Pimp a Friend!

This is a crossover from my Livejournal! I'm working on a WIP and some new ideas which means that I'm absolutely boring right now, sorry darlings. So I share with you some of my most recent happy!

My friend Dee's working hard on my site and the new design is so pretty. *snuggles site* I think I love it again. And, it's no longer being hosted by Yahoo! Leaps and bounds of better service and less headache. Furthermore, I don't have to fight with it to do pretty things!

I love having graphic designer buddies! *squishes Dee*

Wee! Which brings me to the next order of business, is anyone interested in having their site revamped? Or creating say...a trailer? Promo ads? I totally want to pimp her. She's good, really good. You can find samples of Dee's work (including my in progress site!) on her company site, Laideebug Digital.

In all seriousness, she's an excellent designer and very hands-on, always available for questions. She's also patient with theme changes and great with suggestions - from you or giving them - and from what I've seen in terms of pricing, she's pretty affordable.

If you go, tell her Zoe says hi!

On the road with the boyz

Just like one of the J-rock groups who inspired them ChildsPrey has "switched US distributors" in releasing the last book featuring the band's core members. Their Lover featuring CP drummer Kyoru is now out from Noble Romance.

Here, have a blurb:

Danger brought handsome American Ken O'Neill into the lives of ChildsPrey drummer Kyoru Tanihara and his wife, actress Sasao Miyamoto. Once the need for a full time bodyguard ends Ken stays on as both an employee and friend.

After the men share a scripted kiss in a music video, the trio's relationship takes an unusual turn. Old desires awaken within Kyoru, new fantasies in Sasao, and Ken is afraid his presence may jeopardize his friends' marriage.

Reluctantly, Ken leaves the couple's employ but when another frightening situation draws him back into their lives, Kyoru and Sasao will do all they can to hang on to their friend and convince him they're good for each another in every way imaginable.

* * *

I'm a big believer in making related books stand alone as much as possible and think this one does that pretty well. If you haven't spent time with any of the CP boyz check out the entire catalogue:

Orange Moon, Wnter Song, Under a Silver Moon, Secret Moon (co-written with Anne Cain)

Their Lover

Glowing Chanukah Lights Contest

The glowing lights of Chanukah will soon be here and there are gifts waiting for you!

Beginning Wednesday, December 17, join ten authors who have written romance stories with Jewish heroes and heroines from all walks of life: From the days of the Maccabees to Regency England; from modern day America to parallel worlds; and from sweet to spicy hot.

Tell us the names of their heroes and heroines and send them to borntowrite@writeme.com to be entered in a drawing of gifts for the season. The winner will be drawn December 22, the first day of Chanukah!

I'll be contributing a $10 gift certificate to Loose Id and there are lots of great prizes, so be sure to enter. Remember, just visit all the blogs below in the next week and then send the names of the heroes (and heroines in some cases) of each featured book to the email addy above.

It all kicks off tomorrow: Wednesday, December 17. You can find my info and excerpt for Daybreak in this post below. Next up is:

Astrid Amara, author of Holiday Outing
Cheryl Dragon, author of Bad Brad

Thursday, December 18:

Melissa Glisan, author of Festival of Lights
Jeanne Barrack, author of The Game
EM Ben Shaul, author of Voices of Joy and Gladness, of the Groom and the...Groom

Friday, December 19:

Samantha Kane, author of The Courage to Love
Eva Gordon, author of The Stone of the Tenth Realm

Sunday, December 21:

K.Z. Snow, author of Plagued and Obsessed
James Buchanan, author of the Taking the Odds series


Happy reading this holiday. Mazel tov!

Free reads at Associated Content

Some of you may know I began my writing career in self-publishing; this has helped me think "outside the box" when it comes to marketing, as no one was pimping my books by myself. Now that I've worked with several different publishers, I've found that I still do most of my own promotion ... which is fine by me, as no one knows my stories as well as I do myself.

I've begun writing a series of articles which I hope will help other authors in marketing and promotion, as it seems to be an area most of us would rather ignore. Some of these tips are probably things you already know, but there may be some you haven't thought of, and a few that will hopefully work well for you. The links below open in a new window, where the articles can be read for free at Associated Content:

• Cheap and Easy Online Marketing Tips
• Thirteen Cheap Promo Items for Authors
• Twelve Things You Can Do with Promotional Bookmarks

In addition to these articles, I've posted two gay romance stories at Associated Content, as well. If you're interested, please check them out (they're also free reads!):

• The Name on My Wrist (caution: it's sad)
• Love in the Library

Enjoy!

Promotion: What Works, What Sucks

So a fellow M/M author Helen Madden (who, BTW, is featured in the marvelous Coming Together With Pride anthology) posed the question to a list I'm on. What have you done promotion-wise for your work, and what has been the most effective? The question stemmed from a discussion on an EPIC list, and Helen was inspired somewhat by recent challenges to get members of our merry band of Mid-Atlantic authors into area book events. Specifically, there is a book fair in Virginia I plan to attend, yet I cannot bring any of my erotic works. Luckily, other venues are more accommodating of the spicier stuff, but I find as an author being prolific has its advantages.

