Emilyann Allen's Blog: Anything Imagined, page 3
November 4, 2017
Fun Book Launch Photo Shoot with Laina Mari Productions!
I want to dedicate a post of gratitude to Laina Mari Productions for the wonderful photo shoot to update my author headshots and celebrate Coloring Novels™. The photos were taken by the talented Alaina Cribbs and it was a very fun time. Thank you Alaina for these pictures and your work on the Coloring Novels™ launch video below as well.
Laina Mari Productions Book Launch Photo Shoot Highlights:
These were taken a while ago and at the time I had the first sample draft of The Labyrinth Wall edition. If you’ve seen the final product, you can see the cover style evolved to include more color. You can also see we had some goofing around fun during the photo shoot. =-)
Below are some more of the photos captured during the shoot. They’ve been used to update my profile pictures, across media platforms, and in advertising. Thank you again Laina Mari Productions! These images have been so helpful for the launch.
Coloring Novels™ Launch Video:
Click Here to the Visit Laina Mari Productions Website
SaveSave
SaveSave
SaveSave
SaveSave
SaveSave
The post Fun Book Launch Photo Shoot with Laina Mari Productions! appeared first on Emilyann's World.
November 1, 2017
You Could Win: Gift Card Giveaway Contests to Celebrate the New Books!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween! November snuck up so fast! I hardly believe the big Coloring Novels™ and The Forgotten Dream launch are just days away on November 7th! YAY! I so appreciate everyone who is helping spread the word and who is excited for the books! So, to celebrate, I’m running two gift card giveaway contests and The Labyrinth Wall is on sale for only .99! Check out the details below and good luck to all participants! =-)
Gift Card Giveaway Contest (to Celebrate the Launch):
To celebrate the exciting Coloring Novels™ launch I’m hosting a $15 Amazon
gift card giveaway contest over at PB Tours. Visit the link and enter to win…
October 16, 2017
The Artists & Making of The Labyrinth Wall Coloring Novel Fantasy Book
Got from “A to Z” & Sneak Peeks
I have really enjoyed getting questions about the making of Coloring Novels™. So, below you will find some photos, more detail about what’s inside The Labyrinth Wall Coloring Novels™ edition, how it was put together, and who all was involved in creating it.
This Coloring Novels™ edition of The Labyrinth Wall features 60+ illustrations (which readers are encouraged to color) and includes contributed artwork by Maxim Allen, Dan Davies, Dan Walsh, Fluffy Wolfe, and myself as well as some royalty free stock designs. Maxim Allen, Dan Davies, Dan Walsh, and Fluffy Wolfe each developed one creative and unique artwork to contribute to the book. Take a look at their awesome work below and see how to follow more of their creative journey. And a personal note from me to these artists… thank you all again so much for contributing your talent to this special edition. Your work is wonderful! I’m so excited the first coloring novels ever include some of your pieces! 
September 27, 2017
Big Secret Revealed: My Coloring Novels™ Launch
The last several months or year (especially the last few weeks) have been some of the busiest and most hectic to date. Some of you may know I’ve been shut in working on big projects. The good news is that other than missing seeing everyone (I do miss being out) I’ve loved quite a bit of it because I’ve been working on some exciting things. Recently I announced The Forgotten Dream (book 3 in the Obsidian Series) will be launching in November. I also eluded other exciting things would be coming around the same time.
Well, I am finally able to publicly announce that I’ll be launching both The Forgotten Dream and a new format of books, Coloring Novels™ (via Best Coloring Novels™ trademarked by Luminous Words Press), on November 7th 2017! I am so beyond thrilled to share this news with you. Coloring and reading are both special to me so I’m ecstatic to be combining them in one fun format and sharing them with the world. My Coloring Novels™ collection has four books in the series so far which include The Labyrinth Wall, Beauty and the Beast, Sense and Sensibility, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Other titles are on the way too. It has been so much fun developing the artwork for these adaptations. In the coming weeks I hope to share some behind the scenes looks at my inspirations and how I developed the different books. For today, I’m just soaking in a breath of fresh air that I’m able to share this news. A video, this CW news release, and the website link with more information are below. The website also has details on the Barnes & Noble launch event in the Orlando, Florida area (Black Friday 2017).
