The New Adult Genre with Allie B

I'm so happy to have Allie as a guest to talk about a subject we're both passionate about- the New Adult craze.

She currently lives and works as a graphic designer in 
Yukon Territory, Canada. 

She's always working on several story ideas in different corners of the YA and New Adult genres.

The Land of Heart's Desire Giveaway

Princess Edane heard a voice singing on a May Eve like this, and followed half awake and half asleep, until she came into the Land of Faery, where nobody gets old and godly and grave, where nobody gets old and crafty and wise, where nobody gets old and bitter of tongue.  ~WB Yeats, "The Land of Heart's Desire," 1894

This is a quote by a favorite Irish poet of mine, WB Yeats.  His poetry inspired images of magic and a mysterious people just out of our reach.

It's only fitting to introduce this special giveaway with a touch of magic. I've been blessed by the friendship of a group of lovely authors who write in the realms of Irish fairy stories and folk lore. As you may know, my novel in progress has basis in Irish mythology as well, so it was an instant attraction to the #FairyTribe on twitter.

Two of the #FairyTribe (Sophie Moss and Diane Reed) recently got together with me to discuss this phenomenon that has taken place across the interwebs, the banding together of authors in all stages of publication. Like the mystical land of Eire, this group has a magic all it's own. 

As we talked, it was amazing how similar the paths to publication have been for these lovely ladies. Both share a love for all things Irish, making it a no-brainer that their debut novels would be based on magic and romance.

Diane Reed is the author of Twixt, a novel of magical realism featuring Rose-our skeptical heroine trying to start her life over, when after her 30th birthday, circumstances force her to take a new look at her life and challenge the her beliefs in magic and love.

After writing the manuscript, Diane attempted to have it traditionally published. The replies she received all had a similar tone- strong story, but not something that would sell. Publishing houses felt that it was not quite a fantasy, but not quite women's fiction, either.

Diane decided she didn't want to compromise her story, so she self-published. Knowing nothing about marketing or social-media, she didn't sell many books that first month.

She thanks her lucky stars she met fellow author Sophie Moss, who had recently been through a similar experience. Sophie took Diane under her wind and showed her the ropes of Amazon's KDP select and how to maximize the free days offered through the program. At one point during Diane's promotion, Twixt reached Number One on Amazon's Free list.

A few months before Diane's publication, Sophie had published The Selkie Spell, a story based on experiences living in Ireland and the movie The Secrets of Roan Inish. 

After spending several years writing The Selkie Spell, Sophie queried agents and, like Diane, was told she had a fantastic story, but they didn't think they'd be able to sell it.

After hearing that reply enough times, Sophie decided if nobody else thought she could sell it, they could all just watch her sell it.

The Selkie Spell is about Tara, an American doctor who finds herself moving to an island offshore of Ireland. When a mysterious woman tells her she has the power to break a 200-year old spell, she gets caught in a world somewhere between magic and reality.

The synchronicity between Diane's and Sophie's stories is nothing short of magical, and if you've spent any time chatting with them, don't be surprised if you come across a patch of coveted four-leaf clovers!

To celebrate our love for Irish folklore Diane, Sophie and I have come together to put on a magical giveaway featuring copies of their books- Twixt and The Selkie Spell as well as art prints created by honorary #FairyTribe member Liza Lambertini.

Twixt- Midnight Flight

The Selkie Spell- Drawing Down the Moon

a Rafflecopter giveaway

When Life Hands You Lemons, Self-Publish with Kendall Grey

Kendall Grey is the author of Inhale- released May 1, Exhale- released June 1 and the soon to be released Just Breathe.

I have to tell you- I think this is my best interview yet! I hardly made any mistakes, and despite the fact that the video aspect didn't record Kendall and I had a great time!

Things we talked about:

• Writing a full length novel, how many words are enough/too much?
• Pulling your passions together to create a great story- in Kendall's case Whales and Science, Australian Folklore, and Sexy Australian Rock Stars :)
• The correct way to say Gloucester
• Kendall's roller coaster ride of Querying and Submitting
• Her ultimate decision to "Choose Herself" and Self-Publish
• Delegating cover design and editing
• How sales have been since her release
• Coming up with a Marketing Plan
• Paying for reviews, Google ads and Goodreads ads
• Building a back list and a LONG TAIL
• The cause Kendall supports- a group that teaches kids about whales

I highly encourage you to follow Kendall on Twitter, she's a hoot! Also, check out her Facebook page, fair warning: You Will Be Entertained! 

