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Part I.

I guess it’s that time of year where we talk about all the great and terrible things that happened in our lives over the last twelve months.

I’m not sure if you guys have heard, but there was a virus. And an election. And calls for change through social justice reform. All in one year. Oh, and wildfires. Nearly WWIII. And who can forget the murder hornet hoax. C’mon. Hornets? That murder. Methinks you’ve all seen My Girl too many times.

Okay, I jest, especially about that last one. I do not want to meet any murder hornets. Any hornets, actually.

So, what happened in my life? Well, we rang in the new year, you know, the one full of hope and awesomeness, because how could anything called 2020 – perfect vision, for crying out loud – be anything other than perfect?—We rang in that New Year in Colorado. It was a great night. Clear. Cold. Beautiful fireworks. Surrounded by my family. It started off so well.

I published my first book, Turning Point (technically, it went live on December 28, 2019, but we’ll call it 2020). I met my goal of 100 copies sold in the first year, so I feel pretty good about it. It’s a fun story and I enjoyed writing it; I call that a win. I would love sales to be higher, but honest truth? Marketing drains me, especially social media marketing. I’m afraid of doing something wrong or offending someone with how I say things, so I worry for hours over things that shouldn’t take nearly so long. So I haven’t been full on or even very consistent with my marketing game. It’s okay, it’s kind of my M.O. I am hoping to put another book out before summer 2021, you know, if we don’t go full on civil war/zombie apocalypse before then.

In the mean time, if you bought my book, THANK YOU, sincerely. If you liked it, well that’s even better. You can look forward to more of Alice’s nocturnal adventures very soon.

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Yours Truly.

Hello readers.

This will be short and sweet. Recently, I joined an online community that promotes authors called allauthor.com. They help get the word out about your book without charging an arm and a leg. They make self-promotion feel a little less icky, and their services make life much easier for busy self-published authors.

That said, the kind people at allauthor.com recently did an interview about Yours Truly. That’s me. *winkwink*

Here’s a link to the author interview. Have a read and let me know what you think!

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Eight.

Hello all.

Friends and Readers, I have a request. I set myself a very modest goal of selling 100 books this year. I know it doesn’t sound like many, but everyone has to start somewhere.

This is my somewhere.

I need to sell 8 more books to make it to my goal. I have 30 days to get there. Can you help? If you haven’t purchased a copy but have been considering it, now is the perfect time! If you know someone who enjoys vampire stories (heavy on the vampire, light on the romance), pass this on to them and encourage them to buy a copy, or maybe even purchase a copy to give to them for Christmas (or other festive occasion).

One other reason to purchase now: the price is going up. As of January 1, the price for the ebook will increase to $2.99. Currently, you can purchase the ebook for 99 cents. Ebooks can be sent as gifts as well, so if you already have your copy, you can purchase one (or more!) for someone else.

*Turning Point is no longer available in ebook format. There are still some copies of the paperback version for sale on Amazon.*

Turning Point is available all over the globe through Amazon. Please remember that even though it is through Amazon, every purchase supports someone you know (me!) personally.

If you having trouble finding it where you are, let me know and I’ll get a copy to you.

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Icons.

My good friend, and amazing graphic designer, Sondra Fowler, and I worked for several months to come up with icons to represent the point of view characters in Turning Point.

We use these icons in the paperback version of the book. There are seven points of view in Turning Point (it’s a lot, but it works), and each time the point of view changes, it is announced by the character’s name and by their icon. If you are a visual person, that icon will help keep the thread in order for you. Or maybe you’ll just like the addition of having another anchor point for each personality.

In this post, I’ll start with Adam. His is the first point of view presented in the book. We chose a sort of compass. You can’t see the directions of the needles (no north/south/east/west), but the needles themselves are sharp and strong. They are well defined and they almost look like fangs.

The chapter heading, chapter four. A black circle like a compass with pointed daggers sticking out at the directional places. No words or letters on the compass. It looks menacing.

Adam is the original vampire in this story. He takes control of any situation he is in and drives it in the direction he desires. He has a sort of moral compass, in that he usually doesn’t kill indiscriminately, but he also has a plan. If you’re part of it, he’ll let you know. Or, he’ll direct your thoughts and actions to bend to his will. Either way, he gets what he wants.

Until Alice grows up.

But that’s for another post.

To see more, be sure to follow me on Instagram (I also hope to have an Instagram link for Sondra, too). That’s where the rest of the icons, and a peek into my characters’ personalities, will be posted in the next couple of days.

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Real Talk.

Hello readers.

I haven’t posted a proper blog post in a while. If there’s one thing I’m not, it’s consistent.

Anyway, yesterday I was a guest on a podcast (Books Café by Scott Paton of Free-Ebooks.net). It was an enjoyable experience and if you follow me on other social media platforms, you’ll see I’ve posted about it already. If you’re interested, here’s the link to my interview.

But, I’m not writing entirely for self-promotional reasons. I’m writing because unexpectedly something bubbled up during yesterday’s session.

Heart.

It wasn’t a long or drawn out discussion, but we talked about the difficulties independent authors have in finding readers. It’s absolutely true. At least for me.

During the discussion I talked about manufacturing posts versus posting from the heart. I never set out to manufacture a fan base or look for the perfect sound bites to draw people in, but I have done that in an effort to sell books.

Sell books. Not connect with people.

Lightbulb.

Big freakin’ lightbulb.

Isn’t it amazing how changing one’s perspective, even slightly, offers great insight? That’s how I feel today. I have discovered something about myself. I’ve been really worked up and stressed out about SELLING ALL THE BOOKS, but really, I should just chill and connect with people who actually might like to read them.

So, now what? I’ll continue to market my book, but I intend to spend less time being “clever” and more time being real.

Have a great weekend, readers.

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