Gina Rae Mitchell

My Dearest Miss Fairfax by Jeanette Watts | Giveaway, Excerpt, and Guest Post

A book blog tour from Goddess Fish Promotions.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Marianne & Judy at Goddess Fish for providing me with the information for this tour.

Book Details

My Dearest Miss Fairfax by Jeanette Watts
Published by Independent on 03/14/2022
Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction
Format: eBook, Paperback
Pages: 322

While Miss Emma Woodhouse is occupied with matchmaking among the residents of Highbury, Miss Jane Fairfax has much more serious problems.

A secret engagement is one of the most unforgivable of sins in Surry, England in 1814. But Jane couldn't resist Frank Churchill's charms and agreed to wait for him while he persuaded the rich aunt who controls his life to allow their marriage.

Days stretched into weeks, weeks into months. The lovers are able to visit through the coincidence of Jane's grandmother living in the same town as Frank's father. But the necessary permission proves to be elusive. Meanwhile, their secret becomes harder and harder to conceal.

Can their love survive the social pressures that threaten to tear them apart?

 

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

Excerpt from My Dearest Miss Fairfax

When it seemed the conversation could not possibly get any worse, Aunt Bates then brought up the apples. Jane could not blame Mr. Knightley too much for his rude response, “What is the matter now?”

She thought about banging her forehead against the keys when Aunt Bates brought up the fact that William Larkins had told them everything he was not supposed to about Mr. Knightley’s generosity in sending all the rest of his store. She pictured putting her things in a valise and running away to Scotland with Mr. Churchill that very night, rather than spend another day in this town with her gossiping aunt, the gossiping servant, and the very rude Mr. Knightley. She was actually grateful to him for his rudeness on this occasion; he simply rode away while her aunt was still talking, before matters could get any worse.

The idea of everyone in the room noticing that Mr. Knightley was being inordinately attentive was too awful. She did not mean to be quite so sharp, but she could not completely control her tongue when her aunt came back in the room, obviously planning on repeating the entire conversation. “Yes!” She simply could not bear hearing it all again. “We heard his kind offers. We heard everything.”

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

Purchase Links for My Dearest Miss Fairfax

Amazon – OneLink for every country   

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

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

I love my Amazon Kindle Unlimited Subscription. So many books, so little time!

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

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

Guest Post from the Author

Beware of Vultures!

In between the glamorous days of good reviews or book signings, there are days that I think, you have to be kind of naive to want to be a writer.

I know some writers start out with this fantasy that “I’m going to tell my story and change the world!” Or think that as soon as the book is printed, the world will come flocking to read what you have to say. I’ve heard and seen all sorts of variations on that expectation. I’ve seen writers at book festivals who packed up early on Saturday, and didn’t even come back on Sunday, because they didn’t sell all their books. I think the expression is “managing expectations?” The one thing I did know going in was that it’s a lot of work. When I was a teenager a friend sent a short story of mine to Marion Zimmer Bradley, who sent me a nice letter warning me that it’s not a way to make a living. So I was forewarned.

You’ve got to appreciate the eagerness of writers. We have something to say important enough to put down on paper. And then, it’s time to get it out there, right? I’ve seen writers go to print without ever having anyone edit/proofread/glance at the copy, and every page is covered in so many typographical and grammatical errors, my hands are itching to find a red pen. I had a friend give me his book to look over, and I had to explain to him that “End of scene. Lights come up on four men, sitting in screening room. Enter director.” is not how novels are written. (True story!) There’s a difference between a screenplay and a novel. He got really mad when I told him that. I tried to be nice about it. Either I failed, or he was really thick. Or both.

It’s difficult enough to get that first manuscript finished. It’s an internal battle, the author against the world filled with distractions getting in between writer and those amazing words, “The End.”

But that’s only when the real battle begins.

There’s a funny little bit part in the classic movie, Casablanca; a pickpocket who warns the travelers who come to Rick’s, “Be careful. There are vultures everywhere. Vultures, vultures, vultures.”

The publishing industry is FULL of vultures. Entire companies (or, maybe it’s one person posing as a company) prey upon all the fledgling authors looking for advice; “Okay, I’ve got this book, my precious baby. But…. now what?”

