First of all, I've got to explain this photo, because it's the reason I had such a wonderful time at the RWA conference in Orlando. Four years ago, I ran one of my monthly contests as I usually do, and noticed that I had a whole slew of entries from Lakeland, Florida. I could think of only one person I knew from Lakeland, and that was Lisa Guertin. (Lisa is second from the left in the back row next to me) I had met Lisa at a conference years earlier and we really hit it off. (Yes, she is one who actually seems to get my off-the-wall thinking!)
Anyway, I emailed Lisa and essentially said, "What is it with all these women in Lakeland who appear to like sexy paranormals?" She didn't have a clue, either, but I figured that if there were that many women with the same interests in reading, they'd probably make for a terrific book club. And that's how the book club, The Readers of the Pack, was born.
Four years later, this group of absolutely fantastic--and funny!--women are the best of friends and the book club is going strong. I finally got to meet a lot of them (Unfortunately not everyone was able to come to Orlando) and it was an absolute hoot! After dinner, where one of my favorite authors, Andrew Grey, joined us, we went back to the Dolphin Hotel and met up with a "new to me" author, Alanea Alder, who fits right in with this crowd. (Clicking on Alanea's and/or Andrew's name will take you to their websites)
Conferences can be crazy and overwhelming, but when someone you know actually picks you up at the airport and hauls you where you need to go, it's a lot more fun. And I can say without any doubt that Lisa has one of the coolest husbands ever--how many men will haul a strange woman to the airport before four in the morning? Uh huh...not very many. Even my OWN husband puts me on the shuttle! Airport? Nah...
Anyway, I emailed Lisa and essentially said, "What is it with all these women in Lakeland who appear to like sexy paranormals?" She didn't have a clue, either, but I figured that if there were that many women with the same interests in reading, they'd probably make for a terrific book club. And that's how the book club, The Readers of the Pack, was born.
Four years later, this group of absolutely fantastic--and funny!--women are the best of friends and the book club is going strong. I finally got to meet a lot of them (Unfortunately not everyone was able to come to Orlando) and it was an absolute hoot! After dinner, where one of my favorite authors, Andrew Grey, joined us, we went back to the Dolphin Hotel and met up with a "new to me" author, Alanea Alder, who fits right in with this crowd. (Clicking on Alanea's and/or Andrew's name will take you to their websites)
Conferences can be crazy and overwhelming, but when someone you know actually picks you up at the airport and hauls you where you need to go, it's a lot more fun. And I can say without any doubt that Lisa has one of the coolest husbands ever--how many men will haul a strange woman to the airport before four in the morning? Uh huh...not very many. Even my OWN husband puts me on the shuttle! Airport? Nah...
Lot's of cool things at the conference--I got to meet Sonali Dev, author of The Bollywood Bride and A Bollywood Affair, among others, and she sent me home with an ARC of her next book, A DISTANT HEART, coming out December 26.
It's a wonderful story, and beautifully ties up the threads left after A CHANGE OF HEART, though it can easily be read as a stand alone. Sonali's writing is absolutely flawless, and the books are so hard to put down! So I didn't--I actually read it twice, which is part of the reason my office is still in chaos after coming back from Orlando. I have to clean it up ONE of these days!
It's a wonderful story, and beautifully ties up the threads left after A CHANGE OF HEART, though it can easily be read as a stand alone. Sonali's writing is absolutely flawless, and the books are so hard to put down! So I didn't--I actually read it twice, which is part of the reason my office is still in chaos after coming back from Orlando. I have to clean it up ONE of these days!
Another really good book I've read since getting back from Orlando is Susan Fox's FLY AWAY WITH ME. It's the first in a new series with a similar tone to her Caribou Crossing series--small town, likeable characters, and a truly hot romance between two smart people (such a concept!)--but this one is set on Destiny Island in the waters near Vancouver Island off the coast of beautiful British Columbia.
Susan writes wonderfully heartwarming stories. Her characters always have an issue that creates believable conflict, and they ALWAYS have a wonderful happy ending. Face it, in this country right now we can all use a few happy endings! (That's the photo I took last week to post on my Twitter account. I don't post much, but love to get my photos of books and wine out where others will see them)
This book is already out, and it's just flat out good!
