Book promotion!

One of the (many) things I fret about is that I'm not doing enough to promote my books. Some writers seem like they're born for publicity, while others are pretty shy about tooting their own horns. I'm a shy tooter, so promotional activities are a challenge. But the cool thing is that sometimes it's possible to get someone else to do my tooting for me.

I co-wrote a book with my aunt, the psychic advisor Louise Helene. It's called I SAW YOUR FUTURE AND HE'S NOT IT, and it's full of love and relationship advice taken from the consultations my aunt has had with her clients. The book is funny and entertaining and offers excellent advice. And I'm not just tooting here.

Well, Louise Helene has been invited to be a guest on a few upcoming radio shows where she'll be talking about the book and maybe taking calls from listeners who have love and relationship questions. Following is a list of the upcoming shows. I hope you can stop by and listen. You'll definitely enjoy yourself and you might pick up some ideas for improving your love life.

- Guest on local Canadian radio show Passion on CJAD-AM in Montreal. It's scheduled for April 18th from 9:30 - 10:00 p.m. Central/10:30-11:00 p.m. Eastern.
- Guest on online radio show The Psychic Partners on May 13th from 5:30-6:00 p.m. Central/6:30-7:00 p.m. Eastern.
- Guest on online radio show Mystical Cruise Ship on Friday June 21 from 7:00-8:00 p.m. Central/8:00-9:00 p.m. Eastern.

Dating!

Today's daily fret is about dating. It's hard and potentially very, very scary. What if you finally work up the courage to ask someone out, only to receive a look of barely concealed disgust accompanied by a firm "No"? Or worse, what if you get a date with someone, only to discover halfway through the night that the other person is a psycho? Hint: If your date requests a piece of your hair during the date, he/she is a psycho. And worst of all, what if you get a date and it works out and you eventually have to meet your new love's family? Oh, the horror!

So it's clear that single people can use a little help with the terrors of dating. My new book I SAW YOUR FUTURE AND HE'S NOT IT that I co-wrote with my aunt Louise Helene, has lots of good advice for women trying to find Mr. Right. And we just found out that the UK website for singles Smarter Dating has posted an article about our book. Click the link to check it out!

We made it to BuzzFeed!

Great news! My new book I SAW YOUR FUTURE AND HE'S NOT IT that I co-wrote with my aunt Louise Helene was named to their list of top 12 most unusual dating books. It's in terrific company, including "Dating the Undead" and "If the Buddha Dated." Sounds like a most entertaining list! http://www.buzzfeed.com/annanorth/the-12-most-unusual-dating-books-on-the-market
Happy reading!

I Saw Your Future in the wild

After yesterday's release of I SAW YOUR FUTURE AND HE'S NOT IT: A PSYCHIC'S GUIDE TO TRUE LOVE, I'm thrilled to report that it's being spotted in bookstores! It was on the shelf of the New Age section in Barnes and Noble's Joliet, IL store, and a few miles away at the Geneva, IL Barnes & Noble. Nice! Please let me know if you spot a copy at a bookstore near you.
Kim

I Saw Your Future and He's Not It Release Day

What do the drummer, the crier, and the guy who fled into the night have in common? They're all men who are featured in stories from I Saw Your Future and He's Not It: A Psychic's Guide to True Love. This entertaining relationship book published by Llewellyn Worldwide is just in time to help get your love life (or your best friend's or your sister's or your cousin's, etc.) in order for Valentine's Day. http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738734934

I co-wrote this book with psychic advisor Louise Helene, who has spent many years advising her clients on their love and relationship problems. The stories in the book are uplifting and run the gamut from touching to hilarious. You will also learn interesting facts like why people cheat on their partners and how much money people actually spend on their search for true love. You'll even find exercises designed to improve your own ability to listen to your intuition and understand what actions to take in your own life.

Starting today, I Saw Your Future is available everywhere. I hope it helps bring you happiness and love in 2013.

 

I SAW YOUR FUTURE shipping early!

