Tammy's Tidbits: Inspiration, Imitation or Plagiarism? #WWoW #MyWANA

If you've been anywhere on social media over the last week, you've come across the posts concerning the latest round of plagiarism. No one appears safe from it. Sandra Brown is among a group of authors one particular person has plagiarized. What possesses a person to copy another's work and pass it off as their own? Is it laziness? Greed? The fame?

I've thought about this for a long time now ever since an author I'd supported turned into one who had plagiarized a passage from another author on a vampire fan fiction site. It was only one passage, but the fans of the original author were able to find it easily. As someone who has never had to urge to write fan fiction, I wouldn't have known my friend had done this. Reading her work, you could see the heavy influences from True Blood, Vampire Diaries and Twilight--some of it was embarrassingly similar and more than coincidence but not outright plagiarism.

The end result for my friend is she pulled all of her work and left writing. She's left all social media and her blog is now private. Before all of that happened, she was confronted on all retailers. Comments and reviews of her books shamed her and those of us who had supported and helped to promote her releases. Some of the posts were vile, but others were spot on. Stealing another author's work is not only a crime, but the ultimate betrayal by a colleague. I felt bad for my friend, but even worse for the author who's work she copied and said was her own.

There is no way any of us can say we're not inspired by all the books and movies we've enjoyed. It's the reason fan fiction sites have become so popular. There writers can share their ideas of how they see their favorite characters in different situations in and outside the world of their favorite book, TV show or movie. E.L. James took her Twilight fan fiction and created the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. Fans of her writing on the website followed her from there and the rest is history.

It's that fame that's fueled some to go from being inspired by another author to stealing their work. Lorelei James had to deal with a person who stole her work and posted it on a fan site as an original story. Entire chapters went up. This person denied the allegations even when presented with proof and the threat of lawsuits from Lorelei and her publisher. 

Becky McGraw had to deal with another author who took her best selling MF romances and changed them to MM. Line by line comparisons showed the outright theft. The readers of MM romances who had supported the author who plagiarized felt betrayed and sick over the whole thing. Come to find out, Becky wasn't the only author the plagiarist had stolen from to create her prolific line of gay romances. 

Why bring up all of this now? It's a warning to all authors to keep ever vigilant and not fall into the trap of copying another's work. Admiring their style and storytelling is one thing, blatant stealing it so you can get a piece of the best selling pie is against the law. Not only can you lose a huge portion if not all of the royalties you earned with the books, you will be blacklisted in the publishing community.

No agent or publisher will want to represent you or your work. No blogger will want to host you or your book. No one will review your work. Go ahead and self publish...the one who ripped off Becky McGraw and others did. Same goes for the one who stole from Sandra Brown.

It's not worth it. 

Last week, another friend of mine was notified that someone in her author support groups had imitated her best selling Wanderlust series. Taglines that had been used for over a year for the series were now showing up in promotions for this "new" sweet romance. The cover and title to the "new" release was nothing like those of my friend's, but enough for others to think it was similar.

The blurb of the "new" story had a heroine from the same city escaping a heartbreaking trauma in her life to find love in an exotic locale. Reading the "new" book I had to laugh. My friend had no worries. While this copycat tried to incorporate the same feel, it's a poor imitation. Instead of creating a different story, the "author" attempted to cash in on my friend's success. While there isn't anything illegal in what this other person has done, her actions haven't gone unnoticed by the others in our same circles. At this point, she's created a target on her back and she's been labeled as untrustworthy.

It's not worth it, people. 

Take the time to create your own world and characters. Sure be inspired by your favorite stories, but don't "borrow" another's tag lines in promotions in order to ride the coattails of their success. Take your characters into new territory and allow readers to enjoy the ride with you.

Until next time

~Tammy

Cautionary Tale For the Use of Facebook Ads and Boosts from @dochappycamper #WWoW

Welcome to Tammy's Tidbits. This is the feature that morphed from the Writer's Words of Wisdom posts I've done over the last three years. It started out as a group project between four of us that has since fallen by the wayside. All of us have been so busy and have tried to share what we've learned with our fellow authors along the way, but it's been hit or miss. I'm hoping to change that!

If you've been a follower of my WWoW posts, you may recall my advice about trying out Facebook ads and boosted posts. I've shown you that you don't have to go with the recommended budgets that Facebook recommends. In fact, you can choose to boost a post or create an ad or as little as $1/day. With that being said, I've found Facebook isn't so kind to those of us on a tight budget. They don't like give promotional opportunities away for peanuts or free.

