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UNEXPECTED NOVEL

July 5, 2017 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as brainstorming, ideas, titles, Tracy Reed, writing

Tracy Reed | A Slice of Orange Happy Summer and post Independence Day. I 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 decided to become 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 start writing the series, the task seemed a little daunting. I don’t know about anyone else, 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 stand alone. 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 started to change. 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 made up her mind to divorce him, she found her voice. I love her transition, although it’s not without it’s 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 considered 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 stand alone novel. Then it got a title switch to “UNEXPECTED LOVE.” Then it became a short story, that grew into a novella that reverted back to a full-length stand alone, 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.

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EPIC FACEBOOK AD FAILURE…IT WAS ALL MY FAULT

May 5, 2017 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as Ads, Facebook, Marketing, Newsletters

I am a huge fan of Facebook [FB] Ads. Having said that. Let’s get started.

Like most Indie Writers, I am my own marketing director and publicist. Ultimately, I am the only one getting the word out about my books. No matter how many people I bribe, I mean beg to post on their social media or who voluntarily spread the word, getting the word out is on me.

I have been fortunate to participate in book promotional events

I have been very fortunate to participate in a couple of book promotional events that helped build my mailing list. As well as, using Facebook ads.

The first time I placed a FB ad, I didn’t expect thousands or even hundreds of subscribers. I was just hoping someone clicked the ad.

I thought my first FB ad, did decent…reach 3,050, subscribers 46 and $23.47 over a 5 day period. The second time I placed a FB ad the reach was 2,589, number of subscribers 81 and $53.49 over a 7 day period. [I might be off on my duration by a day or two.] Again, I thought those were good numbers. I tried it one more time. This time the reach was 3,609 with 144 subscribers at a cost of $74.47. [Each ad was done with a different book or a free book.]

Reality Check

I recently got a reality check when it came to my results…these were not that good. Another thing I didn’t do, was keep good records. All I was looking at was how many subscriptions I got and not going over budget.

I recently completed Mark Dawson’s course on Facebook Ads and realize I could have done better. [This isn’t a post for the course or Mark Dawson.] Some of my classmates have been posting their results and even the examples in the lectures, revealed, I could have done much, much better.

I finished the class excited about correcting my mistakes. I know I can’t fall prey to the writer’s golden rule, “Don’t compare your progress/success to another writer. I hear myself saying the words and see them in this post. Yet, I can’t help but compare my results to much more successful writers.

I ran a couple, okay a few ads and the results were horrible. See for yourself.

Reach Clicks

1,416 50

3,307 43

1,318 32

686 29

No, those aren’t my Amazon rankings, but the results of my FB ads. I got so frustrated. I ran these numbers by my accountability group and in the FB group for my class. Check out the ads throughout the post and tell me, what the problem is, because I’m stumped.

My numbers were doing so badly, I would change ads in the middle of the day or only let the ad run a day, maybe two. I finally settled on one ad and then I pulled the rest. I let that ad run three days, but the numbers never got any better.

I posted my issue on my class group and someone in my FB group came up with the only thing that made since…reviews. I have a nice library or catalogue, but I don’t have a lot of reviews on the books I was trying to sell. True, there are a couple of ads that are bad, but the reviews is the thing that really made the most sense. I also changed the audience, but the numbers didn’t improve.

The ad with the reluctant heiress, is the one I finally settled on.

Apparently, reviews play a much bigger part than I knew. Let me back track, because that makes me sound ill-informed. I know reviews are very important. It was just when I ran the ads to increase my mailing list they really didn’t matter because I was looking to increase my mailing list. Not sell books.

Again, not to push Mark’s course, but in the course, he shared a way to build a mailing list via an email sequence. [I’m in the process of setting up an email sequence. I’ll post about that later.] I thought I could dive right into the ad game without expanding my mailing list. My mailing list is over 2,100. Like most writers, I’ve had some unsubscribe, which is cool. I’ve also had some join organically. However, I need to bump that number up. Let me rephrase that, I want to bump it up. A larger list, can improve my sales numbers. More possible readers equals more possible sales. Which can also mean a bigger pool or source of reviews.