Are you looking for the perfect gift for that hard-to-buy-for woman on your Christmas list? Good news: Our new book I SAW YOUR FUTURE AND HE'S NOT IT: A PSYCHIC'S GUIDE TO TRUE LOVE has started shipping a month early! http://www.amazon.com/Saw-Your-Future-Hes-Not/dp/0738734934/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1341954742&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=I+saw+your+future+and+he%27s
Technically, the release date is still January 8, 2013, but the gods of the publishing universe must have realized they were missing out on sales by not selling it until after the holidays. So it's here for your gift shopping convenience, not to mention offering help to those of you who would like to find "Mr. Right" to spend New Year's Eve with.
Happy reading!

The Original Louise Helene

Now that the book I wrote with my aunt, psychic advisor Louise Helene, is set for publication January 8, 2013, I've had a lot of people ask me how my aunt chose such an unusual career. I always tell them that she learned her craft from her mother, whose professional name was also Louise Helene. If you'd like some more details about my aunt's journey from a curious five-year-old gaping at her mother's crystal ball to a popular, successful psychic advisor, check out her most recent blog http://louisehelenethepsychic.blogspot.com/. And don't forget that our book I SAW YOUR FUTURE AND HE'S NOT IT: A PSYCHIC'S GUIDE TO TRUE LOVE is available for pre-order everywhere, for which I am very grateful this Thanksgiving.

First Review - And It's Good!

That Google Alert I set up to tell me when anyone mentions my upcoming book I SAW YOUR FUTURE AND HE'S NOT IT: A PSYCHIC'S GUIDE TO TRUE LOVE has paid off. Today it led me to the book's first review. http://biggestlittlereviewblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/book-i-saw-your-future-and-hes-not-it.html
Now, I know I SAW YOUR FUTURE is a great book, and my coauthor (and aunt) Louise Helene knows it's a great book, but until you actually see a good review, there's always that nagging little doubt that maybe the rest of the world will wake up on the wrong side of the bed and won't be in a mood to like anything. So it was a huge relief when I read the review and saw that this reviewer understood what we were trying to do and enjoyed it. (Exhale huge sigh of relief here) I'm so glad that the reviewer recommends the book, and it was especially fun to read that she identified with some of the women whose stories of good love and and good love gone bad are presented. That's something we've heard from many of the women who've read the book. This is serious cause for celebration this weekend.
Cheers to good reviews!

Tracking Book Sales

Back in the days before the internet, there must have been fewer ways for authors to obsess over their book sales. There were best seller lists and statements from the publisher, but what else? Today, with the internet, there are countless websites offering a variety of ways to keep track of book sales, plus reviews, readers' comments, and a zillion other factors that affect a book's popularity. What did authors do with themselves back in the day when they weren't spending their days setting up Google alerts for mentions of their book titles or their own names? Maybe they actually had time to write new books.

My latest obsession is a site called NovelRank.com. If you put your book's title into the system, it tracks the Amazon sales and ranking. Don't ask how many times per day I've popped over there since putting I SAW YOUR FUTURE AND HE'S NOT IT into the system. It's already been up and down a bit, and as the release days of January 8 gets closer, I'm hoping the ranking and sales will steadily improve.

Next on my agenda is to put my Abraxas books into the system. I think it will track print books and ebooks separately, which gives me that many more chances to obsess about book sales. Isn't technology wonderful?

Author Fairs

Over the past couple months, I've been lucky to attend a few author fairs at libraries in the Chicago area. I started attending these events back in 2006 when Stones of Abraxas was first published, and I loved them then. Now that I've got my self-pubbed version of Stones out, along with the Heroes of Abraxas sequel and My Life as an Earthworm, they're even more fun because there are more books to talk to people about. For these most recent fairs, I also brought promotional postcards for the upcoming nonfiction book I wrote with my aunt, psychic Louise Helene. The book is called I Saw Your Future and He's Not It, and it's going over big with readers.

One of the things I find most interesting about author fairs and other book signing events is that you can never tell who's going to be most interested in your books. When a 12-year-old boy walks past my signing table, I used to automatically assume he'd like my YA fantasy novels with a dragon and gargoyle on the covers. And sometimes he is interested in fantasy, but a lot of times he's not. One time there was a kid who I thought would love fantasy, but he came over and picked up my nonfiction book about Muammar Qaddafi in Libya. When I looked surprised, his mom explained, "He's really interested in dictators." Go figure.

