Is It Time For My Swan Song?

I’ve kind of been in the mud the last few months, maybe longer, but reading the latest posts by my brilliant blog-mates told me that I wasn’t alone. It’s been a difficult time for so many. Wars, gun violence, the murder of children, homelessness, and political discord have filled the news and social media. We’d have to have a hard heart not to let it bother us. Most of us would say we are lucky to be in the situations we’re in and be grateful for that, but we grieve for those who aren’t. 

For me, the respite has been visiting my grandkids, who are free from all the angst of the world’s problems, as children usually are. It’s a change of pace watching Booba on TV instead of news, though we’re careful not to let our anxieties rub off on the children. Kids growing up in today’s environment of conflict and hate-mongering must absorb some of it no matter how careful the adults try to keep their young minds on youthful projects.

I grew up in a different time. Simpler, with a more united populace. We played outside without the fear of being abducted. We went to school without the threat of a disturbed teenager shooting up the room, though we did have the fear thrust upon us that we’d be annihilated in a nuclear attack. 

I lived in a neighborhood of ghettos, but they were only a couple of blocks, and we all went to school together. One block was Italian, another Greek, another Black, and mine was mostly Jewish. High school brought the Polish and German kids from the other side of town. Some had immigrated here from their countries, so foreignness was part of my life, and I didn’t think much of it. In fact, I embraced it, making friends with the Greek sisters who were put into my fifth-grade class because the teacher was Greek and spoke Greek. Those girls learned English long before they taught me Greek, but I can still remember how to count in Greek and speak a few more words they taught me all those decades ago. One sister went on to become a doctor. Our schools were integrated, so I never thought about the fact that they weren’t in other parts of the country. We didn’t have 24/7/365 news pounding us with bulletins, bad or good, relying on the local newspaper for our information and the fifteen minute TV newscast at six o’clock. It was a different time. Very different.

The world is touch-sensitive to writers. What happens affects what transfers from our brains onto the computer keyboard, even if the reports come from the other side of the world. We are sponges, but that sometimes works to our detriment.

It has affected me. I’ve been distracted enough that my output is minimal, and now, after fourteen books and one in progress, I have to decide whether I want to continue to write stories few read. Now with KDP's new dashboard, I can see when I make a few pennies a day, or no pennies at all. It’s ego-shattering. I’ve long given up the thought that some production company will want to make a TV series about my psychic character, Diana Racine. Isn’t that what every writer dreams about? I’m thrilled for my friends that experience that success in their careers. Looking back, I’ve won no awards, and no contests, though I’ve entered quite a few. I’ve concluded that I don’t write the kind of books that win awards and contests, but I’ve written the books I’ve wanted to write.

I have no regrets that I’ve wasted my time the last twenty-two years. Writing is my fourth career, and I’ve tackled subjects that were important to me that ranged from an unfair justice system to living as a handicapped person to genetics to corrupt cops to abused children to a famous art heist, and to domestic violence. I’ve learned a lot and loved every minute of my journey. I’ve met interesting people who’ve expanded my horizons and with whom I will remain friends. Many I’ve met and many I look forward to meeting some day.

I intend to finish the fifth book in my series because I’m at 73K words, and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, excuse the cliché. I might even finish a few others that are well along. I’ve thrilled at those years I did well and earned my keep, but there does come a time. Will Diana 5 (no title yet) be my swan song? Or will that idea I had for a new series reinspire me as so many ideas have in the past? Only time will tell.

 

Polly Iyer is the author of ten novels: standalones Hooked, InSight, Murder Déjà Vu, Threads, Indiscretion, and her newest, we are but WARRIORS. Also, four books in the Diana Racine Psychic Suspense series, Mind Games, Goddess of the Moon, Backlash and The Scent of Murder. A Massachusetts native, she makes her home in the beautiful Piedmont region of South Carolina. You can visit her website for more on Polly and connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.

When is Promotion Too Blatant?

