Bonjourno Everyone,
I thought I would write my journey on getting published. It is not an easy task to have a book published. I was very green with the first book I wrote. It only happened because my father in law died with Alzheimer’s and I kept a journal on his progress, and would e-mail relatives on how he was doing. Of course I went into book stores to try and find books to help me out, and I found a couple but not very many.
So when he passed it was suggested by many that I should put my journals into a book to help other people who were dealing with the same disease. I got the Writers Guide for editor, publishers and agents and followed what it said to do for a query letter to find an agent. I sent out so many, I bet at least over fifty and I was rejected by all of them I think. So I put that on the back burner and went on with life. It was about a year later that Rock Publishing Company called me and asked me if I found a publisher yet. I was so excited that someone called me. So they sent me a contract and after paying $1,200.00 I was going to have a book published.
Now I was pretty naïve and I thought all writers did this with their first book. They helped me edit
the book, and suggested pictures, so I sent them some. They gave me wonderful suggestions to make the book more interesting and I deeply appreciated this.
It wasn’t until the book was finally on Amazon that I found out there were thousands of books on this subject and a lot were from people like me, the care giver. My book got published November 2007.
I thought that when they said they were advertising the book it meant it would be everywhere, even
in book stores. Yea, I was real naïve. I wrote to Alzheimer websites and found some people to read and review my book. I even sent one to Richard Simmons, with a video of my father in law exercising with me and my daughter to his Sweating to the Oldies and he responded so graciously.
I went to all the book stores in the Phoenix area and talked most of the managers to put a couple of my books on their shelves and had a few book signings. Only no one really came to the book signings and when the books on the shelves sold they did not replace them.
Next I was invited to join a JV Campaign. This is where an author is promoting his/ her book and they
need addresses to e-mail to. So you can promote your book on their campaign and you have to give something away with this promotion. The idea is that the more authors that join will send this Campaign to their e-mail address the more your book has a chance to get looked at. This never worked for me. I think only one person wanted to look at my book and got my free prize.
After this experience and of course because I love to read, I decided that maybe I can write books that people will enjoy instead of a book from a caregiver like thousands others. My first book “Cherish” I wrote and sent out to I bet over fifty agencies. Yep you guessed it all rejections. But than one company
said they would work with me from Brown Books. It was so cool to me. They read my work and an editor would write back to me what they thought the book was missing. Maybe the characters were not developed enough or I left unanswered questions throughout the manuscript. We were writing back and forth in March of 2010, with what I was doing wrong and I would write back trying to re-write it better. Finally by the end of April they called me with a proposal and I was so disappointed that they wanted so much money from me to publish my work. So of course I had to say no, I just didn’t have the money.
Next my kids got me reading Twilight and after I read it I thought if she could do this than
so could I. I put my book Cherish up and started writing something new. By November of 2010 I was reading up and making query letters, trying get an agent for my newest book. It was another flop. So I got something called Auto Crip Writing Center to help me with my writing. I re-wrote the book, and
looked for an editor. I found a college kid who was editing it and I sent it out again. No luck at all. So I re-wrote it again and this time I found an editor that writes books.
While she had this book I was writing another one. I had the ideas in my head, all I had to do was put
them on paper. She edited it for me and I sent it out again with a different title, but I found only one person who wanted to read the first three chapters and they would not take it on. No one else wanted to go past my query.
I stayed busy as I finally wrote three romance books two are novels and one is a novella. I had so many query letters going for all three of them; I was getting exhausted being on the computer.
I decided to try a couple of writers contests and one of them called Deep River Books told me I received a Certificate of Merit for my book called The Silver Locket. Because of this award from them if I published through them they would make my book a Feature Title with heavy media coverage and they would offer me a discount towards their partnership program. This was also very expensive and
disappointing. This was March 2011.
I have so many reject letters that I wanted to quit. But I don’t quit that easy. So finally I decided
to self publish on Amazon kindle. This is not an easy task either. I am not a computer whiz and it was hard for me to get my books to look professional on the kindle.
I have been following other author's advice on line but that doesn’t seem to work for me. One
says to find book reviewers. Seems like the ones I wrote to only will review books that have a publishing company, not self published. So I decided to give books away for honest reviews. I gave more books away than reviews given in return, but happy I got some reviews. I have posted links to books on face book, on twitter, and to all my e-mail friends. I joined communities on line but the trouble with that is I don’t have that much time to stay on the computer chatting.
I guess the hard thing is how do you get your book noticed when you are a no body. I actually met Stephanie Meyers here in Phoenix one day when I was working on my ambulance. She was kind
and let her mother take a picture of the both of us to show my kids. So I thought maybe she would be kind enough to read a book and give a review. Can't get a book to her. One of my books called, The Silver Locket, I actually got a teen magazine called Teen Diaries online to read and put in a review. It is wonderful and I am so grateful to them, but it didn’t seem to make a difference.
I have made beautiful flyers and walked the neighbor hoods putting flyers on doors. I have passed out
flyers to hospitals and nursing homes and friends. Oh you are probably wondering why hospitals, urgent cares and nursing homes, because I work on an ambulance so I see them all day long. I have passed out flyers to grocery stores, and waitresses, and laundry shops. I even walked with my granddaughter down this street where college kids hang out and passed them out to people walking around.
I am kind of lost as to what to do. I have been conversing with Jenkins Group, INC and they have a target media publicity program. It will cost some money for them to advertise for you. I did get in contact with one gentleman who used them and he told me that he has a lot of money and what you have to do is get out into the media. He has not seen any responses to sales in his books after using Jenkins but he is going to do it again.
I have a friend who advertised on something called NBC Affiliates Web Page and she said she got a lot of spam but no sales. UGH !!
So my next idea is the Sunday paper in the Arts& Entertainment department. This is where I am now. I sent my letter to an editor and I have the waiting game to see if they will help me. This also will cost a lot of money but I was told that this paper goes to 500 thousand homes. Now do they all read the paper? Good question.
I will try and keep this going to let you know if and what happens from this. If anything maybe I can help someone else from not making the same mistake as me.
I want to also tell you about my experience with KDP Select on Amazon. With this you are exclusive with kindle for 90 days. So when I published my book called Rosemary & Antonio on February 15 I did the KDP Select. You are also allowed to promote your book for free for five days.
On February 18 I did the free thing for the next five days and in the morning by ten AM my book was #62 in Historical Romances and ranked #2,472 in the free kindle store. I was amazed and wondered how they were advertising my book. By 4:18 PM, 128 books were given away and my book was #49 in Historical Romances and #1,422 in Best Sellers Rank of free kindle store.
On Sunday morning February 19, right after midnight my book ranked #1,356 in the kindle store #46
in Historical Romances and 208 books were given away. By 1:30 in the afternoon on Sunday my book ranked #934 in kindle store, #37 in Historical Romance, #99 in Contemporary Romance and 291 books were given away.
On Monday February 20, at 7:13 AM my book was #1,066 in the kindle store, #41 in Historical Romances, #88 in Contemporary Romances and 348 books was given away. On the same day at 3:06
PM my book ranked #1,390 in kindle store, #46 in Historical Romances, #97 in Contemporary Romances and 373 books were given away.
On Tuesday February 21 my book ranked #1,413 on kindle store, #47 in Historical Romances, #95 in
Contemporary Romances and 407 books given away.
On Wednesday February 22 at 8:24 AM my book ranked #1,572 on the kindle store, #48 in Historical Romances, #90 in Contemporary Romances and 449 books given away. That evening at 9:06 PM the book ranked #1,860 in kindle store, #54 in Historical Romance, #99 in Contemporary Romance and 483 books given away.
On Thursday morning the free sale was off. I had given away a total of 488 books and went back to #392,344 in the kindle store. So how do they do this?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well I finally got an answer from a reporter at the Arizona Republic Newspaper. They wrote:
I would hate to discourage anyone from buying ads considering the state of the newspaper industry right now, I really don’t think spending $525 on a 3-inch ad is going to be the most cost-effective way for you to promote your book. The A&E section has a general-interest readership; we rarely, if ever, write stories about romance novels, so our section might not be the best place for you to find a large
concentration of potential customers. I would think you would do better seeking out specialty publications (either in print or online) that focus on romance. I would also suggest that you look to market the book specifically in Oklahoma, where the “local interest” factor might help.
UGH I feel like I am back to square one. 3/19/2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK I got the courage and did it again and put out five query's on March 16 and today one of the agents left me an e-mail asking me for the first three chapters, and a 3-6 page synopsis. I am not getting my hopes up, but I did send him what he wants and now the waiting game goes on. 3/21/2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well I thought about it and I thought about it and decided that maybe I will try the Jenkins Group. My marketer named Andrew says he is going to send out my PR sheet to media contacts like radio, television, news paper, magazines, blogs, ect. I do feel very strong about this book in particular and so I am giving it a try. This is the link: http://www.targetedmediarelease.com/. I will have to let you know if it works. I sent a check in the mail today so they won't get it for a few days. Mean while I am blogging, twittering, face booking and giving books away. 3/22/2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While I am in the waiting game I thought I would share with you about a query that I sent to SlushPileTales. Lauren Ruth from Bookends LLC has this sight that if you would like, you can send your query for the public to see and put their comment besides the agent. I enjoy reading querys from other authors and what she has to say. I learned from this experience that my query was not very good. But I will copy and paste this for you and you can decide:
The following is a query critique.
Comments, suggestions and discussion are welcome and we hope you join in. I can only offer one opinion. The author of the query and I would love to hear yours.
Dear Lauren Ruth,
I would like to introduce you to my adult love story called A struggle of the heart. This is a Contemporary romance. My completed manuscript consists of 71,539 words. A young woman faces the age-old dilemma: what to do when you are torn between two lovers?
Unless your work is written for young adults or children, there is no need to mention what age-group you’ve targeted. The agent will assume it is for adults. Your second sentence is redundant. You’ve already told us in the first sentence that this is a romance by using the words “love story,” although I prefer to see this genre called “romance.”
The story you’ve set me up to receive certainly is age-old. Right from the first paragraph, I need to feel
there is something different about your romance, something new or exciting that would make me choose yours among the hundreds I see. Romances are a dime a dozen—I’m looking for the one that’s a dime a piece.
Annette, a beautician in Norman, Oklahoma, (these are the first words that catch my eye in your query. I’ve never read a romance about a beautician in Norman, Oklahoma. Interesting…) does not believe she’ll
ever find love, let alone two men who fall head over heels for her. Aaron, a handsome and virile Native American (again, I’m interested. This is different…) with long dark hair and sensuous brown eyes, draws her to him like a magnet. Tim, a good-looking, happy-go-lucky fellow, is always there to help, care for
and comfort her.
While I understand your temptation to succinctly describe these men in as few words as possible, this felt too punchy for me. I would prefer to see a description of her love affair with the first man, and then the other man stepping in to distract her instead of a bland description of the men. Additionally, Aaron seems much more interesting than Tim—who reads to me like a lukewarm guy-next-door—so I can’t feel any tension. Of course she’s going to pick the more interesting one…or she should, if the book is going to be interesting.
With Aaron, it is love at first site, while Tim grows on her over time. ß-you do not need this sentence. This is one of those things that a query can do without, but the synopsis she show. How will she ever
decide? It seems at first that fate might make the decision for her when Aaron joins the army and is stationed overseas. While he is gone, Tim fills the huge void left in her aching heart.
I’m not so sure you should explain that she had her eye on both men before Aaron joined the Army. You might consider saving Tim’s introduction for after you explain that Aaron joined. This would free the men from being lumped together in the same paragraph.
At the same time, Annette knows she must follow her own dream. After the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, she yearns to find a more fulfilling job helping others. This leads her to begin emergency medical training and after that, to attend paramedic school.
You do not need the above paragraph at all in this query. It is a good idea to give Annette this extra depth of character, but it could be exposed in passing, as in, “…taking Aaron’s cue to follow her own dreams, Annette enrolls in paramedic school…” We don’t need to know anything beyond that.
Upon graduation, Tim asks for Annette’s hand in marriage but what about Aaron, who just returned home from Afghanistan? It is truly “A Struggle of the Heart” as Annette finds herself torn between two lovers.
The biggest problem with this query is its lack of tension. It is not very interesting that she has two men who love her and must choose between them. This is not extraordinary. I have a feeling, however, that this is not a problem with your query, but rather with the story itself. For the torn-between-lovers plot to work, there must be something overarching the story that is at stake. Perhaps Annette has something valuable that one man wants to help her cultivate and the other wants to exploit for his own gain. Maybe Annette stands to lose something if she goes with one man, but has something else to lose if she goes with the other. These two things should be extremely important—like loved ones or her career or her life. Either way, there must be another element to this that extends beyond a girl making an emotional decision. Maybe your manuscript already has this, but if that’s the case we all want to know about it.
I hope this query letter interests you and you will want to pursue reading more. I am looking for a
publisher to help me in my endeavor to share this love story. Your experience is very impressive and I would like to congratulate you on joining BookEnds as a full time literary agent. It would be an honor to work with you on this novel.
This is great. Agents love it when you prove you’ve researched them and made an educated decision to query them, rather than blindly sending your query to everyone and her mother.
As I read through the FAQ on your website, it states fiction writers should copy and paste the first three chapters or no more than 50 pages, a synopsis, and an author bio stating what writing experience that we may have.
The first three chapters and a synopsis are the components of a fiction book proposal and are never to be
attached to a query. Most agents these days do not want you to attach anything and want your 250-word query in the body of an email. I personally do not mind when authors paste the first ten pages or so after their query in the body of the email.
For my author bio I only have one thing that I have written. It is a book called Alzheimer’s A Caretakers Journal, which is a diary about taking care of my father in law with Alzheimer’s. I wrote and published this book in the hopes that I could help others with this terrible disease. I do keep a Alzheimer’s Blog which I have written since 2008.
While it is helpful to include an author bio if you have writing credentials, it is not helpful to include
non-fiction credentials if you are querying with a work of fiction (unless that work is loosely related or has lent you a platform) or vice-versa. These are two very different skill-sets. Because your bio consists of one published work of non-fiction, I immediately think writing is a hobby to you, rather than a career
aspiration, and that your writings are unfocused. In this case, it is better to just leave the bio out and skip right to your polite closing.
I have copy and pasted my synopsis and the first 50 pages of my manuscript. Thank you for reading my query letter.
Sincerely,
I hope this is a learning experience for you like it was for me. 3/26/2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I had a review of my book called: The Silver Locket done by Teen Diaries: http://www.teendiariesonline.com/blog/?p=27655
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I finally got an e-mail from Jenkins Group.
Hello Marie,
Please find your Targeted Media Contact List attached to this e-mail. This list has been customized specifically for your book and target market and contains the most appropriate and relevant media outlets.
Once you are ready, we can set a distribution date for the attached release. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you.
Book Marketing Consultant
Jenkins Group, Inc.
Bringing Books to Life!
OK we are finally maybe going somewhere. Will keep you informed. 4/3/2012
YAHOO - April 17 & May 1 they will send out there press release.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I also found a site called Kindle Writers. My book called A Struggle of the Heart will be featured as the book of the day on that website on April 19. This is the website link: http://www.kindle-writers.com/
I also got another rejection:
Marie,
It was good to hear from you again. Thank you for your patience allowing me the chance to read this partial. I do have to say, I have seen a lot of growth in your writing since the first time you submitted to Greyhaus. Good for you.
In terms of this project, I am sorry but I am going to pass on this one. Although the storyline had some potential, I really felt the story was a bit flat in terms of the voice. I could see you doing strategic
things with the story, but the writing, over-all, just didn't leap off the page as much as I wanted.