I am determined to correct my epic FB ad fail and start over. Step one, increase my email list. Step two, set up a new FB ad attached to an email sequence. Step three, get some reviews.

I plan to put my new plan into action on next week. I’ll update you next month.

Tracy

Tracy Reed

www.readtracyreed.com

Sophisticated Romance

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WHAT’S YOUR PLATFORM

April 5, 2017 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as Elena Dillion, Sophisticated Romance, Tracy Reed, Writers Platform

If you attended Cal Dreamin’ you’re probably still playing catch up. I love attending writers conferences. Where else can you be around your people? It’s wonderful being around people who don’t find it strange when you ask how to kill someone, get them pregnant or arrange their marriage. And then there’s the socializing. Writers get a lot of heat about the amount of wine and chocolate we eat. So we indulge a little; it’s research. If we were still in college, our conference would be considered “Spring Break”.

So my spring break was wonderful. And just like Spring Break, I got very little sleep, ate a lot and spent the weekend hanging with my friends.

Now that I’m back in the thick of things, I realize, I’m so behind. Couple that with my birthday on today, I was a little distracted and in need of a post for our new blog. [Thanks Marianne for all of your hard work on the blog].

Thank God for backup posts. I found a post I never published. Considering some of us are still basking in the afterglow of Cal Dreamin’ I thought it might serve as a little refresher. Keep in mind, I wrote this post around the time of publishing my first book.

Now that I have self-published my first book, I am officially a published author. Actually, when I published a couple of short stories awhile back, those made me a published author in theory, but not in marketing.

When I started my writing journey, I was focused on getting an agent and writing another book. I forgot about the other things.

It wasn’t until I went to an ACFW [American Christian Fiction Writers] conference that I realized I needed a presence before I needed a writing contract. [Since then, I’ve opted to go self-publishing. However, the information is still the relevant.]

During the conference, the same word kept popping up, “Platform.” I didn’t have a clue what that meant the first time I heard it. Once I got clarification, I was instantly overwhelmed. Not only did I have to write the book, now I had to market it. I thought that was what the publisher did. SURPRISE for all you newbies, no matter what route you take, ultimately, you’ll be responsible for marketing your book. So now I was faced with another thing to deal with before I finished the first draft. A Platform. Needless to say, a few choice words entered my mind about a platform and where I wanted to put it. And let’s not forget, the major thing I needed to do: define my look. What the !*#&…

Remember this was a few years ago. I went back to my room and immediately tried to figure out who my target audience was and what would attract them. Here’s the funny thing about writers. We can write eighty thousand plus words, but it’s the little things that seem to trip us up. You know what I’m talking about…blurbs, one-liners, platforms, etc. All the things that help sell the book.

I knew I didn’t write traditional Christian fiction or romance, but I really wasn’t sure who my audience was. I forgot; I was my audience. I made a big choice. I don’t write to market per se. I write what I like. Which is why that eye-opening ACFW conference was my last. Please don’t get me wrong. I loved hanging with my ACFW people. The problem was, I was writing for a different reader and needed to learn how to market to them.

I thought I was writing for women but turns out, men are reading my books as well. That’s right, men read romance. But in my defense, some of my books fall into a few categories: contemporary romance, women’s fiction, steamy romance, and chick-lit. This is why I was confused about who I was writing for. I’m definitely not a man. As my old tagline said, “I’m a Christian woman who loves God, cute guys and fashion.” But not all of my audience fit that, so I changed it. My new tagline is very simple and speaks to my platform, “Sophisticated Romance.” Or simply put, I write books for grown people. I know that’s bad English, but it’s the truth.

So what was my platform? Once I realized who I was writing for, my platform came to life. I write books that are faith based with sophisticated themes. So how was I going to show that?

