Ashley Barron

Blogging: Let the real fun begin on IndieBookWeek.com!

2013-03-04T19:57:40Z

After 1.7 million hits from 260,000 unique visitors over the last 20 months, the day has finally come.

My blog is moving on.

The new site, IndieBookWeek.com, combines many features to promote the works of fellow writers, authors, and bloggers. Once completed, there will be categories to promote your:

New book releases
Free e-books
Blog tours
Contests
Blog posts

IndieBookWeek.com is still in development and it will take about another month to get all the upgrades, features, forms, quirks, and bells and whistles active.

Last year, while I was experimenting with ways to showcase what’s going on in the self-publishing community, I created a blog post I called “Community News” as way of sharing information about other writers' new interviews, new blog posts, new releases, new book trailers and more.

The idea of "Community News" had merit, but the formatting on this old blog is not properly designed to allow for an attractive, easy-to-use presentation of the categories, covers, links, bios, and more. The new site, IndieBookWeek.com, makes it much simpler to connect with all the different types of information available through the site.

This switch will impact different areas of my blog. Here are some of them:

Author Interviews - Old
If you have been featured on my blog in the past and you share that link out on your social media, please keep in mind that you’ll need to switch the link to the new site. Eventually, blog.thepriyas.com will be inactivated. For now, it will remain where it is until the new site is complete.

Author Interviews - New
If you are interested in being featured in an IndieBookWeek.com author interview, please contact me on social media. Please be advised there is already a waiting list. Once completed, the new format will make it possible to showcase and promote a greater number of author interviews at one time.

Reciprocal interviews are appreciated.

Blog Subscribers
With the new categories and new presentation of IndieBookWeek.com, there will be significantly more information becoming available, daily, on the blog, which would make for a constant stream of emails in your inbox. For this reason, I have decided not to add a subscription button. The option may be added later, or I may decide to do a weekly recap or newsletter-style summary.

Comments
Comments are about to get a whole lot easier on IndieBookWeek.com. One of the most persistent areas of feedback I have received since I began blogging is about how difficult it is to leave comments using the old format.

Happily, the new WordPress blog offers a higher level of functionality for the exchange of ideas, feedback, and networking in the comments section of each post.

Follow IndieBookWeek.com on Social Media
Twitter
Facebook

What’s Ahead?
At some point, IndieBookWeek.com will grow into the next phase of its evolution. More information will be forthcoming on this topic in the next few weeks.

What? No logo?
IndieBookWeek.com will have a logo of its own before too long. For now, until one is ready, I’ve put a place holder photo in the avatar spot on social media and it is one you just may recognize if you follow @dcPriya.

Ideas Welcome
Come visit IndieBookWeek.com and take a look at the new community-centric format! What features do you want to see, to engage with? What author, writing, or blogging news do you want to share, but there isn’t a current space for it on IndieBookWeek.com? Ideas, feedback, and helpful WordPress tips are always welcome, too.

I Have News to Share!
Do you have one of the following events happening in your writing life right now?

    A new book release
    A blog tour or contest
    A free e-book on a major e-retailer site
    A book trailer

Interested in sharing your news? Please contact me on Twitter or Facebook. (DMs are welcome!)

See you over at IndieBookWeek.com!

Copyright © 2012 by Ashley Barron. All rights reserved.

Author Interview: The Next Big Thing

2013-02-23T21:50:24Z

From Carl Purdon's blog:

"I'm it. I got tagged. Does that mean I'm a big thing? No, not exactly. 'The Next Big Thing' is a 'game' designed to promote authors who also blog. Or bloggers who also write books. We have to promote each other, you see, because that's the nature of the business these days. You can only go so far with self-promotion. It's like this: how many times can you tap someone on the shoulder, trying to get their attention, before you annoy them? But if you have someone else say, 'hey, you might want to see what that guy over there has to offer.' Get the picture?

Besides, promoting other authors is actually quite addictive. You build friendships with like-minded people. One of the most enjoyable things I've done as a blogger (I have to admit a love/hate relationship with blogging) has been my 10 Questions interview series which highlights others (mostly authors) involved in the business of writing books.

If you are an author and you don't help promote other authors, you're cheating yourself."

(CLICK HERE to read the full post -- and meet the other "tagged" authors -- on Carl's website.)

I couldn't agree more. Thanks for tagging me, Carl!

In a break from the usual process, I am "tagging" three of the authors I reference in my answers below. All three authors are traditionally published and are wonderfully successful. I've read all of their books, and I have given copies of their novels as gifts to friends and family.

I drew both inspiration and motivation from the stories and styles of these three authors while I was writing my first novel, Ava. With this in mind, I feel it is only fair to acknowledge the contributions they have (unknowingly) made to my happiness, both as a reader and as a writer.

Here are my tags as "The Next Big Thing": (Yes, I get the irony of the title when applied to the following names.)

CARLA NEGGERS

DAVID BALDACCI

ADRIANA TRIGIANI

Here are my answers to "The Next Big Thing" questions sent to me by Carl, and passed on by me to Carla, David, and Adriana.

1. What is the working title of your novel?

I am currently spending most of my writing time on Bonner (Book Two in the Priya Series), which is the next of my novels scheduled to be published. While I can easily spend an entire day (and night!) writing, I do not spend all of that time on one manuscript or story idea. I divide my core writing time between novels, short stories, non-fiction, and blog posts.

In addition to manuscripts, I’ve written 80,000 words worth of original blog posts over the last eighteen months. Would it be too obvious to point out that I find this publishing journey to be highly inspiring?

2. Where did the idea for the novel come from?

Bonner is the sequel to Ava and continues the story of the Priyas, lifelong friends who have grown up together in Washington, D.C.

I am surprised at how different the two books are when it comes to telling a story that both Ava Arden and Bonner Danilov already know. And the main character from Carys, the third book in the series, is literally (okay...figuratively) breathing down my neck. Carys Kelly wants her story written!

