Stephanie Summers's Blog, page 8

Haunting Release Date

I have some great news to announce. Haunting: Book #2 of The Willow Creek Vampires Series is on track to be released July 26, 2014! Here's a little teaser to hold you over. ;)

Q&A with Stephanie

What are you working on next?
I'm currently working on two different novels, Haunting, which is book #2 of The Willow Creek Vampires Series, and Take Me on, which a contemporary rock star romance. When you're not writing, how do you spend your time? If I'm not doing something with my kids, I'm on Facebook or Twitter. I spend way too much time on social media.

How do you discover the ebooks you read?
I usually find them through reviews or teasers on Facebook from book bloggers. I also have been known to just type in a certain genre in the Amazon Kindle Store and see what pops up.

What is your e-reading device of choice?
Kindle Fire

When did you become an author (Thank you to Judy Fry for this question)?

I didn't start writing until I was almost 31 years old, and I'm 32 now. I always had an active imagination and very vivid dreams. One of the techniques I used for falling asleep was to start dreaming beforehand. What I mean by this, is that I would close my eyes and start to visualize myself somewhere else doing something completely different, and before I knew it, I was asleep. It wasn't until I got a little older that I realized not everyone was doing this, and I decided to take those images and stories I dreamed up and put them to paper. My first novel was published in March of this year.

What is the greatest joy of writing for you?
Escape. That's the greatest joy for me. I get to escape into another world when I write. Not that my life stinks, because it doesn't at all. I like to think of writing as a mini-vacation (at least when things are gong smoothly and I'm not stuck on an idea).

What do your fans mean to you?
I am thankful for every fan I have. When I first published Craving, I was okay with no one ever reading it. I was proud to have just published something. But then something crazy happened. People started sending messages telling me how much they loved the story. I was floored. I never expected anyone to read it, let alone love it. My fans are awesome and I love every single one of them!

What do you see in the future as part of your career as an author (Thanks to Crystal Miles Gauthier for this question)?
Simply to keep writing. I think most authors aspire to be the next big thing, but realistically I know there is a very small chance of that happening, so if I can keep writing in any capacity, I'm happy. If I had my way, I'd love to be able to make some sort of a living with my writing. It doesn't have to be a rich, lavish lifestyle, but if I could devote my time to writing instead of a regular 9 to 5, that'd be wonderful. Another thing I hope to accomplish is to continue to book some author signings at both big and small events. I'd love to meet people who enjoyed reading my work.

What bugs you the most about books being written these days (Thanks to Crystal Miles Gauthier for this question)?
That's a tough one! I'd say the biggest thing that irks me that I've noticed recently is when authors release their books in sections and market it as a series. A series, in my opinion, is to have separate books with their own story and conclusion that sets up the next book subtly. I don't believe a series is a cluster of 4 or 5 chapters of a book released periodically. I mean, I get it. It's a way to capitalize on your work, but I think readers end up getting pissed off when they realize just how much they've spent in the end for essentially one novel. I don't want to piss off the fans I have and deter new readers from giving me a chance. I guess I believe in more bang for your buck. On a related note, I don't like cliff hanger endings. It's ok to set up a new story for the next book, but when the initial story isn't resolved and it's left dangling, it really annoys me. If the book is good enough to begin with, I will buy the next one in the series, so don't force me into it because that makes me not want to buy the next one just for the hell of it.

Interview at Paranormal Reads

Paranormal Reads has posted an interview I did for them. Check it out!
http://paranormalreadsreviews.blogspot.com/2014/05/interview-with-author-stephanie-summers.html

Stephanie Summers - The Writer's Voice Entry

I am ecstatic to be participating in The Writer's Choice competition! So without further ado, I present my Query and the first 250 words of my novel, Craving.

Query:

I am seeking representation for Craving, a paranormal romance, that is the beginning to the Willow Creek Vampire Series. Craving is complete at just under 62,000 words.

A small idyllic town nestled in the Appalachian Mountains is home to a thriving community. People are happy, crime is practically nonexistent, life is good…unless you’re Sabine Crowley, who has been chosen to be the next blood bag for the vampire lord who has protected the town from otherworldly creatures for 200 years.

Sabine has big dreams for her life, and none of them include becoming a vampire’s concubine. On her 18th birthday, she seeks solitude to process the cruel turn her destiny has taken. As she sits alone in a park near her house, a sexy stranger approaches her. He’s tall, mysterious, handsome, and a complete ass. He soon reveals himself to be a vampire and she’s terrified of him and her strange attraction to him. She wants to get as far away from him as possible, yet finds herself wondering if she’ll see him again.

Remy, the cocky newcomer vampire, has been summoned by his maker, Bastian, to take his place beside him in the hierarchy of vampires inhabiting Willow Creek. He’s none too thrilled to be stuck in a boring little town in the middle of nowhere where he’ll have to feed exclusively from the girl he’s been paired with. He’s repulsed by the whole situation. 

When Sabine tries to run away from her fate, Remy is forced to follow and bring her back. They’re unwillingly thrust into each other’s lives and reluctantly find an undeniable attraction between themselves. Will they ever look past their contempt for one another and act on their urges? Or are they destined to hate each other forever?

