Hail, Britannia! To the Land of Rowling and Burns

Barely 48 hours until we lift off from Los Angeles Int'l en route to London-Heathrow. I am mostly packed already, and am antsy to get going! When you plan a big trip early on, and there's nothing left to do, you can't help but wonder what you've forgotten...

A huge highlight for me will be seeing the Phantom of the Opera on the London stage! 21 years it's been playing! I've seen it twice here in L.A. and own the movie, and cannot wait to see it again. (Haven't seen the Las Vegas version yet, but will eventually.)

Apropos that young Harry will debut his latest tome as we are still winging our way East. Good luck to all the fans partaking of midnight book release parties!

More later...

~Anne

Will the Real Harry Potter please stand...

Last fall I wrote a short story as the result of a contest held by Echelon Press for its readers. When it debuted, I was immersed in the edits for POINT SURRENDER and didn't give the story, or rather the marketing of the story, as much effort as I should have.

WHEN HARRY MET SOLI is the story of Harry Wilson, a seven-year-old boy whose recent loss of his mother has pitched him into a fantasy world filled with muggles, wizards and flying broomsticks. Yes, Harry believes he is that Harry, the quidditch-playing, wand-wielding boy wizard of Gryffindor House fame. His newly reintroduced biological father is lost when it comes to steering the boy back to reality; he can barely handle a grilled cheese sandwich on his own. Yet a chance meeting with children's fantasy author Soliza just might produce a ticket home from Hogwart's for Trey Wilson and his young would-be warlock.

A quick and entertaining read, WHEN HARRY MET SOLI is the perfect interim reading matter while waiting for THE DEATHLY HALLOWS to release - still more than a week away!

You can pick up WHEN HARRY MET SOLI in multi-formats at Fictionwise, along with all books by Anne Carter. You will enjoy it -- I guarantee!

Girls on the Beach

Anyone remember the Beach Boys singing about those girls? Next month, Echelon author Dana Taylor and I will be those girls! Well, not actually *on* the beach... and we don't exactly have long blonde hair... or surf boards. Hmm. But we are smart, and funny, and authors with something to say (and sell), participating in the Second Annual Ventura Book Festival being put on by the Literary Arts Society of Ventura County (California) and hosted by the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ventura.

I am really looking forward to meeting the talented and enthusiastic Ms. Taylor. She has just come off of an extensive run as an intenet radio talk show host, has written a couple of great books, shorts, audio books--well let's just say she's a powerhouse. Dana will be negotiating freeways from south of Los Angeles all the way up to Ventura to join me, and I'm delighted. We are planning some surprises for readers so hope the weather is stunning and bright, and the attendees are ready for fun!

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If you're around So Cal on August 25, 2007, do stop by 5654 Ralston Street in Ventura and say hello. We'll be hanging out from 10 am to 5 pm, handing out goodies, signing books, and just having a bless day.

See you soon!

~Anne

Where Have You Been, Billy Boy, Billy Boy

Six months without a post. Just sitting on Blogger's servers, dormant, silent...passwordless. Yes, it's true. I somehow got tangled up in the move to Google log in and I was lost. Now, Found!

I've been so busy, I doubt I'd have had much time to post anyway. POINT SURRENDER has kept me hopping, or rather, the marketing of said book. Booksignings, promotional materials, conferences, advertising, creating a web presence. It's all good. But very, very time consuming.

MySpace is a lot of fun, not sure yet it will return anything like the hours I've contributed to keeping it active. Lesser, Bebo.com and Authors Den. My own website is like a dinosaur to update, but I've gotten pretty good at it. Contests have been running, author spotlights, interviews on romance sites.

Still, sales are not what I'd hoped. There is tremendous, stupendous competition for book-buying dollars. I've come to realize that even if all efforts were equal, high-profile, high-concept books catch the eye best. Just like movies.

POINT SURRENDER is a mystery, with a love story. A romance, with a mystery. It is whatever I think will sell it at the moment. It is not Harry Potter or James Bond, it does not speculate about Mary Magdalene or the secret of life. It does entertain and is fully worth its $12.99 price tag. It has an attractive, not blockbuster, cover, and a connection to the romanticism of lighthouses. And it has me, and Karen, promoting it.

I recently followed a thread on the Sisters In Crime list where it was stated, with some confidence, that the majority of librarians won't even consider books that have not been reviewed by Kirkus, PW, Booklist or some other high-ranking review source. This was very disheartening as any author knows of the remoteness of obtaining such reviews. Newspapers are virtually non-existant now, as far as reviews go.

But we continue to try. Aside from my dream of selling through my print run, my bigger dream is to entertain people with my stories. Knowing that there are readers out there, right now, with POINT SURRENDER on their nightstands brings me back up a notch. Isn't that what it's all about?