Thank you again and I wish you all the best with this piece. 4/14/2012
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Have you ever heard of a website called MY TEEN BLOG? Well Mark Else is kind enough to post my book called The Silver Locket. 4/17/2012 http://myteenblog.com/forum/topic/502
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now I have quite a job ahead of me. Jenkins Group put out a Press Release and now my job is to do the follow up. They have given me around 800 names, address, phone numbers and e-mail addresses for me to do follow up. I have written out 90 e-mails so far with only a couple of responses back so far. But I will keep at it and see if anyone will give me a chance. 5/11/2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK so now I have sent out 197 e-mail follow up letters and have received 11 responses from my follow up letters. Here are some of the responses: They only read books from authors from New York. They don't review self-published or E-books. They only read books from San Diego authors. They only review hard cover books. One company got angry that Jenkins gave me their e-mail address. Finally one company said my book looked interesting and asked for a copy of it to read. 5-18-2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trying to promote my book called A Struggle of the Heart today. So I decided to make a campaign and send out e-mails to all my e-mail addresses to what my plans were and asked them to forward the e-mails to their friends. I have read that if you can sell 500 books in one day you can get on the Best Sellers List, but so far I have only sold 14 and it is already 3pm. Yes so far I will say it is hard for an indie author to get their books known without an agent. But the day is not over and I will put down the results of the day tomorrow. Thanks for reading :) 5-23-2012
Here is the results from my little campaign:
11:39am Wednesday morning: Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #48,507 Paid in Kindle Store 12 books sold
1:56 pm - Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,312 Paid in Kindle Store 14 books sold
3:02 pm - Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,075 Paid in Kindle Store 14 books sold
8:00pm - Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #33,959 Paid in Kindle Store 20 books sold
6:00 am- Thursday morning: Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #39,985 23 books sold
Well I didn't make it like I wanted to, but there are 23 more people who can enjoy my book. It is another day, another gift from God, let's enjoy this day.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I I do a lot of twittering to get my book out. I also have been fortunate enough to have my books reviewed on a couple of blogs: BLOGS WITH MY BOOK REVIEW.
http://fourchicksflippingpages.weebly.com/book-reviews/a-struggle-to-the-heart-by-marie-fostino-review
Neilliza Swaffer is a blogger from FOUR CHICK FLIPPING PAGES. Thank you for your review!
http://willowsauthorlove.blogspot.com/2014/05/todays-featured-author-marie-fostino.html
http://willowstarbookreviews.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-silver-locket-by-marie-fostino.html
Nicole Dunton is a book review and a blogger. Thank you Nicole.
http://pinkypollock.blogspot.com/2012/05/struggle-of-heart.html?zx=9cea3abecf24c895
http://pinkypollock.blogspot.com/2012/05/silver-locket.html
Sharon started Pinky's favorite reads and she has put reviews on two of my books: A Struggle of the Heart and The Silver Locket. Thank you Sharon.
http://the-pink-reader.blogspot.com/2012_06_14_archive.html
http://the-pink-reader.blogspot.com/2012_05_22_archive.html
Susan started The Pink Reader and writes reviews on books. She has wrote a review on two of my books: A Struggle of the Heart and The Silver Locket. Thank you Susan.
http://bleep50.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/rosemary-and-antonio-by-marie-fostino/
Doris started Bleep50 and writes reviews also. She has written a review on my book called Rosemary & Antonio. Thank you Doris.
http://jeriwb.com/book-review-the-silver-locket-by-marie-fostino-2947/
Jeri Walker-Bickett started JeriWB What do I know? She is an Indie Author, Book Reviewer, Writing Instructor, & Editer. Let's learn together. She has wrote a review on my book The Silver Locket. Thank you Jeri
http://www.mrc-bookreviewer.blogspot.com/2012/09/rosemary-and-antonio-by-marie-fostino.html
Mary Crocco enjoys reading, book reviewing and writing. She has written a review on my book called Rosemary & Antonio. Thank you Mary.
http://reachforthebooks.blogspot.com/2012/09/review-silver-locket-by-marie-fostino.html
Zareen is a high school senior, a member of my high school's academic decathlon team, and recently started a young adult book club. I asked her to read & review my book The Silver Locket and even though she is pretty busy with school, she took the time. Thank You Zareen.
http://www.melodieramone.com/index.php/author-spotlight/marie-fostino
Melodie Ramone is a wife, mother and owner of various furry creatures. She is a certified kitchen witch and knits. She also has just published her first book; Forever Ends. She was gracious enough to do a author spotlight about me.
Thank You Melodie.
http://ya-teen.drb1stchp.com/2012/06/the-silver-locket-by-marie-fostino/ I found this site called D. Renee Bagby Presents YA First Chapter. Thank you Renee for posting my first chapter of my book called The Silver Locket.
I am now blogging on a site called Skelat.com. Yep found them on twitter. I think they are looking for more people to blog for them so if you are interested check them out. http://www.skelat.com/20/post/2013/06/marie-fostino-the-silver-locket.html#comments
06/28/2013
http://trishamrusson.blogspot.ca/2013/02/review-2.html?zx=c1dd61d561f44540 Trisha M. Russon has the passion for Photography and blogs. This lovely lady read and reviewed my book called The Silver Locket. Thank you so much Trisha.
http://haveyouheardbookreview.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-struggle-of-heart-by-marie-fostino.html
http://haveyouheardbookreview.blogspot.com/2013/03/rosemary-and-antonio-by-marie-fostino.html
http://haveyouheardbookreview.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-silver-locket-by-marie-fostino.html
http://haveyouheardbookreview.blogspot.com/2013/03/sometimes-love-hurts-by-marie-fostino.html
Melanie Carrico is a published and award winning reviewer. She has read and reviewed Rosemary & Antonio, The Silver Locket and A Struggle of the Heart. Thank you so much Melanie for your reviews.
http://ellamedler.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/review-a-struggle-of-the-heart-by-marie-fostino/
Ella Medler who is an author of the book called Martins Little World and lives in her Ivory Tower taking care of her children took the time to write this wonderful review of my book called A Struggle of the Heart. Thank you Ella
http://www.skelat.com/20/post/2013/06/marie-fostino-the-silver-locket.html
Nathan H C is the founder of Skelat.com and a young man still in school with a lot of ambition . I ran a contest when my book called The Silver Locket came out in paper back and Nathan won the book and a silver locket. Thank you Nathan for your review.
http://bottlesandbooksreviews.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-struggle-of-heart-by-marie-fostino.html
http://bottlesandbooksreviews.blogspot.com/2013/10/author-of-month-review-giveaway-and.html#comment-form
Jessica Adkins is a book blogging proud mommy from Ohio with a love for books and a passion for life. Thank you for your review Jessica.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well I have finished writing and editing my next book. Now the fun begins. I do actually try to get the book with an agent first. But I am a dime a dozen so I know that it will be pure luck if an agent will get past my query letter. This book I wrote is a Christian Contempory Romance Book. I have gotten the courage to find an agent here in town and this agent does not like e-mail queries. So I wrote my query and made copies of the first 50 pages. It is going in the mail today and hopefullly in six weeks I will see what kind of response this manuscript will get. Wish me luck.
7-15-2012 Title: Grandma's Journal: Lessons of Love
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is sometimes depressing trying to get people to find & read your books. There are so many talented authors out there, and even more readers, but how do you find the right people that will want to read your book. I have been tweeting a lot which drives my family nuts. But I have gotten a few books sold that way, I think. I am still brain storming as to how to get my books out so that they can be enjoyed. I blog on Obviousfun.com and I did receive three nice comments from people I don't know and that live clear across the world. One, Harry, said I was a talented writer. Two, Sam, said not to listen to what Lauren Ruth said and that my books are fantastic. Three, Jess, said, we want you next book!!! Come on Marie. It does make a person smile inside to see that someone does
appreciate what you write. 7-17-2012
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you are reading this and your occupation has to do with teens, my book called The Silver Locket would be a good one for your teens to read. It has to do with peer pressure, decision making, and consequences. I would recommend this book to girls in high school thinking of having sex, since it talks about abortion, giving the baby up and keeping the baby. If you prefer I would love to give you the book to read first before you recommend it to your students. http://www.amazon.com/The-Silver-Locket-ebook/dp/B005R6Q3D0/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2 check this book out and see what you think. 7-18=2012
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As I pursue getting my work out in Amazon Land & to READERS, I was asked to be interviewed. So Jeanne actually did an interview after reading my website: http://jrhertzog.blogspot.com/2012/07/some-of-you-know-i-had-cataract-surgery.html I was honored that she wanted to know more about me. Thank You Jeanne.
I also agreed to put a couple of my books in ePrintedBooks on line store. Here is the link just in case you may want to do the same. Ask for Steve, a family man who lives in Kentucky who has a one stop e-book service. http://eprintedbooks.com/Store/index.php 7-29-2012 http://eprintedbooks.com/Store/store/Marie_Fostino
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://ya-teen.drb1stchp.com/2012/08/a-struggle-of-the-heart-by-marie-fostino/ Dr Renee Bagby presents YA First Chapters. This blog puts a new chapter on each month. This is my second time on her website. Thank you Renee for posting my book A Struggle of the Heart this week. 8-1-2012
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So as I continue to work on advertising my books I came up with the idea to get teens to review one of my books. I do believe that word of mouth is the best way for anything to get around and how else would a good book be
passed around to the teen population but by teens telling teens. So I decided that I would work on passing out my book free to teens with the object of getting reviews from them and hopefully by word of mouth the book would get around.
On Sunday July 22, I sent an e -mail to all my friends and put notices on face book & twitter.
It went like this: I hope you are having a great day. I could use some help. I am looking for 50 TEENS to read & review my book called The Silver Locket. If you are interested please e-mail me for your free copy. I need
this by August 6. youngatheart81254@yahoo.com THANK YOU TELL A FRIEND- do u know any teens?
Oh, Yea, the book is a e-book and they need a kindle.
Thanks
My idea was to get 50 teens to redeem the book on the same day with the hopes that I would get reviews like a month later. So wrote back letting them know that I would send them the book on Aug 5 to redeem on Aug 6.
Thought this would be easy, just asking for teens to read a free book but to my surprise this is a lot harder than I thought. By July 30, I actually got 32 responses to my ad. I sent out a reminder that went like this and only 21 of the 32 responded back:
My reminder went like this: Hope U R having a great day. Just a reminder that I will be e-mailing you a gift from amazon on Aug 5 and please redeem and open it on Aug 6.The Subject line will say Forward this gift announcement. If you don't see it in your mail, check your spam please. Thank you for accepting this book from me, and for the review on Amazon, that I should get in about 6 weeks. Plus remember to hit LIKED on the book site on amazon.
I have decided to put an ad in the paper which of course is costing me money, again and I will keep you informed if this brain storm of mine is working. Aug 3, 2012
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is Tuesday Aug. 7 and not all the books have been redeemed. I do hope the teens & adults who have my book are enjoying it and I can't wait for the reviews to start coming around. There has to be a way that indie writers can get their books noticed without an agent.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK learned something new today. It seems that my ebook is not available to Amazon's customers in the United Arab Emirates. So this is just an FYI for anyone who is trying to share their books with the world. August 11, 2012
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As I tried to get my campaign going with the teenagers to read and review my book called The Silver Locket, I made a new friend. Her name is Madeline Dryer. She has her own website and her first short story was published
at the age 16. Please go to her sight and read the review she gave my book.
http://madelinedyer.co.uk/review-the-silver-locket-by-marie-fostino/ Thank You for your honesty Madeline and I know that you have a wonderful future as a writer. August 23, 2012
Thank You again Madeline for my author review on your site: http://madelinedyer.co.uk/author-interview-with-marie-fostino/ September 5, 2012
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twitter is a wonderful site to do some on-line Marketing. I have met a wonderful lady - Elaine Raco Chase. She has a radio show and she introduces author's to the world. Authors Corner Review with Host Elaine Raco
Chase is the name of her radio show on - Triangle Variety Radio which is on Blog Talk Radio. Here is the link to listen to my review: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/trianglevariety/2012/09/07/authors-corner-review-with-host-elaine-raco-chase My review starts on 40.47 - Thank You Elaine 9-6-2012
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well an update to my event of getting 50 TEENS to read & reveiw my book. This did not turn out like I would have hoped. Out of all the thirty something books that were given away to be read I got a total of 6 revews back. So back to the drawing board. 9/24/2012
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK so I was at the grocery store and on some of the carts there are advertisements behind plastic to keep them from getting ruined. I called the number on one of them which was advertising for Cart Advertisements. In case you are interested the number I found is: 866-939-6020. When you call you get a person who will ask you where you live so they can give your phone number to an agent by you. I got my call back and was told it is $2,400 for six months to advertise this way. I tried talking them down, because I don't have that kind of money, so the lowest he would go is $800. He told me that was only if there were any spare carts with no advertisement on them. I went back today to the store and noticed that only a couple of carts had advertisement and the rest are empty. I guess if they would lower their prices they would sell more advertisements. 10/04/2012
I would also like to share with you how my sales have been doing. I advertise on facebook, twitter, and my e-mail friends. I pass fliers to people I meet as well as nurses since I work on an ambulance. My book called A Struggle of the Heart I put on the market in November. I read on line somewhere that a self-published book has limits to sales and the article gave the sale ratings at 150 books after all the friends bought them. I noticed that I am almost there. I have sold about 110 books so far. The sad part is about half of them I bought and gave as gifts for reviews and I only have 17 reviews. Just thought I would give you some food for thought. 10/04/2012
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well I have been thinking real hard as to how to get my books noticed. We have a local paper here in town called West Valley VIEW. This paper comes out twice a week and so I had an ad put in for Friday Oct 19. The
cost of this ad was $168.00 and my husband is not real happy with me. He said,“Do you Know how many books we have to sell to make that up?” But it is not about the money, as it is trying to get your book out to the public. I will have to let you know how it goes.
I also have a contest going on which I put on Twitter and Facebook. I only have about 6 people who said they would join and not even sure if they are going to try. But the contest is the one who can talk the most people to buy my book A Struggle of the Heart can win $50. They have to have at least 15 people buying the book and have proof that it was bought. I also told them if someone could have 50 people buy it they can win $100. I am giving up any royalties I made by doing this, but again it is not about the money but about passing the book out. HAHA still
brain storming. Will let you know how this contest went.
I thought I would write my journey on getting published. It is not an easy task to have a book published. I was very green with the first book I wrote. It only happened because my father in law died with Alzheimer’s and I kept a journal on his progress, and would e-mail relatives on how he was doing. Of course I went into book stores to try and find books to help me out, and I found a couple but not very many.
So when he passed it was suggested by many that I should put my journals into a book to help other people who were dealing with the same disease. I got the Writers Guide for editor, publishers and agents and followed what it said to do for a query letter to find an agent. I sent out so many, I bet at least over fifty and I was rejected by all of them I think. So I put that on the back burner and went on with life. It was about a year later that Rock Publishing Company called me and asked me if I found a publisher yet. I was so excited that someone called me. So they sent me a contract and after paying $1,200.00 I was going to have a book published.
Now I was pretty naïve and I thought all writers did this with their first book. They helped me edit
the book, and suggested pictures, so I sent them some. They gave me wonderful suggestions to make the book more interesting and I deeply appreciated this.
It wasn’t until the book was finally on Amazon that I found out there were thousands of books on this subject and a lot were from people like me, the care giver. My book got published November 2007.
I thought that when they said they were advertising the book it meant it would be everywhere, even
in book stores. Yea, I was real naïve. I wrote to Alzheimer websites and found some people to read and review my book. I even sent one to Richard Simmons, with a video of my father in law exercising with me and my daughter to his Sweating to the Oldies and he responded so graciously.
I went to all the book stores in the Phoenix area and talked most of the managers to put a couple of my books on their shelves and had a few book signings. Only no one really came to the book signings and when the books on the shelves sold they did not replace them.
Next I was invited to join a JV Campaign. This is where an author is promoting his/ her book and they
need addresses to e-mail to. So you can promote your book on their campaign and you have to give something away with this promotion. The idea is that the more authors that join will send this Campaign to their e-mail address the more your book has a chance to get looked at. This never worked for me. I think only one person wanted to look at my book and got my free prize.
After this experience and of course because I love to read, I decided that maybe I can write books that people will enjoy instead of a book from a caregiver like thousands others. My first book “Cherish” I wrote and sent out to I bet over fifty agencies. Yep you guessed it all rejections. But than one company
said they would work with me from Brown Books. It was so cool to me. They read my work and an editor would write back to me what they thought the book was missing. Maybe the characters were not developed enough or I left unanswered questions throughout the manuscript. We were writing back and forth in March of 2010, with what I was doing wrong and I would write back trying to re-write it better. Finally by the end of April they called me with a proposal and I was so disappointed that they wanted so much money from me to publish my work. So of course I had to say no, I just didn’t have the money.
Next my kids got me reading Twilight and after I read it I thought if she could do this than
so could I. I put my book Cherish up and started writing something new. By November of 2010 I was reading up and making query letters, trying get an agent for my newest book. It was another flop. So I got something called Auto Crip Writing Center to help me with my writing. I re-wrote the book, and
looked for an editor. I found a college kid who was editing it and I sent it out again. No luck at all. So I re-wrote it again and this time I found an editor that writes books.
While she had this book I was writing another one. I had the ideas in my head, all I had to do was put
them on paper. She edited it for me and I sent it out again with a different title, but I found only one person who wanted to read the first three chapters and they would not take it on. No one else wanted to go past my query.
I stayed busy as I finally wrote three romance books two are novels and one is a novella. I had so many query letters going for all three of them; I was getting exhausted being on the computer.
I decided to try a couple of writers contests and one of them called Deep River Books told me I received a Certificate of Merit for my book called The Silver Locket. Because of this award from them if I published through them they would make my book a Feature Title with heavy media coverage and they would offer me a discount towards their partnership program. This was also very expensive and
disappointing. This was March 2011.
I have so many reject letters that I wanted to quit. But I don’t quit that easy. So finally I decided
to self publish on Amazon kindle. This is not an easy task either. I am not a computer whiz and it was hard for me to get my books to look professional on the kindle.
I have been following other author's advice on line but that doesn’t seem to work for me. One
says to find book reviewers. Seems like the ones I wrote to only will review books that have a publishing company, not self published. So I decided to give books away for honest reviews. I gave more books away than reviews given in return, but happy I got some reviews. I have posted links to books on face book, on twitter, and to all my e-mail friends. I joined communities on line but the trouble with that is I don’t have that much time to stay on the computer chatting.
I guess the hard thing is how do you get your book noticed when you are a no body. I actually met Stephanie Meyers here in Phoenix one day when I was working on my ambulance. She was kind
and let her mother take a picture of the both of us to show my kids. So I thought maybe she would be kind enough to read a book and give a review. Can't get a book to her. One of my books called, The Silver Locket, I actually got a teen magazine called Teen Diaries online to read and put in a review. It is wonderful and I am so grateful to them, but it didn’t seem to make a difference.
