Allie Boniface's Blog, page 33
April 3, 2013
Wrtier's Wednesday: A Little Scandal Here, a Little Rogue There...
Did you get a peek at yesterday's blog stop over at Crazy Four Books? We had a great discussion about whether or not you would stand by a loved one involved in a scandal. Would you lend support no matter what? Would you try to escape it all? Would it matter if the person was innocent or guilty? Check it out and share your thoughts!
Also wanted to give a shout-out to a brand new published author from my local RWA group, Elf Ahearn, whose Regency romance A Rogue in Sheep's Clothing, released this week. Check out this yummy blurb and cover:
In Lord Hugh Davenport’s opinion, women of the ton perpetually hide behind a mask of deception. That’s hard for Ellie Albright, the daughter of an earl, to swallow – especially since she’s disguised herself as a stable hand to get back the prized stallion her father sold to Hugh to pay a debt. If Hugh learns her true identity she’ll lose the horse and her family will go bankrupt. Somehow, though, losing Hugh’s affection is beginning to seem even worse.
Already only a step away from being snagged in her own web of lies, Ellie’s deceit threatens to spin out of control when Hugh’s mother invites Ellie and her sisters to a house party. Now Ellie has to scramble to keep Hugh from knowing she’s the stable girl he wants to marry, while simultaneously trying to win his trust as herself. Can she keep her costumes straight long enough to save her family? And even if she does, will it be worth losing his love?
Also wanted to give a shout-out to a brand new published author from my local RWA group, Elf Ahearn, whose Regency romance A Rogue in Sheep's Clothing, released this week. Check out this yummy blurb and cover:
In Lord Hugh Davenport’s opinion, women of the ton perpetually hide behind a mask of deception. That’s hard for Ellie Albright, the daughter of an earl, to swallow – especially since she’s disguised herself as a stable hand to get back the prized stallion her father sold to Hugh to pay a debt. If Hugh learns her true identity she’ll lose the horse and her family will go bankrupt. Somehow, though, losing Hugh’s affection is beginning to seem even worse.
Already only a step away from being snagged in her own web of lies, Ellie’s deceit threatens to spin out of control when Hugh’s mother invites Ellie and her sisters to a house party. Now Ellie has to scramble to keep Hugh from knowing she’s the stable girl he wants to marry, while simultaneously trying to win his trust as herself. Can she keep her costumes straight long enough to save her family? And even if she does, will it be worth losing his love?
April 1, 2013
Monday Mentionables: A Vacation and Blog Tour in Review...
I'm back from vacation! And yes, it was just what I needed: sun, sand, and time away from it all. Even better, in Key West I had a chance to see Robert Frost's cottage and Ernest Hemingway's house - all I needed for some new writing inspiration :) I didn't DO any writing, though, just some reading and relaxing. Here are 2 of my favorite pictures from the week:
Giving love to one of the 45 cats living in the Hemingway House (all 6-toed, all descended from Hemingway's original pets)
My side of the family together for my husband's birthday - while on vacation!!
Also...I just finished up a blog tour with Reading Addiction Blog Tours, and if you followed along with me, you know I was talking all about "5 Things" in many of my guest posts. In case you missed some of them, though. here were a couple of my favorites:
5 Favorite Vacation Spots
5 Favorite Hero-Heroine Moments in my Books
I got some fabulous reviews along the way, so I want to give a shout-out to everyone who hosted me and read The Promise of Paradise and took the time to write kind words about it. Among my favorites:
"This book was an unexpected gem...I connected with the characters and even the minor ones were deep enough to be memorable." (T's Bookish Moments)
"Both characters come alive and leap off the pages with witty dialogue and interactions, you can feel the electricity in the air as the sparks of attraction for each other simmers below the surface...With drama, twists and turns, and quirky secondary characters, The Promise of Paradise is an enjoyable romance story that will leave you satisfied." (Jersey Girl Book Reviews)
Believe it or not, Goddess Fish is hosting another tour for me starting today, but this one's strictly reviews, no guest posts or wise or witty (or otherwise) words from Yours Truly. I'll post the tour stops over on my sidebar later on today, so you can visit with me and see what others have to say. The grand prize for this one is a $25 iTunes gift card to one random commenter, so check in and chat with me!
Giving love to one of the 45 cats living in the Hemingway House (all 6-toed, all descended from Hemingway's original pets)
My side of the family together for my husband's birthday - while on vacation!!
