BOOK COVER FRIDAY! SADISTIC PATTERN BY MICHAEL J. MOLLOY

WELCOME TO BOOK COVER FRIDAYS!

Every week we bring you an exciting hot book cover from 

one of New York's Leading Romance Authors.


Congrats to Michael on his book's debut November 1st!

SADISTIC PATTERN

by Michael J. Molloy

Gypsy Shadow Publishing

www.molloyauthor.com

  

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

HAPPY DIA DE LOS MUERTOS

12 IMPORTANT WORLD-BUILDING DETAILS FOR PARANORMAL ROMANCE AND ALL GENRES BY ISABO KELLY

  

As this is Halloween Week, we thought it the best time to talk about Paranormal Romances. Join us all week.  

We won't bite you...yet!

The term world-building is used frequently in discussions of paranormal, science fiction, and even historical romance. But world-building isn’t just about creating an unusual or unique story universe. It’s about re-creating a world the reader may or may not have ever experienced. Even if you’re writing about contemporary small town Idaho, there are readers who’ve never lived outside a big city and have no idea what “small town Idaho” is like. Or for that matter what big town Toronto, or small town Italy, or… Well you get the point. Even in contemporary romance, there’s a level of world-building necessary to fully bring a reader into the story because readers are not necessarily going to be familiar with your setting or the types of people living there.

           

Here are 12 important world-building details to consider no matter what genre you’re writing.

1. Location, Location, Location. What does the scenery outside your heroine’s window look like? Does she see skyscrapers, pasture lands, desert, wasteland, a sheep herder, wine vineyard, the ocean, a lake? Are there other people or is she more likely to see a horse or a deer? This is the basic description of the setting. No matter the genre, readers need to be set firmly in your world through the details of that setting.

2. What Does It Smell Like? This seems a little odd, but smells carry a very distinct sense of place. And different settings, even within one fictional world, are going to have their own unique smells. Delhi, India will smell completely different to the Mohave desert in the US. Your characters will take note of their “familiar” smells but also those unique scents they encounter when changing settings.

3. Technology/Time Period. Does your hero have to send a message by carrier bird, telegraph, cell phone text, psychic messenger? Giving readers a solid grounding in the technology available to your characters will also set them firmly in the time period of your story. But technology doesn’t only distinguish time periods. It differentiates between locations within that setting and can even speak to possible class differences. People in New York are likely to just pull out a cell phone to make a necessary call, even those without a lot of money, but in the Australian outback, a satellite phone might be the only way for your heroine to communicate with the outside world.

4. Modes of Transportation. Again, like basic technology, the way people get around not only helps set readers into a time period, it reveals a lot about where they live. Those living in New York City are a lot more likely to use the subway over a car. But a hero living on a cattle ranch might be as likely to ride a horse as to drive his truck over to a neighbor’s house.

5. Word Use/Accents. While you don’t want to go overboard using jargon that will make it hard for readers to decipher the dialogue, the way people talk is different from place to place and time period to time period. The curse words of a person in Dublin, Ireland are going to be different to the curse words of someone living in Dublin, Georgia USA. The cadence of conversation in 19^th century France will be different from that in contemporary Paris. And certain words go in and out of use.

6. Food Options. This is really important in world-building because what people eat—even within the same country—is very regional. Each location in both time and place will have its own distinct “flavor” and things that are more common to the average person’s table. On Thanksgiving, does your heroine eat stuffing or dressing? For breakfast, does your hero have biscuits and gravy or cold cuts and espresso? Little details like this make a huge difference in bringing the universe of your story to life.

7. Clothing/Styles. When I first moved to Europe in the mid-90s, Europeans could always tell an American by their shoes and general dress. Flying from one coast to another in the US, the differences in local style can be distinct. French women did not dress in exactly the same fashion as English women in the 19^th century. The Internet, in contemporary times, means some of our “styles” bleed across from state to state and country to country, but each location you set a story in will still have its own distinct style of dress.

8. General “Attitude” of Locals. Is being born out of wedlock something your characters would notice and be aware of? Will there be a stigma on it? Does “everyone” attend church? Or go to Temple? Are your people welcoming of strangers or suspicious? Are they aware of class and money, or is status conveyed in other ways? Is there a distinction in status? What represents “lowly” and what “highbrow”? This attitude will permeate your entire story, every aspect of it, and is vital to creating a completely realized world.

