Kathleen J. Shields's Blog, page 21
June 7, 2019
Hamilton Troll Gifts!!!
Hamilton Troll Products
Toothbrush Holder
Night Light
Pillow
T-shirts
Lunch Box
Soap Dispenser
Table Lamp
Blankets
Hats
Magnets
Bath Mats
Posters
Puzzles
Drink Mugs
Greeting Cards
If you see something you want, ask me.
If you have a favorite Hamilton Troll book picture, suggest it.
If you have a favorite saying or color you’d prefer, mention it.
I can customize these for you in a day!
SHOP NOW!!! Click here…
Mix and match, choose your color, change out products, request a design…
That’s right. If there is a favorite character, pose or book page, contact me, ask for it, and I’ll make it for you!! Then when it is ready, I’ll let you know and you can go back and order it. These will make great birthday and Christmas gifts. Excellent additions to custom theme rooms. Also, if you have any ideas, even if you don’t want to buy but just think it would be fun, let me know! You all are so creative. Thank you for supporting Hamilton Troll Books.
SHOP NOW!!! Click here…
The post Hamilton Troll Gifts!!! appeared first on Kathleen's Blog.
May 23, 2019
Self Publishing – Lose the Stigma
What was that?
Self publishing means you aren’t good enough for the traditional publishers.
I tried to get into the traditional publishing houses. I tried to land an agent. I failed. Of course the responses I received were not; you aren’t good enough, or your writing is horrible… it was; we are retuning our publishing methods to go to electronic books, or we are too busy right now to take on a new author.
So with a very short amount of time in a lifetime to see your dreams become a reality, and with the technology available to authors today, I did what many are doing, I self published.
A decade ago I went with a Print on Demand publisher (POD) and while I loved the fact that they helped me with my cover artwork, provided the ISBN, did the galley layout, and got me listed in Amazon, Barnes & Noble and every other online bookstore, they didn’t market the book and it cost quite a bit to do and I had to pay top dollar to receive copies of my own book to sell.
Two years ago when my second book of that series came out I went back to the POD publisher who had renamed themselves and retooled their business and was able to do the same thing, faster, easier and this time able to buy books in bulk at printing cost not retail cost. But I still paid a pretty penny to get started and I have a new author representative every month calling to get me to buy books or marketing plans at an obscene amount of money. I didn’t know about CreateSpace, Lulu, Smashwords, etc.
So last year when I teamed up with my illustrator and put together the first Hamilton Troll children’s book, I shopped the publishers again (since it was something completely new and worthy of publishing) as well as the agents and again, got nowhere.
So I self published.
I am proud of what I have accomplished!
I am proud of the reviews and responses I’ve received!
The articles and testimonials have been amazing.
The parent, children, teachers, librarians all love the stories!
So what is wrong?
When someone asks me what publisher I am with, I go vague explaining it is an Ingram distributor. Why would I not say I self-published? I have worked really hard at this! I have read every blog, newsletter, forum discussion, group message. I know that there are success stories like Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain, Virginia Wolff, Henry David Thoreau, Beatrix Potter and John Grisham. Even some of the newer authors like J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter), Christopher Paolini (Eragon), William P. Young (The Shack) have made successes of their books by self publishing.
So why did I go vague?
Because when I am sitting across from an author who HAS been published by a traditional publisher and I say I self published, they give me this look like “You weren’t good enough were you?”
But this weekend I learned something new.
When asked about our publisher, I started to go vague and my illustrator came right out and said it. “We self published.” And my heart sank. I was so afraid of the look we were going to get and instead, it went the exact opposite.
“That’s impressive.” She said. “As an artist we do it all ourselves…” Then she began to explain what she has done as an artist. From concept to creation. Learning techniques to finalizing artwork. Framing and Exposition. Creating prints and cards and trying to build exposure and sales, all on their own with no big publishing house backing them.
Then a man walked up, listening to our conversation and added in his two cents. “Bands are the same way. We write the music, perfect the sound and book the gigs all on our own. We market ourselves as strongly as anyone in hopes of some big music label finding us, which may or may not ever happen.”