Also...I just finished up a blog tour with Reading Addiction Blog Tours, and if you followed along with me, you know I was talking all about "5 Things" in many of my guest posts. In case you missed some of them, though. here were a couple of my favorites:
5 Favorite Vacation Spots
5 Favorite Hero-Heroine Moments in my Books
I got some fabulous reviews along the way, so I want to give a shout-out to everyone who hosted me and read The Promise of Paradise and took the time to write kind words about it. Among my favorites:
"This book was an unexpected gem...I connected with the characters and even the minor ones were deep enough to be memorable." (T's Bookish Moments)
"Both characters come alive and leap off the pages with witty dialogue and interactions, you can feel the electricity in the air as the sparks of attraction for each other simmers below the surface...With drama, twists and turns, and quirky secondary characters, The Promise of Paradise is an enjoyable romance story that will leave you satisfied." (Jersey Girl Book Reviews)
Believe it or not, Goddess Fish is hosting another tour for me starting today, but this one's strictly reviews, no guest posts or wise or witty (or otherwise) words from Yours Truly. I'll post the tour stops over on my sidebar later on today, so you can visit with me and see what others have to say. The grand prize for this one is a $25 iTunes gift card to one random commenter, so check in and chat with me!
March 22, 2013
Friday Fun Facts: Spring Break!!
Happy Friday! I only have one Fun Fact to share today, and that's the fact that today (well, tomorrow) officially begins my Spring Break! Ooh, it's been a rough winter, both with the weather and the workload at school, and I am soooooo ready to relax and escape!
P.S. - Don't forget that my blog tour continues through next week - follow, comment, and earn chances to win a $25 Amazon gift card!!
P.S. - Don't forget that my blog tour continues through next week - follow, comment, and earn chances to win a $25 Amazon gift card!!
March 20, 2013
Writers' Wednesday: Links for Writers & A Lovely Review
Happy Wednesday, everyone! First off, just a reminder that my blog tour for The Promise of Paradise is going on right now, and yesterday featured 2 fun stops: the first, at Gimme the Scoop, was all about 5 quirky things about Yours Truly - and the other, at Readholic's Reviews, was a lovely review that called the book "a sweet wonderful romance."
Follow along with me - all my stops are linked on the sidebar, and every time you leave a comment, you're entered into a drawing for a $25 Amazon gift card. How can you go wrong?
Writers, here's a heads-up for you: first, there's a Free Webinar offered by author Gary Kawasaki titled "How To Become a Best-Selling Author" TONIGHT from 6-7 pm EST. (This info was sent to me from Women-on-Writing, a website I trust and visit regularly.) Might be worth checking out. Click here to register.
Second, BookBub is a marketing service that indie-published authors might want to take advantage of. A fellow author recently took out an ad with them and saw TREMENDOUS sales as a result. Worth a look, in my opinion.
Happy writing!
Follow along with me - all my stops are linked on the sidebar, and every time you leave a comment, you're entered into a drawing for a $25 Amazon gift card. How can you go wrong?
Writers, here's a heads-up for you: first, there's a Free Webinar offered by author Gary Kawasaki titled "How To Become a Best-Selling Author" TONIGHT from 6-7 pm EST. (This info was sent to me from Women-on-Writing, a website I trust and visit regularly.) Might be worth checking out. Click here to register.
Second, BookBub is a marketing service that indie-published authors might want to take advantage of. A fellow author recently took out an ad with them and saw TREMENDOUS sales as a result. Worth a look, in my opinion.
Happy writing!
March 18, 2013
Monday Mentionables: Blog Tour Starts Today!
Happy Monday! I'm sooooo excited because my first blog tour for The Promise of Paradise starts TODAY! And this is a fun one for a couple of reasons: first, the theme is "5 Things..." which means every stop that isn't a review or an interview is a post where I'll talk about 5 Things About My Life. What things? You'll have to visit me to see! And second, I'm giving away a $25 Amazon gift card to one commenter from all the comments left on this tour. Visit me at each stop, leave a comment, and each one earns you another entry!
Come and join me, starting today, over at Reading Addiction Blog Tours for a Meet and Greet. The next 10 days of tour stops are listed over there on the right sidebar. See you on tour!
March 12, 2013
It's a Special Double-Header Day!
It's a double-header blogging day, and that means YOU can benefit! To celebrate being the featured guest on both The Romance Studio and From the Pen of Mae Clair, I'm giving away a $10 Amazon gift card to one commenter today, chosen at random from everyone who comments on either (or both!) blogs. Comment as many times as you like, because every comment is another entry! Check in right here on Friday to see the winner (I'll give you all a few extra days to read). Oh and hey, The Promise of Paradise is only $2.99 all this month - grab yourself a great read!
Writers' Wednesday: Talking All About Blog Tours!
