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Guest Blogger-Valerie's Two Cents about What Matters

Writer's picture: Rose RiversRose Rivers

Hello there my lovelies! I know its been a minute, and for that I'm sorry. All I can say is, life…am I right? Anyway, this week we're hosting returning guest blogger Valerie Taylor! But thanks to Valerie, because she is about to take you into the the world of what it means to be an indie author, and remind you to focus on What REALLY Matters.


About Valerie:

Born in Stamford, CT, Valerie Taylor is the author of four award-winning novels. Her most recent is a cozy mystery, A Whale of a Murder: A Venus Bixby Mystery, which was published in the spring of 2024. Previously, she penned a romantic comedy trilogy: What’s Not Said, What’s Not True, and What’s Not Lost. Today, she lives in Shelton, CT. Besides writing, she enjoys practicing tai chi and being an expert sports spectator.


You can find her on her website:



On social media:

Twitter: @ValerieEMTaylor

Instagram: ValerieETaylor


And her books are available on Amazon:

What's Not Said:   https://amzn.to/354izun

What's Not True:   https://amzn.to/3sDrGNj

Thanks for reading my lovelies! I hope you enjoy Valerie’s story and I'll be back next week!


XOXO

-Rose Rayne Rivers

 

Author: Valerie Taylor

Title: Valerie’s Two Cents about What Matters

 

Ever since I was a young girl in elementary school, I believed in my heart and soul that there was a book brewing inside of me. Why I waited until I retired in 2016 to bring that dream alive is beyond me. But that I ultimately wrote and published not one, but four, novels over the last seven years is what truly matters, doesn’t it?

 

Frankly, what I learned in the process of achieving my goal was that writing a compelling story was only part of what would be expected of me as an author.

 

I’m not talking about the production process that includes editing and proofreading or the distribution process that includes publicity and marketing. Looking back to when I started on this journey in 2017, I imagine I expected to be involved in all of those activities on some level.

 

Nor am I talking about having to create the pages that bookend the central manuscript, a.k.a., front and back matter. If you’re not familiar with those terms, grab any book on your bookshelf and follow along. Those first pages that contain the book’s title, all the legalese (such as copyright and publisher’s name), and the dedication are called front matter. Now flip to the end of the story. The pages that follow, such as the acknowledgements and the author’s biography are called back matter.

 

In addition to writing tens of thousands of words, authors are expected to provide some or all of the front matter (depending on who is publishing the book) and all of the back matter. While none of that is incredibly time consuming, it’s just one more thing that needs to be done often at a time when an author would prefer to be writing the next book.

 

And here as a debut author, when I handed off my novel, including the front and back matter to She Writes Press, I thought I could give myself a high five. My work was completed.

 

Not so much.

 

In short order, I discovered the word content as it relates to being an author. Content as in written matter. Couple that with the term, reader magnet.

 

Conventional wisdom in the industry recommends authors, who perhaps have already spent years crafting a masterpiece, crank out small pieces of “content” that can be delivered to readers. That could include character sketches, deeper setting descriptions, backstory or sub-plots not included for one reason or another. Just anything that could entice (i.e., attract like a magnet) a reader to willingly providetheir email address … so that we could deliver more content that we’d have to create and/or update!

 

Think website, newsletters, social media posts, and yes, blog posts. As you might expect, there is a plethora of professional resources ready and willing to assist authors create whatever content is desired. For a fee, of course. And then there are authors like me, who stubbornly do most of it myself. Perhaps it shows!!

 

Other examples of content reside within a book’s back matter. Typically, historical novelists include resource and reference notes. Some authors provide book club discussion questions. Cozy mysteries often add recipes at the end.

 

Because being a little different matters to me, I compiled a playlist for each of my four novels in the hope of adding value to the experience of reading my books. The songs are often oldies that connect in some way to the story. And most of the songs are easily recognizable. A few readers have told me they enjoy listening to the playlist as they read the story.

 

Since the protagonist in A Whale of a Murder: A Venus Bixby Mystery owns a combination oldies music store and cookie bakery,along with the 32-song playlist, I included more than a dozen recipes (mostly cookies). What makes the recipes uber special is that none of them are mine! They all were submitted by readers!

 

Sometimes I’m asked, “Why do you write?” Some authors write to educate, or to provide an opinion or to persuade. Others write to elevate a cultural or human condition. I write because I have to. It’s in my DNA. My purpose is to entertain. To bring readers into the story with quirky characters whose dialogue is relatable. Where the situation is twisty and the setting imaginable. In so doing, I hope there’ll be a smile or a chuckle that motivates each reader to keep turning the page or swiping their device.

 

What all that means is this: Put aside the front and back matter, the website, the newsletters, and all that jazz. Bottom line, the story itself is the main attraction. Without the story, there’d be no readers. And for me, delighting readers is what matters most.



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