Tuesday Tunes

Lyrics –
Yo.
Sam.
Ha, we back bitches
Good grip with that hood shit
Full flame in front the bull pit
Bad bitch don’t take shit
Fucked last week been dead since
In the muck ducked one time
Kill em all with one line
From the swamp, bump and grind
Ain’t with the game no shuck and jive
Ain’t no soft mouth when is gold
Can’t hang low where the demons go
Cats don’t talk, they plead the fifth
One disappearance ain’t nobody see shit
(Woo!) On a different plane
Take it outside it’s so insane
Sam right rip real simple and plain
Sam B mother fucker ya’ll in hell (No room in Hell)
When the elevators go down
And the guest list is closed
Ain’t no +1’s allowed
And the devil locked his doors (No room in Hell)
The nightmares come quick
The air is getting thick
When the dead start to rise
And there’s no place to hide (No room in Hell)
When the elevators go down
And the guest list is closed
Ain’t no +1’s allowed
And the devil locked his doors (No room in Hell)
The nightmares come quick
The air is getting thick
When the dead start to rise
There’s no place to hide (No room in Hell)
Eat a brain while getting brained
Conductor on my zombie train
All aboard, kill a broad
Leave her bloody, choked and stained
Won’t play games no slick talk
Devil dick like a pitchfork
No super suit, no Bat Cave
Just shrunken heads and dead stock
I’m Mossberg, I’m 2Pac
B.I.G. with two Glocks
Big L from Hell and back
Collecting heads in my napsack
Ghost Rider with no chains
Spawned life with no cape
Demon child like Hunger Games
Chase a bitch, no escape (No room in Hell)
When the elevators go down
And the guest list is closed
Ain’t no +1’s allowed
And the devil locked his doors (No room in Hell)
The nightmares come quick
The air is getting thick
When the dead start to rise
And there’s no place to hide (No room in Hell)
When the elevators go down
And the guest list is closed
Ain’t no +1’s allowed
And the devil locked his doors (No room in Hell)
The nightmares come quick
The air is getting thick
When the dead start to rise
There’s no place to hide (No room in Hell)
First of all I ain’t going to hell
Let ’em know we’re going to need a lease
I stay hungry I need a feast, I’m like,
“Didn’t I tell you don’t feed the beast?”
Went and got a little Holy water and then
Put it onto my Jesus piece
Got her wet like she’s seen the beach
And I think your girl’s goin’ to need a priest
Say I’m ill when I’m over seas
Couldn’t see how that’s not true
My jewelry looks like it caught Flu
And my neck looking like Achoo
Girl you got to be psychic
If you think that I’m crazy
I would show you my good side
But what have you done for me lately?
Every day would be heavenly when she
Call me up and I stop through
Every day I look to the sky and I
Thank God that I’m not you (No room in Hell)
When the elevators go down
And the guest list is closed
Ain’t no +1’s allowed
And the devil locked his doors (No room in Hell)
The nightmares come quick
The air is getting thick
When the dead start to rise
And there’s no place to hide (No room in Hell)
When the elevators go down
And the guest list is closed
Ain’t no +1’s allowed
And the devil locked his doors (No room in Hell)
The nightmares come quick
The air is getting thick
When the dead start to rise
There’s no place to hide (No room in Hell)
(No room in Hell)
When the elevators go down
And the guest list is closed
Ain’t no +1’s allowed
And the devil locked his doors (No room in Hell)
The nightmares come quick
The air is getting thick
When the dead start to rise
And there’s no place to hide (No room in Hell)
When the elevators go down
And the guest list is closed
Ain’t no +1’s allowed
And the devil locked his doors (No room in Hell)
The nightmares come quick
The air is getting thick
When the dead start to rise
There’s no place to hide (No room in Hell)
Sam B!

My 2 Cents –
My head is deep in editing of some really great horror stories for Nightmare Whispers. (and some great poetry and flash fiction for Fae Dreams. ) We have announcements upcoming on the Fae Corps Blog Thursday. So I chose a song to match my theme. This was done for a video game. It was honestly better than the game it was made for. The video has some great cinematic effects. This song makes it into my daily listening most of the time. I am not usually into rap music, with a few exceptions. This is one of the exceptions.

Thursday Tea Time

Hello my dear readers, I am hoping this finds you well. It has been a bit since we had our tea party. Tonight I am doing a nice hot cup of Chai.

Well, We have what looks like two volumes of submissions for Nightmare whispers. Fae dreams is collecting submissions as well. Both are planned for a October release. Fae Corps has managed a Duo-trope listing!

I have slowly been working on revisiting all of my older volumes to make the layout just that much better. I have also been writing, so I should have at least one new book to share before the end of the year.

Thursday Tea Party

Hello lovely readers! Time for tea again. Today is a Lipton Ice tea for me.

I don’t know if you noticed… But I stopped doing the monthly link posts… This is because I added a page for the links. I feel like this makes them easier to find. However it also, I suppose makes it easier for some people to ignore… It has good and bad to it. Still I feel like this is a better way.