9. Spare Time Activities. What does your heroine do in her spare time? Does she have any spare time? Would your hero sit down and flick through sports channels on a TV or would he attend the fights at the coliseum? What people do when they’re not working is also fundamental to the overall essence of any world an author creates. Not only does this element add to the development of your fictional universe, it will convey a significant amount about your characters.

10. Political Climate/Background. This might not be a necessary element of your story, but if you don’t understand the political happenings in the background of your world, you’re missing a vital component of the world-building. For example, if you don’t know that during your late Georgian era story set in England there was a war going on with France, you’re ignoring something of major significance to your characters. Politics affect and reflect the attitudes and thinking of people. Being aware of that climate is necessary for bringing a fully realized society to the page.

11. Level of Education for Common People. Does the average person in your story have a high school education? Would your heroine have had a governess or gone to a boarding school? Is your hero considered elite because he can read? Again, this is a small detail that is important to any time period.

12. How are Children and Old People Treated? For that matter, what constitutes “child” and “old” in your world? The expectations for a thirteen year old will be vastly different across cultures and locations, even in contemporary times. Some cultures will revere their old and treat them well, others discard them. And “old” might be 40 or it might be 100. This kind of detail, while it may or may not make it onto the page directly, will give you, the writer, a full sense of the universe you’re creating for readers.

World-building, bringing to life the “world” of your fiction, is a necessary part of any good novel. Giving readers a fully realized world will set them firmly in the story and make sure they stay there until the very last page.♥

Isabo Kelly is the award-winning author of numerous fantasy, science fiction, and paranormal romances. The third book in her Fire and Tears fantasy romance series, WARRIOR’S DAWN, is now out in paperback. She’s also in the process of re-releasing some of her out-of-print stories. For more on Isabo and her books, visit her at www.isabokelly.com, follow her on Twitter @IsaboKelly, or friend her on Facebook www.facebook.com/IsaboKelly.

PARANORMAL: BITTEN BY BAD BOYS BY MAC PERRY

As this is Halloween Week, we thought it the best time to talk about Paranormal Romances. Join us all week.  
We won't bite you...yet!

Dear Ms. Mac Perry,

Thank you for your submission. I read your manuscript, and then showed it to a friend better versed in this genre. He informed me paranormal is a bit “too long in tooth for any meaningful new entrant,” at the moment. Best of luck to you in your endeavors. 

Regards, 

Mr. Agent Man 

Long in tooth? Is he delving out fang humor as he rejects me? Oh, ho, ho, ho. I beg to differ, Mr. big, scary, unattainable-and-highly-coveted Agent Man.

As long as there is sex, there’ll be Bad Boys. And long as there are Bad Boys, there’ll be vampires, shape shift­ers, fairies, and the like. Maybe it will go underground, but cult fans are loyal fans, and eventually dominate popular culture again--once the hungry masses crave something “fresh” again. 

Small Town Romance and New Adult are the way to go, huh? Did small towns suddenly appear? Have women previously skipped ages eighteen to twenty five, until big publishing decided to slap a label on those formative years? 

Dare I point out, the only reason the label exists is because TWILIGHT and HARRY POTTER fans have gone and grown up. And have you ever seen a Small Town Romance gain the kind of following either of those two franchises command? Not to mention Paranormal’s siblings, Fantasy and Science Fiction. Did you know yet another Star Wars movie is in production? Never mind Star Trek’s recent and successful resurrection. 

What does that have to do with sex and bad boys? 

Sex is libido, our primary motivating source of energy. Libido comes from your unconscious impulses, your in­stinctual bodily awareness. A Bad Boy is a symbol, or what Carl Jung would call, an “archetype,” of unfulfilled erotic desire. He’s “bad” because he cannot be obtained (or integrated). He represents the unknowable or repressed parts of ourselves, which we have repressed for one various reasons, also known as, “the Shadow Self.” 

But certainly, unattainability doesn’t stop us from wanting our Bad Boy. Fantasizing about him. Creating him over and over again in various forms, guises, and inter-galactic species. In fact, archetypes were discovered through a story of unrequited longing. Carl Jung first discovered the collective unconscious and archetypes when examining the fantasies of Miss Frank Miller-- a single woman in love with a man, but unable to act upon her erotic interest. Jung researched myths, fairy tales, and religious motifs from remote corners of the world, to interpret Miss Miller’s images. He found striking parallels and determined it evidence of the collective unconscious, which influences all of us through archetypes and instincts. 

