Sarah Ballance's Blog, page 60
June 27, 2012
Publisher Seeking Submissions
Publisher Books To Go Now is seeking manuscripts. The following information is from their submission guidelines page, which can be found here.
[image error]BOOKS TO GO NOW Submission Guidelines
Our mission is to make sure that as a writer, you get the respect you deserve as a published author.
Submission Guidelines
If you would like to contact us our email address bookstogonow @ gmail.com
Books To Go Now is a commercial fiction publisher. Our goal is to supply the highest quality stories for our readers. Please keep that principle in mind before considering Books to Go Now as the publisher.
If published the author will receive a 60/40 split of the net amount with Books to Go Now .
Currently we are looking at a 1 to 2 week turn around time. If it is longer, we will contact you.
Books to Go Now is actively seeking all genres of short story fiction.
At this time Books to Go Now is only considering books between 8,000- 30,000 words for print.
General Submission Information:
* Submit only completed pieces of work
* Books to Go Now is open to self-published and/or previously-published works as long as the author holds the exclusive rights to work.
* Submissions are reviewed on a daily basis. If you do not receive confirmation of receipt within 14 days of submission,please feel free to re-contact us.
* Please inform us if the submitted manuscript is being offered elsewhere simultaneously, and keep us informed of its status.
Length Requirements:
As for now Books to Go Now is ONLY looking for
* Short Stories: 8,000
In the future we may look at longer works, but for now we are focusing on our short story ePub market and apps eBook downloads.
Novella: IN ROMANCE (ALL GENRES) AND EROTICA ONLY
20-30,000 words
We are actively seeking submissions in these genres (in no particular order of importance):
* Romance (all categories)
* Historical
* Erotica
* Mystery
* Paranormal
* Fantasy
* Action/Adventure
* Young Adult that fits one of the categories above
* Science Fiction
Right now we are NOT accepting
*Westerns
* Inspirational
* Horror
* Non-Fiction
* Literary Fiction
* Fiction that does not fit into one of the categories listed above
* Woman’s Fiction
Book on the Go SUBMISSION PROCEDURES:
We only want completed original works. You don’t need to send a query first. Just send the full story in the listed format below.
Please send completed short story as an attachment.
Submissions should be made via our email bookstogonow @ gmail.com
Please double space, use 12 point font, to save our eyes and page count.
You MUST include the following information in your cover email:
* Name
* Pen name
* Contact phone
* Working title (include series name and details if applicable)
* Word count
* Genre(s)
* A short blurb (no more than three paragraphs, please) Elevator Pitch 
* All submissions should be sent to: bookstogonow@gmail.com
FILE NAME :
* Please name your book file BOOKTITLE_sub
HOW TO FORMAT YOUR STORY:
* File type: .rtf or .doc only
* 12pt black font (Times New Roman, Cambria or Georgia preferred)
* Margins: 1″ all
* Double space between lines.
* No double-spaces or extra returns between paragraphs
* Use your word processing functions to indent new paragraphs. Do not tab or use the space bar.
* Page-breaks between chapters
* Do not use style elements or sections breaks
Please do include a title page listing the following information:
* Name
* Pen name
* Contact phone
* Working title (include series name and details if applicable)
* Word count
* Genre(s)
Our email is bookstogonow @ gmail.com
Regarding objectionable content, Books to Go Now will not consider any work that justifies, glorifies, or excuses the following subject matter:
* ANY abuse to women.
*Manuscripts we WILL NOT ACCEPT are: Pedophilia, bestiality, necrophilia, rape, incest, fan fiction, snuff, mommy/daddy/child fantasies, asphyxiation, felching, any type of play that involves bodily fluids (which includes solid form).
Mailing address: Books to Go Now, P.O. Box 1283, Poulsbo, 98370
June 25, 2012
A Call to Arms: Care Packages for the Troops
CARE PACKAGES FOR THE TROOPS
Help support our troops by donating to the HHB 3-13 Unit from Oklahoma currently deployed to Afghanistan.
