Laura short bio
Born in Rome, Italy, I am Italian and now live in Sitges near Barcelona, Spain. I am also the author of 30+ books in the very particular and unique genre of Erotic Romance with an Edge. I have been traveling the globe since age five and have no intention of quitting. After having been an avid reader all my life, I decided at age forty to write my own stories, and they had to be about sex, given the way it affects human and social relationships, inevitably changing them despite our beliefs to the contrary. After all, sex is the foundation of our society, the root of many prejudices and the basis of its dual nature. But sometimes, individuals can’t relate to these conventions, so I analyze and challenge them, indicating alternative lifestyles that people could pursue.
I write both in Italian and English, mostly fiction of various genres, from dark fantasy erotica to mysteries up to everyday ordinary life stories. Among others, they include the Virtus Saga books, all eight of them, not to mention the Soulmate and ReScue Series, along with several horror novels and a few historical ones, too. eXtasy Books is one of my premier publishers specializing in erotic literature. If you’ve never read anything of mine and would now care for a taste, you can download all my novels’ first chapters in PDF by clicking on the “Read First Chapter” icon in my books’ web pages or download the short story I’m Coming.
Everywhere you go on the web these days, you will see beautiful images and graphics. Particularly on social media. Graphics are great because they catch the attention of anyone looking at your FB, Twitter, Google+ and other social media pages. I particularly love this trend because it makes sharing my book that much easier. The old saying, “a picture speaks a thousand words” is very true and you as an author can use this to your advantage.
Many authors think that you have to be a Photoshop guru to make beautiful images and graphics but it’s just not true! Photoshop is expensive and has a huge learning curve making many authors give up before they’ve started. However, there are several free online resources. And even someone who has never created a graphic before can use to create graphics and images just like the pros!
Here are five free online resources that you can use to create beautiful images and graphics to be used on social media, your blog or anywhere else on the web you can think of! Want to get your reader’s and follower’s attention, used images and graphics!
Where to Start Congrats! You’ve finished your collection of short stories, novel, novella, or any other manuscript musings! You’ve decided to self-publish since you’re just starting out and you know you don’t have the resources for a top-of-the-line graphic designer. So where do you go? What kind of skills are you looking for? Where do you find a great graphic designer at an affordable budget? Luckily, in today’s world there are tons of reputable websites with excellent freelancers who do superb work on time and on budget.
One of the first things you should consider as a writer is what kind of design you’re looking for. What does your book say with pixels? Many designers find it frustrating when their customer asks them to come up with several different designs and claim, “I’ll know it when I see it.” You want to work with your designer on an established idea. It takes quite a lot of time and effort for them to come up with various different ideas from your thousands-of-words book. Do yourself and them a favor and think up a general (or even better specific) idea of what you want before you contact a graphic designer.
Contrary to what many newbie authors think, all authors even ones on the New York Times Bestseller list get bad reviews. Just because you have a bestselling book doesn’t mean that there aren’t going to be others who think your book is well not that great. One of the keys to being a successful author who keeps their readers is in how you handle bad reviews.
Here are five tips for handling bad reviews of your book. As far as I’m concerned, these are iron clad and authors disregard them at their own risk.
1. Wait a day before you respond in any way to a bad review. It’s very easy in the heat of the moment to fire off a super negatively charged e-mail to a reviewer who doesn’t like your book, and saying something you will regret in the morning. Don’t do it, step away from the computer now. Many a newbie author has ruined their writing career and alienated readers by writing a scathing e-mail to a reviewer.
2. Take several deep breaths, in and out, in and out. It will calm your upset and all you to think clearly before responding.
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Everywhere you go on the web these days, you will see beautiful images and graphics. Particularly on social media. Graphics are great because they catch the attention of anyone looking at your FB, Twitter, Google+ and other social media pages. I particularly love this trend because it makes sharing my book that much easier. The old saying, “a picture speaks a thousand words” is very true and you as an author can use this to your advantage.
