I was recently interviewed by Roxanne D. Howard author of At The Heart Of The Stone. It is my first interview!!! You should check it out! http://roxannedhoward.com/interview-with-new-loose-id-author-shannon-Nydia/
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My interview with Erica Lynn is now posted on my website www.shannonnydia.com. Erica is a newly signed author to Loose-Id Publishing and her book Her Husband's Brother is going to be released on March 22nd. I will be reviewing that book when it comes out and doing a Q&A session with her. But in the mean time, please check out my interview and be introduced to Ms. Lynn.
I'm gearing up for my next interview with author Roxanne D. Howard. I've just recently read her book At The Heart Of The Stone. And all I can say is, I am really looking forward to posting my review and doing my interview/Q&A session with her. I'm still working hard to get a routine down for myself. I have such big plans, I just need to schedule, organize and get my darn daily agenda down!! 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. 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 I love romance. I love a good story. And I love when the is story is written so well, I become immersed in the "world" that has been created for me. To me, good writing is good writing. I can connect with a character regardless of their physical description. It is the author's writing, their presentation and content that either draws me in or pushes me away.
As I first became a fan of romance novels, all of the books I read, the main characters (the hero and heroine) were white. I never disliked a book simply because the main character was white and truth be told I never liked a book simply because the main character was white. These were the books that I was finding and I was introduced to many authors that I loved. One day, I stumbled across a book by Eve Vaughn. And the heroine of her story was black, and the hero was white. The story, the writing and the content drew me in. I thought it was refreshing to read a story about someone who looked different, someone who looked like me. When I write, most of my heroines are black. Not because I'm trying to make a statement, or even the playing field in romance novels. Not because I'm trying to give myself a platform to write about race relations. But simply because that's how my character appears to me. With that said, I have main characters (heroines) in my stories that are white. And just to make something clear. I never disliked a book simply because the main character (heroine) was black and truth be told I never liked a book simply because the main character (heroine) was black. Again, I'm drawn to good story telling. I would like to make something else clear. I read all sorts of books. And I will repeat what I said earlier. Good writing is good writing. It is the author's writing, their presentation and content that either draws me in or pushes me away. I don't pigeon-hole myself into only one type of story niche. Yes, I write interracial romance amongst other types of stories. I'm going to be a newly published author with my first book to be released on April 12th with Loose Id publishing. Yes, my heroine is black and my hero is white. Not everything that I hope to one day publish is going mirror that. But I do believe that interracial/multicultural love stories are a great genre and I'm excited to be a part of it. I can only hope, that when my book is available, any potential reader will hopefully enjoy my writing, my presentation and my content. I personally love variety. It's nice to mix things up. Variety is the spice of life.... So excited I have signed my contract and sent it into Loose Id publishing. And I'm currently working with my editor and my tentative date for publishing is April 12th 2016. WOW!!! I have a tentative publishing date! Too cool!
It is so hard to focus on anything but this. I am S-T-R-U-G-G-L-I-N-G at work. My mind is forever on my novel. My ultimate goal is to one day be able to be a "full time author." Meaning, I would have to make the equivalent of what I make now for it to be feasible to quit. Obviously right... But in the mean time, a girl can dream. So now, I need to start focusing on which of my projects I want to attempt to get published next. I'm a nut... I can't even tell you how many novels... or ideas that I have waiting for me to work on. I'm not sure if I want to really dive into my new idea for the series I have, or if I want to focus on a previous idea I had which I can pull from my "archives". Hmmmmm?? Decisions.... Decisions... Decisions.... I had the most amazing thing happen. I am so happy to announce that my book Imminent Desire has been accepted by Loose Id publishing. I signed and mailed my contract to them today!!!! All I have ever wanted is to be an author.
Self publishing my novel on Amazon was an amazing experience. I am very thankful that I received a few reviews and ratings for my book. I will be forever grateful for your honestly and your willingness to offer me not only your words but also your time. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I feel so fortunate that I'm going to apart of the Loose Id author family. I'm excited to receive the expertise and guidance I need to polish my book and bring my dream to fruition. So with that said I'm going to be unpublishing my book from Amazon. I will be back soon, but I will keep you posted with updates and of course let you know when my novel will be published. I wish you could see me... I'm dancing for joy right now!!!! So my "guilty pleasure" evening of reading, turned into my guilty pleasure marathon of binge writing. I have been having so much fun with my new ideas and molding them into stories. I think finally taking the chance and publishing my first novel, has really invigorated my creative process. It's something I've wanted to do for so long, but I was scared. I could hardly sleep that first night after I self published. And then when I sold my first book, I almost fainted! I couldn't believe someone out there was reading my book.
Funny thing is, I'm not a risk taker. I'm a planner, an over analyzer, and Ms. Play it Safe. BUT, I have finally found my voice. It feels really good to embrace what I love to do. Everyday I write my hope is that I am better than the day before. And regardless of where this journey takes me, I'm having fun. So during my writing sessions, I came up with what I think is a kick butt idea for a series. I'm super excited about it! Is it bad that I was cracking myself up with some of the stuff that popped into my mind. As we speak, I'm watching AVP (Aliens vs. Predator). I know what you're thinking.... AWESOMENESS! My kids and my husband for that matter don't understand my obsession with this movie. I loved Alien and Aliens staring Sigourney Weaver, as a kid. I also really liked the first Predator movie staring Arnold Schwarzenegger. So naturally when AVP came out I was pumped. Just for the record, I didn't like AVP Requiem.
Seriously, you should have a guilty pleasure weekend. Make sure to include something that fits into that category. Who care what anyone says or thinks. This is your GP weekend! Tonight will be my GP book time. I'll let you know tomorrow what I picked. Sometimes guilty pleasures are better than, "acceptable pleasures". Same goes for books! You know the stuff that people pretend they aren't watching or reading, because its too... whatever. What's your guilty pleasure? I literally woke up at 6:30 am, got my son off to school. Left for work around 8:15 and stopped by the store to pick up cookies for my potluck. Started my shift at 9:30 worked until 6:00. After a few errands got home at 7:30. Went to get take out with the family, got home and rented the Martian. My day is finally ending at 11:05 pm......PHEW!
What a day! What a long week! But it is FRIDAY!!! We are movie watchers at my house. So in honor of Matt Damon, I pose this question to you. Has anyone else seen the Martian? I gotta admit, I'm a Matt Damon fan. I LOVED LOVED LOVED him in Good Will Hunting. Remember that movie? Ok, so my top three Matt Damon Movies: 1. Good Will Hunting (need I say more) 2. Stuck on You (Cheesy but so funny) 3. The Informant (that movie cracked me up) What are your top 3 Matt Damon movies? Well.... here it is. My very first blog post. I have to say it's pretty exciting to be doing this. I spend so much of my day, listening to and helping others it's nice to be able to have my own voice rising above the constant noise in my life.
I am pledging to myself to take time out everyday to share my thoughts and to see what your thoughts are. So even if I only end up talking to myself, I am thrilled to be finally doing this. So, as I tinker with my new site, please stay tuned and know.... It's about to go down!!!! |
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