Reviews are an author’s lifeblood. At best, they can strongly influence new readers to buy your book. At worst, a slew of poor reviews or low numbers may lead your publisher to think twice about accepting your option book. The quantity and ratings also affect your promotional opportunities since some ads require at least 10 reviews with a 4.0 or higher average. For a writer, getting reviews is paramount.
When a reader goes to an online bookstore site to scout out a potential new read, she’ll read the story blurb, look inside for a taste of your writing, and then read the customer reviews. Editors and agents may also look at reviews of your prior titles when considering which author to take on. Like with any business, we want to make a good impression.
This discussion does not involve how to get reviews. We’re going to talk about what you can do with a review once you receive one.
Here are some steps to take:
Create a subfolder labeled Reviews under your book title in your word processing program.
Copy and paste the entire review to a blank page and name the file. Put it in the Reviews folder.
Add the reviewer’s social media links.
Pull out several quotes. Add these quotes to your page of Tweets for this book title.
Add the review to your website’s book page.
Make a meme with a quote and for a featured book review. Examples:
Share the review on your social media sites. Tag the reviewer.
Leave a comment on the reviewer’s site thanking her for the review.
“Like” reviews for your book on Goodreads and BookBub.
Add it to the editorial reviews on Amazon if the reviewer didn’t post there.
If you are self-published, add the quotes elsewhere, such as IngramSpark and Barnes and Noble through their publishing platforms.
If you are trad published, copy the review to your editor.
Keep a personal list or spreadsheet with each reviewer’s name, contact info, social media sites, and links to your reviews. This will give you a head start for your next release. Don’t forget to add how they’ve acquired your book (i.e. you sent them a file/link or they got it on NetGalley) and the dates for all correspondence.
Send out a reminder letter after the book goes live with buy links to reviewers who have downloaded the book but have not yet posted a review.
Send thank you notes to reviewers who have followed through.
Keeping meticulous records will show you who to approach for your next release. You’ll know who responded and who didn’t and where they posted reviews. This list will be fluid, changing for each book. Just remember to always be courteous, thank the reviewers for their time, and share their posts on your social media sites to show your appreciation.
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While it may seem a no-brainer to reissue a backlist title in print format, it’s not so easy. There’s a lot more work involved than you might think. Assuming you’ve revised your traditionally published book earlier and reissued it in digital format, you’ll need to refresh this material before converting it into print.
My eight backlist romances had been traditionally published. I revised these stories by improving the writing with tighter sentences and better editing, and then reissued them in e-book format. But then some of my readers requested them in print. This is for you, my friends!
What does a new print edition involve?
Back Cover Copy – Use your long story blurb but first see if it needs updating. Add any mention of awards this title has won and a few review quotes.
Purchase and Assign an ISBN number for the paperback edition. See my Previous Post on this topic. You’ll need to know your publication date when you enter the data at MyIdentifiers.com.
Front and Back Material – Add the new print ISBN number to your copyright page. Update your books list and your biography. Add or revise any of the other front or back material. See my Previous Post on this topic.
Review your chapter headings and space breaks for consistency.
Distribution – Decide if you will be distributing the print edition via Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, and/or Draft2Digital.
Format for Print – Either learn how to DIY or hire someone. Carefully review your file for any conversion errors.
Either way, you’ll need to know what trim size you will be using (i.e. 5.5 x 8.5) white or cream paper (I use white) with black & white interior, gloss or matte finish (I like gloss), and for IngramSpark, the paper weight (I choose 50 lb.) and Perfect Bound paperback.
Cover Design – Once you have the pdf file with a page count, you can send all this information to your cover designer. Be aware the cover templates are different for KDP and IS. Your designer might charge extra for doing both.
You have your cover and your print file in pdf formats. Now what?
Update your e-book with the revised blurb, copyright page, bio and book list. Update the title’s metadata at the same time.
Upload the print edition to your chosen distributor sites. Set the publication date.
At IngramSpark, you can set a future publication date and approve preorders. Carefully review the eProof when IS notifies you that it is ready. Check over the parameters for the cover and the spine in particular. If all is well, Approve the book as the publisher. Once the book is available, you can override the publication date and order a Proof copy. These will look the same as the finished product. There is no ARC bar or marking like for KDP. There’s also no limit on the number of copies you can order.
At Amazon KDP, upload everything but do not add a date and Save as Draft before you hit Publish. KDP does not do pre-orders. You have to come back and Publish on your release date. Meanwhile, you can order up to 5 Proof copies. These will come with a bar across the front cover stating the book is not for resale.