Laiden's Daughter by Suzan Tisdale

Laiden's Daughter by Suzan Tisdale

I just finished Laiden's Daughter last night, and I can't stop thinking about the characters today. For the first half of the book, I found myself wanting to strangle the protagonist Aishlinn, she was a tad too self-deprecating for my taste. But, luckily for her she was redeemed in the end.

I have a special place in my heart for the Scottish Highlands, so when I saw that this book featured fierce Highland warrior Duncan and his clan- I knew I had to read it. There's something irresistible about a burly Scotsman!

Aishlinn suffers endless tortures before being taken in by the MacDougall clan. She has been beaten to near death when they find her, and her spirit is near broken. Through time and love, she is able to regain a strength she didn't even knew she possessed.

Of course, my favorite part was seeing the transformation through the eyes of her champion, Duncan. He is honorable and gives her time and space to heal, all the while falling deeper and deeper in love with her.

Their love story is sweet and slow to unfurl, which is just the way I like it. When they finally come together, it's like a double hot fudge sundae, all rich and sweet and you never want it to end!

Flying By The Seat of Your Pants with Suzan Tisdale

Laiden's Daughter

If you're an author, chances are you've spent some time researching marketing. You've probably been working on building that coveted author platform. That's what you're supposed to do, isn't it?

Well, when I asked author Suzan Tisdale what her secret to selling nearly 20,000 copies of her book since December, she laughed and said, "I really don't know!"

Of course, I had to interview her. Authors are supposed to do all of these things to be successful. So, how much of the success factor is good planning, and how much is pure chance?




Things we talk about:

• Her book Laiden's Daughter , and how she came to write it. I'm reading it right now, and I'll tell you she has just the right amount of action and sweet romance to keep you turning the page.
• Authors who have inspired her: Laurin Wittig, Julie Garwood, Carmen Caine.
• Why she decided to publish it through Amazon KDP.
• Her marketing efforts, or lack thereof. How she played with the pricing and the effect on her sales.
• What she plans on doing next. Findley's Lass Book 2 of Clan MacDougall series is due out in December 2012.

Now, I want to know how you feel about the hit or miss world of publishing.

What are steps you're taking to build your platform, and why do you think some authors just hit it right?

Summer Reading List

One of the brilliant aspects of social media is that you can interact with authors in a way you never could before. I've gotten to be friends with some writers, both published and not, and many of them I look forward to speaking with weekly or even daily.

In celebration of some of my new author friends, my friend Allie and I have decided to dub our summer reading lists My Indie Summer! We are dedicating our summers to some of the up and coming writers who are breaking the stigma laid on self-published authors for centuries now. These authors have gone through rigorous editing, formatting and design to bring truly gorgeous books to the table.

We'd like to celebrate Independent authors and their willingness to be open and generous to us as newbies in the publishing world. Whether it's offering advice or friendship, we totally appreciate them and hope to be able to do the same for others who come after us.

Allie has a lovely line up listed at her blog, be sure to check them out before we officially kick off the summer next Friday. We'll be talking about what we read on Twitter with the hashtag #myindiesummer  There are no rules. Just good reads by great authors. If you have some Indies on your TBR list, why not pick it up and chat with us?

Here's my tentative list:

Laiden's Daughter by Suzan Tisdale

Becoming by Raine Thomas

Inhale by Kendall Grey

 Hybrid by Vanessa Wester

 Twixt by Diane Reed

  Central by Raine Thomas

 The Selkie Spell by Sophie Moss

 Molly Hacker is Too Picky by Lisette Brodey

Pentecost by JF Penn

 Blood Orchids by Toby Neal

 Witch Song by Amber Argyle

Angelfall by Susan Ee

 Foretold by Raine Thomas

Allie and I are open to ideas- if you have something super special in mind leave a comment and we'll see what magic we can conjure up. And, of course we'll keep you posted with any new developments.

A is for Angst

Today is day 1 of the A-Z challenge! What did you choose for your A word?

