Powerful Woman Award (Marketing?)

I just received this award from writer and artist, Deirdra Eden-Coppel. Isn't it beautiful? She created the award herself and is not only giving it and others away to other bloggers, but whether she knows it or not, I believe her service is also a wonderful marketing strategy. Think about it. Not only has she found a way to showcase her abilities, but she's also led others to her blog, encouraged others to follow her, and developed a stronger relationship with her readers. Thank you, Deidra, for both the award and the idea. I only wish I could copy them. :) But alas, I can't draw . . . :))

AMAZING NEWS Plus Another Winner and Contest

Guess what? I recently found out MISSING is the #1 Best Seller at the bookstore, Reflections of Utah, in Brigham City and #2 next to "Hunger Games" in Box Elder Middle School's library. Amazing! It's hard for me to believe, and yet I know it's because so many of you have spread the word about my book. Thank you.

I also learned that Heather Justesen's great give-away contest has come to a close, and we now have another winner of MISSING. It's Chris and Laura Zemp from Nevada. Congratulations!

And then, just tonight I learned that another writer, Marta O. Smith, reviewed MISSING on her blog and is also running a 12 days of Christmas contest where a copy of MISSING is one of the prizes. Go check out her blog and leave a comment. That's all you have to do to enter. :)

I Won!

I can hardly believe it! After Friday's exciting news about MISSING's cover and approximate publication date, now this! On Saturday, I attended the League of Utah Writer's conference in Midway, Utah. There I learned I won 1st place in their full length novel contest for my newly written book, TRAPPED. I'm still grinning. Can this be real?

What I Learned at the Best-Seller Seminar

As I thought, the How To Become a Bestseller teleseminar was an opportunity for the speakers to sell a service, kind of like the opportunities we sometimes receive to buy timeshares at resorts. However, also as I'd expected, I did learn a few things about marketing. Their particular system was guaranteed to work (if you use their service and do everything they tell you to do) for non-fiction books, but it only applied to fiction that contained some type of help for it's readers.

Nevertheless, I did learn a few helpful tips, including this advice: when we choose a day or two for our media blitz (I think it applies to book signings, too), we should avoid certain days. Two of those are any of the days during the week of a national holiday and Saturdays.

Another one was once we attain bestsellerdom, no one can take that title from us. We will always be a bestseller, and we should taut that on our websites, etc.

Something for me to reach for, I guess.

Superior Scribbler Award

I know, I know. It's been a while since I "scribbled" here, but I do have a good "scribbling" reason. First and foremost, I've been revising MISSING per my editor's concerns. Beyond that, I prepared my presentation and PowerPoint for the TEENS CONFERENCE I had the privilege of helping with on June 6, I submitted the first few chapters of my second book to a contest, and I've been editing my second book--a very little, since I'm spending most of my time on MISSING.

Anyway, back to the award.

Jordan McCollum, a fellow member of Author's Incognito, gave me this award because I offered a comment on his query. So now it's my turn to pass it on. Here are the rules:

Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.

Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author and the name of the blog from whom he/she has received the award.

Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog and link to This Post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky list. That way we'll all be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives this Prestigious Honor!

Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

So, drum roll please . . . The Winner's are:

Cindy Beck

Sharee Wanner

Rebecca Talley

Jenn Wilkes

Joyce DiPastena

I Won an Award--Again!

This is just a little note to let all of you know, especially those who've been asking about the progress I've made in marketing my novel, "Flip-Flop," that it won 3rd place in the League of Utah Writer's, Book Length Novel writing contest. Yeah! I titled it "Distraction" in that contest because it's another title for my book that I really like. Other than that information, and the fact that an LDS publisher is still looking at "Flip-Flop" is all the news I have. But hey, it's progress!

A Prize, A Promotion

This past weekend I attended the LDStorymaker's Conference, and my entry in the First Chapter Contest for Mystery/Suspense won second place! Yeah! It's so great to learn that not only did other writers (the judges) like my work, but also, after reading their comments, I was able to see I actually accomplished my goal: I "hooked" them to read more.

This contest gave me something else, too: a chance to advertise my book. Granted, only the judges actually read my chapter, but both my suggested title, "Flip-Flop," and my name were announced to the audience. Always a good thing.

Then, Saturday night, I attended the Whitney Award ceremony. Besides getting the chance to root for some of my friends--Yeah, Josi Kilpack! (she won the Mystery/Suspense category)--I was able to talk about "Flip-Flop" over a live Podcast. Fun stuff. The interviewers responded with "oohs" and shivers when I told them what my book was about. In fact, practically everyone I describe it to responds that way.

So, with that introduction, I'll describe it here, too: Flip-Flop is a romantic suspense novel about a young woman who recognizes then pursues a missing child while she's on a Christmas tour with her BYU-Idaho choir.

So there it is. Check back to learn when you can find Flip-Flop in a book store near you.

I won a Prize!

Cindy L. Beck kindly bestowed this award upon me, and you know what, she made my day, too! Not only that, she "kicked" me into posting again. I know I've been lax lately, and without going into all the gory details as to why, let me just say, THANKS!

Now, in keeping with my "How to Write" theme, let me also add that giving someone a prize or lifting their spirits in some way, in my opinion, is a great way to self-promote. Not that that's the only reason any of us would do such kind deeds, but our names are one of our (as writers) most important assets, and it doesn't hurt to create a soft spot related to our names in someone else's heart, right? It also gives us the opportunity to have our names listed on someone else's site. A good thing.

So, in further keeping with this award and promotion theme, I'd like to now pass this "You Made My Day" award onto Candace E. Salima and Ali Cross, because in past days, your blogs or your responses to my blogs have truly made my day. Thanks, Ladies.

An Award

Tristi Pinkston has struck another unsuspecting blogger--me--with great news! Thank-you for this award, Tristi. I really appreciate it!

By the way, to all you struggling writers out there, awards can be a great way to not only gain writing "credits" but to also promote your work; so do the best you can with whatever writing project you're working on, and see what comes of it. Maybe it will be an award. Maybe publication. Maybe something that lifts another. But most of all, something you'll be proud to call your own