Tag Archives: Ann Narcisian Videan

Coffee CommuniTea: GypsyCup, Gilbert, AZ

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It breaks my heart to inform you that GypsyCup permanently closed in Dec. 2022. This was a go-to oasis of peace for me and I will sorely miss it.
—Ann Videan

Today’s Cup o’ Tea
GypsyCup
offering coffee/tea, cocktails, and tapas

Perks (what I really like!)

GypsyCup is one of my new favorite stops for tea and social interaction.

• The barista/servers are well trained, friendly, and especially polite! This is one of the best reasons to visit, for sure.

• The Art Deco-inspired decor! You’ll find the environs pleasing to the eye, welcoming, and comfortable. The website describes it as “a little slice of Europe.”

• The unusual tapas choices are definitely worth tasting! And every tea and coffee drink I’ve tried is delicious. My hubby found his favorite chai latte here.

• A lovely outdoor patio with plenty of seating. Also, mostly shaded with nice trees and foliage, especially important in the Phoenix area!

Share a Cuppa (stories about the owner, building, history, name)

My daughter discovered GypsyCup when it resided inside a day spa in Scottsdale, AZ. She especially liked the cool specials the owner Linsay Smith dreamed up.

Soon after it closed, the GypsyCup Instagram account announced a relocation to downtown Gilbert. The wait for the coffee shops regeneration was absolutely worth it! Linsay created a charming atmosphere and complemented it with excellent food and service.

Those awesome specials have carried forward too. We just recently tried the seasonal Apple Cider Chai. YUM!

Plus, the food cases and shelves in the shop are loaded with interesting, unusual fare. (Keep reading to learn more about those…)

What’s Brewing (coffee, tea, food)

• Coffee and teas
• Croissants (ham and cheese is to die for!)
• Pastries
• Desserts
• Craft beers
• Wines
• Healthy and unique snack items
• Even little gift items, some geared for children

Percolation Factor (the activity/environment/energy/service)

Mostly, I see patrons gathering to chat and socialize. Seats are often filled with patrons using their laptops, though the number of plugs is limited.

I honestly can’t add anything else here not already mentioned. Did I mention “charming,” “excellent service,” and “delicious unusual food?” And the shady patio?

The Grind (what I would change)

More seating inside, perhaps? Sometimes it’s hard to find a spot to sit (especially in the summer when the patio is not as popular).

The Grounds (location)

GypsyCup is easy to find, one block west of Gilbert Road, and one block north of the Gilbert Water Tower landmark.

50 W Vaughn, Suite 107
Gilbert, Arizona

Tea Times (hours)

M-Th: 7 a.m.–8 p.m.
F & Sa: 7 a.m.–10 p.m.
Su: 7 a.m.–5 p.m.

Yelp rating: 4.5 stars from 56 reviews

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I love connecting people and ideas, so I’ve been creating small villages my entire life. Really, what better places can writers and musicians find to create “village” than independent coffee/tea shops? I wrote most of my Rhythms & Muse novel and Delfaerune Rhapsody series-in-progress in coffee/tea venues, so I found it natural to create this blog. Whether you came here to find a new favorite hangout, or suggest a spot not yet posted, may you find Coffee CommuniTea exactly to your taste!

How to Entice Readers to Create a Book Review—ALWAYS

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At the October 13, 2022, Alliance for Literary Writers, Authors & Yabbering Scribes (ALWAYS) meeting, our established authors reviewed ways to encourage readers to write a book review on Amazon or other social media.

Our roundtable also led us down a primrose path of many other valuable tips, listed after the review bullets, all of which you can consider as plants to nurture in your book-marketing garden.

Book review gathering tips

  • Right after your book launches, ask friends and family to read it and write a review. Ask any of your beta readers for reviews as well.
  • Amazon will throw out any reviews from folks they feel are connected to the author in any way—editor, relative, illustrator, +—so those close to you may want to use a different/specific email address under which to write reviews.
  • Since your launch team receives the book early, on the day of your launch ask them to order the book or download the ebook, and write a review. The proof of purchase pretty much guarantees Amazon will print the review.
  • Give potential reviewers permission to write only one or two lines about what they thought about the read. A review does not need to recap the plot, sound brilliant, or be lengthy! All you need is a sincere reaction stated in one or two sentences.
    You can even give potential reviewers a few bullet points you’d like them to cover, or provide existing review examples.
  • Away from Amazon reviews, you could coordinate your contacts to post comments, one-at-a-time, about your book in your Facebook, LinkedIn, or other online groups. This is also a great way to gain followers!
  • You could offer a free book, or something related to the book—trivia, top-10 list, character art—in exchange for a review. Or pay a fee to feature your e-book, free for one day, on Freebooksy.com. You can also schedule an ebook promo on the well-respected The Fussy Librarian site.

