Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Invitation to Host - Shadow Walker (Shadow Walker Trilogy, Book 1) by Tiffany Shand ~ Jan. 22-26, 2018 Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance


About Shadow Walker:

After her enforcer teammates are killed in a bust gone wrong, Denai witch Charlie McCray struggles to carry on working the job without them. Using her gift of communicating with the dead, she's determined to get justice and find those responsible no matter what. But her only clue to go on is a mysterious orb with a deadly reputation that everyone wants to get their hands on.

The only one who may be able to help her figure out their deaths, and the connection to the orb is the dark and sexy demon from her past. Convinced she's his life mate, to her denial, Charlie isn't happy to see him again. Can they really work together as partners to track down the truth whilst ignoring the ever-growing attraction between them?

Genres: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance

Length: 111 pgs.

The tour is January 22-26, 2018. I would really like to have several reviews during this tour, if possible.


Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Invitation to Host - Shadow Walker (Shadow Walker Trilogy, Book 1) by Tiffany Shand ~ Jan. 22-26, 2018 Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance


About Shadow Walker:

After her enforcer teammates are killed in a bust gone wrong, Denai witch Charlie McCray struggles to carry on working the job without them. Using her gift of communicating with the dead, she's determined to get justice and find those responsible no matter what. But her only clue to go on is a mysterious orb with a deadly reputation that everyone wants to get their hands on.

The only one who may be able to help her figure out their deaths, and the connection to the orb is the dark and sexy demon from her past. Convinced she's his life mate, to her denial, Charlie isn't happy to see him again. Can they really work together as partners to track down the truth whilst ignoring the ever-growing attraction between them?

Genres: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance

Length: 111 pgs.

The tour is January 22-26, 2018. I would really like to have several reviews during this tour, if possible.


Friday, November 17, 2017

Happy Release Day ~ The Mystery on Lost Lagoon (Nikki Landry Swamp Legends, Book 4) by Rita Monette


About The Mystery on Lost Lagoon:



Legend has it… if you go onto Lost Lagoon, you never return.

Nikki Landry and her friends are off on a quest to track down the prehistoric-looking bird that’s been flying around a nearby swamp island. However, their plans get sidetracked when they meet a stranger in their small town who seems to have some secrets to hide.

The sleuthing group soon learns of a legend about a hidden lagoon. Is it all connected? Before they can find out, they are kidnapped by a mysterious scientist on a mission of his own.

Is there any truth to the legend that says if you go onto Lost Lagoon, you will never return? Is the eerie whirlpool that sits waiting to suck you in really a passage to another world?

Join Nikki, her friends, and one neurotic parrot, as they discover the truth behind the Mystery on Lost Lagoon.

Follow the Book Tour:
https://saphsbookpromotions.blogspot.com/2017/11/schedule-mystery-on-lost-lagoon-nikki.html

Book Details:

Age Level: 6-12
Publisher: Mirror World Publishing; 1 edition
Publication Date: November 17, 2017
ASIN: B076TVWSZ7

Purchase from Amazon

Purchase from Mirror World Publishing

Read an Excerpt:

The August air was steamier than a pot of boiled crawfish. Tiny bugs danced like fairies on the gumbo-colored bayou. Cypress trees on a nearby swamp island dipped their moss-draped branches into the still water, trying to stay cool. I had been sitting in my new tree house for days, trying to catch a cool breeze and pondering on how to turn a plain old fort into an official club house, when I decided what it needed most of all was furniture. My friend Spikes had come over to help me build some. He was pretty good with tools.

“I saw that strange bird again.” Spikes stood beside me with a hammer in his hand.

“What bird?” I asked, busy with trying to arrange some old boards in the shape of a table, just before they collapsed into a heap. “Drats!” I folded my arms in front of me.

“You have to lay them on the floor, Tomboy,” he said. “We need to nail them together first.”

“So you have to build it upside down?” I wiped the sweat off my brow with the back of my hand.

Spikes’ real name was Spencer Sikes, but I’d never heard nobody call him that ’cept for his grandpa. He was twelve years old, a whole year and a half older than me. I couldn’t imagine being almost a teenager. Me and him argued a lot, but we always stayed friends. He told me once he only liked me ’cause I wasn’t like other girls, and could climb trees, and didn’t mind getting dirty. He sometimes called me Tomboy instead of my real name, Nikki.

He grinned, showing his broken front tooth. “Yeah.”

“We need some nails.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of bent nails. “I was over at my grandpa’s yesterday. We took a boat ride out to Flat Lake, and I saw it flying around Pelican Pass, see.”

“Saw what?”

“The bird.” He sounded annoyed. “You know, the one that makes that screeching sound. The same one we saw over in Mossy Swamp.” He sat on the floor and began straightening the nails by laying ’em on their sides and tapping ’em with his hammer.

We had gone out to Mossy Swamp back in June trying to find out about a legendary monster, when we saw a big bird swoop down and make a horrible noise. Spikes had been bringing it up ever since...and I had been trying real hard to ignore him.

“Oh yeah.” I twirled the hair at the end of my braid. “The one you said looked like a dinosaur or something.”

“A pterodactyl,” he added. “Actually, the real name is pterosaur, see, which is a species of flying reptiles. So technically it isn’t a bird at all.”