Here on the Blood-Red Pencil blog we've looked at marketing from a lot of different angles. There are professionals whom we can hire to help us promote our books, and that's probably the easiest way if we have the budget for that. Or, if we're published with a major publishing house, and they simply adore our books, they'll often have a marketing plan for it.

For the rest of us who are published by smaller houses, or totally self-published, the challenges are greater, and we have to find creative ways to market without becoming a pain in someone's inbox. We also have to balance writing time with marketing time. Something that's not always easy to do.

Having been in this publishing game for more years than I'd like to publicly admit, I've seen trends in promoting wax and wane. When my first books were published by a small press, I read advice from some romance writers that said we should do anything possible to promote. It was referred to as Blatant Self Promotion, BSP, a term that is still around, but the advice has been tempered a lot. 

In those earlier years, some of the authors seemed to be so desperate they would stumble all over themselves to get the attention of readers. This was apparent at writers' conferences and group book signings, and I'll admit that sometimes I was one of those authors. We were encouraged to: "Put ourselves out there any way we could." "Don't miss an opportunity to get a book into a reader's hands."

At the time, there were few resources for writers to learn more about navigating this great river of self promotion without tipping the canoes of readers and dumping them in the drink. Now there are sites like The Write Way by Katie Sullivan, and she has an excellent article The Business of Blatant Self Promotion. I found the site when I was looking for more information on the in-your-face approach to the topic and was delighted to find that comprehensive article that lays out a whole plan for marketing. As an added bonus, there's little that is blatant in her advice.

At a certain point way back when I was first starting to play this promoting game, I began pulling back from acting on that philosophy of BSP while at group book signings or social events at conferences. That was partly because I'm a stand-in-the-back-of-the-room kind of person, but also because the whole thing just made me uncomfortable. Did I lose out on sales? Maybe. But when those events started feeling like someone had tossed handfuls of dollars in the air, and people were scrambling for them, I was ready to grab a few nearby bills and exit the fray.

Fast forward to today, when we have the internet and all the social media outlets for getting our messages out there, and it's all being used with varying degrees of professionalism and success. There is also an underlying sense of desperation apparent in some Tweets from new Indie authors. There was one recent post from a writer that was something like this, "I haven't sold any books today can you help a poor author out?"

Really? 

Is that simply a bold way to market, and I'm just a curmudgeon who needs to go to her rocking chair and throw things at the TV like my grandfather did when he thought something was absurd?

There is a strong #writingcommunity on Twitter, and many of the folks there have mastered the use of Twitter for marketing, without being strident or desperate or begging. They promote other authors by inviting them to share their book covers and book links. They read a lot and post reviews that create a bit of buzz for a book by another author. 

A perfect example of that is a recent Tweet by Scottish author, Marion Todd:  I am beyond doing anything today so sitting in the garden reading an ARC of @AndrewJamesGre3’s next novel, throwing the occasional ball for the dog and admiring the view. There are worse ways to spend an afternoon. 

The Tweet was so engaging, as was the photo of the garden and her dog, that I checked out the author she mentioned, as well as her books. And I'm guessing I wasn't the only one.

Think of Twitter as a large, online cocktail party. Friends gather and chat and share jokes and pictures. They're really not up for a person walking in with an armload of books and asking them to purchase them. What your friends on Twitter want is to get to know you as a person, and if they find you as engaging as I found Marion Todd, they might take a look at your books.

For more tips on using social media for promoting, check out this conversation I had about social sites and marketing with our founder, Dani Greer, who has helped me sort out the maze of what can work and what does not. 

Author Cara Lopez Lee has an excellent post here at BRP, Amazon and Oranges, in which she compares marketing to tending to an ageing, ailing tree. She has some great tips, including this one I'd missed before. "When my Amazon rank goes down, meaning the number goes up, I tend to avoid pointing people to my direct Amazon link. Like my orange tree, my memoir has been around a while, and I don’t want my marketing efforts dragged down by Amazon numbers past their peak. During down times, I send people to Goodreads."