I have made beautiful flyers and walked the neighbor hoods putting flyers on doors. I have passed out
flyers to hospitals and nursing homes and friends. Oh you are probably wondering why hospitals, urgent cares and nursing homes, because I work on an ambulance so I see them all day long. I have passed out flyers to grocery stores, and waitresses, and laundry shops. I even walked with my granddaughter down this street where college kids hang out and passed them out to people walking around.
I am kind of lost as to what to do. I have been conversing with Jenkins Group, INC and they have a target media publicity program. It will cost some money for them to advertise for you. I did get in contact with one gentleman who used them and he told me that he has a lot of money and what you have to do is get out into the media. He has not seen any responses to sales in his books after using Jenkins but he is going to do it again.
I have a friend who advertised on something called NBC Affiliates Web Page and she said she got a lot of spam but no sales. UGH !!
So my next idea is the Sunday paper in the Arts& Entertainment department. This is where I am now. I sent my letter to an editor and I have the waiting game to see if they will help me. This also will cost a lot of money but I was told that this paper goes to 500 thousand homes. Now do they all read the paper? Good question.
I will try and keep this going to let you know if and what happens from this. If anything maybe I can help someone else from not making the same mistake as me.
I want to also tell you about my experience with KDP Select on Amazon. With this you are exclusive with kindle for 90 days. So when I published my book called Rosemary & Antonio on February 15 I did the KDP Select. You are also allowed to promote your book for free for five days.
On February 18 I did the free thing for the next five days and in the morning by ten AM my book was #62 in Historical Romances and ranked #2,472 in the free kindle store. I was amazed and wondered how they were advertising my book. By 4:18 PM, 128 books were given away and my book was #49 in Historical Romances and #1,422 in Best Sellers Rank of free kindle store.
On Sunday morning February 19, right after midnight my book ranked #1,356 in the kindle store #46
in Historical Romances and 208 books were given away. By 1:30 in the afternoon on Sunday my book ranked #934 in kindle store, #37 in Historical Romance, #99 in Contemporary Romance and 291 books were given away.
On Monday February 20, at 7:13 AM my book was #1,066 in the kindle store, #41 in Historical Romances, #88 in Contemporary Romances and 348 books was given away. On the same day at 3:06
PM my book ranked #1,390 in kindle store, #46 in Historical Romances, #97 in Contemporary Romances and 373 books were given away.
On Tuesday February 21 my book ranked #1,413 on kindle store, #47 in Historical Romances, #95 in
Contemporary Romances and 407 books given away.
On Wednesday February 22 at 8:24 AM my book ranked #1,572 on the kindle store, #48 in Historical Romances, #90 in Contemporary Romances and 449 books given away. That evening at 9:06 PM the book ranked #1,860 in kindle store, #54 in Historical Romance, #99 in Contemporary Romance and 483 books given away.
On Thursday morning the free sale was off. I had given away a total of 488 books and went back to #392,344 in the kindle store. So how do they do this?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well I finally got an answer from a reporter at the Arizona Republic Newspaper. They wrote:
I would hate to discourage anyone from buying ads considering the state of the newspaper industry right now, I really don’t think spending $525 on a 3-inch ad is going to be the most cost-effective way for you to promote your book. The A&E section has a general-interest readership; we rarely, if ever, write stories about romance novels, so our section might not be the best place for you to find a large
concentration of potential customers. I would think you would do better seeking out specialty publications (either in print or online) that focus on romance. I would also suggest that you look to market the book specifically in Oklahoma, where the “local interest” factor might help.
UGH I feel like I am back to square one. 3/19/2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK I got the courage and did it again and put out five query's on March 16 and today one of the agents left me an e-mail asking me for the first three chapters, and a 3-6 page synopsis. I am not getting my hopes up, but I did send him what he wants and now the waiting game goes on. 3/21/2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well I thought about it and I thought about it and decided that maybe I will try the Jenkins Group. My marketer named Andrew says he is going to send out my PR sheet to media contacts like radio, television, news paper, magazines, blogs, ect. I do feel very strong about this book in particular and so I am giving it a try. This is the link: http://www.targetedmediarelease.com/. I will have to let you know if it works. I sent a check in the mail today so they won't get it for a few days. Mean while I am blogging, twittering, face booking and giving books away. 3/22/2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While I am in the waiting game I thought I would share with you about a query that I sent to SlushPileTales. Lauren Ruth from Bookends LLC has this sight that if you would like, you can send your query for the public to see and put their comment besides the agent. I enjoy reading querys from other authors and what she has to say. I learned from this experience that my query was not very good. But I will copy and paste this for you and you can decide:
The following is a query critique.
Comments, suggestions and discussion are welcome and we hope you join in. I can only offer one opinion. The author of the query and I would love to hear yours.
Dear Lauren Ruth,
I would like to introduce you to my adult love story called A struggle of the heart. This is a Contemporary romance. My completed manuscript consists of 71,539 words. A young woman faces the age-old dilemma: what to do when you are torn between two lovers?
Unless your work is written for young adults or children, there is no need to mention what age-group you’ve targeted. The agent will assume it is for adults. Your second sentence is redundant. You’ve already told us in the first sentence that this is a romance by using the words “love story,” although I prefer to see this genre called “romance.”
The story you’ve set me up to receive certainly is age-old. Right from the first paragraph, I need to feel
there is something different about your romance, something new or exciting that would make me choose yours among the hundreds I see. Romances are a dime a dozen—I’m looking for the one that’s a dime a piece.
Annette, a beautician in Norman, Oklahoma, (these are the first words that catch my eye in your query. I’ve never read a romance about a beautician in Norman, Oklahoma. Interesting…) does not believe she’ll
ever find love, let alone two men who fall head over heels for her. Aaron, a handsome and virile Native American (again, I’m interested. This is different…) with long dark hair and sensuous brown eyes, draws her to him like a magnet. Tim, a good-looking, happy-go-lucky fellow, is always there to help, care for
and comfort her.
While I understand your temptation to succinctly describe these men in as few words as possible, this felt too punchy for me. I would prefer to see a description of her love affair with the first man, and then the other man stepping in to distract her instead of a bland description of the men. Additionally, Aaron seems much more interesting than Tim—who reads to me like a lukewarm guy-next-door—so I can’t feel any tension. Of course she’s going to pick the more interesting one…or she should, if the book is going to be interesting.
With Aaron, it is love at first site, while Tim grows on her over time. ß-you do not need this sentence. This is one of those things that a query can do without, but the synopsis she show. How will she ever
decide? It seems at first that fate might make the decision for her when Aaron joins the army and is stationed overseas. While he is gone, Tim fills the huge void left in her aching heart.
I’m not so sure you should explain that she had her eye on both men before Aaron joined the Army. You might consider saving Tim’s introduction for after you explain that Aaron joined. This would free the men from being lumped together in the same paragraph.
At the same time, Annette knows she must follow her own dream. After the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, she yearns to find a more fulfilling job helping others. This leads her to begin emergency medical training and after that, to attend paramedic school.
You do not need the above paragraph at all in this query. It is a good idea to give Annette this extra depth of character, but it could be exposed in passing, as in, “…taking Aaron’s cue to follow her own dreams, Annette enrolls in paramedic school…” We don’t need to know anything beyond that.
Upon graduation, Tim asks for Annette’s hand in marriage but what about Aaron, who just returned home from Afghanistan? It is truly “A Struggle of the Heart” as Annette finds herself torn between two lovers.
The biggest problem with this query is its lack of tension. It is not very interesting that she has two men who love her and must choose between them. This is not extraordinary. I have a feeling, however, that this is not a problem with your query, but rather with the story itself. For the torn-between-lovers plot to work, there must be something overarching the story that is at stake. Perhaps Annette has something valuable that one man wants to help her cultivate and the other wants to exploit for his own gain. Maybe Annette stands to lose something if she goes with one man, but has something else to lose if she goes with the other. These two things should be extremely important—like loved ones or her career or her life. Either way, there must be another element to this that extends beyond a girl making an emotional decision. Maybe your manuscript already has this, but if that’s the case we all want to know about it.
I hope this query letter interests you and you will want to pursue reading more. I am looking for a
publisher to help me in my endeavor to share this love story. Your experience is very impressive and I would like to congratulate you on joining BookEnds as a full time literary agent. It would be an honor to work with you on this novel.
This is great. Agents love it when you prove you’ve researched them and made an educated decision to query them, rather than blindly sending your query to everyone and her mother.
As I read through the FAQ on your website, it states fiction writers should copy and paste the first three chapters or no more than 50 pages, a synopsis, and an author bio stating what writing experience that we may have.
The first three chapters and a synopsis are the components of a fiction book proposal and are never to be
attached to a query. Most agents these days do not want you to attach anything and want your 250-word query in the body of an email. I personally do not mind when authors paste the first ten pages or so after their query in the body of the email.
For my author bio I only have one thing that I have written. It is a book called Alzheimer’s A Caretakers Journal, which is a diary about taking care of my father in law with Alzheimer’s. I wrote and published this book in the hopes that I could help others with this terrible disease. I do keep a Alzheimer’s Blog which I have written since 2008.
While it is helpful to include an author bio if you have writing credentials, it is not helpful to include
non-fiction credentials if you are querying with a work of fiction (unless that work is loosely related or has lent you a platform) or vice-versa. These are two very different skill-sets. Because your bio consists of one published work of non-fiction, I immediately think writing is a hobby to you, rather than a career
aspiration, and that your writings are unfocused. In this case, it is better to just leave the bio out and skip right to your polite closing.
I have copy and pasted my synopsis and the first 50 pages of my manuscript. Thank you for reading my query letter.
Sincerely,
I hope this is a learning experience for you like it was for me. 3/26/2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I had a review of my book called: The Silver Locket done by Teen Diaries: http://www.teendiariesonline.com/blog/?p=27655
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I finally got an e-mail from Jenkins Group.
Hello Marie,
Please find your Targeted Media Contact List attached to this e-mail. This list has been customized specifically for your book and target market and contains the most appropriate and relevant media outlets.
Once you are ready, we can set a distribution date for the attached release. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you.
Book Marketing Consultant
Jenkins Group, Inc.
Bringing Books to Life!
OK we are finally maybe going somewhere. Will keep you informed. 4/3/2012
YAHOO - April 17 & May 1 they will send out there press release.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I also found a site called Kindle Writers. My book called A Struggle of the Heart will be featured as the book of the day on that website on April 19. This is the website link: http://www.kindle-writers.com/
I also got another rejection:
Marie,
It was good to hear from you again. Thank you for your patience allowing me the chance to read this partial. I do have to say, I have seen a lot of growth in your writing since the first time you submitted to Greyhaus. Good for you.
In terms of this project, I am sorry but I am going to pass on this one. Although the storyline had some potential, I really felt the story was a bit flat in terms of the voice. I could see you doing strategic
things with the story, but the writing, over-all, just didn't leap off the page as much as I wanted.
Thank you again and I wish you all the best with this piece. 4/14/2012
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Have you ever heard of a website called MY TEEN BLOG? Well Mark Else is kind enough to post my book called The Silver Locket. 4/17/2012 http://myteenblog.com/forum/topic/502
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now I have quite a job ahead of me. Jenkins Group put out a Press Release and now my job is to do the follow up. They have given me around 800 names, address, phone numbers and e-mail addresses for me to do follow up. I have written out 90 e-mails so far with only a couple of responses back so far. But I will keep at it and see if anyone will give me a chance. 5/11/2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK so now I have sent out 197 e-mail follow up letters and have received 11 responses from my follow up letters. Here are some of the responses: They only read books from authors from New York. They don't review self-published or E-books. They only read books from San Diego authors. They only review hard cover books. One company got angry that Jenkins gave me their e-mail address. Finally one company said my book looked interesting and asked for a copy of it to read. 5-18-2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trying to promote my book called A Struggle of the Heart today. So I decided to make a campaign and send out e-mails to all my e-mail addresses to what my plans were and asked them to forward the e-mails to their friends. I have read that if you can sell 500 books in one day you can get on the Best Sellers List, but so far I have only sold 14 and it is already 3pm. Yes so far I will say it is hard for an indie author to get their books known without an agent. But the day is not over and I will put down the results of the day tomorrow. Thanks for reading :) 5-23-2012
Here is the results from my little campaign:
11:39am Wednesday morning: Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #48,507 Paid in Kindle Store 12 books sold
1:56 pm - Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,312 Paid in Kindle Store 14 books sold
3:02 pm - Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,075 Paid in Kindle Store 14 books sold
8:00pm - Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #33,959 Paid in Kindle Store 20 books sold
6:00 am- Thursday morning: Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #39,985 23 books sold
Well I didn't make it like I wanted to, but there are 23 more people who can enjoy my book. It is another day, another gift from God, let's enjoy this day.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I I do a lot of twittering to get my book out. I also have been fortunate enough to have my books reviewed on a couple of blogs: BLOGS WITH MY BOOK REVIEW.
http://fourchicksflippingpages.weebly.com/book-reviews/a-struggle-to-the-heart-by-marie-fostino-review
Neilliza Swaffer is a blogger from FOUR CHICK FLIPPING PAGES. Thank you for your review!
http://willowsauthorlove.blogspot.com/2014/05/todays-featured-author-marie-fostino.html
http://willowstarbookreviews.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-silver-locket-by-marie-fostino.html
Nicole Dunton is a book review and a blogger. Thank you Nicole.
http://pinkypollock.blogspot.com/2012/05/struggle-of-heart.html?zx=9cea3abecf24c895
http://pinkypollock.blogspot.com/2012/05/silver-locket.html
Sharon started Pinky's favorite reads and she has put reviews on two of my books: A Struggle of the Heart and The Silver Locket. Thank you Sharon.
http://the-pink-reader.blogspot.com/2012_06_14_archive.html
http://the-pink-reader.blogspot.com/2012_05_22_archive.html
Susan started The Pink Reader and writes reviews on books. She has wrote a review on two of my books: A Struggle of the Heart and The Silver Locket. Thank you Susan.
http://bleep50.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/rosemary-and-antonio-by-marie-fostino/
Doris started Bleep50 and writes reviews also. She has written a review on my book called Rosemary & Antonio. Thank you Doris.
http://jeriwb.com/book-review-the-silver-locket-by-marie-fostino-2947/
Jeri Walker-Bickett started JeriWB What do I know? She is an Indie Author, Book Reviewer, Writing Instructor, & Editer. Let's learn together. She has wrote a review on my book The Silver Locket. Thank you Jeri
http://www.mrc-bookreviewer.blogspot.com/2012/09/rosemary-and-antonio-by-marie-fostino.html
Mary Crocco enjoys reading, book reviewing and writing. She has written a review on my book called Rosemary & Antonio. Thank you Mary.
http://reachforthebooks.blogspot.com/2012/09/review-silver-locket-by-marie-fostino.html
Zareen is a high school senior, a member of my high school's academic decathlon team, and recently started a young adult book club. I asked her to read & review my book The Silver Locket and even though she is pretty busy with school, she took the time. Thank You Zareen.
http://www.melodieramone.com/index.php/author-spotlight/marie-fostino
Melodie Ramone is a wife, mother and owner of various furry creatures. She is a certified kitchen witch and knits. She also has just published her first book; Forever Ends. She was gracious enough to do a author spotlight about me.
Thank You Melodie.
http://ya-teen.drb1stchp.com/2012/06/the-silver-locket-by-marie-fostino/ I found this site called D. Renee Bagby Presents YA First Chapter. Thank you Renee for posting my first chapter of my book called The Silver Locket.
I am now blogging on a site called Skelat.com. Yep found them on twitter. I think they are looking for more people to blog for them so if you are interested check them out. http://www.skelat.com/20/post/2013/06/marie-fostino-the-silver-locket.html#comments
06/28/2013
http://trishamrusson.blogspot.ca/2013/02/review-2.html?zx=c1dd61d561f44540 Trisha M. Russon has the passion for Photography and blogs. This lovely lady read and reviewed my book called The Silver Locket. Thank you so much Trisha.
http://haveyouheardbookreview.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-struggle-of-heart-by-marie-fostino.html
http://haveyouheardbookreview.blogspot.com/2013/03/rosemary-and-antonio-by-marie-fostino.html
http://haveyouheardbookreview.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-silver-locket-by-marie-fostino.html
http://haveyouheardbookreview.blogspot.com/2013/03/sometimes-love-hurts-by-marie-fostino.html
Melanie Carrico is a published and award winning reviewer. She has read and reviewed Rosemary & Antonio, The Silver Locket and A Struggle of the Heart. Thank you so much Melanie for your reviews.
http://ellamedler.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/review-a-struggle-of-the-heart-by-marie-fostino/
Ella Medler who is an author of the book called Martins Little World and lives in her Ivory Tower taking care of her children took the time to write this wonderful review of my book called A Struggle of the Heart. Thank you Ella
http://www.skelat.com/20/post/2013/06/marie-fostino-the-silver-locket.html
Nathan H C is the founder of Skelat.com and a young man still in school with a lot of ambition . I ran a contest when my book called The Silver Locket came out in paper back and Nathan won the book and a silver locket. Thank you Nathan for your review.
http://bottlesandbooksreviews.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-struggle-of-heart-by-marie-fostino.html
http://bottlesandbooksreviews.blogspot.com/2013/10/author-of-month-review-giveaway-and.html#comment-form
Jessica Adkins is a book blogging proud mommy from Ohio with a love for books and a passion for life. Thank you for your review Jessica.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well I have finished writing and editing my next book. Now the fun begins. I do actually try to get the book with an agent first. But I am a dime a dozen so I know that it will be pure luck if an agent will get past my query letter. This book I wrote is a Christian Contempory Romance Book. I have gotten the courage to find an agent here in town and this agent does not like e-mail queries. So I wrote my query and made copies of the first 50 pages. It is going in the mail today and hopefullly in six weeks I will see what kind of response this manuscript will get. Wish me luck.
