Thanks to SheWrites Writer for the Awesome Comment on my Book Trailer!

December 7th, 2012 → 6:10 pm @

Comment by Gabrielle Mazur 34 minutes ago
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Just watched your video. It looks great! Very professional looking. Sounds like a book I’d love to read 🙂 And love your doggies, I have an Old English Bulldog. He’s lying at my feet this very minute. I wish you all the success in the world!

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Thanks for the Trailer Views, More is Better!

December 7th, 2012 → 3:50 pm @

Thank you so much for all the views of my trailer. As of right now – we’ve hit a total of 379 views – the ten million mark is right around the corner!

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Thanks to Jan Bolte and the Tri-State Library Conference!

November 8th, 2012 → 6:37 pm @

At the conference

At the conference

I had a wonderful time speaking at the Tri-State Library Conference in October! I am so grateful to Jan for proposing me as a speaker. I met some wonderful people who are actively trying to help promote my book to libraries – and some even bought copies of my book for themselves, their friends and family – that was a huge surprise!

As a result I’ve already had requests for future libraries speaking engagements and book clubs as well! Thanks again for an awesome opportunity.

It was a great opportunity to try out my new book trailer – and the librarians were extremely complimentary – check it out yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmgkpYPi5q8

 

 

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Thanks to Creative Juicer and Emily for the Interview!

October 23rd, 2012 → 5:08 pm @

Check out Emily’s interview here:

http://creativejuicer.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/creative-careerist-robin-l-donovan/

 

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Visit Booth #541 at the Big “O” Show on Wednesday, Oct 17th!

October 14th, 2012 → 8:38 pm @

Bookdisplay

Bookdisplay

Wednesday, October 17th I’ll be at the WriteLife booth #451 from 10:30 – 12:30. Come on by and chat and see my book trailer.

Visit with me and all of the other WriteLife authors – up close and personal. This is a great chance to get to know who’s writing what you’re reading.

I look forward to seeing you at the Quest Center and chatting about the first book in the Donna Leigh Mystery series, I might even be persuaded to share some details on book #2:  I Didn’t Kill Her, But That May Have Been Short Sighted.

 

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Review of The Percussionist’s Wife by Monica Lee

September 19th, 2012 → 7:56 pm @

The Percussionist’s Wife is a simple story of betrayal. The author turns an all too familiar tale into a fascinating and complex examination of an intelligent woman’s journey through a dark, life altering, episode. By sharing her thoughts and her thought process as she navigates this unbearably painful sojourn in her life, the author reveals the nuances that plague a woman during times of intolerable strife. Put simply, sometimes she’s brilliant and insightful, sometimes she’s into self-blame, sometimes she’s deep into denial and rationalization, almost sounding childlike in her naiveté.

Percussionist's Wife

Percussionist's Wife

Who among us has not wondered at our own level of intelligence when faced with a painful dilemma that would hurt far less were we to succumb to denial and rationalization? The author’s brutally honest portrayal of her daily mental climate is all too familiar. It is the most honest accounting of the disparity in our thought process as we move in and out of despair, hope, fury, relief and virtually every other emotion that plagues us as we work our way through life situations that make us feel frightened, insecure, self-doubting, angry and often worthless.

The author put herself out there so we could learn from her experience. She put herself out there so that we can feel worthwhile when we’re feeling worthless, and we can feel as though we’re not alone when we’re most alone.

If I were forced to find fault with The Percussionist’s Wife, it would be that the author, and protagonist, is clearly an intelligent and well-balanced individual, yet we only see the paranoid or rationalizing sides of her, and we don’t get very much information about the parts in her life that are working and wonderful. I think the dichotomy would be even more appalling were we to see how truly successful she is in other parts of her life.

Author

Author

Monica Lee is a personal historian, blogger and writer. A former reporter and newspaper copy editor, she also worked for years as a marketing executive with Creative Memories and Homemade Gourmet. A native of Minnesota, she blogs about her everyday life at http://minnesotatransplant.wordpress.com and writes about writing at http://mindfulmonica.wordpress.com. She lives in northern Illinois with her second husband.

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Check out my book trailer

September 13th, 2012 → 6:47 pm @

My book trailer just went up on the WriteLife YouTube channel today. Check it out:

 

 

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A Huge Thanks to The Lit Coach for including me in her post: Blogs That Work and Why!

August 24th, 2012 → 4:27 pm @

Blogs That Work and Why

by | on August 23rd, 2012 | 4 comments
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Tuesday, I shared the Five Pillars of Effective Blogs as I shared with the LARARWA group this past weekend:

Compelling Content, Consistent Posts, Fresh Ideas, Engagement, and Share-ability

Today, I’d like share with you some of the blogs I discussed and why they work.

Yarnagogo – The blog that launched Knit Lit Romance author Rachael Herron’s career. Rachael shared with me that not only did her blog come before she scored an agent and a three book deal, it pretty much sealed the deal. Her agent and editorial team loved her authentic voice and how she connected with her audience.

Girlfriends Book Club – This collaborative blog featuring Women’s Fiction heavy hitters Ellen Meister, Lauren Baratz-Logsted, Marilyn Brant, Maggie Mar (who I had the great pleasure of meeting at the LARA event) and many more, is a prime example of great content, consistency, fresh ideas, robust engagement with the audience and a community of sharing between most involved on the blog.

