Marketing with Mandy~Linden Bay Romance Publisher Spotlight Part I

Q: Tell us a little about your experience with Linden Bay Romance

A: I can honestly say that LBR ‘discovered’ me. They plucked a short story I sent them out of the submissions box and turned it into the first of my 6 trilogies. That piece was “Taking a Leap” and it is the first story in Trilogy No. 102: Opposites Attract. It’s a romantic comedy about a sexy computer geek who finds himself in an interesting position when he and a coworker have to rewrite the missing sex scenes of an erotic romance novel in a client’s damaged computer.

Q: What tips/tricks do you use for marketing or promoting your own titles?

A: I do the usual stuff—I write a regular column for Wicked Escapes Ezine, participate in chats, maintain a website and a MySpace, design promo items, etc., but it is coming up with unique and creative ideas that really gets me excited. I go all out, head to toe. I really enjoy a theme! At booksignings for my military romances, I dress in camouflage (right down to my camo high-heels), have camouflage-wrapped Hershey kisses and give out book cover postcards with attached sample packs of Gun Oil personal lubricant—a product formulated by actual Marines during Operation Desert Storm. For the release of my first book, which has a high heel shoe on the cover, I found a stiletto cookie cutter and handed out cellophane bags of shoe cookies and bookmarks at the opening day of our town pool.

Recently, my publisher suggested I commission a cat logo to brand myself as an author. I did, from a very talented artist who also happens to be my aunt, and I am thrilled with my new logo. It is a very cute but sexy kitty cat (with green eyes like me) and the tagline I came up with is ‘Cattitude’. I love it and have just spent a ton of time and money on new promo gear with her on it. Check it out at www.cafepress.com/catjohnson. The doggy shirt that says ‘Cattitude’ on it is hysterical! If only my dog would wear it!

Q: What is one thing you’d want to tell a newer author, just coming into the game?

A: Learn as much as you can from other authors early on. Everyone in this business is very willing to share his or her knowledge. We were all beginners once and we are all still learning.

Q: Could you tell us a bit about your latest release?

A: I am very excited about my newest full-length novel with Linden Bay Romance, A Few Good Men. It is the next in my military romance series and revisits some old favorite characters but focuses mainly on an Army Staff Sergeant deployed in Iraq who finds himself unexpectedly and unwillingly falling for his pen pal back in the states.

Q: What types of research do you do for your books?

A: The Internet is an unbelievable resource for multiple reasons. First, and most obvious, research. I can Google anything and find what I need to know. But the World Wide Web also connects me to millions of people around the globe. I research my military books by emailing and instant messaging actual deployed troops on the front lines. There is nothing more amazing than knowing you are communicating in real time with someone seven thousand miles away. It can be frightening when they type in ‘Gotta Go! Getting shelled’ and then sign off. But even with the gray hair worrying about these brave men gives me, I wouldn’t give up that contact for anything and the information, the feeling of really being there right down to the sights, sounds, smells and even tastes they provide, is invaluable in my writing. I wouldn’t have wanted to write A Few Good Men without the input from my military guys.

Q: How do you come up with your ideas?

A: I’ve seen a t-shirt that says ‘Careful or you’ll end up in my novel’. It is so true. I find myself seeing potential for a story everywhere and my friends know their lives are fair game for book fodder. I guess that is the beauty of writing contemporary romance. It is real life but a whole lot more fun.

Q: What would you do if you weren’t a writer?

A: I would be a librarian. I really love books. There is nothing more beautiful than a room full, floor to ceiling, of books.

LINKS:
http:// www.catjohnson.net
http:// www.myspace.com/authorcatjohnson
http://www.lindenbayromance.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LindenBayRomance/

Q: Tell us a little about your experience with Linden Bay Romance.

A: We’ll I’m the newbie on the block. I was introduced to LB via my great friend writer, Melody Knight. I submitted my sensual novel Hiring Cupid. They’re a great company and I found their feedback so positive and inspiring. Certainly great editorship.

Q: What tips/tricks do you use for marketing or promoting your own titles?

A: I’ve just begun doing lots of chats, interviews, writing articles etc. I’ll be doing a live radio promo in late June which is exciting. It’s with a station in the United States and considering I’m way down in New Zealand, it’s a biggie for me.

Q: What is one thing you’d want to tell a newer author, just coming into the game?

