J.R. Pearse Nelson's Blog, page 32

Alexia Chamberlynn Talks About Newsletters

I asked urban fantasy writer and enthusiast Alexia Chamberlynn to tell me more about why she started her Raven Moon Urban Fantasy Newsletter. Here's what Alexia had to say about the newsletter as a part of the author platform.Alexia says...Why I created my newsletterI read and write urban fantasy, so I created myurban fantasy newsletter, Raven Moon, because I wanted a way to reach otherswho shared my love. I already had a blog which focused on writing in general,and I didn't want to create a second blog just for this. So, I decided on amonthly email newsletter.What does it do for my platform?The newsletter is a way for me to share myfavorite genre, while reaching my target audience. A nice win-win! I have asign-up page for the newsletter on my blog, and I link to that page from myblog homepage, as well as my website homepage. I also created a couple cutebuttons that others can use if they wish on their own website. And whenever Irelease a new issue, I make sure to tweet links to it and mention any special features.All of this helps generate traffic to my newsletter, and thus helps build myplatform of urban fantasy followers.Challenges and OpportunitiesI'll talk about challenges first. The obvious oneis time. It takes quite a bit of time to prepare the newsletter each month. ButI have a lot of fun with it, so this is minor. Another challenge I encounteredseveral months after launching the newsletter was that I didn't get a lot ofinteraction with my subscribers. The email hit their inboxes, and there wasn'ta forum for discussion. And I love to talk to my internet friends! So, whatI've started to do is post segments of the newsletter on my blog each week.This way those that want to receive the newsletter via email can still get itat the beginning of the month, but I can chat with people throughout the monthabout different parts of it. I've found this to be a good solution.Opportunities have been many. First, I've learneda ton since starting the newsletter. Not only basic stuff about creating andformatting an e-newsletter, but also new stuff each month when I'm researchingagents or publishers or industry news. Also, I've gotten to meet new authors.It's really fun to open my email and see that someone's found me online andwants to tell me about their new book, or asks me to take a peek at their booktrailer, or something like that. It's very rewarding to meet new writing folks!So, in summary, I've found that an e-newsletteris a nice component of my author platform. I get to meet new urban fantasy enthusiastsand have a lot of fun!http://alexiachamberlynn.blogspot.comhttp://alexiachamberlynn.blogspot.com/p/urban-fantasy-newsletter.html

Round of Words Update - Vessel Published!

I accomplished one of my ROW80 goals yesterday, with the publication of my second paranormal romance novella, Vessel. Fun times! It was a nice day around the house, me hustling around between publishing and the major football event of the year, Oregon's Civil War between Oregon State (go Beavs!) and University of Oregon (damn Ducks). THEY (damn Ducks) won -- by a large margin -- for the fourth year running. So it was nice to have something to celebrate in between the brutal beat down. :)

I didn't put fingers to keyboard for any other purpose besides publishing Vessel this week, and I'm happy with that. I pulled back a bit from  my ambitious goals at the beginning of Round 4 for precisely that reason. I want to have a happy holiday season with my family, and not have writing be something that stresses me out (too much. LOL.). I'm on board with the marathon concept; writing needs to be part of my life, not something that completely takes over. So far in 2011 I've maintained that balance. With the urge to market more -- which seems to take tons of time -- I'll have to keep myself in line in 2012. I have small kids, and they're only small once. So family first!

Congrats to my buddies doing NaNo, it sounds like lots of folks have either won or are right on the edge of it -- amazing work! That level of output is inspiring to see.

Vessel Available on Amazon & Smashwords

I'm happy to say, I've published Vessel, the second installment in my Children of the Sidhe series! It's available now on Amazon Kindle and Smashwords.

Thank you to my husband, who has taken up the slack around the house to free me up to write (and today, publish). Thanks also to my writer friends and beta readers -- your support means I always have someone to ask questions, to stroke my fragile writer ego (ha!), and in general commiserate with when it comes to these stories so close to my heart.