Let's face it. Facebook is a business and as such they desire to make money to keep their investors happy. It's why you see so many ads on the sidebars and in your newsfeed. As an author, you too desire to make money. Part of your profits come from what's left over after paying for your editor(s), cover artist, and other fees. Your marketing budget is part of those "other fees" category. Using Facebook and other social media to help promote your work, without being spammy, can be a difficult when faced with the sites in question blocking you from being able to use the ads and boosts.

I write erotic romance and erotica under 5 of my 6 pen names. There's BDSM, LGBT romances and ménage. These topics are not considered "family friendly" according to Facebook guidelines so more often than not, any ad I create will be dismissed because the cover models are showing too much skin, the book promotes "alternate lifestyles that many find offensive" or...get this...the ad has too many words relative to the photo and other elements in the ad.

*blink blink*

Yes, you did just read that. Too many words will get you into trouble as much as too much skin. I've been able to get around most of this by choosing images that feature models with clothes on or objects that can pass by as "non offensive". Unfortunately, my House of Taboo page for my pen name Lia Michaels is BANNED from being able to do any ads simply because of the "promoting alternate lifestyles" bullshit Facebook rule.

I let that go because I'm not changing what Lia writes or promotes on her ADULTS ONLY page. It's set up so only 18 year olds and older can see it no matter who shares it. This doesn't matter in the eyes of the FB Morality Police. Still I let it go until my 89 year old great aunt posted about a post that popped up in her newsfeed from a PORN site showing full on genitalia. She reported it to Facebook as offensive and received a response that blew her mind.

The genitalia post did not violate any of their rules or Terms of Service.

*blink blink*

A photo of a fully naked body showing genitalia is okay to put up in the newsfeeds but not a book cover that has a couple with bathing suits on?

Can you guess why the porn site was allowed to slide past the Morality Police?

MONEY

They paid the big bucks to be able get those sponsored ads for their porn site to show up in the newsfeeds of 89 year old great grandmothers. To test out if my theory was correct, I agreed to so a Facebook ad promoting my Sassy Vixen Publishing page. Facebook has continued to hound me to do it and even created an ad that I just had to agree to. I chose a budget of $1/day for $10 days. This is 1/5 what they suggested I pay.

I clicked the "promote page" button to finalize the ad and it went live. No review process at all. They simply sent the ad live and waiting for a click. As soon as someone liked the page, they charged me the $1 for the day....and then they pulled the ad.

"Your ad wasn't approved because it doesn't meet Facebook's ad policies by advertising adult products or services. We don’t allow images or videos that show nudity or cleavage, even if it’s portrayed for artistic or educational reasons."

Click HERE to see the "offensive" page.

 

There isn't anything on that page that hasn't been there from it's inception, and it's the same page Facebook continues to ask me to promote for $5/day. The original logo for my company was of a scantily clad Vixen. She is clothed but sexy. Facebook never had issue with her before.

The new logo doesn't have a human in it at all. The only logical conclusion here is that Facebook wants more money from me and will enforce their rules in order to get it. Meanwhile, they allow blatant violators slide by because of their bribe....errr....higher advertising fees.

Honestly, as a writer of adult fiction, I'm getting used to not being allowed to use marketing tools available to others. Honestly, it's their loss. I cater to a large market of ADULTS who wish to see this content. I follow all of their rules to the letter to make sure my pages and posts are not seen by under aged individuals, and yet still get shoved in the basement away from the eyes of those who may be offended by a photo of a side boob.

My advice still stands for ads and boosted posts. Use them! Don't give them the price they suggest. Start off small to find your target audience. If you write adult fiction, find alternative photos to use. Instead of an ad for your book, boost a post about your blog instead. Any kind of increase in the number of people who see your posts will drive more traffic to your page and to your book.

Don't give up! If Facebook still declines your ads and boosts, ask your friends and fans to comment on the post. Have them share it on their walls too. The more it's shared, the more Facebook shows it to others. I share almost all of my page posts this way. After five author pages share a post, I can go from 11 people viewing up to nearly 300.

Keep trying out different things to find what works for you and your brand. What works for me, may not work for you so don't be discouraged. It takes years to build your brand. Take the time to find out the best way to promote you and your work and you'll be happy you did!

Until next time,


Tammy

Tammy's Tidbits: 5 Must Have Guides for Indie and Self Published Authors #WWoW #selfpromotion

Welcome back to Not Enough Time in the Day. If you're anything like me, you really don't have enough time in the day to put a dent in your "to do" list let alone complete it all. Now add all the tasks you need to accomplish as an author and you're doomed from the start.

