First Love Blog Hop January 14 – February 14

Blog hops are a great way for authors to give back to their readers and fans by offering some type of giveaway. Many authors offer signed copies of their books, but you can win anything from gift cards, to free ebooks and print books, to Kindle ereaders.

Each author (I'm one) participating in the blog hop will be offering some type of giveaway on his or her site, so you'll want to make sure and visit ALL the sites to see what goodies are out there. To win a Free ebook copy of THE PRINE CHARMING HOAX, just comment on the blog post announcing the giveaway at Elyse Grant.

In addition to what each author is offering, the Book Lovers Blog Hop is also offering several grand prizes—including a Kindle ereader—just for participating in the Hop with tweets, Facebook posts, book purchases, and more. Ready? Get started now at the First Love Blog Hop and Giveaway.

Yes, It's as simple as that. Have fun!

2013 is the Year of the Reader

Happy New Year! Have you been reading the glut of publishing predictions being posted on blogs and Facebook? Have you set any publishing goals for 2013 based on what you've read?

Those of you who have been a subscriber for a while may remember that I like to christen each year with a theme:

I called 2009 the "Year of the Author" and predicted that indie publishing was about to take off, similar to the Wild West Gold Rush. 2010 was dubbed "A Publishing Odyssey," and I predicted that wagons were not nearly fast enough and spaceships were recommended to keep up with the changing publishing environment. 2011 and 2012 were "free for alls," with predictions that we were headed into an "anything goes" climate, and that the most adventurous authors would be rewarded.

All of that and more did come to pass in the rise of self-publishing, explosion in ebook production, outstanding success for more than a handful of indie authors, cross-over of traditionally published authors to indie authors, and more.

I think the boom has peaked, and the crazy "no rules" atmosphere has settled down. I predict that Amazon will finally begin to see some serious competition from other book distributors, and it's time to start to get back to basics with our publishing strategies.

The key to publishing success in 2013 is to get readers for your book. There are so many books on the market now that you simply cannot leave discovery to chance. Having a core group of readers who will support you and recommend your work to others will be the marker of the successful author in 2013, The Year of the Reader.

Here's what I'll be doing to build my readership:

• Focus my efforts of being where book readers are found. You probably know there are social networks just for book lovers: Goodreads, Shelfari, Scribd, Wattpad, and more. I'm going to concentrate on Goodreads first, then expand to the others.
• Contact book bloggers and reviewers who will read my book and post reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, their blogs, and more.
• Use book giveaways on Goodreads to promote the launch of the print edition of THE PRINCE CHARMING HOAX on February 14, 2013.
• Make my book available to readers' groups and myself available at group meetings via Skype.
• Expand my ebook availability to Nook, iBookstore, Kobo, and other markets when my KDP Select program expires at the end of January.
• Partner with other authors to cross-promote our books to each other's audiences via blog tours, virtual events, and more.
• Write more books for my happy readers to read!

I'm sure other ideas and activities will emerge, but I am committed to making 2013 the Year of MY Reader!

To Your Publishing Success in 2013 and beyond!