Lori Verni Fogarsi's Momnesia: Hop & Win Book Blast

The event is over, but "Momnesia" is still a great book, and well worth buying, even at full price.  Check out my review next door at Rochelle's Reviews.

MOMNESIA (mahm-nee-zhuh) -noun-

Loss of the memory of who you used to be. Caused by pregnancy, play dates, and trying to keep the house cleaner than the Joneses.

"Momnesia," which has been recognized in two awards, is the story of an average suburban mom who, feeling invisible under all the responsibilities of caring for her family, sets about finding balance between her "momminess" and her "sexiness." She does find some adventure pursuing her own interests, but it isn't until she tosses the Invisible Rule Book altogether that she discovers life---and love---have more to offer than she ever imagined!

Lori is an author, speaker, and small business consultant. She has two novels: "Momnesia," and its sequel, "Unexpecting," and a nonfiction book, "Everything You Need to Know About House Training Puppies and Adult Dogs." Her books have been recognized in the USA Best Book Awards, the National Indie Excellence Book Awards, and Indie Book of the Day Award.

Regarding her novels, Lori says, "I like to write about the thoughts and feelings many women have, but are often hesitant to discuss... or even think about! It is my hope that when reading my books, people experience a sense of camaraderie, being understood, or at the very least, good old-fashioned entertainment for a time."

Her nonfiction dog training book is among the top bestselling independently published books of all time! Originally released in 2005, it continues to be one of the most highly acclaimed books in its genre, recommended by vets, rescue groups, and pet professionals worldwide.

Lori is a happily married mom of two, step mom of two more, and has two cats, both rotten. Originally a native New Yorker, she now divides her time between Raleigh, NC, and Lake Gaston, VA, where she is hard at work on her next books.

Because she is also an avid reader, Lori understands that your time is valuable and that selecting a book to read can feel like a commitment! She welcomes you to visit her special "Momnesia Page," which includes the first two chapters free as well as another excerpt, reviews, and more. Enjoy!

And don't forget to go next door and check out my other  reviews at Rochelle's Reviews!

Independent Publishing

Independent Publishing

There are pros and cons to publishing one’s books independently.  The pros are that you don’t have to submit your book and wait for someone to read the slush pile at a publisher and get back to you.  You no longer have to go through a vanity press and pay thousands of dollars to publish your own book.  Companies like Smashwords and CreateSpace will help you format your manuscript and allow you to upload it for little or no cash up front, and will even help you design your own cover art.  If you can afford it, many of these companies (including CreateSpaced) even offer editing services.

The cons are that many authors cannot afford editing services.  And not everyone who thinks they can write better than the author whose book they just read can write professionally.  Some of these novices have talent that, with the help of a good editor could be honed and polished.  Others, well… Others I wouldn’t even agree to review next door on Rochelle’s Reviews.

This is not to say that there aren’t some really good independently published books out there.  I have colleagues who have published some of their books independently for various reasons, and I published my first book, Rock Bound through CreateSpace after it went through two e-book publishers.  Inara Press was a start-up company that just didn’t make it.  I parted amiably with the publisher and went to another company, Red Rose Publishing.  Stay away from them.  That’s a whole other blog.

The point is, a professional writer will work with a critique group, a beta reader, even his/her spouse to be sure the book s/he’s putting out is as polished as possible.  The way to tell what you’re getting is to read the blurb and excerpt.  If they’re messy and difficult to understand, the rest of the book will be, too.  In the indie publishing world, the motto truly is “caveat emptor” (let the buyer beware) when reading an independently published author with whom you are not familiar.  And, okay, shameless plug:  check out the critics like me.

http://rochellesreview.blogspot.com

Line-Up at the RT Corral

Chris Winters Mr. Romance 2008, Me, and Len Gunn Mr. Romance 2011

Being part of a convention is much more fun than going in as a tourist.  I don’t necessarily mean that you have to be on panels or the staff of every convention you attend—I mean it’s much more fun when you pay full price and attend the whole con.  That way, you can go to all of the workshops, hang out in the con suite until all hours, attend the banquettes (depending on the con and whether they cost extra), and go to all the various parties in the evening.

It is, however, even more fun if you participate behind the scenes so to speak.  I don’t know if this applies to romance conventions, but at science fiction conventions if you put in enough volunteer time, you can get your registration either reimbursed or rolled over for next year.  In fact, most sci-fi cons have a “gopher hole” for people who volunteer to run errands throughout the con.  It’s a large room where you can bring a sleeping bag and crash for the duration and not have to pay for a hotel room.  If you’re on a panel, you can hang out in the green room which usually has better food than the con suite and sometimes you can even hob-nob with the guests of honor.  I had a nice long conversation with two best-selling authors in the green room at one convention, and have since become a fan of their books.

