Samantha Combs's Blog, page 23
September 28, 2011
A Warning About Aspen Mountain Press
I am linking this from a fellow author at Aspen Mountain Press. One of my books, The Detention Demon, is in the same predicament. We are not bitter, unkind authors. We have been wronged. Please read the following statement I am linking from here: http://www.wellstonpublishing.com/
DO NOT BUY ANYTHING WITH THE ASPEN MOUNTAIN PRESS
LABEL FROM ANY BOOK SELLER WEB SITE
The Book listed below is being held hostage by
Sandra Hicks the owner of Aspen Mountain Press
She sells Sand Hill Estates The Murders on Amazon.com and
Fictionwise.com
but she has not paid the author a single dime in over a year!
She has never paid the cover artist for her work.
She has never paid the Editor for her work.
She has paid the author little to NO royalties and nothing since
January of 2010.
She holds the contract rights on three sequels to this book but
none of them
have been touched in preparation for Publishing. Why?
Because all of her editors or cover artists have quit.
She didn't pay them.
All of her very talented office staff quit.
She didn't pay them.
No other publisher will accept these books until SANDRA HICKS
signs release of rights back to the Author. She received Emails,
Certified letters, and phone calls.
She refuses to respond to any.
She refuses to publish the books and she refuses to
return them but Charles Wells is not alone.
There are over 40 other writers in the same/similar situation.
Some of them have books out of contract date that are still being
sold by Aspen Mountain and still putting money in her pocket.
Instead of doing the legal and moral thing by closing up shop
and returning contract rights to these authors,
SANDRA HICKS has cut them off.
She does not communicate by email, phone, or certified mail
with any of them.
If another publisher were to start selling ANY of these books,
she will most likely sue them using STOLEN money to hire the
lawyers and try to get MORE money. The law protects her, not
the writers.
She is using the law to hide behind and steal from writers plus
her actions are depriving the general reading public
of some very popular books out there today.
We here at Wellston Publishing ask the public to
STOP BUYING ANY BOOKS from Aspen Mountain Press.
BOYCOTT ASPEN MOUNTAIN PRESS [image error]DO NOT BUY ANYTHING WITH THE
ASPEN MOUNTAIN PRESS LABEL
ON ANY BOOK SELLER WEB SITES
DO NOT BUY ANYTHING WITH THE ASPEN MOUNTAIN PRESS
LABEL FROM ANY BOOK SELLER WEB SITE
The Book listed below is being held hostage by
Sandra Hicks the owner of Aspen Mountain Press
She sells Sand Hill Estates The Murders on Amazon.com and
Fictionwise.com
but she has not paid the author a single dime in over a year!
She has never paid the cover artist for her work.
She has never paid the Editor for her work.
She has paid the author little to NO royalties and nothing since
January of 2010.
She holds the contract rights on three sequels to this book but
none of them
have been touched in preparation for Publishing. Why?
Because all of her editors or cover artists have quit.
She didn't pay them.
All of her very talented office staff quit.
She didn't pay them.
No other publisher will accept these books until SANDRA HICKS
signs release of rights back to the Author. She received Emails,
Certified letters, and phone calls.
She refuses to respond to any.
She refuses to publish the books and she refuses to
return them but Charles Wells is not alone.
There are over 40 other writers in the same/similar situation.
Some of them have books out of contract date that are still being
sold by Aspen Mountain and still putting money in her pocket.
Instead of doing the legal and moral thing by closing up shop
and returning contract rights to these authors,
SANDRA HICKS has cut them off.
She does not communicate by email, phone, or certified mail
with any of them.
If another publisher were to start selling ANY of these books,
she will most likely sue them using STOLEN money to hire the
lawyers and try to get MORE money. The law protects her, not
the writers.
She is using the law to hide behind and steal from writers plus
her actions are depriving the general reading public
of some very popular books out there today.
We here at Wellston Publishing ask the public to
STOP BUYING ANY BOOKS from Aspen Mountain Press.
BOYCOTT ASPEN MOUNTAIN PRESS [image error]DO NOT BUY ANYTHING WITH THE
ASPEN MOUNTAIN PRESS LABEL
ON ANY BOOK SELLER WEB SITES
My Personal Path To Publication - Stephen King
My guest today is author Stephen King. Probably you are thinking not THE Stephen King, and you would be right. But he is pretty much just as cool. In fact, his name is sort of why we met. Clearly, if you know me by now, you know I had a bordering-on the-criminal kind of obsession with THE Stephen King, so when I found Stephen on a facebook group, I HAD TO friend him. Then when I found his blog and starting reading it and some of his writing, I began to realize, the fates were not accidental in his name. Not to mention, he does have the coolest named blog out there. Now, mind you, don't think with a moniker such as his he isn't already facing a pretty serious amount of pressure, but I believe he is quite talented, and you will too. Now, we just need to convince the publishing world. Stephen is still poised to receive that magic call. While he waits, let's check out his journey so far.
1. How long have you been writing?Depending on what you're asking: long time, ornot long at all. With a real name of Stephen King, it was my greatestdesire to stay away from writing fiction. For the past several years as aDean, though, I've written tons of stuff, including multi-thousand-pageaccreditation applications and both policy and disciplinary correspondence ofall sorts. Is that writing? Of course it is. It's notcreative, certainly, but years of technical and official writing have taught mea great deal about word flow and grammatical structure.
I've only been writing creatively for severalmonths. I tried a NaNoWriMo back in 2007. I began by buying allsorts of fancy pens and notebooks as well as a few books on writing, and then Iwent to work with a novel idea. I failed. I got halfway in andrealized I was writing another version of Ender's Game. Now, I likeEnder's Game, but the world only needs one instance of it. Instead offixing it I quit, and I stayed in a "quit" status till February ofthis year when I decided it was time to dust off the writing hat again. Since then I've completed a novel and a novella, and I've also completed earlydrafts of another one of each.
2. Are you published and if so, how long have youbeen a published author? If not, what's your plan?Nope, not yet. It's funny that you askabout my "plan" as though I had one. Originally, I'd planned towrite a book, send it to an agent who would, of course, fall all over himselfto sign me up as a client, and he would hand the manuscript off to a publisherwho would read it overnight, send me a contract and a six figure check, andtoss it onto bookstore shelves post-haste. Yes, I know that doesn'thappen to most authors, but I'm better than most, right?
That's what I thought, anyway. The currentplan, if I withhold my giggles long enough to call it that, istwo-pronged. First, with the novel, I'm continuing the joyful activity ofsending out queries, as many as possible as fast as possible, to garner as manyrejections as possible before the James River Writer's Conference in earlyOctober. Hey, if I get a yes that's great, but by now I know better thanto plan on it. At JRWC I managed to get my name in the hat early enoughthat I'll be meeting with an agent, and a great one at that, in one of herOne-on-One slots. That should be a defining moment. If she says"meh" I'll give up entirely, at least for the time being, ontraditional publishing.
The second prong of my plan uses the novellas and,if the agent in October says "meh", the novel to become self-published. I'mlucky, in that my past experience has taught me how to run a business (whichbeing an indie is an example of) and how to market. Books are differentfrom colleges in the marketing, of course, but there is plenty of informationout there to help.
3. Which route did you choose for becomingpublished, the traditional route, with an agent, the "indie" route, goingdirectly to the publishers yourself, or deciding to self-publish?I started out with the notion that traditionalpublishing is the only legitimate way to get a book out to the public, becausethat's the route with access to the bestseller lists, the bookstore shelves,etc. It was also the route I knew of; to me, self-published works seemedto only be done by people who didn't qualify for publication the"real" way. Shows how little I knew of the indie world, doesn'tit? I'm still trying to find an agent, because if nothing else the agenthelps build an author's career and gives contractual advice, and once I becomerich and famous it's the agent who will negotiate my speakingengagements. Meanwhile, I still want at least one book to betraditionally published because I want to be a member of SFWA and they don't currentlyaccept self-pubbed authors. With my luck, of course, by the time I becometraditionally published they'll change that rule.
4. How long did it take you to write your firstnovel?See, that's why I started a blog about theprocess early on (http://theOtherStephenKingOnWriting.blogspot.com). It wasn't that I figured my exploration of the writing craft would make forparticularly gripping reading; it doesn't. I did, however, hope and praythat someday somebody would be interested enough to ask me something relevantlike you just did. Now I can just go to my blog and figure it out. The first blog post was on 2/28/2011, and it reports that I'd started "acouple of weeks ago" and was up to 32K words. Then there's the poston 3/20/2011, titled "Finis," in which I describe the indescribable(yeah, it's kinda silly) feeling I got when I tackily wrote "The End"at the end of my 68K-word novel. Incidentally, as nice as it felt to typethem, those words are gone, now, bled to death by an unamused editor'spen.
Then again, the answer to your question is a bitmore complex than my previous paragraph suggests. I finished my firstdraft in about five weeks. That's a rockin' speed, by the way; it's by nomeans record-setting but it's not bad either. Then I started the secondhalf of the novel, appropriately named Book Two (now RotG: Ascension), and bythe end of May had 87K words written in it and "The End" typed on itslast page. I set that aside and started the process of revising Book One(now RotG: Cataclysm) to be something somewhat decent. I even coined theterm "decrappifying" to most accurately describe what I was doing toit. By late June I was done to the point where I was comfortable lettinga pro look at it, and so I sent it off to Debra Ginsberg, my editor. Shereturned it to me with some great comments by the end of July, and I got busyreworking it.
August 21, then, I sent out my firstquery. That's six months and one week, ish, between first using the Newcommand to create the Word document and reaching the point where I consideredit a complete work.
5. How long did it take you to publish it?Still working on that. Traditionalpublishing, the route I've chosen with the novel, is rumored to take anywherefrom several months out to "Oh, God, I'm gonna need Geritol bythen." The novella is really quick to self-publish, or will be onceI'm satisfied that it's ready. Then again, there is a lot of really badself-published stuff out there, largely due to the speed at which you can pushit out. I'm taking my time to do it right. Target date is October1, 2011.
