Lizzy Ford's Blog, page 46
June 12, 2012
Indie Author Blog Hop and Book Giveaway June 13th-19th
Welcome to Lizzy’s stop along the Indie Author Hop! The hop is sponsored by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer & The Krazy Book Lady blogs and runs from June 13th to 19th.
At this website, you can enter to win an autographed, paperback copy of the young adult fantasy, “Elle’s Journey,” by Eliza Ford (aka Lizzy Ford’s YA Fantasy writing alterego)! To enter, obey the Rafflecopter! (This giveaway is open to US and international readers!)
When Elle is spirited away from everything she knows, she soon finds that starving mightbe a blessing compared to the evil following her and the danger ahead of her. She is guided by the Hunter – a young man haunted by a dead woman, and the Shadow – a creature at war with himself. The Protector travels from the West to help her, only to be led astray by an imposter. It is only when Elle seeks help from the Betrayer that she realizes none of them will survive, if she can’t unite the Five Foretold and find the five magestones.
Available from:Amazon
, Amazon UK, and Barnes and Noble.
June 11, 2012
Book Feature and Giveaway: “The Kiss Off” by Sarah Billington
Please welcome to Lizzyland young adult and teen novel author Sarah Billington. Today she’s sharing her YA chic lit novel, “The Kiss Off”. She’s also having a giveaway for a free paperback copy via Goodreads. The sign up for that will be at the end of the post and it’s open to international readers.
Warning: Sexual References, occasional course language.
When sixteen year old Poppy Douglas writes a song about her ex-boyfriend Cam and ex-friend Nikki, she has no idea that her heartbreak is about to go global.
A local band picks up her song from Youtube and soon she’s along for the ride with her own fanbase as they blow up on the local club scene and hit the international charts. Though it turns out leaving Cam behind isn’t as easy as she had hoped.
Tangled in a web of unfinished homework, ill-considered sexting and a new lead-singer boyfriend, Poppy has a choice to make between the ex that inspired it all and the rock God whose poster lines the inside of half the lockers at school. But as she struggles to keep her emotional dirty laundry private, she learns that the truth can be hard to find when your life is in the headlines.
Available at:
Enter below to Win a free paperback copy of “The Kiss Off” by Sarah Billington (open international):
Goodreads Book Giveaway
The Kiss Off
by Sarah Billington
Giveaway ends July 31, 2012.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
Enter to win
Author Bio:
Sarah Billington is an Australian writer and editor who likes to write stories with love, laughs, suspense and zombies. Sometimes all in the same story. Her favouritest thing to write about are those horrendously awkward moments that come with being a teenager. Or a human being. Sarah was extremely accident-prone and klutzy as a kid and teen, so her cup runneth over with experiences of horrendously awkward moments to draw from in her writing. Thankfully, she has grown out of her klutziness. Mostly. She is, however, still an embarrassment.
She loves a variety of random things, which include doggies (hers as well as yours), Swing Dancing, Ice Hockey, Roller Derby and she is a bit obsessive about paranormal investigation shows and channel E!. She writes light-hearted works under Sarah Billington, and darker, scarier and more torturous stories under her pen name, Edwina Ray.
Twitter: www.twitter.com/SarahBillington
Facebook Fan Page: www.Facebook.com/SarahBillingtonBooks
Blog: www.SarahBillington.blogspot.com
Website: www.SarahBillington.weebly.com
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4079661.Sarah_Billington
June 7, 2012
Book Expo America 2012 – Day Three: Nirvana
I went into BEA this week hoping to find a way to sell foreign rights. The first day was rough. The second made me realize I’d been asking the wrong question. Sometimes, when you don’t get your question answered, it’s the universe’s way of telling you that you’re asking the wrong question. So I talked to a couple fellow writers and realized what question I should’ve been asking.
What I thought I wanted to know: how to sell my foreign rights to reach new markets.
What I really needed to know: the road map for someone like me to take my writing and business to the next level.
What I learned: there is no map. The publishing industry is in complete turmoil to the point that almost all the people I spoke to this week agree that no one knows what’s going to happen next. Booksellers, authors and agents are unhappy with big publishers. Big publishers are going broke and trying hard to adapt to a new business model, one that sees them straining the relationship with well, booksellers, authors and agents. In the meantime, I already outsell probably 95% of traditionally published and indie authors, making me an anomaly in both worlds.
Indies still have a stigma in the publishing industry, but we’ve also been accepted (albeit grudgingly) as here to stay and influencing the marketplace. The people I spoke to almost all also said that whatever I’m doing, I’m on the right path.
It’s a rather interesting take, I think, because one of the things I struggle with as an indie author is trying to cut a path through a jungle without a compass. Am I going the right way? What IS the right way? How do I get there, once I know? And how can I do things better?
