Tag Archives: books

Snuggle & Read in This Cold Weather

Posted on January 17, 2018 | 5 comments

One desperate young woman.
A chance meeting.
A life-changing outcome.

You might think that’s the promotional hook for one of my own novels, but you’d be wrong. It’s from Caroline Clemmons’ Amanda’s Rancher, one of eight stories on sale at Amazon and featuring strong heroines, gorgeous heroes–books full of danger, twists, cry-out-loud woe, plenty of romance, and feel-good endings. While the snow swirls and the surf pounds the shore, snuggle up with one of these delightful historical romances, on sale through January, and get lost in the lives of courageous pioneer women. The books are well-written, sweet romances set in Debra Holland’s Montana Sky Kindle World locations, Sweetwater Springs and Morgan’s Crossing, Montana Territory.

The Complete List of Engaging Titles

On Sale for Less Than a Buck The Author’s Facebook Page
Loving Matilda Elizabeth Ayers
Hope on the Horizon Cassie Hayes
Amanda’s Rancher Caroline Clemmons
Slater’s Bride Patricia Thayer Wright
Rye’s Reprieve Louella Nelson
Nolan’s Vow Linda Hubalek
Thorpe’s Mail-Order Bride Cindy Woolf
Laced by Love Linda Carroll-Bradd

News Item: All Kindle World books are now in Kindle Unlimited.

For a complete list of Debra Holland’s Montana Sky novels, click here.
For a complete list of other authors’ novels set in Debra’s Kindle World, click here.

Now, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t mention my own book on sale, Rye’s Reprieve, and its metamorphosis.

I woke up one chilly morning at four AM with a complete scene whining and begging and crying to be written. I obliged, of course.

Rye's Reprieve (3) Final - CopyWhen the scene was polished, I sent it to best-selling author Debra Holland, for whom I serve as developmental editor for all her fiction. She read the scene on the plane en route to a writers’ conference in New York and meetings with Amazon’s editorial personnel. There, they hashed out the details of launching a new Kindle World based on the many successful Montana Sky novels she’s written, and Rye’s Reprieve came into being on February 8, 2016 in the first KW launch.

The book rose to #5 in Amazon’s Top 100 Historical Romance list and for weeks was in the first two slots for KW Westerns and KW Romance. It gets even better.

Through a private Facebook group, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed meeting the authors who have joined Debra’s Kindle World. We now have a map of one of the town settings, Morgan’s Crossing, where my own Harper Ranch Series is set, and many pages of a “bible” in which we list out titles, characters, date-span, and settings to keep them straight. We often collaborate by including some of the other authors’ (or Debra’s) key characters in our own books. It’s fun, and the readers love the huge “family” we’re building and visiting with in the books.

There are now five pages of our Montana Sky Kindle World book titles on Amazon, and I’m currently working on Book Four of my Harper Ranch Series.

It’s cold outside. Get under your favorite comforter, snuggle up with a cup of tea or cocoa, and enjoy these wonderful historical romances.

5 Comments

Posted in Best Selling Author, Book Advertising, book promotion, Books by Debra Holland, Books by Louella Nelson, Fiction Writing, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, horse ranch, Marketplace News, Morgan’s Crossing, Promotion, Publishing, Publishing Market, Sweet Chaste Romance, Sweetwater Springs, Uncategorized, Writing Inspiraation

Tagged , , , , ,

Three new opportunities for down-home reading

Posted on May 10, 2017 | Leave a comment

Rye's Reprieve WR rank 2017-05-08My friend Debra Holland emailed me a couple days ago to say Rye’s Reprieve climbed to #41 on Amazon’s prestigious Top 100 Western Romance ebooks list, lingering among the latest works of leading historical romance authors of the day, including Debra. My historical novel is currently #1 in Kindle World Westerns, #3 in Romances.

I have many of you to thank for buying Rye’s Reprieve and for the more than 75 reviews received to date. Book One in the Harper Ranch series will be on sale for 99 cents for the month of May, a savings of $3. Look for an announcement in eReaderNewsToday on May 15. This is my first historical romance: In 1886 Montana Territory, Rye, a gifted surgeon, hides his healing gifts working as a gold miner. Veterinarian and horse rancher Missouri Harper, the sole support for her three sisters and ailing aunt, must fight her attraction to the handsome miner, whose secrets are cause for hesitation and whose bravery puts her in his debt. http://amzn.com/B01BLWL8X8

Rye's Reprieve (3) Final - Copy  rebel-love-song-final-300dpi  Together on sale for $4.98 through May

Rebel Love Song, Book Two in the Harper Ranch series, will appear on http://www.BooksButterfly.com May 24-26. http://a.co/7XQ5LX2  Intrigue, jealousy, and ambition bring suffragette Jessamine Harper, talented metalsmith Bethesda Janes, and a determined government agent to a dramatic stand-off.  Book Three, Rose of Redemption, launches July 18 and features a third Harper sister, Susan, who expects to remain a spinster because of an earlier serious mistake in judgment, and Rye’s older brother, shipping magnate Joseph Rawlins.

