M.E. Tudor's Blog: Upcoming Event!, page 8

Finding Jenna Release Date

FINDING JENNA TO BE RELEASED JULY 31STI have been working on this book for over two years. I really thought it would be the one to get published by a traditional publisher because the story is so relevant to things happening today. We have human traffickers, murders, lesbians, and a transgender man hero. I don't understand why none of the agents or publishers wanted to publish it. But that's okay. I'm going to publish it. 
I'm still working on the synopsis and the blurb. They are always the most difficult for me. I've already had a few beta readers read it and they love it, so I'm confident it is going to do well.
There are thirty-six chapters in this book so over the next fifty days I'll be posting summaries of the chapters on this blog as we lead up to the release. I'm also going to set up a release party on Facebook where I'll be giving away copies of Finding Jenna, as well as copies of my other books.
I'm really excited about this story. It's not my usual lesbian romance, which I love writing. But this is something very different. It's a thriller and a drama with a little bit of mystery thrown in for good measure. I can't wait to hear what readers think about it. 

This cartoon is me when it comes to writing my blog. I'm ...

This cartoon is me when it comes to writing my blog. I'm trying to do better about keeping it updated, but sometimes I don't know what to talk about. I feel like the people who follow my blog probably follow me on Facebook or Twitter, and already know all there is to talk about. And sometimes I feel like I'm just repeating myself.
Hey! Building Love is available in audio!
Hey! I'm almost done with Finding Jenna!
Sometimes I don't want to talk about what I'm doing because it might fall through. Several stories I've started have fizzled out. I'll revisit them at some point and hope that the original idea will blossom into something, but you never know if they will.
Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by all I want to do. You know, like write the Suddenly sequel about Jamie and P. J. at college. I've started that project several times, and I'm not sure why it keeps getting bogged down. It's been a while since I've worked on it so hopefully it will feel fresh and new. I'm going to revisit it next month. I would love to get it done this year. I know there are a lot of people patiently waiting for it.
The next big goal is to get Finding Jenna formatted for publication and getting the cover made. I want something fascinating for the cover. I know what I want in my mind's eye, I just hope I can find an artist to create it for me.
Marketing Finding Jenna I think is going to be a challenge. It's not a romance, but it has a love story. It's not really "lesbian" fiction, but it has lesbians in it. It is a fiction story about a trans man, but not about how he became a man per se, but it is discussed. It's not really a mystery, but there's been a murder. I'm thinking it's just going to fall into an LGBT drama broadly, but how do you market that for maximum readership?
I'm going to venture out of my shelf and try some new marketing techniques like holding a launch party and advertising in places I haven't attempted to advertise it before. So, we'll see what happens. I have to admit that I'm very nervous about Finding Jenna's reception. I really ventured out of my usual genre, but I felt compelled to write the book, so I hope it does well.
I need to find a way to get more feedback from my fans and readers. I find hearing what people think very helpful in my creative process. Hopefully, I'll figure out how to reach more people and get more discussions going about my work, and not just for sales, but for insight.
Well, looky there. I had more to say than I thought I did when I started this. Hopefully, you'll have something to say too.

It's Here!

My very first audio book is now available. Actress Sarah Beth Goer read Building Love for me and did a fabulous job. I have some promotion codes so I can giveaway a few copies. If you're interested in getting a promotion code for the audio book, send me an email with the words "Audio Book" in the subject.

I have to say, having someone else read my story out loud was pretty amazing. I'd listened to the story using Natural Reader, a computer program. NR reads the story word for word and it's great for helping you catch mistakes. But listening to a person give your characters life is completely different. I hope it does well because I would love to have more of my books available in audio.

I'm a little bummed that Amazon set the price so high. I'm not sure if I can do anything about that. This is my first rodeo with Amazon's ACX. So far I've been a bit frustrated by the limited number of categories they have for putting your audio book into. I'm not sure if they will let me lower the price, which at $17.46, I thought it was a little high. Anyway, we'll see how it goes.

My books Suddenly, Standing Her Ground, and Second Chances will remain at $.99 until the end of the day Monday, so take advantage of that if you haven't already read the books.

Agent number four has turned down Finding Jenna so the self-publishing plan is still on schedule. If the writing gods are willing, I hope to release it sometime this summer. I've set a goal for the end of June, but we'll see how that goes.

I've got at least five books in some stage of being written and I'm hoping to get them finished and out to you all as soon as possible.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Questions and Sales

Next Saturday I'm going to be on The Writer's Block that is hosted by the Lesfic Reading Group. I hope a lot of people will stop by and ask questions. I'm going to be giving away digital and print copies of Building Love throughout the event.