Okay, I'm being a bit melodramatic here, but getting ahead in the vast ocean that is the Publishing World can be extremely intimidating. I've been at this officially since 2010 and I had NO IDEA what I was getting myself into when Siren Bookstrand accepted my first novel. 

Like many people, I thought once you were accepted by a publisher, they were in charge of marketing and selling your book. Boy was I in for a HUGE surprise! Not only was I expected to pimp out myself and build up a reader/fan base, there was a whole other world of social media etiquette I had to learn to navigate. Lucky for me, there were several authors who were kind enough to offer their guidance and point me in the right direction.

This week I'd like to share my top five must have references every author should have in their arsenal.  Each is written by someone in the publishing world and successful in their own right. Instead of keeping that knowledge to themselves, they chose to pay it forward.

1. Smashwords Style Guide by Mark Coker: Whether you choose to publish your books yourself on Smashwords.com or not, this guide is a must have because it goes through step by step how to create a clean Word document. All those hidden codes and formatting that Microsoft loves to insert into documents can muck up your files. If you don't find and remove these hidden pot holes, the electronic book you end up with at the end may be difficult to read. This one is free on Smashwords and on Amazon. Grab it!

2. Elevate Your Writing by Amber Lea Easton: presents her tips on how to bring your writing up to the next level in a way that's easy to understand and put into practice. With Amber's two decades of experience in the field, she can offer any author, newbie or seasoned, insight on how to succeed in this crazy business. With so many books on the market these days, we need to be able to put their best work out there, edited and polished until it shines in order to grab the attention of our target audiences. Without a guide, we can easily get lost in the sea of books. With Elevate Your Writing, you will be able to bring you and your work up toward the top of the heap!

I hope she puts out a few more books to go along with this one as there are far too few guides on the market written by true experts in the field.

3. Pimp Yourself: Easy, Painless, and Cheap Self-Promotion for Writers by Tymber Dalton: written by a fellow Siren author, this is another book you'll want for your very own. Tymber was one of the first authors who welcomed me to the Siren fold and was more than willing to share the knowledge she'd learned through the years developing her brand. When you're first starting out, you don't have the budget to hire a PR firm to create and pimp out your pen name and books. FREE was it for me in the beginning and pretty much all the time if I can get away with it! 

Here's the blurb: 

Congratulations, your book is published! 

Now what? 

Author Tymber Dalton walks you through quick, easy, and best of all, cheap ways to promote your book. You don't think you have time to fit self-promotion into your busy schedule? You hate doing self-promotion? With these easy tips, you'll find it's a painless process. While geared toward romance and erotica writers, writers in any genre will be able to use the information. Includes resource and link list.

Grab this one, folks! It's available on AMAZON.

4. Twitter for Writers: The Author's Guide to Tweeting Success (Writer's Craft Book 8) Kindle Edition by Rayne Hall

Do you use Twitter to your advantage or is it more like a constant stream of "buy my book!" If you're like most of us, we're still figuring out the right balance between pimping out our books and being social. Rayne Hall presents some great advice on how to use the fast paced Twitterverse as an author. Here's the blurb:

Use Twitter to improve your writing, network with other authors, meet fans, build a platform, gain exposure, find reviewers and sell books. 

Rayne Hall has one of the best platforms any writer has on Twitter – with over 50,000 genuine, engaged followers who enjoy her tweets and buy her books. Here she shares practical advice, fun ideas, step-by-step strategies for success – and even the embarrassing mistakes she made. 


This book is a great help to any writer who wants to use Twitter as a professional tool without wasting precious writing time. Suitable for newbies as well as Twitter veterans, it shows you how to spot fake followers, guides you past the dreaded 2,000-follower hurdle, helps you throw a Twitter party and reveals the most powerful ways to promote a book. 

Grab this one on AMAZON along with a whole list of other reference books by Rayne.

Last by not least, one of the absolutely MUST HAVE and MUST READ from cover to cover and then read it again...

5. Rise of the Machines: Human Authors in a Digital World
by Kristen Lamb. Here's the blurb: 

Here we are—the future is now. The machines have taken over. Everything is computerized. People no longer talk, they text. What number do we have to press to get a flesh and blood HUMAN?

It’s easy to feel like we’re losing our humanity when surrounded by computers, cell phones, and text messaging, but here's the good news: The same machines that seem to be stealing our humanity also have the power to restore it. Yes, you read correctly. The more we embrace technology, the more distinctly human we can become.

The new author in today's publishing world is a cyborg of sorts—part human, part machine. The machine part allows us to compose series of words, copy them, email them, and then send them across the globe with a push of a button. We can research faster and more accurately than ever before. We can communicate with people all over the planet real-time and virtually for free. The new power technology has given writers has made us, in effect, superhuman.

