Category: balloons

6 Comments

A Balloon Lady’s Look at 2014 PWC Conference

  By , , , , , , , ,

Barbara Custer improves her writing at Philadelphia Writers' Conference.During the Philadelphia Writers’ Conference, I stayed at the Wyndham Hotel and brought balloons along to help me sleep. As everyone knows, I’m a balloon lady and my balloons follow me wherever I go. Therefore, I showed up at the conference alert and ready to learn.

Friday brought two delightful surprises: the lunchtime “Open Mike” and, along with the fiction and poetry raps, the “Apples to Writers.” So during lunch, I got an opportunity to read an excerpt from my book, and during the raps, participated in a contest involving writing after getting a prompt. Everyone who read got a prize, but the winner was nominated Queen of the Apples to Writers.

Many of my “aha” moments came with my “book promotion” classes – Dave Girgio’s Book Trailers and Audio Books, Cecily Kellogg’s Using Search and Social, and Suzanne Kuhn’s Reaching your Audience through Social Media. For starters, I learned just how much a good trailer costs – $3500, according to Dave, because a decent trailer involves hiring actors. If you can’t afford to pay that kind of money, it’s best to not use a trailer at all because the quality of the cheaper ones won’t do anything for you book. So…with my next book, I plan to promote it in different ways, but the book trailer will not be one of them unless I can pony up at least $2500.

Be aware of timing when posting an event or blog, advised Suzanne. You don’t want to announce an event during a Sandy storm or other national tragedy. Midday may not be the best time if people are just straggling home from work. She stressed the importance of platform. In Cecily’s class, I got tidbits about SEO – where to get free images for the website and some HTML to dress up my post.

Alma Katsu’s Upping the Ante gave me useful information on the types of conflict. It made me want to go back to my WIP with new eyes. She stressed the importance of writing “in scene” instead loading my beginning with thoughts and back story. I’ve struggled with beginnings, but I understand better how to fix them.

I also took two classes pertaining to characterization: Judith Schachner’s Strength of Character and Austin Camacho’s Creating Characters That Keeps Fans Reading. Judith gave us a new way of creating characters – pictures. Everyone created a character based on a photo she gave each of us. I have my photos and plan to use them for characters in my books. I was glad to get them as I’m a visual learner.

Okay, I know full well that “show, don’t tell” trumps all, but Austin spelled out just how to do that with characters. It’s not enough to describe what your character’s wearing, for example. How do other people react to his clothes? The ways people react can tell you who to watch and who to ignore.

I enjoyed listening to the keynote speakers, William Lashner and Lu Ann Cahn. All up, the camaraderie was great. This balloon lady would like to thank the Board of Directors for putting together a great conference.

4 Comments

Do Blog Tours Work?

  By , , , , , , ,

Night to Dawn features an unholy blend of zombie fiction, vampire tales, and dark poetry.You’ve gotten a letter from Publisher X accepting your novel and a contract. Your contract appears on the up-and-up and you’re in balloon heaven. The euphoria helps you through the edits, but the honeymoon ends when you go about the business of marketing the book.

Traveling poses a problem because you have a day job, kids, etc, and few people can afford the thousands needed for a publicist. What’s more, some folks sell best online, while others do better with face-to-face sales. When Steel Rose came out in February, 2013, I opted for Goddess Fish’s blog tour, which enabled me to promote my book without traveling. Instead of going to physical places, I hopped from blog to blog during the 12 weeks of the tour. Each stop meant an interview or guest post. In this way, the blog’s followers got to know me as a person. The demands of Pennsylvania’s winters and a day job made online promotion particularly attractive.

For choice of companies, three come to mind: Goddess Fish, Reading Addictions, and Bewitching Book Tours. They’re all good; I vetted them through Absolute Write Water Cooler and other authors. Some companies specialize in certain genres, so that is something to consider when you embark on a tour. Study the upcoming tours and see what genres are being promoted. Also consider the kind of publicity you had in mind and how much money you can afford to spend. Do you want to do a “cover reveal” or are you going for a month of posts, interviews, and reviews? The cost could run anywhere from $25 to several hundred dollars.

Two caveats come to mind. First, the tour company can’t guarantee positive reviews. If the host doesn’t like your book, he or she might forego the review and instead post an excerpt, cover page, and author biography. Second caveat: Blog tours are booked weeks in advance, so the tour company will set deadlines for your posts. According to Author Jonathan Maberry, blowing a deadline is the worst thing an author can do. His advice applies to the blog tour, too. Otherwise, you lose credibility with the tour host and their readers. If you agree to deliver work on a given date, and you’re sick, at least give the person advance warning. Life happens and everyone understands that. When I did the blog tour for Goddess Fish, I sent in my guest posts way in advance so the respective host could get them in time.