6. How many times did it get rejected before itgot published?Still counting. 12 rejections sofar. That's nothing compared to a great many others, as I constantly mopeabout on my own blog. Many people get 60 or even over 100 rejectionsbefore they get a yes.
7. Describe your worst rejection letter.I haven't gotten one that was negative, really,if that's what you mean by "worst." I did get one thatacknowledged being a form letter yet contained a grammar error, which seemedpretty silly to me.
8. Describe the best news you ever got in yourwriting life and how it felt.My wife liked the draft. If I never, everget published, that's still enough of an achievement to make me smile.
9. What's the worst piece of advice you ever got?Well, when I was a young boy, pulling thetrigger on a BB gun with it pointed at another kid (the neighborhood bully, ofcourse) was a pretty rotten piece of advice, but we all lived through it, andI'm betting you're not asking about that anyway. I haven't really gottenany bad advice that I know of that related to writing. Some of my betareaders suggested some things that I didn't agree with (one guy, for example,told me to remove the Atlantis chapter from my book) but I just thanked themfor their input in those cases and moved on.
10. Now, tell us the best.From Strunk & White, transmitted to me firstby Stephen King (the other one) in his marvelous book On Writing: "Omitneedless words."
11. What's the one thing youwould want an aspiring writer to take away from your personal path topublication?Don't quit. Don't quit revising. Don't quitlearning the craft; writing isn't something you can learn to do by watchingothers do it. Once you have something, don't quit pushing it. Thefirst few rejections make you feel like a complete failure, trust me. Move past them. Don't ever quit. Oh, and don't quit your dayjob.
Stephen doesn't have a book cover, but he did provide the following blurb for his Work In Progress:Book cover: under developmentBook: Undercover Truths, by Evan Koenig (pen name)Release date: 10/1/2011For details, see www.EvanKoenig.com
Blurb:A science fiction novella set in a world wheresovereign nations no longer exist, and where all nuclear power generation hasbeen centralized into the Colony of America, Undercover Truths tells the fast-pacedstory of Stacy, the young reactor director, battling off an attack byenvironmentalists with the help of the colony's Governor and his strangeassistant. Station and surrounding population safe again, Stacy turns herattention to determining who is behind the attack, and the answer surprisesboth her and her Governor.
I'm excited to see the finished product and can't wait for October 1st! Thanks for sharing with us, Stephen...we'll see you around your blog!
Here's how to connect with Stephen:Evan Koenig
Author Return of the Gods: Cataclysm, andUndercover TruthsFacebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Evan-Koenig/162069773856209For news, bio, and release data, or to purchasebooks: http://www.EvanKoenig.comE-mail contact: evan@evankoenig.comBlog: http://theOtherStephenKingonWriting.blogspot.comTwitter: http://twitter.com/#!/skingcharter
1. How long have you been writing?Depending on what you're asking: long time, ornot long at all. With a real name of Stephen King, it was my greatestdesire to stay away from writing fiction. For the past several years as aDean, though, I've written tons of stuff, including multi-thousand-pageaccreditation applications and both policy and disciplinary correspondence ofall sorts. Is that writing? Of course it is. It's notcreative, certainly, but years of technical and official writing have taught mea great deal about word flow and grammatical structure.
I've only been writing creatively for severalmonths. I tried a NaNoWriMo back in 2007. I began by buying allsorts of fancy pens and notebooks as well as a few books on writing, and then Iwent to work with a novel idea. I failed. I got halfway in andrealized I was writing another version of Ender's Game. Now, I likeEnder's Game, but the world only needs one instance of it. Instead offixing it I quit, and I stayed in a "quit" status till February ofthis year when I decided it was time to dust off the writing hat again. Since then I've completed a novel and a novella, and I've also completed earlydrafts of another one of each.
2. Are you published and if so, how long have youbeen a published author? If not, what's your plan?Nope, not yet. It's funny that you askabout my "plan" as though I had one. Originally, I'd planned towrite a book, send it to an agent who would, of course, fall all over himselfto sign me up as a client, and he would hand the manuscript off to a publisherwho would read it overnight, send me a contract and a six figure check, andtoss it onto bookstore shelves post-haste. Yes, I know that doesn'thappen to most authors, but I'm better than most, right?
That's what I thought, anyway. The currentplan, if I withhold my giggles long enough to call it that, istwo-pronged. First, with the novel, I'm continuing the joyful activity ofsending out queries, as many as possible as fast as possible, to garner as manyrejections as possible before the James River Writer's Conference in earlyOctober. Hey, if I get a yes that's great, but by now I know better thanto plan on it. At JRWC I managed to get my name in the hat early enoughthat I'll be meeting with an agent, and a great one at that, in one of herOne-on-One slots. That should be a defining moment. If she says"meh" I'll give up entirely, at least for the time being, ontraditional publishing.
The second prong of my plan uses the novellas and,if the agent in October says "meh", the novel to become self-published. I'mlucky, in that my past experience has taught me how to run a business (whichbeing an indie is an example of) and how to market. Books are differentfrom colleges in the marketing, of course, but there is plenty of informationout there to help.
3. Which route did you choose for becomingpublished, the traditional route, with an agent, the "indie" route, goingdirectly to the publishers yourself, or deciding to self-publish?I started out with the notion that traditionalpublishing is the only legitimate way to get a book out to the public, becausethat's the route with access to the bestseller lists, the bookstore shelves,etc. It was also the route I knew of; to me, self-published works seemedto only be done by people who didn't qualify for publication the"real" way. Shows how little I knew of the indie world, doesn'tit? I'm still trying to find an agent, because if nothing else the agenthelps build an author's career and gives contractual advice, and once I becomerich and famous it's the agent who will negotiate my speakingengagements. Meanwhile, I still want at least one book to betraditionally published because I want to be a member of SFWA and they don't currentlyaccept self-pubbed authors. With my luck, of course, by the time I becometraditionally published they'll change that rule.
4. How long did it take you to write your firstnovel?See, that's why I started a blog about theprocess early on (http://theOtherStephenKingOnWriting.blogspot.com). It wasn't that I figured my exploration of the writing craft would make forparticularly gripping reading; it doesn't. I did, however, hope and praythat someday somebody would be interested enough to ask me something relevantlike you just did. Now I can just go to my blog and figure it out. The first blog post was on 2/28/2011, and it reports that I'd started "acouple of weeks ago" and was up to 32K words. Then there's the poston 3/20/2011, titled "Finis," in which I describe the indescribable(yeah, it's kinda silly) feeling I got when I tackily wrote "The End"at the end of my 68K-word novel. Incidentally, as nice as it felt to typethem, those words are gone, now, bled to death by an unamused editor'spen.
Then again, the answer to your question is a bitmore complex than my previous paragraph suggests. I finished my firstdraft in about five weeks. That's a rockin' speed, by the way; it's by nomeans record-setting but it's not bad either. Then I started the secondhalf of the novel, appropriately named Book Two (now RotG: Ascension), and bythe end of May had 87K words written in it and "The End" typed on itslast page. I set that aside and started the process of revising Book One(now RotG: Cataclysm) to be something somewhat decent. I even coined theterm "decrappifying" to most accurately describe what I was doing toit. By late June I was done to the point where I was comfortable lettinga pro look at it, and so I sent it off to Debra Ginsberg, my editor. Shereturned it to me with some great comments by the end of July, and I got busyreworking it.
August 21, then, I sent out my firstquery. That's six months and one week, ish, between first using the Newcommand to create the Word document and reaching the point where I consideredit a complete work.
5. How long did it take you to publish it?Still working on that. Traditionalpublishing, the route I've chosen with the novel, is rumored to take anywherefrom several months out to "Oh, God, I'm gonna need Geritol bythen." The novella is really quick to self-publish, or will be onceI'm satisfied that it's ready. Then again, there is a lot of really badself-published stuff out there, largely due to the speed at which you can pushit out. I'm taking my time to do it right. Target date is October1, 2011.
6. How many times did it get rejected before itgot published?Still counting. 12 rejections sofar. That's nothing compared to a great many others, as I constantly mopeabout on my own blog. Many people get 60 or even over 100 rejectionsbefore they get a yes.
7. Describe your worst rejection letter.I haven't gotten one that was negative, really,if that's what you mean by "worst." I did get one thatacknowledged being a form letter yet contained a grammar error, which seemedpretty silly to me.
8. Describe the best news you ever got in yourwriting life and how it felt.My wife liked the draft. If I never, everget published, that's still enough of an achievement to make me smile.
9. What's the worst piece of advice you ever got?Well, when I was a young boy, pulling thetrigger on a BB gun with it pointed at another kid (the neighborhood bully, ofcourse) was a pretty rotten piece of advice, but we all lived through it, andI'm betting you're not asking about that anyway. I haven't really gottenany bad advice that I know of that related to writing. Some of my betareaders suggested some things that I didn't agree with (one guy, for example,told me to remove the Atlantis chapter from my book) but I just thanked themfor their input in those cases and moved on.
10. Now, tell us the best.From Strunk & White, transmitted to me firstby Stephen King (the other one) in his marvelous book On Writing: "Omitneedless words."
11. What's the one thing youwould want an aspiring writer to take away from your personal path topublication?Don't quit. Don't quit revising. Don't quitlearning the craft; writing isn't something you can learn to do by watchingothers do it. Once you have something, don't quit pushing it. Thefirst few rejections make you feel like a complete failure, trust me. Move past them. Don't ever quit. Oh, and don't quit your dayjob.