So let's talk about Angst!! I read alot, and over the years I've discovered that no matter what genre I'm reading in, one thing that keeps me interested in a book is the level of angst the author achieves. It's an amazing skill, in my opinion, to raise the stakes throughout a novel to the point where the reader can actually feel the tension in their chest.

No matter your opinion of the Twilight series, it's a great example of some serious teenage angst.. And it was the book that got me into the YA genre, even though I was 29 when I read it- haha.

What's a book that keeps you up at night with the angst and tension rising to the boiling point?

Blogging From A-Z Challenge

Have you signed up for the Blogging From A-Z Challenge yet? If not... Get to it!
Started last year on Arlee Bird's blog Tossing it Out, this challenge is back and better than ever! This challenge is for bloggers to blog 26 days (A-Z) in April and the posts are in, you guessed it, A-Z order! Here are he deets, so hurry and sign up, we'll have Fun!!

             The premise of the Blogging From A to Z April Challenge is to post something on your blog every day in April except for Sundays.  In doing this you will have 26 blog posts--one for each letter of the alphabet.   Each day you will theme your post according to a letter of the alphabet.

            Last year was nearly overwhelming for me to administrate the ongoing challenge by myself.  There is no way I can expand this Challenge to 300 or more participants and expect to do it alone.  That is why I've joined up with three of the most successful bloggers and blog event organizers that I know. 
            Just in case you don't know these great bloggers and writers, let me introduce them to you:

Star blogger Alex J. Cavanaugh, author of the popular science fiction novel CassaStar.  We met in last year's A to Z and he'll swear by the Challenge.  He's already organized events such as the Movie Dirty Dozen, The Top Ten TV Shows Blogfest, and the current Top Ten Music Countdown-- each one of these an unqualified success.    Alex is determined to see A to Z go to 500 participants and with him on board I think we can do it. 

Power-blogger  Jen Daiker from Unedited  jumped right into blogging last April by joining up in the A to Z Challenge.   In her short span of blogging she has amazingly passed the 1000 follower mark--I still am flabbergasted by that feat.  Blog events she has hosted or co-hosted are the Guess That Character Fest, The Great Blogging Experiment (with Alex Cavanaugh and Elana Johnson), and The Be Jolly By Golly Blogfest.   If only all 1059 of her followers blogged from A to Z with us!

Talli Roland from her self-named blog and the author of The Hating Game , her recent novel which is still doing hot business.  When Talli did her Web Splash to coincide with the release of The Hating Game, there were hundreds of fans who helped kick off the campaign with their own blogs.   She'll be in charge of our international affairs since she currently lives in London, England.   And Jen is already building her army of followers while Alex is taking control of CassaStar and the universe--it's a busy crew here.

           And if you're a regular reader of my blog then you probably know something about me, Arlee Bird--there's plenty written about me in my blog pages.    I encourage you to click on the above links to three blogs and give your greeting and, if not one already, become a follower of each of their blogs!

Writing Magic

Today I'm in a blog hop at Tessas Blurb called The Nature of Magic. We're sharing our magic with the world, and checking out what others think of magic and giving them some comment love! 

Fantasy books, whether they be urban fantasy, science fiction or paranormal, involve different types of magic. It's always fun to learn how magic plays a part in different worlds, and it's usually vastly different from one story to the next. In many of the urban fantasy series I've read, magic is an energy source that offers the wielder a sort of give-and-take... using the magic has many advantages, but you must pay the price for it. I've seen insanity play a big part... ie if you use magic, the trade-off is to lose a little of your sanity with each spell. I've also seen magic described in one of my favorite fantasy series as a sort of layer around the atmosphere that you can gather to yourself and use at will.

In the manuscript I'm working on, which is an adult fantasy, magic is based in the mind or in the blood. I wanted to have a unique format because I feel like my story has a lot of unique characteristics and wanted it to stand out when it is published. Now, I have certainly heard of blood magic being done before- and I have no doubt mind magic exists in books. However, I have not read anything with it, so I'm hoping mine will be a unique twist... :)  Until I'm done writing the ms, I won't be reading either of these in hopes of avoiding any confusion.

