Way WAY Out of the Zone

Did you feel it?

In the last year or so, there’s been a cataclysmic shift in the world of publishing. Ereaders and electronic publishing have opened up a whole new world. Writers are taking advantage of these new options to bring their stories directly to readers without jumping through the restrictive hoops of traditional publishers. Plus, both readers and writers are embracing lower prices and higher royalty rates.

I like to think of myself as a fairly flexible person, one who is open to new and different ideas. However, I found myself openly resisting the electronic publishing and reading revolution. To me, there is nothing quite like the experience of holding a book in my hands. I love flipping the pages, the weight of it, the smoothness of the paper. Reading is a multi-senses experience for me that an electronic format simply could not duplicate. Then two things happened to change my mind.

First, two of my best friends received Kindles as Christmas gifts. When I heard the news from both of them, I thought, “What a waste!” These two women were just like me, die-hard book readers. But they both tried and loved their Kindles. In fact, neither of them has bought a print book since receiving their Kindle!

What the heck?!?! I thought. There might really be something to this e-book craze…

Then the second thing happened and made a believer out of me. On March 7th, either my publisher or Amazon (I was never told which) decided to offer the electronic version of my debut novel The Wild Sight free for one week. I wasn’t even aware of this promotion until I received a notice that The Wild Sight was #1 in the overall Kindle Top 100 of Free Reads. It was also #1 on the Amazon UK Top 100 of Free Reads.

In other words, thousands of readers were downloading my book! More than all the other “free” books (both fiction and non-fiction) offered on Amazon and Amazon UK! My work suddenly had thousands of new readers, a huge audience I never expected. Best of all, when the ‘free’ week ended, The Wild Sight continued to stay in the Kindle Top 100 Paid Sales for another two weeks. Plus, sales of my other two books, The Treasures of Venice and The Wild Irish Sea also surged. The latter even made it into the Top 100 for Romantic Suspense. Honestly, you could have knocked me over with a feather; I was so surprised by the sudden flurry.

Coincidentally, The Wild Sight hitting #1 happened just as I received my latest round of agent rejections. I would hope agents know which books and authors are hitting those Top 100 lists, but apparently it didn’t matter. None of them mentioned representing my new work, at least none that I queried. Since I had sworn I would not sign another publishing contract without an agent to help negotiate the terms, I started to investigate self-publishing electronically. I debated with myself for a long time on how I should go about it, and which of my works to use for this ‘experiment.’

Finally, I decided if I was going to step out of my comfort zone, I might as well step way, WAY out! Several months ago, I started posting hunks of a story strictly as a bonus for the members of my newsletter group. This dark and somewhat foreboding fairy tale about a tortured young girl and the wicked fae princess she must out wit, was kind of a prequel to The Wild Sight, but it was not a romance nor even a novel. Nevertheless, my newsletter readers liked it and I did too, so I polished it up with the intent of making this 14,000 word novelette my first foray into the self-publishing world.

I am thrilled to announce that The Sidhe Princess is now available on Amazon--after a lot more time and work than I expected. 


To do self-pubbing thing right, it's a helluva lot of work! But my philosophy is: if you want your work to be treated the same as a traditionally published book, you have to treat it as if it were.




 I am way, WAY out of my comfort zone and I hope readers will join me!

         

In the rural Northern Ireland of the 1960s, sixteen-year-old Moira Mullins is newly released from her second stay in a mental institution. Her problem is that she can’t seem to escape the notice of the other-worldly inhabitants of the wild lands bordering her family’s farm. Creatures nobody else can see or hear.

When one of these beings, a fairy princess called the Maid of Ulster, offers to foretell the future, Moira jumps at the chance. But the Maid has ulterior motives that could have tragic results for Moira, who learns the future is sometimes better unknown. EXCERPT


BUY: Amazon

Please help me celebrate the release of my novelette today. There’s plenty of cyber-champagne and chocolate, and maybe even a few of the cabana boys from the Romance Bandit Lair! I’ll even give away a $10 Amazon gift certificate to one lucky commenter.

• When was the last time you stepped out of your comfort zone?
• What did you do and how did it turn out? Would you do it again?

