Anne Chaconas's Blog

A bit of an announcement this morning about fantastic awesomeness taking place between Badass Marketing and World’s Best Story! I’m stoked to announce that BAM is an official partner of the World’s Best Story 2015 competition, and that I’ll be providing some major book marketing packages to the winner and runners-up of ‪#‎WBS15‬! Read on to find out what’s up for grabs and how you can enter to win!

The first place winner, in addition to being showered with everything WBS is giving them, will also receive a Badass Marketing re-release day launch blitz and three-month comprehensive marketing and publicity package. This includes placement on high-traffic reader blogs, Goodreads publicity and giveaway campaigns, an extensive review drive, and custom-made promotional materials and graphics. In addition, the winner will undergo a complete evaluation of their social media and marketing platform, as well as their branding, and receive detailed, comprehensive one-on-one assistance to maximize its effectiveness. The winner’s backlist will also be evaluated, and a thorough plan to market, promote, and increase visibility and sales will be created and implemented.

A one-month comprehensive marketing and publicity package, including a complete evaluation of their social media and marketing platform, as well as their branding, and receive detailed, comprehensive one-on-one assistance to maximize its effectiveness. Custom social media and marketing strategies will be created and implemented, as well as a backlist evaluation and a plan to increase backlist sales and visibility.

A complete author platform and branding evaluation, and 5 hours of one-on-one coaching to implement suggestions and improvements.

Copies of all Badass Marketing marketing guides and publications and free enrollment in Badass Marketing courses (coming in 2016)! Publications include How To Launch Your Book Like A Boss, Don’t Be A Douchecanoe (and 99 other things self-published authors need to know before hitting ‘publish’), Marketing Your Book Shouldn’t Suck, and Owning The Internet: An Author’s Guide to Going from Social Media Zero to Online Marketing Hero in 30 Days. Courses include “Mastering Facebook Advertising For Authors,” “The Secrets Behind An Unforgettable Author Brand,” and “Launching Your Book Like A Boss: The Course.”

So, how do you get ALL THE THINGS? Easy–enter your story over at World’s Best Story! There’s no entry fee and entering is easy. You have until November 8 to submit your story, so get crackin’–and good luck!

Then you should sign up for the BAM! Weekly, my weekly newsletter that’s chockablock with the latest social media news, knowledge, and marketing how-to for badass authors with kickass books. Not only will you get awesome perks, like access to free copies of upcoming publications and subscriber-only giveaways for Mistress BAM swag, you’ll also get an exclusive article written only for subscribers (and yes, I keep the juiciest stuff just for the newsletter). So what’re you waiting for?

The friendly folks at BookBub have put together an infographic outlining their book selection process. Now, knowing how it works won’t guarantee you get a BookBub promo, but it will guarantee that you can streamline your submission to make it as easy as possible for them to say HOT DIGGITY DOG YES YES COME TO BOOKBUB COME TO US.

[Source: How BookBub’s Selection Process Works]

Ready to try your luck? You can submit your book to BookBub for consideration here.

Then you should sign up for the BAM! Weekly, my weekly newsletter that’s chockablock with the latest social media news, knowledge, and marketing how-to for badass authors with kickass books. Not only will you get awesome perks, like access to free copies of upcoming publications and subscriber-only giveaways for Mistress BAM swag, you’ll also get an exclusive article written only for subscribers (and yes, I keep the juiciest stuff just for the newsletter). So what’re you waiting for?

[Boy, is that a clickbait-y headline or what? I’m so proud of myself. I can go write for SunnySkyz or whatever oddly-named website is currently peddling pseudo-shocking or emotionally-ambushing internet tripe now! Go me!]

The thing about social media is that everyone can do it. Everyone has an account, everyone has a presence, everyone is on it. And because everyone is doing it, the first thing you think of (and start panicking about, if many of my clients are any indication) when starting a new business (because yes, once you publish your books and starting selling them you’re running a business) is creating a social media home for it. For the vast majority, that takes the form of creating a Facebook page for their business. Most, however, don’t stop there. They then on to create a business profile on Twitter, then go to Pinterest and do the same thing, then go to Instagram, Tumblr, Google+, LinkedIn, tsu, Ello, and whatever other well-established or flavor-of-the-week social media site they can think of, and set something up.

And after they’ve created their twelfth social media profile–that’s when I start getting the panicked emails.

Holy crap, am I supposed to post to all these places every day?

How am I supposed to find time to write if I have to post to all these social media sites?

OMG, do I need to post different content to each of these?

How the hell am I going to find the time to be on all these websites?