Night Sky Stars Clouds Northern Lights mirrored Sale June 4 – 11

The best-selling Mail-Order Mate will be on sale June 4 through June 11, also at 99 cents, regularly $3.99, and will be advertised on http://www.RobinReads.com. Don’t miss this tale of romance, deception, and danger in the wilds of Alaska. http://a.co/3C9Fsao

Delle Jacobs created the covers of Mail-Order Mate and Rebel Love Song. Erin Dameron-Hill designed the cover of Rye’s Reprieve. The interiors of all three books were designed by Amy Atwell at http://www.AuthorEMS.com.

Leave a comment

Posted in Best Selling Author, Book Advertising, book promotion, Book Sales, Books by Debra Holland, Books by Louella Nelson, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, horse ranch, Morgan’s Crossing, Publishing, Self Publishing, Sweet Chaste Romance

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Art is Not a Thing. It is a Way.

Posted on February 12, 2017 | Leave a comment

rainbow-fan

An Editorial by Louella Nelson

In February 2017, the New York Times cut many of its popular categories of best-seller lists—including the lists for mass market paperbacks, a bastion of the romance novel—upsetting many in the arenas of publishing and reading. “Among the lists that appear to have disappeared are the graphic novel/manga and the mass market paperback lists as well as the middle grade e-book and young adult e-book lists,” Publishers Weekly’s Calvin Reid reported on January 26.

I prefer to follow up with good news: I thought this comment by the editor and publishing manager of Romance Writers of American (RWA) based in Houston, Erin Fry, was a beacon to authors who strive so long and hard to reach a pinnacle in publishing. “Thankfully,” Fry writes, “there are a number of other ways members can achieve Honor Roll outside of the NYT list: appear on the Publishers Weekly Top Ten bestseller list or any other PW best-seller list based solely on format, genre, or region; appear in the top 50 of the USA Today bestseller list; or have sold at least 100,000 copies in a single language” (which is the category I fall into).

Fighting back, RWA National sent this open letter of objection to the Times and also posted the statement on its own website:

As a trade association representing more than 10,000 writers of romance fiction worldwide, Romance Writers of America (RWA) is deeply disappointed by the decision of the New York Times to change its bestseller criteria.

Romance authors, most of them women, have dominated the best-seller lists in mass market and e-books for years. To dismiss these authors and the millions of readers who buy their books is to ignore what “bestseller” truly means. Each year, consumers buy more than $1.3 billion worth of romance fiction. If the New York Times eliminates the mass market and e-book lists, they are proving that they are out of touch with what consumers actually buy. Further, the dismissal of two formats dominated by women can’t help but feel sexist.

RWA strongly urges the Times to reconsider its decision.

_____________

Reid doubts they will, and that’s a shame. Literally. Art–and there IS art evident in mass market fiction–is not a thing you can toss away on a whim or a concern about a bottom line. Art is the thread that binds a culture and makes it strong, vibrant.

I believe the move to cut back lists of popular fiction signifies the ongoing killing off of creative arts in favor of the flourishing of financial interests in our culture, if “cultural” we’d be when our arts dry up.

At the end of January, one blog post on a site called The Passive Voice announced a snide headline: “Panicky NYT circles the wagons around 1%-ers, throwing the rest of traditionally published authors to the wolves.” The 1%-ers are the big-name authors who hit the best-seller lists every time they launch a new hardcover. Pretty much the entire reading world knows their name. If a publisher mostly publishes 1%-ers, they’re playing it safe and not trusting that an investment in a new author will pay off. That’s been going on for a while.

Thus, new authors flock to publish their own books. However, the NYT shut another door in their faces. If the new author does everything right and sells a ton of copies, expect no recognition from the NYT: The organization dropped e-book lists. Looks like the NYT is playing to the 1% market, cutting costs, risk, the hopes of new authors, and the pleasure of millions who seek a new voice to read.

Without data to back up my claim but with life-experience guiding my opinion, I suspect that, like other major papers, the NYT suffers its share of money woes. As is so often the case when the financial picture darkens for a corporation or a country, funding and notice for the arts get cut back. For example, following the 2008 financial meltdown, the University of California Extension in Irvine, where I was teaching beginning through advanced novel-writing courses, cut all arts classes from its catalogue. They kept the computer-related courses that filled to capacity every quarter and that strategy no doubt helped the Extension program survive the financial crisis.

The ivory tower creative writing degree program at UCI only allows in about 8-10 students from all over the world, each year. So the closing of the Extension writing courses meant a good deal of Orange County and beyond went without a place to learn to write, publish, or produce. That was 11 years ago.

Even though the economy has rebounded, not much has changed at my local Extension. A quick scan of the catalogue I checked today shows business management, instructional technology, process improvement, finance, law, leadership—a host of valuable courses that can earn my neighbors some cash flow working in the businesses in Orange County. But not one course is offered in creative writing, screen writing, play- or poetry- writing, never mind singing, painting, dance, and so on.

