Hello Everyone,

So I am thinking of starting of NEWS AND REVIEWS FOR BOOK LOVERS on a separate blog away from MySpace. I hate to say it, but I am getting kind of bored of MySpace. With all its advertising and trying to get people to buy things that they really don't need. So I was thinking that if I just continued NEWS AND REVIEWS FOR BOOK LOVERS on say something like blogspot.com or something comparable would my loyal book loving fan base follow me?

As many authors have noticed I have stopped responding to their offers of free books to review. Believe me it is not like I don't like getting free books, but I felt I was getting away from being able to review a book honestly and subjectively. I have so many controversial subjects that I would like to discuss in my NEWS AND REVIEWS FOR BOOK LOVERS, but since I was receiving free books from authors, publishers, and literary agents I held back from writing anything that might insult someone and therefore be bashed in the literary world.

Over the last few months I have bought and read so many awesome books that I am just dying to write about and tell everyone that these books will change their lives. Okay, maybe they won't be able to change their lives, but these books that I have read recently will certainly make you look at the world in a different light. There are also subjects about book publishing that I would love to research and write about. I have already have a list of things I want to start discussions about. I know that many of my readers will have varying opinions on my articles.

One big change I would like to make to NEWS AND REVIEWS FOR BOOK LOVERS is making it more organized. I would like to have reviews in one section, articles about writing and the book industry in another section, and I would love to have more interviews and more guests on my blog. These are things that I found that I could not accomplish on MySpace. I guess what I am trying to do is just make it more professional. I know that this is a very ambitious project and will probably take up a lot of my time, but i am so looking forward to all the work. I am just a huge fan of books.

I hope to hear from everyone soon.

Cheers,
Trisha
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NEWS AND REVIEWS FOR BOOK LOVERS

PS If anyone is wondering or actually cares I am going to start writing some more stories and posting

Hello Everyone,

Where have I been? Actually I have been very, very busy reading for both pleasure and work. Work you ask? I have being doing tons of research. Research on what you ask, well, let me say I am trying to find the connection between the paranormal and sibling abuse. Why you ask? I am finally working on my novel that I am so very excited about writing and sharing with the world.

As most of you know I wrote a memoir called SORRY IT IS NOT YOUR TURN. Realizing the idea for my memoir is very interesting it unfortunately contains a lot of loose ends, which definitely needs some fine-tuning. So using the basis of my memoir and the research that I am conducting on sibling abuse and the paranormal it will be a much more detailed and engaging read.

You are probably wondering to yourself how I am going to be relating sibling abuse to the paranormal. Basically, my novel will be about an adolescent girl who is frequently abused by her brother, and trying to run away from the abuse she turns to the Ouija board as an escapism tool. However, as you all know that when experimenting with the Ouija board it all starts off innocent and fun, but never quite stays that way.

Although this novel will be classified as a fiction it is based on true events and facts that I have gathered from hours upon hours of research. These are some of the topics on the subject of the paranormal that I have been researching and covering in my novel:

• How do the dead communicate with the living?
• Are Ouija boards a doorway to another realm?
• Is there a connection between troubled teens and the supernatural?
• Do poltergeists use the energy and imagination of young people to manifest itself into the physical world?
• Are there really ways to use the mind to conjure up spirits?
• Do the deceased really watch out for their loved ones who are living?

The topics that I will be covering on sibling abuse in my novel are as follows:

• What is sibling abuse?
• Is sibling abuse really true memories or dreams or a result of an active imagination.
• How to confront someone on sibling abuse many years later? And should you as part of the healing process?

These are just some of the questions that I hope people will think about long after reading my novel.

Cheers,
Trisha Mortimore

Hello Everyone,

I think it is about time that I admit to people that when I was a young child I had a very disturbing reoccurring dream. Sure it stemmed from a story that I read in one of those children’s magazines. However, I thought about this particular story and dream every night before I fell asleep for many years. I really should not be that surprised that this mysterious young girl would visit me on a regular basis in my troubled and restless sleep. She just would not go away.

As I got older into my teens the dreams just seemed to fade away. I guess with my thoughts being on other pressing matters like clothes and boys it was able to overpower my subconscious. As I got into my mid-twenties I pretty much forgot about my reoccurring dream altogether.

