Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Hope you are enjoying this summer’s end holiday weekend with family and a good book.  To help you celebrate, I would like to introduce you to a complicated and deadly romance in the suspense series - The Sperling Chronicles.  The first novel, Dreams Thrown Away, is now on Kindle through midnight Labor Day for only $.99.  Download and enjoy.

 

If you have already had the pleasure of reading it, please “Like” The Sperling Chronicles Facebook page and recommend to your friends.  Pass this message along.  Download the second novel, Split Images, too.  Have fun reading.  Check out the Reviews for Dreams Thrown Away, too.  Add your own.

The Sperling Chronicles

Everything Has A Season

I was recently a guest blogger on Renaissance Mom...Here is a copy of my advice to the moms visiting this site:

We have all been there wishing today would be over. Waiting for our dreams, our hopes to come alive, especially when are you a mom juggling kids, work, hockey games, husband, volunteer work, and whew … I am exhausted thinking about it. We have all wanted to finish that degree, take that trip to Maui, or write that book in the midst of our busy every day lives. I’ve been there. It took me twenty years to finally finish my first novel, and by that time I had hit that magic number, age 50, and I was looking back trying to figure out where all the time had flown. I’d raised my two children and had a career in healthcare, but I had this entrenched feeling that I would not be happy until I finished writing that novel.

My little voice kept whispering, do it. Do it! But, my purse that needed a funds reimbursement daily said, no. You have to work to earn money, have a job, I told myself. You can’t sit around writing for the fun of it. I had this image of writers being broke, hungry, chasing after the next check. So I hindered myself a few more years with that negative image. I thought successful writers were the lucky ones, but they were so few that I had no chance. After all, I’d been a manager for twenty years. What would I do without a paycheck and without someone to tell what to do?

I finally decided to jump out of the boat, take a risk. Live without a paycheck. Took my funds and invested in a real estate career. Started selling houses, and boom the market fell through. Oh well. I took my injured ego back to healthcare and decided that if I went out like that again, it would be with something I knew best. I started writing a business plan for a credentialing verification organization. Was thinking about it constantly, you know the adage ‘your thoughts become things.’ One day, I went into my basement to go through some old files to find resources to help me with the business plan, and the first thing I put my hand on was an old version of my soon to be book. That’s when I fully understood, ‘having an epiphany,’ the ‘Aha’ moment as Oprah would say. I was going to finish my book.

Three months later, I was done and realized I was going to have to wait until I found an agent and then I would have to wait until the agent could convince a publishing company to put it on the market. Heck, I was 50-plus. My patience had already worn thin. After finding an editor, I decided to release it myself. I did and I was so proud when the Print-on-Demand publisher I used sent me my first copy of Dreams Thrown Away.

Now, I had the bug and as I look back I had it bad. I went back to my computer and began number two, but life started getting in the way again. I went from one demanding project to another. Couldn’t blame children or husband for distractions anymore, it was all corporate employment demands that filled every minute. And then, I had another epiphany. If I can work long hours for them, I can do it for me. I finished the second novel, a sequel. Decided to rename and re-release the first and went for it. I still have time challenges, but it doesn’t matter. I am in my season. Writing brings me joy whether I earn a penny or a million. I wouldn’t change the time spent on it, even if I could.

But, here’s the kicker. I have no regrets about all the paths I have traveled before getting to this season. Every minute of life is valuable and contributes to the better life ahead. So don’t sweat about your current season, another one is coming.

Why Do Women Stay?

I'm doing a little research.  Would love your help.  If you have ever stayed in a relationship, and have asked yourself “why did I stay?”  Please let me know.  If you have read the first novel in The Sperling Chronicles, Dreams Thrown Away.  I’m sure you asked that question, and maybe even have an answer for Kali Sperling.  Do you?  I’m compiling scenarios, but won’t use your name.  Any insight would be great.  In exchange, I will give you a FREE DOWNLOAD of Dreams Thrown Away on Kindle or Nook.

 I can’t wait to hear your stories.  And no, it doesn’t have to be a current relationship.  You can share something from the past.  If you don’t have a story, but know someone who does, please ask them to share with me.

Special Introductory Offer to The Sperling Chronicles on Amazon!

A forbidden love turned lethal continues in The Sperling Chronicles:  Split Images...Buy both books in the series on Amazon.  Buy the first eBook, The Sperling Chronicles:  Dreams Thrown Away and learn the real truth about Ashton during this special $.99 promotion for the next 30 days.

Launch Party Update

My first Launch Party for the series of novels, The Sperling Chronicles was an outstanding success.  Friends, family, neighbors, and fans all showed up to support me at The Three Dollar Café in Atlanta.  This post is a thank you for being there.   If you were unable to make it, I hope you will be there for the release of the 3rd in the series. 