And that’s when I come in with my mask and my cape and save the day, because I tell you exactly what you want to hear (but were too afraid to think about, based on the advice everyone else was giving you):

Get off all those damn sites. You don’t need to be everywhere.

Get off all those damn social sites. You don’t need to be everywhere.
Click To Tweet

But–but, you say, how are my readers going to find me? I need to be everywhere! If I’m not everywhere, if even one reader cannot find me online, it will be a disaster, I will be a failure, I will lose all my sales and never write another word again!

You know when else you’ll never write another word again? When you spend all of your time posting to social media because you have eleventy-billion different profiles to keep “fresh.”

Here’s the big thing you’re doing wrong on social media: You’re trying to be everywhere at once.

Remember your freshman year of college, when you were so busy freaking out about fitting in that you went to every single party every single week? (No? Just me? Riiiiiight.) You walked your bedazzled (hey, it was the late 90s) ass from corner to corner of campus, hitting up every single shindig, spending five minutes at each one, getting to know no one, making an impression nowhere, and ending up alone at the end, with only your newly-acquired heel blisters to keep you company.

Cut yourself a break. Don’t be the freshman on campus. Pick a party or two to go to, and then go to those.

You don’t have to be on every single site. You don’t need to be on every single site. It’s not worth your time or effort to be on every single site. Pick the two that you like best or feel you could actually enjoy (because–GASP!–yes, social media should be enjoyable) and then be on those.

It’s not worth your time or effort to be on every single #socialmedia site.
Click To Tweet

But what if my readers are on [insert social media site name here] and they can’t find me? I need to be everywhere, else I will lose everything! I will lose all my sales! I will never make any money! I will be destroyed!

And that’s when I take away your Doomsday Cocktail (delicious and addicting concoction that it is), and remind you gently that you already are everywhere: you have a website (or you should), and that is your online home. If someone wants to learn more about you and can’t find you on their preferred social site, they’ll google you and find your website. That’s your online home. And on that online home they’ll find links to the social profiles you do have, and they’ll also find a link to sign up for your newsletter (which is where we really want them to be, but that’s another post for another day), and they can find you and follow you and sign up for you there. And if they don’t, that’s also okay. Because you’re not going to connect with everyone everywhere. If that’s your goal, you’re going to be disappointed. And just because you don’t connect with ALL THE WORLD ALL THE TIME, that doesn’t mean you’ll go down in flames. (No, seriously, you won’t.)

Books aren’t sold on social media, in any case (also another post for another day)–the point of social is to connect. And if you try to be at all the parties in one night, the only thing you’ll be connecting with is sore feet and a bunch of phone numbers from people you can barely remember. (No? Just me? Riiiiight.)

Calm down and just pick a party or two, dear. Your feet (and sanity) will thank you for it.

Then you should sign up for the BAM! Weekly, my weekly newsletter that’s chockablock with the latest social media news, knowledge, and marketing how-to for badass authors with kickass books. Not only will you get awesome perks, like access to free copies of upcoming publications and subscriber-only giveaways for Mistress BAM swag, you’ll also get an exclusive article written only for subscribers (and yes, I keep the juiciest stuff just for the newsletter). So what’re you waiting for?

★★★ IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT, BADASSITES! ★★★

Want to keep up with book marketing, author badassery, and the occasional f-bomb in 2015? Then the BAM Weekly is where you need to be. BOOM! Sign up here.

Folks on my newsletter list will have access to FREE copies of my upcoming author branding, book launch, social media strategy, and platform-building books, AS WELL AS having the opportunity to test drive my upcoming LIVE branding, marketing, and launch seminars (which will retail for hundreds of dollars post-beta) ALSO FOR FREE. Plus I’ve been known to do the massive giveaway or two (or twelve). So, you know. SIGN UP.

Why am I doing this? Here’s the deal: In 2015, Facebook will drastically reduce the number of posts you see from business pages like mine. I’ll still post there, but the chances of you seeing, even if you’re a fan, it are pretty slim. I currently use Facebook as my primary method of communicating with folks looking for assistance, but that’s clearly not going to work anymore. So, let’s make sure we can still kick some communal ass. Here’s how:

➜ Sign up the BAM Weekly, my weekly book marketing badassery newsletter: http://smarturl.it/TheBAMWeekly

➜ Sign up to get notifications of new blog posts via email here on the blog (via the widge on the right).

➜ Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/badassmktg

Those’ll be the three places I’ll make my home in 2015–I love Facebook and I’ll still post there consistently, but I refuse to have someone put up roadblocks to when and how I talk to you all. So come and join me on the BAM Weekly, the blog, and Twitter. Let’s talk WHEN we want to and HOW we want to. What say you? LET THE BADASSERY COMMENCE!

