Completing a Project has Never Felt Better!!

A year came and went and I managed to FINISH MY EDITING!  The feeling of accomplishment is overwhelming, really.  Writing for pleasure is one thing, but rewriting is another.

After completing what I thought was my last edit, I was informed that re-outlining the text would be necessary.  Boy, was it ever!  Once I was able to walk away from the book and revisit it with the intention of outlining it, the gaping holes were so blatant.  I had no idea there were so many gaps in the flow and that certain items would require additional explanation.  Outlining it allowed me to really focus on the content and not just the flow of the words.  I saw areas where huge improvements were required.  It was a little embarrassing at first too.  I had put something out into the world that was not at its best.  But now?!  Woohoo!  I know the quality is much better and I can sell with confidence.      

I am positive the text is not perfect and there will always be room for improvement, but getting it to this most recent stage simply feels divine!  I am once again really proud of myself and happy to see a project to its completion.  If you are in a slump or know a project is simply sitting there waiting to get done, I can only recommend you start today!

CC

Order 

The Proposal to Ever After: A Guide to Marriage and Community Property Laws in Louisiana by Camille Carter

today!! 


http://amzn.com/B008A0UVPG

Ok, I don't think Facebook is a good marketing tool. Here is my experience...

I can honestly say I have been an addict of Facebook since I first started it in 2005.  But that has been because it revolves around my personal life.  My friends, my connections, my likes.  In regards to a professional use, I am not sure it is working for me.  Here is why.

The Facebook page was my original focus.  I figured it would be the brain of my marketing.  Type in the search engine: boom, you have all the Louisiana bridal shops in the area.  Need contact information: boom, check the About section.  Want to create an ad: boom, click here, input Visa card number and: boom, you have an ad.  Yeah, not quite.

Now, before I rip it, let me give it some props.  I did discover a Louisiana Bride blogger who reviewed my book.  We both communicated with great ease over their messaging service.  It was nice to reach out and touch someone who is just as obsessed with their Facebook accounts as I am.  That worked out awesomely and I am indebted to her for her completely unbiased review.

But...I wasn't looking for a Louisiana Bride blog, I was seeking Louisiana Bridal shops, magazines, retail locations.  The search engine on Facebook pulled up little.  Facebook search is no Google search.  Facebook only pulls what we put into it.  If you don't know it is New Orleans Louisiana Bride, then it doesn't pull it up.

When you do know the retail store's name you are looking for, it can be great.  There is the store, there are their hours.  But what about reaching out and touching them?  If I send them a message, will they read it?  Well, as obsessed Facebook fans know, you can tell when someone has viewed a message.  Not one of the messages I sent over Facebook to a retail location was read.  That tells me something too: are these companies really using their Facebook accounts or is their Facebook page like their abandoned 2007 website.  Who knows?

My other issue with Facebook was developing an online ad.  I really thought it would be an ideal ad location because you can narrow your field to exactly who you are looking for: women, Louisiana, over 18, family, etc. - Whatever terms you seek, you can get it pretty close because of the algorithms they developed.  But then, you get to the actual order time and it gets really complicated.  Do I want to pay per click?  Or do I want to pay indefinitely?  WTF?!  Indefinitely?  No.  Per click - how many clicks?   What am I signing up for?  The ambiguity of it all was frightening.  I never did it.  Plus, I heard this:

"GM Says Facebook Ads Don't Work, Pulls $10 Million Account" 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmuller/2012/05/15/gm-says-facebook-ads-dont-work-pulls-10-million-account/

If GM isn't seeing it as a successful avenue, why should I?

And what about my Twitter account?  Oh, please.  That is my own personal abandoned site.  That is the most collasol waste of internet space.  Granted, I think it occasionally grabs a follower, which is great, but I am pretty sure the follower is following me because they want me to follow their page.  I probably should check it more and be more interactive on it, but Twitter bores me.  I do not get it.