The pandemic has been doing a real number on my ability to focus and thus my ability to write. I am currently working on writing my submissions for Fae Corps anthology Fae Dreams. The theme is Goals /dreams. Serena has already submitted for this and Nightmare Whispers. Both have the deadline of August 31. So far I have 1 poem to submit… Out of the 5 possible. So I have got to get writing! Can’t let Serena outdo me, right?

I finished with a sketchbook. I plan on doing a video sketchbook tour for patreon this weekend (patrons only but you can be a patron for as little as a $1 a month. ) I think that I did really well with some of those pieces.

Also I just got a new deck. Readings are available (by donations only, I don’t set a price. I ask only that you donate something for your reading and leave the amount up to you. ) I will be doing a full post about this tomorrow with deck pictures.

Calls For Submission

I decided to offer links to a few calls for submissions today. This has been such a busy week with release day coming up for both Through the Sunshine & Poetic Reminders that I am afraid I have gotten very little else done.

So we will start with the two Fae Corps has…Nightmare Whispers & Fae Dreams.

Then there are two more that I have come across in the last couple of days that I found interesting….

Burningword Literary Journal & Write of Passion both are looking for submissions right now.

then there is this list of 48 Writing Contests in June 2020

I know that this is a small post for me…but it is highly packed with possibility….If you enter let me know. I am curious as to whether anyone will see this.

Thursday Tea Party

Hello there. Today is a green tea sort of day for me. This year has been a strange one, time passes either on fast forward or in slow motion. I am looking forward to the release of both preorder books (Through the Sunshine, and Poetic Reminders.)

There is a deadline coming up for two of Fae Corps calls for submissions in June. Nightmare Whispers and Fae Dreams. There is going to be a call for submissions put out in August for a new anthology as well.

I have been updating keywords on my books… And it was brought to my attention that a few of my covers needed work. It feels like I do this yearly… But I have been updating covers again as well.

The person who made the suggestion is a poet of considerable talents. I had approached her for marketing advice, and what she said was basically that some of my covers lacked the personality of my poems… I immediately understood. There was some of the covers I liked better than others. I started with the covers that I liked least.

Please don’t get me wrong… That does not mean the covers are bad… Or even in need of replacement. It just means that I could see her point. I was not happy with those covers because they did not suit me. I had something similar happen with a logo I had been using… Someone stopped me and said that it did not suit me. When I asked why she simply replied that it was just not colorful enough… It seems that I have a lot of personality and it shows up in my work.

For me these books are my art. Yes I could pay for the “perfect ” cover… I would likely sell more… But it would not be mine… Does that make any sense? I don’t write for the money. I write because it is part of who I am, who I always have been.

Thursday Recovery Party

Hello my lovely readers. I don’t know if you missed me yesterday… I was terribly ill. My daughter had it (a stomach bug)… And apparently decided to share. So I spent yesterday in illness. Today I am doing much better, though I am still being careful with food.

This week has been a slow one for news. The preorder for Through The Sunshine and Poetic Reminders are still going. Fae Corps still has 2 anthologies that they are taking submissions for.

Now… Here’s something that I rarely do. I have many writers as friends on Facebook. I don’t promote Facebook off of there much… It just feels pushy most of the time. However… This is a story worth sharing. This is part of why I have gone almost completely to draft2digital. I only use my kdp account for when Amazon gets too picky and refuses something that I know should be publishable.

Hopefully this finds you all well. Tell me what is new in your world?

Thursday Tea Party

Hello, lovely readers! Today, my need for caffeine was strong, so I am enjoying coffee. Triple chocolate coffee with cinnamon creme creamer. That and the toothpicks propping my eyelids open might allow functionality.

So much news today. Two preorders… One for Poetic Reminders and one for Through the Sunshine. Upcoming events. What is being worked on now. And commentary about life at large.

So let’s start with talking about the preorders. Fae Corps is doing a party all through May. There is going to be a chance to get to know the authors in the anthology. Giveaways and just general fun. Go check it out and join us for the fun! I am not doing anything so big for Poetic Reminders…. However if I get comments on this blog post I will do a random drawing for a free ebook copy… So tell me something that makes you smile.

Coffee house writers anthology is moving right along. My submissions have been assigned to its first editor. They are going to assign three separate editors to catch all errors. That way you, the reader, get the best piece possible. With Fae Corps we have the authors read the manuscript after the final edits have been put together to make sure that there are no errors. That is often 10+ sets of eyes on the whole thing. That helps to insure quality. Quality is the best way to ensure the stories are showcased properly.

So, Serena is working currently on a short horror story for the Nightmare whispers anthology. I think that it is off to a good start. She is still working on The Kingdoms of Sin, but the short has a deadline. She is determined to get both done soon. I hear that she is hoping to release her book some time this year.

As for me… I have started a new poetry volume. The cover is above… I really love how it turned out. I still am working on heart drops, but as I don’t often write love poetry… I wanted a volume that could catch the other poems… The darker poems. I think that this volume suits that idea. I have the next Dylan book written, and am waiting for the illustrator. If I have time I want to finish Attack of Shoe Mountain. I have so much going on though that it may be a while.

