Taylor Fenner's Blog, page 178
February 27, 2015
One Week Later, Print Books, and More
Hey everyone! The Haunting Love has now been available for a week and three days. I'm thankful to all that have been reading and enjoying it so far. Be sure to tell your friends and family about it if you wish.
Last Friday I put in an order with my publisher for print (paperback) copies of The Haunting Love. On Tuesday I received a formatting proof from Start (the parent company of Whiskey Creek Press) which I approved. Now the books should be entering into the printing process and I should be receiving the print copies sometime in mid-to-late March is my guess.
Once I have the print copies in my possession I will be setting up a book signing somewhere locally. At this time I do not have a date or location but stay tuned for updates on that.
This week has been somewhat quiet for me. I've been doing some promoting of The Haunting Love as well as trying to fit in some writing time. I'm currently working on "Into the Light", the sequel to my third novel "Out of Darkness".
In the next month or two I'm going to begin setting up a timeline for self-publishing my second novel, Finding Elizabeth. I'd like to release it sometime later this year. Be sure to be on the lookout for updates on that front.
I hope everyone has a nice weekend. I'll be splitting my time between reading, writing, and relaxing. We'll have to wait and see whether March comes in like a lion or a lamb. Either way, I can't wait until the day I can stop living in sweatshirts!
Last Friday I put in an order with my publisher for print (paperback) copies of The Haunting Love. On Tuesday I received a formatting proof from Start (the parent company of Whiskey Creek Press) which I approved. Now the books should be entering into the printing process and I should be receiving the print copies sometime in mid-to-late March is my guess.
Once I have the print copies in my possession I will be setting up a book signing somewhere locally. At this time I do not have a date or location but stay tuned for updates on that.
This week has been somewhat quiet for me. I've been doing some promoting of The Haunting Love as well as trying to fit in some writing time. I'm currently working on "Into the Light", the sequel to my third novel "Out of Darkness".
In the next month or two I'm going to begin setting up a timeline for self-publishing my second novel, Finding Elizabeth. I'd like to release it sometime later this year. Be sure to be on the lookout for updates on that front.
I hope everyone has a nice weekend. I'll be splitting my time between reading, writing, and relaxing. We'll have to wait and see whether March comes in like a lion or a lamb. Either way, I can't wait until the day I can stop living in sweatshirts!
February 20, 2015
The Haunting Love Release Week
Happy Friday everyone! I hope wherever you are you're staying out of the cold and/or snow. The other day I was in Walmart and the cashier was rambling about how cool it would be if you lived over on the east coast where people have had so much snow they had to tunnel out of their houses... because tunneling out would be so cool. I didn't share her opinion because she was clearly out of her mind. How many months are there until summer again?
Moving on to more important things; The Haunting Love came out on Tuesday! I was so excited the night before I could barely sleep. I seemed to wake up every few hours to check the time. Finally morning arrived and I saw clear as day The Haunting Love was now available for purchase and download in ebook format.
To everyone who has already purchased The Haunting Love, I thank you and I hope that everyone is enjoying it! If you like it, it would be awesome if you write a quick review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Goodreads because it would give me more exposure.
If you haven't picked up your digital copy yet, what are you waiting for? The Haunting Love is a young adult paranormal romance novel set in Green Bay and De Pere, WI.
Buy it on Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00SW1B940
or Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-h...
This week, since Tuesday at least, I've been busy promoting The Haunting Love. On Tuesday I dropped off a few postcards at the Appleton Public Library (in Appleton, WI) in the young adult / teen section. I was in celebration mode on Tuesday so I picked up lunch from Red Lobster as a special treat. I've spent most of the rest of the week posting and promoting online, so I apologize for the onslaught of promotional posts on Facebook and Twitter. I'm just trying to get the word out about The Haunting Love.
I hope everyone had as much of a great week as I did. Have a great weekend! And remember, when the weather sucks it's very relaxing to curl up with a good book!
Moving on to more important things; The Haunting Love came out on Tuesday! I was so excited the night before I could barely sleep. I seemed to wake up every few hours to check the time. Finally morning arrived and I saw clear as day The Haunting Love was now available for purchase and download in ebook format.
