Self Promotion

This weekend, I'm working on the final print galleys for Lady Lightkeeper. Its always exciting to work on galleys since that's the last step before the book is sent to the printer :) I'm catching little things and enjoying reading the next installment in Lizbeth Sullivan Kinsey's story. There are some interesting twists in the story and a number of secrets are revealed. Some are revealed to the characters and some are new for the reader as well.

In case anyone reading this is curious about "galleys" - this is a simple explanation. My publisher sends me a file with each page of the book laid out, just like it will be in the book. I review each page to see if anything is wrong and needs to be fixed. I personally print out the entire book and make all corrections in red ink on these pages. Then I type the wrong sentence into a new file and below that I type the corrected sentence. These are sent to my publisher and she makes the changes, then she sends them so I can check once more. Once we're both satisfied, they are sent to the printer. Editing is not my favorite part of writing, but this is the last time I'll edit this story :)

I was thrilled to find that Lady Lightkeeper is #3 on the ebooksonthe.net bestseller list on Fictionwise and its #268 out of almost 4000 romance ebooks. At first glance that doesn't look so great, but when I calculated it, Lady Lightkeeper is selling in the top 7% of romance titles of Fictionwise. That's thrilling :) For more info about the book - visit - http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/eBook43054.htm?cached

Time to get back to work, just wanted to share my evening with you all :)

Nikki Leigh

www.nikkileigh.com

I live in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia about 30 minutes from West Virginia and the temperature has dipped to regular winter temps. It seems unreal that two weeks ago it was in the 70's and last Sunday we had snow and ice. I think just about everyone agrees that this has been a bizarre winter in the US.

 But, the temperature outdoor doesn't matter this weekend. I have the final print galleys for Lady Lightkeeper and I'll be settled in with my red pen to make any final corrections to the manuscript. The ebook is doing well on Fictionwise and it looks like the print book will be out near the beginning of March. I'll get to hold the first and second book of the Misty Cove series in my hands. I cannot wait :)

I'd love to hear from anyone who has read Widow's Walk. If you haven't read it, but you'd like to share your thoughts, there is more info about Widow's Walk at www.nikkileigh.com/prod_02.htm.

I hope everyone manages to stay warm this weekend and I'm going to enjoy my last trip back to Misty Cove in the mid to late 1850's. When the third book begins, the Civil War will begin and life for my characters in the north (Massachusetts) and the south (North Carolina) will be facing many dangers, difficult decisions and potential problems. But, that story will have to wait a little while. I have other stories to share with you first...

Nikki Leigh

www.nikkileigh.com

I'd like to talk to authors who have a unique and effective promotional idea that you would like to share. Feel free to contact me at nikki-leigh@excite.com. Let me know what your idea is and you may be featured on this blog in the near future :) It can be an online idea, a face to face idea, something that makes your website special, anything that works :)

Nikki Leigh

Author - Jackie McGuyer - posted a new interview with me and I would like to invite you to take a look. The link is:

The Java Pump www.writerjackimcguyer.blogspot.com

Nikki Leigh

We had a good time at the chat and we'll be there again on February 13. Talking about novels which have romantic elements the day before Valentines Day seems like a pretty good idea

Any members of the Love Romance message board are invited to take a look at the excerpts we posted yesterday and in the files section, I also posted the "samplers" for my two series.

I would be happy to send a "sampler" to anyone. These contain some "behind the scenes" information about my books. They have setting and character details, reviews, some additional info about the creation of the book and much more. These are free and I can send one to you. Just drop me a note at nikki-leigh@excite.com if you'd like one or both

I'll post an invite to our chat next month.

Nikki Leigh
www.nikkileigh.com

Michelle Dunn, a friend of mine, is working on the book Mosquito Marketing for authors and as a preview, she is offering a 10 page report, if you send her an email to request it. I contributed a page or two of information for the book and would suggest contacting her about this special report --

Do You Want to Make Money Selling Your Books? Send an email to
michelle@michelledunn.com and receive a FREE 10 page article taken from
Michelle Dunn's Mosquito Marketing for Authors book. Start making more
money and more sales Today!

Nikki Leigh

One of the most valuable resources I've found for writers, is Preditors and Editors. If you're considering submitting work to an agent, publisher, contest and much more, this is an invaluable resource.

In January of each year, there is a yearly contest for books, ebooks, cover art, author websites and lots of other stuff. Two of my books, some covers and other things have been nominated. I would greatly appreciate any votes. If you feel so inclined, I've provided the links below and all you do is scroll to the bottom of the page, enter your name and email. Then they will send a confirmation email. Click the link in the email and the vote is confirmed. You may also want to nominate other books.