Stephen doesn't have a book cover, but he did provide the following blurb for his Work In Progress:Book cover: under developmentBook: Undercover Truths, by Evan Koenig (pen name)Release date: 10/1/2011For details, see www.EvanKoenig.com
Blurb:A science fiction novella set in a world wheresovereign nations no longer exist, and where all nuclear power generation hasbeen centralized into the Colony of America, Undercover Truths tells the fast-pacedstory of Stacy, the young reactor director, battling off an attack byenvironmentalists with the help of the colony's Governor and his strangeassistant. Station and surrounding population safe again, Stacy turns herattention to determining who is behind the attack, and the answer surprisesboth her and her Governor.
I'm excited to see the finished product and can't wait for October 1st! Thanks for sharing with us, Stephen...we'll see you around your blog!
Here's how to connect with Stephen:Evan Koenig
Author Return of the Gods: Cataclysm, andUndercover TruthsFacebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Evan-Koenig/162069773856209For news, bio, and release data, or to purchasebooks: http://www.EvanKoenig.comE-mail contact: evan@evankoenig.comBlog: http://theOtherStephenKingonWriting.blogspot.comTwitter: http://twitter.com/#!/skingcharter
September 27, 2011
My Personal Path To Publication - Jean Joachim
My guest today, romance writer Jean Joachim, didn't start out as a fiction writer...in fact, she had seven published non-fiction books to her credit long before she entertained the thought of entering the fiction arena about two years ago. Lucky for us, she made the change. A fellow author with me at Astraea Press, she has been delighting reviewers and readers alike with her special brand of heart-tugging romance that has been called vivid, real and enchanting. She has two romance novels available now, Sunny Days, Moonlit, Nights, and Now and Forever, A Love Story, and her next offering with Astraea Press, April's Kiss in the Moonlight, will be available in October. Please now enjoy the roundabout journey Jean has made into romance publishing.
1. How long have you beenwriting?I have been writingfor about 20 years, professionally. But I started with non-fiction, writingarticles about parenting that were published in parenting newspapers. I've onlybeen writing romantic fiction for about 18 months.As a child I wrotestories and plays and acted them out with my family and friends as long as Ican remember.
2. Are you published andif so, how long have you been a published author? If not, what's yourplan?Yes,I'm fortunate to say, I am published. I've been a published author since myfirst non-fiction book came out in 2003. It's called "Beyond the Bake Sale, theUltimate School Fund-Raising Book" and is still available today. I had six morenon-fiction books published after that. Myfirst work of fiction, released by a publisher, came out in February, 2011. Thetitle is "Sunny Days, Moonlit Nights," published by Astraea Press.
3. Which route did youchoose for becoming published, the traditional route, with an agent, the"indie" route, going directly to the publishers yourself, or deciding toself-publish?Actually,I've done all three. Two of my non-fiction books were through an agent. Iself-published my first work of fiction in 2010. For my next book I approachedan indie publisher, Astraea Press, and got a contract. Then I had a differentbook picked up by another indie, Secret Cravings Publishing. Is this confusing?Sometimes it is for me, too.
4. How long did it takeyou to write your first novel?It seems like solong ago, it's hard to remember, perhaps about two months. I hadn't yet learnedto adapt my non-fiction writing skills to fiction and wrote the first book asalmost a stream of consciousness. Then I had the gigantic job of going back andputting things in some kind of logical order. That seemed to take as long as thewriting! Needless to say, I don't do that anymore.
5. How long did it takeyou to publish it?Sincethe first book was self-published, it came out about two months after it wasfinished as it took me quite a while to find the perfect picture for the cover.Thefirst book through a publisher didn't take nearly so long. I submitted amanuscript Astraea liked but needed some changes to meet their guidelines. Ifelt the changes wouldn't work with that story so I submitted a different storythat met their guidelines and had a contract right away. That was in Januaryand the book was published on February 8.
6. How many times did itget rejected before it got published?"SunnyDays" was never rejected. However, "Now and Forever, a Love Story" the book Iself-published was rejected by 15 agents and two or three publishers before Igave up on that route. Fortunately, Secret Cravings asked me if they couldre-publish it. With their fine editing, the book came out as a re-release lastmonth and is a far superior book now.
7. Describe your worstrejection letter.Isuppose the worst rejection I got was one that came six months after Isubmitted; simply for the fact it was so delayed. Most agents and publishershave some stock reply they send you to save face. I guess the answer is that noone said anything terrible, but rejection is rejection. Even a nice let-down isstill "no".
8. Describe the best newsyou ever got in your writing life and how it felt.Ihave been very lucky to have had much good news in my writing life. After thefirst article I wrote was rejected, I've sold everything else I've everwritten. Highlights would include: having an "auction" with five publishers biddingfor my fund-raising book, the almost immediate acceptance of "Sunny Days", thealmost immediate acceptance of "Now and Forever 2, the Book of Danny" –anything but a cookie-cutter romance -- by Secret Cravings Publishing and theirwish to re-publish the first book in the Now and Forever series.
9. What's the worst pieceof advice you ever got?"Don'tbe a writer, it's too hard." This came from my father.
10. Now, tell us the best."Write,write, and write some more. You're a terrific writer." From my best friend, DianaFinegold, a gifted writer herself.
11. What's the one thingyou would want an aspiring writer to take away from your personal path topublication?Mymotto, which has stood me in good stead for everything in my life, "Never giveup." If you want something pull out all the stops, work harder than you everthought you could, learn everything you can and keep working toward your goal. Aftermy rejections, I decided I needed to become a good fiction writer and I startedto work. I wrote seven days a week often seven or more hours a day. My familysupported me by taking care of themselves, freeing me to write. I readeverything I could get my hands on about writing and in my genre, contemporaryromance. After eight months of total dedication, I received the contracts Iwanted and my career was launched. However, I am still striving to become thebest fiction writer I can. LOL!
12. Where can we readyour blog? Connect with you on facebook? On Twitter? Yourwebsite? http://www.nowandforeverbooks.com/ http://twitter.com/#!/JeanJoachim
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1197435371
Blurb for "Sunny Days, Moonlit Nights"Do you have someone in your past you would like to reconnectwith? Caroline Davis White wasn'tlooking for Mickey, now Mike Foster, her childhood crush, she was fleeing herphilandering husband, seeking peace and quiet, time to reflect on changing herlife. But there was Mike, saving her from a mishap...again, bigger than lifeand even more handsome.
A well-known artist, Sunny thought she couldescape, disappear back to the cabin where she spent her summers as a child. Butshe was wrong. Her husband refused to let her go. There hadn't been a divorcein Brad White's family...ever! And he wasn't about to start breaking thetradition now. Could Caroline shake him loose and what about Mike? Wheredid he fit into her life?
For her fan's pleasure, Jean has made the prequel, "Moonlight and Roses" available as a FREE novella onSmashwords! Watch for the release of the And don't forget to tell Jean how much you enjoyed reading about her journey...as with all the authors in this series, she loves to connect with new fans and friends!
1. How long have you beenwriting?I have been writingfor about 20 years, professionally. But I started with non-fiction, writingarticles about parenting that were published in parenting newspapers. I've onlybeen writing romantic fiction for about 18 months.As a child I wrotestories and plays and acted them out with my family and friends as long as Ican remember.
2. Are you published andif so, how long have you been a published author? If not, what's yourplan?Yes,I'm fortunate to say, I am published. I've been a published author since myfirst non-fiction book came out in 2003. It's called "Beyond the Bake Sale, theUltimate School Fund-Raising Book" and is still available today. I had six morenon-fiction books published after that. Myfirst work of fiction, released by a publisher, came out in February, 2011. Thetitle is "Sunny Days, Moonlit Nights," published by Astraea Press.
3. Which route did youchoose for becoming published, the traditional route, with an agent, the"indie" route, going directly to the publishers yourself, or deciding toself-publish?Actually,I've done all three. Two of my non-fiction books were through an agent. Iself-published my first work of fiction in 2010. For my next book I approachedan indie publisher, Astraea Press, and got a contract. Then I had a differentbook picked up by another indie, Secret Cravings Publishing. Is this confusing?Sometimes it is for me, too.
4. How long did it takeyou to write your first novel?It seems like solong ago, it's hard to remember, perhaps about two months. I hadn't yet learnedto adapt my non-fiction writing skills to fiction and wrote the first book asalmost a stream of consciousness. Then I had the gigantic job of going back andputting things in some kind of logical order. That seemed to take as long as thewriting! Needless to say, I don't do that anymore.
5. How long did it takeyou to publish it?Sincethe first book was self-published, it came out about two months after it wasfinished as it took me quite a while to find the perfect picture for the cover.Thefirst book through a publisher didn't take nearly so long. I submitted amanuscript Astraea liked but needed some changes to meet their guidelines. Ifelt the changes wouldn't work with that story so I submitted a different storythat met their guidelines and had a contract right away. That was in Januaryand the book was published on February 8.
6. How many times did itget rejected before it got published?"SunnyDays" was never rejected. However, "Now and Forever, a Love Story" the book Iself-published was rejected by 15 agents and two or three publishers before Igave up on that route. Fortunately, Secret Cravings asked me if they couldre-publish it. With their fine editing, the book came out as a re-release lastmonth and is a far superior book now.
7. Describe your worstrejection letter.Isuppose the worst rejection I got was one that came six months after Isubmitted; simply for the fact it was so delayed. Most agents and publishershave some stock reply they send you to save face. I guess the answer is that noone said anything terrible, but rejection is rejection. Even a nice let-down isstill "no".
8. Describe the best newsyou ever got in your writing life and how it felt.Ihave been very lucky to have had much good news in my writing life. After thefirst article I wrote was rejected, I've sold everything else I've everwritten. Highlights would include: having an "auction" with five publishers biddingfor my fund-raising book, the almost immediate acceptance of "Sunny Days", thealmost immediate acceptance of "Now and Forever 2, the Book of Danny" –anything but a cookie-cutter romance -- by Secret Cravings Publishing and theirwish to re-publish the first book in the Now and Forever series.