“Why do you read all that stuff?” I sat on my bare heels across from him.

“It’s just interesting.” He squinted at me like it should be something I should be curious about.

Spikes was not very good at school work, and barely passed his classes, but he loved to read when it was something that caught his interest. In fact, he could become pretty darned obsessed on a subject he liked, usually ghosts or pirates. Seemed his new obsession was prehistoric creatures.

“So, what about it?” I asked, stacking my boards to the side. “I ain’t caring about no reptile-looking bird, unless it was to come after me or my dog.”

“I watched it fly in and out of the pass near Rabbit Island. I think it must have a nest near there,” he said, still banging on his nails. “And actually…according to a book I got from the library…their average wing span can get a little over twenty feet.”

“How big is twenty feet?” I asked, still not much caring as long as it stayed in the swamp where it belonged.

He looked around, then pointed. “Oh, longer than your houseboat, there.”

I poked out my lips. “You’re telling a fib, Buzzard. It wasn’t that big at all.”

“Well, it might just be a young one,” he said, “and you know what that means?”

I didn’t answer. He could go on and on forever, like he had something caught in his craw.

Buzzard was a nickname I gave him on my first day at Morgan City Elementary. He looked just like one sitting up on that great big branch of the coolest tree in the school yard. It was our first argument, on account of I had already claimed that branch for my own lunch spot. He learned real quick that I wasn’t the type to give things up that easy, and since nary one of us like to be called names, we only did it to annoy each other. Sometimes we could go for days using each other’s rightful names.

“That means its mama might be lurking around out there in that swamp, see.” His eyes got real big, like he actually wanted it to be so.

I gazed at him sideways. “Spikes you do know those things are extinct, don’t you? Miss Allgood taught us all about the dinosaurs last year. She said they’ve been gone since the Ice Age. That means it got too cold for ’em to survive. So there.”

“Well, I ain’t saying it is prehistoric or anything.” He nailed the boards together. “I just said it looks like one.”

“Oh, I see. Well, it’s probably just a big pelican anyway. Hey, can we stand the table up yet?”

“Not yet. We need braces on these legs so it won’t fall down. Go over to Nana’s shed and get me a couple smaller boards while I straighten some more nails out.”

Meet the Author:

Behind Every Legend Lies the Truth!



Rita Monette was born and raised in Southwest Louisiana. After retiring from her “real” job as an administrative assistant for the State of Michigan, Rita began doing what she always wanted to do…write and draw. Her stories are set in the beautiful, yet mysterious, bayous and swamps of her home state. The Mystery on Lost Lagoon is the fourth book in her Nikki Landry Swamp Legend series, which is based on her childhood. Rita now lives with her husband, four lap dogs, and one lap cat, in the mountains of Tennessee.

Connect with Rita:

Website: 
http://ritamonette.blogspot.ca/

Publisher Website: 
http://www.mirrorworldpublishing.com



Read an Exclusive Excerpt from The Wandering God, Book 3 in Joshua Pantalleresco's The Watcher Series


About The Wandering God:

Greater Worlds than These

Following the events of Stormdancer, The Watcher receives a vision in a dream of a city in turmoil. The dream haunts him, as does the voice that insistently repeats, 'Help me,' night after night. Leaving the safety of the tower of scientists behind, the Watcher and his friends embark on their final journey to locate the source of the message and come face to face with their most difficult obstacle yet: doubt.
Though they trust the Watcher, Kristen and the others can't help but fear that the voice in his head is driving him mad and leading them all to their deaths. Even the Watcher is afraid. He knows that listening to this voice risks everything he has obtained up until this point, but he can't help but continue to follow it, driven forward by curiosity and an  instinctive need.

Beyond volcanoes, rock people, and deserts of nothing but crystal, lies the City at the End of the World. And there, the Wandering God awaits...

Tags: Young Adult, Poetry, Epic, Post-Apocalyptic, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dragons

Kindle version of the book is 161 pgs. long.

More info can be found on Amazon

Follow the book tour:

https://saphsbookpromotions.blogspot.com/2017/11/schedule-wandering-god-watcher-book-3.html

Praise for The Wandering God:

“I can say with no hyperbole that The Watcher by Joshua Pantalleresco is, truly, an epic epic.” ~Dirk Manning, author of Tales of Mr. Rhee and Nightmare World

"Joshua Pantalleresco paints a stunning and vivid world through poetry and takes the reader on an adventure that is well worth a read." ~Christine Steendam, award-winning author of the Ocean series and Foremost chronicles

Read an Exclusive Excerpt:

something's bothering him
the last few nights, his sleep has been restless
I hear him tossing and turning
a nightmare of some kind?
it haunts him even as he wakes

I wish he would tell me
it may not be real to me
yet I know it's real to him

I take a deep breath
trying not to worry about the things I can't control
moving forward on the things I can

no one greet us when we wake the next day
Jord-an is missing
I feel sad not saying goodbye
he had been so helpful since finding him
I want to say how grateful I am for all he did

all we find when we wake are some clothes
and a note
I glance at the folded paper
surprised to see a picture inside

it is hand drawn 
a portrait of Jord-an
holding that magical drink called coffee
raising a mug of it to us
I do not know the exact meaning of the gesture
but I know a goodbye when I see it
and feel a trickle of rain down my cheek

we just want to be free
why does freedom cut you off from everyone?
don’t we all want the same thing?

