Themes raised in the Gypsy series

These are the first two books in the Gypsy series. A third is in the incubation stage but should be in the works very soon. The setting is the fictional town of Milltown, Massachusetts and a Norse world far in the future. So what are the main themes of these books, you ask?

One of the main protagonists, a woman in her early fifties, has written a book to help change the future for the better but finds out it's had the opposite effect. (Yes, this is a time-traveling story and includes a magical boat called Gypsy.)

Somewhat dystopian and/or post-apocalyptic, this series is about how the present can impact the future in various unforeseen ways. The narrative is told through the two main characters who have been separated by time. Their love story is what underlies the rest of the themes, that and the child who was thought to be dead.

In addition to the two main characters, Norse gods and goddesses, dragons, and a sorcerer move through this bleak future doing whatever suits them. But the economic hardship created by a repressive society run by corporations, the loss of clean water and food, and technology run amok, have put this world at risk.

So how will this situation be resolved? I don't know the answer to this yet but I'm hoping to find out as soon as my characters give me the green light. They run the show--I'm only the conduit.

Name suggestions for the third book, anyone?

Book signings...

I had planned to write a blog every week or so, but life got in the way...

Yesterday I had a book signing in the small town of Bisbee, an event I set up with Joan, the owner, several weeks ago. I sat outside a store called Atatlanta's Music and Books that carries a little bit of everything! Unfortunately for the local residents, Joan plans to close the store by early fall. From what she told me her long stint in retail is coming to a close due to not enough business and burnout. People are now shopping at the big box stores over in the next town, a fact that is affecting local small business across the country.

In any case I did absolutely nothing to prepare for this event, not even posting on FB or putting a sign in the store window. I went in cold turkey, my only hope being that the holiday weekend would bring more foot traffic.

Just after I set up a rickety table and two chairs, a thunderstorm came through. Hail hit the streets scattering pedestrians who hurried to stand in doorways or take the opportune moment to head to a restaurant. Luckily I was under an overhang, on a tiled entryway in which the name J.C. Penney had been emblazoned. The town was booming back when the mine was going. After the hail came a few showers, and then sun. People began to walk up and down the streets again, many of them heading inside Atatlantis.

Several people came by to say hello, my first sale to an unlikely youngish man. After that I found myself making more eye contact and chatting with those who seemed so inclined. When three older women came by I said hello to one of them. She lingered for a moment, caught by the cover of Gypsy's Quest. We talked for a moment or two about the books and then she bought Gypsy's Quest, saying that it spoke to her. Encouraged, I began asking people if they needed a book to read--this was an out-of- character gregarious behavior that may have been due to the amount of ozone in the air. It was another half hour or so before another woman stopped by to ask about the books. I told her she didn't have to buy all three,  the backstory was woven into the last book of the trilogy, The Wolf Moon. Despite this she bought all three!

I learned several things from sitting there:
1. It's fun
2. I like people
3. Three hours goes by quickly
4. You never know who may be interested in your books
5. Being pessimistic about what may happen has no effect on what actually does happen

On the way home I thought of three more things I need to do to help with marketing:
1. Have an e-mail list going (I wish I had done this yesterday)
2. Make a large poster-size display of at least one of the books to draw people from afar.
3. Have a couple of simple quips ready to write inside the books-'Hope you enjoy' or 'Thank you' gets boring after a while. (also practice writing my name occasionally so I don't leave off or add an extra l at the end of Broadwell)

The biggest positive change to come from this is that I'm no longer afraid of these events and actually look forward to the next one!

Book festival results...

Before I get into my ramblings about it all, I will tell you that I sold 6 books. (Thank you friends!) For $35 it was worth sharing a space with nine other authors for two hours! Several people stopped by and picked up my card so that they could buy kindle versions.

Disclaimer: One of the problems I faced was a master seller right next to me. She had more than eight published books and almost leaned out to grab people by their lapels, reeling them in like fish... "What do you like to read?" I can hear her voice in my ears as I write this. She was on my left, the direction most people were coming from, so that by the time they reached me they had either bought one of her books or just wanted to get the hell away from us. I thought her strategy inspiring, but I couldn't exactly call out the same question now could I? The other thing I noticed was that two thirds of the people who came by answered 'mystery' as their main genre. I could call mine paranormal mysteries, I suppose.

