Blog Archives - Susan Ward Books

Another release week behind me, so I'm off to surf fish... #amreading #amwriting #author #indieauthor #kindle #chicklit

1/31/2015

Well, my official release blitz for One More Kiss is finally over. Not a spectacular week, but I didn't expect it to be. In the tougher days, I try to recall that scene from Bad Santa, when the kid opens his advent calendar to find a candy corn and Billy Bob tells him they can't be all winners, can they, kid. One thing I learned from being in product markets is you never know what will happen until you release the product. And there are products you have to release if you are creating a product line, that won't be as strong as the other products. The important thing to remember is that each piece of what you're building is necessary, and each piece released takes you one step forward toward your ultimate goal. So on those weeks when Indie Land isn't all tea and roses, try to think of Billy Bob, don't get discouraged and always remember they can't be all winners, can they, kid.

Off to surf fish for the day, before I go into that dark, lonely writer cave to finish preparation for release number 9. Jeez, I hope I don't catch any fish. Next week I'm going to be answering questions from New Authors looking for advice from the email slush pile I haven't gotten to yet! Wow, those questions are interesting. And I wonder why they send them to me. I've only been publishing 8 months. Am I not new any more? Damn, age moves at lightening speed even in Indie World!

As ever, I wish you Peace.

Rewind: Still on Free download
Visit my Amazon Page. I have 8 romance releases!

Rewind Free Download Today!

Have you signed up for my newsletter ... #amreading #amwriting #author #blogging #indieauthor #chicklit #amazon #kindle

1/30/2015

Well I've released 8 books in 8 months and I still haven't had a release party. I'm too busy writing, editing and releasing. I am very much on target to have 20 books released by December 2015. So starting this summer, pretty much the second half of 2015 will be one giant release party. I have some fun things planned for my readers in 2015. Giveaways not like your normal giveaways and a game with a giant giveaway schedule for the end of 2015. I love games. You can only find out about them if you sign up for my newsletter. You can only participate if you're a member. It doesn't cost anything, so go to my contact page. Drop me an email, that's all it takes to become a part of my reader exclusives. This is a 26 year project getting these books live. It's going to be one hell of party December 31st 2015 at book 20. So join me.

I wish you Peace.
Oh.... and Rewind is still on FREE download!

31 days until I hit release again, my grandchild is to arrive in February, so of course I've added maybe a surprise project for the month of February ...#amreading #amwriting #author #indieauthor #blogging #newrelease #chicklit #romance

1/29/2015

Well, I'm in the cave trying to put the last polish on my 9th release The Girl of Tokens and Tears, the 2nd Half Shell Book. I've just released my 8th book, One More Kiss 2nd Affair without End book, and so of course I thought maybe another project would be fun. I've been asked to add my work to box-sets or to co-write with other authors, but I've always said no. I'm a very solitary person. But I was chatting with a friend, and crazy talk sometimes turns into crazy good ideas. So I may be co-writing a release with another author. I mean the upside for me is terrific. I get to work with someone I respect and adore. I get to write the parts I want. I get to push off the parts I don't, and lets face it, after having written over 600 sex scenes in my not so short life it would be nice to have a working partner in that! No pun intended. Naughty Naughty!

I saw a Colleen Hoover Facebook post where she said," How many ways can you describe sex?" I share your pain Colleen. I'm at 653 and they are starting to get tougher. So I thought, co-write with another author, get new insight, re-fresh my creative, and have some fun. Why not?

I'm supposed to have my part done mid-February(all bets are off if baby Hugs comes early!). And I don't know how long it will take for her part, and then we mush it together, it goes to editing and formatting and there it is. But I'm excited about this. How often in work are you given the opportunity to do what you love with someone you adore?

Right now it's just a thought. The crazy ass plan of two crazy ass authors. But we will see!

As ever I wish you Peace.

Releasing February 28th. Add to your TBR!

Last Day 99cents kindle countdown

New Release January 26th!