How about some promotional ideas?

  • Create a video to share part of your book. Let the video speak for the book, no need to push the title in the video, you can add it to hashtags or comments. Hire a professional to read/voice your words so it’s more credible.
  • Use Canva to create videos, covers, memes, and other graphics for online sue. It sizes pictures and keeps resolutions intact.
  • Book Brush, similar to Canva, but specifically geared to authors.
  • Don’t be afraid to pay for ads to promote you book. It’s all about awareness! The following sites allow you to submit/offer your book for free, others provide promotional options.
    Note: most are geared toward ebooks.

    Sites to consider:

• BookTalk (advertising)

• ItsWriteNow.com

• BookFunnel.com does promos for around $100/ year.

• BookBub (well respected)

• Choosy Bookworm

• One Hundred Free Books (OHFB)

• eReader Girl

• Mega Book Deals

• eBook Bargains Today

• Your New Book

• Free Booksy

• Books Children Read is a great site for readers to purchase children’s books. The site also loves to promote children’s book authors too. And look whose book was featured in the blue promotional bar when I visited the site! Congrats, Hayley Rose!

• Also, if you need help with all the action items in marketing your book(s), Trello comes highly recommended.

Here’s hoping these resources give you amazing results with your book review requests and marketing efforts!

If you have additional ideas and resources, please add them in the comments below.

………..

Write on!
Ann Narcisian Videan, Book Shepherd
Write • Edit • Publish

P.S. Learn more about my novels on my Amazon Author Central page.

Find me elsewhere online.

Author Newsletter/Social Media Topics to Entice Readers

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At the 8/11/22, Alliance for Literary Writers, Authors & Yabbering Scribes (ALWAYS) gathering, our established authors brainstormed an inspired list of topics for author newsletters and social media posts.

Photo by Michael Burrows on Pexels.com

If you have any to add, please comment below!

Compelling topic ideas to entice readers to follow you and your books:

  • Record milestones both for you personally, and for your books
  • Share resources, like writing sites online, Wikimedia Commons for free photos, or Canva’s design tools +
  • Interview your character
  • Share recipes
  • Post book excerpts
  • Give tips/Top 10 lists on your book theme, or based on research +
  • Create trivia questions
  • Reveal your character or cover, perhaps a part at a time to make several posts
  • Connect your book to timely events/ideas: holidays, history, national day celebrations +
  • Show your process behind the scenes: successes and foibles, storyboarding +
  • Share puns
  • Give away swag items based on the book: sticker, bookplate, character art +
  • Further describe your fictional world: qualities of magical gemstones, cultural details about clothing, religion, etc.
  • Announce merchandising items: character art on cups, posters, actual jewelry described in the book +
  • Create memes based on character quotes with an image (like the ones on Brainy Quote)
  • Contrast fantasy vs. reality
  • Describe book genres and subcategories
  • Ask “What are you reading?” and other questions readers can respond to
  • Ask for reader feedback on artwork and titles
  • Discuss themes
  • Reveal timing of releases
  • Create how-to videos re: something in your book
  • Explain how to write a review

Practical ideas for creating your posts:

  • Plan and schedule posts once a week or month
  • Always ask questions to involve readers
  • Create original photos and art in square format so it can be used on any social media platform

What else, authors?

………..

Write on!
Ann Narcisian Videan, Book Shepherd
Write • Edit • Publish

P.S. Learn more about my novels on my Amazon Author Central page.

Find me elsewhere online.

Where in the world is Ann Videan?

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Here are links to find Ann online…

 Videan Unlimited Web site  (You are here! This will take you to my home page.)

Amazon Author Page (Author Central) 

LinkedIn page 

Facebook page 

Twitter: WordsMusicTribe

SlideShare: seminar presentations

Alliance for Literary Writers, Authors & Yabbering Scribes (ALWAYS) Facebook group

Our Words, Music, and Village community

Featured

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Looking for details on faerie portals and Faeries’ Tales?
Visit our Absolutely Wild! web page.