Susan writes wonderfully heartwarming stories. Her characters always have an issue that creates believable conflict, and they ALWAYS have a wonderful happy ending. Face it, in this country right now we can all use a few happy endings! (That's the photo I took last week to post on my Twitter account. I don't post much, but love to get my photos of books and wine out where others will see them)
This book is already out, and it's just flat out good!
There was a really good shushi restaurant in the hotel I stayed in--can we say Kate ate a lot of raw fish in Orlando? It was WONDERFUL! I also got away from the hotel--something I rarely do at a conference--and went to Disney Springs with an author I met the second night I arrived. I had dinner planned with Alix Rickloff, and Alix brought along JT Bock. Jen is an absolute hoot, and she managed not to lose me once I was surrounded by all things Disney. It was great to see Alix again, and I'm going to have to keep in touch with JT, but that's the best part about a conference--meeting new people!
I'm participating in a blog this month--click on the photo and it will take you to my Q&A where you can take a chance at winning a copy of Dark Terror Or, if you already have it and win a book, just let me know and we'll come up with something else.
As far as my contest here, I've got lots of books and RWA Swag, and I'm not sure how many prizes I can give away, but I know I've got at least enough for two boxes--again, this is US only--but I'll give away a copy of one of my own ebooks to any International winners, and the number of winners chosen sort of depends on the number of entries I get. Just enter using the contest entry form to the right. International entries, I just need to know what country you're in so I know you go into my international pool of entries. There are fewer of you than US entries, so I like to give you a fair shot at winning something. When I can separate you out, you have a better shot. I'll get in touch with International winners to see what book you'd like.
As far as my contest here, I've got lots of books and RWA Swag, and I'm not sure how many prizes I can give away, but I know I've got at least enough for two boxes--again, this is US only--but I'll give away a copy of one of my own ebooks to any International winners, and the number of winners chosen sort of depends on the number of entries I get. Just enter using the contest entry form to the right. International entries, I just need to know what country you're in so I know you go into my international pool of entries. There are fewer of you than US entries, so I like to give you a fair shot at winning something. When I can separate you out, you have a better shot. I'll get in touch with International winners to see what book you'd like.
Now, on to my book business! Wolf Tales 10 is going to come out in September instead of this month. The book is done, edits complete, but we've been having trouble coming up with the right cover. The thing is, we want a concept that we can continue using, a design that will mean "Wolf Tales" to readers. A lot of you have some of the series but not all of it. I know many of you have read some of the Wolf Tales but never finished the series. I have the rights back to Wolf Tales 10, 11, and 12, and I hope to eventually have the whole series, but you'll be able to tell the ones that are re-releases by the covers--and, of course, the price. We'll have them at $3.99, I think. At this point, we're not releasing them in print unless sales warrant the extra cost. Anyway, the titles will look almost the same, except we're adding the name of the main character. Wolf Tales 10 will come out as Wolf Tales 10 -- Adam, since it's mostly his story. Once all the cover tweaking is done, it'll go up for pre-order, and I'll let you know when that happens. I think that Wolf Tales 11 is coming out in November, and Wolf Tales 12 in January.
I've been working on Dark Captive since I got back from the conference, and I'm really enjoying this one. Once I'm comfortable with my story, I'll post an excerpt.
I've got one more thing I wanted to bring up. While I was at the conference, I met with my agent. Jessica Faust is terrific and I've been with her for over sixteen years now, but she essentially handed me my ass on a platter--she did it nicely, but she laid out some hard facts I really didn't want to hear. My sales have fallen off, and a lot of the reason, she believes, is because I'm not getting enough reviews when my books first release. Unfortunately, with all the changes in publishing now, if your book doesn't get enough reviews to move it up in the rankings, people just don't see it, and sales suffer.
I talked to Lisa Guertin and the ladies of the Readers of the Pack book club and they've agreed to take on a role on the ground floor of a street team of readers willing to review for me. They'll get copies of the new books via NetGalley, and hopefully other perks as I learn how to work with a team of reviewers.
