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Oct 25
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Back in January, I set a 25 book reading challenge for myself this year.
Yes. I know. I know.
It’s nearing the end of October. I should have 20 books read, but as you can see, I’m still behind.
As I mentioned yesterday, I’ll be stepping things up and including reviews in the weeks and months to come. Yesterday was the first review: The Monstrous Regiment of Women.
- The Higher Power of Lucky, by Susan Patron
- Eternal Vigilance, by Gabrielle Faust
- How to Climb the Charts on YouTube (hasn’t worked), by Alan Lastufka and Michael W Dean
- Beware, Princess Elizabeth, by Carolyn Meyer
- Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman
- Tantalize, by Cynthia Leitich Smith
- Manifest Your Destiny, by Wayne W. Dyer
- The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne
- Night Pleasures, by Sherrilyn Kenyon
- Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, by JK Rowling
- The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening, by LJ Smith
- The Vampire Diaries: The Stuggle, by LJ Smith
- A New Earth, by Eckhart Tolle
- The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle
- Witch on the Water, by Christine and Ethan Rose**
- The Looking Glass Wars, by Frank Beddor
- A Monstrous Regiment of Women, by Laurie R. King
- Soulless by Gail Carriger
By the end of this month, I’ll also have read:
Seeing Red by Frank Beddor
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
f you’d like to get any of those fine books mentioned, they are all available on Amazon (along with Rowan of the Wood & Witch on the Water!)
Next month, for my 40th Birthday, I plan to get a KINDLE 2
(finally), so I hope to be reading EVEN MORE!
** Yes! I know we wrote this, but it did take up reading time when we read it *again* for the final proof. So I should actually get credit for reading like 10 books for the amount of times I’ve read this one this year. 
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Sep 28
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This post will serve as a brief overview of the publishing avenues from which a writer must choose.
I’m not going to sugar coat anything. I’m going to give it to your straight. This is not to burst your bubble but rather to give you a realistic snapshot of the options available to you and the pros & cons of each. This way you can effectively prepare yourself for what’s ahead.
First. The life of a working author is literally non-stop.
Non-stop writing.
Non-stop editing.
Non-stop networking.
Non-stop promotion.
Non-stop work. It becomes your life.
If you think you’re going to be living in a penthouse suite surrounded by your best sellers, then you have a better chance at winning the lottery. Seriously.
It certainly can happen, and, of course, if you don’t play, you can’t win; but you need to fully understand what you’re up against.
There are 800 books published every single day in the USA. That’s nearly 300,000 books a year.
The average book sells 500 copies in its lifetime. This average includes books that sell millions like Harry Potter or Twilight, so there are many, many books out there selling less than 50.
Quitting your day job and becoming a full-time author takes great courage because it’s very, very risky, as you can imagine from the above figures.
The very first thing you must do, is ask yourself these questions.
You’ll need the answers to decide which path to take.
- What do you want to accomplish with your book?
- When do you want this done?
- Do you want to live solely off writing, or do you want to just see your work in print?
- Do you want to be a NYTimes Bestseller (who doesn’t?)? By when?
- When is a big part of the equation here.
How much you want to work is also a big part of the equation.
Trust me. You work way way way less at any other job, unless you’re in business for yourself. Then you know the meaning of work. It’s your life. There is nothing else.
Your four basic publishing choices are:
- New York “Big Boy” Publisher
(this is like Penguin, HarperCollins, Scholastic, etc)
- Independent Publisher
- “Self-Publishing” (or Independent Publishing House that you happen to own)
- Vanity Publishing (many people call this Self-Publishing)
Tomorrow, I’ll start with the pros & cons of going with a New York “Big Boy” Publisher.
See you then!
< —- Publishing Choices (Intro Post)
NY Big Boys (next post) — >
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Apr 30
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I have developed a new way to make money online from home. Unlike the hundreds of offers filling up my inbox each day, this one actually works. Since the internet has become widely accepted as a low cost marketing tool everyone and their dog who has something to sell has a website. The downside to this is the overwhelming competition to get visitors to those sites.
One of the ways people are using to do this is by having contests where they give away a product for free. Many of the smaller sites, and there are thousands, average less than five entries per contest. My plan is to enter as many of these as I can every day. Even at five a day I am almost guaranteed to win something every day.
I intend to concentrate on books, because I love to read. Also, most authors will sign it. Then, not only will I have something to review on my blog, but when they become famous I can sell it on eBay for big bucks. (Hmm, I guess I’ll have to give them all great reviews to help them on their way).
The Kindle has also become a popular prize. Many book related sites are offering one as a prize. Check out WWYD4AK2 as an example. There is loot to be had out there as well as good honest fun, so go get your share.
—-***—-***—-***—-***—-
Order Rowan here!
Rowan of the Wood is *still* unavailable in normal trade channels. During the interim, you can get your copy of Rowan of the Wood from it’s first printing! Only 100 copies are left, and they will go fast… because by getting one, you are automatically entered into our What Would You Do for a Kindle 2 Contest! Details here.
#WWYD4AK2
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Feb 19
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 I am starting this morning along the old Butterfield Trail, just inside New Mexico. According to the market set up at the rest area and Visitor Information Center, this used to be an old stage coach run from St. Louis to San Francisco. I assume they chose a tough sounding name like Butterfield to fit in with the Old West machismo. New Mexico itself is a beautiful place. There are wide, high desert skies of clear blues and a landscape of natural rock gardens. Those who are responsible for the infrastructure have done a wonderful jog of matching the colors and styles of the natural world around them. It is amazing what can be done with colored sand. My sense of aesthetics may be influenced by the free wi-fi at the Info Center.
