St Patty's Day Facebook & Pinterest Party

Join your favorite YA and NA authors as we celebrate being Irish for a day and play on Pinterest. There will be over 45 e-book giveaways! 

You can join the Facebook party HERE!

You won't want to miss it!

Participating Authors:

Lila Felix   A. W. Exley  Melissa Pearl   

Jessica Gibson  Cindy M. Hogan  Sarah Ashley Jones  

Marie Landry  Rachel Morgan  Jennifer Snyder 

Stacey Marie Brown  Jessica Therrien  D.L. Raver 

Stacey Wallace Benefiel  Marilyn Almodóvar  Angee Taylor 

A.O. Peart  Devyn Dawson  Rick Chiantaretto 

Raine Thomas  L.P. Dover  Tamara Hart Heiner  

Leigh T Moore  Meradeth Houston  Amber Argyle 

Tawdra Kandle  Carlyle Labuschagne  Lisa Collicutt

Christy Dorrity  Stephanie Fowers  Kristina Renee

Faith McKay  Charlotte Abel  Jamie Ayres

A.M. Hargrove  Charli Webb  Amy Harmon  

Alyssa Rose Ivy  Kristie Cook  Lani Woodland

T.M. Franklin  Laura Howard  Sharron Riddle

Eliza Tilton  S. M. Boyce  Bethany Lopez 

Dawn Leigh  L.A. Casey  Emma Adams  

Amber Garr  Liz Long

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Six Questions with Rebecca Berto

Happy Saturday, writers.Today I'd like to welcome Novel Girl Rebecca Berto back to Finding Bliss!

Rebecca is the author of novella Precise and is getting ready to release her first full-length novel Drowing in You.




What is your method of plotting out a new story?

I take time to gather my ideas for a story. From these ideas I brainstorm a whole heap of story problems and conflicts I can put in the way of the characters.

Secondly, I flesh out character bios.

Thirdly, I create a beat sheet/scene cards. In 1-3 sentences, I detail a summary of what will occur in each scene of every scene in the manuscript.

This means the story has a backbone and all other necessary structural bits.

However, I tend to deviate from what I plan with spontaneity and all (those characters are so stubborn), but for the most part, I stick to it and I spend minimal time writing and editing compared to with my first serious manuscript. *shudders at the thought*


What is your editing process?


After the first draft is complete, I put the manuscript aside for at least four weeks. That’s crucial to get out of the “author” headspace, forget what I wrote, what I meant to say, and such.

I come back to it, trying to think with the mindset of another person, i.e. a reader, and I do a structural edit. This means I look out for:

• Unbelievable character actions and plot events
• Unlikeable characters
• Flat characters who aren’t broken down and built up to be even stronger by the end
• Boring scenes
• Scenes that don’t forward the plot
• Paragraphs that are written really, really well but do nothing for the story (Kill Your Darlings)
• And more!

I don’t worry about:

• Typos unless I stumble on them
• Awkward phrases
• Word usage not fitting a type of character

Next, I copy edit, send to beta readers and incorporate their advice if I agree, more rounds of copy editing, finally proofing, and then I send to my copy editor.

Then I proof. Again.


When you published your first book, how did you spread the word?
I blogged about it for several weeks before publication, asked for reviews, planned a cover reveal with many bloggers (including your fine self), added it to Goodreads lists, had a Facebook launch party, held Rafflecopter giveaways to increase interest with entries that would increase my popularity on social media and for the book’s visibility on Goodreads, and much more that won’t come to mind at the moment.

What has worked the best for you as far as finding the right readers for your books?


My first book, Precise, is a novella and is a cross between dark contemporary and literary fiction. As you can imagine, it’s not the most popular of types of books or genres, so I looked out for people who enjoyed other books with a similar plot, theme or feel to mine and hunted down those people. (I didn’t really. I like chatting to everyone and I am nice about it.  ).

Also, I have been blogging since October 26, 2011 so I have many kind blog readers and friends I made through Novel Girl who were thrilled to be able to read, review and spread the word. << That, by far, worked best. Thank you all who helped!


How do you keep in touch with your readers?

In too many ways! Argh, seriously, I’m on the internet too much. We connect through my Facebook Profile and Page, Twitter, Novel Girl blog.


What is the one thing you’d change about your road to publication if you had a chance?

Oooh, well I’d give myself more time to promote and publicize my book; give readers more anticipation. I’d have organised a blog tour.

I don’t regret what I’ve done—just wish I had time to do more!

How do you find the right readers for your books?

Six Questions with K.A. Linde

Please help me welcome K.A. Linde to Six Question Saturday! She is the author of the Breakout novels Avoiding Commitment and Avoiding Responsibility. 

Her approach to writing and publishing are different from many of the authors that I follow. But, whatever she's doing, she's doing something right. She has a legion of fans who love/hate her characters passionately.

Six Questions with Leigh Talbert Moore

Today's guest for Six Questions is red-hot Young Adult/New Adult author Leigh T. Moore. 

Her publishing story is unique, and I know you'll learn a lot. Welcome to Six Questions Leigh!



1. What do you find the most challenging about starting a new writing project?

Getting myself to sit down and focus. Seriously, I'll have the most amazing idea that I'm so excited about, and then I'll be all Doug (the dog from UP)... squirrel! :D But once I get going, then I usually get sucked in and time flies. But it's all about the BICHOK (butt in chair, hands on keyboard). (Sarah Fine invented that, btw.)

2. What book or author has influenced you the most in your writing?

I think Stephen King's "On Writing." Because he made it okay to have a weird, sort of hybrid style that wasn't outlining and all the steps you imagine. He was very empowering in a "So long as it's working," way for me. Plus he gave me so many great ideas--like the putting your finished MS in a drawer for a month, etc. It's a really great craft book. Highly recommend it to writers!

3. Do you write every day, or what is your system to get words on paper?

When I'm working on a book, I write every day. Once I get the BICHOK going, sometimes I don't stop writing, which is not good because I'm a mom. But when I'm in between books (like now), I don't write every day. And I miss it. :P

4. Once you finish draft one, what's next?

I have the most amazing group of critique partners (critters). Once Draft #1 is done, I go through it again myself and make revisions, then I ship it off to them and chew my nails while I wait for them to read it. :o)

5. Where do you connect with your readers?

This is evolving for me. Initially, I was a traditional author. I had an agent, I had a deal with Simon & Schuster, and I was happy just to blog and connect with writers and readers that way. I also have a pretty active Facebook page, but that's mostly non-writer friends and family. Basically, I was going to let the traditional guys do all the work connecting me with readers.

Since I've gone independent, if I want to connect with readers, I have to get out there. And I've been looking at the different options to see what works best for me. I'm getting more active on Goodreads, I'm following more reader-oriented blogs and FB pages, I'm even Tweeting more! :D And I get email from readers quite often, and I LOVE that! It's so great. I'm so happy doing it this way because I feel like THIS is why I'm a writer--to connect with readers.

6. If you could start over, what about this whole process would you do differently?

I would've skipped the agent-publisher game and jumped on the indie bandwagon in 2011 when several of my writer-friends were doing it. But I'm a firm believer in everything happening for a reason, and I pray a lot. So I'm following MY path, and we'll see where it leads!

                         

PS Both of Leigh's books are on special  for just 99 cents... fill your Kindle!

As I say all the time, we all have our own unique path -- what sets you apart from other authors?

What Agents Look For In a Self-Published Author

The most popular post I've had on this blog was Are Self-Published Books the New Query Letter?  It features author Erin Kern and her story of being picked up by an agent and eventually signing with a big New York publishing house.

People with varying opinions weighed in- from Self-publishing is the only way! to I won't consider myself successful unless I'm traditionally published. 

How to Market your Book if You're Not a Marketer

This is my first time ever as a Blog Tour Host for Heather of SupaGurl Book Tours! I'm kind of excited about being a Host, because I love having authors on here, for spreading the love, but for what I learn too! As a Tour Stop, I just pick a date and everything is arranged for me. For the future, I'm contemplating a tour of my own, so hopefully this experience will also give me some insight into that.

Anyway, I'm sure you've heard of her- today's guest is the amazing Nancy Straight. She is on tour promoting her book Blood Debt, which I hope you'll check out!