Jennifer Lane Books Blog

Happy March, Writers! Thank you to Alex J Cavanaugh for starting the Insecure Writers Support Group, where we air our hopes and fears. Make sure to visit this month's cohosts: Mary Aalgaard, Bish Denham, Jennifer Hawes, Diane Burton, and Gwen Gardner! IWSG Day Question: How do you celebrate when you achieve a writing goal / finish a story? I haven't paid enough attention to celebrating in the past, maybe due to my worried brain and achiever personality. Instead of basking in the glory, I often jump to the next goal. But my psychologist friend, Karen, insists on taking me out to dinner when I finish a novel, and it is important to revel in satisfaction after a completed goal. Upon finishing a novel, I typically have a sequel or new story hopping in my brain. Since I finished Twin Sacrifice , though, it's been pretty quiet up in hearrre.  I pushed hard at marketing my latest release and have felt bummed by sales, although the reviews have been very ki...

Happy February, writers! Join us for our monthly group therapy, hosted by Alex Cavanaugh . Hop over to visit this month's kick-butt co-hosts! Stephen Tremp Pat Garcia Angela Wooldridge Victoria Marie Lees Madeline Mora-Summonte! IWSG Question: What do you love about the genre you write in most often? I write multiple genres so I'll mention one aspect I love about each: Romance -- A spark of attraction that deepens into intimacy provides emotional depth in the story. Suspense -- Torturing my characters by imprisoning them or sicking the Mafia on their tail creates needed plot conflict and hopefully keeps readers turning the pages. Sports -- The pursuit of excellence, against mighty odds, reveals character. Psychology -- Throwing characters into therapy is an ideal mechanism for character development and healing. I'm gearing up for the release of psychological thriller (with suspense and romance) TWIN SACRIFICE on 2-28-18...

Happy April to all writers! Head on over to Alex Cavanaugh's  blog  to join us for the Insecure Writers Support Group. After the publication of my 7th novel in October of 2016, I took a writing break to focus on my day job and other fun activities. But in March I jumped back into writing a romantic suspense I started in 2009: Twin Sacrifice . Has a dream ever inspired your writing? As I mourned the end of my favorite TV show, Prison Break , in 2009, I had a dream about an alternate ending to the show. That dream inspired the plot of Twin Sacrifice . Now I'm no longer in mourning, since  Prison Break returns for a 5th season on April 4, yahooooo! Wentworth Miller *swoons* April IWSG Day Question: Have you taken advantage of the annual A to Z Challenge in terms of marketing, networking, publicity for your book? What were the results? I did A to Z once (maybe 2012?) and it was fun but exhausting. Blogging was a more active world back then, and I post ...

Welcome to October's Insecure Writer's Support Group, hosted by Alex Cavanaugh. Join us HERE .  This month's question: When do you know your story is ready? My answer is simple: WHEN MY EDITOR FINISHES!  I've worked with the same bomdiggity editor --Jessica Royer Ocken-- for all seven of my novels, and I absolutely trust her ability to polish the manuscript. Then my amazing book designer, Coreen Montagna, swoops in to make it pretty.  I'm lucky I met Jessica and Coreen, along with my astute critique partner, Nicki Elson, through my publisher. Now that I self-publish, I feel so grateful for the team that readies my story for publication. I manage to publish one book a year, and 2016's book launch (Spiked) happened October 1st. Once your story is ready to be published, how do you market your novel? I'll share a couple of strategies I've tried. Facebook Party. My zesty marketing assistant Mitsy Princell convinced me to host...

Thank you to Alex  Cavanaugh for hosting The Insecure Writers' Support Group, where we journey together down this lonesome writing road. Have you downloaded your free copy of The Insecure Writer's Support Group Guide to Publishing and Beyond ? The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Guide to Publishing and Beyond Tapping into the expertise of over a hundred talented authors from around the globe, The IWSG Guide to Publishing and Beyond contains something for every writer. Whether you are starting out and need tips on the craft of writing, looking for encouragement as an already established author, taking the plunge into self-publishing, or seeking innovative ways to market and promote your work, this guide is a useful tool. Compiled into three key areas of writing, publishing, and marketing, this valuable resource offers inspirational articles, helpful anecdotes, and excellent advice on dos and don'ts that we all wish we knew when we first started out on this writing...

Time for November's Support Group hosted by Alex J Cavanaugh . Recently I attended a writer/reader event, the Queen City Indie Con, in Cincinnati, Ohio. The author marketing panel was particularly good and I want to share their tips with YOU. Book Marketing Tips (The photo on the right shows authors Abbi Glines and Tara Sivec but I also learned from Tonya Kappes, Jayne Rylon, and MR Polish.) 1. Do you have a newsletter? (I don't at this time.) All the authors encouraged emailing a newsletter to your readers to inform them of new releases, giveaways, appearances, etc. If you rely on social media to spread the word, you give up control. For example, few Facebook fans now see posts on your page, and word on the street is that Twitter will also become more monetized. 2. Is your book on sale? How do you get the word out? Use Book Bub , a daily email alert sent to over one million readers. Getting a Book Bub ad is expensive but well worth it. Your book needs a certai...

A big thank you to Alex Cavanaugh for starting the... Insecure Writers Support Group . Today I'll share an idea to make yucky marketing more fun: Create a MARKETING TEAM with fellow authors! Do you feel uncomfortable tooting your own horn? Do you lack the time to keep your books in the public eye? My pub sisters at Omnific Publishing decided to overcome those problems by designating one author a week for some major book pimpage. How does it work? The designated author creates some marketing materials and shares them with our closed Facebook group. Then other authors in the group promote that author throughout the week.  Here are the various marketing strategies: 1) Tweets . The author creates tweets like: Friendship is the best kind of ship. #NA #Navy #swimming #romance STREAMLINE by @JenLaneBooks http://amzn.to/1928OMJ #HotMenInUniform ...and her fellow authors tweet like crazy. 2) Goodreads . We "like" the 4 star and ...