Life has been chaotic for me for a bit now. Back in November we started expansion of my daughter’s room. Due to the lack of people to assist or timing being bad or just bad luck… It is still unfinished. That is changing this weekend. So next week will be me cleaning up the mess left by construction. The next project is my master bath, hopefully it will be done faster.

So I mentioned a giveaway above. I asked for things that make you smile, but I am also curious about how life has been for you. How has the current situation in the world affected your day to day life?

May Links (delayed)

First off… Two preorder links to start with. http://Www.books2read.com/throughthesunshine & http://www.books2read.com/poeticreminders

Serena’s books-

************************************
The Death Of Neverland

Mobi – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06VTCKZ3H

Paperback – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1729360181/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_StH1Bb9MJD9M5

Draft to digital – https://www.books2read.com/u/mVB5p5

************************************

Rust, Gore, and the Junkyard Zombie

Mobi – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B7J5FSS

Paperback – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1980471320

Draft 2 digital – https://www.books2read.com/u/47ZAa7

************************************

Under the Mists (a multiple author anthology)-
https://www.books2read.com/underthemists

************************************

Faery Footprints (a multiple author anthology)-
https://www.books2read.com/faeryfootprints

Submission Etiquette

So I usually do Poetry on Monday…but due to what I am doing otherwise this felt appropriate. I am trying to clean up files and do layout for a couple of books, including Fae Corps Through the Sunshine anthology. Now…I have to figure many editors are more organized than I am…but it is still courtesy when you do a submission to any anthology or call for submission to do a certain amount of information, unless the submission rules say otherwise.

Each submission should be in one of two fonts…either Times New Roman or Arial in a 12 pt size. It should have your name, any pen name, the title, and some means of contact (email or Phone). It should be labeled as to what you are submitting it to. In the email you should include a third person Bio and picture to save the editor from requesting this.

Most people honestly don’t realize how useful this is to have. Even if it is not going to be added to the piece in whatever publication, it gives the editor an idea of who you are. Some submission requests ask that this information not be included because it is done in a blind read…but you should see that before submitting your work.

It seems like many people ignore the information in the call for submissions though. You should always be aware of the place you are submitting to. If it is a magazine or literary blog, read through what they have published before. It really helps you to know whether you will be a good fit. Also it will help you to get an idea of whether they are newbie friendly or do they require someone who has experience?

This is important! If they work often with newbies, then they are likely able to help you figure out what you are doing. If they only work with those writers who are experienced…well then they are not likely to expect to have to explain the process. This makes it harder to figure out what you are ignorant of.

I am not trying to discourage…Merely to help others figure out what they are doing without the fumbling that I have done in the past.

So you want to promo your book

Ok… You have a manuscript written and ready for publishing… Now what? Here comes what I think is the hardest part of it… You have to build up interest. If you are a introverted shut in like me, you don’t do well with face to face. Personal sales are always going to be better. People always find it harder to say no in person.

Still, it is not hopeless. Eye catching promotions with a good blurb, a good cover with a intriguing title…. These are essential for a online sales campaign. Setting up a preorder helps too. (I found that out the hard way. Impatience is a flaw… Lol)

So you start with the title and cover. You have a blurb (it is the description you wrote for the back cover). This is enough to start doing some promo images.

I have recommended Canva before, it is free to use. Premium only opens fonts and images that are locked. Having recently dealt with new authors learning about this, I think that the advice most need is to experiment. You want easy to read and pleasing to the eye.

The images above are examples of promo images. These were all done for Fae Corps Through the Sunshine anthology. Note that the text is eye-catching but readable. All include the story blurb, the cover, and the author picture and name. Each is a little bit unique with a common theme. You can do multiple images, that is ok. You should share to each of your social media outlets and try to get your friends to do the same.

Some of the marketing is understanding your ideal reader. Not everyone is your reader. If you try to please everyone you will fail. Like Serena… Her ideal reader for her books is generally one who enjoys a good dark side. Horror and dark fantasy that is blunt in how it deals with the story. One that doesn’t shy away from a little gore. The story in Through the Sunshine is a little lighter for her usual. My reader is usually children or those who love poetry.

You also want to consider the world stage. This affects the reader greatly. Right now people are clamoring for escaping from the mess of the real world.

So you have the reader in mind…make an image to appeal to that person. For example… For Serena’s The Death of Neverland I searched for bloody journal… Added the book cover, some text to invite curiosity, and the link to buy the book.

Note that the link is in red to make it more visible. Be careful with colors. You need for people who are color blind or visibly impaired to be able to read it without trouble. Brighter colors in fonts often hamper such. Also bright yellow and white background colors can be painful.

Hope that this helps. Do you have any questions on marketing? (Another thing to look for is blogs that are willing to post book promotions. I do on occasion. So does Functionally Fiction who also does book reviews.) Reviews are your biggest promotion. Many readers will base their choice on reviews.

Pattimouse

A glimpse into the mind of a half mad poet

Category: Anthologies

Tuesday Tunes

Thursday Tea Time

Thursday Tea Party

Calls For Submission

Thursday Tea Party

Thursday Tea Party

May Links (delayed)

Submission Etiquette

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