Wednesday, December 27, 2017

A Look Ahead at 2018


Happy New Year!      



As 2017 draws to a close, it’s natural that we all should be looking at the upcoming year and all the promises it holds. Nearly everyone I know has experienced more stress in 2016 and 2017, largely due to world events, and I for one am looking forward to a more relaxing and positive 2018.



I am currently working on three books to be released in 2018:



The Essential Marketing Plan for Authors is based on my popular 52-week Marketing Plan Course through The Novel Business. I’ve been mentoring authors for nearly 18 years and have found the biggest challenge to be in the area of marketing; too many authors give up too quickly or they don’t take the time or make the effort to correctly identify their target market, so their efforts miss the mark. This book takes the author through the entire process of identifying their ideal reader (even when they don’t have a clue who they are) and walks them through digital promotional efforts as well as traditional marketing. I am in the editing stage now, and hope this book will be released before the summer of 2018.



The Adventures of Blade and Rye is a venture into writing children’s books (preschool through 3rd grade). I actually wrote this book about three years ago and set it aside, but was recently inspired by Sandra Warren and her children’s book, Spivey’s Web to revive it. Blade and Rye are two fairies and best friends that visit Earth just as life is forming. Their teacher transforms them into two blades of grass so they have a front-row, center seat beside a lake that will see everything from dinosaurs to humans, and eventually (through the series) the formation of villages and then high-rise cities. It is in the production stage now, and I also hope this will be released before the summer of 2018.



And for those that love Vicki Boyd and Dylan Maguire, I am in the writing stage (first draft) of the 7th book in the Black Swamp Mysteries Series. Cloak and Mirrors ended with Dylan and Vicki going dark to avoid enemy spies from abducting Vicki and taking her to Moscow. They will find themselves on a sparsely-populated island as a hurricane nears. Cut off from the mainland, they find refuge in an ancient monastery along with half a dozen island residents, and as darkness descends one after another are murdered. It is up to Vicki and Dylan to discover the killer and his or her motives. It is due on the editor’s desk in the spring so hopefully it will be released in the fall of 2018—just in time for Book ‘Em North Carolina’s 7th Annual Writers Conference and Book Fair.



Book ‘Em is now under the leadership of Robeson Community College and I have returned this year to assist the organizing committee. Please mark your calendar for Saturday, September 22, when we’ll bring together dozens of authors that will be signing and selling their books, giving talks and participating in panel discussions. Headliners are New York Times bestselling authors Jeff Mudgett, Jonas Saul and Elizabeth Massie.



What are you reading?