Christine Rains's Blog, page 103

Wicked Wednesday - promoting tips and one day until The Marquis

One more day until the first book of the 13th Floor series is officially released. I'm hyperventilating a little bit and eating too much chocolate. I worry about whether I'm doing enough to promote the series. So I've been reading articles about self-promotion. When I'm anxious about something, research does help. Or it's enough to distract me from my worries!

Here are a few things I've learned about promoting your books:
1. Word-of-mouth is extremely important. When people get talking about your book, it can snowball. Especially on sites like Twitter.
2. Reviews are also very important. Encourage readers to leave reviews on their blogs and from wherever they purchased your book. Send your book to review sites.
3. Samples and excerpts will let readers who are unfamiliar with your work get a peek. Pick something that will hook them.
4. Have an awesome cover and blurb. These will attract readers who randomly come across your book.
5. If you can afford it, use paid advertising.

Tomorrow I begin my eight day blog tour for The Marquis. My first stop is at Cherie Reich's blog. We'll be starting the excitement right off with a giveaway. Every day during the tour, I'll be posting a tidbit about The Marquis or the 13th Floor series. On the 21st, I'll be revealing the cover to the second book in the series, The Alpha.

And then I'll be taking a little Christmas break to catch up on my sleep!

Teaser Tuesday with Alchemystic

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current read Open to a random page Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that pageBE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!This is the newest book from Anton Strout. His Simon Canderous series is hilarious. His writing is very Buffy-esque. Alchemystic is an urban fantasy about a gargoyle. Pretty cool, eh? Makes me miss the Gargoyles cartoon.
Here's your teaser:
With perfect accuracy, my stone form hit the man hard - as I had intended - driving his body away from the woman, the sound of cracking running through him. So fragile, these creatures. (page 73)

Cheers, Cavanaugh Blogfest

This fantastically fun blogfest is in honor of a talented and generous ninja by the name of Alex J. Cavanaugh. It's hosted by by Mark Koopmans, Morgan Shamy, David King, and Stephen Tremp. This is a way the blogging community can say thank you to Alex.
Here's what you need to do. Answer these four questions:
• In +/- 20 words, what does Alex look like? • In +/- 20 words,who could play Alex in a documentary? (Living or dead.) • In +/- 20 words, who does Alex remind you of? • In +/- 100 words,(excluding the title) write flash fiction using all these prompts:
• Cavanaugh • Ninja • IWSG • Cosbolt • Guitar For
Bonus Points: • In+/- 40 words, leave a comment for Mrs. Cavanaugh - thanking her for sharing
Rules: • Join the Linky List • Be a follower. • Post your 200 (total) word contribution Monday, Dec. 10. • Have Fun!
Two winners – chosen by Alex – will each win one prize: FIRST PLACE: A signed copy of CassaStar. GRAND PRIZE: A picture of Alex and a download of him playing the guitar. (*One caveat: Alex asks the picture or download NOT be shared online.)  Here we go!What does Alex look like? A little bit rock but with tame hair. Sage eyes. Understated. A sneakers and jeans guy.
Who would play Alex? I'm seeing Jason Bateman for some reason.
Who does Alex remind you of? My fifth grade teacher, Mr. V. (He didn't look a thing like Jason Bateman.) Supportive, encouraging, and fun. Every kid flocked to him and adored him.
Flash fiction: He dove across the stage as quick as a Cosbolt. The energy bolt blackened the spot Cavanaugh had stood. Acrid smoke teased his nose, making his stomach roil. The creature with the bad eighties rocker hair chortled. The building shook with it, but the ninja didn't flinch. He grabbed the Guitar for Victory and strummed a note. This time, it was the monster that trembled. With a snarl, it attacked and shot another beam from its one eye. Cavanaugh strummed again. The energy frizzled before it could hit him. A few more chords launched him into a rocking solo, and his enemy stood not a chance. No one made this ninja late for an IWSG meeting.

Bonus: Thank you to Mrs. Cavanaugh. You're as generous as your husband for giving him the time to share with us.  He's a lucky man to have a supportive partner such as yourself. [image error]

Four Days Until The Release Of The Marquis

Four days until the official release of the first book of the 13th Floor series. 
 The clock is ticking.What will Marc sacrifice to savehis city, his friend,and the woman he loves?  
The Marquis is already available onSmashwords.You can mark it "to read"on Goodreads.

