Inspiring Authors - Inspiring Brides

Hi everyone! I am YA author B A Binns , writer of contemporary and realistic fiction for teens. My tagline tells you what I am about - Stories of Real Boys Growing Into Real Men - and the people who love them. 

It's all about inspiration, in this case, in this case, a group of authors who decided to think outside the box set.

A set of inspiring authors, Kristen Osborne, Merry Farmer, Pamela Kelley and Cindy Caldwell, told the audience about an inspired plan they came up with: to publish a set of historical, inspirational books about mail order brides set in each of the fifty states.

AND to publish them, one a day, for fifty consecutive days.

Now that is a marketing plan.

They presented a report on the results at the 2016 Chicago North Spring Fling writer's conference in May.    

They had around forty authors in the group - several wrote more than one book. The unifying theme was that the young women had been working together in a factory that burned down. They were now out of work and looking for a new future at a time when being a mail order bride seemed a good solution.  Since the women had known each other there were crossover opportunities in the books, including letters between characters.

And of course, marketing opportunities galore for the group.

They "created" an author American Mail Order Brides. This pseudonym served as a unifier, so readers could search on that and find all the books in the series. As the days went on and word of mouth grew, American Mail Order Brides became Amazon's number one author in the Western Historical category. Even now, more than six months after the event, American Mail Order Brides author ranking on Amazon is:

#46 in Kindle eBooks > Romance > Historical Romance

They had a set of mixed results, but mostly this was a positive effort. Although they would probably not try to corral enough authors to do a fifty book daily spring again, this was by and large a positive experience and they are looking at other, smaller, collaborations. The unifying theme and author really helped in cross marketing and promotion. Each individual author reaped the benefits of other authors' success in attracting an audience.  And, unlike trying to put together a boxed set, there had no accounting issues to deal with.  Each individual author got the proceeds from their own book.

But they did get a few learning issues, namely, the poor authors whose books were released on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and new Years Day had much lower sales.  If they do anything similar in the future they know to skip releases on a major holidays.

If you have a taste to learn more, check out the series prequel or look at the covers.

I don't know about you, but I am always inspired when I hear about new ways authors find to get themselves out there.

Susan Horsnell: Australian Author of Western Romance

First up, congratulations to RTG on their 5^th Anniversary. I wish you many more.

My name is Susan Horsnell and I write Western Romance set in the 1800s. I also write Contemporary/Erotic Romance under a pen name. I live in sunny Queensland, Australia and am a retired Nurse. Life has been extremely busy for me over the past twelve months.

I have released four books under a pen name and three new Westerns. Late last year I was involved in an exciting project; I was flattered to be asked to participate.  The premise was, forty-five authors would write 50 Mail Order Bride stories. Each book is set in a different state. Mine was Cora, Mail Order Bride of South Dakota. The books were linked by a prequel. It was the first project of this type and has been enormously successful.

Cora is available through Amazon.

At the moment, I, along with eleven other authors, am working on three ‘mystery’ projects. These books will be totally different to anything on the market. It is an incredibly exciting time for all of us. The books will be released on 7, 14 and 21 October this year so keep an eye out.

Other than my writing, I have been busy taking care of my mum. Dad passed in May last year and after 62 years of marriage, it has been very difficult for her. Hubby and I have also purchased a caravan and a new four-wheel drive with which to tow it. We have been doing a lot of travelling around Australia with our two dogs and extremely opinionated cockatiel.

Overseas travel has been curtailed for the time being as our male dog is very old and now blind. I couldn’t bear it if something happened while we were overseas so we will care for him until his time comes to an end. He loves the travel in the van, the walking and swimming at beaches.

I hope you have a safe and exciting 2016. Happy Reading!

Sue

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BUCKET LIST - MARGARET TANNER - WESTERN ROMANCE

"PLEASE, SIR I WANT SOME MORE."

I am sure few people could forget these word from Charles Dickens', character in Oliver Twist.

I don’t really have a bucket list, except to parrot those words - Please, Sir I want some more.

2015 was a great year for me on the writing front. I fell in love - with writing Western Historical romance novellas, so I would dearly like this trend to continue. I was also very fortunate to be a member of a successful Christmas Anthology, Silver Belles And Stetsons. My novella being Cowboy Christmas. Then there was the American Mail Order Bride series. 

 

 I would like to tell you about the unique American Mail Order Bride series, and my contribution, Edwina, Bride of Connecticut, which is book 5 in the series.

I was a last minute inclusion in the series so I didn’t get to choose my state. My name was put forward by Western romance author and friend, Susan Horsnell. On the basis that I am multi-published, and have won an award or two in Historical Romantic fiction, and have also participated in two Western Anthologies, I was fortunate to be accepted for this exciting endeavour (The American Mail Order Brides Series, 50 books from 45 authors. Starting on November 19, one book was published per day through to January 7, 2016. Each story is 35K - 40K in length and priced at $2.99.)

BLURB: Joshua was a happy bachelor until his scheming sister lands him with a Mail Order Bride. Desperate to Escape Boston, Edwina accepts the marriage proposal she believes has come from him. Can a deceived bride, and a reluctant groom, find happiness together?

EXCERPT:  “You did what?” Joshua Sinclair glared at his sister.

“I pretended I was you and advertised for a Mail Order Bride in the Grooms’ Gazette.” Amy faced him, defiant. “You’ve been on your own too long. Hasn’t he, Tom?”

“Don’t bring me into this.” Tom grinned at his wife.

“Damn it woman. You had no right.” Josh thrust his fingers through his hair, causing the curls to become even more riotous than normal. “You can damn well have that ridiculous advertisement removed.”

“It’s too late.” Amy looked pleadingly at him. “Edwina has already answered and agreed to marry you.”

“Edwina! Matrimony is not on my agenda. Even if it was, I wouldn’t be marrying some desperate spinster who has been left on the shelf.”

“She’s from Boston.”

“Boston!” A dagger thrust of pain pierced his heart. Three years and Maryanne’s betrayal still hurt. He would never trust another woman.

BIO:  Margaret Tanner is an Award Winning Historical Romance Author who has now added Western Historical Romance to her writing repertoire.

She lives in Australia, is married and has three grown up sons.

With the encouragement of friend and Western Romance author, Susan Horsnell, she has fallen in love with writing Western Historical Romance of the sweet variety.  Frontier Australia and frontier America, have many similarities, isolated communities, a large single male population and a lack of eligible women, so it wasn’t hard to write in the Western genre.

She has always loved Westerns, soaking up all the Western TV shows and movies when she was young. Bonanza was her all-time favourite show. Little Joe Cartwright was her hero. Western Author, Zane Grey was her favourite author at that time.

Margaret has a short story published in the Western Romance Anthology, Rawhide ‘N Roses which was a 2015 Rone Finalist.

She has a novella, Christmas Cowboy, published in the successful Silver Belles and Stetsons Christmas Anthology.

Margaret has just finished writing her fourth Western Historical Romance novella.

LINK:

http://mjljtanner.wix.com/loveleftbehind#!edwina-bride-of-cennecticut/c1uy5