Recommended by Four out of Five Authors: Do Blurbs Work?

This journey to publication has been full of excitement and learning new things at every turn. One of the things I'd never given much thought to was blurbs--not the summary of the book but those little quotes from other authors that decorate the front and back of the book. So when my editor asked who I had in mind for blurbs, I was like uh...*blinks* *clueless grin*

Yeah, this is when pre-published networking comes in handy. Of course you (or your agent) can ask authors who you are a fan of but who are total strangers to you to blurb you. You may get a yes (in fact, I've gotten a few yeses that way), but you also may get a no because a) everyone's busy and b) if that author has no connection to you they may not be all that motivated to go out of their way. So if you can ask someone you've already met or established some connection with or know through a local writer's group, you're already one step ahead of the game.

This is one of the reasons I was able to get a quote from the fabulous NYT Bestselling author Shayla Black. We share an editor which helped, but Shayla's also in my local RWA group, so I'd already met her a few times. And I know how busy she is, so it's hugely generous for her to take the time out of her schedule to read my book and give me a blurb.

Another blurb I just received recently was from the super fab Jo Davis. She's in the sister chapter of my RWA group so I had never technically met her, but I had attended a workshop of hers at RWA Nationals that I found super helpful (and introduced me to her books). So when I emailed her to request the blurb, I felt  less intimidated because I was able to personalize it a bit and not be just like "you're books rock! please, please blurb me." : )

The other blurb I have is from Tiffany Reisz, who is my agency mate. Tiffany just happens to be a super nice and generous person, so we didn't have to twist her arm to give me one. : ) I'm just sad I didn't get to blurb her back (her book comes out before mine), so I have to wait until SEPTEMBER to read her debut THE SIREN. *stamps foot impatiently*

Obviously getting blurbs is a huge deal to the writer. I get all giddy and smiley every time one comes in and I find out that an author I really admire liked my story. It's like writer crack.

But here's my question: Do you think blurbs matter to the reader? When you put your reader hat on, do you give any weight to the quotes you see on the cover?

I think I usually pay attention to what the quote says because it gives me some idea about the book--"sizzling" means something different from "creepy". So it can give you a quick idea of what the tone is of the book. But I'm not sure I ever paid attention to WHO was saying those things before I became a writer.

Here are my blurbs and some of the books of the authors who were kind enough to blurb me:

"Hot and romantic, with an edge of suspense that will keep you entertained.” --Shayla Black, New York Times Bestselling author

“With her debut erotic romance CRASH INTO YOU, Roni Loren has penned a sexy, sizzling tale that is sure to have readers begging for more! I can’t wait for Roni Loren’s next tantalizing story!” –Jo Davis, author of I SPY A DARK OBSESSION   

"Watch out. Roni Loren, just like the men in her books, knows how to keep you up all night. Crash Into You is sexy as hell and goes into the dark places other writers shy away from. I can sum this book up in one word--Damn!" -Tiffany Reisz, Author of The Siren and Seven-Day Loan

So what do you think? Do these entice you to buy my book or do you not pay attention to blurbs? Whose on your "dream list" of authors you'd want to blurb you?

Guest Post: Marketing My First Release by Author Tiffany Reisz

I have a treat for you guys. The next couple of blog posts will be by some wonderful guests! First up on deck is an author who you all got to meet a few weeks ago. If you missed her post on why she writes erotica, check it out! But wait until after you read today's :) because don't we all want to know what those first few weeks feel like after you debut you're writing? 

So without further rambling from me, I'll turn it over to Tiffany...

My Release by Tiffany Reisz

No, I’m not talking about that kind of release.  Considering my last blog post here at Hot Roni’s House of Fiction and Friction (that is the name of the blog, right?) was about sex, I feel the need to clarify. I’m talking about a book release--that glorious nightmarish long-awaited day when your book that you sold a year and half earlier and sort of forgot about finally comes out.  Some of you know what this experience is like.  For those of your still waiting for your first release, here’s what’s in store for you.

My first Release Day was December 1, 2010 for my erotica novella Seven Day Loan. Release Day is bizarre.  You feel both frantic and impotent all day while you obsessively watch your Amazon sales rank and wonder whether or not 3000 is good or terrible.  Does that mean I’ve sold five books today or five hundred?  No idea.

