Welcome to Lila Munro

Please welcome today's Friday Friend, Lila Munro.  Lila is a writer of contemporary romance currently residing on the coast of North Carolina. She is a military wife and takes much of her inspiration for her heroes from the marines she’s lived around for the past fourteen years. Coining the term realmantica, she strives to produce quality romance in a realistic setting. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading everything she can get her hands on, trips to the museum and aquarium, taking field research trips, and soaking up the sun on the nearby beaches.

Her works include The Executive Officer’s Wife, Bound By Trust, All I Want for Christmas is Redemption, Destiny’s Fire, A Slower Lower Love, Salvation, Force Recon: Beacon Bayou, and Identity Crisis. Currently she’s working on sequels to several series to be released throughout 2010-2011.

Ms. Munro always works as the Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Rebel Ink Press. She loves to hear from her readers and can be contacted via her website http://lilamunro.weebly.com/, her joint effort website http://www.wickedmuses.blogspot.com/ or through Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/Lila_Munro. You can also contact her via email at lilasromance@gmail.com.
For more information about Rebel Ink Press please visit their website at http://www.rebelinkpress.com/

You Are Cordially Invited…

I remember when I first started out in this crazy publishing game several months back, as I’ve mentioned several times, resources and help was scarce. However, I was told I should garner some guest slots on other writer’s blogs to promote myself. Aaa-kay! I was stumped. Not only was I a forty-one year old recent empty nester with few techie skills—I hadn’t a clue who the other writers were, what a blog was, how to blog, or how to go about getting one of these apparently coveted guest slots. Who was I supposed to ask? What was I supposed to write? How did I ask? What did I include in my material? Why did I have to do this? Where was the help?!

After melting down and regrouping I sent out an SOS to a couple of friends—“Umm, ‘scuse me (don’t forget I’m from the south), just what the hell am I doing? And how do I do it?” I remember getting an answer to how do you get those guest spots—“Well, you ask for them.” Aaa-kay! **SIGH** I wasn’t much better off, but I was determined to figure it out. So, I googled romance blogs. Several thousand entries popped up. **Tears** Alright, I told myself, simplify this—you’re not stupid, you can figure it out. So, I started with my friends list at Facebook. I watched the newsfeed a while and every so many minutes an announcement would pop up where someone was “guesting.” Hmph! Imagine that. I clicked a few and found a few reputable blog spots, clicked around the joints and found the contacts and ventured out to try my hand at garnering a guest slot. I think some of the first places I went were Tamela Quijas, Knight Series Magazine and Margie Church—they welcomed me with open arms. Later when I started putting out for reviews—often times my reviewer would ask me if I would like to post a blog along with my review—oh that was easy. **Whew**

Today I’m going to share with the newbies in the crowd a sample email I use to ask for a guest slot. First however, let me hand out a few pieces of advice. When asking for the slot, your email should look professional, it should include who you are and what you want—not what you expect to be done for you, and always say thank you. And the biggest piece of advice I have, DO NOT STAND UP YOUR HOST! The second biggest is don’t make your “in” look bad. I’ve had the sad displeasure of helping people get blog spots on my word that they would show only to have them skip out. This kind of behavior not only makes you look unprofessional, it taints the person that tried to help you as well as embarrasses them. Someone has given you a slot of time devoted to you, for you, about you—they could have just as easily given it to someone else. One of the rudest things you can do is no-show.

So, for those of you who may be lost and wondering how to approach a blog host for a slot here’s an example of how I go about it:

Date:
Dear *****:
My name is ***** and I’m a (genre) romance writer. I’m looking for places to promote myself and my work and I would like to be a guest on your blog. I’ve checked it out and it looks to be a good match for me. I would like to appear (fill in a time frame). If you have any slots available during that time period please let me know and let me know what you’d like to see, or if you’d like to interview me that would be great as well. I can be reached at (your website and email address). Thanks in advance and I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
John Q. Writer

Very clean, very simple, to the point. And you remembered to say thanks—that is very important. Which reminds me—Thank you very much, Paula for hosting me today.

Now, I’d like to share a little bit of my latest contemporary romance, A Slower Lower Love available through Rebel Ink Press.