I have no answer to that question
that bothers me
but then, I did not want freedom at first
I did not know what it was
maybe it is the same for them
Purchase Links:

Amazon CA

Meet the Author and the Illustrator of The Wandering God:

Author:



Joshua Pantalleresco writes stuff...and podcasts too. He writes poetry, prose, comics and other mediums as well as hosts his own podcast show Just Joshing available on Itunes. He lives in his own head most of the time, and likes ice cream and baileys.

The Wandering God is his third book through Mirror World Publishing. He lives in Calgary. His webpage is http://jpantalleresco.wordpress.com and his twitter is @jpantalleresco.

Illustrator:



Florence Chan is an illustrator, designer and 3D modeller from Calgary, Alberta, now living in Toronto, Canada. She is the illustrator of Marilyn Marsh Noll's 'Jonathan and the Magical Broomstick' and Joshua Pantalleresco's 'The Watcher' and ‘Stormdancer’ and has contributed to Jason Mehmel's comic anthology 'Fight Comics' as well as Damian Willcox's 'Dorkboy: 1995-2015 Two Dorkades and Counting'.

Her work can be found at www.florencechan.ca

Connect with Joshua:

Amazon US: 
Author Website: 

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Schedule - The Mystery on Lost Lagoon (Nikki Landry Swamp Legends, Book 4) by Rita Monette


About The Mystery on Lost Lagoon:

Legend has it… if you go onto Lost Lagoon, you never return.

Nikki Landry and her friends are off on a quest to track down the prehistoric-looking bird that’s been flying around a nearby swamp island. However, their plans get sidetracked when they meet a stranger in their small town who seems to have some secrets to hide.

The sleuthing group soon learns of a legend about a hidden lagoon. Is it all connected? Before they can find out, they are kidnapped by a mysterious scientist on a mission of his own.

Is there any truth to the legend that says if you go onto Lost Lagoon, you will never return? Is the eerie whirlpool that sits waiting to suck you in really a passage to another world?

Join Nikki, her friends, and one neurotic parrot, as they discover the truth behind the Mystery on Lost Lagoon.


Tour Schedule:

Nov. 17

Books, Dreams, Life - Spotlight
http://booksdreamslife0829.blogspot.com/ 

Sapphyria's Book Promotions - Spotlight
http://saphsbookpromotions.blogspot.com/

Sapphyria's Book Reviews - Exclusive Excerpt
https://sapphyriasbookblog.tumblr.com/ 

Nov. 20

T's Stuff - Spotlight
https://teresanoel.blogspot.com 

Teatime and Books - Spotlight
http://www.teatimeandbooks76.blogspot.com 

Nov. 21

Sharon Ledwith: I came. I saw. I wrote. - Guest Post
http://sharonledwith.blogspot.ca/ 

Leigh Goff - Exclusive Excerpt
www.leighgoff.com 

Nov. 22

Chris Pavesic - Guest Post
chrispavesic.com

Jojo Debrazza - Guest Post

JRs Book Reviews - Spotlight
https://jrsbookreviews.wordpress.com/ 

Nov. 23
Karlee Kay - Spotlight
https://karlee-kay.blogspot.com 

Nov. 24

YA/NA Book Divas - Spotlight
http://www.yabookdivas.com

Carrie Ann Tripp - Review
www.carrieanntripp.com

Lisa-Queen of Random - Spotlight
http://www.Lisas2900.blogspot.com
@Lisa2900

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Book Spotlight ~ The Wandering God (The Watcher, Book 3) by Joshua Pantalleresco @jpantalleresco


Greater Worlds than These

Following the events of Stormdancer, The Watcher receives a vision in a dream of a city in turmoil. The dream haunts him, as does the voice that insistently repeats, 'Help me,' night after night. Leaving the safety of the tower of scientists behind, the Watcher and his friends embark on their final journey to locate the source of the message and come face to face with their most difficult obstacle yet: doubt.
Though they trust the Watcher, Kristen and the others can't help but fear that the voice in his head is driving him mad and leading them all to their deaths. Even the Watcher is afraid. He knows that listening to this voice risks everything he has obtained up until this point, but he can't help but continue to follow it, driven forward by curiosity and an  instinctive need.

Beyond volcanoes, rock people, and deserts of nothing but crystal, lies the City at the End of the World. And there, the Wandering God awaits...

Tags: Young Adult, Poetry, Epic, Post-Apocalyptic, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dragons

Kindle version of the book is 161 pgs. long.

More info can be found on Amazon

Follow the book tour:

https://saphsbookpromotions.blogspot.com/2017/11/schedule-wandering-god-watcher-book-3.html

Praise for The Wandering God:

“I can say with no hyperbole that The Watcher by Joshua Pantalleresco is, truly, an epic epic.” ~Dirk Manning, author of Tales of Mr. Rhee and Nightmare World

"Joshua Pantalleresco paints a stunning and vivid world through poetry and takes the reader on an adventure that is well worth a read." ~Christine Steendam, award-winning author of the Ocean series and Foremost chronicles

Read an Excerpt:

now I stand in this space in the dream 
I know this cannot be real 
watching this whole story play in my head 
feeling the presence of someone 
something 
watching with me 

"Help me." 