The thing is, my agent wants me to have a group of at least fifty--obviously not everyone can read and review every book I release within a set time, but if there are enough people in the group, I should be able to get more than a dozen or so reviews, which has always been a high number for me. Everything about selling books has changed--I used to let my publisher worry about that sort of thing, but honestly? They don't always do that great a job, which is why I'm putting this out there to you.
If you enjoy reading and are comfortable writing reviews, I'd love to have you join what will be a closed group. I know a lot of you have done terrific reviews for me over the years, and I'm hoping it will make a difference to have a select group of readers willing to read and post for me. One other thing--I want honest reviews. If a book doesn't work for you, feel free to say why. Authors really do learn from constructive criticism! If you are interested, please write to me at katedouglas13@gmail.com, or message me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/katedouglas.author. I want to know where you usually post reviews and if you believe you can read early release copies of my books and get a review up. I will provide the books via Netgalley. I'll be quite honest--this is a business decision for me, but if I want to keep writing, I'll need to figure out a way to make it work, and in this case, I'm willing to listen to my agent. I freely admit she knows a lot more about this business than I do!
And on that note, I've got grandkids in town and I want some time to see them before they go back to Hawaii on Monday, so I'm going to close for now. It was wonderful to see so many of you at the conference--I always love the book signing at RWA because so many readers I've known online for years stop by to say hello, and it's just the coolest thing ever! Be well, take care, and get your entries in. It appears I'm going to have two very tightly packed boxes of books with everyone from Rachel Gibson and MaryJo Putney to Cynthia Eden. I definitely grabbed an eclectic bunch of stuff! Swag, too. I can't wait to find my office underneath all this stuff again!
Kate
I've been working on Dark Captive since I got back from the conference, and I'm really enjoying this one. Once I'm comfortable with my story, I'll post an excerpt.
I've got one more thing I wanted to bring up. While I was at the conference, I met with my agent. Jessica Faust is terrific and I've been with her for over sixteen years now, but she essentially handed me my ass on a platter--she did it nicely, but she laid out some hard facts I really didn't want to hear. My sales have fallen off, and a lot of the reason, she believes, is because I'm not getting enough reviews when my books first release. Unfortunately, with all the changes in publishing now, if your book doesn't get enough reviews to move it up in the rankings, people just don't see it, and sales suffer.
I talked to Lisa Guertin and the ladies of the Readers of the Pack book club and they've agreed to take on a role on the ground floor of a street team of readers willing to review for me. They'll get copies of the new books via NetGalley, and hopefully other perks as I learn how to work with a team of reviewers.
The thing is, my agent wants me to have a group of at least fifty--obviously not everyone can read and review every book I release within a set time, but if there are enough people in the group, I should be able to get more than a dozen or so reviews, which has always been a high number for me. Everything about selling books has changed--I used to let my publisher worry about that sort of thing, but honestly? They don't always do that great a job, which is why I'm putting this out there to you.
If you enjoy reading and are comfortable writing reviews, I'd love to have you join what will be a closed group. I know a lot of you have done terrific reviews for me over the years, and I'm hoping it will make a difference to have a select group of readers willing to read and post for me. One other thing--I want honest reviews. If a book doesn't work for you, feel free to say why. Authors really do learn from constructive criticism! If you are interested, please write to me at katedouglas13@gmail.com, or message me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/katedouglas.author. I want to know where you usually post reviews and if you believe you can read early release copies of my books and get a review up. I will provide the books via Netgalley. I'll be quite honest--this is a business decision for me, but if I want to keep writing, I'll need to figure out a way to make it work, and in this case, I'm willing to listen to my agent. I freely admit she knows a lot more about this business than I do!
And on that note, I've got grandkids in town and I want some time to see them before they go back to Hawaii on Monday, so I'm going to close for now. It was wonderful to see so many of you at the conference--I always love the book signing at RWA because so many readers I've known online for years stop by to say hello, and it's just the coolest thing ever! Be well, take care, and get your entries in. It appears I'm going to have two very tightly packed boxes of books with everyone from Rachel Gibson and MaryJo Putney to Cynthia Eden. I definitely grabbed an eclectic bunch of stuff! Swag, too. I can't wait to find my office underneath all this stuff again!
Kate
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