Marketing with Mandy~Aphrodite’s Apples Publishing Part IV

Marketing with Mandy ~ Sultry Summers/Sheila N. Eskew

 

Q: Tell us a little about your experience with Aphrodite’s Apples.

A: Aphrodite’s Apples is a wonderful publisher. Previously I was totally involved with another publisher that crashed and when that happened it was almost devastating. Aphrodite’s approached me days after that happened and asked me to submit to them, which I did. Immediately they were taken with Trojan Gold and accepted it for re-publication. I have had a wonderful relationship with them since. As “Orange” I moderate chats for The Romance Studio, where Aphrodite’s has a monthly chat set up for their authors, and it is always one of the best chats of my month. Their other authors and the editors are great.

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

A: POST, have chats, keep your name out there as much as possible. Pay attention to your readers. One of the biggest things a reader likes about e-books is the availability of the authors to them. They don’t have that with the bigger NY published authors. However this isn’t the case with the e-book authors. So keep in mind that the fan that e-mailed you deserves an answer, they bought your book and feel very special when they get your answer. I will admit though, this is difficult – I have problems keeping up with my Yahoo group, which I love, but time is never on our side.

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

A: Don’t get discouraged! And we all do. Sometimes, even after you are published, you still get rejections, it happens to us all. Or you get in a lull when it seems you can’t write two sentences in the correct way. Get outside, if you can, that helps me. If you don’t live in a climate that allows that all year round, well, I guess if it were me, I would put on a lot of clothes and just go out anyway. That’s easy to say when you live in Florida. Here you take off clothes in the summer to beat the heat. We all have ways to get out of our “funks”, maybe go to the mall. The big thing is to keep writing, or maybe don’t for a day or two. Sometimes, I will read a book and not write for a day or two.

But I rarely go more than that without writing unless I am physically sick. Years ago, when I didn’t write to be published I would get on a writing kick maybe once in several months. After my first book published all that changed, then I saw all my ideas did have a future.

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

A: TROJAN GOLD – Gee had I known how many jokes that name would have gotten – and how many other works are under that title- WOW! But it fits the story. My heroine finds the son of Hector, thrown from the walls of Troy after the Greeks have sacked the City, but the child has by the will of the gods survived. Helle is an old woman but risks her life so that the child will live. Her compassion doesn’t go unrewarded. Zeus and Apollo are touched by her bravery. Zeus grants her youth be restored and sends this blessing by his son Apollo who sees the true soul of Helle when he touches her to pass the blessing. She is returned to the young beauty she was at the age of 20 and he falls instantly in love with her. Trojan Gold is the story of their romance, how it progress through Apollo’s visits to her in what she believes are dreams. However the relationship must come into the light of day and reality because Hera, who wants the child dead, tries some nasty tricks of her own. She is, however, in for a surprise because Hector had hidden a clutch of gold for the rebuilding of the city in hopes his son would survive. Apollo reveals the treasure to Helle but she keeps it safe for the child. Of course I believe in a HEA ending but Trojan Gold has a couple of good twists and Helle has to fend off the attentions of Poseidon who decides he desires her. Actually, Troy was rebuilt so again there is truth in the history of the book. In the dig at Troy the archaeologists have found several “Troys” rebuilt on the ruins of previous cities. The author’s note at the end of Trojan Gold explains this.

Q: What’s your favorite genre to write in and why?

A: Paranormal! Always, with a good dose of erotica, if Sultry is writing – if Sheila is writing, the plot is much heavier at the paranormal end, probably Science Fiction or Fantasy but the spice will still be there, possibly not as graphic.

Q: Can you tell us a little about your current WIP’s?

A: Sure, I have several. One is in submissions with Aphrodite’s Apples at this time. It’s also about Troy but a time travel/Fantasy piece, this one too by Sultry so it is an erotica piece. As Sultry, I have another one called Casino Star Shine about an outer space gaming and bordello establishment, and then my first contemporary called Mistress Says Faster. Sheila has several pieces going, a complete edit on the first piece I published, Three Moons Rising, with iUniverse several years ago. It is no longer available and I will soon be looking for a home for it, probably under a new title. There have been some major changes but the plot remains the same. I have three others close to completion as well, all full-length novels over or near 100,000 words.

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

A: When I write, as I did Trojan Gold, I read the myths connected and the history. Otherwise, if I am writing Sci/Fi or Fantasy I really try to make it as realistic as possible. That requires looking up the scientific facts or if it is Fantasy, researching the legends that influence what I’m writing. I love reading old legends and I love history. I’ve been asked will I ever write a Historical? I don’t have an answer to that. It is possible, but I cannot stand to read an inaccurate book so maybe not. When I did reviews, that was one thing I had to temper, as not everyone sees history from the same perspective I do. All history books are not the same. I have the same problems with movies. I also have a daughter who is a history nut so we catch the glitches. Actually we have a great deal of fun with that.

