Blog Tour and Interview with S. M. Boyce

Today, I want to welcome S.M. Boyce. She is touring around the web, via blogs, promoting her newest novel, "Treason" And has granted us an interview, giving us a peek into her creative mind.
Welcome S.M. it is wonderful to have you here. I know you have been busy with this tour, so we will get straight to the questions.

 Many people don’t like the name they were given at birth. Do you like your given name? If not, what would you rather have been named?
   I didn’t like my name when I was a kid, but I’m a fan now. I used to want to go by my middle name (Michelle) so people would call me Mickey. I’m still not even sure why.

Do you write under your given name or a pseudonym?
   Pseudonym—S.M. Boyce.
Is there a routine you go through before you begin writing?
   I usually listen to the song that most reminds me of the book I’m about to write. It’s my meditation of sorts. I get into the book’s voice this way, and it’s a trigger that can fuel me no matter how I’m feeling.
Is there anyone you admire?
   I admire Neil Gaiman for all he’s managed to do in his career and for the way he still engages with fans, even though he’s busy. He’s actually tweeted me before, which I never thought would happen—it’s like the man doesn’t sleep.
What do you like to read?
   Fantasy and paranormal anything, as long as it has strong characters and a solid plot with no logic holes. I need a character’s motivation to be real or I won’t buy into a story.
Do you have a favorite author?
   Neil Gaiman, for his urban fantasy work; J.R.R. Tolkien for inpsirng me with his Lord of the Rings series; and J.K. Rowling for letting me grow up with Harry Potter.
Does it have to be quiet when you write or do you like background noise? TV, music, etc.
   I  like cinematic music, usually, or a fan if I really need to focus.
Beach or mountains?
   Mountains. I burn way too easily to ever enjoy the beach.
What inspires you?
   Everything. There’s so much wonder in the world, I can’t help but be in constant awe. I keep a pinterest board of my favorite swipes (ideas) if you want to have a look.
Favorite snack food?
   Twizzlers. They’re so bad for me…but they taste soooo good.
Doesn’t matter who we are, man, woman, child, all of us get freaked out by something. Spiders, mice, snakes, bugs, geese, etc. What freaks you out?
   Cotton near my nails. I feel like they’re about to fall off whenever it gets close.
What is the most unusual job you’ve ever had?
   Haha! This is an awesome question. Strangest job was right out of high school, working for a jeweler who ran her shop out of her basement. She sent people the wrong orders and got annoyed when they complained. I lasted two days.
I read on another blog, that a writer was working on 10 novels at once. Confusing! Do you work on one or multiple novels at a time?
   I haven’t yet, but I actually am about to get started. The trick with this, I think, is to write one and shift to the other while your editors are going through the first. But 10 novels? That seems a little ridiculous. I don’t know how anyone could manage that many novels and not forget important details/character motivations.
What do you like to do when you are not writing?
    Wire wrap pendants. I’ve actually gotten pretty good. It’s such a relaxing hobby (usually) and I love that I can create something when I finish. My recent pendants are actually inspired by the Grimoire Trilogy, so I put them for sale on my site. You’re welcome to take a look because I’d love to hear what you think.
And last question…Do you have anything new coming out that you’d like to share with us?
   Sure thing. Heritage, the last in the Grimoire Trilogy, comes out next Fall. I’m making great progress on it, and that should be right on time. Each year after, I’ll release a novel with the backstory on side characters like Stone, Deidre, and the first Vagabond. Down the line, I even plan to release a print copy of the free online encyclopedia of the world. So follow my blog and stay tuned!
I’m also going to release the first book in a new series next fall, just before Heritage. If you’d like to get updates on this new series, make sure you follow my bookworms-only blog  or sign up for ARCs of all my future works


Author Homepage:

Author Facebook Page

Author Twitter Page

Amazon Link

GoodReads Link

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"The Good Dr. Grant" Book Trailer

I like to try new things and I have been checking out other's book trailers, so I thought, "Why not!"

 I can do that and...Wa La! Here is my book trailer for 

"The Good Dr. Grant"

I had a lot of fun making this. 

I purchased pictures from

www.dreamstime.com

Which I found after checking out 

http://morguefile.com/

Where you can pick up some great photos for free.

And then I also picked up some photos from

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

And you can buy "The Good Dr. Grant" on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/The-Good-Dr-Grant-ebook/dp/B007UDU92O

  

You can also watch the video on YouTube here http://youtu.be/v9b2TeEIYyY

First, I want to thank Doug Adair for writing the music for me.

You can find more of Doug's music here on Reverbnation

http://www.reverbnation.com/dougadair  

And Stop by his Facebook page here

 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Doug-Adair/146415688728319

And I found him on YouTube too! And I really like this one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvC_TlMTMDU&feature=relmfu

And then I put a shout out on Facebook once again.

