Cross Eyed Authors

Whether you have met one of us or not, it is well known amongst our ranks that promotions can take more time than the actual writing of our work. With the advent of digital media and the social networking scene, authors have been pressed into a world most find foreign and intimidating.
You may have heard that most writers are introverts by nature and therefore prefer the fuzzy slippers in front of the glowing screen to the limelight of booksignings.
My publisher recently sent an email in the author loop that I simply would be remiss NOT to share. Authors there were bemoaning the time/lack of it and stress of promoting, so this is what she said:

"1- for those who blog do NOT expect the authors to always jump into your blog to leave a comment. What I do is I flag these posts and when it's my promo time/day, which is normally either every Wednesday or a bit each night, I go into blogs, read and if any comment is needed I post.

2- another thing that I do is I have a TWITTER doc where I post the link to an author's blog and then twitter it (OMG...like the BEST advise and help to your fellow authors EVER and so easy/fast!!--C.L.) during my nightly promo or Wednesday promo days. This way I am helping a fellow Authors get their links out there for some traffic (Now doesn't this make more sense and is easier/faster THAN ALWAYS LEAVING A COMMENT? WISH i HAD THOUGHT OF IT!)

3- we need to promote, yes, but just imagine if all 100+ of us asked everyone to go and check our blogs and leave a comment...where will our time to write come in?

4- open a PROMO doc and jot down all the authors/readers links who have offered to host you in one capacity or the other, write down some of the ideas flowing in here

5- every single one here except me have a life :) so it's not always possible to visit a blog/link the same day, or because of time difference, going through the emails...be patient

Promo is not an easy part of the writing world, I know, but don't make it any more stressful on yourselves. Budget your times. First you write...when you get stumped and can't move on then read emails/visit blogs/twitter.

I know, as a publisher I should be telling you to promote more but promotion needs to have a method of logic and less strain on one's time.

So try to figure out one promo day a week where that's all that you do, or give yourselves a time during the day where you put writing aside and simply relax and brag about your books, blogs, twitters, facebooks, or any other social networks you belong to. Once you get the hang that time devoted to promo needs a logical process, then everything falls into place.

My method, I visit as many groups as possible during their allowed promo days and I brag about your books, leaving cover images, buy page links, blurbs. So in your PROMO doc, make sure you have a table that states DAY ALLOWED FOR PROMO and the LINK and visit these social places to promote your books at least twice a month if that's all you can do for now.

I hear several of you saying 'my book doesn't come out until so and so a date'... this doesn't mean you can't begin building a buzz about your book, get interviews and talk about your book, blog about your book, find a virtue in your book to make you an expert in that field and write an article, to begin promoting and branding yourself as a writer, etc.

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Personally, I love exchanging ideas with folks online--so much so my manuscript writing time definitely suffers. So, dear readers, whether you are an author, aspiring author or a reader take note. We who pour our heart out onto the page--as much as we love you--have good reason for having bald patches, premature gray and zig-zag smiles--you know why. We love YOU and want you to know about the fruits of our labours!

A comment on a blog, an email scrawled telling us how our work effected you, a review placed on Amazon, a "like" on our Facebook page, a subscription to our blog---priceless.

Romantic Times Book Lovers Convention Set to Storm L.A.

April 6th through 10th, 2011 hundreds of romance authors, editors, agents, librarians, bookstore owners, other industry professional and thousands of readers will gather at the classy bronze glassed cylinders of the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Los Angeles for the yearly romance-love fest. Workshops by day and elegant dinner dances by night,



the event will be topped off by the crowning of the new "Mister Romance" on Saturday evening. He will receive a bookcover shoot contract with a major publishing house as well as the substantial boost this award gives any aspiring model's career.



The elite group of candidates will mingle week long, schmoozing authors and readers alike to see the fruits of their candidacy.





MuseItUp and MusetHot will be represented by Christine London. She will be there throughout, available to answer questions about our house as well as take names and contact information of those authors who show interest and promise. She will also be signing at both the E-book Expo and the Print Bookfaire!

Both the electronic Book Expo on Friday the 8th from 4-6p.m. AND the print Book Faire on Saturday the 9th 11a.m.-2p.m. will feature hundreds of signing authors. Separate entry to these events is only five dollars--an opportunity to meet the biggest names in romance.