All proceeds will be used to send the Soldiers the items on their wish lists.
Current items on wish lists:
Baby wipes water flavor packets
Webcams headphones
Books magazines
Gum hard candy
Sheets/linens protein bars
Beef jerky slim jims
Coffee snacks
Socks t-shirts underwear
Toiletries click pencils, paper
Phone cards DVDs
Monetary proceeds will be sent to 3-13 to help fund the purchase of items currently on the wish lists.
The families and Soldiers of HHB 3-13 thank you for your support!
Paypal donations may be sent to the fundraising coordinator at bsdail@gmail.com
If you cannot donate at this time, please support the cause by sharing this information with your friends and social networks. Thank you!
Note to my readers from Sarah Ballance:
I am happy to support this cause and share the information for this fundraising drive. As a disclaimer, I will not in any way handle or receive goods or proceeds related to the care packages. Your funds, should you choose to donate, will go directly to the coordinating team for this project. Thank you!
June 23, 2012
06.24.12 #SixSunday with Tide of Lies
Thrilling new romantic suspense! Click image for several electronic formats, including PDF and Kindle/Nook files.
TIDE OF LIES is *now available* from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Noble Romance! And for the scoop on the unsolved murders leading to the lies, check out FAMILIAR LIGHT, on sale for $1.50.
This is the *last six* from TIDE OF LIES! All I’m going to tell you is there’s no trick here. Our pal (BLEEP) confessed to killing Julia, telling Holden her body was in the back bedroom, which is exactly where he finds her.
The first room was empty. Holden then nosed into a linen closet and a bathroom before he rounded the last doorway.
What he saw had his heart as close to stopping as it ever had. There, surrounded by a sweeping panoramic view of the ocean, Julia—his Julia—hung by her neck from one of the decorative beams bisecting the vaulted ceiling.
“Julia!”
The bastard had told the truth.
Want to see the rest? Choose your link below. ;c)
Click here to add TIDE OF LIES on Goodreads!
Find it @ Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Noble Romance
Enjoy your Sunday six sentences at a time! To see other participating authors, click here.
June 22, 2012
06.23.2012 #SweetSat Samples: Run to You
Romantic suspense for the beach! Grab it by clicking the image.
Note: While this book does have some adult content (none of which will be featured here), it’s not explicit and is a very small portion of the overall story.
Congratulations to ilovebooksblog, this week’s gift card winner! If you’d like to be eligible for my weekly giveaways of a $10 gift card to Noble Romance or $5 to Amazon or Barnes & Noble (winner’s choice), simply subscribe by email using the box to your left. You’ll be automatically entered every week for as long as you remain a subscriber.
We’re kicking things off with excerpts from my second book, a contemporary romantic suspense published back in December 2010. In this sample, my heroine Mattie allowed her guy pal to whisk her off to the coast to escape a recent—and very public—scandal. But Mattie isn’t a fan of the beach, and there’s a storm closing in.
Mattie took in the scenery, biting back a frown. An endless string of seagulls circled overhead, their cries haunting against the barren landscape. Tall, restless dune grasses swished against a darkening sky. Froth whipped heavily in the air as wave after wave battled the shoreline, crashing mightily, fighting retreat.
But as creepy as it was, the atmosphere was friendly compared to the cottage looming in the foreground. The hulk of a house gaped at her, shadows turning the sweeping, wrap-around porch into rows of toothless hollows. A large wall of windows glittered like steel against an ominous backdrop of gray sky and boiling water.
She tried to picture it doused with bright sunshine, colorful beach towels lining the decks. A roll of thunder challenged the notion and sent her scurrying for cover under the cavernous main floor. Sheets of lattice broke some of the wind, but couldn’t stop a cold shiver from ricocheting down her spine when she saw the water churning, closing in on the dunes with each push of the tide.
