Authors R Us - part 1

Time to pay it forward...
I am so excited to be a part of Curiosity Quills Publishing! And I am in some impressive company. So this Friday and again in two weeks, I am Celebrating (thanks for the hop, Vikki!)  my publisher and my new found author buddies at CQ. I have gained a ton of info on marketing and what to expect, just by reading their facebook posts! And their books are unique and exciting!

First, I am pleased to introduce Katie Teller!

Katie hails from Australia and now lives in Arizona with her husband, daughter, and their dog. Working, traveling, and going to school for English and Creative Writing, she takes the few spare moments in her day to work on her novels.

Katie's first book, Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh, is an NA historical romance and was just released last month. Here is a blurb about it:

When her sisters are snatched up to be added to the harem of the erratic Pharaoh, Naomi knows they won’t survive, so offers herself in their place. Impressed by her courage, the fearsome Commander Horemheb knows she's exactly what he is looking for…

But the Great Queen Nefertiti despises Naomi, stripping her of her Hebrew lineage, and changes her name to Kiya. With support from Horemheb, Kiya makes the Pharaoh fall in love with her, gaining his favor to conceive an heir, infuriating Nefertiti, who schemes to destroy Kiya. In an intense struggle for the future crown, if Kiya does bear a son, she will need to fight to protect him, as well as herself, from Nefertiti who is out for blood.

Kiya has received many rave reviews. Here is one:

"I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful this book is. 

The female lead, Naomi, is strong and powerful, and doesn't back down. She's exactly what we all want to see in fiction, but didn't feel anything like the author was forcing her to be someone she wasn't. Her actions were always believable and fitting. 

The love in this book isn't limited to one couple - in fact, love is shown to us in so many different people throughout KIYA. Different people, different types of love, different degrees of love; yet all of them powerful, well thought-out, and gripping."  - Jessa Russo, Author of EVER

Here are Katie's links:

Blog  |  Goodreads  |  Facebook Page  |  Book Trailer 

And a parting piece of advice from Katie:
Never give up, never compromise your voice. You are what makes the story unique so don't let anyone drag you down. 

And our second CQ author today is:
Matthew Graybosch, author of upcoming science fantasy, Without Bloodshed, Part One of Starbreaker which is set to release July 4th! According to official records maintained by the state of New York, Matthew was born on Long Island in 1978. Questions have been raised as to whether he is, in fact, Rosemary’s Baby, the result of top-secret DOD attempts to continue Nazi experiments combining human technology and black magic, or that he sprang fully grown from his father’s forehead with a sledgehammer in one hand and a copy of The C Programming Language in the other — and he's been giving the poor man headaches ever since!
(Now that's speculative!)

Here is a blurb for Without Bloodshed:
Morgan Stormrider spent a decade killing tyrants, and he wants out. When a dictator’s public accusations make Morgan a liability to his organization, his duty is clear: he must depose Alexander Liebenthal without bloodshed, at any cost.

He just got that cool cover! Love it!
Here are Matthew's Links:
Author website   |   Starbreaker Series website

And a parting piece of advice: Read outside your chosen genre.

Have a terrific weekend! And hug your mother if you can! (virtual hugs, Mom!! Love ya!)

Hmm... Reflecting on A to Z 2013

Congratulations to all who participated to any extent! A to Z 2013 was like a party! I had a great time and me met a bunch of new bloggers. But now that I'm older, I can't party like I used to. I should have gone to bed earlier... I'm worn out! But we made it so here's to us!

I tackled the list as I did last year, visiting as many blogs on the letter of the day as I could, winding my way through the list, starting each day where I left off and doubling, tripling, even 5x-ing up letters. With life so crazy, I visited less people this year than last, but still 715 (not counting my weekly Sunday visits to my good friends who visited me almost daily! see list below - thanks guys!) Here is a pic of my notebook. And I compiled my journey into numbers...

My A to Z 2013 Stats:
I visited 715 blogs and commented on 405, 57%
Out of those 405,
I really liked 110, which is 27%
85 commented back, 21%
26 new friends follow me, 6%
and I followed 19 (working on visiting back and following more!), 5%

Reasons I didn't comment:

• no A to Z post for several days
• too long (I mean, tooooooo long) and no white space...
• not my taste or interest, couldn't relate
• too racy or gross for me
• technical difficulties, kicked me out after a couple of tries

Those reasons vary from person to person, commenting is very subjective. I did make it a point to comment on those with fewer responses, to encourage them to stick with it! If you didn't get very many comments, see #1, 2, and 5 above. But the main reason I believe one would have low numbers is:

• You must make the first move and go visit! Look at my numbers above, only 21% of the people I commented on commented back, but wouldn't have if I didn't visit them first

Also, I was hesitant to follow if I couldn't find the person's name. I understand those new to this might be shy and not want to shout out their name, but if you want followers, you have to put yourself out there. As a writer, you want your author name to be well known so you can sell your book(s)! And I want to know a little bit about someone before I follow.