Archetypes and instincts exist within every human being, from the moment of birth, connecting us all through collective unconscious--best accessed through dreams and meditative states. Your waking mind struggles “against being swallowed up by primitivity and unconscious instinctuality” on the one hand, but also “resists complete possession of spiritual forces,” on the other. But when they are coordinated, the archetype provides meaning to the instinct, and instinct provides the raw physical energy necessary for archetypes to help man realize his spiritual goals. As a writer and storyteller, this would translate into fulfilling the “promise of the premise” of your story (to learn more, read Blake Snyder’s, SAVE THE CAT).

Okay, so now we know what archetypes are, but what do they look like?

Joseph Campbell hopped on this gravy train and took it one step further in his book, THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES, which examines archetypes cross-culturally and illuminates The Hero’s Journey. Chris­topher Vogler, in his infinite wisdom, reduced and simplified Campbell’s theories in his book, THE WRITER’S JOURNEY: MYTHIC STRUCTURE FOR STORYTELLERS AND SCREENWRITERS, so we plebs could understand Campbell without referencing the dictionary for every other word. 

Vogler provides a cheat sheet for essential archetypal roles: 

1. Trickster--Embodies mischief and desire 
2. Ally--Companionship, conscience, or comic relief 
3. Shadow--The unexpected, unexpressed, and rejected aspects of ourselves 
4. Shape shifter--Brings doubt and suspense to the story, embodies ambiguity 
5. Herald--Issues a challenge and announces the coming of significant change 
6. Threshold Guardian--A lesser thug, represents our everyday fears 
7. Mentor--Represents the higher self, teaches and gives gifts 
8. Hero--Represents the ego’s search for identity and wholeness 

According to Cowden, LaFever, & Viders, authors of, THE COMPLETE WRITER’S GUIDE TO HEROES & HEROINES: SIXTEEN MASTER ARCHETYPES, there are three types of commonly understood characters or archetypes: core, evolving, and layered. The core character thinks and acts consistently to the very end. The evolving character starts as one archetype and evolves into another. And the layered character has a single archetypal core at his emotional base, but is layered with attributes from other archetypes. 

How do archetypes interact to create conflict and move plot forward?

Let’s take GONE WITH THE WIND, for a romantic example. Rhett Butler is a layered archetype, a Chief to the world, but a Bad Boy at his core. Scarlett O’Hara is a Seductress at her core. A Chief and Seductress are both strong and stubborn and struggle for power. He takes control, while she seduces it back. However, they both admire each other’s focus, are good in a crisis, and know how to negotiate. Their characters grow and change; when the Seductress surprises the Chief in showing him he can be wrong and still powerful. In the Chief, the Seductress has finally met a man who sees her for who she is, and is free to be herself without fear of abandonment. However, Rhett’s Bad Boy layering of cynicism and street smarts eventually persuades his Chief self to turn away from his Seductress, saving him from emotional bankruptcy. 

What does this have to do with the Paranormal genre? 

Bear with me, I’m going to get existential on you; Paranormal, Fantasy, and Science Fiction are all genres that represent archetypes in their purest form. Super-human characters with magical powers are a distortion from physical reality, and are thus flexible in their representation, allowing us to project onto them our own personal experiences. Why is that important? Because if you can more easily project your own personal experiences onto an imaginary character, that character becomes more meaningful to you than another character confined by the trappings of a more “realistic” representation.

For example, “Oh, I can’t watch that show. The bossy character reminds me too much of my supervisor. “ So the viewer refuses to engage with the character, and loses out on what he might gain from exploring what that character might teach him, or the catharsis of watching a bossy character get his comeuppance (and all story­telling is about vicarious learning and catharsis, right?). But if similar archetypal traits were represented by, say, a vampire, than perhaps the viewer might be more willing to engage, because it is enough outside his reality so that he is able to escape into the story. 

Star Wars, Star Trek, and anything vampire continue to be popular, because they represent a time and place that have never been grounded in real experience, and appeal to the bad boy archetype in all of us. Thus, we can continue to project our collectively unconscious fantasies upon the characters, unfettered, from the 1970’s all the way up to 2014. That equals popularity, longevity, and (say it with me) money! I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be rolling in it. 