It wasn’t until the first night that I slept in the home I grew up in after fifteen years of running away from my past that the young girl decided to make her presence to me known once again. I was going to learn the hard way that you can not run from your demons and that they always come back to haunt you.

I guess I should explain a little bit more about my childhood and the story, which I believe my reoccurring dream transpired from. First of all, I was pretty much a loner. I had really just one best friend during elementary school whom just lived just down the street from me, maybe a ten-minute walk. Man, did it ever feel like it was a lot farther than that when I was a kid. I spent most of my time reading and living in my own fantasy world. It just seemed safer and far more exciting than what my life was really like.

On a particular boring day I was going through some of my brother’s old children’s magazines looking for something new to read when one particular magazine caught my interest. I do believe it was called OWL. Does that magazine even exist anymore? Anyways, I came across an intriguing short story about a lonely girl, like myself, who was so desperate for a friend. So desperate that she created one in her mind. You know an imaginary friend. Whereas, the article or I should say story was trying to send the message to children that it was okay and perfectly normal to have an imaginary friend my new friend who only existed in my dreams seemed far more twisted and sinister.

I guess with this story fresh in my head, relating to this girl in the story, and having a very vivid imagination I had the first of my reoccurring dream that night. Here is how my dream always played out:

The dream would take place in the same house that I grew up in with my elementary school just being across the street. Although, I already had a best friend she was my only friend that I ever had. I was yearning and searching for a new and exciting best friend.

It finally happened one day. Right in the middle of the school year our grade seven teacher was telling us about a new student who would be joining our class. Her family just moved from out of province. Wow. I thought how exciting someone from far away. The teacher warned us that the young girl was extremely shy and nervous about meeting her new fellow classmates and that we were to welcome her with open arms. We all promised that we would. I pledged to myself that this new girl was going to be my new best friend.

The next morning getting ready for school I took extra care in my appearance. For this was the day that the new girl would be joining our class and I wanted to make a good first impression. I took the initiative and personally asked the teacher if we could set up a buddy system. And I actually volunteered to go with the new girl knowing that everybody else would want to be partnered up with his or her own best friends. The teacher told me what a great idea and actually thanked me for the idea and that I was the perfect person to buddy up with the new girl. I thought so myself. That was just way too easy. The first step is completed. Now is the time to make my project a success.

Within a week my plan was working out to perfection. The new girl and I became inseparable. It was her who asked me if I wanted to be her best friend. How ironic is that?

After school on the day that I decided that I was going to ditch my old best friend for a new and exciting one we of course wanted to celebrate our new partnership. We were home alone putting make-up on and doing each other’s hair. If my mother caught us she would have my head, for I was not allowed to wear make-up. However, this girl made everything seem exciting, daring, fun, and kept promising me we would never get caught.

Suddenly without warning she was holding a pair of my mom’s sharp hair cutting scissors in her hand when she turned to face me and said, ’now that we are best friends we must make the blood sister pledge.’ I have to admit I was becoming just a little nervous. But is this not what I wanted, a new best friend that would bring excitement to my boring existence. I told her that I was ready to take the blood sister pledge. Even though, I was not exactly sure what the blood sister pledge was.

"Give me your arm!" She demanded. I did as she said for I became frightened of the voice that she now possessed.

She turned my arm over and took the sharp edge of the scissors and made a quick clean slice into my wrist.

"Now do the same to me!" She demanded once again. I was too scared by now to say no.

I took her arm and made almost an identical slice into her wrist as she did to mine. Forcefully she grabbed my wrist that was by now dripping blood on to the floor and placed it on top of her own bleeding wrist.

"Now we will be blood sisters forever. Repeat after me!" Man she was demanding and controlling.

"I Trisha pledge to be Sophia’s blood sister forever. In life and in death."

"I…Trisha…pledge to…be…Sophia’s bl-oo-d si-st-er…forever. In life…and…death." I was trembling and shaking though the whole pledge. I was starting to think twice about my new best friend.

As time went by I slowly started to think to myself that this mysterious young girl is very dangerous not to just me but also to all the people that I love. Then my dream would jump right to very end.