The point – is the process.
Having fun. Doing what you love. Perfecting your talent. Getting out there. Doing the shows, gigs and marketing. Building a fan base, gathering followers and making sales WITHOUT that big company name behind you.
If it one day happens, great. If not, so what? If you are doing what you love and the people love you and your work, why would you be ashamed to admit it?
I am sorry I was vague before. I am self-published! I became a publisher by reading everything there is to know about the industry and will continue to read everything that comes out. I will market and promote and create and continue doing what I love in hopes of sharing my stories with as many people as I can touch in my little life.
And I will be proud of it!
The post Self Publishing – Lose the Stigma appeared first on Kathleen's Blog.
April 30, 2019
What is God’s Plan?
The other day while I was driving to a show, I started thinking about a scene from The Painting 3. Nevaeh is talking with her grandfather Gerald about the tadpoles, but she calls them frogs. Her reason was, they will become frogs, so why not just name them what they will become? Well in the story there is a moral to that lesson, which is somewhat different than what my mind created during my drive. It started making me think about God’s plan and what it might be for us?
We don’t know what we’re going to become. Nobody tells us. We may be very good at ballet, or football, or writing… whatever our talent is, but it doesn’t mean that’s what God’s plan is for us. I started thinking about the human interference. What if that ballet dancer, or that football star, doesn’t make it to see their full potential?
Let’s go back to the tadpoles, or even caterpillars. Do their parents tell them when they’re born what they’re going to become? Do they say as to their young tadpoles, you’re going to grow up, lose your tail, hop out of the water and become a frog? Does a caterpillar’s mother tell them that you’re going to do nothing but eat, then cocoon yourself and emerge as a butterfly and fly away? I actually don’t think mother frogs and mother butterflies stick around to have a conversation with their young. Maybe I’m wrong. But I think it’s the same as God not telling us what his plan is for us.
Take a parent, the father of a future football star. This father may have every intention that his son is going to grow up to be the best football player ever. He may give him gifts of footballs, encourage him, take him out in the yard and throw that ball, push him through high school, college, pray he’ll go pro – the question is, will it happen?
Was that the son’s plan? Did the son want that for himself or was he following his father’s plan? Say he was following his father’s plan, and he works himself so hard at practice, to make his father proud, that he ends up falling asleep behind the wheel and crashes. Does he go to heaven feeling like a failure? Did he fail his father? Say his goal truly was to become a football star and he falls and breaks his leg and is not able to become a pro football player, did he fail God? Did he fail himself? No!
God doesn’t tell us His plans for us. He does that for a reason. So that way we can never fail him.
Picture a
ballet dancer, the best anyone has seen in a long time. She’s going to go all
the way to become the Prima ballerina. But one day, well, she’s walking down
the street towards the ballet studio and some bad guy kills her. Her dream, her
goal in life is over. And this has not only devastated her family, but the entire
town.
They say
that everything happens for a reason, and it’s all part of God’s plan. So the
question is, was killing that ballerina part of God’s plan?
That bad
guy is now in prison, the family is without their daughter. The world is
deprived of a beautiful dancer, and it’s all because that one person decided to
break the law. But God’s question is, what are you going to do about it?
Sure the family will grieve. Maybe they will hate this man for the rest of their lives. Maybe they will forgive him. Maybe they will do something in their future to benefit others to bring awareness, to help those in need, who knows? Maybe that bad guy will take all of that time and isolation while in prison to find God. Maybe out in the real world, in his criminal life, he never had that opportunity. I guess I can always find a silver lining.
Was that God’s plan? Good things may have come from it but something bad had to happen. What is the reason?
Well the same could be said if there was peace on Earth. If everybody got along and nobody ever hurt anybody else and everything was perfect, maybe we would all live longer, live together in big cities and metropolises, cut down more forests to build our apartment buildings, and chase the animals out of their homes. Maybe that ballerina was walking down the street past an alleyway with her breakfast sandwich heading to the studio when a hungry bear smelled her food and attacked her for it. And she still died. The family would grieve. The bear would probably be punished with death, but maybe that would focus the family into a new goal of wanting to help move the animals to a safe location before we cut down their forests to build our homes. There’s always a reason for everything.