So, here is what I have to say to all the naysayers of the Paranormal genre: 

Dear Mr. Agent Man, 

Thank you for your prompt response, as well as your willingness to review my manuscript. I truly appreciate your time and effort in reviewing my work, and I look forward to proving your friend wrong about the size and length of my bite. 

Warmest Regards, 

Mac Perry ♥

Mac Perry is a Creative Arts Therapist, adjunct professor, and aspiring author of urban fantasy. When she is not corralling her three-year-old son, she is blogging, editing RWA/NYC Keynotes, and working on her passion's pursuit. To learn more, check out her web site at www.macperry.com, or her blog at www.macperrysblog.blogspot.com.

A LESSON FROM THE LAND OF THE PARANORMAL BY FALGUNI KOTHARI

  

As this is Halloween Week, we thought it the best time to talk about Paranormal Romances. Join us all week.  We won't bite you...yet! 

I grew up in India. But contrary to the outlandish non-desi claim that cobras, elephants, rhinos and all manner of flesh-eating yogis fill India’s square-footage cheek by jowl, I rarely came across such sights—outside of zoos, forests and the occasional temple—anywhere in India. The flesh-eating yogis—being a bit more exotic, definitely more mythic—I am happy to report have never crossed my path. 

That said, the truth is that an Indian grows up on a steady diet of the outlandish. Our history and literature ooze Para-normality. The Hindu culture itself boasts 330 million major and minor gods who battle an endless franchise of demons and/or demonic wannabes in a never-ending Time Cycle on and off several realms unseen by the human eye. (Won’t bother mentioning the Buddhist, Jaina, Zoroastrian, Islamic, Catholic or Tribal myths that pepper and intermix with Indian culture in various capaci­ties.) Suffice it to say that Indians are extremely familiar and oddly comfortable with scientifically inexplicable phenomena. 

I won’t be amiss in claiming that my introduction to the fantastic began in my mother’s womb. I’m pretty sure she read and chanted plenty of allegorical stories, poems and prayers throughout the pregnancy. But my first clear memory of the art of storytelling was when I was five. My paternal grandmother lived with us and a maa lishwaali (a female masseuse) would come every morning to massage her old bones. The masseuse, an illiterate though plainspoken woman, loved discussing episodes from the Sanskrit epics, the Ramayana and Mahabharata (think Iliad and Odyssey, only much longer.) As I loved listening to those stories it became a ritual for me to sit in on the massage sessions.

My world began to expand with every tale. I came to love Sita (the exiled queen stolen from her beloved Rama by the demon Ravana) as much as I loved Sleeping Beauty (the unlucky princess secreted away for her own safety.) Karna (think Achilles) is the utterly hot, devastatingly misjudged demi-god from the Mahabharata, and remains my favorite mythological hero (or non-hero, depending on your loyalties) to this day. So much so, that I’ve written a 400 page story about him. My point is that while I never dreamed of being an author ever—not until I stumbled into the writing profession and actually became one five years ago—I have always been in thrall of the fantastical. 

I write and am published in Contemporary Romance. I have also completed an Urban Fantasy with strong ele­ments of romance (Karna’s story.) Can I claim preferring one genre over the other? No. But I will say that writ­ing about the paranormal is a thrill like no other.♥

Falguni Kothari is a New York-based South Asian author and an amateur Latin and Ballroom dance silver medalist with a semi-professional background in Indian Classical dance. She’s published in India in contemporary romance with global e-book availability; Bootie and the Beast (Harlequin Mills and Boon) and It’s Your Move, Wordfreak! (Rupa & Co.), and launches a mythic fantasy series with Soul Warrior: the Age of Kali.  Find out more about her at www.falgunikothari.com

Tweet her @F2Tweet and like her FB page at www.facebook.com/falgunikothari.author

Or drop her a comment at www.falgunikothari.blogspot.com.

Look for Falguni's new book to debut next month!

Cover Reveal on Friday, November 6.

HOW DO I CREATE A FANTASY WORLD THAT WORKS? BY ALICE ORR

As this is Halloween Week, we thought it the best time to talk about Paranormal Romances. Join us all week.  We won't bite you...yet!

Answer:  You create a world that real-life readers can relate to.

First of all write a series. Creating an entire alternate world is too much work to undertake for a one-off novel. Besides a series is the road to success for an author in today’s marketplace. A series is also an adventure through that alternate world. Your goal is to draw readers in and make them want to stay through one book then the next and the next. To do this you must create a world that has reality and resonance – a world that is relatable.

