Stacy Verdick Case's Blog, page 12

A Luring Murder

Well it’s live. A Luring Murder is finally available as a free e-book download. It will be free for the month of November as a thank you to everyone who made A Grand Murder such a success.

A Luring Murder is the book that never was. I had written a completely different follow-up to A Grand Murder (Those of you who have your copy handy can see the advertisement in the back of the book). Then people started commenting that they couldn’t wait to find out what happens to Catherine on vacation. Um, that hadn’t crossed my mind. The second book took place several months after A Grand Murder ended.

Since it’s my job to entertain, and the motto for entertainment is give them what they want, I set to work on the “Vacation Book” as I called it for the past few months. I felt rushed through this whole process and I hope that I haven’t cheated the reader in any way by rushing this book.

Please click over and download your free copy as my way of saying thanks for actually caring about Catherine enough to ask for A Luring Murder.

Below is the blurb for the book.

God Bless!

The irreverent detective is back, and this time she’s on vacation.
God help us all.

St. Paul, Minnesota Homicide Detective Catherine O’Brien and her loving husband Gavin are vacationing on one of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes. When a local is murdered Catherine is tapped to help the small town Sheriff until the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension arrives to take over the investigation.

Catherine is surprised when her partner Louise and Diggs the forensic pathologist, whose crush on Louise is only dwarfed by his own genius, shows up to assist instead of the BCA.

Before long Catherine and Louise discover this sleepy little town has a dark side hidden beneath its placid lake charms. Somewhere in the tangle of cheating and deception is a motive for murder.

Filed under: ebooks, fiction, free book, give away, Mysteries Tagged: A Luring Murder, Catherine O'Brien Book 2, eBooks, free book

Sun, Sun Go Away

This morning when I saw a grey sky out my window I smiled. I love rainy cold days. So much so that when the sun started to crack through the clouds a grump fell over me that was worse than if you had shot my dog.

Yes, I’m aware there is something wrong with me with respect to the sunlight. I’m not a fan. Most of the summer, I am cloistered in my home waiting for the sun to go away. It could be because my Nordic skin fries to a crisp the instant I step out the door. It could be that I have no tolerance for heat, and I become lethargic in the heat. Whatever the reason the sun and I are only passing acquaintances.

Cold and rainy days make me productive. An urge to cook, bake, clean, write, and read grips me on a rainy day.  A week long drizzle will find my family 20 lbs. heavier, my house spotless, and pages of books both written and read. It’s awesome!

I’m sorry to all the sun worshipers that I frequently wish your precious sun away.  Excuse me while I crank up Eddie Rabbit’s I Love a Rainy Night.

Filed under: humor, Random Musing, Uncategorized Tagged: Eddie Rabbit, Productivity, Rainy Days, Sun

The New Cover Has Arrived!

I’m so excited to announce that A Luring Murder will be coming soon!  The cover has arrived (so happy) and we are only weeks away from release. Since the release was pushed back and pushed back I’m not committing to a date until I know for sure (and am holding a copy in my hot little hands).

Here’s a preview of the cover and a little about A Luring Murder!

The irreverent detective is back, and this time she’s on vacation.
God help us all.

St. Paul, Minnesota Homicide Detective Catherine O’Brien and her loving husband Gavin are vacationing on one of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes. When a local is murdered Catherine is tapped to help the small town sheriff until the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension arrives to take over the investigation.

Catherine is surprised when her partner Louise and Diggs the forensic pathologist, whose crush on Louise is only dwarfed by his own genius, show up to assist instead of the BCA.

Before long Catherine and Louise discover this sleepy little town has a dark side hidden beneath its placid lake charms. Somewhere in the tangle of cheating and deception is a motive for murder.

 

Thank you to all the fans who asked for this book! As many of you know this was not supposed to be the second book, but there was demand to know what happened on Catherine’s vacation, so I scrambled to give you want you wanted. I hope you enjoy reading this book and have as much fun with it as I did writing it.

God Bless!

Filed under: Authors, books, fiction, Mysteries, reading, Vacation, Writers, writing Tagged: A Luring Murder, books, Catherine O'Brien, fiction, mysteries, New Book Cover, Stacy Verdick Case, writers, writing

Stacy Unplugged

I just got back from being unplugged. I took a vacation with my family in which I didn’t check my email, post to a blog, tweet, post to Facebook (or Face-Crack as my husband affectionately calls it) or even use my cellphone, except to locate the people I was traveling with at the time.

It was great. I like being unplugged. No, I LOVE being unplugged.