Side note here - Dear Nielsen Bookscan, Please get your arse in gear and start tracking eBook sales. I really do need another thing to obsess over. Love Always, Tiffany Reisz, Smut Peddler

Back to the Book Release. When you have no money, you have to get creative with your marketing. I got a very cheap ad for two months on a popular Erotica blog.  I pouted and got nice people like Roni Loren to let me guest blog and pimp my wares.  And on Twitter engaged in a little something I call “False Advertising.”  The following are my real tweets attempting to get people to buy Seven Day Loan on Twitter:

Buy Seven Day Loan! Free orgasm with every purchase. #falseadvertising

Buy Seven Day Loan! Free phone sex with the author with every purchase. #falseadvertising

Buy Seven Day Loan! Free centaur with every purchase. #falseadvertising #hunglikeahorse

Buy Seven Day Loan! Win a night with the author! #falseadvertising #worstprizeever

Have I actually sold anything with my creative false advertising? Probably not but it does amuse the Twitter followers.  I believe in the power of humor as much as the power of sex. And of course, anyone who has even had sex knows you need to have a sense of humor about it. The same applies to a book release.  If you don’t laugh, I promise you will cry.

Anywho, back to the releasing.  What’s the best part of having a book released? Is it the constant checking of sales rank? Is it reading of negative reviews (sorry, Lady, but it’s called a NOVELLA for a reason - don’t give me a bad review ONLY because you thought it was too short - novella, not novel, no...vel...la--three syllables)? Is it the fears of annoying your Twitter followers and your friends by begging them for Amazon reviews, begging them to buy it, begging them to tell their friends, family, doctors, hairdressers, and pet-sitters about it?  No, I think the best part is how distracting having a book out is.  You can’t think about anything else. You can’t write. You can’t focus. You just tweet and email and harangue. 

Recently I asked another erotica writer about marketing.  This writer has had many books out in her long lucrative career.  I went up to her and her agent after a booksigning and asked, “I’ve got a novella out.  What do you suggest for marketing?”  The bestselling writer said, “Keep writing and releasing stuff.  Build a backlist.  And don’t worry about marketing.  The more you market a release the worse the book does.”

Well, NOW they tell me.

*head meets desk*

Feel free to ask Tiffany any more questions about her experience, I'm sure she'll stop by later to answer anything you may throw out there. :) And just for fun, I'd love for y'all to come up with your own false advertising one-liners. Maybe Tiffany will use some of them to continue her twitter campaign. :)  (And they don't have to be dirty, but they better be funny!)

Thanks to Tiffany and remember to check out her novella Seven Day Loan! I read it in one sitting and was truly amazed how Tiffany weaved such a story, a sense of place, and full characters in such a short amount of space. And it's a perfect winter read because you'll feel like you're tucked away in some secluded New England manor with the characters. You can get it here or on Amazon. It's less than $3, so don't you owe yourself a little pre-holiday treat today? :) 

Tiffany Reisz lives in Lexington, Kentucky with two roommates, two dogs, two cats, and one hedgehog which doesn’t belong to anyone who lives in the house and no one is actually sure how he got there. She graduated with a B.A. in English from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky and is making both her parents and her professors proud by writing erotica under her real name. She has five piercings, one tattoo, and has been arrested twice. When not under arrest, Tiffany enjoys Latin Dance, Latin Men, and Latin Verbs. She dropped out of a conservative southern seminary in order to pursue her dream of becoming a smut peddler. Johnny Depp’s aunt was her fourth grade teacher. There is little to nothing interesting about her. If she couldn’t write, she would die.

www.tiffanyreisz.com

www.twitter.com/tiffanyreisz 

Guest Post: Author Tiffany Reisz on Why Erotica?

First, the contest winners from last Friday's Win- a Crit contest are at the bottom of this post! :) 


Now, today I have the pleasure of introducing you to one of my agency-sisters, debut author Tiffany Reisz. Tiffany is an amazing erotica author whose first novel, Siren, will release from Harlequin Spice in late 2011. She also has a little e-book nibble releasing TODAY from Spice Briefs, so if you want a little (okay a lot) of sexy in your day, go check it out! (over 18 crew only)


Now I know most of you probably lump erotic romance and erotica into the same category. But even though the two genres have a lot in common, there are also a number of differences. I'm a romance writer by trade, so I figured why give my take on the erotica genre when I can get an expert who's writing it to do so instead. So take it away Tiffany....

Why Erotica? 

by Tiffany Reisz 

First of all, thank you Roni for letting me worm my wicked way onto your blog to pimp my novella to your darling readers. You are a saint, at least in public.  Thank you for letting me ramble. And yes--warning--I’m about to ramble.

I asked Roni what topics her readers might be interested in hearing about. She told me her blog readers were mostly writers so I could talk about the call from our agent Sara Megibow (she called, I said ‘yes’, I danced, I got my eyebrow pierced in celebration...the usual) or about the writing process (I sit, I type, I talk to the cats, I put on Latin music and samba in my loft when I’ve got writers block...the usual) OR I could talk about why I write erotica.