Collect your book buy links when available and add to your website, Books2Read site, and anywhere else your various editions are mentioned.
Book Launch Tips
Decide if this will be a full-blown release or a soft release. I do the latter since this book has already been available in a revised e-book format.
Either way, prepare a blog post, a page of FB and Twitter posts, a newsletter mention or feature, and announcements for other sites.
Consider offering your e-book on sale at the same time as the print book’s release.
Your publisher requests a one-page synopsis, or you’re required to submit a short synopsis to enter a contest. How do you condense an entire story into a single page?
First give the book title, author name, and series number a few lines down from the top and centered. Then offer a tag line that sums up the plot. Here’s an example from SHEAR MURDER:
A wedding turns deadly when hairstylist Marla Shore discovers a dead body under the cake table.
The Setup This initial paragraph presents the setup for the story.
Hairstylist Marla Shore is playing bridesmaid at her friend Jill’s wedding when she discovers the bride’s sister stabbed to death under the cake table. Torrie had plenty of people who might have wanted her dead, including her own sister who threatened her just before the ceremony.
The Personal Motive Why does your sleuth get involved?
At Jill’s request, Marla agrees to help solve the case. With her own wedding four weeks away, her salon expanding into day spa services, and her relatives bickering over nuptial details, she has enough to do. But when Jill is arrested for Torrie’s murder, Marla has no choice except to unmask the killer.
The Suspects Give a brief profile of the suspects along with possible motives.
Jill and Torrie owned a piece of commercial property together. Their cousin Kevin, a Realtor, has been trying to find them a new tenant. Meanwhile, Jill’s uncle Eddy, a shady attorney, has been urging them to sell. Now Torrie’s husband, Scott, will inherit his wife’s share. Scott has another motive besides greed. Torrie had announced her plan to leave him for another man, Griff Beasley. Griff was Torrie’s colleague at the magazine where she worked as well as the photographer at Jill’s wedding. Griff implicates Hally, another coworker. Hally and Torrie were competing for a promotion. Then [Suspect X] turns up dead.
The Big Reveal The final paragraph is where the clues lead to the killer, and the protagonist has an insight about what she’s learned. This last is important for emotional resonance so readers will be eager for the sequel to see what happens next to your heroine.
It appears Suspect Y did [Evil Deed]. Snooping into his background, Torrie learned that Suspect Alpha helped him [Do Something Bad]. Suspect Alpha murdered Torrie because she found out about [His Illegal Business], and then Suspect X because she’d discovered [fill in blank]. Marla reveals the killer and is free to enjoy her own wedding ceremony.
Have you noticed how the size of your favorite brand items in the stores have shrunk while the prices remain the same or are higher? You’ve probably observed how your grocery bill has increased while portion sizes have gotten smaller.
While I was writing A Bad Hair Day Cookbook, I had to adjust recipes that called for box sizes no longer available. For example, cake and pudding mixes come in smaller boxes than in the past. This means less dry ingredients for your recipe. Take a look at your older cookbooks or family recipes and you’ll see what I mean. For other items, the bottle sizes have shrunk or the items inside are no longer as large or as plentiful. The manufacturers benefit while we get less and pay more.
Does this also apply to book lengths? Do readers today, with short attention spans, prefer shorter works?
I looked at a few books from popular indie mystery authors and came up with these averages:
My books – 291 pages
Author A – 336 pages
Author B – 163 pages
Author C – 171 pages
What does this say? Those last two averages are considerably lower than mine. Does this mean readers prefer shorter and more frequent works? My books come out an average of once a year. If I wrote short, how many more stories could I produce? Being prolific isn’t my goal. I like to write a meaty story and that will take as long as it takes.
Another factor I noted is that all three of these authors have their e-books exclusive to Amazon in Kindle Unlimited. They are successful with this choice, but I don’t care to keep all my eggs in one basket. I’d rather offer my e-books wide. I do get sales from these other venues, including libraries, so it’s been worthwhile for me. My print books, too, are available wide through IngramSpark and KDP.
But this still begs the question – Do readers prefer shorter books that are quick reads with more frequent releases? A subscription service like Kindle Unlimited? Or books that are available from a variety of sources in varying lengths? What’s your opinion?
Each year, I set goals for my career as a published author. In December, I’ll examine these writing goals and take stock of what I’ve accomplished. January is the time to set new goals for the year. It’s important to perform these tasks so you have a path to follow. I divide my writing objectives into two sets – Creative and Business. We have to work on both of these in our careers as professional authors. So let’s see what I’ve gotten done. I hold myself accountable to you, my readers.