BUY @ NOBLE ROMANCE | AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE
For more Sweet Saturday clean excerpts, click here.
RUN TO YOU | contemporary romantic suspense
Mattie James can’t pinpoint exactly when she lost control of her life, but the moment she decided to take it back made the front page of the local paper. Desperate to dodge the fallout— and the tabloids—she jumps at the chance to spend an off-season week in a tiny resort community by the sea. Making the trip with her ex-lover is a complication she can live with; coming face to face with a dead woman is not.
The last thing Sheriff Wyatt Reed expected to find on the storm-ravaged beach was a beautiful blonde with a jealous sidekick, but one look at Mattie left him wanting more. Their first date takes an ominous turn when he gets the call that a woman was found murdered. With a killer on the loose and a troubling lack of suspects or motive, Wyatt has to put his feelings aside to focus on the case. But his vow not to become personally involved is shattered when he discovers Mattie’s life is on the line, and this time the truth leaves her with a deadly choice . . . and nowhere to run.
BUY @ NOBLE ROMANCE | AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE
June 21, 2012
R. Renee Vickers: Every Child Deserves to Feel Safe
Well… hello there, good lookin’! What’s a gorgeous and obviously, highly intelligent individual like you doing in a place like this? (hold on, Sarah…I’m getting to it) This is one of my favorite haunts and you do look awfully familiar. Have I seen you here before? Do you come here often? What’s your sign? *ducks Sarah’s shepherd’s hook*
Ok, seems like I’ve received a subtle hint to move along, so I shall! If you’re a regular here you may remember me (*big grin*). On my last visit I talked about the tragedy that is child abuse and what some very talented authors are doing out there to raise awareness and funds to aid victims (in this post). Well, I’m very happy to announce that A Light in the Darkness has since been released! YAY!!! We’re all really excited about this project because all of the profits from this will be going directly to charities that aid victims of child abuse and neglect. Each author who contributed their talents to this project did so in the hopes of inflicting a positive change in a sometimes very dark and gloomy world. We hope that the contribution of entertaining stories that some powerful voices will help to raise awareness to those who far too often suffer in silence.
None of this would be possible without the vision, talent, and dedication of J.S. Wayne, who is leading the charge with this project. And, neither would it be possible without the generosity, compassion, and hard work of Laurie Sanders who donated the services of Black Velvet Seductions for both the editing and publication of A Light in the Darkness.
This project has been a labor of love for all involved. And I might add that “labor” be taken literally. As J.S. points out, this book was released around the same time it would take to conceive and have a child, nearly ten months. (and let me tell you, seeing J.S. in stirrups was a sight I’ll never wash out of my brain)
Okay, I hear you shouting in the back…I was going to hold Q&A after but since you’re so eager to know what you can do to help out? Yes, you can do more than just purchase the book, and I commend you for your interest! A Light in the Darkness will not be the only issue of the Writing Out Child Abuse Project! In fact there is a call for submissions out there right now for all of you talented authors! Now, don’t be shy if you’re previously unpublished, that is not an issue at all. Check out the submissions call and send something in! 
Are you an artist with a desire to help on this project? Contact J.S. at WOCAsubs@gmail.com and ask if your talents could be utilized.
On a personal note, I’ve really enjoyed being on this project. Knowing that my work will help contribute to this project fills me with a sort of satisfaction that’s hard to find anywhere else. And I’m mulling over the idea of dedicating another story to the next issue, maybe a sequel to my first, Chasing Ashes. What will become of Grace de Pierre or of little Madeline? Will the detectives figure out just who Madeline’s angel really was?
I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Before I go, how about a small excerpt from Chasing Ashes?
She spent the day watching the stream of sunlight march across the wall. Her stomach was a mess of twisted knots, partly from knowing that the man would be coming home with the night, and partially from eating snack cakes all day.
