Michelle Styles:

Because Sold to the Viking Warrior is officially published in Feb 2017 and I've received my author copies, I am doing a giveaway with Goodreads (there will be other opportunities to win a copy as well).

I am trying something a little different with my Goodreads giveaways for Summer of the Viking. There are going to be three,
First one goes live today.

Because Taming His Viking Woman comes out on 20 January 2015

My Goodreads giveaway  for Return of the VIking Warrior is now live.

Because An Ideal Husband is due to be released on 5 April, I have organised a giveaway with the good people from Good Reads. I think I have remembered to put most countries in...
It can be hard but I do ship everywhere for contests etc.

I will be doing my newsletter later in March but first I need to finish my wip and submit it.It is getting getter, depsite my head hitting the desk moment on Monday when I realised that I had stretched out a plot point for far too long and had thus disapated the tension and the pacing was off.
An extended period of ripping and writing is currently happening but the book will be better for it.
I do like my new editor as I get light bulb moments, even when I am being a bit dim...

You can enter the Good reads giveaway  here:

As Hattie is now avialable on the M&B website and on Harlequin, (official publication date 2 November), I am running a Goodreads giveaway until 1 November. 5 signed copies are up for  grabs and I think I have managed to put just about every country where I know I have readers on the form...

To Marry A Matchmaker is out in Italian this month. And for once I have my authors copies in a timely fashion. So I am doing a giveaway on Goodreads for a signed copy. It is open to people living in Italy, the US, Australia, Canada and the UK. I figure that there are Italian communities in those countries and someone might like to read it in Italian.

Inghilterra, 1848 - Lady Henrietta Thorndike nasconde la propria solitudine divertendosi a recitare la parte di Cupido, e benché spesso le sue vittime l'accusino di interferire nella loro vita, lei preferisce vedere la propria attività come un modo per aiutare il prossimo. Robert Montemorcy, tuttavia, sa che questo deve finire. La sua giovane protetta, Sophie, è infatti appena sfuggita a una situazione compromettente e l'ultima cosa di cui ha bisogno è di essere coinvolta nei complotti matrimoniali dell'intraprendente gentildonna. Così, per arginare l'esuberanza di Lady Henrietta, le propone una scommessa. Senza immaginare che così facendo rischia di perdere anche il cuore.

You see more about the book here on the Eharmony website. It is also available as an ebook in Italian wherever ebooks are sold.

I am also giving away 5 copies of His Unsuitable viscountess through Goodreads.

My authors copies have just arrived!

The best way for authors to get ahead is to concentrate on their product -- i.e writing the next book and making sure it is the best that it can possibly be. You can't sell anything if your shop window is empty. However, more than ever there is  the siren call of social media. Since I started writing seriously, there  any number of social media platforms -- Facebook, Goodreads, twitter, myspace, blogging have sprung up eharlequin etc.  Now kindle social, a.noblii and google plus, furthermore there are places springing up
The clarion cry goes  up a la the 1849 California Gold Rush, they are bringing up gold nuggets the size of boulders in Red Dog Flats! And the poor romance author wonders if she should be there as well.So also looks at the clock, the deadline she signed in blood and her family and her heart sinks.
Some respected social media people like Kristen Lamb -- say that you don't have to be EVERYWHERE. (Btw her book We Are Not Alone is a very good primer for authors..even if it does need a bit of updating) However, I think the statement needs slight tweaking. An author doesn't need to be everywhere but the ability to contact her does.  An author needs to be contactable by her readers. It is why one of the most important things for an author is her website (yes I know mine needs updating...) It is about allowing readers to contact you using their chosen medium.
So you don't have to everywhere but it is no reason why you can't make use of the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) that is embedded in many things.
For example, when I post this blog to blogger, through the magic of RSS, it also goes out  Facebook, twitter, Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk. Amazon.fr and Good Reads and possibly one or two other ones that I have forgotten. I know that it is part of the British Library Internet preservation programme for example.  The main point of the exercise is to allow people to read my blog using THEIR chosen medium, rather than mine.
I also enable comments and get notifications via the email. I do try to response to all comments wherever they are posted. I really value my readers. I also value the friendships that I have developed through modern technology.
So where can you find me? Hopefully everywhere, but I also use modern technology to be there and be able to write at the same time.
Eharlequin should hopefully get RSS capability soon btw. At the moment, I want to post there I do have to do a cut and paste thing.Time consuming) I love the eharlequin (and the Mills and Boon) boards. They helped to keep me sane when I was unpublished and still maintain that function these days. I enjoy Good reads, particularly its never ending book quiz. Good reads giveaways are brilliant btw. And shelfari's end notes are linked to Amazon so that when a person downloads one of my books via kindle, they can get additional info (some of this is an ongoing project as it is a labour of love)
I do twitter (@MichelleLStyles) and do follow people back as I am interested. I go on FB. I have started sharing music that inspires me on myspace (and no it does not start playing)  I love interacting with people but mainly I try to remember that my job is to write books and that I am in the midst of a multi-book contract where once I deliver those books, they will eventually be in the hands of readers the world over. Therefore I make no apologies for using RSS and other modern linking devices.
So work smarter, not harder but allow the public to find you in whatever social media platform they chose.

First of all, this month I am answering questions on Goodreads about The Viking's Captive Princess, so if anyone is interested, I would be delighted to see you. Otherwise I will continue to answer questions for my own amusement.

Second my daughter had to do a Myer-Briggs personality test yesterday at school for some Enterprise thing. They have been divided into teams of four with each team having one of the personality groups. I have a small problem with this approach as studies have shown that the four groups are not evenly distributed through out the population. Generally you get far more artisans and guardians than you do idealists and rationals. It is the way of the world. Of course, if you are in a specific community, you might find the balance shifted. For example, a community of writers will tend to have more Idealists and a community of engineers will have more Rationalists.
This prompted me to get out the two books I have on Myers-Briggs --Differing Gifts and Please Understand Me II and started to re-read them again.
Using Myer- Briggs can be helpful when looking at conflicts as Myer- Briggs is Jungian based archetypes and therefore ties neatly into the whole Hero's journey structure concept. Because conflict is about the whole personality and discovering flashpoints, even when conflict is simply stated. It is about how world views are coloured.
Anne McAllister is the real expert on this btw. So if anyone is interested, ask her and she might be persuaded to do some thing on her blog.
You can discover more about this personality typing here, and can even have your characters take the free test -- just answer the questions how your characters would.