I know the voice when I hear it 
it beckons me to another place 

the vision shifts to a city 
like the one I saw at the beginning 
it still stands 
surrounded by barrenness 
it thrives in spite of the growing emptiness around it 
vibrant defiance in an empty world 
those same structures I saw in the dream remain 
pointing up at the heavens 
daring the Wandering God to find them 

somehow I know 
that voice will be there 
waiting 

"Help me." 

I wake up 
gasping back to life from slumber 
happy to confirm it was only a dream 

I look around at the others 
sound asleep 
at peace 
dreaming their tranquil dreams 

I am thankful they came for me 
it is nice to know that in this empty place 
you are not alone 

I am glad to be with my family 
I wouldn't trade them for anything 
I close my eyes again I am not alone

Purchase Links:

Amazon CA

Meet the Author and the Illustrator of The Wandering God:

Author:



Joshua Pantalleresco writes stuff...and podcasts too. He writes poetry, prose, comics and other mediums as well as hosts his own podcast show Just Joshing available on Itunes. He lives in his own head most of the time, and likes ice cream and baileys.

The Wandering God is his third book through Mirror World Publishing. He lives in Calgary. His webpage is http://jpantalleresco.wordpress.com and his twitter is @jpantalleresco.

Illustrator:



Florence Chan is an illustrator, designer and 3D modeller from Calgary, Alberta, now living in Toronto, Canada. She is the illustrator of Marilyn Marsh Noll's 'Jonathan and the Magical Broomstick' and Joshua Pantalleresco's 'The Watcher' and ‘Stormdancer’ and has contributed to Jason Mehmel's comic anthology 'Fight Comics' as well as Damian Willcox's 'Dorkboy: 1995-2015 Two Dorkades and Counting'.

Her work can be found at www.florencechan.ca

Connect with Joshua:

Amazon US: 
Author Website: 

Sunday, November 12, 2017

Schedule ~ The Wandering God (The Watcher, Book 3) by Joshua Pantalleresco @jpantalleresco


Greater Worlds than These

Following the events of Stormdancer, The Watcher receives a vision in a dream of a city in turmoil. The dream haunts him, as does the voice that insistently repeats, 'Help me,' night after night. Leaving the safety of the tower of scientists behind, the Watcher and his friends embark on their final journey to locate the source of the message and come face to face with their most difficult obstacle yet: doubt.
Though they trust the Watcher, Kristen and the others can't help but fear that the voice in his head is driving him mad and leading them all to their deaths. Even the Watcher is afraid. He knows that listening to this voice risks everything he has obtained up until this point, but he can't help but continue to follow it, driven forward by curiosity and an  instinctive need.

Beyond volcanoes, rock people, and deserts of nothing but crystal, lies the City at the End of the World. And there, the Wandering God awaits...

Tags: Young Adult, Poetry, Epic, Post-Apocalyptic, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dragons

Kindle version of the book is 161 pgs. long.

More info can be found on Amazon

Tour Schedule:

November 13

Tales from the Bayou... - Spotlight

Sharon Ledwith: I came. I saw. I wrote. - Exclusive Excerpt 

A Bluestocking's Place - Spotlight
ov099.wordpress.com

November 14

YA/NA Book Divas - Exclusive Excerpt
http://www.yabookdivas.com

Lisa-Queen of Random (blog) - Spotlight
Lisa2900 for twitter/pinterest and instagram/facebook-queenofrandom 

JRs Book Reviews - Spotlight
https://jrsbookreviews.wordpress.com/

November 15

Chris Pavesic - Guest Post

T's Stuff - Exclusive Excerpt

Sapphyria's Book Promotions - Spotlight

November 16

Karlee Kay - Spotlight

Books, Dreams, Life - Spotlight
http://booksdreamslife0829.blogspot.com/

Teatime and Books - Exclusive Excerpt
http://www.teatimeandbooks76.blogspot.com

November 17

Girl with Pen - Exclusive Excerpt

Sapphyria's Book Reviews - Review

Sapphyria's Book Promotions - Spotlight

Friday, November 3, 2017

Invitation to Host - The Wandering God by Joshua Pantalleresco ~ Nov. 13-17, 2017


About the Book:

Greater Worlds than These  

Following the events of Stormdancer, The Watcher receives a vision in a dream of a city in turmoil. The dream haunts him, as does the voice that insistently repeats, 'Help me,' night after night. Leaving the safety of the tower of scientists behind, the Watcher and his friends embark on their final journey to locate the source of the message and come face to face with their most difficult obstacle yet: doubt.   

Though they trust the Watcher, Kristen and the others can't help but fear that the voice in his head is driving him mad and leading them all to their deaths. Even the Watcher is afraid. He knows that listening to this voice risks everything he has obtained up until this point, but he can't help but continue to follow it, driven forward by curiosity and an  instinctive need.   

Beyond volcanoes, rock people, and deserts of nothing but crystal, lies the City at the End of the World. And there, the Wandering God awaits... 

