Guest Post - Sunny Benson - January Exposure

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Genre – Mystery

Rating – PG13

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10 Things You Didn’t Know About Sunny Benson
I’ve always loved science. As a kid I asked for a robot, a microscope, and a chemistry set for Christmas. I also requested a frog dissection kit, but never received it. I don’t think my mom thought I’d actually use it, which is funny, because as a little kid she dissected a dead mouse she found to ‘see what was inside’.

I became a lacto-ovo-vegetarian thirteen years ago after seeing an episode of cops that featured the officers busting a cock fighting ring and finding live, injured chickens discarded in a covered trash can.

I have three bachelor’s degrees in biology, chemistry, and computer science and a master’s degree in IT.

I was a high school science teacher before my current occupation as a computer scientist.

There is an old family story regarding my name. One Sunday after church, my family went for brunch at Perkins, a huge treat for us since we didn’t often eat out very often. I was six years old, and my little sister Tracy was four. When the waiter took my order, I ordered my eggs sunny side up. So of course, applying kid logic, when it was her turn to order, Tracy asked for her eggs Tracy side up.

When I donned my new fledged wings of adulthood, I procured a tattoo of a Sun, because of my name.

I was born in Fargo and lived there for the first few weeks of my life, but actually grew up across the border in Fargo’s twin city Moorhead. Go Spuds!

I attended Space Camp as a teenager and won the “Right Stuff” award.

I’ve been an insomniac since I was a teenager. The only time in my adult life that I’ve slept well was during my pregnancy with my son.

I have double jointed elbows. So do my mom, my two sisters, and at least one of my daughters.

The Orange Moon Affair by AFN Clarke

The Orange Moon Affair - by the bestselling author of CONTACT - is the first book of a compelling new thriller series, an action-packed conspiracy with a hero and heroine you hold your breath for. If you enjoy the action of Robert Ludlum, the intensity of Brad Thor and the international intrigue of Daniel Silva, then this book’s for you!

Ex-British Special Forces soldier Thomas Gunn is drawn back into his old life of international intrigue and danger following the murder of his billionaire father. The deeper he digs the more complicated the puzzle becomes until he finds himself working for MI5 uncovering a global conspiracy that puts the freedom of the western world at grave risk. His girlfriend Julie becomes his accomplice surprising him with her loyalty, strength of character and physical prowess.

While traversing the globe being shot at, shot down and losing loved ones – a haunting question tears at his soul – was his father really at the heart of this evil conspiracy? Or was he a pawn in a larger more insidious game that even he could not control?

Seeking the final answer could cost Thomas dearly, ripping from him all that he most loves and cherishes and leaving him questioning his past, his future and what kind of person he is or wants to become. The final outcome depends on him. Or does it?

As a former Captain of Britain’s elite Parachute Regiment and son of an MI6 operative the author brings his own unique and eye-opening experiences to the character and exploits of Thomas Gunn, as well as an unsettling blurring of the lines between fiction and reality when exploring the ruthless abuse of power and position for personal gain.

“… The Orange Moon Affair is timely, eye-opening, fast-paced … you will find you want to turn the next page, and the next page, and the next … the first of the Thomas Gunn series … you don’t want to miss them!” 5 Stars, Remy Benoit.

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Genre – Thriller

Rating – PG13

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Website http://www.afnclarke.com/

Are Mentors Important? by AFN Clarke

My first book Contact took two years to finally be accepted for publication. Two years and seventeen rejections from publishers, not because they didn’t like the book but because they weren’t willing to take the risk on a tell-it-as-it-was soldier’s story about a highly controversial time in history.

Then I received a rejection letter from John Blackwell of Martin Secker & Warburg (an imprint of William Heinemann) with an impressive list of Nobel Prize winners. It was a rejection with a difference though, because John suggested that if I decided to rewrite certain sections of the book, they would be willing to take another look. Taking a week off work, I went to Spain, holed up in a rented apartment and rewrote Contact. That version was accepted and the book became an instant best seller.

So what has that to do with mentoring? Simply put, John Blackwell along with his colleague Peter Grose became my mentors at a crucial time in my career as an author, steering me gently through the minefield of having a bestselling book, the lunacy of instant fame and myriad interviews that came with its success. But that was only the tip of their contribution to my career.

I was to learn that they had a unique way of relating to authors. A deeply personal relationship where they did not just advise and discuss writing issues, but quietly debated the intricacies of writing and the reasons why people feel the need to write books. They never forced their opinions on me but rather initiated intriguing discussions to open my eyes to a new way of looking at my work and its impact on a reader. Their wealth of experience left me humbled and yet uplifted, eager to continue to write and explore this extraordinary medium.

It’s this kind of mentoring that is crucial to any author and I owe a lot to John and Peter, but all was not in total agreement at the time and I still had a very important lesson to learn about trusting myself as an author and not totally surrendering to my mentors.

After CONTACT was published I wrote the first draft of The Orange Moon Affair, a thriller that involved drug dealing, arms smuggling and financial corruption. The story was set around an American car company in Belfast, and was sourced from actual events surrounding the Delorean Car Company of which I had some personal knowledge and experience.

But to my frustration John rejected the book because he simply didn’t believe the basis of the story. Several months later, Delorean was all over the news for drug smuggling and unimaginable acts of corruption. John apologized, as my story had actually been profoundly prophetic. He wished he had published it ahead of Delorean’s downfall. But publishing after the fact wasn’t an option.

Yet the basic concept stayed with me, and now thirty years later The Orange Moon Affair has a new lease on life. It’s been completely rewritten as the first book in an ongoing series of action-packed thrillers dealing with global conspiracies that pose intense dangers to our world today.

I guess I’m a slow learner, but I’m glad that I finally followed John’s advice that “if you really believe in your work, don’t let anyone stand in your way, even your editor”. When John died in the late 1990s, it was a savage loss, but I think he would be proud of my work to date and would relish the expansion of creative opportunities and the freedom that the move from printed books to eBooks gives authors today. And I hope he’s still willing to give me a gentle nudge in the right direction when I need it.

AFN CLARKE is the son of a British MI6 operative, pilot, sailor, screenwriter, father of four who’s lived all over the world, served in the British Army and recovered from the physical/emotional traumas of war. His bestselling memoir Contact was serialized in a British newspaper and made into an award winning BBCTV film. He’s insatiably curious, loves heated discussions and has a rascally sense of humor. He now writes fiction of various genres – thrillers (The Orange Moon Affair and An Unquiet American); human drama (Dry Tortugas), humor/satire (Dreams from the Death Age; Armageddon), horror (Collisions) with more coming soon. For more information visit http://www.afnclarke.com, connect on Facebook or Twitter (@AFN Clarke).

Guest Post/Feature - Chasing the Lost by Bob Mayer

Synopsis:

NY Times Bestselling Author, former Green Beret and West Point Graduate, Bob Mayer.

“A pulsing technothriller. A nailbiter in the best tradition of adventure fiction.” Publishers Weekly ref Bob Mayer

Horace Chase arrives on Hilton Head Island to pay his last respects at the Intracoastal Waterway where his late mother’s ashes were spread and to inspect the home his mother left him in her will. He’s been recently forced into retirement, his divorce is officially final, and now he’s standing in the middle of the front yard of his ‘new’ house where a tree has crashed right through the center of it.

What could possibly go wrong?

