IT'S NOVEMBER ALREADY?

Where has the time gone?

Before you know it; it will be December and the Christmas rush will begin. So before it does here is what you need to be doing as an author to prepare for the upcoming year.

1. Look up conferences to attend.
Here are a few that I attend: Creatures, Crimes and Creativity   Malice Domestic   BoucherCon2016 LIM Con   

2. Get your tax papers ready. I hope you kept those receipts for conferences you paid for. Did you write down the mileage every time you did a book event? What about the hotel stay you had to pay for? All of those things are tax deductions that can be used.

You do remember that you are a small business, right?

3. Have you separated your personal bank accounts from your book/business accounts. Yes, this is something that you should have done the very first time you made a sale.

4. Have you inventoried your books? You need to keep an accurate record of what you have on hand. Have you filed away the receipts when you purchased books?

5. Have you created a spreadsheet with your royalties? What! Gasp! I think I'm about to faint if you say no.

6. Make a budget for the coming year and what you want to spend for the following: Attending conferences, purchasing books to have, marketing materials and travel expenses. This should be done BEFORE doing Item Number 1 on this list.

7. Make sure that if you have purchased clothing for your book appearances that you write that off to. Yes, they are business expenses.

8. Make a commercial for the Christmas holiday. Remember; the day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday, what better way than to be among the many commercials that people will see. Put it on YouTube, your website; your blog, your Facebook page and your Twitter account. You may need to do multiple ones but remember; short and sweet make = book sales

9. Post those pictures to your Pinterest page! If you attended conferences people want to see what you did! Remember people are visual; we have to see you in order to know you

10. Get ready because January will be here before you know it!

Now, remember, these are ONLY SUGGESTIONS!  You do not have to do them all but using this as a guide will help you navigate the upcoming holiday and New Year!

Until next time Keep Reading and Keep Writing.

I AM BEING COURTED!

Yes, I'm being courted and my dad would be so happy. It's not that I'm a spinster or anything like that but being courted is something that every man wants for his daughter, right?

Well, my dad might be a litle disappointed to know that I am being courted by two women and a man. Actually, I guess you can say that want me to be a part of their group.

Now before you jump up and down and get yourself into a frenzy. I'm not talking about THAT kind of group; get your minds out of the gutter people. (not that's there's anything wrong with that)

I'm talking about being courted by a literary agency. That's right! Me, little ol me is being courted by one of the biggest agency's for literature and I am all aglow. (that's a word, right)

I was treated to a fancy dinner on Saturday then I got to go to a party where the First Lady was there and took note of my dress! Yes, my dress was a hit with the first lady. And let me just say this, she is really tall. I'm not short by any means, but even with my 6 inch heels on; she still had me by about 2 inches.

And, I got a car...I mean, not like Oprah, but they had a car and that is how we got to the party and I felt like Oprah or at the very least some rich spoiled kid. They laid out all that they 'could do for me' because they say I am "very marketable".

And do you want to know why this happened? It happened because of Thrillerfest! I owe all of this goodness to being at Thrillerfest and standing up and 'buzzing' my book!

I'm sure you are looking up Creatures,Crimes and Creativity right now because there will be agents there. There is still time to sign up!

So I guess you are wondering what my decision is: well I haven't made it yet. I know you are probably shouting, WHY NOT. The simple answer is: I have a lot of things to take into consideration and I don't want to jump into something that will impact the rest of my life. Just like buying a home, you have to KNOW that you want it. Oh trust me, I want it alright but they gave me two weeks to think it over...and that is exactly what I am going to do.