Marketing with Mandy~Linden Bay Romance Publisher Spotlight Part III
Q: Tell us a little about your experience with Linden Bay Romance.
A: Linden Bay has been just wonderful. I can’t think of a better word. Barb Perfetti, acquisitions editor, is tough, but she truly cares about the quality of the work, and any suggestions she makes is only going to make your book better. Lori James is so helpful with marketing. She was a huge help with my booksigning this month. Couldn’t have done it without her!
Q: What tips/tricks do you use for marketing or promoting your own titles?
A: Definitely my website, first and foremost. It’s your internet home, a place you can send everyone to give them information about your books and your characters and your author presence. A blog is also helpful. Personally speaking, I have a great many authors on my favorites shelf that I’ve found through blogs.
Q: What is one thing you’d want to tell a newer author, just coming into the game?
A: Never give up! I know that sounds clichéd, but it’s so true. And start an internet presence as soon as you can, even before you’re published. It’s never too early to start gaining a readership.
Q: Could you tell us a bit about your latest release?
A: GHOST OF A CHANCE is my latest release. Here’s a blurb: GHOST OF A CHANCE:
What happens when ghost and mortal fall in love? Nothing short of upsetting the balance between heaven and hell…
Nathan McGraw thought death was bad. It’s nothing to landing back on Earth or ticking off a demon. He intends to find out why Sarah Price is the only mortal who can see him, even if he has to break the laws of the hereafter.
Sarah Price isn’t going to take it anymore. Not from her ex who is trying to financially destroy her. Not from her family who is making her business a circus. And certainly not from a ghost who claims she is the key to sending him back to heaven.
Q: What’s your favorite genre to write in and why?
A: I love both historical and paranormal. GHOST OF A CHANCE gave me that opportunity to work with both since hero Nathan McGraw is a ghost from the year 1757. Oh, and I should probably mention that I just completed book two, the sequel to GHOST OF A CHANCE. Currently untitled, it is in consideration stage at Linden Bay Romance. (fingers crossed…)
Q: How do you come up with your ideas?
A: I’ve often heard this is the toughest question for a writer. I honestly have no idea. I can tell you, though, that I came up with the idea for GHOST OF A CHANCE while I was planting spring bulbs in a cemetery. Creepy, I know. LOL!
Q: How do balance family and writing?
A: Writing is a balancing act for me. I work full time so I don’t have a set amount of hours I can spend at a time. I write in little spurts throughout the week. I do get some writing done while driving. Not to fear, I dictate on a small tape recorder then type it up later. Hmmm…that would explain a lot about my driving, though… But seriously, I would be lost without my Alphasmart. If anyone has ever thought about buying one, they’re a huge timesaver.
LINKS:
Website
Blog
Newsletter
Q: Tell us a little about your experience with Linden Bay Romance
A: It has been excellent. Being this is my first published book, they were very helpful. Lori and Barb really know the market and were helpful in instructing me in what I can do to become successful. The editing staff was great too. It is a different experience after writing a novel to get it professionally edited.
Q: What tips/tricks do you use for marketing or promoting your own titles?
A: I wrote down all the things I wanted to do. It’s like a synopsis. Once I have it written down, then I can start acting on it. I have my book info on my email. That is just basis. I bought 100 books myself and began selling and using them to promote myself around Toronto.
Q: What is one thing you’d want to tell a newer author, just coming into the game?
A: Be very careful with your title. If there was anything I did that maybe I shouldn’t have would be to go with the title “The Secrets of Harden Long”. Not the kind of title that allows the book to be placed in a bookstore window.
Q: Could you tell us a bit about your latest release?
A: The Secrets of Harden Long is a story about stereotypes. A slobby bachelor writes a romance novel about an orphaned prince and it becomes so successful it is turned into a “Made for TV” movie. A tall, skinny hick living in a trailer park in Texas sees so many similarities in the movie to his own life that he is sure he is the Crown Prince of Canada and sets off to Canada to claim his birthright.
Q: What’s your favorite genre to write in and why?
A: Comedy. Yet, all of my writing has a romantic angle to them, so Romantic Comedy. I have a rather unique sense of humor. I see things in everyday life that are funny and I like to capitalize on that. Like, have you ever seen
Q: How did you get into writing?
A: I actually wrote my first book around the age of 10. The Myers Briggs test told me I should be a writer but I spent the next 40 years doing everything but. I decided to start writing again after meeting Lois Gresh, a very successful science fiction author who I used to work with. I began taking writing classes and in 2004 I entered the Muskoka Novel Marathon. I came in 6th, beating out some seasoned authors and the following year I came in 3rd. Shortly after that I sold The Secrets of Harden Long, which by the way was written at a writer’s marathon. Of course a lot of work was spent after massaging it into a professional manuscript, but most of it was written at the event.
A writer’s marathon is an event, usually to raise money for charity, where writers gather and spend 72 hours together in the same room writing a complete novel. The camaraderie is totally amazing. Writing is such a lonely job but sitting cheek to cheek with other writers is a ton of fun .
Q: How do you come up with your ideas?
A: Usually when I am alone in thought, out walking or driving home from work.
I wrote a novel called TN’T, about the CN tower crashing into Toronto’s downtown core and wiping out the banking district. The story is about a homeless man who has powers that prey on his negative thoughts. They are powers he can’t harness and doesn’t want. I came up with this idea one day when I was out for my daily lunchtime walk. I was working at the time at one of the large banks in Canada and I hated the job. I was out walking on Bay Street, the richest street in Canada, and there lay a homeless man sleeping on a subway grate across from the one of the wealthiest banks in the world. Talk about irony. My stories usually gel within an hour after they come to me. By the time I got back to the office my story was born.
Q: How do balance family and writing?
A: I schedule time to write. Being a recent newlywed (4 years), I have a tenancy to want to spend all of my spare time with my wife Carly. She makes sure that doesn’t happen. She believes in me and my writing, probably more than I do myself, and she pushes me to get writing and I listen. Any writing function I attend she comes with me. She is as involved outside of the writing as I am in it. I can say with all honesty, if your family is not behind you, it is very hard. I had no support from my first wife and I didn’t write.
LINKS:
Webpage
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”
