It’s a party, yo! #RRBC style

Welcome to my stop along the Springtime Book & Block Party route. Let’s get the preliminary stuff out of the way first. I’m giving two prizes away, and you don’t have to be a member to win. All you have to do is leave a comment, and a random draw will decide the winners. Contestants are only eligible from North America, due to the restrictive cost of shipping.

So what could you win? How about one of these awesome coffee mugs, featuring my personal assistant, and the spokesmodel for my writing career, Lisa Burton the robot girl.

Look how beautiful that marble bust looks, oh and Lisa looks nice too. These things are huge, and you’re going to want one.

This time the party took me by surprise. Last time we did one of these, I timed a book release around it, and that worked out extremely well. I don’t have a book release today, but I can still give you the tour.

At the top of my blog there are a couple of pages that might interest you. There is the standard “about me” page, but there is also a free selection of Lisa Burton paper dolls if you’d like them. I wanted to come up with some swag for an author who only has ebooks available. Make sure you print the pdf files and not the images shown.

The fun one is called Lisa Burton Radio, I’ll let her tell you about it.

“Hi everyone, welcome to the new visitors, and I see some familiar faces here too. The show is really fun, and I interview the characters from your books. At the end I include covers, bios, purchase links, whatever you want, really.

“When the post goes live, I share it to Flipboard, Stumbleupon, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and two Facebook sites. I try to help as much as I can. I’m always looking for guests, so drop me an email. If you want to check out past interviews there is a link in Craig’s sidebar. I’ll let him tell you about the sidebar, he loves his sidebar.”

Thanks, Lisa. I also tweet out the five most recent interviews every week after Lisa finishes with them. My sidebar starts out with a link to obtain a free reading app. As an ebook guy, I don’t want to make it difficult for anyone to read my stories. Then I post the two most recent publications with direct links to those books. I have all the covers in a slideshow, because it doesn’t feel right to have them all on there. Lisa mentioned the blog categories, and this is where you can always find her interviews. Those of you who write speculative fiction might find some inspiration in the Idea Mill posts too. Oh, and before I forget, there is an Entertaining Stories Facebook page too, if any of you are so inclined. It’s the only place you can see videos of my dog, Otto. (Don’t laugh, I know some of you are into this stuff.)

That’s the grand tour. Hope everyone is enjoying the party, it’s one of my favorite events. I hope to have two new books coming out soon, but I got caught without them ready yet. One is a collection of short stories called The Enhanced League, about a futuristic baseball league. The other is kind of an alternate world fantasy novel called The Yak Guy Project. Coming soon, I promise.

I guess if I’m going to promote something, The Playground could use a bit of review love. I know some of you are holding shiny new Amazon gift cards at this point in the tour. The club even has a list of who you are. Mwa ha ha…

For those of you who aren’t RRBC members, this is an awesome club. We thrive on mutual support, and it’s kind of a pay it forward system. We’re growing by leaps and bounds, and we’d love to count you among our members. There are too many benefits to mention here, but things like this blog party are happening all the time. Why don’t you check it out at this link.

Party on! Sign up for your own character interview. Leave me a comment. I love interacting with everyone, and you could win a prize.

Dear Lisa, on #LisaBurtonRadio

This is Lisa Burton Radio, and I'm your host, Lisa the robot girl. One of the things I've wanted to try is sharing some of the mail we get on the air. So here we go.

I've gotten a lot of mail about my tattoos. The questions vary, so I'll try to cover as much as I can and hopefully your answer is in there somewhere.

When I was first booted up, they gave me a job, planted me in a house, and abandoned me. I found myself with days off as part of my cover. Nobody was supposed to know I was a robot, so I had to live like everyone else. I spent a lot of my off-time at the open air markets and street festival. All the other girls that summer had a kind of retro-style going on, so I adapted it to fit in better. It's still a popular sub-culture, and I still enjoy it.

The other girls had tattoos, and I really didn't know if I could get one or not. I'm covered with a genetically modified human skin, and it's fed by a hydroponic layer from underneath. Basically, I gambled whether it would work or not.

My leg is based upon a silk painting I saw, but I changed it up to things I like. There are koi fish on my ankle, mandarin ducks on my leg, and a persimmon tree with fruit up on my hip. They're always in odd numbers, so three fish, five duckies, and seven persimmons.