Branding has broken free of marketing’s shackles and merged with personal identity. If we want to thrive in our new environment, we need to adapt, to apply technology as an extension of our humanness.

This is not a book to teach you 1,000 ways to blast people with advertising. The WANA Way is different than anything you’ve likely encountered. It is constructed using the timelessness of art, blended with the strength of human relationships. Platforms are more than a zillion ways to try to part readers from money; they are living works of art and meshed with the soul of the writer-artist.


The machines are rising, but humans were here first.

This book helps you learn the art of using social media to be...wait for it...SOCIAL. Instead of spamming the hell out of your fellow authors and getting blocked in the process, you learn ways to interact and build up relationships/friendships that help get you noticed by new readers. Readers who enjoy chatting with you and telling all their friends about your books.

Get this now on AMAZON


This is by no means an all inclusive list but my top five. I refer back to these books time and time again. In the case of Amber Lea Easton's book, I have the distinct pleasure of calling her my friend and one of the toughest editors I've ever had to work with—and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

I'm still a work in progress and so is my personal writing reference library. Yours should be too.

Until next time, keep writing and reaching for the top!

~Tammy

Tammy's Tidbits: 5 Ways to Use Hashtags to be a Hit and Not a Miss #amwriting #TwitterTips

Hello all! Welcome back to my little corner of the web. I thought I'd kick the weekend off with a Writer's Words of Wisdom post. I haven't done one in a while and today is a great day to start it up again. I've been in the publishing world for five years now and have learned a hell of a lot. Through trial and error, I've found what to do and what not to do in marketing my pen names and my books. Of course, what works for me, may not work for another but the epic fails pretty much cover everyone. 

Let me tell you there are some HUGE failures out there and I can't sit back and watch fellow authors continue to fall down the same rabbit holes over and over again.

Today's epic fail? Hashtags.

Yes we need hashtags to help link our posts on Twitter to like minded individuals. They help draw in future friends and readers. They help start up conversations, connections, and bring followers to our blogs. It's all great...

until you abuse the #

That's why I came up with this short list of ways to use these tags without getting you labeled as a spammer to be ignored or blocked from Twitter, Instagram and even Facebook. I've made some of these mistakes myself on my own and based on what some author support groups had encouraged me to do. I found out the hard way what works and what doesn't. Here are the highlights...

1. Don't use more than two or three hashtags in a tweet, blog post title or Facebook status.

On Twitter, hashtags get highlighted a different color. If you have more than two or three in there, the post is distracting. It causes people to scroll on by your tweet in the stream and never check out your blog, website, or book. You want to stand out among the crowd, not be ignored.

By making every other word in your Tweet or post into a hashtag, you will NOT appeal to anyone. They may laugh at you, but they won't engage with you. Why annoy the very people you wish to have in your corner? 

2. Don't tag obvious words in the title of your blog post.

You want to tag KEY words to grab attention. You don't need to add #promotion #ebook #Amazon. For one, those are far too broad to draw in your target audience. Instead, use hashtags that narrow the field. Using #Romance is too broad. Try #EroticRomance. Secondly, you have a limited number of characters for tweets. Why waste the space on words that are already implied? 

Here's a blog title completely made up by me, but based on a few I've had to edit in my Triberr stream. For those of you who don't know, Triberr is a group sharing site where you join tribes to help you promote your blogs on Twitter and other social media. Twitter is the main endpoint so you need to have engaging titles your tribe mates would want to put out on their feeds.

Example of what NOT to do:

#FREE New Release from @dochappycamper #vampires #paranormal #LGBT #gay #romance #promotion #ebook #KU #Amazon

Do you see how distracting all the highlighted words are in the above example? The blog post itself is promoting the work. There is no need to hashtag that and it's too broad a category. Same goes for ebook, KU, Amazon, and romance. It can be tightened up to this: 

New Release from @dochappycamper #GayRomance #vampires

The second one conveys the same message in a shorter format AND it helps bring in the right target audience.

3. Don't use the @ and # on the same group of words in your tweet or blog title. 

Use one or the other, but there is no need to use both and waste valuable character space. I've seen this a few times with blog hops. I'm not picking on one hop in particular, but this one pops up in my Triberr stream often: @MySexySaturday and #MySexySaturday. Why have both of them in the same tweet/title? Pick one and use the other for a separate, different tweet.

4. Don't try to use several group hashtags in one tweet or blog post title.

This goes along with #1. Limited character space means you have to tailor your tweets and post titles to specific audiences. If you want to get shared by members of different groups, choose the ones specific for your target audience. 