 I still needed a picture to use for, The Good Dr. Grant

And Joshua Merrick, author of "Wrong Way Street" answered my call.

You can find Joshua's website here

https://sites.google.com/site/jmerrickbookscom/

Wow Joshua is everywhere! :-)

GoodReads   http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7421929-joshua-merrick

Facebook   http://www.facebook.com/joshua.merrick.5

Smash words https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JMerrickbooks

Twitter  https://twitter.com/#!/JoshuaMerrick1

You can find "Wrong Way Street"

On Amazon

Paperback

http://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Way-Street-Joshua-Merrick/dp/143278353X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340464887&sr=8-1&keywords=wrong+way+street

E-Book

http://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Way-Street-ebook/dp/B00881O3VU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1340464887&sr=8-2&keywords=wrong+way+street

And Barnes & Noble

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wrong-way-street-joshua-merrick/1107696198?ean=9781432783532&r=1&

Don't Promote to Promote. Offline Marketing

Good Morning and Happy Friday! I was supposed to post this post on Monday (past) but with it being Memorial day, I decided to do it Tuesday, Then Tuesday came and... Well...You know, so here it is now  Friday. So are you ready to finish up "Don't Promote to Promote?"

The past couple of weeks I have been telling you about how overwhelmed I've been with all the social media and that I need to cut back and find just the right ones that work for me. And many of you have agreed that the internet social media can be quite overwhelming.
Today I want to talk about OFFLINE Marketing.
We all get on twitter, FB, Goodreads, etc. but how do you market your book, your brand, to the people right here in your own city?
I live in a city with approximately 250,000 people and probably could count on my hands, how many know that I've written a book.

I hear a lot of people say, "If you want people to know, have a book signing"
Now that, that right there, is scary to me, because,

What if no one comes to my book signing?

 I owned a gift shop and when I was in school, I was told the key to a successful business is, Location, Location, Location! Well I thought I had the perfect location. On the main drag, a mile up from the freeway and the hospital. Boy was I wrong. I was right smack dab in the middle of a long block. Once the cars took off from the signal light south of me, by the time they reached my shop, they were pushing 40 MPH, staring straight ahead, hoping to catch the green at the signal light half a block north of me. And with city ordinances, stipulations, and all the rules concerning signage, most people didn't even know I existed, so I had to be creative when it came to marketing. 

So here's what I'd like to do

                               Let's put our heads together

 and come up with

 some ideas to market offline, so that when we have that anticipated book signing, we won't be disappointed in the number of people standing in that line waiting for our autograph!

Here are a few of my ideas;

1. Give a copy of your book to your mail man/lady.
2. Give a copy to your favorite teller at your bank.
3. Leave a copy in the waiting room at your doctor or dentist office, or give the copy to the receptionist.

With all of these, write a note inside the book asking people to please share with others.

1. Have business cards made up with a picture of the cover of your book. (I like the magnetic business cards. And I'll tell you why in a minute.)
2. Someone suggested to me Car door magnets with the picture of your book and a link to wherever it is sold or your website/blog link.
3. Make up fliers to hand out. These can be done on your own computer.
4. Send out postcards. 

Where I live, people put advertisements under the wiper of your car while you are parked in the grocery store parking lot, at the bank, post office, etc. Some places don't allow this, so check or look for posted signs prior to doing this. 

You don't have to spend a lot of money to get the word out. I use Vista Print for a lot of my offline marketing products. 

http://www.vistaprint.com/vp/welcome.aspx?xnav=welcomeback&rd=1

With just the cost of shipping and uploading your photo, you can get quality products at a reasonable price.

I buy the business card magnets to place on car doors just above the door handle where people won't miss it. With regular business cards a lot of times they just end up on the ground, more people will keep the magnets and put them on their fridge or their filing cabinet at work. And they are even better if they have a calender printed on them!

Now how about a press release? There are three major newspapers that cover my county, but I'm not talking about them, I'm talking about that small town newspaper just for your local area. Put a copy of your book in an envelope, write up a short bio with links, and send it off. If you were born and raised in this town, your headline could be something like; "Lifelong resident publishes her first book"

And last but not least, donate a copy of your book to the library, school, senior center, etc.

Of course you have to make sure that the book you're donating is appropriate. I mean you don't want to donate your erotica novel to the elementary school library.

Oh wait! One more idea and then I'll shut up. 

A car club friend of mine and a new author, you can find his book here,  http://www.amazon.com/Immortal-Relations-ebook/dp/B006ZCBT6G/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338567324&sr=1-1

attended a local car show in his area. He took some great photos and wrote a short article about the car show and submitted it to the newspaper and they published it!

So if there is something that is going on in your area, a car show, a flower show, or maybe the yearly fair, and you have a small town newspaper, write a short piece on it and submit it, you never know.

