Marie Silk: the value of permafree?

[Christina]

Hehehehe!!! Today was probably the only day this week that I didn't have tacos or any Mexican cuisine for that matter. But tomorrow is tamale Wednesday because why not?

[Nathan]

Do I smell tacos? And a cheese fountain?
*cholesterol jumps 100 points*
I know, I know, late as usual. But anytime is on time for tacos!

Down here where I live we have a restaurant that started Taco Tuesdays - .99 tacos all day

Welcome Marie. My wife loves Downton Abbey. I imagine she would like your books. Are they all available in print?

Congrats on the Kindle rating

[Marie Silk]

Hello Nathan! Thank you for the kind words and yes my books are available in paperback :) https://www.amazon.com/Davenport-Hous...

Hi Amanda! Neflix is the best!

Christina: It makes me so happy to hear that you get a decent dose of Mexican food :D Mm Tamale Wednesday. Christmas is just around the corner, so...

[Christina]

OMG that is so accurate!!! Yes, one advantage to living in Texas is that there is never a shortage of tacos. There are places in my neighborhood I haven't eaten at yet! XD

[Nathan]

I love Fluffy. Martinnnnnnne! Thanks for the heads up. will definitely be looking for it.

[Thomas]

[Marie Silk]

Nice one, Thomas!! A taco in each hand = happiness

[Nat]

But, I must ask, where can you put the third taco?

[Thomas]

In your mouth! :D

[Nat]

I was thinking tentacles myself. But the mouth works! :D

[Marie Silk]

Oh my goodness!! I just received my FIRST Christmas card as an AUTHOR! How exciting is that? It's from a book blogger/reviewer who reviewed my book earlier this year. So sweet!



P.S. If I had been thinking, I would have been sending out Christmas cards as an author to the few addresses that I've accumulated so far. Whoops! I'll have to do plan for this next year :).

[Marie Silk]

From the Facebook page of my local taco truck :)

[Nathan]

*snorts coffee through nose*

hahahahahaha

[Nat]

Wow. That is awesome!

And congrats on the first author Christmas Card! That's certainly an achievement.

[Marie Silk]

Thank you, Nat!!

[Marie Silk]

So this is pretty neat. Today, the third book in my series got the #1 Best Seller spot, which means that four of my six books have now maneuvered their way into the best seller title :).

[Ember-Raine]

Congrats Marie that's awesome!

[Marie Silk]

Thank you, Ember!! :)

[Erica]

Marie Silk wrote: "So this is pretty neat. Today, the third book in my series got the #1 Best Seller spot, which means that four of my six books have now maneuvered their way into the best seller title :).

"

CONGRATULATIONS! I'm excited for you!

[Ember-Raine]

You're sooo welcome! That is an awesome accomplishment!

[G.G., Genre Buster Extraordinaire]

Congo-rats! :)

[Amie]

Holy smokes!!! That is wha-mazing!!!!

[Nat]

Oooh, so cool. Can I touch you? Just a little?

[Marie Silk]

Thank you, Erica!!

Thank you, G.G.!!

Thank you, Amie!!

Thank you, Nat!! Haha, sure you can :)

[Annie]

Ahhh! Miss Marie!!

So freakin' proud of you! Totally well-deserved! You're one of the hardest working indies I've come across by far!

Congratulatory hugsss,
Ann

[Jane]

Hey Marie. Biggest congrats.

[Amanda]

That's so awesome, Marie! Congrats!!

[Nathan]

Way to go Marie, that's great!

[Christina]

That's fantastic, Marie! Way to go!

[Anna]

That's so very good, Marie! But I am not surprised. Your covers attract, your blurbs are brilliant and the idea is terrific and something that many an experienced professional writer probably wishes they'd thought of.

[Marie Silk]

Thank you, Annie!!

Thank you, Alex!!

Thank you, Jane!!

Thank you, Amanda!!

Thank you, Nathan!!

Thank you, Christina!!

Thank you, Anna!!

The support and encouragement from all you folks here on Goodreads has been a lifesaver!

[Nat]

Marie Silk wrote: "The support and encouragement from all you folks here on Goodreads has been a lifesaver!..."

I know... The GR peeps are so awesome! I'm happy I got active here and got to know so many nifty people.

[Marie Silk]

Absolutely, Nat!! :)

[Anna]

I definitely agree too!

[Marie Silk]

So here is an image of the bookplates I ordered last summer. I did not have a website back then, hence the email address at the bottom. The signed bookplates (adhesive on back) look beautiful in the books!



