Thoughts On Bruce Jenner And Acceptance Of LGBT Individuals

Last Friday, like millions of other viewers, I tuned in to Bruce Jenner's interview with Diane Sawyer. To be honest, I'd expected it to be a fluff piece (he has spent the last few years of his life on the Kardashians' show after all), but I was moved by his bravery and honesty as he revealed, "I'm a woman." *Note -- I'm using the pronouns "He" and "Him" since this is what he requested for his interview.*

I think that Jenner is a flawed individual. On the one hand, I've admired him for his athletic accomplishments... but he was an absentee parent for many of his kids. Still, I applaud him for being so open about his life and hope his journey can help educate others about people who are transgender. I think that *every* person who strives to be his or her best self is brave, but it must have been especially tough for someone who is not only a very public figure, but upheld a very "masculine" image for so many decades.

On a personal level, his interview hit home for me since the male hero in my novel F#@! BOMB is a respected athlete who comes out as gay. My character, Griffin, doesn't have an easy time opening up to his friends, family and teammates, but he's still young when he does so. Jenner is 65 and kept his real life secret for a very long time. I'm glad he's finally found the courage to tell his story.

I happened to spend this weekend with my best friend, who is a gay man, and many of our mutual friends who are also gay. We had a long discussion about Jenner's interview, which ultimately turned into a discussion about how and when each guy came out. I was surprised to learn that one of my friends didn't officially come out until he was in his mid-30s. He mentioned that his teenage niece is already out as a lesbian and noted how times have changed. I hope they continue to do so and that LGBT people can continue to get the rights they deserve.

I don't expect my book to incite much change, but if it can help, inspire or educate a handful of people, I'll be really pleased. On the other hand, I do hope that Jenner can truly play a part in "chang[ing] the world" as he said.

Marketing A Novel: Using Facebook To Sell Your Book

These days authors have to depend more and more on using social media to sell their books. If, like me, you're an independent author, it's crucial... though writers who've had their books published by traditional means also have to reach out to readers. It's especially important if you're only selling your novel as an e-book. Because you can't sell in-person and do readings in bookstores, using sites like Facebook or Twitter is the next best thing.

For F#@! BOMB's release, I've been experimenting with Facebook. We had great success launching LOVE NOTES with a Facebook party, so I hosted aa FB event for F#@! BOMB. I also, of course, posted my book's link on my personal and author pages, and alerted my friends and contacts of its existence. So far, I've sold quite a few through FB, though I'm trying to expand my readership and sales.

I've tried my luck at using Facebook's ad campaigns... and I can't say it's worked too well for me. While most features on FB are still free (and will hopefully stay that way), you can buy ad space to promote a post or particular page. FB has you pay a certain amount of money -- they encourage anything from $5 on -- and the more you pay, the more people you reach. Generally your post/page is boosted for a day or so, or until the money runs out (which happens rather quickly). You can customize your ads to target particular people, which further expands your potential fan base.

FB does what it promises as my pages and posts HAVE gotten many views. I've gotten dozens of "likes" on my author and jewelry designer pages, and have a few new followers. However, while the views are coming in, it doesn't seem like people really click the actual links. People tend to "like" what's right in front of them, whether it's a photo of my jewelry or a blurb about my books, but most haven't bothered to actually head to my Etsy stores or to my Amazon pages. They simply like the post and move on. Sometimes I wonder if they even know what they're liking.

From this experience I've found that it's better to target people who are specifically looking for a product. The FB release parties worked well because book lovers were eager to meet the authors and learn about the novels. They weren't just blindly liking links. I think many of us -- myself included - kind of go through FB and click, click, click, like, like, like whatever pops up... but it takes more effort to actually stop and change the page to view whatever is being sold.

As an online vendor, I'm a big fan of Facebook because it has gotten me book and jewelry sales. But buying ads is not the way to go, at least for me.

Please read and review F#@! BOMB, REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD and LOVE NOTES, all available on Amazon.

Marketing An E-Book: A Successful Facebook Release Party!

My F#@! BOMB Facebook Release Party was tonight and I'm happy with the results! While I didn't have a huge number of people stop by, I still had enough readers to keep things interesting. A couple stayed for the entire two hours, which I truly appreciate. A few of my close friends, plus my husband, made guest appearances and I think the readers enjoyed "meeting" them.

I always enjoy meeting fellow book lovers and we had some interesting discussions. Since my novel's narrator is an overweight woman with food issues, we talked about how food has so many associations for different people -- many of them having nothing to do with an item's taste. We also talked about portrayals of plus-size and LGBT characters, and shared the names of our favorite authors. I was glad to see so many Stephen King fans in the house! He's one of my favorites, not only because I'm a long-time horror fan, but because he writes brilliant, complex characters. His stuff is scary as hell, too, and that's always fun to read.

