Patricia Sands

Author

Goodreads

5 print copies ~ Goodreads giveaway!

by Leave a Comment

Happy May! What better time to celebrate with a giveaway on Goodreads?

Click right here to enter your name to win one of five (5) print copies of my latest novel.

Here’s the blurb …

The author of the Love in Provence series returns to the South of France with a poignant portrait of a woman who must learn how to create a new life for herself…

Sixty-two-year-old Arianna arrives in the South of France for a two-week artists’ workshop full of anticipation but burdened by guilt. Back home in Toronto, she has been living with the devastating diagnosis of her husband’s dementia and the heartbreak of watching the man she has loved for decades slip away before her eyes. What does her future hold without Ben? Before her is a blank canvas.

Encouraged by her family to take some time for herself, she has traveled to Arles to set up her easel in the same fields of poppies and sunflowers that inspired Van Gogh. Gradually, she rediscovers the inner artist she abandoned long ago. Drawing strength from the warm companionship and gentle wisdom of her fellow artists at the retreat—as well as the vitality of guest lecturer Jacques de Villeneuve, an artist and a cowboy—Arianna searches her heart for permission to embrace the life in front of her and, like the sunflowers, once again face the light.

With over 90% 4 and 5-star reviews, readers are loving this story as much as I loved writing it. *Tissue alert* 

Mark the dates and come celebrate!

by 6 Comments

If it’s Friday, it must be France …

Bonjour tout le monde! This is a celebratory week for me

[ File # csp10027102, License # 3244654 ] Licensed through http://www.canstockphoto.com in accordance with the End User License Agreement (http://www.canstockphoto.com/legal.php) (c) Can Stock Photo Inc. / All32

… and I hope for you too! On Tuesday, May 17th, I PROMISE YOU THIS ~ Book #3 in the Love in Provence trilogy will be released by Amazon’s Lake Union Publishing!

Thank you to all the readers who have been patiently waiting and sending me lovely messages in the meantime. I can’t wait to hear how you enjoy the next part of Kat’s journey.

There’s still time to enter the print copy giveaway that Amazon is hosting until May 17th, on Goodreads. Just click here to enter.

On Thursday, May 19, as you can see here. I’m having an online launch party, hosted by the fabulous ladies of BookRhythm ~ a topnotch author services group.  Simply go to this link to join us.

These parties are always fun … although a little crazy to follow sometimes … REMEMBER TO KEEP REFRESHING YOUR PAGE TO FOLLOW ALL THE THREADS! It took me a while to learn that.

Some of my best writing friends are joining the celebration and there will be lots of great chat and tons of giveaways! Look at this lineup (in alphabetical order) ~ Bette Lee Crosby, Jillian Dodd, Jacquie Gauthier, Linn B. Halton,  Steena Holmes, Suzanne Kelman, Toby Neal, Christine Nolfi, Liza Perrat. Definitely a good time group! We’ll be talking about a lot of new releases from these fine authors too! See you there!

IPYT FB Book Launch 3 (1)

Just to get us in the mood … and because we all know we love photos like these, here are a few old favourites for your viewing pleasure.

Bon weekend everyone and I hope I will see you next week to join in the fun!

IMG_0328

IMG_5642

DSC01907 2 DSC01906 DSC01902 DSC01892

IMG_1187

IMG_4968

À bientôt ~ see you next week!

 

xxxx

 

Best Practice: Partnering Your Passions

by Leave a Comment

Today I’m happy to welcome a guest post from Naomi Blackburn, founder of The Author CEO.   Thanks for the lovely vote of confidence, Naomi!

Best Practice: (n) commercial or professional procedures that are accepted or prescribed as being correct or most effective. (Oxford Dictionary)

I love best practices. Being a HIGHLY competitive person with a sharp eye for what does well, I know I have come across a best practice when a business practice makes me go “WOW” because it is so brilliant, creative, and effective.

Achieving this trifecta as it relates to a best practice isn’t easy. Most businesses can get one, maybe two, but three is dang near impossible. Partner that with catching not only your spirit, but your brand and you are a downright genius. Larger businesses are really unable to do this. They are unable to give attention to the wide variety of audience or products they must highlight. So, the best practices I talk about in this article are mainly seen in mom and pop stores or small businesses.