Coming March 15, 2015 from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author M. Leighton: A story of heartbreak, loss, love, and new beginnings. 

Coming March 15, 2015!

Preorder on iBooks | Add it on Goodreads

Sign up for M. Leighton’s superfan newsletter to get EXCLUSIVE excerpts, teasers, and Amazon, B&N, Kobo, and Google Play ordering information as soon as it’s available!

My name is Calla Price. I’m eighteen years old, and I’m one half of a whole.  My other half–my twin brother, my Finn–is crazy.

I love him. More than life, more than anything. And even though I’m terrified he’ll suck me down with him, no one can save him but me.

I’m doing all I can to stay afloat in a sea of insanity, but I’m drowning more and more each day. So I reach out for a lifeline.

Dare DuBray.

He’s my savior and my anti-Christ. His arms are where I feel safe, where I’m afraid, where I belong, where I’m lost. He will heal me, break me, love me and hate me.

He has the power to destroy me.

Maybe that’s ok. Because I can’t seem to save Finn and love Dare without everyone getting hurt.

Why? Because of a secret.

A secret I’m so busy trying to figure out, that I never see it coming.

You won’t either.

NOCTE is here. Get it: Amazon – iBooks – B&N – Kobo

Add it on Goodreads

Find Courtney Cole: Website – Newsletter – Facebook – Twitter

AVAILABLE TODAY! 5 historical romance stories from USA Today Best Selling Authors Kirsten Osbourne and Callie Hutton, and best selling authors Caroline Clemmons, Sylvia McDaniel, and Merry Farmer (PLUS bonus content!) all for just $0.99!

Get your copy now on Amazon, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo!

Add it to your Goodreads WANT TO READ list!

Enter the RELEASE DAY GIVEAWAY at the bottom of this post!

Julia traveled West to be a schoolteacher. Thomas requested a mail order bride. When he arrives at the train station to pick up his bride, Thomas mistakenly thinks Julia is there for him. Julia sees Thomas and thinks he’s there from the school board. She’s married an hour later.

{ Find Kirsten on her website, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. }

Widow Rachel Stevens is very happy with her job as a cook for the Lazy Sunset ranch where she is raising her son. However, the new foreman, Rusty McIntyre, is turning her life upside down. She could overlook how her son has begun to idolize Rusty, but she’s having a heck of a time ignoring the flutters in her stomach every time the man smiles at her.

But Rusty has problems of his own. His previously unknown fourteen year old daughter has just arrived to live with him. Used to always being on his own, now he has a young boy following him around imitating his every move, and a surly young lady glaring at him. Throw into the mix the tug he feels toward the ranch cook—who wants no part of him—and life is no longer as easy as it once was.

{ Find Callie on her website, Facebook, and Twitter. }

After fleeing an abusive husband six years ago, Beth Jeffers wants nothing more than to protect her son Davey and to help her mother operate a Texas Hill Country boarding house. The strong women in her family have had no luck with men, and she has no intention of letting any man influence her son. Not even handsome lawman Matt Petrov, no matter how much her lonely heart urges otherwise.

Federal Marshall Matt Petrov, also known as Lone Wolf Peters, fell in love with Beth the first time he saw her. Then she was another man’s wife, so he kept his longing a secret. But he’s saved his love for her for six horrific years. Now, the lovely widow and he have crossed paths again. This time, he intends to risk all for a chance at happiness. First he must rescue his distant kinsman from an assassin’s clutches and protect Beth’s son Davey from the villain. Mystery, kidnapping, and twists await Matt and Beth. But will Matt’s secrets shatter the love he and Beth share?

{ Find Caroline on her website, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. }

From Best Selling Author Sylvia McDaniel: Desperate

After the death of their father, the McKenzie sisters, Meg, Annabelle and Ruby try the normal ways for women to earn a living in a small western town. When they fail, the McKenzie sisters decide to take up their father’s profession, bounty hunting. They quickly learn they can use their feminine wiles and their Baby Dragoons to earn their way in the old west. They’re tough and resilient, badass women in this historical western novella. Kick off the adventure with the first installment of the new series, Lipstick and Lead with Desperate.

{ Find Sylvia on her website, Facebook, and Twitter. }

From Best Selling Author Merry Farmer:The Indomitable Eve

The one thing Eve deLaurent has wished for in the two years since her sister, Amelia, was whisked away to America was to be a family again. But the tragedy that befell her once Amelia was gone has left her wounded, body and soul. Now, reunited with her sister, all Eve wants to do is run. Amelia’s new, happy life is a betrayal deeper than Eve can stand. She would leave and never look back, were it not for Mark Andrews.

