Deborah Andreasen's Blog, page 20

Come find me and you'll get a sneak peak.

Today is a momentous occasion.

This morning I put The Gifted on Goodreads. You can find the page here.

You will see the release date and...ready? THE COVER!!!! Yes. The cover art is available to the public for viewing. I am confident you will love it as much as I do. So much time, effort, blood, sweat and tears went into it. I didn't design it, but I've been working closely with my sister-in-law, who did design it. Even I don't know how much work went into it, but I can guess how many hours. It...

Proof reading.

The title of the post is actually a play on words.

I got the proof copy of The Gifted in the mail yesterday. I got out my red pen and my ruler and I've been marking up the book. The first mark was the hardest. I didn't want to defile my book! But after that first correction, things have been much easier.

The first time I went through, I measured the chapter headings and found weird spaces in odd places. I had a critical eye for just formatting.

The second time around, I am actually reading the b...

Media Mail

I ran across this random article about 13 Things Your Mail Carrier Won't Tell You. They're pretty good to know, but the one that really caught my eye was number four:

4. Media Mail is a bargain, but most of you don't know to ask for it. Sending ten pounds of books from New York City to San Francisco through Media Mail costs $5.89, compared with $16.77 for Parcel Post. Besides books, use it to send manuscripts, DVDs, and CDs; just don't include anything else in the package.

Cool! I can get a goo...

Review: The Redemption of Holly Dobson by C. Lynn Barton

I actually got this book in the mail the other day to review. I have to be honest here, I didn't actually finish the book. I just couldn't.

**spoilers**

Holly Dobson is a woman who grew up in a dark childhood. Her biological mother (whom she calls her "real" mother, but as an adoptive parent I find that a little offensive. I cut the author and character slack because her adopted mother is verbally abusive.) dropped Holly off for day care when she was six months old and never came back fo...

Review: The Light Bearer's Daughter by O.R. Melling

Twelve year old Dana lives in Ireland with her Canadian father. Her mother disappeared when Dana was just three years old. Her father, Gabe, decides it's time they move back to his homeland, and Dana is sent into a fury thinking when she realizes leaving means losing all hope that they'll ever find her mother. Suddenly a strange young woman appears and gives her a mission. Deliver a message to King Lugh, a Faerie king, and a wish will be granted.

Dana knows exactly what she wants to...

Reaching out

Since I am in charge of marketing my book, I have to be a little creative. I found this article on About.com that has been really helpful. It has 7 easy things to do to promote your book.

The one I am really excited about is getting someone to review my book. I stumbled across an article on www.amazon.com that talked about how important it is to have your book reviewed by a top reviewer from their program. It gave some tips and advice on how to approach reviewers. I was so surprised. You mean,...

Self-Publishing options

I recently came across an article on Promotion a la Carte that talked about how more and more authors are turning to self-publishing because it's getting harder and harder to break into the traditional publishing market. Read the full article here. It's short and very interesting. 

Traditionally, an author submits a query (a letter about your book) to an agent or publisher. They either accept the manuscript, suggest the author edits and then resubmits it, or reject it. The process is slow, pa...

Teaser Tuesday

Grab your current read, choose a random page, post 2 teaser, spoiler free passages on your blog. Make sure to include the author and book title so interested readers know what they're looking for.

The Light-Bearer's Daughter by O.R. Melling, Page 11.

*It was the quiet tone that convinced her his decision was final. She stared at him speechless. Had she been the sort of girl who cried, she would have burst into tears.

*"You didn't even ask me! We didn't even talk about it! Like it's got nothing t...

Book Cover

You know the old adage, you can't judge a book by it's cover? That may have been true in 1806, but nowadays, I respectfully submit it's false. You can totally judge a book by it's cover. That's why I've been so stressed about creating a professional intriguing cover for THE GIFTED.

Good news! My sister-in-law has agreed to create a book cover for me! We spent a very, very long time pouring over stock photos. When we found "the one," she dazzled me with just a few clicks of her mouse.

It's going...

What am I thinking?!

Here's something you may not know. Most of my books come from a dream. I will wake up one morning with a scene burning in my brain. It is, then, my job to create the rest of the story.

This morning, I woke up with a scene burning in my brain. I had to sit down and write it out. Before I got too far along I thought, "What am I thinking?!" I just finished writing/editing/submitting a book. Now I'm in the process of editing another and prepping it for publication on http://www.createspace.com/. D...