To everyone who has already purchased The Haunting Love, I thank you and I hope that everyone is enjoying it! If you like it, it would be awesome if you write a quick review on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Goodreads because it would give me more exposure.
If you haven't picked up your digital copy yet, what are you waiting for? The Haunting Love is a young adult paranormal romance novel set in Green Bay and De Pere, WI.
Buy it on Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00SW1B940
or Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-h...
This week, since Tuesday at least, I've been busy promoting The Haunting Love. On Tuesday I dropped off a few postcards at the Appleton Public Library (in Appleton, WI) in the young adult / teen section. I was in celebration mode on Tuesday so I picked up lunch from Red Lobster as a special treat. I've spent most of the rest of the week posting and promoting online, so I apologize for the onslaught of promotional posts on Facebook and Twitter. I'm just trying to get the word out about The Haunting Love.
I hope everyone had as much of a great week as I did. Have a great weekend! And remember, when the weather sucks it's very relaxing to curl up with a good book!
February 13, 2015
Three Days, Ten Hours, and Counting Down
Happy Friday the 13th! I hope nobody is experiencing any mishaps because of Friday the 13th. I always love when these days come around, it makes me want to watch the movie. I've had a pretty great week, and I hope everyone else has too.
Tomorrow is Valentine's Day so I hope everyone has plans to do something fun. I'm personally going to switch things up and celebrate Mardi Gras on Valentine's Day. Yes, I celebrate Mardi Gras, even though I don't live anywhere near New Orleans. I think I'll start with some beignets for breakfast and finish with some jambalaya for dinner as I watch The Skeleton Key... or maybe The Fog... I'm really in the mood to watch The Fog lately. Anyway, the reason I'm celebrating Mardi Gras on Valentine's Day instead of when it actually falls on Tuesday is that I'm planning to be out celebrating my book release.
The countdown to The Haunting Love's release date continues and we are now about Three Days and Ten Hours away from February 17th! I'm excited and nervous at the same time.
I honestly hope that everyone loves my first novel, because I really enjoyed writing it! If you haven't checked out the cover art or the book trailer yet you can scoot on over to The Haunting Love page in the "Books" tab of my website to take a look: http://www.taylorfenner.com/the-haunt...
I hope everyone has a great weekend and a pleasant Valentine's Day! Don't forget to pick up The Haunting Love on Tuesday! It will be available in the Barnes and Noble Nook Store and the Amazon Kindle Store and you can still pre-order it here:
Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00SW1B940
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-h...
Tomorrow is Valentine's Day so I hope everyone has plans to do something fun. I'm personally going to switch things up and celebrate Mardi Gras on Valentine's Day. Yes, I celebrate Mardi Gras, even though I don't live anywhere near New Orleans. I think I'll start with some beignets for breakfast and finish with some jambalaya for dinner as I watch The Skeleton Key... or maybe The Fog... I'm really in the mood to watch The Fog lately. Anyway, the reason I'm celebrating Mardi Gras on Valentine's Day instead of when it actually falls on Tuesday is that I'm planning to be out celebrating my book release.
The countdown to The Haunting Love's release date continues and we are now about Three Days and Ten Hours away from February 17th! I'm excited and nervous at the same time.
I honestly hope that everyone loves my first novel, because I really enjoyed writing it! If you haven't checked out the cover art or the book trailer yet you can scoot on over to The Haunting Love page in the "Books" tab of my website to take a look: http://www.taylorfenner.com/the-haunt...
I hope everyone has a great weekend and a pleasant Valentine's Day! Don't forget to pick up The Haunting Love on Tuesday! It will be available in the Barnes and Noble Nook Store and the Amazon Kindle Store and you can still pre-order it here:
Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00SW1B940
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-h...
February 6, 2015
How Did I Get Here?
With about a week and a half until The Haunting Love's release I've decided to devote this week's blog to telling you a little about how I got to this point.