The following Author’s Editions were released this year. Each one takes a couple of months to complete with manuscript preparation, proofreading, formatting and cover design.
Died Blonde – March 5, 2019
Dead Roots – March 26, 2019
Perish by Pedicure – April 23, 2019
Killer Knots – May 21, 2019
Write and publish A Bad Hair Day Cookbook – DONE; released on Nov. 19, 2019
Any new book release requires a lot of work, from launch parties to blog tours to social media to reviews. A couple of weeks at least should be reserved for the prep work. The blog tour carries on for a couple of weeks past the release date and involves guest posts, interviews, articles and excerpts. These have to be written as part of the launch sequence. Reviews have to be recorded, reviewers thanked, and quotes added to online sites. Once all this is done, social media posts need to continue even as you turn your attention to the next book.
Write and publish Easter Hair Hunt, #16 in the Bad Hair Day Mysteries – IN PROGRESS
I wrote the book, revised it, did the edits, and sent it to beta readers. My cover artist almost has the cover done. This release is slated for March 10, 2020. Meanwhile, I’ve written the posts for a virtual book tour. Final proofreading and formatting come next before the book will be ready for pre-orders.
Publicize Large Print edition of Trimmed to Death from Wheeler Publishing – DONE; released on August 7, 2019
BUSINESS GOALS
Enter latest releases in writing contests – DONE
Carry on with newsletter, blogs and social media – DONE
Update website – DONE
This year, we converted my site to Managed WordPress, updated the theme, switched over my blog to my website, and added Office 365 email. These are things that hopefully don’t have to be done too often!
Bundle books into box sets – NOT DONE
This has turned into a bigger project as I have my cover designer updating all of my earlier mystery covers to be compatible with the later ones. At a glance, the covers need to have the same overall appearance in terms of font, text placement, color palette and series logo. Plus, there was an unexpected development with Five Star announcing they’ll be returning rights at the end of this year. That means we’ll have four more books to do. So this project has to be carried over to next year.
As you see, some things got done and others are incomplete. These will be added to my goals for 2020. And that’s the subject for another post in the new year. How did you do with your goals in 2019?
Sometimes as writers, we have to wait on others to progress with our current works in progress. When you are waiting for the copy edits from your traditional publisher, for example, is one instance of this. We play the waiting game when we send in submissions, anticipate our advance reading copies, or expect our edits to come any day. It’s part of the game. What you need to do during this time of inactivity is to either work on your next project or focus on marketing strategies.
As part of my goals for this year as mentioned in an earlier post, I plan to have five releases. Two of these objectives have been met. Silver Serenade came out in a revised ebook edition and Died Blonde made a revised paperback debut. What about the rest?
I’m waiting on my developmental editor for Trimmed to Death, the next Bad Hair Day mystery. I’m waiting on my narrator for the audiobook edition of Body Wave. I’m waiting on my cover artist for the expanded second edition of Writing the Cozy Mystery.
Am I planning a marketing campaign for any of these projects or working on the next creative endeavor in the meantime? Sorry…but no. This break comes at a good time. Our daughter is getting married. My spare moments are taken up with researching bridal shower venues and mother-of-the-bride dresses. This is a big reason why you’re not hearing from me so much on this blog at present. If you like, I can discuss the restaurants we’ve visited and the beautiful dresses I’m seeing, but it’s not writing advice. It is life experience. Depends on which journey you want to read about here.
I’m not totally lazing about, however. I have been preparing three PowerPoint presentations for upcoming events. See my Appearances page if you wish to know where I’ll be speaking. And I’m revising Keeper of the Rings, an earlier science fiction romance. So I am still being productive even if it’s not on the three projects above.
Things are bound to get more intense as the nuptials get closer, so I might have to put off one of my planned releases until later in the year. A book release requires a lot of effort if you mean to send out review copies, write blogs for blog tours, plan launch parties, and more. And all of these three projects will require special attention in that way. So their releases will have to be spaced out accordingly.
What do you work on while you’re in a holding pattern for your current project?
