P.J. MacLayne

March 25, 2019

We did this a couple of years ago, but your answer may have changed. What are the best sites you use for publicity?


When we discussed this several years ago, I praised the results I got using Robin Reads and EReader news. I still like them, but the last time I ran a book promotion, neither gave me the results I hoped for.


Don’t get me wrong, I sold a decent amount of books with each of them. I even made it into the top 25,000 authors on Amazon. But with the increase in the cost of a Robin Reads listing, it’s harder to break even.


I’ve also tried a variety of lesser-known sites in the meantime, and none of them match these two. I haven’t tried the king of them all, BookBub, but based on what I’ve seen of their prices, I never will. I’ve also read a few articles that indicate that BookBub is losing its effectiveness.


So what’s an author to do? Well, I’ve got two potential promotion sites in mind.


First one is BookDoggy. Can’t tell you anything about it, but it seems reasonably priced and I’ve heard good things about it. Worth a shot, anyway.


Next is Amazon. Yes, that one. As much as I hate monopolies, it may be time to give their advertising a chance. Since I can control how much money is being spent, and end a campaign if it doesn’t perform well, the risk seems lower.


I’m doing my research so I can make the risk as minimal as possible. Coming up with keywords isn’t as easy as it sounds. And you can have up to 1000 keywords associated with your ad. That’s a lot!


So, wish me luck. I can use as much as I can get.


And, just a reminder before I hop on over and see what suggestions the other authors have. Next week, I should be posting on my new website. Don’t worry, I’ll post the link here when it’s ready, but I haven’t turned it on yet. See you there!

March 25, 2019

We did this a couple of years ago, but your answer may have changed. What are the best sites you use for publicity?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

Blogger

P.S. I just wanted to give a shoutout to Jenny at Light Reminders Photography for the great new publicity shots she did. Here’s one.

document.write(”);

March 18, 2019

If your childhood had a smell, what would it be?

When I first read the question, I knew i wouldn’t be able to narrow my answer down to just one smell. So you get two. I suppose that’s cheating, but oh well.

We lived out in the country, and smells were abundant. Everything from the fragile scent of whatever flower was in bloom to the lingering smells of the cow pasture next door. Some you became accustomed to, others you learned to ignore. “nose-blind” is the current terminology.

But some things I never got tired of smelling. With spring came the blooming of the lilacs. There was a row of them behind the house and another group up in the back yard near the apple tree. Although my mother cut large bouquets for the house and to share with family and friends, there were plenty left on the bushes. When I played outside, I always stopped to take a whiff. I still love lilacs.

And the second smell from my childhood was the mock orange. There were two bushes on the property; one near the dining room window that only produced sparse blooms, and the other,larger bush near the end of the driveway. The flowers didn’t last long when they were cut and were best enjoyed while still on the bush. The delicate sweet scent reminded me of oranges. (Hence the name, but mock orange is not related to real orange bushes, scientifically speaking.)

Image by Hans Braxmeier from Pixabay

I could have included the smell of a campfire or the scent of pine trees after a warm summer rain. Or when my mother made gingerbread cookies. or …well, I guess I should stop now.

What did you childhood smell like? I’m looking forward to seeing what our other authors remember.

By the way, stay tuned. I’ll be moving my blog to my own web page. Watch this space for more news!

March 18, 2019

If your childhood had a smell, what would it be?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

March 11, 2019

When you are daydreaming, what do you dream about?

When I sat down to write this post, I was struck by the realization that I don’t daydream as much as I used to. Or, at least, my daydreaming is more organized.

I used to be able to sit and stare out a window and not even remember what I was thinking about later. I can’t remember the last time I did that. I think it’s because my creativity expresses itself in a different way now.

Now, when I “space out” I find myself thinking about my characters, past and current. What have they’ve been doing since I left them? What adventures did they get involved in that didn’t get included in their book? If they are part of my current story, what have I missed that needs to be included?

Occasionally, I’ll stumble across a new story as I ponder my old ones. That’s where Lori’s story in Wolves’ Gambit came from. I knew she was unfinished business when I wrote her scene in Wolves’ Pawn, but it took a couple of years to get back to her. And she was getting into all kinds of trouble when I wasn’t looking!

