Guest Post

HAVE A BOOK TO PROMOTE? Lyrical Pens welcomes guest posts. Answer a questionnaire or create your own post. FYI, up front: This site is a definite PG-13. For details, contact cjpetterson@gmail.com cj

Sunday, April 28, 2019

Indie book sellers and award winners


cj Sez:  In case you hadn’t heard, Saturday, April 27, was Independent Bookstore Day. 
   The Mobile Writers Guild did an all-day takeover of Mobile’s newest indie store, The Haunted Bookshop. MWG members who are local published authors in different genres (children’s, YA, romantic suspense, fantasy, non-fiction) volunteered to share their writing experiences and expertise with bookshop customers and other local authors who dropped by.   

   Fellow MWG member Steven Moore (he writes fantasy) and I took the first shift and had a wonderful interaction with an aspiring writer who walked through the door at 10:10 a.m.—the Shop opened at 10.

   Robert Bailey, the bestselling author of the McMurtrie and Drake Legal Thrillers series, which includes The Last Trial, Between Black and White, and The Professor, was there in the afternoon to sign his latest release in the Legal Thrillers series, The Final Reckoning.  For the past nineteen years, Bailey has been a civil defense trial lawyer in his hometown of Huntsville, Alabama. You can read more about Mr. Bailey at www.robertbaileybooks.com

Were you able to support your local indie book store? Not to worry, if you couldn’t. Any day will work fine.
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Congratulations to the 2019 Edgar Awards winners!

   Is your favorite author/story among them? Click here to read the full announcement: https://crimereads.com/announcing-the-2019-edgar-award-winners/?fbclid=IwAR0NitppsvKjT4P2BNuNwzgnmFSOUPNg6hcfVkn6NBer2IJBDR_TNPJCQJU

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   That’s it for this week’s post. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj
Free on Kindle Unlimited at the time of this post.

5-star review: Fast-paced suspense with a full order of twists and complexities to keep the readers on their toes. cj petterson’s prose is tight, never wasting a word in her descriptions, yet painting a lush landscape. Don’t be fooled by the cover. Yes, there’s romance and you’ll agonize with the protagonist, Bryn, as she makes decisions impacting her personal life. But you’ll always have one eye out for the eco-terrorists on the horizon.

Little note: Print copies of Choosing Carter and Deadly Star are becoming scarce as Simon&Schuster winds down their support of the Crimson Romance imprint. However, you can support an indie book store and order an autographed copy of my books here: The Haunted Bookshop  Angela Trigg, the awesome owner and a RITA Award-winning author in her own right (writing as Angela Quarles) will be happy to ship you any book(s) of your choice.


Drop me a note to sign up for my quarterly newsletter: cjpetterson@gmail.com 

Sunday, April 21, 2019

Wishing you a blessed and happy Easter


cj Sez: 
JESUS CELEBRATED PASSOVER WITH HIS DISCIPLES, AND NOW CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE EASTER WITH HIM


Wishing you the Gift of Faith
The Blessing of Hope
And a Life filled with Love
 



And for those celebrating Passover…

חג פסח



SHALOM
שלום

Sunday, April 14, 2019

Didja know?

cj Sez: Do you know the difference between a thriller and
a suspense novel?


I should, but I obviously didn’t when I chose a genre for DEADLY STAR and CHOOSING CARTER for Amazon. I thought they were romantic suspense. They’re not.

   Here’s Romance Writers of America’s definition of the two genres:

“The difference between a thriller and a suspense novel is really who is being affected by the danger. In a thriller, the protagonist(s) must stop the antagonist(s) from inflicting great bodily harm on a mass of people...an entire city or country. Maybe even the whole world!

With a suspense novel, the only ones in great peril are the hero and/or heroine (or both)...but the storyline is how they must overcome the obstacles the "villain" is throwing out at them. Sure, a few innocent victims might get bumped off along the way, but for the most part, they are pretty few in number.”

   By that definition, both DEADLY STAR and CHOOSING CARTER are really romantic thrillers. In DEADLY STAR, the entire world is in jeopardy because of the antagonist’s plot. In CHOOSING CARTER, a whole town and geographic area are the targets of terrorists.

