Who decides about the sequel...

Ok, admittedly, this photo doesn't have the most to do with the topic of my post, but as it is epic, I don't care overmuch.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, I had a post on my Star-crossed:Secrets Facebook page from a fan. Yes, ZOMG, I have a fan. Awesome sauce. So, this fan loves the books, loves the characters (YAY!) and is dying for a third book (yay.) Hmm, yeah, there could be a third book. There are ideas floating in my head that could make it to the written page. It didn't seem like the second book (Star-crossed:Journeys) caught on that well, so I moved on to a new project. But, since my one fan wants it (I'm thinking of Mel on Flight of the Conchordes,) I could make it happen.

Herein lies the dilemma, from the way that she was talking about the characters, I can tell that she wants the love story to resolve a certain way. In my own mind, it goes differently (think Edward v Jacob.) Yeah, I am God of the Star-crossed universe, but perhaps I should satisfy my one fan. On the other hand, that is probably not as satisfying to me and doesn't make me want to write the third book as much. Not sure what to do with this.

Anyway, just happy to have a fan. Yay! Now slow down and obey the road signs...or I will destroy you!

The great experiment

Big news everyone! I have entered the world of advertising. I have jumped off the deep end and have taken out a Facebook ad for my book. When I was researching using Facebook ads for ebooks, I didn't find anything. No one had good or bad experiences to report. So, here I am, everyone's guinea pig. I have plunked down the bucks and am awaiting results.

Here's the deal. You set up a FB page for your book and then you go through their menu to say what you want your ad to say and who you want it to go to. And then, the rest is magic. Or something. I'm not really sure what it looks like to people who get the ad, but the idea is that the ad makes them want to click your page. At least that is the goal of Facebook, because that is how they get paid. My goal is for them to click to my page, "like" my page, and buy the book.

And the $60,000 question is: Is that happening?

I can tell you that since I put the ad up two days ago, I have had 76 new people "like" my page. But I have not sold a single book. At least, not on Amazon. So, it's nice to be liked but, to coin a phrase, show me the money.

My husband thinks that these "clickers" may be fake. He thinks they are Facebook "plants". I suppose that could be. They certainly have interesting names.

Of course, I must keep in mind that has only been two days. So far, though, I have spent $31 on advertising and my benefit is $0.

On the awesome side of things, when I looked at my Amazon sales, I found out that I sold a book to someone in the UK. I think that is mighty exciting. I've jumped the pond. My book is being read on two continents. Woot!

So... in summary, if you are dying to find out whether or not you should take out a FB ad for your book, I have to say, I'm skeptical, but stay tuned.

Are vampires dead?

Ah, Drusilla, how I miss your creepy, insane vampiness.

Okay, duh, vampires are dead. Although I have never met one and taken his/her pulse so, I can't verify that. The question is really, "Is vampire literature dead?"

When I started writing Secrets, I was kind of banking on the fact that vampire fiction was played. Not just vampires...I had seen wizards and vampires and werewolves done and I figured I'd go a different direction. Not that I was dying to write vampire novel, but that was my reasoning. And so I went with aliens. I know... that's also been done...

Anyway, as some of you may know, I have taken the stance that I will only read 99 cent ebooks. I haven't exactly stuck to that, but it's close. What I have found in my sashay through the bargain books is that vampire books are alive and well. And werewolves, fairies, witches, angels ,trolls... Yeah, they may not be bestsellers, but there are plenty of paranormal books that are. So, I believe I was wrong. Vampire lit is not dead. Paranormal lit is thriving and growing.

Do I wish I had written a vampire book? Not really. Will my next book be about vampires? I guess you'll just have to wait and see!

Finally, to follow up on creepy Dru, let me finish with my very favorite vampire:

Money Fight!

This morning I was searching on Amazon, trying to find my book using keywords. And, as usual, I was not having any success. My book is virtually impossible to find on Amazon. I am learning a definite lesson about titles, let me tell you.

But I digress. I searched under my name and found my kindle book, but what else I found was

this:

Star-crossed: Secrets by LR Pardee (Paperback - 2011)

1 new from $137.17

Books: See all 5 items

What????

Someone out there is trying to sell my book in paperback for $137.17? I'm not sure if I should be flattered or horrified. Or enraged?

How much do I get of this 137 dollars... plus shipping.

And then there's the question of where did this copy come from? There are definitely hard copies of Star-crossed:Secrets out there. I gave them to lots of my friends. None in New Hampshire, though. But $137? I mean, you could actually buy a Kindle and buy my book on Kindle for less than $137. Hell, just ask me and I'll give you a copy for free!

Inception

No... not the blockbuster, mind-blowing movie with the guy from Titanic. My book's inception.

