Nancy Gideon's Blog, page 64

Release Week Two Wrap Up with FREE Book!

A big “THANK YOU” to all who have helped me celebrate the two week release party for SEEKER OF SHADOWS! My publisher wants to thank you, too, with a chance to read HUNTER OF SHADOWS, Book 5 in my Moonlight series for FREE!!

Yes, FREE!!

For the next 23 days, HUNTER OF SHADOWS will be available at Pocket After Dark for an absolutely FREE read! This is your chance to catch up with the book leading into SEEKER OF SHADOWS. And while you’re there at POD, check out the teaser except for SEEKER OF SHADOWS, too!

Also, huge thanks to the reviewers who had such wonderful things to say about SEEKER OF SHADOWS and those who participated in my blog tour:

Mary at Bookhounds: “This story starts off brilliantly with a lot of action. LOVED IT! Jacques was totally swoon worthy. Gideon really knows how to weave a mystery with wonderful paranormal elements. Fans of Larissa Ione and Nalini Singh should really check this out.”

Cat, at Romance Junkies: “The story draws you in. The characters are engaging and sexy. There is plenty of action and a lot of sizzle in this very satisfying shape shifter series.”

Amelia at Single Titles (check out their fun Summer Blog Hop I’m participating in!): “Fascinating. Paranormal worlds crafted by Nancy Gideon are creatively believable. Seeker of Shadows is an engrossing story packed with betrayals, shocking disclosures and passionate desires. 4 ½ Stars!”

Nikki at Ramblings of a Chaotic Mind: “Sexy and smoldering. Stands solidly on its own and is a great read! I enjoyed every minute of this one.”

Kay at Fresh Fiction: “Truly fantastic. A steamy tale of intrigue, suspense, excitement and a sexy hero bound to his feisty and passionate true mate. Will keep you spellbound and on edge.”

Enjoy another look at the steamy book trailer from SEEKER OF SHADOWS to get you in the mood, while I get back to work!

Seeker of Shadows

Summer Kick Off Blog Hop

From June 5th through June 10th, to help relaunch the Sensual Reads site, I'm participating in the Summer Kick Off Blog Hop hosted by CataRomance.com,  Single Titles and Sensual Reads. I'll be giving away a copy of  
Seeker of Shadows.

Details:
1 copy of Seeker of Shadows to the winner of the Giveaway - Open to US only.
Drawing for the Giveaway will be held on 
June 11, 2012 and the winner will also be announced.



To be eligible to enter the Giveaway, you must "Follow" this site then enter with this FORM. One entry per person please. Follow me on Twitter, Like me on Facebook or Friend me on Goodreads for an extra chances to win. Leave a comment and your URL and we'll follow you back!

What Makes a Good Read?

Ever wonder what makes one book a Keeper and the other a DNF? Join me at Fresh Fiction and share your thoughts for a chance to win a copy of SEEKER OF SHADOWS as part of my Release Week blog tour. Make sure you check out the full review they did for SoS—it’s awesome!


What a great launch day yesterday! Reviews started popping up all over the place but the best news came right before I left for work in an e-mail from my editor: SEEKER OF SHADOWS has gone back to press for a second printing!! Woo Hoo! And this, on the first day it’s available.

I’d just come down from that great news on the way home when I fired up my home office laptop to see another even BETTER e-mail. My editor, the fabulous Micki Nuding LOVED my initial draft manuscript for BETRAYED BY SHADOWS ( the next book in the series coming out 12-18-12) so much we’re skipping right over the revision stage to go to copy edits . . . and better yet, I get paid! Anyone who lives on those sporadic writer’s checks can understand my excitement.

And then . . . e-mail this morning. Rush call for a title for my current obsessive Work in Progress. Book 8 is now officially PRINCE OF SHADOWS.

Sorry for the hyperventilation. Back to work!

HAPPY RELEASE DAY for SEEKER OF SHADOWS!