One of the greatest pleasures of living the nomadic life is the great profusion of nature to be experienced. But one also becomes very aware of simple necessities and their availability. Even fresh water and septic dumps can be hard to find at time, so we learn to stop for them when they appear.
 Last night, we did two book signings in a row. One in Las Cruces, NM and another in El Paso. They both went quite well. Cheryl, the community relations manager in Las Crucius and Manuel of the Sunplace Mall in El Paso were both very welcoming and accomodating. Our posters were in the windows and tables were prepared. Free drinks from the cafes were also nice.
We sold seven books in Las Cruces which is pretty good for us, and we sold twelve in El Paso which is a record for Barnes & Nobles. So thank you to Cheryl and Matthew as well as Barnes & Nobles who really know how to treat visitors, and of course all our readers, enjoy.
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Feb 15
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That’s it.
We were supposed to do a signing yesterday at a Houston-area Borders Bookstore. We had to cancel last minute because they couldn’t be bothered to order the books in time. Additionally, the contact at Borders was quite rude to our publicist for checking in. If we hadn’t checked in, we would’ve driven 3.5 hrs one way for nothing. Not fun.
This is the second time in a month we had to cancel the day before an event. The first was in Florida, and that was also a Borders who didn’t order the books on time. Coincidence?
What is it with Borders? What message does that give to an author on tour. I certainly know what message I got from these Borders: “You and your book aren’t worth our time.”
That’s the message I got.
Barnes & Noble, on the other hand, have been pretty great overall. Some are definitely better than others, like the awesome reception we had at the New Orleans B&N in Metairie (Hi Gina!), but overall they’re all pretty great.
1. They order the books on time
2. They have nice posters made promoting the event
3. They contact the local media and put the event in their newsletter
4. They have a nice table set up for your arrival
5. They offer us a drink from the cafe at nearly every store (we even got cookies in San Antonio!)
Bottom line: Barnes & Nobles treat their authors well. Without authors, there would be no B&N or Borders! 
B&N seems to realize that author events HELP the store sales.
After your signing, they have you sign the remainder of your books and then put them on display as “Author Signed” for at least a few weeks to a month…
Although our highest number of sales was at a Borders back in November (13 books sold), they took them off the shelves completely just a few weeks later (BEFORE CHRISTMAS), even though the books were selling. Mandatory Returns.
So for now, as far as major book chains are concerned, we’re sticking with Barnes & Nobles. If Borders would like us to have a signing there, we would be very happy to oblige, but we’re not coming to you anymore. It has just proven to be a waste of our time and marketing efforts.
Yeah Barnes & Nobles!!!!
Today, we’re doing a signing at the Pearland Barnes & Nobles from 11am – 1pm. Come see us!
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Jan 24
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I see on many blogs 100 book challenges, etc — so I thought I would do my own challenge.
Because of my work, I don’t read near as much as I’d like to. I’m going to try to change that this year… but I don’t want to go too crazy with the goal-setting, as I like to reach my goals. Since a major goal is to reach the NYT best seller list with Rowan of the Wood and to not only finish, but publish, the sequel, I’m going to keep it to two books a month instead of two a week.
Currently, I’m reading Eternal Vigilance by Gabrielle Faust, and I’ve been reading it for about a month now. I’m on Chapter 3. That doesn’t say anything about the book, because it’s quite good … that speaks to my complete lack of time during the day and my complete exhaustion at the end of the day.
But that’s going to change!
We’re heading out on tour tomorrow, so there will be more time for reading on those long journeys. And, although I’ll be doing a lot of publicity, traveling, and writing of my own (not to mention teaching at ACC), I will finish not only Eternal Vigilance but also another book by the end of the month.
So here I pledge.
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Jan 15
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Congratulations Lucia!
You’ve just won a free signed copy of Rowan of the Wood! Please email me your address, and I’ll get it out to you.
Thanks again for all your comments.
We’re giving away another book in February, so keep commenting!
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Dec 03
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So, Day Two of Rowan’s Geekalicious Yuletide Blog Book Tour was a great day over at Melody’s Reading Corner (in SINGAPORE!). There were some good comments to which I happily responded!
Tomorrow we’ll be at YA Book Realm with a guest post called Edward Cullen, Meet Cullen Knight! Come join us!
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Sep 30
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I received an email from a woman who got a copy of Rowan of the Wood at MiddleFaire this past weekend. She must’ve read the entire book in a day! That’s a good sign!!
Here is what she had to say:
“Rowan of the Wood was an incredibly wonderful book to read. I just got it last weekend at Middlefaire and it is so amazing, the summary on the back doesn’t do it justice. I sincerely wish you two all the happiness and success in the world. Though it has a nasty habit of torturing the reader, it certainly kept me turning the pages. This is BY FAR one of my most favorite books of all time. I loved a book by C.S. Lewis called Till We Have Faces, the myth of cupid and psyche retold. Any book that is able to take a spin on something like that is a true work of art. I don’t know if you plan on writing a sequel but if you do I look forward to reading it! I hope if this ever gets turned into a movie that whomever directs it does it justice, because if not there’s gonna be trouble haha.  I hope one day I am able to write a book as fantastic as you two have.
Thank you so much for writing it, it has been a true gift to read.”
~Elise
Thank you, Elise, for your thoughtful words! We are halfway through the writing the sequel. There will be a total of five books in the series.
View more reader reactions on the website. Elise also elected to join our newsletter mailing list to get updates about Rowan of the Wood and author events.
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