"SIT DOWN!" The girl was ordering my mother. There was a chair sitting in the middle of the dark empty room, which the girl was pointing to, and telling my mom to go and sit. My mother tentatively walked towards the chair and sat down. Sensing my mother’s discomfort and loss of control for the first time in my life I became terrified of what was going to happen and ran into my mother’s arms and crawled onto her lap for safety.

"Now you must pay! You betrayed me!" The girl shouted and pointed towards me. I had no idea what she was talking about. Right in front of my mother’s and my eyes the girl turned into a ghostly skeletal figure.

"It is now your turn to be punished!" At first the girl started to do slow circles around our chair. As she gathered more speed I started to cry and shake in my mother’s arms.

"We are…going…to be…turned…into…ghosts." I said in between sobs. I had no idea how I knew this.

This is the point where I would force myself to wake up.

I am asking or should I say pleading with everyone to please help me make sense out of this disturbing reoccurring dream that still has a hold on me even today. What could possible be in my sub-conscious that this dream keeps me awake every night for the fear of falling asleep scared that one night I just might not wake up?

Hello Everyone,

I just received my first ever rejection letter for my erotic short story that I posted on MySpace. You know the one. The sensual moral tale that I am currently holding a contest trying desperately to find a suitable title.

Anyways, I guess without my knowledge a publishing company requested a copy of my story to read. Honestly, I had no idea. So today in my hotmail account I received a very nice rejection letter informing me that they are currently not publishing any new writing right now and to possibly look into publishing my story in an anthology.

I just had to laugh. I am receiving rejection letters from publishers without even knowing that I have submitted my writing. Wow. The book publishing world is really that hard to break into. And here I was ready to give up on my writing. I think not.

So please tell me if you think this is a good or bad thing that someone could be receiving rejection letters without even submitting his/her writing?

I hope to hear from everyone soon.

Cheers,
Trisha
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NEWS AND REVIEWS FOR BOOK LOVERS

BOOK REVIEW

THE HARROWING A GHOST STORY
ALEXANDRA SOKOLOFF

What happens when you get five emotionally disturbed students playing with a Ouija board on a dark stormy night alone in a hundred year old residence hall? Well, I think you know what happens. They conjure up an evil that is very mischievous and playful at the same time, but oh so dangerous.

Sure you have all read books and seen movies based on this concept. However, the author, ALEXANDRA SOKOLOFF, does an amazing job of keeping her debut novel, THE HARROWING, fresh and unique by mixing the plot with equal parts psychology and religion. I especially love all the references to Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.

The author uses her screenplay writing experience to her full advantage by keeping the story full of intense chills and most of importantly believable right up to the very end. Trust me I was expecting a disappointing ending. You know how that happens. You are reading an absolutely fabulous book that has kept you so engrossed in the story that you can not put it down, but it just falls flat at the end. I just hate that. That is when I feel like writing a letter to the author and the editor asking them what the hell were they thinking. I feel the same way about movies. That is so not the case with this ghost story.

After reading that the author, ALEXANDRA SOKOLOFF, drew the psychological undercurrents of the book, THE HARROWING, from her experience teaching emotionally disturbed and incarcerated teenagers in the Los Angeles County prison system I almost feel that the author read my diary from when I was a teenager, and that her main character, Robin, could so easily have been based on me. As most of my readers know I grew up in a haunted house. Or that is what I believed. I now feel differently after reading this book. I realize now that I am in my thirties that I was indeed an emotionally disturbed teenager who abused drugs and alcohol, and even contemplated suicide, and that I was most probably the ghost's invitation into the world of the living. How scary and discomforting is that though?

I highly recommend THE HARROWING by ALEXANDRA SOKOLOFF to anyone who just loves horror books and movies, especially the classics in the likes of THE OMEN and THE SHINING.

Feel free to check out more about the author on MySpace (one of my top friends) and on her website: www.alexandrasokoloff.com. Did I mention that she just released her latest book THE PRICE? I will definitely be reading that book since I enjoyed THE HARROWING so much.

I hope you enjoyed my thirty-third issue of NEWS AND REVIEWS FOR BOOK LOVERS. I can't wait to hear from everyone soon.