There are a lot of other good articles on marketing and promotion here at BRP, as well as at The Writer Unboxed website. If you have a new book about to come out, you might find the posts helpful. They're also good resources no matter what stage of your career you are at. 

As always, we welcome comments, and I hope you'll share any pointers on promoting, marketing, and selling you might have. 

 

Maryann Miller is a novelist, editor, and sometimes an actress. She has written a number of mysteries, including the critically-acclaimed Seasons Mystery Series that debuted with Open Season. Information about her books and her editing rates is available on her website. When not writing, Maryann likes to take her dog for a walk, work jigsaw puzzles, color, and quilt.

Has Our Changing World Changed Our Writing?

We've touched on huge worldwide changes, especially over the last two years. We've bemoaned the discouragement we've felt as writers. Instead of rolling with the horrific punches that have been thrown our way, we sometimes roll up in a ball and let those changes kick us to the curb and maybe down into the storm sewer. Giving up the ghost, as the saying goes, seems easier than rising up to fight the obstacles we never expected to face in our lifetime.

Forgive the clichés. They were used intentionally to make a point. They're called clichés because they're old, tired, trite, overused, etc. Sometimes, we feel like that — at least I do. I've lived during WW2, the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam Conflict, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and these few don't even begin to paint the real picture. Google lists 285 armed conflicts since I was a 7-year-old. That's a lot in just 76 years.

Even though I may be the oldest one here, it's fair to assume we all have been aware of the absence of peace and security in our world. Most of 285 wars did not involve troops from our country, but we were still affected when we knew they were happening. Why mention this? Because we all have been exposed indirectly to the horrors of war and the waste of human lives (most often civilians). When bombs and missiles and gunfire are not in our backyard, we may, however, distance ourselves from their heart-wrenching reality. 

In 2020, COVID-19 slammed the world with its terrible symptoms and high death rate. No respecter of borders or continents, it left no place safe from the reach of its virulent tentacles. Many of us lost family, friends, jobs, and/or freedom to go where we pleased, and so much more. This different kind of war most definitely invaded our backyards and our lives, taking a toll on all of us.

What does this have to do with writing? Nothing . . . and everything. As writers, we may think a little differently from nonwriters. Like many artists and musicians, we may feel a little more deeply or empathize a little more completely or view a situation from a different perspective. Why? Because this ability allows us as writers to create characters that touch our readers on an emotional level. Add to this the natural aging process, an unstable economy, and personal crises. No wonder we suffer from overwhelm. 

The same qualities that enhance our character-development skills can also make us sensitive to stresses beyond the norm, especially if we have strong empathetic tendencies. Not that others don't suffer pangs of distress over what is happening in the world today, for of course they do. It's just that our creative juices may be impacted in some way when the whole world is falling apart.

What's the remedy? For me, it starts with avoiding daily doses of the news. Constant bad news takes a toll on my writing energy and drains my reservoir of story ideas. It also puts the skids on creative drive and undermines follow-through with regular writing times. Perseverance is essential. Working each day — even a little bit — helps. Reaching out to other authors keeps the writing mindset active. Reading a good novel awakens the desire to write one. Interestingly, spring helps, perhaps because the seasonal revival of budding new life brings hope at the end of a cold, bleak winter. What do you think?

Fast forward to today. Much of what has gone on in the last few years is great grist for the writing mill. Fictionalizing current events and characters to create different scenarios without minimizing the seriousness of times or situations can result in a stunning story that rings true and appeals to readers. Do we know something or believe something that could make a difference in a reader's life? Can a character infuse hope in a person or place despite the odds? Is it possible to help build resilience where, apparently, little or none exists? Many people have strengths and reserves they don't recognize. Can our stories help someone find hers (or his)?

How are you coping with all the trauma and drama of the last 2 years? How has your writing been affected? Please share how you and your writing are working to combat writer's block in these trying days.