9. What's the worst pieceof advice you ever got?"Don'tbe a writer, it's too hard." This came from my father.
10. Now, tell us the best."Write,write, and write some more. You're a terrific writer." From my best friend, DianaFinegold, a gifted writer herself.
11. What's the one thingyou would want an aspiring writer to take away from your personal path topublication?Mymotto, which has stood me in good stead for everything in my life, "Never giveup." If you want something pull out all the stops, work harder than you everthought you could, learn everything you can and keep working toward your goal. Aftermy rejections, I decided I needed to become a good fiction writer and I startedto work. I wrote seven days a week often seven or more hours a day. My familysupported me by taking care of themselves, freeing me to write. I readeverything I could get my hands on about writing and in my genre, contemporaryromance. After eight months of total dedication, I received the contracts Iwanted and my career was launched. However, I am still striving to become thebest fiction writer I can. LOL!
12. Where can we readyour blog? Connect with you on facebook? On Twitter? Yourwebsite? http://www.nowandforeverbooks.com/ http://twitter.com/#!/JeanJoachim
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1197435371
Blurb for "Sunny Days, Moonlit Nights"Do you have someone in your past you would like to reconnectwith? Caroline Davis White wasn'tlooking for Mickey, now Mike Foster, her childhood crush, she was fleeing herphilandering husband, seeking peace and quiet, time to reflect on changing herlife. But there was Mike, saving her from a mishap...again, bigger than lifeand even more handsome. A well-known artist, Sunny thought she couldescape, disappear back to the cabin where she spent her summers as a child. Butshe was wrong. Her husband refused to let her go. There hadn't been a divorcein Brad White's family...ever! And he wasn't about to start breaking thetradition now. Could Caroline shake him loose and what about Mike? Wheredid he fit into her life?
For her fan's pleasure, Jean has made the prequel, "Moonlight and Roses" available as a FREE novella onSmashwords! Watch for the release of the And don't forget to tell Jean how much you enjoyed reading about her journey...as with all the authors in this series, she loves to connect with new fans and friends!
September 26, 2011
My Personal Path To Publication - Sang Kromah
My guest today is Sang Kromah, the author of the soon-to-be released Concealed series, through The Little Things Publishing, LLC. I met Sang when I guested on her blog to promote my book, Spellbound. As I always do when meeting new authors, I data-mined her. Her profile photos are beautiful, so I was not surprised to learn that she freelances as a model and was most recently featured in Essence Magazine's 40th Anniversary issue. She had something else calling to her, however, and had since she was a child. She was a writer. She had a familiar sounding experience with breaking into the industry, up to a point. What is important to note about her journey to publication is that she "found" her publisher through Twitter! She was on the social media platform one night and discovered an open call for submissions from a new House. She sent in what would be the first book in the Concealed series and was shortly thereafter contact by the CEO himself! The lesson here is there are MANY ways to make social media work for you. Don't discount any of them. I'm sure the CEO of TLT Publishing is quite pleased she didn't. Read further to see the rest of Sang's journey to publication.
1. How long have you been writing?
I have been writing since I was in thefirst grade, but I have been making up stories since my little brother wasworn. Therefore, I'd have to say, this all began when I was three years old!
2. Are you published and if so, how long haveyou been a published author? If not, what's your plan
I will be a published author on October 10th,2011, which is when my debut YA fiction novel, Concealed comes out.
3. Which route did you choose for becomingpublished, the traditional route, with an agent, the "indie" route, goingdirectly to the publishers yourself, or deciding to self-publish?
I started out trying the traditional route by trying to getan agent, and I became antsy, because it seemed to be taking too long. So onenight at about 2 am, I was on Twitter and there was a young publishing companyasking for submissions. I sent in my manuscript andby the next day, the CEO had emailed me. And the rest is pretty much history. :-)
4. Why did you choose that particular route?
Like I said, I was growing so impatient,and I'm just so patient about my story and couldn't wait for the rest of theworld to fall in love with it as well.
5. How long did it take you to write yourfirst novel?
It took about three months to write my first novel, because Iwas in grad school at the time, so my thesis and my manuscript were bothcompeting for my attention. But the background story and the world I created inthe novel is based on a story I created for my little brother as a kid.
6. How long did it take you to publish it?
Let's see…I completed the novel May of2010 and I acquired a publisher the last week of August 2010, and Concealedwill be published on October 10th 2011.
7. How many times did it get rejected beforeit got published?
I was rejected by thirteen literary agentsand one publisher.
8. Tell us about worst rejection letter.
I was told that there was no market forthe subject matter of my book and that if I ever have any other ideas toresubmit.
9. What was the best news you ever got inyour writing life and how did it make you feel?
The best news that I ever received in mywriting life was when I was told that Concealed is the best book they've readsince Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace and The Mezzanine by NicholsonBaker
10. What's the worst piece of advice you ever got?
The worst piece of advice I've ever gottenwas from a literary agent that told me to write about something else.
11. Now, tell us the best!
My parents have always told me to takeevery rejection as a new challenge and that's what I've done every day of mylife.
12. What's the one thing you would want an aspiring writer totake away from your personal path to publication?
Don't let anyone ever tell you you're notgood enough. All it takes is one yes to prove the naysayers wrong.
13. Where can we read your blog? Buy your books? Connect with you on facebook? On Twitter? Your website?
Sang's Blog- http://sangkromah.com/author-blog
TLT Bookstore- http://bookstore.tltpublishing.com/products-page/fantasy/concealed-concealed-series/ Twitter- http://twitter.com/#!/SangWrites
Sang's Website- http://sangkromah.com
Sang's Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sang-Kromah/148725321832405
Concealed on Goodreads- http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10815209-concealed
ConcealedBlurbWhen sixteen year-old Bijou Fitzroy and her nomadic grandmotherleave New York City to live in a home in the sleepy town of Sykesville,Maryland, Bijou thinks she will finally be able to live a normal life and belike everyone else. This move will be permanent, and Bijou cannot be anymorethrilled. After years of being shut away by her grandmother, Bijou will finallybe able to interact with peers, make friends, go to school, and live like anormal teenager.Moving around and being homeschooled definitely made it difficultto make friends, but there are other reasons for Bijou's solitude. With eyesthat constantly change from gray to green to a honey-coated shade of brown andan ability to feel exactly what other people are feeling, the concept ofobtaining closeness is more of a fable than a reality. Although her eyes arebeautiful, their constant shift in color instills a sense of fear within otherpeople and causes them to look away. Bijou's premonitions, blackouts, andsemi-prophetic dreams of a faceless boy don't help her social musings either.Regardless, she decides to attend the local high school.Bijou is immediately introduced to Sebastian Sinjin, a quirky andunusually beautiful boy who doesn't seem to belong in a high school in smalltown Maryland. Sebastian is also special. Instead of looking away from Bijou,he makes direct eye contact with her. And when he shakes Bijou's hand somethingdark and familiar begins to awaken within her as an electric shock surgesthrough her body. Bijou soon finds herself deeply attracted to Sebastian, whoremains aloof and often acts like Bijou doesn't exist.Despite the pains of having her first real crush, Bijou makesfriends quickly and excels in all of her classes…well, all except for Mythologywith Mr. Jennings. Mr. Jennings' class starts off great with endlessdiscussions of djinn and how they conceal themselves from the human eye, butthings soon take a turn for the worse when the stories of the mythicalcreatures begin to take shape in Bijou's life.
Wow! I know I can't wait for 10-10-11, when Concealed, the first book in the Concealed series will be available. I'm hooked! Make sure you make direct contact with Sang as well....she runs an incredibly active blog. If you are an author, she loves to assist new writers in getting their names out there, let her know you would like to do a blog post and she will schedule you and help you get yourself known. If you aren't, check it out anyway, you might find yourself introduced to a brand new author you might not have met otherwise...like me! And don't forget to comment here and let her know how much you enjoyed hearing about her journey!
1. How long have you been writing?
I have been writing since I was in thefirst grade, but I have been making up stories since my little brother wasworn. Therefore, I'd have to say, this all began when I was three years old!
2. Are you published and if so, how long haveyou been a published author? If not, what's your plan
I will be a published author on October 10th,2011, which is when my debut YA fiction novel, Concealed comes out.
3. Which route did you choose for becomingpublished, the traditional route, with an agent, the "indie" route, goingdirectly to the publishers yourself, or deciding to self-publish?
I started out trying the traditional route by trying to getan agent, and I became antsy, because it seemed to be taking too long. So onenight at about 2 am, I was on Twitter and there was a young publishing companyasking for submissions. I sent in my manuscript andby the next day, the CEO had emailed me. And the rest is pretty much history. :-)
4. Why did you choose that particular route?
Like I said, I was growing so impatient,and I'm just so patient about my story and couldn't wait for the rest of theworld to fall in love with it as well.
5. How long did it take you to write yourfirst novel?
It took about three months to write my first novel, because Iwas in grad school at the time, so my thesis and my manuscript were bothcompeting for my attention. But the background story and the world I created inthe novel is based on a story I created for my little brother as a kid.
6. How long did it take you to publish it?
Let's see…I completed the novel May of2010 and I acquired a publisher the last week of August 2010, and Concealedwill be published on October 10th 2011.
7. How many times did it get rejected beforeit got published?
I was rejected by thirteen literary agentsand one publisher.
8. Tell us about worst rejection letter.
I was told that there was no market forthe subject matter of my book and that if I ever have any other ideas toresubmit.
9. What was the best news you ever got inyour writing life and how did it make you feel?
The best news that I ever received in mywriting life was when I was told that Concealed is the best book they've readsince Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace and The Mezzanine by NicholsonBaker
10. What's the worst piece of advice you ever got?
The worst piece of advice I've ever gottenwas from a literary agent that told me to write about something else.
