Cozy Mystery Writers

I thoroughly enjoy both reading and writing cozy mysteries. For those who are not sure what a cozy mystery is, they can be defined as gentle mysteries, with no blood and guts, no violence, no cursing, no graphic sex, where the action in general takes place in small communities, and those doing the detecting are amateurs. The following are cozy mystery authors that I follow:

Susan Wittig Albert - The series that I follow here is the China Bayles Herbal Mysteries. It is a small town setting, with interesting characters and a lot of useful information on herbs,

M.C. Beaton - The series that I follow here are the Agatha Raisin series and the Hamish McBeath series. Both take place in small communities, are laced with humor, and push credulity.

Lilian Jackson Braun - The series that I follow here is the Cat Who series. The background is a small town community, where the protagonist writes a column for the local newspaper, as well as being the wealthiest person in the area. There is a strong cat theme here, as the protagonist is "owned" by two Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum.

Rita Mae Brown - The series that I follow here are the Mrs. Murphy series (all the animals talk, with Mrs. Murphy as the leading animal character), and the Sister Jane series, which is all about fox hunting (no, the fox is chased, but not hurt). 

Hope Callaghan - The series that I follow here are the Cruise Ship Christian Cozy mysteries, and the Garden Girls Christian Cozy mysteries. Both series have wonderful characters, great story lines, and they leave the reader smiling.

Laura Childs - The series that I follow here is the Tea Shop Mysteries.  Great reads, with recipies included!

Agatha Christie - Yes, these are older books, but I love re-reading them! I follow both the Miss Marple series (small community spinster sleuth) and the  Hercule Poirot series (dashing, celebrated Belgian detective). I love following the clues in both of these series!  

Cleo Coyle - The series that I follow here is A Coffeehouse Mystery. I do love coffee - and strong female protagonists! We get loads of info on coffee, and recipies!

Krista Davis - The series that I follow here is the Paws & Claws mysteries.

Vicki Delaney - The series that I follow here is the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery series. I am a tremendous Sherlock Holmes fan, and this series carries on a great tradition. With the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop right next door to Mrs Hudson's Tea Room, what can go wrong!

Joanne Fluke - The series that I follow here is the Hannah Swensen series. Set in Lake Eden, MN (my home state), we have a protagonist that owns a bakery, and a book filled with local culture and ... recipies! 

Dorothy Gilman - The series that I follow here is the Mrs. Polifax series. Retired garden club lady becomes first class spy ... and it is believable! 

Carolyn Hart - The series that I follow here is the Death On Demand series. The setting is the small seaside community of Broward's Rock. The protagonist is the owner of a local bookstore that focuses on mysteries.

I hope that you find one or two authors here that you would like to get to know. There is nothing better than a good mystery!

(c) September 2018 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission of the author.

How Not To Promote Your New Book

I have both brick and mortar books out there, as well as independently books. What do they have in common? That I flailed around in promoting them all! There definitely is a way to promote books, and a way to not promote them. One way leads to sales, the other does not. 

What we are going to talk about here applies to new authors, as well as authors with a few books under their belts. Until we take a good look at how we promote our work, we are not going to see good results. Probably the worst mistake that we can make is starting to work on our promotions too late. I have made this mistake more than once. What I am looking at for the future is to start putting together a plan for promoting my books when I am about half-way through writing them. 

I am going to develop a marketing plan at this time that includes starting to talk about my WIP on my author blog (this blog), on my social media sites (including a dedicated author age on Facebook), and in my newsletter (you can sign up for that here). I am going to contact people that I would like to review my book, and line up where I will be sending copies (written and digital).

Something that is still in the thinking stages with me is pursuing awards. I would like to do that, and I think that it would increase sales, but  I have yet to research how this would be done.

You need a website. I have a website now that includes all of my work (Tarot and writing). Before my next book comes out, I will be bringing up a site dedicated to my non-Tarot books. I developed my first website on my own (and it shows!). My new website will be developed by Blue Host (I have found them very easy to work with). The one thing that I am absolutely against is having a single page that just streams down. I want dedicated pages for a bio, a listing of all of my non-Tarot books, and a page dedicated to each individual book.

Spread out how you promote. I will be doing blogs, writing articles for LinkedIn, and placing commentary on Google +, Twitter, and Facebook. I will be doing at least one video for You Tube, and I may also be doing Facebook ads, although I have never worked with them before.