I took cues from my other business [The Pink Duchess…lingerie for curvy figures. Everything is done in black and white with fuchsia accents.] I’m very clear about how I market it. I have two types of business cards [one for vendors and one for clients], an online invoice template and a booklet on how to shop for lingerie I use in all of my marketing. But when it came to writing, like most newbies, I figured the publisher would handle everything.

Surprise! I discovered what I was doing for my business, I also needed to do for my writing. That meant I needed business cards, online invoices [thank God for Paypal], event or direct sale invoices, giveaway items, and inventory.

Here are a few questions I asked myself:
How do I want to present my writing self?
How would my reader expect me to look?
How do I grab the attention of potential readers?

Everything needed to be consistent. I made sure to carry the same theme and colors over to my website, marketing materials, and advertising. [If you did Elena Dillion’s class last month, this makes sense to you. If you didn’t check it out “Visual Content Marketing for the Confused and Terrified Writer”. ] Since it takes between 7 and 10 times to make an impact on someone, it was imperative that I be consistent with my look.

Here’s how I chose to build my professional look:
A Logo… Tracy Read|Sophisticated Romance
I found an image I modified in Photoshop.

Bookmarks…
I opted not to use business cards. Instead, I have bookmarks with my logo and two free downloads on the back.

Invoices…
I use PayPal for direct on-line sales and a simple receipt book for In Person Direct sales.

Notecards and Thank You Notes…
I was fortunate to still have blank white note cards and envelopes with my name in pink on them already plus a few Thank You notes from my other business I wanted to use.

Marketing Cards…
These are either the covers or an image that represents the story with a quote or the book’s one liner.

Website…
The hub of my platform. A few days before Cal Dreamin’ I launched my revised website. I wanted my new look to be a little more sophisticated and friendly to both sexes. I carried over my color theme to the site. It’s black and white with hints of fuchsia. I felt this look really said who I was and who my reader is. Contemporary with just enough femininity not to intimidate my male readers.

Social…
I have the whole pack…Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and a blog. All of them have the same sophisticated vibe. I still have a few tweaks to make, but I’m making it clear these are books for adults, not children. I found my reader is busy like me, and often in need of a visual break. Another reason why I opted for the black and white theme.

Now when people see my platform, I hope it’s understood who I am and what type of books I write.

Looking back to that conference when I first heard the word “Platform,” seems like a lifetime ago. Now when I meet newbies, I ask, “What’s your platform?” If they don’t know, I share what I’ve learned and hope they don’t freak out like I did.

As I continue to grow as a writer, I know my look will change…for the better. But right now, I’m very happy with the direction my platform is going.

See you next month.
Tracy
Tracy Reed
www.readtracyreed.com

Sophisticated Romance for Women

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TITLES UNBORN

February 5, 2017 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as #amwriting, 12 Titles in 12 months, Edgy Christian Fiction, Tracy Reed

Have you ever been too tired to think or create? That’s how I feel right now, but unfortunately, I can’t relax. Or rather, I tried to take a little time off from writing and creating, but my mind refuses to cooperate.

After the full writing year, I had last year, I figured I’d take some time off from writing and become more of a reader. For the past few years, I’ve been doing the GoodReads Reading Challenge. Last year, I read forty-five books, ten were my own. Not a lot for most romance readers, but for me, it was a lot, and I struggled to get those read because of my production schedule. This year I pledged to read forty-eight and decrease the number of titles I created. Unfortunately, the joke is on me. Instead of relaxing my creative muscle, I’ve been writing. What’s even more bizarre is I don’t know how to turn off my writing muscle or even if I want to.

Like most writers I use or follow a Production Schedule. Last year it was easy to follow or stay motivated with my schedule because I set a challenging goal, 12 Titles in 12 Months. This year, I knew I wasn’t going to set such a lofty goal for myself, so I was able to breathe a little.

When I sat down to do my Production Schedule for this year, I looked at the titles that didn’t make the grade last year. Although I published 12 titles last year, I had actually started and brought close to completion four additional titles. Technically, last year I wrote approximately a half million words. For some that may not seem like a lot, but for someone like me that hasn’t been writing that long, that’s a lot.