I try to stay positive. And most of the time I can rise above that tug of disillusion that stems from chaos at the national level, mayhem in countries that offer rich culture and rare antiquities, and a community institution that delivers “university-level learning solutions by leveraging the expertise of the … campus and community” but completely ignores the need of the human spirit to renew itself in its arts (quote from UCI website).

Instead of advertising “solutions” and “leveraging,” let’s hear them yell out loud, “Creativity encouraged here!” Creativity is a friendly animal who lives quite well alongside capitalism, as successful romance writers know well. Instead of cut-backs in national lists of the books people love, let’s add lists for the new genres birthed by creative minds. Let’s open the doors of learning once again to the singing of souls through literature, music, and art.

It’s not just the number-crunchers at the New York Times or the local college or university that pluck at my positivity, but also the surging mood in Washington to do away with funding for the arts. Greed is more ubiquitous now than it used to be. Greed kills art.

The grand opera singer Beverly Sills believed, “Art is the signature of civilizations.” In this age, what are we leaving to posterity? A narrower view of what books to read? A business-only agenda? I ask this not just as a published writer but also as a college writing teacher and as a sole proprietor, a businesswoman serving the editorial and mentoring needs of best-selling and aspiring writers. What will we teach the next generation, those fresh young minds who feel a soul-deep longing to create—not just in computer science, for example, but in computer-generated art? That their dreams are not valid? That financial and engineering professions are more important?

Let’s just stop. There is another way to live, a way that arrays our many-faceted talents like a rainbow fan.

Elbert Green Hubbard was an American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher who was born before the Civil War and unfortunately went down with the RMS Lusitania in 1915. He said, “Art is not a thing; it is a way.”

Leave a comment

Posted in Best Selling Author, Book Sales, Books by Louella Nelson, Editorial Viewpoint, Fiction Writing, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, How to Sell Books, Marketplace News, Memoir Writing, Opinion, Publishing, Publishing Market, Self Publishing, Self Publishing, Writing How-to, Writing Inspiraation, Writing Instruction, Writing Tips

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Collaboration Between Writer Friends

Posted on October 19, 2016 | Leave a comment

In 2016 we wrote together, did speaking engagements, and supported one another through the loss of a beloved pet.

lou-deb-at-kindle-worlds-panel-rwa-2016

New York Times best-selling author Debra Holland and I spoke on a panel in July 2016 at the Romance Writers of America National Conference. The topic was writing for Amazon’s Kindle Worlds. About 100 attendees asked questions about the financial and marketing side of writers developing stories in a famous author’s fictional “world.” In the case of Debra’s Montana Sky Kindle World, authors may have their own characters interact with Debra’s already created and established characters, they may link their World books to other series the authors have created via traditional or independent (self) publishing, and they may spin off new series within Debra’s Montana Sky towns, Sweetwater Springs and Morgan’s Crossing. Other World creators have their own rules for participation. Amazon must approve World books before they are released.

In my case, as many of you know, I began a new series on a ranch  I created in the mining camp of Morgan’s Crossing. Rye’s Reprieve, set in 1886, features a doctor with a secret and a veterinarian who has come west with her sisters to make the family-owned Harper Ranch flourish. It was my first historical novel and rose in Amazon rankings to #7 in Historical Romance in August. The next in the series, due to release by Amazon December 15, 2016, features a suffragette being tracked by a federal agent and a miner with secret gift and a mysterious past–Rebel Love Song.

Debra and I will do a second panel discussion on Kindle Worlds, with other authors, at the March 24-26, 2017 California Dreamin’ Writers Conference at the Embassy Suites in Brea, CA.

On October 13 we spoke to Professor Karen Felts’ class on Sexuality and Gender at Orange Coast College and fielded questions about romance writing, the writer’s journey, publishing, and the link between imagination and life-experience in writing fiction.

These collaborations emerge from 15 years of working together.  Debra came to me in the late 90’s because she wanted to augment her work counseling stars in Hollywood; she wanted to become a published fiction writer.

I was already teaching writers through classes I developed at UCI Extension, and I was mentoring a women’s writers group on Fridays in my home. I took Debra on as a client.

After a series of one-on-one consults focused on the basics of scene and story design and character development, Debra joined the Friday group. Wild Montana Sky was the result of a prolonged association with this critique group; the book went on to win national awards and Debra spent the next ten years trying to be traditionally published. It was a disappointing ten years.

However, when she self-published Wild Montana Sky on Amazon for Kindle, over the next 11 months the book sold nearly 100,000 copies. Suddenly the big houses who had rejected her were calling to ask her to choose them to publish her Montana Sky series. She turned them down and went with Amazon, publishing several sweet historical novels in the series, self-publishing spin-off novels, collaborating with a sister romance author on a series, and releasing fantasy novels as well as a text on grief and grieving and a chapter in an anthology on self-publishing. For all her titles, visit her Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/Debra-Holland/e/B004XXKZH8

I remain Debra’s developmental editor, making suggestions on the flow of the narrative in her fiction, on the consistency of characters, on logic, on dates and weather and opening hooks and all the myriad complexity that makes a successful piece of fiction.