May 21-25th I Heart Lesfic is having a Mega Sale. My books Standing Her Ground, Suddenly, and Second Chances will all be on sale for $.99 on Amazon during those five days. So, if you haven't purchased a copy of one of those books, here's your chance to get them at a discount.

The audio book for Building Love has been completed and I'm waiting for Amazon to give it's stamp of approval. Sarah Beth Goer did a great job reading the book so I hope you'll check it out.

I have to admit I've had a little bit of writer's block for the past couple of weeks. I think it's primarily due to the stress caused by events that have going on with my 11 year old granddaughter. If you have children please keep an eye on what apps they are putting on their phones and pads. Some sick fuckers (please excuse the language) sent pictures of their private parts to my granddaughter and I've been super angry and upset about it. In fact, I've been inspired to write a book about something like this happening and how the girl would be after she was saved.

Anyway, I hope all the mother's out there have a great Mother's Day. I know I'm looking forward to hugging my kiddos and being thankful for everyone being safe.

The Audio Book for Building Love

Exciting news! The audio book for Building Love is almost ready! The reader is Sarah Beth Goer and she has a done a fabulous job! I'm so excited about that project. It's the very first audio book that has been done for one of my books and I can't wait to hear where listeners are going to have to about it.

I have almost finished Finding Jenna for self-publication. I sent it out to a few agents and publishers and didn't get any takers, so I'm going to publish it myself. If the writing gods are willing it will be out before the end of June. I think anyone who is interested in transgender issues and thrillers will enjoy this story.

There are a few other stories in the works. One is a very short-short story that I may be publishing soon and the other two are stories I wrote years ago that I'm editing and will release later this year.

The new young adult lesbian romance I'd started for Camp NaNoWriMo at the beginning of April has fizzled out. I was disappointed, but maybe it will come together before the NaNoWriMo in November.

Until then I hope you all will check out my other books that are all available on Amazon.

Website Close To Done

I've been working on my website on and off over the past two weeks. It's just about done. I'll be tweaking to make it more user friendly. I'm not going to have posts on this new website like I did my other one. This website will be a stationary page for my readers to find information about my books, information about me, and where to connect with me. This blog will be my primary place to post updates about my writing projects and publication dates.

This weekend my family and I will be in Port Orange, Florida to celebrate Easter with my older brother, who's ideal of celebrating Easter involves lots of wine and little religion. ;) Anyway, I will be taking notes and I'm sure coming up with ideas for stories. I'll be doing some writing while I'm down there on a new young adult romance I've been working on. I signed up for the April Camp NaNoWriMo so I'm going to try to get 50,000 words written this month, and that means I need to write at least 1600 words every day.

I'm editing the transgender story I had been looking for an agent to represent. I've given up on that idea and will publish that story myself later this year. I'm also working on adding links to my digital books so readers can go straight to the next book, or to my author page on Amazon.

I hope you'll stop by and check out the new website and drop me a note to tell me what you think. I'm always interested in hearing from readers, so don't be shy about dropping me a line.

Website Troubles

Well, I guess I didn't pay for my domain name on time with GoDaddy, so Wordpress shutdown my website. So, I'm kind of bummed, but not really. I'd been thinking about changing my website for a while now. I guess this gives me the opportunity to do that. When I get the new website up and running I'll be sure to get the information to everyone via this blog, Facebook and Twitter.

Finding Jenna has gotten three agent rejections and two publisher rejections. I know that's not a lot in the publishing industry, but I did get some inside information that the main concern from the publishing and agent side of things is that the book might not sell enough to be worth taking on because of the subject matter. So, I'm going to publish it myself. I'm actually going to publish both versions of the story. One version focuses on the intrigue, and one focuses on the relationship between the two main characters. I think a lot of readers will enjoy seeing both sides of the story, but we'll see what happens later this year when I release the stories.

Build Love is doing really well. Thank you, everyone, who has read the story! I appreciate you all so much, especially the readers who've taken a few minutes to give me a review. Sending out much love to you all.

I'm really fired up about writing this year and publishing some stories that I've written in the past so that you will see more from me this year than in the past few years. I hope you all will be as excited about reading my stories as I am about getting them out there to you

Goodreads Giveaway

Wow! This has been a very exciting 17 days since I released Building Love. It has done very well in the lesbian romance and lesbian fiction categories on Amazon and is selling like hot cakes. I am so thrilled. It had been a while since I'd released anything new so I was a bit worried about how it would be received, but so far everyone has said they have enjoyed the story. 
I'm running a Goodreads Giveaway. It started today and will go on until March 12th. I'm giving away 20 digital copies of Building Love, so if you haven't read it yet and want to get a free copy, here's your chance.