On the day of your promotion, thank the host for posting your book. A comment such as “Thanks for having me today” will work. You’ll want to offer a giveaway – not an actual copy of your book, but perhaps a gift card or copy of another book you published. Since most people love coffee, I’ll offer a Starbucks gift card. The tour company keeps track of addresses and will readily supply this information once you’ve picked your winner.

Must you go through a company for blog touring? Not necessarily. I’ve done a couple of mini-tours on my own, including giveaways. I’ve recently started doing Reading Addiction’s Single Day Mini Promo Blitz for the Night to Dawn books. Although the blog tour and mini promos didn’t increase sales right off, I made new friends on Facebook and Twitter, and that’s a great thing. What’s more, I had fun writing the blogs. A balloon tale puts a smile on most people’s faces.

Have you ever considered a blog tour? I’d love to hear about your experiences.

6 Comments

Have Balloons, Will Rewrite

  By , , , , , ,

Barbara Custer's Life Raft: Earth features suspenseful science fiction.Over the last few days I’ve been fortifying myself with Mylar balloons. I’m contemplating my next trip to Giant and a butterfly balloon acquisition. On top of that, I released my SF novella, Life Raft: Earth. Why? A lot of work lies ahead on When Blood Reigns, my sequel to Steel Rose. Over the last year, I took the book to my writers’ group for critique and then I finally sent it off to Gemini Wordsmiths for developmental editing. With these folks, you’re getting two pairs of eyes, so no mistakes will slip by. Having read my report, I think every writer should consider a developmental edit. Ruth and Ann are good writer buddies and they know their stuff. After the rewrite, I’m hoping to submit the manuscript. Perhaps I can learn something and be a better editor for the Night to Dawn authors.

Rewrite is the operative word. I’m looking at a lot of changes, some of them major. I didn’t realize I had so many plot holes. Developmental editing addresses facets of each character; it goes beyond content editing. Ruth assured me that red is good. Still, I’ve wondered if I’m up to the task. Mind you, the report came on the heels of my cataract surgery. Most news after any surgery can overwhelm, and this time out, I had inflammation and pressure changes in my right eye. Most of that has resolved and I’m doing better now.

Having read the corrected manuscript, I’m up for the job, especially if I’m well rested. On my last day off from my day job, I reworked a few suggestions, using the BIC (butt-in-chair) approach. The most difficult project will be introducing the characters so that When Blood Reigns can work as a stand-alone book. So I’m fortifying myself with balloons. Heck, if zombies broke into my neighborhood. I’d purchase a gun and somehow a Mylar balloon would follow me home.

Have you gone with a developmental edit? Did you find yourself having moments of discouragement? I’d love to hear about your experiences.

 

6 Comments

Pruning your Manuscript

  By , , , , , , ,

Yesterday morning and today, I went through my Mylar garden and found a lot of deadwood. Some balloons couldn’t hold helium, but looked great with air. So I filled the air balloons and decorated my walls with them. Others couldn’t handle air or helium, so I had to discard them. Some balloons held their gas nicely, but one had gotten detached from the vine. I transplanted the stand-alone into a trunk of weights with other balloons. Pruning my balloon trees takes several days if I want to do it right.

Then I got to thinking about When Blood Reigns, the manuscript now in the hands of an editor. Before I sent it out, I did a lot of pruning, and I anticipate more before I submit it to a publisher. With the Pro Writing Aid, I winnowed out adverbs, “to be” verbs and vague descriptions like “some,” “many,” “several,” etc. Cutting adverbs alone took away 1,000 words. Replacing “to be” verbs cut another thousand. Ditto thousand for overused words and dialogue tags instead of “he said, she said.” I also found “darling” phrases that were cliché, and others that didn’t belong. Maybe they’ll work better with a different storyline.

Was I under pressure to meet a word count? No, but wordy manuscripts can lose a writer unless the writer happens to be Stephen King or Dean Koontz. Like many writers, I’m married to my manuscript and it’s hard to see the flaws without an editing tool or live editor. In particular, I struggle with repetition; my beta readers often point out the same adjective used twice in one sentence. I don’t think my forthcoming eye surgery will change that, though I might catch more errors on manuscript submissions afterwards.

I’ve started working on another novel, with elements of a plot coming together. So I’ve had to turn off my internal editor and think plot. When the revisions start, I know I’ll find plenty of adverbs. The trick is to find them before I send it to a publisher.

How is the pruning process going for you? Do you struggle with repetition, adverbs, and other issues? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Steel Rose features compelling horror fiction by Barbara Custer.

No comments

Terrible Beer and Awful Employers –Strandberg’s Motivation for Tarot Card Killer

  By , , , , , , , , ,

Tarot_Card_Killer_Banner_copyBack in 2009 I was sitting in my Chinese dorm room drinking my umpteenth bottle of Qingdao, perhaps the worst beer known to man.  Yeah, I taught English in China.