Cheers,

Trisha Mortimore
aka
NEWS AND REVIEWS FOR BOOK LOVERS

BOOK REVIEW

TWO*WAY STREET
LAUREN BARNHOLDT

So you think taking a road trip with your family is bad? Try taking a road trip with your ex-boyfriend. Who just happened to break up with you for some slut that he met on MySpace. Well, that is exactly what happens to Courtney in LAUREN BARNHOLDT'S novel TWO*WAY STREET. Courtney is shocked when her parents force her to drive over one thousand miles to a college that both herself and Jordan, her ex, will be attending. Her parents tell her it is way too late to change plans and unable to make other arrangements.

Not only does the author, LAUREN BARNHOLDT, masterfully tell the story in alternating voices of Courtney and Jordan, but she also manages to keep the storyline running smoothly while consistently jumping back and forth between past and present tense. I can tell you from reading many books and watching many movies in this format it is very easy for the reader and/or viewer to get confused and lose interest in both the plot and the characters. LAUREN BARNHOLDT shows her exceptional talent in developing her characters, Courtney and Jordan, and keeps enough twists and suspense in the story to keep you guessing if Courtney and Jordan are really destined for each other in her novel TWO*WAY STREET.

I just recently read an interview with JENNY BENT a literary agent from the TRIDENT MEDIA GROUP saying that chic lit has been fading out a little bit as a genre. She goes on to say during the interview that she has been asking many of her authors to re-write their romantic comedies from the first person to the third person, which includes both protagonists' perspectives. She highly recommends reading STUPID AND CONTAGIOUS by CAPRICE CRANE to use as an example of a romantic comedy written in third person using both protagonists' perspectives. I have not read this book, but it is definitely on my to be read list. Her reasoning is that writing in the first person is too chic lit, which she has to admit that chic lit just does not sell that well in today's book publishing world.

Although, TWO*WAY STREET by LAUREN BARNHOLDT is considered a teen lit novel it makes me wonder if the author originally wrote the novel in first person and was asked by her literary agent or editor to re-write the story in alternating voices of the two protagonists. I personally love books written in this format, which tells the two different perspectives of a relationship. You know the old saying every story has two sides. I especially like when male authors and female authors join forces to write a novel, for example, NICK AND NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST by RACHEL COHN and DAVID LEVITHAN. Again I have not read this book, but it is also on my to be read list. I believe you really get what the guy is thinking when it is a real male writing the male character and visa versa with female authors taking on the female characters' role. So you tell me just like chic lit if the new trend for writing teen lit will be in the third person, which may include both protagonists' perspectives?

TWO-WAY STREET by LAUREN BARNHOLDT is a must read for any writer of teen and chic lit genre. It is a very good example of using alternating voices, which seems to be a very popular trend that agents and editors are looking for in these two genres. This is also a must read for anyone who is addicted to MySpace, like myself. LOL.

I hope you enjoyed my thirty-second issue of NEWS AND REVIEWS FOR BOOK LOVERS. I hope to hear from everyone soon.

Cheers,

Trisha Mortimore
aka
NEWS AND REVIEWS FOR BOOK LOVERS

Hello Everyone,

Well, I have to admit I am very pleased about the positive responses that I have received towards my very first short story that I wrote. I am also very impressed with the quality and quantity of titles that many people have suggested to me. I personally love them all. And that is the reason that I need YOU to help me decide which is the best title for my very personal sensual story. I will be posting the entries below. So let the voting begin.

Please note: You may enter your vote as many times as you want. You may also vote for your own title. One more thing, you can find my story in my previous blog posting SHORT STORY FOR CONTEST - LAST CHANCE TO ENTER, and to find out more about my contest you will find more information on my blog CONTEST on my TRISHA profile.

Here are the titles:

1) Worldly Girl
2) Story of a Teenage Bar-Hopper
3) Simply Trisha
4) A Game of Simon Says
5) The Things Simon Said
6) Trisha's Triste
7) A Coming of Age Story, as Told by Trisha
8) A Love: Undone
9) That Cool Mr. Pool Cue
10) A League of His Own
11) What We Learn From Bad Boys
12) Sea Eyes
13) What Smart Women Know
14) The First Lesson
15) The Plunge
16) Ignominy
17) Fundamentals of Love
18) Institution of Love
19) Rudimentaries of Love
20) Lesson from a Neophyte
21) Jackal
22) Instruction from a Don
23) How-To-Love and Learn
24) A New Dawn
25) Getting Over Him
26) My First True Heartache

Thank you everyone who sent me their title suggestions and good luck. I look forward to hearing from everyone soon.

