IWSG: Marketing Mojo

It's Insecure Writer's Support Group day! The first Wednesday of every month is when members of the Group post about our writerly insecurities. If you want to sign up, go HERE. Thank you to Alex Cavanaugh and his co-hosts for making this event happen every month. 

Marketing. Doesn't the word strike fear in your heart? It does mine. If you're an indy author or with a small press then you know the agony of marketing. You're expected to do it yourself. But of course, you can't really do it by yourself. You need help and you have to ask for it. You have to ask bloggers to host you and share your books. It's a lot of social media. Blogging, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Wattpad.

That's why I've done virtually no marketing of my books this year. The push and the grind of trying to get sales is stressful. I just didn't want to do it. Blogging has been part of that push and grind for me too. So I took a break.

But, well, I really want to be a writer. A successful writer. So I'm starting to come back around. I'm getting those stirrings where I'm sort of caring again. About writing and even marketing. And maybe when I really get back into the writing (I've only been outlining) I'll care about blogging again and sharing what I'm working on.

So--since I write paranormal and this is October, the most paranormal month of the year, I went out on a limb and took things in hand a bit. I made Second Death free (which wasn't easy, but I'm pretty sure it was the hour I sat at my laptop pasting in the free link from B&N at Amazon so they'd price match) and put books II & III on sale. AND, I'm doing Facebook and Twitter sponsored ads. We'll see how it goes *shrugs*

OH! And I decided to be a real author and start a NEWSLETTER. It'd be awesome if you subscribed up at the top in the sidebar--and receive a free book (See? I've got marketing mojo!).

And...I'm thinking about writing a short story for the A-Z Anthology contest. Not that I'll win, not with all the other awesome authors and submissions, but I think it will be a good experience for me.

How are your marketing skills?

Have you even run ads?

How do you promote your books?

18 "Paranormal" Thoughts on the Blog Today

If you've been a follower of mine for any length of time, you know I luurve the paranormal. Especially ghosties. They have a lifetime of stories and experience to share, and then in the afterlife, they learn a whole lot more about the world we really live in. Stranger than fiction stuff happens, like the scene below picked by Jamie Ayres, from her new book, 18 Thoughts, especially for my followers. You know Olga needs saving in that last line - but from what kind of otherworldly phenomena or thing?

 



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Thanks so much to the gracious Gwen Gardner for hosting me on my blog tour to celebrate the final release in the My So-Called Afterlife Trilogy, 18 THOUGHTS! Since Gwen’s blog focuses on the paranormal, I’m sharing a paranormal scene from my latest YA release. Enjoy!

I tried getting to him, but the air shifted. Suddenly, I felt like I was spinning on a merry-go-round. The ground vibrated, and the hair on my arms and the back of my neck lifted, a heightening awareness taking over. I let out a raspy breath as super dark clouds, almost pitch black in color, raced across the overcast sky above me. Increased heat despite the winter defrosted my numb fingers and toes. The change in air pressure made my ears pop like I was on an airplane.

Debris scraped my skin, an unseen force stirring up the dirt and making the woods quiver. Trees broke in half in the shrieking wind, some ripped up by the roots, blocking my path to the protection of my square. As my toboggan blew off, I wondered distantly if all of Grand Haven was under attack or just us. All of hell seemed to be fighting, and the vortex felt like it’d rip my hair right off my head, too, my long strands stinging my face.

I straightened to full height, and stared down the storm and the demons causing it. Supernatural strength I couldn’t explain helped me rush against the wind and jump over fallen trees. Olga stood just outside the square, shivering in her puffy coat. She whipped her head toward me, her eyes wide and pleading but still the color of utter darkness.

*Note: I had to alter the scene a bit so I wouldn’t spoil anything. Was it Conner or Nate’s perspective? And why does Olga need saving? You’ll just have to read to find out!

 

 

Olga Gay Worontzoff left the Underworld anxious to return to normal, but fate had other plans; now she’s caught in a world that’s a mix of familiar and supernatural, torn between past and present.

 

CHECK OUT THE BOOK TRAILER...

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYpVf1zxrE8

 

Amazon           B&N      Goodreads

 

AND, GUESS WHAT?!

 

THE PRECURSOR, 18 THINGS, IS

FREE ON AMAZON FEBRUARY 16TH AND 17TH!