Just a reminder Dreams Thrown Away, the first novel and Split Images, the first sequel are available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble as well as iTunes in the eBook format for those with eReaders.  Print copies are available, too.  Thanks again for your support and making the afternoon so much fun.  The American Cancer Society thanks you, too for your support as well as $1 of each book sold was a donation for its cause to eliminate cancer in our lifetimes.

Book Launch Party on March 24, 2012

Come share in the celebration of the release of the romantic suspense series, The Sperling Chronicles. Dilsa Saunders Bailey, the author of Dreams Thrown Away and Split Images invites you to join her for live music by The Frame and refreshments on the upstairs patio of the Three Dollar Cafe.

Autographed books will be available at the Launch, but can be reserved on the Good Show Publications website. Reserve yours today and have fun being a part of a good cause. A portion of each book will be contributed to the American Cancer Society.

Hope to see you there!!! RSVP by registering as a subscriber to this site and tell me you will be there!!! And, if you could do me a BIG favor and "Like" my Facebook page.

The Help Merited a Few Choice Memories of How Far Our Country Has Come

As a writer, my second love is reading.  I read everything from cereal boxes to the classics.  I think I just finished reading a classic.  The Help was captivating, not only due to its subject matter that touched close to home, but because of its riveting portrayal of black women in the south during the most turbulent moments in American history.  It was an era when I was a child confused by the images of violence, confused by the differences made to people of color, and even deeply frightened by the confusion.  Yet, at the same time I was excited about the future and all its possibilities. 

My mother, my grandmother, and many of the women in my family had earned meager livings serving others in their homes.  Some of whom they developed life-long loving relationships with and others they lived through to tell tales of abuse, some not too unlike those told in The Help.  As a southern child whose first best friend was a little white girl whom I still call friend, I lived through blows of racial discernment because of that friendship.  The first time I realized there was a difference in us, other than her uncle’s terms of endearment calling us chocolate and vanilla, was when her cousins came to visit one day.  While playing house, they wanted to make me the maid.  Even then I knew I was going to be more than that, so I refused and went home.  Over the years though having learned what to expect from some, and having grown even stronger in my own expectations, I was again asked to become a maid in a high school play.  I was told there was only one role for a black female.  Again, I refused. I had wanted to audition for one of the other roles, not the maid and since I wasn’t allowed to that, I didn’t see a point in playing the maid. 

The Help stirred up a lot of memories as I read it, the earth shattering images of the Birmingham church that was bombed, destroying the lives of four innocent children was one.  Another was the images that gave us all hope, the massive swell of people marching on Washington for equal rights.  Kathryn Stockett deserves all the accolades she is receiving as the pictures she painted were alive as well as the strength exuded by those maids who had had enough, a statement of that era when African Americans and people of all colors were saying, “Enough.” 

Dilsa Saunders Bailey, author of Dreams Thrown Away

Update on Good Show Publications October Releases

The original version of Dreams Thrown Away is running out of time and out of print within the next 30 days. Its alter ego, The Sperling Chronicles Part I: Dreams Thrown Away will soon be available along with its sequel, The Sperling Chronicles Part II: Split Images. Order the original now at http://www.dilsasaundersbailey.com/ for that last chance autographed copy of the mother of all things Sperling.

Mama Sperling (Dreams Thrown Away, the original) will be featured at one more book signing: Nubian Book Store in Southlake Mall, Morrow, GA on September 23, 2011 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. There will be reading of an excerpt from Dreams and Split Images on A Live Reading Webinar on Sunday night at 8:00 PM by the author, Dilsa Saunders Bailey. This event will be posted on the Dreams Thrown Away Facebook page.  It’s up close and personal event with several authors who will be sitting before webcams to share the whole live reading experience. Keep your ears open and for an excerpt from Split Images on the Bernice Feagins Radio Show on BlogTalkRadio at 1:00 PM on September 22. Catch more news on these releases, if you can, on one of Atlanta Clark University’s television shows to get a sneak peek at the new cover for Dreams and the cover for Split Images.

Kali and Ashton are fighting to get back out of the box with another Sperling family adventure. Pre-order your copy of Split Images and be one of the first to receive an autographed copy. Pre-orders will be available at http://www.dilsasaundersbailey.com/ and  Good Show Publications.  Both books will also be available in any eBook format your heart desires, Kindle, iBook, epub, and more.

