Me on how to get a book deal by using Instagram at Forbes.com

I hope you'll check out my latest article at Forbes.com on "How to get a book deal from your Instagram account". I interviewed Stupid Fit Couple, Emma Lee of Hidden Heartbreak (and author of the book of the same name), publishers Andrews McMeel and Knock Knock and two literary agents to give you the scoop on what it takes to go Instagram to book.

It's the first of several articles exploring book deals and social media (including podcasts), so follow me at Forbes.com so you don't miss anything. I'm aiming to cover multiple service articles like this so if there are things you want to know about book publishing, let me know and I'll try to explore them. Email me at rachelkb at gmail dot com with "Forbes" in the subject line. I obviously can't cover everything but am always open to topic suggestions (though individual titles are less useful unless they're part of a trend or current events/publishing news).

I'm a needy writer - here's my essay on why I feel unworthy because Twitter didn't verify my account

My latest Medium essay is up. It's called "I Feel Dumb for Feeling Dumb That Twitter Didn't Verify My Account. Hope you enjoy it, and if you do, I'd appreciate your claps (what happens when you click the little hand symbol at the left of the essay and hold it down for 1-50 "claps," which are Medium's way of determining reader engagement and author pay). Thanks for reading and for validating me (kidding, sort of).

How to follow me when I'm not blogging

So if you've been reading this blog for even a short period of time, you have probably realized that while my blogging intentions are good, my execution is lacking. I'll brainstorm daily post ideas but especially this year when I'm being pulled in so many directions, I haven't had as much time to devote to this blog as I'd like. I keep thinking I'll get to some magical "caught up" point but that hasn't happened yet. So while I will still be blogging here and will soon have news about my January and February mini book tour for Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 2, in the meantime, I wanted to share other ways to keep in touch and get info if you're interested.

My email newsletter - it's a monthly newsletter that includes giveaways, news about my writings and events and whatever else I feel like sharing. September's will go out this week and then October's will have a really special, huge giveaway, so stay tuned!

Twitter - I Tweet daily and post more there than I do on any other social media platform.

Facebook author page - I share my writings and news as well as articles I think may be of interest by other people.

Instagram - While my daily life isn't that exciting, I do post a lot when I'm traveling, such as my recent trip to Pittsburgh and this weekend in New York, where I went to the Adoptapalooza pet adoption event in Union Square and saw this:

Adoptapalooza!

A photo posted by Rachel Kramer Bussel (@rachelkramerbussel) on Sep 18, 2016 at 1:26pm PDT

If you want to be notified of my new book releases (or any other author's), follow me/them on Goodreads and Amazon (click on the "follow" button below my photo on the left while you're logged into your Amazon account). With Amazon, if you follow an author, as I do writer LN Bey, you'll get notifications like this when a new title is released, and if a book publishes early (before the official on sale date), you'll find out:



My publisher frequently puts my ebooks on sale for $1.99 and you can get notified of those by following me on BookBub, where I encourage you to also sign up for your favorite genres so you can find out when other authors have free or very cheap sales. They send one daily email rounding up the sales in the categories you've chosen, or you can search by category, such as erotic romance.

Why I don't post many personal updates on social media these days

You can read all about my transformation from incessant social media oversharer to middle-aged social media observer over at Ravishly. I love writing for them and encourage you to bookmarked them; they're one of my favorite sites to read. This is an essay I've been mulling over and tinkering with for months and Monday I got so sick of my procrastinating I just wrapped it up. It wound up being longer than I'd planned, and feels a little vulnerable to write because it's such a stark contrast to the old me, but it felt incredible to hit send. I've got to do more of that rather than overthinking, which is all too easy for me most days.

Help me spread the word about Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 1 with Thunderclap

A warning: you may soon get sick of me gushing about Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 1 (link to brand new official site, which will have more info on it soon). I promise this blog won't exclusively turn into a why-I'm-so-excited-about-my-new-book blog, but I hope you'll indulge me a little. I'm moving in January, just a block away, but have started packing. The first thing to be packed were my two perfectly organized bookcases, filled about 3/4 of the way with anthologies I've edited or contributed to, plus other beloved books.



