K.C. Sprayberry's Blog, page 106
May 2, 2018
Don't be "That" Author
Good morning and welcome to wwwblogs. We’re touching on a difficult subject today. We’ve all seen these people on social media. Most authors wince when asked why they aren’t doing something about this particular author. We all dislike admitting that there are certain authors that can’t be controlled. Their egos are so big they think they can say and do anything and their fans will lavish attention on them because they are THE AUTHOR.
Being the irritating author won’t gain you fans. It can and does have the opposite effect. You’ll lose fans as if they’ve discovered you have a communicable disease and they don’t want to catch it. Even those fans who agree with your comments will be loath to read your books. They’ll be afraid of what you’ll say or do next.
Being an author in the twenty-first century is far different than being an author in the twentieth century was. We have to maintain a social media presence while not putting up too many “buy my books” links. We must have no opinion other than what is popular and supported. Don’t you dare go against the grain… or too much for it. Your fans will surprise you with how their beliefs are contrary to yours and walk away in droves.
So, why is THE AUTHOR doing all of these things and seemingly getting away with their ugly commentary? First you have to ask yourself if they truly are getting away with their comments. Sure, they appear to have a lot of people agreeing with them, but look closer. See that comment in the middle, the one where someone *gasp* disagreed with THE AUTHOR. Read that scathing remark this person has written, basically calling the person an uneducated idiot and that they need to hide in shame for daring to disagree with an important author.
Now take a trip to the sales venues where this author has their books listed. Notice something. As in, new reviews coming up that have nothing to do with the book and everything to do with the author’s mistreatment of a fan. Notice the sales rankings are falling faster than a boulder off a mountain.
Yes, THE AUTHOR has committed an unforgivable faux pas. Oh, they will never actually accept the blame for their lack of sales. It must be some other reason. They are THE AUTHOR and therefore their books are in demand everywhere.
So, don’t be this person. Accept that you as a public person have no right to express your opinions fully, even if they are in line with everyone else’s. You must remain neutral in everything, but you can mumble under your breath as you avoid confrontations on social media. This is the way to keep your fans and find others. Let them wonder where you stand, or even let them believe you have the same opinions you do.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Living a dream she’s had since she first discovered the magic of books. K.C. Sprayberry traveled the U.S. and Europe before finally settling in the mountains of Northwest Georgia. She’s been married to her soulmate for nearly a quarter of a century and they enjoy spoiling their grandchildren along with many other activities.
A multi-genre author, K.C. Sprayberry is always on the hunt for new stories. Inspiration strikes at the weirdest times and drives her to grab notebook and pen to jot down her ideas. Those close to her swear nothing or no one is safe if she’s smiling gently in a corner and watching those in the same room interact. Her observations have often given her ideas for her next story, set not only in the South but wherever the characters demand they settle.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Facebook Twitter Website Goodreads Amazon Author Page
Google + Pinterest Manic Readers AUTHORSdb
Authorgraph Email
May 1, 2018
Teens and Mysteries
Good morning and welcome to Tuesday Blog Share. Today, we’re talking about teens and mysteries. Many people claim teens don’t read mysteries any longer. In fact, they will tell you most emphatically that teens don’t read much these days. It seems reading is a lost art.
Or perhaps reading has become a mundane chore, something most teens avoid like they would the plague.
I cry foul when it comes to teens not reading. Why? Because I know a great many teens who have been raised to read and they’ve carried that love of the written word into their adult lives, continuing a tradition their families have had for many generations. Those teens who don’t read for pleasure might only need an introduction to a well written, engaging book in order to develop the same love of reading. What better way to do that with a perfectly plotted mystery that addresses their concerns as teenagers in this mixed up crazy world?
Wildcat Crew 1 The Case of the Vanishing Girls eBook
Blurb
Finally moving on from the horror of the Manson killings, the Los Angeles area has begun to return to normal. Until, that is, the small bedroom community of Monrovia skyrockets into the news. This sleepy little area, nestled up against the foothills, is probably best known for their football team, but that was yesterday’s news.
Three girls have vanished. Notes left behind have an “H” and a “S” with red dripping off them. People’s minds automatically go to the horror of 1969 and wonder if someone else is about to initiate “Helter Skelter.”