SELF-PUBLISHING TIPS 108 - Ten Questions to Ask a POD Self-Publisher (SP) Publisher

There is a book in each and every one of us. Not everyone though takes the plunge to see that book in print. Some do by pursuing the traditional route, others pursue independent publishing, and others pursue self-publishing through a self-publisher. If you stopped to read this article, you may or may not already know the difference. If you don’t, think of it in these terms. Traditional publishing involves a contract with a big, medium, or small publishing house. They do all the work with varying levels of marketing based on contract and book sales. An independent publisher (the author) takes responsibility for writing the book, getting the book printed, distributed, and marketed. A Print-On-Demand (POD) self-publisher or any vanity self-publishing house offers a variety of packages that you can purchase. They will print, distribute, and market the book at various levels for you. The SP’s will also offer a variety of additional products and services. These self-publishing houses offer packages that are extremely attractive. They make it so much easier for everyone who has that desire to birth that book contributing to the over 764,000 books that were self-published in 2009. If you are considering the POD self-publishing route, put these questions on your list of things to ask:

1. How much will they charge you to purchase your own book? Note: The production cost of the book is usually based upon page number and size.
2. How much will you receive (royalty) if the book is purchased on their website or through a retailer? Note: This will be based on the retail price and could include a specific discount for retailers.
3. Will they continue to charge you at the same price regardless of the number of copies you order? Note: The greater the number of books you order, the lower the price should be. Ask about the discount levels.
4. How much will you receive for the sale of your e-book through their website or through a retailer?
5. Is there a base price for pricing your e-book? Note: You may have $.99 in mind and they may $9.99.
6. Will your e-book be released in a variety of formats? Note not using technical dots: Kindle, Nook, Sony, any e-reader accessibility.
7. Can you use your own ISBN or is it mandatory that you use theirs? Note: The ISBN belongs to the company, not you. If you have your own imprint, or want to move your book in the future, consider your own ISBN that you own.
8. If you want to add your book to Inside Cover for either Amazon or Barnes and Noble, do you have to utilize their service or can you do it yourself? Note: You could do it for free.
9. What entails a custom cover? Note: It may not include front and back. Back may be an additional charge.
10. Is there an additional charge to insert images? Note: Some may charge by the photo.

My first book, Dreams Thrown Away, was published through a POD self-publisher in August 2009. It was one of the most exciting days in my life when the finished copy arrived. Whether you choose to go traditional, independent, or self-publish to experience that same excitement, be well armed with the right questions to make it an even happier experience.

SELF-PUBLISHING TIPS 106 – 10 Things to Know About Marketing

Two years ago this summer, I released my first novel with the half expectation that people were just going to buy it.  Why?  “Because just like in the Field of Dreams, if I built it they would come.” How hard are you laughing right now?  I learned very quickly that there is another component to wanting to write a book.  That component, you also want to sell a book.  And, here is the common sense theme that didn’t sink in quite so fast, the only people that will buy your book are the people who have 1) heard of it, 2) found the cover interesting enough to stop if it’s on a book shelf, and 3) found the description intriguing enough to open a few pages then walk out the store with it, or order it online. 

After selling copies to all my friends and family, I began the journey of learning how to market my book.  Here are a few things I learned and a few things you should know before following the same path.

1.       Marketing is an investment and the return on investment (ROI) may take years.

2.       It is better to market to a specific demographic who may be interested in your book than to spread efforts too thin.

3.       Marketing should never cease.  Try to maintain a marketing pace, as well interim hard pushes.

4.       It is easier to market more than one book.  So write another one. 

5.       When you have more than one book to sell, you are likelier to sell more books.

6.       Choose your book fairs wisely before reserving your table.

7.       Book fairs cost:  book inventory, table, electricity, hotel accommodations, travel accommodations, props for the table, book marks, and most importantly, your time.

8.       Networking at book fairs, writers associations, and conferences is an important marketing tool, you get to learn, sell, and commiserate.

9.       Marketing a product on radio or television is easy only if you are prepared.  Make sure you know what you are going to say, control the information you release about your book.  You want people to still want to buy it and read it.  They won’t if you have already given away all the details.

10.   Social networking or an online presence works, but only if you work it.

I have had so much fun since I released Dreams Thrown Away.  I am looking forward to its re-release this summer along with its sequel, Split Images.  I am still planning to self-publish again.  But, this time armed with more polish and more knowledge.  If you would like to add to this list, I would love to hear from you. 

 The Sales Bible: The Ultimate Sales Resource, Revised Edition

 Little Green Book of Getting Your Way: How to Speak, Write, Present, Persuade, Influence, and Sell Your Point of View to Others

Book Review - The Girl Who Played with Fire

The Girl Who Played with Fire

by Stieg Larsson

The second installment of this series was absolutely captivating.  I can't wait to start reading the third and final book.   After that, I am going to happily hunker down and watch the movies.