   Why does putting a book in the correct (or best)
category make a difference? If you're not a name-brand author (and sometimes even if you are), good sales can depend on what genre is “hot” and selling well right then and thus maximize the book’s chances of higher rankings within those sales. Besides the warm glow they give an author, higher rankings also attract even more sales. Granted no story is ever one genre only. And therein lies the conundrum: Where and how to place them to their best advantage on book/sales shelves. The answer to that changes with the timing of each book launch. Just make sure you know your intended market. 

   What am I going to do about my books? I’m going to try to change the marketing thrust. I haven’t checked with Amazon yet, but I doubt I can change the category listing because Simon&Schuster owns the rights.

///

Since I didn’t have a computer for nigh unto a week, I put in a lot of time reading … as in six novels—one a loan from a friend and five were used books that I purchased at my local Friends of the Library sale in March. Intentionally, none were in the same genre. 

   One I skimmed for lack of interest after the first few chapters. In another, the female protagonist character became boring, but I made myself finish it—it was a historical romance. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the world building in David Baldacci’s first young adult fantasy, “The Finisher.” The story follows the challenges a teenaged girl named Vega Jane must face in her eerie world. I have since discovered “The Finisher” is book one in a series. I’ll have to hunt down the rest of them.

///

During the day, a cup of coffee is never far from my hand. I drink my coffee black, no sugar, but there is often something in my hand to eat, whether it’s a quasi-healthy piece of whole grain, high-fiber and high-protein toast topped with a thin smear of peanut butter and grape jam or my favorite cinnamon roll. (Yeah, I know. I’d lose weight if I quit the carbs.)

   To validate my habit, I found the following bit of info on some internet news site a while back. I think it proves (at least to me) why this Swede “needs” coffee breaks and a goodie.

“The French sip wine, the British take tea, Spaniards nibble on ham, and Germans love sausages.   For Swedes, it's all about "fika" (pronounced fee-ka), the daily coffee break with a sweet nibble that is a social institution.”

While neighbors in the United States used to get together in the afternoon in the 50s and 60s and may have called it a “Koffee Klatch,” now days, you get your coffee to go. “In Sweden, you sit down, you enjoy the moment." (cj Sez: Even if you can't put down your cellphones, I guess.)

 Swedish friends love to meet for fika. Photo: TT

"Studies show that people who take a break from their work do not do less. It's actually the opposite," says Viveka Adelsward, a professor emeritus in communications at Sweden's Linkoping University. "Efficiency at work can benefit from these kinds of get-togethers."

   Explain that to your boss if s/he questions why you’re spending time around the coffee pot.

   My fika habit started in Texas when I was about three-years old. Grandpa would pour some strong black coffee into a saucer to cool then lather a thick slice of Mama’s homemade bread with butter, dip an edge into the coffee, and feed me bites while he taught me to play checkers on top of an overturned washtub in the backyard.

   Okay, I’ve made myself hungry. Think I’ll enjoy a fika. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj
Free on Kindle Unlimited at the time of this post: DEADLY STAR
Mirabel Campbell must learn how to stay alive in a covert world of political intrigue where the unexpected is the norm, and she’s not the kind of woman who’ll wait for anyone, including her CIA ex-husband whom she still loves, to make her decisions. She made a promise to a murdered friend to find out what’s so special about a mysterious point of light in the sky, and she intends to keep that promise.

Little note: Print copies of Choosing Carter and Deadly Star are becoming scarce as Simon&Schuster winds down their support of the Crimson Romance imprint. HOWEVER, you can support an indie book store and order an autographed copy of my books here: The Haunted Bookshop  Angela Trigg, the awesome owner and a RITA Award-winning author in her own right (writing as Angela Quarles) will be happy to ship you the book(s) of your choice.

Drop me a note to sign up for my quarterly newsletter: cjpetterson@gmail.com 
Simon&Schuster Author Page = https://bit.ly/2uo1M0Z

I am stuck

cj Sez: My computer was at the tech doctor's office for the past week for a teeny, tiny glitch in Word that the techies decided they couldn't fix. So it was "wiped" and loaded with Windows 10 (I had been working with 8.1). I received the empty hulk back Friday. 