Within six hours of arriving on Hilton Head, Chase is exchanging gunfire with men who’ve kidnapped a young boy and tried to grab the boy’s mother, Sarah Briggs. Soon he’s waist deep in an extortion plot to funnel a hundred million dollars of Superbowl on-line gambling money into an offshore bank account or else the boy dies.

Dave Riley has long retired from the military and living peacefully on sleepy Dafuskie Island off the coast of South Carolina. Sort of. Actually he’s bored, feeling old, and just a bit cranky running his deceased uncle’s small-time bookie operation.

Horace Chase, meet Dave Riley. Riley-Chase.

Chase and Riley assemble a team of misfits and eccentrics as they take on the powerful Russian mob in the lawless tidal lands of the Low Country to get the boy back.

Meet Erin: Chase’s long-ago summer fling, now a veterinarian and not interested in men any more, at least that way. But her suturing skills and her knowledge of the island bring assets the team needs. Especially after Chase’s first visit with the Russian requires a bit of the former.

Meet Gator: an ex-Ranger, iron-pumping, fire-breathing hulk of a redneck, with a soft spot in his heart for Erin, and steroids burning in his muscles to hurt people. As long as Riley and Chase point him in the right direction, the rest of the populace should be all right.

Meet Kono: a Gullah, descendant of the free slaves who fled to the barrier islands in the 19th century and developed their own culture. He nurses his own pain and secrets, but heeds Chase’s call to renew their childhood friendship. Especially when he learns the target is the Russians.

It adds up to a fiery confrontation to rescue the young boy, and settle some old scores.

But Riley and Chase need to remember a basic tenet from their days in covert operations: Nothing is ever as it appears.

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Genre – Thriller

Rating – PG

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*********************************************
Guest Post - A Day in the Life of Bob Mayer
Thanks for having me guest post on your blog. I appreciate the opportunity as my 51st title, The Green Berets: Chasing the Lost is now out and #1 in Men’s Adventure, even though a woman is at the core of the story. Aren’t they always?

A Day in the Life of Bob Mayer

I wake up with my wife and two hairy yellow labs shoved in between us: Cool Gus and Sassy Becca. I can teach labs how to sleep very well. Which actually, isn’t that hard to do. I grab a cup of coffee, go downstairs and turn on the computer. I’d like to say I had the self-discipline to write a thousand words before checking email, but show me someone who really does that, and well, they’re weird.

Let me back up. First I take the dogs outside for their morning ritual (TMI?) and walk up the stone walkway to our mail box, which is a workout by itself, and get the NY Times. My wife will then read the entire paper. I mean the entire paper. She’s a walking font of useless information.

Until I need that information as she’s my “story whisperer”. She can ‘stream’ story to me when I need it. She also always has the remote control when we sit in bed in the evening and watch whatever it is she decides I need to watch. I’m much smarter because of that. For The Green Berets: Chasing The Lost, I had a really cool ending, which had a great twist. I was talking to her about the story one day, and she took that great twist and took it a step from awesome into totally wicked. Readers seem to agree so far from the reviews and emails I’m getting.

Anyway, I then bring up what I wrote the previous day and start there. I always have what I call a story grid; an excel spreadsheet. The first column is chapter #; then start page #; end page #; then location, time and date, and a brief summary of action in a scene. Thus each line is a scene. This is not an outline. It’s a summary of what I’ve written so far because I am terrible with details. I need that sheet to remind me what I wrote. My wife knows she can hide something from me in the fridge simply by putting it behind something else.

I split my time between writing, promotion, and running Cool Gus Publishing. I broke from NY Publishing in 2009, because I looked forward three years and saw the landscape being very different. And it is. I have over fifty titles now, and by publishing them through my own company, I do so much better than I ever did even when I was hitting the NY Times Bestsellers list. We also work with a handful of authors and are looking to sign two or three more (We’re publishing Jennifer Probst’s new series early in 2014) authors who have a following.

I work seven days a week and rarely take time off. I traveled all over the world when I was a Green Beret, so my traveling days are done and I’ve used up all of my adrenaline. I let my characters in my books use the adrenaline. In this book, Chasing the Lost, my hero from my first six Green Beret books, Dave Riley is now retired and living on Dafuskie Island (where Pat Control taught school) and my hero from Chasing the Ghost, Horace Chase, moves into a house on Hilton Head, one I actually lived in for a couple of years. The story has a woman at the center and works on the theme of how far should one be loyal?

It’s a great read, at least that’s what readers have been saying, with a hell of an ending that you won’t see coming, because I didn’t see it coming until my wife gave it to me.

Hope you enjoy and feel free to visit us at CoolGus.com

Guest Post/Book Feature GUARDIANS INC.: THE CYPHER by Julian Rosado

GUARDIANS INC.: THE CYPHER

Synopsis:
A chance reading of a newspaper ad will send 16 year old Thomas Byrne into the world within our world. Following the ad he will find Guardians Incorporated. A seven thousand year old organization charged with protecting the balance between Magic and technology.

Through their guidance technology has kept Magic at bay since the Renaissance, but the balance is shifting and soon all those creatures we’ve driven into myth and legend will come back with a vengeance. To protect the present, Guardians Incorporated needs to know the future and to unlock the future they need a cypher.

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Genre – YA Fantasy / Adventure

Rating – G

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Website http://www.guardiansinc.com/

Guest Post - 10 Tips for Becoming a Better Writer - Julian Rosado
Read a lot, and not only of the genre you write about, expand your horizons by reading other genres.

Keep writing! And when writer’s block hits, and it will. Keep the juice flowing by writing descriptions of everyday objects. I have an essay about my computer mouse somewhere… Just keep writing.

Be humble.

Do the research and do it thoroughly.

Try to go beyond what you wanted to do in the first place.

Don’t overdo it!

Find an editor, no matter how good you are (or think you are) editors are your best friends.

Accept all criticism, yes, even the hateful criticism. Develop a thick skin, but not so thick as to blind you about the constructive criticism.

Trust your editor.

Don’t rush it! It will come, if you’re not satisfied with what you wrote. Erase it and write it again.

In this day and age, writers need to become marketers as well, so research and prepare a marketing plan for when that manuscript is ready.

Review - A Tale of the Other Kind by Leandi Cameron

Synopsis:

Kai Emery likes to be indiscernible; however, his infatuation for his classmate, Sienna Fynn, has made his invisibility status all the more impossible to upkeep. His world spirals out of control when he discovers that he is a shapeshifting were-leopard, and finds himself unable to control his newfound anatomy. An unpredictable vampire enters his life, leading him down a path that soon reveals his destiny, and discloses another world, filled with magic and terrifying darkness. When he finds himself in danger from the god of magic and darkness for disobeying a curse bestowed upon his kind, forbidding him from falling in love with a human, he has to fight for survival, and protect everyone that he loves.

Review: I wish I could say that I fell head over heels in love with this story but I never could quite get into it. The cover and synopsis totally blew me away and "I just knew" I was going to love it but even after I made it through the first quarter nothing was really happening for me. All I could make out was Kai was fighting Sienna's bully of a boyfriend when he caught him abusing her and she told him he should let it alone so he does and it's just a back and forth thing for a big part of the story. It just got a bit frustrating to keep reading where one minute they were supposedly head over heels for one another and then the next pushing one another away.