Now that the party is over I have to plan my next steps in publicizing the book. I've already signed up for another blog tour and am getting a "Book Of The Day" post with Kindle Book Review. I'd like to do more social media events, though. I really like interacting with my readers and in an age where social media has become so important, I think they enjoy chatting with accessible authors. I reached out a bit with REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, but my experience with LOVE NOTES has taught me that I need to do even more. I'm not entirely sure what yet, but will read up on ideas.

Meantime, be sure to read and review F#@! BOMB, now on sale on Amazon. Also check out LOVE NOTES and REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

It's Release Day For My New Novel!

It's Release Day for my latest novel F#@! BOMB -- and I couldn't be more excited! I have a nice number of guests attending tonight's Facebook party. Plus, I've gotten good feedback so far from people who've started reading it.

I always hope my work will do well and will sell, but even if it doesn't, I'm proud of this book. I put so much of myself into it and am pleased with the result. I'm also very grateful to my "team" for helping me. My editors Diane, Amy, Rachael, Tom and Elaine gave me great suggestions and my designer, Shane Morgan, made the novel look beautiful.

Tonight's FB event should be a lot of fun, so be sure to stop by! I'll be giving away Amazon gift certificates, copies of my book and some of my handmade wire wrapped jewelry:

I'm also having a couple of "guest stars" drop in to add a little more excitement. It will be an opportunity to connect with other readers, as well as to get to know me a bit better. :-)

I hope to "see" many of you tonight online. Meanwhile, please read and review F#@! BOMB, as well as REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD and LOVE NOTES. Thank you for your support!

My New Novel: Meet The Characters!

As we get closer to F#@! BOMB's release date, I've been posting little teasers about the book on the page for my upcoming Facebook Book Release Party. Each day, I've been sharing a "Meet The Characters!" blurb, where I introduce readers to the various personalities in the novel. This way, they'll know who everyone is when they read my book.

I'm trying not to give too much away -- just enough information to get people excited and to whet their appetites for my story. Hopefully, many readers of this blog will join the online party on March 30, 6-8 p.m. ET, but if you can't make it, here are a few of the "Meet The..." posts which I've shared so far. I'll include more in future posts! Meantime, be sure to check out F#@! BOMB, as well as LOVE NOTES and REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, all on Amazon.

MEET THE CHARACTERS!

NAME: Sadie Abramowitz

ROLE IN BOOK: Narrator, female protagonist

AGE: 18 going on 19

OCCUPATION: College freshman majoring in English; plans to be a journalist and writes for the school paper, The Falcon.

TALENTS: Writing, singing, cooking

FLAWS: Eats to calm her emotions, has a bad habit of pushing people away

ABOUT SADIE: Sadie is smart, sassy, hard-working... and very overweight. Her size has caused her to withdraw from her peers and when we first meet her, she's a loner whose best friend is her mom. At college, Sadie befriends Griffin -- a track star, who is also one of her former high school bullies -- and he encourages her to get in shape so she can walk a marathon. As she trains for the event, she not only improves her health, but learns to come out of her shell, make friends and trust people.

MEET THE CHARACTERS!

NAME: Griffin Greenberg

ROLE IN BOOK: Sadie's best friend, coach and lead male protagonist

AGE: 18 going on 19

OCCUPATION: College freshman majoring in Bio; track star, marathoner and Olympic hopeful

TALENTS: Running, coaching, teaching younger kids

FLAWS: Has a quick temper, often acts without thinking, was a bully in high school

ABOUT GRIFFIN: Handsome, charismatic Griffin has always been a star. Being the oldest of four children and a talented runner, people have always looked up to him. Family is very important to him, as well as being Jewish. His father has his son's whole life planned and expects Griffin to run in the Olympics and then become a doctor. However, Griff has keeping a secret: he's gay. He's very reluctant to come out because he's afraid of how the reveal will impact his charmed life. Once he befriends Sadie, he slowly comes to terms with his sexuality and what it means to actually "be himself."

MEET THE CHARACTERS!

NAME: Veronica Miller

ROLE IN BOOK: Sadie's eccentric roommate

AGE: 18-19

OCCUPATION: College freshman majoring in art

TALENTS: Painter and sculptor; her specialty is creating 3-D pieces using "found objects," such as hair, dog poop or chewed-up gum. Is also extremely perceptive and has a talent for seeing through people's b.s.

FLAWS: Sometimes grunts instead of speaks, yells when frustrated, is extremely opinionated, swears like a sailor, is honest to the point where it's hurtful.

ABOUT VERONICA: Having been beaten down by Life, Veronica takes no sh-t from anyone. She favors a classic punk style with piercings and multicolored hair and is basically the exact opposite of Sadie. At first, Sadie thinks her roomie is psychotic, but Veronica often tells her some painful truths when Sadie most needs to hear it. *Side note* -- I originally meant for Veronica to be a minor character who'd provide some comic relief, but she ended up becoming rather integral to the story. She's also one of my favorite characters I've written so far!