Which brings up the subject of money. Once you look at where you are considering promoting your book, set a budget for yourself. You can always expand your budget if need be, but set an initial budget so that you can some financial guidelines to work with.  

There is a need to brand yourself. We do this through the name(s) we write under (I choose to write under my own name), the genres that we write in, and how we present ourselves. I am looking at using the same background/banner for my website, my Facebook page, and my newsletter. 

We need to continue our branding through how we write - the focus on our author bio, the short blurb for our book (often referred to as an elevator speech), and a more detailed version referencing our book. We need to make our talking points reflect who we are as writers, as well as making our work interesting enough to draw in potential readers/fans. 

Final words: recognize that you are responsible for doing your own promotion. Hiring someone to do it for you may not be cost effective, and you may not be promoted in the manner that you wish to be. Promote wisely!

(c) September 2018 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission of the author.  

Questions Writers Ask Themselves

What kind of questions do writers ask themselves? One that I have been debating for a while now is whether I want to have a separate site for my published books. For a long time now I have felt that I could combine it with my Tarot work and other writing into one site.

Up until now, that has worked for me. However, things change. I am at the point where I want to make a living from my writing. I have a blog (this one!), and a newsletter. Good start, I think. What do I want my author site to do for me? To attract readers, to keep them interested in my work, and to get them to buy my books. That site needs to be very specific, so yes, I need a separate site.

I immediately thought about the cost. Two sites doubles the cost. A no brainer, if I can get my author site to bring in book sales. My Tarot books will remain on my original site, but all other writing can easily be transferred to my new site. Then there is the issue of a theme - am I going to be willing to pay for a theme? In a word, yes. My site theme, and my newsletter, are ways of branding myself. 

I have also been looking at writing software. That is a must do, and Scrivner is my choice. Before I buy it, I need a new laptop. And a new printer. Okay, I can buy Scrivner and use my current printer, but I still need a new printer.

I am also looking at ways to promote my site and my books. Not looking forward to that. I also need to grow my newsletter, to support getting my writing out there. Lots of questions on how to do this. Very few answers, yet.   

(c) September 2018 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited 

Labor Day 2018

Labor Day is much more than an excuse for a three day weekend, or an excuse to shop the sales. Those are window dressing - the true sentiment behind Labor Day is to honor those who have labored, to honor the working man and woman. For me, Labor Day 2018 is a very solemn day. As a country, we are at a point where we stand to lose everything that we have gained. It is just that simple. We need to stand up, and we need to fight for rights that we thought we had aleady won. We need to honor the men and women that fought for those rights by reclaiming them.

The history of Labor Day is all about work environment, compensation, rights, and the formation of labor unions. It is a violent history. It is all about the unions against companies, but also unions against local and federal governments. We are talking about unions on all levels here - not just the blue collar workers. We are also talking about unions for federal workers. The current administration is trying to limit the power of unions for federal employees, an example of which would be the union for the Social Scurity Administration. This is serious! Social Security Administration 

The current administration is also looking at a pay freeze for federal workers. (The administration has already stated that it will not be giving pay increases to civilian federal employees in 2019. Pay Freeze ) 

Aside from money, the current administration is set on a course to make is easier for federal employees to be fired. Changes mandated by this administration include the time period for showing improved performance, and reducing the amount of time federal employees can spend on union business. Then there is the little issue of renegotiating union contracts with an eye to saving money.

As citizens of this country, we are losing control of how we can be treated. As individuals, we need to stand up and make our voices known. We need to use our vote wisely. We need to use the tools of calling our elected officials, texting our elected officials,  e-mailing our elected officials, and snail mailing our elected officials. We need to get back out there and protest in any way that we can. We need to use the court system wisely - to not be afraid to bring charges against those that are trying to take the power of the working man and woman away from them.

To me it is incredibly symbolic that Senator John McCain's funeral was on Labor Day weekend. Senator McCain believed in honesty, integrity, and hard work. He understood checks and balances, he understood working together with people that we do not necessarily agree with for the common good. 

Labor Day 2018 is a turning point for this country. We all need to do everything that we can to protect the rights of the common man, to protect the rights of all workers. And we are all workers.

(c) September 2018 Bonnie Cehovet

Reproduction prohibited without written permission of the author.