City of Illusions by Judith Works Book Tour, Giveaway and Guest Post

City of Illusions

by Judith Works

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BLURB:

A yearning for change puts Laura on the road to Rome but her marital problems, muted in cool Seattle, become magnified in the glare of the Roman sun. Will she find happiness in the Eternal City or are her dreams only an illusion?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

A yearning for change puts Laura on the road to Rome but her marital problems, muted in cool Seattle, become magnified in the glare of the Roman sun. Will she find happiness in the Eternal City or are her dreams only an illusion?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GUEST POST:

 

3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, & Sissy, Too!  would like to thank author Judith Works for sharing her thought with us today.

Have e-books helped or hurt authors?

I think the question of whether or not the advent of e-books helps or hurts authors depends on the author and his or her goals in publishing. It is true that many e-books have low prices and are sometimes even free. I personally have difficulties with the concept that authors should regularly give their work away – not typically something musicians or visual artists do. But my first book, Coins in the Fountain, is self- published electronic and the second, City of Illusions, is both electronic and paperback because that is what the market demands, and my publisher’s business model meets that demand.

If the author does not have a publisher and wants to build an audience, jumping on the electronic bandwagon is an ideal place to start. A book can be put on the Internet quickly although this is very risky for those who don’t stop to think that publishing is now a very competitive industry and readers will give bad reviews if it the book is not well produced. Those authors who get an editor, a professionally designed cover, a proofreader and someone to format are far more likely to garner good reviews and sales than someone who simply puts it “out there.” I know authors who have been forced to withdraw books because they were filled with errors.

Of course, one advantage of an e-book is corrections can easily be made. There is another benefit to e-books for new authors: Even though bookstores and libraries generally do not carry self-published books a new author has a chance to become known by self-publishing an e-book.

For more seasoned authors, e-books are a mixed blessing but the fact that many people only read electronically must be acknowledged. The only time I read e-books is when I travel because of the weight and space requirements of soft or hard cover books. Otherwise, I find it more satisfying to hold an old-fashioned book than a cold device, and I want to support bookstores which are disappearing at an alarming rate.

I do not know of any studies that show that big-name authors have lost money because of the electronic sales of their books. If their goal is to become more widely read and discussed e-books have surely helped because it is now so easy to find a book, order and begin reading in a few minutes.

For authors in the middle, i.e. those who have a few books out and are not published by the big five, I think that e-books are a benefit because it is unlikely that potential readers would have ever heard of them and their work if they had not been trolling on Amazon or other site and see the remark “readers who bought this item also bought…” And now there is a sale with one click! Sales, even at a low price do eventually add up to a modest income if an author is good at marketing.

If this were a perfect world for many authors their books would be selling well in hard copy or paperback and the profits would be rolling in. But, whatever one wishes, it is a fact that e-books now comprise an enormous portion of the market and that is not likely to change. And authors are not likely to make much money.

 

Excerpt

When Laura received the e-mail she knew it was time to confess.

Two months earlier when she was bored with editing a technical manual sent to her by one of her clients, she took a break to check out blogs by women who appeared to have more interesting lives than hers. She came across a site recounting the adventures of an American family who lived in Rome. The latest post told about their invitation by the owners of a small country inn near Siena for a dinner to celebrate the grape harvest. After rhapsodizing about the setting, the food, and the wine, the writer ended her story with: “We’re so in love with this part of Tuscany we actually bought an old farmhouse to fix up to use on weekends.”

Laura looked at her souvenir coffee mug with the London Tube map, a relic of the high school graduation present from her aunt. The long-ago trip had planted a seed of restlessness. Now, as her marriage became ever-more routine, the germ had begun to grow, to push, sprout and slowly turn into visions of a more interesting life somewhere away from Seattle. To find a life with possibilities. And to distract from the unpleasant incident a few months ago. Better to get as far away from the memory as possible.

When Laura received the e-mail she knew it was time to confess.

Two months earlier when she was bored with editing a technical manual sent to her by one of her clients, she took a break to check out blogs by women who appeared to have more interesting lives than hers. She came across a site recounting the adventures of an American family who lived in Rome. The latest post told about their invitation by the owners of a small country inn near Siena for a dinner to celebrate the grape harvest. After rhapsodizing about the setting, the food, and the wine, the writer ended her story with: “We’re so in love with this part of Tuscany we actually bought an old farmhouse to fix up to use on weekends.”

Laura looked at her souvenir coffee mug with the London Tube map, a relic of the high school graduation present from her aunt. The long-ago trip had planted a seed of restlessness. Now, as her marriage became ever-more routine, the germ had begun to grow, to push, sprout and slowly turn into visions of a more interesting life somewhere away from Seattle. To find a life with possibilities. And to distract from the unpleasant incident a few months ago. Better to get as far away from the memory as possible.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Life was routine until the author decided to get a law degree. Then a chance meeting led her to run away to the Circus (Maximus) – actually to the United Nations office next door – where she worked as an attorney in the HR department and entered the world of expat life in Rome. The ten years of happy and sometimes fraught experiences are the subject of her memoir, Coins in the Fountain. She continues to travel, having visited over 100 countries in between many journeys to Italy where she always tosses a coin in the Trevi Fountain to ensure a return to Rome. Judith and her husband now live near Seattle where she is working on her second novel.

www.facebook.com/judithworksauthor

Coins in the Fountain

Background:

Judith has a BS in Psychology, M Public Administration, JD from Lewis & Clark School of Law. She has spent most of her career in Human Resources administration. Judith is a member of Northwest Women Writers, past President of Edmonds Friends of the Library, board member for Edmonds Center of the Arts, vice-president EPIC Group Writers, and a member of PNWA and Willamette Writers.

Links to purchase City of Illusions:

bit.ly/COI-Amazon

bit.ly/COI-BarnesN

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