Then you must immerse your reader in that world. You must immerse her so completely in your story world that she’s wants – even needs – to remain there until you release her at The End. So completely she will miss that world when she’s forced to leave it and be eager to return asap. Achieve that and you’ve set a powerful narrative hook for the story and for the series as well. But how do you manage such immersion?

I found an answer to that is in a book by L.G O’Connor. Hope’s Prelude – The Angelorum Twelve Chronicles – Book 2.5 is part of a very big story world. The biggest as a matter of fact because O’Connor’s macro story world encompasses nothing less than the struggle between good and evil to determine the fate of the universe. I love big stories and good versus evil but most authors have difficulty managing the scope of that canvas. Specifically they have difficulty making the story believable and relatable.

O’Connor manages the vast scope of her story and the series by anchoring us in credible human territory. The landscape may be vast but the situation is intimate because at its heart is a love story and we relate to love stories. This is the powerful narrative hook we all carry in our romance genre kit bags. We can use it to make a potentially overwhelming story canvas personal. We immerse the reader in the world of the lovers and that is our open sesame to immersing the reader in the alternate world of the story.

But we must do so as deftly as O’Connor does. At the center of an apocalyptic struggle scenario she grounds us in a tender love story that humanizes all of the rest and gives it an up-close-and-personal scale which touches our hearts. I was fascinated by her faceoff between the forces of good – the Angelorum – and the forces of evil – the Dark Ones. But I was truly captured by the love between Hope in her worldly guise as Dr. Sandra Wilson scientist – and her guardian and mate Isa whom she calls Ishmael.

Their passion is both human and otherworldly and Isa is one of the most sexy-powerful yet gentle lovers I’ve ever read. As romance storytellers intent upon creating conflict we are often forced to situate that struggle between our lovers or lovers-to-be. The alternate world framework allows us to situate the struggle outside of the love relationship in the complex universe beyond. O’Connor takes beautiful advantage of that opportunity by creating a hero who openly adores the heroine. I found that refreshing and endearing from the start.

However engulfed I may have been by the multi-layered world of the series – what really grabbed me was Hope/Sandra and Isa/Ishmael and how much they are besotted with each other and devoted to each other. Theirs is the kind of relationship we all long to find in our real-world lives and that longing is the ultimate reader involvement. We not only want to read about this couple – we want to be part of a couple just like them.

What deeper hook can a writer set? How much more relatable can a story be? Does O’Connor’s fantasy world work? You betcha it does. Check it out at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XKID2UE and be inspired.♥

Alice Orr’s latest novel is A Year of Summer Shadows– Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 2. Visit Alice at www.aliceorrbooks.com.

ANGELS INSPIRED ME BY CATHERINE GREENFEDER

As this is Halloween Week, we thought it the best time to talk about Paranormal Romances. Join us all week.  We won't bite you...yet!

The idea for Angels Among Us, my paranormal romance, came to me during a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City at Christmas time. I always enjoyed viewing the museum's Christmas tree with its nativity display and ornaments created in Italy. The ornaments included angels which appeared to fly down or up the tree. I had been searching for ideas for a story, and as I glanced at one of the angels, it "communicated" to me about telling a story with an angel as a main character.

Thus, the idea for Angels Among Us came about with a character named Eviance Angelique, as the guardian angel of Kay Lassiter, an artist with psychic abilities. Eviance makes his presence known to Kay at a crisis moment and acts as a guiding force in helping Kay find the answers to a life-long mystery about the deaths of her parents. Eviance also protects Kay from the enemy who returns to fight against her and her brother, a local detective in their New Jersey community. Eviance also encourages the romance between Kay and her brother's friend Jake, a teacher who had once had a crush on Kay.

Long before this inspiration, I had been fascinated with angels. In fact, my home is filled with angel imagery including statues, pictures, mugs, and angel pins. I'm fond of reading about angels. This includes readings from traditional sources such as the Bible and stories of both well-known individuals and ordinary people who have had experiences with the angelic realm. 

