Branding Basics

Novelists are learning to be marketers. We Twitter, and blog, and send out e-newsletters. But branding is a little elusive. It goes hand in hand with platform, a concept that’s also a little squishy for novelists. Still, the branding basics can be tweaked and put to use for book promotion. Here are the fundamentals, which I made note of long ago.

  1. Have enough passion about your brand/product that you appear alarming. Read more

Another E-Book Giveaway

tbt-frontcover4My second standalone thriller is now on Kindle and I’m celebrating by giving away some e-books. THE BABY THIEF is a unique and complex story in which fertility science collides with an isolated cult when two different women decide to have a child.

Enter to win one of five free copies by e-mailing me with Read more

Book Launch Weekend

ttd_cover_hirezI have a big book launch weekend coming up, and I feel a little panicked. So I’m mapping it all out here just to feel like I have everything under control. I’m really looking forward to these events, and I hope you’ll join me.

Friday morning: Get up 5 a.m. so I can workout and be at KUGN radio station by 7:30 a.m. I have a live interview Read more

New Book Giveaway

thesuicideeffect1
I’m finally retiring the weekly giveaway of a print version of THE SEX CLUB—after two years and lots of money spent at the post office. I sent copies as far as Portugal! Instead, I’m starting a weekly e-book giveaway of my new standalone thriller, THE SUICIDE EFFECT. You can enter today by simply e-mailing me with the words Win: The Suicide Effect in the subject line. Read more

New Level, New Possibilities

workshopI taught my first workshop on Sunday at the Willamette Writers Conference in Portland. And actually got paid. My first paid gig as a speaker! It’s a small thing, yet I feel like I’ve hit a new level as a writer. How it will translate into future success remains to be seen. I got terrific feedback on the workshop, titled Your First Draft Doesn’t Have to Suck and based on blogs I’ve posted Read more

Self-Publish Plunge

tse-frontcov-500px1I finally took the plunge! Many traditionally published authors have self-published their backlist titles and/or unsold manuscripts as e-books, and now I’ve joined them in this exciting venture. Why not?

Before I started writing the Detective Jackson series, I wrote several standalone thrillers, Read more