After a whirlwind year of blog tours, radio interviews, and all that comes with a new book, I was blissed out to just have time with my family.

We decided to head West to South Dakota so our daughter could see Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Wall Drug, The Mammoth Dig, Flintstone Village, Bear Country, and everything else for the first time. Seeing everything through her eyes was magical.

We rented a cabin from the High County Guest Ranch, which is about as far as I willing to go in the “roughing it” department. Our cabin had a full kitchen, two baths, heat, and air conditioning. Yeah, that’s me roughing it! No, I’m not getting a kick back for mentioning their name in this post, I just loved my experience there and want people to know about them. Literally, cell reception in this area was nill, so there were no pesky work calls interrupting us, and I saw more than one teenager suffering from texting withdrawals, but I digress.

Every morning a bevy of horses were run past the back door of our cabin up to the main riding coral and every night they were run

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High Country Guest Ranch Horses running past our door one morning.

past us again to their evening pastures. The sight took my breath away every day that I witnessed it. The photo I’ve posted does not do the sight justice. It was magical. My little girl was giddy every day she saw the horses run.

The Circle B Chuckwagon is always at the ranch. They put on a beautiful “Cowboy Music” show and a great

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The Circle B Chuckwagon Show

chuckwagon dinner. Before the performance there’s a caricature artist (awesome artist who works for tips – if you go don’t stiff him like some people I saw), Doug Ladd a Master Woodcarver (amazing work – he was the official artist of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake), and a shootout for the kids (my little one is still taking about apprehending the “Biscuit Bandit”), as well as gem panning, wax bullet pistol shoot, pony

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Kids Stamped to Apprehend the Biscuit Bandit. Mines the cute cowgirl in pink!

rides,  and more – all of which were so much fun.

When we ventured off the ranch, South Dakota does not disappoint. Okay, Deadwood sucks just a little bit, but only because they traded their history for becoming little Las Vegas, which doesn’t impress me. If I want to gamble I head out the casino here. The rest of South Dakota though was great.

We drove up 244 to Mount Rushmore and I got to witness my Daughter’s delight at seeing the mountain for the first time.  Awesome!

 

That’s my little one in the video. We’d been in South Dakota for a week at this point but to her Mount Rushmore was South Dakota. I think her reaction to everything what made the whole trip magical. She went completely cowboy crazy while we were there and I still haven’t been able to get her out of her " target="_blank">Durango’s.

If you’re a mom or a dad looking to unplug your family for awhile, I would definitely recommend hitting the hills for a spell. I can whole-heartedly recommend the High Country Guest Ranch (which is for sale so hopefully the new owners will keep the charm going), the Circle B Chuckwagon, and South Dakota as a destination.

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Mount Rushmore.

Thank you, South Dakota!

Crazy Horse

You do not disappoint. We’re already planning our return trip.

Filed under: Mommy, South Dakota, Vacation Tagged: Family Fun, South Dakota, Unplugged, Vacation

Five Writing Prompts to Limber Your Fiction Muscles

Most people wouldn’t dream of starting an intense workout without a warm-up first, but many writers will attempt a marathon session of writing, only to find their fiction muscles have atrophied.

Time to stretch your writing muscles. Use one of these five prompts as a warm-up before you sit down for your next writing session.

1) Write a letter to your first teenage crush, the one you could never bring yourself to approach. Confess all the things you felt for this person, and don’t leave out the embarrassing bits.

2) Imagine you’ve reached your ultimate publishing goal – The Bestseller! Write a journal entry about how your life has changed. Go ahead and dream big for this one.

3) Remember a special moment from your childhood. Maybe your grandmother’s kitchen when you would visit, or the day you won the spelling bee at school. Write that moment in as much detail as you can. Use all five of your senses, the smell, the sounds, the taste, the sight, the feel.

4) Create the world in your image. Redesign the world, as you believe it should have been. Your sky could be purple and your grass red, get as creative as you can and use as much detail as possible.

5) Write your last unsettling dream or nightmare, as if it were a scene in your book. Try to make your reader’s heart race with fear and their breath catch in their throat.

Don’t be tempted to use these prompts to avoid your real work in progress. Set a timer for no less than ten minutes, and no more than thirty-minutes. Stop writing when the alarm says it’s time, and then jump right in to your manuscript.

 

Filed under: Authors, Writers, writing Tagged: writers, writing, writing exercise, writing prompt

Some People Just Look Better In A Chalk Outline

My register of people I wished would kick off and make the world a better place to live could rival Santa’s naughty list.  Belinda Stanley had just recently been added to my ever - growing catalog, but I never took the matter into my own hands.  Wishcraft was all the further I was willing to go. ~ Catherine O’Brien, A Grand Murder

Take Our Poll

Filed under: Poll Tagged: Fun, Humor, Just for Fun, Poll

Creating a Media Kit

A media kit (also called press kit) is an important tool that all authors should have for their book and is considered essential for any significant marketing campaign.