Suggestions for A to Z 2014

• First - Thank you, thank you, thank you, Arlee Bird for hosting this gargantuan blogging event! Hope you are still up for it next year! And all the many helpers who hosted and helped!
• I loved being a minion! Jeremy was a terrific boss! It was a great idea to break down the list and see who was serious and who was... not. I hope you all do that again next year.
• The List. The categories were a great idea too. But if there is a way to group bloggers into those categories when they sign up, keeping them separate, it would help those with common interests find each other. We probably wouldn't need that many categories (Writers/Readers, Arts & Crafts, Gamers, Movies, etc) Rachel Harrie did this for her Campaigns.
• Prizes? I bet regular participants would be willing to offer a prize or two... just a thought =)

Extra shout outs to my wonderful friends who visited on a regular basis:

Fida - Tweeted my posts!       MJ - super star posts!       Heather G - Stormy's bucket list rocked!

Alex - movies & spotlights!       Dana - her artists were inspirational!       Mark - nostalgic comic relief!

Elizabeth S - terrific trivia!       Carrie Anne - fun fonts & flashes!       Christine - another terrific tale!

Carol - Solomon's Compass sweetness!        Sheena - Sacrifice Her teasers!        Julie L - great supporter!

Vikki - total tv mania!       Rhonda - the BEST international travel tips!       Rena - never lets me down!

Congrats again, everyone! Who knows what we'll be doing next year! Still writing, that's for sure!! 

I think my Lazy Housewife needs some videos. Maybe that's my project for next year. I better start now!!

One more note. Here are some events coming up in May!

When Hollywood runs out of ideas, they remake older films. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it fails miserably.Hosted by Alex, Stephen Tremp, Livia Peterson, and Al Diaz.

Rachel Schieffelbein is hosting the Secondary Characters Blogfest on May 22 to support the release of her upcoming book (get it? support?).

Julie L posted about the 30th Annual Colorado Gold Writing Contest of 2013 which is accepting entries from unpublished writers of COMMERCIAL novel-length fiction. Get your novel in the hands of an acquiring agent or editor!

AND LASTLY!


Stephen Tremp, Alex (again!),  Michael Di Gesu, and L. Diane Wolfe have teamed up for a Blog Hop to remind us of our healthy New Year's resolutions! I need a reboot!

I'm Exhausted

Welcome to the Insecure Writers Support Group.

I have gotten so much support lately, I shouldn't be insecure about anything. And yet... Seriously. It never seems to end. And the ultimate question for a writer is:

"Will anyone like my work?"

Oh, sure, your mom will like it, or say she does. Same with your friends, even online friends. So you keep sending those query letters, trying to get a bite.

Congrats to those who have! - And - Don't give up if you haven't!

When you do, you should soon have a deal and then the real worrying starts! How am I going to sell this thing? How do I put the word out? What am I supposed to do?

Luckily, we have awesome bloggers, full of knowledge (L. Diane Wolf & Carrie Butler) who dedicated their a to z posts to marketing. I got great tips from them. And Stina is another terrific writing guru source.

My publish date has changed a couple of times, but they say I can announce that Pop Travel is offically going to come out July 7, 2013. Yay! I also have a cover! Can't wait to share it when they say I can! Yippee!!! Excited as I am about these things, my worry this month is figuring out marketing... square one.

And square one is me asking you guys to help me with a blog tour. I didn't want to succumb to the pressure of doing one, but I do believe that's the main reason I started this blog! And I am not doing your everyday blog tour. No Really. I'm not posting every day. My tour will be spread out, maybe last a year. Sound crazy? Maybe. We'll see how it goes. 

I am also planning a live book tour - also spread out. It's expensive! I have already mentioned this to some of my writing friends, now I'm opening it up. If you have recently published or are about to, let me know. I am compiling a list of my writer friends and where they are to see who I can visit and do a book signing event with.

Whoever is interested in either of the above, please email me or put your email address in comments. You all are the best! So so so happy to know you all!

My a to z reflection post will go up on Monday or Tuesday. I'm taking a long weekend! Whew!