Mimi Barbour

Author

Step #6 of author Mimi Barbour’s thirteen promotional steps

By 3 Comments

***

Great news to share…I just found out that “Together for Christmas” my favorite book has finalled in the Gayle Wilson Contest. The winner will be announced on April 1st. I’m estatic and scared silly cause the others in my genre are good authors and have wonderful books. Oh well, may the best man win! ….sigh! What else can one say?? lol
 

Amazon

Step 6. Romance sites –
About this time I went crazy looking for as many romance sites as I could find.
I signed up for Coffee Time Romance, All Romance, Novel Sisterhood, Love Romance Café, Rites of
Romance Reviews, Authors Den, Book Rix, you name it – I’m there. And I
determined that they all have one thing in common. If you don’t interact often,
they just won’t be of much help – and sadly, so much to do – so little time!

Once my first book “She’s Me” (free today at the Wild Rose Press) was
to be published, I started to think about advertising and asked for names of
places that would best suit my needs as an author who wanted to get out in
front of as many people as possible.  I
was told to try Coffee Time because the people there were very helpful, and
when you’re starting out knowing less than…”ahh nothing”, then I
needed all the help I could get. Heck, I did’t even know what WIP or LOL stood for. Now that’s green!

Turned out to be good
advice for me at the time. I learned how to write a blog about my book, send my
cover art, and find my way through the mind-boggling realms of a romance site.
It forced me to come up with a bio and even made me sit down long enough to let
my husband take my photo, (yuck) one that I’ve used over and over again and I
suppose should now be updated (probably won’t happen!!)


The few dollars I
spent getting educated in this way was well worth it. I don’t know about you
all, but the finer intricacies of getting around the web scared the poop out of
me, and by working with those lovely ladies, and having their support and
guidance, it made the all the difference.

Eventually, I moved on
to some of the other sites as mentioned above. And it got easier and easier to
fill in their profiles, upload my books, and sign up for interviews, etc.  But I must thank those gals for
taking a newbie under their wing and being so darn nice. 

Some of the sites I listed above also have Yahoo loops where authors can join and interact with others in the profession. Over the yars, I’ve found out more information than I can ever mention on these loops, and if you’re an Indie Author, then by all means go and sign on to Indie Romance Ink or Indie Book Collective. You won’t be sorry.

If any of you readers have other suggestions for someone starting out, or that might be helpful for any author or reader, please comment and share. I have to admit, it’s been through interacting with friends that I’ve gotten my best information.

My updated cover – see the old one on the sidebar…what do you think?

Amazon $2.99
I’ve just signed onto a new promotion for My Cheeky Angel with the Indie Book Collective which will be starting around March 12th to the 20th. It’ll be a blast, lots of prizes and free books. If you’d like to participate, go to Free Par-tay and sign up for their newsletter. Also, I will update you more as the time gets closer.
One of the requirements I need for this promo to be successful is more reviews. I have 10 at the present and I need 20…..so if any of you have a few spare moments to read My Cheeky Angel and write a review, I’ll be happy to send you a complimentary copy. Just e-mail me at mimibarbour@hotmail.com
** If you’d like to know more about the story, click on the Angels with Attitudes button above and  there’s be a back-page blurb and an excerpt available.

***

Do your characters make you suffer from insomnia like author, Toby Neal?

By 59 Comments

 ****

Welcome to my blog Toby. I loved your post about insomnia, and must say I have experienced it quite often myself. Mind you, I don’t recall having to terrorize one of my poor characters into making them even crazier, but then again, maybe I should. It could add a new element to my one of my angel stories!!

How lucky can you get living in Hawaii!!??
I wanna be you…

Toby Neal was raised on Kauai in Hawaii. She wrote and illustrated her first story at age 5 and has been published in magazines and won several writing contests. After initially majoring in Journalism, she eventually settled on mental health as a career and loves her work, saying, “I’m endlessly fascinated with people’s stories.” She enjoys many outdoor sports including bodyboarding, scuba diving, beach walking, gardening and hiking. She lives in Hawaii with her family and dogs. Toby credits her counseling background in adding depth to her characters–from the villains to Lei Texeira, the courageous and vulnerable heroine in the Lei Crime Series.

Last night I had insomnia. This is not all
that unusual; as a ‘thinker’ I am unduly burdened by brain processing, and I’d
been knocked out all last week by a cold and resulting cold medicine, and last
night was the first time I went to bed without chemical help. Even so I did an
afternoon workout hoping to be too tired for the ol’ sleeplessness to come
back.