Cheers,

Trisha
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NEWS AND REVIEWS FOR BOOK LOVERS

BOOK REVIEW

A DANGEROUS DRESS
JULIA HOLDEN

Who would ever think that one dress could change someone's life so dramatically? Well, not does this one breathtaking 1920's Parisian dress allow one woman to fulfill her wildest dreams, but also allows her grandmother to have secrets of her own.

After Jane Stuart's grandmother passes away Jane finds an old suitcase, which incidentally belonged to her grandmother. Inside the suitcase to Jane's amazement she finds the most sensual dress she had ever seen, alongside a menu from a restaurant in Paris. Jane's mind instantly goes on overdrive. When did my grandmother go to Paris, let alone leave Kirland, Indiana? Where and how did she ever come to own this very adult dress? Did she wear this dress to dinner at this Parisian restaurant where this magnificent looking menu came from? And most important question whom did she wear this spectacular dress for? Jane has no idea any of the answers to these questions, but she makes a promise to herself that she is going to find out.

Working at her uncle's local bank and studying management at college, which Jane eventually gets bored of, wouldn't you? She decides to take a course on History of Fashion. During one of her classes her grandmother's dress magically appears before her during a slide show given by her professor. After class Jane asks her teacher for more information about the dress. The professor can only tell her that the dress is from a Collection of Flapper Dresses from 1920 Paris. The professor then tells Jane that she must research and write a paper on her grandmother's dress as a class assignment.

Jane's paper, which you may have guessed is called A DANGEROUS DRESS, was so good that her teacher gives her an A+ and enters it into a fashion industry contest. The paper won third prize.

On a particular boring day working at her uncle's bank Jane receives a mysterious phone call asking her if she is indeed the person who wrote the paper A DANGEROUS DRESS. When she is able to confirm to the man that yes she is the one he tells her that she is the only that can save a movie. He is from a film company and he will be sending her an airline ticket to Paris. She must leave that night. Of course, Jane drops everything and goes. Who wouldn't?

Unknowingly Jane is embarking on an adventure that she will never forget. Her grandmother's 'dangerous dress' takes her to such fabulous places as Paris and New York. Not even in Jane's wildest dreams could she ever imagine this could be happening to her.

After finishing reading A DANGEROUS DRESS by JULIA HOLDEN I could not help thinking that this is a modern take on the fairy tale Cinderella? Jane feels that her grandmother's dress holds some magical powers, which allows her to do all these amazing things in her life. When actual fact Jane discovers that the dress has only giving her the confidence to make the first big leap in making her dreams come true and controlling her own destiny.

A DANGEROUS DRESS by JULIA HOLDEN is a light breezy read, which I had a hard time putting down every night so I could get a few hours of sleep before I had to go to work the next day. The author's writing is fast paced and simple. Who says writing has to be complicated using big long words that no one really knows what the words even mean anyways?

Don't forget to check out JULIA HOLDEN'S website www.juliaholden.com and on MySpace. She is one of my top friends. Oh and did I mention she has a second novel out ONE DANCE IN PARIS. I know that I am looking forward to reading her latest novel.

I hope you enjoyed my thirty-first issue of NEWS AND REVIEWS FOR BOOK LOVERS. I look forward to hearing from everyone soon.

Cheers,

Trisha Mortimore
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NEWS AND REVIEWS FOR BOOK LOVERS

GUEST BLOGGER

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR
ALLISON BRENNAN

I am very honoured and pleased to introduce New York Times Bestselling author ALLISON BRENNAN as my first ever guest blogger on NEWS AND REVIEWS FOR BOOK LOVERS. I want to thank Allison in advance for her time and effort for her very informative and entertaining blog on writing.


ALLISON BRENNAN:

I have always wanted to be a writer. When I was 13 I wrote a fan letter to Stephen King after I read THE STAND and told him that I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. He sent back a postcard that said, "If you want to be a writer, write."

It took nearly twenty years before I took his advice to heart. True, I always wrote down snippets of stories, but I never finished anything.

When I finally got serious about my writing in early 2002, I discovered that I had over 100 beginnings and no endings. Some of my stories were a few pages, others were hundreds of pages long. I told myself that I would finish something--anything--and try to get it published.