For the love of all that's holy STOP using group hashtags that have nothing to do with your post, are from groups you are not a member of or have no idea what they mean. 

All you succeed in doing is make your tweet unreadable, labeled as spam and probably blocked by some of the very people you want to follow you. 

If you belong to several author support groups or tweet teams, then you must create unique tweets for each group. This will help get the word out about your posts much easier and you will gain true followers.

5. Don't start your tweet or blog post title with a hashtag.

Remember how the hashtags are highlighted when they hit the Twitter feeds? Having that annoying color change right off the bat can and does put your post on auto-ignore. Sure you may draw in a few people, but most will scroll on by. That's not what you need in the vast Sea of Tweets. You want to stand out and be able to engage. This won't happen if no one bothers to read your content.

Of course this is by no means an all inclusive list. I'm still trying to get over the jarring hashtag armies that assault me on Instagram. Whoever came up with the idea that stringing 30 to 60 hashtags with every single photo they upload to Instagram, must have been on crack. I hope they'll get control over that soon. 

I'm sticking to my 2 to 3 hashtag rule there because I cross post to Twitter and Facebook. If you do the same, you'd be wise to choose your hashtags carefully.

Until next time, peeps!

Tammy

#WWoW! @dochappycamper Discusses How to Share Your Facebook Posts With Your Fans and Followers #MyWANA #ASMSG

Welcome to Tammy's Tidbit's here at Not Enough Time in the Day. I hope all is going well with everyone and their journey through the world of publishing. New Year's Day 2015 celebration around here is extra special since the collection of stories I'd been working on for six months finally went live. Whew! 

With that under my belt I can concentrate a bit more on sharing more helpful hints here with everyone. This week I'd like to talk a bit about how to get around Facebook's algorithm that determines who will see your posts on your wall and fan pages. As you all have heard by now, Facebook is once again changing the way we get to see posts in our news feeds. They've listened to what the users stated they want and don't want to see on their walls.


Unfortunately, that means even less people will see our posts on our pages. Facebook will be cracking down on posts that look too much like advertising. It's important to have a presence there, but you should try to be social and interact more with your followers. Yes you want to share your book links and let your fans know your new one is ready for them, but now you'll have to figure out more creative ways to do it and not come off like a BUY ME NOW commercial.


I know some of you have no idea what I'm talking about so let me back track just a bit.

If you have a author/fan page you've noticed that only a small percentage of your fans (those who've liked your page) actually see your posts. Why? Because those are the ones who actively engage with you and your posts. They like it, make little comments on the majority of them or even just a smiley emoticon. These are the people Facebook and their computers feel are important and want to be updated about you and your page. 

You can get more views for your posts by encouraging your fans and friends to make comments and commenting on the posts yourself. One way to get your post in front of your current fans and friends is to boost it. For only $5, up to 3500 people can see your post. Of course this depends on your current fan base and friend count, but it is an investment that can really pay off.  Some of these people may not have realized they weren't seeing your posts. If they just click the like button, Facebook will register that as an ENGAGEMENT and these folks will be on the list to see your next posts. The more they like and leave even a short comment, the higher up on the list they go.

Sure, these little boosts may not lead to any sales of your books, but it gets your name out there and in front of the people who WANT to see your posts. These are the people who WILL buy your books if they know about them. It's why many of them liked your fan page to begin with—to get news of your events and new releases.

Another thing that's really helped me to get my posts in front of more people who are NOT my fans/friends yet is FREE. In two groups I'm in, we do weekly post shares. Each of us creates a post/status update on our wall or fan page, then we share the URL of the post in our group thread. Each person participating in the thread will then click on the URL, like the post and leave a comment. We also share these posts on our own walls and pages to our fan base. These additional shares make the original posts more engaging and Facebook keeps the lists growing.

Go ahead and give both methods a try. Use them in combination with each other to get more reach. Either way you do it means you get your name and your work in front of more people and in front of those who wish to see it. Isn't that what social media is all about?

For more information on how to get around Facebook's algorithm, please check out this fabulous blog article by Elyse Salpeter: Facebook – Getting Around the Darn Algorithm…


Before I go, I'd like to address another issue with the new Facebook advertising rules that are rolling out this month. You may have seen several posts from authors planning on deleting their pages and just stick with their private profiles.


While this may seem like the best answer, it's not. Profiles have a friend limit of 5k. Those pages allow you to have more than that following your updates. If you let them follow your profile, you set yourself up for anyone to have access to photos you post there. This is one way those Facebook hackers have stolen pictures and set up new accounts pretending to be others.