My shoulder has a chambered nautilus out hunting. Mathematical things appeal to my programming. I like bricks and tiles. The perfect spiral of the nautilus is just awesome. My tattoo artist came up with the ruins she's hunting among, and I went with it.

It hurt, and my pain receptors worked pretty hard. I don't know if I felt it exactly like you might, but that's the only experience I have. The ink stayed, and I love them.

A couple of you wanted to know about my hair. It's real hair, and seems to have become permanent. I wore a wig until the lab decided to test some new baldness drug on me. They painted it wherever they wanted me to have hair. My skin registered some pretty serious chemical burns, but the hair grew. They never released the drug for human consumption. I guess, in a way, it's okay to experiment on a robot girl. At least I saved some poor rabbit from the same experience.

I don't have hair anywhere they didn't paint me. I'm okay with that, because I never have to shave. I like my hair, and my brunette wig didn't look nearly as nice.

This one says, “Dear Lisa, what it's like working for an author?” I only know about one author, but it isn't a bad gig. Craig mostly likes peace and quiet when he writes. That and a couple gallons of coffee. This is his quiet phase.

There are times when he gets all manic, and excited about stuff too. Those are the times when we assemble a cast of characters and go over dialog together. If it doesn't sound right, he changes things and we do it again. Sometimes I get to swing weapons around, shoot guns, and even mix up magical ingredients. Those are fun days, but then it's usually back to more quiet time.

Eventually it becomes time to publish something. I'm the one who arranges blog tours, places Amazon advertising, and nearly everything else. Over the course of the last few books I've gotten to pose with various story elements and share my posters with various blog hosts. I really enjoy that part of the job.

It helps that I have a swag deal that lets me keep the clothing and various things I pose with. That's how I got the formerly haunted biplane, the rocket-pack, and more.

So how about it gang? Do you like an occasional Dear Lisa segment? There are a lot of places I could go with this. I could get a sponsor, like one of your books. I could read your letters on the air, and include links to your social media. To do that, I need a couple of things.

First, I need more questions. It might be cool not to make them all about me. Maybe the odd advice question could be fun. Maybe you'd like to know how Craig sets up his book releases, or how he outlines things. If you like this segment, send me some questions.

Second, I would need someone to volunteer as a sponsor. It isn't bad exposure for the price of free. Maybe you have a price reduction, or an anthology to promote. My regular interviews are better for a new release, but a bundle or anthology would make a good sponsor.

Speaking of my interviews, I always need guests. If you have a new book coming out, maybe something freshly released, or even a special price reduction, a character interview could entice a few buyers. Drop me a line and we'll set something up. I need more guests right now.

Craig said I could use an anthology he's in as an example. It might sound something like this… Today's sponsor is Macabre Sanctuary, a collection of ten short stories by ten fabulous authors. These tales are all paranormal, supernatural, and horror, guaranteed to make your hair stand on end. Pick up your copy today for the amazing low price of absolutely free. Macabre Sanctuary.

For Lisa Burton Radio, I'm Lisa Burton. And seriously, you guys, drop me a question or set something up for a character interview. I think Craig wants to turn my radio station into a chicken coop.

It’s a PARTY, and you’re all invited #RRBC

I’ve posted about my membership in the Rave Reviews Book Club before. This is a collective of authors who support each other via social media, and other venues. I think it’s a fabulous group, and I’ve benefited many times over from being a member. Now it’s your turn to benefit from a blog party we’re all throwing. This party is open to the general public.

The name of this party cracks me up, it’s called The Rave Reviews Book Club Back to School Book and Blog Block Party. For a bunch that loves Twitter, that one eats up a bunch of the characters in a tweet.

Here’s how it works: Seventy-one individual blogs are going to post throughout the month of August. There are prizes at every stop, and some of them are pretty awesome. All you have to do is visit the post and leave a comment. This will enter you into the daily contest(s). Hopefully, you’ll take a gander at the host’s blog and may even sample their wares while you’re there. Anyone who leaves a comment can win, and some sites are offering multiple prizes.

