Across the street from an Author's house there is a field of sheep. For the most part they stick together at the hay troughs but every now and then something catches the fancy of one or two and off they go.
On this day, it was a book. The story had caught on with a few members of the flock and they ran off to read it from cover to cover. After a short time, hearing the shrieks of glee, several others followed not wanting to be left out. Gradually, more and more of the flock trotted after them, curious as only sheep can be, until only handful of sheep were left near the hay trough.
One of them looked at the others and said "Maybe we should go along just to see what the fuss is all about."
"It is about a movie based on a book about a virgin who wants to be controlled by a billionaire who has issues."
"So it's a romance?"
"Only if you think control is romantic," bleated another. "The girl doesn't want to think and she doesn't have to with the billionaire."
"There must be more to it than that. They seem to think it's Important," insisted a third sheep. He rose up on his skinny legs trying to see over the billboards, television ads and commercial sex shops circling the flock.
"The author made millions and millions from the book and now millions more from the movie. That's why it is Important."
"Ah, so it is a Worthy Piece of Culture."
"The Media certainly think so and the Media are never wrong," intoned an older sheep.
"Then why do we not follow the others and get in on this party!" bleated one of the younger sheep, clearly chomping at the bit. "I, for one, do not like to Miss Out."
"By all means, go if you must. I, for one, have no trouble Missing Out," said one of the sheep who had joined the discussion late. "I Missed Out on Pet Rocks, Cabbage Patch Kids and Tickle Me Elmo. I slept through Twilight and I forgot to turn up for Titanic. But go if you like. It will do you no harm."
"It will do you no good either but that never seems to enter into the equation," griped one of the quieter sheep of the flock.
"Oh, not this again," groaned the older sheep. "This Fad is no different from the days of the Roman circus. We survived that nonsense, we shall survive this."
"There were fewer of us then. It seems like it's much easier these days to fool all of the sheep all of the time."
"You are taking this far too seriously. It is only a movie. I am not going only because I don't like crowds."
One of the flock at the premiere had broken away and was careening toward them at a dangerous speed wearing a black silk mask. The Ewe skidded into them breathlessly. "The movie is even better than the book!" she gushed. "It is very naughty and we're all watching the naughtiness together so it doesn't feel like we're baaad. A documentary filmmaker said this is an insightful phenomenon; women are finally coming out of the closet about their sexuality."
One of the Ewes who had stayed behind rolled her eyes but did not comment for fear of being labelled a prude. She was a prude and she would admit it freely if prudery hadn't become a dirty word within the flock.
The young sheep bolted to his legs and gamboled off after the masked Ewe to catch the second showing of the movie.
The older sheep bent his rickety old legs and settled near the trough. "I suppose it'll be hours now before anyone shows up with anything nourishing for us to eat."
"Hours? It will be years before Culture recovers from this shock. Mark my words. Look at them. The sheer weight of their collective shades of wool has shifted the balance. No one will want to invest in the really nourishing hay after this."
"You are probably right," bleated the sheep who had joined the conversation late. "I found a patch of grass at the fringe of the field. I think I'll graze on that until the fuss dies down and things get back to normal around here."
The rest of the sheep settled near the trough of stale hay to wait for nourishing feed. Some continued to grumble but most were not at all surprised that a book about a girl who did not want to think had struck such a chord among sheep.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Thursday, February 5, 2015
The Introverted Author's Guide To Marketing
10 Tips to Flogging Your Books the Introvert's Way:
1) Read KBoards but never post. You don't have to. No one knows you're on the other side of the screen, snooping into the threads. You'll learn just as much and it's almost like being with people, only better.
2) Exercise. Pop a cassette tape into the old VCR--(yeah, you heard me)--and follow a work out led by a really cheerful, extroverted fitness leader. You'll kill two birds with one stone. A workout and socializing!
3) Email. No need to talk to anyone on the phone. Ever.
4) Write books.
5) Put the books on sale occasionally and advertise the sale at carefully chosen sites using this criteria: (a) they will accept your book (b) they offer a reasonable risk of recouping your investment (aka ROI) (c) they don't bug you to tweet stuff for them.
6) Work on improving your storytelling skills by writing more books.
7) Blog if you like it. I do.
8) Don't do anything that bugs you, makes you tense, grates on your nerves or is a time suck in the interest of "building a platform." Write books instead.
9) Do the activities you enjoy doing. I like giving readings where I can talk about the writing process, self-publishing or the writer's life. I'm not crazy about talking about the books themselves because I'm already removed from them by the time they come out. (Huh. Doesn't sound much like a reading. More like talking about books with wine involved....)