Those titles that don’t have 2016 as their birth year have become the stars of my 2017 production schedule. Now the question is, when will they be born? I’m not quite sure. So far, I have one of the titles completed, a non-fiction lifestyle book. I’m very excited and passionate about this title because it deals with a subject that is dear to meâ€¦being a fabulous Christian single.

Originally, I wanted this book out in January because that’s when most people are searching for help on how to change their lives. Unfortunately, I didn’t finish the book until the end of January after rewriting the last chapter three times and adding an additional chapter. Now I’m waiting to proof it before I send it to my editor.

The other book I’m struggling to finish was originally supposed to be my December 2016 release. What started out as a five book series became a short story which has been reborn again as a novel. In its resurrection, it’s also undergone a name change and protagonist change. And one of the biggest changes about this book is voice.

I started writing this book in third person, but as the protagonist developed, I felt the need to tell his side in first person. So now, the story is being told by both the heroine and protagonist in first person. When I made that simple change…who am I kidding, that was by no means a simple task. Changing the voice meant I had to go back and rewrite and add some chapters after being thirty-thousand plus words into the story. I’m very curious to know how this story ends.

So here I am with a production schedule that’s taunting me because I’ve already missed my first release date. I want to move forward with the stories. However, I’m creatively tired. If you’ve ever experienced that, post or email me [tracyreedwriter@icloud.com] how you worked through it.

As for the other two titles, one is approximately thirty thousand words away from completion. The other story so far is charting the opposite path of the one I’m currently working on. It started out as a short story, but after writing the first three thousand words, I fell in love with the character and see he has more depth than a short or even a novella. His story will definitely be a full-length book, and if he talks to me correctly, he’ll become a series.

Let’s see how my unborn stories turn out.

Happy writing and creating….

Tracy

Tracy Reed

www.readtracyreed.com

Fiction for Women Who Love God, Couture and Cute Guys

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12 Titles In 12 Months-Done!

January 5, 2017 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as !2 Titles in 12 Months, Edgy Christian Fiction, Tracy Reed

Tracy Reed

Last year when I announced I was going to do, not attempt, because I was determined to do this come hell or high water. Trust me, the water got high a few times.

To any sane person my challenge seemed insane, crazy, foolish, pick any number of adjectives in that family and I’d agree with you. However, there were some things I wanted to do, become more disciplined in my writing, try new sub-genres, story lengths and more inventory.

As a new Indie writer, when I finished my first full year as a writer, I only had three tile, a full-length, a novella and a novelette. I’m not belittling my progress, but in order for me to experiment with advertising and increasing my mailing list, I needed more inventory. And the only way I knew to do that was to write more. So that’s what I did.

Warning, I’m not suggesting anyone try this the way I did, because although I may be a pants writer, I found that wasn’t a good way to market. It is, however, a good way to get stressed out. Was this challenge difficult? Not really. Was it fun? Yes and a little no. Will I do it again? With better planning, possibly.

I don’t want to bore you, here we go.

JANUARY – THE ALEX CHRONICLES: WHAT MY FRIENDS DON’T KNOW
This was my first child. The first book I’d ever written in completion. However, it wasn’t the first book I published. That honor went to GENERATIONAL CURSE, which was release in December 2014.

Like most first born children, you feel inclined to yield more attention and care to it. I did something very foolish, I planned the release of this book while I was preparing to go on a much needed vacation. I really considered abandoning my challenge based on the stress this book caused me. However, I did manage to get this book out by the deadline. However, I didn’t get the print book out until a little later.

After releasing the ebook, I discovered a few typos and story glitches. Since it’s release, I managed to clean up the issues.
I’m still kicking myself for not launching the book better.

What I learned from this book? Never schedule a release prior to my vacation.

FEBRUARY – LOVE NOTES: Words for Lovers
I foolishly took a breather on this one. Thank God for Leap Year. If it hadn’t been for that, I would have missed my release day. So far, this is the only book that isn’t in ebook format, yet. I plan on rectifying that for Valentine’s Day.

