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A Story Inspiration is Suddenly Upon You!

Geri Clouston
Victoria Thurman Author of the B.R.A.G.Medallion Honoree- The Dating Dilemmas of Delilah Dunnifield I had another Delilah moment on this past Sunday. Both of these are going in my new book. I got a huge bouquet of flowers. From a dog! I dog sit on occasion and I was staying at my friend Trish's house with her two dogs last Saturday/ Sunday. I sit for little Zeva in the townhouse attached to Trish's also. I had just left Trish's house about an hour and a half before Crystal called me and told me they had a fire at their house. I rushed back to get Trish's dogs out in-case smoke had gone through to their side- it hadn't thankfully. There were 3 fire engines blocking the street and I had to park at the top of the steep hill and run down. I hurdled over fire hoses and slid into "home base" (the doormat) and grabbed the key and opened the door running to the laundry room to free the dogs. After we got the okay there their side was safe- I put the dogs back in and then Crystal and her husband got the okay to go inside and…

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Food for Thought , , , ,

How 6 Writers Found Bliss in the Destruction of a City

Geri Clouston
Nothing that begins with champagne can ever be dreary. That is how A Day of Fire: A Novel of Pompeii began—with Stephanie Dray, Kate Quinn and me toasting the release of one of Kate’s marvelous novels. We three have a longstanding tradition of hanging out on release days, primarily to keep whichever of us has a book launching from relentlessly checking Amazon rankings or curling up in a fetal position (if you’ve never released a book, believe me it is as terrifying as it is gratifying). All sorts of things get discussed at these luncheons—including the types of plot points that seem perfectly normal to historical novelists, but send waiters scurrying away concerned. On that particular day, however, our history obsessed brains turned not to poison or regicide but to doing something creative together. Specifically to continuities—collections of short stories that each stand-alone but also interlink to form a larger novel—which were increasingly popular in historical romance, but hadn’t made the leap to straight historical fiction yet. Maybe it was all the bubbles, but we were determined to change that. Writing is generally a solo effort, and it can be lonely. So when you have a chance to work with…

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Words of Wisdom , ,

The Texas Book Festival: An indie author’s report

Geri Clouston
Anna Castle Author of the B.R.A.G.Medallion Honoree Murder By Misrule (The Francis Bacon Mystery Series), shares here experinces at the Texas Book Festival Two Texas chapters of Sisters in Crime teamed up this October to host a booth at the Texas Book Festival on the State Capitol Grounds in Austin. Eight authors participated -- Traci Andrighetti, Alexandra Burt, Martha Carr, Anna Castle, N.M. (Noreen) Cedeño, Janet Christian, Helen Currie Foster, and Melissa Lenhardt -- a mix of indies and traditionally published. We took turns staffing the booth in two-hour shifts, but displayed our collective works throughout the weekend. The weather was gorgeous, the turnout was terrific, and we all had a great time. The book festival was first launched by Laura Bush in 1995. It has become one of the major literary events in the country, showcasing some 250 authors and attracting 40,000 book lovers. Most of them come for the fun of strolling around the capitol grounds enjoying street food, cooking demonstrations, live music, jugglers, the children’s story tent, and presentations by a wide range of authors. The streets are lined with big tents sheltering booths offering books for sale, alongside nearly every book-related organization in the state. We wanted Sisters in…

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Words of Wisdom , ,

GET A BOOK READING, MAKE AN EVENT!

Geri Clouston
Lorraine Wilke Author of 2 B.R.A.G.Medallion Honorees- shares some great advice on making your book reading an event! One of the most tangible, satisfying ways for writers to connect with their reading public is with a book reading, that vaunted affair every author pictures at some point during the creative process! But as many self-published authors can testify, the logistics of getting one scheduled can be challenging, with results that are sometimes less than auspicious. Certainly every venue comes with its quirks and marketing can be a bear, but there are effective ways to ensure that your reading becomes a win/win endeavor. First: how to actually get one on the books: Pay for it. Yep, some bookstores not only charge to stock your book (commonly called “consignment programs”), but to schedule readings as well. Which means any author with a checkbook can get books on shelves and readings on the calendar without much effort. Reading fees can get as high at $250-$300, (which can be daunting for the average indie author), but if the store has a high enough profile to garner you real attention, it may be well worth the investment. Check the policies of local bookstores to see…

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Words of Wisdom , , ,

Overcoming the Terror of Speaking by Alison Morton

Geri Clouston
Alison Morton is the author of the Roma Nova thriller series – all B.R.A.G. Medallion honorees! Her latest is AURELIA featuring a new heroine pursuing silver smugglers in the late 1960s. It’s the day. You have a mass of faces in front of you. You are alone in the arena and the lions are pacing back and forth, tongues salivating. The be-tunicked and be-toga-ed are watching, a smile on their lips, ready to be entertained, but their thumbs are ready… No, this isn’t Ancient Rome, although it may feel like it as you stand there, notes in trembling hand, praying that the PowerPoint will work and that nobody will laugh or boo. An exaggeration, perhaps, but speakers today at events are expected to be as entertaining and as quick on their feet as ancient gladiators. Sometimes people who are expert in their field are not happy to speak to an audience. This is a shame as they may the very people we’d like to hear from. Now, I like standing up in front of people, but that’s not enough. I still agonise about whether I have too much or too little material or if I’m pitching it at the right…

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Words of Wisdom , , ,

A Success Story!

Geri Clouston
A Self-Published Sleeper: Author of 'The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep' Speaks The originally self-published Swedish children’s book The Rabbit Who Wants To Fall Asleep may seem to be an overnight sensation, but its success, claims author Carl-Johan Forssen Ehrlin, is actually the result of a slow build over roughly five years. According to Ehrlin, the sudden spike in international sales for the book—which Random House Children's Books bought for seven figures in August and released on Friday—is thanks to a perfect storm: word-of mouth praise driven by e-book giveaways, coupled with Amazon U.K. providing entrée to consumer media once the self-published book had taken off. During a phone interview with PW from the New York City office of his new publisher, Ehrlin, 37, who received a B.A. in psychology from Jonkoping University in Sweden, has no formal training in pedagogy or any direct experience working with children. But he has worked with adults, as a communications expert and management coach, and said the idea for writing Rabbit about five years ago and self-publishing it in 2011 in Sweden was driven by his experience working with this group. Rabbit marks Ehrlin's third foray into publishing. In 2006 he self-published…

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The Self-publishing World , , ,

Big Changes Coming!

Geri Clouston
It has been over three years since indieBRAG, LLC launched its quality standards certification service for self-published books, a first for the industry. Since then, we have received an average of 100 book nominations a month and awarded over 500 B.R.A.G Medallions. We are proud of our library of high-quality indie books and we are grateful to the over 200 readers who have played a vital role in accomplishing this important and necessary task. As those of you on our global reader team know, we offer general guidelines to help in the evaluation of each book; however, the final determination to award a B.R.A.G. Medallion is whether or not a reader would recommend the book to their best friend. Until now, we have not provided feedback to authors beyond a final “Yes” or “No” decision. This is due to the limitations of our current book submission and review process. However, that is about to change! In response to many requests from authors and readers alike, we are significantly upgrading our operating system. While we are not yet ready to share the details, once the new system is implemented authors will be provided with constructive feedback in addition to the final…

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