Tags: Young Adult, Poetry, Epic, Post-Apocalyptic, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dragons

Kindle version of the book is 161 pgs. long.

More info can be found here:  http://amzn.to/2gzyEPS

This is for November 13-17, 2017 .  I don't require top or only post of the day for any of my tours.  Materials will include a standard post and an HTML.

Thank you for signing up to host The Wandering God.

Sign up to host here:


Or fill in this form:

New Release ~ Tiffany Shand's Building Your Author Platform Series #BusinessWriting



About the Series:

Titles: Building Your Author Platform, How To Write A Business Plan For Writers and The Author’s Guide To Book Blog Tours

Tired of hearing that you must start building your author platform straight away but having no idea how to get started? Becoming an author in today’s world has never been easier with the self-publishing revolution. But how does an author stand out in a crowded market?

Setting up and building your author platform before you even publish your first book is the best way for building a solid platform that will last and help you grow your tribe of fans.

In this series, I’ll show you all the fundamentals from building your platform from scratch, writing a business plan for long term publishing success and how to promote your book with a virtual tour.

Let’s get started on your publishing journey.

Tags: Business Writing, Web Marketing, Non-Fiction

Add to your shelf on Goodreads:


Amazon: http://amzn.to/2yL6gUV

Follow the tour to read reviews, exclusive interviews, guest posts, and to visit the hosts:

https://saphsbookpromotions.blogspot.com/2017/10/book-tour-schedule-building-your-author.html

Read an Excerpt from each book in the series:

From Building Your Author Platform

What is an author platform?

When I first started my publishing journey back in early 2014, I had no idea what an author platform was or how to build one.

So what is an author platform? An author platform, as the name suggests, is a launch site from where all your book marketing takes place. A platform encompasses everything from a website, social media to readership. A platform is basically the number of people you can broadcast your message to.

Publishers don’t usually gamble on new authors who don’t already have a platform and an audience ready and waiting. If you already have an established platform and a readership, they are much more likely to take an interest in you.

Essentially, a platform is built out of a website and/or a blog, social media channels, and an email newsletter. It’s a direct link to your readers.

It’s the amount of influence you have over your readership, the level of visibility and authority you have in your particular genre, and your connection to your readers.

Authors can easily reach their fans on a global scale, thanks to the Internet. Gone are the old days of having to write letters or press releases. Now you can reach readers with a click of a mouse.

Do you need an author platform?

My answer would be: yes. In my opinion, every author needs a platform, whether they are writing sword-fighting fantasy, historical romance, children’s books or business guides. Every platform is different for each author, depending on their genre.

New authors need to have a strategy to launch their book and create a hype for it. Without any kind of strategy, it will make it harder for you to sell books or gain any real readers and long-time fans.

Some authors may say that they don’t need an author platform to sell books, and this may have been the argument for authors 50+ years ago. Writers aren’t just authors nowadays, especially if you are an indie author. Now authors have to be marketers and entrepreneurs. Having a solid author platform can help you market your book and leave you able to write more in the meantime.

When should you start building your author platform?

Ideally, it’s best to start building your author platform as soon as you start writing your book or at least before you publish your first book. Many authors don’t do this. I didn’t start building my own author platform until after I had published my first novel and this definitely made things harder for me to start growing my audience and building a readership. So the time to start building your platform is right now!


From How To Write A Business Plan For Writers

Why you need to treat publishing like a business.

Writers write books, but in this new world of digital publishing, they have to be a lot more than that. Writers have to be marketers and entrepreneurs. They have to build themselves an author platform, grow their readership, engage on social media, network and so much more. Writing a book is really only the tip of the iceberg.

If you become traditionally published, you may think that your publisher will do all the work for you, but that’s rarely the case. Publishers expect authors to market their own books and build their own platforms. If you don’t have a strong author platform in place, a publisher is unlikely to take much interest in you. It’s harder to get a traditional book publishing deal now, but not impossible. EBooks have provided authors opportunities that have never been open to them before.

If you decide to self-publish your books you are essentially your own publisher. Publishing is a business and has to be treated as such. You have to sort out things such as editing, formatting, cover design and marketing.

Although you can do some of these things yourself, some of it does have to be outsourced, and like any business that takes time and money.

From the moment you decide to publish your book, you became your own business. That’s right a business. Most writers just think they’re writing when they write their book – I used to think the same thing. They don’t think of it as the product it is.

I’m a writer first and foremost, but I also have to be a lot of other things.

Yes, it takes a lot of work to publish books well and get some profit out of it. But it’s also a very exciting and rewarding job.

You put a lot of effort into your book, why not put a lot of effort into yourself as well?

Unless you only write as a hobby and expect friends and family to read your book, you are a business too. A lot of writers don’t think of themselves this way. They think they are just creatives who love the art of writing. But there’s no reason why you can’t enjoy writing your own business plan too. It can help you to focus on your business and life goals too.

If you are someone who likes plotting out their novel chapter by chapter, scene by scene, then you’re definitely going to love writing a business plan. It’s a very similar process.

If you’re the kind of writer who just likes writing on the fly then there’s something in this book for you too. Having a plan in place can help you become much more focused and produce books on a regular basis when you have clear goals in mind.

Why do you need a business plan?