We do not know what God’s plan is for us. We have dreams. We have goals in life. We may or may not see them come true. We may want to be a football star and may not make it. We may want to become a household name in the author world, but who knows? God has given us talents and we follow those talents, but who knows if that is our actual reason for living. Is my actual reason for living to entertain young readers? To educate children through my stories? To inspire people through my Christian fiction? I don’t know. Maybe God gave me a talent so I’ll have something to do while I grow To live through all of my life’s daily challenges which will prepare me for what He really has in store for me?
The point is, like the tadpole that will eventually become a frog, or the caterpillar that will eventually become a butterfly, we don’t know what our future holds. We can’t give ourselves our final name until we get there. We must always live each day at a time, because we don’t know when our last day will be. If we knew what God’s plan was, we might rush to the end without learning everything we needed to learn to get there. If we knew that God’s plan was for us to NOT get there, to die young, well that would suck. That’s why he doesn’t tell us. That’s why the tadpole doesn’t know that it’s going to become a frog because it may not make it. Why the caterpillar doesn’t know if might actually become a butterfly because it might not make it. And that’s why we don’t know what our future holds because we may not make it. It’s not a bad thing – something good will ALWAYS come out of it – if we are willing to see it. All we can do is try our best, follow our dreams, utilize our God-given talents, and appreciate each day that we have. Because it might be our last.
Want more insights on God’s Perspective?
Read the First Two Books of The Painting Trilogy Now – Available everywhere!
The post What is God’s Plan? appeared first on Kathleen's Blog.
April 1, 2019
It takes hard work, for this dance!
I love watching dance movies. Whether it is ballet, or hip hop, I simply love them. Why? Because the hero must endure. They must work hard, practice, face the challenges, keep struggling and then in the end – they succeed! They give the best performance of their life and win! It’s a feel-good moment that makes me smile. (There’s not enough of that in this world…)
The reason I bring this up is because I’m an author, and I frequent chat rooms and groups of other authors always asking for the trick to success. They say, “I’ve published a book but I’m not getting the sales, what is a cheap easy way to accomplish this?” and then they sit there and wait for the answer to fall in their lap.
If Baby, from Dirty Dancing waited for the steps to happen
without the practice, that final dance would not have been possible. If there wouldn’t
have been hard work, and classes and persistence and effort put into any of
those dance stories, that grand award would not have been theirs.
The same can be true of writing a book.
First, you need the classes, you need to learn the steps to achieve
that amazing movement. You need to write, edit, get critiqued and hone your
skill of storytelling. (Before you publish your story.)
Second you can publish, but the question is, do you want to debut your finely crafted art at a school dance (self-publish) or is your big move worth more than that? Is it worth jumping through all of the hoops and paying the admission fee to traditionally publish, find an agent and get it in front of the masses? …And if that fails (not from a lack of trying) then you move to step 3 (self-publish and MARKET it).
Third, you take your published manuscript and you market the heck out of it. You give it away for free reviews (show it to some important judges who open doors to advance you higher in the trials). You enter it into contests (yes, they cost money, but if it wins, the rewards are huge). You spend time and effort talking about it, posting it, sharing it. You travel the area showing it to the masses (book signings, tradeshows, etc.) and you keep promoting it until you can’t promote any longer. Until your toes are blistered and those pretty little ballet shoes hurt – and then do you know what they do?
They put a Band-Aid on their boo-boo’s, strap on those shoes and keep going!
Because this is it – your craft – your gift – your talent!
You’ve put in the time and effort, you’ve honed your skill, written the best dance you could and need others to see it so you can reap the benefits of a contract with the national ballet (enter your final goal here).
It is not easy, it’s not supposed to be – but it WILL be worth it in the end. It will be one of those moments that put a smile on your face.