So, why am so excited about this book?  Here's why.  The female character is unpredictable and extremely deliberate in every aspect of her life.  I can ony describe as a woman who viciously pursues justice and has every right to do so.  I loved the twists, the connections, and how the theatre of characters were elaborately pieced together by Lisabeth's own cape crusader, the journalist that wormed his way into her heart in the first installment (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo).

You have to read it.  Lisabeth Salander is a classic and unforgettable character.  Michael Blomkvist isn't too bad himself.  You can get lost in this novel with Lisabeth and Michael as the story of an unthinkable crime against your own develops one page at time.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
 

Reviewed by  Dilsa Saunders Bailey, author of Dreams Thrown Away, a romantic suspense novel and the first in the series of The Sperling Chronicles.

The Lost Years of Kali - Diary of August 26, 1978

August 26, 1978

Dear Diary,

Oh, My God! I’m scared.  What am I supposed to do?  If I make a fuss, he will kick me out with only the things I came with, which is nothing.  I didn’t even own the panties I wore in here.  Billy’s wife took it all back, but she didn’t bother to bring me my clothes back that I was wearing when Billy picked me up.  God help me.  I’m scared. 

Daddy, why did you do what you did?  Why did you leave me alone like that?  I’m scared!!!

Kalina Denise Harris

Follow Kali's Diaries on her own Facebook Page - Dreams Thrown Away!!!  Read the book today on KINDLE or e-book format.

Dreams Thrown Away - Mini Excerpt

Kalina sat up and watched him walk out the door.  She didn't want to move.  She was tired from all the walking and exhausted from the flood of emotions that had started raging inside her.  Her mind said he was a married man -- an older man, and she shouldn't even let him touch her.  But, her body was saying, "touch me again."

New information gives you a new perspective

Remember the anxiety you used to feel when you were starting a new class or a new grade in school.  You knew at the end of the last school year or the last semester, you would be leaving that which had become familiar behind.  Or, perhaps it was time for the ultimate…graduation, and life as you knew it was sure to change.  There are many situations like this that I could describe, the ending of one familiar experience to be replaced with the unknown.  But, isn’t it wonderful how the unknown becomes the known, giving you a new learning experience as well as a new perspective?

Let’s look at the new perspective for a minute from the learning aspect.  Dictionary.com defines learning as:  knowledge acquired by systematic study in any field of scholarly application or the act or process of acquiring knowledge or skill or the modification of behavior through practice, training, or experience.   Did you notice two of the definitions referenced ‘acquired knowledge’ and the last reference a ‘modification of behavior’?  Why?  The objective of learning something new, even if it is triggered by instinctive behavior, is to modify your behavior.  And, why does the modification of behavior take place?  Because, what you have learned grants you the ability to look at your world from a different perspective, good or bad or indifferent, but differently.

In the lathering process, you want to acquire knowledge that will modify the type of decisions you make in life.  For example, when you were younger and thinner and moving all the time you could buy a box of Girl Scout Cookies, consume the whole box, and not suffer any consequences.  Perhaps, as you grew older, you noticed the pounds beginning to stay with you no matter what, except the no matter was an improper diet.  You began to pay attention, acquired knowledge about the affects of poor or healthy eating habits.  You learned how that very tasty box of cookies could possibly add two or three pounds to your ever increasing thighs. 

If you are lathering properly though, you will use the acquired knowledge to motivate a change in your behavior.  You will now make the decision to eat a few cookies at a time over an expanded period of time, and not the whole box in one sitting.  You will look at that colorful and delicious box of cookies from a new perspective.  You will deem those cookies as a means to satisfy your sweet taste little by little, without overindulging and reducing the likelihood of those cookies adding even a centimeter to the diameter of those thighs.

What were the Lather Rinse Repeat practices in this article?

Lather – you learned you could change your outcome (the size of your thighs)

Rinse – you assessed what you learned (the effects of poor diet versus a healthy diet)

Repeat – you made the right choice (smaller portions of the cookies make your thighs happy)

Dilsa Saunders Bailey is in the process of writing the non-fiction book, Lather Rinse Repeat.  If you would like to learn more about the concept, contact her for your next speaking engagement.  Or, blog with her here at simplydilsa.

Don’t forget to pick up her novel, Dreams Thrown Away.  The romantic suspense novel that tracks a couple whose drive to reach their dreams drives them to make all the wrong decisions leaving all sorts of havoc behind including sex, lies, and murder.