I've always wanted to be a writer one way or another. When I was in the third grade I was watching the movie Moulin Rouge and when Ewan McGregor sat down and began typing out his story on that ancient typewriter I decided to type out a story of my own on our very own typewriter. No, I didn't have one of those awesome old fashioned typewriters with the round keys you push down; although come to think of it I think we had one of those in the basement at our old house, but the keys didn't work anymore. My typewriter, which technically belonged to my grandmother, was a newer computerized model with spell check. We still have that typewriter to this day but it sits in the closet collecting dust thanks to us transitioning to computers years ago.
That same year in school we had to write a letter to someone we admired or someone who had a job we aspired to have someday. I can't remember who everyone wrote to anymore but I remember that a lot of my classmates wrote to President Bush, who was president at the time. I chose to write to Meg Cabot, who to this day remains one of my favorite authors. My teacher was taken aback, since she had never heard of her and had to scramble to find an address to send the letter to. (Remind yourself, this was roughly 2001, long before Facebook or Twitter existed.) To my surprise Meg Cabot wrote back. In her letter she told me if I really wanted to be an author to just keep writing and never give up. I'm not sure if I still have that letter or not; it's probably packed away somewhere, but that letter meant so much to me.
As the next few years passed, roughly grades 4-6 my favorite part of school was creative writing time. I'm sure I've mentioned that before. I'd write cute little stories I was so proud to show my teachers. When I was in the fifth grade I went through a major Laura Ingalls Wilder phase. We had read Little House on the Prairie the year before in school and I fell in love with it. My grandmother and my great-uncle even took me on a vacation to some of the places Laura Ingalls Wilder had lived here in Wisconsin as well as in Minnesota and De Smet, SD. I fell in love with South Dakota during that trip so naturally most of the stories I wrote that following year revolved around South Dakota. The one I remember the most was one about a blizzard hitting the Sioux Falls area.
The next few years, with the end of middle school and beginning of high school didn't yield much class time to devote to writing short stories until I started homeschooling as a sophomore. As you know I started and finished writing The Haunting Love in high school.
_________________________________________
The Haunting Love's release date is fast approaching, only a week from Tuesday! Did you know that you can preorder The Haunting Love on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and it will be delivered to your Kindle or Nook on February 17th?
The link to the Amazon page: http://amzn.com/B00SW1B940
The link to the Barnes and Noble page: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-h...
It's so amazing to see my name on Barnes and Noble. I never thought this day would come.
Did you also know that you can become a fan of mine on Goodreads? Goodreads is a great website to discover new authors and books as well as keep track of what you're reading, recommend a book to friends, and join book clubs!
My page on there is: http://www.goodreads.com/taylorfenner. You can become my fan, see what I'm reading, mark The Haunting Love in your books to be read, and write a review / recommend it to your friends after you read it!
________________________________________
I hope everyone has a great Friday and an amazing weekend!
I've always wanted to be a writer one way or another. When I was in the third grade I was watching the movie Moulin Rouge and when Ewan McGregor sat down and began typing out his story on that ancient typewriter I decided to type out a story of my own on our very own typewriter. No, I didn't have one of those awesome old fashioned typewriters with the round keys you push down; although come to think of it I think we had one of those in the basement at our old house, but the keys didn't work anymore. My typewriter, which technically belonged to my grandmother, was a newer computerized model with spell check. We still have that typewriter to this day but it sits in the closet collecting dust thanks to us transitioning to computers years ago.
That same year in school we had to write a letter to someone we admired or someone who had a job we aspired to have someday. I can't remember who everyone wrote to anymore but I remember that a lot of my classmates wrote to President Bush, who was president at the time. I chose to write to Meg Cabot, who to this day remains one of my favorite authors. My teacher was taken aback, since she had never heard of her and had to scramble to find an address to send the letter to. (Remind yourself, this was roughly 2001, long before Facebook or Twitter existed.) To my surprise Meg Cabot wrote back. In her letter she told me if I really wanted to be an author to just keep writing and never give up. I'm not sure if I still have that letter or not; it's probably packed away somewhere, but that letter meant so much to me.