Editor Linda Lane has returned to her first love—writing—while still doing some editing. Her character-driven novels, although somewhat literary in nature, remind the reader of genre fiction because of their quick pace. They also contain elements of romance, mystery, and thrillers. You can contact her through her website: LSLaneBooks.com 

Editing for Voice

One of my favorite things about editing and publishing the LOW DOWN DIRTY VOTE series is the astonishing range of voices the stories present. During submission season, I honestly feel like I’m the richest person in the world because of all the wonderful stories that I get to read before anyone else!

That said, every story is edited. Volume 3, whose theme was “The Color of My Vote” attracted a few first-time writers, which presented an interesting challenge: to edit the stories without killing what was unique about the stories—without quashing their voice. No crime seems as bad to me as killing a writer’s voice.

Low Down Dirty Vote

For example, one story came in full of extremely long paragraphs and used a lot of flowery language, uncommon in crime fiction. But the author writes in a tradition different from my own. His voice is deeply woven into the traditions of a different country and life experience from my own. And his unedited story had moved me deeply, sparked my imagination. So when I edited his work, it was with a very light hand, encouraging him to make the work a little more accessible in just a few places without losing the flavor of his world view—his voice.

Another story was so violent I hesitated to publish it. But it was very on-theme, the writing was bold and free of preciousness, and the ending gave me a jolt—challenged me to consider whether I (as the reader) would ever dare to knowingly embrace death for a greater good. People often say that genre fiction seeks first to entertain, but I don’t believe that’s always true. Sometimes we need to read a story that discomforts us.

Writers, especially after a few rejections, can sometimes search for “the rules” that will guarantee them publication. However, I think that leads to making a work sound more generic, not better.

Or maybe that’s just my unique prejudice as an editor?

The stories that thrill me, regardless of genre, are the ones where the writer has taken a risk with structure, theme, character, or point of view in order to show me the world in a brand new way. And in doing so, they challenge me to make sure my editing works with their voice, not against it.

Mysti Berry lives in San Francisco with her husband graphic novelist Dale Berry and a small black rescue cat. She's published short stories in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and many anthologies. Her next short story is coming soon from Down & Out Books in an as-yet-unnamed anthology. She loves to talk about story structure and linguistics. Mysti also loves a good "film noir definition" argument, especially when accompanied by a glass of Dalwhinnie whisky. Her third stint as editor and publisher of the crime-fiction short story anthology series Low Down Dirty Vote launches May 15, 2022. For more information, visit lowdowndirtyvote.com

A Kindle Vella Blog Hop

I have been a Kindle Vella author for over four months now and am still loving it! One of the best things is the intensely supportive Kindle Vella author community on Facebook and other social media venues. When Benjamin X. Wretland, a fellow member of Colorado Writers and Publishers, announced he was putting together a blog hop, I couldn't resist joining in. 

Here's your opportunity to meet a few other members of this new Amazon platform and read the first three chapters of their books for free on your smartphone!

Genre: Action & Adventure / Teen & Young Adult 

Click to Read

Alexandros Iraklidis, a timid farm boy on the Greek island of Anafi, yearns for adventure and a new life away from his family farm and the routine in which he feels trapped. At the prompting of his friend and the gift of a stranger, the boy flees to discover a new life in Crete. When a storm at sea robs him of the chance, Alexandros finds himself stranded on a neighboring island with no way to return home. 

Benjamin, a speculative fiction author, ran with scissors when he was five. He now writes, paints, uses sharp woodworking tools and plays with glue. Sometimes he does these things at the same time. Benjamin lives with his wife Jesse in Colorado. https://linktr.ee/bxwretlind 

Genre: Romance 

Click to Read

Mix one cynical businesswoman with one overwhelmed Chocolatier, add a pinch of antagonism, a dash of magnetic attraction, and a healthy dose of nooky for a red-hot relationship…or a recipe for disaster. Burned-out and ready for a change, Cara jumps at the offer of a quick deal and extended vacay. After a frosty reception, she sets out to prove small town business owner Derek needs her help in more ways than one. A contemporary, small-town romance. No trigger warnings, and a HEA ending. 