11. Now, tell us the best!
My parents have always told me to takeevery rejection as a new challenge and that's what I've done every day of mylife.
12. What's the one thing you would want an aspiring writer totake away from your personal path to publication?
Don't let anyone ever tell you you're notgood enough. All it takes is one yes to prove the naysayers wrong.
13. Where can we read your blog? Buy your books? Connect with you on facebook? On Twitter? Your website?
Sang's Blog- http://sangkromah.com/author-blog
TLT Bookstore- http://bookstore.tltpublishing.com/products-page/fantasy/concealed-concealed-series/ Twitter- http://twitter.com/#!/SangWrites
Sang's Website- http://sangkromah.com
Sang's Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sang-Kromah/148725321832405
Concealed on Goodreads- http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10815209-concealed
ConcealedBlurbWhen sixteen year-old Bijou Fitzroy and her nomadic grandmotherleave New York City to live in a home in the sleepy town of Sykesville,Maryland, Bijou thinks she will finally be able to live a normal life and belike everyone else. This move will be permanent, and Bijou cannot be anymorethrilled. After years of being shut away by her grandmother, Bijou will finallybe able to interact with peers, make friends, go to school, and live like anormal teenager.Moving around and being homeschooled definitely made it difficultto make friends, but there are other reasons for Bijou's solitude. With eyesthat constantly change from gray to green to a honey-coated shade of brown andan ability to feel exactly what other people are feeling, the concept ofobtaining closeness is more of a fable than a reality. Although her eyes arebeautiful, their constant shift in color instills a sense of fear within otherpeople and causes them to look away. Bijou's premonitions, blackouts, andsemi-prophetic dreams of a faceless boy don't help her social musings either.Regardless, she decides to attend the local high school.Bijou is immediately introduced to Sebastian Sinjin, a quirky andunusually beautiful boy who doesn't seem to belong in a high school in smalltown Maryland. Sebastian is also special. Instead of looking away from Bijou,he makes direct eye contact with her. And when he shakes Bijou's hand somethingdark and familiar begins to awaken within her as an electric shock surgesthrough her body. Bijou soon finds herself deeply attracted to Sebastian, whoremains aloof and often acts like Bijou doesn't exist.Despite the pains of having her first real crush, Bijou makesfriends quickly and excels in all of her classes…well, all except for Mythologywith Mr. Jennings. Mr. Jennings' class starts off great with endlessdiscussions of djinn and how they conceal themselves from the human eye, butthings soon take a turn for the worse when the stories of the mythicalcreatures begin to take shape in Bijou's life.Wow! I know I can't wait for 10-10-11, when Concealed, the first book in the Concealed series will be available. I'm hooked! Make sure you make direct contact with Sang as well....she runs an incredibly active blog. If you are an author, she loves to assist new writers in getting their names out there, let her know you would like to do a blog post and she will schedule you and help you get yourself known. If you aren't, check it out anyway, you might find yourself introduced to a brand new author you might not have met otherwise...like me! And don't forget to comment here and let her know how much you enjoyed hearing about her journey!
September 24, 2011
Exciting New Press Release - The Launch of Musa Publishing!
I am personally thrilled to be able to bring you this press release for the launch announcement of Musa Publishing. These talented and gifted editors, publishing professionals and authors in their own rights have worked tirelessly to bring us a House dedicated to authors and writers first, something we don't often see in the publishing world. I hope to be among the esteemed and growing roster of writers soon myself. Join me in welcoming them and making this very exciting announcement to the publishing world!
Contact Elspeth McClanahan Permissionto forward grantedPhone 919-877-0375 ForImmediate releaseEmail Promotions@MusaPublishing.com
Ebooks,Penumbra eMag, and so much MoreMusa Publishing Opens its Electronic Doors
After months of editing, designing, contracting, andformatting Musa Publishing launches on October 1, 2011. The E-publisher openswith a large catalogue including Penumbra Speculative Fiction eMag, new worksby three bestselling authors, and the full backlist of Aurora Regency, featuringtraditional Regency romances and historical fiction.
Penumbra eMag http://www.musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=12
Penumbra's inaugural issue is a collection of speculativefiction stories that encompass the arts--the arts we love and revere. Some ofthese stories deal with the arts we're familiar with. Some create arts wehaven't thought of and some resurrect arts buried in the depths of thepast. And yet, all of these offerings celebrate the creative process,which makes them a fitting theme to launch Penumbra--an enterprise that willshowcase the creative work of speculative fiction authors each month with a newcollection of works within the genre.New Works by
Gini Koch The Martian Alliance 1: The Royal Scamhttp://www.musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=13
Things aren't what theyseem to be when Princess Olivia of Andromeda jumps aboard a spaceship to escapea loveless marriage.
Jointhe crew of the Hummingbird as they take on the rich, famous and sleazy of the galaxy.They're also on a long-term secret mission, so it's a good thing they're thebest con artists, spacers, and roughnecks in the Milky Way, because they needall their skills to pull off this particular Royal Scam.
Cindi MyersWest with the Windhttp://www.musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=19
More than gold awaits twolovers at the end of the trail.
MariahTate and her dog, Worthy, persuade veteran guide Campbell Jefferson to let themjoin his expedition headed to California.Camp can't say no to the beautiful widow, but his need to protect her soonclashes with her need to keep secrets. Mariah left more than bad memoriesbehind in Pennsylvania and her growing attraction to the stoic but surprisinglysensitive Camp forces her to face up to the consequences of the choices she'smade. Camp doesn't know what Mariah's hiding, but he's determined not to letthe only woman who ever made him want to settle down get away. He pursues heracross the prairies, through stampedes, Indian raids, desert drought andmountain snows. In the gold camps of California,Camp will discover Mariah's secret, and prove the love she wants most isn't outof reach.
And the return to writing after five years for USAToday Bestselling Author
Sharon De VitaThe Estrogen Posse http://www.musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=20
"The Estrogen Posseis a hoot! I laughed, I cried, I couldn't put it down! For every woman whoneeds a pick me up, this is the book for you!"Janet Evanovich, NYT bestselling author of the Stephanie Plum mystery series
Onceupon a time Ellie Briotti had a quiet life as a suburban housewife.Until…sheconfronts her wealthy husband Nicky about doing the pecker polka with anotherwoman, and Nicky tosses Ellie out of his life like some misbehaved householdpet.Until…GramCrackers, her dotty mother begins passing out house keys to homeless bums.Until…Joey,her eleven-year old son starts on a new career path: breaking and entering.Until…Rina,her best friend, a single, successful, entrepreneur learns she's about tobecome a mother.Until…Candi,Nicky's 22-year-old mistress turns up murdered with traces of furniture polishon her bare backside!Arip-roaring ribald mystery about a woman's journey to discover what she reallywants in life. Now, if Ellie can keep her son from becoming a second-story man,while trying to hide everything from the gorgeous cop who's started sniffingaround, Ellie might be able to get a new life.Thatis—if she doesn't go to jail for murder first!AuroraRegencyMusa has acquired AuroraRegency and Aurora Regency Historicals. Within the next month over forty booksin this line will be available to Regency and Historical Romance buffs toenjoy.
Stop by www.MusaPublishing.com check out thebooks already for sale as well as those coming soon. Over the next few weeks,Musa will offer literature geared for every reader's tastes. Musa aims to offerwell writing, interesting stories, all at a price that doesn't bite into yourcheck book.
"Hearts set upon song, spirits free fromcare"~ Hesiod
# # #
If you'd like moreinformation about Musa Publishing, please contact Elspeth McClanahan at Promotions@Musapublishing.comor go to our blog http://musapublishing.blogspot.com/
Contact Elspeth McClanahan Permissionto forward grantedPhone 919-877-0375 ForImmediate releaseEmail Promotions@MusaPublishing.com
Ebooks,Penumbra eMag, and so much MoreMusa Publishing Opens its Electronic Doors
After months of editing, designing, contracting, andformatting Musa Publishing launches on October 1, 2011. The E-publisher openswith a large catalogue including Penumbra Speculative Fiction eMag, new worksby three bestselling authors, and the full backlist of Aurora Regency, featuringtraditional Regency romances and historical fiction.
Penumbra eMag http://www.musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=12
Penumbra's inaugural issue is a collection of speculativefiction stories that encompass the arts--the arts we love and revere. Some ofthese stories deal with the arts we're familiar with. Some create arts wehaven't thought of and some resurrect arts buried in the depths of thepast. And yet, all of these offerings celebrate the creative process,which makes them a fitting theme to launch Penumbra--an enterprise that willshowcase the creative work of speculative fiction authors each month with a newcollection of works within the genre.New Works by
Gini Koch The Martian Alliance 1: The Royal Scamhttp://www.musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=13
Things aren't what theyseem to be when Princess Olivia of Andromeda jumps aboard a spaceship to escapea loveless marriage.
Jointhe crew of the Hummingbird as they take on the rich, famous and sleazy of the galaxy.They're also on a long-term secret mission, so it's a good thing they're thebest con artists, spacers, and roughnecks in the Milky Way, because they needall their skills to pull off this particular Royal Scam.
Cindi MyersWest with the Windhttp://www.musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=19
More than gold awaits twolovers at the end of the trail.
MariahTate and her dog, Worthy, persuade veteran guide Campbell Jefferson to let themjoin his expedition headed to California.Camp can't say no to the beautiful widow, but his need to protect her soonclashes with her need to keep secrets. Mariah left more than bad memoriesbehind in Pennsylvania and her growing attraction to the stoic but surprisinglysensitive Camp forces her to face up to the consequences of the choices she'smade. Camp doesn't know what Mariah's hiding, but he's determined not to letthe only woman who ever made him want to settle down get away. He pursues heracross the prairies, through stampedes, Indian raids, desert drought andmountain snows. In the gold camps of California,Camp will discover Mariah's secret, and prove the love she wants most isn't outof reach.