As the next few years passed, roughly grades 4-6 my favorite part of school was creative writing time. I'm sure I've mentioned that before. I'd write cute little stories I was so proud to show my teachers. When I was in the fifth grade I went through a major Laura Ingalls Wilder phase. We had read Little House on the Prairie the year before in school and I fell in love with it. My grandmother and my great-uncle even took me on a vacation to some of the places Laura Ingalls Wilder had lived here in Wisconsin as well as in Minnesota and De Smet, SD. I fell in love with South Dakota during that trip so naturally most of the stories I wrote that following year revolved around South Dakota. The one I remember the most was one about a blizzard hitting the Sioux Falls area.
The next few years, with the end of middle school and beginning of high school didn't yield much class time to devote to writing short stories until I started homeschooling as a sophomore. As you know I started and finished writing The Haunting Love in high school.
_________________________________________
The Haunting Love's release date is fast approaching, only a week from Tuesday! Did you know that you can preorder The Haunting Love on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and it will be delivered to your Kindle or Nook on February 17th?
The link to the Amazon page: http://amzn.com/B00SW1B940
The link to the Barnes and Noble page: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-h...
It's so amazing to see my name on Barnes and Noble. I never thought this day would come.
Did you also know that you can become a fan of mine on Goodreads? Goodreads is a great website to discover new authors and books as well as keep track of what you're reading, recommend a book to friends, and join book clubs!
My page on there is: http://www.goodreads.com/taylorfenner. You can become my fan, see what I'm reading, mark The Haunting Love in your books to be read, and write a review / recommend it to your friends after you read it!
________________________________________
I hope everyone has a great Friday and an amazing weekend!
January 31, 2015
What Being A Writer Means To Me
Author – (aw-ther) noun:
A person who writes a novel, poem, essay, etc.; the composer of a literary work.
Writer – (rahy-ter) noun:
1. A person engaged in writing books, articles, stories, etc.; especially as an occupation or profession; an author or journalist.
2. A person who commits his or her thoughts, ideas, etc., to writing.
3. A person who writes or is able to write.
You may well be wondering why I began this week’s blog with the definitions of the words author and writer. Many years ago I read a short story in an anthology of young adult paranormal romance stories. I was very interested in reading more by the author of that specific story so I paid a visit to the author’s website.
On her website she had a section about “how to be a professional author”. Being the aspiring author I was I was eager for any advice this author could give. Some of the advice was common sense: read a lot, write a lot, be patient, etc. Then I saw a bullet point that read “if you self-publish your book you’re not a ‘real author’”.
That line has always stuck with me, even six years later; so I’d like to explain what I think being a ‘real author’ means.
To me an author is any person who sets a pen to paper or their fingers to a keyboard (or any other method of writing) to tell a story. To me there is no such thing as a ‘real author’ or a ‘fake author’. If you have a story bouncing around in your head begging to be told then by all means let it out!
Writing can be a lot of things for a lot of different people. It can be therapeutic to write down your thoughts in a journal; I do every day at the end of the day. It can also be a way of remembering your observations; like the day I saw a woman walking a ferret down the street on a leash or the day we had to call the “squirrel whisperer” when a baby squirrel latched itself onto our screen door and wouldn’t let go. The things you wouldn’t believe if you didn’t know they were true.
It doesn’t matter what you write, whether it is a poem, a short story, a play, an essay, a novella, or a novel; that still makes you a writer (or a poet or a playwright).
You might just write for your own amusement or you might proudly show it off to all your friends and family. Hell, you might even post it online or yikes! send it in to a publisher to try to get it published. It’s all up to you.
For someone to say that a person isn’t a ‘real author’ because they do things differently is just someone being a jerk. We now live in a time in which self-publishing is much more accepted than it was five or ten years ago. With websites like Smashwords or Createspace and the ease of self-publishing eBooks on the Amazon Kindle or the Barnes and Noble Nook self-publishing has come a long way.
My first novel, The Haunting Love, was contracted by a small e-book publisher Whiskey Creek Press and is about to come out on February 17th. Does that make me less of an author than someone who was published by a big box publisher? No it doesn’t. I may not get as much exposure but this is an excellent starting point.
I’m still planning on self-publishing my second novel, Finding Elizabeth, hopefully by the end of 2015. It is my belief that the popularity of the ‘indie writer’ is rising.
