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Elizabeth SaFleur needs help in choosing her next cover! Her debut novel "Lovely" is the first book in the Elite Doms of Washington series. We need you to vote for the best candidate!! We tally up tomorrow so make sure to weigh in on this fun contest. The link below will take you to our 99Designs contest where you can rate and comment on your favorite and not so favorite! CLICK ME TO GET TO THE COVER CONTEST!!  Elizabeth SaFleur is an erotic romance author and recovering public relations practitioner who writes, tweets and posts under a pseudonym since her former business clients might be shocked at her new career choice.
She wrote the Elite Doms of Washington contemporary erotic romance series, debuting in January 2015, after a thirty-year career serving D.C. clients. Today Elizabeth shares twenty-eight, wildlife-filled acres in Central Virginia with her husband and dog, and is sometimes separated from her laptop to indulge in dance classes and local wineries. Elizabeth is a member of the Romance Writers Association and avid reader of all fiction genres. www.ElizabethSaFleur.com
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 Exciting parts of publishing are the times I get to work with my author on their cover! I've worked with 99Designs before and now knowing what to expect, I can help my author through the process. Those on the mailing list -- keep a lookout of your email! We'll be sending you opportunities to choose the cover to Elizabeth SaFleur's upcoming novel "Lovely" her first novel in the Elite Doms of Washington series.
For those new to 99Designs, the process is simple. You'll be walked through the start and then you'll have designs pour in! You rate them but also, it's important to explain why they got that rating (good or bad). You'll often times have some designers submit several different covers. I usually get an average of 50 designs. Also, there's a section under the submitted designs where you can write to all the designers at once. I use this to let everyone know what my battle plan is and to give them links to my Pintrest board or other links to inspire them and give them insight into my tastes. Communication is very important. There are basically 3 rounds where you eliminate designs and designers each round. You can make your contest run for 24 hours or 7 days. It's up to you on your time limit. I chose the 7 days so my author could absorb everything and get the best book cover. So, even if you're just starting out, I would give 99Designs a try! If you don't see anything in the first round you'll be given the chance to get a refund. But if you decide to go onto the second round you will have to guarantee payment so the designers know your serious. Now for the word of warning. I'm a softy and I get that people are working hard at earning the money and presenting the best design they can. However, every time I've done a contest I've had designers whine at me, "I do everything you ask and why you no like my design?" I breath in, take a count of my people points and then write a professional and kind reply. The thing about 99Designs is, there are somewhere in the likes of 15 to 20 designers and only one win be crowned the winner. People like to win. They don't like to do a lot of work for free. However, this environment is very much a bidding war. Designers put their best foot forward and hope you go for it. Great designers will "get" you and your brand right away and submit one or two designs. They are the ones you want because every one is after them for a reason. But then, there are the ones that need more practice. That may seem harsh but if you don't have a hard shell, it's going to rip you to little itty bitty pieces. Being a writer, this should sound familiar. Even designers get rejected. In effect, doing a 99Designs contest is rather like being a publisher. You have 50 people clamoring for you to choose them and you can only give one person the prize. But usually, what you get is worth the pain, strife and agonizing.  Amazon has given Indie authors an early Christmas present this year! PREORDERS! Patricia Knight planned her book release for the 15th of August, but, since Amazon dropped this bomb in our laps yesterday, marketing plans were scrapped for the awesome power of preorders! Instead, Patricia is offering her new release on discount, for $2.99! Get it now preorder -- price goes up to $4.99 on the new release day, September 12th.   THE BLURB: Scornfully rejected by her desert lover and uncertain of her place in the world, Adonia travels an arduous road fraught with peril to the fabled mountain-city of Nyth Uchel. She wishes to heal their sick and dying, but in the arms of Hel—their highborn prince—Adonia discovers where she longs to belong. Noble born, a descendant of the greatest kings their planet has known, Hel willingly bears the burden of his dying city and its people on his massive shoulders—alone. But forced to watch helplessly as a dark evil attacks the very soil under his feet, he crushes his pride to summon help. He is staggered to discover the answer to saving his city and perhaps all Verdantia might lie behind a heavy fall of chocolate hair and shy brown eyes. As their entire planet faces encroaching black death, Hel and Adonia, two seemingly disparate individuals, forge a partnership of love and sacrifice that alters their future forever. Excerpt:  About the Author:  Patricia A. Knight is the pen name for an eternal romantic who lives in Dallas, Texas with her horses, dogs and the best man on the face of the earth – oh yeah, and the most enormous bullfrogs you will ever see. Word to the wise: don’t swim in the pool after dark. I love to hear from my readers and can be reached at Troll River Publishing or My Website. Or send me an email at [email protected]. Check out my “Hot Hunk of the Day†and latest releases, contests and other fun stuff on my Facebook Page. Social Links:
What tripped me up about BookBuzzr was it's principle of having a B2B website (BookBuzzr) and a consumer website (freado.com). It's two websites, one company. Once the confusion was over I was able to upload my authors books and get going! They have some great widgets for your Facebook page and fun marketing tools. You can subscribe to a monthly fee or use limited features for free. The free version isn't bad! You still can get widgets and do a lot of marketing through them. Including setting up tweets on a daily/weekly basis that will connect to twitter and blast out your tweets. That in itself was worth the free account. 
ACTION ITEM: (Those who are not TRP authors) Sign up with a free subscription and check it out!
Talking to a friend this week, she mentioned that lace was coming back in the quilting world. She was off to get certified in a special type of product lace this week and it came up how trends come around. Thinking about this, I wondered if there were any old trends coming back in book marketing. Then I found this... Simply amazing! LOL! But I also looked up other things too...
Here's my findings:
ACTION ITEM: Time to look at the past to see what works and what doesn't. |
Dear Reader,
My efforts are to make this a learning blog where writers can see the flip side of publishing. If you have comments that will improve your experience or have a certain topic you'd like discussed, please contact me through email - HERE. ~ Sincerley, Your Editor Stephanie McKibben Head Troll Troll River Publications Books on Kindle
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