I thought finishing a book would be the hard part! Surely I was a brilliant enough storyteller that an agent would love to represent me, right? Ha!

At the time, I worked full-time in the California State Legislature and had three kids. (By the time I sold, I had five!) I wrote either early in the morning or late at night after the kids went to bed. My commitment was two hours a day, no matter what. I gave up television and some sleep. But two years later I had five completed manuscripts--and hundreds of rejections on the same. I learned that I could finish a book, but maybe my craft wasn't where it should be.

I sensed that THE PREY was the book that had "it"--whatever "it" is. It was my fifth book, I felt the pacing and characters were solid, and I cleaned it up as best as I knew how at the time. I was far more confident about it than I was about the first four books I wrote and which were rejected by virtually every reputable agent in New York.

And I sold that book to Ballantine (through an agent.)

I'm not going to talk about how to get an agent (there's plenty of information on the Internet about that), but I will say that I think it's important to find an agent if you're trying to sell to New York. Many publishers now consider agents their first reader, and trust them to send manuscripts they will have interest in. You don't HAVE to have an agent to sell, but I think that it makes good business sense to have one. Publishing contracts are tricky, and an agent can almost always get you better terms. Sometimes it's not just about money, but other rights that you should retain.

Anyway, I thought that once I quit my job a year later and was no longer juggling a million things, my life would get easier and less hectic. Nope. Writing three books a year is a full, time-consuming job. There's not just writing, but editing, editor revisions, copyedits, page proofs, and that's just for the book. I also maintain a website, design my own bookmarks, do some signings, travel to conferences, and this year I'm the President of PASIC, the Published Author Special Interest Chapter of RWA, as well as being a judge for the Thriller Awards.

Yes, I am a glutton. I keep piling it on. Juggling my time is not always easy, but then again, nothing worth having is easily attained, right?

I write daily from 9-3 while my kids are in school. From 3-9 or so it's kid time. Activities, homework, dinner, baths, books, and a million other things that seem to come up all the time. (Anyone with kids knows exactly what I'm talking about!) Like most working moms, I don't get to help in the classroom or take a lot of time off, but because of my flexible schedule I can occasionally drive on field trips and if I need to be at the school to watch one of my kids get an award, I can do that. There are perks.

Still, because I have tight deadlines, I need to focus on my writing during my writing time. I tend to procrastinate, especially when I'm stuck on something. Since I don't plot out my books ahead of time, I only have a general sense of story and character until I start writing, I need to be focused on the task at hand. When I get close to a deadline, I also write at night. Whatever it takes to meet my commitments.

And this, I think, is what unpublished writers need to think about. There is no one in this world who cares about you getting published. No one . . . but YOU. It's very easy to put the manuscript aside for a few days, or not query agents, or decide you need to edit the book for the twenty-sixth time before you'll let anyone read it. It's easy to quit. It's hard to be rejected. Sometimes it even hurts, because we put our creation up to the test.

That's why you have to make the commitment TO YOURSELF to write, to complete your projects, to set attainable but challenging goals for yourself. Make a sacrifice for your art. Give up television, or get up early, or use your lunch hour for writing rather than chatting. Me? I also gave up cleaning ?

I'll tell you, my husband grumbled a bit during those years before I sold, and even after I sold he grumbled that I spent more time at the computer than with him. I replied, "You spend more time at work than with me." Which is true if you factor in that you're not really "with" your spouse when you're both asleep! Sometimes, our family and friends don't support our endeavors. Sometimes, you need to reach out to other writers who understand your need to create. And always, you have to look inside at your steel core for the strength to pursue your dream.

I've often asked when I present workshops, "If you knew today that you would never sell one of your books, would you continue to write?" If you answer yes, that is half the battle. Most people give up before they even really start. Everyone says they want to write a book, but few people actually do.

Trisha asked me to touch upon marketing and promotion. Briefly, I never think that authors should spend all or a large chunk of their advance on promotion. The single most important thing to selling books is good distribution. Yes, you need to write a good book and have a good package (cover and blurb), but if your books are not available through regular distribution channels (like Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc) then anything you do to promote them won't help--people don't want to search out books from people they don't know or haven't read. This is why I think your promo dollar should be a percentage of your advance--and you don't go over it. I, personally, think no more than 10%. Others may think 20% or 25% is better. But only you can plan what you need to do, not everyone who tells you to do this or that or the other thing. Those are only suggestions, and they may or may not work, or might work for some people and not others. Marketing is a tricky business! And if you can only afford bookmarks to give out at conferences, then that's what you do.