Many years ago, an Irish American woman went to visit her dying father in County Cavan. Both of her parents were ill, but her father's condition seemed the worst. One night as she drank tea in the kitchen, a mysterious light emanated from her father's bedroom. Surprised but not alarmed, the daughter speculated that her ailing mother might have lit a votive candle and forgotten about it. The woman went to her father's room, and as she neared it, the light faded. It went out when she reached the doorway. When she went to her father's bed, she found him dead. Puzzled, yet not wanting to upset her mother, she remained quiet about the event. Then she began preparations for her father's funeral. A day later, the daughter once more sat in the kitchen and drank her tea. Once again, a light appeared, this time from her mother's room. She raced toward the room, but the light began to fade. By the time she reached the doorway, the light went out. She knew that she'd find her mother dead. Afterward the daughter realized that what she'd witnessed had been the presence of the Angel of Death and that her trip to Ireland intended as her final visit with one parent, ended up to be her last with both.

There are happier encounters with angels. In the Bible, the angel Gabriel, the messenger archangel, delivered the famous message to a young woman named Mary that she was with child, and that child was the Son of God whom she would name Jesus. The Three Wise Men had been led by a star and watched over by the angels on their way to Bethlehem to honor the Baby Jesus. A belief in angels is not restricted to Christianity, but it is in other religious beliefs as well.

A student of mine had been traveling with her family when their car stalled on a road in the middle of a desert. Out of nowhere a truck passed them. It soon returned. The driver, a young man, got out and talked to her parents. He helped them with their car and offered words that cheered them. When he smiled at her and her brother, she felt a warm radiance. The stranger returned to his truck and left. Shortly afterward a patrol car came and stopped to check on them. When her parents told the officer of the kind truck driver, the officer said that there had been no other vehicle on that road which fit the description of the truck. The family got the help they needed and continued on their journey without further incident. However, the student remained grateful to the stranger, an angel of mercy in disguise, who helped her and her family that night on a deserted road.

According to some sources, the Angel of Mercy is Archangel Gabriel. However, there are other angels who can be called upon for specific phenomenon, such as natural disasters. The Angel Zamiel is considered a protector in the event of hurricanes; Riddia, revered in Hebrew law, wards against drought; Angel Suiel helps mortals jeopardized by earthquakes; the Angel of Nourishment, Asda, can be called on to prevent famine; the Angel Lahabiel assists the Archangel Michael in protection against evil. 

From my research on the topic of angels, I learned that angels co-exist with their mortal counterparts in many ways. There are angels who appear at the birth of a child. Once more, the Archangel Gabriel plays a role in both the birth and the death of mortals. He is there to instruct the unborn child, and at the end of life he is there to welcome him or her into the transition to the next phase. The Angel Armisael is said to assist in childbirth. The Archangel Raphael rules over health matters. Raphael also rules the mental processes, so he is one to be called upon before exams. If you've lost something, a prayer to the Angel Rochel might help you find it. The Angel Camael is said to help athletes. For those with a green thumb, assistance is given by Habuhiah, the Angel of Gardening. In a new business venture? The Angel Teaoael, once invoked to protect ships with their precious cargoes, is considered a helper for new entrepreneurs.

What is important in all this is to keep in mind that while angels are here among us, they are not divinities to be idolized. They do not expect worship, only gratitude and acknowledgement for what they are.♥

Catherine Greenfeder is a published author.  Her novels include Angels Among Us, a paranormal romance; WILDFLOWERS, a western historical romance; award winning paranormal romance Sacred Fires; and two young adult paranormal romances, A Kiss Out of Time, and A DANCE OUT OF TIME, both set at the Jersey Shore.  Cathy attributes her love of writing to growing up in a household of storytellers, especially her mother who loves to entertain with stories about the past. She is a member of the New York City chapter of Romance Writers of America, the New Jersey based Liberty State Fiction Writers, and Teachers and Writers Collaborative. In addition to writing books, Cathy is a language arts teacher who encourages her students to pursue their own literary talents. She lives in Nutley with her husband and their mixed Labrador retriever. 

BOOK COVER FRIDAY: A BOOKIE'S ODDS BY URSULA RENEE (DEBUT!)

  

WELCOME TO BOOK COVER FRIDAYS!

Every week we bring you an exciting hot book cover from 

one of New York's Leading Romance Authors. 

And this book just came out on October 21!  
Get your copy today!  Enjoy!

A BOOKIE'S ODDS

by Ursula Renée

The Wild Rose Press

www.ursularenee.com

To read an excerpt, click here.

She was his friend and definitely not his type.

Until the day, He saw her as something more.

Could they be more than friends? Could they be lovers?

