Nancy J. Cohen's Blog: Nancy's Notes from Florida, page 131

LAKE CO. FESTIVAL OF READING

The Lake County Library System holds a week-long reading festival each year. It must be the best attended library event in the state.  Friday night, March 19, found my husband and I along with 20 other authors at a delightful Author's Reception in Leesburg Library. Leesburg doesn't seem like a big town but the library is a two-story modern building with a café. While waiters circulated with canapes, we met library patrons, readers, staff members, and fellow writers. We had the opportunity to ...

PIRACY

Piracy is becoming an increasing concern among published authors. I am not referring to folks like Captain Jack Sparrow here. I mean Internet pirates, shady characters who offer unauthorized downloads of our books for free. Why does this hurt us authors? We're not paid any royalties, for one thing. Secondly, those downloads don't count towards our sales figures. When our sales figures stay flat, the publisher is less likely to buy our next book. Your favorite series might be discontinued...

A DREAM COME TRUE

CIRCLE OF LIGHT, my seventh manuscript, became the first novel I sold. It began as a dream, wherein I was at my job as a clinical nurse specialist. The dream unfolded in much the same manner as the excerpt on my website. My dream ended at the same place, but I couldn't let it go. I had to finish the story! I wrote the whole thing, and that's my first book that sold. CIRCLE OF LIGHT became number one in a trilogy and went on to win the HOLT Medallion Award in the paranormal category. The...

BREATHING LIFE INTO YOUR BACKLIST

It's hard work to breathe life into your backlist but well worth the effort. Fans who get hooked on your latest title will search the bookstore shelves for everything else you've written. Hoping to catch new fans with my upcoming futuristic romance, SILVER SERENADE, I've begun the process of updating the offering of my very first three published books. These futuristics ended up as a threesome that I now call the Light-Years Trilogy. Belgrave House is converting them to digital media so...

SLEUTHFEST 2010

SLEUTHFEST is one of the best mystery writer conferences around. I had a great time schmoozing with old friends and meeting new people. On Friday, I participated in a panel called "The Power of Publicity". Rod Pennington narrated, and I had the pleasure of listening to my fellow panelists discuss their tips for promotion: Sandra Balzo, James Grippando, Charles Todd, Pearl Wolf, and Dirk Wyle. Sandra suggested targeting bookmarks and other printed material to booksellers, librarians, and book ...

PLANNING A PROMO CAMPAIGN

How soon should you begin publicizing your new release? As soon as you sign the contract. But what if you only have a short lead time? In four months, my new book will launch. Am I prepared to announce it to the world? Not totally. There's a lot of work to do first.

In this digital age, most of my promotion will be online. But with the choices of what to do being so overwhelming, how can you choose which are the best? Don't be like me: I take a look at what other authors are doing and hit the ...

THE ACCIDENTAL READER

In this dawning digital age, when people download books onto ebook readers like the Kindle or Nook, how will an author get noticed? It's hard enough already with so many books on the shelves, but what happens when your book no longer appears in brick-and-mortar stores? I've received many letters from fans saying my book cover caught their eye in the library or my catchy title snagged their attention in the bookstore. Am I going to lose those accidental readers when my books can only be...

GETTING AN AGENT

One of the popular questions every author is asked is "How do you get an agent?" Here are some tips to start your journey.

Complete your manuscript in the proper format.

Be prepared to suggest possible markets to an agent. Also have two or three bestselling authors to compare your work to in terms of genre and tone.

Where do you find an agent? Attend writers' conferences with editor/agent appointments. Study the Guide to Literary Agents by Writer's Digest Books.  Check out the online resources b...

BOOK & FILM REVIEWS

Every so often, I share what I've been reading or seeing at the movies. So here are my latest reviews.

AVATAR (Film Review)

Several words come to mind to describe this film: Awesome. Revolutionary. Mind-Blowing. The story itself is nothing new. Technologically advanced militants seek to exploit unskilled natives who live close to nature and worship spirits of the land. It's environmentalists versus developers. Warriors versus innocents. Foreign invaders versus Native Americans. The parallels...

BOOKSIGNING CHECKLIST

What should writers bring when going to a booksigning?  Here's a checklist:

Autographed by Author stickers   (optional; not all readers want a sticker on their precious signed book)

Book cover of upcoming release

Bookmarks

Book to donate  (optional; for library donation or for a door prize if you're a guest speaker at a community event)

Box of Books (for when you sell your own; otherwise keep in car trunk in case bookseller doesn't come through)

Bottle of Water

Business Cards

Calculator

Camera  (if...