Anthology's Top Ten Lessons Learned

            I am proud to be an author in the Corner Café: A Tasty Collection of Short Stories. This was the brainchild of Dani Greer, owner and chief expert on BBT Cafe with the help of Helen Ginger and Bob Sanchez. Sherry Wachter at Magic Dog Press did the delicious cover.

This project is a study of book marketing 101 and while the results aren’t in yet, the experience has already been invaluable for me. The top 10 lessons I’ve learned are:

1.      Always follow the rules. You don’t want to hold up a project because you didn’t listen or read.

2.      Always listen to the teacher or boss. They are making the decisions and you need to do whatever they ask.

3.      To be part of a group effort, you must put in the effort to do your part. (I have been lax in this area but hope to have a strong finish.)

4.      Brainstorming through emails develops great ideas but can fill your inbox in a short period of time.

5.      Book marketing is an evolving science and if you blink, you may miss the next great marketing idea.

6.      You need to be a member of a tribe, pin daily, tweet, post to Facebook, Google Plus and other things I’ve never heard of but they do sell books. (At least a couple)

7.      No matter how many times you look at the words someone can find a typo in it. (Thank you Dani and Helen for all those versions until we got to the final. I haven’t found any typos yet!)

8.      Hootsuite can schedule posts to facebook and twitter. Who knew?

9.      Screen shots of good things about your books and their rankings are great ways to preserve them for future use and to track results of book sales.

10.  The final thing I’ve learned is that in the book business, you can never have enough contacts or friends to converse and commiserate with. They are a fantastic life line and I am thankful for each of my fellow authors and the others on the Blog Book Tours loop who give of themselves, their talent, and their time to promote others.

Please follow the other blogs in the tour.

June 13 Chris Verstraete http://candidcanine.blogspot.com

June 14 Helen Ginger http://straightfromhel.blogspot.com

June 15 Kathy Wheeler

June 18 Morgan Mandel Double M http://morganmandel.blogspot.com

June 19 Pat Bean http://patbean.wordpress.com

June 20 Shonell Bacon http://chicklitgurrl.blogspot.com

June 21 Alberta Ross http://albertaross.wordpress.com

June 22 Karen Casey Fitzjerrell http://karencaseyfitzjerrell.blogspot.com

June 25 Pat Stoltey http://patriciastoltey.blogspot.com

June 26 SB Lerner http://www.susanblerner.com

June 27 Maryann Miller http://its-not-all-gravy.blogspot.com/

June 28 Mary Montague Sikes http://marymontaguesikes.blogspot.com

June 29 Stephen Tremp http://breakthroughblogs.blogspot.com

Summer Reading Plans

This week I'm starting off the start of summer with my wonderful critic buddies doing a blog hop. This is my first blog hop but not my last. Joselyn Vaughn, Tess Grant and JQ Rose know my worst mistakes, my greatest fears and my best writing moments. If you like my books, check out theirs. I love them. The are teh best. I mean both the authors and their books) Add them to your summer reading list.

Summer: It should bring images of hot, lazy days at the beach, long bike rides and kayaking across lakes. It should be a slowing of activities, communing with nature and enjoying ice cream, lots of it…I mean all three. That doesn’t seem to happen in my life. If anything with longer hours of daylight, I try and pack in more.

My dream day would be watching the sun rise and walking along the beach and then a late morning nap with a warm breeze. The afternoon would be spent reading a great book and then getting dressed for dinner with the love of my life. I doubt I’m going to get my dream day but what I am going to make a point of doing this summer is getting in some reading time. It is hard for me to read for pleasure when I’m writing. I analyze the books instead of getting lost in the story. That is the one thing I don’t like about being a writer is that reading books has now become work. Kind of like the reading you had to do in your high school English classes. Took all the fun out of the story when you had to figure out the character’s motivation and what setting added to the plot.

So I am going to give myself permission to read, just jump in and read. On my list for reading is my favorite author, Catherine Coulter’s latest in her FBI series, “Split Second” and “Back Fire.” (I’m a little behind in the series.) A new favorite author is also on my to-be-read pile, Julie Hyzy’s latest in her White House Chef series, “Affairs of Steak.” If I get those three done, I may read some classics that my daughter has to read for school so we can discuss them. I will be happy if I can get my fun three done but I am determined even if I only get in five pages a day.

What about you? What books are on your list for this summer?

Let me know your reading plans and you will be entered for a chance to win one of my books, your choice. Check out these blogs for other great giveaways:

My critic buddies' blogs:
JQ Rose: http://jqroseauthor.blogspot.com/
Tess Grant: http://tessgrant.wordpress.com/
Joselyn Vaughn: http://joselynvaughn.wordpress.com/