As Cold Springs’s reverend, Mark is used to people confiding their darkest sins and looking to him for help. So when he sees the pain behind Eve’s mask of confidence, all he wants to do is help her. But Eve awakens a desire in him that reminds him that even a man of God is still a man. They seem to be everything the other wants and needs, but can the people of Cold Springs accept an actress in their pastor’s arms? Can they be together if bitter family betrayals keep Eve and Amelia at each other’s throats?

You’re only as strong as the loves that hold you together…

{ Find Merry on her website, Facebook, and Twitter. }

** Plus bonus stories from Caroline Clemmons and Merry Farmer! ** 

Get your copy of Wild Western Women now on

Amazon, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo!

Add it to your Goodreads WANT TO READ list!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Are you ready to ride the Oregon Trail?

Available RIGHT NOW on Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.

Add it to your Goodreads want-to-read list right here.

Someone is trying to kill Lynne Tremaine. After her father sentences two members of The Briscoe Boys gang to death, Judge Tremaine feels he has no choice but to send Lynne to Denver City along the Oregon Trail to live with her Uncle George…against her will. For Lynne, the only thing worse than being sent away to the wild west is making the journey with the handsome, arrogant, wicked man her uncle has hired to escort her. Especially when the anger she feels toward him begins to turn to something hotter.

Cade Lawson is determined to prove himself to his employer, George Tremaine, after letting him down months earlier. But what he thought would be his second chance may, in fact, be a harsh punishment for his past mistakes. Lynne is headstrong, fiery, and determined to show him she is fearless. She is also beautiful and tempting, and when Cade sees just how afraid she really is underneath her brave act, he may be in danger of losing his heart to her forever. When her would-be killer attacks, it’s all he can do to keep Lynne safe.

He swore to protect her, but who will protect him from her?

PLEASE BE ADVISED – Steam Level: Hot

Trail of Kisses is available RIGHT NOW on Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.

Add it to your Goodreads want-to-read list right here. 

Sign up for Merry Farmer’s newsletter to get the scoop on future Hot on the Trail books and get superfan-only news, exclusives, and giveaways!

Merry Farmer is an award-winning author of historical romance. She lives in suburban Philadelphia with her two cats and enough story ideas to keep her writing until she’s 132. Her second novel, The Faithful Heart, was a 2102 RONE Award finalist and her unpublished futuristic novel A Man’s World won first place in the Novel: Character category at the 2013 Philadelphia Writer’s Conference. She is out to prove that you can make a living as a self-published author and to help others to do the same.

Find Merry on her website, Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon Author Page.

In this space, we work on the assumption that you have the ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT. This means that:

ERGO:

If you want to work with us, you need to have the drive to succeed. You also need to be aware that not all ideas will be successful, but know that an unsuccessful idea is not the end–it is merely pointing you toward a new beginning.

If you want to work with us, you need to have the spirit to be daring, to strike out on your own, to be different, to work hard and work smart. You need to believe in yourself, in your creation–and in us.

If you want to work with us, you need to have so much enthusiasm that you could power a small metropolis with your nervous energy alone. You have to LOVE what you do, be willing to take chances for it, and know that sometimes (almost always) you will have to take leaps of faith without a safety net.

If you want to work with us, you need to have the motivation to be brave, to try to new ideas, to be innovative and cutting edge and cool. And not “cool” in the “popular crowd” way, either; cool in the HOLY SHIT DID YOU SEE THAT WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT way.

If you want to work with us, you need to WANT IT. What is IT, you ask? IT is whatever you want it to be. But, whatever it is, you have to WANT IT with your WHOLE SELF, with your WHOLE SOUL, with your WHOLE MIND. Because if you don’t, then you’re wasting your time, and ours. And we fucking hate wasting time.

IN CONCLUSION:

If you want to work with us, you have to be in it 110%. Not 90%. Not 95%. And certainly not some half-assed 22% filled with excuses and hemming and hawing. BE IN IT TO WIN IT. OWN IT. WHATEVER IT IS. OWN IT AND ROCK IT.

All others need not apply.

<< THIS HAS BEEN A BADASS PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT >>

I was perusing Facebook the other day, calmly going about my business, when a friend shared this status that she’d seen on an author’s Facebook page, along with the following reaction: “Holy shit. Um…”

I’ve blurred out the name and picture not to protect the offending author’s identity (because, hey, they posted it publicly–they should own it), but because I don’t want to add yet more fuel to that particular dumpster fire.