The Priya series represents one long story broken up into 26 parts. There is the main story arc – that’s the thriller part -- that runs the length of the series and will be resolved in the final Priya novel, Zara. The Priyas take turns telling the main story, while adding to it complications, challenges, and romantic hopes of their own.

Ava tells the story of a woman who has a second chance at love but is too afraid to take it. Bonner is about a woman who has always known what she wants and, right at the moment she achieves her dream, it all falls apart.

3. What genre?

I write about love. For Bonner that category is closest to Romantic Thriller or Romantic Suspense. The short stories (The Birthday, Famous, The Angel, Zippers) are about relationships within families and friendships. Each one is completely different, and more of the short stories are coming this year.

I think my blog posts are about love, too, in a way. For the most part, I write about the adventures of self-publishing and marketing books. When one considers the depth and range of obstacles an unknown, newly-published author faces while working to build a readership and fan base, I realize it must be love.

4. What other books would you compare yours to in this genre?

There are many writers who have inspired the types of stories I’ve chosen to write. They are hugely successful authors and I can’t compare my own writing to theirs. I can only point out some of those who have inspired me, and why.

Jane Austen is the best writer (yes, a personal opinion) of the happily-ever-after-against-all-odds novel. I’ve read and re-read her works since I was a girl. I appreciate that she was able to tell powerful stories that focused entirely on the emotional interplay, without any use of adult language or sexually explicit scenarios. I do recognize that she wrote in a different age. Still, there is much to be learned from the classics and the way in which they deliver a compelling story without using any of the modern literary devices.

Nora Roberts has the same ability to pull the reader right into the love story, into the emotions and hopes, and to keep the reader’s interest firmly held right up to the last word on the last page. (And beyond, frankly!) She adds so many layers to her novels, yet keeps the storyline moving along without losing any of the details she has so carefully woven into the plot. She is truly gifted.

When I read a Carla Neggers novel, I always feel as though I am the female lead she has created. I completely identify with the emotions and life situations presented on the page even when my own life bears no resemblance to it. I get lost in her stories and, when they’re over, I feel a loss that I cannot continue to be a part of her characters’ lives. (I’m an author; characters are “alive” to me.)

David Baldacci writes the type of D.C.-centric thrillers that I devour at a brisk pace. His gift is in taking what may seem implausible at the beginning of a novel and making it perfectly logical by the end. I enjoy his characters and his plots, but it wasn’t until I read Wish You Well that I completely fell in love with his talents as a writer. That novel took my breath away.

Adriana Trigiani writes novels that strike right into my heart. Her style of storytelling is lyrical and deeply emotional, even when she’s not writing about the heart. In Big Stone Gap, she writes, in just a handful of paragraphs more than halfway through the story, of what a father’s love means to his daughter. I am a daughter who loves my dad deeply, and I thought of her novel, her method of bringing family relationships to life, while writing the hospital scene in Ava where Kettle Arden holds vigil by his daughter’s bedside.

5. Which actor would you choose to play one of your characters?

I have no idea. That decision is best left in the hands of the casting professionals. Here’s to hoping that one day I get to sit in a movie theater, staring at my book "come to life" on the big screen, and see who they’ve cast in action.

Until someone can run a cable from my head to the projection room at a movie theater, the actors cast in the movie version will never match up exactly with the characters I see on my pages. Books and movies are different mediums, each with its own power and beauty in the realm of storytelling.

6. What is a one-sentence synopsis of your upcoming book, Bonner?

Beware of dreams come true.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

This is always a hard question for me to answer. I don’t write stories in the order they are read. More, I daresay my manuscripts are never actually finished. There is always something I would change, even after a book has been published. Call it a writer’s prerogative. Or obession.

8. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

The inspiration for the books comes from Washington, D.C., an endlessly fascinating city. It is diverse and vibrant, and it holds secrets no one will ever uncover – even if we all suspect they’re there. These factors lend themselves quite easily to fiction, and I’ve had a thrilling time conjuring up plots and crafting characters for the pages of my novels.

I think the second part of the inspiration behind this series is my belief that love will always win the day – if we want it to.

9. What else about your book might pique a reader’s interest?

I enjoy slipping unexpected characters into the story. These characters might only be around for a chapter or two, but they make an impression. While I was writing Ava, I found that Jezzabelle, a teen pop princess, appeared on my page one day and insisted on being put in the story. She was quite pleased with herself, as comes through in the chapter she dominates, and she definitely exasperates Ava Arden.

And this is not the last we’ve seen of Jezzabelle. Every character that appeared in Ava -- at least, the ones that lived – will show up again in another book in the series. The fun part is wondering when and where and why!

Copyright © 2012 by Ashley Barron. All rights reserved.

International Novelist Competition

2013-02-13T20:53:37Z

A few days ago, I received a tweet from @InterNovel alerting me to a newly created contest for authors. I followed the link, and what I found there intrigued me.

The contest fosters interaction between readers and writers in a way I had not seen before now. To enter, authors submit their novel titles, covers, and a brief summary of the plot. The contest’s judges then choose 50 books to move on to the next round.

Here is where it gets interesting. Readers submit and vote for topic ideas that they want the 50 authors to write about in order to compete for a place in the next round of finalists.

What subjects will readers choose? How will the authors respond? How creative will those responses be? It’s exciting to wonder.

The competition continues, using chapters from the books submitted, and the pool of finalists narrows from 50 to 10 to 5. The readers return once more, suggesting and voting on new topics for the contestants to respond to in an effort to win one of the final two spots.

As I’ve written about several times before on this blog, one of the most challenging things for a newly self-published author is to find ways to connect with potential readers. After all, we often have miniscule budgets, no formal marketing training, and are usually somewhat new to social media.