Taking that trip down memory lane reminded me, yet again, of how far I've come. Sometimes I have flashbacks to sobbing at my desk near South Street Seaport during a job somewhere around my law school days in the late 90's whose exact purpose I can't quite remember. My life back then was basically me running from one disaster to the next. I never let myself step back and say, What do I really want to do with my life? because I was afraid of what the answer would be. (Truth: sometimes I'm still afraid of that question, but now I ask it anyway.)

Flash forward 16 or so years later, and I sometimes have to pinch myself because, while my life isn't perfect, I've accomplished so many things I wouldn't even let myself imagine back then. I never want to forget the milestones along the way, and I never want to stop encouraging other people to pursue their dreams. How did I wind up with my 61st anthology about to be published? It started with one story, my very first, "Monica and Me."



Then another one, then another one, and so on. Then I got asked to co-edit an anthology. Back then, I used Erotica Readers & Writers Association (though I'm pretty sure it was titled just Erotica Readers Association when I started out) to find out where to submit work, which I still do, along with social media.

I'm not suggesting it's all been a breeze, but I am stating firmly that my journey to editing 61 anthologies began with one story, driven by my personal fascination with Monica Lewinsky. Now when I read or hear that story, I hear the parts that I would change if I were writing it now, but I'm still so proud of it, because it set me off into this world. Did I have a master plan back then? Hardly. I was figuring out my life post-law school, grappling with the first and still most epic failure of my life, but I was drawn to this form of writing. I'd never written fiction before (save for a childhood short story, of the very G-rated kind) but I'd been reading lots of erotica, and I was drawn to it, so I went for it. That's pretty much how I got started. I didn't research, save for all the reading I'd been doing for fun. I think what made that story sell to two anthologies (Starf*cker and Best Lesbian Erotica 2001) is that it was a unique take on a ubiquitous person, and that I put myself into the story. In my case, literally, with a character named Rachel, but what I mean here is that I put a topic I had a personal interest in into my fiction. That's not necessarily the case for every fiction or nonfiction piece I've written since, but the stories of mine I feel have best stood the test of time are the ones that have the most "me" in them. If I had to boil down my advice for new erotica writers, that would be it: put yourself into the story. Not literally per se, but your passion, your knowledge, your interests, your humanity. (Want daily advice from me and four weeks of in-depth work? Take my next LitReactor 4-week online erotica writing class, which runs February 11-March 10.)

You can read my introduction to Best Women's Erotica of the Year, Volume 1 on Tumblr, where you'll also find a Q&A with me about my second person story "Flying Solo". If you want to show your support for the book, I'd love if you'd join the Thunderclap campaign.



You select your Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr account (or all three!) and essentially let Thunderclap post one time, on January 12th, letting your followers know the book is out. The idea behind it is to do a social media blast at the same time en masse, to get the most traction on publication day. I would greatly appreciate it, and can thank you (if you're in the U.S.) by sending you a free postcard (just fill out that Wufoo form and I'll send it right off). Or just know that you have my many thanks! I'm devoting most of my December and January, when not packing or writing, to marketing and promoting this book because I am so proud of it and want my authors to be as widely read as possible.

Anything you can do to spread the word, whether in person or online, is much appreciated. You can also keep up with BWE of the Year (for short, since I know the title is super long!) on Facebook and @BWEoftheYear on Twitter. Writers: stay tuned for a new call for submissions from me, coming soon, which will be posted on my Lusty Lady blog, as well as Twitter, Facebook and in my monthly newsletter.