I want to party! Lets dance! #amreading #free #giveaway #kindle #books #author #indieauthor #blogging.

1/28/2015

Yes I have an Indie Author delusion. Don't tell anyone. It involves this book signing in southern California, where you have to sell 100,000 books to be invited. Some of my fave authors go. So this delusion is really 2 part. First part, that I'll get invited. Like, who doesn't want a surfer girl granny from the beach who lives on a mountain, right? Just jump into the fantasy and roll with it. Second part of the delusion, that I'll actually be able to sell 100,000 books before I have to use my leopard painted walker! But it's good to have a goal, even an occasional delusion( so long as you know it's delusion) Right?

So in May, when I first started releasing I made this digital reverse count calendar. I started at 100,000 books to go. And I've been ticking it off 99K,98K, 97K.... You get the idea, right. It was kind of depressing when I was at 99,900.. that's kind of a frightening number. But now I knock off new readers acquired in 1000 marks. And yesterday, I got to scratch off a marker. So I want to party. I want to dance. I want to give away free downloads...And so I am. I am! And it's a good thing Amazon will only let me do one free promotion because I'm feeling crazy good today!!! Rewind Free until 2/1/2015!!!

Thank you to all my readers for making this journey so wonderful. And as ever, I wish you peace!

Oh, and One Last Kiss is still on 99c Kindle Countdown...I love a good celebration. Go big or don't go at all, right?

"Have you really been in my life nearly a year and never realized everything I do has purpose?"...#amwriting #author #blogging #indieauthor #chicklit #amreading #kindl #kindleunlimited #books

1/27/2015

Varian Deverell, my favorite sexy pirate, says that to Merry in Face to Face. I'm like Varian. That's why I gave him just a smidge of me. I am not a random person. I am tactical. Everything I do, I do with thought and purpose. I am not just out there randomly writing and tossing out books. I release in many genres. I have series where the story lines intersect. I rarely rush to happily ever after. I love a long and glorious journey of love. I am not a random person. Everything I do, I do with thought and purpose. Does it always work. Nope. Will it work this time? Dunno. We'll see. Right?

Releasing One More Kiss was not a random act or one I approached with delusion. It's a puzzle piece that had to be out there for my fictional universe to be complete. I never expected to have a spectacular release with this book. I told my author friends that weeks ago up to the day I hit release. This book is going to lay there for a while, but that's as expected. It's a necessary step in what I am building.

So Sunday I released. The books has been performing pretty much as I expected it to. And while my author pals are sweet, please for me: Snap out of it! Stop asking me if I'm OK. Stop asking me what my PA thinks...Have you really been in my life for nearly a year and never realized everything I do has purpose to it?

I love that people worry, are concerned, and want every one of my releases to be sunrise and flowers. But that's not realistic. And that is not even part of the plan. Well, not my plan. I am amused by the people out there who are chattering away happily that this books is not performing spectacular, that it hasn't run straight to list on release day like my last three releases. Yes, I know who you are. I hear everything. Everyone loves to tattle to a grandmother. I have only one response to that: Have you really been in my life for nearly a year and never realized everything I do has purpose to it?

I am very much thrilled with having another piece of my fictional universe out there. I am one step closer to what is decidedly not a random plan. Will readers love it? I dunno know. But life is good if you let it be. So stop worrying. It is very wonderful that so many of your do care for me, but don't worry for me, go write!

I wish you Peace.

Well number 8 is live for better... or for worse? #amreading #chicklit #erotica #kindle #kindleunlimited

1/26/2015

Well, I don't know what One More Kiss will do to my publishing endeavors. It is a necessary puzzle piece to fill out the story in my fictional universe. For better or for worse, the sex scenes in the book I left intact. My first reviewer called them, "hot scenes that make you squirm." Dunno if that's good or bad. I only know that my characters are as varied as me. I've lived long. I've loved a lot. I've had really great highs and really hard lows. I've lived through interesting times. One thing I do know for sure, when I read reader emails, is I've been blessed to know some pretty amazing men in my life. I don't grow my characters organically. Not in the true sense. They are always crafted from real men I've known. I don't know if that gives them more of a sense of realness and authenticity. That's for readers to decide. But every once in the while I'll read a scene in one of my books and smile and remember I was young once and I was there. But I won't tell you which scenes. A girl has got to have some secrets. Right?

