Trish Edmisten's Blog

As a regular reader of my books, you probably already know that I’ve been working on a four book contemporary erotic romance series entitled the Time for Love series. The series follows one couple, Justin Jacobs and Chelsea Schumacher, through the ups and downs of their romance.

Fans of my young adult novel, Like You Mean It, were already familiar with Justin Jacobs. Justin was the older brother of Darren, the male lead in Like You Mean It. When Like You Mean It ended, fans didn’t just want more. They wanted more of Justin who struck a chord with many readers.

It was in response to the fans' request that I decided to write a spin off story for Justin. When the story first began, I had no intention of making it a four book series. I thought it would be a standalone story and when it was finished, I would move on to the next book with new characters. After I sat down and started writing, I realized there was far too much I wanted to explore with Justin and Chelsea to try and cram it all into one book. Looking closer still, I found that I had four distinct plot points that I could flesh out nicely in four separate novels. With that decided, the Time for Love series was born.

This Time, the first book in the Time for Love series was released in May of 2014. After that came the Next Time and then Tough Times.

On May 19, 2015, the fourth and final Time for Love book, It’s About Time, was released. The title of the book as well as the release date seems fitting. It was one year ago that the first book, This Time, was released. Now, one year later, the story of Justin and Chelsea comes to a close with their final story, It’s About Time.

The Time for Love series has been a lot of fun to write. The response of the readers has warmed my heart. The books have been well reviewed and are gaining a steady following. I couldn’t be more proud of this year long labor of love.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the journey of Justin and Chelsea as much as I have. And I hope that you’ll join me in the next journey, the Taking on Love series. This will also be a four book series, but each book will feature a different couple and will be a standalone novel; no cliffhangers here.

As always, thanks for your support and don’t forget to get your copy of It’s About Time!

My birthday is almost here.

This year, there is only one thing I want. My husband and my kids can’t give it to me, but my awesome readers can. The best part of all is that it would cost less than three dollars and it’s the one gift that would make me happiest to receive. Any guesses?

If you said, I want to be on either the NY Times or USA Today bestseller list then you know me well. That’s all I want, all I’ve ever wanted. I would love to see my name on one or both of those lists alongside some of my favorite authors. I’d love to get that kind of validation for my years of effort. And I would sure love to be able to put NY Times or USA Today bestselling author on the cover of all of my subsequent books.

So, if you were looking for a birthday gift for me, look no further. You don’t need to buy me anything. Spend 99 cents on any of my Time for Love books and help me make my bestseller dreams a reality. If you’re feeling especially generous, you can buy all three of the Time for Love books. Each book is only 99 cents, so you’re still spending less than three dollars.

Just in case you’re actually interested in taking me up on this offer, here’s a link to purchase any or all of my books: https://www.smashwords.com/books/sear...

Thanks again and I’ll let you know how this turns out!

Justin and Chelsea are back!

Tough Times, the 3rd book in the Time for Love series is out today.

The day Chelsea’s been waiting for is finally here. Justin Jacobs asked her to marry him and she couldn’t be happier. There’s just one problem. Justin has cancer. Before they can plan their wedding, they’ve got to face the reality that it might never come. Will Justin and Chelsea be able to make it through these tough times, or will Justin’s cancer destroy more than their relationship?

Get your copy for any e-reader for only 99 cents. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...

It’s been ten years since I started professional writing and nine years since my first novel was released. Since that time, I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to succeed in this business and I continue to learn new things every day. Case in point, the street team.

Until recently, I’d never heard of a street team. However, I was noticing that a few of my favorite authors had a rabid fan base that seemed to be helping boost their sales. These authors had a high number of reviews for their books, most of which were four stars and higher. They were being promoted all over social media. As a result of this promotion, their books were selling and they were propelled to NY Times and/or USA Today bestselling status.

Now, I will be the first to admit I’m terrible at marketing my books. As a fledgling writer, I just didn’t have the budget to market and social media didn’t exist. I did what I thought would work. Despite my best efforts, my sales never seemed affected.

In the last ten years, things have changed. The ability for authors to market themselves has increased along with the affordability. It costs me nothing but time to maintain a Face Book author page and Twitter account, but it’s not enough to stop there. Enter the concept of the street team.
So, what is a street team?

Bibliocrunch.com defines a street team as a group of fans that band together to support an artist by honing in on word of mouth marketing by encouraging fans to share their love of your work with others.

I think it’s time for me to join the ranks of my fellow authors and get my own street team going and I need your help. I’m asking you to join my street team. What do you have to do and what am I offering in return?

For starters, you’ll be given an advanced review copy (ARC) of all of my upcoming novels free of charge. In return, you’ll be asked to post a review of that novel on Goodreads,Barnes and Noble and other relevant sites. I would also ask that you promote my latest novel on all of your social media accounts.