I asked Ellen Meister about how the blog began and how they’ve found success as a popular blog. Here’s what she had this to say:

The Girlfriends Book Club blog rose from the ashes of The Girlfriends Cyber Circuit, which was a group of commercially published women authors who posted about each other’s books. That went on successfully for a number of years and eventually just burned itself out. Author Karin Gillespie deserves some kind of medal, because she not only ran the GCC but continues to coordinate and schedule the group blog.
 
It’s a tremendously effective way of reaching people, because there’s strength in numbers. With 40 writers as part of the group, the blog pulls from a vast network.
 
As it turns out, the majority the blog’s readers seem to be aspiring writers. Recognizing this, we post a lot of writing and marketing tips for aspiring authors. My most popular post was 20 Social Media Tips for Writers. Other favorite posts include 16 Tips for Writing Sexy Scenes, 18 Novelists Share Their Writing Routines and Girlfriends Share Tips on How to Be a Productive Writer.
 
As far as promoting our own books, it’s clear that the most popular posts are the ones that offer giveaways.
 
Importantly, the women in the group are tremendously supportive, and we help spread the word about each other’s posts with Tweets and Facebook status updates.
 

Menologues – Robin Donovan, author of Is it Still Murder Even if She Was a Bitch?, began blogging about menopause “because stumbling blindly through menopause is less funny than it sounds.” She wanted to reach a community of women who were going through what she was going through and it worked. Robin had a clearly defined audience, wrote specifically for them and soon, her blog was picked up by Vibrant Nation.

Twinfatuation – Twins expert and author Cheryl Lage has a world-wide audience, has written for an impressive array of national and local magazines, and ezines, has appeared on Martha Stewart Live Radio, has been called by The Today Show and so much more, mostly because of her blog. But like many bloggers who author books, she didn’t begin with a blog. Cheryl contacted me when I was a literary agent and she, a mother of adorable toddler twins and a writer with a great idea about a book for parents of twins and multiples. Cheryl’s story is very special to me and I was delighted to share it on literary agent Rachelle Gardner’s blog (another fabulous blog!). I encourage you to read the short post on how we started building her platform as a twin parenting expert before we sold her manuscript. You may see some of your questions and concerns answered in the robust comment thread.

A Walking Carnival – This has got to be my favorite slice of life blog ever. I like to say Deirdre Lewis, the creator of AWC, is the love child of Erma Bombeck and David Sedaris. A filmmaker and screenwriter by trade, Deirdre’s unique quirkiness shines through her blog as she takes you through her neighborhood in Echo Park, CA, to a dusty old camera shop, to an airport book store and to her father’s house. There is no post I don’t absolutely love. This blog is ALWAYS fresh, pretty consistent and I feel the content is spectacularly good. One of her latest posts is an all imagined dialog between two car mechanics – notice how the conversation reveals so much about the narrator. Deirdre is not repped by an agent, but it won’t be long before she is. She uses the blog to discover her voice and hone her craft. Works for me!

What blogs do you absolutely love and why? Share them below.

TLC

 

 

 

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Comments (4)

  1. Ellen Meister, August 23, 2012
    Thanks so much for another terrific and informative post, Erin. And of course, the shout-out for the Girlfriends Book Club blog is much appreciated! Here’s a recent update–the wonderful Maggie Marr is now at the helm. We’re so lucky to have people like Karin and Maggie to lead the way! Ellen Reply
    • TheLitCoach, August 24, 2012
      Ellen, thanks! I truly feel what you all contribute to the blog world, especially with regard to educating writers, is so valuable. I really enjoy the blog (and need to comment more often!) and am happy to refer writers to it. While I was speaking about GBC in front of the group, Maggie was in the audience. She smiled when I mentioned the name so I stopped and asked her if she knew of the blog. When she said she was ON the blog I nearly died! I was THRILLED to meet a GBC member. Reply
  2. Marilyn Brant, August 23, 2012
    Thanks so much for the shout out, Erin! I feel lucky to be part of the GBC because, as Ellen said, it’s such a tremendously supportive group of writers. I truly enjoy getting to read the posts of the other contributors and have found the readers to be really receptive to the diversity of topics and voice, too. Looking forward to checking out the other blogs you recommended!! Reply
  3. TheLitCoach, August 24, 2012
    Thanks, Marilyn. The GBC blog is so unique and really is a compelling example of how to collaborate with your fellow authors online successfully. Reply

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Donna Leigh Mystery #3 In The Works!

August 3rd, 2012 → 4:47 pm @

Donna Leigh Mysteries

Donna Leigh Mysteries

The third in the Donna Leigh mystery series is well underway. The working title is “I Wonder Why They Killed Him, He Wasn’t Really That Annoying.”

This is the first time our murder victim is male – and he’s also a friend of Donna’s.

The victim, Ed von Hapsburg is a former professional chef and, at the time of the murder, is the owner of a California vineyard and a wine distributorship. Ed’s background and interests will provide an endless supply of food and wine information and action venues.

The second in the Donna Leigh series “I Didn’t Kill Her, But That May Have Been Short Sighted” has been in edit for two months now.

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Look for our first ebook soon!

July 24th, 2012 → 8:17 pm @

For all of you who have asked “can I buy Is It Still Murder, Even If She Was A Bitch? for my ebook reader?” the answer will soon be “Yes!”

We anticipate the release of the first in the Donna Leigh Mystery series to ebook within the month. Thanks for your interest! We’ll make a formal announcement upon its release!

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