Author: Jenny

Utilizing Goodreads As An Author

/ Jenny / 10 Comments

Whether you’re independent or traditionally published, a good chunk of the promotion for your novels is going to fall to you, and while I live by the philosophy that the best promotion is your next book, I do enjoy some of the little things I get to do as an author to help spread the word about my stories.

goodreadsOne of my favorite tools is Goodreads because I don’t just love to write books, I also love to read them. I love to talk about the books I’m reading, and if I am really into a book and want others to know all about it, Goodreads is a great place to do that. There are communities and forums on Goodreads for every type of reader, which means you can virtually gather with fellow fans, share good conversation and recommendations, and even make new friends.

From an author standpoint, Goodreads has a lot of neat tools to help you connect with your readers.Maybe you already know about them, maybe you don’t, but here are a few of the things I love about being an author over there!

Once you establish yourself as a Goodreads author, you take control of your author page and gain access to some of the perks that come with being a Goodreads Author. You can add author pictures, your biography and links to your online sites. Encourage fans to add you to their favorite authors list. There is an “Ask the Author” feature, which allows fans and readers to submit questions for you to answer and then display on your page. There is an option to either blog on Goodreads, or link to the RSS feed on your blog, so every time you post it goes into your Goodreads feed and draws more attention to you, your work and your website. And, of course, there is a space to add samples and excerpts with the potential to draw others to your existing work. You have the option to add intriguing and/or profound quotes from your books. You can host paperback book giveaways, which often draws hundreds, if not thousands of potential readers to your page. The options are limitless.

This morning I set up the Goodreads page for my upcoming urban fantasy book, Siren so people can add the book to the ‘Want to Read’ shelf. I can start gathering potential fans and readers to the page, improving my visibility and potentially reaching a wider audience for a book that will be released in January.I can offer samples and snippets, post about giveaways I’m hosting and get people excited about the release. Because I’m excited about the release, and I want to share that excitement with others, so having a place beyond my blog and Facebook Author page to do that is a beautiful thing.

As with any promotional effort, it can be a lot of work, but connecting with your readers on the social front in a place where you can talk about the one thing that brought you together–books–is a beautiful thing. Readers love being able to see who you are beyond the pages of your books, and Goodreads is a great place to start.

It’s worth the effort, in my opinion, because one of the things I miss the most about university days is sitting in a classroom full of other people who love words as much as I do and having good discussions about the books we were reading.

Hello, 50K…

/ Jenny / 10 Comments

Today is day number fourteen in the NaNoWriMo calendar for 2014, and this morning I reached my first 50,000 words for the month of November.

I’m excited! Partly because I won NaNoWriMo, but mostly due to the fact that I made it halfway to my overall goal for November before the actual middle of the month. I set myself up to write at least 100,000 words because that’s just a little less than I like my short, quirky novels to be, and it felt like a reasonable goal to get the majority of the project I’m working on, Promises, Promises, as close to first draft fabulous possible before the end of November. 100,000 words would give me time to work on other things, like editing for clients, blogging, and promotion on my other books, while still granting me plenty of wiggle room to write all the words I wanted to write.

Because despite the chaotic, hectic spiral of my schedule sometimes, I have to write every single day.

She Hulk 2

Cover of She-Hulk (vol. 1) #1, textless variant. Art by Adi Granov. (From Wikipedia)

I set really high writing goals for myself every month because I go a little mad if I don’t put words to the page and give the voices in my head a trampoline to bounce around on. I feel edgy and raw, stir crazy and anxious. It starts to feel crowded inside my mind, and when it gets crowded in there, I get really stressed out. Getting stressed out means I don’t sleep, and not sleeping pretty much ensures grouchiness. Grouchiness leads to a really bad attitude that more or less turns me into She-Hulk, and people don’t like me very much when I get angry. They start shoving Snickers bars at me, which just makes me grumpier, and that’s no good.

This month feels really good. I feel like I have a good handle on my project, (though if you read through my daily NaNoWriMo blogs, it looks like I nearly threw the manuscript out the window.) The story feels strong to me, the characters compelling and I’m still super excited about it after more than 50,000 words. Huge bonus!

Do you write every single day? If so, what keeps you motivated? If not, is it because you don’t have time? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below.

The Three Musketeers… Who Do You Write With?

/ Jenny / 3 Comments

three musketeersI have two very close friends I write with. Together, we are The Three Musketeers, complete with banter, wordplay and plans to take over the world that would probably scare you if we shared them in a public capacity. We bounce ideas off one another, share our work as we write it, giggle and snort a lot, watch Monday night TV together on Tuesdays, and offer support in all the best ways possible. I don’t know how I’d get through most of my first draft foibles and tantrum flails, much less the rest of every day, without these two ladies, and I feel so very lucky every day they are a part of my life.