A group of teens, Wildcat Crew, doesn’t think so. Despite the police looking at a trouble teen, they focus on another teen whose past has some dark secrets. As the city moves toward the summer solstice, these intrepid investigators work diligently on solving this case before someone else vanishes into the canyon.
Wildcat Crew 1 The Case of the Vanishing Girls print book
Excerpt
At one house, he stopped near an open window. The voices within rose in what appeared to be anger; he smiled. This type of confrontation was what filled his heart with joy.
“You never want me to have any fun,” a girl cried out in frustration.
He knew that voice, had heard it on many occasions, but putting a name to the near childish timbre was almost impossible. Creeping around a hydrangea bush, he pressed against the outer wall and glanced sideways. No one could see him here. The overgrown bush was almost a tree and the streetlights didn’t cast their brightness this far.
“Your father and I have told you time after time that we will not let you wear the disgusting fashions girls have adopted these days,” an older woman said. “You have to accept our decision, Suzie. We are your parents. You can do nothing without our permission until you are twenty-one.”
“Why? Because of what happened? Because you think by making me into some kind of dummy living in the past will stop me from leaving?”
“Because I will not tolerate the looseness and disrespect of your generation.”
“Good grief, Mother,” Suzie said—he finally remembered her name, Suzie Calderone, a complete loser. “The age of legal consent is eighteen, and I am eighteen. You can’t stop me from doing what I want with my life.”
About K.C. Sprayberry
Living a dream she’s had since she first discovered the magic of books. K.C. Sprayberry traveled the U.S. and Europe before finally settling in the mountains of Northwest Georgia. She’s been married to her soulmate for nearly a quarter of a century and they enjoy spoiling their grandchildren along with many other activities.
A multi-genre author, K.C. Sprayberry is always on the hunt for new stories. Inspiration strikes at the weirdest times and drives her to grab notebook and pen to jot down her ideas. Those close to her swear nothing or no one is safe if she’s smiling gently in a corner and watching those in the same room interact. Her observations have often given her ideas for her next story, set not only in the South but wherever the characters demand they settle.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Facebook Twitter Website Goodreads Amazon Author Page
Google + Pinterest Manic Readers AUTHORSdb
Authorgraph Email
April 30, 2018
Motivation for Your Character
Good morning and welcome to Monday Blogs. Today, we will be exploring our character’s motivation. Oh, yes, this old chestnut. It’s always good to go back to the basics and rework them to keep our stories interesting.
Ah, character motivation sounds so easy to predict. It’s simply how your character wants to achieve their goals. There are so many routes you can go with this. A protagonist will always be seeking a solution to the problem they’re presented. An antagonist will be looking for ways to interfere with the protagonist. Simple. Right?
You’re halfway there. There is a problem though. You’ve decided the protagonist will have only pure, good intentions while the antagonist’s intentions are evil. Your characters are weak, one sided.
You see, your characters need reality in their lives. No one is all good or all bad. They have characteristics people might not like. You, the author, need to make them human. Make your characters act like people on the street do. Give us a reason to identify with these people. A protagonist who never does anything wrong isn’t sympathetic at all. In fact, some people might consider them so goody-goody that they will hate the character right from the start and your book will be panned in reviews.
The same goes for the antagonist. They can’t be pure evil. They need redeeming qualities. Sure, you want your reader to hate the antagonist, but you have to give them a goal, a reason for being there other than being the bad guy. Don’t these people have dreams too? Making them the antagonist could be that you simply make their dreams the opposite of the protagonist’s.
By giving our characters less than stellar qualities, we are giving them a real life appearance. People can say, “Oh, I know someone like that.” Instead of thinking your story is incredibly boring.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Readers Gazette
Authorgraph
April 29, 2018
Identity
Good morning and welcome to Sunday Blog Share. Today, we’re going to be talking about identity. Rather, we’re going to examine how teens identify themselves. It may not seem like a major issue how identity is used in my novella, Who Am I? To be honest, the number of teens taken from their parents for whatever reason seems to pale in comparison as to how teens identify themselves in the current climate. Yet, a teenager who has grown up in an unstable home, where they don’t know from one moment to the next where they’ll live or what they’ll be called has just as many if not more problems identifying themselves as any other teen.