What a great way to start the morning with this review from my friends at Fresh Fiction:

“Truly fantastic. A steamy tale of intrigue, suspense, excitement and a sexy hero bound to his feisty and passionate true “mate.” Will keep you spellbound and on edge. Nancy Gideon has a unique talent for adding just the right amount of passionate sex with blood chilling paranormal intrigue.” Fresh Fiction

To help me celebrate, enjoy this exciting new SEEKER OF SHADOWS book trailer created in conjunction with my fab virtual assistant, My Girl Friday.



I’ll be partying at Pocket After Dark and with RomCon 

where I'll be giving away a $10 Amazon gift certificate! Check back throughout the week for links to fun and giveaways!
Laisse le bon temps roller!

Release Week on the Horizon!!

It seems like forever in the making but my handy countdown meter tells me we only have FIVE days until SEEKER OF SHADOWS hits the shelves. From now until then, I’m going to be busy putting my guest blogs together and gathering up some nifty prizes to giveaway in celebration of Book 6 in my “By Moonlight” series.

SEEKER has already been review-blessed:

“Rich and complex,” says Publishers Weekly. “Gideon delivers. Well-crafted prose and page-turning tension.”

“Delicious,” says Romantic Times Book Reviews. “Dark and seductive. Conflict keeps things exciting and plunging forward as the plot twists and turns.”

“A wonderful thriller,” says Genre Go Round. “Never slows down as the pair dance an intriguing tango.”

“Tantalizing. Emotional and romantic,” says Bookaholics. “Appearances by past characters keep this series together and evolving.”

My blog tour starts tomorrow at Romance Recipes, where I’ll be sharing a taste of New Orleans and a sampling of SEEKER OF SHADOWS.

Here’s a sneak peek at where you can find me starting on May 29, Release Day! Check on those days for direct links, topics and giveaways:

Tuesday: Pocket After Dark and RomCon Romance Blog
Wednesday: Fresh Fiction
Thursday: Novelists Inc and Coffee Time Romance
Friday: Night Owl Reviews
Saturday: Qwillery interview
Sunday: Literary Addiction/Book Monster reviews interview and chat
Monday: Author Sound Relations/Totes and Blogs

June 26: Castles & Guns

If you’d like to jump on board my blog tour calendar for a guest post, interview or review, contact me and we’ll make it a date!

When the Voices in Your Head Won’t Stop Talking . . .

I’m really busy right now. I’ve got a new release coming up on May 29 (SEEKER OF SHADOWS, book 6 in my By Moonlight series) and am waiting for revisions on the next book of the series (BETRAYED BY SHADOWS, 12/18/12). I’ve got guest blog posts up the wazoo to write, an apartment to Spring clean (before its Fall!), website to update, book trailer to put together, excerpts to cull, newsletter to e-mail, and have a regimented plan to deal with all those tasks on my calendar. Thumbs up. Ahead of the game . . . until the whispers start.
Whispers from a new project . . . from the hero and heroine of Book 8.

I’ll just jot down a few notes before I forget, I tell myself last weekend. Then I’ll get cracking on my PR campaign duties. A twelve page synopsis later . . .

Last Monday, I’ve got my headphones on at work doing dictation for an SSDI case, typing along, tripping over my dyslexic acrylic nails that need a trimming (note to self: make an appointment). I’m digging on myofacial pain syndrome, reflex sympathetic dystrophy and supraspinatus tendinosis (and can spell all those words) when my mind’s eye begins to spool out a different picture (right in the middle of discussions on irritable bowel syndrome, no less!)

A gentle lady held hostage in a deadly struggle for power, Kendra Terriot’s only means of survival for herself and her family is to play a careful courtship game. The one she chooses from the dangerous Terriot heirs will rule, but the one she longs to have rescue her belongs to another.

As the favored son of their merciless clan leader, the only calm in Cale Terriot’s necessarily violent life is his baffling infatuation with his delicate distant cousin. With Kendra at his side, he knows he can become the kind of ruler his family needs, but first he must learn how to become the kind of man she desires.

In a treacherous race for the coveted crown, where weakness means death, can Cale prove he’s not the beast his beauty fears and still protect her, especially once her chosen love returns to free her? The only way to win her respect could mean surrendering his throne. The only way to win her heart could mean letting her go.