The Latest…
(updated 5/3/2023)

The next roundtable gathering of the Alliance for Literary Writers, Authors, & Yabbering Scribes (ALWAYS) writers’ collective, will take place at: 11:30 a.m., Thurs., June 8, 2023, at Mimi’s restaurant in Chandler, AZ. Our established authors will meet in-person to discuss writing topics and support one another.

Avatar for Book Shepherd Ann Narcisian Videan

Come on in!
     I’m so glad you’ve found our little online community! Here, we share ideas to create and market better writing, music, and “village.”
     Throw in a few “Coffee CommuniTea” coffee and tea-shop reviews, and we’re golden, right? What better places for writing, enjoying music, and creating community?
     Our goal is to generate success together, using fresh tactics to get the ‘verse buzzing about cool creative endeavors. Come in and join us…
—Ann

………..

Write on!
Ann Narcisian Videan, Book Shepherd
Write • Edit • Publish

P.S. Learn more about my novels on my Amazon Author Central page.

Find me elsewhere online.

 

Ann Videan’s Phoenix-area writing events this spring:

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Ann with her books at the Tempe Public Library

You may benefit from these writing events…

Alliance for Literary Writers, Authors, and Yabbering Scribes (ALWAYS)

Meet in-person with the ALWAYS writers’ tribe of established authors to discuss writing and support one another. In March, we’re talking about the structure of the ALWAYS group and how to better interact with and support one another. I hope you can join us! (We meet the second Thursday of each month in Gilbert, except for the first Thursday of each quarter when we meet in Phoenix.)
Romeo’s Euro Cafe, downtown Gilbert, AZ
11:30 a.m., Thurs., March 14, 2019

My Words Jump Off The Page!
[A presentation at the Society of Southwestern Authors—Valley of the Sun Chapter.]

Authors, learn a handful of writing and editing techniques to help you discover ways to build visual imagery and emotion, and subconsciously compel readers into your story. I’ll share my thirty years of marketing experience to show you how to make your story “jump off the page” for readers and publishers. In this two-hour hands-on session, explore:

  • The edits I make most often as an editor
  •  What to look for when hiring an editor
  • Leveraging the scene question to develop a compelling plot line
  • Writing with active voice, and deep point-of-view
  • More effective editing tips using MS Word

Tempe Public Library
2:30–4:40 p.m., Sunday, April 28, 2019

Write on!
Ann Narcisian Videan, Book Shepherd
Write • Edit • Publish • Word-of-mouth strategy

P.S. Learn more about my novels on my Amazon Author Central page.

 

Women Entrepreneurs Conference and Book, Wow!

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Living Brave… Women in Business book debuts at conference

I attended a women’s conference Sat., Oct. 27, 2018, in Scottsdale, Ariz., that made my mind explode! The “Voices of Success” conference, forged around Hilda Villaverde and Mary Beth Stern’s new book Living Brave… Women in Business, took all 200 of us in the audience to another level in many ways. So much so, the authors received a standing ovation at the end of the day. How often have you seen that?

Highlights

  • Emcee Devita Lewis did an outstanding job keeping everyone interested and laughing, and the program moving briskly. Plus, she performs an amazing hula.
  • FABRIC and Labelhorde Founder Angela Johnson introduced us to twelve Arizona designers in an inspiring fashion show. One of the designers was twelve years old, others used fabric remnants to create envy-worthy multi-patterned garments, and all were uniquely innovative. (How I wish I’d taken photos…)
  • From the moist breads and muffins at morning break, through the  healthy fare at lunch, to the crunchy homemade potato chips and nuts in the afternoon… the food was delicious and healthy.
  • The selected women, whose stories also appear in the book, who shared their stories on stage These included the indomitable Disability Wisdom Consulting Founder Arielle Silverman; and speaker/consultant/coach Silver Rose, who shared steps for Socratic delegation.
  • Not to mention the other, nearly 50, women’s business success stories detailed in the book, which each attendee received at the conclusion of the day. Brilliant!
  • Arielle Silverman, founder, Disability Wisdom Consulting
  • Emcee Devita Lewis, with CoAct Commercial and iAloha Radio
  • Co-authors Hilda Villaverde and Mary Beth Stern with Devita
You, too, can benefit from the voices of these successful women. I highly encourage you to visit Amazon and invest in the book Living Brave… Women in Business, which I was honored to “shepherd” for Hilda and Mary Beth. Read it and reap. If you find it as inspiring and motivating as I did, please consider writing a short Amazon review. What other successful women’s books/stories/events can you recommend?
Write on! Ann Narcisian Videan, Book Shepherd Write • Edit • Publish • Word-of-mouth strategy