I did enjoy Kai's character, I thought he was a real sweetie and I can only imagine how he looked in his shifter form but I bet he was beautiful. He was really the only character I had any feelings for other than maybe Astrid who I would have loved to have read more about.

Overall I am giving three stars because the story did have lots of merit towards the end and the cover was beautiful.

About the Author:

Leandi Cameron is an award-winning journalist and assistant editor for the the Boksburg Advertiser, and has now also added the titles "author" and "publisher" on her plaque with the release of her first novel, A Tale of the Other Kind: A Therian Novel. Cameron is from Johannesburg, South Africa, (maiden name Rostoll). At school she wasn't the most popular girl, as she was a victim of bullying, but found comfort in her books, and soon discovered her talent for writing at a tender age.

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Guest Post - After The Ending by Lindsey Pogue and Lindsey Fairleigh

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Genre – Science Fiction

Rating – R

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Finding Your Voice: Writing in First Person (or Third)
by Lindsey Pogue & Lindsey Fairleigh
Deciding which point-of-view to use when writing our first book, After The Ending, was probably one of the most difficult decisions we had to make…and the most time consuming. The POV is so immensely important to a storyline, allowing the readers to get into the characters’ heads and experience the story along with them, or to be omniscient and know things the characters themselves aren’t aware of. We knew that making the wrong decision would have devastated our goal to engross the reader, to make them care about what happened to Dani and Zoe as the young women learned to survive and thrive in their post-apocalyptic world. Although After The Ending is written in first person, it definitely didn’t start out that way, and making the decision to change it was a trying process.

After The Ending has gone through so many different stages that it’s become a completely different project from the one we initially set out to create. While the concept and storyline has essentially remained the same, the format of our work has gone through multiple revisions, transforming the original online blog version into the nearly 500-page book we finally published.

Because our initial idea was to start a blog where our two characters documented their apocalyptic survival experiences solely conveyed through emails, we started off writing in first person…and only in the format of emails between Zoe and Dani. It didn’t take us too long to realize that we were severely limiting the story that Dani and Zoe could tell. As the After The Ending developed, we were unable to convey the depth, dynamics, and true nature of our characters because we only allowed the reader to see them through their silly, realistic, and sometimes melodramatic emails.

Halfway into the storyline, we found ourselves wanting to share our characters in a way the emails wouldn’t allow, so we did a complete overhaul of everything we’d written, combining the emails with third person narration. The revisions not only allowed us to learn more about our characters, but also enable our readers to see beyond their quirky emails–to see Zoe and Dani as they truly are, including their fears, passions, and even their secrets.

As Zoe and Dani’s Abilities–what we call the extraordinary powers that some survivors develop early on in the book–began to develop during the writing process, we wondered if using the first person POV would be a better way to share what our characters were actually feeling and experiencing. We wanted there to be a personal connection between the reader and Dani and Zoe, and we felt that using first person could establish such a connection far more effectively than using third person. However, we also worried that by limiting the POV to first person, we were taking away from the development of the other important characters, somehow making them seem less important or relatable.

Conflicted, we asked fellow authors how they went about deciding which voice was best for their stories, in hopes they could help us make up our minds. As expected, all their advice was the same…what do the characters want? What does your gut tell you? We knew the answer, and it was then that we made the decision to do another huge overhaul and change everything to first person. Because Dani and Zoe are so essential to the story, we wanted them to be as alive as possible–for the readers to be able to connect with them and grow to love or hate the supporting characters as the women do. Since we made the change, we haven’t looked back.

Even though we decided to write the entire series in first person, we’ve come to realize that we don’t have to limit ourselves to Dani and Zoe’s perspectives. There’s still a lot of story left to tell and the two young women are only part of the world of The Ending.

The Angry Woman Suite by Lee Fullbright

2012 DISCOVERY AWARD WINNER, FIRST PLACE, LITERARY FICTION

More from Kirkus Reviews:

“Raised in a crumbling New England mansion by four women with personalities as split as a cracked mirror, young Francis Grayson has an obsessive need to fix them all. There’s his mother, distant and beautiful Magdalene; his disfigured, suffocating Aunt Stella; his odious grandmother; and the bane of his existence, his abusive and delusional Aunt Lothian. For years, Francis plays a tricky game of duck and cover with the women, turning to music to stay sane. He finds a friend and mentor in Aidan Madsen, schoolmaster, local Revolutionary War historian, musician and keeper of the Grayson women’s darkest secrets.

In a skillful move by Fullbright, those secrets are revealed through the viewpoints of three different people–Aidan, Francis and Francis’stepdaughter, Elyse–adding layers of eloquent complexity to a story as powerful as it is troubling. While Francis realizes his dream of forming his own big band in the 1940s, his success is tempered by the inner monster of his childhood, one that roars to life when he marries Elyse’s mother. Elyse becomes her stepfather’s favorite target, and her bitterness becomes entwined with a desire to know the real Francis Grayson. For Aidan’s part, his involvement with the Grayson family only deepens, and secrets carried for a lifetime begin to coalesce as he seeks to enlighten Francis–and subsequently Elyse–of why the events of so many years ago matter now.

The ugliness of deceit, betrayal and resentment permeates the narrative, yet there are shining moments of hope, especially in the relationship between Elyse and her grandfather. Ultimately, as more of the past filters into the present, the question becomes: What is the truth, and whose version of the truth is correct? Fullbright never untangles this conundrum, and it only adds to the richness of this exemplary novel.” Kirkus Reviews

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Genre – Historical / Psychological Mystery

Rating – PG13

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Website http://leefullbright.com/


What Inspired Me To Write The Angry Woman Suite
by Lee Fullbright
I’m a fourth-generation Californian, and from birth we Californians are wired to play in the sun, to live in the moment. But while exploring the state of Pennsylvania some years back, I made an impromptu stop at the Chadds Ford house where George Washington had plotted his infamous Battle of the Brandywine—a battle the Continental Army lost—and in front of that old house something changed inside me.

Not only did I suddenly and passionately want to know everything about something old—what had happened in beautiful Chadds Ford over two hundred years ago—but I had a germ of an idea for a novel about 20th century characters also struggling for autonomy. In fact, I actually knew on that particular day that one of my characters would be a woman looking back on her life, and that her journey to freedom (in her case, freedom from a dysfunctional family) would be interwoven with another character’s similar journey, and analogously with Washington’s fight for freedom at Chadds Ford (keeping in mind that even though that battle was lost, the war was still won, and spectacularly—terrible cliché, but it works).

Doesn’t sound that hard, does it, buckling down to research and a regular writing schedule? Well, I wish I could tell you I slipped smoothly into historical research, but I’d be a big, fat liar saying I slipped smoothly into anything. I struggled to find my way, to find a balance somewhere in-between research, writing, a fulltime job, house, husband, dog, friends, extended family, my workout schedule—and sleep! It wasn’t always pretty. And without sleep I wasn’t much to look at, either.

And then there were those days when I was sure I was a total idiot, even thinking I could pull together a historical suspense story told by different narrators in divergent times— that is, until my husband was diagnosed with a terminal illness—which is where that word analogy comes back into play.

My husband (called DDF) always believed in me. If I said I was going to do something, I don’t think he ever, ever doubted me (if he did, he never let on). He wanted The Angry Woman Suite as much as I did—and so it was DDF who inspired my final push. I was determined to get a completed bound book into his hands before he died.