I wish you Peace.

On 99cent Kindle Countdown until 1/30/2015

Just released. Free on Kindle Unlimited!

I hit release on #8 last night of my journey to release 26, wait it's now 32 books...#amreading #chickit #kindle #kindleunlimited #romance #blogging #author #indieauthor

1/25/2015

Well sometime around 9:30p.m. I hit release on my 8th book, One More Kiss, and I expected to wake up with buy links in place. I always update with Amazon really fast, but this morning I'm waiting, waiting, waiting. It's not good. I always have an enormous knot in my stomach until a book is live and I've sold one copy. But 8 months into my journey I am at 8 out of 26(oops 32) books I hope to release by my 2 year anniversary of publishing in May 2017. It never gets easier. There is never not a hitch somewhere along the way. But I can say this, I'm having a fantastic ride and my readers are absolutely the best. That you all for being so wonderfully kind to me.

I wish you all Peace.

I never intended to become a famous man’s lover. I know damn well Jack never intended that for me. And somehow that’s what I became. ~ Linda Cray

I’m the kind of man who knows when he’s met forever. Linda leaving today won’t make a difference about anything. ~Jackson Parker

Linda never expected a chance encounter with a drunken man on the beach to change her life forever. But then, Linda had never met a man like Jackson Parker. He is the kind of man a foolish groupie falls in love with. The total rock star package: handsome, charming, intelligent, brilliant, and nice. The most dangerous kind of encounter. The kind where you wake up one morning completely delusional and lying to yourself that there might be a way to keep him.

The smart play on all accounts was for Linda to let go of Jack after a three week whirl-wind affair rather than to try to hold onto a man who, in all ways, was beyond her reach. But walking out of Jack’s life ended nothing. Struggling to build her own life, and unable to resist the temptation of the mercurial Jack, Linda is swept away by an affair without end.

Most writers have BETA readers and critique partners. I've got book club on the mountain. It's sort of like the Witches of Eastwick...#amwriting #amreading #author #Indieauthor #blogging #chicklit #kindle

1/24/2015

Not the sexy parts. The scary parts of the movie! There are 3 of us. Basically what we do is get together to chat randomly, and kick the shit out of each other over each others work and business decisions. Toughen us up for release date. Thankfully, we don't meet live. No one would want to drive my driveway to meet live. On a good day it takes 5 minutes, and of course you've got to drive it again to get out of here. I am mountain folk with a mountain folk driveway. Well a Santa Barbara beach girl kind of Mountain folk.

However, we did have our version of book club. We didn't chat about my new release unless you consider discussing endlessly if its a good idea to release the book is talking about the release. They think it's a bad move for me to step out of my zone and release something I need to classify as Erotic Romance with a warning label. So as we went round and round as to whether I'm evolving as a writer, or whether I should hearts and flowers up One More Kiss, it came to me why the writing style, the way I tell a story, is so different book to book.

Some authors make their characters fit their writing style. I make my writing style fit my characters. Is that wise? Dunno. Will it turn off readers? Dunno. It's just how I do what I do. All my books are written in a different style, different heat level, a different voice. I can't change that. The women in my fictional world are so different they demand it. What I have yet to discover is if readers want different out of their authors, or if they want predictability. Well, we will see on Monday!

As ever, I wish you Peace.

One and I'm still on 99cents Amazon Kindle Countdown One Last Kiss and The Signature.