She glared at the empty wrappers she’d thrown in the corner and her stomach clenched. She thought about her mother’s house and all of the times she would have loved to have an endless supply of treats like these. But now, they were the most disgusting things she could imagine eating. It was all he had given her to eat for the last two days. Her heart ached, longing for some of her mother’s cooking. She twirled her hair between her fingers and thought about the smells from her mom’s table. She promised herself that if she got to go home today, she wouldn’t even turn her nose up at eating every bite of encurtidos, even if it was served every day. If only she could go home.
A tear rolled down her cheek and she didn’t bother wiping it away. Her flesh was raw from her near constant crying. But it didn’t stop her from thinking about home. About her mother with the beautiful white smile, perfect teeth, and the deepest of lovely brown eyes. She closed her eyes and buried her face in the teddy bear. Her mother’s face seemed so vivid in her memory, she wanted to just reach out and touch her deep tanned cheeks. She could almost smell her mother’s flowery scent that seemed to float around her like the flowers in the yard on a warm summer day.
She was torn from her sleep before she even knew she’d drifted off because of the barking of the dog on the other side of the hallway. She sat up and terror choked her. The room was completely dark and she could hear the heavy footsteps of the man coming down the stairs. She pushed herself back into the corner as far as she could and huddled behind the stuffed animal.
His footsteps lost their pace and a rapid thudding sounded like he had slipped down the last few stairs. The dog barked wildly.
“Shaddup, you stupid mutt!” He hollered with slurred words. More barking followed by some huffing. Then it was quiet enough to hear the claws clicking on the cement. A door opened, and then shut before total silence. A light was turned on, giving the door a bright white outline.
She tried to press herself further into the wall and strained to hear past her pulse thundering under her ears. Rustling sounds shuffled closer. She watched, terrified as a shadow passed along the edges of the door. Metal grinding against metal rang out just before the door was pushed in. His black form seemed to consume the light as he stood leaning against the door frame.
Thanks as always Sarah, you’re a wonderful hostess!
R. RENEE VICKERS | bio
Born in Florida but raised in various towns in New England, R. Renée Vickers now lives in a small town just outside of Charleston, South Carolina, with her husband and children. And although work and family life leave her little free time, she spends every available moment indulging in her favorite passion, writing.
Buy Links
https://www.nobleromance.com/Books/364/Sly's-Surrender
http://www.amazon.com/Slys-Surrender-ebook/dp/B006PTINGI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327552609&sr=8-1
http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-sly039ssurrender-644616-147.html
Blog:
Social Networks:
https://www.facebook.com/muse.ampoule
https://twitter.com/#!/reneevickers
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5359850.R_Renee_Vickers
June 20, 2012
Special Video Guest Blog from Sandy Wolters (G!veaway)
I can’t tell you all how honored I am to have Sandy Wolters here *actually* chatting with us! I guarantee by the time you finish watching this video you’ll feel like you know her and her books, and if you keep watching until the end you’ll find out how you can enter to win some goodies. After that, I hope you’ll help us carry the conversation into the comment section with your true tales of the paranormal.
Sandy is a talented writer, a gifted speaker, and a wonderfully generous person who gives so much of her time and herself for her fellow authors. I’ve personally read JUSTICE FOR EMILY and I *loved* it. I don’t think you’ll go wrong by adding any of her books to your TBR list, and with this personal introduction to each one, you just might have a hard time choosing which to read first. *grin*
Sandy, take it away!
8
June 19, 2012
Midsummer’s Eve Blog Hop June 20-26 (International Paperback G!veaway)
For more fantastic giveaways, click image.
** International Paperback Giveaway **
** Easy Entry **
The Midsummer’s Eve Giveaway Hop is hosted by I Am A Reader Not A Writer and Uniquely Moi Books. Here, you’ll have a chance to win a paperback copy of my sweet paranormal romance HAWTHORNE (a definite reader favorite!) and possibly a $5 gift card to Noble Romance, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble (winner’s choice). For full details, keep reading!
