Things I Miss Since Becoming an Author

1. Waking up with nothing to do 
2. Daily therapy sessions with the dogs.
3. Less computer time = less money on electricity
4. Sanity! (that’s a big one there).
5. Free time
6. Not having to check Twitter, Facebook,  LinkedIn, and 3 different email account a day…all day
7. Having more money in my bank account for me, not marketing
8. My eyesight and not using reading glasses so much
9. Not having an office in my room
10. Not having 150 books stacked in the garage
11. Not receiving spam from cold callers who can, “Make you famous overnight.”
12. I miss not staring at statistics all day
13. Traveling without my computer

What I Love About Life Since Becoming An author…stay tuned.

If you have something to add to the list, leave it in the comments section. And don’t forget to sign up for the Donate a Book Sweepstakes at Facebook.com/tanialramos.com

Donate a Book Sweepstakes: Lesson in a Facebook App

As part of a promotion from Vocus.com, I am using a 14 day trial app to promote a sweepstakes on my Facebook Fan page.  It is a relatively simple promotion which is two part: gain buyers for my book, “Be Still,” and donate a book to the high school library of the winner’s choice.

Simple enough, right?

All a person has to do is visit my Facebook Fan Page at Facebook.com/TaniaLRamosBooks, then click the button marked sweepstakes which looks like this:

Click the link and you will be prompted to “Like” my fan page then asked to fill out a simple contact form: name, email, U.S. high school library of choice, and have you read the rules.  The contact form is used strictly to notify a person that he/she has won and will not be used for any other reasons or sold, ever.

For each 100 of my books, “Be Still,” by Tania L Ramos (yes, there are books with this title by other authors so I have to be very specific) are purchased either in softcover or hardcover or a combination of both through Amazon.com only, one winner will be selected from those who have entered and a, “Be Still,” book will be donated to their U.S. high school of choice.  I will donate up to ten books or end on 08/31/12, whichever comes first.  At this time I can not track a Kindle purchase, so Kindle purchases will not qualify toward sales, unless a time comes that I can track sales in a timely and accurate  manner.  See the rules for official details.

This sweepstakes is part of a promotion to sell books and to see how effective a Facebook Sweepstakes app is. I will not judge this app based solely by direct sales, but also by how many shares were sent out and how many entries are received.  I do this in order to write an educated review on the use and purchase of this app technology which will either be posted in July or December for my readers to view. I have tried several applications and several websites to gain recognition for my book, but this is the first Facebook app I am testing.

Please feel free to share this page.  You may participate in the sweepstakes even if you live outside of the United States, by either stating a U.S. high school or having one chosen for you by proxy of a second name selected who has named a U.S. high school, at which point both parties will be named as donors.  Good luck. Spread the news. And donate a book to a high school.

Tania L Ramos

The Donate a Book Sweepstakes ends 08/31/12 or when 1,000 books are sold

4am nursing

It’s 4am in my part of the world and I have been called back to work.  Well, I was called at 0330, and just like a military revalry, I am up and going and on the freeway making the 30 minute drive into work. I tell you, it isn’t easy driving at 330am, sleep in your eyes, people on my freeway trying to get an early weekend start into Vegas–good ol’ Route 66–darkness and lights swirling together, while I glance off the freeway wondering if there is an all night Starbucks.  Or an all night anything.

Problem # 1 with a small town: I know where the expression small, sleepy town comes from.  The place shuts down at 8pm.  Seriously. It’s like living in a demilitarized zone where curfew and lights out take effect at 8pm.  Curtains drawn, save for that one creepy woman who peeks out her window and makes the stubble on your legs stand up.

Problem#2 with a small town: On-call shifts at the local hospital.  Unless you’ve been waken up from a sound sleep to go into work and be there in 30mins or less you couldn’t even begin to understand.  Maybe the Domino’s pizza delivey kid gets it…and firemen, but it is a cruel way to live. 

You know I’m spacey when I compare the pizza guy with a fireman, by the way.

Well, I am awake and probably won’t see my bed until tonight again.  So I am going to seize this opportunity to research some marketing so when I do get home I can concentrate on writing.

See you soon Sony laptop.  Miss you warm bed. Hello double time and differential.

Blog/Video Tour Under Construction: How & Why’s

The acceptance emails are coming in and I am renewing my excitement levels.  I didn’t think there wold come a point where my excitement about my book would drop, but after endless hours of marketing and research it felt like this book was more work than fun and my luster was quickly waning.  So I decided it was time to perk up and start that blog/video tour on my to-do list.  The dog is wagging his tail so I must be on the right course and sending out positive vibes.