Blurb:

When running isn’t the answer,

Cait O’Kelley loved Bryce Delaney with all of her heart. But loving him scared the hell out of her. Cait didn’t want to settle for being married to a cop and having his children. She wanted more. Unfortunately, more came with a price. After leaving her small home town for a more glamorous life and working her way up the corporate ladder, a whirlwind affair with the boss’s son tears Cait's world apart. On the brink of losing everything she’s worked for, she has to make a decision.

and going back seems impossible,

After eight years of living without her, Bryce finds himself tasked with the job of watching over Cait during her weeklong stay at her parent’s beach house in Bethany. She’s come there to sort out her life and while she’s contemplating her future, Bryce and Cait discover the fireworks are still there. But can they ever go back to where they once were? As his secrets begin to surface, Bryce sees only one way to save her. He disappears without a trace leaving Cait behind to pick up the pieces and deal with a whole host of new problems that she can neither explain away or hide.

can you find middle ground?

With Bryce out of the picture, his brother, Kurt, finds what he’s dreamed of for a lifetime handed to him on a silver platter. After watching Cait and Bryce toy with each other for fifteen years, once Bryce disappears, Kurt eagerly steps up to the plate. But is he strong enough to ground Cait and keep her from making yet another mistake? And which brother will win her heart and show her that a slower lower love is enough?

Please enjoy a sample:

Cait squirmed around on her towel trying to root out a lump under her right shoulder and let out a loud sigh when she felt another shadow fall across her. Damn that kid! She shot up fully ready to march him off and leave him with his absent parents, wherever that was. But when she looked up, instead of a four foot tall tow headed boy, a six foot tall dark haired man stood over her in blue board shorts with a matching towel slung over very muscular shoulders. The sun wasn’t at its midday point yet and fell behind him shadowing his features, but Cait could plainly see that he was stacked to the nines. He sported chiseled biceps, his abs looked like a washboard, and every visible inch of his smooth skin was bronzed.

“Is this seat taken?” That voice. She couldn’t see him, but Cait would recognize that voice anywhere, even though the years had deepened it to a low, sexy pitch.

“What are you doing here?” she snapped.

“The same thing you are, Cait. Trying to relax. Do you mind if I join you?” He started to spread his towel.

“Yes, I mind. And no, you may not. Possession is ninth tenths of the law. I’ve been on this piece of sand since dawn. Therefore, in this case, the law is on my side.” She plopped back down and crossed her arms over her ample breasts. “Now go away, Bryce, my life is complicated enough as it is.”

“The law, huh? In case your mother hasn’t informed you, I’m a cop now. Your whole law thing doesn’t hold water with me. Have you forgotten our house sits just a few yards from yours? We co-own this stretch.” He continued to spread his towel and sink into the sand next to her.

“Fine, suit yourself. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that we’re here at the same time. Our mothers probably made sure of that, didn’t they? I’ll try not to bother you.” She turned on her stomach and pointed her head in the opposite direction so she wouldn’t have to look at the fine example of a man Bryce Delaney had become. Her heart had done a familiar flip-flop at hearing him say her name and that really made her mad. That was the problem with Bryce. He made Cait feel things she had no business feeling.

She hadn’t seen or talked to him since she’d left. In fact, the last time they were together was right here on Bethany Beach. One last night of fiery passion before she’d slipped out of bed before the sun rose, jumped in her cherry red Mustang convertible, and headed for the state line as fast as she could. She didn’t tell him how she felt. She didn’t say good-bye. She didn’t even leave a note. Her own family hadn't even known where she’d gone until the next day.

Cait and Bryce hadn’t wanted the same things. He wanted to settle down into a boring routine and have her stay home and raise kids. She wanted a career and adventure. Loving him only served to complicate things. Unable to see how they'd ever be able to compromise, she’d taken the coward’s way out. It seemed that things hadn’t changed much since then. She was still a coward.

In Cait’s absence, her mother diligently insisted on keeping Cait abreast of everything that was going on with Bryce in spite of Cait constantly telling her mom she didn’t want to know. Mom made it a point to include his failed attempts at relationships. In fact, it seemed that those were her favorite things to tell Cait. Their mothers had been best friends since high school and nothing went on with either of their children that wasn’t common knowledge between the two older women. Given such, there was no telling what Bryce knew about her. In fact, if she had to guess, the two moms probably joined forces and bribed Bryce into coming down here to try to reconcile with her. Or even worse, try to get her to move back. Well, Cait hated to be the one to ruin their plans, but it wasn’t going to work. Bryce was the last person Cait wanted to talk to.

You can purchase A Slower Lower Love at:
http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-slowerlowerlove-506546-148.html

Thank you so much for visiting us today, Lila, and for your very useful advice.  We wish you continued success with your writing career.