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Blog postAudible has done for audio books what Kindle Unlimited has done for ebooks. So when my publisher asked if I wanted my first book published with them to be made into an audio book I liked the idea. There would be a cost involved, however. Not an insignificant cost either. Having a cosmopolitan family I tend to measure cost against the price of a plane ticket. I could go and visit some family for that price.
If I read the book myself, the publisher continued, it halved the cost. Wow.
I -
Blog postOkay, confession time. How many of you choose a book just because you like the cover? Well, apparently a vast majority! A book's cover is the author's sales pitch to the reader. It must grab the potential buyer's attention and outshine the millions of other covers out there. No pressure!
I am also learning that there are many, subtle indicators, to readers of particular genres, about what they can expect to find inside a book. If your cover promises -
Blog postI've written about the imposter syndrome before - the nagging feeling that you are not a REAL author. The cure for me was the day, a couple of weeks ago, that my publisher wrote confirming that they would publish my second manuscript. I was so elated! Now I believe that I'm a REAL author and I no longer feel like a fake.
The title that I gave the book, 'The Unlucky Governess', may not end up being THE title when it goes to publication but it is a book about an upper cl -
Blog postJust over a year ago we bought a fixer-upper. It had been ravaged by at least three renters and you had to be able to envision its potential to want to buy it. Fortunately, most of the work has been cosmetic but we have invested a lot of sweat equity to begin bringing it back to its former glory.
Every wall needed to be painted. Every wall. We began slowly, a room at a time - you know, the old 'you can eat a whole elephant one bite at a time' proverb. But then it came time to do the two st -
Blog postThough I write Regency Romance (and children's historical fiction), my very favorite genre to read is the "Whodunnit", the classic murder mysteries of Agatha Christie fame. It was her books, in fact, that made me into a reader as a child.
These mild mysteries, that have had a following since Ms. Christie's days, seem to have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity of late under the genre name of Cozy Mysteries.
The thought came to me a few months ago, "Since you like them s -
Blog postI'm back from traveling to Europe and about to leave town again so I thought it was time to add a post to my blog.
Since the release of my book I have been invited to share my thoughts at three book clubs with another planned for after Christmas and it is so much fun! I am loving the interaction with people who have read my book. We have had some great discussions about prejudices, adoption, nasty relatives and the writing process.
In life, when we step out of our comfort zone and tr -
Blog postI have never understood couples who cannot come up with a name for their babies before the birth. I'm not judging, I am just comparing it with my own experience. The minute I know I'm pregnant I am thinking of names, testing how they sound, making sure the name cannot be mutated into something horrible on the third grade playground. And let's not forget the initials. One friend's daughter named her child and the initials were BMW - so they nicknamed her Beamer! Cute.
I actually love the th -
Blog postI am not an extensive planner when I write. Ironically, in real life I am a conscientious planner. So when I first began to write seriously, and attended some lectures and conferences, I thought that I must be the type of writer that planned the whole book down to the last detail because that was the type of person I was.
After one lecture, I gathered a deck of 3x5 cards and wrote chapter numbers on each card and then wrote scenes on separate cards for each chapter. It was a -
Blog postI am a small fish in a rather large pond. Name recognition is one of the goals of any new author as we struggle to compete with the big names. This is where reviews are so helpful. Do you buy anything anymore without looking at the reviews? I don't. If you read a book by any author and love or like it, give the author a virtual hug by writing a review on Amazon and Goodreads. If star reviews are silver, written reviews are gold! It doesn't have to be long or wordy, just a short blurb to encoura
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Blog postIt has been a week since my book was released! People have been so nice! I have been walking on cloud nine all week. I'd like to thank all the people who encouraged me and helped me.
About 18 months ago I happened to be at a place to hear Brandon Mull talk about breaking into publishing 'Fablehaven'. I got up the courage to go and speak to him about it after. He was so encouraging and supportive and told me not to give up. He was soooo nice! He gave me the boost I needed to go for it, alon -
Blog postMy book is out on Kindle already and the hard copy book will be out June 12. I thought it would be fun to run a contest for free signed books. Post pictures (your face does not have to be in the picture) on my FB author page of you reading the book in exotic places you might travel to (yes, your local public pool is considered eligible). The most intriguing will win a signed copy of my book. Deadline will be August 10th, 2018. Happy reading!