10) Join up with other writers when you foolishly commit yourself to hand selling at a fair or some other mad undertaking. You'll be less likely to hide out in the bathroom and therefore sell more books.
Bonus Tip: Write a bestseller and become a recluse.
Inspired by David Gaughran's book: "Let's Get Digital." Introverts need not fear the self-publishing marketing journey. Give it a read.
A big shout out to Draft2Digital for the free gift!
1) Read KBoards but never post. You don't have to. No one knows you're on the other side of the screen, snooping into the threads. You'll learn just as much and it's almost like being with people, only better.
2) Exercise. Pop a cassette tape into the old VCR--(yeah, you heard me)--and follow a work out led by a really cheerful, extroverted fitness leader. You'll kill two birds with one stone. A workout and socializing!
3) Email. No need to talk to anyone on the phone. Ever.
4) Write books.
5) Put the books on sale occasionally and advertise the sale at carefully chosen sites using this criteria: (a) they will accept your book (b) they offer a reasonable risk of recouping your investment (aka ROI) (c) they don't bug you to tweet stuff for them.
6) Work on improving your storytelling skills by writing more books.
7) Blog if you like it. I do.
8) Don't do anything that bugs you, makes you tense, grates on your nerves or is a time suck in the interest of "building a platform." Write books instead.
9) Do the activities you enjoy doing. I like giving readings where I can talk about the writing process, self-publishing or the writer's life. I'm not crazy about talking about the books themselves because I'm already removed from them by the time they come out. (Huh. Doesn't sound much like a reading. More like talking about books with wine involved....)
10) Join up with other writers when you foolishly commit yourself to hand selling at a fair or some other mad undertaking. You'll be less likely to hide out in the bathroom and therefore sell more books.
Bonus Tip: Write a bestseller and become a recluse.
Inspired by David Gaughran's book: "Let's Get Digital." Introverts need not fear the self-publishing marketing journey. Give it a read.
A big shout out to Draft2Digital for the free gift!
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Goodreads Giveaway Winners!
And the winners of the Goodreads Giveaway for THE RIVER BRIDE are.... *insert drum roll here*
Susan Gannon of Arvada, Colorado
Arturo Operario of North York, Ontario
Sarah Hansrote of Knoxville, Tennessee
792 people entered THE RIVER BRIDE Giveaway and 365 people added it to their To-Read shelves. Thank you!
Folks, this will be my last Giveaway and here's why:
The mailing of books is costly in addition to the cost of the books themselves. This expense is absorbed by the author. The service the winning readers provide is to post their reviews at Goodreads. Without reviews, authors cannot afford to continue to enroll their books in Goodreads Giveaways. A print copy is the only format accepted and because of the cost involved (and often disappointing result) many authors I know are giving up on Giveaways. It is a great program and I'd hate to see it go but for independent authors on a tight budget, it has become a poor return.
There are readers out there who buy indie books at full price and post their reviews. There are companies who for a fraction of the cost of a Giveaway will promote an independent author's book. When marketing dollars are tight, the non-performer gets cut.
Writing a review can be nerve-wracking but your opinion matters, especially for an unknown work in this day and age. Think of yourself as a literary talent scout! Finding diamonds in the rough! going where no man has gone before! Readers rule! Discovering a new work by an unknown author is an adventure. You have to tell the world about it because if you don't, who will?
Congratulations to my three winners. Folks, your books are in the mail and I look forward to reading your reviews!
Peace and happy reading.
Susan Gannon of Arvada, Colorado
Arturo Operario of North York, Ontario
Sarah Hansrote of Knoxville, Tennessee
792 people entered THE RIVER BRIDE Giveaway and 365 people added it to their To-Read shelves. Thank you!
Folks, this will be my last Giveaway and here's why:
The mailing of books is costly in addition to the cost of the books themselves. This expense is absorbed by the author. The service the winning readers provide is to post their reviews at Goodreads. Without reviews, authors cannot afford to continue to enroll their books in Goodreads Giveaways. A print copy is the only format accepted and because of the cost involved (and often disappointing result) many authors I know are giving up on Giveaways. It is a great program and I'd hate to see it go but for independent authors on a tight budget, it has become a poor return.
There are readers out there who buy indie books at full price and post their reviews. There are companies who for a fraction of the cost of a Giveaway will promote an independent author's book. When marketing dollars are tight, the non-performer gets cut.
