Daron D. Fraley's Blog, page 12

Canticle Quests from Michael Young – Author of The Canticle Kingdom

Michael Young, author of The Canticle Kingdom is holding a summer project for grades 5 – 12 that promises to be a great amount of fun for those who participate. The program includes music, art, reading, a scavenger hunt, and more. There are prizes for accomplishments! For more information, please see the full description of the program at the Canticle Quests website.

Here is a short description of the program:

With summer upon us, many are planning how to spend their summer...

Personal Reflections On The Hero's Journey

I write. I write because I must. Sometimes I write my novels. Sometimes I write short stories. Sometimes I write in my personal journal. Sometimes I simply write in my own mind, observing the world–wondering how it works, watching people, analyzing my own actions and my reactions to others and then taking mental notes. I write to remember.

After a story hooks the reader well enough that they turn the page, it is the plot and the characters that keep them reading. As the...

Author Interview – Andrea Pearson, author of The Key of Kilenya

Today I am interviewing a fellow author who is about to have her first novel released with Valor Publishing Group. The Key of Kilenya, by Andrea Pearson will soon be available in a store near you. The official launch date is July 6th, 2010. From the back cover of the book:

When two vicious wolves chase fourteen-year-old Jacob Clark through a gateway from our world into another, he has no idea they have been sent by the Lorkon—evil, immortal beings who know he has powers they...

An Author's Dream – The Pay It Forward Giveaway

WARNING: Don't read this blog too fast. You might miss a really cool prize if you do…

There is an interesting contest going on between a bunch of authors which I thought was worthy of a quick post.

Check out what Karen Gowen is doing on her blog, here: http://karenjonesgowen.blogspot.com/2010/05/bmillers-pay-it-forward-best-contest.html

And this was inspired by B. Miller Fiction, here: http://bmillerfiction.blogspot.com/2010/05/pay-it-forward-giveaway.html

Here is another cool...

Plugging Into The Publishing Industry

photo courtesy of Ragesoss, Wikimedia Commons

Writers want to have their works read. Maybe want is not a strong enough word: Need to have? Must have?

If your story is a lamp . . .

You, as a writer, want to have the lamp used and enjoyed, do you not? A lamp certainly doesn't do much good unless it is plugged in and switched on. As a writer, you need an outlet. A place to plug in.

There are several types of outlets available to you as a writer–traditional publishing, self...

Virtual Book Tour for The Thorn – The Reviews Are In

During the month of April, my book The Thorn went on a virtual book tour. After a month full of reviews, thirty of them to be exact, I am pleased to report that the book received mostly complimentary reviews. I learned a lot about my writing and about books in general by reading them. I come away from this experience with the following insights:

1. There is no such thing as a fiction book written for everybody. Quite a few of the bloggers took advantage of posting their...

Guest Blog Post – How To Gain Readership Using Book Contests, by Scott Cowley

A week or so ago I did a twitter contest for a free signed copy of my book. And although I did have some participation (which I was very grateful for), the numbers of participants I was hoping for was nowhere near what I had envisioned. In fact, near the end of the contest I was scratching my head, wondering what I had done wrong.

I asked a twitter friend of mine (who I knew would have some good ideas), if he could give me some pointers. What I got from him was somewhat...

Book Review – Secret Sisters, by Tristi Pinkston

What do you get when you mix a bunch of well-meaning grannies (well, they're not all grannies, but the image fits), with family in need, a technology geek, and a mysterious bad guy?

Lots of laughs.

I know Tristi personally. She makes me laugh. In fact, I think she should do stand-up comedy. Her sense of humor and skill of delivery are both quite good. In fact, at the 2009 LDStorymakers Writers Conference last spring, she had me laughing so hard that I had to wipe tears from my e...

Book Review – Heroes of the Fallen, by David J. West

I am here to tell you about a book by David J. West which literally left me in a state of wonder. I want to make it clear right up front that I am friends with David. We talk quite a bit about writing and the publishing industry and genres and markets and literary works and classics and history and archaeology and astronomy and geography and mound builders and the Old World and explorers and religion and this list could go on for quite a while. We have many of the same...

Contest winner announcement

Earlier this week we had a contest to help drive entries to the Goodreads giveaway for "The Thorn".

Although we didn't hit 2000 entries for that contest, I still think 619 entries is respectable for a new book from an unknown author. Thank you all for your help! If you are a published author and you have never done a giveaway on Goodreads, check it out. I think it's a great way to start to get name recognition, from what I can tell.

The winner of the "Tweet-it-up" contest, with ...