Mina Faraway is the author of inspiring, loving, happy, healing books intended to reach the right people at the right time and offer hope and joy in difficult times. Connect with her social media accounts at https://linktr.ee/minafaraway 

Genre: Teen & Young Adult / Paranormal 

Click to Read

Join “Scary Stories for Sleepovers” author & active HWA Member Craig Strickland on a horror adventure at a very haunted mountain hunting lodge. Each diverse local tells newcomers Kelly Allan, 18, and her ex-cop father, Ed, a nasty, unique nightmare–you know the kind. Shadow people. Black-eyed kids. A Japanese Teke-teke. The very recounting of these grim stories seems to awaken something–and people start vanishing. Then Kelly realizes she may be the key. (New episodes drop each Monday & Friday.) 

When Craig was a kid, horror movie icon Lon Chaney, Jr. (the Wolfman, Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy) moved in across the street from him—and Craig used to mow his lawn. His website is https://www.craigstrickland.net/ and his Twitter account is @FictionCraig. 

Genre: Romance / Humor

Click to Read

Jenna is a newly divorced thirty-something who is trying hard not to let the separation bother her. When her friends talk her into setting up a dating app profile, she gets a little more than she bargained for–from someone she least expects! 

Nicki Rae is an author of Contemporary Romance and Romantic Suspense. She’s been an avid reader and writer since she was a young girl and published her first novel, Lather, at the age of thirty. She now has five full-length novels out, with the sixth coming later this year. In addition, she has several short stories, including one in Kindle Vella. @authornickirae | Linktree

Genre: Contemporary Romance 

Click to Read

Four conservative ranchers. Four feminist businesswomen. The most contentious, divisive presidential election in modern history. When a lonely rancher and a sexy widow literally run into each other at a Denver tavern, sparks fly. As fate would have it, their paths keep crossing. But it doesn’t take long for friends and family to see red and feel blue about their connection. Different sparks start flying. Can true love survive all the explosions? What will it take to find the happily ever after?

Dani Greer is a 40-year publishing professional. She is a past book rep, fiction editor, and a coach to authors on how to build their own blog book tours. She has read far too many books landing in submissions mailboxes and has participated in 15 National Novel Writing Month events. Several of those books are now publishing on Kindle Vella. She is also the founding member of the Blood-Red Pencil blog! Connect with her at http://bit.ly/DaniGreerLinks

Happy Kindle Vella reading! We hope you enjoy the experience. 

Scorpion-Readers and the Writers Being Stung (Podcast Episode 2)

 

Episode 02 - Scorpion-Readers and the Writers Being Stung

Transcript and links:

A scorpion asked a busy beaver for a ride across the river. The beaver complied, and that time it was fine. Other scorpions heard about the deal and arrived for a lift across the river. The beaver began spending more time giving lifts to scorpions than he did building his dam… so he asked the scorpions to each carry a small twig to help with the dam building. And for a while that was fine. One day one scorpion took offense at the request and halfway across the river he dropped his twig and stung the beaver.

“Why did you do that?” cried the beaver with his last few breaths. “You’ve killed me for no reason. The other scorpions now have no one to help them across the river. And what about you? You’re going to drown.”

“Don’t care,” said the scorpion. “I’ll just float here until another beaver comes along.”

[Music]

Author, how shall I harm thee? Let me count the ways.

Piracy, copyright theft, and plagiarism. Hurtful reviews and personal attacks. Second-hand books. Bookstore returns. Now, reader returns on fully-read ebooks and audiobooks.

Welcome back to the Blood-Red Pencil podcast. I’m Elle Carter Neal.

