About Me

I grew up in a small town in southeast Idaho with a view of the Grand Teton Mountains out my front window, and a huge garden out back that always "needed to be weeded". Ugh, those rows went on forever!

I'm from a large family with many siblings, and I think it goes without saying that there was never a dull moment growing up. I enjoyed plenty of country-life, neighborhood baseball games on the weekends, and "No bears are out tonight" night-time hide-n-seek during the summer months. Winters were harsh, but the deep snow made for lots of sledding, skiing, and snowmobiling opportunities.

Some of my interests include: cooking up new recipes, bar-b-queuing out on the grill, reading, hiking, biking, fishing, camping, gardening (much shorter rows), and spending time with my little family. I'm a movie quote'er, quite sarcastic, and I like to combine words during conversations to humor other people. I love puns and being funny... I guess you could say I'm punny.

I've always loved telling stories, keeping a captive audience (or at least trying to), but I didn't start writing my stories down until the early 2000's. At that time, I was determined to find an agent and publisher and go all the way. Of course, after more rejections than I like to count, I went in a different direction. I learned all I could about self-publishing and launched my books online through Smashwords, and then later on Amazon. Smashwords forwarded my books to many different outlets like Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, Diesel, and more, helping my books reach around the globe.

2/6/2013 Visitor's locations to date on this blog.

I've received fan mail from around the world, and that's very humbling because I never fully considered how far reaching my writing might go or who might read it. I felt like my stories were entertaining enough to hold readers' attentions, and I liked writing about strong heroes and heroines. Hopefully, someone will be inspired to be a stronger person and stand up for themselves and their values. It's a lesson on the importance of being careful what you put out there for the world to read ... it's a small place now-a-days.

I have one series out right now: The Unaltered Series, YA paranormal/supernatural powers/romance, A Diamond in my Pocket, book one, ranked well on the Barnes & Noble's Teen Bestseller list and also on iTunes/iBookstore. In fact, Feb. 5th, 2013, iBookstore launched a new feature called Breakout Books and A Diamond in my Pocket was put on the list as a breakout book. This is an incredible jump-start that has the potential to skyrocket my Internet presence and book sales/downloads ... if I promote it well enough. You see, it's not just about writing a book and putting it out there. The old adage, "If you build it, they will come," does not hold up, not if I want to actually see downloads and purchases.

As an Indie Author, all of the marketing, designing, and developing is done by me. Promoting my books is crucial to their success, however, satisfying my fans is even more important. I try really hard to respond to every email that comes in. I regularly give away downloads to help encourage "word of mouth" advertising. In the end, Indie Authors are dependent on the fan base and how happy they are. Let's face it, without satisfied readers, I'm just a wishful thinker. "I wish I could sell books. I wish I could be a famous author." No, I am doing everything I can to ensure my success, and as an Indie Author it's entirely possible.

To succeed at self-publishing, the first thing I needed was a book written well enough to gain momentum. I actually started out focusing on a different series, Scars of Defiance, until A Diamond in my Pocket shot forward in downloads. My first few bad reviews for that book focused on bad grammar and punctuation, not the story line or plot. That told me I had an interesting book that needed editing ... really, badly needed editing. (See my post about how my ebook exploded.)

Second, I built myself an Internet presence. If you Google my name you'll find my website, blogs, twitter, facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, and also comments I've left on groups, forums and such. You'll also find the different locations where my books are for sale. This has taken nearly two years of work to get to this point, so don't ever think that being a self-published author is easy. But at the same time, it's not that hard either. The majority of the work was upfront. And once the fan letters started rolling in, it made it all worth it!

Third, I've succeeded in gaining a following, now I need to keep it by producing more books. I've been stalled out on book 3 of The Unaltered Series for almost a year, and that's been hard for me to deal with mainly because I couldn't foresee the extended delay, and I foolishly promised the book earlier than what I could deliver. That is a huge setback of being an Indie Author ... I am only beholden to myself to reach my goals.

Lastly, to succeed at self-publishing, I needed a strategy. What worked for me was listing the first book of The Unaltered series for free, and charging $3.99 for the rest. Everyone loves a freebie! I think it's been an essential ingredient to my success. Book one is now $0.99 and occasionally goes free for promotions.

I enjoy helping other Indie Authors work through the struggles of success on the Internet. I also love helping young writers with suggestions and encouragement. First and foremost, I love to write and tell stories. And I have a lot of stories to tell ...

Thanks for reading my books and stopping by my blog. I hope you'll drop me a note on my contact page.

~Lorena