One literary agent gave me some wonderful advice. He said I’m better off on my own right now, because there’s nothing a publisher can do for me that I can’t do for myself. At least, until I make it big. Publishers are requiring that authors give up more and more rights while cutting back on promotion. Promotion = money, and publishers don’t have it. This agent’s advice was to continue writing, building a following and getting my name out there. I can get myself to the next level, but a publisher can’t. Rather, a publisher won’t.
A publisher won’t help me sell foreign (or other) rights, because they insist on taking the rights but won’t sell them unless I make it huge. They won’t even market me, unless I’m on the NYT bestsellers list. In fact, he told me to sell until I’m so huge, they’re beating down my door. Then and only then is it worthwhile for someone like me to go to a publisher, because that’s the only time they’ll actually put their expansive resources behind me and help me grow what I’ve already started.
Deep thoughts, eh?
I don’t necessary want a publisher; I wanted a mentor. If that mentor took on the shape of a publisher, so be it. Could the magical world of traditional publishers do something for me that I cannot? Do they hold the map that’ll lead me out of the jungle?
After my three days at BEA, the answer is a resounding NO. In the words of the majority of the people I spoke to, I’m better off on my own. There are no mentors or paths for people like me, because there have never really been people like me prior to the rapid and unforgiving publishing evolution.
That said, I’m starting to form new ideas of where I want to go next in this jungle. I had an Indian publisher drop by twice to talk to me. I might give them a try and see if they’ll pick up – and promote – the War of Gods series in the Near East. I’m going to research Chinese publishers, the American Booksellers Association, make certain all my books are in the industry catalogue used by libraries and indie book stores, devise more targeted marketing plans and focus on a crazy new project I’ve been mulling over for a few weeks, one that helps indies like me.
Finally, I’m going to keep writing and promoting with a peaceful mind that now knows I’m not only on the right track, I’m creating the right track. Weary yet thoughtful, I found Nirvana this week, not at BEA, but within myself. Apparently, I had the answers all along.
Now, about my world domination scheme …
June 6, 2012
Book Expo America 2012 – Day Two: Strike two? Maybe not
Today I did some fun stuff. At least, I thought it was fun. I know we’ll come away with more readers from this experiment. I just hope I also am able to make the contacts I need to meet my goal. In honesty, I hit a ceiling a few months ago that I can’t break through. I haven’t figured out how to take my writing and business to the next level, and I guess I hoped foreign rights was that next bridge I needed to cross. I’m not 100% certain that’s the case, so I’ve been watching and learning while at BEA. There are two things we as indies have a harder time doing than traditional publishers: foreign rights and getting into bookstores.
More than anything, I feel like I need a mentor to help me figure out what’s next. I’m not finding that at BEA, but I’ll keep learning.
Anyway, before BEA opened, I took two loads of handouts to the VIP section and wall-papered the crap out of the area. I put out business cards, Julia Crane’s free ebook cards, mini-book packages and bookmarks and set them up on the tables roped off for VIPs. Once BEA opened its doors, I then went to the line outside the Harlequin (and other) exhibits – where readers were waiting for author signings – and I handed out more free stuff to the people in line. I tackled people in aisles and returned to my booth for a breather.
Then I devised more schemes. Which landed me in the VIP restroom sticking my business card (with booth number in bold) in the stalls and sink, handing out more to the new Harlequin line and generally, tackling more people.
Did it work? I’d say yes. After my first round of physical spamming, we received a bunch of folks from the VIP lounge visiting our booth. We had a lot of indie booksellers who wanted our books and a ton of librarians who were also interested in seeing our books in their libraries. We had more bloggers come by today, someone from Barnes and Noble and Random House, as well as a few more press folks, people from small presses and a bunch of folks whose badges I didn’t see. I also met a bunch of other indie writers, most in different stages of their career. They were all awesome to talk to. (Bloggers have the best business cards, too. Very creative and pretty.) And …
Literary agents. Oddly enough, there were a few on our aisle today. I spoke to three about foreign rights and found the responses pretty vexing. Not sure what to make of it, actually. Apparently there are special foreign rights agents that I have to track down who can answer my questions specifically. I’ve tried a few with no success, and I even spoke to reps from some of the big publishers about whether they do foreign rights for books they don’t publish. (The answer, btw, is no!)
Which leaves me trying to figure it out on my own. A couple of the agents I ran into today said they’d put me in contact with their foreign rights agents, so we’ll see if that works.
I think my goal is a bit more challenging than I expected. Is it the wrong goal to have? I don’t know, honestly. I did have one publisher from India approach me and who is interested in my work. I told him about my fans in India who have trouble getting my books. We’re going to talk more about our goals to see if they’re a fit.