In 2015, to help keep each other motivated (because writing is very hard, lonely, draining work even if exciting at times), Debra and I began to write together at my dining room table. We continue to do so. She just completed An Irish Blessing, book 2 of The O’Donnell Sisters Trilogy, related to the Montana Sky novellas. It releases this month. I have been working on book 2 of the Harper Ranch series, Rebel Love Song.

The collaboration goes beyond writing, though.

lou-n-tux-9-18-16-jLast month I had to put down my 18-year-old kitty pal, Tuxedo, who was approaching kidney failure, and Debra, as both friend and a doctor of psychology, was just the right kind of support: loving, expressing condolences, backing off on the writing regimen while I grieved, and checking on me. I was grateful–as I was for all the wonderful notes I received on Facebook from my followers.

I won’t go into details, but I was able to support Debra through a house-move and a personal challenge or two.

When I was ill this summer and unable to write, Debra graciously released me from a pending Montana Sky release date and kept in touch on a friend level.

That’s what we do as friends: encourage, support, guide. Communicate, even on the tough issues. Defend. And above all, create. We create both a friendship and our own rich life,  like close sisters.

Leave a comment

Posted in Books by Debra Holland, Books by Louella Nelson, cat care, cats, Fiction Writing, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, horse ranch, Marketplace News, Morgan’s Crossing, Publishing, Publishing Market, Self Publishing, Sweet Chaste Romance, Sweetwater Springs, Writing Conference, Writing How-to, Writing Inspiraation

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Making Ads and Amazon Rankings Work for You

Posted on September 20, 2016 | 3 comments

This article is directed to the many writers I mentor and teach who are interested in promoting their books and stories via Internet advertising. The main focus for my own initial experience in book advertising was when Amazon, my publisher, put my first historical romance, Rye’s Reprieve, on sale for 99 cents without warning.

Rye's Reprieve (3) Final - CopyAmazon in its publishing role effectively uses email blasts to promote the works of its authors, so immediately my novel began climbing in the Top 100 of various lists: Historical Romance, Western Romance, Inspirational Romance, Kindle Worlds, as well as Westerns and the Romance category under Westerns.

Even after the advertising I’m going to talk about below lost its influence, today, September 19, 2016, the book is #97 on the Western Romance list, which could mean Amazon is still doing a modicum of promotion, or my own humble ad campaign combined with theirs has residual effect, or there is some mysterious force at work. It’s too much to hope that the book has a following, a life of it’s own. That would be too exciting for words.

Even more importantly, Rye’s Reprieve, which had only 13 reviews before July 2016, currently has 54 reviews on Amazon (79 % are 5-star reviews) and 80-plus ratings on Goodreads. And finally, I enjoyed seeing my new readers find and buy my other books and stories.

Here is the report I wrote in late August (with updates today in red):

Yesterday my book Rye’s Reprieve hit #7 on the Kindle Historical Romance Best Sellers list. Perhaps you are jaded by all the wonderful best-selling authors who regularly hit #1 on all the major lists and don’t think #7 is all that much.

But consider: Rye’s Reprieve is my first historical and my first novel-length fiction to release in more than two decades*. Reestablishing a writing career equates to pushing a two-ton boulder up Mt. Baldy. So seeing your new book hit #7 is about as good as eating homemade blueberry ice cream made with blueberries you picked on the hill behind your house just that morning.

*In May 2014, my period short story “Cora Lee” achieved #6 in Literary Short Fiction, following behind stories by Stephen King and Lee Child. For that launch the only promotion I did was to mention the book on Twitter & Facebook and in a newsletter to my email list of about 1200. I reissued my Harlequin titles and put out several short stories. My Amazon author page shows all fiction.

I didn’t achieve this recent modest success on Rye’s Reprieve without friends’ advice and a bit of luck. Here’s how I did it.

Decoding the rankings

On March 9 after my initial email promotion, Rye’s Reprieve went to #6 in Kindle World Romance. In contrast, this go-round, August 7-11, with the 99 cent sale and some low-cost promotions, the book hit #1 in Kindle Worlds Romance and Westerns (and at this writing, it’s still #1 in Kindle Worlds overall.) It achieved #3 in Kindle Western Romance and held there, which, together with #7 in Historical Romance, is more prestigious because the competition is huge. This “little engine that could” is still #97 in Western Romance!

Screen Capture by Snagit

Screen Capture by Snagit

How do you begin for your own promotion? Make a study of Amazon’s ranking structure. It’s complex—more complex than what you see beneath your title’s descriptive data on the book’s Amazon page. Here is the link to see all the lists available under Best Sellers Kindle Store eBooks: https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Kindle-Store-eBooks/zgbs/digital-text/154606011/ref=zg_bs_nav_kstore_1_kstore . You can see the list above, with Romance and then Western Romance highlighted. From there, click on your genre and drill down until you find the various lists where your book exists.

Under ebook subcategories, Romance is the umbrella topic. I then checked Historical Romance as well as Western Romance. Clicking Westerns takes you to Western Romance.

Another ranking, Westerns, can be found by clicking on Literature & Fiction/Genre Fiction. Strangely, under Genre Fiction, Romance is not listed!

