Nicki Elson's Blog, page 12

April 15, 2015

M is for Men (as in looking for a few good)

So, yeah, I'm not doing A to Z this year. But I seem to be going through some sort of withdrawal. When I realized VIBRIZZIO's Release Day is on none other than R day (April 21), I had a tiny flash of inspiration. When the first two A to Zers who offered to post for me happened to be men, well, I got a whole 'nother idea...

If you're doing A to Z (or even if you're not) and if you're a man (or even if you're not), I'd love it, love it, love it if you'd consider including a blip about VIBRIZZIO's release in your post on either April 21 (R Day) or April 25 (V Day). The only things I'll ask you to post are the cover, Amazon link, and the mini-blurb:

Lyssa Bates doesn't need a man. Not when the world is fully stocked with double A batteries and a wide array of options in Amazon's health and sexual wellness category.

Lastly, (here's where the man bit comes in) if you're a man, I'd also like you to include a one-sentence-or-less honest reaction to that mini-blurb. If you're not a man, please grab the man closest to you, read him the blurb, and share his reaction with your followers.

That's it. You in?


 
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Published on April 15, 2015 04:34

April 14, 2015

Pop the Bubbly for ENTWINED, an Embrace Series Novel by @CherieColyer

We're popping the bubbly today for Cherie Colyer, whose third book in the Embrace series was released today!  I've already read the first chapter oF ENTWINED  and oh, boy am I excited to dive in head first.

le Blurb:

Only a few months after embracing her magical powers, defeating a dark witch, and banishing a faerie prince back to his realm, sixteen ­year ­old Madison Riley is back in book three of the Embrace series—and doing the bidding of a demon. She has no choice but to do so if she wants him to honor the deal they made to save the life of someone she loves. Twenty years of service to a creature of hell is a big price, but one she’s willing to pay. And it sure beats the alternative: selling her soul.

But life gets complicated when you’re the beck­and­call witch of a crossroad demon. Caden, the demon she serves, wants to become master of Death Himself, and with Madison at his side he has the means to do it.

It’s up to Madison and her coven to foil his plans, but Caden’s intentions aren't entirely evil—and the kisses he seals his deals with aren’t too bad either. As Caden's motives test Madison’s trust, his shameful flirting tries her boyfriend Isaac’s patience. But being caught between two supernatural hotties is perhaps the least of her concerns when the coven’s interference in Caden’s plot might just cost Madison her life and unleash hell on earth.

Twitter * Author Website *  Entwined at Amazon *   Goodreads 
Enter the ENTWINED RAFFLECOPTER to win either a $20 Amazon Gift Card or a 3 book bundle of the entire Entwined Series!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Published on April 14, 2015 04:51

April 6, 2015

Happy Release Day @AlexJCavanaugh! DRAGON OF THE STARS is here!

Today a whole bunch of us are popping the bubbly for the release of Alex J. Cavanaugh's fourth novel, Dragon of the Stars!! And this from a guy who never even intended to be a writer. He just can't help it---his talent and his muse, not to mention his fans, just won't let him stop.

After finishing his Cassa series, he wasn't sure he'd write another book. Then a super awesome song came along and inspired him. We can't have a party without music, right? So let's get this party started with the tune that's responsible for this shindig: 



Available today!Dragon of the Stars By Alex J. CavanaughScience Fiction – Space Opera/Adventure/MilitaryPrint ISBN 9781939844064 EBook ISBN 9781939844057http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/    http://whatarethekargrandes.com/
The ship of legends…The future is set for Lt. Commander Aden Pendar, poised to secure his own command and marriage to the queen’s daughter. But when the Alliance declares war on their world, Aden finds his plans in disarray and told he won’t make captain. One chance remains–the Dragon. Lost many years prior, the legendary ship’s unique weapon is Hyrath’s only hope. Can Aden find the Dragon, save his people, and prove he’s capable of commanding his own ship?


Purchase:Amazon * Barnes and Noble * Kobo Chapters * Amazon UK * Goodreads
iTunes * Amazon print * Overdrive 
Wouldn't be a party without games & prizes either, would it?
SCAVENGER HUNT! Comment to win an autographed copy of Dragon of the Stars, tons of bookmarks & postcards, and a $20.00 iTunes gift card–where is Mini-Alex? (Open through April 11 – winner announced April 13 at Alex’s blog.)