Writing a review can be nerve-wracking but your opinion matters, especially for an unknown work in this day and age. Think of yourself as a literary talent scout! Finding diamonds in the rough! going where no man has gone before! Readers rule! Discovering a new work by an unknown author is an adventure. You have to tell the world about it because if you don't, who will?
Congratulations to my three winners. Folks, your books are in the mail and I look forward to reading your reviews!
Peace and happy reading.
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
THE RIVER BRIDE Goodreads Giveaway!
Open to U.S. and Canadian residents! Toss your name into the hat to win a free, signed copy of THE RIVER BRIDE!
(whew. exhausted. feel like a carnie barker.)
(If you don't see the fancy entry form, the other link will take you to the same place.
Go ahead. Click it.)
Free Sample: Two chapters of The River Bride on Wattpad
(If you don't see the fancy entry form, the other link will take you to the same place.
Go ahead. Click it.)
Free Sample: Two chapters of The River Bride on Wattpad
The River Bride by Nadine Doolittle Giveaway ends January 23, 2015.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Monday, January 5, 2015
It's January Sale Time!
In the time-honoured retail tradition of slashing prices to lure post-Christmas shoppers to open their wallets ... I am holding a 0.99 sale of the ebook edition of THE RIVER BRIDE.
The sale is everywhere ebooks are sold: Amazon, Kobo, B&N, GooglePlay and Apple. Click the links in the sidebar to land on the page.
The price goes back to 4.99 (USD) in February. (It may be my destiny to be a starving artist but no one said anything about giving up caffeine. Thanks to the readers who bought THE RIVER BRIDE at the regular price, I'm caffeinated until March.)
PS: It's a frozen Quebec morning, the trees are coated in ice and when the sunlight shines on them ... too distracting. So beautiful.
And the dog is sick. So I have that to distract me as well from finishing my latest novel. Back to work!
The sale is everywhere ebooks are sold: Amazon, Kobo, B&N, GooglePlay and Apple. Click the links in the sidebar to land on the page.
The price goes back to 4.99 (USD) in February. (It may be my destiny to be a starving artist but no one said anything about giving up caffeine. Thanks to the readers who bought THE RIVER BRIDE at the regular price, I'm caffeinated until March.)
PS: It's a frozen Quebec morning, the trees are coated in ice and when the sunlight shines on them ... too distracting. So beautiful.
And the dog is sick. So I have that to distract me as well from finishing my latest novel. Back to work!
Saturday, January 3, 2015
David Adams Richards and Arthur Ellis
A little history. I was in Vancouver for a family crisis. (My family doesn't have reunions--we have crisis-management team meetings.) Anyway, there I was in my suicidal sister's apartment and I found a book on the bed (hardcover) by David Adams Richards: Mercy Among the Children. I picked it up and read it even though I have a love/hate relationship with Canadian literature. Mostly I love it but some of the contemporary writers make me nervous. David Adams Richards wasn't one. Mercy Among the Children was the best book I'd read in a long time. I was very impressed by my sister's literary taste.
Crisis over, I was packing to take the plane home and I gave the book back to my sister. She said it wasn't hers; she didn't know where it came from. I asked my brother. He said he thought it was mine and that's why he put it on the bed. To this day, we have no idea where it came from or why it appeared at that particular moment in our lives. All to say, the theme of the book had echoes for me with my own family.
I put it in my suitcase and it now lives on my bookshelf as a keeper.
I read most of D.A.R.'s backlist after that and felt I had made a literary discovery. Turns out he was already discovered. He is one helluva writer. Some readers feel his work is depressing. Bullshit, I say. Pull on your big girl panties and read like an adult. Good fiction tells us what we are and what we can be. He's not going to draw us a fucking map or lie to us on the journey.
(Ack! My New Year's Resolution was to swear less....)
The point of this post is to say David Adams Richards has a book entered in the Arthur Ellis Awards for 2014 Best Crime Novel. The title is Crimes Against My Brother.
First, I can't wait to read it. Second, I can't believe my lousy luck. I entered THE RIVER BRIDE in that competition. Many, many incredibly talented Canadian mystery and crime fiction authors have entered their books in that competition. We freaking love the Arthur Ellis Awards given out each year in May by the Crime Writers of Canada. I didn't expect to win or shortlist but I entered because I'm a Canadian and I write crime fiction set in Canada. So ... yanno ... that's what we do.
The highlight of 2014 could very well be that I saw my name on a list with David Adams Richards. It would be beyond the limits of my joy if our books made the shortlist. But if I won and he didn't ... then how could I respect the award?
*snort* hilarious. but since we're thinking about it...
