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It All Started With A Short Story

March 5, 2024 by in category Writing

I was stumped for something to write about this month. I have been working on a book due to my editor next month. Plus, I need to review the edits for my mother’s first devotional. I’m so proud of her. I went on the hunt for something from my blog and came up short. However, I found something I thought would be good to share…my first published work.

I had the privilege of writing a piece for Christian Fiction Online Magazine (I don’t know if it’s still publishing). I remember being so excited at the opportunity. Looking back now, I see how different my writing is. I used to use this as a free download for new subscribers. I took it down, because it no longer represented my writing style. In looking at the publish date, I discovered it was the fourteenth anniversary of my first published writing piece. Talk about shocked. I can’t believe it’s been that long since I began my writing career.

Here’s my first short story. Tell me what you think. If you’ve read any of my current works, this will be extremely difference. Trust me, I won’t be offended by your comments. See you next month.
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CAREER REBORN
(Published 01.21.2010 Christian Fiction Online Magazine)

I had been wanting to quit my job for the past year and a half, but the timing was never right. But fortunately, that is no longer an issue. My boss was fired last week, and it seems likely that everyone on her team will be fired as well, leaving me, her assistant, or as she referred to me “The person she was forced to hire,” jobless.

I know God hears me when I pray, and I was trusting Him to show me what to do next. But in the meantime, I put on my favorite black Prada skirt and pumps, black cashmere sweater, and the floral print Hermes scarf my generous but scathing boss gave me for my last birthday, and grabbed my most recent Christmas gift from her, a black leather YSL Muse handbag. I figured mourning attire would be appropriate, since I was on my way to the funeral service for my dead career. I took one last look in the mirror, picked up my keys, and walked out the door, not quite sure how painful today’s meeting with Human Resources would be.

I treated every step of this morning’s walk to work like a funeral procession, absorbing everything in sight and unsure if I would travel down this street again. When I arrived at my office building, I rode the elevator with the rest of the people from my boss’s team, each of us quietly staring at the brass doors, trying not to look at one another. As the doors opened and we exited the elevator to our new futures, we were greeted by Marcy Gibbons, the head of Human Resources.

No greeting. No smile. Just her curt command: “Follow me.” Surely an omen of what was to come. She turned and led the way down the hall. We followed her into the conference room and took seats around the large oval mahogany table, waiting for the official word ending our time with the company. As we fidgeted in our seats, still avoiding eye contact, the door whooshed opened. Mr. Thomas, the head of the company, strode in. This was a first. In all the years I’ve worked here, I have never known him to personally fire anyone. He didn’t even fire my boss. He never lowered himself to deal with such menial tasks; he left those duties to Marcy.

He surveyed the room. “Good morning, everyone. As you know, Christina was let go, and after careful examination of your collective work, I have uncovered some rather interesting information.”

As his voice rumbled around the room, I looked over at Marcy, sitting as still as a statue.

“Marcy and I have come up with a plan to handle this unique situation.”

He cleared his voice and our eyes met. Instead of feeling nervous, I was very calm. Okay, God, hit me with it. I know whatever it is You have planned for me, You have also instilled in me everything I need to do it.

Marcy stood and walked around the table, handing everyone a packet with their names printed on the outside. When she came to me she walked past without giving me anything. Okay, I guess that means as Christina’s assistant I won’t be getting a severance package like every one else. I shifted a little in my seat and placed my hands in my lap. All eyes were on me, but I remained calm.

“Jillian Morgan.” A chill ran up my spine when Mr. Thomas called my name. “Sir.” When senior level executives are fired, it’s customary to fire their assistants as well. And in extreme situations, their entire team is demoted.

“You worked for Christina for five years, giving you access and insight to every account her team handled. Is that correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And is it true that among your many duties, you assigned the territories to each manager, developed the team strategies, composed the quarterly reports for upper management, and did the team’s bonus reviews?”

“Yes, sir.” I needed a good review for my next job, so if ever there was a time to toot my own horn, it was now.

