Data Privacy and Readers

You may have heard that the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) goes into effect in the EU on May 25th. You may wonder if this affects you in any way. I hope, as Seth Godin does, that this will mean that you can be more confident that you know what you’re signing up for when you share your email with a company online, and where that data will wind up. This is one reason I’ve changed the wording slightly on my  “Free Stories” page. I want it to be absolutely clear when visitors sign up for my newsletter that getting free stories is just one of the benefits.

Here’s what I want you to know. (Please keep in mind that I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY AND THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE.)  You have the right to understand that when you share your email with me  you are agreeing to receive newsletters from me. (BTW, when you sign up for a raffle for free books, you’re agreeing that your email will be sent to those authors providing the prizes. Some of my newsletter subscribers have joined my list this way.)

I want you to be thrilled (or at least happy) to receive an email from me, so if you don’t want me to send you information about sales and new books please don’t send me your email. If you’ve already subscribed to my newsletter and you want me to stop sending them, please unsubscribe. I always put the unsubscribe information prominently at the top of every newsletter. Also, I do my best to prevent any unauthorized access to or use of your data and I’ll never share or sell your email address.

I’m in the process of preparing a Privacy Policy that spells this out in more formal terms, and that will be available shortly.

All that being said, if you haven’t signed up for my newsletter yet, please do so. Two of the many benefits are access to two free short stories and early bird news about new releases. Please also consider following me on Amazon and Bookbub.

 

New Cover for DANGEROUS TALENTS

A few readers have commented over the years that they loved DANGEROUS TALENTS but not the cover. One thought the woman looked like a bimbo, another observed that it looked like a woman who had inherited a castle saying, “Boy, I really need to get the landscapers out here.” After I enjoyed a good chuckle I decided he was right, and since DANGEROUS TALENTS isn’t about a real housewife doing the landscaper, er, landscaping, a new cover was in order.

My cover designer, Jaycee DeLorenzo  rose to the challenge and created a new cover for DANGEROUS TALENTS. I love it! I think it conveys the idea of a modern woman about to embark on a journey to another world better than the last cover did. That’s what covers are for, after all, to give potential readers, in a split second, an idea of what a book is about and pique their curiosity.

I’d love to hear what you think. Do you think the new cover will make potential readers want to take a closer look?

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If you haven’t already done so, I invite you to sign up for my new release newsletter and get a free fantasy short story. I’ll never, ever share your email, and you’ll be the first to learn about new books and special offers. To sign up just click on GET A FREE STORY in the Navigation bar.

Thanks for reading!

A Cover for My Next Book!

For those of you who have been waiting patiently (or otherwise) for the sequel to LIGHTBRINGER, take heart: Gideon’s story is on its way! My cover designer, Jaycee DeLorenzo of Sweet N Spicy Designs has just created the cover for Book 2 in the Celestial Affairs series. It will be about six months before GUARDIAN is available, but I love this cover so much that I didn’t want to wait to share it with you.

Remember, you can be among the first to find out about sales and new releases by signing up for my newsletter, and get a Free short story in the bargain! Just click on GET A FREE STORY in the Nav bar above.

Speaking of sales, VEILED MIRROR is on sale right now at 50% off the everyday price.

 

A New Book!

Let me introduce you to Catherine, Reginald, and Yolann … and to Francesca Rose.

Francesca Rose is the name I’m using for my Victorian Secret Romances. They’re set in the Victorian era and are a little sexier than the Frankie Robertson titles. If you’ve read WITH HEART TO HEAR, you’ll enjoy this new release, YETI IN THE MIST.

YETI IN THE MIST: A Victorian Secret Romance

Catherine Denton loves her ailing husband and is taken aback when he  encourages her to take a lover. Reginald, formerly a colonel in the East India Company Army, wants his young wife to have what he cannot give her: children–and his titled brother, Cedric, has offered to oblige. However, her brother-in-law is not the man Catherine desires. The male who makes her pulse race is Reginald’s good friend Yolann, the Yeti who served with him in India, and who sleeps just down the hall.

 

 

A Free Story For You

I’m giving away a free fantasy story, KOOMB’S TUNIC,  to subscribers to my newsletter. As the folks who already subscribe can tell you, I won’t clog your inbox with chit-chat. What I will do, is tell you when I have something on sale or when I’m getting ready to launch a new book. Subscribers will be offered the opportunity to get sneak peeks and free material, too.

Get KOOMB’S TUNIC  and Sign Up for Frankie’s Newsletter

 

Indie Publishing, Three Years and Counting

I’m still here, even though I’ve been pretty quiet lately.

I haven’t posted much in the last year, especially about self-publishing, because I didn’t feel as though I had much to contribute. I’d pretty much shared what I had to say in my post about that first year, and all the decisions that a newbie had to make. But now that I’ve been on this path for a little over three years, I feel like I have a new set of choices. One of the big ones is: how much and what kind of publicity is enough?

This is actually an old decision revisited. Within a few months of starting out, I’d taken to heart the advice that the best promotion is getting the next book out. The corollary to that is to wait until you have five or six books out (some sources even say ten) preferably in a series, before you start trying to do any serious promotion. I wasn’t that hardcore, nor was I that patient. I ran quite a few free promotions and .99 sales on several different books. Some worked better than others, and they all worked better when I paid for an ad to advertise the promotion. But over the months I noticed that the sales became less effective, not only for selling books, but also for generating reader reviews. (Thank you, every single one of you, who has bought and reviewed one of my books!) And over time I found that the additional revenues were eaten up by the cost of the ads.

If you’ve been paying any attention at all to Indie publishing, this isn’t news to you.