At least half of the people I talk to and sell YA books to at signings are adult women. Sometimes they're looking for a gift for kids or grandkids, but more often they're looking for themselves. I understand where they're coming from because at least half of what I read is classified as young adult.

Maybe most surprising is that it's not just women who are picking up the promo cards for I Saw Your Future and He's Not It. Men are curious, too. Mostly they're dads who have daughters, and they're eager for help in warning the girls away from lousy guys. The book's title really strikes a chord for those dads, I guess.

So, like books, it seems that you can't tell a book reader by his/her cover.

Little Pink Book Update

 Only three months until the January 8, 2013 release of I SAW YOUR FUTURE AND HE'S NOT IT: A PSYCHIC'S GUIDE TO TRUE LOVE and lots of exciting stuff is going on. Last Saturday, my co-author and aunt, Louise Helene, did her first interview. She was featured on Miranda Tempest's blog radio program http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mirandatempest/2012/09/30/i-saw-your-future-and-hes-not-it-1

During the show, Louise talked about how the book is filled with stories taken directly from her psychic consultations and includes techniques for readers to improve their own intuition. She also took calls from listeners seeking psychic advice. It was a great interview, and it was fun to hear her field calls from people who had many of the same kinds of problems that we address in the book.

Meanwhile, I've attended some book signing events to promote my other books and have been handing out promotional materials for I SAW YOUR FUTURE. It's been getting a terrific reception. "I love that title!" and "When can I get a copy?" and "That's a great cover!" are common reactions from readers. And speaking of the cover, we've given the book a nickname. The "little pink book" is cute and quicker to say than the long regular title.

The positive reactions to the book are coming from some unexpected places, which suggests it strikes a chord for a variety of women. For instance, Louise was at a government office recently and got to talking about books with the employee behind the counter. Louise mentioned that she has a book coming out, and when the woman asked about it, Louise pulled out one of our pink promotional postcards. The woman took one look at it, slammed it down on the counter, and demanded an autograph. Then she grabbed the card and ran to the other employees at the back of the office, calling, "Girls, look at this!"

We've even been contacted by media outside the United States about featuring the book. Talk about a thrill! To think that people all around the world can read and enjoy these stories.

It's been exciting so far, and we can't wait to see what happens next. It's hard to wait for the book's release date, though. I want to tell people they can go get a copy right away, but instead I've got to say they can pre-order. But that's OK. It'll be out soon.

And when it is released, then I'll have to keep my eyes open to see if my dream comes true. What dream is that, you ask? I want to spot a copy of the little pink book "in the wild." In other words, I want to see a complete stranger reading it on an airplane or in a coffee shop or buying one at a bookstore. That would be incredible. And in a few months, it might just happen! My aunt has been sure all along that our book will be a huge success. And she is a psychic, so great things are definitely on the horizon.

Goodbye, Summer! Hello, New Book!

This summer, we had multiple 100+ degree days in northern Illinois, but I enjoyed soaking up the heat and loved every minute of it. Just as long as my air conditioning continued to work, that is. But now there's only one more week of summer until autumn officially starts, and it's pretty depressing. Autumn is beautiful, but it inevitably leads to winter, and winter in northern Illinois isn't a thing I'd wish on anyone.

Have you ever put on an extra pair of pants and an ankle-length parka just to walk down to the mailbox? Have you ever climbed into your car through the hatchback because the other doors were frozen shut?  Have you ever found a mole in your basement, but you felt sorry for him because it was so cold outside, so you dug a cozy nest for him in a pile of leaves in the yard? No? Then you've never lived here. I know, right now all you hardcore residents of Minnesota and North Dakota are laughing at the wimpy Illinoisan (or Flatlander, as Wisconsin residents call us), but all this flat land really allows the wind to work up a head of steam, and it gets miserable.

Anyway, needless to say, I don't want winter to come, but this year it's not as simple as all that. This year, a part of me actually wants winter to come because I'm eager for the January 8, 2013 release of my book I SAW YOUR FUTURE AND HE'S NOT IT: A PSYCHIC'S GUIDE TO TRUE LOVE. Would I be less conflicted if it came out in June or July, so I could just wish for summer? Sure, but in this case, this book is scheduled for January because it's right before Valentine's Day.

