Despite attempts to the contrary by Delta, I am home. My luggage, however, is not. Since many of the free books I’m giving away are in that bag, I am extending the RWA contest one more day. Delta assures me the bag will arrive on my doorstep at some point this afternoon, so never fear – the books are safe. At least I think that’s true… And, since I picked up many a free book, I will give away three sets. I have historicals, paranormals, contemporaries and whatever else there is. Likely the winners will get 3 books (from different genres), but I’ll have a better idea once I have my stupid bag!!!
Saturday’s events consisted of hearing a very good luncheon speech by Christina Dodd. For those tired of rejection and having trouble finding time to write, Dodd took 10 years to get published and was rejected many times during that time. It wasn’t until she focused on her goal, made writing a priority and learned some basics, that she got The Call. Now she’s a NYT bestseller. Her usual genre is historical romance. However, her newest is Trouble in High Heels, which is a romanatic suspense. Have it. Plan to read it.
I attended some PAN (Published Author Network of RWA) workshops. Okay, I attended two. One was on “the numbers” (Amazon ranking, Bookscan, bestseller lists, laydowns, sell throughs, etc.) and what they all mean. The bottom line on what the ranking/bestseller numbers mean is this: not much in terms of reality, but something in terms of publishing house happiness and author achievement. The second seminar was on promotion. Bottom line on this one is exactly the same as what I learned from my promo blogging last week: ummm. It was one of those panels where one NYT bestseller does a great deal of self promotion and another NYT bestseller does nothing other than have a website a friend set up for her. You figure it out. I give up. Just write the best book you can and see what happens from there.
I did meet many, many lovely authors and readers. Even better, I now know the thrill of having a reader rush up to me, pull out one of my books and describe it better than I ever could because she loves it so much. Very cool.
What I’m about to do is risky since I know I’ll forget someone, but I chatted with some authors who, on personality alone, would get me to buy a book written by them (most I already buy due to the great writing anyway). In an attempt to get you to buy them, here is a list of suggestions (in no particular order):
-Trouble by Ann Christopher
-Ask For It by Sylvia Day
-Bound by Sasha White
-Hell on Wheels by Karen Kelly
-A Very Merry Christmas by Gemma Bruce (and others)
-Deep Breath by Alison Kent
-Run For The Money by Stephanie Feagan
-Share the Darkness by Jill Monroe
-Enslave Me Sweetly by Gena Showalter
-The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason
-The Bachelor Preferred Pastry by Shirley Jump
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