Behind the Scenes: What’s Inside the Books?
It has been a wonderful experience creatively adapting my own book and some of my favorite stories for Coloring Novels™. More importantly, I hope it will bring an even more immersive and engaging experience for readers! =-) As I mentioned, more photos and information are available on the website. But for a brief overview, these stories are the original story as far as content… but with added colorable pages. Most of them have between 30 to 60 coloring pages per novel. I personally contributed digital artworks or adapted digital illustrations for each book, some additional wonderful artists contributed a couple of pieces, and some of the artworks are from Adobe Stock.
Coloring Novels™ Launch Mentions of Gratitude:
A big thank you to Barnes & Noble at Altamonte Springs who is hosting the launch party on Black Friday 2017 (2-4pm). A big shout out to Dan Walsh, Fluffy Wolfe, Dan Davies, and Maxim Allen who contributed amazing artworks for The Labyrinth Wall Coloring Novel™. And thank you to Cora Johnson, Alyssa Kahler, and Ali Kahler for lovely artwork contributions to Beauty and the Beast. 
September 5, 2017
Fantasy Book Review Shout Out – Thank You Kai and Rick
Book reviews mean so much to authors. Writing is hard work, so encouragement and even feedback to improve are both incredibly helpful. Today I want to give a special word of thanks to Kai O for his The Labyrinth Wall fantasy book review over at Book Reviews And Comments By Rick O and posting it on Amazon. And thank you to Rick O as well for hosting the review. Below is a short snippet. Click here to read the full review and browse other reviews on the website. Thank you again to Kai, Rick, and everyone taking time to leave honest reviews for authors. It means the world.
The author and her public relations representative sent my fourteen year old grandson, Kai O, an autographed copy of her novel to read and review:Emilyann Girdner has been awarded numerous honors for her fiction and deserves them all. The Labyrinth Wall is set in a near inhospitable world. In this setting, the Mahk (people made by the Creator) have to choose between searching through acid rivers for Obsidian to pay for food or be left to die. The protagonist, Araina, is one of the Mahk…
Visit http://ricksreviews.blogspot.com/2017/09/the-labyrinth-wall.html to read more. =-)
The Labyrinth Wall is available with several retailers, including Amazon.
The post Fantasy Book Review Shout Out – Thank You Kai and Rick appeared first on Emilyann's World.
August 28, 2017
A Fantasy Story: Vestige of Credence 34 – Trouble in the Tunnels
A Fantasy Story, Part 34: Trouble in the Tunnels
From a scientific standpoint he could barely imagine how the Graphine were able to transform their skin to a rock-like material. And he thought it was odd that the Dragile were equipped with wings, but yet they were underground creatures. Most interestingly, he tried to understand how the Graphine were able to mind read. Ever since the stories of the Itsuj Basalt manipulating water with their thoughts, the scientists had been trying to figure out what their brains were capable of. Maybe there were Graphine scientists who could better explain the process to him.
They had been traveling for a long time when they finally reached the rift. The drop down would not be enjoyable, but it was a necessary part of the journey. They attached a chain at the top, as a method to climb back up later on and then dropped down over the edge of trench. When they all reached the bottom they began searching for the tunnels Ramus spoke of. They searched for what seemed like a long time, but finally found the one Ramus had traveled through previously. Excitement built inside the Basalt scientists. They were going to not only meet beings of a new species, but they were going to study new substances. From the glimpse they had gotten of the elusa masulk before leaving Luap, their hopes were great that it might be a way to actually kill the Cumulus. Unfortunately retracing their steps was not as easy as Ramus thought it would be.
She didn’t want to let on that they had lost their way, but Ramus was becoming hopeless. They wandered the tunnels for almost a quarter cycle with no sign of the Graphine or Dragile. She seemed to be worried, but Trako and the others were too distracted by the new surroundings to be concerned. They were all so busy observing the rock walls that they didn’t notice her confusion. Eventually as they walked down the tunnel path, they noticed a small cave in front of them. “Didn’t you say the elusa is located in a sparkling cavern, Ramus?” inquired Trako.
