Conference Is Coming! Are You Ready To Submit?

The ACFW conference is right around the corner!

And you’re ready! It’s time. Really time. You’ve been writing and rewriting this book for eons. Or at least it feels like eons. You want to submit it, get going on your stellar writing career. Time’s a wastin’!

Maybe you haven’t been working on it for eons, but you went to a conference or two, and you’ve heard an editor say she was really looking for the next great romance author to groom and you have just the story.

Or finally, one of the BIG PUBLISHERS is actively seeking speculative fiction and your space navy story is ready for the picking.

Perhaps your story has been through a critique or edit of some kind. A reader (mom, dad, sister, best friend, hubby, wifey) LOVED it. They want more! Now.

So you rush your baby off to an editor or agent. Maybe some of you rush it off to someone like me or Susie here at My Book Therapy.

Why Blogging Numbers Drop during the Summer

I’ve had a number of similar conversations this summer. They always begin the same way, with an inquiry about how he/she can improve the numbers that are dwindling at an alarming rate. These worried bloggers are certain they’ve either done—or not done—something to cause the drop in views, comments and shares. And my answer is always the same.

A drop in blogging numbers is normal during the summer.

My one-sentence assurance is rarely enough to calm a blogger’s nerves. And that’s understandable from someone who’s seen consistent growth through out the first of the year. So today, I’m going to break down the normal ebb and flow of blogging numbers throughout the calendar year, to help you evaluate the health of your own site.

Featured Fiction: Kristin Billerbeck

Today, we’re celebrating one of the authors who helped us make the Frasier Contest possible! Kristin Billerbeck is a  CBA bestselling novelist who has written over 40 novels and novellas. She lives in the Silicon Valley with my family.

Q: Kristin, can you tell us a little bit about your next book?

I’ve taken off nearly two years of writing, but I’m getting back into it now that my two sons are off to college.  My last book is the final Smitten collection, Smitten Book Club with fellow authors and friends, Colleen Coble, Denise Hunter and Diann Hunt for Harper Collins Christian. http://www.amazon.com/Smitten-Book-Club-Thomas-Nelson/dp/1401687164  Right now, I’m working on a follow-up to my most popular series, “Ashley Stockingdale” and I’ve got a new book coming out soon called, “What a Girl Needs.”  It’s about the life and times of a chaotic patent attorney and her quest toward marital bliss.

Featured Fiction: Introducing Melanie Dickerson

Today, we’re celebrating one of the authors who helped us make the Frasier Contest possible. Melanie Dickerson helped judge the Frasier, and her new book The Princess Spy, came out this Thursday!

Q: Melanie, can you give us a little blurb about your book?

In this Medieval romance based on The Frog Prince fairy tale … Margaretha has always been a romantic, and hopes her newest suitor, Lord Claybrook, is destined to be her one true love. But then an injured man is brought to Hagenheim Castle, claiming to be an English lord who was attacked by Claybrook and left for dead. And only Margaretha—one of the few who speaks his language—understands the wild story.

The What and Why of Writing: Story Irony

Susie May Warren, the founder of My Book Therapy (MBT) hosted the first online MBT Pitch and Promotion seminar on August 23. The seminar was an opportunity to connect with writers and help them polish their story pitches. Coaches and attendees talked about elements that help us craft a strong pitch, including characters and stakes.

Attendees were also told to look for the Story Irony as a potential component to construct a strong pitch. Writers also talk about Dramatic Irony, so I’m clarifying the difference between Story Irony and Dramatic Irony and then explaining how you use Story Irony when you’re crafting a pitch