LINKS:

http://www.sqpens.com

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Paranormal-Escapismwriter/

 

 

Marketing with Mandy ~ Tyree Kimber

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Q: Tell us a little about your experience with Aphrodite’s Apples.

 

A: My experience with Aphrodite’s Apples has been nothing short of amazing. Heather, Kayleigh, Katrina, and all the rest have been extremely professional, friendly, supportive, and instructing all at the same time. AA is truly interested in helping authors maximize their talent and every day I count my blessings that I was fortunate enough to encounter them. The other authors working through them are all top-notch people in their own right. They have been welcoming and encouraging from day one and I am proud to count them as friends.

 

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

 

A: Being new to the world of e-publishing I just work with what I’ve got. I mention my work often, encourage word of mouth promotion, and just do my best to keep my blogs running so that people know I have a presence on the net and a product to sell.

 

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

 

A: Don’t give up. One thing I’ve learned is that no matter how out-of-the-ordinary your story may seem, there is an audience out there who wants to read and a publisher who wants something just like it – and they’re both probably bigger than you think. But before your story resonates with anyone, it’s got to resonate with you. Write the kind of stories you would like to read.

 

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

 

A: Apocalypse Woman is my first serious attempt at erotica, which makes it somewhat ironic that it’s my first published novel! The novel takes place in a fictional medieval world and tells the story of Selkines Ondine, a noblewoman who seeks power through unholy magic. Facing the possibility of forced service in the realm’s matriarchal church, she endeavors to become an Apocalypse Woman: a special caste of sorceresses so named because their children are meant to bring about the end of Creation. She summons her demonic patron Abryax into the world in order to achieve this end and Selkines’s future among the ranks of the sinners seems glorious indeed. But there are complications, as there always are. Not the least of which is Abryax himself, a fallen angel who may be experiencing emotions he is supposed to no longer be capable of.

 

Q: Can you tell us a little about your current WIP’s?

 

A: There are several. Fellow AA author Nikki Watson and I are working on a GLB –themed story set in the modern world with mythological overtones. It’s the first time for either of us doing a serious collaborative story and it’s a great deal of fun that’s making us grow as authors. On my own I am editing a science fiction manuscript I’ve been toiling at for several years that deals with ancient mythical archetypes and a resurrected Third Reich slowly overwhelming a post-nuclear Earth and the ordinary folks who are caught in the middle. And of course I am working constantly on the sequel to Apocalypse Woman, currently under the working title of Apocalypse Incarnation.

 

Q: What authors inspired you growing up?

 

A: C.S. Lewis was the first fantasy author I really discovered. I re-read The Chronicles of Narnia annually for several years as a child. The idea that there could be a magical world where good triumphs and anything is possible existing parallel to our own that you could just walk into was very inspiring to me, even more than the Christian overtones which I didn’t pick up on until a few years in.

 

As an early teen I discovered Stephen King and Kurt Vonnegut. The works I read from those authors in that period had a profound effect on me that continues to resonate until this day. I count The Stand and Cat’s Cradle as two of the most profound and amazing books I’ve ever read. They were bigger than anything I’d read before; the concepts and events in them just too important. I don’t know if I can ever write anything that will have that kind of effect on readers, but I’m determined to try!

 

Q: Why do you like writing romance/erotica?

 

A: I love sex, plain and simple! Sex is such a powerful thing for us as humans, few things have such power to bind us together or tear us apart. All the potential for both good and evil is there within. Human sexuality is so amazingly beautiful and I want people to share that and understand it, to use it for the purpose it was created, which is that of goodness and delight. There are so many people feeling negatively about their bodies and their sexuality and so much ugliness in the world coming out of it. I want to show people the consequences of that and ultimately encourage them to maybe experience it in a better way.

 

LINKS:

 

Tyree Kimber’s LiveJournal:

 

http://tq-kimber.livejournal.com/

 

 

 

 

 

Look at the list of the great prizes Aphrodite’s Apples and its authors are offering for their Marketing with Mandy Spotlight week! To be entered to be one of the winners (that will be announced on Sunday) all you have to do is comment on the blog on one or more of the Aphrodite’s Apples posts all this week.

 

Alisha Steele – one copy of The Summoner

 

Sultry Summers – one tote bag featuring the cover of Trojan Gold and stuffed with a few promo goodies

 

Regan Taylor – Bookmarks from Regan — and several other authors such as JB Skully, Candice Hern, and Monica McCarty — all signed

 

LA Taylor - one copy of either Azar or Solar Sensations, along with one copy of Miss Taylor’s rare, out-of-print children’s book “The Treasures of Trinkamalee”

 

Nikki Watson – one copy each of Spiral and Masquerade vol 2

 

Yolanda Sfetsos – one copy of HellBlaze

 

Tyree Kimber – one copy of Apocalypse Woman and a $10 gift card from Borders

 

Aphrodite’s Apples publisher prize – one 10 percent off coupon on any Aphrodite’s Apples purchase, a set of bookmarks, and one of HS Kinn’s beautiful Czech glass bead bracelets that she mentions in her interview!