A friend of mine who is reading my book and also happens to be from Montana--gulp!-- asked me how I decided to set the book in Livingston, MT. It is a reasonable question since I am a Puget Sounder who grew up in Arizona. So here is the somewhat embarrassing story of how I chose Livingston for Secrets:


I was at the dentist around this time two years ago and the hygienist was talking my ear off. Since my mouth is open and I can't answer back, I am basically listening to her monologue. She is telling me about the book she just read, and this book happens to be Twilight. I am not terribly interested in the book but I have no choice but to listen. As she rambles on, I take note that the story is set in Forks.

And I say, "Fmngs?"

Because, hello, have you been to Forks? It is the place where you run for beer and chips when you are camping at the beach. Or where you have lunch on your way through Olympic National Park. I'm sorry Twilight fans, it is a sorry place.

So she tells me, and I'm sure you all know, that Stephanie Meyer had never visited Forks (no kidding) but picked it because of the rainfall. Because vamps love the rain, apparently. This caught my imagination because I thought that Twilight could really be a shot in the arm for Forks. Perhaps it has helped, but the only effect I have noticed is a better quality of t-shirt.

Nevertheless, Twilight put Forks on the map.

The light bulb sparks to life over my head. I can write a novel and put some other town on the map, I tell myself. How brilliant of me.

I scurried home and pulled out my maps. Where should the story be? I wanted it in the west because the west rocks. And north because I didn't want my lovers to get too hot. And it needed to be mountain-y because they had to be able to hide a space ship and I love mountains. And, for some long-forgotten reason, it needed to be near a national park.

Then I found Livingston. Perfect. Mountains, Yellowstone, scenic... I was in business.

So I started writing. I figured vampires and wizards had been done, so I was going with aliens. But as I wrote and researched, I realized that Livingston was no Forks. It was a lovely town, so beloved by Robert Redford that he chose it as the location for A River Runs Through It. It was also the setting for The Horse Whisperer. Not to mention that Christopher Paolini is from there, so it is basically the setting for Eragon.

Oops. Didn't I feel dumb. Livingston didn't need me to put it on the map. It was already there. At that point, though, I had put lots of time and effort into the story so I went with it.

And that is the story of why I chose Livingston. I only hope that someday I will get over there and actually see if all the hours I spent on google maps resulted in plausible descriptions of the environs.

How do you like your books: Virtual or Actual?

I can't decide if this picture is creepy or just awesome.

But I digress. So my mother thinks that I should run a bunch of hard copies of my book to sell. How I should sell them, I'm not sure. Door to door with them in a big suitcase? On the street corner, while wearing a banana suit?

Keep in mind that my mother also thinks that the Point Defiance Zoo has a wooly mammoth and that the YMCA doesn't allow women. So she is living in a different world.

This does present a quandry to me, though. I thought that epublishing was the greatest because it was free and instanteous. But so many of my friends don't have access to ebook technology. And that makes me wonder how big of an audience I am missing by just epublishing. Nooks and Kindle sales are growing but lots of people don't have them yet.

But if I made a hundred copies of my book, how would I get them out of my garage? And if someone ordered one, I'd have to go to the post office. I hate the post office.

I don't have an answer to this. Perhaps I am just too lazy for this option. But I do know that virtual or actual, hot guys from the books you read, possibly Edward Cullen or the guy with the abs, will come out of the page and give you a hug.

Introducing-- Clown Schlong

So, my title blows. Not only is every other book in the world named Starcrossed but the title Star-crossed: Secrets makes me gag. The more I say it, the more I gag. So, I unveil my new title: Clown Schlong. I can't possibly say that enough. And, to the left, is the new cover. What will he pull out of that hat? If you guessed Clown Schlong, you might be right.

Ah, Powell's books. Haven of bookstore awesomeness. How we love thee.

I got a text from Powell's from my wandering peeps and once I got past my crippling envy, I started to think...... When my oldest daughter was four or five, she used to write these little picture books that she stapled between construction paper. Then she would take them with her when we went to stores or libraries and put them on the shelves with the other books. "So people could buy them," she would tell us. We thought it was adorable but, really, it was also genius marketing. Visibility is the first step, am I right?

So, perhaps I should have sent a copy of my book, Star-crossed:Secrets, with the surfers to place on the shelves. Then someone could find it and read it and create demand. Or, conversely, it could really confuse the check out people and they would throw it away. But still, it would have basked in the awesomeness of Powell's for a time, and isn't that what really matters?

Pardee out.

Swimming to Portland

Yes, it's me. Aren't I awesome. And, from afar, I look naked.

I wish I looked that fantastic... clothed or naked.