How could a genre author who owes so much to a literary master respect an award that beat out the master? I have no idea. I'd like to believe that for the jury there's no contest and D.A.R. smokes the rest of us. But there are criteria that I'm not privy to. There are variables as is the way with fiction and genre fiction in particular.
Maybe I'll just read his book and be glad to be a Canadian surrounded by outstanding Canadian authors who feed my soul. They don't get the national love they truly deserve. So this is me saying it: Thank you David Adams Richards for nursing me back to health with your books.
Love,
a reader
Crisis over, I was packing to take the plane home and I gave the book back to my sister. She said it wasn't hers; she didn't know where it came from. I asked my brother. He said he thought it was mine and that's why he put it on the bed. To this day, we have no idea where it came from or why it appeared at that particular moment in our lives. All to say, the theme of the book had echoes for me with my own family.
I put it in my suitcase and it now lives on my bookshelf as a keeper.
I read most of D.A.R.'s backlist after that and felt I had made a literary discovery. Turns out he was already discovered. He is one helluva writer. Some readers feel his work is depressing. Bullshit, I say. Pull on your big girl panties and read like an adult. Good fiction tells us what we are and what we can be. He's not going to draw us a fucking map or lie to us on the journey.
(Ack! My New Year's Resolution was to swear less....)
The point of this post is to say David Adams Richards has a book entered in the Arthur Ellis Awards for 2014 Best Crime Novel. The title is Crimes Against My Brother.
First, I can't wait to read it. Second, I can't believe my lousy luck. I entered THE RIVER BRIDE in that competition. Many, many incredibly talented Canadian mystery and crime fiction authors have entered their books in that competition. We freaking love the Arthur Ellis Awards given out each year in May by the Crime Writers of Canada. I didn't expect to win or shortlist but I entered because I'm a Canadian and I write crime fiction set in Canada. So ... yanno ... that's what we do.
The highlight of 2014 could very well be that I saw my name on a list with David Adams Richards. It would be beyond the limits of my joy if our books made the shortlist. But if I won and he didn't ... then how could I respect the award?
*snort* hilarious. but since we're thinking about it...
How could a genre author who owes so much to a literary master respect an award that beat out the master? I have no idea. I'd like to believe that for the jury there's no contest and D.A.R. smokes the rest of us. But there are criteria that I'm not privy to. There are variables as is the way with fiction and genre fiction in particular.
Maybe I'll just read his book and be glad to be a Canadian surrounded by outstanding Canadian authors who feed my soul. They don't get the national love they truly deserve. So this is me saying it: Thank you David Adams Richards for nursing me back to health with your books.
Love,
a reader
Friday, November 28, 2014
P. D. James and Me
I've been reading P. D. James for so many years, I can't remember a time when she wasn't "my" mystery author. I have a handful of authors I read over and over again for comfort or to make sense of the world or to just take care of me after I've had a crap day. P. D. James was one of those authors. She delivered the perfect blend of literary fiction and detective novel every single time.
When I started writing mysteries of my own, I felt a kind of obligation to her, to try to be as brave and intelligent. Her writing became the gold standard by which I measured my own work. I knew I wouldn't measure up but striving to get there was making me a better author. So when I read about her death, I cried a little because I felt like I'd failed her because I'd lost faith in writing, and in my writing in particular.
And then, on the same day, I got an email from Smashwords saying a review had been posted for The River Bride. Here is the link:
Review of The River Bride
It is hard to express the impact one thought-provoking, critical review can have on an author. In order to write well, we need the intelligence of the authors who came before us. And to continue to write well, we need the critical faculties of readers to guide us when we've lost faith.
I am grateful to the reviewer for taking the time. I am constantly amazed by the co-creation that is writing and reading. It really is something to have faith in.
When I started writing mysteries of my own, I felt a kind of obligation to her, to try to be as brave and intelligent. Her writing became the gold standard by which I measured my own work. I knew I wouldn't measure up but striving to get there was making me a better author. So when I read about her death, I cried a little because I felt like I'd failed her because I'd lost faith in writing, and in my writing in particular.
And then, on the same day, I got an email from Smashwords saying a review had been posted for The River Bride. Here is the link:
Review of The River Bride
It is hard to express the impact one thought-provoking, critical review can have on an author. In order to write well, we need the intelligence of the authors who came before us. And to continue to write well, we need the critical faculties of readers to guide us when we've lost faith.
I am grateful to the reviewer for taking the time. I am constantly amazed by the co-creation that is writing and reading. It really is something to have faith in.
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