Coming across many an author website, I hadn’t really seen true bestIMG_6225 practices in place until I visited the website of author Patricia Sands. Patricia writes women’s literature novels including a series set in the South of France. Provence, to be exact. I was amazed to find stunning photos of Provence and South France on the landing page. I wanted to dive more deeply into her site just by looking at the intro page. The site touched on the emotional part of me that is a travel enthusiast and wanting to make that connection with people outside my culture.

1.dsc05155

So to get this type of website, what does one need to do? The main thing is to get to know yourself, your passions, and your style. To do this, I developed an exercise to walk an author through the process. Let’s take a deeper look at it.

A Self Exploration Exercise:

Before doing this exercise, get a poster board with your picture in the middle of it. Bear with me, there is a method to my madness. At the top, write the genre you feel you most write in. If desired, you can put pictures of your book on there too, but it isn’t necessary.

  • Who are you? What makes you tick? Outside of reading/writing, what makes you happy? I am going to call what you come up with your keywords. List them in no particular order. For example, I write The Author CEO. I have a love of reading. I am such an avid reader that I am a Goodreads top 1% reviewer. I absolutely love the power and entrepreneurial spirit that is the rock of independent publishing. I am a strategic, highly analytical thinker. Not to mention, I am an MBA with over 15 years’ experience in business development, sales and marketing. All of that coming together formed The Author CEO.

Think about the genre you write in. What are some of the genre keywords that fit into that genre?

  • Compare the two key areas. Identify words that fit both categories. These become your website influences.
  • Map your board with pages, images, text, etc. around those influences. What this means is that before you COMMIT to a website, i.e. have it go live, what does it look like? Play with this and be creative.
  • Don’t forget to have the standard pages in there as well. Need a refresher? These are the pages that display a bio and, of course, published works. Don’t forget a contact page too. Make sure some aspect of the influence work you have done is included as part of the pages though.

This board symbolizes your personal brand. This board will help to flow into your website construction.

So, let’s go back to Patricia’s example again.

Let’s look at who Patricia is:

  • An author of books set in the south of France
  • A travel enthusiast. She hosts tours of the South of France with the Women’s Travel Network.
  • She spends her summers in the south of France every year.
  • A photographer

Now, let’s look at how she has infused her personal brand into her website.

  • There are professional photos SHE has taken and copyrighted.

    My happy place ~ Antibes ~ Let me show you around!
    My happy place ~ Antibes ~ Let me show you around!
  • A page dedicated to the tours she hosts every year, including engaging photos.
  • Her standard book page, review page, and About Me pages are present and contain photos set in France, rather than a traditional studio professional photo.
  • Links to her blog which, for the most part, are French themed. She even has a “If it’s Friday, it Must Be France!” theme.
  • Instagram/Pinterest links all go back to her photos.

Patricia has mastered the art of visual connection for her readers. She brings her books to life. She then connects readers with South France as a way to live out her books, which, in turn, makes readers want to seek out her other works. The other piece that she has accomplished is to bring those who are attracted to her photography to discover her books and develop new readers through that pipeline.

A Final Note:

One of the most important lessons I learned in grad school is that the best companies are able to adapt another company’s best practice to their situation. While Patricia’s site works the best for her, her approach may not end up being your best practice. But learning from what she has done and adapting it to your needs—once you’ve done the exercise to really pinpoint your website influences—may lead to discover your own “success trifecta.” Doing the work isn’t easy, but well worth the effort.

Thanks to Canstockphoto.
Thanks to Canstockphoto.

A website that is only designed to make sales and lacks any personal influence is cold. Readers can tell and feel it. When a reader takes the next step to visit an author’s website, it’s because they want to know more about the author. They visit the site because they have made the all-important connection with the author. Let’s face it, if they only wanted to purchase the author’s book they wouldn’t have to leave Amazon or Goodreads. Readers love to know who their favorite authors are and develop a connection with them. A personalized website allows authors to have that window to readers without blaring BUY MY BOOKS!

Give readers what they want; make your site something that they want to come back to again and again!