And it happened just that way. The Angry Woman Suite, a story about losing before winning, and a Discovery Award winner, was in DDF’s hands in March of 2012. He wasn’t able to read by that point, but he turned that book over and over in his hands, and he smiled BIG.

DDF died a month and a half later. The Angry Woman Suite is, of course, dedicated to him.

Guest Post - Maggie Harryman

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Genre – Literary Fiction

Rating – R (Strong language, adult themes)

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How NOT to Write By the Seat of Your Pants

by Maggie Harryman
I’m an avid walker. I have two or three hiking trails I frequent and know exactly how long getting around the lake or up to the top of the reservoir or over the hill will take and just what time I’ll be back to my writing desk (which is actually my bed, but that’s another post for another day). Last month, a dear friend asked me to join her hiking club and I agreed. The first hike covered about five miles of moderate terrain in a state park. Not having been on the hike before I wasn’t sure what to expect but hoped for beauty, tranquility and a quickened pulse. The hike didn’t disappoint. There was just enough variety in the topography to make it challenging without being impossible. I would have thoroughly enjoyed myself if I hadn’t been trying, the entire way, to figure out where we were going and when we were going to reach the end. I just couldn’t relax. Not knowing where I was going was driving me crazy.

I’ve always felt the same way about writing fiction.

I need a road map when I create a story – I guess someone else would call it an outline. Either way, I can’t start until I’ve got some idea of where I’m headed. On my laptop, in a file called, Here Among Us, I have literally hundreds of sub files with names like “Notes on Section One,” “Flashbacks,” “Recurring Themes,” “Plot Points,” “Early Outlines,” and the ever popular, “Stuff I don’t know where to put.”

I created an outline before I ever wrote the first word of HAU (actually the first outline was done by hand on index cards) and in the first weeks and months of writing I turned to it and each subsequent outline frequently for guidance. The cards were my map, my anchor, my security blanket. The remainder of the docs, littered throughout several draft files of the novel (I wrote six drafts in all) represent my panic at various stages during the process. I don’t suffer in silence. When I’m stuck I have to talk myself down off the ledge—tell myself that I know where I’m going, that the end is in some sort of sight. That discussion ends up in a file and eventually, helps me finish. Even if it’s an early draft, finishing it allows me to breath a sigh of relief. Having an outline in the early stages just plain allows me to breathe.

I sound a little neurotic—fine, a lot neurotic—but in my defense let me just say that the final version of Here Among Us is quite different from those early outlines. Which tells me that while I may need the outline to act as a sort of babysitter, watching over me while I take my first steps, I don’t feel the need, once I get going, to follow it to the letter. So I guess for me an outline is a bit of a crutch. And that’s fine. Because writing a novel is hard. More often than not it’s a lonely journey with absolutely no guarantee of success. If the worst thing you ever do is create an outline, then it’s just not that bad.

I’ll do that hike—the one I mentioned earlier—two or three more times before I feel I have the lay of the land. Soon I’ll start to notice things I didn’t see before, a well-worn mountain bike trail that disappears into the brush or a bridle path that’s been recently traversed. Eventually I’ll veer off onto another path, trusting that I won’t get lost, that I’m grounded in the framework of the larger park and that it’s ok to take a chance on the road less traveled and still find my way back to the car.

Guest Post - BE Jewell

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Genre – YA Supernatural Thriller

Rating – PG13

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Website http://www.jewellbe.com/

Blog http://jewellbe.blogspot.com/

8 Things I Wish I Knew About Being a Self-Published Author Before I Published on Amazon

by B.E. Jewell
When I took the plunge and became a self-published author, I thought to myself “How hard can this be?” I quickly found out being a self-published author can quickly become a full-time job, even if the pay isn’t quite there yet. The Hunter’s Son is live on Amazon (http://amzn.to/YawdEr) and I’m pretty happy with the finished product. These are eight things I learned right away that I wish I knew before I started:

*1) Writing is Lots and Lots of Work- Being an author, whether self or traditionally published is a ton of work. Writing can become an afterthought if you are not careful. Blogging, tweeting, website maintenance, and general promotion can take up all your time. Be prepared to work hard, but in the end, it will pay off.

*2) Please don’t make me read it again- I believe I have written a really fine novel and some solid short stories. However, there is a certain point where I simply cannot read them another time. During the novel writing process I think I read my entire manuscript at least fifteen times. I could quote passages word for word and began to get glassy eyed when I saw it on my screen. The thing that helped the most was taking long breaks from working on my novel during the revision process. This might mean a few days or a few weeks. Each time I came back I felt refreshed and found new things to enjoy about my writing.

*3) Sometimes I have no clue how to use commas- Revisions are one of the most critical part of writing and probably the most boring part, particularly the edits after the final proof read. Professional editing services are a must and I have a great editor (shameless plug for http://bee-editing.com/) but spending hours on end placing punctuation can get old. My advice would be to pay close attention during your second draft process and don’t be afraid to read some things to brush up on grammar. There are plenty of great resources online you can look at (you can even use my errors from the post to help you out!).

*4) People aren’t just going to buy my book because I think it is great- I never knew how much work promotion would be for my book. It is easy to think that you can put a book on Amazon or Smashwords and people will just buy it. At first this may happen when your friends and family snatch up the book right away, but those sales will dry up quickly. My biggest regret is not starting promotion before my book was finished. Don’t make the same mistake I did.

*5) Everyone has a question for me- I never thought I would have to talk about my book so much. At first, I thought I was bugging people by talking about it so much, then I realized I was talking about it because everyone I ran into wanted to ask a question about it. Be prepared to answer “When did you write a book?” more than fifty times in the first month. At some point, this questions is going to be really cool and at some point this questions will get annoying. Just remember that most people are really proud to know an author because so many of them can’t imagine writing a whole book.

*6) Everyone judges a book by its cover- Go to any online bookstore and imagine seeing a book with a terrible cover. Do you think the book contained within that cover is good? Do you think the person put a lot of time and effort into their writing? I was guilty of cheaping out on my cover when I first launched. I took my rudimentary skills in Adobe InDesign and thought my cover looked pretty sweet, until a few days passed and I started to hate what I had done to my good friend’s picture. Needless to say, a few dollars and a nice lady named Cheryl at http://www.ccrbookcoverdesign.com/ made me feel much better about my book. Unless you are a graphic designer, pay for a book cover. You will make your money back for the cover at some point, and, if you don’t, at least you don’t have to be embarrassed when you show your book to friends.

*7) Self-published authors are the nicest people- Think the self-publishing word is scary? I used to until I met some pretty cool people who are doing alright for themselves in the self-publishing world. Everyone is more than willing to share their experiences and tips on how to sell books. The best part is, most of them don’t even charge for it. Since I published my book, I have been in touch with people from all over the world. Each and every one of them is more than happy to help. Don’t be afraid to ask for help or to contact someone who has a good book. Twitter is a great place to do this. In fact, you can follow me @jewellbe. I would love to talk books, sports or anything you want.

*8) I never knew I would smile so much over something I created- I felt proud when I finished my first novel. I know how proud my wife and parents were of me when I told them it was done, but what really stuck a smile on my face was seeing the finished product online. I have a book and it is for sale. I have sold books in the US, Japan, Germany, England and France. People in other countries thought my idea was good enough that they would spend money on it. That is a pretty great feeling. One I plan to have more and more in the future.

