I need your opinion. I have a new head shot, and I’m wondering what you think of it.

To give you some background, I’ve had three professional head shots taken for use in my writing career and haven’t loved any of them. In fact, the first one (done at Penny’s Dept. Store in 1999) I hated and only used only for a year-and a half. Then, in the summer of 2001, I had one of those studio portraits done during a writer’s conference. It was all right, a lot better than the first one, and I used it for about six years. Then, I decided my looks had changed, and I wanted an updated photo, so I had another studio portrait taken at a conference. I disliked this one immensely and after a while, couldn’t figure out why I was even using it. Oh, and just so you know, I spent about $750 on all three of these professional head shots.

So, a couple months ago I needed a head shot for something else. Because I hated the head shot I was using and was pressed for time, I took about 300 pictures of myself with my digital camera over a week stretch, in different places and wearing different clothes. Of the 300 pictures, I liked 3 of them (yes, I’m fickle). I sent the one I liked the best to a photo-fix website and for $12.95 they photo-shopped the picture for me.

Personally, I think it came out pretty darn good. Way better than the other three that cost hundreds of dollars. Since I write Harlequin Americans, I wanted a photo that made me look “approachable” and “friendly”. Like a neighbor you enjoy visiting over the fence with.

What do you think? Be honest.



My other exciting piece of news this week is that I have a totally new website. I’ve been wanting to do this for a year at least and have been working on it for over two months with my new website designer. I’m also really happy with the results :)

www.cathymcdavid.com

Go there, check it out and tell me what you think.

Between the two, I’m feeling like a whole new person.

Cathy Mc

Some Thoughts on Format

It used to be that when a new book by a bestselling author was released in hardcover, there were certain options: People who could afford hardcover bought it. People who couldn't afford it but couldn't wait to read it used the library. Frugal people who wanted to own it waited six months or (more commonly) a year until the mass market paperback came out.

Publishers released a book by an author with a massive audience in hardcover for many reasons. I haven't worked in that end of publishing, so there are probably details and factors I'm missing or misunderstanding, but the deal was that the hardcover/mass market combo maximized revenue for both the publisher and the author (and probably the bookseller, too), while also making full use of the breadth of the readership and meeting their needs, at least over time.

Then trade paperbacks had kind of a resurgence, or surgence, and more popular fiction (which is all I'm talking about here because that's all I'm interested in! :) ) was published that way. Trade is kind of a compromise between the cost and perception of the hardback and mass market.

Now, finally, digital books are mainstream. It's taken about 15 years, and over that time, the cost of an e-book has been a hot topic. Publishers have failed and gone bankrupt by the dozens every year because their principles underestimated the cost of creating a quality electronic document. By now, everyone believes an e-book should be less expensive than a paper book, and maybe there's some understanding of the limits of that. But there are new factors at play.

One stumbling block is what an e-book is. Publishers are taking the approach that it's simply a format, just like hardcovers, trade paperback, and mass market paperback. They treat it as such, sometimes releasing the e-book a few months later than the hardcover, so the e-book doesn't cut into hardcover sales. This makes perfect sense to me. I always wanted the cheaper mass market paperback sooner, but had to bite the bullet and wait. Why not treat the e-book the same way?

E-book...um...let's call them enthusiasts, however, see the e-book as a completely separate entity, and fly into a righteous outrage if they have to wait (or if the publisher tries to protect the e-book from piracy with DRM, etc., but that's another topic).

Unfortunately, what a reader is has changed. An e-book reader (the person) has likely invested in a very expensive e-book reader (the equipment) and therefore doesn't want to read any books in any other format than digitally. This isn't, of course, universal, but it describes a huge portion of that population.

I'm wondering if the time has come to compromise. I suspect the hardcover market has shrunk overall, especially in these difficult economic times, but there is an important market in collectors and libraries. The digital marketplace is growing, and faster than ever, but it still comprises a tiny portion of the overall readership. Mass market will still be the volume business. And then, in the middle of it all, are the readers who think trade paperback is more classy or something.

So why not release all popular fiction in all formats at the same time? Let every reader who wants a book as soon as it's released be able to get it. Early sales are so important for bestseller lists and earnout and sellthrough and cash flow, and this seems a damned good way to get all that.

I challenge someone to run a test with a few books and see how it goes. If it's not successful, we can always go back to old ways, or even a totally new way of doing things. But this should make everyone happy, and when everyone is happy, everyone wins, right?