Friday Five for December 7th, 2012

1. I completed one of my big goals for 2012 yesterday. I wrote my 12th short story of the year and submitted my 12th one. It was a tougher goal to keep up with than I originally thought. I've been aiming high with my stories too. I haven't gotten one accepted by a SFWA approved press yet. I'll keep trying, but I won't be doing this again next year. I'd like to say I'll write six and submit six, but I'm not going to set any goals for short stories. Let them come as the inspiration hits me.
2. I had a lovely visit with my mom. It was a bit crazy, but we had fun. We took my son to see Santa and rode in a little mall train. We shopped. A lot. My feet hurt afterward. It was a nice early holiday visit. Now I have a ton to catch up online and prepare for the release of The Marquis next week. Yikes!
3. Yesterday's kickoff for the Writers4Writers Group went wonderfully. Thank you to everyone that participated. If you're interested in joining, just click on the tab above and pop your name into the linky link list. Helping fellow writers is as fast and easy as retweeting.
4. I just finished Cold Days by Jim Butcher. Brilliant! I'm so excited about it and I want to talk to someone, but my husband has only started to read it. It's so hard not to shout out spoilers. And he reads so slow!
5. We put up our Christmas tree on Wednesday. We did it while the boy was taking his nap. When he woke up and finally saw it, he let out this awesome breathy gasp and said, "I love it!" Seeing his gorgeous little face light up made my month. Have a great weekend!

Writers4Writers Group

Today is the official kickoff of the Writers4Writers Group. Yippee! I've teamed together with three marvelous authors, Mary Pax, C.M. Brown, and Stephen Tremp, to show our support for our fellow writers. We invite you to spare a minute of your time to do the same.

Our featured author this month is Nancy S. Thompson. Her new thriller, The Mistaken is now available on Amazon. Please stop by Nancy's blog and copy and paste her prewritten Tweets onto your Twitter page. Then stop by our W4WS Facebook page and share her link with your friends. That's it! Simple. Fast. Powerful.

The W4WS Group's Mission:
• Help writers bring awareness of their book(s) to tens of thousands of new people • Help writers reach Amazon Top 100 in at least one category (i.e., suspense, free, whatever) • Increase sales of their book(s) after the promo is over • Drive new traffic to their blog and increase following • Create verbal and viral buzz.
In A Nut Shell: the spotlighted author will choose a social media avenue such as Twitter or Facebook (or both). Each month we will spotlight one, two, or possibly three new authors. 
Then, the good people of Blogdom will promote the author’s book to their Twitter followers or Facebook friends, and thus to incredibly large new audiences the author could not reach on their own.
Please show your support for your fellow writers and sign up on the linky list below!

Insecure Writer's Support Group for December 2012

The Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) is the brilliant idea of Alex J. Cavanaugh. The purpose of the group is to share doubts and insecurities and to encourage one another. Please visit the other participants and share your support. A kind word goes a long way.

I'm eight days away from releasing the first book of my 13th Floor series. I'm sure many of you know what those days feel like. The self doubt, the panicking, the elation, the fear, and the hope. All of those mixing together causing your mood to go up and down with no warning.

I'm highly anxious about this series because I want it to represent me. I want people to recognize me as Christine Rains, the author of the 13th Floor series. Yes, I know all our stories represent ourselves as writers. Yet I have published fantasy, romance, horror, and erotica stories. I haven't put any particular one to my name, my brand. That's what I want to do with the 13th Floor series.

I think about the series all the time. The stories, the characters, the tours, how to market them, what will readers think, and can I handle it if it isn't well received. All possible scenarios go through my head. I over-think things. A lot.

I feel like I'm bracing myself for impact.

How do you prepare yourself for a release? And how do you handle the anxiety and self doubts that come with it?

Teaser Tuesday with Cursed

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: Grab your current read Open to a random page Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that pageBE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!This is the second book in the Alex Verus series, but I forgot to make a teaser out of the first one. I'm enjoying these books so much. A fantastic urban fantasy world much like the Harry Dresden books, but in London. Benedict Jacka writes amazingly vulnerable and yet strong characters. A must read for all urban fantasy fans.
Here's your teaser:
Without pause the creature pulled itself to its feet and lunged straight for us.
Some days are just better spent in bed. (page 41)

The Nightmare Collection blog tour - Interview with Cassie Richards and giveaway

I'm very excited about Cherie's The Nightmare Collection. Three chilling tales of horror. You can read my review of it here. Two of the stories feature a brave young woman named Cassie Richards, and I'm lucky enough to get a chance to sit down with her today. Getting through my questions won't be nearly as difficult as surviving what happened in the woods!
Thank you for joining me, Cassie. Let's start off easy. I know you're a teacher. What do you teach and what made you go into teaching?

I teach high school history, mainly American History and World History. I’ve always loved the past, so I knew I wanted to study history. But my choices were limited in what to do with a history degree, so teaching was the most likely option.

I'm a history fan myself, and I had a lot in my hometown. What's your hometown? Do you miss it?

Although I was born in Roanoke, Virginia, I lived in New Haven. It’s about as small southern town as you can get in Virginia, filled with rednecks. I was glad to leave. But there are a few things I miss. The mountains, my family, the familiarity of home.

My town was really small too. What was your family life like? What's it like now?

