Curious as to which teaser works better. I had to move here because they're too long. I appreciate any help. 1. Jace isn’t a family guy. He’s not the kind of guy who dreams of one day having a bunch of kids running around. He likes going to the bar after work and dancing with as many beautiful women as possible. He’s known as a heartbreaker for a reason. He would be known as a player, except that, from everything I’ve heard, he’s always very up front about not wanting a relationship. He’s always up for a good time, and he’d like to remain friendly, but he’s not looking for a girlfriend or anything long term. I understand how a woman could hope for more. Watching him crouched in front of the fire, keeping an eye on his meal, I can see the appeal. Not that I didn’t see it before. The first word that comes to mind when I think of Jace is hot. A lean, solid build, and a six-pack under that sweatshirt is pretty much a given. Sexy crooked smile, gorgeous blue eyes. Even his temperament is solid. Usually calm, quiet, not at all easy to rattle. If he’s near you, you can lean on him. He won’t ever let you fall. He’ll catch you with huge, long fingered, capable hands. I just know those hands are capable of —.” “Earth to Bayleigh,” he says. My eyes focus and he’s right in front of me, close enough to kiss. “Are you okay, Bay? Here, sit down,” he pulls me into the living room, over to the couch and gently pushes me down. 2. “I’m okay. You just startled me. I guess I was in my own little world,” I reassure him, even though I think he could probably be brought up on attempted murder charges. I gasp for air very carefully, trying not to irritate the fire in my throat. “I really am sorry,” he says looking sheepish. His dark hair is mussed, one piece at the front standing straight up like a tiny little mohawk. There’s a crease on his cheek that shows he was sleeping hard. Alarm bells go off in my head as my gaze drifts down. Dear lord, he’s not wearing a shirt. His broad shoulders are more solid and muscular than I even imagined and his stomach… I want so badly to trace his muscles with my fingers. He’s wearing jeans, but they’re not buttoned. He clearly got up quickly. The navy-blue waistband of his underwear peaks out just below a small patch of dark hair I’d love to tangle my fingers in. When I look up, his sapphire eyes jump to mine. It appears mine weren’t the only ones roaming and I’m suddenly very aware of the small t-shirt I’m wearing. It’s a simple white pocket tee, and it’s barely long enough to cover my ass cheeks. “You look cold,” he says. I look down and see my nipples are straining against the thin white material. Why didn’t I grab my robe? “Because you’re shivering, I mean. And it’s cold in here. I didn’t mean…” “It’s okay. I should have grabbed my robe before I came down,” I mutter. No need for both of us to feel like idiots. “No, you can walk around naked if you want, I promise I won’t bother you,” he says. “Wow, Jace. You really know how to make a girl feel sexy,” I laugh, but there’s no humor in it. That one stung. I turn to go back upstairs, preferring to keep my shame to myself, when he grabs my wrist and spins me back to him. There’s some force behind it this time, more than he intended I’m sure, and I put my hand up to stop my momentum. It lands with a solid slap against his bare chest, my breasts and stomach pushed up hard against him as his other arm wraps around my back, locking me in.
I like the second one! I think they're way too long for marketing purposes though. One sentence is ideal, max three if they're short. I mean, for social media purposes... for a blurb on a sale site they're more in the right ballpark.
I have no idea what to use I'm glad you like the second one though, it would have been my choice as well. It's confusing because on FB I see all these people posting these huge excerpts and they seem to be getting responses. I just need to figure out marketing.
Maybe have some snappy captions to grab attention and then link to a web page with the first chapter? Do you have a website?
I have one, but it's empty. I have a FB page, but I tend to do things backwards so --- I didn't even create that until a few days ago.
I'd chuck the first chapter up on your homepage with sales links. Doesn't matter if it's the only post. But I've never sold a book (or had a book to sell) so be careful about taking my advice.
I'd chuck the first chapter up on your homepage with sales links. Doesn't matter if it's the only post. But I've never sold a book (or had a book to sell) so be careful about taking my advice.
I'd chuck the first chapter up on your homepage with sales links. Doesn't matter if it's the only post. But I've never sold a book (or had a book to sell) so be careful about taking my advice.
I will try to get to that today, thanks. And, hey, any help is help It sounds reasonable. I emailed you too.