Becoming an Indie author isn't like a Disney movie...well not unless the first twenty minutes of Cinderella without the chirruping animated birds...#amreading #amwriting #author #indieauthor #blogging #chicklit

1/23/2015

It's not a fairy tale. It may seem like it was for some--Sylvia Day, Colleen Hoover, etc-- but even that is a mirage. It's years of hard work that never ends. Writing it hard work. But you don't get to end there. You have to prepare your product for release. And then there is the dreaded promoting it to sell it. Dear heavens, let me have a reader. There is no breakthrough novel without a reader, or ten, or hundred, or thousand...and even then, maybe no breakthrough. Maybe breakthrough is a mirage. Maybe forever we authors will be scrambling to attract and retain readers. It's a competitive business and it's a tough one to be profitable in. Now, I'm pretty sure Sylvia and Colleen have helpers, but they are still out there everywhere promoting their work at signings, with book clubs and fans etc. At the end of the day every road just leads to work.

It would be nice if the concept of overnight success, the breakthrough novel, that fantasy we had when we were young of being discovered at a McDonald's(darling, it wasn't McDonald's for me, but we'll discuss that later) and becoming an instant STAR adored by all. It would be wonderful if it were true. But alas, it's not. Even for Sylvia and Colleen. They have to write great work, promote their work, and work...work...work.. sensing a theme here.

So please, next advice for new authors, don't hang your dreams of the breakthrough novel or unicorns or Hollywood or... having it easy without work. I've known tons of people who have achieved "overnight success" the problem is they worked every day before, they work every day while, and they will work every day tomorrow. Sensing a theme? So dust off your reading glasses and your stamina, use your dreams to fuel your efforts, and throw the hell out those Chic Chick Sunglasses for the Chic books signings. Darling, it is work.

I wish you Peace.

Oh and today I have two Amazon 99cent countdown sales US running: The Signature and One Last Kiss(starts 8am PST).

I can write formula romance. Technically I have 2, but i just usually choose not to #amreading #chicklit #author #indieauthor #blogging #kindle #kindleunlimited

1/22/2015

In our insta-world of insta-everything the formula romance with the HEA does have it's place. Boy meets girl. Couple falls madly in love. Obstacle to love. Struggle for love. Happily ever after married with 1.3 children great home and jobs living in the burbs. Fade out...happiness. Close book, but yea why were they so fucked up?

Please, no angry emails. I'm not mocking formula romance. I've released some: Rewind, The Signature, The Deverell Series, definitely Happily Ever After. It's just not all I do. You will always get a happily ever after at the end of my series and definitely for every book couple at the end of releasing my fictional universe in Affair without End, Half Shell and Sand & Fog. It just may not be how you visioned it or the journey the one you expect. I love the unexpected. I love love after the unexpected.

Sometimes I have readers who get angry, but they keep reading. I have authors who tell me, "don't do it. Too much risk." But heck, it's my party and I'll write what I want to.

These series may not catch on until the entire collection is released hopefully by June 2015. Heck, they may never catch on. That's all right. If there is one thing people who know me can always say about me I did it my way. For better for worse I'm true to myself, and so are my characters. They don't need to be perfect. I'm not perfect. They are flawed. I am flawed. Boy do they fuck-up a time or two. Well I have definitely done that.

My books may lay there forever, limping along in sales, but it doesn't matter. I get from time to time emails from reader who have just series hopped and figured out what I'm build by releasing my books...OMG, I didn't expect. I didn't know. This is great.... Sometimes I even get a kind review: I was introduced to this author via FB, excellent choice. I've read book 1 finished this book and I'm excited to read book 3, which will get to understand who the characters are and where it all started. Romantic story, after a two year break up the love was never gone. You must read!

See even my book order and series order don't matter. In my fictional universe all time is complete in a a single moment, and each piece it doesn't matter when it's revealed. You won't figure out the puzzle until I show it to you. And at that end of the day, if one reader says to me...That was incredible... then I'm happy and I might go into the completed basket of manuscripts and start releasing all my happy happily ever after.... but I don't think so. But I might.

I wish you Peace.