What we do have in abundance is a deep passion for both reading and writing, a belief in our stories and novels, and an ability to self-start, no matter the challenges and obstacles in our paths.

This is the first year for this contest, one that neatly intertwines writers, readers, books, and social media. A willingness to put ourselves “out there” and test out new ideas, ones with the potential to connect us with readers who are actively engaged on social media, seems to be a hallmark of self-published authors.

To learn more about this contest, its origins and its future, I reached out to the author who developed the International Novelist Award to find out what inspired him to create it. Here is the interview. Enjoy!

Author Andrew O’Brien

Facebook: InterNovel
Twitter: @InterNovel
Contest Details: InterNovel.Blogspot.Com

Q: Welcome, Andrew! Tell us about yourself and how you came to be an author.

Andrew O’Brien: Well, that's a funny story. My life has been quite entertaining and everyone I have ever talked to about my life thinks it would make a great movie, and I actually agree with them. More of a "LMN" movie though, haha. So, I started writing and decided to take another approach and help people in need with my writing, which is why I wrote Welcoming Your Soldier Home, which is a guide on how to understand your soldier when he comes back from war.

I decided to donate 50% of my profits to the Wounded Warrior Project.

Q: You’ve recently launched the International Novelist Award. How did this idea come about?

Andrew O’Brien: I'm new to this scene and have just been amazed at watching how many novelists there are in this world. One thing I hate most about this type of business is it seems as though you have to have connections or money in order for your book to get attention.

I feel like writing is a talent, and it doesn't matter if you're rich or broke, you're either good at it or you’re not. So, I decided to do something about it by putting this contest together. A way for authors like myself, who don't have publishing contacts or a ton of money to invest, to get word out about their book for absolutely no cost.

Q: Who is eligible to enter?

Andrew O’Brien: If you are a Novelist with a book out, you're eligible to enter. The genre of your book doesn't matter, the amount of sales of your book doesn't matter, the most likes on Facebook or most followers on Twitter... DOESN'T MATTER!

This contest is about judging the talent, not the marketing of the Novelist. It doesn't matter if it's your first book or fiftieth, if it's a book you're eligible.

Q: How will the judging process work?

Andrew O’Brien: The judges for our contest will pick their top favorites in each event. For example: Step 1 will only allow 50 people to continue on to Step 2, so the judges will each send me their top 10 of the contestants. I will take the ones that are on multiple lists and they are the ones guaranteed to move forward.

If there is a wide variety in any step then it will be passed over to the readers and followers of our contests, who will then be given polls to vote on their favorites. The ones with the most votes will continue.

Q: How did you go about securing prizes for the competition?

Andrew O’Brien: What I did was just email some smaller businesses who I thought would be interested in this. I have heard a lot of complaints about how there is no one famous backing the competition, that's the whole point! If we are giving small Authors the chance of getting publicity why wouldn't we help small businesses as well? Smaller businesses agree with this competition and also think it's a great idea, which is why they donate prizes to the winner. We are hoping to get more prizes donated before the end of the contest.

Q: How and when will you announce the winner?

Andrew O’Brien: The winner will be announced on Tweep Nation, our Podcast sponsor. After the podcast goes public we will then post the winner on our home page. As far as when we will, this is going to depend on the amount of contestants and the difficulty of the decision process. Depends on the talent!

Q: The International Novelist Award engages readers and authors in a whole new way, and I’m excited to watch as the competition unfolds! What topics do you envision the readers will want authors (those who make it through to each new round) to write about?

Andrew O’Brien: You know, this is actually something I am very curious about and have spoke to a couple of our judges about. I am wondering if it will end up being a very serious topic or a very comical one. This is what keeps me on my toes and keeps me excited. I hope we get some very creative ones that will throw our contestants for a loop.

Q: With so many different genres to consider from entrants’ books (based on the titles I just reviewed), do you think you’ll expand to include category winners in the future?

Andrew O’Brien: Yes! This was the plan from the beginning. This year we will have the "International Novelist Competition" which is judged only on the skill of the writer, and not the genre they write in. By “skill,” I mean, who will keep people interested?

After this contest is over, other competitions will be held by genre, through the year. At some point, once we have done a few contests and attracted more people, then there will just be one contest annually that will judge writers by genre. Once we get enough of a fan base we will do that one contest and turn into an e-zine to keep people up to date about past winners, future talents, etc. An e-zine focused just on small unknown authors!

Q: Are you considering putting together an e-book containing all of the contestants’ writing assignments from the competition, round-by-round?

Andrew O’Brien: I hadn't even considered that to be honest! But, that is a fantastic idea. Maybe you and I can work out something if you would be interested in handling that.

Q: Do you have a favorite quote or motto that guides your professional life?

Andrew O’Brien: "Your past doesn't control your life, you do... So find a way to turn something bad into good, and you never know what you'll find waiting around the corner!" - By… Me!

-----------------

Authors, this is the link to submit your novel.

Readers, this is the link to become a judge.

Small Businesses, this is Andrew O’Brien’s email for those would like to contribute a prize to the competition: RadioAustinFM@gmail.com

Copyright © 2012 by Ashley Barron. All rights reserved.

Blogging and Twitter: The Guide

2013-02-11T20:02:43Z

Are you thinking about starting a blog, but you’re not sure where to begin? Is Twitter a mystery to you?

Perhaps, you’ve written a novel or opened a small business, and you want to find ways to use a blog to connect with a broader audience of potential readers and customers.

How I Went from Zero to One Million Blog Hits in One Year explains the basics of developing blog content and marketing that content on Twitter.

This guide, written for beginners, emphasizes the importance of creating a marketing plan, networking in the online community, and focusing on developing a unique brand based on your novels or products.

Excerpts from How I Went from Zero to One Million Blog Hits in One Year:

INTRODUCTION
“When you’re ready to start a blog, set a course for fun, plan well, and be open to trying new experiences and following new paths. If you’ve already created a blog, and it is not reaching the potential you believe it has to offer readers, hit the pause button, take an honest assessment of where you are and how you got there, and outline a new set of goals.”