You may ask why do you need a business plan. I used to think this way myself when I first started my publishing journey. You may claim that you’re not a small business, which isn’t true. Writing isn’t like starting up your own company, but you are essentially your own business. If you’re the kind of author who does local talks, goes to book signing, or does workshops you’re already promoting yourself as a business.

Having a business plan will help you plan out your goals and the future you want by building a business around your books. It will also help you to make some money. A lot of aspiring writers believe the old myth about being a starving artist, but this isn’t true. You can make money from your writing if you go about it the right way.

You want to get paid for your hard work, don’t you?

Don’t get me wrong, you’re probably not going to make millions just from your books alone, but there are plenty of people out there who do make a decent living from writing.


From The Author’s Guide To Book Blog Tours

What are book bloggers?

Book bloggers have only been around for the past few years since the use of blogs became much more popular and website platforms became much more affordable for the everyday user.

Since the growth in popularity of blogs over the past few years, dozens of booklovers have taken to writing about their favourite books. A book blogger is someone who loves reading books and writes blog posts about it on their blog. This can include thoughts on books, excerpts and posts about different books and reviews.

The different blogs reflect their owner’s tastes and vary in focus. Many readers will read a variety of different genres; other blogs will focus on a specific genre such as romance, fantasy, or young adult, etc.

Different blogs will have different kinds of audiences depending on what genre that blogger chooses to read. A blogger who likes to read a lot of different genres will probably have an audience who likes the same thing and chooses the type of posts they read on that blog.

Not every blogger will want to read your book, don’t ask a romance reader to read your sci-fi novel to help you promote your book. Choose a reader who enjoys your type of book. This may seem obvious but a lot of authors mass email book bloggers in any genre to try and promote their books, regardless of whether that blogger reads their book’s genre or not. There’s no point in trying to contact them if they don’t like your particular type of book, it’s just a waste of your time and theirs.

Who are book bloggers?

One author asked me who book bloggers are; they are, of course, people who love to read books. They enjoy sharing their thoughts about the books they have read and write about it on their blogs. They can be male or female, and range in age from teenagers to people in their 70s. A lot of teenagers love young adult books because they can relate to that genre of growing up and trying to figure out who they want to be in life.

Some book bloggers are aspiring authors experimenting with their blog to see what reactions they get to their writing. The kind of blogger to look for really depends on your target audience. For example, my urban fantasy and paranormal romance books are aimed at women, but my non-fiction books are aimed at both men and women.

For most book bloggers, blogging is just a hobby and something they do in their spare time. They don’t generally make money from their blogs – or if they do it isn’t very much. But there are exceptions to this, there are successful, profitable book blogs out there. It’s still worth approaching some of the bigger bloggers as they may still be interested in your book.

Meet the Author:



Tiffany Shand started writing short stories when she was a child. She has always done writing in one form or another and started writing novels in her early teens.

Tiffany loves to read books and discovered her love for fantasy and paranormal romance. She writes both non-fiction and fiction, and love helping writers to build their author platforms.

After doing a creative writing course in her early 20s, she is now a freelance writer and professional editor.

Tiffany lives in Essex with her two spoiled cats and one very nutty hamster.

Find Tiffany on:

Purchase link

Tiffany’s Website

Tiffany’s blog

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads


Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Book Tour ~ Goth Girl Virgin Queen by JoAnne Keltner #YA #Paranormal

Welcome to the 2-week blog tour for Goth Girl, Virgin Queen by JoAnne Keltner.

Follow the tour and connect with bloggers, read reviews of the book, read guest posts, and meet the author.


Book Information:

Title: Goth Girl, Virgin Queen

Author Name: JoAnne Keltner

Genre(s): Young Adult Paranormal

Length: Approx. 298 pages

Release Date: December 3, 2015

About Goth Girl, Virgin Queen:

Calling Jackie Turov psychic makes her cringe. But Jackie’s no normal seventeen-year-old. She picks up emotions from people and objects like a freak. The emotions make her sick, and the guilt she feels for lying to her church when she was twelve causes her to deny her psychic abilities.

So Jackie goes goth to make others stay away from her and forget her past. But her past is soon resurrected when her jealous friend Trish invites a demon, a persecutor of healers, to steal away Jason’s love for Jackie. The demon causes Jackie to be bullied for the lie she told and puts her best friend, Jason, in danger.

Jackie must learn how to use her gift to protect Jason and herself and to heal the negative energies of those around her. To do so means she must overcome her guilt and accept who she is before the demon claims her soul.

Read an Excerpt:

The medicine cabinet mirror—dotted with rust and turning gray—made the powder foundation on Jackie’s face look ashen and her jet-black hair, blurry. She looked like a shadow of a girl. She smeared black lipstick on her lips and shook out her shoulder-length hair. Her straight-cut bangs veiled her mascara-lined eyes, and the layered ends of her hair stuck out in defiant wisps.

Some of the kids at school—the ones she didn’t hang out with—called her Goth Girl. Some, whose memories wouldn’t die, called her VQ for Virgin Queen.

Jackie preferred Goth Girl, to be one of the living dead, to be numb to the emotions that plagued her. But this was what she wanted, not what she got.