“Yes, I did say that,” replied Ramus.
“Do you think maybe this could be the cavern? I think I see something shimmering and a bigger cavern farther inside,” said Trako.
Ramus peered into the cave trying to assess if entering was wise. “I think we should try this,” she said. “I think we could be close.”
As they came closer to the larger cavern they noticed tall towering plants that waved in the current of the water. The scientists could not help but be curious what material the plants were made of. They appeared to have green rubber-like leaves and dark fuzzy trunks. As they walked farther inside the cavern to better investigate the unusual plants, they began to get sucked down into the ground. It was like the ground beneath their feet was soft and sticky. Once their feet put pressure on it, they were pulled through it. They began to scream and yell for help. Ramus moved quickly to pull them out, but her lack of physical substance could not grasp them. Every member of the small scientist team was sucked into the ground and killed. Ramus was the only one that lived. She exited the cave and retraced her way back through the tunnels. She traveled for a long time until she came to the trench, and there she was faced with a gathered rank of Cumulus.
Vestige of Credence © Emilyann Girdner 2016
Want to Read More of Emilyann’s Fantasy Writing?
Want to continue reading Vestige of Credence? Click Here
Looking for the Obsidian Series by Emilyann Girdner? Click Here
More Ways to Connect with Emilyann:
* Facebook * Twitter * Pinterest * Google + *
The post A Fantasy Story: Vestige of Credence 34 – Trouble in the Tunnels appeared first on Emilyann's World.
August 21, 2017
Love Fantasy Books? Vestige of Credence 33 – Crucial Decisions
Part 33: Crucial Decisions
Sleep would have to wait again; this information was far too pressing. Zell indicated for the guards to stand down as he exited his home with Ramus. He wasted no time sending messengers to gather the other elders back at the council hall. Ramus again told her story, explaining everything she knew to the elders. She told them the status with Kadden and Ellara and that Niomi had been found. She also spoke of the underground species, the Graphine and Dragile, who could be new allies against the Cumulus. Most importantly, Ramus showed them the elusa masulk and explained that an entire river of elusa existed underground. It might not only be a defense, but also a way to destroy the Cumulus. She suggested that a team of scientists could venture with her to the underground city of Olcanic. If it was approved by the elders, Maximus had already offered to send Graphine and Dragile soldiers to the Basalt civilizations for aid. Although help would be appreciated, the elders reasoned that the additional forces should wait until the opportune time. If Cumulus scouts detected help arriving, they might attack the Basalt sooner. It seemed wiser to pursue the elusa research for now, and continue fighting off the occasional scouts. So Ramus set off to the rift, retracing her steps. She brought with her a team of scientists who would hopefully find the answers to success.
It was crucial that Ramus and the scientists move quickly to the rift and find the elusa substance. Being such an ancient civilization, the Basalt had studied many fields of science from how life forms were composed to what life forms existed. These scientists were particularly talented at apprehending information of liquids and chemical forms. They had discovered a lot of information on water and knew a little about lava. The only lava they studied had spewed out of the Kasis mountains directly into the ocean, so it hardened. They looked forward to further learning about liquid lava and elusa both. Ramus tried her best to educate the science team leader, Trako, about the Graphine and Dragile species as they walked.
Vestige of Credence © Emilyann Girdner 2016
Want to Read More of Emilyann’s Fantasy Writing?
Want to continue reading Vestige of Credence? Click Here
Looking for the Obsidian Series by Emilyann Girdner? Click Here
More Ways to Connect with Emilyann:
* Facebook * Twitter * Pinterest * Google + *
The post Love Fantasy Books? Vestige of Credence 33 – Crucial Decisions appeared first on Emilyann's World.