WHY I DECIDED TO START A BLOG
“The Internet is a big place, and it is filled with real opportunity. Using a blog to establish your brand, to introduce and explain new books, products, or services, and to network with peers can be a wise use of resources.

From my perspective, developing a blog is a means to an end. On its own, a blog may generate some revenue through ads, but more often it is a resource whose true value is tied to establishing a brand, and turning that brand into a vehicle for sales of books, products, or services.”

GETTING STARTED
“Think of your blog and Twitter account as your PR team.

Their job is to work at promoting your books, or products, or services while you are concentrating on other aspects of your professional obligations. (Or, you know, having a life.) The more material you add to your blog and Twitter account – plus the quality and usefulness of that material – the more effective they’ll be at attracting new readers to your blog and converting some of them into fans, customers, or clients.”

CREATING CONTENT FOR POSTS
“Your blog posts are conversations. In them, you are reaching out to the world at large with ideas, thoughts, and beliefs. (Hashtags are a big part of this process, and we’ll be covering them in a later section.)

Think about the conversation topics that immediately draw your interest, or make you smile. If you’re going to put the work into your blog, make certain its work you enjoy. Many times, you will be learning right alongside your readers.”

TWITTER & THE HASHTAG
“Not everyone will buy your books or products, not even in a perfect world. But by exponentially increasing the number of people who visit your blog, you are dramatically increasing your chances of gaining new customers or readers and your chances of building new professional relationships. Reaching out into the Twitterverse, using tweets with hashtags, will also connect you with more followers, and with more people to follow.

When designing the marketing plan for your blog, put Twitter’s hashtags to work for you.”

COMMUNITY
“There are several categories in which you should be making progress every time you log on to Twitter. Get yourself on a schedule, five days a week. To power the growth of your brand, you need to be meeting certain goals.”

SCHEDULING TWEETS
“Just as online stores never close, neither does your blog. There are distinct advantages to always being visible in a 24/7 marketplace, but they are advantages that cannot be fully realized without the aid of tweet schedulers.”

Do you have a new blog? Invite me to stop by and read your newest post! Tweet me the link at @dcPriya.

See you in the blogosphere!

Copyright © 2012 by Ashley Barron. All rights reserved.

Remembering (How To) Love

2013-02-07T00:21:31Z

When I decided to write a novel, a love story was the natural choice. It seems that anything I write, including short stories and poems, ends up being about love. So why fight it?

I often wonder if the act of loving is an ability, an inclination, a talent, or a Heaven-sent gift. Maybe it’s a combination. I also wonder why some people excel at love – at the process of growing and nurturing love – while others fail, miserably.

Yes, I do believe love is a process. It has steps, sequences, and a risk of failure. And, whether you honor them or break them, love has rules and boundaries. If it weren’t for these things, love couldn’t be the central plot in a novel, because plots are based on a series of actions that take us from one place, location, or extreme to another.

I do enjoy love stories above any other genre and this preference applies to books, movies, television shows, songs, musicals, operas, and paintings. It is the dance of love, the giving and the receiving, that I find most riveting.

For me, writing a romance required figuring out how love was formed, how it grew, where it went off track, and how to reunite its splintered ends. It was cathartic. In my own life, I’ve made a mess of love several times and I haven’t always known how to repair the damage to him, or to me, even after my heart had moved on.

They say an author’s first novel is the truest version of his or her life. Based on my own experience, and in very general terms, I would agree.

Ironically, not a single one of my short stories, eighteen in total, comes anywhere close to resembling my life.

In them, I write in a variety of voices, including that of a small boy, a dying man, an adopted woman giving birth to her first child, a wife who has left her family, a mother who wants another baby, a middle-aged dad coming to terms with mortality, a cowboy out on the range, and more.

Where those stories came from, I do not know. I can only tell you this: they are filled with love. They begin and end with love. That is their only similarity with me. That’s it; just the one.

Perhaps, I am able to be someone else in those short stories because their very trim length keeps me focused on the voice of the character, without much room to tempt me to add in some of my own experiences.

A first novel, on the other hand, can take a year, three years, even a decade to write. That’s a lot of time for similarities to take up root in the plot, setting, or character development.

Ava’s story has clear elements that were drawn from my life. She is tall with long hair. She has brothers. She runs a business. She lives in my same town. She has a cool, interesting, and close-knit circle of best friends.

But, at the root of it all, she is a woman who has forgotten how to be loved.

Over the hundreds of pages and dozens of drafts of my first novel, I fought for Ava and Kader’s love. Who did I have to fight? Myself. Eventually, I got out of the way, stopped adding impediments from my own unfulfilled love life, and let them get on with the process of loving, and being loved.

If, like me, there is an unfinished manuscript, a romance, waiting in your heart, I hope this is the year we both find happily ever after.

Copyright © 2012 by Ashley Barron. All rights reserved.

Community News, August 3, 2012

2013-02-06T00:45:08Z

Second installment!

'Community News' is a new weekly feature designed to collect links for new book releases, new blog posts, new guest posts, new interviews, new price specials, new marketing opportunities, and more all in one location.

For the self-published and indie-published authors on Twitter, a huge part of our time is spent building relationships and finding new ways to connect with readers. 'Community News' is designed to be a weekly announcements page, an opportunity to learn about and share what's going on in our world of books and blogs.

An extra special thank you to all of the writers, bloggers, and authors in our Twitter community who took the time to share what's new in their worlds this week.

The format of 'Community News' will evolve as we move forward, and will include more bells and whistles. For now, the style is clear and basic, with emphasis on getting the information into the hands of readers and colleagues.

Please retweet and share links you find to be of particular interest. If you'd like to copy 'Community News' and add it as a post to your own blog, please do so!