Remember, these hard working people would love a Tweet or a Facebook share while you’re there. (Or both)

I have a regular group of authors who follow Entertaining Stories. You’ll see many of your friends along this tour, but you could meet some pretty cool new authors too. Readers should pay particular attention, because the prizes include books and Amazon gift cards. (Which you can use to buy MY books… joking, kind of.)

The only hitch is that you have to visit on that author’s designated day to be eligible for the prizes. I’m a little slow in getting this posted, and the first few stops have already handed out their prizes.

There are some wonderful grand prizes that will be awarded at the end of the party too.

To get on this party-bus, simply go to this website. The blogs scheduled that day are one quick link away. Bookmark it, save it on your iPhone screen, and visit every day during August. You have to play to win, etc. ( I won multiple times last year.)

I haven’t written my post yet, but I’m closing this party down at the end of the month. There’s still time for me, and I intend to make it a fun one.

If you’re an author yourself, you really should look into the benefits of membership. We do a lot of things like this, and it’s a pretty good time. Last year’s party brought hundreds of visitors to my blog, and I sold books for the next week because of it. Because I like to be helpful, here is the link to the main page so you can check it out. Rave Reviews Book Club

What are you waiting for? Hit my Tweet button to tell your friends, then get over there.

Playing, but breaking the rules

You guys have heard me discuss the Rave Reviews Book Club before. They’re having another blog recruiting day today. I’m playing along, but not entering the contest. I have two reasons for this.

First, I won the last contest. I think it’s important to let others play along. I’m pushing the club today, but not as part of the contest.

Second, I don’t like the theme. It’s officially called Celebrating Women. That sounds wonderful, but the emails I received said to note certain women to push as authors. Of course they want self published women, and members are even better. I love women, so don’t jump my shit here. My issue is some of my favorite authors are women, and some of them aren’t club members. Additionally, I think female authors outnumber us guys by about two to one. I don’t know that they need extra help.

Therefore; I want to concentrate on the value of this great club. RRBC has been very good to me. I was selected for a push Tuesday event some months ago. When I woke up my email had already exploded with notifications. Someone was pushing my book, Panama. It took me a minute or two to figure it all out, but the push was amazing. These people don’t just push for a day either. People were still tweeting about Panama a week later.

I did a rough count on how many followers some of the pushers had. It was a guesstimate, but I’ll wager I appeared in over a million timelines. There is certanly some overlap, but that’s a lot of exposure. I moved copies that week too.

Then I competed in the last blog recruiting day. This involves writing a post similar to this one, as part of a contest. People are invited to read all the posts and vote on the best one. I won the darned thing. My prize was an all expenses paid blog tour, some social media pushing, and a live Twubs chat.

This is real exposure that I wouldn’t have reached otherwise. It’s the reason I’m taking Will O’ the Wisp on a blog tour. I might add that Panama remains my most popular title to this day.

The members are also encouraged to buy one member title per quarter and post a review to Amazon. They are encouraged to post to other sites too, but Amazon is the most important one. We all know how hard it is to get reviews.

They also gave me a chance to host a few authors on their own blog tours, and this brings fresh blog traffic. Most of these people stuck with me, and I gained followers. I will happily renew my membership when the time comes, and you can bet I added Will O’ the Wisp to their catalog.

This is a link to read all the current competitors. https://ravereviewsbynonniejules.wordpress.com/blog-recruitment-day/ It’s a good way to discover new writing blogs, and everyone is welcome to vote. They might give better insight to this great club.

The whole point is to gain members today. The membership fee is $25 US. That isn’t much for the kind of promotion they offer. They also published an anthology of short stories last year. I’m still kicking myself for not submitting something.

Here is my own membership push. I’ve been writing some micro fiction and short stories. My idea is to bundle them up as a book of short stories. We’re going to work on the honor system here. Click this link https://ravereviewsbynonniejules.wordpress.com/join-here/ If you decide to join, please drop my name.

Drop me an email at Coldhand (dot) Boyack (at) gmail (dot) com and let me know you joined. I will send you a copy of one of my yet to be published micro fictions or short stories to say thanks. I do not maintain an email list, so you have no risk at my end.

Note: the official push day is the 26th, but I’ve already seen some posts go live. Since I’m not competing, I’ll post mine tonight too.