By doing this, you’ll be eligible to receive free promotional materials associated with my books. I will also hold semi-monthly drawings for everything from Amazon gift cards to books and movies. And of course, you will have my undying gratitude!

Does this sound like something you’d be interested in? Think you can help me? All you have to do is contact me. You can either reply to this blog or find me on my social media accounts or you can simply send me an email: trishe@trishedmisten.com.

Hey, all!

I want to thank you for all of the support and love you have given Justin and Chelsea in the Time for Love series.

I'm hard at work on editing Tough Times, the third book in the series.

As a thank you to everyone, I'm going to be giving a free e-book of Tough Times to everyone who posts an online review of Next Time. You can post here or on your blog or the retail site you purchased it from. That's it. That's all you have to do. Review Next Time, and you will receive Tough Times for free for whatever reading device you use.

Don't miss out on this opporunity and be sure to share with everyone.

See you soon!

Did you enjoy This Time? Want to know what happened after Danni and Darren's wedding?

Last we left Justin and Chelsea, she was headed back to Los Angeles with Justin's confession of love on her mind.

Now that they’ve admitted their feelings, it’s time to have some fun!

Chelsea Schumacher was just seventeen years old when she first laid eyes on the man of her dreams, twenty-five-year-old Justin Jacobs. Despite their age difference, Chelsea never gave up on the possibility they would one day be together. It takes almost eight years and a lot of heartache, but that dream finally comes true. Things seem like they couldn’t be any more perfect when Justin receives some devastating news that will change things between them. Will Chelsea be able to hang on to her man, or will they be torn apart?

Two weeks ago, I released This Time, an adult contemporary romance novel and the first of four in the Time for Love series. Normally, when I release a new book, I do little promotion. I make a few mentions on my Twitter feed and post something on my personal Face Book page. This Time, pun intended, I decided I was going to take a more aggressive approach to marketing my work.

One of the new things I did, and something I’ve never done before, is contact romance novel reviewers to ask if they would be interested in reviewing my book. In the past, I’ve always relied on customers to post reviews. I’ve never sought out the opinion of a reviewer. I’m sure you can imagine what a daunting prospect this is.

Soliciting reviews is a lot like querying an agent. Most of them have different submission requirements which mean there’s a substantial investment of time on my part. Though it can and does seem tedious at times, I remember the bigger picture. Reviews can increase exposure to my work which can increase sales. Not to mention, since I’m asking this favor of the reviewer, and she too is going to invest time in reading and reviewing my work, the least I can do is follow the specifications for submitting the book.

One thing I was also surprised to find in my quest for reviews was how often reviewers had to post author etiquette. The biggest concern most reviewers expressed was negative and sometimes vicious feedback from offended authors. Considering how much of an author’s heart and soul goes into her work, I can understand the hair trigger negative response. That said, that doesn’t mean I agree with an angry author taking their hurt feelings out on an honest reviewer but more on that later.

A number of my review requests have gone unanswered, but it’s early in the game so I’m not worried. However, a few have yielded positive results. The first review is in and it’s garnered 3.5 out of 5 possible stars.

As the title of this post indicates, I’m not only okay with the 3.5 stars, but I love it. Not because it was 3.5 stars but because of the body of the review.
The star rating system is only half of the review. The other half is the reviewer comments, which is what I focus on.

In the case of this, my first professionally sought out review, the reviewer found things to both like and dislike with the story and diligently pointed out both.

At the top of her things to dislike was the negative body image of the female protagonist who is a plus sized woman. At the top of her things to like was the relationship between the male lead and his family.

If I felt so inclined, I could defend the portrayal of the female protagonist’s feelings with a litany of reasons. I could, but I’m not going to for a few reasons.

First, I’m a firm believer in taking the good with the bad. When I asked for my work to be reviewed, I was gambling. There was a fifty-fifty chance the reviewer would dislike the work or something in it. By asking her to read it, I accepted those odds.

Second, the reviewer invested time and effort in reading and analyzing my work and then sharing her thoughts with others. Whether I like or dislike her opinion is not only an insult to her endeavors, but it’s irrelevant. One of the most interesting things about the publishing industry is that no two opinions are identical. Two people may have opposite reactions to a story but that doesn’t make either of them good, bad or right.

Third, picking a fight with the reviewer, or even publicly contradicting her opinion could have a negative impact on my image. Not only could it cost me future reviews with other interested reviewers (no one likes a diva), but it could cost me readers who might see me as whiny and unable to take criticism.

Finally, the most important of all, the review was one-hundred percent focused on the story. There was no mention of any errors with grammar, punctuation, spelling or other mechanics. Since I’m not only the author but also the editor, this is a huge win for me. I spend just as much time editing my stories as I do writing them, and I do that because I want the reader to be able to get lost in the story not get lost because of the story. The fact that this review did not single out any editing errors tells me that I accomplished that goal.

The review is in. It's 3.5 stars and I love it.