Erotic Romance Author Red Garnier talks about romance, life, books, travel » Publishing & Promoting

THE SECRETARY’S BOSSMAN BARGAIN

Red — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 21:37:11 +0000

The cover for my Silhouette Desire debut, THE SECRETARY’S BOSSMAN BARGAIN, is here!

This book is out in stores July 2010, and I swear I can’t stop staring at its lovely, lovely cover.

Wow. Silhouette did an amazing job capturing the characters – from their physical looks, to how fiercely they want each other, even what they wear. Just look at these two!

If my website doesn’t burst up in flames, then I’m sure my laptop will!

Blogging places

Red — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:06:38 +0000

So I’m a little bit excited. Can you tell? The Satin Sash is practically being put out in stores as we speak and if I don’t get all this thrilling energy out of my system, I’m going to burst!

So in a part celebration, part blog tour, part parade, here are all the places Red will be blogging this month of December.

November 30th – Sizzling Pens

December 1st – Brande of Book Junkies

December 2nd – Silhouette Desire Authors blog

December 4th – The Romance Readers Connection

December 7th – The Smutketeers

December 10th – With Leah

December 15th – TRS Blue

Hope you’ll visit! There’ll be fun and prizes in store.

Promoting your heart out

Red — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:30:09 +0000

So you spent a year buried in the writing cave. You poured your heart into the story. You delivered it on time.

And you feel damned proud that you finished that baby and that it’s actually quite good!

But now, the date approaches.

Your baby is coming out into the world.

And you realize that, well, a lot of other babies are coming out, too. How are you going to make yours stand out? How will you make certain people stop and take notice? You didn’t spend all this time and effort to have your story sitting on a shelf, you want someone to take it home with them!

But how?

Blogging helps, true, and so does Twitter, and Facebook, and My Space. But everyone seems to use these same tools to promote nowadays, too.

In this tight market, what is an author to do to help the publisher sell some books?

I have friends who believe the book should sell itself. I have other friends who’ve hired a professional publicist to help create ‘buzz’ around their books.

Me? Here’s what I’ve done so far – and I of course welcome any suggestions!

1) RT magazine ad (though I’m thinking group ads may give you more bang for your buck)

2) Scheduled blog interviews

3) Sent THE SATIN SASH out to reviewers

4) Planning a new contest for after the book launch

5) Booked several ad spaces on online sites like TRS, NightOwl romance, RT bookreviews.

I feel like I’m missing a magic ingredient and am not sure which one. More pepper? More chili? More salt? Butter, perhaps? Anyone?

Maybe I just need to sit back, relax, and just write the next danged story.

Red joins Silhouette Desire

Red — Sat, 23 May 2009 23:38:29 +0000

I got the call from my agent today, and she had good news. Red will be joining Silhouette Desire with her first category book, tentatively titled Billionaire’s Pretend Lover – about a sexy tycoon and his assistant, who must pretend to be lovers during an important business deal. Soon, of course, they will wonder how much of what they said – and did – was pretend, and how much of it was real. It’s quite a sexy read, in my opinion, and I love it very much!

I started this book ages ago, and I have to admit, so far, this is the book that has undergone the most revisions. About four sets of painful, painful revisions, every one of them which made me wonder – should I keep at it? I’m not good at this, I might as well quit now! Marcos (stubborn, sexy hero) is driving me and Virginia (his assistant) insane!

I always get this mean little voice, and now, I’m popping the champagne, glad that temporarily it has been silenced, and glad that finally the little struggling baby has grown wings and will see the world. Marcos is so very sexy (I have now forgiven him his trespasses against me) that I’d have wilted in despair if no one but me got to know him.

I will be working with Diana Ventimiglia, who has been absolutely wonderful, and I’m so looking forward to joining a group of authors I have come to admire and respect. I’m very, very excited!