There are plenty of other things I have learned since I published my novel, The Hunter’s Son (which incidentally is available on Amazon http://amzn.to/YawdEr). Check it out if you are interested and let me know what you think. If you want to chat some more, reach me @jewellbe on Twitter or check out my blog (jewellbe.blogspot.com). Thanks for reading and best of luck in your pursuit of self-publishing glory.

Guest Post - Helga: Out of Hedgelands by Rick Johnson

Why I Write Fantasy for Young People
by Rick Johnson
One of the attractions of writing fantasy for children is that it forces us to experiment with “beyond the box” thinking. We cannot make easy sense of a fantasy story if we cling to our usual common-sense understanding of reality. Fantasy requires us to imagine how the impossible could possibly be true. I believe that this effort at “sense-making,” which is at the heart of enjoying a good fantasy story, is one of the simple ways we “play with reality” and, thereby, encourage our minds to remain supple.

Readers sometimes ask me, “How could a cow possibly use a tool?” or “How could animals of such different sizes and lifestyles interact?” Those questions really do not have single answers. The answers lie in each reader’s own effort at sense-making in a situation that goes counter to basic expectations about what “ought” to be. Our sense-making efforts may be quite conscious—spending considerable time in thoughtful reflection as we try to imagine the ways a cow could use a tool. We may also simply ignore the incongruity and move on. At times, the incongruity may continue to play at the back of our minds for a long while, before we at last surprise ourselves with an answer that satisfies our curiosity, at least for the moment.

How many once-certain “impossibilities” are now so commonplace as to have entered our “common sense” understanding of reality! At some point, supple minds played wildly with what was essentially fantasy, and used creative efforts at sense-making to redefine what was possible. This is the power of imaginative sense-making. We discourage this power, or bind it hand-to-foot in the closed world of prejudices and iron-clad assumptions, at our own peril.

A natural relative of fantasy, and close collaborator, is the sense of humor and need to play that are part of human nature. Humor often playfully sets up situations that strike us as absurd or unexpected. In this way, humor, like fantasy, encourages flexibility of mind. As we set up situations that are incongruous in light of the “givens” in our experience, we both laugh and have the opportunity to see things in fresh perspective.

Essentially, humor is a matter of how we look, and re-look, at things we normally take for granted. When something we “know” is shown from an absurd angle, we find it funny. In my own writing, I use humor to poke holes in the expectations that “keep things in their place.”

All of the problems that haunt us today were created by people with a passionate desire to live in the world as they know it ought be. In such a world, some laughter and fantasy may help us be a little less certain about what we know and want others to think. Simply put, Wood Cows think differently. For me, it takes more of a leap of faith to believe that our current society of “boxes” is healthy and serves us well, than to believe that cows can think and talk. That is why I write.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Fantasy / Middle Grade

Rating – PG

More details about the author & the book

Connect with Rick Johnson on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.woodcowbooks.com/

Killer Work from Home Jobs by Lee Evans

Why You Need to Read This Book!
Killer Work from Home Jobs: Fortune 500 & Legitimate Work at Home Jobs – How to Make Money Online from Home! will help you accomplish your dream.

Is it your dream to spend more time with family?
Do you need to ditch that exhausting, gas-guzzling commute?
Did you always dream of working at home, but couldn’t find a legitimate job?
The idea for Killer Work from Home Jobs: Fortune 500 & Legitimate Work at Home Jobs – How to Make Money Online from Home! came from the fact that I trudged to my job, as manager of someone else’s business, wondering why I wasn’t happy. I was good at what I did, achieved the company’s goals, made good money, received accolades, but something wasn’t right, there was no sense of fulfillment.

I can’t convey the melancholy I felt, I worked hard to achieve success, earned every academic credential, had a resume to swoon over. But I wasn’t a happy camper. Was this all there was?

Once I decided to work at home, it was amazing, I jumped in the air and clicked my feet! Killer Work from Home Jobs: Fortune 500 & Legitimate Work at Home Jobs – How to Make Money Online from Home! is dedicated to all those who just can’t go back to work. In addition to the “I can’t take it any mores” of the world, this book will help many who have other compelling reasons, as well. The need to work from home runs deep. Taking the first step to working at home will make you jump for joy. Reading this book will mean you’re one step closer to your goal. Dorothy got it right, “There’s no place like home!”

How is This Book Different?
How is Killer Work from Home Jobs: Fortune 500 & Legitimate Work at Home Jobs – How to Make Money Online from Home! different from other work from home books? Instead of just providing you with links, I spent months researching each company. I wanted to provide you with the same key indicators that were critical to me. Yes, it meant investing more, taking longer to complete, but I wanted a book that gave you a sense of each company.

Is the company financially healthy?
Has the company been around for awhile?
Does the company have a global footprint?
Does the company have “money in the bank?”
My months of research answered these questions, to provide you with key company data.

My Promise to You
I verified all links in Killer Work from Home Jobs: Fortune 500 & Legitimate Work at Home Jobs – How to Make Money Online from Home! at publication. Since companies change web pages, and job needs, if any of the links don’t work, simply contact me at Free-Job-Search-Websites.com , and I’ll provide you with revised link info.

Also contact me regarding any jobs in the book you can’t locate. I’ll check the status of any included jobs for you.

You’re not just buying a book, you’re buying my promise that I’ll tirelessly provide you with the most up to date info at my disposal. Consider me your Work from Home Job Search Coach for the life of your purchase. I want you to make your dream come true!

Learn how to find Killer Work from Home Jobs: Fortune 500 & Legitimate Work at Home Jobs – How to Make Money Online from Home!


My Review: A Really informative book outlining the ins and outs of working from home. Lee talks about why persons choose to work from home and why alot of business have decided to hire home based individuals to cut down on overhead and other costs. I found her book interesting and as a work at home person myself understood everything she put out there. You have to be very careful when deciding to work at home because there are so many con business out there that either will "hire" you let you do the work and you never see any pay or just some that is flat out dishonest and will abuse your personal info. Lee has listed some reputable business in her book but as always you need to check and double check before making your choice of work at home business.

Buy now @ Amazon

Genre – NonFiction / Job Hunting

Rating – PG

More details about the author

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Lee Strauss – The White Room Syndrom

Seventeen year old Zoe Vanderveen is a GAP--a genetically altered person. She lives in the security of a walled city on prime water-front property along side other equally beautiful people with extended life spans.
Her brother Liam is missing.

Noah Brody is a natural who lives on the outside. He leads protests against the GAPs and detests the widening chasm they've created between those who have and those who don't. He doesn't like girls like Zoe and he has good reason not to like her specifically.

Zoe's carefree life takes a traumatic turn. She's in trouble and it turns out that Noah, the last guy on earth she should trust, is the only one who can help her.

The White Room Syndrom by Lee Strauss
Have you ever read a story where it’s all action and dialogue but you can’t quite picture where it’s all taking place? This is what I call the White Room Syndrome. It happens when the author fails to give the reader enough setting for the scene. As a rule of thumb I try to always provide at least two or three setting details to anchor the scene.

For instance, many YA books have scenes that take place in a classroom. Because most of us already know what North American classroom is like, it’s easy to assume that we don’t need to provide setting details because we believe the reader will provide those on her own. This may be true, but it doesn’t provide for an engaging reading experience. Say we have two characters sitting together in a classroom.