7-15-2012 Title: Grandma's Journal: Lessons of Love
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is sometimes depressing trying to get people to find & read your books. There are so many talented authors out there, and even more readers, but how do you find the right people that will want to read your book. I have been tweeting a lot which drives my family nuts. But I have gotten a few books sold that way, I think. I am still brain storming as to how to get my books out so that they can be enjoyed. I blog on Obviousfun.com and I did receive three nice comments from people I don't know and that live clear across the world. One, Harry, said I was a talented writer. Two, Sam, said not to listen to what Lauren Ruth said and that my books are fantastic. Three, Jess, said, we want you next book!!! Come on Marie. It does make a person smile inside to see that someone does
appreciate what you write. 7-17-2012
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you are reading this and your occupation has to do with teens, my book called The Silver Locket would be a good one for your teens to read. It has to do with peer pressure, decision making, and consequences. I would recommend this book to girls in high school thinking of having sex, since it talks about abortion, giving the baby up and keeping the baby. If you prefer I would love to give you the book to read first before you recommend it to your students. http://www.amazon.com/The-Silver-Locket-ebook/dp/B005R6Q3D0/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2 check this book out and see what you think. 7-18=2012
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As I pursue getting my work out in Amazon Land & to READERS, I was asked to be interviewed. So Jeanne actually did an interview after reading my website: http://jrhertzog.blogspot.com/2012/07/some-of-you-know-i-had-cataract-surgery.html I was honored that she wanted to know more about me. Thank You Jeanne.
I also agreed to put a couple of my books in ePrintedBooks on line store. Here is the link just in case you may want to do the same. Ask for Steve, a family man who lives in Kentucky who has a one stop e-book service. http://eprintedbooks.com/Store/index.php 7-29-2012 http://eprintedbooks.com/Store/store/Marie_Fostino
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://ya-teen.drb1stchp.com/2012/08/a-struggle-of-the-heart-by-marie-fostino/ Dr Renee Bagby presents YA First Chapters. This blog puts a new chapter on each month. This is my second time on her website. Thank you Renee for posting my book A Struggle of the Heart this week. 8-1-2012
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So as I continue to work on advertising my books I came up with the idea to get teens to review one of my books. I do believe that word of mouth is the best way for anything to get around and how else would a good book be
passed around to the teen population but by teens telling teens. So I decided that I would work on passing out my book free to teens with the object of getting reviews from them and hopefully by word of mouth the book would get around.
On Sunday July 22, I sent an e -mail to all my friends and put notices on face book & twitter.
It went like this: I hope you are having a great day. I could use some help. I am looking for 50 TEENS to read & review my book called The Silver Locket. If you are interested please e-mail me for your free copy. I need
this by August 6. youngatheart81254@yahoo.com THANK YOU TELL A FRIEND- do u know any teens?
Oh, Yea, the book is a e-book and they need a kindle.
Thanks
My idea was to get 50 teens to redeem the book on the same day with the hopes that I would get reviews like a month later. So wrote back letting them know that I would send them the book on Aug 5 to redeem on Aug 6.
Thought this would be easy, just asking for teens to read a free book but to my surprise this is a lot harder than I thought. By July 30, I actually got 32 responses to my ad. I sent out a reminder that went like this and only 21 of the 32 responded back:
My reminder went like this: Hope U R having a great day. Just a reminder that I will be e-mailing you a gift from amazon on Aug 5 and please redeem and open it on Aug 6.The Subject line will say Forward this gift announcement. If you don't see it in your mail, check your spam please. Thank you for accepting this book from me, and for the review on Amazon, that I should get in about 6 weeks. Plus remember to hit LIKED on the book site on amazon.
I have decided to put an ad in the paper which of course is costing me money, again and I will keep you informed if this brain storm of mine is working. Aug 3, 2012
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is Tuesday Aug. 7 and not all the books have been redeemed. I do hope the teens & adults who have my book are enjoying it and I can't wait for the reviews to start coming around. There has to be a way that indie writers can get their books noticed without an agent.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK learned something new today. It seems that my ebook is not available to Amazon's customers in the United Arab Emirates. So this is just an FYI for anyone who is trying to share their books with the world. August 11, 2012
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As I tried to get my campaign going with the teenagers to read and review my book called The Silver Locket, I made a new friend. Her name is Madeline Dryer. She has her own website and her first short story was published
at the age 16. Please go to her sight and read the review she gave my book.
http://madelinedyer.co.uk/review-the-silver-locket-by-marie-fostino/ Thank You for your honesty Madeline and I know that you have a wonderful future as a writer. August 23, 2012
Thank You again Madeline for my author review on your site: http://madelinedyer.co.uk/author-interview-with-marie-fostino/ September 5, 2012
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twitter is a wonderful site to do some on-line Marketing. I have met a wonderful lady - Elaine Raco Chase. She has a radio show and she introduces author's to the world. Authors Corner Review with Host Elaine Raco
Chase is the name of her radio show on - Triangle Variety Radio which is on Blog Talk Radio. Here is the link to listen to my review: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/trianglevariety/2012/09/07/authors-corner-review-with-host-elaine-raco-chase My review starts on 40.47 - Thank You Elaine 9-6-2012
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well an update to my event of getting 50 TEENS to read & reveiw my book. This did not turn out like I would have hoped. Out of all the thirty something books that were given away to be read I got a total of 6 revews back. So back to the drawing board. 9/24/2012
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK so I was at the grocery store and on some of the carts there are advertisements behind plastic to keep them from getting ruined. I called the number on one of them which was advertising for Cart Advertisements. In case you are interested the number I found is: 866-939-6020. When you call you get a person who will ask you where you live so they can give your phone number to an agent by you. I got my call back and was told it is $2,400 for six months to advertise this way. I tried talking them down, because I don't have that kind of money, so the lowest he would go is $800. He told me that was only if there were any spare carts with no advertisement on them. I went back today to the store and noticed that only a couple of carts had advertisement and the rest are empty. I guess if they would lower their prices they would sell more advertisements. 10/04/2012
I would also like to share with you how my sales have been doing. I advertise on facebook, twitter, and my e-mail friends. I pass fliers to people I meet as well as nurses since I work on an ambulance. My book called A Struggle of the Heart I put on the market in November. I read on line somewhere that a self-published book has limits to sales and the article gave the sale ratings at 150 books after all the friends bought them. I noticed that I am almost there. I have sold about 110 books so far. The sad part is about half of them I bought and gave as gifts for reviews and I only have 17 reviews. Just thought I would give you some food for thought. 10/04/2012
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well I have been thinking real hard as to how to get my books noticed. We have a local paper here in town called West Valley VIEW. This paper comes out twice a week and so I had an ad put in for Friday Oct 19. The
cost of this ad was $168.00 and my husband is not real happy with me. He said,“Do you Know how many books we have to sell to make that up?” But it is not about the money, as it is trying to get your book out to the public. I will have to let you know how it goes.
I also have a contest going on which I put on Twitter and Facebook. I only have about 6 people who said they would join and not even sure if they are going to try. But the contest is the one who can talk the most people to buy my book A Struggle of the Heart can win $50. They have to have at least 15 people buying the book and have proof that it was bought. I also told them if someone could have 50 people buy it they can win $100. I am giving up any royalties I made by doing this, but again it is not about the money but about passing the book out. HAHA still
brain storming. Will let you know how this contest went.
|
|
Help a Phoenix Author Out!
Read one of these spell-binding books and when finished, write and post a review for it on Amazon!
Find them at mariefostino.weebly.com or Amazon.com
This was my ad in the paper - 10/20/2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK Just a note - Neither did the contest to give my royalities away in exchange to get friends to buy books or the ad in the paper work. So Back to the drawing board. Don't waste your money on a newspaper ad. Hope this helps. 10/27/2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dianna Bellerose - Author of "Fire and Ice" asked if she could add me to her book tour. Check it out: http://diannabellerose-authorfireandice.blogspot.com/2012/10/book-tour-guest-marie-fostino.html Thank you Dianna, I really appreciate this. 10/27/2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeri Walker-Bickett was kind enough to have an Author interview. She is the author of The Vacation Vaccination & The Popular Poe Stories. Check it out:
http://jeriwb.com/author-interview-marie-fostino-3809/#comment-5574
Thank You Jeri, I really appreciate this. 11/10/2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Penny Lockwood Ehrenkranz, author and editor, was kind enough to have an Author interview about my book called A Struggle of the Heart. Check it out: http://pennylockwoodehrenkranz.blogspot.com/2012/11/marie-fostino-struggle-of-heart.html
Thank You Penny, I really appreciate this. 11/15/2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PS Southwest Styles Has added me to their Holiday Headquarters Blog: Holiday HQ Team -Thank You very much http://holidayheadquarter.blogspot.com/p/favorite-sellers.html?spref=tw 11/17/2012
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have to say that it is very hard for a single author without an agent to sell books. I read somewhere that between twitter and your e-mail and face book contacts you will maybe sell 200 at the most. Than
it will be quiet and the sales will go slow. I think I am at the time in history now.
At this time Hurricane Sandy came with a lot of devastation to NYC & NJ. The memory of the
OKC Bombing came up in my head so I decided to think of a way to help. I decided to take one of my books and give away all the profits for the month of November. I put an ad in our local paper, did twitter and of course an event on Facebook.
Alas only 26 books were bought, so I am matching what I sold so I can send a decent check. I am
still brain storming but I will be the first to admit this is a hard industry to get into. I am not trying to
discourage anyone; I just want to put the facts on the table. I will keep you updated as I think of other ways to get the books out to the public. Novembe 27, 2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A total of 27 books were bought in the month of November which I made a cashiers check for $110 for the Hurricane Sandy Victims. I have a copy of the check on my blog.
I also have my newest book, which I changed the name, again, to SOMETIMES LOVE HURTS. It is in the Eprinted Book Store - http://eprintedbooks.com/Store/store/Marie_Fostino and will be sold on Amazon on December 15, 2012. I have a tab under my HOME tab with the first three chapters of this new book if you are interested to read it. December 1, 2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fresh E-book Sometimes Love Hurts merely by Adore Author Marie Fostino
Variations Reader's Hearts
http://wiki.dbmmo.com/index.php?title=Fresh_E-book_Sometimes_Love_Hurts_merely_by_Adore_Author_Marie_Fostino_Variations_Reader's_Hearts
For some unknown reason when I hit the site it is blank but here is what was written: Goodyear , Arizona - December 04, 2012 - Identified between every authors and also visitors like a creative writer in terms of enjoyable brief tales regarding romance along with contemporary day books, Marie Fostino's style of writing provides mesmerized the girl readers with the essence associated with endearment in their web pages.
She's previously supplied us with two fantastic love stories online guides, A Struggle of the Heart exactly where she has elegantly advised the story of a younger lady in adore who has believed that her lover has perished inside the misfortune, only to find out him or her in existence along with well following she's managed to move on having a brand new man. Different other manual The Silver Locket also
provides fascinating plot of a youthful woman that struggles making use of the challenges connected with earlier being pregnant and judgmental friends, then a single examine deeper for the story, given that she recollects all these activities to a unbelievable conclusion.
Just how the girl books are created invitations your reader to associate with all the heroes in a emotional level. Marie's capability inside words inside the short phrase takes your reader to the character's globe in which they begin to tension along with relate to their particular existence account; and often,
towards the degree that viewers sense they realize the certain characters in genuine life.
Together with her fresh manual Sometimes Love Hurts, get ready for an additional heartwarming account that might definitely be considered a fantastic study for passionate followers of adore which dwell regarding the story concerning Gem in addition to Blake's marriage, their particular have
self-assurance in together in addition to the tests they encounter. Read how their account displays exactly how trust and also self-confidence within God can cure just about all injuries and triumph over
nearly all problems. Together with Marie Fostino's qualifications in the Christian trust, the lady could compose this certain pressing manual in ways exactly where your lady was capable to contemplate the audience into the heart of the story where Gem and also Blake's matrimony hung inside the harmony.
Because Crystal confides with her mother Lisa asking for guidance, your woman brings out a journal that she identified right following her parent's dying. Simply because journal is really a recollection regarding
occasions of the way Crystal's Grandmother Natalie experienced in their own individual matrimony. A
traditional tale of affection, betrayal, forgiveness and also fresh origins occur, guests are removed as Natalie's account unfolds just before Very, coaching her valuable classes that could alter
their particular life forever.
An excellent plot of a account inside a tale told by a first-class author, her fresh manual Sometimes Love
Hurts will surely add emotional as well as carressed before finish. Marie Fostino's style of acquiring her viewers straight into the woman's planet and leaving behind a extended lasting memory together
with classes to get in touch with house by means of tends to produce her guide an incredible selection
to improve your personal reading and to your collection.
About Marie Fostino's Sometimes Love Hurts Read all pages of the woman's new book and be awestruck by the charming story connected with Crystal and Blake, a couple which met as well as fell for each other in the proper spot and at the proper moment. But like all adoring couple, they are going to skilled challenges that almost broke their marriage. Till Crystal's mom Lisa chose to share any journal of the woman's overdue mother Natalie in addition to her. The particular diary recounts the girl excellent parents' personal tale of affection along with forgiveness that will modify their specific connection also. An execllent manual coming from modern day love author Marie Fostino, get the woman's guides
exclusively inside
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My newest book is out SOMETIMES LOVE HURTS and I have given away 9 books with the promise of honest reviews in return. Five people have also bought this book and I have 3 reviews so far.
My new strategy for the year 2013 is to publish with a company called CREATIVE FLIGHT PUBLISHING. I found her on twitter and her company is right here in Phoenix. I have to admit I am a little scared of small publishing companies after my first book came out under James A Rock & Co. Publishing. But the owner of Creative Flight Publishing, Andrea Lynn Ford is different. First she is not charging to put the books into paperback. I paid 1,200 for James A Rock to publish mine into paper back. Next she lives here in Phoenix so we can work hard together on promotional ideas. And third she also writes, so I am sure what ever effort I am putting in to selling my paper back books she will work hard and see if it works for hers also. 12/27/2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am moving forward and met with Andrea and signed a contract. My first book ' The Silver Locket' will be in paper print soon. Here is the link for her publishing company: http://www.andrealynnford.com/ 1/09/13
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am also putting one of my books in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. My book called A Struggle of the Heart.
So here is my pitch for the contest. What do you think?
Annette meets Aaron and falls in love. The Alfred P Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma is bombed. Aaron is stationed in Afghanistan when the letters stop. At paramedic school she meets Tim.
Love lost, life changing events, passion, bewildering pain. Three good people who all deserve a fairy tale ending that can only be possible for two.
Annette moves to Norman in Oklahoma to attend college when she meets the ideal guy, Aaron, but unfortunately, he is not going to be in her life for long, for he has to leave for boot camp. They profess their love and write to each other. Annette’s life changes forever when the Alfred P Murrah Federal
Building in Oklahoma is bombed. She has an epiphany and decides to dedicate her life to helping other people.
Aaron returns from the boot camp and is stationed close to her so that they can meet quite often
and their love blooms. He is just stationed near home for a little while before he gets deployed to Afghanistan. His letters stop soon after. Annette is heartbroken but she tries to not let it show as she puts all her energy into becoming an EMT and helping people in times of emergency.
She meets Tim, a classmate; they become good friends and pass paramedic school together. Tim proposes to her and Annette accepts. While working, she gets to treat a young man whose face is bloodied and not recognizable at all. She puts all her efforts into saving the young man but it was not until she filled
the information, she realizes that this young man is Aaron, her first love. She realizes that she is going to be facing the biggest dilemma of her life. She has to make a choice between two people she truly loves. 1/27/2013
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well it looks like this book didn't place in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. I guess that is the way the cookie crumbles. But my book called THE SILVER LOCKET will be paper back soon and I am so excited. If there is any teacher out there looking for a book for their students to read let me know and I will send you this book to read first before you decide to let the rest of the class. 2/16/2013
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OK Just a note - Neither did the contest to give my royalities away in exchange to get friends to buy books or the ad in the paper work. So Back to the drawing board. Don't waste your money on a newspaper ad. Hope this helps. 10/27/2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dianna Bellerose - Author of "Fire and Ice" asked if she could add me to her book tour. Check it out: http://diannabellerose-authorfireandice.blogspot.com/2012/10/book-tour-guest-marie-fostino.html Thank you Dianna, I really appreciate this. 10/27/2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeri Walker-Bickett was kind enough to have an Author interview. She is the author of The Vacation Vaccination & The Popular Poe Stories. Check it out:
http://jeriwb.com/author-interview-marie-fostino-3809/#comment-5574
Thank You Jeri, I really appreciate this. 11/10/2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Penny Lockwood Ehrenkranz, author and editor, was kind enough to have an Author interview about my book called A Struggle of the Heart. Check it out: http://pennylockwoodehrenkranz.blogspot.com/2012/11/marie-fostino-struggle-of-heart.html
Thank You Penny, I really appreciate this. 11/15/2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PS Southwest Styles Has added me to their Holiday Headquarters Blog: Holiday HQ Team -Thank You very much http://holidayheadquarter.blogspot.com/p/favorite-sellers.html?spref=tw 11/17/2012
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have to say that it is very hard for a single author without an agent to sell books. I read somewhere that between twitter and your e-mail and face book contacts you will maybe sell 200 at the most. Than
it will be quiet and the sales will go slow. I think I am at the time in history now.