The books listed are mine and so are the covers. Arline Chase is one of my publisher and Write Words is her company and I think she definitely deserves your vote. The Readers Station is an online group and a website that I started with some friends for writers and readers. The links to all of these pages are on the voting pages. Thanks again for your help.

I have a page on my website which contains the titles for my self promotion articles on the Inspired Author website and there is a link to vote for that information as well :)

Any questions, you can drop me a message at nikki-leigh@excite.com

Nikki Leigh

http://www.critters.org/predpoll/novelr.shtml - Widow's Walk

http://www.critters.org/predpoll/novel.shtml - Lilah and the Locket

http://www.critters.org/predpoll/nonfiction.shtml - Book Promotion Articles

http://www.critters.org/predpoll/artwork.shtml - Widow's Walk

http://www.critters.org/predpoll/bookart.shtml - Lilah and the Locket

http://www.critters.org/predpoll/bookeditor.shtml - Arline Chase

http://www.critters.org/predpoll/ebookpublisher.shtml - Write Words

http://www.critters.org/predpoll/writerforum.shtml - Readers Station

http://www.critters.org/predpoll/writerinfo.shtml - Readers Station

Nikki Leigh - Author - www.nikkileigh.com
Stormy View & Widow's Walk - Autographed copies now available
Lilah and the Locket & Lady Lightkeeper - Available 2007

Shri Henkel - S & C Consulting Ltd - www.sandcconsulting.com
Check Website for Business & Restaurant Management Books

We had a good time at the chat and we'll be there again on February 13. Talking about novels which have romantic elements the day before Valentines Day seems like a pretty good idea :)

Any members of the Love Romance message board are invited to take a look at the excerpts we posted yesterday and in the files section, I also posted the "samplers" for my two series.

I would be happy to send a "sampler" to anyone. These contain some "behind the scenes" information about my books. They have setting and character details, reviews, some additional info about the creation of the book and much more. These are free and I can send one to you. Just drop me a note at nikki-leigh@excite.com if you'd like one or both :)

I'll post an invite to our chat next month.

Nikki Leigh
www.nikkileigh.com

I wanted to extend a personal invitation for you to join Dorice Nelson, Elena Bowman, Nora Peterson and Nikki Leigh (me) for an all day chat at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoveRomancesCafe on Tuesday January 9. It's easy to join the group and we will be there off and on all day to answer your questions, share excerpts from our books, answer your questions and there could be some prizes before the day is over.

We offer a wide variety of genres in our books --

Contemporary Romance
Contemporary Women's Fiction
Historic Adventure
Historic Romance
Historic Suspense
Mystery
Romantic Suspense
Science Fiction
Business
Management
FInance

and much more.

I believe that between the four of us we almost twenty books available to the public. We seem to have new books coming out all the time. There's a lot that we can talk about and we hope that you will join us. We'll be chatting on the message board and although we won't be there every minute of the day, we will be in and out. I think we're going to start around 9 am EST and should be around until 7 or 8 pm EST. We look forward to the chance to share our characters and our worlds with you.

You can also visit us at the Readers Station (www.readersstation.com) and we have a message board there, were we love to talk with readers and other authors. Hope to speak with you soon.

Nikki Leigh

PS - We'll also have a couple of special guests dropping in to say hello during the day :)

Nikki Leigh - Author - www.nikkileigh.com
Stormy View & Widow's Walk - Autographed copies now available
Lilah and the Locket & Lady Lightkeeper - Available 2007

Shri Henkel - S & C Consulting Ltd - www.sandcconsulting.com
Check Website for Business & Restaurant Management Books

My friend Jeanne Vincent just told me about an interview she did with best selling author Vicki Hinze. There's a lot of good information along with promotional suggestions near the end of the interview. In case you would like to learn more, the link is - http://www.absolutewrite.com/novels/vicki_hinze.htm.

Have you tried any of these ideas? If so, what did or did not work for you. Inquiring minds would like to hear your thoughts :)

This is a quote from the article --

Best-selling author Vicki Hinze says she was "self-indulgent" when she started writing, completing fifteen novels that didn't fit in any established genre. "I wrote exactly what I wanted to write with no thought to marketing or genre, or where a book would fit on a bookstore bookshelf."

How do you feel about that comment? Is that how you decide what to write?

You might be interested to know what she said next...

Nikki Leigh
www.nikkileigh.com