I found Kindle Worlds rankings in the Ranking area on my book’s page.

But also, if your book is on sale, think seriously about placing relatively inexpensive ads on websites whose sole mission is to promote free and 99 cent ebooks.

What worked in promotion

First, Rye’s Reprieve was released in February 2016 in Debra Holland’s Montana Sky Kindle World. For all its Worlds releases, Amazon controls when price-reductions occur; they put my book on sale without warning at the beginning of August. I’m assuming they did multiple email blasts that included my book, but even those didn’t keep the book up in the rankings for long.

In addition to my own Facebook and Twitter announcements of the 99 cent sale, a member of OCC RWA and Novelists, Inc. (NINC), Lauren Royal, opened her Friday Freebies & 99-Cent Bargain Books and her weekly newsletter featuring historical novels to NINC members, so I submitted my book cover and blurb. She also mentioned my title on Facebook and Twitter. The promotion at www.LaurenRoyal.com hit on August 5 and was free.

Debra Holland recommended I try for an ad in eReader News Today (ENT) and I was lucky to be chosen to participate. The fee for an ad on a specific day for historical romance is only $60. You can pay by PayPal or credit card (as most of the sites I mention allow). The morning the ad appeared at www.ereadernewstoday.com, August 7, the book shot to #1 in the Kindle Worlds mentioned above and #5 on the Western Romance list. Unfortunately, I did not think to check the Historical Romance category, but when I did a couple days later, the novel was ranked #22, rising to #7 in the past few days.

ent-ad-8-7-16I credit Amazon emails, the ENT ad, and Lauren’s newsletter for Rye’s Reprieve’s initial rise in rank.

Meanwhile, I contacted colleague Linda Carroll-Bradd and asked her advice about advertising. She recommended I look into www.JustKindleBooks.com and www.Ebookshabit.com. The ad at Just Kindle Books costs $20 plus Add Ons (keep the book on their homepage for extra 3 days $20; Facebook post to 26,000 followers, $10) for a total of $60. The fee includes cover image/link on Pinterest, Tumblr, and other main social media.

That promo hit August 11. The book rose to #7 in Historical Romance, # 3 in Western Romance, as well as #1 in Westerns, and #1 in KW both Romance and Western. This is a pretty good indication that Just Kindle Books is worth the money. In contrast, I did not get the bump I was hoping for from a $10 ad with eBooksHabit.

After reading a chapter email and attending the Published Authors Workshop at RWA on Saturday, I gathered the following advertising ops for ebooks that are free or 99 cents from Kitty Bucholtz, Vicki Crum, Shelley Bleackley, and others.

I had spent $120 so far. With a remaining budget of about $250, I placed ads here:

Robin Reads (August was closed when I checked but I wrote to them about the success of the initial advertising efforts, they encouraged me to submit my book, and voila! A spot in their calendar opened up: Aug. 25. If they select me, the cost will be $45.)

Choosy Bookworm accepted me and will advertise Rye’s Reprieve on Aug. 18. Yay! The Rush Premium Feature costs $70 and the cover will remain on their Featured eBooks Page for a week.

Book Sends is pricey at $90 for the spot on Aug. 18 and just about ate up my budget—I have only $25 left to spend.

However, when you’re making pennies per book, money can’t be your main motive for promotion. It has to be gaining new readers, racking up a few more reviews and even cross-over sales to your other books and stories, and seeing your efforts pay off in a rise in rankings that you can share with followers. Some authors also experience a bump in sales when the book returns to its normal price, which in the case of Rye’s Reprieve is $3.99.

Did I mention BookBub? If they agreed to let me advertise with them—a slim possibility—the cost would be $500 and they anticipate I’d have roughly 2500 sales. If that happened, I’d clear $375 after costs, and the ranking would no doubt shoot Rye’s Reprieve to single digits on most coveted lists, plus bring a whole bunch of new readers to my author page.

I did not yet advertise with eBookWorth, Bargain Booksy, or Fiverr’s BKnight with its $5 price tag and 50,000 readers, because I needed to meet Marianne Donley’s deadline for A Slice of Orange. However, I will at least check out their sites.

I probably don’t need to mention…most of the authors and professional newsletter editors want the authors they feature to put the newsletter link in their social media announcements.

I would appreciate having an email from anyone who wants to share their promotion/ranking journey, and if things really jump by the end of August, I may give a follow-up report in a future blog post.

Contact me at lounelson@cox.net or this website. Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/louella.nelson.1 and Twitter: @LouellaNelson

This post first appeared in the Orange County Romance Writers of America blog machine, A Slice of Orange, in August 17, 2016, and has been updated here.

3 Comments

Posted in Best Selling Author, Book Sales, Books by Louella Nelson, Fiction Writing, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance, horse ranch, How to Sell Books, Publishing Market, Self Publishing, Writing Instruction, Writing Tips

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Keeping the Love Alive (in your writing career)

Posted on December 7, 2015 | 2 comments
christmas advice

 

This article first appeared in the December 2015 issue of The Romance Insider. To subscribe, please scroll to the end of the article.