Here's an excerpt from the first chapter of Vessel:

The Middleworld forest whipped by as Eddie Drake hit his stride. He couldfeel tension from the past days flowing out of his burning muscles. Plantsblurred along the trail at his feet as he concentrated on making the miles flyby.Most Sidhe didn't exercise for exercise sake – so maybe it was that smallhuman part of him that enjoyed it. He felt his best after a long run, his mindas clear as his body was fatigued.His head down, he hit a cloud of pixie dust and heard the offended pixieshout, "Hey! Watch yourself!""Yeah, yeah. I'm sure there's more where that came from," he shouted backwithout even looking. Pixies were a dime a dozen. You could hardly shake a legwithout, well, running straight into a cloud of pixie dust. He sneezed.Too soon, he saw home ahead. A little escape, that's what he'd needed.For a few minutes, the burning of his muscles had distracted him from theoddities his life had taken on of late.Eddie Drake was no nursemaid. He'd never been the patient, caring type. He was a playboy, and it used to be pure and simple. He liked the ladies,and they liked him. Maybe he overindulged, that he could cop to. Maybe he'dbeen with too many ladies, too many times. That sort of behavior certainlycouldn't be seen as a precursor to this. No, his current predicament was morelikely a punishment for prior bad behavior. Of course, it was a punishment hewas choosing, which made it all the more odd.To satisfy whatever part of him was so worried, he ducked through theback door and sauntered into the third bedroom, the one that had recently beenAlise's room.Her condition unchanged, Alise rested, still as stone, under a white andcream quilt that had been his mother's. Drake frowned. He'd stopped counting the days; there had been many. Maybetwo weeks had passed as Alise lay unmoving. Okay, she wasn't still all thetime. A few nights she'd thrashed and moaned.He'd been so concerned the first time that happened that he'd stayed withher, holding her on the narrow bed until she calmed and seemed to rest.Relieved, he'd drifted off holding her, and been embarrassed to be found inthat compromising position when Aunt Nectar came in to check on Alise.Cuddling.Cuddling with the unconscious.Not a good sign.If only he hadn't gotten her into this mess. That's what had him all tiedup in doubt and fear. She wouldn't be in that bed, unaware of her surroundingsbut drowning in the music and magic of Tir Nan Og, if it weren't for him. He'dmade the choice to ask for her help when her best friend had been in trouble.She'd gladly given her help, not realizing it would cost her.So he owed her. At the very least, he owed her a trip back beyond theveil to where she came from, where her family and her world waited. He'd triedto give her that, but she thrashed as they approached the portal and wouldn'tcalm until he retreated. He couldn't figure that out. In her condition, how didshe know when he threatened to take her home? Regardless, his attempts hadn'tworked, and neither had anything the local healer tried. Alise didn't getworse, but she hadn't come back to herself either. That's what kept his stomachtied in knots, he told himself as he stood in the doorway, watching theraven-haired beauty sleep.Footsteps on the path outside brought Drake out of his thoughts. MaybeAunt Nectar was home early. That would be good, because he had to go to thehuman world for at least a while tonight. His job waited for him, and somethings he couldn't let go for an undetermined period while Alise lay in thatbed.It wasn't Aunt Nectar darkening the path.Bertran stood, apparently evaluating his next step, outside the cottage,surrounded by the bright sights and sounds of a Middleworld day. The weatherwas perfect, but that didn't help the storm clouds covering the countenance ofthis particular thorn in Drake's side."May I come in?" his old enemy asked."Not in this lifetime."
###
Purchase or sample Vessel on Smashwords, or purchase on Amazon Kindle. Please consider leaving an honest review at your point of purchase and on Goodreads, and let your friends know. Thanks for your support!

Meet Erotic Romance Author Reina Stowe!

Hi there! Welcome to my first ever author interview on my blog. I need to spice things up here, so the first author I'm interviewing is the newly published Reina Stowe, who released her erotic romance story Open Me a few weeks ago.