Six of our Muse authors and our wonderful boss have generously donated gifts to be raffled at "Club RT" to one very lucky reader. Champagne, luscious chocolates, dinner at Red Lobster, a night out at the cinema, free Muse romance downloads, candle, lotion, romantic DVDs and author swag are wrapped up in cellophane to be displayed for all to see--valued at over two hundred dollars. Flyers telling a bit about our awesome participating Muse Authors will bookend the basket. We are featured on the RT website as donors.





Many thanks to Lea for her generous sponsorship and our own Karen Cote, Marsha A Moore, Viviane Brentanos, Christine London and Sara Durham for their donations and support of this project!

Six Sentence Sunday Going Hog Wild

Hi all and thanks for stopping by. :)

Today I thought I'd give you a peak into my June release and spin off of Shadows Steal The Light---HOG WILD. Sexy, erudite music promoter Kyle Matthews has just had his heart torn from his chest losing out to his best friend and top client, hard rock star Colin Dunlow.

What's a man to do? Hop on a top of the line Harley and shoot off into the wilds of the desert southwest...

Sinclair MacTavish ruled the world of motorcycle mechanics able to repair anything under the Four Corners sun. But when a cynical, road weary Brit crashes through the door of her garage, she's in for more than just another cantankerous client. He may be the challenge of her life.

Here's how the tale begins:


The unique calming vibration of the Heritage Classic under him rumbled through his body in comforting familiarity: a quarter ton of throbbing Harley between his legs. The only soul on the road for as far as the horizon extended, he still felt the disquieting rupture in his psyche. The gentle sloping arrow of blistering pavement beneath his tires stretched out before him like some metaphorical bookmark pointing the way to his future.

Not even the stark grandeur of the wind-carved monoliths of stone haunting the American Southwest’s mystical Monument Valley could distract him from his mission. Every mile he put between himself and Los Angeles was that much further from her; the woman he couldn’t have.

The ache of loss still made his lungs feel like they'd been scraped with steel wool and set out to dry in the desert sun.





Coming June 2011
http://tinyurl.com/4hmehoq

Visit me at christinelondon.com for all the newest!

Battle: Los Angeles--Surprises in Store

Battle: Los Angeles--An action thriller about a global offensive initiated by unknown extraterrestrial hostiles.

By the television adverts and posters one might rightly believe Battle: Los Angeles to be an early summer blockbuster release—lots of shoot ‘em up and action with little depth. Popcorn trivia.

One would be wrong.

Sure, there is plenty of gun action and explosions for the testosterone drive. There are even times when you might think you are in the middle of a protracted ad to join the Marines. But at the end of the day the scales are tipped in favour of the film by its more than casual look at the structure of command and the emotion behind it.

The one sentence blurb about the film is misleading. It is not about a global offensive. That is a shadow in the background of its focus on a small group of Marines and the civilians they attempt to save from the onslaught of “unknown extraterrestrials’. It is gritty ground-pounding door-to-door offensive edge of the seat stuff. It almost doesn’t matter that there is a single alien in this film. It could be about any enemy to America—any intruder on native soil.

Is it bait and switch? Have the producers tried to fool us into thinking this is a film about saving the world from E.T.? No. There’s plenty of action with the squid-alike aliens (Any parallel to Marines versus the Navy is purely coincidental. I’m sure). What makes this a pleasant surprise is the interaction between characters and the mechanics of team. When the explosions and gunplay fade into the vanilla of every other action film what remains is the humanity. Memorable indeed.

No fury hath...A Six Sentence Sunday woman scorned

My first week of Six Sentence Sunday behind me, I re-enter the friendly waters with much less trepidation.(Lots more wonderful sixes to read through the home blog: http://sixsunday.blogspot.com/) Happy to hear so many of you enjoyed the six from Shadows Steal The Light posted last week, I have decided to shed some light on our heroine, Jenna. Last week you got a glimpse into a frantic moment for the hero, Colin. Will he survive the maniac after him as they fistfight on the roof of a moving big rig? Hmmm…

As a rock star, Colin usually leads quite the glamorous life—not! It is a misnomer to call celebrity scum... that those in the spotlight don’t suffer the very same insecurities and life challenges as we plebs. They are, at the end of the day, just men with the same magnetic draw to a lovely woman. In fact, sometimes they can plain piss her off. Perhaps a slice of life as Colin’s manager, and rival for lothario of the rock circuit, Kyle Matthews, attempts to quell Jenna’s temper when she finds out both he and Colin have not exactly been straightforward with her…



“God, do any of you bastards ever tell the truth?” The words came out of her like venom.