The F#@! BOMB Book Release Facebook Party!

Only a couple more weeks before F#@! BOMB is officially released! You can still pre-order your copy on Amazon.

To celebrate my second novel's debut, I'm hosting a Facebook party on March 30, 6-8 p.m. ET. Anyone is welcome to join!

I participated in two of these parties for the LOVE NOTES anthology and they both went very well. It gave me the chance to meet and interact with readers, and we had a lot of fun. Since I've only released my novels as e-books, I haven't had the opportunity to do in-person book signings/readings, so this is the virtual equivalent.

At my upcoming party, I'll be giving away several prizes to some lucky winners, including my handmade jewelry, an Amazon gift card and free copy of my book. It will also be a chance to hang out, meet some new people and have fun.

So please join me for the FB event! And make sure to check out F#@! BOMB, LOVE NOTES and REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD!

My New Novel: Now Available For Pre-Order On Amazon!

Great news! My second novel, F#@! BOMB is finished and is now available for pre-order on Amazon! It will be out on March 30, so you won't have to wait too long to read it.

I've been working on and off on this book for a couple of years, so it's a little surreal for me knowing it's finished. I have that feeling of, "Okay, now what do I do?" but the easy answer is to ... write another book. I began F#@! BOMB soon after the release of REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD and I hope to jump into another project within the next few weeks.

Meantime, I'm really happy with how F#@! BOMB came out. This novel is a heavier story than BAND GEEK, which was basically a romance. I don't know how readers will respond, but I've gotten some good feedback from my editors. More importantly, I'm proud of my work.

One thing I did with this book that I hadn't done with BAND GEEK is make the entire package look professional. I did hire a graphic designer to create my BAND GEEK cover, but I formatted the text myself... which apparently had mixed results. For F#@! BOMB, I hired someone -- Shane Morgan, whose book THE RIGHT SONG is included in the LOVE NOTES anthology -- to design my cover AND text. She did an amazing job! The cover is below, but when you read the book, you'll see the care that was put into the creation of the chapter headers, page breaks, etc. These are details I hadn't thought about when doing BAND GEEK, but every little thing matters. I'm actually thinking of re-doing BAND GEEK's overall design so I can update it and bring it to F#@! BOMB's level.

I hope people enjoy reading my latest book as much as I enjoyed writing it. Here's a blurb to whet your appetite:

Fatty. Freak. Friendless. Failure. Sadie Abramowitz is used to being alone. The morbidly obese college freshman literally doesn’t fit in anywhere and was constantly the butt of jokes in high school.

So far, life at Cunningham University isn’t much better. Her roommate only communicates in grunts while Sadie’s “dream job” at the school paper has her interviewing her fellow students with questions that practically invite them to insult her.

Things change when she’s assigned a story on Griffin Greenberg, the freshman track star who was one of Sadie’s high school bullies. At first, she’s reluctant to work with the gorgeous Griffin, but soon discovers that he’s not such a bad guy. Plus, he’s been keeping a secret: he’s gay.

As their friendship grows, Griffin challenges Sadie to do something she never thought possible: train for a marathon. Meanwhile, she supports him as he slowly comes to terms with his sexuality. Together, they help each other survive their first year of college – and also learn how to stand strong on their own.

Don't forget to order your copy of F#@! BOMB. Also be sure to check out LOVE NOTES and BAND GEEK, all on Amazon.

LOVE NOTES Guest Blog Post And Exciting Update!

The "official" LOVE NOTES Blog Tour ended over a week ago, but Elaine G. Flores of TV Recapper's Delight was kind enough to let me write a guest post for her site. In it, I share how critiquing soap operas for a living led to me writing REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD. Let me tell you, it felt very strange to be writing about soaps again! She and I had a few discussions about which examples I should use in my piece and I felt as if I were going back in time to my days at SOD.

In other news, I've taken a giant leap and have decided to release my second novel, F@#! BOMB in March! I've hired Shane Morgan, author of THE RIGHT SONG, and one of my fellow LOVE NOTES writers, to design my cover. She created the cover for our anthology and I really like her work, so I knew I could count on her to come up with something cool for my book -- and she has. Her concept is simple, but eye-catching, and captures the spirit of my story. I'm going to have a Facebook cover reveal party on March 4 -- and plan to have the book out by March 16.

A few months ago, I attempted to get another agent for this novel, but ultimately decided to again publish on my own. I'll admit, I didn't put as much work into finding an agent as I did for BAND GEEK -- but my heart wasn't in it. I just want to get my work out there without having to go through a bunch of other people. I found that dealing with this aspect of the business made writing a lot less enjoyable for me. I truly respect agents and editors, and the work they do, but I'm just not sure I fit into that world. If I did, I would've found my place in it by now and would have sold a book in the traditional way. Since I haven't, I'm finding another means to do so.