So, for today, I have visited the retail locations actual websites and emailed them a communication.  I am curious if I will receive any replies.  All of these shots in the dark will be helpful though when I decide to finally invest in actually SNAIL MAILING these individuals.  It may be the only way I can get through though.  We shall see...

CC


http://www.amazon.com/Proposal-Ever-After-Louisiana-ebook/dp/B008A0UVPG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370471596&sr=8-1&keywords=from+the+proposal+to+ever+after

A BOOK REVIEW!!! Someone actually read my book and then wrote about it...

Oh, the joy!  An actual person READ my book.  Not only did they read it, they took the time to REVIEW it.  Here is how it all went down...

I had been feeling uninspired about the marketing aspect of self-publishing life.  It is just, like, work.  So, I decided to get out of my comfort zone and look into Louisiana bride Facebook pages.  I was going this direction because I know there are bridal shows in New Orleans, but I could not figure out how to get to additional information on the event.  

As I was typing key words into Facebook's search engine, I came across an adorable, pastel-ly, chevron lined blog called Louisiana Bride.  The blog is adorable (I recommend you visit it: www.louisianabrideblog.com) and she is a very regular poster all things like love, life, food, etc.  After poking around her posts, I thought I would go out on a limb and see if she would be interested in knowing more about my book and perhaps even reviewing it for her blog.  

Shockingly, she accepted!  I quickly zipped her a copy from CreateSpace and only had to wait.  A couple of weeks later, boom!  I had a review.  Here is what she had to say:

MONDAY, APRIL 8, 2013

FROM THE PROPOSAL TO EVER AFTER :: BOOK REVIEW

I was recently sent a copy of Camille Carter's book From the Proposal to Ever After A Louisiana Woman's Guide to Marriage and Community Property Laws to review and share. All opinions are my own, I was not paid, but I was given a copy for the book for free. 

Have you ever thought about marriage law? Who's legally in charge of the money in the event of your husband's death, or even yours? What happens to property you owned before you were married? Does your spouse have rights to your inheritance?

Those questions and many more were answered by Camille in her new book From the Proposal to Ever After. As a woman we happily marry without ever thinking twice about marriage law. No one ever gets married with plans to divorce, but in the event it ever were to happen you would need to know a little about the state laws.

Not only were divorce laws covered, but Camille also hit on a topic we've discussed on many occasions...death. I've thought for some time about getting a living will together and now more than ever I think we definitely need to. In case you didn't know, Louisiana works under community property laws, I was actually surprised at what all was included in community property law. Something I found very interesting was that in the event your husband were to die that 50/50 law of Louisiana's doesn't immediately deem you the now 100% owner of everything the two of you owned. Nope. his half doesn't go to you but your children, if you have no kids then it goes to his parents. Next it trickles down to his siblings, their kids...and eventually landing at cousins. I think that was the most eye opening thing I learned, while it was very good to know the marriage law, the way things pan out in death was most interesting to me.

I could turn that into a big soap box though.

I really loved this book, it was well written, & Camille did a great job at putting legal terms into words we can all understand better. I learned so much about Louisiana marriage law from this book, and plan to take what I've learned and implement it into our plans for each other, if that makes sense. While divorce isn't in our planned future, many other things that fall into Louisiana marriage law will come upon us at one time or another.

I highly recommend this book to any woman or even man who live in Louisiana or were married here. If you are about to marry you should definitely read, it never hurts to know what the law has to say and how it will affect you in different circumstances.

To learn more about From the Proposal to Ever After check out the following links ::

You can purchase Camille Carter's book From the Proposal to Ever After on Amazon for $9.99 in paperback or for Kindle. If you have a Nook you can order here.

You can also find Camille on Twitter, Facebook,  or at her blog.

Click here to view the actual post!

I do believe this is a small step for From the Proposal to Ever After and a giant leap for Camille.  I could not be happier :)  

CC