You've recently self-published yourfirst erotic romance story. Tells us a little about your path to publication.I've always like to read and writeromance and erotic romance, especially short stories. When I got a Kindle frommy ex-boyfriend for Christmas last year, I discovered self-published authorsand began researching indie publishing.  I'm one to read every book on asubject before I dive in, so I spent the last several months reading up onobtaining cover art, formatting, editing and marketing.  Then I chose mymost polished short story, Open Me, and worked on getting it up to snuff. Almost everything about self-publishinghas been wonderful.  I say almost because between school and working on mynext story, I haven't spent very much time on marketing - I definitely haveroom for improvement on that front!  Have I thanked you for interviewingme on your blog yet? :) Thanks for helping me get my name out there.
What made you choose erotica?I chose erotica because it really lendsitself to the short story format. I know that when I'm reading erotica, Iappreciate a plot, but I also want to get to the steamy parts pretty quicklyand I think most erotica readers feel that way.  I want to be a littleinvested in the characters, but it's not necessary for me to know their wholebackstory to want to read about their sexual adventures.
What's the hardest thing about writingin your genre? (Ahem. Aren't I just terrible? Can't help myself.)Ha!  I think we all know what the hardestthing is. :)  The most difficult thing about writing erotica,honestly, is coming up with different ways to say the same thing.  I'veworn out my Thesaurus looking up all the synonyms for thrusting, groping anduh, entering. Also, working out certain moves while sitting on my couch with mylaptop isn't the easiest. I'm lucky I live alone because I know I lookcompletely ridiculous pantomiming, for instance, how one character would cupthe others' face in their hands.
What inspires you?My friends and my readers. I think whenyou write erotica you have a sort of responsibility to not only entertain butstimulate.  I want everyone to be having great sex and I think writingcharacters that show what great sex is lets my friends and readers knowwhat I think they deserve in their lives.
What inspired the story Open Me?I knew my last boyfriend for over sixyears before we started dating.  We always ran in the same circles, datedeach others' friends, all the while we were attracted to each other. When wefinally told one another how we felt, well, things went better than either ofus thought they could.  We were together for three years and althoughwe're broken up - he moved to another state for a work opportunity - weremain close.  So, that relationship inspired the base of Open Me - theidea for the boxes of sex toys and the photography studio just sort ofhappened.
Tell me something you're dying towrite about, but haven't yet managed to work in to a story.I would love to write a M/M story, butI'm worried about getting it right. I don't think I would have a problemwriting the characters or the romance, but I'd have to read a lot of M/M andmaybe chat up some of my gay friends to make sure the sex was accurate. Now that I think about it, that research sounds more fun than daunting.
Any sneak peeks about what you're upto in 2012?I'm currently working on a story titledTwenty Questions about a man and a woman that meet in a grievingwidows/widowers support group and I'm outlining another story about a singlemom trying to get back in the dating scene after a divorce and a cabdriver.I'mlooking forward to the holidays so that I'll have more time to work on both.


Thanks, Reina! 


You can purchase Reina's debut short story, Open Me, for $0.99 on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Smashwords. Support this indie author by reviewing her work after you read it!

Round of Words Update

Hi there! This has to be a quick update, because on this weekend before the holiday weekend, I need to get my house and family ready for the week! Sometimes I must force myself to snap back to reality and pay attention to that life to-do list, and then everything goes more smoothly, including writing.

Where am I on my ROW80 goals? My first goal was to publish Vessel, the sequel to my paranormal romance novella Tribute, during this Round. I'll publish next weekend. I have all of my beta comments in hand, and with nothing major to fix, I should have it out next Saturday!! Super excited about that. Publication day comes with its own gigantic to-do list, so a lot of the next couple of weeks will be sucked up getting Vessel out into the world.

On my urban fantasy work in progress, I wrote 2,000 words this week. That does not meet my goal of 4,000 words, but quality has to count for something. Most of what I was up to this week was fixing the first half of the manuscript so that I can speed through writing the final section. I have about one-quarter of the storyline to finish. I've sworn to myself that I will not call this a first draft before I've filled in some blanks noted in my manuscript by big splotches of red ink. Revisions just stink when I leave those red splotches festering on the shelf. My current word count is 33,791. Goal moving forward: add 4,000 words per week. But not this week because of both the holiday and the publication day next Saturday.

Marketing is also developing nicely. I realized a couple of months ago that releasing a second book, maybe I should get some people to read my first book. Ha! So I've written some book bloggers, contacted friends on Goodreads with a special offer for a free read of Tribute, and also made the same offer here on my blog. This is resulting in a few more reviews, all of which are incredibly helpful!

Finally, the promotion Nadja Notariani and I are working on has gotten a good deal of interest from authors, and lots of support from our ROWer friends! Because you guys rock!! Check out this post for more on the 12 Days of Christmas Reading Gift List.

How is everyone else doing on their goals! Guess I better get out and blog hop to find out!

Faerie Inspiration & A Free Copy of Tribute

Check out this amazing photo by my friend Kate Bateman. Kate and I, along with our friend Erin Kelly Brown, went for a walk last weekend in Portland's Forest Park (the largest wooded park within a city in the nation) and took all sorts of photos of the fall foliage, trees, moss -- and moss growing on moss. More of those will pop up on my blog over the next few weeks as Kate adds some cool creatures and an Otherworld feel to what is very much our world, right outside my door...and that's the wonder we live with! Snap out of the screens and see the beauty, people! End of sermon. Ha!

Back to this photo: Kate took a photo on our walk that is the background, and she'd created the faerie a while ago. Now she has a lovely, sparkly home. :) This will be added to the Otherworld Inspiration page on this blog. Because we all need to be inspired!