At this time Hurricane Sandy came with a lot of devastation to NYC & NJ. The memory of the
OKC Bombing came up in my head so I decided to think of a way to help. I decided to take one of my books and give away all the profits for the month of November. I put an ad in our local paper, did twitter and of course an event on Facebook.
Alas only 26 books were bought, so I am matching what I sold so I can send a decent check. I am
still brain storming but I will be the first to admit this is a hard industry to get into. I am not trying to
discourage anyone; I just want to put the facts on the table. I will keep you updated as I think of other ways to get the books out to the public. Novembe 27, 2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A total of 27 books were bought in the month of November which I made a cashiers check for $110 for the Hurricane Sandy Victims. I have a copy of the check on my blog.
I also have my newest book, which I changed the name, again, to SOMETIMES LOVE HURTS. It is in the Eprinted Book Store - http://eprintedbooks.com/Store/store/Marie_Fostino and will be sold on Amazon on December 15, 2012. I have a tab under my HOME tab with the first three chapters of this new book if you are interested to read it. December 1, 2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fresh E-book Sometimes Love Hurts merely by Adore Author Marie Fostino
Variations Reader's Hearts
http://wiki.dbmmo.com/index.php?title=Fresh_E-book_Sometimes_Love_Hurts_merely_by_Adore_Author_Marie_Fostino_Variations_Reader's_Hearts
For some unknown reason when I hit the site it is blank but here is what was written: Goodyear , Arizona - December 04, 2012 - Identified between every authors and also visitors like a creative writer in terms of enjoyable brief tales regarding romance along with contemporary day books, Marie Fostino's style of writing provides mesmerized the girl readers with the essence associated with endearment in their web pages.
She's previously supplied us with two fantastic love stories online guides, A Struggle of the Heart exactly where she has elegantly advised the story of a younger lady in adore who has believed that her lover has perished inside the misfortune, only to find out him or her in existence along with well following she's managed to move on having a brand new man. Different other manual The Silver Locket also
provides fascinating plot of a youthful woman that struggles making use of the challenges connected with earlier being pregnant and judgmental friends, then a single examine deeper for the story, given that she recollects all these activities to a unbelievable conclusion.
Just how the girl books are created invitations your reader to associate with all the heroes in a emotional level. Marie's capability inside words inside the short phrase takes your reader to the character's globe in which they begin to tension along with relate to their particular existence account; and often,
towards the degree that viewers sense they realize the certain characters in genuine life.
Together with her fresh manual Sometimes Love Hurts, get ready for an additional heartwarming account that might definitely be considered a fantastic study for passionate followers of adore which dwell regarding the story concerning Gem in addition to Blake's marriage, their particular have
self-assurance in together in addition to the tests they encounter. Read how their account displays exactly how trust and also self-confidence within God can cure just about all injuries and triumph over
nearly all problems. Together with Marie Fostino's qualifications in the Christian trust, the lady could compose this certain pressing manual in ways exactly where your lady was capable to contemplate the audience into the heart of the story where Gem and also Blake's matrimony hung inside the harmony.
Because Crystal confides with her mother Lisa asking for guidance, your woman brings out a journal that she identified right following her parent's dying. Simply because journal is really a recollection regarding
occasions of the way Crystal's Grandmother Natalie experienced in their own individual matrimony. A
traditional tale of affection, betrayal, forgiveness and also fresh origins occur, guests are removed as Natalie's account unfolds just before Very, coaching her valuable classes that could alter
their particular life forever.
An excellent plot of a account inside a tale told by a first-class author, her fresh manual Sometimes Love
Hurts will surely add emotional as well as carressed before finish. Marie Fostino's style of acquiring her viewers straight into the woman's planet and leaving behind a extended lasting memory together
with classes to get in touch with house by means of tends to produce her guide an incredible selection
to improve your personal reading and to your collection.
About Marie Fostino's Sometimes Love Hurts Read all pages of the woman's new book and be awestruck by the charming story connected with Crystal and Blake, a couple which met as well as fell for each other in the proper spot and at the proper moment. But like all adoring couple, they are going to skilled challenges that almost broke their marriage. Till Crystal's mom Lisa chose to share any journal of the woman's overdue mother Natalie in addition to her. The particular diary recounts the girl excellent parents' personal tale of affection along with forgiveness that will modify their specific connection also. An execllent manual coming from modern day love author Marie Fostino, get the woman's guides
exclusively inside
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My newest book is out SOMETIMES LOVE HURTS and I have given away 9 books with the promise of honest reviews in return. Five people have also bought this book and I have 3 reviews so far.
My new strategy for the year 2013 is to publish with a company called CREATIVE FLIGHT PUBLISHING. I found her on twitter and her company is right here in Phoenix. I have to admit I am a little scared of small publishing companies after my first book came out under James A Rock & Co. Publishing. But the owner of Creative Flight Publishing, Andrea Lynn Ford is different. First she is not charging to put the books into paperback. I paid 1,200 for James A Rock to publish mine into paper back. Next she lives here in Phoenix so we can work hard together on promotional ideas. And third she also writes, so I am sure what ever effort I am putting in to selling my paper back books she will work hard and see if it works for hers also. 12/27/2012
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am moving forward and met with Andrea and signed a contract. My first book ' The Silver Locket' will be in paper print soon. Here is the link for her publishing company: http://www.andrealynnford.com/ 1/09/13
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am also putting one of my books in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. My book called A Struggle of the Heart.
So here is my pitch for the contest. What do you think?
Annette meets Aaron and falls in love. The Alfred P Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma is bombed. Aaron is stationed in Afghanistan when the letters stop. At paramedic school she meets Tim.
Love lost, life changing events, passion, bewildering pain. Three good people who all deserve a fairy tale ending that can only be possible for two.
Annette moves to Norman in Oklahoma to attend college when she meets the ideal guy, Aaron, but unfortunately, he is not going to be in her life for long, for he has to leave for boot camp. They profess their love and write to each other. Annette’s life changes forever when the Alfred P Murrah Federal
Building in Oklahoma is bombed. She has an epiphany and decides to dedicate her life to helping other people.
Aaron returns from the boot camp and is stationed close to her so that they can meet quite often
and their love blooms. He is just stationed near home for a little while before he gets deployed to Afghanistan. His letters stop soon after. Annette is heartbroken but she tries to not let it show as she puts all her energy into becoming an EMT and helping people in times of emergency.
She meets Tim, a classmate; they become good friends and pass paramedic school together. Tim proposes to her and Annette accepts. While working, she gets to treat a young man whose face is bloodied and not recognizable at all. She puts all her efforts into saving the young man but it was not until she filled
the information, she realizes that this young man is Aaron, her first love. She realizes that she is going to be facing the biggest dilemma of her life. She has to make a choice between two people she truly loves. 1/27/2013
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well it looks like this book didn't place in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. I guess that is the way the cookie crumbles. But my book called THE SILVER LOCKET will be paper back soon and I am so excited. If there is any teacher out there looking for a book for their students to read let me know and I will send you this book to read first before you decide to let the rest of the class. 2/16/2013
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE SILVER LOCKET PAPER BACK
Book Launch & Contest Announcement:
The Silver Locket
Written by Marie Fostino
Launch date: Friday February 22, 2013
Contest Rules: To enter, one must leave a comment in the form below sharing a personal triumph. For example, "I worked full time to put myself through college." Don't forget to include your name & email address! Submissions without, will not be counted.
Contest dates: Tuesday February 19th - Thursday February 21st
Prize: The lucky winner will receive a signed copy of The Silver Locket along with a real silver locket.
*The winner will be announced here on Friday February 22, 2013, and notified via email. Prize delivery will take 4-6 weeks. 2/20/2013
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now the hard work begins as I call / e-mail book stores to get invited to BOOK FAIRS with other authors.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Busy Busy Busy with promoting my new paper back. I now have them in a book store called Changing Hands in Tempe AZ.
I had an idea of giving some books to some cancer places for people to read while having Chemo treatments, so I sent books to Cancer Treatment Centers of America.
I found a couple of Centers for pregnant teens and I sent them a couple of books.
Maybe I am a crazy person but the I am just trying to get my books known. I think that is more important than making money. Hey have a good day and I hope you are selling your books. 3/15/13
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Silver Locket
Written by Marie Fostino
Launch date: Friday February 22, 2013
Contest Rules: To enter, one must leave a comment in the form below sharing a personal triumph. For example, "I worked full time to put myself through college." Don't forget to include your name & email address! Submissions without, will not be counted.
Contest dates: Tuesday February 19th - Thursday February 21st
Prize: The lucky winner will receive a signed copy of The Silver Locket along with a real silver locket.
*The winner will be announced here on Friday February 22, 2013, and notified via email. Prize delivery will take 4-6 weeks. 2/20/2013
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now the hard work begins as I call / e-mail book stores to get invited to BOOK FAIRS with other authors.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Busy Busy Busy with promoting my new paper back. I now have them in a book store called Changing Hands in Tempe AZ.
I had an idea of giving some books to some cancer places for people to read while having Chemo treatments, so I sent books to Cancer Treatment Centers of America.
I found a couple of Centers for pregnant teens and I sent them a couple of books.
Maybe I am a crazy person but the I am just trying to get my books known. I think that is more important than making money. Hey have a good day and I hope you are selling your books. 3/15/13
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let me give you some hints for book signings. Have a good attitude and a smile. Have candy & flyers available to give away. Put up a picture of your book. I wear a big hat & put some cute things on the table just to get customers to look my way.
Also don't get discouraged if no one buys a book. Remember you are not a big name say like Nicholas Sparks. You have to start somewhere. Keep a good attitude and keep pushing your book. Good Luck! 3/24/2013
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Suzanne's Thoughts for the Day - Suzanne de Montigny was kind enough to interview me on her blog. Thank You Suzanne
http://suzannesthoughtsfortheday.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-teen-story-thatll-tug-your.html
April 9, 2013
Also don't get discouraged if no one buys a book. Remember you are not a big name say like Nicholas Sparks. You have to start somewhere. Keep a good attitude and keep pushing your book. Good Luck! 3/24/2013
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Suzanne's Thoughts for the Day - Suzanne de Montigny was kind enough to interview me on her blog. Thank You Suzanne
http://suzannesthoughtsfortheday.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-teen-story-thatll-tug-your.html
April 9, 2013
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Went to the Arizona Book Festival in Flagstaff, Az today. This was a new experience for us. There were other authors & publishers. It was a little slow, not many people came to visit this Festival. I like to wear hats to my book signings. My new RED hat helped us get people to come to our table, mostly to tell me how they liked my hat, but then it meant they would also take a look at our books. My husband Jimmy and our publisher Andrea with her husband, we all shared a table. I only sold a total of 4 books, but gave away a lot of post cards with the hope that they will either buy a paper back or an E-book later. I don't know yet if this helped but I will keep you informed. We indie author's have to advertise on our own to get the word out about our books. 5/18/2013
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today we had a Book Signing in Tucson at Mostly Books Book Store. Sometimes it is so hard to go to these when you are a nobody. We live in Goodyear so we had a two hour drive to this book store. Yes we put this on Facebook and twitter. But when you are not really known for your work yet it can be very disappointing when no one comes to see you. All I can say is to keep your chin up and believe in yourself. Oh by the way how do you like my new PURPLE HAT. 6/8/2013
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I met this wonderful young author named Tara Chevrestt on Twitter. She is an amazing woman with 13 books that she has written. She has been kind enough to put my fundraiser on her website. Check it out and than when you are there check out her books also. http://wwwbookbabe.blogspot.com/2013/06/help-oklahoma-tornado-victims-by-buying.html#.UbXojJ3n-P_
Thank you Tara for your kindness. 6/10/2013
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trying to get our books out to readers as indie authors it sometimes feels like we are hitting a brick wall.
I decided to send out a few books to some programs that help deal with pregnant teens. Maybe this could be a good book of interest for them to read.
Harbor House Maternity Home- PO box 357 – Celina, Ohio 45822 – This is a Christian program to support teen girls. ( THIS BOOK CAME BACK UNOPENED)
Phoenix Teen Challenge – 1515 W Grand Ave – Phoenix, AZ 85007
Focus On The Family – 8605 Explorer Drive – Colorado Springs, Co 80920 – Articles on Teen Pregnancy (GOT A LETTER BACK SAYING THEY NO LONGER REVIEW OR EVALUATE UNSOLICITED MATERIALS)
Church Leaders – 5550 Tech Center Drive – Colorado Springs, Co 80919- Articles How to Handle Teen Pregnancy in Youth Group
My idea is to share your book with the type of audience that would enjoy your book, which could put their feet in the shoes of the characters. That is my thought anyway. 6-30-2013
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I met this wonderful young author named Tara Chevrestt on Twitter. She is an amazing woman with 13 books that she has written. She has been kind enough to put my fundraiser on her website. Check it out and than when you are there check out her books also. http://wwwbookbabe.blogspot.com/2013/06/help-oklahoma-tornado-victims-by-buying.html#.UbXojJ3n-P_
Thank you Tara for your kindness. 6/10/2013
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trying to get our books out to readers as indie authors it sometimes feels like we are hitting a brick wall.
I decided to send out a few books to some programs that help deal with pregnant teens. Maybe this could be a good book of interest for them to read.
Harbor House Maternity Home- PO box 357 – Celina, Ohio 45822 – This is a Christian program to support teen girls. ( THIS BOOK CAME BACK UNOPENED)
Phoenix Teen Challenge – 1515 W Grand Ave – Phoenix, AZ 85007
Focus On The Family – 8605 Explorer Drive – Colorado Springs, Co 80920 – Articles on Teen Pregnancy (GOT A LETTER BACK SAYING THEY NO LONGER REVIEW OR EVALUATE UNSOLICITED MATERIALS)
Church Leaders – 5550 Tech Center Drive – Colorado Springs, Co 80919- Articles How to Handle Teen Pregnancy in Youth Group
My idea is to share your book with the type of audience that would enjoy your book, which could put their feet in the shoes of the characters. That is my thought anyway. 6-30-2013
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have put an ad in the West Valley View to be displayed on both July 16 & 19. The cost of this advertisement is $165.28. This will let me and you know how the paper will work. Will I be able to sell books and give a good amount of money to the Moore, Ok Schools? We will find out on Saturday July 20. 7-12-2013
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Just to share how my book signing at Walgreens. Only 3 three of my friends came to see me and my two daughters that live here in Phoenix came to see me. I
sold 6 books. I will state that I am disappointed since I was there for 6
hours and no one from work came to support me. July 26, 2013
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well it is another new day and I found this website that I will share with you. It is called NEW AGENCY ALERTS: http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/new-agency-alerts
I am going about this the old fashion way. I picked two agents that seem to be looking for the genre that I have written. I wrote a query letter and actually printed out the whole manuscript and sent them in the snail mail with a return stamped envelope for them to tell me what they think.
I decided to do it this way because when I talked to Stephanie Meyers a couple of years ago, she told me that she had better responses to snail mail than with writing them on the internet with E mail. Plus when I read about Nicholas Sparks he wrote that his manuscript was put in the slush pile and a different agent than the one he sent it to picked it up. I will let you know how it goes.
Sharon Pelletier who is new at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management I sent a manuscript in the mail.
UPDATE: Not right for Dystel & Goderich Literary Management
Amy Tannenbaum who is new at Jane Rotrosen Agency I sent a manuscript in the mail. I sent my manuscript called A STRUGGLE OF THE HEART. August 10, 2013
UPDATE: Not right for Jane Rotrosen Agency 8/16/13
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Talked to Shelly at Changing Hands Book Store in Tempe, Az about giving away a FREE T-SHIRT with the sale of a book. They will not let me put my T-shirts in the store but, they will let me put a sticker on the books about the FREE T-Shirt. Just brainstorming but will try this on Saturday Aug. 17.