Another problem is what I refer to as 'the talking non-buyer', a person who comes by just to chat, basically keeping possible buyers away. Nothing to do about this without being massively rude.

Several authors in my pavilion brought huge posters along to place next to their books, a cover from one of their books that could be seen from 100 feet away. Great idea that I will implement next year.

What I brought away from it all: next year I will try and schedule my two hours on Saturday when the most people are wandering through. Apparently 100,000 people were expected and next year it should be even bigger. I will attempt to be more engaging with passers-by...maybe ask them what they like to read? (ha) or possibly some other quip unique to my genre--have to think on that. Poster. I also hope to have two more books out by next year-- the sequel to Gypsy's Quest and another paranormal story that takes place in the Tucson desert. The more books I have, the better the chances. Right now I guess I should get back to writing--have a lot to accomplish in the upcoming months!

Any of you authors go to book Festivals? what has been your experience?

Thanks for reading.

Giveaway on Goodreads starting Saturday March 1!!!

 
 

    Goodreads Book Giveaway
 

   

       
   

   

     

          Gypsy's Quest
     
     

          by Nikki Broadwell
     

     

         
            Giveaway ends March 10, 2014.
         
         
            See the giveaway details
            at Goodreads.
         
     
   
   

      Enter to win


And if you're partial to e-books Gypsy's Quest is a Kindle countdown beginning on March 1st and going through the 5th!

Returning to Paradise!

I've gone through a hair pulling HELL to get my most recent book into IngramSpark. After another day of messing around with them I finally decided to LET IT GO!!!!! I went back to Createspace on my book page for Gypsy's Quest, and easily navigated to the place where I could include expanded distribution. A few buttons and 'save and continue's' later, I have officially chosen them as my expanded distributors.

I do not understand why ANYONE would choose to work with IngramSpark/Lightning Source. I inputted everything they wanted, including pretty much promising them my first born and they still kept me from getting though. Seventeen e-mails later and I ams SO DONE.

With Createspace I have paid nada to get my formatted book onto Amazon, the only cost a measly ten bucks for my personal ISBN. Since I worked with them on my first three, having them format and do covers for the first two, I had no idea how incredible they really were if you sent them your formatted ms and cover design! I would always recommend them. The only problem I've had is that when they printed my cover, the colors seemed a bit on the orange side. After speaking with them about this issue, (they have a 'call me!' feature) I decided it was too picayune to pursue.

And so my book is out, it has expanded distribution now and I am well on my way to figuring out how to market. (Did I really say that?)

More later....

the new one

I am fast approaching the release of my fourth book--Gypsy's Quest.  I can hardly believe it. This one is very different from the trilogy and will appeal to a wider audience, I think. Time-travel, Norse myth, post-apocolyptic romance with the inclusion of a magical boat, might best describe it--a mouthful!

I've gone back and forth between Createspace and Lightning Source for publishing platforms and have finally settled on Createspace. The reason? Several. First, I used their service for my first three. Second, their interface is easy as pie. Thirdly, their customer service is stellar.

The only advantage that I can see with going with LS is the ability for customers to return books. I do have my books in several bookstores but so far they are on consignment. And although this is a bit of a hassle it skirts the issue of returns. I may have mentioned in a previous post my communications with Ingram and one of my consignees. He tried to order my books directly from them but could not get the proper discount accorded regularly published books--I told him to order directly from CS but haven't heard whether he did so.

In any case, customer service, professional-looking product and link with Amazon is enough for me.

This time I'm having the book and the kindle version formatted by Rik Hall who does exemplary and fast work for a good price. I also had my cover done by Viola Estrella and I love what she came up with! In the past I had CS do all the formatting and with the first tow they also designed my covers. The process was costly, drawn out, and frustrating and took way too much time! We'll see what happens this time around! I'm hoping to get the book into the marketplace in early February evenb though Mercury will be in retrograde.

I purchased a marketing book by David Gaughran called Let's Get Visible. He talks about three different approaches to launching a book but recommends a slow launch that he refers to as 'spreading the love'. The main gist of this is to not hit markets all at once, to forego announcing the book when it first goes up on Amazon. That way you can download a copy and make sure everything is looking good. Then you hit markets one by one...

I will let you know how all of this goes...fingers crossed!