Spent all day Saturday downloading, relocating software discs, and reloading, but wasn't able to accomplish all I need to put out this week's Lyrical Pens post. 

Soooooo, if I can get the printers and scanner re-connected, two programs located and/or updated, and a download for photos, I'll get the blog posted tomorrow. (Caveat: If the "severe storm" that is forecast for tonight doesn't wipe out my cracked internet provider, that is.)

In the meantime, let me just say....AAAARRRRGGGHHHH !

Thank you for listening. 

You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I'll try to do the same. 

cj

Little note: Print copies of Choosing Carter and Deadly Star are becoming scarce as Simon&Schuster winds down their support of the Crimson Romance imprint. However, you can support an indie book store and order an autographed copy of my books here: The Haunted Bookshop  Angela Trigg, the awesome owner and a RITA Award-winning author in her own right (writing as Angela Quarles) will be happy to ship you the book(s) of your choice.

Drop me a note to sign up for my quarterly newsletter: cjpetterson@gmail.com 
Simon&Schuster Author Page = https://bit.ly/2uo1M0Z




Saturday, April 6, 2019

40 Days with Ramona

cj Sez: I wonder how many of my Lyrical Pens visitors have been, like me, the beneficiaries of author and editor Ramona De Felice Long’s Spring 2019 project. 

   Instead of fasting for Lent, Ramona, my Sisters in Crime/Guppy mate, generously pledged to post 40 days of free worksheets on a variety of topics. The keyword here is “free.” 

   I can’t believe how fast the time has flown. Only a few more days to go. I’ve saved them all to use as references as I’m struggling through my works in progress.

   Drop in on Ramona’s website at www.ramonadef.com to learn more.
///
In case you missed it . . .

   Susan Spann Craig recently offered this blog on Fiction University:  “How to Calculate Amazon Fees for Printing Paperbacks Using KDP Print” by David Woghan. I’m not (yet) an indie publisher, but I’m leaning hard in that direction. I found the essay interesting. Maybe you will, too. Read all about it here:  https://bit.ly/2I43oIH
///
April 27, 2019, is INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE DAY. The Mobile Writers Guild (of which I am a member) is sponsoring an all-day “Ask the Experts & Speed Critiques” at Mobile’s newest bookseller, The Haunted Bookshop.

   Want to know about Sci-Fi, fantasy, self-publishing, world-creating, women’s fiction, kidlit, historical, Gothic, editing, or marketing? MWG members will be on-hand from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. answering questions about these topics and more. There will be a raffle (a chance to win a copy of MWG’s latest anthology). Local authors will also be autographing books.

   I’ll be there from 10 to 11:30 a.m. answering questions, mostly about romance stories. Is there a formula for writing romance? The first thing that comes to mind is that you can’t write a page-turning romance story unless you're a fan of the genre and read copious numbers of romance books. Readers and writers stop by The Haunted Bookshop on the 27th, and we’ll talk about it.

That’s it for today’s post. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I'll try to do the same. 

cj
Free on Kindle Unlimited at the time of this post:  CHOOSING CARTER           

Bryn McKay goes on a rafting trip on the untamed Yampa River with her best friend, naturalist and outdoor guide Carter Danielson—and she wouldn't mind if things turned romantic. Unfortunately, Carter is a recovering alcoholic who shies away from commitment. That is, until the two of them stumble across her revenge-seeking brother.

Will Carter figure out where his heart lies? Will Bryn have to watch someone she loves die?

Little note: Print copies of Choosing Carter and Deadly Star are becoming scarce as Simon&Schuster winds down their support of the Crimson Romance imprint. HOWEVER, you can order an autographed copy of my books and support an indie book store here: The Haunted Bookshop  Angela Trigg, the awesome owner and a RITA Award-winning author in her own right (writing as Angela Quarles) will be happy to ship you the book(s) of your choice.

Drop me a note to sign up for my quarterly newsletter: cjpetterson@gmail.com 
Simon&Schuster Author Page = https://bit.ly/2uo1M0Z