And the return to writing after five years for USAToday Bestselling Author
Sharon De VitaThe Estrogen Posse http://www.musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=20
"The Estrogen Posseis a hoot! I laughed, I cried, I couldn't put it down! For every woman whoneeds a pick me up, this is the book for you!"Janet Evanovich, NYT bestselling author of the Stephanie Plum mystery series
Onceupon a time Ellie Briotti had a quiet life as a suburban housewife.Until…sheconfronts her wealthy husband Nicky about doing the pecker polka with anotherwoman, and Nicky tosses Ellie out of his life like some misbehaved householdpet.Until…GramCrackers, her dotty mother begins passing out house keys to homeless bums.Until…Joey,her eleven-year old son starts on a new career path: breaking and entering.Until…Rina,her best friend, a single, successful, entrepreneur learns she's about tobecome a mother.Until…Candi,Nicky's 22-year-old mistress turns up murdered with traces of furniture polishon her bare backside!Arip-roaring ribald mystery about a woman's journey to discover what she reallywants in life. Now, if Ellie can keep her son from becoming a second-story man,while trying to hide everything from the gorgeous cop who's started sniffingaround, Ellie might be able to get a new life.Thatis—if she doesn't go to jail for murder first!AuroraRegencyMusa has acquired AuroraRegency and Aurora Regency Historicals. Within the next month over forty booksin this line will be available to Regency and Historical Romance buffs toenjoy.
Stop by www.MusaPublishing.com check out thebooks already for sale as well as those coming soon. Over the next few weeks,Musa will offer literature geared for every reader's tastes. Musa aims to offerwell writing, interesting stories, all at a price that doesn't bite into yourcheck book.
"Hearts set upon song, spirits free fromcare"~ Hesiod
# # #
If you'd like moreinformation about Musa Publishing, please contact Elspeth McClanahan at Promotions@Musapublishing.comor go to our blog http://musapublishing.blogspot.com/
September 23, 2011
My Personal Path To Publication - Jillian Jenkins
On the blog today, I am welcoming another talented author from my publishing home at Astraea Press. Jillian Jenkins is also an author after my own heart in more ways than one. We both write for Astraea, we both have chosen thus far to write for the young adult audience (except for my occasional and unexplained dalliance with the horror genre) and we both made the same career path to write for independent publishing houses. So we have a lot in common. Except Jilly has the cutest email address ever. She wins there, hands down. Plus, she has been writing a lot longer than I have, as well. You'll notice though, as you read through her journey, and those of the other authors, that one theme remains consistent. Don't give up. If you have a true passion for your writing and your goal isn't money, prestige or fame, just keep at it. If you do, and you love writing with all that you are, those things may follow. But write because you just have to, like breathing air. The rest is secondary. Read on about Jillian Jenkin's journey and you'll see what I mean. Enjoy!
1.How long have you been writing? I would say I started writing consistentlyabout thirteen years ago2.Are you published and if so, how long have you been a published author? If not,what's your plan? I'm a published author through Astraea Press. This happenedin February so it's only been about six months, but it's still awesome.3.Which route did you choose for becoming published, the traditional route, withan agent, the "indie" route, going directly to the publishers yourself, ordeciding to self-publish? I went the "indie" route and publishedthrough an e-press.4.Why did you choose that particular route? I figured it'd be good to get someexperience as a writer, plus with how the industry is changing so much it madesense to take a leap. There's plenty of time to get an agent later if I sochoose to.5.How long did it take you to write your first novel? Around a year.6.How long did it take you to publish it? Two or three.7.How many times did it get rejected before it got published? Zero, but I alsodidn't actively pursue the idea until recently.8.What was the best news you ever got in your writing life and how did it makeyou feel? That my book was selling well and consistently.9.What's the worst piece of advice you ever got? To give up writing because"it just isn't your thing".10.Now, tell us the best! Keep writing because you love it.11.What's the one thing you would want an aspiring writer to take away from yourpersonal path to publication? To just keep going no matter what.12. Where can we read yourblog? Buy your books? Connect with you on facebook? On Twitter? Your website?
Blog: http://jfjenkinswrites.wordpress.comMy books are on Amazon,Barnes and Noble, and every other major online e-book retailer. Also check outthe publishers website: http://www.astraeapress.comFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/jfjenkinsauthorTwitter: jfjenkinstweets
Blurb for Vala:
Cheyenne Loveless was just a boring sixteen-year-old girl.Then Denver Collins bit her and everything changed. Her plants start talking to her, shefinds out she's a Nymph, and a witch and the angel of death show up at her doorstep to take her awayto the prestigious Vala School and Seminary. Oh, and she has no choice in the matter. All she wants to do is blend in and return to beinginvisible, but the more time that passes, the harder that becomes. Plus she's a daughter ofthe Divine, an exclusive secret society which rules the world of myth, anddiscovers she is a key ingredient to an ancient covenant createdbefore she was born. A covenant that will reshape the order of the world.
Cheyenne must learn to seethrough the lies in order to find her place — and possibly even love — in thisnew world. Adjusting to a new school is difficult enough, but adding oneveryone else's hidden agendas is the icing on the cake.
Jilly also has a link for the blurb to her other book here: http://jfjenkinswrites.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/lod.jpg?w=105&h=163
Thank you for getting to know Jillian. She is a wonderful addition to the Astraea family and as all the authors there, she'd love to hear how you enjoyed one of her books, or just chat with you about an ongoing project you are working on. Connect with her at all the usual haunts and get ready to make a new writing friend!
1.How long have you been writing? I would say I started writing consistentlyabout thirteen years ago2.Are you published and if so, how long have you been a published author? If not,what's your plan? I'm a published author through Astraea Press. This happenedin February so it's only been about six months, but it's still awesome.3.Which route did you choose for becoming published, the traditional route, withan agent, the "indie" route, going directly to the publishers yourself, ordeciding to self-publish? I went the "indie" route and publishedthrough an e-press.4.Why did you choose that particular route? I figured it'd be good to get someexperience as a writer, plus with how the industry is changing so much it madesense to take a leap. There's plenty of time to get an agent later if I sochoose to.5.How long did it take you to write your first novel? Around a year.6.How long did it take you to publish it? Two or three.7.How many times did it get rejected before it got published? Zero, but I alsodidn't actively pursue the idea until recently.8.What was the best news you ever got in your writing life and how did it makeyou feel? That my book was selling well and consistently.9.What's the worst piece of advice you ever got? To give up writing because"it just isn't your thing".10.Now, tell us the best! Keep writing because you love it.11.What's the one thing you would want an aspiring writer to take away from yourpersonal path to publication? To just keep going no matter what.12. Where can we read yourblog? Buy your books? Connect with you on facebook? On Twitter? Your website?
Blog: http://jfjenkinswrites.wordpress.comMy books are on Amazon,Barnes and Noble, and every other major online e-book retailer. Also check outthe publishers website: http://www.astraeapress.comFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/jfjenkinsauthorTwitter: jfjenkinstweets
Blurb for Vala: Cheyenne Loveless was just a boring sixteen-year-old girl.Then Denver Collins bit her and everything changed. Her plants start talking to her, shefinds out she's a Nymph, and a witch and the angel of death show up at her doorstep to take her awayto the prestigious Vala School and Seminary. Oh, and she has no choice in the matter. All she wants to do is blend in and return to beinginvisible, but the more time that passes, the harder that becomes. Plus she's a daughter ofthe Divine, an exclusive secret society which rules the world of myth, anddiscovers she is a key ingredient to an ancient covenant createdbefore she was born. A covenant that will reshape the order of the world.
Cheyenne must learn to seethrough the lies in order to find her place — and possibly even love — in thisnew world. Adjusting to a new school is difficult enough, but adding oneveryone else's hidden agendas is the icing on the cake.
Jilly also has a link for the blurb to her other book here: http://jfjenkinswrites.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/lod.jpg?w=105&h=163
Thank you for getting to know Jillian. She is a wonderful addition to the Astraea family and as all the authors there, she'd love to hear how you enjoyed one of her books, or just chat with you about an ongoing project you are working on. Connect with her at all the usual haunts and get ready to make a new writing friend!
September 22, 2011
My Personal Path To Publication - Felicia Guillot Rogers
Our author sharing her path today is so far the only one who writes historical suspense. A fellow author with me at Astraea Press (and you should check us out, we are growing, both in numbers and in reputation!), she came to publishing in two different ways. She both won a contest and she was accepted by our wonderful independent press. Felicia is also a great example of the value of revision. For most writers, revision is a bad word, conjuring up images of the artist with several pots of coffee surrounding her, and a pile of scrunched up paper, discarded versions of where the story was supposed to go, the muse long since having left the building. In Felicia's case, and in her own words, you'll see where she took a story that wasn't working, for the varied reasons we as writers will recognize, and not only made it work, but made it readable, enjoyable, and with eye firmly on prize, marketable! Now, please enjoy the journey of my friend and fellow author, Felicia Guillot Rogers.
1. How long have you beenwriting?I've been writing offand on for as long as I can remember but only seriously for the last two years.
2. Are you published andif so, how long have you been a published author? If not, what's yourplan?I currently have fourworks published. My first publicationwas in December of 2010.
3. Which route did you choose forbecoming published, the traditional route, with an agent, the "indie" route,going directly to the publishers yourself, or deciding to self-publish?In the beginning I searched for an agent. It was my desire to acquire an agent and gofor one of the big six. But as timerolled on and no one seemed interested, I began searching out smallerpublishers on my own with much success.
4. How long did it take you to writeyour first novel?I can't remember! I wrote it over two years ago thisSeptember. But in general it takes metwo to three months from start to finish to complete a novel length book.