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Loucinda McGary aka Aunty Cindy

A long-time reader of romances, Cindy discovered and joined Romance Writers of America in 2001. But her stressful career as the manager of a multi-million dollar State and Federally funded program prevented her from doing much writing or traveling. She still managed to squeeze in a little of both, but not enough of either to be truly satisfying. Finally, at the end of 2003 she decided to take an early retirement from her career to fully pursue her twin passions of travel and writing. Cindy likes to set her novels of romance and suspense in some of the fascinating places she has visited.

You can visit her on Facebook and her Website 

Tales Of Cindy And Ms. Crankypants

I work with authors who go through a grueling couple of months, after the book is released, meeting their fans either in person or on blogs. All the time, creativity, and plain hard work they do so you can enjoy their books. And the whole time, chances are, their Muse is screaming at them and telling them they should be using those skills for the next project. You know, the one with the current deadline?

Loucinda McGary (aka Aunty Cindy) has just such a muse,  aka Ms Crankypants.  She is not at all quiet about her thoughts on the matter either. Ms. CP  is a highly creative but argumentative wench. Also well loved by Cindy. But I'll let her tell you all about it. 


Thanks so much, Sia, for inviting me to join you today Over Coffee. But first let me get this one thing out of the way:


Buy my book, PLEASE!


According to my grumpy muse, this is the only reason to go on a blog tour – it’s all about pushing your current book.


I’ve tried to argue with her. I pointed out that it is not just trying to sell books. Blog tours are all about connecting with readers, developing a rapport with your audience, networking and promoting yourself and your work in the book world.

She just snorts (and rather rudely at that) and reminds me in no uncertain terms that if I don’t get my butt back in the chair and work on my WIP (work-in-progress) that there will be nothing for my readers to read, much less a reason for me to promote. (Aunty sighs heavily.)


She’s correct, of course, but does she have to be Ms. Crankypants? This entire blog tour has been a real test of wills. I sit down to write another guest blog post, and she throws a major hissy that I need to get back to my characters. I mutter about promotion, and she counters with my need to have a product to promote.


Yes, my muse is a harsh task-mistress… Not unlike what some people say about yours truly (and that would be my son and DH waving from the front of the crowd), but they hardly count because most of them make little effort to appease me. I, on the other hand, try really hard to obey Ms. Crankypants, even though she takes my story off in completely unexpected directions and has my characters doing and saying things I never imagined they would.


So why do I put up with her bossy and contradictory ways?

Because she never leads me astray, and this is critical for a seat-of-the-pants writer like moi. I can’t be wasting a lot of time and effort traipsing down the wrong path with my story, and as long as I trust Ms. Crankypants, I don’t.


I’ll give you a recent example. I love to end my chapters with a strong “hook” so that the reader has a hard time putting the book down (yes, I LOVE hearing that someone stayed up all night to finish one of my books). Being that die-hard seat-of-the-pants writer who never exactly knows where I’m going in my story at any given time, I sometimes have a difficult time finding that chapter ending hook.


Such was the case as I was writing my first draft of Chapter 4 of The Wild Irish Sea. I needed to find a hooky ending and I was utterly clueless what it might be. Enter my muse, aka Ms. Crankypants. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth over trying to figure out an ending for my chapter, I left my office and headed to the kitchen for a large dose of chocolate therapy. As I walked past the dining room table, I tripped over one of my DH’s sneakers. Do not ask me why, but the man insists on changing his shoes in the dining room (see my above comment about being a harsh task-mistress, but apparently not harsh enough). As I muttered a curse and kicked the shoe farther under the table to rest nearer its mate, Ms. Crankypants whispered, “What if that was Parker’s shoe, and it was washed up on the beach?”


Oh. My. Gosh!


I grabbed three Hershey’s kisses from the dish on the buffet and rushed back to my office to type the perfect ending for the chapter:

“The rain and the waves had swept smooth the sand around the half-buried boulders just as Kevin suspected. A few pieces of driftwood, hunks of seaweed and other debris lay tangled in the crevices around the rocks. If anyone had been through here, even as recently as this morning, no trace of their passing remained.



“While he breathed in a large draught of fresh, clean air, Amber sunk to her knees in the wet sand at the base of the closest rock. She clapped both palms flat against the sides of her head and squeezed her eyes shut.


Still trying to contact her brother.


…Through the remaining mist of rain, he spied the jutting black prow of the curragh at the same moment a shrill cry rang out. ‘Hallo! Kevin! Hallo! Amber!’