I guess you could say that while I still daydream, my daydreaming is productive now. Is that a contradiction? I don’t think so!

What do you daydream about? While you think about it, I’m going to hop over and find out what the other authors have to share,

March 11, 2019

When you are daydreaming, what do you dream about?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

March 4, 2019

How do you recharge?


Anyone who has hung around with me on here for awhile already knows the answer to that question. I head to the mountains. Maybe i take a familiar road and stop at a different turnout, or maybe a take a side road I’ve never been on before. Either way, I’m always on the lookout for some fresh beauty.


I’ve posted many of these pictures here before, and some are fresh. I hope you enjoy them.

Near Estes  Park

Wild Flowers in the Snowy Mountains

There was a whole field of these wild flowers

Lake Cowdrey

Elk in a farmer’s field

Chambers Lake

Moose in the woods. These are big fellows!

And one more. An oldie, from when we lived near the land of the redwoods. It’s hard to do justice to a redwood tree.

And that’s how I recharge. Thank heavens for digital cameras, because I’d go broke if I had to take rolls of film to the drugstore to have them developed.

Now let’s find out what the other authors do!

March 4, 2019

How do you recharge?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

Blogger

document.write(”);

IWSG Day Question: Whose perspective do you like to write from best, the hero (protagonist) or the villain (antagonist)? And why?


The awesome co-hosts for the March 6 posting of the IWSG are Fundy Blue, Beverly Stowe McClure, Erika Beebe, and Lisa Buie-Collard!

I’d love to be able to write from my villian’s perspective, but he won’t let me!

Let me explain that statement. I’m currently working on a prequel to my Harmony Duprie Mysteries, and I’m trying to write the story of how Jake, my anti-hero, meets Harmony. I wanted to write it from Jake’s point of view. 

It didn’t work. I’ve tried four or five times to start the story, but never got past about 500 words. I tried different starting points, I tried a different opening scene, nothing worked.

But I finally figured it out. Jake has too many secrets he doesn’t want revealed. If I wrote the story from his side, those secrets might be slip out. So, he was blocking me, and I’ve restarted the story from Harmony’s perspective. It’s coming aong well, but slowly, thank you.

When I think about it, It’s true for all my books. I can think of only one instance out of the seven books I’ve written where I slipped (temporarily) into the mind of the bad guy.

So Jake’s secrets are still safe. Even I don’t know what they all are. He won’t tell me!


But the new covers for the Harmony Duprie Mysteries aren’t a secret. Have you seen them? Here’s the new cover for the first book, The Marquesa’s Necklace.

See that link over there —> that says My Books? Click on it and you can find out where to buy my books.

Feb 25, 2019

What have you done to make the world a better place?




Does anyone remember the first Earth Day? Way back in 1970 when about 22 million people believed they could do something to make the world a better place.


I was part of the 22 million. The school I was attending organized events for the day, with most regular classes cancelled. Many of us already took buses to school, but, that day, some rode bicycles, carpooled. someone even rode a horse to school.(And this wasn’t in Wyoming!)

Most of the days activities were scientific based, on topics such as eco-systems  and other earth science topics. But we also went out and picked up trash from the neighborhoods around the school.


As a Girl Scout, I was also involved in environmental activities. The troop I was a part of was outdoor-oriented. We did a lot of camping, and as part of that, we did a lot to improve the areas we visited.


Litter still drives me crazy. After buying our Jeep, one of the first things I did was put a box of garbage bags and work gloves under the back seat. That way, when we are out exploring, I can pick up trash other people have left behind. Sure, it still ends up in a dump, but at least it isn’t as much of a hazard to wildlife or an eyesore.

Even when I go for walks in the neighborhood, I’ve been known to pick up plastic cups and haul them home to dispose of. I might even have been spotted chasing down and empty bag blowing through the Walmart parking lot so I can put it in the trash. And I always think- if everyone would pick up one or two pieces of litter on a regular basis, it wouldn’t be the problem it is today. As John Denver sand “Celebrate Earth Day, every day.”