A Question of Identity, or Weird Stuff I've Been Thinking About

I was out of town all weekend, on a writer's retreat, and I'm playing catchup right now, so this is a quick post.












The Retreat Thing
I am blessed enough to have a friend who recently bought a beach house. Or, I have a friend who's blessed enough to have bought one. :) This weekend, four of us joined her in Bethany Beach, DE, to spend our time relaxing and focusing on writing. We were all intensely productive, when we weren't being silly.

The weird thing that makes this fit in this post? It snowed more at Bethany Beach on Saturday than it has down there in decades. We had 10 inches of snow! It was beautiful, and we went to the beach twice in it, but we had to trade the snow for the fullest moon of the year. I really wanted to see that over the beach.

The Emoticon Effect
When I type something that's meant to be funny or tongue in cheek and I add a :) to make sure the reader gets it, I smile in real life. It makes me feel foolish, but I can't stop.

Identity Issues
Ever since I got married (nearly 18 years ago), my name has been Natalie J. Damschroder. I started writing about that time, so my professional name has always included the J. When it's not there for some reason, it doesn't look or feel right. I compile a column for the Romance Writers Report, and my byline doesn't have the J. I feel like no one will make the connection without it. Most of the time when I get checks, professionally or personally, the J is missing, and when I endorse them, it's like I'm committing fraud.

What silliness have you been thinking about lately?

You Can Do It!

Monday evening I attended a motivation speech that amazed me. It wasn't particularly what the speaker said, but how he proved his point regarding positive thinking.

Each participant was given a fishing weight connected to a piece of twine. While we held the end of the string between our thumb and forefinger (the weight above the table), we were instructed to place our elbow on the table with our wrist bent and our hand parallel to the table. His next direction was to focus on the weight and visualize the weight moving side to side.

My jaw dropped as the weight began to move. Not only did it move but it swung side to side.

When he told us to visualize the weight moving back and forth I couldn't help thinking, "No possible way." But again I was wrong. Amazingly the weight changed direction. When he finally told us to visualize the weight moving in a circle I had become a true believer that the energy we project can take us wherever we want to go.

Bottom line your mind is a very powerful tool that can guide you forward or hold you back. No matter what your dream is you have to believe in yourself and keep visualizing your success. When negative thoughts emerge push them away and replace them with something that makes you happy. Things may not change immediately, but I can guarantee it will make you feel better. And, the better you feel the more positive the world is around you.

Mac

I Need Structure!

Ahhh...relief.

I just finished co-moderating a three-week online course for RWA PRO. In the middle of it, I did an online workshop of my own, as the instructor. And I finished up two major editing/proofreading projects for a client.

Today? None of that is on my plate! I didn't have to race to the computer first thing in the morning, to start posting lessons and approving messages. I don't have to relentlessly refresh the "pending messages" page during every waking hour. And my nonfiction workload is really light.

But it's not non-existent, and I have to be careful not to slack off and miss things. So my To-Do list (spreadsheet, actually) is back. I haven't used it yet this year, which was odd, and it was odd not to need it. But now, instead of huge projects that take a large portion of my attention, I have bunches of little things again.

Today's list:

Write this post

Clean the house

Write 500+ words on Full Fusion

Finish cleaning out office closet

Critique 63 pages for a friend

proof a mailer for my main client

Do laundry

Work out

Go to the post office

Drop an old monitor off for recycling

Post work for other major client

The list tomorrow is similar, only I need to prep my taxes and start working on the shelves and filing cabinet in my office. And so on. If I don't use the to-do list...well, like last week, I forget to post here. Or I forget to check the EZ Pass account to see if it's getting low.

Later in the week I have a separate list for retreat preparation. I'm going off for the weekend with four other writers, and our goal is to focus completely on the writing. Two of us have been doing well at it lately, but have been fighting distractions that drain motivation. Two have needed some kicks in the butt, and have been wiped out from their day jobs. One has been able to squeeze in the writing time, but her life is CA-RAY-Z and she needs a break where she can focus without guilt. But we'll need structure there, too, or we'll spend the whole time talking to each other and not get enough done. :)

So what about you? Does structure come naturally, or do you have to impose it? What falls by the wayside if you don't stay organized and focused?