UPDATE: They did not let me put a sticker outside the books about FREE T-shirts.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is an organization called New Life Pregnancy Center and I have found the addresses to 9 of them around the Phoenix area. Casa Grande, Snow Flake, Tempe, Wickenburg, Yuma, Tucson, Avondale and Phoenix. I have mailed them a book with a letter to see if they like my book called THE SILVER LOCKET. 8/18/2013
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I decided to try something else. There is a store called Forever 21 for teens. I looked up the addresses for the ones in the Phoenix area and sent them letters about my book to see if I can do a consignment with them. 8/18/2013
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Did this the old fashion way again and sent a query and my manuscript called A Struggle of the Heart to Pippin Properties Inc for a new agent there Julie Just. 8/24/2013
UPDATE: Not right for this company 9/7/2013
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent in another query and manuscript by mail on my manuscript called A Struggle of the Heart to J A Bberwocky Literary Agency Inc for a new agent Lisa Rodgers. 8/31/2013
UPDATE: Not right for this company. 9/6/2013
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am trying the KDP SELECT with Amazon and giving my book THE SILVER LOCKET away for FREE on Sunday 9/1/2013 & 9/2/2013. Keeping you updated:
Sunday 9/1/2013
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,405 Free in Kindle Store - 30 books given away 6:43am
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,946 Free in Kindle Store - #91 in Kindle Store - Coming of Age - 97 books given away 9:48 am
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,390 Free in Kindle Store - #44 in Kindle Store - Coming of Age - 180 books given away 1:48pm
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #925 Free in Kindle Store - #24 in Kindle Store - Coming of Age - 235 books given away 4:52 pm
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #807 Free in Kindle Store - #22 in Kindle Store - Coming of Age - 317 books given away 8:55 pm
Sept 2, 2013
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #724 Free in Kindle Store - #21 in Kindle Store - Coming of age - 383 books given away 6:20 am
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #657 Free in Kindle Store - #18 in Kindle Store - Coming of age - 416 books given away 9:53 am
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #704 Free in Kindle Store - #20 in Kindle Store - Coming of age - 441 books given away 12:28 pm
Well is seems about 534 books were given away the last two days. So now the secret is will these people read this book or just let it get full of dust on their kindles. I will keep informed if I start getting reviews from these free sales. As of 10/21/2013 there have been no reviews written from these free books.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent in a e-mail Query to The Literary Park Group to their new agent: Peter Knapp. UPDATE: I must decline said Peter Knapp 11/13/2013
Sent in the mail a query and my manuscript to Amy Claughley who is new at Kimberly Cameron & Associates. 9/6/2013 Sent an E-mail to see if she received my manuscript: 11/5/2013 UPDATE: Not right for me at this time 12/09/2013
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent in the mail 2 more query letters and manuscripts today on my book called A STRUGGLE OF THE HEART.
N. S. Bienstock Inc Attention: J.L. Stermer
Corvisiero Literary Agency Attention: Sarah Negovetich 9/7/2013
Sent an E-mail to see if she received my manuscript: 11/5/2013
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent an on line submission to Lisa Gallagher who works for Greenburger Associates. 9/8/2013
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Put on the E-mail a query to Sadler-Caravette Children’s Literary. Found them on the site I put above called New Agents Guide http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/new-agency-alerts I am not sure if they are new because they do have writers. I sent this one to Jodell Sadler along with the first 10 pages of my manuscript which I pasted to the page as it said on her site. 9/11/2013
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Put on the E-mail a query to Jenny Bent at the Bent Agency. 09/14/2013 UPDATE: Not right for them 9/16/13
Sent in the mail a query and my manuscript to The Meredith Bernstein Literary Agency Attention to Meredith Bernstein. 09/14/2013
Put on the E-mail a query to Beth Campbell at Bookends Literary Agency. 09/14/2013 UPDATE: Not right for her 11/07/2013
Sent in the mail a query and my manuscript to Curtis Brown LTD to Steve Kasdin. 09/14/2013
The manuscript called A Struggle of the Heart is the one I am trying to get with an agent.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent a query and manuscript of A Struggle of the Heart to McIntosh & Otis Inc to Shira Hoffman 10/04/2013 Did not fall in love with your story sorry. 12/23/2013
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tried something new: Sent a letter and a book to these companies: 10/04/2013
Forever 21 Inc - 2001 S Alameda St- Los Angeles Ca 90058- LETTER CAME BACK UNOPENED
Walmart - 702 SW 8th Street- Bentonville Ar 72716-8611
Charlotte Russe - 4645 Morena Blvd- San Diego Ca 92117-LETTER CAME BACK UNOPENED
Target - 1000 Nicollet Mall - Minneapolis Minnesota 55403
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Put on the E-mail a query to Katie Shea Boutillier, from Donald Maass Literary Agency 10/11/2013
UPDATE: This is not something she wishes to pursue. 11/11/2013
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Put on the E-mail a query to Mollie Glick, from Foundry Literary Agency 10/26/2013
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent E-mail query to Beth Phelan at The Bent Agency. Just noticed she was looking for writers on Guide to Literary Agents. 10/30/2013 UPDATE: Doesn't feel like a good fit for me. 11/18/2013
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent a hard copy and query letter to Shannon Hassan of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. 11/22/2013 UPDATE: Not a fit for my list at this time 12/10/2013
Sent an E-mail query to Rachael Dillon Fried of Greenburger Associates. 11/22/2013
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sold 6 books. I will state that I am disappointed since I was there for 6
hours and no one from work came to support me. July 26, 2013
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well it is another new day and I found this website that I will share with you. It is called NEW AGENCY ALERTS: http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/new-agency-alerts
I am going about this the old fashion way. I picked two agents that seem to be looking for the genre that I have written. I wrote a query letter and actually printed out the whole manuscript and sent them in the snail mail with a return stamped envelope for them to tell me what they think.
I decided to do it this way because when I talked to Stephanie Meyers a couple of years ago, she told me that she had better responses to snail mail than with writing them on the internet with E mail. Plus when I read about Nicholas Sparks he wrote that his manuscript was put in the slush pile and a different agent than the one he sent it to picked it up. I will let you know how it goes.
Sharon Pelletier who is new at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management I sent a manuscript in the mail.
UPDATE: Not right for Dystel & Goderich Literary Management
Amy Tannenbaum who is new at Jane Rotrosen Agency I sent a manuscript in the mail. I sent my manuscript called A STRUGGLE OF THE HEART. August 10, 2013
UPDATE: Not right for Jane Rotrosen Agency 8/16/13
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Talked to Shelly at Changing Hands Book Store in Tempe, Az about giving away a FREE T-SHIRT with the sale of a book. They will not let me put my T-shirts in the store but, they will let me put a sticker on the books about the FREE T-Shirt. Just brainstorming but will try this on Saturday Aug. 17.
UPDATE: They did not let me put a sticker outside the books about FREE T-shirts.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is an organization called New Life Pregnancy Center and I have found the addresses to 9 of them around the Phoenix area. Casa Grande, Snow Flake, Tempe, Wickenburg, Yuma, Tucson, Avondale and Phoenix. I have mailed them a book with a letter to see if they like my book called THE SILVER LOCKET. 8/18/2013
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I decided to try something else. There is a store called Forever 21 for teens. I looked up the addresses for the ones in the Phoenix area and sent them letters about my book to see if I can do a consignment with them. 8/18/2013
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Did this the old fashion way again and sent a query and my manuscript called A Struggle of the Heart to Pippin Properties Inc for a new agent there Julie Just. 8/24/2013
UPDATE: Not right for this company 9/7/2013
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent in another query and manuscript by mail on my manuscript called A Struggle of the Heart to J A Bberwocky Literary Agency Inc for a new agent Lisa Rodgers. 8/31/2013
UPDATE: Not right for this company. 9/6/2013
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am trying the KDP SELECT with Amazon and giving my book THE SILVER LOCKET away for FREE on Sunday 9/1/2013 & 9/2/2013. Keeping you updated:
Sunday 9/1/2013
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,405 Free in Kindle Store - 30 books given away 6:43am
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,946 Free in Kindle Store - #91 in Kindle Store - Coming of Age - 97 books given away 9:48 am
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,390 Free in Kindle Store - #44 in Kindle Store - Coming of Age - 180 books given away 1:48pm
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #925 Free in Kindle Store - #24 in Kindle Store - Coming of Age - 235 books given away 4:52 pm
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #807 Free in Kindle Store - #22 in Kindle Store - Coming of Age - 317 books given away 8:55 pm
Sept 2, 2013
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #724 Free in Kindle Store - #21 in Kindle Store - Coming of age - 383 books given away 6:20 am
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #657 Free in Kindle Store - #18 in Kindle Store - Coming of age - 416 books given away 9:53 am
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #704 Free in Kindle Store - #20 in Kindle Store - Coming of age - 441 books given away 12:28 pm
Well is seems about 534 books were given away the last two days. So now the secret is will these people read this book or just let it get full of dust on their kindles. I will keep informed if I start getting reviews from these free sales. As of 10/21/2013 there have been no reviews written from these free books.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent in a e-mail Query to The Literary Park Group to their new agent: Peter Knapp. UPDATE: I must decline said Peter Knapp 11/13/2013
Sent in the mail a query and my manuscript to Amy Claughley who is new at Kimberly Cameron & Associates. 9/6/2013 Sent an E-mail to see if she received my manuscript: 11/5/2013 UPDATE: Not right for me at this time 12/09/2013
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent in the mail 2 more query letters and manuscripts today on my book called A STRUGGLE OF THE HEART.
N. S. Bienstock Inc Attention: J.L. Stermer
Corvisiero Literary Agency Attention: Sarah Negovetich 9/7/2013
Sent an E-mail to see if she received my manuscript: 11/5/2013
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent an on line submission to Lisa Gallagher who works for Greenburger Associates. 9/8/2013
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Put on the E-mail a query to Sadler-Caravette Children’s Literary. Found them on the site I put above called New Agents Guide http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/new-agency-alerts I am not sure if they are new because they do have writers. I sent this one to Jodell Sadler along with the first 10 pages of my manuscript which I pasted to the page as it said on her site. 9/11/2013
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Put on the E-mail a query to Jenny Bent at the Bent Agency. 09/14/2013 UPDATE: Not right for them 9/16/13
Sent in the mail a query and my manuscript to The Meredith Bernstein Literary Agency Attention to Meredith Bernstein. 09/14/2013
Put on the E-mail a query to Beth Campbell at Bookends Literary Agency. 09/14/2013 UPDATE: Not right for her 11/07/2013
Sent in the mail a query and my manuscript to Curtis Brown LTD to Steve Kasdin. 09/14/2013
The manuscript called A Struggle of the Heart is the one I am trying to get with an agent.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent a query and manuscript of A Struggle of the Heart to McIntosh & Otis Inc to Shira Hoffman 10/04/2013 Did not fall in love with your story sorry. 12/23/2013
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tried something new: Sent a letter and a book to these companies: 10/04/2013
Forever 21 Inc - 2001 S Alameda St- Los Angeles Ca 90058- LETTER CAME BACK UNOPENED
Walmart - 702 SW 8th Street- Bentonville Ar 72716-8611
Charlotte Russe - 4645 Morena Blvd- San Diego Ca 92117-LETTER CAME BACK UNOPENED
Target - 1000 Nicollet Mall - Minneapolis Minnesota 55403
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Put on the E-mail a query to Katie Shea Boutillier, from Donald Maass Literary Agency 10/11/2013
UPDATE: This is not something she wishes to pursue. 11/11/2013
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Put on the E-mail a query to Mollie Glick, from Foundry Literary Agency 10/26/2013
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent E-mail query to Beth Phelan at The Bent Agency. Just noticed she was looking for writers on Guide to Literary Agents. 10/30/2013 UPDATE: Doesn't feel like a good fit for me. 11/18/2013
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent a hard copy and query letter to Shannon Hassan of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. 11/22/2013 UPDATE: Not a fit for my list at this time 12/10/2013
Sent an E-mail query to Rachael Dillon Fried of Greenburger Associates. 11/22/2013
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well I did it. I actually paid for one of those electronic signs to put a poster of my book on. I was lucky enough to find someone who let me put my poster on just one of the signs. That was all I could afford. So if you live in the Phoenix area and are driving around by the VA Hospital- 7th St & Highland on the Ease side of the street facing South you will see my poster come up sharing this spot with 6 other posters. This sign will be running for four weeks starting Nov 24 to Dec 22.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent an E-mail query to Clelia Gore of Martin Literary Management 11/30/2013 UPDATE: Unable to take you as a client 12/06/2013
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Put my book up as a "Special Edition". Check out my new cover.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent an E-mail query to Clelia Gore of Martin Literary Management 11/30/2013 UPDATE: Unable to take you as a client 12/06/2013
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Put my book up as a "Special Edition". Check out my new cover.
So I got a book called JUMP START YOUR BOOK SALES.
1) Maximizing the reviews you get. This simply means find a way to add them to the back cover of your book or the first interior pages for the next printing of your book.
2) Never refuse to give a review copy to a valid source.
3) Tap into online magazines and newsletters.
4) Books as fund raisers.
OK I have used these ideas before I read the book without any help in sales. I am just saying. 1/30/2014
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On February 18 I got together with Bebi Pearls for a Facebook event. DRAWING FOR A FRESH WATER PEARL NECKLACE.
Beverly is donating a beautiful 20" 10mm 3 strand of freshwater pearl necklace all knotted on silk with sterling silver slide clasp and a pair of matching pearl earrings. All anyone has to do is on March 15 buy my paper back book called The Silver Locket to have their name put into the drawing. Beverly is also donating pearl earrings for anyone who invites over 50 guests to this event.
1) Maximizing the reviews you get. This simply means find a way to add them to the back cover of your book or the first interior pages for the next printing of your book.
2) Never refuse to give a review copy to a valid source.
3) Tap into online magazines and newsletters.
4) Books as fund raisers.
OK I have used these ideas before I read the book without any help in sales. I am just saying. 1/30/2014
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On February 18 I got together with Bebi Pearls for a Facebook event. DRAWING FOR A FRESH WATER PEARL NECKLACE.
Beverly is donating a beautiful 20" 10mm 3 strand of freshwater pearl necklace all knotted on silk with sterling silver slide clasp and a pair of matching pearl earrings. All anyone has to do is on March 15 buy my paper back book called The Silver Locket to have their name put into the drawing. Beverly is also donating pearl earrings for anyone who invites over 50 guests to this event.
At the end of this
event there was a total of 6.6k guests invited - 228 guests going - 66
maybe guests
On the 15 of March a total of 30 books were bought. About 35 guests got Pearl Earrings for inviting over 50 friends to this event.
And here is how the Amazon ratings went:
Amazon Best Sellers List 3/14/2014
2:00 pm Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,504,463 in Books
10:00pm Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,512,840 in Books
Amazon Best Sellers List 3/15/2014
1:45 am Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,513,726 in Books
5:00 am Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,378 in Books
9:10am Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,246 in Books
11:30am Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,688 in Books
2:30 pm Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,959 in Books
5:30 pm Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,622 in Books
9:30 pm Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,079 in Books
10:00pm Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,949 in Books
10:30pm Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,185 in Books
Amazon Best Sellers List 3/16/2014
12:00am Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,185 in Books
7:40am Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,446 in Books
8:15am Under TEEN PREGNANCY ROMANCE #80 in books
Yes it is hard to be a self published author. I mean without all the money to for advertising - with no way to have posters & books put into Barns & Noble Stores how dose your book really get known.
I have been on a couple of other author or book blogger events as they play games on line and we authors give prizes just to get our books known but I think I am finding that these Facebook friends are in it for the prizes and it cost an author lots of money to put these prizes up and yet the books are not making it.
I put on another contest giving away a kindle for paper back books sold. I found that 8 people posted they bought the book. My publisher told me only two were bought. So people put down bogus confirmation numbers to win the kindle. It is all so depressing. I have a contest going now for a $20.00 Amazon E-Gift card for putting an honest review on my book called The Silver Locket. Now I already have like 49 reviews on Amazon before putting this contest up, but just maybe people will buy and review this book some more to get the book out in the Amazon world. 4/24/2014
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I want to apologize for not writing on here lately. I guess you can say that I have been giving a lot of contests and giving away lot of books and prizes but that does not work on getting your book out in the reading world. I mean at that day that you have your contest going you may sell 10 or 20 books and than when you give the prizes out a couple of people will refund your book and another day later there is no more books being sold.
I am not trying to make a lot of money on these books. I wrote stories from my heart and I just wanted to share them but it seems that I am a dime a dozen. There are so many people out there writing books, some published by big agencies, some published by vanity presses and some self published. So why would my book be more important than somebody elses? The answer, they are not more important. But they are important to me.
On the 15 of March a total of 30 books were bought. About 35 guests got Pearl Earrings for inviting over 50 friends to this event.
And here is how the Amazon ratings went:
Amazon Best Sellers List 3/14/2014
2:00 pm Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,504,463 in Books
10:00pm Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,512,840 in Books
Amazon Best Sellers List 3/15/2014
1:45 am Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,513,726 in Books
5:00 am Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,378 in Books
9:10am Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,246 in Books
11:30am Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,688 in Books
2:30 pm Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,959 in Books
5:30 pm Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,622 in Books
9:30 pm Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,079 in Books
10:00pm Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,949 in Books
10:30pm Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,185 in Books
Amazon Best Sellers List 3/16/2014
12:00am Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,185 in Books
7:40am Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,446 in Books
8:15am Under TEEN PREGNANCY ROMANCE #80 in books
Yes it is hard to be a self published author. I mean without all the money to for advertising - with no way to have posters & books put into Barns & Noble Stores how dose your book really get known.
I have been on a couple of other author or book blogger events as they play games on line and we authors give prizes just to get our books known but I think I am finding that these Facebook friends are in it for the prizes and it cost an author lots of money to put these prizes up and yet the books are not making it.
I put on another contest giving away a kindle for paper back books sold. I found that 8 people posted they bought the book. My publisher told me only two were bought. So people put down bogus confirmation numbers to win the kindle. It is all so depressing. I have a contest going now for a $20.00 Amazon E-Gift card for putting an honest review on my book called The Silver Locket. Now I already have like 49 reviews on Amazon before putting this contest up, but just maybe people will buy and review this book some more to get the book out in the Amazon world. 4/24/2014
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I want to apologize for not writing on here lately. I guess you can say that I have been giving a lot of contests and giving away lot of books and prizes but that does not work on getting your book out in the reading world. I mean at that day that you have your contest going you may sell 10 or 20 books and than when you give the prizes out a couple of people will refund your book and another day later there is no more books being sold.