Welcome writers! Today I want to chat (briefly) about blog tours. They are definitely one of the popular ways for writers to talk about and promote their books, especially new releases. They can consist of anywhere from 5 - 50 blog stops, over the course of a few days or a few weeks, where an author chats about her book, or provides excerpts, or answers interview questions, or provides her book for a review for said blog.
Lots of work, yes, but it can pay off with sales in the long run. Wondering where to start? One of my local RWA chapter members, Wendy S. Marcus, presented on this very topic last weekend, and rather than summarize her many helpful points, I'll give you her link to a blog post she wrote about it.
A couple of things to keep in mind, if you're thinking about a blog tour:
1. Organization is key! You'll need to keep track of the blogs you're visiting, the posts you're writing, when they'll be posted, and whether you'll be stopping in that day to respond to comments.
2. It's time-consuming. Blog posts are typically anywhere from 300 -1000 words or more. That's a lot of time to write an original, witty, reader-catching posts (and you don't want to reuse posts, because many readers will follow you from stop to stop).
3. Consider hiring a person or organization to help you. There are many virtual assistants who can help plan a blog tour for you, as well as blog tour companies who will take care of every last detail. They vary in cost, and I make no claims about any of these (except the first, as noted), but here are some places to start looking around:
Goddess Fish Promotions - This site is owned by the folks who also run The Long and the Short of It, and they are also personal friends of mine. Having given that disclaimer, I find them professional and very, very organized in their tour offerings. They work hard to target blogs that will appeal to your genre of reader, and they check their blog partners regularly to make sure posts are up and people are commenting.
Reading Addiction Blog Tours
Black Lion Tours
Virtual Book Tour Cafe
Jar o' Marbles (this one's a virtual assistant rather than a blog tour company)
OK folks, happy writing and happy touring! And don't forget, I have not one but TWO tours coming up in the very near future...and I'll be giving away goodies on both of them. Hope to see you on tour!
Lots of work, yes, but it can pay off with sales in the long run. Wondering where to start? One of my local RWA chapter members, Wendy S. Marcus, presented on this very topic last weekend, and rather than summarize her many helpful points, I'll give you her link to a blog post she wrote about it.
A couple of things to keep in mind, if you're thinking about a blog tour:
1. Organization is key! You'll need to keep track of the blogs you're visiting, the posts you're writing, when they'll be posted, and whether you'll be stopping in that day to respond to comments.
2. It's time-consuming. Blog posts are typically anywhere from 300 -1000 words or more. That's a lot of time to write an original, witty, reader-catching posts (and you don't want to reuse posts, because many readers will follow you from stop to stop).
3. Consider hiring a person or organization to help you. There are many virtual assistants who can help plan a blog tour for you, as well as blog tour companies who will take care of every last detail. They vary in cost, and I make no claims about any of these (except the first, as noted), but here are some places to start looking around:
Goddess Fish Promotions - This site is owned by the folks who also run The Long and the Short of It, and they are also personal friends of mine. Having given that disclaimer, I find them professional and very, very organized in their tour offerings. They work hard to target blogs that will appeal to your genre of reader, and they check their blog partners regularly to make sure posts are up and people are commenting.
Reading Addiction Blog Tours
Black Lion Tours
Virtual Book Tour Cafe
Jar o' Marbles (this one's a virtual assistant rather than a blog tour company)
OK folks, happy writing and happy touring! And don't forget, I have not one but TWO tours coming up in the very near future...and I'll be giving away goodies on both of them. Hope to see you on tour!
March 11, 2013
Monday Mentionables: Check Out All These Links!
Happy Monday, everyone! Just a few things I'm mentioning today:
1. Tomorrow's a double-header day for blogging: I'll be at both The Romance Studio AND at fellow author Mae Clair's blog. Please drop by and visit with me if you can!
2. Interesting links & articles from this month's Romance Writers Report:
~If you're an author, are you making the most of your Author Central Page at Amazon? It's a free service and a great place and way to showcase not only your books, but your reviews, your Facebook or blog links, and more!
~A few up-and-coming websites that writers can use to promote themselves include Togather, Libboo, and Writer.ly (on a side note, I'm interested to hear from anyone who's used them - I have yet to check them out in detail)
~Using the in-house publicist at your publishing house is a great (free!) way to build buzz about your name and reach out to partner with someone to market yourself even more. Don't be afraid to ask for the publicist's name and contact info, if you don't already have it, and send an email to find out how the two of you can work together.
3. Interesting links & articles from this month's Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators issue:
~Animoto is a web application that can help you produce your very own book trailer!