Here's a chance to read Tribute just before the release of Vessel:

Many of us addicted paranormal romance readers despise having to wait months or years to read the next book in a series once we've gotten our hands on the first. So I thought I'd let you know about this opportunity to read my paranormal romance novella Tribute -- for free! -- just before the release of the second book, Vessel. I'll release Vessel Thanksgiving weekend, but I'm still going to let this giveaway run until the end of the year.

With this series, it's definitely best to read the novellas in the sequence they were written. These books are written with a contained romance and adventure plot (no cliffhangers on the romance!), but also have a storyline that continues through the Children of the Sidhe series. They are also intended for an adult audience, 18 and over, because there's plenty of steamy sex. :)

Here's a short description of Tribute, and the series:

Tribute (Children of the Sidhe, Novella One)
Hazel Fintan is the reluctant daughter of the Irish love god, Aengus. As much as she loves the Sidhe lifestyle, with baubles and leisure galore, she's never cared for her father's world, or his kind. So who could expect her to be happy when she's drawn into a conflict with a legendary race over an impossible tribute?

The tribute may be what brought them together, but Ian MacIlroy knows destiny when it stares him in the face with stunning green eyes and a gorgeous smile. He's asked for Hazel's help, but now he has a new mission. Hazel will be his, at any cost.

Children of the Sidhe
The Sidhe dwindle. Slow to breed and quick to war, the ages have worn away their numbers. An old enemy threatens Otherworld, fearsome in numbers and in newfound magics. The Sidhe's unloved part-human children strewn about the mortal world are suddenly their greatest source of hope.

For a free copy of Tribute in the ebook format of your choice, go to http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/80123, and enter coupon code KZ77V at checkout.

Please consider leaving an honest review on Goodreads and Smashwords, as reviews are the best way for an independent author to reach a wider audience. And tell your friends! Thank you!

12 Days of Christmas Reading Gift List

If you're an author who's released a book in 2011, Nadja Notariani and I want to help you celebrate! Actually, we want you to celebrate alongside us -- in a 12 Days of Christmas Reading Gift List. If you're interested in a holiday season promotion that won't take too much of your valuable time, shoot an email to either nadja.notariani@gmail.com or jrpearsenelson@gmail.com, and we'll make sure to keep you in the loop. We're coming up on crunch time for putting together this promotion that will last from December 10th to December 22nd, so if you're interested, drop us a line.

Bloggers: Check out the button to the right -- Nadja designed it! If you don't have a book out but would like to help with the promotion, you can grab the button at Nadja's blog and post it on your blog. We'd thank you kindly for the assistance. :)

Readers: Mark the date December 10th, because that's the day the promotion, and the giveaways, will start! Each day somebody's getting a free book, and on the very last day, every author who hasn't given away a copy of their book will do so in a super-giveaway!

Vessel Cover Reveal

Yeah! Vessel has a lovely cover, thanks to Tishia at Paragraphic Designs. I love it! The contrast with the Tribute cover revealed last week is really striking, yet there's continuity. That's how readers will find these two books, as well. The storyline and characters in the second book are darker than the first.

I'm going to share a scene I cut from Tribute in my final round of edits. I really loved it, but couldn't keep just one scene with a different viewpoint. I wrote this in the first draft of Tribute, and knew then that Alise and Drake would be the main characters in Vessel.


###

With Ian's men hidden inthe depths of the cave, where Ian and Hazel would soon tread to meet theFomorii, Drake left. He had one last errand to run, and he wasn't lookingforward to it.

Drake bit his lip – hard –when his knock reverberated through her silent home. Probably woke her up.Bastard.
Nursing his wound, hewatched the house for any sign of movement. Still, he jumped when the door flewopen and the dark-haired witch greeted him. Her hair was loose, writhing abouther shoulders like angry snakes, and she was clothed only in an ivory linenshift. And she was beautiful.
Seeing him on herdoorstep, she let out an exasperated huff and promptly tried to shut the doorin his face.
"Alise, wait." He put hisfoot in the door to stop her, and got his toes slammed in the bargain. "Dammit.Sorry for waking you."
"You didn't wake me.Haven't you seen the moon? I'm working."Drake looked up to see themoon hanging full in the south, just behind him – still hours from setting. Heshivered.
"What, Drake? Now you'restarting to freak me out, and I'm fully charged, so don't freak me out."
"It's Hazel."
Her dark eyes widened withfear. She reached past the open door to grab a long, midnight-blue coat fromits peg, swinging it around her shoulders as she stepped out into a puddle ofmoonlight. "Why didn't you say so?"
He put a hand on her arm,trying to calm her. "Alise, we may need supplies."
"First aid supplies?" Shegripped his hand roughly.
Drakerolled his eyes. "Magical supplies."###

In terms of an update, I wrote 2,900 words on my work in progress. I've been filling in some missing pieces in the first half these last couple of weeks. Now I can feel myself ready to burst with the second half...if only I can find the time to get words on the page!

