She's Back!

It's been awhile since I posted. Can't believe it's been so long. I feel guilty, which is silly. The blog doesn't care, and I've been busy working on other stuff.

So what's been going on these past months? Well, for one thing, I had two books published by Highland Press. I co-wrote Saucy Girl with my cousin Annmarie Ortega. We launched it at RWA's Spring Fling conference last spring. Saucy Girl is a cute, funny, exciting book about a woman who falls for the handsome widower next door who might or might not be a serial murderer who killed his former wife. Or maybe he's just a nice, lonely guy.

Read the book to find out. And please write a review for it if you read it. It's impossible to get people to write book reviews, but people read those things at Amazon, etc. before deciding whether to buy a book. It's a challenge.

The other book that Highland Press released recently is called Dead Girls Don't Get Fat. It's hilarious and sexy and exciting. This one is about a school teacher who has to move back in with her parents when her ex-boyfriend steals her identity and all her money. It adds insult to injury when she's bitten by a demon and is transformed into a flesh-hungry monster. Her new status makes teaching a little more challenging than it used to be, too. Again, you should read this book and buy copies for all your friends. And write (hopefully good) reviews. Lots of reviews.

I'm trying to do some book promotion for these titles which is hard because it's challenging to compete with all the books that are out there. But for every great book, there's a great reader who would love it, right? So I'm working on getting Saucy Girl and Dead Girls out there on Twitter and Goodreads and of course this blog. And it would be great if the books got some good reviews. Lots and lots of book reviews. Hint, hint.

Happy reading!

Cat shaming

Yes, it's been a long time since I've posted here. That's partly because I've been getting into Twitter instead. Short, random neural firings are just my speed. I'm @KOsbornSullivan. Come visit! I've also been busy finishing my YA fantasy manuscript FERAL! It's done! It's 98,000 words! It's awesome! Like Bigfoot? (And who doesn't?) Then this is the book for you! I'm starting the agent search...

Also, I don't want to leave anyone hanging with the ongoing saga of my pool installation. It's done and it looks great, but we're having some trouble with the builder. Essentially, we say they suck, and they disagree. Until we get this all worked out, I'm postponing photos of the final reveal. 

Finally. when not arguing with pool companies, Tweeting, or writing, I've taken up the elite sport of cat shaming. It's brilliant! It's probably easier to show you what it is rather than trying to explain.

That's Jem in the photo. He's been shamed multiple times for a variety of reasons, but sadly, he doesn't seem ashamed at all. Maybe I need a bigger white board to write up his transgressions?

Happy winter! Stay warm out there.

Balancing on the Platform

I spent this afternoon at a presentation by historical fiction author Victoria Wilcox. One of the topics she brought up that raised a lot of questions among the audience members was about building an author's "platform." Apparently both aspiring and published authors have questions about what a "platform" is and how to create a successful one. I was among those with questions, and not surprisingly, I walked away feeling overwhelmed.

Modern authors are told repeatedly that we have to promote our own work by any means necessary. Those means always include – but aren't limited to – a website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, and a zillion other social media avenues that have been created in the past 15 minutes. Apparently that contact with the public which can be used to sell books is an author's platform.

During today's presentation, Wilcox suggested that smart authors volunteer details about the dreaded platform when they're sending out query letters to literary agents and editors. When I heard that, it reminded me of the time that an agent asked what my platform was after I submitted a query to her for a nonfiction book. At the time, I was unclear on the concept. My first thought was that the agent was supposed to help me built a platform by securing a book deal. Yes, go ahead and laugh; I was naïve.

Needless to say, hearing people talk about their platforms today made me feel guilty about how I neglect both my blog and my Twitter account. I regularly talk myself out of posting by asking why anyone would want to read the ramblings of a stranger when they could instead be doing anything else on the planet. But it seems that putting material out there for the public to read is exactly what having a platform is all about.

No one reads it, but at least you can say that you're making the effort. At least you can write in your submission letters that you have a blog, and it's possible to post a link to it on your website. At least it makes you seem like you're not a complete Neanderthal when it comes to technology. Maybe it even makes you appear to be a serious writer. And if nothing else, it demonstrates that you have a clue what a platform is. Which puts you head and shoulders above where I was not too long ago.

The Trouble with Twitters

I don't fully understand Twitter. I'm not having technical problems; I know how to tweet and haven't forgotten my password or anything. But I'm not sure exactly how I'm supposed to use it. First, I don't have a smart phone, so anytime something interesting happens when I'm out, I have to remember it until I get home and can get on my computer. Needless to say, I forget. And, frankly, nothing particularly tweet-worthy happens when I'm sitting at home in front of the computer. Do you want to know about "the cutest thing" my cat just did? I didn't think so. Since I don't want to spend untold sums of money for a data plan and a new cell phone, I think I'm stuck with uninspired tweets.

OK, I can handle that. I'll just tweet occasionally and follow other people who I find interesting. Which leads me to my second problem: How many people am I supposed to follow? Everyone I see follows hundreds or thousands of other people. THOUSANDS! How is that even possible? Even if every one of those people only tweets once a week, it would be a full time job to read all that stuff. Plus, there are a few people I'm particularly interested in, but if I'm following a zillion people, then the ones I'm most interested in get lost in the shuffle, and I never see their posts. What's the point?

On a related note, some people I've seen are tweeting constantly. Is it necessary to literally share a minute-by-minute account of your day? But if you start following someone like that, then isn't it rude to unsubscribe from their feed? Do they know someone has unsubscribed? Will they take it personally and have their feelings hurt? And if I want people to follow my tweets, then I assume I'm supposed to follow theirs, right? Is that a requirement? It seems like the polite thing to do, but I have no idea what kind of social rules apply to the world of Twitter.

Which brings me to another issue: It seems like everyone cheats the 140-character rule by tweeting links. Sure, I'm guilty of doing this, too, but I don't usually want to read an entire link. Whatever happened to just tweeting a short thought or comment? Don't people do that anymore? Isn't it possible to just subscribe to someone's feed, read a short thought or comment from them, then move on without having to click through a link to a whole article or blog or something? What's ironic is that I'm posting a link to this blog on my Twitter account, so people might read this rant against links when they've just followed a link. Is that irony? Or is that just a sign that I'm a sociopath?

As a result of all my confusion, I've found it easier to just not get too deeply into Twitter. I can't tweet much without a smart phone anyway, I don't follow many people because I'm afraid to unsubscribe if they tweet too much, and I'm not wild about having to deal with links in tweets. But maybe if you're reading this blog, you could explain to me what I'm doing wrong. Please tell me how anyone can actually follow 10,000 Twitter accounts. Maybe there's a trick that I don't know. And, no, I'm not willing to give up sleep in order to be an accomplished Twitter user. So if you can solve these problems, please send me a link to the answers. J

Happy tweeting!

Kim