Going to conferences and being interviewed is two of the best ways to get yourself and your brand out there.
Last year, I was interviewed at the MDC3Con, Creatures, Crimes and Creativity Con.
The interview is now up
for your viewing pleasure.
If you know me, you know that I'm full of
information.
So if you want to know what I'm working on, you will find
it here! B. Swangin Webster Interview
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Thursday, March 24, 2016
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
ARE YOU READY FOR SPRING?
Spring is almost here and the question is; Are you ready?
As an author we should be ready at all times but spring is the time that we should get ourselves in gear for the upcoming 'conference' and 'writing' season.
March and April are typically when you make your definite plans on what conferences, trips or writing events you will attend.
Why you may ask?
Because once you file your taxes you have a little more liquidity to plan such events. In some cases your tax refund may fund your writing endeavors.
In most cases your tax refund will also replenish your stock of books, postcards and marketing swag.
So go online, research some local writing or conferences for writers. Sign up for some that you can afford and then take a look at your marketing handbag. (You do have one don't you?) and see what needs to be thrown out, restocked or refreshed and get to work because it is Spring cleaning time as well.
So, I'll ask the question again...Are you ready for Spring? and if not; why?
As an author we should be ready at all times but spring is the time that we should get ourselves in gear for the upcoming 'conference' and 'writing' season.
March and April are typically when you make your definite plans on what conferences, trips or writing events you will attend.
Why you may ask?
Because once you file your taxes you have a little more liquidity to plan such events. In some cases your tax refund may fund your writing endeavors.
In most cases your tax refund will also replenish your stock of books, postcards and marketing swag.
So go online, research some local writing or conferences for writers. Sign up for some that you can afford and then take a look at your marketing handbag. (You do have one don't you?) and see what needs to be thrown out, restocked or refreshed and get to work because it is Spring cleaning time as well.
So, I'll ask the question again...Are you ready for Spring? and if not; why?
Monday, February 22, 2016
VACATION BEHAVIOR
Well, I"m back and lets just say that I had the most wonderful time while away.
First, I didn't get up until at least 3AM every morning. Which is a great thing! I normally don't sleep so to get at least two hours of sleep during vacation is a good thing.
Secondly, I laid on the beach and got myself an amazing tan. Yes, people. Black people do tan and mine is flawless.
Third, I got a LOT of writing done! Like a lot. How much? you may ask. Let's just say that this romance novel should be finished in two months.
Fourth, and I'll just leave this. My phone was stolen. But I am not going to go into that because it will cause me to lose my "vacation high".
I went to San Juan and stayed at the +Marriott resort and the accomodations were amazing! The pool, the staff, the food, the bar...all exceptional (Except for the little part where I was robbed and security didn't think to fill out a report until I had to ask them )
Other than that, I can't wait until my next vacation which is in less than two months! Yes, you have to begin to enjoy life because time waits for no one.
Did you take a mid winter vacation? and if so; where did you go?
First, I didn't get up until at least 3AM every morning. Which is a great thing! I normally don't sleep so to get at least two hours of sleep during vacation is a good thing.
Secondly, I laid on the beach and got myself an amazing tan. Yes, people. Black people do tan and mine is flawless.
Third, I got a LOT of writing done! Like a lot. How much? you may ask. Let's just say that this romance novel should be finished in two months.
Fourth, and I'll just leave this. My phone was stolen. But I am not going to go into that because it will cause me to lose my "vacation high".
I went to San Juan and stayed at the +Marriott resort and the accomodations were amazing! The pool, the staff, the food, the bar...all exceptional (Except for the little part where I was robbed and security didn't think to fill out a report until I had to ask them )
Other than that, I can't wait until my next vacation which is in less than two months! Yes, you have to begin to enjoy life because time waits for no one.
Did you take a mid winter vacation? and if so; where did you go?
Friday, January 29, 2016
I'M GOING ON TOUR...
Just Let Me Say This – Blog Tour Line Up & SuperBowl Raffle!
In just four days, the Just Let Me Say This.. blog tour begins on Monday, February 1st! We are going to have fun! There’s going to be two raffles! One for the blog tour hosts and the other for you guys — the readers!
Both raffles include free copies of B. Swangin Webster’s book and a $20 Amazon gift card!
