Announcement: General News

I've been really lax about my blog this week, which makes me feel badly but the truth is, though I enjoy the blogging, it always falls by the wayside when I'm really busy with other things. So what am I so busy with? Well, how about the following:

1. Creators is now available from other retailers! You can purchase it at Amazon, Kobo, or Barnes & Noble! For now, my other titles are still exclusive to Amazon, but that exclusivity expires on all three of them in March, so throughout that month I'll be adding the books one at a time to Kobo and B&N.

2. I'm working on a romantic dramedy serial called Committed, which will be released under my Anne Wentworth pen name. It'll be 8 episodes long, and it centers around Ella, who is a week away from her wedding day and busy dealing with a disaster each day leading up to her wedding. I'm working with the awesome Carrie at Cheeky Covers on the cover, so some of my time has been spent looking at designs and stock art for the perfect cover. I have a couple of advanced readers lined up, but I could use more eyes. If you're interested, let me know on my Facebook page.

3. I'm planning on releasing paperback copies of The Eye of the Beholder, and I've been tinkering with Createspace, trying to get a feel for it. I'm extremely happy to say that I'll be able to keep the original cover, but I'll need to give the designer some additional information about the size of the book, number of pages, etc. so that a print version of the cover can be created. Before I can do that, I have to nail down the formatting, so I'm planning on doing some tinkering with that over the next week or so. I'd like to have the paperback out by February.

4. Lot and lots of promotions. I was a part of Elle Casey's anniversary giveaway, and am in the process of contacting the winners of copies of Contributor and Creators. I have another promo coming up at the end of the month, this time for The Eye of the Beholder (be sure to check my giveaway page--more details will be coming soon). I've also been scheduling some promotions for Phoning It In.

5. Setting up my mailing list. It's ready to go at last! Subscribing to the mailing list will give you access to the following:

• Members-only giveaways
• Extended excerpts
• A quarterly newsletter
• Notification of new releases

There will be no spamming with my mailing list, just pure, awesome goodness. You'll receive less than 10 e-mails a year from it. I'll set up a separate mailing list for my serial so that I can let readers know as the episodes become available.

So, as you can see, my plate is pretty full of lots of good stuff.

One last note: I now have 11 reviews for The Eye of the Beholder on Amazon, and some of them have made me so happy. Last night, I saw this new one, and I am flying high. Disclaimer: I don't expect everyone to love my book, but every review I receive helps me to become a better writer. Plus, I can't say how much it means to me to see readers taking time out of their busy days to not only read one of my books, but write a review of it. You, dear readers, are awesome!

What's in Store for 2013

2012 was a great year for me, one that exceeded my wildest dreams. Confession time: I had this secret hope that I could sell 100 copies of my books in a year. Well, as of  December 29, 2012, I've hit 1,000 sales (and this doesn't include borrows) and counting! To say I'm happy and excited about this is the understatement of the century.

I've made some rookie mistakes and learned a lot in 2012, so I'm going into 2013 feeling like I finally have some idea of what I'm doing. That's been great, because it's helping me to focus and set some good, solid goals. So, here is what I'm looking to accomplish in 2013:

1. More books: First will be Asleep, book two in the Fairytale Collection., followed by Infiltrator, the second book in the Contributor series. I'm also going to try my hand at an 8-episode romantic comedy serial. I have most of it outlined and I'll share more details once I'm closer to having it ready for publication. Other possibilities: a companion book to Phoning It In that will focus on one of the secondary characters and another novella in the Creators sequence, which takes place prior to Contributor.

2. Expanded distribution: when my exclusivity period lapses with some of my works, I'm going to expand to other markets, such as Kobo and Barnes & Noble. I've had limited success with these in the past, but I want to give them another shot because I really dislike the idea of restricting the outlets where my readers can get my books.

3. Mailing list: I'm planning on quarterly newsletters with exclusives for members: giveaways, access to extended excerpts, etc. I'll also use the mailing list to alert readers of new releases. One thing I will never do: spam my readers. Ever.

4. Author website: This blog is limiting, and I'd like to have a central presence on the web for my bibliographies, blog posts, etc. I'm also the author of a fairly popular work of fanfic, and I think I'm going to out myself and host the fanfic on my site. In addition, I have ideas for some fun stuff: short daily stories, a forum for interacting with readers and getting feedback that will influence the way serials pan out, etc.

5. Social media presence: Though I'm still planning on Tweeting, pinning things that interest me on Pinterest, and posting to FB, I'm going to be devoting most of my efforts to Google+ and Goodreads, as I feel that these are the outlets that allow me to best interact with readers. I'm a big fan of Google+ Communities, and I'm thinking about dabbling in the Hangouts. As for Goodreads, well, I fell in love with that site a couple of years ago and use it daily as a reader, so it goes without saying that I love the idea of what I can do with it as an author.

6. Physical copies of my books: Several readers have expressed interest, and I'd love to offer the option to them. Since I already have covers for my books, I need to look into having these changed so they'll meet physical copy requirements. I've used several different cover designers, and I'm hoping to be able to negotiate with each of them so that I won't have to change any covers.

7. More group promotions: I love working with other authors and have found some amazing books thanks to my self-publishing journey. I already have one promo lined up for late January/early February, and I will try to participate in others throughout the year.

That's it for me! Thanks to all my readers for making 2012 such a memorable year for me. I wish you the best for health, happiness, and good fortune in 2013!