5. How long did it take you to publishit?The first book I wrote was There Your Heart Will Be Also. It was completed in Sept. 2009 and Ibegan seeking publication. This bookwill be published later this month. Which means this novel took me over two years to publish.
6. How many times did it get rejectedbefore it got published?I guessyou could say this manuscript was like my first child, I had to use it forpractice.Numerous times! I had a POV (point-of-view) issue and thenthere was a character issue—he wasn't liked. This one manuscript has been rejected more than all my other manuscriptscombined. Poor thing.
7. Describe your worst rejection letter.The worst rejection letter I've ever received came from an agent. I finally had an agent request my work. They sent me an email, all in small letters with no punctuation which read: may send first 50 pages and synopsis via mail. There was no address listed and since thepunctuation was lacking I figured it made sense that the 'e' might have beenleft off of the word mail. I did go andstudy the website thoroughly but still nothing grabbed me about what to do. So I fixed everything up and emailed it. Two minutes later I received my answer. It read: pass but may God bless. This wasclearly my worst rejection.
8. Describe the best newsyou ever got in your writing life and how it felt.I was really down and doubting my abilitiesfrom so many rejections on my novel then I got the news that my novellasubmission for the Celebrate the Season contest had won. That was clearly the best piece of news I'd received. I was jumping and running around theroom. I think I kind of scared thehubby.
9. What's the worst piece of advice youever got?Honestly I can't think of any real badadvice that I've received.
10. Now, tell us the best.
The best piece of advice I've received wasfrom an editor/publisher/friend who told me my writing was good and gave meways to improve upon it.
11. What's the one thingyou would want an aspiring writer to take away from your personal path topublication?The one thing I would wantfor an aspiring writer to take away from journey is to never give up on yourdream and remember that practice makes perfect.
12. Where can we Buy your books? www.astraeapress.com
Connect with you on facebook? http://www.facebook.com/feliciarogersauthor
Yourwebsite? www.feliciarogersauthor.webs.com
Blurb for There Your Heart Will Be AlsoOnlydaughter of an English lord, Sarra of Greenbriar, is used to getting herway. So when her father passes and the King begins sending suitors,she feels justified in taking matters into her own hands. Through aseries of harmless pranks, Sarra works to keep the potential husbands at bay.Cedric MacNeil is a Scotsmanthat has lost it all. Death claimed his parents and jealousy claimedhis entitled position as Laird of his clan. Since his mother was afamiliar of the English court, he leaves his native land and heads to Englandto fight on behalf of the English King. Tournamentsare won, earning honor and glory for the crown. Cedric's reward is theopportunity to gain what he wants most in this life, land.
But as he gets to know Sarra,he realizes he might get more than he bargained for.
Doesn't that sound glorious? Everything you'd expect from an historical novel and more. I know we'll be expecting many more from Felicia in the future. Please comment and let her know how much you enjoyed reading about her journey. As with all my author friends, she would love to hear from you. And the next time you are faced with the seemingly daunting prospect of completely changing your manuscript, think of Felicia, and remember, it just may help you sell it!~
1. How long have you beenwriting?I've been writing offand on for as long as I can remember but only seriously for the last two years.
2. Are you published andif so, how long have you been a published author? If not, what's yourplan?I currently have fourworks published. My first publicationwas in December of 2010.
3. Which route did you choose forbecoming published, the traditional route, with an agent, the "indie" route,going directly to the publishers yourself, or deciding to self-publish?In the beginning I searched for an agent. It was my desire to acquire an agent and gofor one of the big six. But as timerolled on and no one seemed interested, I began searching out smallerpublishers on my own with much success.
4. How long did it take you to writeyour first novel?I can't remember! I wrote it over two years ago thisSeptember. But in general it takes metwo to three months from start to finish to complete a novel length book.
5. How long did it take you to publishit?The first book I wrote was There Your Heart Will Be Also. It was completed in Sept. 2009 and Ibegan seeking publication. This bookwill be published later this month. Which means this novel took me over two years to publish.
6. How many times did it get rejectedbefore it got published?I guessyou could say this manuscript was like my first child, I had to use it forpractice.Numerous times! I had a POV (point-of-view) issue and thenthere was a character issue—he wasn't liked. This one manuscript has been rejected more than all my other manuscriptscombined. Poor thing.
7. Describe your worst rejection letter.The worst rejection letter I've ever received came from an agent. I finally had an agent request my work. They sent me an email, all in small letters with no punctuation which read: may send first 50 pages and synopsis via mail. There was no address listed and since thepunctuation was lacking I figured it made sense that the 'e' might have beenleft off of the word mail. I did go andstudy the website thoroughly but still nothing grabbed me about what to do. So I fixed everything up and emailed it. Two minutes later I received my answer. It read: pass but may God bless. This wasclearly my worst rejection.
8. Describe the best newsyou ever got in your writing life and how it felt.I was really down and doubting my abilitiesfrom so many rejections on my novel then I got the news that my novellasubmission for the Celebrate the Season contest had won. That was clearly the best piece of news I'd received. I was jumping and running around theroom. I think I kind of scared thehubby.
9. What's the worst piece of advice youever got?Honestly I can't think of any real badadvice that I've received.
10. Now, tell us the best.
The best piece of advice I've received wasfrom an editor/publisher/friend who told me my writing was good and gave meways to improve upon it.
11. What's the one thingyou would want an aspiring writer to take away from your personal path topublication?The one thing I would wantfor an aspiring writer to take away from journey is to never give up on yourdream and remember that practice makes perfect.
12. Where can we Buy your books? www.astraeapress.com
Connect with you on facebook? http://www.facebook.com/feliciarogersauthor
Yourwebsite? www.feliciarogersauthor.webs.com
Blurb for There Your Heart Will Be AlsoOnlydaughter of an English lord, Sarra of Greenbriar, is used to getting herway. So when her father passes and the King begins sending suitors,she feels justified in taking matters into her own hands. Through aseries of harmless pranks, Sarra works to keep the potential husbands at bay.Cedric MacNeil is a Scotsmanthat has lost it all. Death claimed his parents and jealousy claimedhis entitled position as Laird of his clan. Since his mother was afamiliar of the English court, he leaves his native land and heads to Englandto fight on behalf of the English King. Tournamentsare won, earning honor and glory for the crown. Cedric's reward is theopportunity to gain what he wants most in this life, land.
But as he gets to know Sarra,he realizes he might get more than he bargained for.
Doesn't that sound glorious? Everything you'd expect from an historical novel and more. I know we'll be expecting many more from Felicia in the future. Please comment and let her know how much you enjoyed reading about her journey. As with all my author friends, she would love to hear from you. And the next time you are faced with the seemingly daunting prospect of completely changing your manuscript, think of Felicia, and remember, it just may help you sell it!~
September 21, 2011
My Personal Path To Publication - Cynthia Vespia
On the blog today, I am featuring an author who has been in the business for a long time. She and I became acquainted through an unfortunate situation regarding another publisher with whom we are both involved. For that reason, her most recent books, The Demon Hunter series, won't be promoted here. As is the case with a book of mine held up by the same publisher, it would not benefit her, the author, to do so. It's a difficult situation and as the authors, we are in an impossible place. Instead, at the end of her post, I will again post the ways you can contact Cynthia and discover her other wonderful books, such as Life, Death and Back, Theater of Pain, and The Crescent, all of which ARE available and she would love you to obtain and enjoy. In time, we are hopeful, her wonderful Demon Hunter series will be hers again. Until then, please enjoy the illuminating journey of my new friend Cynthia Vespia.
1. How long have you been writing?
I've been writing since I was eight. I got my first piece published at 22. It's been about 2 decades.2. Are you published and if so, how long have you been a published author? If not, what's your plan?
I have been published for about 2 years. It's a great accomplishment but I'm still not at the level I would like to be.3. Which route did you choose for becoming published, the traditional route, with an agent, the "indie" route, going directly to the publishers yourself, or deciding to self-publish?
I've done them all and found success in each arena. Currently, I'm shopping agents. Soon I'll be moving towards a more independent role as I do more self publishing.4. How long did it take you to write your first novel?
With editing and research my first novel, The Crescent, took about a year.5. How long did it take you to publish it?
It took a few months. I went the self publishing route to experience what that side was like. It did well.6. How many times did it get rejected before it got published?
I have a stack of rejections but as I said I went self publishing after that.7. Describe your worst rejection letter.
An agent told me that I was writing about things "no one wanted to read." You take it with a grain of salt. There's alot of stuff that has been published that I don't want to read. Everyone has their opinion.8. Describe the best news you ever got in your writing life and how it felt.
I got some reviews on one of my fantasy ebooks, Demon Hunter, that compared my writing to Robert E Howard's Conan Series, Gullivers Travels, The Odyssey, and Stephen King...I believe I can die happy now!9. What's the worst piece of advice you ever got?
Someone once told me to put a screenplay I wrote away because it was too hard to break into the business. Sounds like quitting to me.10. Now, tell us the best.
The best piece of advice I ever heard was "write for the wastebasket." It referred to how to approach your first draft. Write as if you were going to toss it. That takes the pressure off of making it perfect.11. What's the one thing you would want an aspiring writer to take away from your personal path to publication?
Learn the rules and then break them. Find your voice and follow your own path. What works for one person might not necessarily work for another.
Now that you've had a chance to get to know Cynthia, I know she'd love to meet you. Here's how to connect with her:Her website:www.OriginalCynAdvertising.com
Her facebook page:www.facebook.com/cynthia.vespia
Her Twitter: www.twitter.com/cynfulcharm
Let her know how much you enjoyed her story!
September 20, 2011
GHOSTLY drops on Thursday, 9-22-11
Just a quickie note because I am pretty excited and too jazzed to wait to announce this. GHOSTLY drops in two days! Of course, it will be available at all the normal haunts (get it? Its a ghost story? haunts? Whatever, move on) such as my publisher's website, Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble, along with some others as well. I'll post all the links when the sites actually go live on the big day.