Kyle recoiled to a safe distance. “Judging by the way you described your fondness for rockers to me, luv, I doubt Colin would even admit to attending a rock concert, much less divulge that he’s the lead singer for one of the most successful rock bands in modern history.”

She looked at him with contempt. “You need to leave, Kyle, before I say something I’ll regret.”







Go Jenna…you tell ‘em, girl!


From Shadows Steal the Light
Available now through MuseItHot




PURCHASE LINK

http://tinyurl.com/4fn3e6b

Incredible Secrets of Nature

When millions of sardines turned up dead, clogging Redondo Beach's King Harbor in Los Angeles with their silvery bodies, the world paused for a moment to wonder at the site.




When the largest earthquake ever experienced in Japan devastated the country with collapsed structures, fires and tsunami's wrath, the world cried.




When something as profoundly destructive of human life and endeavors rips across the headlines, we all send a prayer for those affected --another of thanks that our families are safe.

The clean up of tones of fish from a Los Angeles harbor and surrounding beaches ostensibly caused by some other force---millions of fish losing their way, driven into the confines of a man made harbor where they quickly depleted the oxygen in the water-- is put into perspective. No less devastating to the sea life that relies on this baitfish for survival, this prescience to human disaster has many whispering about the prediction of 2012 end of days.






When two such events happen so closely in our timeline, following on the heals of other earthquakes along the ring of fire, it's not unusual to wonder 'what the heck is going on?' The forces of nature are still largely beyond our control—and understanding. We are after all just one of the thousands of species that share this beautiful blue marble spinning through space. The more we learn, the more we realize we have yet to discover.




So as the enormous power of a shift in the earth's crust causes we men to pause in our clean up efforts for another strange occurrence, isn't it a marvelous moment to step back and remember---we are not the masters of this ecosystem and if we don't respect its ultimate wisdom, it just may shake us off like a bad virus.

Respect and honor our mysterious and wonderful planet.

Six Sentence Sunday and Shadows Steal the Light

Welcome to Six Sentence Sunday--An opportunity to communicate through a thin slice of manuscript the feel of a time and place unique to one novel, one story. Obviously the moderators of this fantastic idea love 'S' alliteration as much as I...lol. (http://sixsunday.blogspot.com/)
Today I have chosen a sliver from Shadows Steal The Light--my contemporary suspense set in UK, Seattle, and Los Angeles.

Colin Dunlow is caught in a web of alcoholism precipitated by his skyrocketing fame as lead singer of the world’s hottest hard rock group, Dumbarton. When he bumps into legal activist and sultry jazz singer, Jenna Lindstrom, he’s no idea what’s in store. How can he maintain his newfound sobriety whilst navigating a comeback and investigate who might want him dead? All of this and he has an AA sponsor who won’t allow him any serious relationship, not if he wants to live. What’s a rocker to do? Especially when the woman of his dreams hates rock and roll.

Indeed. And what's a man to do when some anthropoid maniac is about to catch up to him. In six sentences...

Colin moved along the roof toward the cab,
remaining crouched to preserve what advantage a lower center of gravity might afford on the moving vehicle.
He felt, rather than saw, his assailant landing on the cold reflective gray of the truck’s
roof; vibrating shockwaves caused by the weight of his body striking the rear of the trailer
telegraphed through the metal like a seismic shock. Colin turned to see the man leaping
across the long surface of the roof. Who is this…f**king Spiderman? Colin’s racing thoughts
jumbled in an upset of twisted incomprehension as he tried to force his mind to cooperate.

If you like what you read, pop over to MuseItUp publishings bookstore and you can have a read of this riveting tale of a man caught by circumstance--and love.

MuseItUp Publishing Bookstore
Shadows Steal the Light
http://tinyurl.com/4lggyrv

Enjoy!

Christine London
Author of Romance With a Twist
Visit my website at www.christinelondon .com for the latest!