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Published on April 06, 2015 23:32

April 2, 2015

Cover Reveal Time: ENTWINED by @CherieColyer

I'm excited to be hosting the cover reveal for the third book in the wonderful EMBRACE SERIES by Cherie Colyer. I enjoyed the first two books of this YA supernatural series. My reviews are here and here. You can get started on the series for only 99 cents with EMBRACE.

I'll be getting that reveal, but first, le blurb:

EntwinedBook 3 in the Embrace series by Cherie Colyer
Only a few months after embracing her magical powers, defeating a dark witch, and banishing a faerie prince back to his realm, sixteen-year-old Madison Riley is back in book three of the Embrace series—and doing the bidding of a demon. She has no choice but to do so if she wants him to honor the deal they made to save the life of someone she loves. Twenty years of service to a creature of hell is a big price, but one she’s willing to pay. And it sure beats the alternative: selling her soul.
But life gets complicated when you’re the beck-and-call witch of a crossroad demon. Caden, the demon she serves, wants to become master of Death Himself, and with Madison at his side he has the means to do it.
It’s up to Madison and her coven to foil his plans, but Caden’s intentions aren't entirely evil—and the kisses he seals his deals with aren’t too bad either. As Caden's motives test Madison’s trust, his shameful flirting tries her boyfriend Isaac’s patience. But being caught between two supernatural hotties is perhaps the least of her concerns when the coven’s interference in Caden’s plot might just cost Madison her life and unleash hell on earth.


Ready for le cover?


Yes?


Here it is!

Add to your Goodreads list
Genre: Young Adult Supernatural RomanceRelease Date: April 14th, 2015Twitter: @CherieColyerAuthor Website: http://cheriecolyer.blogspot.com/
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Published on April 02, 2015 04:56

April 1, 2015

Insecure Writers Support Group: April 2015

Wow. I haven't posted anything since the last IWSG. What the hell happened to March? In any case, thank you for stopping by during this month's meeting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group, founded by the one and clonely Alex J. Cavanaugh (who's got a new book coming out next week!!) .

My insecurity this month is...well, that I'm not feeling insecure about anything when I probably should be. I mean, I've got a whole list of stressors to choose from:

1. As of today it's officially official that I'm not doing A to Z this year. This makes me sad because I know I'm going to miss out on a lot of fun, but I also know that nobody around here is going to hold it against me. What would've made me insecure is signing up and then not being able to keep up, which is most certainly what would've happened w/ the month I've got ahead of me. .

2. My family is coming over for Easter, and other than the big ham in my fridge, I haven't done one thing to prepare. Bah, it always comes together; it'll happen again. Besides, as long as we have eggs and Jesus (and that giant ham), what else do we need?

3. I've got a book releasing a few weeks. Last two times this happened I was all in a tizzy, but as I espoused last month, there's only so much I can do. So I'll do it, and whatever will be will be. If you're willing & able to post something about VIBRIZZIO on April 21 (release day) to your blog or FB or Twitter or wherever,  please sign up for my e-mail list & I'll send you some goodies to choose from next week.

4.  I haven't written or done any serious editing to my WIP for a couple of weeks. No guilt; no worries. I think it's to the story's and the writer's benefit to take little breaks from each other. Every once in a while I need to step away and let my creative energies play in other ways...like making this video trailer for the Vibster. Whaddaya think?


So you can see my big concern, right? I'm way too chillaxed. This never lasts---what's lurking around that corner that's going to blow my Fonzie jacket right off? Do you ever feel this way?

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Published on April 01, 2015 04:37