I think the single most effective marketing tool for an author is a quality webpage. Something that "says" you're a professional author, provides information about your books and you to your readers. Keep it updated and fresh. You can get a quality website relatively cheaply. If you're a good blogger and can keep it up, that's another great way to slowly build an audience. If you don't have the time, consider a group blog. Join writer's groups and pool resources and book signings when possible. Find out what your publisher plans to do and compliment it. If you're getting a small print run, it's not going to help to spend $5,000 for an ad in RT Book Reviews. However, it might help to send a letter to key booksellers introducing yourself (especially if you can find out where the bulk of your books will be for sale.) And work with your publisher as much as you can. Sometimes, they'll surprise you and do something you don't expect. And it doesn't hurt to ask (or better, have your agent ask!)

There are so many high-ticket items you can do--book trailers, print ads, online ads, blog tours, teasers--that you can easily spend all your money--and your time--on promo.

The truth is, the single best promotion for you is to write another good book. And if you're spending all your time promoting, when are you writing?

Special thanks to Trisha for giving me this time and space. I appreciate it. I am happy to answer questions. What I'd like to do, however, because I have a book deadline on 2/6, is for you to post your question on Trisha's MySpace blog (with her permission!) and I'll answer them on my MySpace blog the weekend of February 9th.


Please feel free to post any questions that you may have for ALLISON BRENNAN or myself as a blog comment on this particular blog. I hope you enjoyed my thirtieth issue of NEWS AND REVIEWS FOR BOOK LOVERS. I am looking forward to hearing from everyone in the near future.

Cheers,

Trisha
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NEWS AND REVIEWS FOR BOOK LOVERS

BOOK REVIEW

SHOPGIRL
STEVE MARTIN

I just finished reading the novella SHOPGIRL by STEVE MARTIN and it literally took my breath away.

Here all along I was thinking that STEVE MARTIN got a book deal, became a NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, and his first novella SHOPGIRL transpired into a Hollywood movie because of who he is and the contacts that he must have in both the book and movie industry. I am very pleased to say that I have made a very foolish assumption. I am a big enough person to admit when I am wrong.

I am sure that everyone has heard of STEVE MARTIN's novella SHOPGIRL and the movie of the same name, so I am not going to go into any detail of the plot, but I will talk about STEVE MARTIN's brilliant writing style that makes him such a talented writer that makes him a bestselling author.

The one thing I noticed the most about STEVE MARTIN's writing style of SHOPGIRL is how witty and intelligent it is written that I just felt the need to share it with someone. That someone just happened to be my husband. I found that every paragraph was so entertaining and almost independent of each other that I could stop mid-page and read a whole paragraph out to my husband without having to explain the storyline to him and he would get the full value of STEVE MARTIN's comedic talent. I guess that is what has made STEVE MARTIN such a successful stand-up comedienne. Every word is chosen to perfection, and not one word is wasted.

This little book just proves that a story does not have to be long to be enjoyable. Even though SHOPGIRL by STEVE MARTIN is a novella of only 130 pages and it so could have easily been a quick read for me I decided to read it very slowly so I could study every word of every sentence right to the very ending. I was in such awe of the book that I just felt compelled to write a book review. Now I understand the true meaning of a writer just has to write.

Midway through reading SHOPGIRL by STEVE MARTIN is when I came to the realization that this was the style of writing that I was trying to achieve with my first ever short story. Whereas, STEVE MARTIN, has mastered this particular style of writing I have discovered that my own writing is still a work in progress. I believe that I must study STEVE MARTIN's and other great author's writing to improve on my own writing and help me find my own unique voice. So, I guess what I am trying to say is that I am not going to give up on my dream of becoming a bestselling author.

I hope you enjoyed my twenty-ninth issue of NEWS AND REVIEWS FOR BOOK LOVERS.

Cheers,

Trisha Mortimore
aka
NEWS AND REVIEWS FOR BOOK LOVERS.