Today I want to veer off the topic of editing and talk about a trend that is picking up amongst readers, especially on TikTok. And, you might have guessed it, it’s the community allegedly posting videos to teach and encourage each other to use Amazon’s returns policy to read books for free. Now, sure, if you accidentally hit the One-Click button and didn’t mean to buy something, by all means reverse the purchase. I had to do this myself when my then-toddler got hold of my Kindle and started poking all the shiny buttons. That happened once. With a book I never intended to buy and did not read. And I reversed the purchase within about a minute. I can also understand returning a book if you find that it is a dodgy publication filled with nonsense and repeated paragraphs, with just the sample being good enough to entice a reader. Or a book that you’ve discovered is actually a pirated version or a mash-up cut-and-paste of another author’s text. Maybe even a book that so deeply offends your soul that you want to wash your brain out after sampling it.

But what’s happening now, in increasing numbers, is readers buying an ebook through Amazon, reading it, enjoying it, and then stinging the author by (allegedly) returning it via Amazon’s generous no-questions return policy. It is vitally important to realise that these returns don’t affect Amazon at all, especially as part of the subscription model. Amazon allegedly reverses the royalties paid to the author, deducting them from any new royalties due or even resulting in a negative account balance. So if you were doing this thinking you were sticking it to big old Amazon… no.

This trend began with audiobooks on Audible, also owned by Amazon. Same deal. Listeners would subscribe to Audible, use their credit to listen to an audiobook, but then return it when done, and select another book. It might well be a misunderstanding on the part of some listeners – because books in your Audible account are labelled as “Library”, and, allegedly, Audible even suggests that you might want to “Return” or “Exchange” a title, without explaining that this is not, in fact, an actual library, like Overdrive or BorrowBox, for example, where these books have been bought and licenced by libraries for the purpose of lending to their patrons. Without explaining that this is like buying a ticket to a theatre show, attending the performance, then coming back months later expecting to swap your old ticket for a different production. It’s like the theatre then demanding a refund of the first performers’ cut of the ticket sales and giving that to the actors of the second production… until the next time you want to watch a show without paying again. Guess who can’t afford to continue fronting up the costs to put on a theatre production anymore. It’s not a business model anyone can sustain. Except Amazon.

The Alliance for Independent Authors has been lobbying Amazon/Audible to change their no-questions-asked returns policy since 2020, allegedly after a glitch revealed returns data previously hidden from authors, and several authors including Josh Erikson and Susan May investigated and highlighted what was going on. Aside from the dishonesty and unfairness, the big issue with returning books you’ve read or listened to is the impact on the author’s livelihood. For indie authors, in particular, the royalties received have probably already been spent – on paying editors, illustrators, book cover designers, advertising for the next book, perhaps thinking that the first book has been successful enough to warrant a little extra spend on the second. Or maybe those royalties are all that stand between the author and whether or not they have enough to eat that month. Suddenly a whole bunch of returns come in and the author finds that royalties from a year ago have been deducted and they are in the red. You can imagine. I hope you can imagine. As I said, your favourite authors can only produce a limited amount of stories at a financial loss before they have to stop and give up. And that’s a tragedy. Some creatives have to create to live – it’s oxygen. And if they financially cannot afford to make art anymore, they will suffocate.

Please help us get the word out that this has to stop. It’s not okay to game the system, even if the system allegedly encourages it or provides the option as a perk of a subscription. If you cannot afford to buy books, then borrow them from the library – there are benefits to authors from their books being in the library system. Request that your library buy the books you want to read. There are also millions of authors giving away their books for free in order to build their fan base. Read those, if you need free books. If you get hooked on the series after the free book, and now you’re supposed to pay for the rest but you can’t, consider contacting the author offering to help promote their books on your social media platforms in exchange for a few more free books. Join NetGalley and build your reputation as a reviewer. Use your TikTok account for a good cause instead of joining in the sting. Just carry your twig if you want to ride the story stream.