Anyway, back to the topic. What works in promotion? For romance and M/M specifically, I would say cover art plays an important role. Good cover art gets you noticed, as does bad art. Both can work for you if you have a good enough sense of humor to weather any snarking that comes your way. Great cover art...well, it can be a boost to sales. I submit for my example the cover of this pending Phaze release by L.E. Bryce, a print collection of M/M novellas in Bryce's Water Lovers series (Ki'iri, Becoming, and Still Life). It's simply gorgeous, and will look stunning in print. It's a great example of what can happen when an author and artist cooperate to create a look that best personifies the writing. I know many people who buy books after the art catches their eyes. I've done it myself. So if you have a pending release coming up, make sure the art is top notch.

What else? I wish I knew, honestly. I think of all the works I have available, including my M/M works, different promo methods have yielded different results for each title. One could argue with a work of M/M erotic romance written by a woman, the scope of possibilities is limited further. Indeed, I faced the "we don't review gay" policy once when I bought into a magazine ad (another grumble for another day), but at least the cover got some exposure. Of course, the nature of the cover was such that one couldn't tell it was an M/M work, and with no review to back it up...yada yada.

I would have to say personally what works best for me as far as advertising is simply writing. A publisher once told me that the best thing you can do for your first book is to write the second book, and I have to agree there. With M/M I have only one series, the stalled Cards series featuring Jack of Hearts and Jack of Diamonds, but I have noticed sales of the first went up after the second was released. At this writing, I am planning to expand the universe of Surveillance with a follow up story, as well as an all M/M story in my Dareville series with Phaze. Why, Why, Zed? will likely not have a follow-up due to the nature of the story, but never say never.

If I had to summarize what has worked best for me: it would have to be writing and blogging. As the blogs are better cached in search engines than static pages, it is essential that every author should have some kind of blog for promotion. Pepper it with the right keywords to attract the readers, and once you have them there talk to them about the work. Create a relationship with your readers and nurture the good vibes. You might find, as a writer, you will be inspired and driven more to write. Giveaways are nice, as are interviews and chats, but truly the best way to a reader's shelf is consistency and quality. They in turn will promote you.

Convention-speak

This past weekend, I attended my first convention. ConTXT is a slash con and all I can say is I wish I’d known about such things when I had been writing boyband slash. There were so many fandoms there (including bandom, though I wrote pop slash and hardcore band fans will argue that’s a whole ‘nother kettle of fish). I really fell in love with my first slash pair (Obi-Wan/Qui-Gon) all over again, and left wishing I still wrote fan fic.

I didn’t attend any panels (except one, “Going Pro,” of which I was a part), but there were a lot of great subjects covered. If/when I attend another con, I’ll definitely check out more of the panels. I just didn’t know what to expect this time, but I’m definitely going to be more prepared in the future.

Here's some things I left thinking of when it was all said and done ...

Zines
One thing that really impressed me were the fanzines they had for sale at the con, in every fandom imaginable. My only experience with zines had been small chapbook-style publications, not these bound books with hundreds of pages inside.

More than once I wondered if anyone would be interested in a zine of my fan fic, specifically the longer stories (AIEW and TWIA, of course, but others as well). Nothing I’d make money from, but bound copies of my ‘N Sync stories to read and reread and who knows what else. Thoughts?

ConSweet
At ConTXT, the dealer’s room was part of the con “suite.” It made the experience very interactive ~ everyone came to the suite to unload after their panels, to snack or talk, to check their email, to peruse the art show … and the dealers ringed the perimeter of the room, which allowed us to be a part of the action. I sold a number of books (and gave away more freebies) simply because the con goers saw me constantly and eventually wandered over to check out my wares.

Promo … pros & cons
I sold more books than I anticipated ~ ten in all, which I thought was really good. The Bonds of Love and Forever After were my best sellers, with Trin a close second. This tells me the crowd was very much into speculative fiction.

As for promo goodies … my mini-books went like hotcakes but the other promo did not (shot glasses, pins, pens, bookmarks, goody bags). More than one person commented on not being able (or wanting) to carry back so much swag. In future cons, I may concentrate more on the excerpts and free stories than the other promo items.

One thing I wish I had done ~ and which I’ll do from now on ~ is have sampler CDs. I bought a bunch to burn and didn’t get around to it, only to find that one of the con goers was blind. I felt horrid that I didn’t have any electronic copies of my free stories with me. I know CDs are a bit expensive and that’s why I’ve steered away from them until now, but at future events I plan to have a handful of CDs to give away to those who can’t read printed material.

Overall
I had a very enjoyable experience, I must say. The con comm were wonderful, as were my fellow dealers, and the whole atmosphere was awesome. I’m definitely interested in attending the next ConTXT in 2010.