At the Florida Romance Writers Cruise Conference, Penny C. Sansevieri spoke about how to sell more books by optimizing your book description on Amazon. Penny suggests your book should be available in as many formats as possible, including ebook, print book, audio, bundle sets, and spin-off series. You can offer your superfans exclusive content, such as cut chapters, behind-the-scenes details, or sneak peeks at works in progress. Keep telling readers why their reviews are so important. Put a message about reviews right after the story ends and before the rest of the back materials. Offer incentives, such as “The first 50 readers to review the book get a logo tote bag.” Or, say that the price to get into your exclusive reader group is a review. Make sure your website is professional and updated often. Amazon algorithms work on categories, search terms, and reviews. Pay attention to the keywords in your book’s description. These keywords and the book categories are your metadata. Try http://Ubersuggest.org as a keyword tool. Narrow your category to stand out. Better a niche category than a broad one. The lower your Amazon sales rank, the better your sales. Sales ranks vary by category. On your Amazon book page, look at the sales ranks for categories and see which numbers are lower. Don’t look at recent releases.
Find fifteen keyword strings. Look for keywords in reviews. Use these as keyword strings and in your book description. Themes can also be used as keywords. Add the keywords to your website metadata. Where to Use Keywords: Title, Subtitle, Book Description, and at your KDP Dashboard. Write to Amazon Author Central to make changes regarding data on your publisher-uploaded books. Make sure your print and ebook categories match along with the book descriptions. The search rank improves when a print copy is available. It doesn’t matter if this print edition sells or not. Also, it’s better not to upload the print and ebook at the same time. Let there be a short interval between releases. In the Amazon book description, you can use Bold, Italics, and Bullets. Don’t have a big block of information. Keep paragraphs short at two or three sentences maximum. The first sentence should be a headliner to grab attention and can be bolded. Don’t use caps. Spell check your work. Mention the book is part of a series. Include review quotes with proper attribution. Update your book page with awards and review blurbs. Mention special discounts or book promos. Make sure your bio complements your book. It should relate to your writing credentials or the book’s topic. If you have a choice, don’t do your description update in Amazon Author Central because it’s shorter than the one in KDP. Don’t do ebook promos until you have at least 10 reviews. If you do a Kindle giveaway, start with 3 days and not all 5 at once. After your campaign ends, keep the book at half price for at least a day more. Don’t put “bestseller” on your Amazon book title unless you are prepared to verify this claim. The shorter the pre-order period, the better. Lower your book price at launch to garner reviews and to attract impulse buyers. Disclaimer: Any errors are due to my misinterpretation. For more information, visit AMarketingExpert.com CLICK TO TWEET Coming Next: Sleuthfest 2017 Review
Hugh Howey: The Publishing World is Changing. How Can You Keep Up? Novelists, Inc. Conference Day 2, St. Pete Beach Oct. 2014
Hugh Howey began his presentation by showing slides on “A history of storytelling.” The order goes this way:
Oral tradition
Written tradition
The first cubicle workers, i.e. monks transcribing by hand
Movable type
Offset and digital in 1990
Electronic publishing 2007
He recommends reading “The Storytelling Animal.”
Bar codes revolutionized sales in that data could be tracked. This led to massive discounting. In 1995, Amazon went live. In 2014, indie bookstores see a 20% growth in openings since 2007.
Book selling is like the game: scissors, paper, rock. You have the big-box chains, online retailers, and indie bookstores. Amazon beats the chains. Indies beat Amazon on their location, curation, and community. Publisher profits have risen, but digital is subsidizing print. Business costs and author royalties for digital are much less for publishers and their profit margin is up. So digital is saving publishers, and Amazon is saving indie bookstores.
There’s less downtime between reads for readers. They want immediate downloads. The guilt of the TBR pile is gone. Clutter is no longer a dissuasion for buying more books.
Digital includes e-books, audio, and print-on-demand books. “I can’t stress enough how crazy audio is, and that’s part of digital.”
Three variables determine author income: the number of titles sold, the price of the title, and the author royalty rate.
Romance is the bestselling book genre in terms of author earnings. Mysteries and thrillers are next.
Self-published royalties surpass traditionally published royalties. Digital is about 70% of the market. 40% of print sales now are on Amazon, not including print-on-demand.
Publishers are more profitable as the cost of production and distribution has gone to nearly zero. Big bookstores are going under while Indies take more of the market share. Expectation and output paths are converging, such as author platform and professional book production. The number of people making a living at writing has gone up from tenfold to fiftyfold. The chances are slim but it’s doable to make it as a writer.
Publishing is moving to the West Coast. Amazon, Google, and Apple will become prominent publishers along with other tech companies. Indie bookstores will survive. The real threat is the decline in recreational book reading.
Who will survive?
Publishers who pay well and price their books right
Retailers who curate well
Anyone who aids discoverability
Partners who increase distribution
Freelancers who raise quality
Toolmakers who increase quantity
Locales that create an addictive book culture
Note: Any errors in this article are due to my interpretation.
