The Good, The Bad, and the Beautiful

Published: In a Small Compass, Vol. 1 Snippet of Naked Alliances Audio Book

The Good, The Bad, and the Beautiful

Good news and bad news. First the bad news, so I can end on a happy note. Naked Alliances had an awesome launch, but sales have come to a screeching halt. I’m really puzzled by this as the publicist’s blog tour just came to an end about a week ago. I talked with her about the fact that she “outsources” all blog tours and all of my posts were posted by the same person, Mayra Calvani, on different sites. Sites she apparently owns, which leads me to believe that the posts had only as far of a reach as her social media platform allows…which isn’t good.

I seriously need to do my own blog tour. I have ten interviews and five guest post waiting in the wings. Anyone willing to post any one of these? I had a list of people who invited me to do guest posts or interviews on their sites, and for the life of me, I can’t find it.

A gentleman the publicist connected me with, Gary Roen, a reviewer with MidWest reviews posted a nice review on his shelf at their site. He’s also a local guy and we met for lunch at the Cork and Fork. He’s an amusing gentleman who wears a straw hat and tropical shirts, like me. I wish we had gotten a picture together, but I forgot. I learned that his father was one of the founding fathers of the Parliament House when it was solely an entertainment venue on Colonial and not a gay resort. His parents were both in the publishing business many years ago. We had a few laughs and I was quite impressed with his character. He’s sending reviews out to a few more sources.

Another lady at “BookLoon” the publicist connected me with wasn’t so receptive. Apparently she only reviews cozy mysteries. I have no clue why she agreed to read and review a book called Naked-something about a sex-trafficking scheme, but she did. Although there was only one chapter with a sex scene in it…purely recreational sex, which she cannot fathom, she was so appalled by it she had to issue a warning with her review. Imagine that! Otherwise, the review was not so bad, and certainly directs the book more toward its target audience. I understand the name of her review blog better now.

On a brighter note, I’m having Naked Alliances made into an audiobook, narrated by the awesome Steven Barnett,

Steven in his studio

another local Orlandonite who has a stellar reputation with ACX, an audio book making company. I had eight auditions to choose from and his was so good I didn’t want to stop listening at the end of the fifteen minute audition. Looking forward to having that up before Christmas and can’t wait to meet him. He lives about fifteen minutes from me and we’re planning a tour of Cypress Cove, the nudist resort my family owns that the fictional Leisure Lagoon was fashioned after.

I’m in the process of getting Book Two set up into Scrivener. Barring no major Holiday crisis, the way I write I should have the first draft by April. Would be sooner but we set April for our visit to Vegas. Vegas plays a part in the resolution and I want to people watch and see how things operate there. I’ve never been. I’ve been to casinos in Florida, but it’s not the same. I’d like to see the lay out of the strip, too.

If you enjoyed the book, tell somebody about it!

Tell me how you’re doing.

Have you ever made an audio book?