Facebook isn't going to suddenly present you a bill if you create posts that are too much like advertising. They may delete the post or the link associated with it. Instead of posting a link in the status, why not put it in the comments? It's still there, but it's encouraging readers to check out the comments and maybe even talk with you there. 


While it's true your ultimate goal is to garner more sales for your books, isn't it worth more if you "meet" people and get to know them as people first? These acquaintances could very well turn into fans for life and in turn will happily help you spread the word about your work.


Go on. Give it a try and have fun on your pages with those who visit. What have you got to lose?

Until next time,

~Tammy

Learn More About Tammy

Tammy Dennings Maggy is a best selling, multi-published poet and erotic romance author with Siren and Sassy Vixen Publishing. Her writing explores many facets of romance from ultimate betrayal to finding your soul mate. Her poetry serves as a companion to her novels and has inspired entire series all on their own. 

Tammy and her alter egos Lia Michaels, Stephanie Ryan and Tawny Savage make up the core authors at Sassy Vixen Publishing. Together they've created the shared world series Temptations Resort. Look for the first books in that series to come out later this year.

Now happily married to her own Muse and soul mate, she continues to live her dream and act as secretary to all her characters demanding to have their stories told.

Check out:

Tammy's Website

Tammy's Blog

Tammy's Books on Bookstrand, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords,  and iTunes 

Sassy Vixen Publishing

Friend Tammy on Facebook

Like Tammy's Facebook Author Page

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@dochappycamper Says: There's More to #Romance Novels Than the #Sex Scenes

I've been sitting back on the sidelines watching a bit of drama unfold in the publishing world. Well, I should say in the self publishing world. I'm sure this sort of thing happens with traditional publishers too from time to time, but not to the extent it does with the Indie/self published group. Now that I've entered the publisher realm with starting up Sassy Vixen Publishing LLC, I've noticed this particular problem occurring more often than ever. 

You all know my opinion of authors and publishers labeling stories of whatever length, "erotic" when they're barely sensual at best. I've written blog articles as myself, The Vixen and Lia Michaels on this very topic. Don't worry, I won't go into it again here, but today's topic is related.

Glancing through the descriptions of some of the "romance" books on Amazon, Smashwords, ARe and other sites, I've spotted a few that don't quite fit the bill of a romance. That in itself didn't raise my hackles up all the way. What really got my blood simmering was listening to other authors talk about their current works in progress. Not one of them had any elements in their books to justify the romance genre label and yet it's exactly how they were going to market it.

What??? Where on earth do these folks get the idea that slapping in a sex scene or two makes their book a romance?  

Before I answer that question, how about I fill you in on what actually makes up a romance, regardless of the genre. Whether it's erotic, paranormal, fantasy, sci-fi, historical, or contemporary all follow the same set of rules. 

1. The primary focus is on the RELATIONSHIP and ROMANTIC LOVE between two (or more in the case of menage) individuals.
2. There must be a happily ever after for the couple or at least a happy for now. Some romance series have the HFN with the HEA coming in the following book.
3. The conflict and climax of the novel must relate to the relationship between the two main characters. They must overcome these conflicts in order to build their relationship and future together.

Notice how in all three items the central theme is the love story between the main couple. If you write a story where your heroine spends 90% of the story doing anything and everyone other than the one she thinks is her soul mate, you can't label it a romance.

At least 70% of the story has to center around the couple who'll get the HEA at the end. You can't just have the hero show up in the last scene and declare his undying love for your heroine without showing any of the story of how he got to that point. Well, you can do it, but it's still NOT a romance and you shouldn't try to label it as such.

"But romance novels do so well in sales. I want to be a part of that too."

Then go ahead and write one. Just don't take another fiction genre and try to squeeze it into the romance world unless you're willing to do some serious rewrites. 

Why can't I write a science fiction romance?

You can. You just have to make the main focus of your story the ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP between your hero and heroine or whatever romantic pairing you choose. 

You can write any kind of romance be it LGBT, paranormal, historical, science fiction, fantasy or contemporary as long as the main focus of the entire story is the relationship between your main couple. Period. End of story.

Well, I'm just going to label it a romance and see how it goes.

Good luck with that. You'll find romance readers, other authors and reviewers won't take too kindly to it. Get ready to develop a very thick skin. You're writing may be flawless and error free. Your e-book formats can look perfect on any e-reader but you will be slammed in reviews for not delivering what you promised...a ROMANCE.

So where do authors get the idea just adding a sex scene to their work makes it a romance?  

More often than not they just assume that's all they need. No research into the genre. No reading actual romances to get the feel of what they need to do. If you want to write in any genre, it pays for you to do your research to be sure your work fits the guidelines. Read books by different authors in these genres to see if you enjoy them first as a reader. If not, you have no business writing in that genre. Find another one.

