True believers

In this season of all things that go bump in the night, I’m just not a believer.  Well, unless I’m reading a Stephen King novel and then I know the true meaning of being scared snotless.  But I don’t thinks that’s the same thing as feeling the ghouls and goblins, witches and warlocks of the day.

I’m not big on superstitions.  Bring on the black cat.  Let me break a mirror.  I’ll gladly step on any cracks in the sidewalk.  Sorry, but I’m not phased.

Just for fun, about 10 years ago a friend dragged me to her psychic.  According to her, it would be the best thing for me.  My son had just died and she felt certain this psychic could ease my pain.  As much as the psychic tried with the “I’m seeing the letter L,” or “I’m sensing chaos in your aura,” I thought it was a load of bullshit.  My sister’s name starts with an L (as does my grandmother’s name and the name of our first pet) and of course she’d sense the chaos – why else would anyone stoop so low as to consult a psychic?  She saw my wedding ring and said something about discord with my spouse.  Well, my spouse and I have never so much as had a fight in 31 years – opps, wrong again.

On an unrelated note . . .  BARGAIN HUNTING will be released tomorrow!  Don’t forget to buy it, download it or however you like your books delivered.  You can read an excerpt on my website 

Happy trick or treating!

The S word

Nope, not that one, but I am quite fond of it.  We’re delving into the idea of shopping.  Now I come from a long line of shoppers.  We’re talking a trip to some mall every weekend.  End result – I learned to loathe shopping.  Then something magical happened.  The Internet.  Not having to go into a store is very inviting to me.

So where do I spend my net dollars?  I’m a HUGE Groupon junkie.  I’ve literally saved hundreds of dollars by using that site on everything from Botox to car washes.  (For the car, not my botoxed forehead).  It’s really very simple, you just register and you get daily emails various deals, goods and services.  There’s no minimum, no requirements, no strings at all.  In two years I’ve only been screwed once and Groupon’s customer service made good on the voucher so I didn’t lose a dime.

I eBay.  Not a lot but since I learned how to play the game, I’m actually pretty good at finding values and bargains.  I kinda got hooked when I started writing Finley Tanner novels, since a running joke in the series is that she’s building her dream Rolex from parts she buys on eBay.  I actually had my jeweler tell me the parts and I went hunting and sure enough, they were all on eBay.  I buy a lot of Coach on eBay.  I’m very careful and check the advertised merchandise against the Coach website.  YSL – forget it, too many fakes.  D&B – good deals to be found.  Betsey Johnson – more goodies just hanging around.  My tip?  Try misspelling the name.  For example type Betsy Johnson and you’ll find some merchandise that doesn’t show up on the search under the correct spelling.  My other tip?  Plan to man your computer during the last seconds of an auction.  I got my daughter a brand new Nook, in the sealed box for $47.50.  It had been steady at $25.00 for 3 days but I swooped in at the end and outbid the other person with a mere 2 seconds to go.  Make sure that final bid doesn’t go in until your opponent can’t re-raise you before the end of the auction.
My new philosophy – if you can’t get it online, you don’t need it!

Blatant self-promotion . . . 8 days until BARGAIN HUNTING is released.

I hope you’ll dash out and get your copy and/or download it from any of the major retailers . . .  From Fresh Fiction:

Bargain Hunting
Rhonda Pollero
Reviewed by Tanzey Cutter
Posted October 12, 2012
Mystery Amateur Sleuth | Mystery Woman Sleuth
Finley Anderson Tanner, fashionista/paralegal extraordinaire, is torn between the two gorgeous men in her life -- her boss, lawyer Tony Caprelli, and the law firms' private investigator, Liam McGarrity.  But Liam is the hunk who really makes her tingle in all the right places.  In the past, they've come close to consummating their relationship several times, but something always happens to hinder the final act.  Just how much sexual teasing is a hot-blooded woman expected to take?

Then Liam shows up at Finley's house late one night with a gunshot wound needing a place to hide and get patched up, and she knows she'll do whatever it takes to protect him.  With much probing and prodding, Finley finally gets Liam to confess that five years ago he left the police force after he was falsely accused of shooting a teen during a drug bust.  Even though he was never found guilty, he was forced to resign.  Now, Liam's gun from five years ago has been used to kill his ex-partner -- and he's again a murder suspect.

It doesn't take long for death threats against Finley to start and with an excess of possible suspects, Liam, Finley and Tony are kept busy sorting out details and following leads.  But will they live long enough to bring the bad guys to justice?

The really good thing about this fifth outing for Finley is the progression of her relationship with Liam, and we finally learn more about his background.  It adds a special dimension to the sleuthing and the final outcome of the mystery plot.  Don't miss BARGAIN HUNTING, a fantastic entry in this exceedingly enjoyable mystery series.

When things get ugly

Myth – authors always have input on their covers.  When I sold my first book in 1993 (yes, I am that old), I had no idea what the process was when it came to covers.  Harlequin sent me something called an Art Fact Sheet and it was about ten pages long.  It asked questions like the color and style of hair for the hero and heroine; the location backdrop; 3 suggested scenes for the cover (turns out that was a waste of time – they never once used the scenes I painstakingly wrote out on the sheet); a synopsis; clothing and a bunch of other details, large and small.  And FYI, I did them on a typewriter, and since I can’t type, I dreaded the Art Fact Sheet.  Now this process is done online.

Then about 30 days (if I was lucky) before the book was released I could suggest something called an Iris and that is a color image of the cover flat.  Or in some cases, I’d get the cover flat directly from my editor.  That was the first time I saw the cover.  On more than once occasion I loathed the cover.  But with Harlequin there are no changes.  They publish something like 177 titles a month worldwide so they aren’t going to stop the presses because Rhonda (or Kelsey Roberts as the case may be) wasn’t happy with her cover.

So what did I do?  Lie.  I’d always tell my editor the cover was fine or sometimes I’d lie and say I loved it.  I did have one editor who would call me and say, “I’ve seen the cover and you’re going to hate it.”  Which brings me to another myth at Harlequin – editors have almost no clue or say regarding the covers.  They are created in a different country and usually the editor is seeing the cover at the last moment as well.  There have been times when I didn’t see the cover until I walked into the store and the book was on the shelf.  I think it served me well to keep my mouth shut.  Of my dozens of Harlequin covers, the one I hate the most is from a book titled Handsome as Sin.  Only problem?  The guy is ugly as sh-t.  I actually had people attend a book signing and refuse to buy it based on the hero’s appearance on the cover.  Here’s a peek:

 Handsome as Sin

Then I did an anthology for Random House and that wasn’t much better.  They did send us the cover, ask for our input, and then ignored all of us.  Red Hot Santa looks like his back is covered in tumors.

Then I found Mecca.  When I moved to Simon & Schuster I had a completely different experience.  We actually had cover consultations and I was encouraged to share my thoughts.  And if I didn’t like the cover, they made changes.  They also did branding – utilizing an element, in my case a skull, in all the covers.   What a joy it was to know I was part of the process.

So my advice?  When you have to – lie.  Better not to be labeled a problem author than gripe about a cover that’s already set in stone.  And if you’re lucky enough to have a say in the matter, be conciliatory.