One of the immutable laws of business is: adapt or die. So I tried a few things like writing a newsletter, updating my metadata, and my product descriptions, both of which helped sales  a little, though not much. About five months ago I decided to give advertising a rest and focus on writing. I was pleased to note that even without “goosing” sales with promotions, my sales held steady and even improved a teensy bit.

Teensy isn’t good enough, though. Now that I have six novels out (three of which are in a series), I think it’s time to get more serious about getting eyeballs on my books. I’ve been researching what has works and I decided to experiment with some of the techniques that Nick Stephenson recommends in his book, READER MAGNETS: Get Readers to Come to You. While not over promising, the results he reports sound pretty impressive, so it’s worth my time to give it a go, I think. It also seems to be a good fit with the 80/20 rule. (Getting that 80% of results from the most effective 20% of effort.)

I’ll let you know how it goes. And if you don’t want to wait, go buy Stephenson’s book for yourself. I’d love to hear how it works for you. I’d also love to hear from the other authors out there what you’ve done to get the word out. What do you think REALLY works?

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I you live in the Tucson area, be sure to check out the TUCSON FESTIVAL OF BOOKS this coming weekend, March 14-15. Over 300 authors will be speaking, along with many food vendors and live music. I’ll be speaking Saturday afternoon at 4:00 on a panel with several other authors about the differences between Indie and traditional publishing. I hope to see you there

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I’m planning something special for the wonderful people who subscribe to my newsletter, so make sure you sign up!

 

Heroes: Too Stupid To Live

My husband and I watched Sunday’s episode of “The Last Ship” last night. The evil, bad, nasty Russian Admiral (we can thank Putin for restoring this trusty stereotype) had the best line.

SPOILER ALERT!

I was gleeful when he said to Commander Chandler: “Your hubris has led to your tragic downfall.” (Sadly, he didn’t take that observation to heart.)

Commander Chandler (or should I say, Captain Kirk?) is one of the worst recent examples I’ve seen of a TSTL hero. This was the third time Chandler left the ship to do a job that his subordinates were better trained to do. But the third time wasn’t the charm in this case. He’s still alive.

Next Sunday, Chandler will no doubt take his XO to task for disobeying a direct order. At that moment, I truly hope that Adam Baldwin’s character says something like, “You weren’t on the bridge. I was. I made a command decision. If you want to make command decisions, STAY ON THE BRIDGE! In fact, if you ever try to leave the ship again before this mission is complete, I WILL SHOOT YOU MYSELF.”

Okay, now that I have that off my chest, here’s the point. Your protagonists can make mistakes, but they have to learn from them. Those mistakes can arise out of character flaws, or misunderstandings, or misinformation. Those mistakes cannot be something anyone with the character’s training and background would logically avoid. If circumstances force your character into a bad choice, it’s even better. That kind of situation really makes the reader squirm. (And you want your readers to squirm.) Just be sure your protagonist doesn’t have a better choice available that doesn’t contravene his or her values.

Chandler’s rescue of the scientist’s wife and daughter was consistent with his love for his own family and the values of a decent man. (This was good.) The fact that he was there in the first place was further evidence of his cowboy nature, and I have to wonder if he would have risen to the rank of Commander, or been given this sensitive command, with that kind of behavior in his record.

I recently saw a quote, but I can’t remember who wrote it. “Build people, not characters.” To that I’d add,  build consistent, intelligent people, and be true to their natures, and they will help you write consistent, intelligent  stories.

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Why I Don’t Care About Amazon vs. Hachette

Russel Blake has given voice to something I’ve been thinking for some time now. Frankly, I’m too busy writing (and getting ready for family to visit) to read another word on this subject. When a decision is reached that actually affects how I do business, let me know.

Why I Don’t Care About Amazon vs. Hachette.

Vinlanders’ Saga Fans Rejoice!

DEBTS, Book 3 in the Vinlanders’ Saga, is finally here!

Okay, that may be overstating your excitement a bit, but for those of you who have been waiting impatiently for another installment about the Talented people of Nuvinland, your wait is over. And if you haven’t read the first two books, DEBTS is a self-contained story. A few old friends from DANGEROUS TALENTS and FORBIDDEN TALENTS make an appearance, but you don’t have to have read the first two books to enjoy this one. (You should read them anyway, though, because they are pretty darn good. Just ask me! 😉 )

What is DEBTS about? Here’s the description:

LOVE vs. HONOR

Son of an Oathbreaker, Aren is desperate to restore his family’s honor, and leaps at the chance Lord Fender offers. His task seems simple enough for a Tracker: bring in a young woman accused of a vile crime. Simple, until his duty to the Jarl conflicts with a debt he owes to the Elves.

Fey-marked and friendless, Annikke flees the wrath of a vengeful lord. When Aren intercepts her, Annikke must choose: trust a stranger with warm brown eyes who promises justice, or protect her daughter—and remain a fugitive forever.

Even better, I’ve made DEBTS free for the first few days before it goes on sale for it regular price. In return, I’d appreciate it if you’d leave an honest review on Amazon. Customer reviews help other readers find books they’ll enjoy.

Also, if you’d like to be the first to know about my next release, please sign up for my newsletter. I won’t spam you or sell your e-dress.

Writer’s Digest Dumps Author Solutions

David Gaughran has been doing his best to shine a light on the questionable business practices of Author Solutions for some time now. You can link to some good news on that front below.

I did a lot of research before I began self-publishing back in 2011. Even so, it was only because I knew people who were taking control and doing the work a la cart that I avoided the clutches of Author Solutions subsidiaries. Caveat emptor, folks

Writer’s Digest Dumps Author Solutions .