So that’s my little contribution to making the world a better place. What’s yours? 

Feb 25, 2019

What have you done to make the world a better place?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

For most:

Inlinkz Link Party

Feb 18, 2019

What was your best drop the mic moment?

I had someone ask what a drop the mic moment is. According to the Urban Dictionary, it’s “A phrase describing the action performed after getting the better of someone, or calling someone out so hard that you just walk away indisputably victorious.”


This feels like an opportunity to do a little bragging!


Now, I’m normally a quiet, reserved kind of person. But I work with a great bunch of guys who appreciate the finer points of sarcasm. And every now and then, I come up with a great retort that causes them to stop , shake their heads, and then laugh, because it’s so unexpected. Can I tell you what any of those lines were? Not a shot. I don’t remember the words, only the feeling of satisfaction.

So, instead, let’s take a trip on the wayback machine to the year I was taking a speech class for a college degree. I was a fully functioning adult with a full time job at the time, and took the class because I figured it would be easy. After all, I’d faced down any fears of public speaking in several of the jobs I’d held. Not so for most of the college kids in the class, so I tried to set a good example.

From my point of view, the class was easy but many of my classmates struggles, even though we had a good teacher. AT the end of the semester, we had to do a 3 minute of longer reading. It didn’t need to be anything we created ourselves, and I chose to present one of Allen Ginsberg’s poems. 

We didn’t read in any particular order, and I held back until everyone who wanted to present had finished. After each speaker, there was a round of polite applause. I’d practiced the poem until I had it memorized, and held the book it came from more for comfort than from need. And I wowed the class with my presentation. When I finished, there was a long moment of silence and then the class rose in a standing ovation.


And that was my Drop the Mic moment. Let’s hop over and see what the other authors are sharing.

Feb 18, 2019

What was your best drop the mic moment?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

document.write(”);

February 11, 2019


Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and your pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? Why?


I don’t have any pets right now. Can I save two things? No? Okay, whatever.


I didn’t have to think about this one too hard. There’s a ton of things I’d like to save, but I can’t save everything. My needlepoint, the proof copies of my books, the rocking chair my mother gave me when I was pregnant with my daughter. None of those can be replaced and I’d mourn their loss but I can save only one item.


How about the binders of my poetry? I’ve never transcribed the majority of my work to digital format. I’d hate to lose those. (Note to self- add that to my to-do list!) But the notebooks aren’t what I’d save.


And I can’t take my computer. Remember, I only can snatch one item. In order to take my PC, I’d have to crawl on the floor and detach a bunch of cables. No time for that. 


But what I can grab is my backup drive. It’ll only take a second or two. And yes, I can hear you thinking, that’s an interesting choice, but why? Is it because you’ve saved your books on it?


Good guess, and a nice bonus, but wrong. The real reason is because of all the pictures saved to it. We’re talking old family pictures. Pictures of my parents’ families. pictures of my husband’s parents. Then there are all the pictures of the kids growing up- pictures I spent hours scanning from printed copies. Pictures taken before the invention of digital cameras, when film was used to capture memories. We have boxes of those, and in case of a fire, I’d never be able to save all the paper copies. But I’ve scanned many of them, and they reside on the backup drive.


Add in copies of all the pictures we’ve taken since we bought out first digital camera— it took pictures onto floppy disks!—and you get an idea of how much history ‘lives’ on that hard drive. For example, here’s a picture of my grandfather from WWI.

The pictures aren’t replaceable. And that’s why I’d grab the backup hard drive.


What would you take? You can tell me in the comments. In the meantime, I’m going to hop on over and check out what everyone else would save.

February 11, 2019

Your house, containing everything you own, catches fire. After saving your loved ones and your pets, you have time to safely make a final dash to save any one item. What would it be? Why?

Rules:
1. Link your blog to this hop.
2. Notify your following that you are participating in this blog hop.
3. Promise to visit/leave a comment on all participants’ blogs.
4. Tweet/or share each person’s blog post. Use #OpenBook when tweeting.
5. Put a banner on your blog that you are participating.

Blogger

Inlinkz Link Party

Wordpress