His eyes locked on to mine. “Tell me, Jillian, when exactly did you start doing Christina’s job?” Busted. I thought my duties for Christina were a secret. Now I know I’m getting fired . . . and without severance.

“Uhm, I-I . . .” I cleared my throat and looked around the room at all of the people on Christina’s team. They all thought she was a genius, generous, and a dynamic leader. After all, every year the strategies the team had employed worked; they exceeded their goals and got big fat bonuses. “She had me . . . I mean . . . for the past four years.”

“I see.” He nodded his head and looked over at Marcy before continuing. “Come here, please.” I got up and walked over and stood next to him. “I have reviewed every report this team has filed in the past three and a half years and discovered the change in productivity occurred when Jillian arrived. I know you all thought you were being fired, but there’s been a change in plans. No one is being fired.”

A collective sigh resonated around the room.

“However, Jillian, you will no longer be allowed to stay on as an executive assistant.”

No surprise there. My stomach clenched.

“Instead, I am promoting you to Senior Director for this team.”

“Excuse me?” I couldn’t keep my mouth from hanging open as he extended his hand to congratulate me. How had I gone from a lowly assistant to Senior Director? Thank you, God. I shook my head trying to process everything. I looked around the room and everyone was smiling.

“There is nothing wrong with this team. You all work well together. And I believe with Jillian at the helm, you will continue to do even better. Keep up the good work.”

“Thank you, Mr. Thomas. We won’t let you down.” He shook my hand as everyone jumped to their feet and applauded. All I could do was try not to faint.


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Mailing Goal Update

February 24, 2024 by in category Writing

A new year means new goals. Last year, one of my authorship goals was to build my mailing list to 10,000. A lofty goal, considering my mailing list was only 3014.

So what was my plan and why build my list?

First, a little history on my mailing list. When began my writing career, I knew very little about author marketing. I have another business which I have mentioned in previous posts. However, I didn’t realize some of the marketing tools I use there could be used in my author business. I have a decent mailing list with my lingerie business, but like any mailing list, it requires nurturing which I failed to provide for both entities.

There are several authors who do well with a list that size. Frankly, if everyone on my list bought every book I released on release day, I would be excited and pocket quite a bit of money on that day only. No matter how much I may like my stories, every reader on my list won’t feel the same and that’s okay. Let’s say, every subscriber did buy everyone one of my books, what happens in between releases? What if I only release one ebook a year at $4.99 (before printing fees), that would yield approximately $15,000. Not bad by any means, but that’s all I would earn based on a mailing list with no growth. We’re only talking about my mailing list not any additional sales. This example also doesn’t include my backlist, because those subs would already have every one of my books.

Relying solely on my list seems a great idea, but in order for this to be sustainable or for me to have a steady income, I’d have to release four to six books a year. For me, that isn’t doable, because it’s more detailed than it sounds. Trust me, I speak from experience. Remember my lofty release a month project in 2016?

Back to my reason for building my mailing list. When I started my writing career, I wasn’t focused on a mailing list. I thought you wrote a book, put it up for sale and it would magically sell, but that’s fantasy. In order to sell books people need to know about your book. With my first release, I had a handful of organic sales. The rest were family and friends. It was a crawl building my list. Once I did, I saw some movement with that book, but even more with the next release. The list was slowly growing but I needed to make a move. Then I discovered Mark Dawson’s free course on how to build a list. I followed the plan and it worked. My list got up to 3000 plus. I was rocking. Some of my new subs preordered my new releases making release day better. I still didn’t have every sub buy every book, but I was making strides.

I don’t know when it happened, but somewhere along the way, the list started to shrink. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I tried pretty much everything…paid list building, facebook group promos, newsletter swaps, signing events and ads. All were nice, but didn’t produce the results I desired.

The other reason I wanted to increase my mailing list was author swaps. I had tried some swaps, but because my list was so small, I wasn’t able to swap with authors with larger lists. In order to sell books, the book and author need access to readers. I am not knocking authors with small lists, because that’s where I am. However, there are authors with grand lists…20,000…40,000…60,000+ subs. I already hear you saying, a list that large is expensive and you’re right. However, a list that large more than likely will supporting itself.