[Music]

In other news: [Giveaway now closed] Don’t forget to enter the giveaway for The Ultimate Writer’s Toolkit, over at Writers Helping Writers. This giveaway closes on Friday the 13th of May. It’s a Rafflecopter draw, so scroll down the blog post at Writers Helping Writers and find the Rafflecopter widget. Create a log in using your email address or Facebook account, and then you’ll see various options for collecting entries such as commenting, sharing on Twitter, following the contributors on Twitter, etc.

Mysti Berry is joining us on the 17th of May to share how she edits for voice to ensure that she doesn’t lose the flavour of each author's unique world view and writing style. Thanks to Ann Parker for arranging this post with Mysti.

And don’t miss Linda Lane’s post coming up on the 19th. It’s a deeply personal essay about how world events impact on our ability to dip into the well to continue writing. I know we all relate.

In case you did miss some of our previous posts: Diana Hurwitz shared an excellent breakdown of exactly what you should include in a query letter to a literary agent, and why and how to do this. Maryann Miller wrote about the thrill of her first sale and how she turned her observations and experiences into a humorous entry for the newspaper column she was writing at the time.

Dani Greer posted an update on her Kindle Vella adventure, which is going extremely well. Dani is now venturing into the world of TikTok to promote her stories.

That’s it from me for this month. The links for all the posts mentioned today are in the show notes, along with the transcript of today’s episode. Thank you for joining me. I’m Elle Carter Neal, and I’ll be back next month with more editing wisdom from the Blood-Red Pencil.

Elle Carter Neal is the author of the middle grade fantasy The Convoluted Key (first in the Draconian Rules series), the picture book I Own All the Blue, and teen science-fantasy novel Madison Lane and the Wand of Rasputin (first in the Grounded series). She is the editor of Angela Brazil's 1910 book The Nicest Girl in the School. Elle is based in Melbourne, Australia. Find her at ElleCarterNeal.com.

Photo by Amanda Meryle Photography

 

P.S. Please excuse the bird that decided to squawk outside my window while I was recording! 

Writers Gotta Read, Right? Mother's Day

My idea of an ideal Mother's Day is settling into my "reading chair" with a cuppa coffee, something to nibble (chocolate?), and a BIG stack of books that I've yet to read! For those who might feel likewise, or have young'uns to read to, we offer up some lists of books that have a Mother's Day theme.

From Pixabay

Let's start with books for the grownups...

• The Cozy Mystery List has a Mother’s Day Mystery Book List https://cozy-mystery.com/mothers-day-mystery-book-list.html
• Janet Rudolph's Mystery Fanfare chimes in with Mother's Day Crime Fiction and Mysteries 
• The Washington Post provides For Mother’s Day: 11 books for moms who — more than ever — need an escape
• From Good Housekeeping we get 26 Gripping Books for Moms Who Love to Read
  
• Goodreads always comes through. There's 305 books (a mix of toddler to adult) on this Mother's Day Books list
• Goodreads also has a shelf of Mothers in Literature 
• And how about a list of books featured on the One Bad Mother! podcast? 

Of course, there are a bazillion-and-one lists of children's books. See below for a random few...

• The We Are Teachers website offers up 27 of Our Favorite Mother's Day Books for Kids 
• A Mighty Girl provides the Mother's-Day-themed A Mother's Love: 30 Books Celebrating Mighty Moms & Daughters
• From Mombian we have 10 New Queer-Inclusive Kids' Books for Mother's Day 
• And if all those aren't enough for you, there's Teaching Expertise with 30 Endearing Mother's Day Books for Kids

If you have a mother/Mother's Day -centric book you'd like to give a shout-out to, please do so in the comments. We'd love to hear about it!

Ann Parker authors the award-winning Silver Rush historical mystery series published by Poisoned Pen Press, an imprint of Sourcebooks. During the day, she wrangles words for a living as a science editor/writer and marketing communications specialist (which is basically a fancy term for "editor/writer"). Her midnight hours are devoted to scribbling fiction. Visit AnnParker.net for more information.