The odds of winning the mega million lottery this week are 1 in 175 million. I heard I have a better chance of dying from a flesh eating disease than winning the near half billion dollars at stake. Yet so many of us keep trying, right?
I am so glad I didn’t know the odds of getting published, which are rumored to be 1 in 1,000 writers, or the odds of selling more than 2,000 books, which is less than 7%, or to earn an Indie NextPick Notable recognition, which is less than 1%.
But I didn’t know all those statistics before I started in on this adventure as novelist and I’m so thankful I didn’t. I might have been discouraged. Yet so far, I’m beating the odds. And the agents, editors, publishers, distributors, booksellers, and journalists have been amazingly supportive and helpful.
Hopefully all you wonderful writers who are certainly better than me will stay encouraged to keep trying. Ignore the odds. Better yet, beat the odds and keep writing. Typing ‘The End’ must feel very similar to matching the lottery winning numbers.
Thank you to all you reviewers, booksellers, and bloggers who have asked to receive an ARC for the third in the Liv Bergen Mystery Thriller series. Before they are even printed, the ARC copies in the initial print run have already been spoken for so the Publisher is adding an additional 200 copies. Yippee! Who knew? I am so grateful to all of you for loving Liv so much! She’s a pistol, isn’t she? Hopefully you’ll love her even more in book #3, Widow’s Might, as she takes off running right where book #2, Lot’s Return To Sodom, left off. And infatuation leaps into bloom, but shhhh… I don’t want to spoil the surprise.
Widow’s Might, a story of an incredible 80-year-old widow who overcomes her losing battle to cancer while in hospice just long enough to save a life or two from the deadly Crooked Man, takes place along the Mickelson Trail near Rochford, SD, nestled in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota. Stay tuned to the reviewers, bloggers, and booksellers opinions about Liv’s third adventure with FBI Agent Streeter Pierce as the unusual yet dynamic crime solving partnership in Widow’s Might.
I can’t wait to find out what they think! And hopefully, their recommendations will inspire you to pick up a copy when it releases August 7th 2012. Thank you for choosing Liv!!
Tis the season to be grateful to all of you who have taken the time, not only to read my books, but to post reviews, blogs, and comments.
Hard to imagine, but when my first book in the Liv Bergen Mystery Series released September 2010, I chose not to be tempted to jump onto various websites like Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, GoodReads (…breathe…), etc. etc. to read posted reviews of In The Belly Of Jonah. I simply didn’t think I had thick enough skin to read comments about my “babies”. So FINALLY this Christmas season I decided to read each and every post for my first book and Lot’s Return To Sodom which released June 2011.
THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for speaking your mind about Liv Bergen and for your encouragement in me to keep writing. I truly enjoy brigning Liv to life for all of you. I learn from each comment made, good and bad. Please know I really do appreciate what you’ve done for me and I’ll work hard to earn your comments on the next book.
And you three book clubs who volunteered to be the beta readers of my first books, THANK YOU for all your advice, comments, and suggestions. The books are better because of you. A special thanks to the book club who read Widow’s Might, now in production for relase in August 2012. Not only didn they NOT shoot me when I hijacked their book club, but they also gave me great advice in final edits before I sent my manuscript to the publisher. Mwahhhhhh (electronic kiss) to Ruth, Sarah, and friends for being so helpful!
So many blessings this holiday season!!
Keep up the critiques and thank you for maintaining credibility by not being anonymous!!
Thrills have carried me through this sleepless week as I launched my second Liv Bergen mystery thriller, Lot’s Return To Sodom, on Wednesday, June 1st. It’s been like Christmas Eve for me, especially Tuesday night, waiting for morning to come. And I awoke in the Smokey Mountains of South Carolina, stopped to thank 10 independent booksellers along my way to Franklin, North Carolina, where Suzanne of Books Unlimited hosted my book launch. What a party! And what a great welcome from the wonderful people of Franklin! Thank you all so much!!
How appropriate that my first book launch was in the Black Hills of South Dakota, my second in the Smokey Mountains. Liv Bergen must be guiding me to do these launches at these mountain locations, since her name in Norwegian means “Life as a Mountain Dweller”. How appropriate!
Thank you all for the wonderful comments about loving Liv even more in book two than you did in book one… although she’s a figment of my imagination, she’s sending you all a big mwahhhhhh!!
(That’s an air kiss, in case you missed it.)
Enjoy Liv! Enjoy Life!! I sure am, thanks to all of you.