Dream achieved: My Yahoo Travel profile of a JetBlue superfan is up

A few years ago, I took a Mediabistro class on travel writing, and while the instructor was fascinating and wonderful, I left discouraged. I don't have what it takes, I concluded, and pretty much set that dream aside, even though I do love traveling and do it a fair amount for work-related events, and sometimes for fun. Today I achieved that dream by having my first article run at Yahoo Travel, about a JetBlue superfan who's taken more than 100 flights since April 2013 on a Ph.D. grad student budget. Travel has changed my life, so it was an honor to profile someone for whom the same can be said. It's also an interesting look at how a brand, in this case JetBlue, can best interact with its customers to make them loyal and also have fun with their Tweeting! I hope you'll check it out, and I hope that I continue to get to write about one of my favorite topics! Here's a snippet:

How did the airline win him over? The Boston College PhD student’s JetBlue obsession started by accident. He’d booked a trip to Hawaii with another airline, which bungled his reservation so badly he canceled it and rebooked on JetBlue. Then he took to Twitter. “I first discovered how different JetBlue was when I tweeted them and another airline due to some poor service I experienced,” Brown told Yahoo Travel. “The response was telling. The other airline’s tweet read like a machine-generated form letter. JetBlue’s tweet was personal, and they let me know they were ‘#superexcited’ to have me fly with them.”

And this right here is proof of what he is talking about, in response to my Tweet about the article:

More about domestic violence survivor Brooke Axtell and her Grammys speech with Katy Perry

Last night's speech by Brooke Axtell during The Grammys ahead of Katy Perry's performance brought tears to my eyes and I'm sure brought hope to those who are dealing with domestic violence in their own lives. If you haven't read it, here's my Q&A with Brooke at Salon, and you can watch her here (this isn't the best quality recording but it's what I could find on YouTube):




Image via @THR (The Hollywood Reporter)

And again, I want to reiterate that if you believe in your work, whatever kind of work it is, it's your job to get it seen by the world. I can't tell you how to do that, but I can tell you that you are in a unique position to get it seen. For instance, last night, Salon posted my interview with Brooke Axtell, but didn't Tweet it. I did, with this image:



People that I would never have thought would retweet me, did. Today, I'm seeing that interview linked in lots of stories about the Grammys. Making your work easy to find means that it's widely accessible. That's important to me no matter the topic I'm writing about and ultimately I think it's part of my brand; I'm someone who not only can write a timely piece, but will be timely about promoting it. As I wrote last week, you're your own best advocate, and for me, since I consider myself in this for the long haul, in addition to being flexible, I know I want to make sure my work gets noticed, so that I can keep on getting more work.

And now, back to this week's deadlines. It's another busy one, especially with my LitReactor class starting Thursday.

Because I love writing about my breasts

Updated July 18 (from my new laptop, the Blogger iPhone app is clearly not the best, or I'm not the best at using it.

My laptop is dying a slow death, which I discovered on my flight Monday to Martha's Vineyard, so I until I get to the Apple store or get a Chromebook replacement, I'm doing most things on my iPhone, including this post, my first time using the Blogger iPhone app. I wrote about why my breasts or any woman's shouldn't be a threat to your marriage for a site I adore, Role Reboot.

Fifty Shades of Grey roleplaying article at Nerve

I wrote about some of the many Fifty Shades of Grey roleplaying families on Twitter for Nerve. Learned a lot!

Get social media tips tonight from Gary Vaynerchuk, author of Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook

I brought Gary Vaynerchuk's new book Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World with me from New Jersey to Albuquerque to Santa Fe to Austin. I actually planned to leave my copy there because it's heavy but as I began reading I realized I have oodles to learn from it about how to optimize my professional social media use. That's my little personal two cents. More about the book and Gary's event tonight with New York Observer editor in chief Ken Kurson at Barnes & Noble Union Square at observer.com.

On sexy selfies, slut shaming, teenagers and respect

My latest for the Boinkology sex and tech collection at Medium is "Dear Mrs. Hall: Boys and Men Can See Sexy Selfies and Still Respect Women" (and I meant "still respect girls" too), subtitled "Why Kim Hall’s viral FYI selfie letter is as insulting to teenage boys as it is to teenage girls," about the infamous blog post going around. If you like it, please click "recommend" at the bottom, which helps more people see it and helps keep me writing for Medium, which is a site I highly recommend checking out (there are posts about pretty much everything). Here's part of the piece:

Taking this idea that one image can sear itself indelibly into a boy’s mind one step further into the real world—does this mean that if a girl wears a skimpy outfit to school, by extension her sons will never be able to respect her as a person? What if in high school or college or beyond she flashes her breasts, or makes out with him, or even sleeps with him? Will he never be able to be friends or colleagues with her?

