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Live! And Getting Good Reviews!

May18

“Patti Goes to the Dungeon,” my first publication under “Monique DeSoto” is live across all platforms (except Scribd, which is staffed by Puritans) for a mere 99 cents American (77 p in pounds sterling, I believe).

These are the reviews so far:

” heard it was billed as “Woody Allen meets 50 shades” and I couldn’t agree more. Hilarious and racey, had to fan myself while laughing. Looking forward to more from this author.”

And

“Not even going to lie – this was the funniest erotica short story I have ever read! Absolutely fun and very realistic. DeSoto did a great job bringing real life humor into this read.”

Go! Go buy it! 99 cents for a laugh (anything else is between you and your partner)

https://www.amazon.com/Patti-Goes-Dungeon-Monique-DeSoto-ebook/dp/B06Y1C5W69/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495144391&sr=8-1&keywords=patti+goes+to+the+dungeon

You’ll never hear, “Hey, Siri” the same way again.

This N That

May11

This is going to be a olio (look it up) of a blog post.

First off, my books (and the upcoming “Patti Goes to the Dungeon by Monique DeSoto) are featured in “Affaire de Couer” magazine. Here’s the link. You know, at $1.99, $.99, and $.99, you can have hours of enjoyment, spend less than coffee at Starbucks (and not have the burnt taste), and not have the caffeine jitters.

Here’s the link:

http://affairedecoeur.com/theaffairedecoeurbookshelf.html

If you’re on Facebook, Hangin’ With Web Show gave me a shout out.

https://www.facebook.com/susan.thatcher.357?sk=approve&highlight=1271445606326018&log_filter=review&queue_type=non_friends&notif_t=mention&notif_id=1494430074256111

If you prefer paperbacks, I’ve got the hookup in “Buy Now” on my page.

http://www.susanthatcher.com/buy-now/

On the “Learn the Hard Way” front, let me share some newly-acquired wisdom:

You can only send ARCs out once through Bookfunnel.  Once. Uno. Une. Eins. That is, if you create a campaign, you’ve got to have all your email addresses together and listed before hitting “send” because, like being Jeopardy and losing, it’s a one shot deal (trust me. Been there. Done that. Got the pens and reusable shopping bag). Line up the mallards, Kids, THEN send them. Can’t send them a few at a time or even just one then come back. Annoyed sigh. Some people are born to be shining models. I’m more of a cautionary tale.

And finally, I’m going to be reviewing books in this space (I have TWO tall stacks. The Two Towers). I know you’re all thrilled.

 

I’ll Be Honest Here

Apr17

I got nuthin’.

Did you see the “Sex and the City” movie? (Not the Dubai one that was so crappy, my friend threatened to beat me and have me committed if I even thought about adding it to the permanent collection. The somewhat less-heinous one. The first one with all the extremely expensive clothes, jewelry, and housing that was passeed off as within reach of upper middle class women) There is a scene where Carrie Bradshaw is sitting in front of a blank screen with a blinking cursor and…nothing. She’s supposed to be writing about love. Nothing.

That’s me writing this blog.

I have to get over the notion that I MUST share solid gold nuggets twice a week. I have to go with the more realistic “even a blind pig finds an acorn every now and then.” Apparently, confessing to being an idiot (my last post) attracted a lot of attention (relatively speaking). People were waiting for me to admit that, I suppose. Bastards.

Or maybe I said something of value…maybe?

bobasekjax17 selfie

 

 

 

I am an Idiot. I Admit it Freely.

Apr14

So far, going to signing events has not been profitable. I don’t sell a lot of books. However, I learn things and I am the Founder, Dean, Provost, Sergeant At Arms, and Faculty Chair of the School of Learning Things the Hard Way.

For example, how to market one’s books. I screw up. I screw up a lot.

I figured, “Write a story. Get it edited. You’re done! You’ve created the book!”

Not so much.

I’m a solo act which means I am the one responsible for marketing aka convincing people to buy the book. I can persuade people to buy stuff, just get squeamish when selling MY stuff. That doesn’t work well when you are a solo act.

Authors create swag: small pieces of merchandise that reference you and your works. Things like bookmarks, cards, business cards, tiny versions of your book cover made into magnets, bookmarks, other chotchkes. The idea is that people will have your stuff and think of you, think of your books, maybe persuade someone to buy the books.

Go ahead, ask me if I had contact information on my stuff.

Nope.

image

Didn’t even have a good email address on my business cards (it used to work, but I forgot the password and Gmail wouldn’t let me get it going again. For all I know, it’s how the Russians hacked the election).

I’ve spent more than a couple hundred dollars on swag. My bookmarks didn’t have MY contact info, but they had the Twitter handle of the Etsy artisan who made them. Not smart.

I’ve come up with a couple of images for branding purposes. It’s a start. I’ve come up with a new Gmail address for the business stuff (and for my pen name). Another step forward.

I’ve invested in some actual advertising in “Affaire de Coeur” magazine. Will it lead to sales? Don’t know. Pam Ackerson, who knows her way around advertising, a) explained how exposure works and it’s essentially a funnel that narrows down the field of possible buyers faster than the NCAA tourney clears out teams, and b) she came up with some excellent taglines. It’s like dating: you have to get out there (and the Amazon Kindle One-Click is kind of a Tindr app for buying books. Far too many people not swiping right on my stuff).

So, I need to redesign, including contact info. I need eye-catching. I need an elevator pitch for all of my stuff. I can do these things.

I may be an idiot, but that can be overcome with education. It’s just expensive, annoying and time consuming doing it my way.

But, I’m learning.