills. And just because we know that we can do it ourselves, doesn't mean we should. I've seen a lot of mediocre covers and I have no doubt that the sales are reflective of that problem.

In fact, I personally know a lot of authors who did settle for less than perfection and have since redone covers and seen a rise in their sales.

I also know that when books were being sold off of shelves in bookstores and other outlets, many times what grabbed my attention long enough to have me reaching for the book was my first view of its outside.

And don’t be fooled by e-books and the internet marketing platforms. Readers still look at covers and what they see can most certainly draw them to check further into the book’s description.


And... hopefully click on that magic ‘buy’ button. 

***Please follow me on my newsletter so I can keep in touch with you. I really do only write once a month or so and I've  been told by many that they like my newsy letters. Guess it’s because I feel like I’m writing  to friends!

*****

Never let anyone tell you that all an Indie Author does is write! #amwriting

Moving on to #5

A formatter – again you can hire someone. At the beginning I did so and it jumped up and bit me in the ass. It’s much better to learn how and keep control of all your work.

I can only speak from my own experience about the formatting issue. And I will tell you that if I knew then, (when I first started) what I know now, (famous last words) I would have done things very differently. I would never have hired a professional.

Instead, I’d have found a top-notch program that works as well as a professional and done it myself. Which is what I ended up doing last summer for most of my books...  approximately 20 of them. And let me tell you – it was a lot of work and worth every minute I grumbled my way through it.

The thing is, when you first begin this writer’s journey, there is so much to learn that one gets overwhelmed. A person believes that they can’t do it all. That they need to pay a professional to do this stuff for them. As far as the cover art and the editing, I totally agree. But when it comes to the formatting, nowadays, it’s not that difficult.

Trust me… It kind of like the old saying – if I can do it – any dummy can.... truly!!

Early last year, after one of our local RWA meetings, I was having some wine with a few of the other authors in the group and sniveling about how my formatter had dropped the ball yet again and was keeping me waiting until the very last minute for my formatted manuscripts. One of the ladies became interested and mentioned a program called Pressbook. She explained that it was a template kind of deal where one followed the instructions, copy and pasted the manuscript into a form, added in the Book Information such as the ISBN, the copywrite, etc and it was simple. Once you chose the appearance from a number of styles they have there for you to peruse, you click on export. Within a few seconds, for the low cost of $20, you’ll get the prettiest little pdf, epub and mobi files you ever did see.

Thankfully, there were a lot of how-to videos to watch that made this possible for me to learn quickly. With very little skill, taking approximately an hour or two for a book (depending on the length), I was able to accomplish what I had paid mega bucks to have done in the past. And… all I had gotten for my money and the years I’d stuck it out was a mobi format – nothing else.

So… find yourself something similar. I know a lot of people use Scrivener, others use Microsoft Word and still others use Adobe InDesign. For me, I never had any real experience with any of these. Once my formatter had begun to drop the ball, was hard to get a hold of, taking way too long with the work and wanting to charge me extra for the epub files, (you see - I’d decided to begin spreading my work around the other venues) it was time to do something different. And I can’t tell you how glad I am that I did make the change.

For me, Pressbook has been terrific. I can store all my manuscripts in the site and access them any time I want to and from any computer. This is huge!!! Therefore, all my book files are altogether and safe. Whenever I want to update the “Also Author of…” page - no problem. I make the changes in the new book I’m formatting, and then when I have time, I go into the other books and copy and paste the new page and press the export button. Seconds later, I have the files and can go and upload them wherever they need to go – Amazon, Kobo, Apple, etc. I don’t have to go and beg anyone to do this work for me and then have to pay them.

An added benefit I love about Pressbook is that you can also pay another $80 and have that file made into a paperback pdf. That’s so cool!! (BTW – they often have sales with up to 35% off so I nab a discount for one of my paperbacks every time and get to save a lot of money that way.)

Okay - Just a small note to end this debate… if in fact you really can’t handle doing the formatting yourself, then please do find a good formatter, one that doesn't charge too much and has a good turnaround time – and REALLY good references. Because, let’s face it, no matter who does the work, it has to be done. Your product has to be perfect to compete against others who know better than to publish amateurishly formatted material.

I hope I gave you lots to think about...


You hate me now, don’t ya??
**From now on, I've decided I need to follow my own advice. I tell everyone how important it is to make friends and get exposure so the readers will recognize you and want to follow you down your path as an author. So therefore, from now on, I’ll be making a concerted effort to invite those who read my blogs to please follow me on my newsletter also.

I really do only write once a month or so and I've been told by many that they like my newsy letters. Guess it’s because I feel like I’m writing a letter to friends rather than a business blurb about my books.
Sign here!
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