My guerrilla marketing techniques worked pretty well today. We ended up getting a lot of exposure to the types of people who want to buy our books for their stores or libraries, which is wonderful. I handed out at least 300 minibooks and a slew of other cards/bookmarks today. Rachel Short met Tosca Reno (author of the Eat Clean diet) and spent some time talking to Ms. Reno’s team, which was awesome exposure for Rachel’s health/fitness books.
I learned a few more things today, such as how to spot the people I intend to tackle tomorrow. Thursday is the last day for BEA, and I want to make sure I spend it focused on my next target: the people with the red tags on their badges. I’ve got two to three decent leads but would like to gather as many as I can. They won’t see this 200-pound bowling ball coming!
Book Feature: “Jack and Djinn (The Houri Legends)” by Amber Sweetapple
Please welcome to lizzyland author Amber Sweetapple. She’s sharing her latest novel, “Jack and Djinn (The Houri Legends)
“. Amber will also be giving away one free ecopy of her book. You can enter by liking her Facebook page and leaving a comment regarding this blog feature.
Miriam’s life is a hot mess. Her boyfriend Ben is no longer the man she fell in love with, and he won’t stop knocking her around. And Jack? He’s kind, handsome, and sweet: everything she could ever want and more. As her passion for Jack ignites, so does the rest of her body…
Available at Amazon
Author Bio:
Amber Sweetapple is a sassy mama to 5 wild and wonderful kids. She enjoys long evening walks in her suburban Detroit neighborhood with her writer husband Jack Sheppard. Her other favorite things are singing, chocolate, good wine, and writing her hunky husband into her stories. She also likes belly dancing, watching Real Housewives (don’t judge!) and cooking dinner for her family in her crockpot. Oh, and cupcakes.
Twitter: @AmberSweetapple
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/AmberSweetapple
June 5, 2012
Book Expo America 2012 – Day One: Lessons learned
Today was the first official day of Book Expo America. For those unfamiliar with my lofty goal at BEA, I want to leave BEA with either the means to sell – or a contract selling – off the foreign rights to my most popular books. I have thousands of fans in places like India who can’t get my books other than if I email them PDFs. Let me tell you – that’s A LOT of PDFs and emails! Day One goes down as a strike in that arena, though I learned some lessons. (BTW – why are lessons painful?)
Today in review. There were some positive developments, such as, I discovered that librarians, members of the press and bloggers are completely fascinated by indie paranormal writers. Completely!
I handed out books to about fifteen librarians, one of which does all the buying of young adult fiction for the Brooklyn libraries and who loved the look of Julia Crane’s books.
Several members of the press come by, some of whom run online magazines or host radio shows. Rachel Short is going to have a radio interview with one of them! And I spoke to someone who worked for BBC who said – if they have time this summer – he might contact me for an interview. Nothing set in stone, but the gears are turning. Another online magazine owner is going to put a small feature in his magazine. We had several stop and seem interested in both the paranormal and indie aspects.
And then there were the bloggers. We had about a dozen drop by for minibooks and books, some of which knew either my books or Julia’s already, which was awesome!
All-in-all, we handed out about 100 packets. I don’t know who else received them. Some folks had their name tags hidden while others were drive-bys I tackled while they were walking down aisles. Though not stellar, I am happy to have handed out what we did. That’s 100 more potential readers.
I also had one not-so-positive realization: My booth is located in a no-traffic zone. There were thousands and thousands of people throughout the Book Expo. Maybe 1-3% made it to my aisle. Which was strange, since we’re located in front of the Uptown Stage, where authors give speeches, and there are panels. By midday, I decided to be more aggressive with bringing attention to the books Julia Crane, Rachel Short and I were displaying. I stood in aisles. I struck up conversations with random strangers. I stood in back of events in the Uptown Stage and – after events – handed out little packets that included minibooks, all our bookmarks and all our business cards.
Most importantly, I created a better plan for Day Two. I’m not going to sit in my booth on Day Two. I’m going guerrilla on this place. If I’ve learned anything in all my time as an indie, it’s that those who don’t adapt and don’t think creatively – don’t survive.
I fully intend to survive this strange world that is publishing.
Day Two, Guerrilla-Lizzy is coming for you.
June 4, 2012
Book Expo America 2012: Set Up
Today was our set-up day for Book Expo America 2012 in New York City. My sister, health/fitness author Rachel Short, and I drove from Ohio to New York Sunday. It was about an 11 hour drive, but it seemed to go quickly. We got to the hotel and ate PASTA. Wow does New York have the best pasta ever! I’ll be ten pounds heavier by the time I leave.