Read the whole thing

5 easy ways readers can help out their favorite authors

I'm going to do a separate post about what authors can do to promote their books, but since I'm a very avid reader, I wanted to share a few ways you can help your favorite authors very easily. Aside from buying their books, which obviously helps them.

1. Tell the author you liked their work.
Writing is lonely. You don't always get feedback, and sometimes when you do, it's the people who hated your work the most who will be more than happy to share that. Yes, writers want to sell books, but that's the business side. The person/creative side is happy when someone genuinely engages with their work. That doesn't have to mean you fawn over it and tell them they are the best author ever. You might even disagree or grapple with a concept. That's fine; as long as you're reading their work and have something to share, I'd take a wild guesstimate that 99% of authors would love to hear that. If it feels weird to send a fan email, do it via Twitter. I've interacted with lots of my favorite authors, like mystery author Sue Ann Jaffarian (@sueannjaffarian) and paranormal YA author Tera Lynn Childs (@teralynnchilds) and not only do I get excited when they Tweet back to me, but 140 characters is less intimidating than an email, and unless they're Stephen King level of famous, they are probably going to read what you Tweet.

2. Like their book on Amazon.
This literally takes a second and looks good for the author. (Note: I don't 100% understand what it does for their book's rankings on Amazon, if anything, but still, if 100 people have liked a book, that surely counts for something with potential buyers.)

3. Review the book on Amazon, Bn.com, Goodreads, etc.
Reviews don't have to be long or eloquent to get the point across. You think ___ is like ___ on acid? Or __ is a beach read page-turner? It's all good.

4. Request your local library and bookstore carry the book.
This one requires a bit more effort, but goes a long way. You might even find that you turn the librarian or bookseller on to a book, and they in turn may tell others, and also may recommend books to you.

5. Share your love of the book on Twitter, Facebook, etc.
Often this may simply mean you retweet or repost something the author has posted; it's that simple. You may also find them holding contests, posting about events, or offering up recommendations for what to read next, or giving sneak previews of their upcoming work.

3 things for you to read by Penelope Trunk, Susannah Breslin and Sarah Ockler

I've been meaning to start 2 new short daily posts here, one being "Tips," with a link to something I think is useful, and "5 Great Things About Today," which ideally I'd post every night as a way to keep me from sounding so morose, as I tend to do. Maybe tonight can be the first!

But before that, I wanted to share 3 quick links:

"Gold digging Web 2.0 style" by Penelope Trunk, who I mentioned in my "Is Social Media Ruining Your Sex Life?" column, and she commented and added that link.

In "I Got Downsized" at Thought Catalog, Susannah Breslin offers up five things she could possibly do to make money.

I'll leave you with "You're Not a Thing: 10 Anti-Insanity Tips for Writers by YA author Sarah Ockler, author of Twenty Boy Summer and Fixing Delilah - here's one of her tips, one I particularly needed to stop obsessing over why Amazon hasn't posted my Passion book trailer yet and a bunch of other things it seems like "everyone else" is doing:

Stop comparing. Unless you’re self-published, it’s unlikely that you’ll have accurate, up-to-date sales data at any given point. And what’s a good number, anyway? 1,000 or 10,000 or 100,000 copies sold might be phenomenal for one book, abysmal for another. This author got on a 10-city tour, that one got a dedicated Web site, this one got an ad in the NYT, that one is visiting every school in the country, this one got a 6-figure advance, that one got less… well? Every book is different and requires different marketing. You don’t always know what’s going on behind the scenes at your publisher, but even that doesn’t matter. Maybe you got the platinum edition marketing campaign or maybe you got utterly forgotten, but comparing anything to other authors doesn’t make the next book happen. I’ll tell you what it does make happen: crazy! Now stop looking at so-and-so’s Amazon rank and go work on your manuscript!