Stories of Chance Romance Guest Post and Giveaway

Hello fellow readers,

Today I'm happy to be part of the Stories of Chance Romance Virtual Blog Tour This supports a wonderful cause.

There is also a tour wide giveaway! Be sure to check for entry details at the end of the post!

Stories of Chance Romance Tour Stops

About the Book:

Release Date: September 28, 2012

​Genre: Contemporary Romance Anthology (11 short stories)

Formats: Kindle

Synopsis:

Here’s to finding love in any place, at any time!

This collection of eleven short stories of chance romance reflects the hope that comes with the first bloom of romance, whether you find it in your youth, midlife, or the twilight years.

We dedicate Stories of Chance Romance to all the women who face breast cancer and to the teams of family, friends and medical professionals who support them on their journey.

Like so many woman, we have been closely and personally touched by this disease. Roxy was diagnosed and successfully treated in 2010—the same year Brenda lost her very dear friend, Mary Beggan, to breast cancer.

All authors’ profits from the sale of this anthology are being donated to advance the research, education, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

About the Authors:

Roxy Boroughs got the acting bug in elementary school, creating skits at recess and performing them for the class, thanks to her very indulgent teacher. She went on to study theater in university, met the love of her life there, and spent many years performing in movies, commercials and on stages across Canada and the US. Soon, portraying one character wasn’t enough. She wanted to be them all. So she poured her years of drama experience into writing plays and novels.

Look for her award-winning romantic suspense A STRANGER’S TOUCH, as well as its sequel, A STRANGER’S KISS, along with a sweet, romantic comedy called CRAZY FOR COWBOY. Find her on Facebook, Twitter and her website http://www.roxyboroughs.com/.

 

Brenda M. Collins has wanted to write romance since she was twelve years old. At the age of twenty, she spoke to an editor in Toronto, Canada, who expressed an interest in her story; however, she soon realized it takes more than an idea to be an author. She joined a number of writing groups to learn about ‘the craft’ and completed two mystery manuscripts. To help her fellow writers develop strong business skills, Brenda has published articles, and delivered workshops to hundreds of writers, on career planning, professional networking and presentation skills. Her most recent article, entitled How to Improve your Presentations, is in the 2013 Writer’s Market (Brewer, R.L., ed. F&W Media Inc. p. 153).

Brenda’s debut novel, WITCH IN THE WIND, starts with a murder, but comes to life with witches, warlocks, a canine familiar and a magical dimension called The Otherland. For upcoming titles in The Otherland Chronicles, and other stories, keep an eye on Brenda’s website www.brendamcollins.com and follow her on Twitter.

And now, lets look at the authors' thoughts on how indie authors can improve self publishing:

Three Ways Indie Authors Can Improve Self-Publishing

Self-Publishing has been a key topic in blog posts, podcasts, e-zine articles, and just about every other forum where the publishing industry is discussed. The key distinguishing characteristic of self-publishing is that the author has decided to publish their work independent of a traditional publishing house. These pioneers of the industry, myself and my writing partner, Roxy Boroughs included, are most often refer to as INDIE AUTHORS.

That push by authors to take control of their product continues to grow in leaps and bounds and, at this point, I doubt that anyone will argue that this new era of publishing is here to stay. But, with power comes responsibility as the saying goes, and that’s where some early innovators in the drive to self-publish have made some missteps. We’ve also gained a greater appreciation of what services the publishing houses were providing, such as expert editing and marketing prowess.

Between us, Roxy and I have self-published seven pieces of work. With each one, we’ve learned something new that we’d love to share with you.

1. Your Editor is a Goddess

If you have one, treat her accordingly, buy her chocolate, sing her praises to every other indie author you know, and follow her wisdom. As the author you may think you rival Shakespeare, but the reality is, you are just a tad biased. So is your mother, sister, best friend and anyone else who knows and loves you. Before you release your manuscript on an unsuspecting public you need to give it to someone who will read it with a clear eye and tell you how to make it the best it can be. That person must be able to recognize the elements of a good story —structure, character development, pacing, etc. — when they see it, and more importantly when they don’t. If you are not blessed with a critique partner of Roxy’s caliber, find one or hire one.

2. You are a Marketing Guru

If you thought writing the book was the hard part, you are in for a BIG shock when you self-publish. There are almost 1.5 million ebooks available for sale on Amazon.com today. If you upload your book and assume your readers will just find it, your total sales will equal those of your family and friends who have an eReader. As you finish your final proof, you should also be putting the final touches on your marketing plan and be gearing up to transfer your energy from writing your story to ‘talking it up’ on a blog tour, pushing for reviews, researching online advertising, and doing anything else you can think of to get your book and your name out to target readers.

3. Be Prepared for a Bad Review

Even Nora Roberts has her detractors. If you look at the top ten bestsellers on Amazon, you will see that they all have negative reviews. You can’t please all the people all the time. Don’t take it personally but do look to see if there is any kernel of truth in what the reviewer said. If they stopped reading because the formatting or spelling mistakes bothered them, then go back in and fix it. For the one person who took the time to write that review, how many simply stopped reading and told all their friends not to buy your book. What you can also do is encourage those who do read your book and enjoy it, to tell others about it on their blogs, through Twitter or Facebook and especially through reviews on Amazon.

Roxy and I could teach a class on these three points and add another ten without breaking a sweat. Roxy was more accomplished in her writing career than I was when we published, but I can tell you we both had to hustle to keep up with everything that we needed to learn over the last year to self-publish successfully.

Self-publishing was a Big Deal for both Roxy and me.  But, without the freedom and control that  self-publishing put in our hands, we wouldn’t be able to publish Stories of Chance Romance and donate all our author proceeds to support the fight against breast cancer.

Thanks for inviting us to visit your blog.

Giveaway Details: 

The authors are giving away one copy of  "Crazy for Cowboy” by Roxy Boroughs (a sweet romantic comedy) and one copy  “Witch in the Wind” (a sweet paranormal/fantasy romance) by Brenda M. Collins. There will be a giveaway for one of each  of the books. All you have to do for a chance to win is leave a comment!

Be sure to check out the other stops on the tour as well! The link to the tour list is under the banner at the top of the post.