Recently I've received numerous submission requests to my publishing house Sassy Vixen Publishing. Nearly all of them have been labeled as romances—almost half of those are definitely NOT. 

When I do open up for submissions, there will be multiple fiction genres, not just romance. Some of these early submissions fall into those non-romance categories and I'll be happy to consider them at a later time—without the romance label.

By marketing your work in the incorrect genre, you sell yourself short. Don't be in such a rush to get published that you force your writing into a slot it will never fit into. 

Find your own niche, put your best work out there, and shine for all to see.

Until next time

~Tammy 

#WWoW!: Using Blog Static Pages to Your Advantage

Welcome back to Writer's Words of Wisdom here at Not Enough Time in the Day. Each week a Smart & Savvy Group of Authors write a feature for their blog each Wednesday. The goal is to impart what we've learned about writing, editing, getting published, book promotion, and more along the way.

This week I thought I'd focus on using static pages for more than just a list of your favorite links or your book covers. Starting in May, I'm participating in a blog hop hosted by the Four Seduced Muses. The Caliente Blog Hop runs from May 6th through May 10th. That's Monday through Friday. Five days where my continuous blogs could be "occupied" daily for the hop, OR I could still have my regular features on all of them AND still have a dedicated spot where folks who are only interested in the hop can go without having to wade through five or six days worth of posts. This is where the static pages can be used to my advantage...and to yours.

Depending on what blog platform/host you use, the steps to set up the pages can be a little different than how I'm going to show you how to do today. Since I use both Wordpress and Blogger, those will be what I focus on in this post.

My main website and blog is Behind Closed Doors. It's on the free wordpress.com but I purchased my domain name so the official URL is www.authortammydenningsmaggy.com.  The following description and photos will apply to this particular blog. If you go to the site, you will be taken to my landing page, or HOME. I made this static page my website. There you can see the navigating tabs at the top where you can find the Blog, My Poetry, my other sister blogs, guidelines, etc. It's in that menu I'll put the tab for visitors to find the Caliente Blog Hop page.

To get started in wordpress, click on DASHBOARD, then APPEARANCE, then PAGES, then ADD NEW.

Now you get a template page very similar to what you would normally see when writing a general post for your blog. Set it up as you desire even with a scheduled date and time for it to go live. You can post it immediately if you wish, but for my purposes, I made it the first day of the hop.

Now go to DASHBOARD and then MENU. You'll see a page like the following.

Do you see the boxes next to the pages there in the middle of the screen shot? Those are where you can check off to choose what pages you wish to include in the menu. You can have many pages set up and not easily accessed with the menu tabs. These stay "hidden" until you provide the link for folks to access them. I did that with my Now and Forever Series tab. There you will find blurbs of my books and also links to the first chapter of each one. You can only access the first chapter pages by that link.

Now in the right column of the screen shot above, you see the list of items in my menu that will appear at the top of the Behind Closed Doors website/blog. I can move the order around with the idea of giving the Caliente Blog Hop tab greater visibility. I will have it at the end, so it will show up as the last tab and easily accessible. Now at any point during the blog hop, people can visit that page simply by clicking on the tab in the menu at the top. If they wish, they can also tour around my site and check out the other guests I'll have on my blog during the hop.

For Blogger, the steps are a little different but a bit easier than with Wordpress. Click on DESIGN at the top right of your blog, then PAGES, then ADD NEW.

Go ahead and create the page the way you want it to look. The photo above is taken from my alter ego Stephanie Ryan's blog. She's participating in the Caliente Blog Hop too. ;-)

After you have the page the way you want it, go ahead and publish it. Don't worry, you'll be able to change the status of it in a moment.

See how Stephanie's Caliente Hop page is listed in the page menu? Here is where you can change the status of the page by reverting it to draft. That way it keeps it "hidden" until you're ready for it to go live. You will have to go in there and publish it manually as blogger doesn't have a way to schedule the pages at specific dates and times like Wordpress does. Here's what the dashboard looks like when you revert the page to draft.

Why have a separate static page in order to participate in blog hops? Well, I used to do a new post every single day of the hop I was participating in and found that the first day or two got the best response, but then only a few folks came back daily. So I thought I would take that to heart, and just have one dedicated page to the hop and go about my regular blog business at the same time. Now that I have three pen names to manage, this is the best option for me. I can enjoy the hops and continue to promote myself, my pen names and fellow authors.  Also if you end up participating in hops that overlap or occur at the same time, this allows you to have a separate page for each one and still be able to keep the visitors and their contest entries separate from each other.