OK, so on to the fun stuff. How MY magic works ;)

The supernatural or fantastical beings in my story have several abilities. As with humans, they all have some abilities that are stronger than others. Some are able to see the future, by focusing on threads of time they see in their mind's eye. Others have strong coercive talents. They are able to control those with weaker minds then theirs. This skill also allows them to change the way other's perceive them, which they refer to as "cloaking" themselves or some objects. My favorite talent is the ability to communicate mind to mind, as either mind-reading or mind-speaking. Imagine how handy that would be IRL!! It would be so easy to have an adult conversation with my husband if I could just talk straight into his mind... The last talent they possess is telekinesis, they are able to use their minds to move things without physically touching them. Another super-handy ability. I sometimes feel like I have this ability since I had kids... it's so nice to be able to say "Honey, would you mind running upstairs to get the baby wipes?" Haha, sometimes it works better than others.

In my world, blood magic is forbidden. It's considered "Old Magic" because it is no longer allowed. This type of magic is obtained by using the blood of another living creature to strengthen the mind magic the wielder already possesses. When my creatures use blood from humans it allows them to walk in this realm, which normally makes them sick and weak. There are definite disadvantages to blood magic, though. It corrupts their minds, like poison. But, like a drug addiction, it becomes increasingly difficult to stop.

I'm excited to check out everyone else's magic stories on this blog hop. If you're not in the hop, you should check it out here!

Follow Friday Bloghop

In the spirit of the Twitter Friday Follow, the Book Blogger Hop is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and share our love of the written word!  This weekly BOOK PARTY is an awesome opportunity for book bloggers to connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books!  It will also give blog readers a chance to find other book blogs to read! 

 
This week's question comes from Somer who blogs at A Bird's Eye Review (her blog design is ADORABLE - check it out!):

 "Do you read only one book at a time, or do you have several going at once?"

Answer: I will only read one book at a time. The only time I break this rule is when I'm reading a book to my kids. I find it confusing to keep up with two stories at once, and not at all fun. But, I know alot of people enjoy reading a multitude of books at once- it just doesn't work for me.

Anyone have a different opinion?

Congratulations Carolina!!

I'm new to this amazing blogosphere of writers and readers, but am just so in love with all the sweet people paying it forward to one another! Over the last few weeks I watched the amazing Talli Roland and her tremendous following bring it home on her release day for her new (new in paperback anyway) book The Hating Game. Prizes were given and the happiness was literally contagious!

Today, another bloggie fiend, Carolina Valdez- Miller, announced her signing with the wonderful agent Vickie Motter! So many things going on in the writing life, I just wish I had found all these super folks sooner.

If you want to join in the infectious wave of paying it forward, I highly recommend signing up for the A-Z challenge in April so that you can see first hand all the ways these writers and readers are supporting each other!

For now go to Carols blog and congratulate her, she's making it well worth the trip with so many rad giveaways your head will SPIN!



Carolina Valdez Miller: So, I Have Some News (and a Mega Giveaway of a Kindle and More)

Crazy for Books!

I found this cool weekend bloghop and decided it would be lots of fun to play along.
The question is:
If someone gave you $80 and sent you into a bookstore, what would be in your basket?

First I'd like to say that would be Awesome!!!

Here we go!

Rivermarked by Patricia Briggs

Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

The Hating Game by Talli Roland

Possession by Elana Johnson

So that's my list even if some aren't out in print yet! How about you? What's up next on your TBR list?

Read Across America Day

Today is the 14th annual Read Across America Day honoring the amazing Dr Seuss' birthday. The idea behind this fun celebration is to actively get a child in your life to pick up a book to read. It doesn't matter if that child is 2 months or 16 years old, either. Reading to your baby or talking to your teenager about a favorite book is a perfect way to inspire reading habits that will last.

Sponsored by the National Education Association, this program provides parents, caregivers, and children the resources and activities they need to keep reading on the calendar 365 days a year.
In May 1997, a small reading task force at NEA came up with a big idea. "Let's create a day to celebrate reading," the group decided. "We hold pep rallies to get kids excited about football. We assemble to remember that Character Counts. Why don't we do something to get kids excited about reading? We'll call it 'NEA's Read Across America' and we'll celebrate it on Dr. Seuss's birthday." And so was born on March 2, 1998, the largest celebration of reading this country has ever seen.

Need some ideas for fun activities to make reading an extra special part of your day today?

Check out these links:

Dr. Seuss Activities for Kids of All Ages

NEA's Read Across America