Developing Your Character with Jemi Fraser

 When I met Talli Roland and Hart Johnson during the A-Z Challenge, I also met another unpublished writer (like me) who was always there commenting and encouraging others in the challenge. A warm welcome to Jemi Fraser!

Six Questions with Tracie Banister

Tracie Banister, like so many authors, found rejection in the hands of traditional publishing. 

But, she persevered and has found a home as the independent author of fun, fresh Chick Lit, including her newest release In Need of Therapy.

Five Tips from a Self-Publishing Newb with Becca Puglisi

Ever since I first started visiting writing blogs I've been following The Bookshelf Muse for help with brainstorming ideas for writing with all the senses.

This past May, Becca Puglisi (along with co-author Angela Ackerman) self-published The Emotion Thesaurus with a bang and I asked them to guest post on some of the things they learned!

Ode to Hard Work

Happy Monday, Writers! Last week I made the mistake of passing along a book to my friends on Twitter about Marketing on Amazon. I had never read the book, but the reviews looked good. So, today my friend Carl Purdon has written a littlerant about the "Easy Way" vs good ole' fashion Hard Work.

Six Questions with Alexis Grant

 Alexis Grant is an entrepreneurial writer and digital strategist. 

She has built a highly devoted following to her blog via Twitter, and has even gotten the attention of super star agent Rachelle Gardner. Rachelle offered her representation for her traveling memoir after the two met on Twitter.

Passive Voice with Elizabeth S Craig

Amazing blogger and author Elizabeth S Craig joins us on Finding Bliss to share her tips on Passive Voice.

Welcome Elizabeth!

Out of the Box Promotion with Bethany Lopez

Bethany Lopez is one of those authors who I try not to go more than a day without chatting with. She's always supportive to all her friends, whether published or not, and is always there with a kind word to push through those tough spots. 

Her latest release, Ciao- Book 3 in the Stories About Melissa series, releases today, August 15.  I am thrilled to help her spread the word and share some of her wisdom with you!


What We Talked About:

• Writing books she was able to share with her daughters
• Querying agents and getting rejections before hearing about self-publishing via Amazon
• Learned all she could about publishing through Kindle and B&N, etc.
• Marketing strategies- Social Networking, Blog Tours, Paid Advertising and plain old Word of Mouth.
• Thinking outside the Box with promotion-- Holding Book Signings in Malls and Book Festivals (Orange County Book Festival)
• Networking at Conferences and the energy and excitement of being with other writers.
• If she could do it all over, she would make sure her books were completely ready before publishing, not jumping the gun.
• Different methods of publishing: choosing between self and traditional publishing and going book by book.
• Contests and prizes for her current release of Ciao including copies of books and some handmade necklaces from Etsy.
• Contacting the librarian from the town where the stories are set to feature the books.

Bethany will be all over the place for her Release Day Bonanza and Blog Tour! Check out her blog for details and to find out how to win some incredible prizes!

  

Your Facebook Profile as a Marketing Tool with Penny Sansevieri

Monday means Marketing and today it is such a pleasure to introduce Penny Sansevieri, CEO of Author Marketing Experts and author of many books including Red Hot Internet Marketing, to give us a lesson in connecting on Facebook!

Six Questions with Talli Roland

  

Talli Roland was one of the first authors I came across when I began writing my novel almost three years ago.

Her kindness and generosity stood out and I've been a fan and follower of hers ever since.

A warm welcome to Six Questions Talli!

Yearning For Flash Fiction with Anna Meade

Ladies and gents, gather round! I present for your reading pleasure the world-famous Queene of the Flash-- Anna Meade!!

The lovely Laura asked me to write a guest post about flash fiction. I’ve never been able to resist flattery and she said many sweet things about my flash fiction. So here I am!

Finding Your Readers with Holly Lisle

Holly Lisle's website is one of the very first websites I visited when I set out to learn about writing.                                  

She has tons of free information for people wanting to publish their work and many books and courses to help writers develop their craft.

Greased Lightning (Source)!

Johnell Kelley and Robbyn Hill

Hey Laura, thanks for having us! 

We’re happy to share what we dub our ‘almost big mistake,’ with others.



These Getaway Girlz decided to go against the grain, and chose a lesser-known, print-on-demand company, Lightning Source, versus the company-who-shall-not-be-named -- not to imply it’s evil like Voldemort, but you know, we don’t want to piss anybody off, especially if he does have a large wand.  

Author Support with Julia Hughes

Thank you Laura, for inviting me around to your place, to talk about Indie author support, especially during free promotions – I've got some hard acts to follow!




An author at last!

If you're new to the Indie scene, you're probably flushed with success – you've written a book, and published – congratulations you! Now comes the steepest learning curve of all – alerting potential readers to your book's existence.

Six Questions with Rachel Morgan

Happy Saturday, writing aficionados! It's my honor to present author Rachel Morgan for Six Questions!

Rachel lives in South Africa, and writes a series of gorgeous YA novelettes, Creepy Hollow. 

Welcome to Finding Bliss, Rachel!

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.

Self-Publishing a Memoir with Lisa McKay

While reading one of my favorite blogs Alexis Grant's The Traveling Writer, I ran across an interview with author Lisa McKay.

After reading about her self-published book,  a memoir about how she met her husband Mike, Love at the Speed of Email, I decided to invite her to do an interview on my blog.