This morning, we went to the Javits Convention Center to get set up. It was a bit stressful,
because we drove my sister’s car and had to go to the loading docks with all the semis and stuff around back. The workers there unloaded our stuff, and were really funny and efficient at everything they did. It turned out to be a positive experience where we made friends like Izzy, our forklift driver, and Eliot, the poor guy who got about five calls from me over the course of an hour and helped me figure out what to do.
I have to say, even the chaotic mess that was the display floor was still impressive. There were forklifts and pallets of books/displays everywhere. There are book publishers and distributors from all over the world here, and a bunch of authors in my corner of the conference area. Tomorrow, I’ll have more time to see who’s here, but I saw publishers from the UK, Saudi Arabia, Russia … and a ton more. The displays from folks like Amazon, St. Martin’s Press and Penguin (among others) were incredible. I’ll take more pics tomorrow.
Setting up was a little stressful. Our banners were delivered to a different booth at random, so it took us a couple of hours to find them. But once we had them, we were able to create a really nice display. Love the banners? Designed by Dafeenah, of course, and printed by Britten Banners. I was really impressed with how they turned out.
After we got everything set up, we went to a diner nearby and met Shannon, one of my
readers who lives in New York! Shannon is super cool and just graduated from college in April. Yay Shannon! We had coffee/tea and chatted for awhile. Thanks for meeting us, Shannon!
Tuesday is the opening day of BEA 2012. Looking forward to the first day of the show!
May 30, 2012
Book Feature: “Anna” by Julia Crane
Please welcome to Lizzyland, young adult author, Julia Crane. She’s sharing her latest release, Anna, a continuation from her young adult series, Keegan’s Chronicles.
Seventeen-year-old Anna is an unskilled, natural witch still seeking a way to access her magick. When she moves to Seattle for college, she encounters two powerful witches who needs her as much as she needs them. For the first time, Anna believes she’s found someone who can help her explore her own magick.
Her dream quickly turns into a nightmare.
Creatures of the Light have gone missing, and the witches she admires so well are a part of the mystery.
Before she knows it, Anna is knee deep in the disappearances and trying to forge a relationship with a certain soldier named Tommy, all while trying to find her way. Will she have time to save the creatures of the light or will she become the next victim?
Available at:
Connect with Julia:
website: http://juliacraneauthor.com/
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/juliacraneauthor
twitter: http://www.twitter.com/juliacrane2
May 29, 2012
Phoenix Comicon: A Rhyn Comic?
I had a blast at the Phoenix Comicon. It ended Sunday evening then we drove home Monday afternoon. I’m super happy I chose a Comicon as my first public appearance. The atmosphere was friendly and creative. I met so many awesome artists and writers and got to see so much cool artwork.
I had around … 150-200 people stop by my table, I’d say, and gave away a ton of minibooks and bookmarks. A few of them came back after reading the minibooks to tell me they’d either downloaded a bunch of books or they bought the few I had. (I ended up having a small box of books in my trunk I meant to send my sister for our journey to New York. Lucky me!!) I also had 6 people who either approached me because they already had one or more of my books already or recognized my name from their Kindle explorations. ISN’T THAT INCREDIBLE? I thought so! I was blown away.
And I also spoke to a really nice gentleman who owns a comic book store around Phoenix (and is soon opening a second) who’s interested in me working with a team he’s putting together in Spring. He’s been looking for a writer he felt was right for his project – to start new comic book series. He said he had ideas or would be open to maybe using one of my series as a basis. Which I thought was AWESOME! Nothing firm is in place yet, and I’d have to do some learnin’ of comic book script writing, but what an incredible honor to be considered!
Who wants a Rhyn or Damian comic?
I am so going back next year!!
May 26, 2012
Phoenix Comicon – Day 3: do men fear romance books?
One of the funniest things I’ve run across the past three days: men who walk by my booth thinking it’s something else then either back away suddenly or go out of their way to avoid eye contact. Or, as one guy did, start to talk to me, realize I write romance then say, “I gotta go.” Part of me feels like a streetwalker.
The other part of me thinks it’s the funniest thing ever to watch the reality sink in for someone who stopped by because they were just browsing all the booths on my row. The look of surprise is just priceless. I’m not sure what they think I’m peddling when they stop – or if they think you can catch ‘romance’ bugs from books – but it sure does make me laugh!
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the most incredible experience ever is having someone walk up to me and say they have one/all of my books on their Kindle/Nook/whatever already. There’s no way to describe that feeling when a complete stranger walks up to tell you they recognized your work while walking by! Holy smokes – it’s better than a peanut butter-chocolate sundae!!
