Morning! I’ve decided to start something new here in Lisa G. Riley land. Every month I’ll pick a random Friday and post an excerpt from a book on my back list. You will have until the Tuesday (10 a.m. CST, 9 a.m. EST) immediately after that Friday to send me the name of the book from which the excerpt hails. If you are correct, your name will be placed in in a hat with other names of people who have correctly answered. One random winner will be chosen and can have the pick of a $10 amazon gift certificate, or a $10 B&N gift certificate — your choice!

Here’s the first excerpt:

“You see what that idiot failed to understand is that a woman’s body is like a delicate instrument…”

“…It’s a delicate instrument that needs to be wooed and worshiped until it willingly…happily…gives up its beautiful music,” he finished right before he…”

Okay! There you have it. Email me at lisa@lisagriley.com with your answer. Good luck, and thank you!

Photo by JD Hancock, Flickr

Now nobody’s ever accused me of being naive (not since my 20s, anyway), but I swear I’ve learned a couple of things in the past week regarding marketing that not only would not occur to me to EVER do, but I wouldn’t expect others to either.  And now that I’ve learned about these marketing tactics, I’m completely offended — both as a reader and a writer.

First, I got an email from someone pretending to be a novice writer and asking for advice. The subject line read “Love Your Book”. (Of course I opened it — the neurotic writer in me would allow nothing less.) The sender wrote that he’d checked out my book and thought I was very talented. He didn’t name the book, nor did he provide any details about why liked my work so much. What he did do, however, was say he’d read a wonderful and helpful book about how to market your work as a writer, and then he embedded a link to a book on amazon, one that I’m assuming he wrote, but under a different name.

The second nasty surprise came when Roslyn Holcomb told me that she’d read on Dear Author about how there’s a site that offers authors an opportunity to pay to get four and five star reviews posted on amazon.com. Yes, my friends, for a mere five bucks, you too can have several five-star reviews placed on amazon.com by someone who might or might not have read your book, therefore garnering reader attention and pushing your book ahead in the queue, so to speak.

Huh? Seriously? That’s all I could say to Ros before my brain got over the shock and started running on all cylinders again. And when I went to the Dear Author site and read that one author who had partaken of the service complained that “this kind of fake review is harmful rather than helpful,” I confess wished she or he had been talking about the service itself rather than the bad results they’d gotten after they’d paid their money.

The very idea of doing this is anathema to me and judging from her reaction, to Ros as well. But perhaps we’re just squeamish. There’s no question that both of the tactics detailed above are ways of gaming the system, but are they okay? Is it a big deal?

Discuss, discuss. I’m off to ponder my squeamishness over a pepper and egg sandwich now that Lent is nearing an end.

Later,

Lisa

Photo by jurvetson (flickr)

I was watching a morning show local to Chicago last week and the hosts mentioned that adulterer uh, Hollywood mover and shaker Ashton Kutcher had bought a round trip ticket for a trip into outer space. In a moment of broadcast brilliance one of the hosts asked the audience what celebrity would we send into outer space on a ONE WAY ticket. Because I’m not one to limit myself in my fantasies, I thought I’d take it a step further and list not just celebrities but any bloody body who bugs me. Here’s my list:

• The entire Republican presidential primary field of 2012. For denigrating the process and turning it into a slug fest in which the goal is to see who can come up with the most outrageous tenet and/or lie.
• E-book pirates. The reason is obvious.
• The entire casts of Jersey Shore, Basketball Wives, MTV’s teen moms series, OchoCinco: The Ultimate Catch and other reality television shows that make us look like we’re devolving instead of evolving. Remember what Carrie’s mom told her before she unadvisedly went to the prom: “They’re all gonna laugh at you…” She was crazy, but she was also right. And then there was nothing but tragedy all around.
• The television/cable stations and production companies that make this possible. To quote Maude: “God’ll get you for that…”
• Rupert Murdoch for creating FOX News Channel and then having the temerity to use the tagline “fair and balanced.” Can you say laughable?
• The United States Congress for putting party politics before anything else, including common sense. A pox on both your Houses.
• The Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado legislatures. There are others, but I’m too disheartened to list them all.
• The so-called Birthers for continually putting forward a known falsity instead of just saying what they really feel, which is “we’re afraid of the ‘uppity Negro.’”
• Jimmy Turner. When we were in the second grade, you –

Clearly, I’ve said enough. Is there anyone you’d like to see travel on a one-way ticket out of here?

photo by takomabibelot on flickr

I didn’t make any New Year’s resolutions, but I did set a goal for myself regarding my writing. The goal was to get Caroline’s and Brian’s final story out and to write and publish at least one, maybe two, additional books.Though it’s been a little difficult because of other commitments, unexpected interruptions, lack of discipline, and just plain old LAZINESS; I believe I’m on track to do what I set out to do.

