mariamurnane.com

I am not (really) Waverly Bryson! :)

MariaM — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:18:07 +0000

Maria -- not Waverly! Ha ha ha

Last week was the San Francisco launch party for my book– it was a great time! In addition to celebrating with my friends and family, I loved chatting with people (men too!) who had either already read Perfect on Paper and came just to meet me, or who were excited to buy a copy because they’d heard such good things about it. By far the best moment was when a woman bought a book and made the check out to Waverly Bryson. Classic! (That check is now taped to my wall btw.) Then the next day two different fans “tagged” photos of Waverly on Facebook. I love it! I am not Waverly, but then again I must admit we have quite a lot in common…cough cough.

Have a great day!

My book is in USA Today!!

MariaM — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:43:16 +0000

OMG my mom just called to tell me that Perfect on Paper is in USA Today! Click here for the link. It’s an article about the AmazonEncore venture into publishing, and apparently there’s also a photo of the book’s cover in the print edition.

Yahoo!!

How do you say “beer goggles” in German?

MariaM — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 02:10:48 +0000

Hi everyone! A bit of random news in the house that I just had to share: Amazon has sold the rights to publish Perfect on Paper in Germany! I don’t speak a lick of German and have no idea if my sense of humor will translate, but I don’t really care because it’s so exciting regardless! It’s slated for a fall 2011 release over there by Heyne Publishing, which is the German arm of … Random House!

Speaking of release dates, the official one for Perfect on Paper in the USA is Feb. 9, and I’m having launch parties in New York on Feb. 18 and in San Francisco on Feb. 25. If you’d like to attend or have friends in those cities who would, anyone and everyone is welcome! The details are here.

Also – to all you Honeys out there who encouraged me to make the Honey Notes for real, please don’t forget to buy a pack or two! It cost me a pretty penny to make the cards, the Web site, etc., so my dwindling bank account and I would truly be grateful for your business. (It’s amazing how much fun you can have as an author and entrepreneur without actually making any money.) And to those of you who have already bought some Honey Notes, thank you SO much. I sincerely appreciate it!

The site is www.honeynote.com if you’d like to give it another look. Even if you don’t buy a pack, please spread the word to your friends! The fan page for how to do that is here.

Bye for now!

Maria

My most random sale yet!

MariaM — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 21:51:50 +0000

A couple days ago I was up in SF visiting friends and stopped at a Shell station in my old neighborhood to get gas. My car was in the shop, so I was driving my mom’s, which has car seats in the back for the grandkids, a license plate with the word MOM in it, toys all over the floor, the classic Grandmamobile. Just as I was about to pull away this nice guy named Jefrey (yes, with one F) approached me to give me a demo of some special combo car cleaner/wax product. I was in a huge hurry and really didn’t need the cleaner, but I didn’t want to be rude, and he was super friendly. I noticed a few copies of my book sitting on the passenger seat of the car, so I randomly told him I’d swap him a copy of my book for a can of the cleaner. With a smile he agreed, so I signed the book for him, took the wax, and took off in a much better mood than when I’d arrived just moments before.

Jefrey, if you’re out there reading this, your smile is contagious. I doubt you will ever read my book, but if you do, I hope you enjoy it. Happy Near Year!

The Honey Notes from my book are now … real!

MariaM — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:58:09 +0000

Super exciting news! After receiving many many requests from readers to make the “Honey Notes” that appear throughout Perfect on Paper available for sale in real life, I finally decided to do it! It’s been quite a learning experience, but I’ve enjoyed (nearly) ever minute of the past few months as I figured out 1) how to get the cards designed, and 2) how to set up the infrastructure to sell them. Today I am so excited to announce that Waverly’s Honey Shop is officially open for business! Here’s the link:

www.honeynote.com

Please take a look and let me know what you think. I hope you love how the Honey Notes turned out as much as I do!

A fun video on Amazon … of … ME!

MariaM — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:39:54 +0000

Hi everyone! Very cool news – Amazon is now allowing authors to upload amateur video to their individual author pages on Amazon.com, and the powers that be chose ME to create the sample video Amazon is using to promote this cool service! Given the multitude of authors out there, I’m extremely flattered to have been selected as a poster girl for grassroots book marketing. I just hope I don’t look too silly (or shiny) in this fun but very homemade video about Perfect on Paper… yikes.

Click here to take a look!

A little black dress in a winter wonderland!

MariaM — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:11:42 +0000

I just got back to New York after four days of super fun book events in the Washington, DC area. When I arrived it was 60 degrees and sunny, but by the time I left, it was a snowstorm! It was gorgeous, but it was also COLD. It’s been a long time since my Chicago days, so we’ll see how I handle my first East Coast winter … ack.

Anyhow, the trip was amazing, and I met some really cool people while I was there. One of the groups I spoke to is a social club for women called the Little Black Dress Club, and I wanted to blog about it in case anyone reading this is interested in joining an existing group OR starting a chapter. The club’s mission is “to create a worldwide community so as women move or travel there will always be a friend to share an occasion.”

Click here for the LBDC Web site!

ALSO, on my trip I heard an amazing dating story that I just have to share. A woman, who shall remain nameless, signed up for Match.com, and she was soon sent profiles of several potential suitors. One of these possible future husbands turned out to be the CEO of her company, who she knew was a married father of three.

AWESOME.

Bye for now!

How did AmazonEncore choose my book?

MariaM — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:43:26 +0000

That’s a great question, and I honestly don’t know the answer! Yesterday someone sent me a link to a blog post on the topic, so I wanted to share it here. Basically it says that my book (and the other AmazonEncore titles) clearly should have been published in the first place — which is pretty nice to hear. So THANKS to whoever wrote the post!

Click here to read the blog.

Big news from AmazonEncore!

MariaM — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:46:12 +0000

Hi everyone! AmazonEncore officially announced my book today…to be launched with a new cover in February!!

Click here to read it!

Yahoo! Can you believe this is finally happening? I sorta can’t!!

I still have a bunch of “first edition” copies in my living room, so if you’d like to buy any signed copies as holiday gifts (or for yourself), please let me know and we can make arrangements for me to send them to you. I would sincerely be grateful for your business! You can reach me by clicking here. (I have to use a link because if I put my email address on this site I’ll get flooded with spam!)

And speaking of business, exciting news on what I have planned next for Ms. Waverly Bryson is coming soon. Stay tuned…

Bye!!

-Maria

My book is “officially” getting published!!

MariaM — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:17:43 +0000

Hi everyone! Today I am *officially* able to announce that I JUST SIGNED A PUBLISHING CONTRACT FOR PERFECT ON PAPER!!

I am still in shock, but yes, it is true! The book finally landed on the desk of someone who loved it and who also had the power to do something about it, so at last I got THE CALL I’d been dreaming about! The plan is for the book to be released with a new cover in early 2010.

I’ll share the details as I get them (the publisher will be putting a press release together in the next few weeks– yahoo!), but I wanted to let you all know now because this is such an exciting day for me…and for Waverly!!

Thanks for all the encouragement along the way, and please please keep telling your friends about the book! Word of mouth is the only way it will ever take off, so thanks so much for your help!

Btw the book is still available on www.amazon.com right now– so think HOLIDAY GIFT ha ha ha!!

-Maria