I suppose my family life was pretty normal. I’m an only child, so their focus tended to be on me. I was in everything— soccer, theater, choir, etc. I was an overachiever, and I always felt they were there for me. But everything changed overnight. Now we rarely talk and our relationship is strained. Before I went with Tim to Virginia, I had only seen them twice in ten years.

Ah, that fateful night. It's absolutely horrifying what happened. Do you consider yourself a heroic or just lucky?

I’m no hero. I just got lucky. If that car hadn’t come by and struck me, the monster would’ve likely grabbed me, dragged me back into the woods, and killed me too.

Then you were accused of the murders. To what lengths did you go to convince people to believe you about who actually committed those atrocious acts?

I begged them to believe me when I woke up in the hospital. They thought I was crazy, so imagine how hard it is to get people to believe you then? When I got out of Grayson Sanatorium, I used my resources as a history major to research local history. We couldn’t be the only ones to cross the monster’s path. I sent my findings to New Haven Police, but they didn’t believe me. Eventually, I stopped trying. It was easier that way. If I hadn’t, then those other people might not have died.

Do you feel any anger towards those people who wouldn't believe you?

Uh, yeah. Wouldn’t you? The worse was they wouldn’t believe me. I knew what I saw. Even when my name was cleared, they wanted to believe the worse in me. It wears a girl down.

I have no doubt. Do you think there's anything different you could've done that night to help your friends survive?

I go over that night every day. It’s the first thing in my mind when I wake up and keeps me awake at night. I still don’t know what I could’ve done differently. Maybe I could’ve been stronger, faster, smarter. I just don’t know.

I guess we'll never know. Thank you again for being here, Cassie. It was a pleasure chatting with you.

Author Bio: A self-proclaimed bookworm, Cherie Reich is a writer, freelance editor, book blogger, and library assistant living in Virginia. Her short stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies. Her e-books include the horror series Nightmare, a short story collection with authors Aubrie Dionne and Lisa Rusczyk titled The Best of Raven and the Writing Desk, the futuristic space fantasy novelette trilogy Gravity, and The Foxwick Chronicles, a series of fantasy stories. She is a member of Valley Writers and the Virginia Writers Club.

Author Links:
Website: http://cheriereich.webs.com
Blog: http://cheriereich.blogspot.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bookworm0753
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorcheriereich
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4268457.Cherie_Reich

Book blurb: A legend is hungry tonight.

A child monster will get its first taste of blood in Nightmare at the Freak Show. Four friend will enter the forest on December night, but only one can survive in Once Upon a December Nightmare. Almost ten years after Cassie's December nightmare, the monster awakens to hunt again in Nightmare Ever After.

Add to Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16089321-the-nightmare-collection

Buy the book!
Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/256004
Amazon US http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A93EMNE
Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00A93EMNE
Nook http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-nightmare-collection-cherie-reich/1113808878?ean=2940015726503
Nook UK http://uk.nook.com/ebooks/the-nightmare-collection-by-cherie-reich/2940015726503
Kobo http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/The-Nightmare-Collection/book-NTs2Bn-DK0-ypSR2cseCvA/page1.html?s=K9KRpcbL8UC68DBm7NN-KA&r=9
Createspace https://www.createspace.com/4043291

GIVEAWAY!Cherie is giving away prizes to two lucky people!The prize packages are open internationally and include: a signed copy of The Nightmare Collection, a signed copy of Gravity: The Complete Trilogy, and a $10 Amazon Gift Card.a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunday sales peek and what's coming up this week

Only 11 days until the release of the first book in my 13th Floor series, 1301 - The Marquis . It's coming on so quickly. You can see all the wonderful blogs I'll be visiting on my blog tour if you click on the 13th Floor series tab above. I'd like to remind you all if you'd like to be part of one or more of the upcoming blog tours, please email me. The more the merrier!

This week, there's a lot of exciting things happening. I'm hosting Cherie Reich tomorrow for her newest release, The Nightmare Collection . I'll be interviewing a brave young woman by the name of Cassie Richards and talking about her horrific experiences with the monster.

On Wednesday, it's the Insecure Writer's Support Group hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh. I'll be posting on the right day this month!

This Thursday is the very first Writers4Writers Group post. It's a brilliant way for writers to help other writers through social media. It's as fast and simple as a tweet.

I hadn't checked on my sales for about four weeks. November was a busy month. It was also a very bad month for sales. I've noticed a few other writers have mentioned this as well. Maybe everyone was too busy NaNo-ing? Or maybe I just need to promote some more.

Fearless still does pretty well. Hopefully it'll get a boost when The Marquis is released. These are my Fearless total sales since August. (Not including anything that's been downloaded from Kobo as they don't track free downloads.)
Amazon - 3921
Smashwords - 890
B&N - 3

Downloads for L'il Gal Al and the Zombies of Amarillo still mosey along like a tortoise on a desert vacation.
Amazon - 5
Smashwords - 89
B&N - 3