Tag Archive | Buy my books

Let Me Entertain You

This blog, this here blog, which got its most hits for a post titled “I Am an Idiot, I Admit It Freely” is supposed to be a marketing tool. “Content, content, Content!” (With the accent on the first syllable to indicate that there is something in the post v. accent on the second syllable to indicate being happy and serene. Given what I see you guys spell and post, – INCLUDING PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS. JEEBUS! WHERE ARE YOUR EDITORS??? – I may have to start posting the basics of composition, spelling, and grammar. You just give up one hour of reality TV per week and I’ll have you whipped into shape. I will). Not always easy to come up with something. I have products to promote. Do you bastards ever buy my books? No. 99 freakin’ cents! For good stuff! Seriously! I’m throwing links in here.

I have two books currently available on Amazon under my own name: ” These Foolish Things” and At Last.” As Kindle e-books, they are $1.99 and $.99 respectively.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Susan-Thatcher/e/B00DPX0S7E/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1

And, coming May 13, a short, sassy, sexy NC17 story under a new pen name, Monique Desoto:

https://www.amazon.com/Patti-Goes-Dungeon-Monique-DeSoto-ebook/dp/B06Y1C5W69/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1493595526&sr=1-1&keywords=patti+goes+to+the+dungeon

I am reluctant to plaster my social media accounts with promotions and ads. I can tune out ads I find annoying and tune them out quickly. I don’t want to be one of those promotions. It’s a fine line between getting noticed and getting ignored because you overdid it. A friend who is in advertising tells me it takes five times for someone to see something (an ad) before it registers and the percentage of conversion narrows down in a swift, steep funnel. Not encouraging. I know authors who will hit all of the Facebook author/reader groups they belong to and hit them all daily for a period of time. I don’t know if it works or not; I haven’t felt compelled to buy a lot of books from that method. Kind of like reusing a tea bag. The Law of Diminishing ReturnsI confess: I am not diligent about tweeting (except to respond to the current President’s Twitter feed) or Instagram or Tumblr, Google +, etc. I don’t have a reader group or  a street team. Yet.

I get good advice. Do I follow up on it? Eh, not so much. See previous post about being an idiot.

I have great dreams for these books, that they’ll find their audience, word of mouth will take over and I’ll have sleeper hits beloved by millions. I don’t know if that’s appropriate self-confidence, self-delusion, or the inner six-year-old playing in the backyard and saying, “I’m the greatest batter/dancer/actor/singer ever!”

Greatest? No. I couldn’t dream up a tenth of the scenarios Margaret Atwood can or O.Henry did (Monique DeSoto writes short stories). I do have an imagination. I like to think I write terrific dialogue and while I don’t think I have an entire Universe in my like J.K. Rowling, I do down roads less traveled, like first real love at forty or humorous erotica.

Look: Click the links, buy the books. Get your friends to click the links and buy the books. All 3 are less than one of those Unicorn Frappucinos they had at Starbucks.

Let me entertain you.

March 13, 2017

 I don’t have anything especially interesting or profound to say tonight (except that I still have tickets for Book Obsessed Babes on April 8 in Jacksonville, FL and For Love of Books and Florida in Sarasota on July 15).

On the “So are you actually writing?” front, I have written 2708 words on a short story that is funny and sexy. I want to have that ready for the author signings this year. And perhaps write a couple more short stories, the idea being an eventual bound collection.

I moved last November from North Florida to South Florida to be closer to friends. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. My life had been solitary and isolated up to that point: mostly living on my own or among people who weren’t all that friendly when the chips were down, at a distance from the office where I was working (when I was working) or, in the case of test driving, spending 8 hours driving 300 miles around Los Angeles, Orange, and San Bernardino counties then going home to a house sit. The center of my group of friends was 20 some miles away in the San Fernando Valley. I discussed this with a friend (who is 1800 miles from me): the scariest thought was that if I had decided to end my life, I would succeed because there would be no one around to stop me except myself. Yeah. Unsettling.

 I’m not trying to be the most popular person (and I am who I am. I bite my tongue a lot, but still…) and I know there are people who I like a lot and respect to the utmost who think I’m a loudmouth and a fool and tolerate me, rather than enjoy my company. That’s okay. I still like and respect them. I know that my words are better received than myself. That’s cool (buy my books. Trust me, you’ll love them). I do not suffer fools well. Nevertheless, I need human contact.

Since my move, I am part of a group of 7 people who get together on Saturday nights for dinner and some of us go for a walk at night at the local park. It’s wonderful.

I’ve reconnected with a friend from 25 years ago and she is still as warm and wonderful as she was then. My friend, Catalina Egan, known to you bookworms as M.C.V. Egan, is close enough that we can get together and do stuff. Author stuff, metaphysical stuff, just plain stuff. It’s excellent.

My soul, which had been withering a bit, is blossoming. I am grateful to be in this location, in this circle, in this situation. I am at peace in my life. And that’s where we all should go.

Peace and love and all that jazz

Peace and love and all that jazz

Somebody: free tickets! C’mon!

“That’s Not Typing, That’s Writing”

(and that’s paraphrasing Truman Capote criticizing “Valley of the Dolls”)

I gave an interview for the Stormy June blog that was released today. Yea! (And that’s how it’s spelled. NOT “Yay.”) and I saw grevious typos. 

Okay. Hers a link to the interview:   interview link

For the record, I do not steal stories. I CREATE them. And I looked forward to making up something for class assignments. Honest.

Anyway, go, read, come back, comment.

What’s a Girl Got To Do?

This past weekend, “These Foolish Things” and “At a Last” chalked up more positive reviews on Amazon and Goodreads (they should be on the home page for this site. ALONG WITH ALL THE OTHER ONES).

It warms my heart. I wanted to create fun, realistic characters that, if they were real, the readers would want them as friends. That’s the feedback I’m getting. I succeeded.

However,…

image

What’s going to take to get more people reading and buy these good books? There are 5 days until the Smashwords Discounts expire (Wow! Where has August gone?):

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(c’mon, people, use the damns codes)

i ve ve sent copies to Ellen DeGeneres, Rosie O’Donnell, Oprah (do I have to say her last name?) and to Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden:

See?white house thanks

(The iPad and I just had a tussle over inserting that. We compromised)

Okay, the “fashion” in romance novels right now is still some supernatural (“Twilight” inspired), BDSM ( “50 Shades” inspired, which is actually “Twilight” derived), and essentially fan fiction inspired by rock bands, NASCAR, and TV shows.

I went a different way. I wrote about realistic people with recognizable issues finding a way to work through them to make a relationship work. No fangs, no kidnappings, no damsels in distress (although it can be argued that Ty Hadley, my lead guy, needs rescuing from his demons).

I write about people who had tough childhoods, but find a “soul family” in the DiNardos. Again, no fangs, but there’s a lot of Italian cooking (vampirism doesn’t go with garlic), head smacking, affection, and warmth.I didn’t “draw the curtain” after Liz and Ty got together (“These Foolish Things” and “At Last” were originally one book. I divided because …well, I’m an idiot). I wanted people to see (as they do in real life, if they think about it) that a realistic Happily Ever After is possible. It’s a lot of work, too. Life isn’t on cruise control.

So, what’s it going to take to get more people to read these books? I’ve offered them for free through Kindle and Smashwords. I’ve given away signed copies. I’ve swapped with other authors at signings….

I’ve been told to engage my audience.  I’ve posted questions on Goodreads and on my Amazon author page:

Susan Thatcher Amazon Author Central

Or should I just write smut under a pen name?