August 14, 2017
Love Reading Books? Vestige of Credence 32 – A Mounting Attack
Vestige of Credence: Chapter 5
Part 32: A Mounting Attack
Zell was tired and on edge knowing there was a Cumulus scout at large in the city. He was even beginning to believe it may have intentionally riled everyone up with its appearance as a ploy so that the soldiers would drain their strength searching for it. “What if a Cumulus attack was mounting and the Basalt were wasting all their efforts worrying about a scout?” he wondered. The thought drained his energy and emotion even further. He knew it was time to just rest, and deal with the scout when he awoke.
Zell made his way home and entered his door to see the scout standing before him. Before Zell had the opportunity to yell for guards, the scout uttered the ancient word “Meicha,” which meant peace.
“Please hear me out; I have made all this effort to sneak in the city so I would not be chased away with sound guns. My name is Ramus and I am here to bring you news of the Cumulus.” She explained to Zell the condition of the Cumulus spies and that many were now imprisoned on a different planet. She did not know if any had been able to withstand the interrogations. At least the news meant it would be a while before the Cumulus launched a large-scale attack on the Basalt. On the other hand, it would make it more unlikely that Kadden and Ellara could find Rhen.
Zell was startled. “What do you know about Ellara and Kadden?” Ramus told Zell she had tried to enter Luap before, but was caught by a different Cumulus scout. She talked about hiding in the rift, discovering the tunnel systems, and meeting Ellara, Kadden, Lailie, Anvid, and Mij.
“Do you mean to tell me that all this time there has been life existing below our feet, just like we exist below the Cumulus?” Zell was perplexed. How could this have been? He could think of so many more questions regarding the Graphine people Ramus spoke of. At first he assumed they were more of the Basalt species, but as Ramus further described them he knew they were different. Ramus told Zell that it was imperative to begin researching the elusa substance found in the underground. She showed him the net, and finally he began to regain hope of winning the war.
Vestige of Credence © Emilyann Girdner 2017
Want to Read More of Emilyann’s Fantasy Writing?
Want to continue reading Vestige of Credence? Click Here
Looking for the Obsidian Series by Emilyann Girdner? Click Here
More Ways to Connect with Emilyann:
* Facebook * Twitter * Pinterest * Google + *
The post Love Reading Books? Vestige of Credence 32 – A Mounting Attack appeared first on Emilyann's World.
August 12, 2017
Ideas on How to Blog: WordPress Help
People often ask about the basic most important tips for running a blog or improving SEO on their website. So, I thought I’d go ahead and share an overview of my insights on how to blog, so hopefully more people can benefit from it. This information is good not just for other authors in my genre, but any author, blogger, business, or brand of any kind trying to build a blog. For years, I have helped businesses run their blogs and have run my personal brand blog. These are quick, general, tips that I have found useful. Please feel free to make more suggestions or offer other insight in the comments… I always love learning more and more. =-) Most of the overview items below can be googled to figure out step-by-step installation tips and such.
How to Blog: WordPress Help for Getting Started
Choose Your Platform – WordPress is the platform I recommend (I had one blogger profile for a long time and eventually switched over to WordPress). Blogger was fun and I was able to build up decent traffic. There are pros and cons to both and both can be beautiful websites. Personally, I found it harder to customize and integrate important tools for my business needs (some of which are described in the plugins area below). Especially for anyone needing an eCommerce component for their website, WordPress offers more options. I highly recommend your website be set up on the wordpress.org paid platform. I typically suggest people purchase their website name/url and basic hosting plan that includes wordpress.org. GoDaddy is one option to do so. There is a difference between the free wordpress.com and paid wordpress.org platforms. WordPress.org has awesome tools for ranking in website traffic plus great/easy options for customizing the look of your site (which can evolve over time).
Install the Basic Vital Plugins for Blog Success – Install the best plugins… I recommend Akismet (for spam), Boxilla (for a bottom of the site pop up slider), HelloBar for WordPress (top of website email capture bar), JetPack or NextScripts for auto posting to social media plus some other tools), Mailchimp for WordPress to connect Mailchimp to your website, TinyMCE Advanced (a better selection of tools in your post editor), UpDraftPlus for backing up your website and very importantly YoastSEO for maximizing SEO (which is how you build up website traffic).