The thinking is that I SAW YOUR FUTURE would make a great Valentine's gift to give your friend who's overdue to get rid of her creepy boyfriend. (Subtle hints often don't work because they're too subtle.) It's also a book a woman can pick up for herself in an effort to find a new guy to spend Valentine's Day with. This is also just a funny, interesting read for somebody who would like entertaining stories about other women's successes and failures in the romance department. So, yes, a wintertime release is the best timing, but it still leaves me clinging desperately to summer – together with my shorts, sandals, and tomato vines – while looking forward to an exciting event in January.

In fact, a January release might be the best timing of all. January and February are usually miserable in this part of the world, with dark, cold days and nothing fun to look forward to, but in 2013 that won't be the case. Book promotion activities and the excitement of the new release should brighten up those two months.

That's it, I'm convinced. This year, bring on winter! But let's make it a mild one, OK? Oh, and those Mayans better be wrong about the world ending on December 22, because if that happens only two weeks before my release date, someone's getting an angry letter from yours truly.

Olympic Athletes Need Love, Too

In a never-ending attempt to avoid working on one of several manuscripts that I should be dealing with, I've been watching the Olympics. Who knew that professional trampolining (is that a word?) exists outside of the circus industry. Anyway, with the upcoming release of the relationship book I wrote with my aunt Louise Helene, I SAW YOUR FUTURE AND HE'S NOT IT: A PSYCHIC'S GUIDE TO TRUE LOVE, I got to thinking about whether any Olympic athletes have met their spouses through the Games. Turns out, there are a number of them. And apparently I'm not the only one wondering about this question because I found a photo segment that the Huffington Post just had on the same topic: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/24/olympic-marriage_n_1655143.html

Of the couples listed, the one that surprised me most was Olympic gold-medal gymnasts Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner. I had no idea they'd gotten married. Even if you're too young to have seen Nadia earn multiple scores of perfect 10 in the 1976 Games, you've probably heard about her. And American Bart Conner won men's gymnastic gold at the 1984 Olympics.

I was intrigued by Nadia and Bart, so I did a little research about them. It seems their romance wasn't exactly love at first sight and smooth sailing forever after. They met for the first time at a gymnastics competition several months before the 1976 Olympics. A 14-year-old Nadia won a gold medal for the women, and Bart, who was 18 years old at the time, won the men's medal. They stood next to each other on the award platform, and a photographer suggested Bart give Nadia a kiss. He did, but if sparks flew, it would be a long time before anyone found out about it.

Nadia went on to endure a great deal of turmoil in her home country of Romania, which was ruled by the oppressive Communist regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu. In 1989, she fled Romania for the United States. Once there, she made contact with old friends, including Bart Conner. The two of them became engaged in 1994 and married in 1996. Twenty years after they first met.

That happily-ever-after story puts a huge, goofy grin on my face. I hope you like it, too.
Kim

I SAW YOUR FUTURE for pre-order!

I'm thrilled to report that my upcoming nonfiction book I SAW YOUR FUTURE AND HE'S NOT IT: A PSYCHIC'S GUIDE TO TRUE LOVE is available for pre-order at Llewellyn Publishing as well as lots of other book sellers! Click here to view.

This fun and inspiring book was co-written with my aunt, the psychic advisor Louise Helene. She has spent years advising clients in their romantic dilemmas, and now she's sharing her expertise with readers around the world.
I SAW YOUR FUTURE will be released January 8, 2013, and if you order now, it will be shipped to you as soon as it's available.
Happy reading!
Kim

New cover art for I Saw Your Future and He's Not It

My editor at Llewellyn Publishing just sent out the brand spanking new cover art for my upcoming relationship book I SAW YOUR FUTURE AND HE'S NOT IT: A PSYCHIC'S GUIDE TO TRUE LOVE. It's my first foray into adult nonfiction, and I co-wrote it with my aunt, the psychic advisor Louise Helene. It will be available for pre-sale later this summer, but I had to share this cool cover right away.
Stay tuned for more details!
Kim