Basically a media kit gives people all the information they need about you and your book.

Let’s take a look at the sorts of things you can include in your kit.

Author bio. Written in third person is best. You might even want to include a few breaking them down into 50 words, 150 words and 300 words.
Author photo. A clear, professional looking head shoot is best.
Sell sheet including full title, authors name, publisher, date published, ISBN, purchasing links, cover art, reviews/endorsements, press releases, ordering information and contact information.
A sample interview. Interview yourself about your book, the publishing process and your marketing strategy.
Press release. You may want to include several. One to announce that the release of your book is coming and one for your book launch. You might want to add others that announce an event or story in the news that ties in with your book in some way or to create a buzz when you land a big endorsement or review.
Book synopsis. This is your sales pitch.
Book trailer. Make a video trailer for your book and upload it to YouTube and other video platforms. Even a 30 second teaser is enough. Include the link and embed code.
Promotional banner. A simple banner with your cover art, author pic and book details is enough.
Published articles. If you’ve written articles for magazines or newspaper connected to the topic of your book include those too.
Clips. If you’ve received positive articles or reviews from newspaper articles etc…

What did you include in your media kit? Do you have any suggestions for things I might have missed out? I’d love to hear back from you.

Jo Linsdell Author of
Out and About at the Zoo

Jo Linsdell is the author and illustrator of the rhyming children’s picture book OUT AND ABOUT AT THE ZOO. Find out more about her at www.JoLinsdell.com

Filed under: Authors, Blog Tour!, books, Guest Post, Writers, writing Tagged: Authros, Creating a Media Kit, Jo Linsdell, Out and About At The Zoo, Promoting your books, writers, writing

Why Am I on Facebook?

The title of this blog post says it all, Why AMI on Facebook?  Or twitter for that matter? I opened my social media accounts because a marketing

Oh the horror!

“guru” told me that I had to have one. Why? To promote my book of course.

But that’s not what social networking is about. Social networking is about, well, being social.

Here is the problem, writers by nature are introverts. We sit by ourselves and tell stories about people we make up in our heads. Trust me, there is nothing “social” in that job description.

I’ve participated in events with large groups of writers being social to help promote their work and charities. Everyone puts on their game face for these events. They chat, and smile and are social butterflies. After the public leaves these ersatz socialites shut down. They’re exhausted. Most complain of headaches and fatigue. I even saw one poor author break down into tears.

I blame Jacqueline Susann and other writers like her who actively pursued the spotlight. Writers shouldn’t be celebrities, and I’m suspicious of people who think they’ll become famous as a writer.  Chances are you won’t. Especially with the explosion of indie authors. You are now one voice in a very large crowd of people shouting.

The proof for me that writers are not social people can be seen crystal clear on twitter. When you read a tweet that looks like this:

#Buy #Kindle #99cents #D #5Stars #Novel #(Book Title)

And that’s what they send over and over. Why? Because some marketing guru, told them they had to promote on twitter. The problem is they 1) don’t know how to be social and 2) don’t want to be social because they are introverts.

People who enjoy social networking and they know when you’re not being genuine. Most will tune out the tweets, unfollow the author, or just block the tweeter, because that’s not why they’re on these sites. People who are on these sites want to connect with others, not be preached to or sold.

My facebook page posts are sadly few and far between. I am an introvert. I would be happy to be shut in a room for the rest of my life. Let alone to churn out stories. When I hear people are sent to solitary confinement in prison I actually wonder why that’s considered a punishment.

So I’m wondering how much can these social marketing campaigns really be helping if all that is sent is spam?

For those authors who are genuinely social and can connect with their audience on a genuine, personal level maybe they’ve sold some books.

For those author’s who are socially awkward (and you know who you are), who are just posting buy my book, buy my book, I doubt their campaign has had much impact.

My guess is most of my socially awkward posts have now been hidden on most news feeds, so I struggle with the relevance of Facebook and the like.

If you are connected with me on a social networking site and you’ve wondered why I rarely post, I am sorry. I am not a person who lays bare the minutia of my day for the world to see.

I can only be who I am.