I thought this would be a cake walk. This is a book of love notes. In The Alex Chronicles series Alex’s love interest is writer and he has a challenge expressing himself to her, but he writes her incredible love notes. Thus the idea – LOVE NOTES. This is basically an experiment in content marketing. I took a theme from one book and turned it into a book.

This has done well in print format from my website. I’m excited to see how it will do when the ebook releases.

What I learned from this book? Just because the book was finished, still don’t slack off on getting it out.

MARCH – THE GOOD GIRL Part Deux
This is the followup to THE GOOD GIRL novella I did in 2015. I really like these characters and was excited to continue their story. This book was completed in late 2015, however, I waited to edit it until I returned from my vacation. [I went to Paris and London and that’s where part of this book took place.]

Since my male lead is part French, I thought it would be nice to include more French in this book. I used a translation app and then I asked Brenna Aubrey for help. Thanks Brenna.

When I launched this series, it was in KDP Select, so I opted to put this book there as well and saw good sales. However, I later opted to go wide and saw a slight shift in sales.

What I learned from this book launch? Readers are quick to tell you how they feel about cliffhangers. And when a reader leaves a negative review, not to respond.

APRIL – THE FIX UP
Now we get into books that weren’t planned. I have always wanted to try writing a romantic comedy. My apprehension has been timing. I wasn’t sure if I had the comedic timing to write a funny story. I wrote this novelette as a stand alone. However, I have received a few requests to continue the story. I’m thinking about. It’s not a true romantic comedy, but it’s more like snarky humor. Readers seem to like Nana, she’s not your average Nana that bakes. Instead, Nana is a cougar with a hot younger boyfriend. They both drive matching Mini Coopers.

This book has very little advertising and managed to debut in one of my categories at #46. I’m really impressed with the traction this book has gotten.

What I learned from launching this book? Don’t be afraid to try something different.

MAY – INTENTIONAL CURSE
This book is part of the Generational Curse series. I planned another book in the series as a follow up, but as I got deeper in this challenge, I began to feel pressure. The big book I had planned to slot in here, wasn’t ready. However, I couldn’t miss my deadline and was searching for a book. I knew I wanted to tell the story of Kyla’s married lover. I had a few readers wanted to know what happened to Eric. Instead of telling what happened to him, I thought it would be nice to tell how he met his wife and later Kyla.

This was a fun story because it gave insight into two characters that played an integral part in Generational Curse.

What I learned from writing this book? Never judge a character by first impression.

JUNE – THE FLING
I had been reading books about BBW and Billionaires and thought it would be fun to write something similar. In the end, I was surprised how well this novelette was received. Interesting fact, when I put men on the covers, they launched very well.

I like how these characters developed and I’m thinking about doing a Fling two.

What I learned from writing this book? Reading books in the genre you want to write, are very inspiring to your work.

JULY -TEASE
This was a last minute book. I had another book scheduled, for this month. After attending RWA, I was too exhausted to review the edits. I got a copy of Beth Yarnall’s sample and I liked her idea. I emailed her and asked if she minded if I copied her idea. She didn’t mind. So a few days after the conference, I put this sampler together. Bingo!

This little treat helped me to stay on track as well as be a great giveaway in building my mailing list.

What I learned from publishing this book? Everyone likes being teased and free books are a great way to drive traffic to your other books.

AUGUST – MISS MATCH
This is one of my favorite stories in the challenge. It’s also one of the most challenging. When I started writing this book, it was in first person. However, as I got deeper into the story, I really felt the need to hear the make leads voice. I was about thirty pages in and I went back and changed to third person POV. When I did that the story flowed and gave way to a cliff-hanger that has upset some readers and left others asking for more. This I know for sure, there is a book two and possibly a book three.

When I started writing this book, I only intended it to be a stand-alone novelette. Instead, to turned out to be a novella and the first book in a new series.

What I learned from writing this book? Your characters can be very bossy and pushy.

