Sunday, December 14, 2014

Comfort Food Monday: Gluten-free Gingerbread Cookies

Holiday baking became a whole lot harder when I went gluten free six years ago. I've learned a lot since then, thankfully, because I love me some holiday cookies! My kids love cutout cookies especially, but I've had a hard time finding a gingerbread recipe that would hold up to the task.

Cue the music, because I've found one!


It's compact, buttery and holds up super well when rolled and cut. Plus, the finished cookies taste amazing!



The girls had fun decorating them. And I had a blast eating too many. Heh.


Good news! You can use gluten-based flour if you're not on a GF diet! What's that? You want the recipe. Oh... okay, I suppose. 

GLUTEN-FREE GINGERBREAD COOKIE RECIPE

2 cups gluten-free flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tsps ginger
1 egg
1/4 cup butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses or maple syrup (Can use honey if you prefer)

Cream sugar and butter. Add in syrup/molasses. In a separate bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients. Incorporate into the wet ingredients until well blended. Should be thick and cling to the mixer/spoon. Add 1/2 tsp water at a time if needed to increase moisture. Once combined, gather into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm.

To make cut-out cookies, separate firm dough ball into 2 smaller balls. Gently roll out on a surface sprinkled with gluten-free flour. We made our a little thicker because we've had cookies fall apart in the past. Don't roll too thin.

Bake on parchment-covered baking sheets at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. They will be firm on top and slightly soft on the bottom. Let rest on the pan and cool slightly before moving to a rack. For a crispier cookie, bake 15-16 minutes. For a softer cookie, bake 12-15. 

Let cool, then decorate and enjoy! Makes about 2 dozen cookies. Freeze any that you won't use right away.
 

Monday, December 8, 2014

Comfort Food Monday: Gluten-Free Oatmeal and Fruit Bars

Need a little something sweet to make your Monday better. Pop over to the BEHIND THE PAGES tab for the recipe for these little beauties.





Goes great with a cup of coffee and a great book. Hey, I have a couple of contemporary romance books on sale for 99 cents each!

Romance Books 99 Cents!

***Sale*** For a limited time, you can find two of my most popular books on sale for only 0.99 cents each! Hot romance books for under a buck. Including one sexy cowboy and one dominant British doctor.




LINKS:

One Night with a Cowboy: http://amzn.to/1tQU7Bu

The Mistress Experiment:  http://amzn.to/1I9dCPr

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Self-Publishing Report, Week One



Self-Publishing Reality: WEEK ONE

I promised that I’d track my self-publishing progress and share it. Why? Because I love when others do the same, and are honest about their results.

Some facts about the book:

It’s contemporary romance with erotic elements. A hot market, reportedly. 
It’s 90,000 words, emotional and features a dominant male lead.
I has been professionally edited and has a professionally made cover.
It went through 14 beta readers (yes, 14) before it went to copyediting.
I had a promo budget.
I had a cover reveal.
I had a release-day blast.
I gave away 85 copies of the book between the 2 weeks leading up to release day, and two days after.
My street team, blogging group and writer’s group all worked hard to pimp me out and spread the word. 
I hosted a Facebook release day party.

Week One Results:


  • I sold 24 preorders.

  • To date, I’ve sold 92 copies, including preorders. 86 copies were in the US and 7 in the UK.

  • I’ve sold one copy yesterday and none so far today.

  • Royalty profit: $172.00 and some change.
  • Out of the 85 copies I gave away, I've received 13 reviews.

My investment was relatively small considering my editor and cover designer are part of my writing group:

Editing plus a promo package was $475.00
Facebook ads: $150
Outside advertising: $50
Swag: $255.00
As you can see, I’m nowhere near making back my investment. Not. Even. Close.

The hard reality:

I’m not even a midlist author, so my chances of having a hit based on reader anticipation alone was non-existent. Small authors like me, truthfully, rely on getting our books into the hands of people who will read them and then talk about them. 

Word of mouth is EVERYTHING for selling a book and getting some numbers (and profit) behind it. Sadly, I tend to write the kind of books that people love in the moment, but promptly forget. While some do, the majority of my readers don’t talk about my books to others or recommend them on book clubs and reader groups. How do I know this? Simply, my sales don’t reflect it. As well, I’m involved in many, many of the same groups my reader and fan base are a part of, and I don’t find my name mentioned very often. 

This is something I need to work on—to start writing books that they might rave about and shout from the rooftops. Until that happens, though, I’ll keep plucking along.

Let’s see what next week brings, shall we?















B&N: http://bit.ly/1rrNCTz