Our current tour stops include:
Tome Tender – Feb 1 – Book Review
LoveBitesSilk – Feb 2 – Book Review
Kiru Taye Writes – Feb 3 – Author Interview
Just Books – Feb 3 – Excerpt/Teaser
LIVE TWITTER BOOK CHAT – Saturday – Feb 6 at 4:00 pm EST/1:00 pm PST/9:00 pm GMT. The hashtag for the chat is #NBbookchat!
The NoteBook Blogairy (moi) – Feb 7 – Author Interview & Special SuperBowl Raffle!
This special SuperBowl 50 raffle will be for all who purchase a copy of Just Let Me Say This… on Sunday, Feb 7th. Send proof of purchase to me via this blog. Or, Tweet from Amazon purchase page to @NoteBkBlogairy and you’ll get entered into this $25 Amazon gift card raffle!
(This is a separate raffle from the other two mentioned earlier!)
The Winner of this SuperBowl 50 raffle will be announced on Mon, 2/8 after 9:00 am EST.
Booked Up and Bossy – Feb 7 – Book Review
Faith Simone – Feb 10 – Book Review
A.M. Leibowitz – Feb 10 – Book Review
Let Me Just Say This… A Quick Synopsis
This more-than-meets-the-eye urban fiction story introduces us to Cheryl Goldman an African-American woman who was not the apple of her mother’s eye. Her Daddy loved her desperately but even he could not change how his wife felt about their youngest daughter. Smart, talented and productive were all adjectives that perfectly describe Cheryl. However, two other words are accommodating and unselfish. In Cheryl’s attempt to secure friendship, love and favor her gentle efficiency did her more harm than good especially in the case of her husband, Kevin. You can read my full book review here.
We’ll be tweeting, FB’ing and generally making a bit of a social media ruckus chit-chatting about Just Let Me Say This…!
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
SO...YOU THINK YOU WANT TO SELF PUBLISH
This is great news!
Many authors take this route and I am not one of them. I don't have the patience nor do I want to do it.
A lot of people do this because they don't want to
1. Wait for their book to come out
2. They want to keep all of the money. After all you do make a lot more if you do it yourself.
Now, I've already said why I don't want to self-publish. Don't get me wrong, I've done it before and it was WAY too much of my time. I didn't know how to format, I didn't know how to create a nice cover and I didn't want to spend time doing it.
Some of you don't mind all of that.
Now, point number two is real tricky. Yep, you do get to keep all of the money but let's just see how much money you get to keep. Since I did self publish a long time ago; I know what I paid.
I would need to pay at least $400 for editing. Anything less and well let's be honest, it will look like you paid less.
I will then need to pay for a cover. As I said, I'm not a graphic designer and can't do it. So that's at least $400.
I will then need to pay for proofing. PROOFING and EDITING are NOT the same thing. That's gonna cost me at least $200.
I will then need to pay for formatting. I would spend at least $200 but if I learned it would be FREE
I will then need to order some books for myself. Let's say I want reviews. I need at least 20 copies at $5.00 a piece. That's another $100
Oh, but I forgot about mailing them. So that's another $60-70 because it depends on the distance. (who knew that?)
Now I need books for that book release party. Let's buy 100 because I know I will be able to sell those quickly. That is $500
In total I have spent about $1,660 and this is not counting formatting. But if I didn't learn than I would need to spend an additional $200
Now, if I sell my books at $15 a piece, I'll make a whooping $1,500 yippee...oh wait, no I won't. I'm still negative $160 because you can't count profit until after all of the money you spent is accounted for. Now I need to sell at least 10 more books to break even but to do that, I need to buy more books.
And the cycle begins again.
So for those of you that say, you are self publishing, I applaud you but let's be clear you aren't going to start off making a lot of money initially but if you keep at it, you will.
Many authors take this route and I am not one of them. I don't have the patience nor do I want to do it.
A lot of people do this because they don't want to
1. Wait for their book to come out
2. They want to keep all of the money. After all you do make a lot more if you do it yourself.
Now, I've already said why I don't want to self-publish. Don't get me wrong, I've done it before and it was WAY too much of my time. I didn't know how to format, I didn't know how to create a nice cover and I didn't want to spend time doing it.
Some of you don't mind all of that.
Now, point number two is real tricky. Yep, you do get to keep all of the money but let's just see how much money you get to keep. Since I did self publish a long time ago; I know what I paid.