I'd like to get some bookmarks and other random author swag. Earthly Charms did the bookplate above and they offer bookmarks too but I'd like to see some other options. Where do you get your author swag from? Feel free to share pictures :)

[Ember-Raine]

Gotprint.com does them super cheap and they are pretty high quality. I just ordered 100 bookmarks and 100 postcards for my launch and it cost me about $40 I haven't got them yet but when I do I will let you know if you would like!!

[Marie Silk]

Sounds like a great deal, Ember! I'd love to hear what you think when they come in :)

[Ember-Raine]

Absolutely I will let you know!!

[Christina]

Very pretty! I went with a local printer shop to have bookmarks made. They were cheaper than anywhere online and I was able to support an indie business, so it was a win-win.
(Fun fact: the word swag makes me cringe. Side effect of working with vendors for the last thousand years.;p)

[Amie]

Okay...so how hard are you ladies gonna laugh if I just looked up "bookplates" on a google search? (Thank you, once again, Wikipedia!)

Now that I am newly informed that those are beautiful stickers one uses to mark the book as belonging to them... I think it's genius. Marie, I think the ones you did are stunning! Truly.

Did you buy those and ship one with book orders you fulfilled last year, use them at romance conferences, or just use them for your own books? They look pricey!

Ember I like your bookmark and postcard prices. Be sure to share with us a pic of the finished product and if you're happy with them when they come in.

[Ember-Raine]

Oh I definitely will! I'm waiting on the final proofs now! The best part is that you can design them yourself! My graphic design skills pretty much only pertain to what I can put on a t-shirt so mine might look a bit amateur but I think they are cute for a romance book! Idk I will definitely let you know how they turn out!

[Amie]

Ember wrote: "Oh I definitely will! I'm waiting on the final proofs now! The best part is that you can design them yourself! My graphic design skills pretty much only pertain to what I can put on a t-shirt so mi..."

Awesome!

[Marie Silk]

Thanks Christina :) when I hear the word swag I think Fraggle Rock. 'Cause both of them sound funny I guess :D.

Amie, don't feel bad lol. I didn't know what a bookplate was until a reviewer asked if they could get a signed one from me. I had these bookplates made up so I can sign and send them in the mail to readers who have the paperback or to anyone who asks for swag stuff :). I'm also donating some signed books for a school incentive program so I'll use these on the front page.

[Christina]

Marie wrote: "Thanks Christina :) when I hear the word swag I think Fraggle Rock. 'Cause both of them sound funny I guess :D."

And now, in my mind, swag is some sort of weird Muppet booty shake. XD

[Anna]

Beautiful! They go so well with your covers.

Bookmarks - I've made my own using Publisher on my laptop, but that's just a starter option. It's worked OK for me and I've enjoyed making them but I only make a very few.

[Amie]

Now see, Fraggle Rock I don't have to go to Wikipedia for! Totally remember that from childhood. Although I prefer my adult years suppressing those images! *Major cringes from underground trolls*

[Marie Silk]

That's right, Christina!

Thank you, Anna!

Haha Amie, I've always been leery of puppets anyway...so...

[Marie Silk]

I poked around the Got Print site for a while and it was actually pretty fun. If my bookmarks turn out anything near as good as they look on the proofs, I will be a happy camper! I also appreciate the price tag of about $30 including shipping for 100 bookmarks. Looking forward to seeing how they look in person :). Thanks for the tip! (FYI they don't take Paypal for payment but they take all major credit cards)

[Ember-Raine]

No problem!! I like that site a lot too! So glad I could help! You gotta post a pic when you get them to show us all how they look!

[Marie Silk]

Happy Taco Tuesday, everyone :) just a random update on stuff:

Here in the Inland Northwest USA we've got some severe winter storm warnings for tonight. This winter has already been a doozy with bad driving conditions and temps in the negatives for weeks.

Here is the view of my front yard from a second story window haha, those two black squares on the upper right are the tops of the garbage containers on the street (they are almost as tall as me). Fortunately there is a really cool neighbor who plows our driveway most days! Thank you good neighbor!



The freezing rain has already started so we'll probably lose electricity tonight. The bad news is, when our house loses electric, we also lose water. The good news, is we have a wood stove and a natural gas range so it's not the end of the world to lose electric and water, just annoying. I've got flashlights, batteries, candles, matches, and bottled water ready to go.

Maybe if I lose electric tonight, I'll get some much needed writing done, eh? No internet distractions :).

I hope everyone else is staying warm and safe this winter!