Make it Easy for People to Follow and Subscribe – I recommend using Mailchimp (it is free up to I think 3,000 subscribers maybe). Make sure on your blog you have newsletter sign-up options obvious and prominent (HelloBar plugin is a great one on WordPress, it drops down at the top of your website). A slider pop up at the bottom is good and one on the right sidebar of your blog. And make sure you have a “Subscribe by RSS” button option. Please, please, if you’re going to take the time to write anyway, make sure you are capturing emails for your interested readers. You’ll be so glad you did down the line. With mailchimp, you can research how to set up your rss feed as an automated email so you channel your blog out to your email subscribers and they know when you have new posts. Only include excerpts in the emails because you want them to click and finish reading on your website so you get traffic. Offering something for free to subscribers to encourage them to join your newsletter starts the relationship off on a good note and does increase sign-up rates.
Utilize the Funnel System – Make sure to utilize the “funnel system” (that’s what I call it). The idea is you focus your time and energy into composing your blog posts and let those channel out to all of your social media, so you’re still active on social media, that drives the social media audience to your blog, and you build up more traffic/website standing. I could even see you compiling your current weekly social media posts into three blog posts a week and achieving this. Two of the plugins that are great for auto posting your blog to social media are JetPack and NextScripts Social Networks Poster. Sometimes one or the other glitches, so you may switch back and forth sometimes. One or the other is good at a time. I think you still have to run Instagram separately (at least for now)… I think they still don’t allow auto posting from blogs. Though one method is to use the free version of Crowd Fire (hook it up to your website and your phone so it notifies you when you have a new blog post). When it notifies you about the post, post it to Instagram and use IFTTT to channel your Instagram posts out to your Twitter, Facebook, etc. You have to play and see which set up works for you.
Take Advantage of Website Data as Soon as Possible –Hook up Google Analytics to your website so you can track website traffic and understand how your website is evolving.
Consider Google Adwords – At some point, you probably will want to consider Google AdWords. In my experience and from what I’ve seen statistically, the best recipe for blog growth is a healthy combination of frequent and consistent quality content, social media engagement with posts, and some paid keyword website traffic. But always do your research periodically and stay up-to-date with how blog traffic strategies are evolving.
Take Advantage of Tools & Insights to Maximize Your Posts – When it comes to posting, here are some quick thoughts…
* Content is king. Provide insightful brand news, useful, or entertaining blog material.
* Many studies show the more you post (quality content) the faster your blog grows. This great HubSpot article is very insightful on the topic of blogging frequency (weekly, monthly, etc). Consistency is good too, so people know when to expect your new content. For my personal brand blog, I struggle with this right now because I’m so busy, but I treat it as a number one important item for client blogs.
* Be aware of SEO and title quality when you post. Make sure you have the Yoast SEO plugin installed and fill out that information for each blog post. Follow Yoast’s guides for composing the content and adding headline tags. It will give you color signals for if your post is composed well (green is good). In conjunction, the CoSchedule Headline analyzer is good for testing titles for not just SEO but also if they are catchy. And you need to think about the core audience you’re trying to reach and therefore the keywords that should be used. Google’s keyword planner can help. If you want to tag onto current trends, the Google Trends tool is helpful for seeing popular search phrases. And think about the insight your post is offering. You may be an author who wants to write about which conventions you think are most helpful for writers. Think about how authors searching for conventions might phrase their Google search terms. They may search, “Best Conventions for Writers.” That may be a good title for your blog post. I recommend using/alternating and finding a balance of using your website’s keywords in titles and phrases you think people might search. This can also depend on the goals of your blog (retail, advice, etc)… For the purposes of this post, I’ll have to let you do a separate Google search on that topic.
* Visual media helps engage readers. Photos and videos are good. Do your research on crediting photos or videos produced by others. Pixabay is a website you may look into for photos. Media that is social media share worthy is of course even better. Images with quotes are a good example.