Didn’t work. At around 2 a.m. I woke up
(unable to see clock without my glasses, and putting them on is admitting the
insomnia is really bad, so the time remains a fuzzy red figment in the dark)
and was plagued by the sense that the bad guy in my sequel is just not scary
enough.

Creepy, yes. Disturbing. The potential for
a great deal of gore is also there, which I’ve handled with buckets, tarps and
scene cutaways (I tend to be of the suggestive rather than explicit school when
it comes to violence) and he’s nicely crazed with a well developed pathology.
Even so, he’s just not ‘popping’ for me… and if it’s not working for me it’s
definitely not going to be working for readers.

So in my insomniac bed I thought of an old
standby suspense technique—the ticking clock. I had it in there, but an early
death of the victim sort of killed it (ha! Pun!) and so today I did what I have
to do to keep track of time—printed out a calendar of the month, stretched out
the timeline and extended hope for the hopeless. I gave the victim a clear
expiration date that the reader knows and Detective Leilani Texeira doesn’t,
and had the guy who, in the original, lay in a coma and was peacefully
slaughtered, wake up and demand to know what the hell was going on.

And suddenly, the story’s scary. Urgent. A
date at the top of each chapter begins a new day and reminds you the dude in
the cave is going to buy it if Lei doesn’t get off her toned ass and out of the
pool with the hot developer  and track
down the madman.

I
feel a heady power— I can manipulate time! I can bring back the dead, and
invent entire bureaucracies! I can just freakin’ make stuff up, and when it
doesn’t work, I can completely change it!

 I
love being a writer. Even the insomnia—when it amounts to something useful.
Unfortunately sometimes I forget the brilliant ideas I have in that effortless
gray between sleeping and awake.

Do you have insomnia? How do you handle it,
and what usually brings it on?

Free today as a Promotion so get a copy now!!! 
Torch Ginger, the sequel to Blood Orchids, will be released May 2012.

Visit Toby at her website and follow her on twitter and facebook
*~*~*
For this Leap into Books Blog Hop I will be happy to present the lucky winner with a $10 Amazon Gift certificate. All you need to do is leave a comment with your e-mail address. And, I’ll be adding your names to my newsletter list, so I hope you won’t mind getting a periodic letter from me telling of new releases and special news!

Giveaway Hop – Leap into Books

****

Step #4 of author Mimi Barbour’s thirteen promotional steps

By 3 Comments

****

4.
Facebook – Does it work? Are there authors who don’t have a Facebook fan page? Not sure that I get a
lot of sales through this forum, but I must tell you, it is a great way to keep
in touch with others. Just wish I had more time to spend there.

p.s. if you want to like me here…please…please do!!

My
truth about Facebook

What
can I say that hasn’t already been said about this phenomenon?  It is what it is!  A way to find old friends, a way to stay in touch with new ones
and a way to track what your kids are up to….!?? (wink!) As
for an author who has several things to do every minute of the day trying to
produce the next bestseller, spending time playing on facebook seems just…
well… naughty.


I’d
love to go there and like and comment on other’s posts, get caught up in what
is happening in my friend’s lives, but whenever I do so, I know I should be
writing and the guilt builds. So many other things seem to take priority. But maybe I’m the idiot who’s passing up the best way to let readers know about my great stories…..what do I know? I must also mention that there are two pages attached to Facebook. The Fan page and the regular page. All the action seems to be happening on the regular one, but of course that’s where the bulk of people have friended me since the beginning.


Every
once in a while, I do post information. But it’s almost always about the
job…about a new blog, or a colleague’s book, or my own. Then I feel like a jerk
because I’m using this media solely for promo stuff and not to be linking up
with friends and touching them.

I
asked my husband (who has never used facebook) about his views.  He had two things to say. 


1.
People don’t want to be left out.  – How
accurate is that? Personally, I know many friends who can’t stand to miss
anything that might have been written while they were away from the computer.
It’s a bit sad in a way. Even worse, they worry that they don’t have as many
friends or post as many photos or have as much to say as others.


2. He
then added that he thought it was an “I” thing. That rang true for
me…and maybe it’s why I don’t tend to get on there as much as I could. Because
whenever I do, it’s all about me – my books and my career. If I can’t interact
properly with family and friends, pay attention to their lives, then I feel
sort of bad about slapping my advertising in front of them all the time…so I
don’t.