~Smilebox is a fun way to create photo collages, release announcements, and more, that uses videos, photos, music, etc. to appeal to your computer-based crowd of readers.
~Swoon Reads is a brand new YA romance imprint from the Macmillan Publishing Group that will be soliciting manuscripts and then using a reader recommendation system to choose which get put through for actual publishing consideration (side note: I tried signing up yesterday and had trouble submitting the form. If you're successful, let me know).
I'll be talking about blog tours on Wednesday, sharing info from our local writers' group meeting over the weekend as well as some of my own experiences, so stop by if you're a blogger or a reader or a writer who's interested in hearing more. See you then!
1. Tomorrow's a double-header day for blogging: I'll be at both The Romance Studio AND at fellow author Mae Clair's blog. Please drop by and visit with me if you can!
2. Interesting links & articles from this month's Romance Writers Report:
~If you're an author, are you making the most of your Author Central Page at Amazon? It's a free service and a great place and way to showcase not only your books, but your reviews, your Facebook or blog links, and more!
~A few up-and-coming websites that writers can use to promote themselves include Togather, Libboo, and Writer.ly (on a side note, I'm interested to hear from anyone who's used them - I have yet to check them out in detail)
~Using the in-house publicist at your publishing house is a great (free!) way to build buzz about your name and reach out to partner with someone to market yourself even more. Don't be afraid to ask for the publicist's name and contact info, if you don't already have it, and send an email to find out how the two of you can work together.
3. Interesting links & articles from this month's Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators issue:
~Animoto is a web application that can help you produce your very own book trailer!
~Smilebox is a fun way to create photo collages, release announcements, and more, that uses videos, photos, music, etc. to appeal to your computer-based crowd of readers.
~Swoon Reads is a brand new YA romance imprint from the Macmillan Publishing Group that will be soliciting manuscripts and then using a reader recommendation system to choose which get put through for actual publishing consideration (side note: I tried signing up yesterday and had trouble submitting the form. If you're successful, let me know).
I'll be talking about blog tours on Wednesday, sharing info from our local writers' group meeting over the weekend as well as some of my own experiences, so stop by if you're a blogger or a reader or a writer who's interested in hearing more. See you then!
March 8, 2013
Friday Fun Facts: March Came in Like a Lion...I Think
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Well, this is the view outside my window this morning. Looks like March isn't giving up without a fight! And in our part of the county (lower Hudson Valley), we were spared the worst. Lots more east and south of us. I don't know...do we still say March "came in" like a lion? I mean, we're already one week into the month. And yet we haven't had particularly warm days...more like chilly, cloudy, flirting with snow (although my daffodils were trying valiantly to push their way through, a couple of weeks ago). Yeah, I'm going with the lion analogy.
Be safe, everyone! Dream of the "going out like a lamb" side of this month, of sun and warm weather...I know it's out there somewhere!
March 6, 2013
Writers' Wednesdays: Here's What's Happening...
Hi writers! Next week I'll post a summary to all the good stuff in this month's issue of Romance Writers Report - it just came in my mail, and I haven't had a chance to go through it.
But here's a link you might want to check out: Digital Book Today has some great promo opportunities for writers, including their Top Free Books, Guest Blog Posts, and New Releases sections. What I like about this site is that for almost all their promo spots, your book needs to have a minimum 4-star review rating on Amazon. Yes, I know reviews are subjective, but a minimum rating (and a minimum number of reviews, which they require too) can help sort out the really-avoidable-at-all-costs books from the good-ones-you-havent-heard-about-but-should-try ones. Check it out!
And this weekend, I'll be heading to my local RWA chapter for our monthly meeting AND a special lecture by Harlequin author Wendy S. Marcus about blog tours for your ebooks. Since I have a couple coming up in the spring, I can't wait to hear what she has to say. I'll share all the good tips with you next week - stop back and see me!
But here's a link you might want to check out: Digital Book Today has some great promo opportunities for writers, including their Top Free Books, Guest Blog Posts, and New Releases sections. What I like about this site is that for almost all their promo spots, your book needs to have a minimum 4-star review rating on Amazon. Yes, I know reviews are subjective, but a minimum rating (and a minimum number of reviews, which they require too) can help sort out the really-avoidable-at-all-costs books from the good-ones-you-havent-heard-about-but-should-try ones. Check it out!
And this weekend, I'll be heading to my local RWA chapter for our monthly meeting AND a special lecture by Harlequin author Wendy S. Marcus about blog tours for your ebooks. Since I have a couple coming up in the spring, I can't wait to hear what she has to say. I'll share all the good tips with you next week - stop back and see me!