The post It takes hard work, for this dance! appeared first on Kathleen's Blog.
March 18, 2019
The Story Continues: The Painting 2
Available for purchase: the Paperback and e-book
are now available on Amazon.
Audio book narrated by the talented Heidi
Allred will be ready soon (listen to the first
book now). A beautiful Book Trailer video has been created,
and is available on YouTube. Additional buying options will be available soon.
“I am very excited about this book. Moreso because it opens
up the door for the third and final book of the trilogy – and this book will
ignite the imagination!”
In “The Painting 2”, Gerald’s son visits the Painting – yet because
he can’t simply walk into the Painting, the way inside takes a bit more
creativity. For those that recognize the symbolism, I think you will find this
book awe-inspiring. For those who just enjoy a magical adventure, I think you’ll
find this story chock full of wow moments.
From the Author:
“When I write, I write for the non-reader. I write for the
person who enjoys a fantasy escape into a positive environment. Who wants to
walk away from a read with a smile on their face and a flutter in their heart. I write for the person who can’t dedicate
weeks to a story. I write for the imagination and the person longing for an
escape.“
When Benjamin was born into the Painting he realized he had to start from scratch. He had to learn this world like any other person, but he had one thing very different going for him – he was the Painter’s son. His father, whom they called Geode, was the Painter of this universe. Benjamin knew all of the wonderful things his father designed for this world long before he was born into it. He knew of his father’s love and hope for this world, and it was his job to reveal this to everyone. The problem is, what happens when some decide not to listen, or their fear of the unknown grows too strong?
Read it now – and please, don’t
forget to leave a review!
The post The Story Continues: The Painting 2 appeared first on Kathleen's Blog.
November 5, 2018
Inspiring Future Authors
because this young author is letting her imagination Run Wild!
I met Deana at the Utopia Fall Festival three years ago. She loved to read, wanted to write, and was a joy to talk with. This was the year I got the idea to write Ghost Dogs on the drive out there. I shared my idea, how easy it was to embellish upon a story when you have an imagination, and how much fun it was to write. She was hooked. With excitement about a dream that strong what could I possibly do but give her a “Dream World Defenders” and let her know, the sky’s the limit!
Jump ahead a year, a year in which so much happened to me, it was a miracle I was even at this show again. A young girl runs up to my booth with the largest smile I had ever seen and asks “Do you remember me?” My heart sinks. How could I have forgotten her? Sure I had lost my grandfather, sure I hadn’t written in months, but I had done something for this girl that made her eagerly await my arrival for an entire year and I couldn’t remember what. I apologized profusely and asked her to help me remember.
I talked with Deana, whom I DID remember with a little help, and listened to her regale me with her story ideas – what an amazingly active imagination! She was ME at that age! She left with a Ghost Dogs, which she had been excited to read and I made a mental note that next year I had better remember her.
This year was a true blessing! This year I remembered Deana fondly AND she had been writing her own story! In fact she wanted an author’s opinion and asked me to read it. What an honor!
The story was about a girl who discovers a group of abused and malnourished horses and her journey to save them. This girl, Lexy, saw that something needed to be done, acts on it – AND – has just enough money in savings to provide a stable for them! But then the twist! Later in the story, Jayla, the horses owner, comes back into the picture and she wants her horses back. What is Lexy to do? Take a look!
Read the next book to find out what happens to Lexy, Jayla, Erica, Carter, Buddy, and the horses. This is not the end, only the beginning.
And guess what? I turned the page and she had written the continuation! This story had character descriptions, a plot, interesting twist and turns, backstory and a cliff hanger!
While Deana’s just entering into her writing career, I am excited to say, she might be further along than even me when I was her age. I am also fairly certain, that with practice, hard work, dedication and guidance, her continuing education and support from friends and family, we’re going to see her succeed!
I highly encourage Deana to continue writing! Keep embellishing upon your story. Write yourself a well-polished book, and make sure to run the marathon: get it critiqued, get it edited, have it beta-read by multiple people who aren’t friends, edit again – and if you self publish, make sure that your cover looks as professional as the story you will proudly present.