Liv Bergen returns home to the Black Hills of South Dakota in Lot’s Return To Sodom, the second in the mystery thriller series, available June 1st 2011. My book tour for In The Belly Of Jonah has been so exciting and incredibly rewarding, particularly to learn how so many of you are upset with me for keeping you up all night and scaring the pants off you with my crazy bad villian, the De Milo Murderer. Stay tuned because in Lot’s Return To Sodom it gets a little gritty with an inside look at the motorcycle gangs and their connection with the Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally… what was I thinking to ask my Mom to read my first draft!
A HUGE thank you and BIG HUGS to retired Special Agent Mick Sherer for all his advice and expertise over the years that made this story so real to me, it made ME lose a few nights of sleep. As always, my goal is to make you, my avid readers, lose a night of sleep or change your plans… then I know I got it right!
Thanks to Amanda at The Zen Leaf, Sheila at Book Journey, Jennifer at Crazy for Books, Sharon at Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews, and Care’s Online Book Club for your great comments on my blog post for Book Blogger Appreciation Week. For those who haven’t seen it yet, here’s what I wrote as just a tiny thank you for the tremendous things book bloggers do for us authors (or you can click here to read original piece):
When I attended the first annual Bloggers Convention in NYC, I had to keep repeating that to myself because it was so hard to remember, since the bloggers were all being so darned friendly! Everyone was helpful and welcoming to this blogging neophyte and debut author (I learned SO much at that convention through the workshops and casual conversations), it made it hard to resist the natural connections that were happening.
I know in every industry there are “rules” to follow. I don’t know how many times I heard the speakers say that there is a line that should not be crossed, a distance that should exist, between bloggers and authors because of the impartiality and professionalism that must be maintained. I understand that, but let me say, it is hard to stay impartial when I meet so many wonderful people! Bloggers provide an amazing service and networking centerpiece (out of the goodness of their hearts and for our common love of books) for so many readers, the true consumers in the book world, and were so gentle with this bull in a china shop that I THANK YOU for teaching me all about the blogosphere and the power within it! You have helped make my book launch very special, and your questions are so creative and fun to answer.
Blog on!
Thank you for coming out to see me at the Launch party at Borders in Rapid City! What a fun event!! Thank you Tammy and team for hosting such an awesome night. It was wonderful to be surrounded by so many family and friends.
Great welcome by all of you in Gillette Saturday, Sept 4th at Hastings and to Andrea, you are such a kind soul! Thank you for hosting my book signing. To the awesome team at Old Firehouse in Ft. Collins this Saturday, Sept 11th, I appreciate you making me feel so welcome and making me feel like a queen in that comfy chair. Sold out within 20 minutes of the book signing event official start. Way to go Susie, Tara, and Keller! And to Linda for inviting me and Brian and his team at Barnes & Noble in Cheyenne for making me feel so welcome, thank you for spending so much time helping me. I really felt at home for these book signings and it’s all because o the great people in the mountain states of Colorado and Wyoming!
So grateful to all of you who have been so supportive and spent a few minutes to share your stories with me. I really appreciate it! My butterflies have taken flight and now I’m ready to visit the rest of this great USA!!
Ten days and counting!
September 1st is just around the corner and my belly is busting with butterflies. I didn’t get this nervous before state tournments or while warming up in the UW Fieldhouse, watching my opponents trudge through black dirt in their new high tops. I wasn’t this anxious when I introduced Governor Bill Owens to the Ft. Collins Chamber of Commerce or when I told my family I was pursuing my hobby as an author. I haven’t been this excited since they placed my baby in my arms or on the day I eloped with my husband!
How grateful I am to everyone who encouraged me to take this step and who have helped me throughout this journey! I just finished my first interview with blogger, Michelle at Red Headed Book Child, who I met in NYC at the Bloggers Convention following BEA. Two of my industry peers, Rick Markley and Therese Dunphy, have graciously allowed me an interview for their magazines, Rock Products and Aggregate Manager. They may be competitors, but everyone I know in the industry reads both magazines. They ROCK! And I’m about to embark on my book tour. Thank you to the independent bookstore owners who believe enough in me to reserve precious time and space for a signing and to the managers of Borders and Barnes & Nobles across the country who have booked me for autographs.
Starting with the amazing Tammy Borrows, manager of my hometown bookstore, Borders in Rapid City, SD, who generously allowed me to celebrate my book launch September 1st from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm in her store, THANK YOU!
Come on down and join the fun as we celebrate the graciousness of these amazing people! And come autograph my book in exchange for an autograph in your copy of In The Belly Of Jonah.