March 4, 2015

What I Believe #IWSG #BookMarketing

Hola, Insecure Writers Support Group! Nice to see you. Once again, thank you Mr. Alex J. Cavanaugh for bringing us all together to help each other through the ups & downs of this writing adventure. My insecurity, or rather challenge, this month is going to sound rather strange, particularly considering that I have a new release next month. What I'm struggling with right now is to not market my book. That's right, I said not
After five years of observation and direct experience, I've come to beleive that once a book is written and out there, there's very little an author can do to sell her own book. I've seen authors work their bums off, implementig really, really good marketing strategies with little to no sustained impact on sales. I've seen other authors do hardly anything at all and meet with great success. 
I believe sustainability of sales depends on a perfect storm of appealing cover/blurb/premise, the right timing, compelling story, and magic. All of those things work together to conjure the one thing that will bring about sustainable sales: word of mouth. An author can shout incessantly from the top of a mountain made of Rafflecopters, promo pics, book trailers & Instagram followers, but unless readers start talking about her book on their own, it ain't gonna sell.
I find this conclusion both frustrating and freeing. Frustrating because dammit, there's nothing I can do. Freeing because hey, I don't have to do anything! Well, maybe not nothing. We do have to make at least a small effort to let people know the book is out there in the hopes that they'll pick it up, read it, love it, and talk, talk, talk about it. What I'm trying to do is stick to a simple promo plan and not panic and shift into pointless promo overdrive - because as strong as my conviction is, I have to constantly resist the urge to shout from the top of that mountain. 
All that being said...come on now, you didn't expect me to go cold turkey, didjya? But I swear, this giveaway is part of my simple, basic plan. If you have any interest at all in a sassy Chic-lit/Love story please click away below and do what the Rafflecopter tells you. Thanks!
Enter the #Vibrizzio Giveaway
How do you keep from going into promo overdrive? 
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Published on March 04, 2015 04:10

February 27, 2015

I always thought @Debra_Anastasia was insane...now I KNOW it. #‎FireDownBelow


Check out the...er, unusual reviews for Debra Anastasia's Fire Down Below:



So, you know when someone says "Ew, gross. Smell this," And then, for some inexplicable reason you do? Well, I smelled it. And you can read my review at Goodreads.  

#‎FireDownBelow▴Amazon US ➜ amzn.to/1HvQywp  ▴Amazon UK ➜ amzn.to/1DgCa4U ▴Amazon AU ➜ bit.ly/1CkOCDU ▴KoBo ➜ bit.ly/166Xtej ▴iBooks ➜ bit.ly/1Kfvpmh ▴B&N ➜ TBA



There are a lot of eyes in Debra Anastasia’s house in Maryland. First, her own creepy peepers are there, staring at her computer screen. She’s made two more sets of eyes with her body, and the kids they belong to are amazing. The poor husband is still looking at her after 17 years of marriage. At least he likes to laugh. Then the freaking dogs are looking at her—six eyeballs altogether, though the old dog is blind. And the cat watches her too, mostly while knocking stuff off the counter and doing that internal kitty laugh when Deb can’t catch the items fast enough.

Debra has a smattering of books in a few genres. There are two in the Seraphim Series and three in the Poughkeepsie Brotherhood Series with a prequel, Poughkeepsie Begins in the near future. Fire Down Below is the first in the comedic Gynzaule Series. The second, Fire in the Hole, will be published in late 2015. The Revenger, a dark paranormal romance will debut this summer. And last, a novella called Late Night with Andres is special because 100% of the proceeds go to breast cancer research. (So go get it right now, please!) You can find her at DebraAnastasia.com and on Twitter @Debra_Anastasia. But be prepared...
Goodreads  * Twitter * Facebook * Instagram *  Pinterest

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Published on February 27, 2015 04:20

February 11, 2015

Romance Authors Don't Suck

On Saturday, I'll have been a published romance author for five years. Throughout those five years, I've often sensed the disdain that accompanies utterance of the term "romance" in the literary world. It's so far beneath all those other genres of real fiction, right? At my local library, the used book shelf sells old VHS tapes---that most people can't even play anymore---for a dollar, while used romance books sell for ten freaking cents.

Kinda gives a girl a complex. So I was ecstatic to get a bit of vindication this past weekend when I sat on a panel called Real Life/Real Love at the first annual Elgin Literary Festival. While one panelist wanted to make it very clear that she wrote (highly esteemed) literary fiction and not (blechy) romance, edgy YA romance superstar Simone Elkeles explained why romance is the hardest genre to write.

I'm paraphrasing here, but essentially what Simone said was that at the beginning of a romance novel, or often from just the blurb, readers know how the story ends: the H gets together with the h and they live HEA. Romance writers can't rely on simple curiosity to know how it all ends to keep readers reading. We have to work every page to keep the reader vested in the characters and caring about how they get together---enough to read all the way through even though they know exactly where the story will end. 'Tis no easy task.