So go on. Set up pages for blog hops, your own contests, or even a store to sell your books. That's my next project for the Sassy Vixen Publishing website!

Next week I'll talk more about hosting your own blog hop, creating the buttons, linky lists and more. It seems daunting, but it's really not hard. That is as long as you stick with the KISS principle!

Until next time...
~Tammy

Make sure you stop in and say hello to the other authors participating this week.

Paloma Beck

Melinda Dozier

Lacey Wolfe

#WWoW: I Need A Vacation!

Well, I've finally gone and done it. I don't know whether I'm coming or going nor which "me" is in control at any given time. Besides my "evil day job" as veterinarian Dr. Tammy and her weekly Furbaby Friday feature here, there is poet and erotic romance author Tammy Dennings Maggy (aka The Vixen), erotic romance author Lia Michaels and mainstream fiction and sweet romance author Stephanie Ryan. Between all of us there are four adults only blogs, two all age group blogs, one review site/blog, three..oh wait, four twitter accounts, four Google + accounts with four additional fan pages each, one personal Facebook account, five Facebook Fan pages, three Triberr accounts, one Linkedin, one Pinterest, Goodreads, multiple Facebook groups, yahoo groups, Amazon author pages, and Siren Bookstrand author and book pages.

Did I mention "one" real-life, sleep deprived, barely breathing human to take care of it all AND still find time to work on the various WIPs for three pen names?

I'm not complaining about having the three pen names. I think it's necessary for what genres I wish to write in, but even with setting up all the time-saving techniques I've learned from other authors, I'm still running on empty and wearing myself down. Having had to go through some medical issues over the last few months for myself and my husband, I've found all three of us further and further behind in what "we" wanted to have done at this time.

So what is an exhausted author and veterinarian to do?  Go on VACATION!!!

Okay, let's not get too excited. My hubby came up with the brilliant idea that I have two of my alter egos go on "vacation" for a couple of weeks. During that time, they would be away from their blogs, and all social media. Basically I put them on a sabbatical while one of us gets caught up. Then at the end of the two weeks, I would get to take a break while one of them takes over. This way I could concentrate on one or two projects at a time and have something to publish within the next month.

Did I say it was a brilliant idea? When the hubster suggested it over lunch the other day I just stared at him.   There it was right there in front of me, plain as day. Send two of "me" on vacation! 

I know what many of you are thinking right now. Why bother to have multiple pen names in the first place? Didn't I make all this extra work for myself by creating these alter egos?  I already answered the first question earlier. To me it's extremely important that I keep my non-erotica/erotic romance pen names separate from the two who write the adults only stuff. The extra work comes into play because I learned last year that I wanted to have my pen name known BEFORE a book was released. It took such a long time to build up Tammy Dennings Maggy and  I wanted to give the same attention to Lia and Stephanie.  It's hard enough trying to find your fan base as a new author. If I'm known, and my names are recognized, then more sales will hopefully follow.

Hell, Lia Michaels has built up a huge following already and she has yet to officially publish a single novel. She runs a hell of a fun blog though! The House of Taboo is in demand for guest spots for the Saturday Spotlight Interview feature. Oh and don't get me started on how fast my project with three other fabulous authors has literally exploded overnight.  Four Seduced Muses is run by myself, Maya DeLeina, Nicole Morgan and May Water. All of us write the HAWT erotic romances and have weekly features that discuss anything and everything. Besides ourselves, we've opened the remaining three days of the week to guests. We've been up and running for less than four months now and we are completely booked through April...maybe May by the time this post goes live!

I'm damn proud of all of these accomplishments, but they have come at a price. It's time to circle the wagons and regroup here. I can do it all, but I have to redefine my limits. I also have to remember my "me" time and take time away from writing, blogging, tweeting, networking, reviewing, editing, and publishing. I want to be around to enjoy the success of all three of my pen names and be able to celebrate with friends, family and of course my wonderfully supportive husband, Liam.  Who knows where I would be by the end of next week if he didn't make one simple suggestion.   Here we go!

Make sure you stop in and check out what the other participating authors are talking about this week!

Melinda Dozier

Lacey Wolfe

Paloma Beck

WWoW: Writer's Words of Wisdom is a Smart & Savvy Group of Authors who write a weekly feature for their blog -Writer's Words of Wisdom- each Wednesday. The goal is to impart what we've learned about writing, editing, getting published, book promotion, and more along the way.

And of course we do find humor in all of it along the way...especially when we laugh at ourselves! Come on and join us on our Facebook Page, or if you would like to do a guest spot with me for one of these Wednesdays, just let me now!