I must preface this paragraph by saying that I think the Romantic Times people did a fantastic job of crowd control.  There’s only one suggestion I could make—they should have given out tickets to see the best-selling authors at the door.  Going in on Saturday as a reader, I felt as though I was at an amusement park going from the line for one ride to another.  For the E-Tickets (Anne Rice, Charlaine Harris, Sue Grafton), you had to find a person with a red shirt and get a ticket to wait in line.  Of course, if you could spot the person with the red shirt, you had to wait in line to see them.  The signing room doors opened for convention-goers an hour before they opened to the readers, and when it was time to check out, the authors and conventioneers were, of course, first again.  I’m not used to attending a convention as cattle, but that’s a bit what I felt like.

There were high points.  If any of you are fans of Mary Janice Davidson’s Betsy Taylor vampire series “Undead and…,” Mary Janice was at a regular table with everyone else.  You did not need to get a ticket to stand in line to see her.  She’s a wonderful down-to-earth Minnesotan, and we connected!  I bought the last copy of an “Undead” book from her and got her signature.  I can’t praise her enough—either her writing or her graciousness toward her fans.

Jennifer Brown (J.D. Brown, Danielle Ravencraft) and Charlene A. Wilson

My other high point was meeting people I know from the internet but have not met in person before.  The first two were Charlene A. Wilson, who writes “The Chronicles of Shiloh Manor” series.  I’ve edited both books and they’re really good.  Charlene says I’m prejudiced, but believe me—I don’t praise every book I edit.  The next is Jennifer Brown who writes as J.D. Brown and Danielle Ravencraft, depending on the heat level of the book.  Charlene came up from Little Rock and the three of us car-pooled from my house and shared a hotel room.  We went sight-seeing in the Loop and up the Magnificent Mile, and of course before we left here we checked out the Volo Auto Museum which is practically in my back yard and where my daughter and her fiancé both work.  And while we were downtown, we made sure we walked up to the House of Blues so we could take a photo of Jennifer since her short, hot Danielle Ravencraft series “A Trace of Love,” “A Trace of Passion,” and “A Trace of Hope” takes place there.

With Mary Alice Pritchard aka Marla Munroe

And finally, at the signing, I ran into Mary Alice Pritchard, who was the first author I ever edited.  I was her first editor and she’s another author of whom I was proud.  Talk about laughing and crying at the same time!  It’s been almost ten years since we worked together, but we became friends and it was so good to see her.

My next big convention will be Chicon 7, the World Science Fiction convention that’s being held here in Chicago over Labor Day weekend.  I’m attending the whole thing.  I’ll be on a panel, I’m “wrangling” a speaker (helping him/her find his/her way around the hotel, etc.), and I’m doing clerical work for the Executive Committee.  Don’t know that I’ll have time to schmooze in the con suite or the green room, but I sure won’t be a tourist.  I will, no doubt, have to wait in line for elevators.  At Chicon 6 there were lines for the elevators and hotel security making sure people didn’t cram on and overflow them at night when everyone was going back and forth between the con suite and the parties.  It was, of course, a basic safety precaution.  Anticipated high point?  My former roommate of eighteen months who moved to Colorado will be here!  More hugs and crying!

Charlene A. Wilson

Cornerstone Deep Buy Link: http://www.classactbooks.com/Cornerstone-Deep-by-Charlene-A-Wilson--MobiPocket_p_247.html

Cornerstone Deep Echoes Buy Link:  http://www.classactbooks.com/Cornerstone-Deep-Echoes-by-Charlene-A-Wilson-Mobi_p_327.html

Danielle Ravencraft

A Trace of Love Buy Link:  http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=192&category_id=60&manufacturer_id=92&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

A Trace of Passion Buy Link:  http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=292&category_id=8&manufacturer_id=92&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

J. D. Brown

Dark Heirloom Buy Link:  https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=339&category_id=48&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

Mary Alice Pritchard

Ghostly Mistakes Buy Link:

http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=89_126&products_id=992

E-Books Have Arrived

Forget the NY Times Best Seller List or industry predictions. E-Books have made it! Ever since I first started writing, my sister and brother-in-law have been asking when my first book, Rock Bound, would come out in print. When I signed my contract with MuseItUp Publishing, Inc. for Rock Crazy, they asked whether it would be out in print. This evening, I visited them. Earlier this month they turned 75 and 78 respectively, but we got snowed in so I finally got around to taking their birthday cake over to them.

I took along the galley proof of the paperback version of Rock Bound and the Kindle my younger daughter gave me as a belated b-day gift when her taxes came in. A friend of my brother-in-law recently got one, so he was familiar with the fact that it holds thousands of books at once, and how easy it is to order them. I told them you could also load MP3s on it and listen to music or books on tape and showed them how you can change the font if you need to make it bigger, and how it keeps your page when you turn it off. I couldn’t believe my ears when he mentioned it saves trees.

My sister had a stroke about six years ago that affected her right hand and arm, and she loves to read, but library books are heavy and a Kindle is not only lighter, you don’t have to hold it open and changing pages is much easier for a stroke victim. I should have taken along the plate holder I use to prop mine up when I’m eating out. You know—the kind you can buy at Wal-Mart or a craft store to display collector plates. It works great.

So, they nodded politely when I showed them the paperback galley of Rock Bound, and now they’re asking if my books will be on Kindle. E-books have truly arrived!