Get Who Am I? on Amazon
Blurb
Brooke English never belongs. She changes schools twice a year, as often as her looks and name change. Her thoughts about belonging to her “family” get even more viral when they stop in Landry, Georgia. Then things start to go wrong. Then Brooke starts to have dreams.
Will she find the answers she wants? Or will her worst fears become reality?
Excerpt
“A new semester, a new school, and who am I looking at? Sure isn’t me – whoever that is.”
I stare into a mirror at the new house, and I don’t recognize the person staring back at me.
For as long back as I can remember, I’ve had at least two different names every year – Layla, Helena, Penelope (nicknamed Perky, definitely not me!), and many, many more, far too tedious to mention. At times, I get confused, and I’ve always wondered what my real name is. Where I’m from comes in a very close second. Third is my desire to have a real life, friends, and a future. We moved here last night. I’ve lost count of the houses. Never homes.
Like that will ever happen.
Today begins another life, as another person. The only difference is the size of the town where we are. Instead of a major city, where we can blend in, we’re in a rural Northwest Georgia town, so small everyone has to know everyone else.
What are Mama and Daddy thinking? Their swindle will never work here.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Readers Gazette
Authorgraph
April 28, 2018
Paid Ads on Social Media
Good morning and welcome to Sharing Saturday. We’re looking at paid ads today. ***Notice*** The information I’m using in this article comes for other authors. I have yet to use a paid ad, although I have considered it.
We’ve all seen those ads on Facebook and Twitter, even Instagram. For a few dollars, or even with a discounted price, you can market your books to a larger audience. I’ve been watching these ads and talking to my author friends who have used them. One theme is prevalent throughout our conversations.
No one who used these ads found any significant increase of traffic to their social media sites. One and all, they said they didn’t feel the ad gave them any benefit. The friends I spoke with range from someone who took a one time ad to the smallest possible audience to an individual who allowed her ad to run for six months, investing close to three thousand dollars, and she had no new sales nor did she get any new followers on her site.
Where does this leave me when considering the benefits of expanding my social media reach? I’m actually torn. On the one hand, I know that the social media giants wouldn’t be making the offerings where the price is lowered if they were losing money by not having return author customers. On the other hand, my promotion budget is tight. I need to consider every penny I put into promotion, so I get the “best bang for my buck.”
At this moment, I won’t be taking those paid ads. If they improve in the future, if my large circle of author friends suddenly start crowing about the fabulous sales they’ve gotten through these ads, then I will seriously reconsider my decision.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her game when plotting a new story.
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Readers Gazette
Authorgraph
April 27, 2018
Engaging Readers
Good morning and welcome to Friday Feelings. Today, we’re going to discuss how to engage readers.
Just what do I mean when I say engage your readers?
I mean how do you interact with your readers on social media? Are you all about “buy my books” to the point where they don’t want to hear from you? Do you put up cute memes and funny posts, giving them a reason to know you as a person they like rather than the author selling their books?
These are very important things to remember when attracting attention on social media. Yes, you need to promote daily. It’s a fact of life for authors in the twenty-first century. We no longer have the publicist taking care of all that. We are the publicist. There are no scheduled book store appearances, unless we set them up. Therefore, we have to find other, creative methods of letting people know we’re an author, but we’re also a person of varied interests.
One thing you want to be careful of, though. Don’t interact with the troublemakers. If someone posts on your wall that they think you’re a jerk, an entitled person with no sense of the world, ignore them. Let their post wither away without a response. Engaging trolls is never encouraged; we never feed the trolls and their insatiable desire to get into an online fight with someone.
What we do, though, is smile while replying to a compliment. Did you know that by smiling when you’re responding to someone, your post will seem like you’re not only addressing the person but you are also happy they spoke with you. It’s the same way when we’re out and about in your normal life. Always smile, no matter how rushed you are or how badly you feel. Many people are still very impressed they’ve met an author; don’t let their moment with you leave a bad taste in their mouth.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Readers Gazette
Authorgraph
April 26, 2018
Write to Your Readers, not Reviewers
Good morning and welcome to Thursday Thoughts. Today, we’re going to be talking about who you should write your book to.
