The Fussy Librarian

Okay, I found a new site a few weeks ago, and I really like the service it provides. So I've decided to share it with my readers. Enjoy!

Do you remember the "good ole days," when the librarian knew your name and reading preferences? And when you walked in the door, she'd take you aside and say, "There's a great new book, and I know you'll love it." And you read it, and she was right. You loved it.

Well, there's a new site on the web called The Fussy Librarian, and their aim is to be just like that librarian that you used to know and love. At The Fussy Librarian website, you fill out a form about the genres of books you like to read. Then, you let them know what your preferences are with regards to profanity, sex, and violence. They crunch the data, and once a day, they email you a list of free and cheap books that fit your reading needs and preferences. Simple. And FREE.

If you'd like to sign up (I did), click here.

If you're an author, you can submit your book to be considered. But they do have certain requirements in terms of ratings, quality, etc. But you can check that out here.

Romance and Action

Because Valentine’s Day is coming up, I’ve been thinking about movies (and books) that have been popular with men and woman and boys and girls. Not that my husband or boys won’t watch the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice, but let’s just say that it’s not high on their to-watch list. They’d much rather watch Black Hawk Down, Hamlet or one of the Batman movies.

And although there aren’t a lot of books and movies we all like, there are some. For example, the Bourne movies, Harry Potter series, Alfred Hitchcock movies, the Hunger Games novels, and Lord of the Rings. While they are all very dissimilar, the commonality between them is a balance of action and romance. Amidst all the action (Jason Bourne finding his life, Harry learning to be a wizard, Cary Grant nearly getting thrown off Mount Rushmore, Katniss trying to survive, and Aragorn winning his throne), there is a backdrop of love and romance. Jason falls in love with a kind-hearted woman trying to find her purpose in life, Harry falls for Ginny, Cary falls for the gangster’s moll who works as a spy, Katniss tries to choose between Gale and Peeta, and Aragorn longs for Arawen.

What about you readers? Besides good writing/acting, do you think a balance of action and romance helps make a movie/book popular with both sexes? And what recommendations do you have—let me know in the comments section. I’d love to get a list of book and movie recommendations from you.

Good news to share: I can finally report that I finished the first draft of book 3 last Friday! Today, I start editing. Yay!

Green-Eyed Monster

When an author first publishes (whether traditionally or indie), he or she tells themselves that the most important thing is getting their story out. Finding readers who connect with their novel and its characters. Getting good reviews is more important than sales. I know I said it, and I meant it.

And then...we start to forget. Especially when we read about Author X who announces that they’ve sold ten gazillion copies of his (her) book. And he’s quit his day job, bought a villa in the south of France, and has workers who maintain a garden that inspires him to greater literary heights. At which point, the green-eyed monster of envy decides to visit. After all, we (newbie writers) would like a villa in the south of France, instead of an apartment/condo/house that has peeling linoleum and whose chief literary inspiration is the mold growing on the bathroom ceiling that resists X-14.

By the time we’re done cursing bathroom mold, peeling linoleum, and all villas located near the south of France, we’ve forgotten why we wrote. Then, everything starts to fall apart. Instead of taking joy in our work, we start checking those book sales every day. We desperately try this or that marketing strategy, which seem to make no difference. We become people our families don’t recognize.

So, here’s a little wake-up call. First of all, not everyone can or will be Author X with the twenty gazillion sales. (Yes, sales doubled in the twenty seconds it took you to read these paragraphs—that’s how fast Author X is selling books.) You can’t be Author X. Sorry. Cope. Author X is Author X. And you are you. And before you (or I) grouse any more, here’s the deal.

First of all, the numbers aren’t always the numbers. When a traditionally published author says he published Y number of books, it’s not always the truth. (I’m not talking about liars here, though there are those too.) For example, maybe 60K copies of his books were printed and shipped to bookstores. But those aren’t sales. And the author won’t know how many sales he’ll make until the bookstore sends the unsold books back for a refund. As for the indie publisher (BTW, according to Amazon’s contract you’re not supposed to release your sales numbers—read the contract fine print.), do the numbers that they release include returns, do they include books given away for free, etc.?  Until recently, Amazon’s author stats didn’t even include a way to separate promo books (free) from books where people spent money. All that to say, that the numbers aren’t always the numbers.