I've also been spending time on Twitter. Haven't used it enough in the past, and I'm having fun! I've doubled my followers this week, and gotten some interest in Tribute.

How about everyone else? How much do you use Twitter, and how do you use it?

New Cover for Tribute

Tribute has a brand spanking new cover! It's super pretty! Thanks to Tishia at Paragraphic Designs for her amazing work. The new cover went live on Amazon and Smashwords today. Now Tishia is working on the cover for Vessel, the next novella in the series. I'm on track to publish Vessel by December.

In terms of word count this week, I added 2,100 words to the urban fantasy I'm writing. I only wrote two days, so that's pretty decent. Hopefully I'll get my butt in the chair and words on the page more often these next few weeks. I still don't feel behind, because I was smart and reduced my goal soon after this round of ROW80 started. Originally, I thought I'd write the third Children of the Sidhe novella this round, too. But I decided I'll just have too much going on with releasing my second book, diving into some marketing (which I haven't really done before), and the holiday season in general. So I plan to finish this book by mid-December, and then take a break until January, when I'll start writing Flight, the third Children of the Sidhe novella.

Speaking of marketing, fellow ROW80 author Nadja Notoriani had a great idea for a 12 Days of Christmas Reading Gift List. I'm helping her work through the details so we can put together a fun and simple promotion for the holiday season. There will probably be a giveaway involved, and hopefully a bunch of authors promoting recently released books. I think we have about ten authors interested so far, and several people willing to spread the word to their networks. There's a good chance we'll reach far beyond our usual audiences by cross-promoting. If you have a book you'd be interested in promoting through the list, or if you'd be willing to post a link to the list, send me an email at jrpearsenelson@gmail.com and I'll make sure you get all the details as we figure them out. :)

Have a great week!

Excerpt from Tracy Falbe's New Release

This is the first time I've published an excerpt from someone else's work on my blog, but don't be surprised if it proves a trend. There are a lot of great writers publishing fun stories out there, and I definitely want to keep you in the loop on what I know about them. So without further ado...

Tracy Falbe is the author of two fantasy series, The Rys Chronicles and Rys Rising. She justpublished her sixth novel Savage Storm: Rys Rising Book II. She published her first book in 2005, so she's a veteran indie. :)
FromSavage Storm: Rys Rising Book II by Tracy Falbe
Inthis scene Cruce and Rayden prepare for a siege…
Atthe village smithy, they found a stone wheel with which to hone their weapons,and Rayden learned that every single arrow was already on the walls with otherarchers. His quiver would stay empty.
"Haveto do this one the hard way," Rayden sighed and drew his sword and applied itto the sharpening stone while Cruce spun it with the foot paddle.
"Thanksfor saving me," Cruce said belatedly.
Raydendid not look up from his sharpening. "You don't have to thank me, Cruce," hesaid.
Crucefell silent. Rayden was right. Taking care of each other was what they weresupposed to do. Rayden stopped to examine his sword's blade and deemed it good.Cruce stopped spinning the sharpening stone and said, "If I die, you can havemy house in Kahtep."
"Don'ttalk like that," Rayden said sternly. True disapproval crinkled his happyboyish face. "I'm not a friend you need to buy."
"Ididn't mean it like that," Cruce said, really regretting if he had causedoffense.Raydenslid his sword into its scabbard. "I'm not your friend because of what youhave," he said.
Thesentiment touched Cruce. A trustworthy friend was a great treasure. Inspired byrowdy nights in easier times, Cruce's sense of humor nudged his gloominess. "Soyou don't want the house?" he asked.
Grinning,Rayden replied, "I can't afford the taxes."
Falberecommends that people read her novels in the order they were written. Luckilythe first part Rys Rising: Book I is a free ebook at her website. http://www.falbepublishing.com/braveluck/free-fantasy-ebook-rys-rising.html
Shehas also published every chapter as a blog novel to make it easy to read onlinefrom anywhere. http://falbepublishing.com/rys-rising/
Orpeople can look for it at popular online ebook retailers where it is pricedvery low.
SavageStorm: Rys Rising Book II is available for $4.95 worldwide at:
Falbe'swebsite http://www.falbepublishing.com/braveluck/savage-storm-rys-rising-book-ii.html KindleUS http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0060WV96Q KindleUK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0060WV96Q KindleGermany https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0060WV96Q KindleFrance https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0060WV96Q Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/99999