Seems rather simple. You have decided to write a book. You have all the important elements plotted out but you’re sitting at your computer, staring at the screen, and wondering just who you should write this book to. Should it be for the readers, for their enjoyment? Should you write to potential reviewers, in an effort to impress them?
Many authors lately have struggled with this conundrum. To me, it’s rather simple to resolve. We should always write to our potential readers. The story will evolve and be simple to follow if we decide on this route.
Before anyone jumps up and says but without reviews, readers won’t know about my book, just hang on. Says who? Alleged experts on the internet telling you how you have to write your story? I must ask just how many books these people have written or if they have any experience with books except to review them.
One thing you have to learn as an author is to believe in your work. Don’t let anyone tell you that you have to write a book in a certain manner, in order to get their five star review. Yes, those five star reviews are great. They certainly look nice on the sales venues, but unless the every day reader finds your book interesting and intriguing, they aren’t going to purchase it.
These people will never know the spontaneity of your characters, the tension In the scenes, or any of the many details you so painstakingly researched to make your story alive. They will, instead, be reading a book that is “perfectly” written, with every detail outlined and with fabulous plotting, but because you opted to write for a reviewer, your book may seem dry or too slow for them. They’ll walk away without ever discovering the great tale you crafted, because you were afraid a reviewer wouldn’t like your book.
The reality is that reviewers are nice. Getting great reviews from them does seem important, but in the end you need readers to buy your books and read them to achieve your goal of being an accepted author. So, if you are faced with this decision, remember that your readers will be with you long after the reviewers have moved on.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Readers Gazette
Authorgraph
April 25, 2018
Care and Feeding of Your Characters
Good morning and welcome to wwwblogs. Today, we’re going to discuss the feeding and care of your characters. Just what is that, you might ask. Stick around, you’ll soon see.
Your characters are the basis of your book. You are telling their story. Therefore, you must take care to feed them and experience their pain and success. As an author, you are the parent of these individuals; and they are very, very real, or they should be.
That being said, you, as the author, need to ensure your characters fit the story. They must be comfortable in their role as either protagonist or antagonist. An uncomfortable character makes for an awkward story that readers will hate.
How does one go about ensuring your characters are happy with their place in your unfolding story?
Simply put, you need to know those characters as well as you know yourself. Even elements that don’t necessarily belong in the story should be included in your notes about them. This information might never make into any part of your tale, but it will allow you to be more aware of the situations your characters will get involved in, either unwillingly or willingly.
Say, for instance, you have a character that absolutely hates people who swear. You don’t need to tell the reader this. Your character will do that for you, through their reactions when someone goes off on a profanity riddled tirade near them. A quiet comment, a distasteful facial expression, even leaving the area are all indicators of your character’s unease with the situation.
The same goes for a person listening to others talking about what they plan to do with your life, when this individual is still undecided how to move forward. They might listen. They might ask questions that will lead the reader to understand their quandary, or they might just make a comment that exposes their inability to choose a life path very evident.
Remember, character growth and how they are internally is very important. This can make a mediocre book become great, simply by how the characters expose their hidden elements without “telling” your reader their motivations.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Readers Gazette
Authorgraph
April 24, 2018
True Friends
Good morning and welcome to Tuesday Blog Share. Today, we’re discussing true friends. We all know who they are. The friends who are there when your life falls apart. They don’t make fake promises that everything will get better soon. Instead, they’re bringing the pizza, the sodas, the tissues to dry your tears, and vowing they will help you figure out a solution to your problem. A few have even stand beside you when you’re ready to do a smackdown on your enemies. This kind of friend will vow that they’ll carry the body into the woods and help you bury the person. No one knows if that part of the promise had been kept yet, but more than a few have learned the best buddy is more than willing to pull hair.
Get The Wrong One on Amazon
Blurb
One by one, the residents of Landry, Georgia gave up on finding Lyssa Winders alive. It had, after all, been fourteen years since she vanished. The men who invaded her home left behind the bodies of those she loved with all her heart. Only one person never gave up and still searches for Lyssa. Kyle Tinker battles his own demons from that night, when he hid like a coward instead of running for help. Their eighteenth birthday looms on the horizon, and Kyle is determined to bring Lyssa home.