Here are the facts about my journey. My mailing list has 4084 subscribers. However, for some reason not all of then want to receive the newsletter. At the beginning of this challenge, I had 3014 subscribers who wanted to receive the newsletter. However, I believe some of those not receiving email, neglected to click the “receive email” box.

Here are the numbers.
Goal to get to 10000…………………6986
Mailing list at start of 2023………..3014
Lost Subscribers……………………….-432
New Subscribers……………………….7451
New mailing list total……………….10033

When this challenge was completed, I had reached my goal plus 33. Side note, I haven’t done a thorough review of the new subs, so there might be some duplicates. Like most lists, some will probably leave and that’s okay, it only makes room for people who want to be on the list. Also, remember with each email sent, some subs might leave. In my case, I lost 432 plus the 1070 who opted not to receive emails.

So how did I grow my list? I joined a lot of Book Funnel promotions. These are free and easy to join. I’m still not fully versed in how the BF system works, but I’m learning. I also joined an assortment of paid list builders, a few facebook group list builders and a couple of book signings. Since the Book Funnel promos are built on free books, that meant I gave away 7451 books. Not too bad. I also did bi-weekly newsletter swaps. The mistake I made here was not tracking the results of the swaps. I also failed to track the organic growth not associated with any of my promo efforts.

I am a fan of the Book Funnel promotions and have decided to make the Book Funnel promotions part of my ongoing marketing campaign. If you’re looking for a free way to build your mailing list, I highly recommend the Book Funnel promotions. Now that I reached my goal, I’m eager to see how this effects my author career.

See you next month.

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UNEXPECTED NOVEL

February 5, 2024 by in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as , , , ,

Tracy is out of town this month, so we are reposting one of her columns. Hope you enjoy it.

Tracy Reed | A Slice of OrangeI hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.

Let’s talk about unexpected stories.

I apologize if I’ve already told the story about my upcoming release, “UNEXPECTED LOVE.” My relationship with this story goes back several years. When I first became an Indie Writer, I had quite a few stories dancing around in my mind. I had this idea for a series about a woman and the many men in her life. More like all the men she’d married.

When I set out to write the series, the task seemed a little daunting. I don’t know about anyone else, but I easily get attached to my characters. But if I don’t feel a connection, it’s difficult for me to tell their story.

When I got the idea for this story, I imagined it as a five book series. I had all the husbands mapped out. However, when I started writing, it felt very forced. I was so overwhelmed trying to tell this woman’s story. I abandoned the series and thought I would tell it as a standalone. Summarizing each of the husbands and focusing on the one she really loved.

I picked up the pages I’d started, made a few changes, and set out to write. I liked where this story was going, but as I got more involved with the characters, the story changed. It was no longer a story about a bitter divorcee, but a liberated divorcee who finds love in an unexpected source, her ex-husband’s ex-best friend, who just happens to be her divorce attorney. That’s either a mouthful or a blurb.

The more involved I got with Fiona’s story, the more I liked her. But I also felt sorry for her. She’s a sweetheart, searching for her voice. In a nutshell, she married her college crush, who later deceived her. Once she decided to divorce him, she found her voice. I love her transition, although it’s not without its ups and downs. One of which is the change in her relationship with her attorney and her self-esteem.

Last year, when I set out to write twelve titles in a year, I had this title on the schedule as a short story. However, I didn’t think there was enough story for a book. So I resolved myself to make it a short story. I cleaned up the first chapter and started writing. But when I started writing, the story took a turn. It was no longer about Fiona and her husband, but Fiona and her attorney.

I continued writing, thinking I could tell the story in novella length. As I got closer to what would be maximum novella length, the characters kept talking. No matter how hard I fought to end the story, they kept talking, so I kept writing. I really enjoyed the direction the story was going. Then I wrote myself into a hole. Crap! I didn’t see a way out, so I introduced another character, thinking she would help me. Instead, she led me to a wall, and the only way around the wall was another character. Hold on, it gets better. When I introduced this character, he brought his own storyline in addition to tearing down the wall.