Lather Rinse Repeat - Graduate

Life is awesome.  There are always lessons to learn.  Some of them hard, very few are easy.  The important thing is to actually grow and not to repeat them over and over.  You have to graduate one day.  I'm ready for graduation!!!!

Dilsa Saunders Bailey

Book Review - The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

 

A peculiar heroine emerges in this book as she doesn't fit the typical beautiful, statuesque woman with guts syndrome. Instead, she is a defiant, dangerously brilliant Goth chick with piercings in her face and a dragon tattoo on her shoulder. Throughout the book she doesn't realize that her passion for what should be right is as great as her passion to be left alone in her own unique universe with her own set of morals and ethics. The girl with the dragon tattoo surprises herself by teaming up with an embattled journalist to uncover the gross iniquities and horrors of two of Sweden's biggest journalistic stories ever to be told. This book was fantastically engrossing. It stood up to all the great things I had heard about it and that rarely happens. I recommend it wholeheartedly. Can't wait to begin the sequel. 

Review by Dilsa Saunders Bailey, Author of Dreams Thrown Away The Stieg Larsson Trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo / The Girl Who Played with Fire / The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest) [Blu-ray] The Girl Who Played with Fire

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

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A Free E-Book Copy of Dreams Thrown Away

My novel, Dreams Thrown Away, is an e-book on Kindle. Let me know if you win, and I will give you a free download.

Kindle 3G Giveaway

facebook.com/Kindle

In appreciation of our Kindle fans on Facebook, we are giving away a free Kindle 3G to ten randomly selected fans. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Ends 3/31/11.

Quote for the Day - March 12, 2011

"Fear is that little darkroom where negatives develop." 

Michael Pritchard
LifeSteps: Creative Problem Solving

Listen to What Your Kids Aren't Telling You

SELF-PUBLISHING TIPS 100 - Does Your E-Book Need an ISBN?

Whether you are self-publishing your e-book or going through a traditional publisher, will your e-book need an ISBN?  An ISBN is a unique identifier for books in print, usually accompanied with a bar code.  The ISBN is used to control stock and track sales for publishing companies, retailers, and libraries.  The ISBN is attached to the publisher, the author, the title, and format of the book.   However, since there is no inventory control required for an e-book and no means to swipe it at the check-out counter, is it necessary to assign a unique identifier?  The ISBN recently performed a study to answer that question.  Check out what they had to say at their website.

Dilsa Saunders Bailey is the author of Dreams Thrown Away, a romantic suspense novel available in e-book Format on Amazon and on Outskirts Press.
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Finding My Core

How many times over the last ten years have I noticed that I was off-centered?  My waistline has expanded along with the expansion of my job description.  The more I work, the more my body spreads and the more I spread, the more I have lost that power of centrality that should exist in my body.  The first time I noticed was when I was visiting relatives that had both a pool table and a ping-pong table.  These two games were my favorites as I grew up.  I could lean into a serve or crash back a return with ease.  On the day I paddled away at this table, the more I realized I couldn’t twist and turn with the same ease anymore because my stomach wouldn’t let me.  I had the same problem with my aim at the pool table.  I tried to blame my eyesight, but it was my flexibility or the fact that my arms kept hitting the pockets of fat.  Oh, woe is me I thought.  I have got to lose weight.  But, that focus was lost easily as  I went back to long hours at a desk and on a phone and in meetings, and on airplanes squeezed into small spaces with no place to exercise.  But, life went on.

And now this, I discovered Zumba.  I love Zumba, because I love to dance.  In retrospect, before my children, I was in a constant state of movement, dancing.  I could hustle, freak, shimmy, jerk, twist, four-corners, all of those wonderful dance moves with such ease.  And I weighed just enough not to get tipped over by a feather.  Everyone used to comment on how small (skinny) I was, and there was definitely a reason for that.  I wasn’t eating out of frustration and sitting, sitting, sitting trying to meet the latest deadline which could mean absolutely nothing sometimes only a week later.  But, that’s changed.  Deadlines or no deadlines, I want the center of my universe to return strong and powerful.  I want to find that core of who I really am and that core exists in my waistline.

It took a bit of lathering to open my mind to changing my lifestyle from a sedentary to active lifestyle.  It didn’t take a rocket science or a ton of books to make me assess (rinse) my waistline and the journey I would be taking if I took no action.  All it took was the sight of me in the mirror in a gym, trying to keep up with my Zumba instructor when I decided to make the right choice, the choice to live a vibrant, healthy active life and to follow my core to a longer, more prosperous life. 

Dilsa Saunders Bailey, author of Dreams Thrown Away, a suspense novel available on Kindle.