There’s tension, conflict and witty dialogue between them, but beyond their shared desk it’s a white out. A few details added by the pov character will create a sense of dimension. A poster of the cross section of a man’s chest hung on the wall, heart, lungs and liver exposed, the corners curling with aged tape held up by tacks. Across the room a warm breeze blew in through open windows. Mr. Jones’s back faced us as he scribbled on the board, chalk scratching in rhythm.

Now back to action/ dialogue between characters. See how mentioning three things brings the setting alive? Of course the opposite problem to the white room syndrome is excessive descriptive passages. If I went on and on about every detail in the classroom the reader’s eyes would begin to gloss over before he even got to the action/dialogue. Here’s an example from Divergent by Veronica Roth.

Her main character has entered a room where she’ll be tested to determine what faction she’s from. Mirrors cover the inner walls of the room. I can see my reflection from all angles: the gray fabric obscuring the shape of my back, my long neck, my knobby-knuckled hands, red with a blood blush. The ceiling glows white with light. In the center of the room is a reclined chair, like a dentist, with a machine next to it. It looks like a place where terrible things happen. “Don’t worry,” the woman says, ” it doesn’t hurt.”

Ms Roth even uses this passage to describe a setting as an opportunity for us to see what her main character looks like. You can see that she picked out three things to brighten the setting—the mirrors, the ceiling and the reclined chair. In PERCEPTION, Zoe leaves her utopian city to search for the guy she spotted on a news report on TV. She has reason to believe he can help her find her brother.

There are actually six details here anchoring the setting. Noah cracked the heavy door open just wide enough for us to squeeze inside, and I was relieved that the other girls were with us now. It would’ve been insane for me to follow a strange boy into a place like this alone. Not that what I was doing right now wasn’t crazy. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust from the bright daylight to the darker room.

Shafts of light streamed through broken stained glass high above my head, and dust swirled in its rays. Most of the pews had been removed but a few were left, moved out of their straight lines into a crooked circle. A wooden cross hung from the ceiling over an altar, but any other religious relics that might have once had a home here were gone. A lone guitar was propped in the corner. Two guys were sleeping on the pews and Noah kicked one in the foot.

“We got company.”Sometimes it just takes one or two details to brighten a setting in order to the ground the reader and make for a more engaging and enjoyable read.

Eternal Life is To Die For - Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – YA SciFi / Romance / Rating – PG13

Murder on the First Day of Christmas by Billie Thomas

It’s beginning to look a lot like murder.

Finding a severed hand at a client’s house might throw lesser decorators off their games. But Chloe Carstairs and her mother, Amanda, won’t let a little thing like murder keep them from decking the halls. With a body under the partridge’s pear tree and a dead Santa in a sleigh, they have to crack the case before the killer strikes again – this time much too close to home.

Filled with laugh-out-loud humor, romance and a delightfully difficult mother-daughter relationship, this new series from Billie Thomas offers a fast-paced caper as these two southern ladies try to keep their very merry Christmas from turning into the Noel from hell.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Mystery Rating – PG

Connect with Chloe Carstairs on Facebook & Twitter & GoodReads

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Becoming a Published Author
by Billie Thomas
How much work it’d be:

I’ve forgiven Sue Grafton for saying Indie authors are “too lazy to do the hard work”, but I haven’t forgotten it. Every hour I slaved over my manuscript, every round of revisions and skirmish with my editor, not to mention every tweet, blog post, and interview I do to promote it, is a harsh reminder that getting published is the most exhausting, soul-sucking dream come true I could ever imagine. You have to love this business, and for better or worse, I do.

That “the end” is only the beginning:

When you finish your last revision for your book and make the last proofing change, the real work is just about to begin. And I call it work, because the writing is such a pleasure. The marketing? Not so much. Maybe I’m jaded because my day job is in advertising, but as a new author, trying to carve out a little niche for yourself in such a competitive field is overwhelming at times. Luckily, once you get the hang of it and start connecting with other writers, it gets easier, though no less time-consuming.

How important social networking would be.

As an indie writer, I have to do all my marketing myself. And since I don’t have an unlimited marketing budget – what new writer does? – I’m so grateful for social media. This is truly the age of the introvert. I can sit at my computer and connect with other writers, readers, bloggers and journalists all over the world to spread the word about my book. At first you’re relying on the kindness of strangers, but over time, and by making good connections, you become friends with these people. It’s really one of the unexpected pleasures of getting published.

How my friends and family would rise to the occasion

As an indie author, the power of word of mouth is immeasurable. My friends and family have done a wonderful job helping me spread the word about The Chloe Carstairs mysteries. I’m really humbled by their support.

How quickly I’d begin to measure my self-worth by my Amazon ranking

Oh, those fickle numbers. Some days they’re up, some days they’re down. I try not to check more than three times a day. Ok, five. I can’t be the only one.

How thrilled I’d be to get a fan letter

I’m not going to lie. I got a little teary. The letter came from a complete stranger via chloegetsaclue.com and I don’t think my feet touched the ground for the rest of the day.

That my retirement from advertising would have to wait.

Writing is a labor of love. It feeds my soul, but unfortunately not my body. I’ll have to keep working for a while to keep food on the table and my puppy in kibble.

That writing would take a back burner if I’m not careful

I’m honestly not complaining about how much work goes into marketing an indie book. But I do see a potential conflict of interest coming up between promoting book one and writing book two. Finding balance between the two is a work in progress, but I’m getting there.

That with great opportunity comes great responsibility.

There are unprecedented opportunities for Indie writers these days but we HAVE to hit “pause” before we hit “publish” and ask ourselves some tough questions: Is this book the best it can be? Has it been vetted by Beta readers, proofed by an eagle-eyed editor? Are the darlings dead and story tight? If we want to be taken seriously we have to approach this industry with as much professionalism as passion.

That I would be so proud to re-define myself as a writer.

As I’ve said, I work in advertising so I do make a living writing. But when asked what I do, I’ve always said “writer, I mean, in advertising.” Now I just say writer and smile. Because it’s finally true in every sense of the word.

Guest Post - Nancy Wikarski

Tips For Writing Ye Olde Historical Fiction by Nancy Wikarski
“My God, they can’t expect to put ‘Ye Olde’ in front of anything they want and get away with it.”

If, like me, you’re a fan of The Big Bang Theory, you’ll immediately recognize Sheldon Cooper’s complaint about the historical inaccuracies of a Renaissance Faire, California-style.

As much as I’d like to distance myself from most of Sheldon’s opinions, I’m forced to agree with him on this point. As a writer, I’ve penned five books that are either historical (Gilded Age Chicago Mysteries) or have a strong historical element (Arkana Archaeology Thrillers). As a critic for Deadly Pleasures, I’ve reviewed my share of historical fiction (some good, some not) so believe me when I say that you can’t just put “Ye Olde” in front of anything and expect to get away with it. Authors of contemporary fiction have to juggle plot, pacing, and character development. Historical fiction writers wish it was that easy.

Timing Isn’t Everything

The first thing to consider as a historical fiction writer isn’t simply when something happened but what the world surrounding that event was like. We all know that Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 but it’s a good bet that when he first landed in the Bahamas, he didn’t head for the closest Tiki bar to order a boat drink. Objects and places we take for granted in the 21st century may or may not have existed in the corner of the past an author is exploring. To make that fictional world believable, the times as well as the timing need to be understood.