Now,
having blathered on about my feelings, I must also add a truth here that should
embarrass me to admit. I’ve never really understood Facebook and how it truly
works. I know there are stats a person can follow up on, ways to advertise,
groups we can follow, and a whole lot more, but I’ve never had the time or
energy to try and learn how this all works. In fact, I’d sincerely welcome
anyone who reads this blog to contact me at mimi@mimibarbour.com
and offer to write a post about Facebook for me to put here on Believe! In this
way I could follow up on my lack of knowledge and so could my followers.
Amazon $2.99
Excerpt:
(Chapter Thirteen)
     Ten minutes after Annie arrived at her apartment exhausted, weepy,
and cranky, Tyler knocked his unique rap. She rose slowly from her prone
position on the sofa, went to open the door, and leaned on it.
     Just looking at him banished her blues.
He started talking before she could say a word. “Hi! Long time no see! I got
your call, but you’d left already when I tried to return it. Baby doll, you
look like someone who’s been working way too hard.”
     Flutters of apprehensive dissolved, and
she smiled thankfully. Her old buddy stood there. “It has gone way past working
hard. We’re moving into unmitigated insanity around the office. I’ve wanted to
stop by and visit, but every night as I get home, all I can think of is my
bed.”
     “Too tired to date your Latin lover?”
     “Latin lover? Oh, you mean Sergio. I
haven’t seen him since the first time we went out, and I won’t be seeing him
again. Appears he has the knack of picking out naïve idiots and misusing them.
I thought he was special. Funny, my memories of our date are blurred, sorta
mixed up, but they make me feel so… Oh, I don’t know!” She shuddered, a
movement both visible and telling. “Goes to show you, my judgment of men is
flawed—or should we say nonexistent.” She sighed long and deep, then scrunched
her face as she grinned at him. “Oh, well, at least I have you.”
     “Be still my heart!” He clutched his
chest and laughed. An uproarious laugh that seemed disproportionate to the
humor of her comment. But then, what the hell did she know about the strange
labyrinth of a man’s mind?
     She waited for him to stop chortling, and
then she asked, “Did you need me for anything beside entertaining you? ’Cause
if not, I’m for a hot bath and my bed.”
     “I’m sorry you’re so tired, sweetheart,
but you do have to eat, and I have Lea waiting in my apartment downstairs. I’ve
promised her a pizza at Dominic’s. She said she’s been trying to reach you.
Seems she’s ready to open up about what’s been going on in her life. We can’t
let this opportunity pass.”
     “Lea? She phoned earlier when I was in an important meeting.
Which reminds me, I’ve got to tell you about what’s been happened lately.
Another corporation’s been buying up Montaro’s shares. Everyone says it’s a takeover.
We haven’t seen the new CEO who owns the big conglomerate, but he’s due to
arrive any day now. The office is in a huge turmoil. Everyone’s panicking about
their jobs and their future with the company.”
     “You’ll be okay, Annie. Things have a way
of turning out. This new company will be keeping on the key people for a while
at least, won’t they?”
     The name Annie sounded foreign after
being called only Anna for so long. She liked it. “I guess so. I’m more worried
about Hugo, my boss. His wife showed up after being missing for four years, and
she stuck around for a week or so and then took off again. He’s been frantic,
trying to find her. He looks like hell. And now he has this mess at the office
to contend with. The poor man is a basket case.”
     “Speaking of cases, we’d better go and
visit with Lea. Maybe we can find an hour to talk later, and you can tell me
all about the craziness in your life then.”
     “Tyler, I can barely see, I’m so
exhausted. I wasn’t planning to eat a big meal. Eggs and toast, a bath, and
eight full hours of sleep are what I need.” She watched his face close down,
affability instantly erased. The disappointment—and, yes, disapproval—was
clear. He turned away.
     Conflicting thoughts bombarded her.
     I need sleep; tomorrow threatens to be a
bitch of a day.
     It’s Tyler and Lea. I want to go with
them. Besides, I need to see Lea and make sure she’s okay. And my heart needs
to be with Tyler.
     Don’t be an idiot…
     Annie stopped listening to the screeching of
her conscience. Anxiety for the troubled teen replaced lethargy. She couldn’t
change it anymore than she could change the happy glow of anticipation that
came with the thought of spending an evening with her best buddy once again.
     “Okay, Ty. Give me five minutes to have a
quick shower and throw on some jeans, and I’ll join you.” She knew her voice
conveyed the enthusiasm she couldn’t hide.
    
He stopped and took a few seconds before turning back to face her, but
when he did the friendliness had reappeared. “Take ten. Trust me, Little Bit,
any amount of time I have to wait for you is time well spent.” His wink made
her laugh, and his petting fingers on her cheek made her heart quicken like an
idling motor getting more gas.

****

Mimi’s Books