Hi there! 
Our power went out on Monday evening, right before I was going to publish this post. My blogiversary post for the other blog. My first blog. Well, really, my second blog, but who’s counting, right?
So … while the power was out, I was actually cleaning my office, thinking of more contacts for my crowdsourcing campaign and doing a lot of reading.
And I’ve nearly reached the end of Leonard Rosen’s book ALL CRY CHAOS. OM-freaking-G!!!! Talk about a book that’s exciting and keeping me up until all hours. Just ask my husband, who gave me the fish eye last night/this morning at 1 AM, when I was up reading it. I know, I know … shame on me. But so many books, so little time, so gimpy. Har har …
But enough about me! Here’s the awesome book that won the Macavity Award!
Awesome. Now, I can add that to the 50 million many other books I must or would like to review for this blog. Nothing to it, right?
So … I did some more crowdsourcing stuff today, because I must no matter how crappy my fingers are. The first few days of the campaign are the most critical, so the more support I can get early on, the better. Indiegogo will feature campaigns that have good Gogo factors on its front page and will tweet them on Twitter, if they can get enough financial support.
So … please, pretty please like my Facebook page for the Sam McRae Mystery Series!
And please consider making a contribution or otherwise supporting the series on Indiegogo. (Click there for details and to contribute and/or help spread the word about the campaign, please!)
BTW, I actually managed to peck out a few more words on my young adult novel. Yay! 
Now, here are some other links of possible interest:
You can find a sample from RIPTIDE on this site!
Stage set for scintillating Hitchcock adaptation.
It’s funny. I’ve written an homage to the Master of Suspense and posted it here for #SampleSunday. Perhaps I’ll post it on my other blog, too. Why not?
The Giants won the World Series and planned to pay homage to their roots.
Sandy hit New York and New Jersey hard. I was concerned about my nephew in Brooklyn, until I got online and saw all his FB updates.
For that matter, I hope Meredith Allison is okay. I’m not going to be the doofus again.
There’s a whole shitload of authors and others I know in New York, New Jersey and New England. I couldn’t begin to list them all, but I was glad to hear read that they were all fine, as far as I know.
Readers of the UK, please buy Nook!
Mark Coker: Make Yourself Findable
I’m going to quote the weirdest most horrible awesome part of this article:
Marketing is one of the hardest parts of being a self-published author and, for many, marketing and PR is confusing and intimidating. What tactics have you seen work well?
I’ve given this a lot of thought, as my background is in marketing. A couple of years ago I wrote the Smashwords Book Marketing Guide and then The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success. My sense is that marketing is not as important as people think it is, and I say that as a marketer.
***
The best marketing that an author can do is write a super fabulous book. But authors should spend time on marketing, because there’s still benefit to be had from it. Marketing is a catalyst, but you can’t fuel the engine on catalyst alone and the ultimate fuel is the quality of the book, its ability to strike passion into the hearts of its readers so that they talk about it with their friends and their online community. Books go on to become bestsellers based on reader word of mouth. It’s a universal truth: Readers will decide what becomes a bestseller.
But marketing is important for building a platform. If you create a blog and attract hundreds or thousands of monthly readers, that builds your platform and trust with your community. And that makes your community more inclined to support you, to purchase your books and to talk about them.
The important concept here is that of the first reader. If you do something that puts your book in front of someone and gets them to purchase it, they are like a first reader and it’s how that reader reacts to your book that determines its success.
Gee, Mark. I’ve got five freaking blogs. None of them have hundreds, let alone thousands, of monthly readers. I think it takes more than writing a really great book. Sorry, chum, I have to disagree with you on this, despite your expertise as a marketer and all.
My real world experience has taught me differently. Especially with authors like this out there.
Now in the social media world, let’s face it. I’m small potatoes.
Do you even see The Bloggess on that list?
Thanks to My Other Career for this trailer.
This was a film Frank Darabont and I talked about as we strode down the alley in Austin toward the award ceremony he was attending, while I was at the Austin Film Festival.
I’d say the parallels are obvious. Ha!
Whoa! NYPD to the rescue!
See … New York’s finest can be heroes. Even Sam McRae would approve.
Finally, I’ll end with a great quote and music from Nik Nak’s Old Peculiar.
“There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin.”
Linus, from It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
This is all to say there’s no replacement for actually going places and meeting people. Right? 
Me in Loch Lomond.
PS: When we were in Loch Lomond, looking at the water, I told my husband the rocky shoreline reminded me of the East River, except without the rats. Ha ha ha …
UPDATE: I just got this article in my email. I met Caytha Jentis at the crowdsourcing session at the Austin Film Festival. I also liked the Bad Parents Facebook Page.