Throughout this year, this yet another incredibly painful year, I have been blessed with reminders of why I do what I do. Encouraged to keep going, and inspired by others whom I’ve inspired to keep “following the dream”.
… Because, without that dream, what have you got? Just another zombie in a post-apocalyptic world where explosions and car chases are the story and the dialogue is full of vulgarity. If only Hollywood would open a page in a new, unknown author’s story… they might discover that dreams can come true, imagination takes you places and miracles can happen. Oh – and that all you need is Faith, Hope and Love!
God Bless you Deana! I can’t wait to see you next year!
The post Inspiring Future Authors appeared first on Kathleen's Blog.
October 31, 2018
Halloween Inspiration
I wasn’t sure I’d be able to write a post this Halloween – you see, this was my father’s favorite day of the year. I grew up with a dad who’d terrorize me with his many masks throughout the year in order to prepare me for the chaos that would ensue on this most deathly hallowed eve.
He’d take me to haunted houses, the scarier the better – and he would not stay by my side letting me hide my frightened face in his arm – No! He’d go off ahead of me, hide and wait to be one of the goblins that would jump out and scare me! Imagine the most terrifying haunted adventure you’ve ever had and then add on the monster that didn’t have to abide by the rules of the house.
I used to love Halloween – but my dad passed away just over a month ago…
I woke up this morning missing him. I approached my computer at work expecting for something to be there to take my mind off of it, and there wasn’t… and then I glanced across my desktop where I have my little notes of suggested story ideas and found one that I had jotted down to remember quite a while ago.
The short story is called “The Day Hell Froze Over” and this is some of the history behind it:
I wrote this story when I was a teenager in High School… 1993. I was a freshman going through a black clothes head banger phase. Every one of my friends who had read it died laughing. I was pretty happy about it. Unfortunately my mom found it, read the title, and immediately jumped to conclusions. She was convinced that I was worshiping the devil. She promptly burned the story in the old smoky grill on our porch and probably started praying for my soul – she never read the story. If she would have read it she most likely would have laughed… but we’ll never know.
The reason I mention this is because I was inspired to write it again today. I had always remembered this story, every detail. I always wanted to rewrite it but inspiration hadn’t hit. Today it did!
Decades worth of writing experience and embellishments have made this story (in my opinion) ten times better than the one I wrote as a teen. The plot is the same but I must say – I am quite blown away by what I’ve written today.
It is still a short story. 6 pages, 2890 words and it will definitely make you smile. I had thought to release it here on my blog today but it is longer than I expected. I am pretty sure this is gong to be a publishable short story and with so many opportunities out there, I’m going to have to research where the best place would be. An anthology? A collection of short stories? A stand alone e-book? I’ll have to see. So keep your eyes peeled for news and updates. I definitely want y’all to read it!
“The Day Hell Froze Over” is going to be available soon,
and you’ll want to read all about it!
The post Halloween Inspiration appeared first on Kathleen's Blog.
October 17, 2018
Using Amazon and Buy Now links
In this post I’m actually going to combine questions 8 and 10 together because they truly go hand in hand.
Q. Do I need links to Amazon for my books on my author web site?
A. I would! I would link to absolutely every bookstore and online shop I can. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powell Books, BAM, Goodreads… and if you have ebooks and audiobooks, link to those sites too! You never know where a customer prefers to shop. Yes, the majority of them are going to go to Amazon, but maybe they got a coupon code for Book Depository and your link reminded them. Also, if you can, offer sales on your own website, offer autographs if you have inventory in stock. If they made it to your website give the option to buy on your website. There are no limits to what you can do on your website (and any web developer that says there are – isn’t being straight with you or they just want more money).