The tour will run approximately  3-5 days, but I am hoping to get 7 days out of it.  The festivities will end July 24th on my birthday. This will be my way of celebrating my birthday–something I haven’t really done in about 18 years, since my son was born only 4 days before my birthday, hence loss of birthday celebrations and get to forever remain 20 yrs old.

One question I am often asked is: What is a blog tour?

Simple. A blog tour is a book tour except instead of traveling outside your physical home, you travel on other people’s blogs as a guest.  It works several different ways and there are no rules so you can be quite creative with it:

• Guest blogger: I have seen some authors do a guest blog posting where the author writes about something to do with writing or the book and then leaves a, “where to buy the book,” link at the end.
• Interview: the blogger hosts an interview with the author.
• Question & Answer session: This is where the blogger will ask his/her audience in advance to post any questions they may have related to the book, author, or publishing. The questions are forwarded to the author and he/she answers.  The Q&A is then posted to the blog on a specified date.
• Review: This is a basic book review from the blogger.
• Video Blog (Vlog) : This can either be an interview live, through Skype, or a video book review which is then posted to YouTube, Metacafe, or Daily Motion.

Why do a blog/video tour? It is exposure to you, the author, and also to the people hosting your tour.  Each blog stop will link to your book, blog, or other page as requested.  This is good exposure to the author because he is reaching outside of the box and gaining exposure to the fans of the blog he is on that day.  But each blog will also list a date of events and the links to those other dates/sites, or, you have each blog link to the blog the day before and the day after them.  This is good for bloggers because it will send other readers to their site. Free exposure all the way around and who doesn’t like free?

So far I have three confirmations and I’m waiting on a few other confirmations or denials.  I have only had one denial so far.  Here is my current line up and will continue to grow.  If you are interested in hosting one of my stops please let me know. I will also give you more information on my giveaways offered to your readers.

Confirmed Sites:

David McGowan, author of, “The Hunter Inside.”   davidmcgowanauthor.com

Teresa Mccluskey, book reviewer at, “Freebies 4 My Family.”

Michelle Proulx, author  in editing phases right now http://michelleproulx.wordpress.com/

Just added a minute ago:

Katherine Nader, author of, “The Deadly Mark”  http://katherinenader.tumblr.com/post/24186778425

 

My name is Tania L Ramos. I am a registered nurse and an author.  My book, “Be Still,” is now available online at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.  For updates & milestones follow me at Facebook.com/tanialramosbooks and don’t forget to hit the like button

Lucky 7 Meme

The Lucky 7 Meme Award was given to me by David McGowan (DavidMcGowanAuthor.com), who wrote, “The Hunter Inside,” which is  a book I reviewed a few weeks ago.  You can read the review here: David McGowan Interview

The Lucky 7 Meme Award Rules are as such:

1. Go to the 7th or 77th page of your Work in progress.

2. Go to the 7th line of the page.

3. Copy the next 7 sentences or paragraphs. Remember, they must be as they are typed.

4. Tag 7 authors.

5. Let them know they’re it!

Since David went with his alien theme, I’m going with mine too.  Here is a snippet from my current work in progress, “Zombies versus Aliens.”

*****

By the time she lands on the ground the elephant has been penetrated a dozen times.  It’s a zombie, I say under my breath, stabbing it won’t work.

The elephant rears up on its hind legs while thrashing its bleeding head around.  The larger elephant is stumped as it catches the scent of fresh blood on the air.  She’s smart, I whisper as the larger elephant wraps its massive jaw around the bleeding neck of the smaller elephant.  In four quick snaps the neck of the smaller elephant is devoured and it is dead.

Rules of zombies: Any blood is fair blood.

*****

Here are seven authors I follow, there are more, but these ones are the ones that show up on my feed the most so I am exposed to them the most:

Dean J Baker at http://deanjbaker.wordpress.com/

Belle DiMonte at http://belleofmountains.wordpress.com

Louise  http://myotherbookisatolstoy.wordpress.com

Julia http://juliathewritergirl.wordpress.com

Andrew K Kuhavervicz http://adventuresinamericanwriting.wordpress.com

And my two new Iuniverse friends:

Michelle Proulx http://michelleproulx.wordpress.com

Katherine Nader http://katherinenader.tumblr.com