Clothes Make The Man (Or Woman)

Period costume is something that most historical authors (good and bad) get right. The only difference is that bad writers fail to think about the impact costume can have on conduct. For example, everybody knows Victorian women wore corsets. What most people don’t realize is that a woman who is laced tightly enough to give her an eighteen inch waist can’t bend, stretch, or engage in anything more strenuous than lifting a tea cup. Most of her conscious attention is focused on the struggle to breathe. She’s probably a very uptight, cranky creature for no better reason than that her underwear feels terrible. People who wear whalebone corsets or chain mail armor are going to think and feel very differently from people who wear sweat pants all day long.

The Past Is Another Country

It’s often been said that human nature doesn’t change over time. Perhaps not, but cultural values can shift radically in a heartbeat. The contemporary fiction writer has the luxury of writing about people who are immersed in the same cultural soup as she /he is. Not so a historical fiction author. Cultural values are absorbed much like the air we all breathe–invisibly and with very little conscious effort (unless, of course, you’re wearing a corset). The greatest mistake a historical fiction author can make is to believe that people in ancient times thought and felt exactly as we do today.

To write effective historical fiction you have to immerse yourself without condescension in the values of the past no matter how odd they might seem to a modern sensibility. So if you’re planning to write a historical novel any time soon, be prepared to walk around in your character’s high-button shoes. And if the shoe pinches, write it.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Archaeology Thriller

Rating – PG13

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Connect with NS Wikarski on Facebook

The Bridgeman by Catherine Astolfo

Some secrets can come back to haunt you…

Principal Emily Taylor feels safe in the friendly little town of Burchill—until she finds a body in her school. The murder of caretaker Nathaniel Ryeburn brings back memories she’d rather forget and plunges Emily into a mystery that involves a secret diary, an illegal puppy mill and a murderer innocently disguised as an ordinary citizen.

As fear rips through the traumatized town, Emily’s investigation inadvertently leads the police to her door, and to her husband Langford, who is hiding a secret of his own. It becomes clear to Emily that many of Burchill’s residents are merely wearing masks. And it’s time for those masks to be ripped away…and for a killer’s identity to be revealed.

“A story rich in detail with unexpected twists and turns.” —Meredith Henderson, actress, film producer, poet

“Love and depravity, rebirth and rot, veneer and the real wood underneath—Astolfo brings these opposing forces into play.” —Garry Ryan, author of the Detective Lane Mysteries

“Master storyteller Cathy Astolfo pulls out all the stops as old secrets come back to kill…in this chilling story of twisted desires.” —Lou Allin, author of She Felt No Pain

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Mystery

Rating – 18+

More details about the author

Connect with Catherine Astolfo on Facebook and Twitter

What Inspired Me to Write My Book by Catherine Astolfo
The devil inspired me to write The Bridgeman. Not literally, I hope, but more in the sense that I am intrigued by evil people. I am attracted to the reasons behind their darkness. As an old song says, evil grows in the dark…or does it? I think truly wicked people walk among us, aliens with human faces. Their lack of empathy, twisted ideas and desire to hurt absolutely make me want to dig around and find out why.

There are theories that psychopaths have brains that are wired differently. They feel no empathy, are narcissistic and obsessed. Reader’s Digest once published an article entitled, “Psychopaths among us”. There are those who claim that a great number of CEO’s (those people who get paid millions of dollars to hire and fire) share a great many characteristics with psychopaths and sociopaths. They just use that extra “edge” and lack of sympathy in more socially acceptable ways.

The hidden evil in some people – the ability to wear a mask of nice while seething with twisted thoughts underneath – is even more fascinating to me. Once when I was driving through a small Ontario town, I had to wait at an old-fashioned drawbridge that spanned the canal. A completely blank and bored looking man was working away at the wheels. Barely noticed, red-checkered jacket, plain face, every day, slow habits and movements. And I thought: what could this almost invisible person be hiding? What dark secrets might lie beneath the banality of his existence?

At the same time, my niece had acquired a job as a veterinarian’s assistant. Her tales of the puppy and kitten mills and their victims gave me an idea for the secret my ordinary lockmaster might suppress.

Thus was born The Bridgeman, my first mystery novel. “I deserve no more smiles, no friendship, no pity, no love, no feather or silk or fur, no soft skin.” My character had some self-recrimination, and turned out to be capable of love, so he was not completely savage, but he was close.

From my experiences in schools, or from the newspapers, where kids shot and killed other kids, burned down a house (with their families inside), tortured and maimed animals, my character, The Bridgeman, is not so far-fetched. Nor are the other diabolical characters in the ensuing novels of my series very far from reality. They are scary, but these people do exist.

However, what I love about the world of fiction—everything turns out all right in the end. Most of the time, anyway.

Review - Love and Other Subjects by Kathleen Shoop

In Love and Other Subjects Carolyn Jenkins strives for two things—to be the greatest teacher ever and to find true love. She’s as skilled at both as an infant chowing down with a fork.

This was a down to earth story of a woman simply wanting to succeed at her career and find a little peace and love to go with it but we all know life is just not that simple and it's even worse when you have a boss who seems out to get you at every turn!

Carolyn was a likable and believable character who could easily be one of your dearest friends and I just loved her but she put up with far more crap from folks than I would ever have the patience for. I loved and one of my favorite scenes in the book was when she met "Money" and what she told him her occupation was! But there are many other funny moments as well as loads of every day drama inside Love and Other Subjects.

Buy Now @ Amazon & Smashwords

Genre – Women’s Fiction

Rating – PG15

More details about the author & the book

Connect with Kathleen Shoop on Facebook & Twitter

Guest Post - Suzanne de Montigny

A loud, hissing sound filled the air. The unicorns looked up, their eyes filled with horror.

Azaria, a unicorn colt, is intrigued when the young clairvoyant dinosaur, Darius, foresees a terrifying change in the world. When a giant fireball smashes into the earth, the unicorns struggle to survive the hurricanes and starvation that follow. Danger of a more sinister nature threatens when the creatures-that-walk-on-two-legs settle in the valley and their leader, Ishmael, discovers the healing power of the unicorns’ horns. Azaria, now a young stallion, must use his wits to save the herd from complete extinction.

A Reader or a writer, which would you rather be?
by Suzanne de Montigny
A reader or a writer? Both. I feel that by reading other writers’ works, I learn a lot about writing. There are some writers that blow me away with the beauty of their words, and then there are others who teach me what not to do. Things like:

Don’t overwrite. Sometimes writers get carried away and have a need to explain something important to them in several different ways. For example: “It changed my life forever. It would surely make me think first from now on. It would make a difference in the world.” Snore. “It changed my life forever was more than enough.”

Don’t tell. Some writers tell us everything their character feels instead of showing us. For example: “She was shocked.” No, no! Make her muscles tighten, or jaw drop, or something.

Don’t use too many words For example, take the line: She now understood why Mom told her to keep away from Mr. Joans. (Right after Mr. Jones gave her heck for walking on his lawn.) Inexperienced authors will add on, “Mr. Jones was a mean man who yelled at everyone. So why should she try to talk to him? It didn’t make sense since he was as mean as a junkyard dog.” See what I’m getting at? We, the readers, can figure it out by ourselves. We don’t need the author to elaborate so much.