SEPTEMBER – THE NIGHT I FELL IN LOVE
I really should refer to this as the miracle story. I had another book scheduled for September. But by the time, I finished it, I hadn’t given my editor enough time to edit it before my release date. So I pushed that story back. I was able to breathe on that story, but it meant I didn’t have one for September. I literally prayed to God for the words. I woke up the following morning with this title in my head and an idea.

I spent three days glued to my computer writing this novelette. I did three read throughs and sent it to my editor. Praise God, she edited it and got it back to me in a day. It took me an afternoon to create the cover and a couple of days later, I released it.

In total, it took a week from idea conception to release.

What I learned from writing this book? God’s word is true, ‘Ask and you shall receive.’ Also, under pressure the writer’s brain can do wonders.

OCTOBER – WHAT MY FRIENDS NEED TO KNOW
This is my second baby and ebook two in The Alex Chronicles series. This book was supposed to be a walk in the park. Nope. Thanks to reading a lot, I saw things in this book that I wanted to change. When it was all said and done, this book turned out to be my steamiest book to date, I think. I really like how this story is unfolding and can’t wait to see what happens next.

I barely made my released date. Once I got this book out, I was exhausted and desperate for a much needed brake.

What I learned from writing this book? Don’t be afraid to do a major re-write or even start over.

OCTOBER – THE PINK DUCHESS GUIDE TO BUILDING A LINGERIE WARDROBE
I have a lingerie website and have been working on marketing and promotional giveaways. I wanted to produce a great lead generator and came up with this book. Currently, it’ only a tool I use at events. But it’s been published and sold. YEAH!

So technically, I put out two books in October.

NOVEMBER – FIRST ENCOUNTERS OF LOVE
I was getting very tired towards the end of the year and feeling stressed. I received an email from iBooks, KOBO and Draft 2 Digital about the holiday release schedule and came very close to giving up.

I was torn between the book I was working on or taking some deleted chapters and turning them into a novelette. The problem with that, was those chapters needed more work than I thought. There was no way I was going to get those pages cleaned up and edited in time for me to make the other book ready for the December deadline.

Elena Dillon and I were talking she suggested I do a box set. I was thinking about doing a series box set in 2017. We looked at my inventory and discovered, THE FIX UP, THE FLING and THE NIGHT I FELL IN LOVE, all had something in common. THE FIX UP-a first date, THE FLING-a first romantic adventure and hickey and THE NIGHT I FELL IN LOVE- first love.

I packaged those titles together and released my first box set, FIRST ENCOUNTERS OF LOVE. I’ve had it on special price and it’s doing well.

What I learned from this title? Box sets are a good thing and not just with a series.

DECEMBER – A SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN
The last book in the challenge. I got the idea for this book while at RWA. I was in a session and the speaker suggested pulling out guest stars and telling their story. That statement stuck with me and I started surveying my story library in my head and Avery and Jeremiah started screaming. The timing couldn’t have been better.

This couple was briefly mentioned in WHAT MY FRIENDS NEED TO KNOW. Avery is the bridal salon owner and shared how she met her husband with Alex. When I read her scene, I knew she and Jeremiah had a fun story.

I returned from conference and started writing. This was originally supposed to be a novella. However, as I dove deeper into this story, I knew there was more. I even included some of the characters from The Alex Chronicles.

When I finished this story, I found there was still more to tell and some great characters. I really like these characters and can’t wait to get started on the next book in this series.

What I learned from writing this book? Guest stars have a story to tell as well.

I finished the year with 347,000 plus published words
13 Titles
3 – Full length
1 – Book of Poetry
1- Sampler
1 – Boxset
3 – Novelettes
1 – Non-fiction
3 – Novellas

This has been fun and now it’s a new year with a new set of writing goals. I have a production schedule, but I’m not ready to share it, because it looks a lot like last years and that’s a little scary. I’ve decided to concentrate more on marketing this year. Now that I have more inventory, I can experiment with some marketing and promotion options. I’m very excited to see how my writing career with develop in 2017.

Happy New Year and I hope you accomplish all of your writing goals. See you next month.

Here are all of the covers-the fruits of my labor.