OK, community newsreaders, here we go... Enjoy!

GUEST POSTS WANTED
I've got a new section on my book Web site's blog called The Backstory. I'm currently looking for independent authors and musicians to submit a guest post and share their own backstories. Check out http://behindblueeyes.ca/blog-content/category/the-backstory for the guidelines and details, and please pass this along to your author and musician friends. You can also reach me @BadManSadMan on Twitter if you have further questions.

NEW BLOG
I recently launched a humor blog illustrated with chalkboards that seeks to find out where, exactly, the time goes in any given scenario...with a good chance I'll poke fun at it. Or me. Or my husband, kids, and dog. Or the indecisive idiots in front of me on a line for ice cream. But most often, me. I bridge the gap between the Actual Time something takes and the Real Feel, one rationalization at a time. Please check it out at www.ActualTimesMayVary.com. I'm also on Facebook www.facebook.com/ActualTimesMayVary and Twitter @ChristieStorms.

NEW BLOG
I have launched a new blog this month called http://pattytmitchell.com/. For the past year and a half I have been putting together a collection of essays about my mother’s life, and about the connection between us as mother and daughter. The working title is A Girl From The Hill: My Mother’s Journey from Italian Girl to American Woman.

The blog has excerpts from the draft book, but it’s about a whole lot more. I am interested in stories about being Italian American, being a daughter, a mother a woman in today’s world. I would welcome a guest blogger who is interested in doing a post about writing, Italian American food, culture, or using social media to relay family stories. My fb page is https://www.facebook.com/pat.mitchell.129/pat.mitchell.129 and I can be reached on Twitter @PattyTMitch

NEW POST
I’ve been experimenting with Pinterest as a marketing tool for authors. Though I’ve come to some conclusions about it, I’m still wondering about its effectiveness in helping authors to sell more books. Could it be that it’s just one of those things we do for fun? My blog: http://stevenramirez.com/how-can-authors-use-pinterest/ or @GrimBlazer.

NEW POST
'If You Have a Thick Skin, You Might Want to Be a Writer' http://www.bibliogrind.com/2012/07/31/if-you-have-a-thick-skin-you-might-want-to-be-a-writer/ – a post about what it takes to go the distance. Author Mark Beyer is @bibliogrind on Twitter. His blog is http://www.bibliogrind.com/.

NEW POST
Partially in response to my recent move to Kansas and the appalling driving techniques I've witnessed here and to commemorate the end of my year of exclusive writing, I've written a new blog entry, "Miles To Go," available at http://www.writevictoria.com/progressblog.html.
Thanks, @writevictoria

NEW BOOK
The third and final book in the Princelings of the East trilogy has been published on Amazon. THE PRINCELINGS AND THE LOST CITY sees Princeling Fred and his true love Kira set off on a simple trip to visit his home castle. Diverted by a landslide, they find themselves approaching a castle hidden in the woods. Kira changes her mind about exploring once they are inside and makes Fred's life miserable from then on. Just what is the secret of the Lost City? Can a totalitarian regime ever change? Will Fred ever find happiness? And just how many times can Kira be kidnapped in one book?

Amazon link: www.amazon.com/Princelings-Lost-City-East-ebook/dp/B008NXEP5C/ Website: http://jemimapettauthor.wordpress.com Blog http://jemimapett.wordpress.com Facebook http://facebook.com/princelings Twitter @jemima_pett

NEW BOOK
'Presage' (subtitled 'The Reality of The Virtual') is a dystopian /Sci-fi novel with social political twist about a world in 2018 .It is mostly about the personal struggle of the main characters in a changing environment -where nothing is what it seems and mis-information is the rule- the transformation they go through, and battles they have to fight to pursue their dreams. Synopsis : They say the past is no longer an indication of the future, but can alternative visions of the future give us any indication of what we should do today? Read this and then decide...

The year is 2018. Nothing is what it seems and mis-information is the rule. Hugh van Santen is the editor in chief of a major newspaper who mediates the riots surrounding a controversial new class system enforced to gear up the grass roots to do community work to replace welfare that the government can no longer afford. Meanwhile he relies on scoops to keep his newspaper afloat. He recruits Sophie Chantal, a cub journalist knowing her brother-in-law is a computer scientist, who can create accurate simulations of humans down to their thoughts. Sophie’s first assignment is to write a feature on the bicentennial birthday of an infamous bigwig and she asks Sam to simulate one historical persona after another whose idiosyncrasies and radical theories cause more mayhem. Meanwhile the CIA is after Sam’s simulation technology and to distract them, he designs a game called ‘Presage’ in which gamers and intelligence agents begin their race to find Sam’s secret in the reality of the virtual. Presage is about the personal struggle and battles the main characters have to fight in order to pursue their dreams.

Available at Amazon Kindle page http://www.amazon.com/Presage-ebook/dp/B0089MSVKW/ref=la_B0089PVUNO_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1341453212&sr=1-2

NEW POST
“10 steps to mastering your book marketing plan” - http://www.30daybooks.com/10-steps-to-mastering-your-book-marketing-plan/ a post with helpful tips and ideas for authors ready to sell books. Many more helpful articles on the site. Laura Pepper Wu is a writer and the co-founder of 30 Day Books: a book studio.

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Do you have a new blog post, book announcement, price special, guest post opportunity or other news you'd like to include in next Friday's 'Community News' post? Email it to communitynews@thepriyas.com. More info here.

Do you have suggestions or ideas for how to improve and/or add to next week's 'Community News' post? Please share!

Copyright © 2012 by Ashley Barron. All rights reserved.

Prepping For My New Blog

2013-02-02T01:09:52Z

Today has been interesting. I think I’ve turned a corner and finally conquered a major task that has eluded completion since I first realized it needed to be done.

For the past few months, I’ve been working myself into a frenzy of concern and trepidation at the thought of upgrading my “starter” blog to a beautiful and modern new format.