I am not trying to make a lot of money on these books. I wrote stories from my heart and I just wanted to share them but it seems that I am a dime a dozen. There are so many people out there writing books, some published by big agencies, some published by vanity presses and some self published. So why would my book be more important than somebody elses? The answer, they are not more important. But they are important to me.
What I wish I could tell you is how to sell your book and get noticed on Amazon, Barnes & Nobles and The New York Times Best Sellers List. When I figure it out I will definately tell you. I have not given up. I am still trying to figure out how to get my books out there. I tried for Valentines Day by having a table in front of my house with helium balloons and velvet roses, chocolate candy and my books but I only sold one.
I have gone to the park by my house and set up a table with my books trying to sell them with only selling a couple of books. I read all the time that this or that self publisher has made the New York Times Best Sellers or that they sold over a million books on Amazon but I can't help but wonder Feb 14,2015
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A couple of weeks ago my husband put a flyer in the mail. He lost his job and does real estate on the side so he decided to pay the $400 and have a flyer put in 800 mail boxes. One side of his flyer was his real estate information. The other side he decided to get creative and wrote down a recepie - a chance for FREE cooking lessons and a picture of all my books with a comment 'If you would like a FREE E-book of any of Marie's books, please email me at' :
Well I just want to let you know that no one has e-mailed him for a book or for a FREE cooking class. I hope they will keep the card in case they are hoping to sell or purchase a house. March 29, 2015
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have gone to the park by my house and set up a table with my books trying to sell them with only selling a couple of books. I read all the time that this or that self publisher has made the New York Times Best Sellers or that they sold over a million books on Amazon but I can't help but wonder Feb 14,2015
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A couple of weeks ago my husband put a flyer in the mail. He lost his job and does real estate on the side so he decided to pay the $400 and have a flyer put in 800 mail boxes. One side of his flyer was his real estate information. The other side he decided to get creative and wrote down a recepie - a chance for FREE cooking lessons and a picture of all my books with a comment 'If you would like a FREE E-book of any of Marie's books, please email me at' :
Well I just want to let you know that no one has e-mailed him for a book or for a FREE cooking class. I hope they will keep the card in case they are hoping to sell or purchase a house. March 29, 2015
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=========================================================================
Well I guess you can say I just can't quit yet. So I keep having contests even though I am losing money on them. I think that as long as I can still get books out in the world and people are slowly reading them, in time I can make a difference and maybe in time my books might get popular. I just finished a contest called SOMETIMES LOVE HURTS pushing that book of mine. I called it Save The Date.SAVE
THIS DATE: ONLY PURCHASE ON THIS DATE.
On June 28 purchase this book and have your friends purchase this book. If at least 500 to 2,000 books are bought in 24 hrs this book will be on Amazon Best Sellers List. You don't have to join this event or even tell me you bought a book. I will post the Best Sellers Rank #.
So I held this contest for the whole month of June trying to get this book on the TOP 100 BEST SELLERS LIST WITH AMAZON. On Monday morning the final count came in. RANKING IN THE TOP 100 LIST: PAPER BACK ranks 6,323 with 22 books sold. KINDLE ranks 18,873 with 17 books bought.
KINDLE STORE: #43in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Relationships > Love & Romance
#165in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Religious & Inspirational Fiction > Romance
#249in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Literature & Fiction > Romance
PAPER BACK STORE: #36in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Religious & Inspirational > Romance
#312in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Literature & Fiction > Romance
#1908in Books > Religion & Spirituality
Nope the numbers are not real good BUT a few more people purchased a book and will hopefully read it and tell a friend. Now mind I remind you this is all on Facebook. The hard part is trying to find new people to see these contests, ones that have never heard of my books before. All the authors and friends I have on there have seen my contests and already have my books. So the question in how to get creative enough to find new readers. No one won any prize for this contest. I just wanted people to purchase and help me make my goal. Here is the link if you are interested in looking at this contest. 7/3/2015
https://www.facebook.com/marie.fostino#!/events/1015238475154004/?ref_dashboard_filter=calendar&action_history=null
Well I guess you can say I just can't quit yet. So I keep having contests even though I am losing money on them. I think that as long as I can still get books out in the world and people are slowly reading them, in time I can make a difference and maybe in time my books might get popular. I just finished a contest called SOMETIMES LOVE HURTS pushing that book of mine. I called it Save The Date.SAVE
THIS DATE: ONLY PURCHASE ON THIS DATE.
On June 28 purchase this book and have your friends purchase this book. If at least 500 to 2,000 books are bought in 24 hrs this book will be on Amazon Best Sellers List. You don't have to join this event or even tell me you bought a book. I will post the Best Sellers Rank #.
So I held this contest for the whole month of June trying to get this book on the TOP 100 BEST SELLERS LIST WITH AMAZON. On Monday morning the final count came in. RANKING IN THE TOP 100 LIST: PAPER BACK ranks 6,323 with 22 books sold. KINDLE ranks 18,873 with 17 books bought.
KINDLE STORE: #43in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Relationships > Love & Romance
#165in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Religious & Inspirational Fiction > Romance
#249in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Literature & Fiction > Romance
PAPER BACK STORE: #36in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Religious & Inspirational > Romance
#312in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Literature & Fiction > Romance
#1908in Books > Religion & Spirituality
Nope the numbers are not real good BUT a few more people purchased a book and will hopefully read it and tell a friend. Now mind I remind you this is all on Facebook. The hard part is trying to find new people to see these contests, ones that have never heard of my books before. All the authors and friends I have on there have seen my contests and already have my books. So the question in how to get creative enough to find new readers. No one won any prize for this contest. I just wanted people to purchase and help me make my goal. Here is the link if you are interested in looking at this contest. 7/3/2015
https://www.facebook.com/marie.fostino#!/events/1015238475154004/?ref_dashboard_filter=calendar&action_history=null
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think the hardest part of being a indi writer is finding different groups to get your book noticed in. I mean if we had a big time agent who sells the book than they do the advertising to millions of people. Most of us don't have a lot of money to spend on advertising so we do the best we can. I will let you know how my new FACEBOOK EVENT goes. I am giving away 4 paper back books- 4 T shirts - 4 coffee cups to 4 lucky winners. Cost is $2.99 a person to enter for a gift worth over $30.
I think the hardest part of being a indi writer is finding different groups to get your book noticed in. I mean if we had a big time agent who sells the book than they do the advertising to millions of people. Most of us don't have a lot of money to spend on advertising so we do the best we can. I will let you know how my new FACEBOOK EVENT goes. I am giving away 4 paper back books- 4 T shirts - 4 coffee cups to 4 lucky winners. Cost is $2.99 a person to enter for a gift worth over $30.
July 18, 2015
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well it looks like my last event is not going very well. I had 1.1K have been invited with 85 people comeing and hardly any interaction from anyone. So I decided to stop the event and gave out the prizes. Only one person, Susan Scott bought a E book and she is from Scottland (UK) so she will soon receive the paper back book, t shirt and coffee cup. 7-25-2015
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have tried again one of the things I said I would not do. I put a good size ad in the paper and hoping that will see results. The paper is called West Vally View and I put an ad in two side of town, Goodyear, and Peoria and the price was $429.88. Hoping people will read about this author and maybe try her books. Here is what the ad looks like.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well it looks like my last event is not going very well. I had 1.1K have been invited with 85 people comeing and hardly any interaction from anyone. So I decided to stop the event and gave out the prizes. Only one person, Susan Scott bought a E book and she is from Scottland (UK) so she will soon receive the paper back book, t shirt and coffee cup. 7-25-2015
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have tried again one of the things I said I would not do. I put a good size ad in the paper and hoping that will see results. The paper is called West Vally View and I put an ad in two side of town, Goodyear, and Peoria and the price was $429.88. Hoping people will read about this author and maybe try her books. Here is what the ad looks like.
I will keep you posted on my sales and see if this ad helps. I am writing this to help other authors who are new and trying to get thier books out. I hope my mistakes will help all of you. 7/25/2015
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just an update: This ad didn't seem to help with any sales. So the question still remains. How does an indi author get their books out to the public. 8/8/2015
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I tried an Event - The first part of the Event is for my book SOMETIMES LOVE HURTS to be FREE on Amazon for 3 days. Here is the results:
Tuesday Aug 11 - 689 Free books bought
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #673 Free in Kindle Store
#2 in Kindle Store-Relationships- Love & Romance
#27 in Kindle Store- Religious & Inspirational Fiction- Romance
Wednesday Aug 12 - 1610 FREE EBooks bought.
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #141 Free in Kindle Store
#1 in Kindle Store > Relationships > Love & Romance
#4 in Kindle Store > Religious & Inspirational Fiction > Romance
Thursday Aug 13 - 1941FREE EBooks bought. Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #252 Free in Kindle Store
#2 in Kindle Store > Relationships > Love & Romance
#7 in Kindle Store > Religious & Inspirational Fiction >
With a total of 2096 E Books given away.
The next part of this Event is for reviews to be written by Sept 12 for a chance to win. I have made up a couple of T Shirts - Coffee Cups- Paper Back Books.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just an update: This ad didn't seem to help with any sales. So the question still remains. How does an indi author get their books out to the public. 8/8/2015
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I tried an Event - The first part of the Event is for my book SOMETIMES LOVE HURTS to be FREE on Amazon for 3 days. Here is the results:
Tuesday Aug 11 - 689 Free books bought
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #673 Free in Kindle Store
#2 in Kindle Store-Relationships- Love & Romance
#27 in Kindle Store- Religious & Inspirational Fiction- Romance
Wednesday Aug 12 - 1610 FREE EBooks bought.
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #141 Free in Kindle Store
#1 in Kindle Store > Relationships > Love & Romance
#4 in Kindle Store > Religious & Inspirational Fiction > Romance
Thursday Aug 13 - 1941FREE EBooks bought. Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #252 Free in Kindle Store
#2 in Kindle Store > Relationships > Love & Romance
#7 in Kindle Store > Religious & Inspirational Fiction >
With a total of 2096 E Books given away.
The next part of this Event is for reviews to be written by Sept 12 for a chance to win. I have made up a couple of T Shirts - Coffee Cups- Paper Back Books.
|
|
So far about 4 reveiws have been writeen. We will see how this goes. 08/23/2015
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well you writers out there, I have to say it is hard for me to get a literary agent to take me on. So I have to get more inventive on selling my work and publicity to get my books out to the public.
My newest plan is to take advantage of FACEBOOK and the lovely people who like to help us authors promote books.
First I have my own event on my Facebook page to get 1,500 likes.
Here is what I wrote: To Celebrate Hitting 1,500 Likes! I am giving away
3 signed paper backs – 1 coffee cup – plus more
ONE WINNER GETS ALL
What to do? Like my Author page and comment below on your favorite book. (Make sure you check them out. Links below.) and here is where I put down the sites to my Amazon pages.
I started this on January 15, 2016 and so far I have received 92 likes to my website - 173 likes to this post - 88 shares - 143 comments. Since I am only at 1,321 likes on my Facebook page I will have this out for a while. I also have been promoting by sponsoring/ boost post with Facebook. I will have to let you know how long this takes. Today is 01/25/16. We will watch the calendar.
I also am using help from Vicki Rose Plantinum Events. I have joined a couple of her events for the month of February. I also have joined an event with Chelsea Crumbaush with her multi author events. I am hoping that between all of this for the month of February I will gain more readers.
I also put my E books prices down to .99 cents each for this next month and a half to hopefully find more willing readers to purchase and read my books. The second day I put the books price down I sold 27 books. I will see if this helps to find more readers. Jan. 25, 2016
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Today Feb 15, 2016 I finally made my goal. I received 1,509 likes on my Facebook page - 291 likes on my post - 151 shares of this post - and 255 comments. I am so thrilled to give this gift away. I also decided to run a quick Flash Giveaway. So I wrote: HERE IS A LITTLE BONUS!!! The next 10 people who reply to this one I will send you one of my E books. Which one do you want? I thought it would be a good idea since people were checking out my site looking to see if there was a winner or not. I ended up giving away more like 15-20 E books. But that is good. It will help to see if these people like my book good enough to purchase a new one. Also I spent a total of $20 during that time to have my Facebook event sponsored. I spent $5 the first day which was for 4 days. Than I would pay one dollar at a time here and there to help get my Facebook Page out to an audience that I didn't know. My next idea is asking for reviews. I put one more little Flash Giveaway for reviews. I am giving from today 2/16/19 to 2/24/16 for a review on any of my E books which they have to put down the name of the book they reviewed. We will see how this works. 02/16/2016
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So as I continue to reach out to readers I decided to enter a lot of Facebook Events.
On Feb 6 I entered Vicki Rose Event Plantinum Event- Exciting Enchantment Childrens & YA Mulit Author Book Celebration and gave away 2 signed copies of The Silver Locket and an E copy set of The Silver Locket, A Struggle of the Heart and Sometimes Love Hurts.
On Feb 9 I was in Chelsea Crumbaush event Love Your Author and gave away a $10 CG with a free E book of A Struggle of the Heart - plus a $5 CG with a free E book of A Struggle of the Heart and last a $5 CG.
On Feb 15 I was in Book Rhythn LLC Love is in the air and gave away Coffee cup and signed paper back The Silver Locket.
On Feb 19 I was in February Fun Multi Genre Multi Author online Party with Vicki Rose for my book A Struggle of the Heart and first prize was coasters with a signed Paper back, second prize was T shirt with a signed Paper back and third was a Coffee cup with a signed Paper back.
On Feb 27 Southern Charms with Kitty Grim to help out an author AE Kloos and the winner received E book Sometimes Love Hurts and $5 GC.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On March 9 I put on an Event for my Book Sometimes Love Hurts. Here is the link if you want to see what I did. https://www.facebook.com/events/478291032368858/ With this event I gave away 6 signed paper back books= a T shirt - a Coffee cup- and two $10 GC and one $5 GC.
It is not an easy process to get your book out without a literary agent but I am trying hard to get my books out to the reading world. 3/10/16
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On March 16 I had an event for Rosemary & Antonio sponsored by Eating Between The Lines. Here is the link https://www.facebook.com/events/1651453748449634/ for this event. Crystal Hernandez is the sponsor for this one. This event didn't go as I planned. I only sold like 3 books. I gave away a T shirt, coffee cup, signed paper back and $10 gift card. Back to the drawing board.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vicki Rose made a suggestion: Thunderclap. Never heard of this myself but I am trying this. Here is what she wrote. Please support the Thunderclap for the fabulous Marie Fostino! All it takes to support an author is simply a one-time social media post!
Thank you!
(Please share, as well:) Here is the link for the Thunderclap: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/39346-new-romance-by-marie-fostino On April 8 to all the people that supported this event it will post a message to Facebook with a link to purchase my book Rosemary & Antonio. We will see how this works. 3/28/16
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The thunderclap.it I ended up having 127 of 100 supporters - giving me social reach of 333,070 people and on April 8 at 7pm this advertisement went on Facebook to all these supporters. As of today, I still have not made any sales off this. UGH 4/9/16
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have written a new book called The Power of the Babbling Brook. I decided to try something new to get attention to it. I made a post with the picture of the book and the words 'Share this post for a chance to win a $10 Amazon Gift Card.' Not only did I share it but I sponsored it for $3.00. I also shared it on many of the book clubs I am on. According to Facebook I had 86 engagements - reached 309 people through the sponsoring of it. After adding that I put it on the book clubs and others shared this post - reached 1,211 people - 52 shares - 45 comments. The comments were the people who were also sharing. In that time I only sold one book. This cost me a total of $13 with no results.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well you writers out there, I have to say it is hard for me to get a literary agent to take me on. So I have to get more inventive on selling my work and publicity to get my books out to the public.
My newest plan is to take advantage of FACEBOOK and the lovely people who like to help us authors promote books.
First I have my own event on my Facebook page to get 1,500 likes.
Here is what I wrote: To Celebrate Hitting 1,500 Likes! I am giving away
3 signed paper backs – 1 coffee cup – plus more
ONE WINNER GETS ALL
What to do? Like my Author page and comment below on your favorite book. (Make sure you check them out. Links below.) and here is where I put down the sites to my Amazon pages.
I started this on January 15, 2016 and so far I have received 92 likes to my website - 173 likes to this post - 88 shares - 143 comments. Since I am only at 1,321 likes on my Facebook page I will have this out for a while. I also have been promoting by sponsoring/ boost post with Facebook. I will have to let you know how long this takes. Today is 01/25/16. We will watch the calendar.
I also am using help from Vicki Rose Plantinum Events. I have joined a couple of her events for the month of February. I also have joined an event with Chelsea Crumbaush with her multi author events. I am hoping that between all of this for the month of February I will gain more readers.