Okay, okay. This urgent IBS isn’t going to sit back and wait while I develop a scene for my other job . . . that’s why I have a lunch hour. I’ll just write down a few lines so I’ll remember where the scene was going. Six pages later . . .

I’ve probably mentioned I’m ADD with OCD rising. When I focus on something, I’m like a thoroughbred on the backstretch heading for the finish line under the whip with blinders on (or maybe one of those mules with the funny hats pulling tourists around the French Quarter). Nothing stops me or gets in my way. I can’t see anything else even as I’m stepping over it. Whatchu gonna do?

15,000 words later . . .

Inspiration doesn’t check your calendar. When it knocks, you answer. When those voices speak (unless they’re saying, “Kill them all!”), you listen.

Now, about those blog posts . . . That’s why I have lunch hours.

I haven’t been totally irresponsible in starting my PR blitzkrieg. Join me for The Book Demolition Derby!!! Scavenger Hunt! May 5-May 20th 2012. Free books from over twenty authors (including SEEKER OF SHADOWS!) and all you have to do is have fun.

For you Goodreads members, Pocket has got a book giveaway going for SEEKER OF SHADOWS from now through May 26!! Zip over to enter. Book Giveaway For Seeker of Shadows (Moonlight, #6)

Choose . . . Wisely!

I came home from work to find three fat envelopes from Kensington had come in the mail. Woo Hoo! I got my rights back to my Dana Ransom backlist! (Still waiting on the Lauren Giddings and Nancy Gideon titles . . .)

For those who may not be old enough remember, I got my start as a published author writing historical romance, specializing in fast-paced, gritty Westerns that earned me a “Career Achievement in Historical Adventure” award from Romantic Times Magazine. (Follow the link on the Historicals page for a peek at my Romances With a Past). These are books that have been out of print for a more than a decade containing two series (Dakota and Texas/Bass family) that have readers still writing, wanting MORE!

So, now that I have the rights, what do I DO with them?

Choices . . .

Authors have never had as many choices as they do now. In years past, writers weren’t that diligent about getting their rights back (or in protecting them) because there weren’t many options available for books that had already had a shelf life. Now . . . the sky’s the limit.

Do I self-publish? Do I re-package? Do I re-tailor ‘80s prose to fit a 2012 readership? Do I go through my agent or sell them on my own (the way I did the first six originally)? Do I check out small presses, e-publishers, foreign markets?

Before I pick any one or combination listed above, the first thing I’ll do is my homework. This is why I belong to fabulous and informative organizations like RWA and Novelists Inc. This is why I’m on loops populated by peers who have already considered said choices. Because putting up a back list is more than putting it out there. There are other things to consider. Contractual things with my current publisher. Time constraints with my current deadline and 9-to-5. Educational retraining that comes with looking outside the Big Six market. So that like Indiana Jones, when the time comes . . . I’ll choose wisely.



Be watching for the return of the Dana Ransom historical (and possible original continuations) . . .

I’m also talking about choices and accountability on my Weighty Issues blog. Click here to sink your teeth in.

By Any Other Name . . . By Moonlight Book 7

The minute I found out the release date for my current WIP was 12-18-12 (!), things started happening . . . FAST! I got an e-mail from my editor on April 20. Book 7 is part of the launch plans for Pocket’s new e-exclusive line so they need a title . . . FAST! We toss around a few combinations and come up with BETRAYED BY SHADOWS, which ties in nicely with the context of the storyline. Done. That had to be the quickest decision ever made in my association with this publisher. So now I have a title AND a release date:

BETRAYED BY SHADOWS
By Moonlight series, Book 7
Available December 18, 2012

But that wasn’t enough. Then an e-mail from my editor’s assistant on April 23. They need a 4-5 line description of the book . . . FAST! This is the same day I send in the completed manuscript, mind you. So here it is . . . Your first glimpse of BETRAYED BY SHADOWS:

Balancing a criminal empire and a preternatural clan war, reluctant front man Giles St. Clair doesn’t need a problem like Brigit MacCreedy . . . How much trouble can the head-strong and manipulative Shifter beauty get into in two weeks? Plenty when her schemes range from kidnapping to fleeing the retribution of her dead lover’s relatives.