After weeks of searching hundreds of WordPress sites, analyzing them, envisioning my own version, deciding to move forward with an idea, then scrapping that idea, I’ve finally done it. I’ve selected a new structure for my blog. I chose a WordPress theme, one already designed and ready for installation and customization.

This new blog of mine will change the way I both communicate with and support the community of writers, authors, and publishing vendors that populate the online world I inhabit on most days. I’ve purchased the template from a company that, for a fee, will also install it and then load my old blog posts into the format.

Love that.

Of course, the categories on my existing blog don’t match the categories I’ve created for the new one. I see self-publishing differently than I did when I started this journey, and I understand so much better now how the pieces fit together.

I also better understand the impact of social media and Internet marketing. (So much so, in fact, that I’m having a hard time stopping myself from spinning off new ideas into start-up businesses. We all have go-to people in our lives, and a man I like to call The Godfather is always the voice of reason, the one I turn to when I’m ready to leap before looking, thinking, planning, and strategizing.)

My decision to expand the ways I will use my new blog means that every minute of free time this weekend will need to be dedicated to relabeling 18 months of blog posts. But it’s worth it.

After all, what’s the point of working so hard to gain new knowledge, if not to use it?

If my two previous and wholly unsuccessful attempts at designing my own WordPress site taught me anything – and it’s a lesson I keep needing to learn, apparently – it is this: know your limits, accept your limits, invest your time in your strengths, and plan your budget accordingly.

The value of the time I spent trying to convince myself that I could learn enough WordPress (with no prior experience to my name) and design something as beautiful as the one I’ve bought, is time that would have been better spent elsewhere. And it has delayed the arrival of the new site by nearly six months.

The new blog will have room for ads, something I’m very excited to test out. Marketing is fun, and it invites creative thinking in a way that few other areas of a company’s structure allow for, in my opinion.

Here’s the thing; I’m not sure how I will use the ad space. This afternoon, I signed up for Google’s Adsense and for Amazon’s Affiliate Program. If, as, or when earnings begin to show from any of these new ads I’ll be layering into place over the next few weeks, I’ll be certain to blog about it. I’m guessing there are many other self-published authors, writers, and newbie bloggers in the community who would interested in learning about the pitfalls and benefits of incorporating ads on a blog.

Specific information on the value of adding ads, in terms of income-generation, is harder to find than I had first believed, but this may be because I don’t know how to ask the right questions, or where to look for the information.

I’ll also be incorporating banner ads, both my own and, ultimately, those belonging to members of my social media community. To get things started, the graphic designer who made my short story covers is working with me to figure out what ads to create, and how best to position them on the site.

Last summer, I tried to create a way to share specifics on what was happening, work-wise, with my fellow self-published authors. The purpose was to create a weekly blog post that would provide links for new releases, new awards, free books, etc. Though the purpose had merit, the marketing logistics and information-gathering processes were flawed, and it was an idea that was destined to fail.

At least, in that incarnation.

Spending my days (and many nights) here on the front lines of self-publishing, marketing, and small business development, has brought to light gaps in the main structure of this emerging industry. I’ve observed many other writers and authors step forward and find solutions that strengthen the shared platform upon which we are all building our dreams.

I’ve benefitted from their solutions. Now it’s my turn to contribute.

The new format, one which may finally make an appearance on the Internet in the next seven days, will launch in what I would label as the “Beta” version. New features will be added in during this phase, and mistakes will certainly be made as I work to establish a useful, viable marketing tool, and, through it, make my own my contribution to our shared purpose of connecting with readers.

Still, life shouldn’t be all work and no play. Yes, no matter how long my list of tasks this weekend, I’ll be taking a break in order to observe the time-honored and fun-filled tradition that is Super Bowl Sunday.

Now if only I knew which teams were playing in it.

Copyright © 2012 by Ashley Barron. All rights reserved.

Television Writers, Novelists, and Casting

2013-02-01T00:44:19Z

Have you ever wished the producers of your favorite TV show would invite you to add a story line?

I have.

All this book writing I’m doing has inspired me to take a look at my favorite shows, from a new angle. Now, while I’m watching them, I replay dialogue to try and uncover how the writers make it flow so well. (Some of the constructive criticism I’ve received from readers of my first novel, Ava, is to work on developing the dialogue a little more.)

While writing Ava, a solitary process, I constantly found myself going back and forth on plot elements, character strengths and flaws, and scene construction. It makes me wonder how teams of writers manage to blend all of their individual creativity into a single script.

How do they resolve disagreements about the right way to evolve a character, or about whose new plot idea to weave into the script? Do they write together, or meet up once a day to compare notes? And how much influence does the casting of a particular actor have to do with the quirks and language they choose for the character he or she is playing on the show?

Before I wrote my first novel, I never wondered about these things. I do now.

While I don’t have the knowledge or experience to write a full episode of a TV show, I do enjoying trying to pick up on clues the writers leave unexplained from one season to the next, and to brainstorm on ways to turn them into a major plot line in a future episode.

NCIS, anything Law & Order, and The Mentalist are shows I routinely watch. As a viewer, I enjoy being along for the ride as the pieces are put together to solve a crime, while, at the same time, the dialogue and scenes used always somehow manage to add to the development of the relationships between the main characters.

The lines the NCIS writers give to Gibbs' team, and the way they consistently write banter that fits everything we fans already know about a character while still adding something new, appeals to me.

I believe the Law & Order franchise always has the most talented guest actors on television – actors who are usually unknowns at the time the episode was filmed. It makes me think about my own characters and the ways in which actors might deliver the lines I've written, and improve upon my original intent.

As for The Mentalist, well…Simon Baker. Enough said.

I’m not usually into half-hour comedies, but both Modern Family and The Middle send me into fits of laughter each time I watch them. (I wish their writers would start doing late night talk show jokes, too!) The Big Bang Theory is a show that I just discovered in 2012. I can’t absorb episodes from previous seasons fast enough.