So here I was with a full-length novel. But here’s the kicker. When I introduced Fiona’s brother (aka “the wall”) into the mix, the story took another turn and led me to a place I never would have imagined being, “Cliffhanger Boulevard.”

Yep, my five book series originally titled, “My Five Husbands” was changed to a standalone novel. Then it got a title switch to “UNEXPECTED LOVE.” Then it became a short story, that grew into a novella that reverted to a full-length standalone, which is now book one in a new series. Talk about unexpected.

So what’s the lesson learned? Never throw out an idea. Instead, put it aside and, when the time is right, revisit it. You might be surprised what story you can tell.

See you next month.

Here’s a cover peek.

Tracy’s Books

THE GOOD GIRL PART FOUR

Buy now!
THE GOOD GIRL PART FOUR

THE GOOD GIRL PART FIVE

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THE GOOD GIRL PART FIVE

THE GOOD GIRL Part Trois

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THE GOOD GIRL Part Trois

THE FIX UP

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THE FIX UP

A SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN

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A SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN

MISS MATCH

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MISS MATCH

THE GOOD GIRL PART DEUX

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THE GOOD GIRL PART DEUX

WHAT MY FRIENDS NEED TO KNOW

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WHAT MY FRIENDS NEED TO KNOW

WHAT MY FRIENDS DON’T KNOW

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WHAT MY FRIENDS DON’T KNOW

GIRLFRIENDS & SECRETS

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GIRLFRIENDS & SECRETS

DESPERATE DESIRE

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DESPERATE DESIRE

INTENTIONAL CURSE

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INTENTIONAL CURSE

GENERATIONAL CURSE

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GENERATIONAL CURSE

UNEXPECTED LOVE

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UNEXPECTED LOVE
GOD’S BOMBSHELL: LIVING A BEAUTIFUL SINGLE LIFE

LOVE NOTES

Buy now!
LOVE NOTES

FIRST ENCOUNTERS OF LOVE

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FIRST ENCOUNTERS OF LOVE

THE GOOD GIRL PART ONE

Buy now!
THE GOOD GIRL PART ONE

THE NIGHT I FELL IN LOVE

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THE NIGHT I FELL IN LOVE

THE FLING

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THE FLING
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CONFERENCE PREP Part Four

December 5, 2023 by in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed

Happy holidays. Let’s finish up this series with the sales.

This was my first mega signing and therefore I had no idea what to expect. It was also the inaugural Steamy Lit Conference and mega signing. No one really knew what to expect. This was a huge event. Think Book Bonanza but slightly smaller and you will have an idea of what this event was like. 

On a side note the energy was amazing. If you ever get the opportunity to attend as either a signing author or reader, go. It was fun being amongst like minded people who understand your love of books.

I don’t think any of the authors knew what to expect sales wise from this conference. Prior to the event I asked God for an abundance of sales. Did I sell out? No. Did I earn back all of my expenses? No. Based on the size of the event, I really thought I would sell out. My expectations were wrong, because I’m a relative unknown author. The sales I received were mostly from new to me readers which is very good. I am very grateful for the sales I made because I have new readers I don’t think I would have gotten if it hadn’t been for this conference.

Did I discount my books?

How much to sell your books for at signings is always a tricky question. I did a lot of research from previous authors on this subject. I also stalked every pre-order I could find for event signing pricing. What price to sell your books for is something only you can answer. I chose not to discount my books and I’m glad I didn’t. I write a mix of large and small books. I felt I would be doing myself a disservice by discounting my books.

In speaking with some readers they informed me, they don’t expect to get discounts or freebies. They come to the conference prepared to spend money. I tried to find out how much they had spent, but I was politely told, “you don’t need to know that”. I learned if a reader is interested in your book, they will buy it no matter the price. If you have an exclusive hardcover or boxset and they like it…they will buy it. I saw readers buy VERY pricey exclusives and not blink. The readers I spoke to said, if they like a book or series, they’ll buy it in every iteration available. 