But as far as writing goes, I oftentimes tell people, writing is like reading a really good book except that you’re writing it. I write off the top of my head and my characters take on a life of their own and start doing things I never planned on. And I just follow along and see where they’ll lead me. It’s quite fascinating.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Middle Grade Fantasy

Rating – G

More details about the book

Connect with Suzanne De Montigny on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.suzannedemontigny.com/

Review - Rock My World by Sharisse Coulter

Jenna Jax-Anders hit rock bottom in high school. Or so she thought. From rock star heiress to knocked-up has been, she turned it all around, marrying the punk rock baby daddy love of her life. The perfect Hollywood fairytale. Until the day she walked in on him kissing her best friend.

First off let me say I love the cover! I know this will sound awful of me but I am a sucker for a pretty cover and sadly I do judge books by the covers sometimes.

I liked Jenna and hated what she was going thru but a part of me feels she acted a bit high schoolish about how she handled it and even a little neglectful on the part of abandoning her daughter to run off to parts unknown and sulk over her problems when she should have put on her big girl panties and faced them head on to begin with. Best friend or not had I seen her kissing my hubby especially in my own home I would of decked her or at the very least stood my ground and started asking questions not run off not truly understanding what was going on but I understand folks do handle things in different ways....

The biggest thing I feel I am taking away from Rock My World is it's never to late to start over, to find yourself, or even to re-create yourself.

Buy Now @ Amazon, Barnes and Noble & Kobo

Genre – Contemporary Women’s Fiction

Rating – PG13

Connect with Sharisse Coulter on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://leecoulter.com/tour/

Guest Post - Rachel Thompson

10 Things I Wish I Knew About Being an Author I Didn’t Know Before by Rachel Thompson
When I first started writing my author blog (about four and a half years ago), I had NO idea the extent of marketing I would have to do once I published my first book.

Now that I’m three books in (all bestsellers), I’ve developed a system that works for me. It’s not brain surgery, it’s not impossible, but it is hard work.

And it all starts with having an author platform.

Lots of people have written about author platforms; but back then, I had no comprehension of what that meant (and while I have a fairly extensive sales and marketing background, publishing was all new to me).
So what is an author platform and how can knowing this help you? I’m drawing on my own experiences, what I’ve read and learned, as well as the business clients who do what I recommend.

Let’s deconstruct.

The primary components of any platform include:

Social Media
Website
Blog
Ads
Digital copy.
I’ll break down each one with an additional tip on how I do things.

Social Media: Everyone knows you have to be on (at the very least), Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads. That’s kind of a given. What people don’t tell you is that you need a Facebook page, separate from your personal Facebook account (however you can manage it from there). Why? Facebook personal accounts (where you ‘friend’ people) were not created for selling. Also, they limit you to 5,000 friends, which sounds like a lot, but once you get more well-known? Not so much.

Success: For the best chance at success, be sure to not go into social media thinking, ‘Hey this is awesome! I’m just gonna link to my own books all the time, in every share, message, and tweet!’ Not only will people unfollow/unfriend you, it’s also extremely counterproductive to doing any actual selling. Tip: Use keywords that connect to your subject/genre. Glean articles from the Net and share those. RT/share others. Be generous in supporting people. Add visual formats like YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest. And above all else, have a presence on G+. Google owns it. Google is the largest search engine in the world. You do the math.

Website: I had NO idea until I finally convinced myself to switch from blogger to WordPress.org that my SEO/SMO was in the tank. Why does this matter? Paying someone (not a lot) to optimize my site (and then coaching me on how to do it) has made a huge difference in my Google ranking and Alexa.com score. What does that mean? I’m more visible, more exposed (in a good way!), and I’ve made it easier for people to find me.

Optimization: It’s okay if you don’t understand what it means. Hire someone who does. I truly had no clue how important it was to optimize my site or what all was involved. I’m grateful to @SugarBeatBC for her knowledge and patient help.

Blog: A natural extension of any author is your blog. Again, use your keywords to come up with subjects or a theme to your writing, and update your blog at least once per week. Google’s algorithms look at how fresh your content is. If you don’t post often, your ranking goes down. Boo.

Topics: Confused on what to blog about? Find blogs you really like, and see what their focus is. Write about what you know. Share excerpts from your book(s). Have guests (remember, be generous?). Tip: post on the weekend for more comments, during the week for more shares (Source: Dan Zarrella).

Ads: Many authors don’t want to tangle with the beast that is Google AdWords. I didn’t either! I tried to learn many times but looking at cost per keyword makes me think of algebra class and hey, writer here. Math is NOT my forte. So I make my husband do it. Ha! (In fact, he’s become so proficient at doing AdWords, he hung up his shingle at The AdWords Guy, and helps other authors learn, or manages their campaigns for them.)

Keywords: Yes, again. Even if you don’t get how AdWords works, at least you can use their Keyword Tool to run your words through (ie, I use relationships, grief, loss, love, romance, etc.). It’s free and fairly easy to use.

eBook or Digital Copy: Is it really necessary to have an eBook version of your book? In a word: duh. Of course it is! Report vary, but anywhere from 50-70% of all books purchased over the last year were in eBook format; of those, 50% were purchased from Amazon.

(People are still somewhat confused about this. You CAN purchase eBooks from Amazon without a Kindle. All you need to do is download their free apps for smartphone, computer, tablet, or cloud. It’s SO easy! Even Nook readers can read Amazon books (not on their Nook of course. Barnes and Noble isn’t stupid.), but from the free apps.)

Embrace Technology: No matter what your personal opinions are about eBooks, digital content is our future – right now. As baby boomers age, purchases made from home have skyrocketed. Younger people have become used to the instant gratification from gaming and social media, which makes eBooks perfect for your younger demographic.

Okay, that’s it! Almost every single one of these points I learned during the process of publishing or after. I hope they help you to be successful but remember, first and foremost, write a terrific book first!

Check out my books on Amazon: A Walk In The Snark, Mancode: Exposed, and my latest, Broken Pieces. Find me on Twitter at @RachelintheOC or my business @BadRedheadMedia. Look up the same names on G+, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. I’m everywhere!

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – NonFiction

Rating – PG13

More details about the author & the book

Connect with Rachel Thompson on Twitter & Facebook

No Innocent Affair by Edward F. Mrkvicka Jr.

‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’ (Exodus 20:14). Have you found yourself contemplating committing adultery? Are you currently in an adulterous relationship? Have you been affected by an act of adultery? If you answered yes to any of these questions, No Innocent Affair: Making Right the Wrong of Adultery is the tool you need. An avid student of the Word, Ed Mrkvicka addresses the fact that adultery is one of the main contributors to the destruction of the American family and seeks to reverse this terrifying statistic. Mrkvicka posits that few who engage in adulterous relationships realize the enormity of the cost of infidelity, both to themselves and innocent people in their lives.

Beginning by comparing God’s view of adultery to society’s view, No Innocent Affair explains in frank yet loving terms that unrepentant adultery is more than just an innocent affair. It is choosing Satan over Jesus and death over life. Mrkvicka desires to lead adulterers to repentance and eternal life with Jesus Christ. Most importantly, No Innocent Affair takes you on a step-by-step biblical progression that leads to the sin of adultery being forgiven and salvation reclaimed. Infidelity is no easy subject to discuss, but it is one that must be addressed. Follow along on this exploration of the consequences and ways out of adultery.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre – Christian Living / Relationships

Rating – PG

Connect with Edward F. Mrkvicka, Jr. on Facebook & Facebook

Website http://www.edwardfmrkvickajr.com/