I am a self-published paranormal and contemporary romance author. I've always seemed to have a story or two or ten running around in my mind. At the ripe old age of 30, I finally decided it was time to put aside the thought that I didn't have what it took to write a novel and began writing my first story.

I have since started and finished a paranormal romance, The Willow Creek Vampires Series: Craving. My short story, Love Forgotten, was chosen to be published in Stardust: A Futuristic Romance Collection, due out in May 2014. My contemporary rock star romance, Take Me On, as well as the second installment in the Willow Creek Series is scheduled to be released later in 2014.

Thank you so much for your consideration!

Sincerely,

Stephanie Summers

250 Word Excerpt of Craving (Book #1 of The Willow Creek Vampires Series):

Sabine Crowley sat under the weeping willow in the side-yard of her parents’ home. Her dark hair danced gently in the breeze. Brown eyes focused on the pad of paper in front of her as her hand sketched a scene of Paris. Drawing always seemed to calm her when she had some sort of crisis she needed to hash out. This particular crisis was the biggest she’d ever faced, and she knew it was coming for as long as she could remember. Time slipped through her fingers as she hurdled toward a potentially cruel fate, not the one she dreamed of for herself.

She pondered her future and the two drastically different paths her life could take in exactly three days. If she could manage to get through her birthday without being called or summoned or whatever the hell they liked to call it, she’d be free to do what she wanted, when she wanted. After graduation in a few weeks, she could flee and go anywhere in the world she wanted to go. 

She was an aspiring artist with dreams of exploring the world for inspiration; not some blood bag destined to rot in seclusion while the world outside went on without her. If fate chose her to be the one, she would be confined to a life of slavery, all for the sake of a town she didn’t really care about in the first place.

“Beanie? Are you out here?” Her mother, Vivian, walked out the back door and knowingly scanned the yard.

"Undone" becomes "Take Me On"

I've taken a little break from Remy and Sabine's story in Willow Creek, and been paying some much needed attention to Lila Stephens and Ash London. Never fear, Remy is enough of a loud mouth that I won't take too long of a break. I don't want to hear him bitch about the lack of attention I'm paying to him and his girl, Sabine.

Anywho, Lila and Ash reside in Brooklyn, and are the heroine and hero of the rock star romance I've been working on for over a year now. This story was previously titled "Undone," but it just didn't feel like the right title to me. I've called it that almost the entire time I've been working on it, but today, it came to me. This story needs to be called "Take Me On."

If you'd like to read the prologue and first chapter to this story, check out the notes section on my Facebook page. I've made a lot of changed to this story, but those remain the same, and I don't see much, if any, changes occurring there. Happy reading!

https://www.facebook.com/notes/stephanie-summers-author/chapter-1-of-the-rockstar-romance-novel-undone/578912705516871

Suicide Prevention Fundraiser Walk

http://www.gofundme.com/8bbb2o

Please check out the link above and consider donating to help my team of walkers, Team Never Give Up, reach our goal of raising $1,000. All proceeds will be donated to help prevent suicide as well as provide resources to families who have lost loved ones to suicide. Every little bit helps! As an extra incentive, anyone who donates will be entered into a drawing for a signed paperback copy of Craving, as well as the tentatively titled sequel, Haunting. Drawing will be open until the day before the walk, June 6th, 2014. You can choose to receive Craving immediately if you win or wait until later in the summer when the sequel is released and receive them both together. Thanks so much for taking the time to check it out!

Middle of the Night Surprises

I stayed up late last night. Like really late. In my defense, I tend to be a night owl. Also, I was writing, and when you're on a roll, you tend to want to keep at it. So at approximately 3am, I decided to check out where Craving stood as far as paid purchases are concerned through the Kindle store. I've been ranked anywhere from about #30,000 clear up to above #200,000 (and as high as into the 2 millions for paid paperback). When I saw I was ranked at #27,555, I was pretty happy. To my knowledge, that's the highest it's been ranked, and, for the record, that's out of millions of ebooks available in the Kindle store.

But something else caught my eye:
That's right! I made my first ever top #100 ranking! Now, I didn't set erotica as a category, and I personally don't think just two descriptive sex scenes qualify it to be classified as erotica, but, damn it, I'll take it!

If I had not stayed up late writing, I wouldn't have seen this, and may have never known it happened. By this morning, I had fallen to #98, and am probably out of the top #100 by now. Just makes me wonder if I was any higher than #71 to begin with...

Craving is on sale for a limited time!

Post by Stephanie Summers - Author.

Authors in the City - Myrtle Beach, SC - March 14, 2015

It's official! I will be attending the Authors in the City event in Myrtle Beach, SC on March 14, 2015! I'm beyond excited to attend and meet readers as well as other authors. If you're in the Myrtle Beach area or within driving distance, come out and say hello! I'd love to meet you! Now, if this year would just go by quickly. ;)

Authors in the City

It's official! I will be attending the Authors in the City event in Myrtle Beach, SC on March 14, 2015! I'm beyond excited to attend and meet readers as well as other authors. If you're in the Myrtle Beach area or within driving distance, come out and say hello! I'd love to meet you! Now, if this year would just go by q