Imagine a new author, stack of double-spaced pages clutched to the chest, navigating the waters like Eliza crossing the ice. I’m sure there’s some better, more hellish imagery of zombies’ hands in some horror movie, but I don’t watch horror movies. (Yes, I really just said that being an author is like being in a horror movie.) The author has something precious that everyone wants!

And no, it’s not the book.

It’s all the money that people are going to try to get out of the author.

Plenty of lucky people manage to get published by a traditional publisher. But, that doesn’t mean you’ve got someone backing you, who does all the legwork and sets up your speaking engagements. Nope. They take 70 to 80 percent of the revenue, but it’s up to you to do the work to get your name and face in front of possible readers. That’s why established authors are leaving in droves and publishing independently.

Yay, the artistic freedom of independence! Not as much fun as it sounds. Every aspect of production is the author’s responsibility. What’s a little money? Nothing’s too good for that precious baby, right? So you’re going to need the PROFESSIONAL editors. Just watch. EVERYONE is talking about how you have to have a PROFESSIONAL editor. If your book is 70,000 words, let’s say, that will cost about $5,000 to have a professional edit it. Then you need cover art! Because, that thing about you can’t judge a book by it’s cover? Wrong. Everyone is making purchasing decisions based on the cover. You can’t just do your own cover art! So there’s another $500 – $5,000. (I got lucky, I have editor friends, and I’m married to a graphic artist. So, my cover art is as expensive as it gets!)(That’s a joke about marriage, not a brag. Just so we’re clear.)

There is a huge industry to help you “realize your dream” and to talk you out of a ton of money…and now, finally, you have a book. An actual, physical book you can hold in your hands. Expensive, but worth the magic of holding it in your hands for the first time!

Aaaaaand, now you get to face the real shysters!

How do you get your book into people’s hands? How can they find you? The biggest seller of books on the planet does not have a store front. My first novel, Wealth and Privilege, ranks #4,477,231 in all the books sold on Amazon. That’s just my ranking… which is only sort of a hint on how many books there are on Amazon! Amazon controls how many people see your book among the suggested sales, and Amazon deletes the reviews of any of your friends from Facebook who might leave a good review. (DO NOT accept the friend requests of readers who admire your work and want to follow you on Facebook. It’s a good way to go from over 100 reviews to 44.)

The answer? Marketing! So, more shysters preying upon writers, looking for your money. For $5,000 you can hire a really cheap, do-it-yourself marketing company to teach you how to game the system and work the Amazon algorithm with book launches, and re-launches. $2,000 can buy you a publicist who writes and sends press releases, nothing more. And that’s when you can find someone to take your money… so many publicists have all the work they can handle.

Meanwhile, another book marketing company says what you really need is a book trailer, and they can produce one for you – for a price. And ALL of them recommend that you be sure to come to their writers’ convention. It’s $6,000, but you will NEVER make it as a writer unless you “invest in yourself.”

You know what I’ve NEVER seen in all the cacophony of sales pitches for parting an artist who writes from his/her/their money? A total price tag. Call me a cynic, but now that I have navigated my way through so many sales pitches, when I see publicity for the “debut novel” of a “breakout author,” I have my doubts: is the author actually talented, or did that author simply shell out $50,000 up front?

I’m not trying to discourage anyone from following their dream of writing a book. Like Marion Zimmer Bradley warned me when I was a teenager, go into this with your eyes open. It’s not going to be easy.

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

Amazon – OneLink for every country   

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

Giveaway!

Jeanette Watts will be awarding a crazy quilt tea cosy to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Visit more stops on this Goddess Fish tour for extra chances to win!

Official Tour Page

Full Tour Schedule:

April 25: Hope. Dreams. Life… Love
April 26: Christine Young
April 27: Candrel’s Crafts, Cooks, and Characters
April 28: All the Ups and Downs
April 29: The Key Of Love
May 2: Travel the Ages
May 3: Words of Wisdom from The Scarf Princess
May 4: Gina Rae Mitchell
May 5: Maggie Blackbird
May 6: Joanne Guidoccio
May 9: Lisa’s Reading
May 10: Westveil Publishing
May 11: Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews
May 12: Gold Dust Editing & Book Reviews
May 13: Long and Short Reviews

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

Shared on:

Twitter

Pinterest

Instagram

If you would like to review books for Goddess Fish Promotions, please click the link below:

Goddess Fish Virtual Book Tour Host