May is How To Sell Self-Published Books Month here on Catherine, Caffeinated. Last week I poured a bucket of ice-cold water over your dreams in Read This First (which, thanks to Freshly Pressed, is the most popular post ever on this blog), and then explained why I think you should go guns blazing for the launch of each book…
Have you read Stay Tuned by Lauren Clark? It won the WritersType First Chapter Competition in October 2011, was in the top 5 Finalist for the 2012 BookBundlz “The Book Pick” contest and was awarded the 2nd place in the 2012 ROYAL DRAGONFLY ebook Awards. What an accomplishment! I bring you an interview with the author, Lauren Clark and her upcoming book…
I’ve christened May “How to Sell Self-Published Books Month” here on Catherine, Caffeinated. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while, and I figured that after last month’s shocking lack of blogging, this would be a good way to make up for it. It’s going to be a mix of new long posts, new short posts, replays and interesting links, all served with an Americano with an extra shot in it.
I’ve christened May the How To Sell Self-Published Books Month here on Catherine, Caffeinated, but before we get into the nuts and bolts of marketing and promoting your book, we need to have a little tough love session first.
At my most recent workshop I started off by saying to the participants that my aim for the day was to send them home with everything I wished…
Please enjoy this interview with Brian Holers, author of the literary novel, Doxology. Then read on to learn how you can win huge prizes as part of this blog tour, including $450 in Amazon gift cards, a Kindle Fire, and 5 autographed copies of the book.
1. Why did you choose to write about characters who set out to rediscover their faiths?
The characters in Doxology don’t really set out to rediscover their faiths—they simply rediscover them when everything else is lost. My two central characters, Vernon and Jody, uncle and nephew, are just living life as the story begins. Jody has a pretty good, interesting life, he has a stable job working for a nice family, he’s in love with Continue reading
Please enjoy this guest post by Brian Holers, author of the literary novel, Doxology. Then, read on to learn how you can win huge prizes as part of this blog tour, including $450 in Amazon gift cards, a Kindle Fire, and five autographed copies of the book.
From Brian: One of the beauties of self-publishing is that the gatekeeper has been fired. In this new world of books made possible by the Internet, no one is left to guard the door. To tell the reader what is what. This state of affairs Continue reading
A Digital Short by Vincent ZandriSummary:
A young U.S. Army officer who’s served in Afghanistan finds himself suffering from intermittent bouts of “hysterical” temporary blindness due to impossible and deadly orders he was forced to obey by high command in the field. When he’s reunited with his fiancée in a military hospital in Germany after being separated for more than year, the couple are encouraged by doctors to travel to Venice, Italy together. There, amongst the canals and the cafes, they try to rekindle their love and fight off their personal demons while trying to comprehend the enormity of the heartbreaking role they now must play in love and war.
Review:
Love at First Sight is a ‘day in the life’ of a wounded soldier. In this short-short story, a blind Marine and his fiancée attempt to rekindle their relationship in Italy. To make matters more complicated, Nick is not blinded by physical trauma, but rather due to psychological causes from his fourteen-month tour in Afghanistan. Zandri’s descriptions are lovely, heart-wrenching, and distinct. If you’re a fan of this author’s work, Love at First Sight will leave you wanting more.
Book of Mercy By Sherry Roberts I’m thrilled to host author Sherry Roberts and her novel, Book of Mercy, on SmartLit as part of the Blog Tour de Force! Please leave a comment below and your email address to get your very own copy of Book of Mercy.
My Review:
If your family is full of avid readers, and your house is stocked with books, consider this: On average, about 500 books are challenged every year in the United States, according to the American Library Association—and those are just the ones reported.
Among the books challenged or banned in the United States in 2010-11 were The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, as a parent claimed that it gave her 11-year-old daughter nightmares and could numb other children to the effects of violence; What’s Happening to My Body? Book for Boys: A Guide for Continue reading
When author Doug McCourt contacted me about reviewing Notes from the Firehouse, he didn’t know how this extraordinary group of men and women had already touched my life. My younger brother worked as a volunteer firefighter and a paramedic. As a nurse, my mother spent endless hours helping pediatric burn victims at the Children’s Hospital of Buffalo. And in my former career as a television reporter, I witnessed first-hand how firefighters save lives Continue reading
Small as a Mustard Seed by Shelli JohnsonToday’s interview is with author, freelance editor, and former sports journalist Shelli Johnson. Her novel, Small as a Mustard Seed won two awards: a grant from the Weisman Fund and the Grand Prize in the Writer’s Digest International Self-Published Book Awards. Shelli is a big football fan, went to graduate school in Chicago, and got her Master’s Degree in Fiction Writing. Read on for more about Shelli and her novel!
Have you always been a writer?
I’ve always loved writing. The earliest memory I have of it is writing a story in the first grade & having it be selected by the teacher to be read to the Kindergarten class. I don’t even remember what it was about. But I do remember thinking that writing was all I wanted to do. My favorite part of writing is when I get so caught up in the story that I lose track of time. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of that for me; it keeps me coming back. Plus, I love my characters. I actually look forward to sitting down and seeing what they’re going to do next.
Stephen King was the biggest influence in pushing me toward being a fiction writer. When I was a kid, my family & I went on vacation up to a cabin in Maine. There was no running water, no electricity ~ “roughing it like the settlers” my dad said. Not great, though, for a 12-year-old girl. Under one of the bunk beds, I found a box full of Stephen King books & I spent those 2 weeks reading his early work, which is absolutely fantastic. I wanted to be able to do what King did ~ make people feel scared, angry, happy, whatever ~ just by telling them a story.
Tell me about your book, Small as a Mustard Seed, and what inspired it.
I was writing about the main characters ~ sisters ~ for about four months, both of them as adult women. The story wasn’t really going anywhere, and then one morning one of them showed up as a 10-year-old in a barn, scared out of Continue reading