Q. Should I put “Buy My Book” on my author website?
A. Yes! As in my answer to #8 don’t limit your options. However, don’t make your website a sales pitch. Make it a button in your menu, and maybe put a bit in your current projects section. If you have an appearance coming up, mention you’ll be signing your book (name and link here) at such and such store. Your author website is about you, not your book. You are so much more than just an author. You are a person with hobbies, goals, dreams, life situations, all things that your readers can relate to. That’s how you build a fan base. Once they read your book it’s over (unless they choose to read it again). But once they are a fan of YOU, they’ll come back to see what you’re working on next.
The post Using Amazon and Buy Now links appeared first on Kathleen's Blog.
October 10, 2018
The importance of keywords
Keywords are the words and phrases that Internet users type into search box of a search engine, such as Google, to find what websites that match what are looking for. Keywords are the same in books when you publish them. The keywords you choose for your book(s) is just as important as the keywords you select for your website.
Q. Is it important to have “key words” in the content of my web site? Why?
A. Keywords go hand-in-hand with the previous answer/blog post about marketing your website. Keywords are going to help get your website higher rankings which means closer to the first few pages of results.
Some keywords get hundreds of thousands of unique searches a day while others get a couple of hundred. At the same time, some high trafficked keywords are very competitive online because many people/companies/authors are using them.
Take the keyword phrase “educational children’s books” I like to use that, but so does Scholastics. It’s a very important keyword but it’s not necessarily the ONE that is going to get me found.
In my previous post I mentioned the keyword “romance book”. That, like the above, isn’t enough. In Amazon alone that pulls up over a million choices. You have to be more specific, like “vampire romance” of course that pulls up over 30,000 options in Amazon. Then you add in another keyword to your phrase like “humorous vampire romance”. That’s about 700 choices, you may be found, or they may eventually get to your book. Keywords make all of the difference, but they also must be words and phrases a regular person would use. I mean “Funny bloodsucker relationships” definitely narrow the search, but how many people, really, are going to use that in a search?
Most people don’t know the ins and out of search engine optimization (unless they too have a website and need to learn it). Most people just type a question into a search. “What’s a good vampire romance book?” Do you know what their going to get? Goodreads posts. Amazon category lists… why bother? Because the next listing could be your blog where you wrote a list of your 10 favorite vampire romance books and suggest that if they liked those, they’d most certainly like your book too!
That’s when you embellish upon that post with another that connects to that post talking about your preference of that whole Twilight series, and if your opinion is similar to your reader, they’re going to build a bond with you – becoming a fan.
That’s how it works.
The post The importance of keywords appeared first on Kathleen's Blog.
October 2, 2018
How to market your author website
While I am not an expert on marketing, I do know enough to get by. I know that a website that doesn’t change grows stagnant. I know that Google is going to drop you down if you don’t add new content every once in a while. And I know that a website takes work, a lot of work and it will never be over.
Q. How do I market my author web site so others will come to it and buy my books?
A. This is a question absolutely every small, fairly unknown author asks and honestly, there is no easy answer. Every business owner on the planet is asking that question. Every inventor, entrepreneur, realtor, service technician – everyone is asking that question.
The old adage of “If you build it, they will come” does NOT apply to websites. People HAVE to KNOW your book exists. They HAVE to know either your name or the title of your book if they are going to find it in a search. I can do a search for my name or my book and be found on almost all of the listings in the first 3-5 pages of the search results because I have played the raffle game. I have so many websites, so many social media pages, blog posts, book stores and poetry website postings, that I’ve got enough tickets in the pot to possibly win the raffle. Unfortunately though, if someone hasn’t heard of me, they aren’t going to get those search results because they aren’t going to type MY name into their search. The raffle ticket puller is not searching for my specific ticket. They’re reaching in for ANY ticket (book of X genre) and the first few that pull up are the ones they are going to look at.
You may have the best romance book on the market, but if the market doesn’t know about it specifically, that keyword “romance” gets put in the shuffle of the other 100,000+ romance books. Marketing, Advertising and Publicity take time and money. How much are you willing to do for your book?
In next weeks blog I focus on keywords and this definitely connects to this article. Stay tuned or sign up to be notified when it comes out.
The post How to market your author website appeared first on Kathleen's Blog.
