Watt, Watt? Wattpad.

Have you heard of Wattpad? If so, you're likely to associate it with teen readers and fanfiction writers, but if you haven't checked out the mystery/thriller section, you should! It's a great place to find new and emerging, and even a few established authors for FREE!

Authors write their novels, get a cover and upload them onto Wattpad where readers download them to read, make comments, and vote for their favorites. Yearly, the most loved novels win Watty awards.

Since Wattpad is a community of writers who do it for the love of writing, some novels might not be edited to the standard you find in the bookstore, but many are, and if you're able to put a few grammar blips aside, you can find many a gem!

If you're an author looking to build your fanbase or newsletter list, this is a great way to find new readers. They might not turn into buyers, but if you're looking for word of mouth, Wattpad and other sites like it have been known to house rabid fans of favorite authors.

It's free for readers or authors, so why not give it a try?

Do you have any reading or publishing experience on Wattpad? Tell us what you think in the comments!

~Jamie Blair
Deadly Dog Days (available for pre-order!)

Newsletters: Wondrous or Waste of Time?

By Deborah Sharp

I'm wrestling with one of my extremely infrequent urges to send out an author newsletter. I think I have something to say: After coming out with a Mace Bauer Mystery for the last four years in a row, right around this time of year, 2012 will come and go without a new ''Mama'' title.

Two questions are nagging at me:  Does the lack of something new fall under the category of news? And, are author newsletters over anyway?

Friends and readers accustomed to these regular fall releases have been asking, What's up with the Mama? One pal even took to Facebook to speculate whether Mama's author (me) had been eaten by one of the infamous iguanas slinking around southern Florida.  When I was a reporter, I occasionally wrote a  ''Where Are They Now?'' feature -- basically revisiting someone who used to be in the news to see what happened after they fell off the media map. I figured I'd do the same for my fictional family from Himmarshee, Fla. Whatever happened to Mace, her sisters, and their wacky mama . . . ?

But newsletters are a lot of work, and I'm basically lazy (see paragraph above, about how I didn't get around to having a book to release this year). So I've been wondering whether sending out my e-news is worth the trouble. On one hand, I do want folks to know what's cooking with my crew. (Book 5, MAMA GETS TRASHED, will be out in September 2013.) On the other hand, see references to laziness, above.

I'm hardly the first writer to ponder author newsletters. My fellow Midnight Ink'er, Jess Lourey, addressed the issue briefly here at Inkspot way back in 2010. (Her post was a funny one, about worst promotional ideas ever. )

''Unless I only get them once a year and they are for an author whom I love, I don't read them,'' she wrote then.


So, Jess, you have read all my previous Mama missives from Himmarshee, right?


Karin Bilich at Smart Author Sites offers some do's and don'ts in this article about author newsletters . Turns out I already violated the top rule, since I never thought about building a mailing list during the first year or two of book signings and appearances. Dang! I could have had tens of possible recipients, too. I've also never included an excerpt or run a contest, which are another couple of newsletter ''do's.''

Maybe I'll get around to that in this year's newsletter (BTW, sending only one letter a year is a don't.)


If you want to see whether I do or don't, go to my website  to sign up for my newsletter. Scroll down to find the sign-up box on left of page, under my amazingly youthful author picture. Hey, you can always unsubscribe, right? (Including an unsubscribe option is another newsletter do.)

How about you? For or against author newsletters? What do you like about them? What do you hate?