Blogging involves always learning more and keeping up with the latest statistics, but the ideas above are a start. Lastly, if you’re weighing the benefits of going through all of the work listed above, below are some thoughts about reasons to blog.
Some Potential Benefits of Growing Your Blog:
An expressive outlet and keeping your writing muscle going
A place to communicate updates on your personal or business brand to the world
A way to slowly start building up your readership/an audience
An opportunity to connect with others of similar interests as they follow your blog
(try to interact on their blogs too if they have them)
A potential income source (when you get to high traffic, don’t quote me but let’s say 20,000+ monthly views, you could start earning some fair money off of ads) – some experts recommend listing your blog on https://www.buysellads.com
A way to become an expert/authority in your field
Eventually you could possibly compile your blog content down the line into a book
This blogging statistics article is very insightful as well concerning the benefits of blogging.
I hope this has been helpful for everyone. Perhaps you have different perspectives or updated information in addition to some that I’ve shared. That’s always welcome in the comments! =-)
P.S. Before you go, if you want to follow my updates and get a free eBook, sign up below.
SaveSave
#mc_embed_signup{background:#; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; }
/* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block.
We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */
* indicates required
Email Address *
SaveSave
SaveSave
SaveSave
SaveSave
The post Ideas on How to Blog: WordPress Help appeared first on Emilyann's World.
August 7, 2017
Love Reading Books? Vestige of Credence 31 – Unsettling Events
Vestige of Credence: Chapter 5
Part 31: Unsettling Events
Zell became aware he had been walking in circles for some time. He needed to find focus and resolve. He then noticed Yentru, another elder quickly approaching him.
“Unsettling events are unfolding. A Cumulus scout made it past our defenses, and is somewhere in the city,” she announced. “We assume it is searching for another woman to abduct. The city needs to take precautions, so we already sent word for the tower to sound the alarm.”
As they made their way to the elder council room, they heard the alarm begin ringing. They ran through the city toward the council hall, where everyone was headed. In emergencies, they had designated the council hall as a place where everyone could meet. It was a giant towering structure, big enough to hold countless numbers.
Within a matter of minutes, everyone had assembled in the gigantic hall. First on the agenda was accounting for all the women, since they were typically the target of Cumulus scouts. Though it took some time to verify, it seemed that nobody was missing. The elders gathered in the meeting chamber and decided the best course of action would be to send the warriors out through the city and chase out the scout. The warriors searched everywhere they could fathom, but had no success. Meanwhile, in the council hall, the citizens grew tired and hungry. More time passed, with no sighting of a Cumulus. They were trapped in their own city walls, not knowing what the scout might be planning. Eventually so much time passed that the people had no choice but to resume daily life and hope that the scout had moved on.
All Basalt were told to return directly to their homes and wait in large groups, to protect each other. They would need to resume daily life, but they had to be careful. Many were worried sick there might be a Cumulus lurking in their closets or pantries. The feeling that someone was watching them haunted their sleep and regular activities, though they tried to pretend there was no danger. The usual watch was doubled, and many of the soldiers searched without rest; over and over, going through the city trying to find the Cumulus scout. Though the average Cumulus was not able to physically interact or capture prisoners themselves, their scientists had developed tima ports. They were able to use the tima ports to automatically transport beings into a bay in the Cumulus realm. The Basalt knew the only way to locate the scout was if it appeared. Unfortunately, being only an energy-based life form, it could still be among them though simply invisible. But, Cumulus invisibility did require vast stores of their power, and it would eventually fade when the Cumulus systems needed recharging. When the scout did appear, the Basalt would be ready.
Vestige of Credence © Emilyann Girdner 2016
Want to Read More of Emilyann’s Fantasy Writing?
Want to continue reading Vestige of Credence? Click Here
Looking for the Obsidian Series by Emilyann Girdner? Click Here
More Ways to Connect with Emilyann:
* Facebook * Twitter * Pinterest * Google + *
The post Love Reading Books? Vestige of Credence 31 – Unsettling Events appeared first on Emilyann's World.
Anything Imagined
- Emilyann Allen's profile
- 102 followers