The hustle and bustle of the holiday season can stop creativity dead in its tracks. With such busy lives, how do writers keep the goal in front of them? How do they sustain momentum?

If you’re the writer’s bestie, a romance reader, I’m guessing you wonder, too. How do writers overcome injury, death of a loved one, switching careers, jobs, or passions, committing to a major project, moving house, or raising a family—all this to stay on track with the dream? My own writing went underground from my mother’s death in 1991 to about four or five years ago. I met my then-contract obligation to Harlequin Books in summer 1992, but it was a struggle. So I can talk about loss, trauma, staying the course (or not) and coming back to writing when the brain isn’t as young. But let’s be positive.

How do we overcome all hesitation and crisis to sustain that haunting dream of being a published writer?

“Learning to write in a world where I am the sole provider and have multiple demanding obligations is a huge challenge,” says Frances Amati (“Heart Hound” in the anthology Romancing the Pages).  “I had to learn to carve out niches of opportunity and to quiet my mind to listen when the universe speaks to me.  It’s about being organized and effective with the little time I have. I can’t feel guilty about what I didn’t do; it is a waste of energy. I need to focus on what I can/did do, no matter how small.”

Here’s a list of focus aids (must be done regularly to keep up the spirit):

  • Frequent walks on the beach or in the woods, prayer, or listening to music.
  • Luxurious weekly bubble baths, with or without the drinkable bubbly.
  • Writing daily positive statements such as “I’m writing and loving it every day!” “I’m paying for my house on the Pacific with my writing!” “I’m expressing my misery through my writing—and loving it!” or “I’m writing. How can it get better than this?”
  • Counseling therapy. Chocolate therapy. Shopping therapy. All three, once a week!
  • Writing out your woes in a diary or to a fictitious person; mine is a letter to grandma, though both grandmas are gone.
  • Long showers. Meditation. Creative cooking. Working with animals.
  • Setting an “easy” writing schedule. A realistic one, even if it’s a half-hour a week.
  • Doing timed writings, sequential 15-minute blaze-writing sessions to get the juices flowing.
  • Allowing yourself to write crap. Every day. Thanks for the tip, Anne Lamott.

Although there’s no sure answer, the most powerful insider trick to staying motivated is to belong to a positive, driven, professionally-oriented support or critique group, even it’s one other writer. Although I was teaching and mentoring authors back in ’91-92, I did not have a critique group that I could go to for criticism, support, and encouragement. If I had, perhaps I’d be onto my 40th book instead of my 7th.

Thankfully today I have best-selling author Debra Holland (the Montana Sky series and others) as well as several other of my brightest students available for feedback. The Brontë sisters, Charles Dickens, in fact many in the literary cannon had critique groups—letter-writing, home visits, luncheons in London, and periodic discussion/critiquing get-togethers. Famously, the Algonquin Roundtable in New York in the 1920s featured meetings with writers, artists, and critics who played cribbage and poker and enjoyed daily luncheons and discussions. We have an offshoot today called the writer’s conference, where we learn craft techniques, stay up on market trends, and network with our fellows.

In year-round writing courses and critique groups, I do as much as humanly possible to keep writers motivated, but ultimately the drive has to come from within. “The support will help but the drive must be there no matter what,” asserts Alexis Montgomery (Seducing Susan). “I always think back to Karen Robards saying she wrote her first book during bathroom breaks at work, balancing a yellow legal pad on her lap…it doesn’t get more driven than that.”

One of my Wednesday-night-group writers has been in the group since the 1990’s; Dennis Phinney has written six books, has a top agent, and hasn’t sold. A full-time engineer, he’s still producing amazing work, coming to meetings, and submitting his novels and stories to criticism. It keeps him motivated; it keeps him constantly improving.

There are lots of ways to stay on course. Setting butt in chair is the first step. But like Frances Amati and so many of us, quitting the day job isn’t an option. “Thomas Hardy was an architect,” Phinney points out. “Herman Melville worked in a customs office. Today many work as teachers.” As babysitters, physicians, homemakers, scientists, therapists. As pilots, stage directors, managers, and singers. As explorers and tinkerers.

“So the dream becomes to share epiphanies and to create a work or two of excellence, or maybe even just one really great short story,” Phinney adds. “The goal is to help [readers] to think, to ask questions, to laugh, to love, to see the miracles in everyday existence; it’s also to set forth your own truth in all its damnable ambiguity.”

I couldn’t say it better.

Two closing pieces of advice: 1) Don’t do it for the money. (It may well come.)  2) Quitting is not an option.

Best-selling author Louella Nelson is an award-winning writing instructor in Orange County, CA. Her next novel, Rye’s Reprieve, will release in February 2016. www.LouellaNelson.com Graphic image by the author.

This article first appeared in the December 2015 issue of The Romance Insider.

