Where Do Your Books Come From?

By Christine Thackeray

Last year my mother passed away, and I inherited many of her books. It has been a wonderful gift. The funny thing I found is that my mother always read with a purpose. For example, she was going to England on a trip with my father, and she must have bought twenty books (most historical fiction or quasi-non-fiction) on the Victorian Era. Most are beefy hardbacks with ornate covers. She also grew interested in the Northeast and has another huge collection of stories about Cape Cod and Nantucket. There are a few other things that caught her eye. She bought a book by an author named "Thomas Tryon" which happens to be the same name as my sister's little boy. Add to that a handful of each of the big production writers of the 80's and 90's and then an unexpected treasure here and there and that's about it.

Looking at my Mother's books made me think about my own books. Many are volumes I purchased for research purposes. I have every one of C.S. Lewis's works and almost twenty books on King Herod. I'm also a post-temple trip bargain shopper and own quite a lot of LDS fiction. Whatever is on sale, I pick up. I also go wild in the back of CFI every time I go back to Utah. Also, I think I own every Jodi Picoult and Janet Evanovich.

So I'm curious... where do you buy your books, what are your favorites and what draws you to them?

The Ball's In Her Court Winner

By Heather Justesen

Well, I got my galleys yesterday, so it's really starting to feel like this book is going to happen. =) Seeing my name at the top of the pages made me tingly, and I like the title and chapter fonts they chose (this is, of course, of utmost importance, after all, lol). I'll be trying to burn through the minor changes my editor asked for, and to do a final proof so I can get it back to her as quickly as possible.

I had so many entries for this book, and I'm thrilled so many of you want a copy. I used Random.org to make the decision. And now for the winner--I know you're all waiting with baited breath--Cassie Osborne! Cassie, get your address to me and I'll send your copy out as soon as I get them!

"Deadly Treasure" Giveaway Winner!

Congratulations to Jolynn, winner of a signed copy of Deadly Treasure! All I need is your mailing address which you can send to writeme (at) jillayneclements (dot) com, and I'll send you a copy as soon as possible. Thank you to everyone who entered!

Why Should I Know My Genre?

by Tristi Pinkston

I recently met an author who was struggling to describe his book. He had a captive audience - the lady stood in front of him, eager to learn more, as he fumbled around with a plot outline of sorts and a vague idea that it was sort of fantasy, but not really, and not really sci-fi, and he wasn't sure what to call it. I interfered (I'm good at interfering) and told him that it sounded to me like his book was speculative fantasy. The customer nodded and the sale was made.

Each genre carries with it a certain reader expectation. If you hear someone say, "I have written a romance," you know you're about to read a story where a guy and girl meet, go through trials of their relationship, and eventually end up together. If you hear, "My book is a romantic drama," you know that someone fell in love, and yet things didn't turn out the way they'd hoped. When you hear, "speculative fantasy," you know that the story will place in the future, generally after the world has come to an end, and with the sub-genre of fantasy, you know you can expect creatures and situations that are different from what we see in our every-day lives.

When you know your genre and you can pass it along to your reader, you've gone a long way toward marketing it. They know what they like to read, and if you know how to describe what you've written, you can help them make a quick decision about their purchase and you can save yourself a lot of pitching power, too. If your reader hates romantic dramas, and you say, "My book is a romantic drama about ..." they'll know right off the bat they aren't interested and you can move along to the next person, who probably just adores romantic dramas and will snatch up your book quicker than an ice cream cone on a hot summer day.

Your job as an author (now that you've written the book, rewritten the book, gotten a publisher, and all the rest of it) is to find those readers who like what you write. Learn what your genre is, learn how to pitch it, and start hunting down those readers.

Winner of Altared Plans

The winner of an autographed copy of Altared Plans is . . . . . drumroll . . . . Juliana. Congratulations! I hope you enjoy it.

Please send your snail mail address to talleyrl(AT)yahoo(DOT)com and I'll get it to you.

Happy reading!

Mishaps, Mischief, and Winners, Yahoo!

By Nichole Giles

A few weeks ago, my brilliant, beautiful, and multi-talented coauthor, Cindy Beck, announced that we are giving away a copy of our upcoming book, Mormon Mishaps and Mischief: Hilarious Stories for Saints.

The book itself won’t be on shelves until December, but we can’t wait for its release, and we’re pretty sure our 89.9 million fans can’t wait either, so…yeah. We’re giving away a copy now, and hoping the winner is a patient person, who doesn’t mind waiting for their prize until we actually have one to give. So sorry we can’t give away a llama—as requested—or dinner with a ghost, but perhaps we can send along a free bookmark or…some uneaten Christmas candy.

Or maybe one day we’ll just give away love. It’s all we need, right? (I think that’s what the song says.) But if you want to enter that drawing, you might need to check the updates at the LDS Humor blog.

Our book, Mormon Mishaps and Mischief: Hilarious Stories for Saints, contains humorous, true stories of Latter-day Saints that will have you holding your sides and laughing. It covers everything from bloopers at the pulpit and gaffes at priesthood campouts to blunders during family home evening. The book makes a great gift for yourself, family, friends, or even a Christmas gift for your home teachers—when they finally show up on December 31.
And the winner is…

Niid Raun

Congratulations, Niid! (Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, cheer, cheer, dance.) To collect your prize, please email us your snail mail information to the humor committee at ldshumor at yahoo dot com. Whatever you do, please don’t camp out at your mailbox waiting anxiously for your prize to arrive. You might freeze to death when it snows.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled blog reading!

By Love or By Sea WINNER

I'm pretty excited about this! I love book give-aways! Who doesn't like a FREE book? Anyway, two weeks are finally up and the winner of

By Love or By Sea

by Rachel Rager

is...

Lynn Parsons

Congrats, Lynn! Just send your mailing address to

rachelrager(dot)romance(at)gmail(dot)com

and I'll get that out PRONTO!!!

(I hope you love it! And I hope if you didn't win, you will still read it! And make sure to check back to see if you win one of the other books too.)

And, for anyone who wants a thought provoking question. . .

When Caleb Newman left for sea, he had different reasons for leaving than the popular opinion. If events had occured differently at the ball when he saved Alice's virtue,

would he have made the same decisions? If not, what would he have done differently? And how would Lydia Burns effect the dynamic of the story?

(Read By Love or By Sea)

Leave me a comment with your thoughts! I can't wait to hear them!!

Happy Kisses!