Coming Next: Empowering Authors with Amazon Independent Publishing
CONTEST ALERT! Win a $25 Amazon/BN gift card or free ebooks from Booklover’s Bench authors in our November contest: http://bookloversbench.com/contest/
We continue with my recap of panels and workshops at SleuthFest. These are my interpretations and notes, and any misstatement is my error. Photos are viewable from my Facebook Page. Like my page, then click on Photos, Albums, and SleuthFest 2014.
Editors Roundtable with Neil S. Nyren, Shannon Jamieson Vazquez, Deni Dietz, Matt Martz and moderated by P.J. Parrish
How have the changes in publishing affected you?
Matt said social media tools can take up a lot of time and become distracting. However, electronic submissions are great. “Queries written like tweets don’t fly.” Be professional in your queries.
Shannon mentioned that e-mail has revolutionized multiple submissions like the Xerox machine did earlier. E-books are growing.
Neil said e-books are a big change in our business. If you plan to save self-publish, please make sure the book is ready. Respect the reader. Hire a professional copy editor to edit your work and a professional artist to design your jackets.
Kristy (aka P.J. Parrish) warned listeners to be careful of typos especially if you get your backlist scanned.
Is the editing process gone, or how has it changed?
Matt said, if an editor has to dig in deep to line edit, then he probably shouldn’t be working with you. An editor works on tone, pacing, developmental issues, and broader strokes.
Shannon said there’s no one way to do it. “I red-line the hell out of a manuscript. We’re working to make the book the best it can be.” She’ll spend at least two weeks on a manuscript. Altogether, a book might take her five to six months for the different stages.
Neil gives the manuscript a complete first read and then sends the author notes on what works and what doesn’t.
Deni said historical mysteries take longer to work on due to the research involved. She works with three associate editors. She advises writers to learn your toolbar and track changes. The days of sticky notes on manuscripts are over. Formatting is very important.
Also, there is a misperception that if it’s wrong, an editor will fix it. That is untrue. Deni will do brief edits as she reads through the work and then sends it back to the writer for corrections. She believes that if someone doesn’t show you what’s wrong, how are you going to learn?
If the writing is dazzling, but the story is not compelling, Neil said that’s called an “MFA” [Master of Fine Arts] manuscript.
Where do most books fall apart?
Shannon says this happens for her between pages 1 and 150. The book gets off to a good start but gets tangled in subplots, or else the story peters out. Or the solution isn’t what she’d expected.
Deni said sometimes this happens in the middle or at the end because the writer is anxious to finish. Or else there’s a Too Stupid To Live moment. But that’s fixable, so don’t despair.
Neil looks to see if the author has control of the book from the very beginning. He says a good agent should know an editor’s particular taste.
You will learn more by writing a book, putting it in a drawer, and starting a new one than by working on that same manuscript for years.
How often do books come out?
Shannon said romances are at the forefront of three month back-to-back book releases but not mysteries. Deni said her house puts out one book a year due to reviewers’ lead time.
Short stories and novellas are making a comeback with e-books, according to Shannon. Nobody is buying short story collections, but they can be used as teasers for book-length novels. Neil pointed out pricing on a short story could be $.99 or free, while a novella can be sold for $2.99.
What about print-only deals?
Matt said it’s not much of a partnership if the author retains e-book rights.
Neil adds, “We’re giving up the potential, so for most people print-only deals won’t be a possibility.”
Deni said Five Star will not take a self-published book.
Shannon said they would consider buying e-book rights from self-published authors, but you would have to take your book down at the online sites where you have it on sale.
I started out my writing journey and went to RWA Nationals after finishing my first novel. I learned my writing sucked. I tried to fix it, but I’ve never sold those earlier books. To me, life is about growing and moving forward. I wrote more and decided that I had enough of waiting a few years with nothing happening. I decided to self-pub, and I chose a faux name writing as Greta Buckle. Victoria, my name, was reserved for traditional publishing. Then I discovered self-publishing wasn’t the only alternative path. Small press was another viable option.
It’s a relief to go small. And I’m glad I chose this route.
I paid someone to edit Mything You. I love the story, but that editing wasn’t nearly as brutal as the Zoastra Affair. I rewrote that novel so many times my head spins. My editor corrected me on so much that my writing will never be the same. The growth and care I received from Soul Mate Publishing is something I’m grateful for experiencing. These were real editors who told me I needed to work on my craft, and I wasn’t paying for their services. If my editor said “rewrite,” I had no choice. I had to think deeper. Change. Say yes.