So, what's next? A lot of things. I'm still trying to find an agent for Finding Jenna. I've set the time limit to a year. If I don't find an agent in a year, I'm going to self-publish the book myself. I really believe the story will have mainstream appeal and I just want to go through the experience of being traditionally published. But, if no one shows any interest before October 2018, I'm going to publish it myself.

The next thing on my agenda is wrapping up some stories I've already started and editing some stories that are finished. I have two stories that I posted on The Royal Academy of Bards site several years ago that I'm going to polish and publish this year. I also want to finish The Weddings, the final book of The Wrong Place at the Right Time series. On top of that, I've already started another young adult lesbian romance. Yes, that's a pretty full plate, but after a year and a half of mourning the loss of my sister and brother-in-law and being just really out of sorts, I finally feel fired up and ready to get some serious writing and publishing done.

I want to thank everyone who has followed me on this journey I started almost six years ago. Your support means so much to me and I look forward to hearing what you think of the stories I'm going to publish in the future.

Namaste, M. E.

Already Getting Great Reviews

It's been a week since I released Building Love and it's ready getting some great reviews. Here's my favorite so far:
This was a good story with a bit of everything except really spicy naughty stuff. I really did enjoy this one.

The two main characters shared an alternating narrative. Both of the protagonists are less privileged girls in smallish town Kentucky, so they're automatically the good people in the story.

I think that's the problematic part in that good and evil are kind of stereotyped. And when I say "kind of", I mean "really" stereotyped. Spoiled privileged white boy with enabling intolerant father and crazy religiously intolerant mom... Spoiled rich girl bullies. Yeah, I have seen that before a bunch of times already.

The best parts are in the margins, I guess. The girl who went through conversion "therapy", who was only there in a single scene. The mysterious brother and absent mom. The fact that the poor girl protagonist chose life rather than to abort her unfortunate fetus... Even if life was a plot point rather than any statement about politics (and thank goodness it wasn't). These little peculiarities are what makes this story shine.

There were opportunities to expand the story (like the identity of the father), but even if I could fill in the blanks, I'm glad it ended where it did because it wasn't necessary.

So, broadly speaking, I think there were missteps in sketching out stereotypical characters in the broader world. When the story plays in the path of the particular idiosyncrasies of the fictional world, it's much better.
It's made it all the way to #8 in Lesbian Romance on Amazon, which is the highest any of my books have gone in that category. Of course, I'm having to compete with the likes of J. A. Armstrong (on of my favorite authors), Harper Bliss, and H. E. Logan for a higher position. 
If you haven't already checked out this new young adult lesbian romance, I hope you will and I hope you'll let me know if you liked it. 

One Week From Release

This is the new book cover for Building Love. I still need to work on the blurb for the back cover, but that's a work in-progress. I'm going to be loading the book content to Amazon this coming weekend so it will be ready by February 14th, the official release date. 

This is the second book young adult book that I've written where a child was in the story. I think it's an important issue that often gets looked over. Lots of lesbians want kids, and not all lesbians have kids via vitro fertilization. This story also talks about the consequences that can happen when partying with drugs, alcohol, and people you can't trust. Unlike Standing Her Ground, which revolved around Jodi Nelson fighting to keep her parents and their church from trying to take her son, Building Love revolves around the relationship between Patty McNeal, a pregnant teen getting ready to graduate from high school, and Theresa Garland, a young contractor, who went to the same high school as Patty. 

Even though they had both noticed each other at the high school, they had never spoken. Theresa, who is two years older than Patty, had developed a small crush on Patty when they had been in school together, but had never attempted to talk to Patty, especially after Theresa and her classmate, Linda Dalton become lovers.

It's been two years since Theresa graduated from high school and fate has brought the two young women back into each other's lives. Patty is dealing with bad choices she had made the year before, after her father was tragically killed by a drunk driver, in the form of an unexpected pregnancy. Theresa has finished a two year technical college program and started working as a foreman for her father's construction company. The two young woman become friends as they both work to help Patty's mom, Mandy McNeal realize her dream of owning a bed and breakfast.

Theresa's attraction to Patty is growing but she's trying to keep her feelings on a friendship level because she doesn't know if Patty would ever want to be more than friends. Patty feels a growing attraction to Theresa, but is afraid its just hormones in overdrive. The two women have to decide if they can let go of their fear of getting hurt, or hurting each other, and become more than friends. Only time will tell if they can build a lasting love.