Newcomers, like the Dallas reboot and Smash, hooked me from their opening scenes. The writers for Once Upon A Time are wonderfully inventive, and there is no end to the fun their design team seems to be having with costumes and sets. I adore it. But I don’t want to write for that show. I want to be a guest on it, and be transformed into a character from a childhood fairytale.

Too bad I can’t act.

Shark Tank, which doesn’t have writers, as far as I know, is great TV. I find that watching the small business people and micro-entrepreneurs as they pitch their products – and dreams – to the “Sharks,” provides a valuable learning tool for structuring my own marketing plans. I hope the producers spin off a junior edition, too, for the ABC Family channel and gear it for the high school and college crowd. (Can I buy stock in that show?)

I watch all the Bravo “Housewives” shows. I can’t really explain why; I just do. I suppose that makes them an addiction, of sorts. And I generally tune into the final episode of any reality TV contest show, including American Idol, Dancing With The Stars, and The Bachelor/ette.

And then there’s Castle.

If you watch the show, you know that the main character, played by Nathan Fillion, has never met his father. I’m guessing the discovery of the father's identity will be a major plot line somewhere down the road.

As it turns out, a family member of mine looks quite a bit like the actor Nathan Fillion. But it’s more than looks; it’s the likeness of their mannerisms, the surprising similarities of their facial expressions, and that they each seem to have that general air of the "good kind of bad boy" surrounding them. (They are also both members of the Screen Actors Guild.)

Every time I watch the show, I am struck anew by their likeness. With that in mind, I’ve found myself thinking about creative ways to plot the meeting of the show's title character, Richard Castle, with his father.

Suppose that Castle, while out chasing criminals and solving crimes, keeps crossing paths with a man who looks remarkably – suspiciously – like him. Perhaps, this man becomes the main suspect in a crime and, while digging into his past, Castle learns they are half-brothers, that they share a father. Where could it go from there? Who knows, but it is fun to try and think up plot twists that even the most loyal viewers wouldn't see coming.

Once the writers for the show do decide to script Castle’s discovery of his father’s identity – and I'm thinking it is coming this season or next – I hope they cast Don Johnson in the role. It's all about his grin, one that says "I might be a good guy, and I might be a bad guy. Keep watching to find out."

He would certainly be a fun character to write each week.

Authors, what if you had written a novel that was being turned into a television series or movie? Would you want to be a part of the scriptwriting team? Who would you cast in the lead roles?

Copyright © 2012 by Ashley Barron. All rights reserved.

CreateSpace or Lightning Source?

2013-01-31T04:38:32Z

My first novel, Ava, will be coming out in print in a matter of days. While I'm excited to finally have this option for readers who do not use e-readers, it has taken more time than I had originally anticipated to make a paperback version of the book available.

On this blog, I’ve been candid about the highs and lows of my journey from occasional writer to self-published author. Even as I write this post, a certain part of me still hopes that a literary agent, one skilled in navigating the release and promotion of print books, will discover my novel and insist on representing it, and me.

There is real value in having an educated, experienced guide when traveling to new areas of business, and personal growth.

I can't help but wonder if making the choice to move forward on my own will remove the possibility of agent representation, permanently. Time will answer that question, I suppose. For now, as my dad would say, Onward!

Through research, I determined that my best two options for self-publishing a print novel were CreateSpace and Lightning Source. I spent several weeks reading up on the two, and comparing procedures, pricing packages, distribution logistics, and ease of use. Happily, there is a lot of useful information, and a wide variety of opinions as to which company offers the best possibility of making a printed book accessible to the widest range of shoppers.

I decided to consult on the matter with three self-published authors that I know and admire. Two of the authors used CreateSpace and were happy with the results, and one, though she had started with CreateSpace, had moved over to Lightning Source.

Once I had their input, I went back and reviewed the websites for both companies. CreateSpace came across as faster, easier to work with in terms of preparing the manuscript, and had the obvious advantage of getting a newly-published paperback version of my novel onto Amazon.com in a matter of days.

Lightning Source, on the other hand, seemed more complicated to me, considering this was my first time prepping a book for print. I could have dealt with the complications if it weren’t for the fact that Lightning Source has no immediate path to availability. Amazon will carry books printed by Lightening Source, but making that happen would add in more steps – and more time – to achieve what was essentially the same outcome: the availability of my paperback on Amazon.com

The key advantage Lightning Source offers, it seems to me, is the potential to have my novel reach the shelves of brick-and-mortar book stores. However, I would have to do all the marketing myself, on a store-by-store basis. With one reasonably new novel and no readership history to my name, I determined that marketing my books to the stores would take far more time than I would be able to give, or justify.

Imagine making this call hundreds of times in a row: “Hi, I’m a self-published author! I’d like to let you know my novel is now available in print and is ready to be stocked at your store. Who is the right person to speak with about this process?”

I can’t count the number of blind marketing calls I’ve made over the course of my career. With my first business, I made a thousand — maybe more — in the first few months alone. Once those calls started connecting with right buyers, at the right time, the volume of daily marketing calls I needed to make declined, but I still had to make time for that activity every afternoon.

Of course, that was a service-based business not a product-based business, and it was an entirely different marketplace from this one.

Still, if I went forward and dedicated the time to make those marketing calls, would I have success? Some, yes. But I have no idea how many calls it would take, how many books would be ordered by a store, and how many of those books would ultimately sell. I also don’t know how much time, in terms of paperwork and channel management, is required once a book is added to the stock of an individual book store.

And what about the opportunity cost of spending huge chunks of my time on marketing the paperback version of Ava?

There is always a chance that a large distributor, or well-connected book buyer, would choose my novel, thus opening many doors with one connection, but, for the same reasons stated above, I had to face the fact that this was an unlikely outcome.