HAWTHORNE | blurb
After a terrifying encounter with the unexplained, it took ten years and the news of her grandmother’s passing for Emma Grace Hawthorne to return to her childhood home. She sought peace in saying a proper goodbye, but what she found was an old love, a sordid family history, and a wrong only she could right.
Living in the shadow of Hawthorne Manor, Noah Garrett never forgot about Emma Grace. In a house full of secrets, his search for missing documents revealed a truth that could cost him everything. What he found gave Emma the freedom to walk away from the mansion, her heart free and clear, but at what price to Noah?
ADD IT ON GOODREADS | READ AN EXCERPT
HOW TO ENTERTo enter, simply leave a comment with your valid email address. If, at the time of the drawing, the winner is an *email* subscriber to my blog, he or she will also receive a $5 e-gift certificate to Noble Romance, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble (winner’s choice). I will check the email address before contacting the winner, so please be sure to confirm your subscription or it will not be valid. Additionally, all *email* subscribers are automatically eligible for my weekly gift card giveaways.
This giveaway is open to international addresses, as long as the USPS will deliver to you. To verify your location, please visit usps.com. If shipping will be more than $15USD, I reserve the right to substitute the ebook version of HAWTHORNE. (I’ve never had to do that, but need to say it just in case!)
FOR MORE FAVORITE READS GIVEAWAYS, CLICK HERE.
June 16, 2012
06.17.12 #SixSunday with Tide of Lies
Thrilling new romantic suspense! Click image for several electronic formats, including PDF and Kindle/Nook files.
TIDE OF LIES is *now available* from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Noble Romance! And for the scoop on the unsolved murders leading to the lies, check out FAMILIAR LIGHT, on sale for $1.50.
In this six, Holden has entered the beach house but Julia is nowhere to be seen. He’s got his gun trained on the killer, but Holden’s demands as to her whereabouts have gone unanswered.
“Where is Julia?”
(BLEEP) leaned forward, threading his fingers together. “Told you, motherfucker. She’s dead.”
Holden’s sense of control splintered. In one long stride he had (BLEEP) by the collar, the barrel of the gun putting a considerable dent in the flesh at his temple.
Only one more week with TIDE OF LIES! Stay tuned to find out how it ends … or not. *grin*
Click here to add TIDE OF LIES on Goodreads!
Find it @ Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Noble Romance
Enjoy your Sunday six sentences at a time! To see other participating authors, click here.
June 15, 2012
06.16.2012 #SweetSat Samples: Unforgiven
Riley Beckett’s past just came back to haunt her … and this time he’s got a gun. UNFORGIVEN … click image.
Congratulations to sqwalker2, this week’s gift card winner! If you’d like to be eligible for my weekly giveaways of a $10 gift card to Noble Romance or $5 to Amazon or Barnes & Noble (winner’s choice), simply subscribe by email using the box to your left. You’ll be automatically entered every week for as long as you remain a subscriber.
Gage and Riley were once lovers, but a deadly twist of fate tore them apart. Now, one year later, they’re thrown together by a murder in which Gage was the intended victim and Riley is wanted for the crime.
In this sample, Riley has just returned home after a heartbreaking confession from Gage, only to discover a killer waited there for her.
Hatred flashed deep in his eyes, but before he could speak the rush of tires on gravel drew his attention to the window.
From her vantage point on the floor, she couldn’t see who pulled up, but from the urgent roar of gravel flying, she could guess.
Gage.
*Spoiler* grinned. “Well, lookey here. He was even quicker than I expected.” With a sick laugh, he dropped the beer to the floor and hoisted the Sharps, taking aim through the broken window.
She didn’t dare doubt he meant business, and only one thing stood between Gage and that bullet: her.
When the roar of a gunshot shattered the silence, she didn’t blink.
And that’s it for UNFORGIVEN! I hope you enjoyed it, and if you’d like to find out how it ends, you can use the links below to add it to your GoodReads page or reading library.