Goth Girl or Virgin Queen, she was a freak, absorbing the emotions around her like a sponge. Sometimes the emotions made her sick. Sometimes they made her see things.

Because of this, she kept to a tight-knit group of goth friends—Jason, Zeta, and Trish—and avoided social activities. She attended high school only because Mom wouldn’t let her homeschool. Mom was afraid she’d hang with Babu all day, making piroshki and doing needlepoint instead of studying. Jackie, afraid of what life offered a freak like her beyond high school, had to admit that hanging with Babu all day was tempting.

Typically, Fridays were movie nights for Jason and her, but tonight would be different. Tonight, she’d subject herself to a hodgepodge of emotions from crowds and rides and the very ground she’d walk on to protect Jason. For this, she would need physical and spiritual strength, which she sought from Babu these days.

Babu’s door was cracked, and Jackie slowly pushed the door open. “Babu?”

The room smelled of beeswax and down. A candle burned on the shrine on the dresser. The flickering flame animated the icon of the Virgin of Vladimir and cast shadows across the picture of Babu, Grandma, Mom, and Jackie. Although Babu didn’t speak English, and Jackie didn’t understand much Russian, Jackie knew Babu kept that picture on her shrine to pray for Grandma, who passed away several years ago; for Mom, who divorced Dad; and for the girl who saw the Virgin when she was twelve—for the girl she had become as a teen.

Babu sat in bed, a country quilt spread over her legs, her thumb pressed against a knot of her prayer rope, her head bowed sleepily, and her lips wording prayers.

“I wanted to say goodbye,” Jackie whispered.

Babu crossed herself and then smiled at Jackie, her gold eyetooth shining from the light of the bed-stand lamp. She patted the empty space beside her. “Sadees.”

Jackie sat down beside Babu at the edge of the bed and took Babu’s hand in hers. Babu’s hand was warm and knotted with arthritis. Jackie rubbed her thumb over the bumps on Babu’s knuckles; her black fingernails were a sharp contrast to Babu’s flour-white skin.

She wasn’t afraid to touch Babu’s hands and absorb her emotions. Jackie got a good feeling from her. Babu filled Jackie’s inner vision with white light. She renewed her spirit. And this is what Jackie needed for the commitment she had made for tonight.

Kooda eedyosh?” Babu asked.

“I’m going out,” Jackie said as if Babu understood her. This is how they communicated: Babu telling her stuff she couldn’t understand, Jackie telling Babu stuff she couldn’t understand. Somehow they carried on fine this way.

Eedyosh sdroozyamee?”

“I’m going with Jason.”

Babu rubbed the top of Jackie’s hand and ran her thumb over black fingernails. “Fsyevo kharoshevuh,” she said in a comforting tone and gently squeezed Jackie’s hand. Then she cupped her hands around Jackie’s jaws and pulled her forehead to her lips. Jackie imagined Babu’s kiss imprinted on her forehead and carrying Babu’s blessings and love with her tonight.
Meet the Author:



JoAnne Keltner is the author of Goth Girl, Virgin Queen (Solstice Publishing, 2015) and Obsession. As an only child and avid daydreamer, she spent hours alone in her backyard on the South Side of Chicago, which she imagined to be everything from an alien planet to the Antarctic. She currently lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband, four dogs, cat, and three chickens. When she isn't writing or freelance editing, she's obsessively streaming popular TV shows.

Social Media Links:

Monday, October 30, 2017

Book Tour & #Giveaway ~ Goth Girl Virgin Queen by JoAnne Keltner #YA #Paranormal

Welcome to the 2-week blog tour for Goth Girl, Virgin Queen by JoAnne Keltner.

Follow the tour and connect with bloggers, read reviews of the book, read guest posts, and meet the author.


Book Information:

Title: Goth Girl, Virgin Queen

Author Name: JoAnne Keltner

Genre(s): Young Adult Paranormal

Length: Approx. 298 pages

Release Date: December 3, 2015

About Goth Girl, Virgin Queen:

Calling Jackie Turov psychic makes her cringe. But Jackie’s no normal seventeen-year-old. She picks up emotions from people and objects like a freak. The emotions make her sick, and the guilt she feels for lying to her church when she was twelve causes her to deny her psychic abilities.

So Jackie goes goth to make others stay away from her and forget her past. But her past is soon resurrected when her jealous friend Trish invites a demon, a persecutor of healers, to steal away Jason’s love for Jackie. The demon causes Jackie to be bullied for the lie she told and puts her best friend, Jason, in danger.

Jackie must learn how to use her gift to protect Jason and herself and to heal the negative energies of those around her. To do so means she must overcome her guilt and accept who she is before the demon claims her soul.

Enter the Goodreads Giveaway: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28159562-goth-girl-virgin-queen

Read an Excerpt:

The medicine cabinet mirror—dotted with rust and turning gray—made the powder foundation on Jackie’s face look ashen and her jet-black hair, blurry. She looked like a shadow of a girl. She smeared black lipstick on her lips and shook out her shoulder-length hair. Her straight-cut bangs veiled her mascara-lined eyes, and the layered ends of her hair stuck out in defiant wisps.

Some of the kids at school—the ones she didn’t hang out with—called her Goth Girl. Some, whose memories wouldn’t die, called her VQ for Virgin Queen.