A: Don’t give up. Work hard. Grit your teeth when you get rejections, and eat chocolate! But also learn that writing the book is the easy part. Selling, promoting and then turning around and doing it all over again, that’s the hard part. But that is were your determination comes in.

Q: Could you tell us a bit about your latest release?

A: Hiring Cupid is being released 1 July from Linden Bay Romance. It’s a fun, sexy book, where a desperate and dateless Carly Mason must front up with the man she’s being bragging about. A man who adores her and is as sexy as sin. About to admit he doesn’t exist, fate delivers her Marco Valente, a knight in shining armor. The charismatic Italian fits the description of Carly’s fictional Mr. Perfect. A man totally averse to marriage. So who needs cupid? Before she can stop herself, she makes a daring proposal and hires Marco to spend for four long days…and nights with her. Alone on an island, with no way off, Carly finds herself unable to resist Marco’s charms, and gives in to passion—a passion that seems every bit as perfect as the fantasy. But then reality comes knocking. Will their newly discovered feelings survive? Or will Cupid’s arrow miss its mark?

Q: How do you come up with your ideas?

A: My poor brain won’t leave me alone! Very annoying at times, when I’m trying to sleep, which has become a tad elusive since I began writing. But often I find my ideas come as dreams, or when you’re at that half sleep stage, as I drift off, or just before I waken fully. Sometimes they’re full blown stories, dialogue, plot, and definitely my hero too! I remember one weekend, I was in a trance, all weekend, as a whole story, the characters talking to each other etc, full scenes just hit me hour after hour – and no, I don’t wear a straightjacket, though if this keeps up, you never know!

I don’t normally get ideas from reading articles, or the newspaper, it’s more like settings. I.e. My book Always a Bridesmaid came to me as I was in a hotel staying for the RWNZ conference. I imagined a fire and this hunk in boxer shorts which cupids firing arrows on them, knocking on my heroine’s door, telling her to get out. Of course that only ended up about 2 paragraphs in the book, but hey it was the birth of Always A Bridesmaid.

Normally, I will write my ideas down, even if it’s just a back cover blurb. Those often come while I’m driving and at once stage I always carried one of those Dictaphones with me to babble away to, in case I lost the thought – which is always a possibility when there’s too much crowded in on the grey matter!

Q: How do balance family and writing?

A: I write at 5 a.m. and then when the kids are at school, then I write after dinner and usually late into the evening. I’m doing this at 11 pm, and I was up at 5 a.m. – see I said sleep isn’t a requirement!
But I do try and not write during the day in the weekends and keep that for the family, though if there’s a deadline, my family are very understanding. It is easy however, to let it rule your life!

Q: Why do you like writing romance/erotica?

A: I like writing romance because I like a happy ending. I like it be a bit of a tough journey, but ultimately everyone wants to be happy. Don’t we all want the magic of true, everlasting love, a love so deep and real, that really counts? In books that is magic. And attainable. Although you gotta make the hero and heroine suffer a bit. I love the possibility in romance of finding out what makes my characters tick, what is it in their background that makes them act a particular way, or say something.

For example, in my current WIP – A Traitor at Heart – a regency for which M&B have asked for the full manuscript, my heroine is from the slums of London’s East End. She’s never had enough to eat as a child, and there she is in the midst of the high society’s over indulgence. How does it make her feel seeing all that food?

I write romance because it can cover so many genres. My first two books are time travel romances, the next two contemporary, so love covers every style of book and gives authors a great choice.

LINKS:
Website
Newsletter
Blog

Publishers www.lindenbayromance.com
www.trebleheartbooks.com

To be eligible to win one of the many prizes Linden Bay Romance Authors are offering, comment THIS WEEK on their Marketing with Mandy blog spots. Winners will be announced on Sunday!

Here are some of the prizes they’ll be giving away:

Samantha Sommersby will give away a signed print copy of Forbidden: The Awakening .

Nancy Henderson will give away a note/stationary set.

Shiela Stewart will give away a signed print of her book ‘Secrets of the Dead’

Cat Johnson will give away a signed print copy of Trilogy No. 102: Opposites Attract

Peter Brandt is giving away an ebook download of his romantic comedy novel “The Secret Life of Harden Long”

Jane Beckenham is giving away an Ebook download of her book “Hiring Cupid”

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