The Beauty of a Long Tail

With: Lizbeth Selvig

Congratulations to "Colleen C.", the winner in Lizbeth's giveaway. Thank you to all who participated!

Think of the most beautiful animal you can and chances are it’s one of nature’s elegant or agile creatures with memorable, lush coloring and a luxurious, unforgettable tail:  a leopard, lion, monkey, lemur, panther, or even a strong, brilliant dolphin with its skillful, long-bodied flipper. These animals are not only beautiful and memorable, they are long-lived and at the top of the food chain. In other words, they stand out.

Did you know that books can have long tails, too? In the publishing world, the life of a book weeks and months after its release is known as its tail and the longer it is, the more people remember the story or discover it as a new book long after it first appeared. I.e., it stays at the top of its literary food chain!

Needless to say, authors dream of long tails, and the best publishers, large or small, care deeply about creating a long tail for their books because it affects bottom lines.

One of the most amazing and exciting things about the publishing business today is the way authors can help create long tails for their books all on their own. Between e-books and indie publishing, stories can live for a very long time—much longer than the “olden days” when a book was available for readers only as long as it stayed on the shelf in a book store.

Thanks to online book retailers, readers can easily find an author’s backlist—or most of it—and even an older book is always new to a new reader. It’s positively exciting.

I’m going through all this because, while I’m thrilled with my current series—Seven Brides for SevenCowboys (which features six sisters and their long lost cousin who learn they have inherited their family’s fifty-acre ranch in Wyoming and must figure out a way to save it, or lose it—and I hope you’ll go and discover it!) I’m really excited that my current publisher, Avon, has re-released one of my older books into some retail outlets this month, giving it new life—a longer tail!

The book is “Rescued by a Stranger” and it’s one of my favorite stories from my very first series set in the fictional small town of Kennison Falls, Minnesota. I LOVE this series because it stars my home state, it features my very favorite, unique and quirky secondary characters, and I have never fallen out of love with my four heroes from the four books.

“Rescued by a Stranger” is the story of Chase Carpenter, who winds his way to Minnesota from Memphis and a life and a tragedy he’s trying to escape. When he meets Jill Carpenter he finds a strong, smart, talented veterinary student who has her own life decisions to make. In addition to being a gifted future vet, Jill also has Olympic Equestrian Team potential. But in order to ride in the big time, she’d have to give up her life in Kennison Falls. With Chase there is an age gap, only a short summer for them to be together and, most concerning, a huge secret she knows he’s keeping but can’t get him to divulge. What makes things difficult is the mega-watt attraction between them and, as the summer goes on, Jill’s discovery of more and more reasons to make Chase a huge part of her life and the decision she eventually makes.

In this book, along with Chase and Jill’s chemistry, there’s a crotchety but loveable old farmer, a conniving sister, and a dog who may just be part angel. I love these people and their animals like they were part of my own family.

You don’t have to go to a store to find “Rescued by a Stranger.” You can find it right online in either paperback or e-book, along with the rest of the series. And I’m as excited to tell you about it now as I was when it first released. I would love for you to check it out—give it’s long tail even more length.

And when you do, I invite you to take a look at the rest of the series, too:  “The Rancher and the Rock Star,” “Beauty andthe Brit,” and “Good Guys Wear Black.”  You’ll find that the books follow each other and yet stand alone as well—and some of them are even on sale for a short time.

Giveaway:

So, that’s the beauty of the long tail for authors in a nutshell. To celebrate, I’d love to send one commenter a paperback copy of “Rescued by a Stranger.” Just tell me if there’s any author you’ve discovered from one of his or her backlist books. Whose “long tail” have you helped to create?

I wish you all happy reading—and many new, wonderful reads—even if they aren’t actually new books!

Giveaway ends 11:59pm EST June 30th. Please supply your email in the post. You may use spaces or full text for security. (ex. jsmith at gmail dot com) If you do not wish to supply your email, or have trouble posting, please email maureen@JustContemporaryRomance.com with a subject title of JCR GIVEAWAY to be entered in the current giveaway.