Okay your turn. Do you have any ideas on how you can market offline? I'd love to hear your suggestions!

How Low Will you go?

Some of you might remember about a year ago, a story on facebook about this scam to sell more books.
A girl had someone else post for her that she had been in this terrible accident and that her little 5 year old brother had been killed and that she was in a coma. Someone else, a kindhearted soul, not knowing this to be a lie, created a fb prayer page for this girl and shared with everyone. I shared the page with my family and friends asking for their prayers and put the link to her page on my page. All book sales were to go towards her brother's funeral. Well luckily someone (A friend of hers) found out what she was doing and within  2 days it was all out in the open, it was just a ruse and the girl was banned from fb.

We as writers want our stories out there. We want people to buy our books, but...How low would you go to sell your books? Would you make up these horrible stories? I mean that is just shameful. How could you even think of something so horrible as that? That is something I would never wish on anyone, much less myself.

So how low would you go? Would you sell your soul to the devil?

Query, Synopsis, Cover letter? EEK!

Okay, I know how to write the query.
I've figured out how to write the synopsis.
But what the heck do I put in a cover letter?

Yes, I know that should be the easiest out of the three, but.........

It's like my poor son, filling out job applications and he has no job history to report
 because he's never had a job!

Well that's me. I have written my first novel and yet have no history.
Nothing ever published, no awards....

So what do you put on that cover letter?
Do you list the blogs you write?
Your three facebook pages you have?
Your twitter account?
The guest blog you wrote for someone else's blog?

Writing Bug!

The "Writing Bug" has gotten a hold of me! I don't know about you, but for the past 5 months I live, breath, eat, and sleep writing. Family and friends, especially Facebook friends, wonder what's up with me.




A little over a year ago I was sitting in my gift shop and had this story going through my head, but didn't do anything with it at the time. For me, I always have stories going through my head and tend to dismiss them as fantasies I dream up. In February 2011, due to the economy and a business partner who disappeared into the night. I closed my physical gift shop but continued to create custom gift baskets and keep my online business going.

Five months ago, tired of laundry and housework, the story in my head was stronger than usual, I picked up a notebook and pen, and my journey began. Three notebooks, 4 pens running out of ink,more than 20 hand written pages that still need to be typed, and over 70,000 words typed so far (I only type with 2 fingers), I know the Writing bug has got it's hooks into me!

Some people are naturals when it comes to writing. Am I a natural writer? I'm not sure. I know I had over a notebook written, before I told myself to do some research on writing. Am I any good? Once again, I'm not sure, that would have to be up to my readers. I do hope, as many writers do, that my book will pull the reader in, get them hooked, and keep them turning the pages to the very end.




I have always had stories go through my head and a great imagination. (Tea time with Elvis was one of my best ones when I was about 5!) So here I am, a 53 year old mom with three grown sons and am starting on a new journey in my life. Yep, the writing bug has definitely gotten me. Either that or I have completely lost my mind, as some of my family and friends seem to think and I couldn't be happier.




My question for you is.... Have you always had the writing bug?

If not, what, when, and where did it hit you? I'd love to hear your stories.




Wishing each and every one of you a very happy writing bug day!
   


     

Am I Backwards?

Good morning! As usual I have questions and tend to do every thing backwards.
 Is that unusual or do you happen to do this too?

I have had a fantasy roaming around in my head for about a year now and just about four months ago I decided to write a book about it. So sitting down with pen and paper I started writing. When I was into my third chapter, I told myself, "Wait a minute, maybe I should do some research on how to write a book" So I did find a blog that I thoroughly enjoyed and had thought I had bookmarked and can't seem to find it now. (But I will and will share it with you at a later date.)

Anyway, I was reading his blog and he had a checklist and helpful advice on what you need. So I was going through his list and saying, "Okay I've done this, and I've done that. Great it looks like I was doing everything pretty much right and was on track." When I came to his comment, "Now you need to have an ending. Your Happily ever after." OMG, I have no idea how this story is supposed to end! And I stressed on it. Mind you I was still only on my third chapter. I walked around for two days trying to figure out how to get my Happily Ever After. Lucky for me I woke up on the third day and there it was in my head. So my ending chapter has been written. Phew, now I don't have to stress on that.

   Currently I am on the 12th chapter! And once again jumping forward. I have been researching publishers, literary agents, synopsis, and how to write query letters!

I have decided I'm not backwards, I just tend to jump forward and get ahead of myself and then have to go backwards to get me back to where I should be! :-)

I did get a notice yesterday for a group on Facebook where the writer wrote his novel from "Ending to Beginning" I have to hand it to him. I don't think I would be able to accomplish that!

We all have our own writing styles to get us from point "A" to point "B" or visa versa and I will talk about those in my next blog.

Happy Writing everyone!