As for me, my journey to becoming an author began in childhood. I’ve always been an avid storyteller. My favorite part of school used to be when we got to write short stories for creative writing or as a means to learn and understand our spelling words.
I started writing The Haunting Love when I was in high school. I was homeschooled for most of high school so I had more freedom with my English classes. I finished writing The Haunting Love during the end of my senior year, when I was seventeen-years-old. Now here we are, eighteen days until it’s release date. I couldn’t be happier.
My advice to anyone out there aspiring to be a published author is to never give up. I know everyone says that but do not get discouraged. If it’s meant to be it will be! I won’t lie to you and say rejection letters don’t sting, because they do, but if you want it bad enough you have to keep trying!
That’s all I’ve got for right now. Have a great weekend everyone! And try not to party too much at any of those Super Bowl parties!
A person who writes a novel, poem, essay, etc.; the composer of a literary work.
Writer – (rahy-ter) noun:
1. A person engaged in writing books, articles, stories, etc.; especially as an occupation or profession; an author or journalist.
2. A person who commits his or her thoughts, ideas, etc., to writing.
3. A person who writes or is able to write.
You may well be wondering why I began this week’s blog with the definitions of the words author and writer. Many years ago I read a short story in an anthology of young adult paranormal romance stories. I was very interested in reading more by the author of that specific story so I paid a visit to the author’s website.
On her website she had a section about “how to be a professional author”. Being the aspiring author I was I was eager for any advice this author could give. Some of the advice was common sense: read a lot, write a lot, be patient, etc. Then I saw a bullet point that read “if you self-publish your book you’re not a ‘real author’”.
That line has always stuck with me, even six years later; so I’d like to explain what I think being a ‘real author’ means.
To me an author is any person who sets a pen to paper or their fingers to a keyboard (or any other method of writing) to tell a story. To me there is no such thing as a ‘real author’ or a ‘fake author’. If you have a story bouncing around in your head begging to be told then by all means let it out!
Writing can be a lot of things for a lot of different people. It can be therapeutic to write down your thoughts in a journal; I do every day at the end of the day. It can also be a way of remembering your observations; like the day I saw a woman walking a ferret down the street on a leash or the day we had to call the “squirrel whisperer” when a baby squirrel latched itself onto our screen door and wouldn’t let go. The things you wouldn’t believe if you didn’t know they were true.
It doesn’t matter what you write, whether it is a poem, a short story, a play, an essay, a novella, or a novel; that still makes you a writer (or a poet or a playwright).
You might just write for your own amusement or you might proudly show it off to all your friends and family. Hell, you might even post it online or yikes! send it in to a publisher to try to get it published. It’s all up to you.
For someone to say that a person isn’t a ‘real author’ because they do things differently is just someone being a jerk. We now live in a time in which self-publishing is much more accepted than it was five or ten years ago. With websites like Smashwords or Createspace and the ease of self-publishing eBooks on the Amazon Kindle or the Barnes and Noble Nook self-publishing has come a long way.
My first novel, The Haunting Love, was contracted by a small e-book publisher Whiskey Creek Press and is about to come out on February 17th. Does that make me less of an author than someone who was published by a big box publisher? No it doesn’t. I may not get as much exposure but this is an excellent starting point.
I’m still planning on self-publishing my second novel, Finding Elizabeth, hopefully by the end of 2015. It is my belief that the popularity of the ‘indie writer’ is rising.
As for me, my journey to becoming an author began in childhood. I’ve always been an avid storyteller. My favorite part of school used to be when we got to write short stories for creative writing or as a means to learn and understand our spelling words.
I started writing The Haunting Love when I was in high school. I was homeschooled for most of high school so I had more freedom with my English classes. I finished writing The Haunting Love during the end of my senior year, when I was seventeen-years-old. Now here we are, eighteen days until it’s release date. I couldn’t be happier.
My advice to anyone out there aspiring to be a published author is to never give up. I know everyone says that but do not get discouraged. If it’s meant to be it will be! I won’t lie to you and say rejection letters don’t sting, because they do, but if you want it bad enough you have to keep trying!
That’s all I’ve got for right now. Have a great weekend everyone! And try not to party too much at any of those Super Bowl parties!