Another vote for the second one. And the length of these might work for some sites--one of my publishers, Entangled, has a good reputation for on-line promotion, and they ask for... well, maybe I'll see if I can attach their request list. Seems like they think they need quite a few different lengths and types and whatever... Hmm. Don't seem to be able to upload .doc files? That's weird. So, cut and pasted below. I didn't save an un-filled copy, so this one has my "answers" for my latest release in it. Feel free to ignore (or to be intrigued and inspired to go book shopping!) Spoiler Materials Information Sheet: Please return to me as soon as you can. Spoiler Title: Breakaway Author: Cate Cameron Release Date: August 14, 2017 Genre: YA Romance (Teen Crush) Author Email: manybooklives@gmail.com Web Presence Author Website: booklives.com Author Blog: http://booklives.com/?page_id=86 Number of Blog Followers: 0? Social Footprint Author Twitter: @ManyBookLives Number of Twitter Followers: 0 Author Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/manybooklives Number of Facebook Followers: 0 Author Street Team/Facebook Group: Author Instagram: Number of Instagram Followers: Author Pinterest: Number of Pinterest Followers: Author Snapchat: Number of Snapchat Followers: Author Goodreads: as Kate Sherwood: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3462951.Kate_Sherwood Newsletter: Number of Newsletter Subscribers: Are there any Facebook Groups (Public or Private) where you, other authors, and readers regularly participate in that we can host a party? (ex. The COPA Lounge, KinkyGirlsBookObessions* AfterDark) Promotional Ideas What are your ideas for this series promotion? Nothing new… I generally promote books by writing the next book… Ideally, when would you like to reveal the cover, and how would you like to reveal the cover? I’m open to suggestions Are you interested in any events like a Facebook page takeover or a Twitter chat? An Instagram takeover? I can try, but I’m really not a good chatter… I’m not sure I’d be too effective at driving readers toward my books. Do you have author friends who can help support the promo? If so, who are they and how will they help you? Do you have a newsletter strategy? How often do you send one out, and what type of content do you include? Cover Reveal? Preorder? Release Day? I’m planning to start a newsletter this summer, but none yet. Do you have a social media strategy? Basically, I want to know how you use social media. Are you primarily focused on one platform, two, three? Do you have a goal of how many social posts you publish a day? I focus on Facebook as Kate Sherwood; maybe a post or two per week? As Cate Cameron I really don’t have a significant presence anywhere If we plan a blog tour, what would you like to offer for a giveaway? Entangled or Amazon gift card? Author/Book Info Author Bio: Yup. It’s just me. Kate Sherwood, Cate Cameron, Catherine Dale… and probably a few new names, eventually. They’re all one person. One person who’s lucky enough to get to live a bunch of extra lives through the characters in her books, and who’s trying desperately to keep all the lives organized into some sort of categories… so each name writes a different type of story. But really, beneath the genre categories? They’ll all me. All the stories will have some kind of humour, even in the darkest times. They’ll all show characters who are far from perfect, but who are trying to be better. And most of them will have animals–wild or tame, large or small–because I truly believe animals bring out the best in people (as well as the worst, unfortunately), and I want my characters to be at their best. Basic bio stuff? I live in Cottage Country–the water-filled world north of Toronto and the rest of the cities, the land where summers are crowded with visitors and winters are snowy and isolated. I love it here. Not that I don’t sometimes miss the city, but it’s not that far away–I can always visit when I want to. I work full time at a non-writing job but would love to shift into a more writing-centred life. There’s a five-year-plan. It might work. Your hometown (for possible publicity planning): I keep my real life separate from my writing, so there’s no real potential here. Please list the name and websites for local newspaper, magazines and TV stations in your home/regional area (and contacts for book related columns/features if you know them): Materials Request: Anything unique about the story that could be used for promotional purposes (i.e. is there a particular theme, noteworthy item that plays an important part, character trait/hobby/job that is unique, hooks into other media like social media, movies, tv shows, etc.) Hockey/sports romances Please list three comparable books (preferably NOT Entangled titles): ? The Ivy Years books by Sarina Bowen? The Off Campus series by Elle Kennedy? One Liners (Please include one Liners about your book. Look at this as a way to say what your book is about, in the most engaging way possible, to a total stranger!) Dawn’s done her time as a hockey star’s girlfriend, but Logan loves the game: does he have to give one of them up? Dawn’s looking for a fresh start. Can she find it with someone playing the old game? Dawn’s escape from Corrigan Falls means she’s escaping from hockey—but NHL star Logan may have different ideas. Teasers (Please list direct teaser quotes from your book (117 characters or less.) These should be sexy, funny, or full of tension. The idea is to tease the readers and get them to click to find out what's happening.) I know, it’s kind of ironic to think of someone moving to Montreal to get away from hockey, but that should make it clear exactly how out-of-control obsessed Corrigan Falls is. And except for the vague, irritating question in my mind—who was the guy on the beach, and was he a gentleman or a creeper? I was tempted to deny it all. I honestly didn’t think I’d ever told Dawn my last name, so if I just played stupid, if I made up some other name— If I lied to Dawn. “Those are surgeries?” I asked, my voice smaller than it had been. “That’s not, like—you didn’t get bitten by a tiger or something.” Paragraph Teasers (Please provide one sexy or funny excerpt from your book, no longer than a paragraph.) “Big decisions? Oh my God, Oliver, is Logan going to propose tonight? That is so exciting! I mean, obviously I’m going to say yes! Of course I’m going to commit to him for the rest of my life, because my ex-boyfriend got drafted this weekend so I’m completely unfit to