Tuesday 8 May 2012

Thicker Than Blood on the Nook

To everyone who has messaged me and is waiting for Thicker Than Blood to come out on the Nook, I'm really sorry it's taking so long.



I planned for TTB to come out everywhere at the same time, but Barnes & Noble said it would take 2 weeks to show up on their site. It's been 3 weeks now and I'm still waiting!




I did send another email to them this morning, so I'm hoping for it to show up any day now.




Thanks for your patience. Fingers crossed!!!!



 

Sunday 29 April 2012

Kindlegraph - Get Your Ebooks Signed!

I know I'm a bit late to the party, but I've just discovered a website called Kindlegraph, where you can request authors to sign your ebooks.

How cool is that!!!

Kindlegraph is the brainchild of software developer, Evan Jacobs, and was launched in 2011. There are currently 3,500 authors representing over 15,000 books and I guess those numbers are growing daily as word spreads.

I've already signed my own books up to the site and was ridiculously excited when I started receiving my first Kindlegraph requests from readers. My signature looks a little shaky, as I have to write it using my laptop trackpad. But it is my signature. Another great element, is the option for the author to write a personalised inscription to each reader.

Now I'm looking forward to requesting Kindlegraphs from my favourite authors.



Get your own Kindlegraphs here.

Thursday 26 April 2012

Interview with Margarita Felices Author of Judgement of Souls

Hi Margarita, Tell us something about yourself and where you’re based.
I live in Cardiff. For all its modernisation, there are still remnants of old Victorian Cardiff. I love the castle in the centre of the city and the fact that you have the sea on one side and the mountains on the other side of Cardiff.  I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. 


Can you tell us a bit about your book?
I don't want to say too much, I'd much rather your readers found it out.  But to give you an idea, JUDGEMENT OF SOULS is a Gothic horror in which a naïve pure-blood Vampire is tossed into the mortal world. Rachel meets Daniel, a nightclub owner and his group of friends and after Daniel’s best friend is murdered by Max, becomes embroiled in the search for an ancient vampire book. Rachel tries to fight off her feelings for Daniel, even siding with her Vampire friend Arun to think again about Daniel’s involvement, but he’s her love and she’s going to protect him, no matter what.




When and why did you start writing?
I started writing in school.   My teachers used to limit me to ten pages per essay - it killed me to have a limit.  After that I wrote short stories for magazines, it gave me a little extra while at college.  But I've always had stories rolling around in my head. I can write about anything and some days I just look up at the sky and say 'thank you very much.' 

What inspires you?
Other writers who have been in the same place that I am now. I’m new to all of this; all their advice is valuable because you’ll never find your way in this business without them and their help. 

Are you working on anything now?
I'm working on the prequel to Judgement of Souls. It spans over 300 years so its quite a task.  I'm doing a lot of research and I have to get the date lines right or it'll read a bit odd.

Is there anything you don't like about being a writer?
How hard it is. It’s not just sitting down and writing. I had a hard hitting editor who returned my first draft and made it look like a bloodbath!  It was a surprise.  But the end result is something you can’t possible imagine, you’ve brought these people to life and you control their lives. I love it. And I think the worse is having that great idea and by the time you get to write it down, forgetting it! And marketing.   I’ve never contacted so many people, websites and groups since the book became LIVE on the 27th December 2011.

What do you think of the ebook revolution?
I think it’s brilliant.  There are so many talented writers out there that miss out because traditional publishers won’t accept their work. I know it costs a lot of money to produce books these days, but really? Would it hurt to be a bit more flexible?  Ebooks mean no more carrying heavy loads of them on holiday, we save trees, long may it reign.

Is there anything you will NOT write about?
Zombies! Sorry to all my Zombie friends and authors out there. I hate them! Scare me silly!  And perhaps anything biographical, I just don’t think I’d do that person any justice. 

In what genre do you prefer to write?  To read?
I love writing anything Supernatural. Vampires and demons, unknown realms where you can just let your mind wander through and go wild. I’ll read the same type of stories too.

Can you tell us about any ups and downs in your writing career so far.
The downs are always the rejections. When you get a reply from a publisher and its just 'no thanks' scribbled on the bottom of the letter you sent them it makes you think ;why bother' but you have to. 

Do you have any suggestions for people who might be considering writing as a career?
Don't give up. If you have a story that is dying to be told, then work hard to tell it. But make sure you are doing your best work and you get an editor that can help you make the most of your manuscript.

Don’t give up even though you may get rejection letters.  If everyone thought like that there’d be no books, no films.  Keep writing, even if its dribble! Then read, re-read and edit.  Try and write a little each day.  One hundred words a day is seven hundred a week, twenty-eight hundred a month and one hundred words a day is so simple!

And carry a Dictaphone or a notebook and pen! 

Anything else you want to add?
This is a series of 3 books. I started at the end. There isn’t anyone who will be able to tell me why I did that. When these three are finished, I’d like to write some shorter stories about Daniel and Rachel and maybe their quest to find supernatural occult items and somehow tie them in to working for The Righteous.  That should be interesting!


Thanks so much, Margarita. It's been great having you here!

Margarita's links:
Facebook
Judgement of Souls on Kindle UK
Judgement of Souls on Kindle US

Saturday 14 April 2012

Thicker Than Blood Release Date



I'm happy to announce that book 2 in the Marchwood Vampire Series
will be released April 17th 2012


Chilling and fast-paced, Thicker Than Blood is the supernatural sequel
to Hidden. It combines passion and drama with a historical twist.


Aelia lives in 6th century Byzantium. She is sixteen years old and her life is about
to change forever. She doesn't yet know it, but she holds the fate of thousands
in her hands and her actions will echo across the centuries.

Fourteen hundred years later the lives of Madison and Alexandre are once
again plunged into danger. To save Madison, Alexandre is forced back to a
world he thought was dead and buried. But time is running out.
The chase is on...


On April 17th it will be available as an ebook from Smashwords and from Amazon for Kindle.
It may take a while longer to distribute to other outlets. The paperback will be available by the end of April.

Wednesday 4 April 2012

First 5 Chapters -Try before you Buy (YA Paranormal)

Here's the next volume of First 5 Chapters available free from Smashwords



Read the first five chapters from these
YA paranormal/fantasy authors:

Hunting - S.M. Hineline
Hidden (Marchwood Vampire Series #1) - Shalini Boland
Coexist (Keegan's Chronicles #1) – Julia Crane
Progeny Of Innocence - Patti Roberts
Ties To The Blood Moon - Robin Waldrop
Fire Sprite - Lenore Wolfe



Click here to download for free