Blog Party: Celebrating Wendy Marcus's U.S. E-Book Release of ONCE A GOOD GIRL

I've got a special guest visiting the Veranda and she's running an experiment. She and the Physicist need to chat!! But even tho' she's experimenting, Wendy S. Marcus is still pretty gosh darn cool. I love this one!!

Welcome Wendy!!

Hi Christine! Happy February 1^st! 

And right back at you!! Wow, I am so glad you are here to celebrate the release of your e-book here in the U.S.A. Your Number 2 book looks amazing!!

Thank you so much for hosting this impromptu blog party to kick off the release of the U.S. e-book edition of my second Harlequin Medical Romance, Once a Good Girl… And since we’re partying, a hoot and a holler to you in celebration of your triple final in the 2012 Linda Howard Award of Excellence Contest!

Thank you, Wendy. I'm still floored by the Triple Final. :-)

Although you can’t see me, I am holding up one of my finest crystal glasses – which happens to contain a mimosa (heavy on the champagne) - in your honor. And now I’m taking a sip! Yum! (Any excuse to justify a cocktail before noon!)

This is why we are such good friends :-) Sipping with you :-)

Where were we? Oh, right. The e-book release of Once a Good Girl… and my experiment. You see, even though I write for Harlequin, their Medical Romance line is not slated for retail sale here in the U.S. which means you won’t find my book on store shelves or in Harlequin’s print advertising in the U.S. 

That makes me feel very sad, Wendy. The Harlequin Mills & Boon Medical Line is wonderful. I've read Melanie Milburne's THE MAN WITH THE LOCKED AWAY HEART and Sharon Archer's THE MAN BEHIND THE BADGE and your debut book WHEN ONE NIGHT ISN'T ENOUGH. And they are all wonderful, diverse stories. I wish more of our U.S.A. Readers could find them on them shelves!!!

Exactly! Therefore, promotion is up to me. With my first book I did a thirty stop blog tour – which almost did me in – to bring myself and my new book to the attention of readers. With my second book I wanted to try something different.

Here’s where you and your wonderful blog visitors come in! Today, February 1^st, with everyone who reads this post’s help, I hope to spread the word for an all-out Purchase Push for Once a Good Girl… for Nook and Kindle. If someone plans to buy it, or is considering buying it, would they please make their purchase today? February 1^st.

I'm first in the line!! Why are you running this experiment?

Why? Because I’d like to test my theory that if I can get one day of heavier than usual sales it will push my book onto one of the Amazon or Barnes and Noble bestseller lists, thus bringing it to the attention of readers who may not have considered reading a Harlequin Medical Romance before, thus creating increased awareness and, hopefully, increased sales.

What a fabulous idea!!

Now this may not work at all. But if it does, wouldn’t that be great? And for all you new and aspiring authors out there, wouldn’t this be good information for you to know when it comes time to market and promote your books? So what do you say? Will you help spread the word? Will you give Once a Good Girl… a try? Today? February 1^st? You can read an excerpt here: http://wendysmarcus.com/excerpt-once-a-good-girl/

You can purchase the U.S. edition of Once a Good Girl… here:

For Kindle: http://amzn.to/zPulvr For Nook: http://bit.ly/rx0PT5 Paperback: http://bit.ly/uHpj5W

Links for the UK and Aus/NZ editions can be found on my website: http://WendySMarcus.com where, if you visit at the end of the week, I’ll have the results of this experiment posted on my personal blog. 

Thank you so much for your help! It is very much appreciated! 

One of today’s visitors who shares where they’ve linked to this post in the comments section, will win a $10.00 (U.S. currency) U.S. Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift card.

Wow, thanks for the giveaway and I hope you get lots of sales. Can anyone say GRAY'S ANATOMY?

Post It or Forget It--My Reminder Wall

I have a very good memory, but I am also very visual and need concrete reminders about what to do as a writer, mother, friend, wife. If I don't see it, I often don't do it. My CINC House (Commander in Chief of Household) notes are pretty typical. I have a fridge with a grocery list, an in-box where all my important daily papers go, 3 binders holding household info, medical info (ugh), and Darling Teen info which I maintain. I also have a calendar with all our important appointments which hangs on the fridge. And finally I have my weekly to-do list in a spiral notebook which has my writing tasks and my CINC House tasks written down. This works for me. Sometimes things slip through the cracks (like my Darling Teen's Spanish 2 final but that's fixed now--I hope), but that's life. And honestly, sometimes I just ignore the task--it keeps moving to the next page and the next week till I get sick of writing it down.

My writing world had different kinds of notes. I'm a Post-it note girl and an Index Card Girl. I am so into my Post-its that when I am a published author that is what I'm going to giveaway as a promotional item. I got a Post-it stack from author Sharon Archer when I won her book THE MAN BEHIND THE BADGE. I love them. They have her name and her information on the top left corner and a beautiful photo indicating her genre--Medical Romance. Can you guess what the picture is? If you do, I'll send you a gift card from Starbucks. Not only are Sharon's Post-its appreciated, I also appreciated reading her book. She's a wonderful writer with a great eye for detail, an excellent melodic voice, and compelling characters.

The wall behind my laptop is covered with reminders, inspiration, and craft information. Right now the following notes are on my wall:

*Golden Heart entries with two checks to indicate payment for the first two entries (I have four to enter and want to spread the financial pain).
*Character Reaction Order of Events: 1-physical, 2-thought, 3-dialogue, 4-purposeful action. BE VIVID. This is my quick & dirty cheat sheet for writing visceral, deep, and detailed character reactions.
*Motivation sentence (cause), Reaction Sentence (effect). Thank you James Scott Bell for that Q&D
*MP (midpoint) has to have a Moment of Grace. Hero/Heroine aware of moral premise.
*Recap Due for GIAMx4 (Goal in a Month) December 13th.
*Suzanne Johnson Interview Questions for March 2012 (debut author!!)
*Audience: who reads is very important. The world is waiting for me to get it right. LEARN PERSIST BE SERIOUS. COMMIT MASTER AND KEEP LEARNING. CHAMPION YOUR WRITING! BE A WARRIOR WRITER!
*Jennifer Greene: "Conflict is what the main character CAN'T walk away from..."
*12 Stages of Intimacy (won't detail that here LOL)
*WRITE THE BOOK YOU WANT TO READ
*Straight Contemporary Authors to read--Robin Kaye, Melanie Milbourne, Melinda Curtis--recommendations from Margie Lawson (who is an awesome teacher)
*My Yahoo email address and login password
*Dates for my final two Petit Fours & Hot Tamales blogs (Yikes, one is due to be posted tomorrow)
*Enid Blyton (I read her books when I was a kid and I keep meaning to hunt them down)
*Query Tracker login and user name
*blogger username/login
*Disney ID (I can dream of going again and again and again)
*my RWA #
*Tami Cowden's FROM LUST TO LOVE worksheet
*Michael Hauge's 6 Stage Plot Structure Worksheet
*Latest blurb for next book I'm writing THE MAVERICK'S RED HOT REUNION
*An email about editing and agents
*a quote from Donald Maass
*word count for a Golden Heart entry and a note to check spelling is same throughout document of a character's last name.
*an index card with notes about what to seek and destroy in ALL my manuscripts. Words like after, were, saw, was, etc. Checking transitions, modifiers, etc. (not that I always succeed).


On days when I am blue, I open my closet door and I read the Things That Make Me Smile list. On days when I feel like a hack who will never see her books get published, I open my closet door and read my list of accomplishments (which are not exclusive to writing). And on days when I feel uninspired, I open my closet door and look at my Hugh Jackman poster.

What's on your wall?