Book Plug Ahead!

I’m baaaaaaack from my most recent Southwestern adventure, the latest chapter of many. Next post, I’ll tell all about my trip. Today, I’m plugging books. Whose books? Full disclosure: Mine! You have been warned. So if you keep reading, don’t be mad that I’m trying to raise awareness of a few tomes that I’m very proud of. Yes, I want you to buy my books. Why shouldn’t I? I worked hard on them and they’re great! And hey, this is my website and my blog and that’s what it’s for!

If you go to my home page, you’ll notice a tab for Fiction. If you click on it you’ll come to a page that says Fiction by Brenda K. Stone, followed by descriptions and links for seven books. Additionally, if you type brendakstone.com into your search bar guess where you’ll end up? Right here! Because I am Brenda K. Stone and Barb Lee! Before I decided to change my website name to iambarblee.com I wrote seven books under the name Brenda K. Stone.

What made me change my name? Frankly, cancer. Even before my diagnosis, I felt like I wanted to write about different subjects, perhaps about something a little more serious than cute girls chasing rock stars around Hollywood, California. At the same time, I never really counted out the possibility that I would one day start writing those books again. Well, guess what?

I’ve been reading my books with fresh eyes, four years or more after they hit the market, and even as I continue to write a much more “serious” book in addition to posts for this blog, I love the books about my rock and roll groupie girls and I’m seriously considering continuing the series!

But here’s the rub: cancer, and the need to save my own life, kind of screwed up my plan to market my books, so they have not sold well. And I think they deserve to be in more hands. Many more hands. Thus, my plug!

I self-published three hefty books about my wild L.A. girls, with a fourth written but not put out there, and a fifth begun. Four additional books from another series called Women Like Us are also in circulation. If you like shorter books or short stories about real women with real problems, these are the books for you. If you want to live a rock and roll fantasy, Girls of Glam Rock will be more your taste. I won’t likely continue the Women Like Us series (let’s face it, there’s only so much time in a day!) but I’m getting the itch to tell the story of my rock girls again.

I’ve made a little deal with myself: if I can get word out there about my books and get some sales, I will start self-publishing again. A deal with a traditional publisher would likely make me even happier, as then I won’t have to do everything myself. I truly believe that my books deserve that kind of attention.

So here’s my request: how about having a look? If you aren’t interested, maybe you know someone who would be? Maybe spread the word around a bit? Writing has been the one constant in my life, through good times and bad. I’ve been telling stories on paper for upward of forty-five years now! My biggest dream has always been to be a successful author. And I’ve decided that living with cancer isn’t going to rain on that dream! If you’re under the impression that I’m that person that one day woke up and said, “Hmm, I think I’ll write and publish a book. Thanks, Amazon!” think again. I wrote my first book early in my teens, and it was a thousand pages long! And I’ve never looked back.

Okay, I’m done with my plug. Thanks for hearing me out!