 I’m excited.

That is all.

There are now only two weeks left to enter Roslyn Holcomb’s and my awesome contest: Dark and Dashing! Enter for your chance to win a Kindle Touch or a $100 gift certificate to amazon or Barnes & Noble. We’re choosing two random winners, so check out the details below, and if you decide to enter, good luck!

To celebrate our first forays into self-publishing, Roslyn Holcomb and I thought we’d share a little of our joy by offering an absolutely FANTABULOUS contest that will reward not just one, but TWO, winners! We will randomly pick two people who answer the following questions correctly and who subscribe (or are already subscribers) to both Ros’s and my blogs to win a Kindle Touch and one copy each of Ros’s and my co-authored e-books together, Given and Stolen. If the winners so choose, they may have a $100 Amazon or B&N gift certificate instead of the Kindle Touch.

Didn’t I tell you that this contest is fantabulous?

The Dark and Dashing contest — or as it’s more affectionately known, the Double D,  will close on February 20, 2012, noon CST. Please send all answers to darkdashing12@aol.com

Roslyn’s new book is Dark Star and mine is Dashing Through the Snow.  You can find Dark Star here (ARe — several formats), here (amazon) and here (Barnes & Noble). You can also find Dashing here (ARe — several formats)  here (amazon) and here (Barnes & Noble). Subscribe to Roslyn’s blog here and mine here.

**** For those without a Kindle or a Nook, you can now get Ros’s and my stories at Smashwords in several different formats. Ros’s: Dark Star and mine: Dashing Through the Snow****

Good luck!

What is Tonya’s favorite treat?

How old were Lily and Smith when they met?

What’s the name of the island Nate takes Tonya to?

What does Lily’s cousin want her to bring him back from Chicago?

What’s the name of the restaurant chain Tonya’s books are based on?

Who did Smith bring with him when he left Texas?

What university did Tonya and Nate attend?

What is Lily’s first client’s name?

**** For those without a Kindle or a Nook, you can now get Ros’s and my stories at Smashwords in several different formats. Ros’s: Dark Star and mine: Dashing Through the Snow****

See contest details below, and good luck!

To celebrate our first forays into self-publishing, Roslyn Holcomb and I thought we’d share a little of our joy by offering an absolutely FANTABULOUS contest that will reward not just one, but TWO, winners! We will randomly pick two people who answer the following questions correctly and who subscribe (or are already subscribers) to both Ros’s and my blogs to win a Kindle Touch and one copy each of Ros’s and my co-authored e-books together, Given and Stolen. If the winners so choose, they may have a $100 Amazon or B&N gift certificate instead of the Kindle Touch.

Didn’t I tell you that this contest is fantabulous?

The Dark and Dashing contest — or as it’s more affectionately known, the Double D,  will close on February 20, 2012, noon CST. Please send all answers to darkdashing12@aol.com

Roslyn’s new book is Dark Star and mine is Dashing Through the Snow.  You can find Dark Star here (ARe — several formats), here (amazon) and here (Barnes & Noble). You can also find Dashing here (ARe — several formats)  here (amazon) and here (Barnes & Noble). Subscribe to Roslyn’s blog here and mine here. Good luck!

What is Tonya’s favorite treat?

How old were Lily and Smith when they met?

What’s the name of the island Nate takes Tonya to?

What does Lily’s cousin want her to bring him back from Chicago?

What’s the name of the restaurant chain Tonya’s books are based on?

Who did Smith bring with him when he left Texas?

What university did Tonya and Nate attend?

What is Lily’s first client’s name?