 

Besides having an incredible support system, which is a given as far as best thing ever goes, the sharing of ideas between us is a virtual godsend. Last month, one of my fellow musketeers shared the link to Adagio Teas and urged us to make blends for the books we were working on. Sound the Siren, Mr. Pounce and Calming the Storm teas were all born that weekend, orders for delicious reading tea were placed and I now have some super sweet swag to give away to my readers during pre-order stages.

I guest hosted on another friend’s Facebook Launch Party at the beginning of the month for her flipped fairy tale, Shadows on Snow, and had instant swag to give away to her readers beyond copies of my books. Readers love swag, almost as much as they love the books the swag comes with. The best part about that, other than making a few new friends and picking up a few new readers was that I would never have come up with the idea without the help of my friends.

I’m trying some new things on the promotional front with Siren, which means stretching outside my comfort zone. I would not be able to stretch so far without a good support system. I’m working to expand my reading audience before launch day with a few pre-order incentives. This morning I launched my first pre-order promotion giveaway on my site. Every Wednesday for the next four weeks I will be giving away a collection of Siren-inspired tea samplers with adorable, original artwork (created by my fellow Musketeer, who is an incredible artist, btw,) adorning the tins. If you happened to pre-order, you are eligible to enter this giveaway and can find details over on my website: Siren Pre-Order Giveaway!

They say writing is a solitary experience, and for the most part I think they’re right. You have to go deep inside your head, get lost among the reeds there while leaving trails of breadcrumbs for your imaginary friends so they follow you back to the page. But I will say this: having friends who get me, who understand what I’m going through, who bolster me, support me and lend their creative genius to my efforts… it really is the best thing there is.

So here’s a toast to my gals!  All for one, one for all!

Tell me about your support system in the comments section below. I’d love to hear all about them.

Teaser Tuesday: Siren Promo

/ Jenny / 16 Comments

I mentioned in my last post that despite being up to my eyelids in NaNoWriMo word count, I am also in the midst of promoting my upcoming urban fantasy book, Siren, which is set to release on January 5, 2015. It’s currently available for pre-order on Amazon, so I’ve been working some new strategies for promotion to try and reach a wider audience before it actually goes live.

What I’m doing is certainly nothing new. A lot of authors I know, both indie and traditionally published, release little images like this, but promotion is often a huge pain, so maybe we don’t always put as much effort into it as we should.

I was really proud of how this turned out, and thought I’d share it with all of you.

Every Tuesday until January, I’m going to be releasing a new teaser image with a little snippet from the book on my website, my Facebook author page and a few other social media haunts I frequent from time to time. Here’s the first one.

I’d love to hear what you think! I’d also be delighted if you took a minute to share a few of your own personal promotion strategies in the comment section below!

 

Why I Do NaNoWriMo Every Year

/ Jenny / 8 Comments

Hey everybody! I’m Jennifer Melzer. This is my first blog here at The Write Stuff, and since we’re about 1/3 of the way through the month of November, I want to talk about a topic near and dear to my heart: National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo.

nanowrimo 2014I have a non-writer friend who rolls his eyes at me every October and asks, “Why do you do this ridiculous NaNoBlahBlah thing? It drives you crazy, stresses you out and makes you super grouchy. I think you should stop doing it, and just do the same thing you do every other month… Write.”

Maybe he has a really good point. I spend the other eleven months of the year writing until my keyboard smokes like it’s no big thing. Then November starts to draw near. I get a little itchy under the skin and start plotting mayhem because despite my ability to write like mad every other month, for some reason November is pure madness. I don’t know if it’s because of the impending holidays, maybe Daylight Savings Time, or some other rare cosmic alignment I’m completely unaware of, but it is really difficult to finish a short novel for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

edgelanders coverI know this, but every year I open up the site, start filling in the details about the novel I’m going to write and boom! It’s on like Donkey Kong. There’s hair pulling, tons of whining, flailing and even a few tantrums that are downright childish, but I almost always manage to push through it ahead of the game. In 2013, I changed novels midway through the month, throwing my entire word count out the window and starting from scratch. It was absolute madness, but in the last two weeks of November, I wrote just over 50,000 words. In 2012 I wrote the first 60,ooo words on my epic fantasy novel, Edgelanders, and shared it chapter by chapter while I was writing it. It was chaos, pure insanity every single day, but there was something about it that sang to my soul.

siren email promoI love writing under pressure. I love the weight of a deadline pressing down upon my shoulders while the muse yaps incessantly in my ear. This year it’s extra chaotic. I have editing clients I’m working with, I’m in the middle of promoting my upcoming novel, Siren (which is now available for pre-order on Amazon!),  there’s a game I’m really looking forward to playing coming out next week, I am in serious need of a haircut and it’s darn near time to cook a turkey, but I’m ahead of schedule on my NaNoWriMo novel. I’m moving right along, and I know I’m going to finish the requirements, and the first draft of my urban fantasy novel, Promises, Promises.

And THAT is why I do NaNoWriMo every year. Because I love, love, love the pressure and the chaos.

I blog about NaNoWriMo every single day in November! Drop by my site, subscribe to the feed and feel free to join in the conversation! I’d love to have you there.