Romance Insider MastheadTo subscribe to The Romance Insider, click here: http://lararwa.us9.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=29cb9d556d4c84408d2f70843&id=7d8372aba9

 

2 Comments

Posted in Best Selling Author, Books by Louella Nelson, Fiction Writing, Marketplace News, Publishing, Self Publishing, Viewpoint, Writing Conference, Writing How-to, Writing Inspiraation, Writing Instruction, Writing Tips

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

2014 November 01 Sale: 20 books at 99 cents each

Posted on November 2, 2014 | Leave a comment

I’m reposting this to alert my friends and fans that there are a few more hours of the 99 cent book sale; some prices go back up at midnight tonight while mine and others have a few days to run. You can get your copy of Emerald Fortune with its more interesting new cover art at http://amzn.com/B008S4PH1W
Happy reading! Lou

Michelle Knowlden writes...

JACKE FELL DOWN COVER 4500 X 2820)I’m starting November 2014 with something special. I’m adding 20 fabulous books to my digital library.

It’s a privilege to join these writers by adding my first novella in a new mystery series about finding missing children. JACK FELL DOWN was released July 2014. In case you missed it, November 1st would be a good time to pick it up. If you already have it, consider giving it to someone as an affordable but oh-so-thoughtful gift: an early Thanksgiving gift, a birthday gift, a thank you gift or “just thinking of you” gift.

Below are the books I’ll be buying November 1st. This list has books of all sizes including popular genres like romance, mystery, fantasy, suspense, paranormal, and historical. Wow. Not only will I be buying these books for my own reading pleasure, but at this price, I can gift several to my reading friends.

Yes, you got it. This diverse list includes books I know will score…

View original post 231 more words

Leave a comment

Posted in Books by Louella Nelson, Creative Nonfiction Writing, Fiction Writing, Writing How-to, Writing Instruction

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Launch Your Next Book From NaNoWriMo

Posted on November 2, 2014 | 16 comments
M81 Galaxy is Pretty in Pink

M81 Galaxy is Pretty in Pink

Update to my earlier post: I’m entered in Nanowrimo again this November. If you are too, please find me and be my writing buddy. My project this time around is Mail-Order Mom: Serena.

Nanowrimo sounds like a navigational command from StarTrek but it’s actually code for Sit Butt In Chair and Write With a Vengeance. Beginning November 1, writers from all over the world gather electronically and challenge themselves to write a novel, 50,000 words,  in 30 days.  The gathering spot: http://www.nanowrimo.org/.  There are chat rooms if you get down on yourself, and a whole cheerleading squad in The Office.* You can even buy a Nanowrimo coffee mug and fill it with your fave java so you can launch yourself into fictional orbit.  It’s totally zen. Is it odd that my maiden project for NaNoWriMo will be a writing text instead of a novel?  To answer your question—no.  It’s not odd because for a published author to use NaNoWriMo to get up and running on a long-overdue project simply means NaNoWriMo is working.  It’s working to get me motivated; it’s working to get me organized for the Big Day, the first day in November.  I have the flutter in my gut writers get from time to time when they are eager to begin.  It’s been a long time since I felt that flutter (about writing, anyway), and it’s all good. Too many years have gone by in which my students have reminded, hounded, and bullied me about writing a book they can share with their writing friends and peruse for any nitpicky trick or tip their tired-from-sitting-in-the-chair-writing-all-day brains cannot recall.  I feel duty-bound to get the danged text written so they will quit pestering me; and so aspiring writers will have something to lean on in the scary predawn hours of their novel-writing career. Courage is an illusive thing.  I used to see a poster that fascinated me in the cafeteria at Chapman University.  It pictured a sailboat and featured a misquoted quotation by Andre Gide, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1947, which I adapt here: You cannot discover new galaxies unless you have the courage to lose sight of the earth. Do you dream of being published?  Does that goal seem a far galaxy?  Why not carpe-diem yourself on over to the Nanowrimo website and, Hey-oh!  We will do this together, all you princes of prose, and it will not be odd.

Louella Nelson blastoffblastoffblastoffblastoffblastoffblastoffblastoffblastoffblastoffblastoffblastoffblastoffblast

To show you that the all-volunteer launch team at The Office of Letters and Light (Support & HQ for Nanowrimo) is behind you all the way, I give you my own personal message from Captain Kim: Hi again Louella, Thanks so much for sharing your story! I am totally invigorated. I’m so glad that you are taking on this challenge of writing a guidebook this November. You are a NaNo Rebel of the highest order: you’re giving back to the writers who are coming after you. We’re rooting you on. Best of luck this November! Tim Kim Office Captain *The Office of Letters and Light You can make a tax-deductible donation to the Office of Letters and Light at http://store.lettersandlight.org

16 Comments

Posted in Creative Nonfiction Writing, Fiction Writing, Writing How-to, Writing Instruction, Writing Tips

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Metadata: Helping Readers Find You & Your Books

Posted on October 20, 2014 | Leave a comment

metal people artMetadata is a way to connect that’s exclusive to the Information Age. It may “sound like a word that only techies would use but actually it’s something that all publishers use now on the web,” asserts Emily Taylor Gregory. “Published books are full of metadata or descriptors such as title, author, pages count, copyright information, publication date, and identification codes [like the ISBN number].” (“Publishing: It’s all about the Metadata.”).