For the first time in the ten hours since they’d met, Kevin was genuinely glad to see Connor Magee. The boy stood and waved his cap in the air, while someone else, undoubtedly Michael Coyle, sat in the stern of the boat steering it.


Connor shouted again, and Kevin waved back.


"We’re about to be rescued," he called over his shoulder to Amber while the curragh angled toward shore.


…Her shoulders slumped and her head drooped in defeat. Behind him, Kevin heard the hull of the curragh scraping on sand. A moment later, Connor raced up to them.


“Kevin! Amber! I told Uncle Michael we’d find you," the boy breathlessly exclaimed.


“…C’mon!" Michael Coyle called out from the beached curragh. "You can talk later."


“Stall the ball half a minute," Connor yelled back. He plunked his hat on Amber’s head and grasped her by the elbow. "Tis only a short ride back to Malin Head."


While ConnerConnor towed Amber toward the curragh, Kevin took one more quick glance up the small crescent of sand.


Empty.


But then his gaze moved over the rocks. Sticking up in the midst of the greenish-brown kelp, he spotted an object that didn’t belong—a shoe.


A large shoe. The red and gray treads on the sole were unmistakably those of a trainer.

An American trainer.

So, my muse may be grumpy and cantankerous, but she really does deliver! I think I’ll be keeping her around for a good long while. After all, what’s a little orneriness between friends?


Thanks again for having me as a guest and listening to my tale of woe. Please pass the chocolate!

Wild Irish Sea back cover blurb:

Drawn together by a force they can't resist...

The telepathic image of her twin brother fighting for his life sends Amber O'Neill rushing to the rocky shores of Ireland. Desperate to find him, she turns to reclusive local inspector, Kevin Hennessy.

Bound together with a passion as relentless as the tide...

His past full of pain, Kevin has withdrawn from the world. But when the rain-drenched American appears on his doorstep with her wild tales of danger, something more than her sensuous beauty makes it impossible for him to turn her away.


The wildness of the sea, the mystery of a selkie prince, and a dangerous band of ruthless smugglers bring two lost souls together in a connection of mind, body, and spirit that can't be denied...

Excerpt

My Night Owl Review 

  

Buy Wild Irish Sea: Amazon, Borders, Barnes &Noble

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A long-time reader of romances, Cindy discovered and joined Romance Writers of America in 2001. But her stressful career as the manager of a multi-million dollar State and Federally funded program prevented her from doing much writing or traveling. She still managed to squeeze in a little of both, but not enough of either to be truly satisfying. Finally, at the end of 2003 she decided to take an early retirement from her career to fully pursue her twin passions of travel and writing. Cindy likes to set her novels of romance and suspense in some of the fascinating places she has visited.

Other books: Wild Sight, The Treasures of Venice
Website

How Do You Measure Success?

My guest today is Romantic Suspense Author, Loucinda (everyone calls her Cindy) McGary. She is also known as Aunty Cindy.

Her topic today is one that many an author has wondered. How do you measure success? These days, authors must do self-promotion for their books and that's true whether you're published through a small Indie press or with traditional publishers. As an author, Cindy also speaks about blog tours, are they worth the whirlwind of time involved?

To promote my recently released romantic suspense, The Treasures of Venice, I did a ‘blog tour’ that required me to post on eighteen blogs in three and a half weeks. Yes, after eighteen blogs in twenty-four days, my head was spinning. Plus, I was left with the nagging question: Was all that effort really worthwhile?

Back in the not-too-distant past when I still had a Dreaded Day Job, I worked for many years as a policy analyst. In those days it was my job to dredge up data or find some other method for quantifying the success of a recommendation, a project, or sometimes an entire program. My bosses wanted numbers and I had to find them.

The saying goes “old habits are hard to break,” and I’ve definitely found this to be true in my new career as a romance novelist. Let me get back to my earlier question about the eighteen blogs in twenty-four days. I quickly discovered there was no ‘hard evidence’ (in other words--numbers) to prove that blogging is an effective promotional tool. However, my in-house publicist, and more importantly her boss, my publisher believe it is. Since I know they want my book to succeed as much as I do (they’ve put time, effort, and money into it too), I just have to take their word for it.

But what is success in this crazy publishing business anyway? Okay, I suppose we can all agree that hitting number one on the New York Times List or being one of Oprah’s Bookclub picks is successful. But it’s also not a very realistic goal for the vast majority of us, so why set ourselves up for failure?

Until Sept. 14, 2007 (the day I got The Call), my entire measure of success hinged on selling a book – ONE book – to a publisher. Of course, as soon as I achieved that goal, I immediately saw that publishing one book was not enough. Margaret Mitchell and Harper Lee notwithstanding, I did not want to be a ‘one hit wonder.’

Shortly after my first book, The Wild Sight was released last October; I was thrilled to sign a contract with my publisher for two more books. As I mentioned, The Treasures of Venice was just released, and The Wild Irish Sea, will be out next July. And, you guessed it, I’ve decided three published books still doesn’t meet my elusive definition of success. Please wish me luck on my new proposals.

Phyllis A. Whitney was one of the first romance author’s whose work I loved, and I’m proud to claim her as an influence on my own writing. She published scores of novels during her long career, her last at the age of ninety-three! Another author I idolize, J.R.R. Tolkien published only four novels in his lifetime, but what novels!

Clearly the number of books published is not an accurate way to measure success, but what about sales? Again, this seems to be very subjective to me. Again, in the days when I was still unpublished, my little pea-brain couldn’t even conceive of 10,000 people reading my book. Such a thing was on par with when the pilot comes on the intercom and tells us passengers we are cruising at 35,000 feet. That is too vast a distance for me to fathom, so I don’t even try! So for the unpublished, or newly published, 10,000 copies sold might sound like a huge number. But it could be very disappointing for an author who previously hit one or more best-seller lists and is accustomed to sales over 100,000. Plus, copies sold are not the same thing as copies read.

One of the most exciting things I discovered was Library Thing. This site shows you every library in the US (and a few foreign countries) that has a copy of your book in their collection. Seeing my book in the library was a huge success for me! From the time I learned to read until I graduated from college and finally got a full-time job, I couldn’t afford to buy many books. The library was my own personal refuge, and is still the place I go for most hard-cover novels and research books.

I feel the same when people tell me they loaned their copy of my book to a friend. I have to really love a book before I’ll loan or recommend it to someone else to read, so I consider this a very high compliment. And that brings me around to the thing I love most – hearing from readers!

The main reason I write stories is for people to read and enjoy them. Entertaining an audience is my goal and having my books published helps me to achieve that goal. I’ll never forget the happiness I felt the week after The Wild Sight was released and I received three pieces of honest-to-goodness fan mail. I knew that hearing from readers would be wonderful, but I never imagined just how much! I’ve received dozens of emails, snail mails, and even in-person praise since then, and I treasure every single one of them! Knowing that someone read and enjoyed my story makes all the hard work and hassles of writing and publishing worthwhile.

So maybe readers are my true measure of success. As long as I know I have one or two (or more) people out there somewhere who are reading my books and eagerly turning the pages to see what happens next, I don’t need to crunch numbers or collect empirical data or anything else. I have achieved my ultimate goal.

Blurb for The Treasures Of Venice:

When American librarian Samantha Lewis and Irish rogue Keirnan Fitzgerald set off to find priceless jewels, they become embroiled in a 500-year-old love story that eerily prefigures their own...

In 15th century Venice, beautiful and wealthy Serafina falls in love with Nino, a young Florentine sculptor. They decide to flee to Padua, and to fund the trip, Nino copies a set of jewels that then disappear.

In modern-day Venice, Keirnan needs Samantha's help to locate the jewels so he can pay his sister's ransom. Samantha must decide whether the man she's so drawn to is her soul mate from a previous life...or are they merely pawns in a relentless quest for a priceless treasure?

Question for readers: Out of curiosity, how many of your books were chosen because you read a blog about the author or their latest book?

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A life-long avid reader, Cindy writes the kinds of stories she likes to read – stories with danger, romance and a touch of the unexpected. Cindy likes to read and write about wonderful, far away places and people not so very different from her or someone she knows. Her characters must overcome physical and emotional obstacles, sometimes risk their lives, and eventually discover love.

• Cindy discovered and joined Romance Writers of America in 2001. But her stressful career as the manager of a multi-million dollar State and Federally funded program prevented her from doing much writing or traveling. She still managed to squeeze in a little of both, but not enough of either to be truly satisfying. Finally, at the end of 2003 she decided to take an early retirement from her career to fully pursue her twin passions of travel and writing. Cindy likes to set her novels of romance and suspense in some of the fascinating places she has visited.

Cindy loves to hear from her fans and you can visit her Here.