I hammered out a couple pages about a detective in an office, you know, 1940s black & white, P.I., all that jazz.  Well, I didn’t do anything with that for the next 4 years but think of it from time to time.

If you’ve ever had a Qingdao headache you know they’re terrible.  But they’re not as terrible as people who won’t pay you for writing.

A woman in Australia gave me a job writing a non-fiction Tarot How-To book.  She didn’t pay me, and after being miffed for a while I started thinking of a Tarot Card Killer.

Why not bring back that detective and get him on the case?  And hey, I’m right across the border from one of the largest and most-storied metropolises in the world – Hong Kong!  What better setting?

After that it was just filling in the details – 70,000 words worth!  It wasn’t easy, but I did it with the help of NaNo (National Write a Novel Month).  It forced me to finish the book quickly, which was great.

Since then I’ve started on the second volume in the planned trilogy, getting up to about 10,000 words.  For now I’m letting it sit so the story can unfold in my mind.  Or until another Qingdao headache or unscrupulous employer strikes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tarot Card Killer features mystery and intrique.BLURB:

Jim Sharpe is sick of life, sick of being a cop, and most of all sick of Hong Kong. He’s one of the few not on the take, yet he’s being charged with corruption. By the end of the week he’ll be kicked off the force – no matter what.

All that changes when a dead body’s found next to Victoria Harbour, a bloody Tarot card in its hand. Jim’s called onto the case, and what he discovers promises not just to upend his world, but the whole city as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Strandberg is the author of Tarot Card Killer.AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Greg Strandberg was born and raised in Helena, Montana. He graduated from the University of Montana in 2008 with a BA in History.

When the American economy began to collapse Greg quickly moved to China, where he became a slave for the English language industry. After five years of that nonsense he returned to Montana in June, 2013.

When not writing his blogs, novels, or web content for others, Greg enjoys reading, hiking, biking, and spending time with his wife and young son.

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/gpstberg

Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Tarot-Card-Killer-Greg-Strandberg-ebook/dp/B00H7THK14

Greg will be awarding a $20 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Strandberg authored mystery and intrique of Tarot Card KillerExcerpt:

Suddenly the Barracuda passed in front of him, going at a regular pace. Obviously the driver thought he’d lost the unmarked car with the flashing red light, but he’d been mistaken. Jim slammed on the gas and headed quickly down the hill.

He made it just half a block when the Barracuda spotted him and sped up, high-tailing it faster toward Connaught Road, three blocks ahead of him. Jim reached it easily, cutting straight through one lane of onrushing traffic and taking a hard right onto the busy street. There, just four blocks ahead of him, was the Barracuda.

They were speeding down Connaught and farther up ahead Jim knew it’d turn into the busy interchange with Des Voeux, branching off in two directions. This time of the morning and Jim knew it’d be clogging up fast with early commuters, and he wanted to end this chase now before it became dangerous. He slammed on the gas and closed the distance between the Barracuda and himself, and had another two blocks before the change.

He got closer to the car, but also closer to the turn up ahead. There was a barrier, forcing the traffic to go either right or left, and Jim could tell there were cars backed-up.

Suddenly he saw the passenger side window of the Barracuda roll down and an arm with a handgun extend. Jim tightened his grip on the steering wheel, waited, and then swerved to the right.

One Comment

Audio Release – Emily Kimelman’s Unleashed

  By , , , , , , ,

UnleashedAudio_BannerChoose the Voice of Sydney Rye

Sydney Rye is coming to Audio and we need your help picking the narrator!

Emily Kimelman’s “Sydney Rye” series features a strong female protagonist and her rescue dog, Blue. It is recommended for the 18+ who enjoy some violence, don’t mind dirty language, and are up for a dash of sex. Not to mention an awesome, rollicking good mystery!

Haven’t read Sydney Rye yet? Download the first book, UNLEASHED, for free on Amazon, iTunes, B&N, or Kobo and see how she sounds in your head then vote for the best narrator!

Voting enters you to win all sorts of great prizes including Amazon gift cards, signed books, and the finished Audio book! Add to your chances of winning by joining Emily’s email list, liking her Facebook page, or telling your friends about the contest.

Here are your choices:

Audition HTML and Bios can all be found here:

https://soundcloud.com/emily-kimelman-gilvey/tracks

The code to listen to each artist is below along with their biography.