Needless to say, the response on that status was swift and immediate. And overwhelmingly negative. The post was shared hundreds of times, the comments were in the thousands. The outrage was the kind of outrage only the internet can provide–constant, unending, increasingly angry, and spreading faster than a cold at a preschool (I know about this last all too well. Blech).

Initially, the author tried replying to the comments. This was not met well. While some fans expressed their support, many, many, many more were quick to make their displeasure known. Memes were thrown around. Advice on good manners was bandied about. The issue grew and grew, and eventually the author disappeared from the page, leaving it to fester on its own–probably the best course of action.

It didn’t stop people from commenting on the post, though.

The next day, the offending verbiage disappeared from the page. A message was put up in its stead:

ETA 9/7/14: This has since also been deleted.

Again, not the best thing to say. A non-apology apology that places blame for one’s own bad behavior on others and shows a complete lack of understanding of how to treat people is perhaps not the best way to calm a raging storm.  At last check, people are STILL commenting on that post.

The most eyebrow-raising part of this whole debacle is that this is not a newbie writer or a confirmed socially-inept hermit–someone who you might understand making this kind of douchecanoe misstep. This is a famous author, one whose books are extremely well-received, and who has made the NYT bestseller lists many, many times. By all accounts, this person has lived the “golden” life that most authors dream of–the big publishing contracts, the constant appearances on bestseller lists, the coast-to-coast book-signing tours, the rave reviews by national publications.

I wonder who or what this author thinks made all this happen. The great writing in the books? Of course, that plays a role. But hundreds of fantastically-written books languish in obscurity yearly. The big-time publisher? Yes, to a degree. But plenty of books put out by big publishers die on the vine every year–hell, every day.

The fact remains that without readers, this author would have nothing. Sure, there may have been a contract for a book or two, initially. But if those books had not been bought in the thousands by readers, this author would have gone the way of the dodo. If readers hadn’t shown up to buy the book, attend the signings, comment on posts, demand more books, clamor for this particular peddler of fiction–well, then this author would have been no more.

Readers are the lifeblood of any author. They are what keeps an author in business. They are what makes an author’s livelihood possible. Are there other factors involved? Of course! But without readers, those other factors wouldn’t exist.

Yet, somehow, when one of the people commenting on the initial rant said, “The readers of your books pay your wages–FACT!!” this author replied with, “You don’t pay my salary.” 

SAY WHAT? 

Authors, let me clarify something here, in case it hasn’t been made clear already: READERS PAY YOUR WAY. Sure, they don’t chase you down the street, throwing dollar bills at you. They don’t wire funds directly into your bank account. They don’t send you checks in the mail. But if you think for even one second that readers aren’t the ones paying your salary, you are fully deluded. Readers are the thing.

Your job, dear author, is to keep your readers happy. Sure, sometimes that’s a pain in the ass, like when you have to answer questions about the order of your series or when your next book is coming out or if you’re planning on writing the sixth sequel for a fan-favorite character for the millionth time. But you do it. And you do with a smile. And you do it as long as it takes. Wanna know why?

Because  READERS MAKE YOUR LIFE POSSIBLE. 

Do you owe readers your constant, unending attention? Of course not. Are you expected to put your entire life on hold to answer their questions? No, don’t be ridiculous. Are you allowed to have a bad day and need to vent? Yes, sure. But to bite the hand that feeds you in such a spectacularly unapologetic, douchebaggy, public way–and to then have the balls to say that you don’t understand why someone would be offended by you acting like a spoiled, entitled asshole? Come on now.

YOU OWE READERS YOUR LIFE AS AN AUTHOR. Whether you believe it or not, it’s true. And unless you’re totally fine with slaving away at a manuscript that no one will ever read, this applies to you. EVERY AUTHOR IS COMPLETELY DEPENDENT ON READERS.

Will this author live to write another day? I’m sure of it. The fiction is, by all accounts, exceptional. The fans are legion and rabid (and many of them simply giggled uncomfortably at this outpouring of jerkhood and chalked it up to the author’s “personality”). The books will continue to sell.

But that doesn’t mean that being a douchecanoe is okay. Just because one jerkhole gets away with it doesn’t mean it’s alright. Treat your readers with respect. Treat them with kindness. You owe them that much (and more, to be perfectly honest).

And when those readers start asking the same question over and over? Consider creating an FAQ section on your site and pointing folks in that direction. If this particular author had something like that in place, perhaps this all could have been avoided.

Then again, maybe not. Douchebag is as douchebag does.