For the record, I'm a writer's conference virgin, so this festival was my first event of the sort. I so much loved getting to meet other authors!. Here I am (left) with the super cool & sweet AJ Pine (fellow panelist & my book-signing table buddy) & the wonderfully open and approachable Simone Elkeles (right).



FYI, on Monday at the IWSG website, Alex J. Cavannaugh put together a great piece about the pros and cons of small publishers---with input from 12 authors you just might recognize...


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Published on February 11, 2015 05:10

February 4, 2015

Insecure Writers Support Group: February 2015 #IWSG

Has anyone out there not heard of IWSG yet? If so, learn all about it here. Thank you Alex J. Cavanaugh for bringing us all together!

I know everyone has their own writing process and that what works for one person may not work for another, but I've just realized another benefit to the plow-through-the-first-draft-no-looking-back approach, and I want to share it with you.  I write this way because I learned that if I don't, I'll never finish anything. I get too caught up in editing, so I simply can't let myself do it until version one of the story is all out of me. That's benefit #1.

As I work on the second draft of my current WIP, I've seen benefit #2 in action. Since I didn't spend time re-re-re-re-reading chapters to mold and polish along the way, I'm able to attack this draft almost like a first time reader. I think with all writers, the more times we read our own words, the more attached to them we become and the more right they sound to us no matter how very wrong they might be. Since I haven't read these words multiple times, I can slice and dice them more objectively. It's sort of freeing. Have any of you experienced this benefit? Have you tried the no looking back approach?


In case the graphic in my sidebar issn't obnoxious enough, I have some exciting news this week---my upcoming novel VIBRIZZIO is up for pre-order at Amazon!  Right now it's at a special pre-order price of 99c. I don't know how long that'll last, so if you're interested in a love story that's a little bit smart and a lotta bit naughty, you might want to snatch it up now. Scroll down to the bottom of this link for a free sample (i.e. the opening scene)


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Published on February 04, 2015 04:36

February 3, 2015

Four Somethings & a Sixpence #Romance #Giveaway @RumerHaven

I'm so excited to feature a brand new novella---just released today!---by Rumer Haven. Rumer has such a lovely way of painting stories with words, and this particular story features one of my favorite twists ever in a romance. It's a perfect short read for Valentine's season. 
FOUR SOMETHINGS & A SIXPENCEby Rumer Haven

Adult Contemporary Romance Available February 3, 2015 from Battered Suitcase Press(an imprint of Vagabondage Press)
SUMMARY: One wedding. Six participants. Be they sitting in the pews or standing at the altar, bearing witness in person or only in spirit, each of them knows something about the unsmiling bride. Go ahead—offer them a sixpence for their thoughts, and they'll make you these vows:
One would love to declare this woman his “awfully wedded wife.”One fears what she already has and will have to hold—if not from this day forward, then soon.One takes her to be richer, not poorer.One is better for what she told him this morning, worse for betraying a friend to get to this point.One worries whether today finds her in sickness or in health.And only one already knows that not even in death will they part.Whether they speak now or forever hold their peace, they all give the bride a little something she didn’t register for. With romance, resentment, faith, fear, mystery, and the mystical, Four Somethings & A Sixpence is a loaded yet light read just in time for Valentine's Day!

Add it to Goodreads. Available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, & batteredsuitcasepress.com
 RAFFLECOPTER: In celebration, Rumer is giving away 4 free ebooks of this 9,000-word novelette, and a lucky 5th winner will receive the ebook PLUS an authentic silver sixpence coin struck by the Royal Mint in London! RSVP at the Rafflecopter for your chance to win (runs from 2/3 - 2/14).
a Rafflecopter giveaway 
AUTHOR BIO:Rumer Haven is probably the most social recluse you could ever meet. When she’s not babbling her fool head off among friends and family, she’s pacified with a good story that she’s reading, writing, or revising—or binge-watching something on Netflix. A former teacher hailing from Chicago, she presently lives in London with her husband. She made her authorial debut in 2014 with the novel Seven for a Secret , where historical fiction meets contemporary rom-com. Rumer has always had a penchant for the past and paranormal, which inspires her writing to explore dimensions of time, love, and the soul.

Website * Goodreads * Amazon * Twitter: @RumerHaven * Facebook 
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Published on February 03, 2015 04:31