Today, I'd like to share some secrets for getting noticed in your genre. First, it's a step in the right direction to write a great book. However, these days that's not enough. Amidst the vast competition, somehow your gem must stand out and get noticed. Genre strategy is one way to do that. Here are some secrets to achieve that: Be specific. Narrow down your genre . For example, don't just say you've written a romance. The romance genre contains tons of categories. To help potential readers discover your romance buried amongst others, include another category, such as contemporary, historical, paranormal, Young Adult, etc. To further guide readers to your book, you can narrow the field by including an extra category to the first two, such as a  sweet contemporary romance, a Christian historical romance, an erotic paranormal romance. You get the drift. Amazon, for example, provides tons of romance categories from which to choose. I chose the r...

At my age, I often get hit by nostalgia. I remember the way things used to be. That can be good or bad, depending on my mood and what triggers a memory. I miss the people who are no longer with me. I remember past events, sometimes with joy, other times with sadness. Also, I remember when printed books were the norm and e-books were a fledgeling child, struggling to gain recognition. When my first two books, the mystery, Two Wrongs and romantic comedy, Girl of My Dreams , came out in e-book and print form through the publisher, Hard Shell Word Factory, I hardly paid much attention to the e-book editions. The major consensus of the reading public was a real book had to be on paper, which readers could smell and feel, and delight in seeing the cover and turning the pages. Well, in the past few years, that attitude has significantly changed. Multitudes of readers have gravitated toward e-books, instead of the printed format, and their numbers appear to be growing. E-books do ha...

A book cover is often the first thing a reader notices about your book. That's why you want it to be eye catching and appealing. Sometimes a cover will grab a person's attention, but not for the right reasons. It might be garish, gross, hard on the eyes, or contain other qualities that make a reader grimace after first glance. A good cover needs staying power to make it connect with your audience on a personal level. In a Blood-Red Pencil post on February 5, 2013 , I recommended my own cover designer, Stephen Walker . To decide whether or not a good cover is the best criteria for choosing a book, you may wish to check out Linda Lane's thoughts in her post . Today, I'd like to mention what I look for in a cover, and get feedback on your preferences. As in our prior  What's Your Answer features , I'll ask a few questions, and invite you to reply in the comment section. Q: In a choice between a cover featuring one or more inanimate objects, or a cover high...

I've been back in the fray again these past weeks, formatting my books for electronic media. The last time I ventured into self-publishing was with Killer Career , which I published in print via Lightning Source and also electronically. I confess to cheating on that one and paying someone to do the kindle version, but I did tackle and conquer the Smashwords edition back then. This time, I decided to try doing both when I re-released my romantic comedy, Girl of My Dreams , for which I regained my rights during the summer. Now that I've successfully published Girl of My Dreams on Kindle and Smashwords, I'd like to share a few observations about each, which may save you some trouble. VERY IMPORTANT:  Be sure to save your original manuscript first. Then, for each format, do a Save As and give it a new file name. My Observations: When I read from my own kindle, long paragraphs seem boring. The shorter ones zip along much better. Since the preferred...