I would need to pay at least $400 for editing. Anything less and well let's be honest, it will look like you paid less.
I will then need to pay for a cover. As I said, I'm not a graphic designer and can't do it. So that's at least $400.
I will then need to pay for proofing. PROOFING and EDITING are NOT the same thing. That's gonna cost me at least $200.
I will then need to pay for formatting. I would spend at least $200 but if I learned it would be FREE
I will then need to order some books for myself. Let's say I want reviews. I need at least 20 copies at $5.00 a piece. That's another $100
Oh, but I forgot about mailing them. So that's another $60-70 because it depends on the distance. (who knew that?)
Now I need books for that book release party. Let's buy 100 because I know I will be able to sell those quickly. That is $500
In total I have spent about $1,660 and this is not counting formatting. But if I didn't learn than I would need to spend an additional $200
Now, if I sell my books at $15 a piece, I'll make a whooping $1,500 yippee...oh wait, no I won't. I'm still negative $160 because you can't count profit until after all of the money you spent is accounted for. Now I need to sell at least 10 more books to break even but to do that, I need to buy more books.
And the cycle begins again.
So for those of you that say, you are self publishing, I applaud you but let's be clear you aren't going to start off making a lot of money initially but if you keep at it, you will.
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
NEVER TO EARLY
It's never to early to begin thinking about your New Year's resolutions.
This year I'm not promising to do anything except live life to the fullest. I plan on using all of the colors of the rainbow; or at the very least all of the colors in the crayon box!
With all of the terrorists acts being committed right now; you never know if walking out of your door will be the last time.
You never know if you will get to say "I'm sorry" to the person that you interrupted at work. You never know if you will get to say "I love you" to that special person in your life, whether it be your spouse/significant other, children or parents.
With everything going on in the world; its easy to give in to the fear and stay home. It would be easy to give in and not travel. It would be easy to give in and listen to whatever terror groups have to say.
Instead, this New Year; I plan to live life to the fullest. I plan to enjoy each day, each hour, each minute and each second.
I plan on laughing a lot and doing things that make me happy.
So, what do you plan on doing in the New Year?
This year I'm not promising to do anything except live life to the fullest. I plan on using all of the colors of the rainbow; or at the very least all of the colors in the crayon box!With all of the terrorists acts being committed right now; you never know if walking out of your door will be the last time.
You never know if you will get to say "I'm sorry" to the person that you interrupted at work. You never know if you will get to say "I love you" to that special person in your life, whether it be your spouse/significant other, children or parents.
With everything going on in the world; its easy to give in to the fear and stay home. It would be easy to give in and not travel. It would be easy to give in and listen to whatever terror groups have to say.
Instead, this New Year; I plan to live life to the fullest. I plan to enjoy each day, each hour, each minute and each second.
I plan on laughing a lot and doing things that make me happy.
So, what do you plan on doing in the New Year?
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME AND ALL I WANT...
Hmm, that's a really hard thing to put into words.
I could say; peace on earth and good will towards man; but you will hear all of that on the +Hallmark Channel in the next month.
I could say my two front teeth, but I think someone already sang that song.
I could say, two turtle doves but; that's just a little far fetched, don't you think?
So what I want for Christmas is more sales and more reviews. Didn't expect that did you?
Well I'm an author, so of course I want those things.
If you have read my novels, LET ME JUST SAY THIS or LET ME SAY THIS, AGAIN please go onto Amazon and leave a review. Even if you DIDN'T like it; I'd rather know why you didn't than not know.
So, in this time where I could ask for a lot of things; I'm asking for two simple things.
Can you do that for me? or should I ask +Santa Claus ?
I could say; peace on earth and good will towards man; but you will hear all of that on the +Hallmark Channel in the next month.
I could say my two front teeth, but I think someone already sang that song. I could say, two turtle doves but; that's just a little far fetched, don't you think?
So what I want for Christmas is more sales and more reviews. Didn't expect that did you?Well I'm an author, so of course I want those things.
If you have read my novels, LET ME JUST SAY THIS or LET ME SAY THIS, AGAIN please go onto Amazon and leave a review. Even if you DIDN'T like it; I'd rather know why you didn't than not know.So, in this time where I could ask for a lot of things; I'm asking for two simple things.
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