In conversation, authors often use “metadata” to refer not only to the information listed above but also to the descriptive words the public might use to search online for you or your book, using Google, Bing, or another search engine. Google, Zagat, Frommer’s, and other “information publishers” make money on the metadata by selling advertising around the search results. “Categories” and “Keywords” or “Tags,” are some of the terms given to this hierarchy of search terms, or what Gregory calls a “taxonomy” of terms. “Categories” generally refers to familiar large groups of terms that share meaning: objects, concepts, etc. “Keywords”or “Tags” refer to refinements, smaller groups of descriptive terms inside the large categories.

Typical examples of Categories: Action/Adventure, Memoir, Writing Conference, Flying.
Typical examples of Keywords/Tags: Horses, Babies, Family Love, Caving, Characterization.

Here are key search terms posted next to an editorial, “Make Your Own Luck,” by Phil Sexton on the Writer’s Digest website:

Categories: Back to Basics, Conferences/Events, Getting Published, There Are No Rules Blog by the Editors of Writer’s Digest
Tags: finishing your manuscript, getting published, query letter, writers conference, writing basics

Here are search terms attached to my blog post, “Point of View: Vision of Writer & Character,” at http://www.LouellaNelson.com. I entered these terms on my Dashboard (where I create the pages for my website), and they all appear on the public page: Categories: Creative Nonfiction Writing, Fiction Writing, Memoir Writing, Point of View, Viewpoint, Writing How-to, Writing Instruction, Writing Tips. Tags: BestSeller Tips, character, character development, creative nonfiction, fiction, point of view, writer help, writing, writing techniques. Often, as here, the search terms seem to fit into either list.

Sometimes the keywords or categories you enter on a given dashboard are hidden from the public or appear different on the public site.

Here are the categories that appear next to my novel Mail-Order Mate on Amazon:
Show results for

  • Any Category
    • Kindle Store
    • Romance(2)
    • Contemporary Romance(1)
    • Women’s Fiction(1)
    • Contemporary Romance Fiction(1)
    • Contemporary Women’s Fiction(1)
    • Women’s Romance Fiction(1)
    • Historical Romance(1)
    • Fantasy & Futuristic Romance(1)
    • Erotica(1)
    • Kindle eBooks(2)

Inside the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Amazon site where I launched the novel, here are the (hidden) sub-categories I selected, which people will search, landing on my book at Amazon and hopefully clicking through to a purchase: Mail Order Bride, Family, Marriage, Second Chance, Snowbound.

If you are self-publishing, consider researching the terms you select for comparative effectiveness when you’re going to associate the terms with a given project. My sources are The Naked Truth About Self-Publishing by the authors’ consortium The Indie Voice,  Kindle Publishing Revolution by Ryan Deiss, and Kindle Bestseller Secrets by Derek Doepker.

To get in touch, contact me using the box at right.

Leave a comment

Posted in Books by Louella Nelson, Click-through, Creative Nonfiction Writing, Fiction Writing, Memoir Writing, Writing How-to, Writing Instruction, Writing Tips

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Announcing Fiction Releases

Posted on September 15, 2012 | 2 comments

I hope you will celebrate with me the digital release of three writing projects for 2012 that I’ve worked on this spring and summer and another I will release this fall.

On July 9, after extensive editing to add historical events, clothing styles, music, etc. of the era in which it was first published, I commissioned a cover and re-issued Mail-Order Mate, my best-selling novel from 1987.  On August 2, I repeated the process and launched Emerald Fortune with its new cover, a book which initially came into print in 1991.  Author Delle Jacobs from the Seattle area designed the covers.  The glacier on the cover of Mail-Order Mate is a photo I took of the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau.  Both novels are available on Amazon in all digital formats including Kindle, Nook, iPad/iBook, Kobo, and others.  The third project, released digitally this month, Romancing the Pages, features my story “The Prosecutor.” Meanwhile, I’m working on the fourth project, Days of Fire, as well as The Great Writing Series for fiction and creative nonfiction writers.

Thank you, everyone, for your support through the years.

Here are a few words about each book:

Coming in the fall…  Days of Fire, featuring a romance between two competitors vying for a million dollar purse and the prestigious title “Cutting Horse World Champion.”

Available now…

From best-selling author and award-winning writing instructor Louella Nelson, a tale of romance, deception, and danger in the wilds of Alaska — Mail-Order Mate.

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008IVW8C6

Emerald Fortune,a novel of international intrigue, revenge, and love….  Dangerous, instinctive, his battle-scarred body hardened from months of deprivation, Mickey Stone is a man with a mission.  And love is a complication.  Guys like this one!

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008S4PH1W

Romancing the Pages is an anthology of romantic short fiction conceived by two of my former students as a fund-raiser for the Orange County Romance Writers of America.  This collection of contemporary, historical, and fantasy stories is sure to delight at all seasons and would make a wonderful ebook Christmas gift. Love blossoms at the least expected times.

Amazon:  http://amzn.com/B0097DOAO8

2 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged ,