Kathy Cyr's Blog: Kathy Cyr- Author, page 99

Happy Day!

Good Morning/Afternoon, my friends,

It is a very good day! I can official say that the drafts of book 2 and 3 in the Max Hamby series are complete. There's alot of editing ahead, but for today, I am going to celebrate.

I hope your day is going just as good.

K. :)

#Books #Ebooks #SelfPub #Publishing #Novel #AmWriting #Writers #Readers #kidlit #middlegrade #bookseries #maxhamby #childrensauthor #MGlit

Traveling Tuesday

Hello. Hello. Hello.
It's Traveling Tuesday and we're headed to one of the spookiest places in the UK.....Pluckley.
There's lots of info and it's super inspiring for almost any type of story.

Let's start with some info links and then we'll move on to some pics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluckley
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/uk/3278642/Pluckley-the-most-haunted-village-in-England.html
http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/kent/hauntings/pluckley.html
http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2008/oct/14/haunted-hotels-uk

In 1998 Pluckley was crowned, the most haunted village by the Guinness Book of Records  with officially 12 ghosts, but roughly 16 having been reported. I have wondered whether or not the 3 pubs within the small village may have accounted for the oldest residents still being sighted, however who am I to speculate!

https://ukmythology.wordpress.com/most-haunted-village-in-britain-pluckley/
Link credits for pics:

http://www.hauntedrooms.co.uk/pluckley-village-kent
http://lufthansaflyer.boardingarea.com/pluckleys-ancient-st-nicholas-church-cemetery-11th-century-origin/

#Books #Ebooks #SelfPub #Publishing #Novel #AmWriting #Writers #Readers #kidlit #middlegrade #bookseries #maxhamby #childrensauthor #MGlit

Monday Mentionables

Welcome back.

Yes, it's Monday. I am sure you'd love to roll back the clock for a weekend do over. Fear not! I am here to help you get your (& my) creativity in gear.
It's Monday Mentionables time. Links for #writers & readers.

I am constantly reading and trying to keep up with the book world, especially self publishing. I found a could articles on self publishing that I found interesting and thought you might like to take a peek to.

For #Writers

My 20 Top Tips on Self-Publishing at Winchester Writers’ Festival
http://authordebbieyoung.com/2015/06/21/self-publishing-at-winchester-writers-festival/

The Why and How of Self-Publishing
http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/the-why-and-how-of-self-publishing

13 rules to maximize writing productivity
http://www.writermag.com/2015/06/01/13-rules-for-writing-productivity/

#For Readers

For all you lovely book lovers out there, I have some links just for you.

Popular items on Etsy just for you. I especially like the Once Upon A Time Henry's Leather Book Cover for iPad mini and other 6"-8" tablets.
If there was a blank journal with this cover/look, I would definitely snatch it up.
https://www.etsy.com/market/book_lover

15 Insanely Useful Diagrams for Book Lovers
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mallorymcinnis/charts-for-people-who-love-to-read#.deYvNzd4R

Reading Journal: For Book Lovers
This is a neat book for those of you who like to journal about what books you read.
http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Journal-For-Book-Lovers/dp/0307591662
A review about the Reading Journal for Book Lovers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fx_uf2s9NA

#Books #Ebooks #SelfPub #Publishing #Novel #AmWriting #Writers #Readers #kidlit #middlegrade #bookseries #maxhamby #childrensauthor #MGlit

Have a great day everyone! Stop by for tomorrow's Traveling Tuesday, pic prompts for #writers.

Max Hamby and the blood diamond

Max Hamby and the Blood Diamond available at:

US: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NQFKZW4

UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00NQFKZW4

Saturday Series

Good Morning!

It's Saturday Series!

I'm still in the midst of T.A. Barron's Merlin series, but I wanted to tell you about another series that I am in love with....

The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann

I was sucked in right from the start of book 1 and my need to find out what happens next has never wavered. Below is some info and links for this wonderful series and its fantastic author.


When Alex finds out he is Unwanted, he expects to die. That is the way of the people of Quill. Each year, all the thirteen-year-olds are labeled as Wanted, Necessary, or Unwanted. Wanteds get more schooling and train to join the Quillitary. Necessaries keep the farms running. Unwanteds are set for elimination.
It’s hard for Alex to leave behind his twin, Aaron, a Wanted, but he makes peace with his fate—until he discovers that instead of a “death farm,” what awaits him is a magical place called Artimé. There, Alex and his fellow Unwanteds are encouraged to cultivate their creative abilities and use them magically. Everything Alex has ever known changes before his eyes, and it’s a wondrous transformation.
But it’s a rare, unique occurrence for twins to be divided between Wanted and Unwanted, and as Alex and Aaron’s bond stretches across their separation, a threat arises for the survival of Artimé that will pit brother against brother in an ultimate magical battle.

http://www.theunwantedsseries.com
http://www.lisamcmann.com
https://www.facebook.com/McMannFan
https://twitter.com/lisa_mcmann

Max Hamby Updates

Good Morning, my friends.

The weekend is almost here. I hope it will be a good one for you and yours.
Book 3 of the Max Hamby series is quickly nearing the finish line.
The the edits begin. With any luck, book 2 and 3 will hit Amazon in early fall.

Behind them is book 4 and a couple of spinoff shorts from this series.
I hope you're all doing well and feeling fine. Check back for info and updates any time.

The email list is back on the front page of the site. Had a few blips, but it should be good to go now.

Have a wonderful weekend. :)

Five Critical Components of Any Successful Novel’s Plot

An interesting read. Have a look.

Five Critical Components of Any Successful Novel’s Plot

Today, I wanted to continue my plot series by introducing five of the toughest aspects of plotting. These are things that are rarely, if ever, good to get wrong. They are, in some ways, the “biggies” of plotting errors. They’re kind of obvious, but that’s only because they are such “big deals.”

Sometimes these errors are fixable, with a lot of thought and a lot of rewriting. I’ve faced them before, and had to make choices about whether to let a story go, to rewrite everything from the start, or to try to salvage what I could through strenuous editing.

There’s no one right choice when you find out your plot has major issues. It all depends on how invasive the damage is, but even more, it depends on you:

How sick you are of the story.How frustrated you feel, and whether starting over or editing the heck out of that screw-up would be a worthwhile investment of time. (It’s possible to feel so annoyed and upset that emotionally you can’t concentrate enough to make any progress, no matter how much you try.)Your personal goals and plans for the book–for THIS BOOK in particular–and what the project means to you. Maybe just writing a first draft fulfilled your needs and you’re ready to let the story go and move on to something else. I always say to write for you, after all.

You can read more here:
http://crimsonleague.com/2013/11/06/five-critical-components-of-any-successful-novels-plot/


#Books #Ebooks #SelfPub #Publishing #Novel #AmWriting #Writers #Readers #kidlit #middlegrade #bookseries #maxhamby #childrensauthor #MGlit

Thursday Three

It's Thursday Three. Prompts for all of you lovely writers.
Let's get our writing day going!

Your phone rings in the middle of the night. An indiscernible voice speaks: “There is a car waiting for you outside your house. Get inside. You don’t want to ignore this.” Your spouse rolls over, eyes squinting, and says, “Everything okay?” What happens next?

"Be careful out there," your mom said as you grabbed your duffel bag and headed on a camping trip with friends. "You know that tonight is the anniversary, don't you?" You nodded, then shut the door behind you before getting in the car and taking off.

You've had a rough day at work. You head home and go straight to bed, mumbling, "I wish I'd wake up tomorrow and be anyone but me," before dozing off. When you wake up in the morning, your dream has come true, as you quickly realize that you are not you—you are someone else...

You can find more here:
http://www.writersdigest.com/prompts

#Books #Ebooks #SelfPub #Publishing #Novel #AmWriting #Writers #Readers #kidlit #middlegrade #bookseries #maxhamby #childrensauthor #MGlit

Book Marketing – What 200+ campaigns has taught us.

Interesting article from Publishing Push. It's worth a read.
Here's a little snippet to get you going. You can read the full article by clicking the link below.

Book Marketing – What 200+ campaigns has taught us.

A good writer should bleed. Not literally but figuratively. People connect with honesty where the writer is a little vulnerable. We have given this advice on many occasions and now we shall implement it ourselves. We have been running book marketing campaigns for years. Over 200+ campaigns.

We’ve worked with self-published authors, major publishing houses, brand new authors and established best selling authors. What follows is what we’ve learned about book marketing. We have decided to bare all. Both the ups and the downs. This post will not remain static. It will be updated and refined as we continue our work.
run

source technologytherapy.com

Book Marketing Is A Marathon Not A Sprint

The title above makes me feel like a management consultant. So let me rephrase my point more eloquently. The best time to start planning your book marketing strategy is before your book is ready. Start to build your platform. You may have heard the term platform recently, coming from publishing houses, agents and marketing professionals. A platform translates to visibility and a way to reach your audience reliably and regularly. A specific example would be a great blog, that receives excellent engagement and has a strong email subscriber list. Or you could focus on cultivating a highly engaged social media following.

More here: http://publishingpush.com/blog/book-marketing/

Top 101 Book Marketing Sites

Came across this page in doing some research about marketing.
I thought you might find it interesting, too. :)

Top 101 Book Marketing Sites

(from the website)
This page features top sites of interest to book publishers, authors, and self-publishers.
Lots of book marketing tools and resources are featured here.

Note: This is a personal list, based on the judgment of John Kremer. If you'd like to nominate an appropriate website, please email John Kremer. I know that I have missed some companies I truly would like to add to this list. Your company might be one of those. - book marketing expert John Kremer, author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books

Acses Book Price Search Engine - This service allows consumers to compare prices from over 20 online bookstores! A good place to see what your books are selling for (after discounts and postage) at the major web booksellers. Note that this service makes its money by joining the associate sales programs of all the featured booksellers.

All Books Free - A site for sharing ebook versions of your novels, short stories, and children's books. All books are freely available for anyone to download and read. Alexa rank: 1,674,010 in October 2010.

Any New Books?, Antonio Cangiano, Founder. Email: info@anynewbooks.com. - Features notifications to users of new books in various subject categories. They have a simple editorial policy: With the exception of areas that will be clearly marked as advertisements, all the content of our newsletter has been selected and curated by us, not by our advertisers/sponsors. This assures you that a book will appear solely in a weekly email on the grounds that it’s interesting and new, not because of some behind the scenes deal with a publishing company.

AuthorBuzz - Email: authorbuzzco@aol.com. Puts authors in touch with 365,000 readers, 12,000 librarians, 5,000 booksellers, and 14,800 leaders of bookclubs.

There's alot more in this list and hopefully it'll come in handy for you.
Read more here:
http://www.bookmarket.com/101bm.htm


#Books #Ebooks #SelfPub #Publishing #Novel #AmWriting #Writers #Readers #kidlit #middlegrade #bookseries #maxhamby #childrensauthor #MGlit