I also put my E books prices down to .99 cents each for this next month and a half to hopefully find more willing readers to purchase and read my books. The second day I put the books price down I sold 27 books. I will see if this helps to find more readers. Jan. 25, 2016
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Today Feb 15, 2016 I finally made my goal. I received 1,509 likes on my Facebook page - 291 likes on my post - 151 shares of this post - and 255 comments. I am so thrilled to give this gift away. I also decided to run a quick Flash Giveaway. So I wrote: HERE IS A LITTLE BONUS!!! The next 10 people who reply to this one I will send you one of my E books. Which one do you want? I thought it would be a good idea since people were checking out my site looking to see if there was a winner or not. I ended up giving away more like 15-20 E books. But that is good. It will help to see if these people like my book good enough to purchase a new one. Also I spent a total of $20 during that time to have my Facebook event sponsored. I spent $5 the first day which was for 4 days. Than I would pay one dollar at a time here and there to help get my Facebook Page out to an audience that I didn't know. My next idea is asking for reviews. I put one more little Flash Giveaway for reviews. I am giving from today 2/16/19 to 2/24/16 for a review on any of my E books which they have to put down the name of the book they reviewed. We will see how this works. 02/16/2016
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So as I continue to reach out to readers I decided to enter a lot of Facebook Events.
On Feb 6 I entered Vicki Rose Event Plantinum Event- Exciting Enchantment Childrens & YA Mulit Author Book Celebration and gave away 2 signed copies of The Silver Locket and an E copy set of The Silver Locket, A Struggle of the Heart and Sometimes Love Hurts.
On Feb 9 I was in Chelsea Crumbaush event Love Your Author and gave away a $10 CG with a free E book of A Struggle of the Heart - plus a $5 CG with a free E book of A Struggle of the Heart and last a $5 CG.
On Feb 15 I was in Book Rhythn LLC Love is in the air and gave away Coffee cup and signed paper back The Silver Locket.
On Feb 19 I was in February Fun Multi Genre Multi Author online Party with Vicki Rose for my book A Struggle of the Heart and first prize was coasters with a signed Paper back, second prize was T shirt with a signed Paper back and third was a Coffee cup with a signed Paper back.
On Feb 27 Southern Charms with Kitty Grim to help out an author AE Kloos and the winner received E book Sometimes Love Hurts and $5 GC.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On March 9 I put on an Event for my Book Sometimes Love Hurts. Here is the link if you want to see what I did. https://www.facebook.com/events/478291032368858/ With this event I gave away 6 signed paper back books= a T shirt - a Coffee cup- and two $10 GC and one $5 GC.
It is not an easy process to get your book out without a literary agent but I am trying hard to get my books out to the reading world. 3/10/16
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On March 16 I had an event for Rosemary & Antonio sponsored by Eating Between The Lines. Here is the link https://www.facebook.com/events/1651453748449634/ for this event. Crystal Hernandez is the sponsor for this one. This event didn't go as I planned. I only sold like 3 books. I gave away a T shirt, coffee cup, signed paper back and $10 gift card. Back to the drawing board.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vicki Rose made a suggestion: Thunderclap. Never heard of this myself but I am trying this. Here is what she wrote. Please support the Thunderclap for the fabulous Marie Fostino! All it takes to support an author is simply a one-time social media post!
Thank you!
(Please share, as well:) Here is the link for the Thunderclap: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/39346-new-romance-by-marie-fostino On April 8 to all the people that supported this event it will post a message to Facebook with a link to purchase my book Rosemary & Antonio. We will see how this works. 3/28/16
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The thunderclap.it I ended up having 127 of 100 supporters - giving me social reach of 333,070 people and on April 8 at 7pm this advertisement went on Facebook to all these supporters. As of today, I still have not made any sales off this. UGH 4/9/16
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have written a new book called The Power of the Babbling Brook. I decided to try something new to get attention to it. I made a post with the picture of the book and the words 'Share this post for a chance to win a $10 Amazon Gift Card.' Not only did I share it but I sponsored it for $3.00. I also shared it on many of the book clubs I am on. According to Facebook I had 86 engagements - reached 309 people through the sponsoring of it. After adding that I put it on the book clubs and others shared this post - reached 1,211 people - 52 shares - 45 comments. The comments were the people who were also sharing. In that time I only sold one book. This cost me a total of $13 with no results.
October 7,2016
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am trying a new site called "On Line Book Club". This site is suppose to help you get honest reviews on your book. Of course it costs money and they have 4 levels to pick from. I picked the cheapest level. Level 1 review - $48 -Includes 1 week featured status -Access to premium technical support -Average turnaround: 4 months. Level 2 is $98 - Level 3 is $197 - Level 4 is $297. I will let you know how this works. I already have 4 reviews on my newest book but I thought I would try this to see if it will get me more readers. Here is the link if you are interested : http://forums.onlinebookclub.org/authors/request-new-review.php 11/19/16
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next thing I did was put a Christmas Idea on Facebook. Pick any one of my books and in this pretty wrapping they will receive a Christmas cup, cappuccino, chocolate bar along with a book. Your cost $15. Shipping priority mail $13.46. US only. I only sold few.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am trying a new site called "On Line Book Club". This site is suppose to help you get honest reviews on your book. Of course it costs money and they have 4 levels to pick from. I picked the cheapest level. Level 1 review - $48 -Includes 1 week featured status -Access to premium technical support -Average turnaround: 4 months. Level 2 is $98 - Level 3 is $197 - Level 4 is $297. I will let you know how this works. I already have 4 reviews on my newest book but I thought I would try this to see if it will get me more readers. Here is the link if you are interested : http://forums.onlinebookclub.org/authors/request-new-review.php 11/19/16
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next thing I did was put a Christmas Idea on Facebook. Pick any one of my books and in this pretty wrapping they will receive a Christmas cup, cappuccino, chocolate bar along with a book. Your cost $15. Shipping priority mail $13.46. US only. I only sold few.
12/17/16 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
www.facebook.com/events/1888605638064347/
So today is 5/13/17. I had another event. Thought I would try it again. I gave it 3 weeks to get it noticed. A total of 2133 guests were invited. 93 joined and 43 were interested. Yet on the day of the event 8 guests showed up on time for the event. A few more came when it was over. I gave away some wonderful gifts but I didn't get the response I wanted to. My reason for this event was so that my Amazon Book Site would get all over Facebook so new readers can see my books. But for that contest only 3 tried for the big prize which included all 6 of my books, coffee mug, $10 Starbucks card & candy. |
With this event I gave away $5 Amazon GC for inviting at least 100 guests. They got a chance for a signed paper back, coffee mug, Starbucks GC and candy for purchasing a E book. Ten books were bought. They got a chance for a signed paper back, coffee mug, Starbucks GC and candy for putting up a review. Seven reviews were put on Amazon. They also got a chance for a E book on all five of my books. I hope this helps you.
=========================================================================
=========================================================================
6I tried another Book Contest and I was excited and surprised to see that I won a Gold Medal Award in the Literary Fiction for my book 'What's Your Poison.' 6/1/19
===========================================================================
Well I decided to write another book. It is hard to believe that I have written 8 books so far. This one is called THE VOYAGE. I had this book edited and decided to do what I always try to do look for a literary agent. I started out with queries, dates 6/14/19 - 8/24/19. I sent out 61 all together. They were at different times. I started out with 20 and as I would get a rejection I would send out another one.
ONE AGENT WROTE: Thank you for the opportunity to read the first three chapters of your novel, The Voyage. After reading through the chapters I have decided we will pass on your novel. The chapters lacked a fixed point of view, fell into backstory or tell several times, and was filled with passive passages.
ONE AGENT WROTE: Your query has been received and will be reviewed by our team. If you don't hear from us within one month, it means that we will be passing on your work.
MANY AGENTS WROTE: Thank you for your query. We appreciate the opportunity to review your submission. Due to the volume of submissions we receive, we will respond only if we are interested in requesting more material. If you have not received a request from us within 12 weeks, consider that we have passed.
ONE AGENT WROTE: Thanks so much for the chance to consider your work, but I'm afraid I'm going to step aside. Sorry this wasn't for me and I wish you the best of luck finding a home for your work.
ONE AGENT WROTE: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read the beginning of your novel. While your plot is moving, I'm afraid I just didn't fall in love with the writing in these pages, so must regretfully pass.
ONE AGENT WROTE: Thank you so much for giving me a chance to consider your project. I've read your query and your sample pages, and unfortunately this doesn't feel like the right project for me at this time. I'm so sorry, but this is a pass for me.
ONE AGENT WROTE: Thank you so much for giving me the chance to review this proposal. I am
afraid I am going to pass on this one. I simply felt the story seemed to be trying to take on too much and I feel the story would lack the focus I am looking for.
Well I don't think I need to go on. You get the picture. Writers are a dime a dozen. Some Indi writers have such wonderful books that I have read and I can't figure out how come they are not on the top 100 list of books. But it all comes down to marketing.
Any way I wrote and self published another book. I am trying again with limited income to get this book out in the reading world for enjoyment. Wish me luck!!
Well I decided to write another book. It is hard to believe that I have written 8 books so far. This one is called THE VOYAGE. I had this book edited and decided to do what I always try to do look for a literary agent. I started out with queries, dates 6/14/19 - 8/24/19. I sent out 61 all together. They were at different times. I started out with 20 and as I would get a rejection I would send out another one.
ONE AGENT WROTE: Thank you for the opportunity to read the first three chapters of your novel, The Voyage. After reading through the chapters I have decided we will pass on your novel. The chapters lacked a fixed point of view, fell into backstory or tell several times, and was filled with passive passages.
ONE AGENT WROTE: Your query has been received and will be reviewed by our team. If you don't hear from us within one month, it means that we will be passing on your work.
MANY AGENTS WROTE: Thank you for your query. We appreciate the opportunity to review your submission. Due to the volume of submissions we receive, we will respond only if we are interested in requesting more material. If you have not received a request from us within 12 weeks, consider that we have passed.
ONE AGENT WROTE: Thanks so much for the chance to consider your work, but I'm afraid I'm going to step aside. Sorry this wasn't for me and I wish you the best of luck finding a home for your work.
ONE AGENT WROTE: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read the beginning of your novel. While your plot is moving, I'm afraid I just didn't fall in love with the writing in these pages, so must regretfully pass.
ONE AGENT WROTE: Thank you so much for giving me a chance to consider your project. I've read your query and your sample pages, and unfortunately this doesn't feel like the right project for me at this time. I'm so sorry, but this is a pass for me.
ONE AGENT WROTE: Thank you so much for giving me the chance to review this proposal. I am
afraid I am going to pass on this one. I simply felt the story seemed to be trying to take on too much and I feel the story would lack the focus I am looking for.
Well I don't think I need to go on. You get the picture. Writers are a dime a dozen. Some Indi writers have such wonderful books that I have read and I can't figure out how come they are not on the top 100 list of books. But it all comes down to marketing.
Any way I wrote and self published another book. I am trying again with limited income to get this book out in the reading world for enjoyment. Wish me luck!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have tried hard to get viewers to read and review my books. On May 16,2020 I had a release party.
Thirty four people signed up to go but only maybe seven showed up. I played all kinds of games and gave away lots of prizes. At the end I had a BONUS prize. A Paper Back Book, A Coffee Cup and a $20. All they had to do was purchase a book. Ten people bought an E-book.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On May 29, I tried something different. I put up a post that said 'Tell me how many years you have been married for a FREE e-copy of this book. THE VOYAGE' I paid and boosted this for a few days. 1,652 people looked at it with 372 engagements. I gave away a lot of E-books. Since than I have only gotton about 3 reviews. Total I have 15 reviews so far.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I called the newspaper here in town called West Valley View. I wanted to pay for an ad for my book. To my surprise they were interested in being a local author and the fact that I have written 8 books so far. On June 10, 2020 they put out this article. At this time I have another book with my editor and working on book #10.
Today 7/25/2020 - So I have been working to get my new book PLUME OF FIRE out to readers. It doesn't come out until August 12 and I have it available for pre-sale. Of course I have posted that many times on Facebook. No response. I tried putting an ad on Amazon which was rejecred: 'Amazon will not promote my new SCIENCE FICTION BOOK. QUOTE: Please note that the ad contains a book that is temporarily restricted from advertising. To ensure a good customer experience, we will not be able to allow books/ad content related to sensitive events such as natural disasters, human-caused disasters, health emergencies, incidents of mass drama, or the death of public figures.' So I am trying to think outside the box. If someone PM's me and wants the book I am purchasing them a GC from Amazon and they can purchase the book which will go onto their kindle on August 12. It is working as I have over 60 sales in the last 3 days which I bought most of. But I am trying to have 500 bought before August 12. We will see how this works.
It is 7/28/2020 and so far I have 107 pre- purchases of my book. This is the most I have ever seen in just 6 days. I am hoping to get more and maybe when the book is available and comes out on their kindles, there will be a buzz about it and more people will want to read it. We will see how this test goes.
On Aug 12/ 113 there were 198 sales on this book. I will admit I bought a lot of them. Today which is 8/26/2020 there is 224 books bought with 25 reviews already on Amazon. For someone like me this is exciting. But I am really trying to make this a top seller on Amazon. I am not even close yet. I sent out 13 press releases last Sunday to 12 different papers in different states. I am not sure if they will print anything and no one has written back. Just want to keep you all updated.
Today August 28 - I have enlisted to go on Amazon count down to help sell this book. I am also going on a on line book signing tomorrow. Wish me luck. At the moment 228 books are sold. Will let you know how this goes.
On August 31 / September 1 there was 235 books Amazon said was sold. I have to say that I helped with the sales purchasing gift cards for them to purchase the book. Today is 9/3/2020 and there are 37 ratings on this book. It reads 4.5 out of 5. Of those ratings are 35 reviews. As of today only 5 books have been bought. I am not sure what the secret is to getting a book as a BEST seller. I am a crazy woman and sent a letter and book to Stephen Spielberg and The New York Times. I put a book in a book store called Changing Hands. Only they will only start with one book at a time.
On September 3, 4, & 5th I put out query letters again letting the agents know that this book is out, how many have been sold so far and how many reviews I have on them and asking them if they were interested.
On September 12, I made up 300 post cards with my new book on them and went to shopping centers and put them on 300 cars.
On September 12, I made up 300 post cards with my new book on them and went to shopping centers and put them on 300 cars.
ON LINE BOOK CLUB - Official Review: Plume of Fire by Marie Fostino Post by Saint Bruno » 02 Oct 2020, 17:15
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Plume of Fire" by Marie Fostino.]
4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
The Creator is disappointed in the people of the world! Why couldn't humans love one another? Instead of love and goodness, they spread destruction and hate amongst themselves. Humans didn't seem to understand that the new virus that caused the death of about two-thirds of the world's population in 2020 was a warning. It was a warning for them to turn from their wicked ways!
Fast forward to 2022, Sarah Taylor is one of the survivors of the pandemic. She lived alone in one of the districts created by the government until Ricky sneaked into her garden one morning, seeking food and shelter. Moved with compassion, Sarah decides to allow Ricky to live with her. One fateful day, an alien appears to Sarah and Ricky and warns them of the Creator's plan to destroy Earth unless people changed their evil ways. Hence, Sarah and Ricky set out to inform the government of the alien's warning. However, they soon discover they have to fight for their lives as their message upsets the people in power.
Plume of Fire by Marie Fostino is an intriguing dystopian fantasy book that is easy to recommend. I am sure you will understand why I think so if you read this review to the end. Once I started reading this book, I just couldn't put it down. Thank goodness, it only had 160 pages in it. Ms. Fostino uses the third-person point of view to tell the entire story, which made me feel I was witnessing simultaneous events in the book from a vantage point.
The author's writing style is praiseworthy, and I enjoyed how smoothly the story flowed. Also, Ms. Fostino's descriptions left clear pictures on my mind due to her excellent use of vivid imagery. Though the backstories provided for most of the characters were short, I enjoyed how this made the book concise. More so, I liked how distinct and life-like each character was. I couldn't believe how much I feared for Sarah and Ricky's safety. I even fell in love with Sarah due to how brave and determined she was all through the book.
What I liked the most about this book is its message of love. The author's intention to bring some societal ills like rape, aggression, and covetousness to light in this book is clear. However, she also reminds us of the need to love and care for one another, which is how the Creator wants us to live on Earth. The author's message is most evident in Sarah's compassion and aptitude to do good despite others doing otherwise.
Furthermore, I enjoyed the author's impeccable worldbuilding ability. She was able to give detailed descriptions of a world ravaged by a pandemic. She makes the book relatable by using known locations in the United States. Also, it was easy for me to relate the virus in this book to the coronavirus of today, which the world is still battling to contain.
In conclusion, I am glad to rate Plume of Fire 4 out of 4 stars. And like I said earlier, it is easy to recommend. It helps that the book is professionally edited, with few typos, and devoid of profanities. Though Christians will find this book most suitable due to some biblical references in it, I think readers who enjoy fantasy stories will find this title intriguing.
Sent a book and a letter to Josh Radnor. He is an actor and makes movies. 10/8/2020
I have a billboard on a street here in Phoenix, Az. 40th St & Indian School. 10/10/2020
I have to say that having that billboard did not make up any sales. It cost me around 1,300.00 when it was all said and done. I have also wrote a few letters to people about my new book trying to get it noticed. I wrote one to Oliva Fierro, she helps people and show their books on TV, so I gave her a book. I sent a letter to Paul Lucas. I also sent a book to Josh Radnor, he likes to enter films in Sundance Film Festival. As of today 11/15/2020 I have sold 217 books. And a lot of them I bought and gave away.
I got an interview with Suzanne Lynn Cheesman on Triangle Spotlight. It cost $300.00 for this radio broadcast. Here is the live link: "Plume of Fire" by Marie Fostino - YouTube