Emily Strong

Code for WordPress  and other  formats:

http://emilykimelman.com/2014/03/01/help-choose-voice-sydney-rye/

Biography:

Emily Strong is an actor, voiceover talent, and first time filmmaker.  As a native of Michigan, she is a nature-lover at heart but has the mind of a city girl and moved to Chicago nearly three years ago because she wasn’t smart enough to go somewhere warmer.  She takes full advantage of what the city has to offer by training at legendary places like The Second City and eating lots and lots of ethnic food (will travel all the way across the city to Pilsen for the best tacos!).  Her love of reading was the catalyst for her adventurous spirit and the reason why she is always stoked to tell stories in their different forms.

You can visit her at www.emilystrong.net

Erin Jones

Code for WordPress and other formats:

http://emilykimelman.com/2014/03/01/help-choose-voice-sydney-rye/

Biography:

Erin has narrated over 500 audio books including “The Hunger Games” trilogy for The National Library Services/Library Of Congress,  “A State Of Wonder,” The Garden Of The Beasts,” “Anna Karenina,” “Ferdinand The Bull, and “Madeline.”

Sonja Field

Code for WordPress and other formats:

http://emilykimelman.com/2014/03/01/help-choose-voice-sydney-rye/

Sonja has two loves: acting and reading. Narrating audiobooks is her absolute passion. She has logged over 600 hours recording textbooks with an organization called Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, and is currently in the process of recording a kids’ action-fantasy-adventure novel, a steamy and mysterious paranormal romance, and a non-fiction about writing. She loves nothing more than bringing vivid worlds and unique characters to life. When she’s not recording, Sonja can be found onstage, traipsing around Brooklyn, or entertaining children with a variety of dubious accents.

Erica Newhouse

Code for WordPress and other formats:

http://emilykimelman.com/2014/03/01/help-choose-voice-sydney-rye/

Erica Newhouse is a film, television and theater actor living in New York City. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UnleashedcoverMore about UNLEASHED:

UNLEASHED is the first book in Emily Kimelman’s best-selling Sydney Rye series of mysteries.

When the series begins Sydney Rye is named Joy Humbolt. She does not like people telling her what to do, so it comes as no surprise that she was just fired from her last job. When she buys Charlene Miller’s dog-walking business on Manhattan’s exclusive Upper East Side, it seems like the perfect fit: Quiet environment, minimal contact with people.

But then one of her clients turns up dead, and Charlene disappears. Rumors say Charlene was having an affair with the victim–and of course, everyone assumes Joy must know where she is. Joy begins to look into the crime, first out of curiosity then out of anger when there is another murder and threats start to come her way.

When police detective Mulberry is assigned to the case, Joy finds a kindred spirit–cynical and none-too-fond of the human race. As they dig deep into the secrets of Manhattan’s elite, they not only get closer to the killer but also to a point of no return. One last murder sends Joy Humbolt hurtling over the edge. Her only chance of survival is to become Sydney Rye.

The Rest of The Sydney Rye Series:

DEATH IN THE DARK (A Sydney Rye Novella, #2)

INSATIABLE (A Sydney Rye Novel, #3)

STRINGS OF GLASS (A Sydney Rye Novel, #4)

THE DEVIL’S BREATH (A Sydney Rye Novel, #5) Coming April 2014

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UnleashedEmily_(author_photo)Emily Kimelman’s Biography:

Emily Kimelman is the author of the best selling “Sydney Rye” series of mystery novels including UNLEASHED, DEATH IN THE DARK, INSATIABLE, STRINGS OF GLASS and the forthcoming THE DEVIL’S BREATH. Emily lives with her husband, Sean Gilvey, and their dog, Kinsey Millhone “Pup Detective”, on a trawler docked in the Hudson Valley during the summer. She spends her winters traveling to where ever the next Sydney Rye Novel takes place. Right now she is in Costa Rica working on Sydney Rye #6.

If you’ve read Emily’s work and liked it please contact her. She loves hearing from readers. You can reach Emily via email ejkimelman@gmail.com or on  twitter @ejkimelman. Follow her on Instagram to see pictures from Emily’s latest adventures. Visit www.emilykimelman.com to learn more about Emily and the Sydney Rye series.

Links:

UNLEASHED

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Unleashed-Sydney-Rye-Novel-ebook/dp/B004XDWJ18

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11296999-unleashed

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/60752

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/unleashed-emily-kimelman/1111867294?ean=9781463581978

Social Media

https://twitter.com/ejkimelman

https://www.facebook.com/EmilyKimelman

http://emilykimelman.wordpress.com

Every vote, like, share, or sign up is an entry for the “grand prizes” 

One person will win Signed copies of all 5 books

One person will win a $30 Amazon or B&N gift card

Four other winners will win paperback copies of UNLEASHED

Anyone who votes +  signs up for Emily’s email list + likes Emily’s Facebook page gets a copy of the audio book when it’s completed!

 

  • Subscribe to Blog via Email

    Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 452 other subscribers