run my own life and I need Logan to do it for me. Logan and you, of course. Thanks so much for all your great guidance.” Excerpts Please choose two excerpts from your book at approximately 300-500 words each (approved by editor): I’d made it about ten steps before I heard someone running up behind me and then Logan brushed past me and turned to stand in my path. “What’s wrong?” he asked, sounding genuinely concerned. I could have preserved my pride. If I just said I was tired and going home, if I brushed him off with no explanation, then he’d never have to know I knew. I could pretend I wasn’t—wasn’t hurt, I guess. Pretend I didn’t feel like an idiot. But I guess my pride wasn’t that important to me right then. “It was you last night,” I said. “You saw me.” For a second, I thought maybe I’d blown it, maybe he hadn’t actually realized it had been me. But the way his face froze made it clear he knew exactly what I was talking about. “And you didn’t say anything?” He stumbled into his words. “What was I supposed to say? I thought I’d sound like a sleaze if I mentioned it. I mean, I wasn’t spying on you—I had no idea you were going to strip down like that, and it’s a public beach. I didn’t do anything wrong last night, and I’m not sure I did anything wrong today by not mentioning it.” I couldn’t argue with any of that. But I also couldn’t argue with the part of me that was feeling kind of—I knew it wasn’t fair to feel like he’d broken a rule or something. He was totally right that none of it was his fault. But still. Things had been simple and perfect and now they were something else, and I just— “Maybe Oliver was right,” I said, out loud but mostly to myself. “Maybe I’m not really myself this weekend. I’m probably—” Probably what? Not fit for human company? “I’m going to head home. It was nice meeting you, Logan.” He didn’t say anything, not immediately, and I started off down the beach toward the path that would take me back to my crabby parents and lonely bedroom. I was about twenty steps down the beach when I heard him running up behind me, then past me, down toward the water’s edge. He had his shirt off before he stopped running and dropped it in the sand, then kicked out of his shoes and turned away so I could only see his back. I stopped walking and stared as he dropped his jeans, then hooked his thumbs in his boxer briefs and shoved them down to join the rest of his clothes. He didn’t turn around, just walked straight into the lake, buck naked, as if he was alone. I heard a few people yelling and laughing from down by the campfires, but it was late at night and nobody paid too much attention. Nobody but me. I walked toward the shore like I was in a dream, stopping when I got to his pile of clothes; he was treading water out in the lake, staring back at me. I bent over and collected his things. I wasn’t sure what the outcome was supposed to be, but my part in the ritual seemed clear. I walked down the beach to the rocks, his clothes in my hand, and set them on a boulder where they’d be easy for him to see but he’d have some privacy from the crowd. “Thank you,” he yelled from the water, and I was pretty sure he was talking about something more than my clothes relocation services. But I wasn’t sure if I was giving him more than that. I wasn’t sure about much of anything. We parked in the public lot closest to the concession stands and it felt totally natural to reach for Dawn’s hand as we walked down the sandy path between the grass-covered dunes, and even more natural to pause before stepping out onto the open beach and turn to face each other. She smiled up at me, daring and confident, and raised an eyebrow in what could only be an invitation. I bent down, she stretched up, and this time there was no crowd of golfers to make us self-conscious. The beach faded away. There was no cool breeze coming off the water, no warm sand under our feet. Just me, and Dawn, and the way our lips joined and our breaths combined. Damn. I wanted to kiss this girl forever. Or at least all night. But I couldn’t be that lucky. Dawn and I were both too wrapped up in each other to notice anyone approaching, but neither of us missed the sudden, surprised, “Oh!” and then the quick shuffling as too many bodies moved around with too much energy and too little coordination. We both turned our heads without moving our bodies apart, but when Dawn saw the group of newcomers she took a big step backward, away from me, and dropped my hand. Then, after half a breath, she raised her chin and reached for my hand again. There was definitely a message in the look she shot at me then, but I couldn’t begin to figure out what it was. So I just followed her lead as she tugged me after her as she stepped toward the newcomers and said, “Hey, guys! You’re back!” “We figured we’d find you down here,” one of the girls from the group said with a warm smile. Dawn let go of my hand long enough to give her a quick hug. The other two girls moved in for a sort of group huddle, a buzz of weird energy almost enveloping them. I was left staring at the three guys. All of them tall and fit, one of them looking like a young Viking, one of them— yeah. One of them I recognized from my internet stalking— Dawn’s ex. These were the hockey players back from their draft. These guys were me from one year earlier: confident, excited, right on the edge of everything they’d been working for and dreaming of for their entire lives. And I was me from just then: battered, broken, trying to figure out what the hell happened to it all. Optional content: Do you have any topics, questions, or links to articles that you'd like us to discuss that are not straight promotional but could loosely tie into your book? (Ex. For a bad-boy book ask a question like "Who's your all-time favorite Bad Boy actor?") If you have a Pinterest book inspiration board that we can use for publicity, please link it here:
No idea why there are two spoiler boxes. But it more-or-less worked, so I'm not going to monkey with it! ETA: They made some little teaser graphics for me and I don't think they used any of my quotes, so... possibly my quotes are no good! Spoiler The teasers are:
Thank you @BayView . Very helpful. At least I have some idea of what to focus on. I like the last graphic they made the best. Question - do the women in the graphics resemble your character? Or does that not matter? Because they all look so different for the same book and I try to make my covers (when there are people in them) actually resemble the MC. Maybe that's wrong though?