This leads to another area for future book signings….Exclusives. Since I’m doing SLC 2024, I’m already thinking about exclusives and hardcovers to take. Now that I know what readers expect, I better able to prepare. I’m also working on building my name recognition to increase my sales.

Was this event a financial failure?

No. This was the most profitable signing event for me. I also gained new subscribers, met some nice readers and sold some books. I got some valuable input from readers. I discovered some new authors to read, made some new friends, industry professionals and gained some publishing knowledge.  

Will I do a mega signing again?

Of course. I like meeting with new readers and I like doing signings. 

However, when it comes to signings, I am limiting the number of signings I do per year because it’s a lot of work and expensive. Ideally, I would like to do a signing a quarter. Two local and two out of town, but nothing is etched in stone. I could change my mind and sign up for more signings. 

I hope this series has been helpful. If I missed something or you have some signing tips, please share them.

See you next year when I recap my quest to increase my mailing list. 

Au revoir.

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CONFERENCE PREP Part Three

November 5, 2023 by in category Writing

Happy Fall. We’re almost with my series Conference Prep.

I have done quite a few pop ups and sales events in addition to book signings and I’ve learned a few things about Event Design.

I come from an event planning and boutique owner background. I realize I am at a slight advantage because design is part of my day-to-day. But what I’m suggesting anyone can do. 

When I do an event, if possible I get as much information in advance as possible about my space. Currently, I’m an unknown author. By that I mean, at present there aren’t a lot of readers actively seeking me out at events. Some day soon that will change, but my event design mindset won’t. 

Here’s how I prepare my table or space for book signings. It’s very important I stay on brand. In my other business, fuchsia, black and white are my brand colors. I carried those colors over to my author world. I like flowers especially pink peonies, pink roses, hydrangea and Casablanca lilies. A staple to my table is a huge arrangement of assorted pink silk flowers. The vase with the flowers is about 3’ tall. This is an attention getter and events. Most women like flowers so when they see the flowers, readers are quick to come see if they’re real. Once they get to my table, it allows me to introduce them to my author world.

I research design ideas and once I settle on a look, I test it out. I want to see how long it will take me to set it up and tear it down. When I set up my table, I’m arranging everything so I can see how it looks to the reader walking by or stopping to purchase. I want to see if they can reach for something without knocking anything down. I utilize every inch of the tabletop for display. 

I handle my sales and book signing at a small collapsible table I hide behind my sign.

I use small signs with trope cards, series order, prices, newsletter sign up and any other information I need posted. I scatter loose swag on the table and use glass bowls for saleable swag. Stacks of postcards are placed near their respective books. I also use a plain tablecloth in one of my signature colors. 

My design For Steamy Lit, was beautiful if I say so myself. However, I wouldn’t have done this design if I had to fly to an event because there were a lot of elements. A tall vase with flowers, gigantic pink and cream flowers attached to the front of the tablecloth, risers, a small table and my retractable sign. The flowers on the  tablecloth looked like they had fallen from the vase of flowers. This was an elaborate design which required a couple of hours to assemble. 

This design can be modified for a travel event by eliminating the flowers on the front of the tablecloth and the small table. Instead of silk flowers, I recommend purchasing fresh flower and later use as a giveaway or thank you to the event host. I could pack the silk flowers and trick up a vase, but I would prefer to use an extra suitcase for books to sell, plus the ones I bought.

Funny story. At Steamy Lit, I had broken down all my empty boxes and put them next to my table. The cleaning people thought they were trash and took them. Thank God, I’d sold books so I didn’t need those boxes.

There are exceptions to every rule. Now if your signing space is limited, I suggest you stay as close to your brand as possible. Maybe instead of a tall vase of flowers, get a small one and a floral garland. Use a tabletop retractable sign and possibly a table banner. Print a price list and had it to readers or put it in a frame. Still stumped for a design idea…visit Pinterest. Set up a board with looks you like and when the time comes, you’ll be set to shine and hopefully, gain new readers and sales.

To sum up. Make your signing space representative of your brand.

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