Filed under: Authors, Social networking Tagged: Facebook, Jacqueline Susann, Social Networking, Twitter, writers

World Book Night, The Wind Through the Keyhole Marketing Scam, and Other Things I Forgot to Talk About

So I’ve been trying to get the new book two finished (read about it here) and since its almost complete, I thought I ‘d take a break to  update the blog on recent events.

First I missed posting about World Book Night on April 23rd. I was so excited to be given a change to be an official book giver. What a great idea World Book Night is! Giving away books for free to unsuspecting passerbys.

When I arrived at my local library to pick up my twenty copies of Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried there was a general sense of excitement and unease among my fellow book givers.  How would people in America react to someone handing them a book? After all when’s the last time someone tried to hand you a book that wasn’t The Book of Mormon?

It’s never happened to me. You?

We all eagerly discussed our books and why we chose that particular book to giveaway.  For my part, I wanted to give a book that men and women would be interested in reading.

I’ve read some of the other participants stories about the difficulty they had and the hesitant recepients. I didn’t have a problem. My first I gave away at the gas pump at 8am to a gentleman on the other side of the pump. I figured why not, we’re both just standing there, so I smiled, said, “hi” and asked if he knew it was World Book Night.

“Oh, is it?” He asked.

I explained how happy I was to give away book. He confessed he hadn’t read much since college. I asked if he wanted a copy of The Things They Carried. We discussed the boo a little and he said he would like a copy.

After that there was no stopping me. All twenty were gone by 10am. I’m still amazed that I could be part of such a massive undertaking. Would I do it again next year? SURE!

Now about The Wind Through the Keyhole’s marketing scam played on fans. First, let me say it was an ingenious way for an already successful author to presell THOUSANDS of copies of this book. Frankly, I wish I’d thought of it. I’m still pissed though.

For those of you who don’t know, Stephen King’s publishers decided to run a Facebook “contest” where you could enter a photo of yourself and appear as part of a mosaic that created the new cover of The Wind Through the Keyhole.

I’m pretty sure everyone who sent a picture was “chosen” for this honor.

As a King fan, I of course sent my photo and was chosen (hazzah!). I order a copy and of course my parents did. I had to laugh my butt of when the book arrived. The photos are so small and pixelated that there is no way to identify any individual. Trust me on this because I dug out my jewelers loop (yeah, I have one) and I still could not swear in a court of law that those are human beings on that cover. Maybe if I could borrow an electron microscope, or the Hubbell, I might be able to see something that resembled a face.

The funny part is no one seems to be complaining loudly about this. I think because we’re all embarrassed that we were duped. I’m mean please Stephen, were the sales of the last Dark Tower books so dismal that you had to con your fans? I know I wasn’t planning to buy The Wind Through the Keyhole until I was “chosen” (and if I had it certainly wouldn’t have been a hardcover), so I guess maybe they were.

And yet, I’m still not sure if I should be upset, because I was duped or because I didn’t think of using a mosaic on my next cover! I could have pre-sold thousands.

The other stuff I forgot to talk about:

1) The DOJ goes after eBook price-fixing – go free enterprise.

2) Suddenly publishers are resurrecting closed lines as eBook only lines. What to finally hop on board the train that left the station three years ago. Now if they could only come around to print on demand for more than just their back list, maybe they can keep from going bankrupt and as a bonus stop annihilating forests for books that won’t sell out their initial print run. I’m just saying. Innovate or die.

That’s all I have for now!

Filed under: Authors, books, fiction, publishing, reading, Writers, writing Tagged: Marketing Scam, Stephen King, The Wind Through The Keyhole, World Book Night

Important Update on the Second Catherine O’Brien Book!

So, when I wrote A Grand Murder I didn’t anticipate how many readers would want to know what happened to Catherine when she went on vacation!  I have a confession to make, the second book actually takes place much later, which has been a huge disappointment to people who have emailed me about the book.

So, the publishers and I have agreed to delay the release of book 2 Murder is A Family Affair. Instead, I am working furiously to complete a novella about what happens when Catherine hits the road with Gavin for their up north adventures (I was taking my time on book three. now I’m in rush mode again).  We will release the novella in eBook only, and it will be available for FREE.  It’s my gift to everyone who shouted for it — loudly.

I’m sorry, I didn’t understand how curious you readers would be about Catherine and her hubby! I appreciate all the feedback you sent to me on the topic, and let me say, MESSAGE RECEIVED!

I feel so blessed that you all cared enough to be such a pain about it. I’m just kidding. I love that you guys were so insistent. It makes me giddy. You guys rock!

THANK YOU!!!

Filed under: books, ebooks, free book, gratitude, Thankful Tagged: A Grand Murder, Catherine O'Brien Book 2, Free Novella