And I couldn’t ignore it.
Publishing is a business. Amazon is so profiting off indie authors, and Amazon cares more about Amazon than it does me. Play the game and play it well. But let’s not forget there are people out there also looking to make money WHILE publishing a good book that is not Amazon. I’ve learned more from editing than I did in a year of independent publishing. And I can focus on writing, not everything else it takes until the media giant takes 100% of all profits.
Small Publishers can answer the phone, and listen and help. Publishing is a business and it’s not all about you controlling everything. What are you willing to trade? I want my time to write. Don’t jump into one type of publishing because it’s easier than the other. There are pros and cons to everything. With publishers, there is time to write.
The Zoastra Affair, December 2013, Soul Mate Publishing Chaperoning Paris, 2014, Soul Mate Publishing Borrowing the Doctor, 2014, Soul Mate Publishing Mything the Throne, 2014, Double Dragon ebooks. Electing Love, 2014, Soul Mate Publishing
And more books are out there at the moment.
I’ve created a list of small press and e-publishers from a variety of sources. I’ve put it on my site, as a tribute to Nancy’s awesomeness. Go here: http://victoriapinder.com/?page_id=1411
Oh, and special thanks to Nancy Cohen. She’s the newly elected President of Florida Chapter Mystery Writers of America as well as Vice President of Communications for Florida Romance Writers. I just chose to be Vice President of Programs for FRW, and I can’t imagine where she has the time. But besides all that, she’s a good person with a positive attitude. She’s one of the people I’m most thankful for in real life for knowing. She’s amazing.
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The Zoastra Affair by Victoria Pinder Published by Soul Mate Publishing
Science Fiction Romance
YouTube Trailer: http://youtu.be/Buah-LGT4tA
Blurb:
A hundred years from now, Earth is a trading partner with alien beings, mostly humanoid. However, going into space brought forth an unknown enemy who attacks Earth at will.
The Zoastra are part of the Earthseekers, an organization originally designed to go into space. Its new mission is to find Earth’s enemies.
Ariel is stuck on a Victorian planet and steals Grace’s body and life to get off the planet. Grace must get her body back before Ariel bonds with Grace’s husband, Peter. Then there is Cross, the man on a mission to find those who killed his family. Ariel is attracted to Cross, but she’s stolen someone’s life.
Excerpt:
I’m going to have to steal someone else’s body to get out of here.
“Ariel, are you listening?”
Ariel Transcender stared dumbfounded at the mother superior of her prison, a/k/a Aulnale School for Orphans. “Yes, mistress.”
She had no idea what happened, though she pasted a fake simpering smile of appreciation on her face. Ms. Rochelle walked away.
A few minutes later, Ariel looked out the window again, tuning out Rochelle’s mind numbing lecture on what was proper behavior when near a man. The boarding home on this planet gave the stupidest lectures of the galaxy. Her lips curled into a sneer. Women were not excited to be bound to men.
Could I do this to someone else? Do I have any other choice?
Lenchena, the teenage girl who’d stolen her adult body and taken off on Ariel’s ship, needed to be found. And Ariel refused to listen to the daily drivel about always listening to a man.
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About the Author:
Victoria Pinder grew up in Irish Catholic Boston before moving to the Miami sun. She’s worked in engineering, after passing many tests proving how easy Math came to her. Then hating her life at the age of twenty four, she decided to go to law school. Four years later, after passing the bar and practicing very little, she realized that she hates the practice of law. She refused to one day turn 50 and realize she had nothing but her career and hours at a desk. After realizing she needed change, she became a high school teacher. Teaching is rewarding, but writing is a passion.
During all this time, she always wrote stories to entertain herself or calm down. Her parents are practical minded people demanding a job, and Victoria spent too many years living other people’s dreams, but when she sat down to see what skill she had that matched what she enjoyed doing, writing became so obvious. The middle school year book when someone wrote in it that one day she’d be a writer made sense when she turned thirty.
When she woke up to what she wanted, the dream of writing became so obvious. She dreams of writing professionally, where her barista can make her coffee and a walk on the beach can motivate her tales. Contemporary romances are just fun to write. She’s always thinking who’s getting hurt and whose story is next on the list to fall in love. Victoria’s love of writing has kept her centered and focused through her many phases, and she’s motivated to write many stories.
Member of Florida Romance Writers; Contemporary Romance; Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal chapter of RWA; and Savvy Authors.