So, my insane friends and I are "swimming to Portland"-- as in, swimming the distance to Portland. You know who you are, insane friends. And we are swimming huge amounts of yardage trying to keep up with/beat each other. And it is a blast. And it is painful. And I am seeing stars. But that might be all the Sangria.

What does this have to do with your novel, Star-crossed, Laurel? Well, I'm glad you asked. Because Star-crossed, while it seems to be sci-fiy and romance, is really a swimming novel. And Chara looks just like tight buns in the photo there.

Say what?

Ok, that is a stretch. But one of my characters is a swimmer. Brett might seem minor, but in the only-written-in-my-head third novel, his roll is significant. There is much swimming.

And, of course, since most of the book was written in my head as I swam laps back and forth, it is a novel born of swimming.

Ok, so that is a stretch. But what can I say, I am full of Sangria. It makes sense to me. Perhaps you should try some Sangria and read this again and it will make sense.

Pardee out.

Oh Nooooooooo!

Ok, my friend came across this searching for my book, Star-crossed: Secrets. And, dang, it is mighty similar. I had no idea I was so unoriginal. I mean, ok, Star crossed is kind of a mainstream title, but the kissy silhouette? Come on.

On the other hand, this book will cost you $9.99 for Nook and mine is a mere 99 cents. So, you certainly should buy mine instead.

Well, and the author of this book is a breast cancer survivor, so you should buy hers too.

We have a winner!!!

And the winner of the Starbuck's card for reviewing Star-crossed: Secrets is.....

Tina Egurrola

Thanks for reading, Tina, and thanks for saying nice things!

To publish or not to publish

So, I just read a blog discussing the dangers of self-publishing, the take home message being that sometimes a manuscript should live in the drawer and not ever be published.

Because it stinks like month old ricotta cheese.

Ok, I get that. Sometimes, a book isn't ready for the world. Or the world isn't ready for the book.

But just because an agent or a publisher or an army of agent publishers, with claws, and fangs, and herpes say it isn't ready for prime time, doesn't mean it isn't.

I think the point I am trying to make through this ponderous babble is that there isn't really much to lose in self-publishing. And this is true even if your book is the biggest piece of garbage to wash up on the south shore. Really. Because once you put it out there, people will read it... or not. And people will like it ... or not. And it seems like you should be able to give that choice to the reading public. Lord knows I've read enough stinkers released by the publishing world. And I've read some self-published gems that deserve the accolades and adoration of the literary world. And a movie deal. Like my book. Star-crossed: Secrets.

Not really. I'm not that arrogant. But other books... like Tammy Blackwell's Destiny Binds.

So, that is my opinion for the day.

Pardee out.

For love or money

The other day, my 10 year old asked me if people write for the money or for fame. That made me consider why I wrote the Star-crossed books. As I mentioned before, they originally were a challenge to my lazy children to write themselves. But once I got into writing them for serious and finishing them... did I want riches or fame? Or, more realistically, a bit of pocket change or recognition?

Well, when I chose to self-publish, I was thinking that I just wanted to get my book out to all my friends so they could read it and, hopefully, like it. Because, really, what's the point of spending years of your life writing and editing if the book is just going to sit on your hard drive? It's a nice mental exercise but it feels a bit wasted. So that's what I did. And many of my friends have read and at least pretending to like Secrets. So, hurray! Goal accomplished.

But, I guess it would be nice to make a little money. I am blessed to have all my needs met and then some. But I feel like I am pouring money into copies of the books to hand out to friends and I know my outflow will exceed my intake. So... a few healthy sales would be nice.

So... I guess the answer is, for both love and money. At least for me. What about the rest of you writers?

Pardee out.

Also the search for the cover

Ok, I'm not very good at this. The picture of the cover was supposed to appear with the post.

Fail.

So, anyway, I have spent much of the last 24 hours searching for the cover for book 2, Star-crossed: Journeys. ( I have read on the web that to promote your book you should mention the title as much as you can, anywhere you can, so you can expect every other word in this blog to be Star-crossed: Secrets or Star-crossed: Journeys... I already am making myself want to puke)

Ok, so the "cover" story. I am trying to find an artsy cover along the lines of my first cover for the second book and, to make matters more difficult, it muse be a picture taken by me... or I get sued. A tall order. I love the photo that I just posted... somewhere... and had worked it up as a cover. But really, it belongs on a religious manifesto, or Deep Thoughts with Jack Handy. Sigh. So I am back to the drawing board.

The why of the blog

Ok... so, contrary to popular belief, I do not love to hear--uh, read-- the sound of my own voice. I feel kind of silly blogging because, really, who wants to hear my daily blather. However, now that I have published my ebook and seem to be producing a constant stream of self-promotion, a blog seemed appropriate.

I will endeavor not to be too boring.