BUY @ NOBLE ROMANCE | AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE
For more Sweet Saturday clean excerpts, click here.
UNFORGIVEN
Riley Beckett’s past just came back to haunt her . . . and this time, he’s got a gun.
When Gage Lawton finds his brother shot dead on his back porch, every shred of evidence points to one person: Gage’s former lover, Riley. He and she didn’t part ways on good terms, and he’s not planning to rekindle anything now–not when he’s got a revolver pointed at her head and a finger on the trigger.
A year after Riley swore she and Gage were over, he returns in a hail of gunfire. One look into those achingly familiar blue eyes and she knows how wrong she was to let him go, but now far more than their heated past stands in the way. A twist of fate puts them in the crosshairs of a killer, leaving Riley with two slim options: trust her greatest betrayer or face a murderer on her own.
BUY @ NOBLE ROMANCE | AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE
June 14, 2012
Entangled Launches New “Dead Sexy” Line of Romantic Suspense
DEAD SEXY’s Launch Titles – NOW AVAILABLE!
Her Forgotten Betrayal, by Anna DeStefano
Remembering will save her life. But will the truth destroy their love forever?
When the CEO of a global technology empire retreats to her ancestral mountain home to heal from a brutal shooting, she discovers the danger has just begun. The FBI suspects her of selling top-secret government research, and has sent an undercover agent to find evidence of her treason. Still suffering from amnesia, she is at the mercy of nightmares that soon morph into something much more terrifying—a determined enemy, plotting to make sure she never regains her fragile memory. When a handsome stranger sweeps in from the cold, claiming to be her protector—and her former lover—she suspects he’s not telling her the whole truth about his sudden appearance on the mountain. As their unwilling attraction blossoms to sizzling passion, she begins to trust him…unaware that he is about to repeat the most painful betrayal of her past—a past she doesn’t remember…a past that just may kill her.
No Hero, by Mallory Kane
A darkly handsome New Orleans detective who insists he’s no hero is blindsided by his one-time lover, a sexy investigative TV reporter, who exposes his secret troubled past to the whole world…and nearly costs him his job. When the at-risk teens he mentors start turning up dead, his vow to protect the other kids hits a major snag…his only clue to finding the determined killer is held by the one woman he never wants to see again. Compelled to work together to solve the vicious murders before another child dies, their passion reluctantly reignites, and their mutual mistrust slowly turns to respect as she realizes there’s much more to being a hero than outward appearances, and his deeply wounded heart gradually opens to the possibility of love.
Sacrifice of Passion, by Melissa Bourbon Ramirez
A tall, dark, single-dad Texas rancher finds himself facing more than his stubbornly silent son when the chupacabra, a supposedly mythical blood-sucking beast, starts killing his livestock—and stalking the town’s newly returned veterinary assistant, the sensual woman who ran from the altar and broke his heart twelve years earlier. Determined to purge his sizzling memories of her from his all-too-vivid imagination, he seeks her help to get to the bottom of the disturbing animal mutilations, only to have her break through to his sullen son…and rekindle the love he’d thought was lost forever. But her refusal to share a terrible secret sends her running straight into the lair of the chupacabra, plunging her back into her worst nightmare, and forcing them both to confront the wrongs of the past—in order to stay alive for the future they desperately want.
Deadly Secrets, Loving Lies, by Cynthia Cooke
Family secrets must be kept, and painful wounds must be ignored.
After an all-out assault by a vicious terrorist bent on destroying her entire family, a former government agent must break the strict rules she has always lived by when she emerges from hiding to reluctantly accept the help of her all-too-sexy ex-lover. Running a deadly race against time, they rush to rescue her kidnapped sister, find her missing father, and bring the notorious villain to justice. But nothing ever goes as planned. Bullets fly, danger abounds, and their passion reignites even faster than the lies are flowing. But their stubbornly held secrets just might spell the end of their rekindled love and hopes for the future…as well as their very lives.