Bingo!

Why erotica?  First of all, let’s define erotica. It’s easiest to define erotica by what it isn’t. If a book has both a romance in it and graphic sex and you can take the graphic sex out and still have a love story, it’s romance. The graphic sex doesn’t make it erotica. If you write a book and it contains both romance and graphic sex and you take the romance out and still have your basic story, it’s erotica. Erotica is about the sexual journey of a character. As the great Tina Turner said, “What’s love got to do with it?” Nothing if it’s erotica. In can include a love story, but it doesn’t need it.

Sidebar: My business cards read, “It’s not erotica until someone gets hurt.”

So why write erotica? Because sex is awesome.  Truly unreservedly obnoxiously ridiculously gloriously wickedly awesome. Love requires patience, sacrifice, slogging through all the muck and mire of egos and money problems and child rearing and trips to the hospital.  Love isn’t pretty.  But sex is hot and powerful and life-altering.  I’ve heard people refer to sex as the icing on the cake of love. I hate this analogy.  Icing is all sugar and ridiculously bad for you.  Sex isn’t bad for you. People who have frequent sex live longer, they look younger, they are healthier.  Women who are frequently exposed to their male partner’s semen actually have more stable moods and less incidence of depression (this is real phenomenon). A bad marriage can destroy a woman’s self-esteem and sense of purpose and direction.  A great sex life can put her on the top of the world.

Let’s talk about sex some more.  I’m fascinated by it. I like sex, I love sex, I have sex, I write about sex. And God knows, I sure talk about it all the damn time. I’m the bad relative you don’t want hanging out with your kids.  I’ll put in uncensored Eminem and the Beastie Boys in my car.  I’ll swear in front of your kids and make dirty jokes.  I told my fourteen year old cousin this weekend, “Sex is awesome. Just don’t do it in high school. But if you do, use birth control. Lots of it.”  She said, “Wow, you’re the only adult who ever told me sex was good.”

Really?  I’m the only adult who has ever told a super smart beautiful young woman that sex was good?  That’s troubling.  Sex IS good. Why is that a secret? Marriage is good too. Nobody hides that fact from kids. Nobody thinks that by telling a fourteen year old girl that marriage is good, that fourteen year old is going to run out and immediately get married. So why all the secrecy? Why all the shame? I want her to know sex is good so she’ll know it’s worth taking seriously, it’s worth thinking about, it’s worth doing right. 

My first piece of writing I ever sold is coming out today at www.eHarlequin.com.  It’s a novella entitled Seven Day Loan.  The story is simple--a Dominant lends his submissive lover to a friend for a week. Since his wife’s death, the friend has been a recluse in his home and the Dominant hopes his feisty little submissive will help the widowed friend with his grief. It’s one week of pure sex between the widower and the submissive. Feelings do get involved but this is not a love story.  It’s the story of a man who is healed by the power of sex, not the power of love.  Did I write this story to change hearts and lives? No. I wrote it to give my readers fantasy fodder so it would improve their sex lives. 

I guess I really don’t have one answer to the question of why write erotica?

Unless it’s, you know, why not? 

Tiffany Reisz lives in Lexington, Kentucky with two roommates, two dogs, two cats, and one hedgehog which doesn’t belong to anyone who lives in the house and no one is actually sure how he got there. She graduated with a B.A. in English from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky and is making both her parents and her professors proud by writing erotica under her real name. She has five piercings, one tattoo, and has been arrested twice. When not under arrest, Tiffany enjoys Latin Dance, Latin Men, and Latin Verbs. She dropped out of a conservative southern seminary in order to pursue her dream of becoming a smut peddler. Johnny Depp’s aunt was her fourth grade teacher. There is little to nothing interesting about her. If she couldn’t write, she would die.

www.tiffanyreisz.com

www.twitter.com/tiffanyreisz 

Thanks so much to Tiffany for stopping by! Now if you want to download her novella, you can get it here or on Amazon. It's less than $3, so don't you owe yourself a little naughtiness today? :)


Now for the two winners of my and Miranda Kennealy's Win-A-Crit contest....


Congrats to Tahlia Newland and PK Hrezo!!!!


I'll be contacting the winners to see who wants which crit. Tahlia gets first choice. :) 


Thanks to everyone who entered!

So, back to today's post? Have you ever read erotica? Why or why not? And feel free to throw out any questions you have for Tiffany. This is your chance to pick a debut author's brain! :)