To celebrate our first forays into self-publishing, Roslyn Holcomb and I thought we’d share a little of our joy by offering an absolutely FANTABULOUS contest that will reward not just one, but TWO, winners! We will randomly pick two people who answer the following questions correctly and who subscribe (or are already subscribers) to both Ros’s and my blogs to win a Kindle Touch and one copy each of Ros’s and my co-authored e-books together, Given and Stolen. If the winners so choose, they may have a $100 Amazon or B&N gift certificate instead of the Kindle Touch.

Didn’t I tell you that this contest is fantabulous?

The Dark and Dashing contest — or as it’s more affectionately known, the Double D,  will close on February 20, 2012, noon CST. Please send all answers to darkdashing12@aol.com

Roslyn’s new book is Dark Star and mine is Dashing Through the Snow.  You can find Dark Star here and here. You can find Dashing here and here. Subscribe to Roslyn’s blog here and mine here. Good luck!

What is Tonya’s favorite treat?

How old were Lily and Smith when they met?

What’s the name of the island Nate takes Tonya to?

What does Lily’s cousin want her to bring him back from Chicago?

What’s the name of the restaurant chain Tonya’s books are based on?

Who did Smith bring with him when he left Texas?

What university did Tonya and Nate attend?

What is Lily’s first client’s name?

Well, the moment has finally arrived. My first self-published book went live on amazon.com a couple of hours ago. I’m quite nervous and more than a little bit excited. It’s been a wild ride, one in which I drove myself and several other people (forgive me Ros, Kesh, local librarian) crazy. Because it’s my first time doing this, I wanted everything to be perfect, but towards the end, realized it could only be as perfect as I could make it.

So, here she is, friends, my baby, Dashing Through the Snow. If you like her, please, let the world know by writing a review. If you don’t like her, feel free to share why with her mother — me (lisa@lisagriley.com). She’s available for Kindle right now, but will venture out more soon. Her bio is below. Thanks for all of the love and support over the years — I couldn’t have done it without you!

Best,

Lisa

Lily Carstairs has finally gotten her private investigator’s license and she’s already completed her first case, picking up a nice, fat fee for her troubles. Her second case, however, could be the case of a lifetime and could make her career. All she has to do is find a missing millionaire who disappeared…in broad daylight… in a brand new Lexus….from the side of the road in a small town where everyone knows everyone, but no one saw anything. Other than sometimes wishing she had Ms. Marple on speed dial for help with the case, Lily feels things are going swimmingly. When she finds out childhood friend and ex-lover Smith Cameron has also been hired to solve the case, she doesn’t like it, but she soldiers on. And when Smith suggests that they partner on the case and resume their affair, she goes into both partnerships with her eyes wide open. Her goal is to collect the $10,000 bonus in the end and keep her heart intact.

As the millionaire’s trail leads them on a chase from their small town of Sheffield-Chatham to Chicago, and through the fancy rooms of secret men’s clubs to the hushed halls of museums and finally to some of the less seemly parts of town, they find themselves embroiled in a Machiavellian conspiracy involving rare gems, money and power, one that threatens to bring down some of their town’s leading citizens. When all is said and done, Lily has no doubt that Smith and she should continue their professional partnership. It’s the personal one she’s not so sure about.

What you see is my brand, spankin’ new cover, created by Mr. Whitney Holcomb. I am in love with her, and couldn’t have asked for a more appropriate picture to advertise the book. I’m a little nervous about this book because I’m going totally indie with it and publishing it myself AND it’s my first real foray into a suspense with romantic elements as opposed to a romance with suspenseful elements.

But having said all of that, I am so incredibly proud of this book! It’s due out mid-January. Roslyn Holcomb and I will be hosting a great contest because she also has a new book coming out, Dark Star. Check back here, on my FB page and at Ros’s spots for more details.

Later,

Lisa

Happy 2012, people. I don’t make resolutions anymore, only plans. It’s an ongoing process and I try to work consistently to have them come to fruition. It’s the best I can do, and as with resolutions there’s disappointment when things don’t work out, but things evolve, don’t they? To celebrate the new year I’ve got a new book coming out in a couple of weeks. It’s called “Dashing through the Snow,” and since my good friend Roslyn Holcomb will soon be releasing a new book as well, we’ve decided to team up and do a contest together. Check back here and at Ros’s place for details. Hint: It’s going to be awesome!

Later,

Lisa