It's been a while since I bragged about getting the contract with my publisher for this stand-alone Young Adult paranormal, so let me refresh your memory with the back cover blurb for it now:
Book blurb for GHOSTLY:
High school has never been effortless for social misfitJuice Zander and her sophomore year is proving to be no exception. Havinga new boy in homeroom actually pay attention to her might be a start to allthat changing. But there are some big issues brewing. That factthat Shane Elliot has revealed himself to be a ghost isn't her biggestproblem. Neither is the fact that he wants her to help him find a "hostbody" so he can be a real teenager again. It's not even that when shedoes find a possible donor for her supercute ghost, it's another so-not-uglyguy who for some unprecedented reasonlikes her. No, her real problem is that after years of platonicfriendship, she discovers one of her best buddies has feelings for her andshe's afraid those feelings might be mutual.
Enlisting the help of her tight group of best friends, Juice sets out to 1)find the perfect host for her ghost, 2) figure out her surprising newrelationship with her longtime friend and 3) maybe discover she's not such asocial misfit after all.
I think it's was just great lucky timing that I have a ghost story coming out so close to Halloween and don't think I'm not going to publicize that little morsel of good fortune half to death. I'll be appearing on a few blogs and definitely doing some giveaways, so stay tuned. And please let me know if you read and enjoy it. I hope so! Talk to you soon!
It's been a while since I bragged about getting the contract with my publisher for this stand-alone Young Adult paranormal, so let me refresh your memory with the back cover blurb for it now:
Book blurb for GHOSTLY:
High school has never been effortless for social misfitJuice Zander and her sophomore year is proving to be no exception. Havinga new boy in homeroom actually pay attention to her might be a start to allthat changing. But there are some big issues brewing. That factthat Shane Elliot has revealed himself to be a ghost isn't her biggestproblem. Neither is the fact that he wants her to help him find a "hostbody" so he can be a real teenager again. It's not even that when shedoes find a possible donor for her supercute ghost, it's another so-not-uglyguy who for some unprecedented reasonlikes her. No, her real problem is that after years of platonicfriendship, she discovers one of her best buddies has feelings for her andshe's afraid those feelings might be mutual.
Enlisting the help of her tight group of best friends, Juice sets out to 1)find the perfect host for her ghost, 2) figure out her surprising newrelationship with her longtime friend and 3) maybe discover she's not such asocial misfit after all.
I think it's was just great lucky timing that I have a ghost story coming out so close to Halloween and don't think I'm not going to publicize that little morsel of good fortune half to death. I'll be appearing on a few blogs and definitely doing some giveaways, so stay tuned. And please let me know if you read and enjoy it. I hope so! Talk to you soon!
My Personal Path To Publication - Elaine Cantrell
Hey Readers! Today I have a guest with us that reminds me I have so much to learn. For instance, there is another way to get into publishing that I forgot about....winning a contest! This is how the talented romance writer Elaine Cantrell made her entry into the writing world as you will soon read. But, like many of you hopefully getting many juicy tips from these generous authors sharing their experiences, she didn't know much when she started out either, and look at her today! Now, she is a valued and beloved member of the Astraea Press author family and although she is promoting her current book, A New Dream, here now, she teases that there is a new one on the horizon, probably coming out near December. Please enjoy the journey of my writing friend, Elaine Cantrell.
1.How long have you beenwriting?
I started writing in thesummer of 2001. I decided to try becausemy son wrote a book, and I figured if he could do it so could I. When I read that first effort, it makes me laugh,but it's nice to see how much I've improved.
2. Are you published and if so, how long have you been a published author? Ifnot, what's your plan?I am published and have beensince 2004.
3. Which route did you choose for becoming published, the traditional route,with an agent, the "indie" route, going directly to the publishers yourself, ordeciding to self-publish?I didn't do either of thosethings. I submitted my book to a contestwhose prize was publication of your book. Even though I haven't won anything since, I did win that contest, andOak Tree Books published A New Dream for me.
4. Why did you choose that particular route?I submitted to the contestbecause what's the worst thing that could happen to me? I wouldn't win? Big deal.
5. How long did it take you to write your first novel?A couple of years. I'd think I was finished, and then I'd takeit out and see so many mistakes!
6. How long did it take you to publish it? Since I was lucky enough tofind that contest, it was only a few months after I finally finished the book.
7. How many times did it get rejected before it got published?Lucky for me I won thecontest so it didn't get rejected.
8. Tell us about worst rejection letter.The worst rejection I evergot still makes me angry to think of. The publisher sent me a short, nasty email saying that my level ofwriting wasn't up to their standards. They went out of business in a few months, and another publisher pickedup my book and said they loved it.
9. What was the best news you ever got in your writing life and how did it makeyou feel?The best news had to bewinning that contest.
10. What's the worst piece of advice you ever got?I didn't know any otherauthors when I started writing, and I didn't know how to find them on theinternet either so I didn't get any advice either bad or good.
11. Now, tell us the best!Same as above.
12. What's the one thing you would want an aspiring writer to take away fromyour personal path to publication?Interact with other authorsand learn how the publishing business works. Don't be afraid to submit your work. A rejection won't kill you, and even bestselling authors get rejected.
13. Where can we read your blog? Buy your books? Connect with you on facebook?On Twitter? Your website?Blog: http://www.elainepcantrell.blogspot.com(Here I share excerpts from my work, interview other authors, and write aFriday fashion column.)
Website: http://www.elainepcantrell.com (Thissite has excerpts, buy links, reviews, my newsletter, free reads)
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/elainecantrellFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/elainepcantrell
Buy Links can be found on my website. http://www.elainecantrell.com
Blurb: A New Dream
What would you do if you lost it all?
After an auto accident destroys his pro-football career,Matt McCallum struggles to find a new dream for his life, but nothing engageshim the way football did. After a stintin rehab, he takes a job managing a grocery store where he meets VioletEmerson.
Violet works in the bakery department, but her dreams carryher far beyond the doors of Chef's Pantry. As soon as she can save the money, she plans to open a cateringbusiness. She thinks the new manager'sbroad shoulders and blue eyes are simply divine.
Thrown together at work, Matt and Violet find a new, commondream for their lives, but just when happiness is in their grasp, a loose endfrom Matt's past threatens to destroy their future.
I don't know about you, but now I am totally waiting for December! I can't wait to see what Elaine has in store for us next. Make sure and connect with Elaine, I know she would love to hear from you. Make a comment here or connect with her on facebook or her blog. (I love her Friday fashion column, there isn't anything quite like it anywhere else!)
1.How long have you beenwriting?
I started writing in thesummer of 2001. I decided to try becausemy son wrote a book, and I figured if he could do it so could I. When I read that first effort, it makes me laugh,but it's nice to see how much I've improved.
2. Are you published and if so, how long have you been a published author? Ifnot, what's your plan?I am published and have beensince 2004.
3. Which route did you choose for becoming published, the traditional route,with an agent, the "indie" route, going directly to the publishers yourself, ordeciding to self-publish?I didn't do either of thosethings. I submitted my book to a contestwhose prize was publication of your book. Even though I haven't won anything since, I did win that contest, andOak Tree Books published A New Dream for me.
4. Why did you choose that particular route?I submitted to the contestbecause what's the worst thing that could happen to me? I wouldn't win? Big deal.
5. How long did it take you to write your first novel?A couple of years. I'd think I was finished, and then I'd takeit out and see so many mistakes!
6. How long did it take you to publish it? Since I was lucky enough tofind that contest, it was only a few months after I finally finished the book.
7. How many times did it get rejected before it got published?Lucky for me I won thecontest so it didn't get rejected.
8. Tell us about worst rejection letter.The worst rejection I evergot still makes me angry to think of. The publisher sent me a short, nasty email saying that my level ofwriting wasn't up to their standards. They went out of business in a few months, and another publisher pickedup my book and said they loved it.
9. What was the best news you ever got in your writing life and how did it makeyou feel?The best news had to bewinning that contest.
10. What's the worst piece of advice you ever got?I didn't know any otherauthors when I started writing, and I didn't know how to find them on theinternet either so I didn't get any advice either bad or good.
11. Now, tell us the best!Same as above.
12. What's the one thing you would want an aspiring writer to take away fromyour personal path to publication?Interact with other authorsand learn how the publishing business works. Don't be afraid to submit your work. A rejection won't kill you, and even bestselling authors get rejected.
13. Where can we read your blog? Buy your books? Connect with you on facebook?On Twitter? Your website?Blog: http://www.elainepcantrell.blogspot.com(Here I share excerpts from my work, interview other authors, and write aFriday fashion column.)
Website: http://www.elainepcantrell.com (Thissite has excerpts, buy links, reviews, my newsletter, free reads)
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/elainecantrellFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/elainepcantrell
Buy Links can be found on my website. http://www.elainecantrell.com
Blurb: A New Dream
What would you do if you lost it all?
After an auto accident destroys his pro-football career,Matt McCallum struggles to find a new dream for his life, but nothing engageshim the way football did. After a stintin rehab, he takes a job managing a grocery store where he meets VioletEmerson.
Violet works in the bakery department, but her dreams carryher far beyond the doors of Chef's Pantry. As soon as she can save the money, she plans to open a cateringbusiness. She thinks the new manager'sbroad shoulders and blue eyes are simply divine.
Thrown together at work, Matt and Violet find a new, commondream for their lives, but just when happiness is in their grasp, a loose endfrom Matt's past threatens to destroy their future.
I don't know about you, but now I am totally waiting for December! I can't wait to see what Elaine has in store for us next. Make sure and connect with Elaine, I know she would love to hear from you. Make a comment here or connect with her on facebook or her blog. (I love her Friday fashion column, there isn't anything quite like it anywhere else!)