Meanwhile, Kim Tinker is having trouble understanding her dreams about a pretty blonde girl—she has no idea that these dreams are of her life as Lyssa Winters. She also hears a guy who has recently started talking to her--in her head. All Kim wants is to get away from a family which hates her, but doing it safely is the one thing which eludes her.
On the day of the Freedom Festival, Kyle sees the girl he never thought he’d see again. And Lyssa finds the one person she’s protected for the last fourteen years on their shared birthday.
Excerpt
Kyle Tinker turned away from the window and scampered across the porch. He slid off the side and crawled until he was up against one of the support beams.
Why do the bad men want me? I don’t even know them.
For the last week, his and Lyssa’s parents had made them memorize their phone numbers, and stay inside their houses, unless an adult was with them. He’d caught sight of three men in a van driving up and down their street a couple of times. Those men scared him. He didn’t know why, but they did.
“Gotta go to where Uncle Jack works.” Kyle looked around to see if anyone had heard him. “Gotta make the police come before something really bad happens.”
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Readers Gazette
Authorgraph
April 23, 2018
Oh, La La
Good morning and welcome to Monday Blogs. Today, we’re going to be discussing cover art. This won’t be the usual discussion, but one I picked up on while cruising through Facebook one day and happening across a romance author demanding to know why all other romance authors were picking a certain type of man to use on their cover art.
What type of man you want to know? Well, instead of the scantily clad females, or women in dresses so low one had to assumer we were to assume these women were about the be bedded by the strong man firmly gripping them, we are now being assaulted by another type of cover in the romance genre.
First of all, I do write romance. I don’t select covers with people on them for a very good reason. It’s rare that I’ll find a cover I feel portrays my story when the people are holding onto each other so tightly you can’t see daylight between their bodies. Honestly, take a look at most romance covers. They’re very much the same. Oh, the models used in the pictures might change a bit, but other than that, there’s one theme very prevalent in them. You, the reader, are to assume this couple will have the usual break up, fighting all the time, get back together and more than likely end up in a bed type romance. The kind of romance stories that have sold well since… well, since books have been published, I guess.
Those covers seem to have run their course, until a year or so back a new type of cover hit the stock photo sites. In this picture, we are bombarded with bare chested men. In fact, the use of this type of cover—the strong, man with a hairless, deeply tanned chest—bats his eyes or stares at the woman while she’s swooning into his arms. Where once scantily clad women were firmly gripped by men, we’re now seeing scantily, depilated men pretending to be the strong savior of the woman in need. Or it could be the woman rescuing the man with a hairless chest. These types of photos are especially prevalent among the outdoors set romances.
First of all, a rugged cowboy or any man in a traditionally male profession usually doesn’t get into the current fad of removing all of his body hair. Most think that’s not how they want to portray themselves. They certainly don’t want people thinking of them in this way and that they would pose such as those men are on the covers of romance novels.
Secondly, what someone thought was a cute way to show men romancing women has now become overused that it’s pretty much all you see when you search for a new romance to read. As a reader, I’m fairly certain it gets old fast for you to have to look at covers that are pretty much the same and decide on which book you’ll buy next.
In other words, guys, put your shirts on when the photographer suggests taking them off. Authors, you need to be more original in your cover art. Instead of following the current trend, go for a cover that speaks to your story. Find one with a background that’s important to your book. Forget the people. Let the background of wherever your story is set be the invitation for a romance where they aren’t already shown what the characters look like and can find that out in your carefully crafted descriptions.
About K.C. Sprayberry
Born and raised in Southern California’s Los Angeles basin, K.C. Sprayberry spent years traveling the United States and Europe while in the Air Force before settling in northwest Georgia. A new empty nester with her husband of more than twenty years, she spends her days figuring out new ways to torment her
She’s a multi-genre author who comes up with ideas from the strangest sources. Those who know her best will tell you that nothing is safe or sacred when she is observing real life. In fact, she considers any situation she witnesses as fair characters and coming up with innovative tales from the South and beyond. game when plotting a new story.
Find out more about my books at these social media sites:
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Google +
Manic Readers
AUTHORSdb
Readers Gazette
Authorgraph
