Monday, December 19, 2011

Guest Post: Lizzy Ford


I would like to warmly welcome Lizzy Ford, who is touring in November and December to promote her War of Gods Series, to Curling Up By The Fire.  A prolific writer, and known for her unconventional marketing methods, Lizzy has reached the bestselling lists on both Amazon US and Amazon UK in multiple categories including young adult fantasy and paranormal romances. She is here to talk to about her reasons why she loves beings a writer.  But first, take a look at the three books available in the War of God Series:


Damian's Oracle, Book 1


Caught in the war between the White and Black Gods, Sofia and her rare gift bring victory to he who grabs her first. Her difficult transition from human to oracle forces her into a new world, where she struggles in her role as Damian’s mate and to help a mysterious man who’s supposed to be dead.





After thousands of years as the White God’s right hand man and chief assassin, Dustin no longer believes in the human capacity for good, until he meets sweet, sunny Bianca, a Natural whose gift of healing will change not only his fate, but destroy the Black God and bring about a new one.



The White God’s most trusted friend, Jule, has his powers stripped by the Watchers, who seek to punish him for crimes committed thousands of years ago in the immortal realm.  His only hope to rejoin the battle against the Black God is to find the mysterious Magician, a woman afraid of her own powers but who has the ability to save both him and the war.


Ten Things I Love About Being a Fulltime Writer
by Lizzy Ford

1. Interacting with readers. I had no idea how rich the interactions with others would be when I started. My writing has improved dramatically this year because of the feedback I receive from my readers, and I’m grateful to them for helping me become a better writer.
2. Unleashing the demons! I call my muses ‘demons,’ mainly because they give me little time to rest! It’s wonderful to be able to create new worlds and books for a living.
3. Living a dream. I’ve wanted to be a fulltime writer since I was knee-high, and fulfilling that dream is an incredible feeling.
4. Owning my own business. Being an independently published writer is a lot like owning your own business. You have to manage the development of a product, marketing, advertising, sales, everything. Results are directly related to the efforts you put into the business, which isn’t something I’d experienced as someone who worked full time for The Man my whole life.
5. Learning from other writers. I’m a huge fan of lifelong learning, and I’m meeting a lot of other authors out there who I’m learning a great deal from. It can be something as simple as a new advertising opportunity or debates on what is the best choice when dealing with book placement.
6. FREEDOM. Can’t say it enough! There are tons of opportunities right now. For those who like to control their own fates, they now can, whereas a lot of writers didn’t have that choice before epublishing came along.
7. Covers. This will sound funny, but one of my favorite parts of the process is seeing what my cover artist has done. She’s incredible, especially given that I’m a very poor client in terms of specifying what I want. I normally give her a blurb and describe how the book feels, and she creates something beautiful and sends it back. I dance around every time she does!
8. Seeing the paperback version of my book for the first time. Ebooks are awesome, but it’s not until I receive the paperback version that I sit back and think, WOW!
9. Building a team. I was always good at building teams for my old jobs, but I never thought about applying that skill to my own goals, until March of this year. I started working with a freelance book editor and freelance graphics designer in March. My husband does my I.T. work and helps me with my online presence. I’m expanding this team now to include 2-3 core beta readers, and I recently worked with an English-Spanish translator to translate one of my books. Writing a book is a team effort!
10. Achieving goals I never thought were possible. My favorite book that I’ve written will be released at the end of this month. It was based on an idea – and a story I started – over ten years ago. It’s always held this sort of magic to me, so seeing it go out into the world is something I’ve wanted for ten years. I tried for 10+ years to land an agent or publisher without success (or responses, in most cases), and decided a year ago I’d do it on my own. And now, ten books later, I’m getting ready to release my favorite book!

About the Author
Lizzy Ford is the hyper-prolific author of the "Rhyn Trilogy" and "War of Gods" series, both launched in 2011, as well as multiple single title young adult fantasy and paranormal romances. Lizzy's books have reached into the bestseller lists on both Amazon US and Amazon UK in multiple categories. Through her unconventional online marketing strategies, Lizzy has gone from selling 20 books in January 2011 to around 5000 books in September 2011 and from over 7,000 free downloads of her work in January 2011 to over 40,000 downloads in September 2011.

The Lizzy Ford team consists of: Matt, IT and search engine optimization expert; Christine LePorte, freelance book editor; Dafeenah, graphics artist; and Toni, English-Spanish translator.

Lizzy is considered by most to be the ultimate writing freak of nature for her ability to write and epublish a new book every 30-45 days. She is also a regular contributor for the Curiosity Quills website and is an active member of a small guild of nine passionate, talented writers, the Indie Eclective. Lizzy's books are available from Amazon, BN, Smashwords, iBooks/iTunes, and all other eReader libraries.

Find her at these various sites:
Website
Goodreads
Twitter
Facebook

2 comments:

  1. What a great post. I wasn't overly impressed with the traditional publishing industry and I'm glad that authors are taking matters into their own hands. There's nothing like holding a book in your hand that has your name on it. Congrats on your success.
    Ann

    ReplyDelete
  2. VERY interesting post! Man, I can't wait for the day I can make a living off my books and live the dream of being a full-time writer. And it's always good to hear about an indie author succeeding and breaking the stereotypes to produce good books and put the work in to hone their craft even finer.


    Smiles!
    Lori

    ReplyDelete