TIPS FROM THE RWA NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PROMOTING YOUR BRAND BY MARIA FERRER

The main tip I heard at the RWA National Conference this past July was that Writers need to establish an online presence through a website and social media.  Here’s how:

Establish an online presence 

• Start getting your name out there.
• Build a reader community
• Create website and/or blog
• Setup social media accounts
• Join yahoo author group
• Start building an email mailing list
• Join author and reader groups

Engage readers

• Promote yourself
• Promote other writers
• Engage readers outside book selling (ie, talk about sports, pets, line dancing, etc.)

 

Other

• Readers are on Facebook.
• Readers like newsletters.  (It can be one page and should include all links to website/blog/social media/sell sites.  Always end with what is next for you.)
• Pinterest can be used to create storyboards for books and works in progress.
• Do not comment on any reviews -- good or bad.

Reader Survey Results

• 88% of readers follow authors on Facebook; 30% on Twitter; 20% on Pinterest.
• 88% of readers subscribe to authors' newsletters.
• 69% readers use Facebook to connect directly with authors; 53% use the author's website; 50% use the author's blog.

The MOST IMPORTANT Tip from the conference however was to remember to turn off all social media and get back to writing your next book. Learn to turn it off and write; turn it off and be a part of your family. ♥

Maria Ferrer makes time for writing, traveling, reading and also for Facebook and Twitter. Visit her at www.marializaferrer.blogspot.com, and at www.mydelcarmen.com.

WORKING ACROSS GENRES BY URSULA RENÉE

Working and walking across genres!

Those who pursue a variety of interests have probably heard someone sarcastically remark,” Jack of All Trades, Master of None.” Some people believe it is more important to master one task than to study a variety of interests. Even in the writing industry, some editors and authors believe one should concentrate on a single genre and establish herself in that area.

As I have never conformed to the standards, I write whatever inspires me.

Though I have published historical romance, I also enjoy a good mystery and have completed the first draft of five in a series. And, while they have yet to find a home, I continue to revise and submit them with the hope of one day adding mystery writer to my resume.

My love for fairy tales and mythology has also inspired me to pen several fantasies. Through this pursuit, I have had the opportunity to create my own worlds; study mythical creatures; and explore psychic abilities.

Yes, it may seem flaky to bounce around from one genre to the next, especially when an author has yet to make a name for herself in one genre. However, life is too short not to try new things.

If an idea pops into your mind, don’t ignore it. Take notes, write an outline or complete the first draft. Once done, the work can be put aside until you are ready to build a name for yourself in another genre.♥

Thanks to the support and encouragement of the members of RWA/NYC, Ursula’s debut novel, SWEET JAZZ, was published in September 2014.  Her second book, A BOOKIE’S ODDS, is scheduled for release later this month.  As President of RWA/NYC, Ursula wants to offer the same encouragement and guidance to other RWA members.  Visit her at www.ursularenee.com. 

COVER REVEAL!  

Book Cover Friday, October 23.

Look for the cover of Ursula's new book,

A BOOKIE'S ODDS.

BOOK COVER FRIDAY! SINGLE BY CHOICE? BY JENNIFER N. WELSH

WELCOME TO BOOK COVER FRIDAYS!

Every week we bring you an exciting hot book cover from 

one of New York's Leading Romance Authors. 

SINGLE BY CHOICE?

by Jennifer N. Welsh

www.jnwelsh.com

What is wrong with being single by choice? This is what teacher Gwenevere Wallace has chosen for herself. Intelligent, talented and well versed in gruff, yet witty sarcasm, Gwen is a contemporary woman on the go. She surrounds herself with friends and the dramas of her family keep her on her toes. Against her family's consistent hounding and the matchmaking techniques of friends, Gwen strongly stands by the philosophy that the last thing she needs is a man in her life. However, it is not until handsome and persistent Aimen Pierce is literally forced into her life that Gwen begins to re-evaluate her single disposition. Gwen's encounters with Aimen lead her to revisit a painful past so that she can cope with an increasingly chaotic present, but will she be able to allow her newfound feelings to squeeze in and lead her to a future with Aimen? Or will that decision be made for her.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT I DON'T KNOW (A TYPE A'S JOURNEY INTO SELF-PUBLISHING) BY KATE MCMURRAY

 

So, I’ve made the bold decision to self-publish some of my backlist.

