Consonance by Lisa Malabanan

Consonance By  Lisa Malabanan 

Published: August 25, 2012.
Genre: Chick Lit, Contemporary, Romance
Print Length: 369 pages

DESCRIPTION: Elle Martins is a gifted musician ready to start her first year at College. She is not alone. Elle has the security of her best friends and boyfriend nearby, attending the same University. Everything seems new and exciting, but the moment she joins a rock group, her life changes. The band becomes a favorite among the college crowd. Their performances are a hit thanks to Elle’s musical genius, and the band garners recognition from a major record label.

 Throughout the school year, Elle struggles over music, decisions, insecurities, and most of all, love. She is grateful for many amazing opportunities, yet the chance of a lifetime is within her grasp. Can she choose the ultimate dream or leave the people she loves behind?

Buy Links:

Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | iBookstore

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: I am a graduate of Rutgers College of Nursing and work as a Professional Registered Nurse in the field of Perinatology. I currently live in the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania with my husband and two children. At the age of six, I discovered piano and classical music. A variety of music genres influenced my life through the years, and I’m passing on a love of the arts to my daughter and son.

Reading fiction is my escape from the chaos and stress of a demanding yet rewarding profession. For me, writing transcends the diversion of a good book. The experience is like commuting on a New York City subway; diverse people enter and exit the scene, sometimes delays and derailment occur during creativity, and a train of thought is missed or passed over on occasion. In the end, an arrival at my destination is what I hope to accomplish, and I invite readers to take that ride with me.

 CONNECT WITH LISA:

Website | Goodreads

Hello Deal Sharing Aunt,

You have so many deals and promotions. I think it’s great that you advertise and promote different giveaways and books. The advertising helps, especially for new authors like me, and I thank you for highlighting my book Consonance. As for my guest post, I would like to share my thoughts on:

Five Things I Didn’t Know About Being a Self-Published Author

I think writing the manuscript was easier than preparing the final product of an ebook. Afterwards, the actual promotion of the book was harder. I didn’t realize the extent of everything a self-published author must do to get his/her book out for public awareness. It’s time-consuming and frustrating sometimes, but the end product is worth all the effort.

1. A Marketer

I had a general idea on the type of audience I was writing for. I wanted the New Adult and Chick Lit demographic. It’s easy to tag or categorize the book in your genre, but to actively market the book to your target readers is the hard part. I didn’t have a marketing plan. Besides announcing to family and friends that my ebook is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, and iBookstore, no one else knows about the book’s existence. The book is just “hanging out” among all the other numerous ebooks within the same genre and the rest of the competition out there. If I had a marketing strategy, I would have promoted the book months or weeks before the release date.

2. An Advertiser

Advertising the book is sort of self-explanatory, but the time and effort you must dedicate towards your literary work is an ongoing job. I created a website focused on my writing and my other passions as a constant form of advertisement. I may have announced the ebook’s availability to family and friends, although there is a large population of readers not aware of the book. “Friendertising” on the various social networks will help build awareness and even develop a fan following of your stories. Online advertising is also helpful. Anyone can search for anything on the web, but it’s not that simple. How will I prompt readers to search for my book and buy it?

3. A Publicist

Another job of a self-published author is publicizing his/her book. Generating buzz around your stories is a difficult task. It is beneficial to join social networks, like Goodreads, Facebook, or Twitter, and participate in writing communities. For example, Google + and Goodreads have many groups and forums for writers. In truth, I need to follow my own advice because I just created a Facebook page and Twitter account. I also need to be more active in the writing communities I’m a part of. I’ve always been a private person, but I understand that my limitations on privacy need changing.

Another media outlet to consider is blogging about your work and anything in regards to writing, especially if you have the time to blog routinely. If you don’t have patience to do the legwork of publicizing, then hire a book promoter who will arrange for a book blog tour to help with the publicity. Choosing this alternative will require investing some money and time. Of course, the most rewarding experience of social networking is the professional friendships or acquaintances you make with other authors, beta readers, editors, graphic artists, book bloggers, book reviewers, and avid readers.

4. A Student

I am a novice in the writing community. So I’m still learning about the art of storytelling. There are areas where I need improvement, but the learning process will help me excel as a writer. Homework is inevitable when it comes to writing a story. A writer has to research his/her topic of discussion (setting, dialogue, a character’s personality, style, trait, skill, disorder, illness, or profession for example). This was another lengthy assignment to do, but it gives credibility to the story content. The more I read and write, my subject matter improves, and the narrative gets better.

5. A publisher and everything else in between

As I said earlier, writing the book was easy compared to producing a book. Formatting is like learning the language of a foreign country. Similar to the various dialects of another country, each ebook distributer may have different formatting requirements. Formatting gave me a headache, but I managed to finish it after multiple tries. Finalizing the book cover was the next major step. Thankfully, a book cover designer helped with the process of creating a professional cover. I searched for royalty free images that I liked, and relayed my ideas for the image to the designer. After three possible choices, the one we both liked the most was approved. The best and easiest part of the book design was the dedication page to my family.

Everything else in between is the utmost important: my family. They will always take top priority in my life. It can be difficult balancing family and writing, especially if I work as a nurse to earn a living. I’ve had many exhausting days and nights, fitting in all the aspects of a self-published author. Yet the road to get to where I am is a big accomplishment, and it feels good. Still, I have a long journey ahead of me since I’m determined to complete a series. There are more stories in the works, and each day is an opportunity to learn, to grow, to dream, to hope, and to write about it.

Thank you so much for having me as a guest. I had a wonderful time sharing my experiences with you and your readers.

Sincerely,

Lisa