Meet the Stars & Judges of The Next Bestseller

In Plotting to Win, I created my own reality TV show... I figure, dancers have a show, bachelors have a show, people who want to eat disgusting things like water buffalo penises have a show...why don't authors have one? After all, it's a very competitive market. We're always trying to outsell, outcontract each other...

I made one. It's called The Next Bestseller and the format of the show is modeled after Ink Master, a personal favorite of mine. There are three judges, all related to the literary world. The head judge has her own TV show and book club. Judge number two is a bestselling romance author. Judge number three is a literary agent...and then we have the contestants.

They all face two challenges each per round. The winner of the first challenge is allowed to manipulate the second challenge, which determines who goes and who stays and in the end...who is the next bestseller--the winner of 100 grand, a publishing contract, and the title.

And here...I'd like you to meet the stars.

The head judge. The lady you don't want to mess with. She can make or break you.

The literary agent judge. I'd be careful with him. Maybe you perform well, win or lose, he may remember you...

Bestselling romance novelist, Nicole comes off as the "nicer" judge, but the woman made it to the top somehow and nice doesn't cut it.

The contestants. Felicity wants to win. She's always wanted to write and she wants to honor her dead parents. Nobody--not even a good-looking man--is going to stand in her way.

Image courtesy of stockimages/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Roy, former military and no-nonsense. Don't underestimate a Vietnam vet.

Image courtesy of stockimages/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Victor. The handsome Latino has to win. There's no question. He needs the money to care for his mother.

Arnold is the youngest and a possible shining star in the horror industry...if he can make it to the finale.

Image courtesy of adamr/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

Dez...he's got an attitude and he's determined to win even if he has to fight dirty.

Carmen...she's tough and she's got a lot to prove. Fighting for women everywhere, she's determined not to go down. Will her attitude cost her or push her to the top?

Image courtesy of imagerymajestic/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Tiffani wants to win this to prove everyone else wrong about the erotic industry. It's real, solid writing...it is! Her and Felicity get off on the wrong foot and emotions run high...

Image courtesy of kenfotos/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Want to find out what really goes down? You can download your copy today from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and other leading e-book retailers.

Based on the images and their quotes alone, who do you think is going to be the next bestseller? 

Are You An ABB?

Author Behaving Badly.

You've heard that saying before and mostly on goodreads or Amazon. Immediately, what springs to mind is "Oooh. They must have commented on a negative review. Tsk. Tsk."

Not necessarily. And this may sound funny coming from me, but first and foremost, I'm a reader. I LOVE to read and this is my reader two cents and this how if you're not an ABB, you can avoid being one. ;)

I mentioned previously that lots of folks are being twits. Twitter...just spam, spam, spam. I said nobody talks about anything at all but their book. And then there's Pinterest. I don't need or want to see fornicating couples every time I log on. But here are some more examples of what I'm seeing in the industry that is just :O.

Facebook: Don't friend 5,000 people and spam them. If you have more friends than you can keep up with, than you can honestly take an interest in, then it may be time to reevaluate. Personally, I no longer bother friending strangers. If I don't know you personally, I won't friend you. My account now is strictly friends only. The entire world does not need to be privy to all my deep thoughts and occasional rants of frustration. 

Don't friend me just to sell me a book. It doesn't work.

Just because you are published with the same publisher does not mean you are not a stalker, murderer, or psycho. To tell the truth, some of the books I'm seeing from some of my publishers...um, err, there's def a chance there are some perverts sending me friend requests. Sorry, but no. Please go like my author page, which is open to the public--including perverts. LOL

Don't friend me if you don't plan to give me the time of day. It's really not hard to "like" something someone says periodically, let them know you are there.

Otherwise, just have a page. It won't clog anyone's feed... Lemme tell you a secret... Log onto Facebook, look to the left, in the sidebar, Favorites, Pages, Groups... Beneath Pages, there's a pages feed with an orange flag. You click on that and you can see what was posted on all the pages you like.

And hey, it's a page dedicated to YOU, about YOU. Spam away!

Events: DO NOT invite all 400 of your friends to your book release party. Facebook, sadly, has it set up so that we receive these really annoying notifications to everything said in the event, whether we want to go or not, until we can actually log onto the computer and turn them off. This is irritating. I have gotten hate mail because someone mass invited hundreds of people to an event I was hosting.

Authors, follow directions. There's apparently a sudden influx of illiterate authors...somehow they can write, but can't read.

A prime example is I have posted about my Strong is Sexy Heroine of the Week feature a few times. It's very specific about what I want/need an author to send me. So, why then, do I get five emails, all asking me "What do you need?"

Please, READ the instructions before you go ballistic and email me.

Also...if someone agrees to host you on their blog, REMEMBER it. Send your stuff in time. Bloggers are not your secretaries.

If it feels like I'm attacking authors, I'm really not. I have began to follow these rules myself. I'm an author too! And next week, I'm going to post my thoughts on how readers can better support them. But it's a two-way street, folks.

If you want readers to support you as a writer, show them these tiny signs of respect.

'Til next Saturday. :)