I got (or will soon be getting) the rights back to two books originally published in 2011. My reasons for getting the rights back are complicated but boring, so we’ll gloss over that part. Originally I wasn’t going to self-publish because, honestly, self-publishing looks like a lot of work, and I have enough on my plate. My agent and I talked about trying to sell these old books to another publisher, instead.

The problem is that with so many digital and small presses going defunct, there are now quite a few authors with old books to put back out, and publishers are getting pickier about what they pick up. Most, in fact, only want your book if you will also write a sequel, or give them something new in addition to the old book. And I was on board for that. I had a sequel to The Boy Next Door half-written already.

But then what I had written turned out to be kind of terrible, and writing new stuff this past spring when everything was crazy with my schedule turned out to be nearly impossible, and there was no way I’d ever hit the deadline my agent and I had worked out unless I could reach into the Harry Potter universe and borrow a Time Turner.

Unfortunately, while I stalled, The Boy Next Door went out of print. The book is coming up on five years old, so it’s not like I was selling droves of copy, but its unavailability definitely put a dent in my royalty statements.

But, I thought, I could totally put the book out myself.

Look, self-publishing scares me still. There’s so much to do! At the national RWA convention, I sat through Courtney Milan’s presentation on metadata and thought the whole time, “Crap. I have no idea what I’m doing. I never considered any of this. There’s so much I don’t know that I don’t know what I don’t know!”

There is a lot I do know. I’ve worked in book production for more than eight years. I know how a book is made. I can do page layout. I knew exactly what I wanted this cover to look like. I don’t have a lot of experience with ebook formatting—I still work mostly in print books at my day job—but I could figure it out.

But, geez. Metadata and front matter and ISBNs, oh my!

A friend pointed out that many people who are way less tech savvy than I am have self-published books to great success. So, really, I should calm down.

So far, all I’ve got is a self-imposed deadline, an edited manuscript, and a new cover. So next, I have to figure out formatting and distribution. The hard part in other words. I’ve been getting recs and advice from people who have gone this route before, so I know what I have to do (kind of) but I’m still finding this daunting. And what if I put the book up everywhere but nobody buys it and I don’t recoup my expenses? (I mean, just as an anxiety-prone control freak Type A, I’ve spent a lot of time researching and considering worst-case scenarios, full disclosure

So then: marketing! It’s become conventional wisdom that publishers don’t really do much marketing/publicity, so if you have to do it all yourself anyway, you might as well self-publish! I hear this all the time. But I disagree wholeheartedly.

The BARE MINIMUM a publisher should do is send your book out for review to blogs. Reviews are worth their weight in gold because word-of-mouth buzz is the key to selling books. Publishers may or may not also send your book to trade publications like Library Journal, Publisher’s Weekly, and RT Book Reviews. (They SHOULD, in my humble opinion. Sending a book doesn’t guarantee a review, as it’s sort of up to the whims of available reviewers, but even a so-so review in one of those publications is great exposure for you.) Many publishers will also do some or all of the following: buy ads featuring your book (on the Internet and in trade publications), some social media related to your book, feature your book on their website, organize blog tours, pitch you to media outlets, and similar things I’m not thinking of. (If your publisher does not do these things, it might be time to consider whether you’re at the best place. Because if they aren’t offering you some kind of marketing and publicity or at least sending your book out for review? Then, yeah, you are probably better off self-publishing. But a lot of publishers DO these things.)

So, basically, I’ve done my own blog tours before, but I’m finding the prospect of having to do all this other marketing exhausting in advance. I normally don’t really mind marketing, but this is on a different level from what I normally do.

The thing is that, yeah, these days, authors have to do some legwork beyond just writing the book, but self-publishing authors have to do everything. Some authors thrive on that and want complete creative control. I am not one of those authors. So that’s something to think about when you’re considering various paths to publication.

I think it’ll be fine, but my take away is that I will not underestimate all the work my publishers do, and also that this is not a decision to make lightly. That, yes, depending on your avenue toward self-publishing, it can be simple and easy, to someone like me, it can feel pretty daunting, too.  So do your research and know what you’re getting into. ♥

RWA/NYC VP Kate McMurray is an award-winning author of gay romance and an unabashed romance fan. When she’s not writing, she works as a nonfiction editor, dabbles in various crafts, and is maybe a tiny bit obsessed with baseball. She has served as President of Rainbow Romance Writers, the LGBT romance chapter of Romance Writers of America. She lives in Brooklyn, NY. Visit her at www.katemcmurray.com.