I could go on about the fact that the playing field isn’t level. If you have a full-time job or children, you don’t have the time that others do to invest in marketing. If you don’t have a lot of money, you can’t invest in your career. Now, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t do our best at marketing, I’m just saying that life isn’t fair. But I think you already knew that.

The answer is to remember why we first wrote—the joy of writing. We need to take joy in the good reviews and the people who say, “I loved your book.” And take joy in your sales, whatever they are—2 books or 20,000. Every book sold is one more reader who’s joined you in the world you created.

So celebrate your successes! Celebrate others’ successes!

Here’s a photo of my latest celebration—I hit a personal sales’ goal.

Pink champagne and a European fruit tart. YUM!

BTW, if I ever buy a villa in the south of France, you’re all welcome to visit.

Tags

Years ago there was a line of children’s clothing called Garanimals. Each piece of clothing was tagged with a particular animal, and the idea was that if you bought all “hippo” clothing everything you bought would be interchangeable. The ideal mix and match clothing line. Of course, I’m not sure why this would be important. I’m pretty sure most people can figure out how to match a pair of pants and a shirt. Perhaps it was so parents could be sure that whatever their kids picked out to wear would match. But honestly I like it when my kids chose to wear mismatched clothes. I’d say, “Just so you know, most people don’t wear plaids and stripes at the same time.” My child would say, “I like them.” And I’d say, “Fine. I just wanted to be sure you knew.”

Of course, not all tags are silly. Some, like Amazon’s book tags, are very useful. Lately, I’ve been talking to people and discovered that a lot of people who buy books from Amazon aren’t familiar with book tags. Here’s a screenshot if you’re not sure what I’m talking about. (The tag section is located after the "Meet the Author" and "What Other Items" sections.)

Those tag boxes can be checkmarked. (A single book can have lots of tags. And if you as a reader think it should have a tag that you don’t see there, you can add it.) When readers checkmark the tags it helps other readers and authors. It helps readers because they can search for books with those categories. For example, if you like time travel books, you can find a whole host of time travel books by searching for that particular tag. Tagging books helps authors because tags are part of Amazon’s algorithm to present books to readers. The more tags (as well as purchases) a book gets the more the book gets recommended to readers. So go tag your favorite books (and my book too).

BTW, a lot of people have been asking how the sequel is going and when it’s going to be available. I’m not sure when it’s going to be available. (I’m hoping for early summer. I was hoping to have it available sooner, but my family has had one nasty sickness after another since August.) But I’m over halfway through the second big edit. Next, it will go to beta readers. Then I’ll make more edits. After that, I’ll proofread it and it’ll be good to go.

Why Do You Read?

Okay, raise your hand if you read the back of cereal boxes. Yep, just as I suspected—lots of hands, my own included. Boredom readers. Breakfast is a boring meal at our house. No one’s had their coffee yet, so we sit at the table staring at one another and hoping that caffeine and sugar will jump start our brains.

Sometimes I read the newspaper, other times I don’t. I really don’t care what-actress-dumped-what-actor-for-what-reason. There’s always the front page, but I’m sick to death of politics and economics. The novel that I’m reading is infinitely more interesting (even the cereal box is more interesting if my brain is too befuddled to remember where I left the novel I was reading). Which leads to another reading reason—escapism. I love to take a break and visit another time or place or other people whose faces aren’t glazed with sleep.

But I have another reason for reading, beauty and thought. Sometimes I set aside time to experience words and their stories—poetry and classic literature. (BTW, the Aeneid is a total Iliad knock off. Homer should have sued.)

And sometimes I read to laugh. I like Dave Berry, though I feel sorry for his mother-in-law. And I love PG Woodhouse. Someone has said of him, “It is impossible to be unhappy while reading the adventures of Jeeves and Wooster. And I've tried.” It’s true. Try it.

What about you? Why do you read?