Leave Them Kids Alone

Pink Floyd. I’ve always been a Pink Floyd fan. Hubby is a mega-fan, and it’s not unusual to hear Floyd blaring from the den. I’ve had a Pink Floyd lyric running through my head this past week: “Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!” Leave them kids alone. The words shift; the tune remains, “Hey! Maddie! Leave them covers alone!” I’m not making this up. It’s in my head, and it’s annoying.

This evening, I approved the final artwork for the rework of my first cover. I’ve read plenty of articles about covers, and thought I had everything under control. A little more research tonight turned up some interesting tidbits, as there is a plethora of articles related to the mistakes of indie authors.  Ha! Here we go again. I compared my covers to the tips. All of these helpful hints appeared in more than one article:

1. Do not use a family member or relative to do your artwork.  – FAIL

2. Sexy covers are hot right now.  – FAIL

3. Do not put your name in small type in the lower right or left corner.  – FAIL

4. Do not clutter your cover. Design around one element.  – FAIL

5. Quit messing with your cover. Pick a design and stick with it.  – FAIL

6. Changing the cover art can attract new buyers.  – PASS  – Yeah! I passed one! Oh, wait. Basically the change was from one of a boring cover to one of the steamy sex god and goddess covers. – FAIL

I’m happy with my covers. They certainly portray the pink, fluffy, fun, not-too-serious, theme of the books. I think I’ll keep them.

It’s National Talk About Your Book Day

OK, I made that up, but feel free to use it. Someone has to make up these national days. We’ll be sharing this day with punch, because it really is National Punch Day. As in fruit punch.

Anyway, I try to talk with my mother often, and she wears the hat of proofreader and editor for me. Two days ago, her eyes were bothering her, and she was having trouble seeing. Yesterday, she was reading a book. Fickle eyes. She was reading a murder mystery with an Amish setting. Doesn’t that sound like an oxymoron? Our local paper isn’t filled with accounts of murders at the cheese factory. She told me this book was from a store, she paid almost $13 for it, it has a publisher – and she found a mistake! I laughed out loud. She said there was one sentence where the word “that” was printed in error twice – “that that.” That is hilarious because “that” is my nemesis in my writing, and this lady got away with it twice.

My mother has given me great encouragement with my books, and she is my biggest fan. She turned 81 this year, and I’m grateful we’ve been able to share this ray of sunshine in our lives together.

So, here are some of the things Mom and I have been talking about this week.

Sunshine Hunter – More copies are selling now that the price has been reduced to 99 cents. I took the plunge and picked up yet more advertising from September through December, with this book being highlighted the week of December 16-22.

Big Apple Hunter and Sin City Hunter – Both appear to occasionally be purchased as individual titles, but most of the sales seem to come in clusters, as though someone read the first book and came back for the next two.

Big Easy Hunter – This is my new release this month. The fifty sales are still standing at Smashwords. I promise I’ll let you know if they are taken back, but in the meantime, these fifty put me in the top ten of their bestsellers if you sort by bestseller/full/$2.99 or less. The first time I noticed this, my book was in the #7 spot; today it is #8. I hope this, too, will help with sales. I’m still waiting for the book to get to B&N, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, etc.  I’m actually in a bit of a panic for it to show up at B&N, because this is the book I chose for my advertising next week, and if it’s not there, I can’t use it.

I don’t know why I’m so hesitant to tell people about my books. Last week, I finally told some ladies, who I’ve been on a book list with for years, about the series. They were surprised I kept my writing a secret for so long. Several of them bought books right away, and one woman wrote to tell me that she finished Sunshine Hunter in two days and loved it. I stuck one of my Sunshine Hunter cards up on the bulletin board at the grocery store that day.

I also think something cool might have happened today. I’m not sure. An email from Amazon showed up in an email account that is not associated with my books. It suggested books I might be interested in. Sunshine Hunter was in the subject line, and was first on the list at 99 cents with the following books higher in price. The cynic in me thought it was something bogus. I risked viruses and clicked on every link in the email; they were all good. I’m hoping this, too, is legitimate, and maybe my book is being promoted on some of Amazon’s spammy lists.