Interested in hearing more from The Author CEO, please follow me at:me

Website: Link

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorceo

Twitter: @nblackburn01

Google+: http://bit.ly/1FXPaDd

Goodreads: Goodreads profile page

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naomieblackburn

Book Club Wisdom

by 8 Comments

I know I keep mentioning the fabulous online community of literati – writers, bloggers, readers, editors, reviewers, designers –  the list goes on – and it’s such a buzz to be connected with all of you. Yes, YOU – because dear readers, you are an equally important part of the equation!

It’s always a pleasure to welcome a visitor and today author Bette Lee Crosby is popping by. We actually got to meet in person last week, to enjoy a delicious lunch, and to talk, talk, talk. What a fabulous time! Bette is as sweet, genuine, and full of laughter as you might imagine from the delightful stories she writes.

Her books are very popular with book clubs and for good reason. Today she is sharing her views about them. Bette’s links are further down the page and … here’s a suggestion … make yourself comfortable when you visit them. You’ll be there for a while deciding which to read first!

With a lovely trumpet fanfare, here’s Bette!Bette Lee Crosby

First, I’d like to thank Patricia for having me as a guest on her blog. I consider myself fortunate to count her as both a friend and a colleague. Patricia and I met in a group of authors that is not unlike a book club. We are a group with a common interest – books. We share family stories, benchmark achievements and industry news…but we also inspire one another. The group has no bylaws, rules or regulations, but what we do have is that all-important bond of friendship.

Half the people you know probably belong to some sort of book club. Most love it, some tolerate it, some claim they’re far too busy to read a book every month, and others find fault with the quality of books selected.

Still the number of book clubs in existence continues to grow, as does their popularity. Why? Although I can’t speak for all groups, I can tell you a bit about my book club. Our members almost never miss a meeting unless it is absolutely, positively, on-your-deathbed unavoidable. Everyone reads the book, and we discuss it at length. We don’t simply decide we liked or disliked it. We study the characters’ actions and alternatives, compare their experiences to our own, laugh at the similarity of missteps and sometimes shed a tear because of their plight. At times a meeting will start with a negative comment about the book but, even that, inevitably leads to an exploration of the protagonist’s motives and ultimately a greater understanding of the story.

Although I am a voracious reader myself, my book club buddies have introduced me to a number of new authors and wonderful stories that I probably would not have discovered on my own. We have over twenty women in our group, and several others waiting to join, but members seldom leave, because book club is more than just a discussion group, it’s an afternoon of unbridled friendship. Of letting go of things you may not have talked about for years and knowing that not one of your friends will think less of you, or carry the tale elsewhere. It’s having a glass of wine, and conversation that is thoughtful, intelligent and stimulating.

Cupid's ChristmasBook club is having twenty wonderful friends, any one of whom you can turn to for help, even in the dead of night. Sure, there have been occasions when I was so rushed that I barely had time to shower before dashing out the door, and we’ve read a few books that were rather forgettable …but I still would not have missed the experience of a single meeting. The books we’ve shared have taken me to places I may never visit, introduced me to people I will never know, and with the turn of a page they’ve transported me back and forth through time. If you’re not already a member of a book club, I urge you to join one. You may not like every book, but you’ll love the experience. Oh, and if I might make a suggestion…select Patricia Sands’ novel “The Bridge Club” for one of your book club picks…I did, and my book club loved it!

Thanks for dropping by, Bette, and for the endorsement! You can take a look at all of Bette’s books by clicking right here on Amazon. Pour yourself a cup of tea, glass of wine, or fruit punch and enjoy perusing. I just finished reading Cupid’s Christmas and it was delightful. A funny, heartwarming holiday read! When you are through there, pop on over to her blog and visit for a while. Another cup of tea, perhaps?

Do you belong to a book club? Mine is an important part of my life and even when some of us are traveling we are able to attend the cocktail party and gabfest meetings via SKYPE. I love that! Online book clubs are also flourishing so even if you don’t have a group of friends nearby that like to read, you can join one of those.  An excellent place to begin is Goodreads.com where you will find communities of readers for more genres than you thought possible. It’s a friendly, welcoming and unbelievably informed website. Hurry on over!