Meanwhile, I'm very excited and nervous about F@#! BOMB's debut! I've gotten some great feedback on BAND GEEK and hope my readers enjoy this one just as much, if not more. So stay tuned for the book's release -- and check out the LOVE NOTES anthology on Amazon.

LOVE NOTES Romance Novel Anthology: Facebook Party!

LOVE NOTES debuted on Amazon this past Monday! So far, things are going well. We're having steady sales online and we've gotten good feedback from readers. I've always been proud of REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD and am pleased that it's getting new life.

To celebrate the anthology's release, we had a Facebook party. Each author took an hour where we chatted with fans and gave away some prizes. I really enjoyed interacting with the readers, who were very enthusiastic and supportive. We had fun discussions about music, rock stars and dating. I also shared a few excerpts from BAND GEEK and gained some new readers.

A couple of people asked if I'd ever consider writing a supernatural novel. One woman in particular requested that I write something about vampires or fallen angels. I love vampire stories, but I don't see myself writing one in the near future. I enjoy writing realistic fiction and there are already many great supernatural series available. If I do a supernatural book, it would have to be something way out of the box... and so far, I haven't come up with a storyline good enough to put on paper. Hopefully, these readers will still enjoy my more realistic take on the world.

Because this event went so well, we are hosting another Facebook party: The LOVE NOTES Valentine's Bash. This one is on Saturday, February 14, 12-4 ET, so you can check in before enjoying your V-day plans. This time, we'll be focusing on the romance portion of our books. Again, we'll be sharing excerpts, chatting with readers and will be giving away prizes, so join us for some fun!

The LOVE NOTES Tour Continues! Plus, Life Imitating Book

The LOVE NOTES tour is still going strong -- and will be until the end of the month! Today REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD is featured on the blogs Teen Hoot Books and Book Groupies. You can read all about LOVE NOTES on these sites and can pre-order it at Amazon! Thanks again to the bloggers for hosting and to fellow authors Kira Adams (PIECES OF ME), Breigh Forstner (STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART) and Shane Morgan (THE RIGHT SONG). Make sure you check into the tour and get the chance to win some cool freebies!

In other news, I'm still putting the finishing touches on my second novel. I'd really like to get it out there by March. I just want this one to be great, even better than the first.

What's funny is that I feel as if I've stepped into the life of my latest novel's narrator, Sadie. Overweight, out-of-shape Sadie makes a life-changing decision when she decides to walk a marathon -- and spends the rest of her freshman year of college training for this event.

Well, for the past year, I've been walking, too. In 2014, I completed my goal of walking 1000 miles (1058 altogether). This October, I'll be participating in Avon's 39.3 mile Walk To End Breast Cancer.

Walking may not seem like a hard-core activity, but let me tell you, training to walk long distances takes work. Over the last year I went from barely being able to walk a mile without stopping to walking 7, 8, 9. 10 miles. This past weekend, my husband and I actually did 12 miles and are working our way up to longer and longer workouts in preparation for the event. I'm hoping to actually run a marathon in the future, but for now, I'll take walking.

The other day a friend commented that I'm following in my character's footsteps and you know what? Sadie has inspired me. There have been days when I haven't felt like getting out and doing those 5 miles I'm scheduled to do, but I thought of Sadie's training schedule and went for it. Maybe it's silly to draw inspiration from a character I wrote, but hey, it works for me, LOL!

I hope to have Sadie's full story out this spring so stay tuned. Meantime, enjoy LOVE NOTES, the perfect read for Valentine's Day.

LOVE NOTES Blog Tour In Progress!

Our Book Blitz Blog Tour for LOVE NOTES kicked off this week! What's really great is that a few dozen book blogs have agreed to host us and promote our novels REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, THE RIGHT SONG (Shane Morgan), PIECES OF ME (Kira Adams) and STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART (Breigh Forstner). Make sure you check out the blogs so you can learn more about our novels and sign up for some fantastic prizes! The full list of blogs can be found at Itching For Books.

Because there are so many blogs involved, we're splitting the tour between the four books and are featuring a different work each day. Today is BAND GEEK's day and you can read more about it (and the rest of LOVE NOTES) on four blogs:

Desert Rose Reviews

Life, Books And More

Feed Me In Books

Cosying Up With Books

For my last blog tour, I wrote a few guest posts about writing YA fiction. This time, I went with a few fun "list" posts: there's a playlist to go along with the novel, detailed descriptions of the major characters and a list of "Easter eggs" within the book. Take a look because this will only add to your reading experience.

Thank you to all the blogs who are participating in our tour! Your help is much appreciated. And be sure to check out our boxed set, LOVE NOTES!