Super, short-writing secrets re: magazine publishing

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Alliance for Literary Writers, Authors & Yabbering Scribes (ALWAYS)

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My first foray into short story writing involves writing Faeries’ Tales to accompany hand-sculpted faerie portals. I  can see my tales published in sci-fi/fantasy publications such as Faerie Magazine. Where can you see your short pieces published?

Established writers, would you like to see your short stories, essays, poems, or articles published in magazines? Windy Lynn Harris, founder of Market Coaching for Creative Writers, will give us tips on how to make it happen. At our next gathering, ask her how to categorize your work, write a stand-out letter, format your MS and find hundreds of editors looking for writers like you.

Next gathering:
Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016
11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.
(ALWAYS typically meets on the second Thursday of the month.)

Where:
Old Spaghetti Factory
1418 N. Central Ave.
Phoenix, AZ

Cost:
A writing tip, and your own lunch.

RSVP:
PLEASE show the consideration of reserving your spot at the table by:
• RSVPing through the “Join” link on our Facebook Event page
or
• Contacting Ann Videan, avidean@videanunlimited.com

If you’ve RSVP’d, please show up. If you run into a conflict, please let me know before the event so I can make the necessary adjustments for the group meeting. Cheers!
…………………………………………………………….

ABOUT ALWAYS

Are you an established writer who:
• Needs contacts to help your writing?
• Wants advice about your writing?
• Likes to hang with other cool writers?

If so, our tribe – the Alliance for Literary Writers, Authors & Yabbering Scribes (ALWAYS) – is the place for you. We’re an informal group of established writers looking for camaraderie, ideas, enlightenment and connection with writers, especially in the Phoenix metro area, to talk about our craft and businesses.

Any established writer can connect with us online through our ALWAYS Facebook page, get listed in our directory of writers on our ALWAYS LinkedIn page, or you can meet with us in person at a lunch meeting. We’d love to have any experienced writer join us at our next meeting … anyone who spends a significant part of his/her week writing, and wants to rub elbows with other writers.

Key editing secrets to write a compelling story: Tempe library workshop

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Ann Videan

Here I am presenting last time at the Tempe Public Library… same topic, but I’ve added a few tips.

As an editor, I consistently fix a handful of writing issues as I read through manuscripts.

As a writer, if you knew about these issues, you could avoid them before your editor even reached for a red pen. You could create a much more vibrant manuscript to submit to a potential publisher… one that compels your reader deep into your story or message.

Allow me to give you the inside scoop at a free workshop, #2 in my series of four writing presentations: “Key Editing Secrets To Write A Compelling Story.”

Sat., Sept. 17, 2016
10 a.m.–12 p.m.

Tempe Public Library
Meeting Room A

Can’t wait to see you there!

 

 

Need a beta reader? Here’s a proven resource from Oz.

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Beta readers are especially valuable for for indie authors, as they provide input on story line, content, and characters—often during a book’s drafting process. My brilliant author friend Karen Mueller Bryson shared information about such a service: Hot Tree Editing. Founders of the ten-year-old Queensland, Australia-based firm pride themselves on “approachable, friendly and cost-effective editing service.”

Critique image

A beta reader will provide comments like these (in red) from a critique partner on my Beat of the Pakiri manuscript-in-progress.

 

Hot Tree offers a relatively inexpensive pre-edit beta reading, for approximately $35 per avid, BA-degreed, and experienced reader. You’ll receive an annotated script and a Hot Tree Editing beta report covering character and plot development, discrepancies, and overall readability.

They charge for other literary services, too, like proofreading and line and content edits, but offer their “post-edit beta reading service for FREE, alongside a line and content edit.” The beta readers’ payment includes the read of your manuscript, your gratitude, and some small recognition.

The service is available upon request only, so plan extra time in your schedule to take advantage of it. Learn more by contacting Hot Tree email.

…………………..

Write on!
Ann Narcisian Videan
Write • Edit • Indie publishing • Word-of-mouth
Check out my Book Shepherding sessions.
avidean@videanunlimited.com