With her family’s lives on the line, Brigit is willing to do whatever it takes to save them. The only thing standing in her way is an immovable stone wall of a man she can’t bully or beguile . . . a human, no less, who has promised to protect her from the secrets and dangers she conceals.

Risking her own safety gets complicated when an honorable and annoyingly desirable man puts himself between her and her powerful enemies in a battle he can’t win in this Taming of the Shrew meets Shifter Goodfellas on the bayou tale of consequences, redemption and finding love in all the wrong places.

By any other name, it’s still By Moonlight.

Sound good to you?

The Next Big Thing…Apparently coming in December!

While pathologically checking my numbers on Amazon, I was startled to see the product below offered for sale:
Untitled Paranormal Romance #1 [Kindle Edition] Nancy Gideon (Author) Like 1334762426 false 1 0 0 0 (0)
Kindle Price: $5.99 includes free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
This price was set by the publisher

Book DescriptionPublication Date: December 18, 2012 A Simon & Schuster eBookShow More Show Less Product Details·         Publisher: Pocket Star (December 18, 2012) ·         Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc ·         Language: English ·         ASIN: B007QUY2CO
What’s this?  Could this possibly be the book that’s still in revision stages on my computer?  The next book in my Moonlight series? According to my editor . . . yes, it is!!
Book 7 (which hopefully will get a snapper title than “Untitled Paranormal Romance #1!) is scheduled for e-release on December 18, 2012!
Which means I’d better home and get to work!

Under the Bold Red and White PW . . . a first look at SEEKER OF SHADOWS

Nothing like the adrenaline shock of stumbling over your first review by accident . . . from Publisher's Weekly no less!

I was doing a Google search for pirates illegally downloading copies of previous titles (and found them . . . arggh! Hang 'em from the yardarms!) when SEEKER OF SHADOWS fiction review caught my eye with PW attached to it. I hadn't heard anything from my publisher so my immediate first thought was, 'Oh, no. I've been trashed and they didn't want me to know!' Cautiously, I followed the link and there was my cover under the bold red and white PW banner. Gulp! Then the first line . . .

"Gideon delivers a rich and complex romantic urban fantasy romance."

Okay, it's not urban fantasy, it's straight paranormal, but the preceding words blur that small inaccuracy. I read on hopefully. Nice synopsis of the plot then . . .

"Series fans are rewarded with critical developments layered on previous books, while enticing new dimensions to the Shifter world keep things fresh." Yahoo! Rewarded . . . Enticing . . . Great words for future pull quotes. Then . . .

"Susanna is slow to develop as sympathetic, and earlier series characters are thinly sketched, but . . .

What is it about authors that makes us instantly feel the need to defend our prose as vigorously as we do our children's faults, our female rights, and our decision to have that second Cadbury egg? This wasn't a slap or a dig or even an inaccuracy, but I start in with a mental dialogue arguing against the perceived slight. "Well, she's supposed to be distant and unsympathetic until the reader gets an insight into her background where all emotion is suppressed under tremendous threat. And how much development does an earlier secondary character need if their purpose is well defined and they're there to support an earlier plot line?" Huff and puff. Then self-righteous indignation becomes insecurity. "What could I change? What should I have done different? What can I do differently in the next book so it will suck less?" Previous praise is forgotten. It becomes, "Why did they hate my book? Now no one's going to want to read it!" But . . .

. . . newcomers can still enjoy the well-crafted prose and page-turning tension."

Well-crafted prose. Page-turning tension. Okay, my feathers are stroked, my first impression disabused, and I start seeing the big picture. Great pull quotes for my next cover! I'm in Publisher's freaking Weekly and they said nice things!

Authors . . . We're so dramatic!

Maybe someone needs to invent a 12 Step program for us to follow when reading our own reviews.

Enjoy the full review. I did . . . over and over again! In fact, it's sitting beside me at my desk . . . my cover under the bold red and white PW!


Do reviews influence whether or not you buy a book? How do you authors deal with the good, bad and ugly when it's out there for the world to see?