It’s a good day to talk about your book.

Six Sentence Sunday

Pick any six sentences from your writing, whether a work-in-progress or a published work, and post them to your blog on Sunday.

Rather than to continue with Susan in Vegas, I thought I would go back to the beginning where Susan Hunter made her first appearance in a Word document. Here is the opening paragraph from the first book in the series, Sunshine Hunter (with a slight modification to accommodate the entire paragraph):

My perfectly restored ‘67 Chevy Chevelle careened around the corner at Walsh and Park, the tires squealing in an effort to get my attention. I was angry, and my mind was reeling. I was thinking of all the ways I wanted to kill him. People on the sidewalk were staring as I flew by, and I knew I had to get a grip on more than the steering wheel. Carbide City was known for speed traps, and I didn’t need another ticket. Why are restored muscle cars magnets for cops and tickets anyway?

Anyone can join in. To participate and/or check out some other great sets of six, check out the site: http://www.sixsunday.com/

Twitter – #sixsunday

Seven Things about Me, a.k.a. I Received the Sunshine Award

Since I started blogging almost two months ago, I’ve been nominated for two awards, and I’d like to humbly accept one of them today.

I was nominated by Tessa Sheppard for the Sunshine Award. Thank you so much, Tessa!

The rules for receiving this award are:

1.  List 7 things about yourself
2.  Nominate bloggers worthy of this award.
3.  Thank the person who nominated you
4.  Put the image in your entry.

7 Things About Me:

1. I love dogs. All dogs.

2. I enjoy my husband. He has a wonderful sense of humor, and he makes me laugh every day. (However, dogs #1, husband #2.)

3. I buy a lottery ticket every day. I read somewhere that writers should also play the lottery, because their chances of making money with both are the same. I doubled my chances when I became a writer.

4. I used to be fearless. (Embarrassing examples withheld.)

5. I wish I could turn back the clock. Even after two blown disks in my back and nerve damage to my shoulder, I wish I could go back and play racquetball one more time. I loved it like no other sport. I could play a mean game of h-o-r-s-e with a basketball. I won bowling trophies. I could even make the throw from third to first base for the out. But there was nothing like smokin’ the competition on the racquetball court. Maybe I should have titled number 5: I’m very competitive.

6. I keep slipping things that I did, or things that happened to me, in my Susan Hunter books. My family keeps trying to figure out the fact from the fiction. My mother is sometimes mortified.

7. In case you haven’t read much of my blog, I sat down one evening in February of this year and decided to write a book. Three books are finished and self-published. A fourth is in the editing stage, and I have notes compiled for a fifth. … I’ve already pleaded ignorance. I didn’t know you weren’t supposed to do it like this.

Nominate Bloggers for the Sunshine Award

My awards are in keeping with the theme of Sunshine. These bloggers are witty and bring a ray of sunshine into my day when they blog:

Neither Dempsey Nor Darcy – I love this blog! Humorous and great writing, too. “Our basic formula: go on date, come home from date, give men a rating of up to 5 Dempseys (for attractiveness and hair perfection) and up to 5 Darcys (for being a perfect gentleman) and then tell everyone why these ratings were warranted. – Be sure to look at their Meet the Gang page; it’s a fun surprise.

2. Christopher De Voss on Life, Humor, and Zombies – Funny stuff! He’s “One of the founding members of the now defunked Left Of Center Comedy Group.” I always look forward to his posts, and in our house, the Fiverr site will forever be known as the “fivver” site, because I was mispronouncing it.

3. Dumb Fear of the Day – A new blogger/writer who has elicited more than a few smiles from me. Even his blog titles are funny: “Bad Grammar Haunts My Nightmares. Seriously, I Wake Up Screaming “Oh Shit, I Wrote Your instead or You’re.” I’m looking forward to reading more from him.

Thank the person who nominated you:

Thank you, Tessa for nominating me. I haven’t been blogging long enough to feel worthy of any type of award, but appreciate your kindness.  I enjoy your blog posts and your willingness to share so much of what you learn on your writing journey. It’s been helpful!