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Blog postPresent day authors are marketers too. It is just the nature of the industry today. I took a class about 'Writing to Market' at the writers conference. The presenter had fascinating procedures for writing to maximize revenues. She backed up her presentation with data. Write what people want to read as shown by analytics. She earns a decent salary from her writing and it is growing each year. I felt her energy and was excited but after the class I realized that that is not the way I want to writ
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Blog postI just read about an author who is the mother of 10 and wrote 13 books in one year! Whaat! So now I feel like a slacker! One book a year seems like a dereliction of duty. I can't begin to imagine how she does that and start to panic but then the rational side of me says, "Wait a minute, you are not her and it is not a competition." Phew, thanks for walking me back from that cliff! I think there is a saying that says 'Comparison is the thief of joy.' If there isn't there should be.
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Blog postMy book The Secret of Haversham House goes to print tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited! ( ok not as excited as my grandson when we tell him it's time to eat but close!) There are so many facets to being an author in this day and age; writing is only a part of it. I have just applied for my author page at BookBub and Goodreads. 5 minutes ago I didn't even know that was a thing! It is a baptism by fire and threatens to overwhelm me at times as I try to stay up to date on current marketing st
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Blog postI have been participating in book clubs for over 25 years so the question from my editor should not have been a surprise. But it was! The voice in my head said, "Only really good books would put book club questions in the back. Don't flatter yourself that even one person will want to read your book let alone a whole group wanting to discuss it in a book club!" So I told that old voice to beat it and wrote some questions. It was fun. I wrote nonsense until something stuck and then I wen
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Blog postI have written about this before but it's worth mentioning again. I feel like a fraud. And it's not just me. A niece recently shared a NY Times article (https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/26/your-money/learning-to-deal-with-the-impostor-syndrome.html?_r=0) about this very topic and according to researchers, pretty much everybody feels this way at some point. They call it the 'Imposter Syndrome'. Famous writers have experienced it, a renowned marketing expert and even US presidents. The key is
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Blog postThe first draft of my work in progress is done and now I am onto the deep edit. I got what I wanted to say down and now I need to pretty it up, so to speak. This part of my writing process is grueling. This is when I get down in the dirt and wrestle with the words. This is when I exploit my thesaurus app. I use it so much I feel like I should contribute to their site!
I circle all the times I use the same word in a chapter and then make lists of synonyms to see which word works better with -
Blog postHow many of you were surprised to find that a modern writer must be their own marketing guru? I bet you didn't get into writing because you loved the idea of marketing yourself and your book! This was an unwelcome lesson for me and I am very thankful that my computer savvy husband is taking on this role with me. Publishing has changed so much since the advent of the internet and publishers now expect you to do your own marketing and if you are going to self publish, well, who else is going to d
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Blog postI have been going to writing classes, groups and conventions for about four years now and I have come to the conclusion that I do not fit in a box. I don't fit the writer profile. I don't do it how you are supposed to do it. This has led to some feelings of being a fraud ( which, after some research, I have learned is a common feeling among authors ). I sit in classes and hear writing jargon that is as foreign to me as Russian and I think, "I am the only person here that has no clue what th
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Blog postA new year is a great second chance. Life is full of them. A new month, a new week, a new day. Do we take advantage of them? If we don't meet our writing goals today there is always tomorrow. Someone said the only time we really fail is when we give up.
There are as many ways to write as there are people. We all bring something different to the writing table. We all have different strengths and skills and experiences. But we probably all feel like giving up from time to time.
So a ne -
Blog postChristmas is complicated.
I keep seeing things about simplifying Christmas while the next thing on my feed is about something new I can do to add to my Christmas traditions. I think we are a bit like hamsters in a wheel. So I was considering Christmas Regency style. At first thought, I had some romantic notion that Christmas in the Regency era would have been much more simple but as I pondered that premise a bit longer it soon became obvious that Christmas could not have been -
Blog postHave you ever thought you could have done life in a completely different way? Not because you are dissatisfied with the life you have but because there are so many options and not enough time? I just know that I could have been an excellent translator and imagine I could have gone pretty far in that field. I also think that I would have rocked it as a teacher. I recently served on a jury and enjoyed watching the judicial process and felt that I could have made a career as a lawyer. But I would
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Blog postMy book has an official cover! It is beyond thrilling. The artist at Cedar Fort Publishing and Media is so talented and I loved her first draft. My book will be published in June 2018. Keep visiting my blog for updates on my book and where you will be able to purchase it. I am thinking of posting some video chats too. Ooh, and there will be giveaways.
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Blog postWhen I first started writing I wrote with a basic outline in my head and the words just poured out and the story took shape ( and sometimes took me by surprise ). Then I took a class that promoted a more disciplined approach. They suggested 3x5 cards to plan each chapter and then each scene. I am a pretty organized person and this seemed like it was tailor made for me but as I tried to implement it, the system just didn't work for me. I am very new to writing fiction and my degree is not in cre
Books By Julie Matern
British War Children 2: An Enemy Among Us
Jul 17, 2015
by
Julie Matern
$2.99
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