My decision made, I opened an account with CreateSpace and moved forward into the next phase of self-publishing.

I already had a professional cover, one for the e-book version of Ava, but had forgotten that I’d made arrangements with the designer to wait on producing the print version of that cover until I had completed the book description. The time had come; I had to buckle down and write a 3-paragraph description of Ava.

As you know, authors, writing a first novel is a very personal undertaking. When it came to boiling down my plot to a handful of paragraphs, I had never been able to see the forest for the trees. Finally, the words came to me. It was if they were waiting for me to reach a point in my development where I could step back far enough to see the big picture.

The next part, understanding the mechanics of properly formatting my manuscript, took me longer than I had anticipated. I made a mess of it several times before the logic behind the process began to make sense to me. But, on the upside, it gave me a chance to review my entire novel once more, looking for any small changes that needed to be made.

(Starting now, I plan to use a print format for any manuscript I’m working on. Once I’d tweaked the margins and set up the proper spacing, I could see six pages at a time on my computer screen. I found that this view made a real difference, from an editing perspective, with the flow of the story.)

Within a week, my print cover had come back from the designer, and the formatting of my manuscript had been approved by CreateSpace. Now, I was ready to set the price of my print novel. The task gave me pause, as it always seems to do. After much internal debate – and an informal study of the pricing choices made by dozens of other self-published authors – I settled on $9.99 as the right price point.

My share of that price is less than a dollar, but that doesn’t worry me so much. It’s too early, as I learned from my e-book pricing challenges, to focus on royalties over distribution. I’m an unknown author (I’d prefer to say undiscovered author!), with one novel in publication, who is working to establish a readership. I felt an $11.99 price point, which I was seriously considering, would be too much of a deterrent to readers who might be willing to gamble a certain sum on a writer’s first book.

Plus, with the e-book version of Ava currently priced at $.99, I felt there was too much disparity between the two amounts if I chose the higher price for the print version.

This afternoon I completed the last step in the CreateSpace process. My novel will be available in print format, on Amazon.com, sometime in the next five days.

I can hardly believe it. I think I feel a little dizzy with excitement!

So much work, so much time, so much sacrifice to arrive at this place. I want to savor the feeling of accomplishment and celebrate the knowledge I’ve gained. And I will, right up to tomorrow morning, when I open my eyes and a new day begins.

And what does tomorrow hold in store for me? I don’t know.

But I’m ready to find out.

Dear Barnes & Noble, Part Four

2013-01-29T17:44:43Z

You’ve finally done it this time, Barnes & Noble.

What I’d really like to know is who isn’t listening at your corporate headquarters? Who are the ones so rooted in the past that they would rather collapse your future than step aside and make room for innovation and rebranding.

Who should be the recipient of our communications, the ones we self-published authors keep sending from the front lines of writing, publishing, and marketing books? The blog posts and tweets we’ve been so passionately writing to you for a year, Barnes & Noble, obviously aren’t getting through to a person who can effect change -- big change -- within your organziation.

Here is some advice. Right now, right this very second, call a meeting. Start a national conversation and hold it in your bookstores – while you’ve still got them. Ask the question, the only question that matters. How do we make the Barnes & Noble brand thrive?

Ask that question, and then listen to the answers offered.

But you won’t. You are shuttering stores. You have already given up.

I suspect that the finger-pointing must be rather intense right now. If anyone who earns more than a dollar in annual salary from your company is sitting around pointing the finger of blame, fire them. Put out the flames of retreat, before they burn the whole operation to the ground.

Where is your new marketing blood? Where are your cutting-edge ideas? How many of your top-level employees have written and self-published a novel (even if under a pseudonym) to gain first-hand experience with the most powerful business tool in the marketplace right now.

How can anyone effectively manage, and build upon, what they don't understand?

You’ve had plenty of warning that change was coming, and that you needed to change along with it. In fact, you’ve had a year of absolute proof that you needed to leave behind your outdated self-image and see the new you, the modern you.

The old days are gone, Barnes & Noble. Let go of the pride you feel for your past successes before they make today the last of your tomorrows.

That sounds harsh. I almost want to apologize, and would, except for the fact that you are on a sure path to obliteration if you don’t start making changes immediately.

You are prepared to give up 30% of your retail locations? I’m not surprised. It seems, lately, you’ve been making choices that haven't been the right ones, including how you design, stock, and market your stores.

Your website is as inefficient today as it was a year ago.

You don’t seem to have found any mutually beneficial ways to join forces with the giant – and growing – self-publishing community.

You missed the boat with the Nook. Someone’s ego must have gotten tangled up in that mess of a production and marketing plan. It is the only explanation I can think of that makes any sense.

Eleven months ago, I wrote my first open letter to you, Barnes & Noble, and begged you to listen. Here is what I said.

And why do you still have cafés? There is no excuse for this. Get rid of them. Do it this afternoon. Clear out the space and restyle it as the Nook Apps store. Here are ideas on how to do it. You could be up and running in thirty days. But will you?

Ten months ago, a member of your corporate team called me to discuss the ideas presented in my two open letters to you. This person and I talked for half an hour.

At the end of that call, I knew your days were numbered, Barnes & Noble.

It’s why I never bothered to finish “Dear Barnes & Noble, Part Three,” even though I had more innovative revenue-generating ideas to share with you, and a nearly complete outline of that blog post.

A part of me thinks that we self-published authors need to storm your castle, and save you from yourself. Someone has to do it. And, really, who is better suited than an army of intelligent, creative, motivated, social media-savvy, self-starting, friendly, community-centric, non-judgmental, experienced book marketers who love to read?

Raise the castle gates, Barnes & Noble, and welcome us inside. Let’s work together to develop a new strategy, a new brand, a new look, and a new future for you.

Let’s start today.

Copyright © 2012 by Ashley Barron. All rights reserved.