I have been ridiculously busy. (Who isn't right?) Between work, my family and trying to get my edits in on schedule... I feel swamped. BUT!!! I've finally turned my edits in and I'm working on my marketing prep for my book! I am beyond excited. And there has been a change. My book will be titled His Wolf's Desire. The April 12th release date is still the same though.

Anyway, I have so much planned for the next few days and in the near future. I have another pre author interview introduction. I plan on finishing my free read I'm working on and offering it on my website. Hopefully I'll be done with it this weekend. I also have some reading/reviewing to do, I have two books that I'm planning on tackling.  I'm really looking forward to doing my interviews for my newsletter. And finally, I really want to post an update on how my journey to establish myself on social media and finding an audience is going. Quick update, I track my blog views and unique blog views. My numbers are steadily going up. So I see you out there ; ) Don't be shy, subscribe!

And on a side note... Twitter is addicting. I'm still kind of a twitter newbie and it just sucks me in... ​

​So, I'm going to try something a little bit different here. Why? Because I can. And besides what's the fun in having a blog if I can't make up my own rules. So I've decided on the fly to start doing a pre author interview prep before my actual interview. Does that even make sense? Basically I'd like to introduce the author and tell you about them , how I met them or how I came to know of them and why I want to interview them.

​I am super excited that this person has agreed to do an interview for my newsletter. Her name is Erica Lynn. If you don't know who she is, I'm hoping you will soon. Erica and I are both new authors to Loose-Id. Truth be told we're both new authors period. So I feel an instant kinship with her, because we're going through the exact same thing of being signed to our first contract. The emotional cycle pretty much goes like this... Excitement, bewilderment, confusion, overwhelmedness (yes this is a word because this is my blog) and finally utter happiness. Keep repeating until... Well just keep repeating. She has offered me advice as a mom, as an author and just given me an outlet to use if need be. For that I will be forever grateful and forever wishing success find her no matter what path she's currently on. Creatively, she's shared a few of her ideas with me, and man-oh-man, as a fan of romance novels I can't wait to see how she molds her ideas. Erica is married with young children. How she finds the time to write, work and juggle all of her family responsibilities is beyond me. Erica is witty and funny and you can find her on twitter at @Ms_Erica_Lynn. I'm enjoying following her, she is so funny.  Her book Her Husband's Brother,  is going to be released on March 22 by Loose-Id Publishing. During my newsletter interview we will dive into her book... Can't wait for that!

So, I guess I'm a little different. I love a good book, but I love when I can relate to the author. Not for everything I read, but authors that I am a repeat fan of, I like to feel like I am connecting to who they are. Even if I didn't know Erica, just by how engaging she is in her social media platforms, she is someone that I would root for and read her books. So as I continue to prepare for my interview with Erica I hope you check her out... You are welcome. 
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I'm presently (and honestly will always be) searching for my audience. There are currently 7.4 billion people on this planet. 7.4 billion people. Let me say that one more time... 7.4 billion people. Surely there is an audience out there. The challenge that is set before me is to be savvy enough, interesting enough and engaging enough to convince them to be my audience... That is once I find them.

So here's one thing I've done so far:

1. Reach out to other authors.
If you don't know what the word humble means... look it up. Because it's something you're going to have to learn. If you like the way someone is doing something you might want to ask them how exactly they're accomplishing their success. For example, so far I've        emailed 5 authors that I want to emulate. All five because of different reasons. All possess something that I would love to be able to harness and use in my own platform. One has a huge twitter following, One has been writing for a very long time, Two have websites which deal with the genre my current book is based on and the last one is a "goddess" in my  genre. Now the "goddess" is a long shot, and I don't really think I'll hear from her. Not because she doesn't want to answer me, just because I'm sure she's inundated with requests. So let's forget about the "goddess" for a moment. Let's focus on the other four. I am delighted to report that all four returned my emails/direct messages. The two which operate websites were especially warm and encouraging and offered me advice and resources to check out and to hopefully help me along in my process. The author which has been writing for a long time was so sweet and so generous in her advice. I feel like I have a mentor and it is so comforting knowing I can approach her anytime with questions. The last person, the author with the huge twitter following wasn't as friendly but he still answered my question. He didn't offer any additional advice, but I am so grateful he took the time to answer me.
So the lesson I've learned here, is to reach out to people. Listen to what they have to offer. It may not have been the advice you were originally hoping for but they may open your eyes to resources, websites or other people. I truly hope one day, I'll be contacted by an aspiring young author that will ask me for advice. And I will generously give them my suggestive two cents.

I have been reading non stop about anything and everything that has to do with establishing an online presence. And I've learned something very important... IT IS ALL SUBJECTIVE! What works for one person, may not work as well for another. BUT, with that said, there are so many opinions out there it is awesome. My job is to learn as much as I can. Absorb as much advise as I can and mold it into my own plan. I'm determined to work through this mega pile of knowledge and shovel my own path into the abyss of authorhood.

​So here is my subjective two cents of what I've learned so far:

As a new author, you need to create a platform for yourself and for your readers. Your platform will be your foundation to build your "empire". I know what you're thinking... (Are you telling me to channel my inner Cookie?) Ok, maybe you're not thinking that. But I know you're thinking I sound egotistical, but I speak the truth. Your books, your career are your empire. They are yours to take ownership of and try to do everything in your power to steer the course of your success.

​So Step #1... Define your target audience...

​This is the very first thing as a new author you have to do.  Know what you are writing. Understand what genre you are writing in. If you're not sure, google books that you think your book emulates. What genre do they fall in? Chances are that's the genre your book falls into. You can ask others how they would categorize your writing. Once you figure out exactly what genre you write in, it starts to narrow your path. We have to know who our audience is, so we can find them.

​For my first book, I am targeting a very specific audience. The pros to that, is I know my audience is out there. I've scoured the same book websites as them searching for exactly the type of book they are. The cons, I'm going to turn people off because I'm writing to such a specific genre. And I'm okay with that. There's an audience for almost anything, which is a good thing. That means there's an audience out there for you.

​So how do you locate your target audience? That's a great question. And the answer is... You're going to have to do the leg work to find them. Once you know who you're writing to, it makes it a little easier to track them down. Notice I said a little easier, because finding them still takes a lot of work. This is the process I'm presently working on and I will present you with my subjective 2 cents on that topic in the near future.

​~Shannon