The Journey's First Climax

Addendum

Okay usually these come AFTER something, but I'm putting it first here because I've gotten a couple of ...."okay, what's wrong, why are you so down." Sooooo, I shall explain that the post BELOW this addendum was written while. . .

a) I was dealing with chronic pain from arthritis and fibromyalgia, which has kept me awake at night for oh, about nine days now. Not only am I in pain, but I can't sleep for the pain. I'm taking aspirin, but its not touching this, and the meds my doc gave me either put me in Neverland for three days or make swell. So I've been trying to deal. I intend to take the tramadol this weekend if it doesn't get better. At least I'll be able to sleep, which I desperately need.

b) As someone with bipolar disorder, I have highs and lows. Unfortunately for me (and anyone who reads the post below) I have been on a downward spiral for about two weeks. My meds are stabilizing meds, but they require me to balance myself and be cognizant of what's going on around me. I practice positive thinking, but since the beginning of the year, I feel like I'm being emotionally assaulted from all sides. It's the disorder acting up, and I can usually manage it UNLESS I'm exhausted. See a) above. But I'm starting to come out of the darkness of the valley.

So keep all that in mind when you read the whiny assed post below. I expect our regularly scheduled program to be back on the air soon.

The Post

Two weeks ago tomorrow was my print debut as a NY author. It was exciting and dull at the same time. Dull? I can see your mouths dropping open at this part. She just had a NY book hit the shelves and she finds that dull??? I don’t know why, but I was expecting something much different than the earth-shattering NOTHING that happened on Tuesday the 5th.

I’ve seen five different small press print books launch, and I think I expected my NY launch to pack a bigger punch. It didn’t. Essentially, it was a non-event. By that I mean, there wasn’t a whole lot of buzz on the Internet with readers talking about the book or how they just had to rush out and buy the book. I was relieved to hear from readers who said they’d received their pre-order copy and they were ready to dive into the book. But over all, I wasn’t that high on the radar screen. In fact, I debuted in the 3000s on Borders best-selling romance books. THAT was a rude awakening. Especially when my second print book, Forbidden Pleasures from New Concepts, actually shot up to the 7K mark and hovered there for a few days at Amazon. Not that Amazon is even remotely accurate in terms of ranking, but its nice to see that number, unfortunately Kismet hasn't even rocketed out of the 30K ranks. *sigh*

Questioning The Logic of Advertising

Yep you read that right. Me the Queen Advocate of Advertising is trying to steer her way out of a skid on this one. At this point, I’m not sure whether my EXPENSIVE advertising will have been worth it. By expensive, I mean I spent $1125 on a full page ad with Emma Wildes. We split the cost. Then I paid $750 for a full page color ad in RWR. On top of that, I’ve done mailings, online promotions and a host of other things to build up my name and get people interested in looking at Kismet. In total, I’ve spent more than $4k for promotion specifically related to this book. It’s been disheartening, not because I expected to debut at #1 *snort* (ok, maybe a small part of me did.), but I once again have realized how much luck comes into play in one’s climb up the ladder.

When I say luck, I’m not diminishing the necessity for a well-written book. A well-written book not only gets strong sales, it gets buzz to build those strong sales. It gets buzz frombuyers to booksellers to readers. If it goes viral that's awesome. If it doesn't then it takes time to build an audience. But from what I'm seeing, it's a crap shoot as to how well a book does when going out the gate.

Then there are the Kirkus and PW reviews that supposedly booksellers use to determine whether or not to stock a book. While debut books are often selected for review, I really don't think they’re just random picks based on taste. I think there’s a little behind the scenes maneuvering. I'm also talking about how a book actually gets enough visibility in the store so that readers actually pick it up. In addition, lets look at the book format itself. I'm in trade paperback. That's the larger size book than the mass-market size withis the 5x7 size for say $6.99 or $7.99. The trades are larger and cost twice as much as a mm book. So I'm pretty sure that's an issue when it comes to someone taking my book for a testdrive. Not many people are willing to spend $14 on a book by an author they don't know.

Are Rankings a Signal?

So with the book only on shelves two weeks, my rankings at Borders Bestselling Romance has dropped from its all-time high of 534 down to 1233. So you can see why I'm feeling a bit cynical about the book's success. And yes, I know that those online lists aren't accurate, but Borders is a bit more so than Amazon, and I've not gone too high up. Of course, positive reviews are nice ego strokes, just as less than stellar ones (Mrs. Giggles) ensure a writer's flagellation for daring to put their book out there. This is all part of the game, and one either accepts it for what it is or tanks beneath the weight of censure. However, I will say I wasn't all that surprised by the 61 she gave the book. She's not a fan of angst, and I do angst a lot, so it just wasn't a good match. In the overall scheme of things though, a 61 means an average read for her. Not too bad when I think about it.

Advertising Isn't End All

In addition to all the advertising, I've done a blog tour to promote the book, but that seems to do nothing when it comes to driving sales. Maybe it's sales I don't see online, but it does seem like the same people follow me from blog to blog hoping to land a free copy of the book.I don't mind people trying to win a free copy. The book isn't cheap, and times are tough. At the same time, I wonder if the followers who go blog to blog will even buy the book if they don't win.

It's Really Not That Bad!

Despite a dismal performance at Mrs. Giggles, several different reviewers had different opinions. One of them was Katibabs, a tough reviewer. So that was a relief to get a decent review from a reviewer I consider as tough as Mrs. Giggles. Barnes and Noble has me in a Newest Arrivals program, where my book is set out with other new arrivals. So they're up front when you first come in the door, and see Newest Arrivals. Not sure how well the program works for a romance, but it's a feel good sensation that Berkley has thrown their weight behind the book.

There are a couple other ups in this seemingly downward spiral, I've done two book signings. One in Richmond and one in Roanoke. The Richmond signing didn't have a huge turnout due to the weather (snow in the forecast makes Richmonders become hermits). However, I did sell to a number of readers who either came specifically to the signing because they wanted the book, and/or customers in the store who like to support local authors.

My Roanoke signing was moderately successful. I had friends I'd not seen in years come out to support me, which was wonderful. A couple of girlfriends from high school, and I even cried at one point. So I did sell quite a few books even if it was only to friends, although there were a number of shoppers in the store who bought as well. One customer was guy, and I was so proud of him that he had to courage to purchase the book. Guys are always uncomfortable when it comes to others knowing they like to read romance, and it was pretty evident this young man was edgy about buying the book, but KUDOS to him for having the chutzpah to come up and get an autorgraphed copy.

Now that Kismet is out, I'm wrapping up my blog tour, and moving on. I'm already behind on the current WIP. I was on target and then edits for Assassin's Honor came home to roost. I had eight days to revise, and unlike Kismet, this time there were a lot more places that needed attention. Most of them were fairly easy fixes, just fleshing out some of the world-building rules and making readers understand why things are the way they are in the Sicari world. But the one that gave me the worst fit was near the end. I had to come up with a punishment for the hero, and I'd already made him pay dearly in a physical fashion earlier in the book, so I just wasnt' sure what I could do to him to make it seem a worthy punishment. Fortunately, I had a friend who'd read the book, brainstorm with me. Turns out I knew what the answer was all along, I'd just been going about it the wrong way. So problem solved, and Cindy was happy with the changes.

So all in all, it's been a wild and crazy month so far. I can't believe January is more than half over!! It will be spring before I know it, and I am not ready for that. I'd like for life to slow down a little bit, but I don't expect that to happen for at least another eight months when I turn in my final of five contracted books. It could be worse though. I could be without those two NY contracts, and I cannot say I didn't ask for all this. So the whining is more the result of being tired than anything else. Now back to the manuscript and the resolution to another HEA.

Knock Me Over With a Feather

Some of you may recall that a few months ago I posted about my experience contacting a local book club in my area. The head of the book club politely (and snootily) declined my offer to come speak to their group as "they don't read those kind of books". Her attitude was so ludicrous, I just laughed it off. Pretty much. I admit, for a few minutes, I was, indeed, a little hurt.

Well, yesterday I had about as 180 degree different experience as one could get.

About the same time I approached the local book club lady, my daughter told me of a woman in her college class who also belonged to a book club (and, yes, they didn't read romances, either). When my daughter informed the lady that her mother was an author, the woman expressed an interest in reading one of my books– a hesitant interest, naturally. My daughter asked me for a book to give the lady, and I thought, what the heck. I gave her one of my first Harlequin Americans that came out about three years ago.

Well, to my utter surprise, the woman emailed me yesterday to tell me she'd read the book and was "pleasantly surprised" at how good it was. She'd gone ahead and purchased two more of my books and planned to read them next. It gets better. She invited me to speak at her book club meeting and (here's the real big shocker), asked me how much I charge. They actually want to pay me to speak to them!

I emailed her back accepting the invitation and telling her I don't charge a fee but asked if I could sell my books at their meeting instead. I'm not so much interested in making money as gaining new readers and introducing them to the joy of romance books.

Clearly this group of readers isn't the same as the other one. They are genuine, friendly, open to finding new genres and welcoming to local authors. I'm sure they'll be a delightful audience.

Just when I was losing faith...something like this happens to make my day.

Cathy