Jackie preferred Goth Girl, to be one of the living dead, to be numb to the emotions that plagued her. But this was what she wanted, not what she got.

Goth Girl or Virgin Queen, she was a freak, absorbing the emotions around her like a sponge. Sometimes the emotions made her sick. Sometimes they made her see things.

Because of this, she kept to a tight-knit group of goth friends—Jason, Zeta, and Trish—and avoided social activities. She attended high school only because Mom wouldn’t let her homeschool. Mom was afraid she’d hang with Babu all day, making piroshki and doing needlepoint instead of studying. Jackie, afraid of what life offered a freak like her beyond high school, had to admit that hanging with Babu all day was tempting.

Typically, Fridays were movie nights for Jason and her, but tonight would be different. Tonight, she’d subject herself to a hodgepodge of emotions from crowds and rides and the very ground she’d walk on to protect Jason. For this, she would need physical and spiritual strength, which she sought from Babu these days.

Babu’s door was cracked, and Jackie slowly pushed the door open. “Babu?”

The room smelled of beeswax and down. A candle burned on the shrine on the dresser. The flickering flame animated the icon of the Virgin of Vladimir and cast shadows across the picture of Babu, Grandma, Mom, and Jackie. Although Babu didn’t speak English, and Jackie didn’t understand much Russian, Jackie knew Babu kept that picture on her shrine to pray for Grandma, who passed away several years ago; for Mom, who divorced Dad; and for the girl who saw the Virgin when she was twelve—for the girl she had become as a teen.

Babu sat in bed, a country quilt spread over her legs, her thumb pressed against a knot of her prayer rope, her head bowed sleepily, and her lips wording prayers.

“I wanted to say goodbye,” Jackie whispered.

Babu crossed herself and then smiled at Jackie, her gold eyetooth shining from the light of the bed-stand lamp. She patted the empty space beside her. “Sadees.”

Jackie sat down beside Babu at the edge of the bed and took Babu’s hand in hers. Babu’s hand was warm and knotted with arthritis. Jackie rubbed her thumb over the bumps on Babu’s knuckles; her black fingernails were a sharp contrast to Babu’s flour-white skin.

She wasn’t afraid to touch Babu’s hands and absorb her emotions. Jackie got a good feeling from her. Babu filled Jackie’s inner vision with white light. She renewed her spirit. And this is what Jackie needed for the commitment she had made for tonight.

Kooda eedyosh?” Babu asked.

“I’m going out,” Jackie said as if Babu understood her. This is how they communicated: Babu telling her stuff she couldn’t understand, Jackie telling Babu stuff she couldn’t understand. Somehow they carried on fine this way.

Eedyosh sdroozyamee?”

“I’m going with Jason.”

Babu rubbed the top of Jackie’s hand and ran her thumb over black fingernails. “Fsyevo kharoshevuh,” she said in a comforting tone and gently squeezed Jackie’s hand. Then she cupped her hands around Jackie’s jaws and pulled her forehead to her lips. Jackie imagined Babu’s kiss imprinted on her forehead and carrying Babu’s blessings and love with her tonight.
Meet the Author:


JoAnne Keltner is the author of Goth Girl, Virgin Queen (Solstice Publishing, 2015) and Obsession. As an only child and avid daydreamer, she spent hours alone in her backyard on the South Side of Chicago, which she imagined to be everything from an alien planet to the Antarctic. She currently lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband, four dogs, cat, and three chickens. When she isn't writing or freelance editing, she's obsessively streaming popular TV shows.

Social Media Links:

What inspired me to write my author platform series by Tiffany Shand, author of the Building Your Author Platform series 3 books in 1



Please welcome Tiffany Shand to the blog today where she will give a little background on writing the Building Your Author Platform series.

What inspired me to write my author platform series

When I first started my publishing journey three years ago, I had no idea what an author platform even was. After losing a lot of money to dodgy editors and formatters then not making many sales with my first book, I decided I had to make some changes. After reading everything I could get my hands on about indie publishing and how to be a successful author, one thing I kept coming across was other people saying that I needed to have a solid author platform. I had no idea what that meant or even entailed. This really inspired me to want help other writers in my position who often don’t know what to do or where to turn when they are first starting out.

An author platform is basically the kind of reach you have, how you reach a certain number of people or in an author’s case readers. An author platform is made up of several different elements such as your author website or blog, your email list and social media channels. (This series, I learned learn author platform is something different for every author, no author platform is the same and is something that is always evolving and changing over time.

About the Series:

Titles: Building Your Author Platform, How To Write A Business Plan For Writers and The Author’s Guide To Book Blog Tours

Tired of hearing that you must start building your author platform straight away but having no idea how to get started? Becoming an author in today’s world has never been easier with the self-publishing revolution. But how does an author stand out in a crowded market?

Setting up and building your author platform before you even publish your first book is the best way for building a solid platform that will last and help you grow your tribe of fans.

In this series, I’ll show you all the fundamentals from building your platform from scratch, writing a business plan for long term publishing success and how to promote your book with a virtual tour.

Let’s get started on your publishing journey.

Tags: Business Writing, Web Marketing, Non-Fiction

Add to your shelf on Goodreads:


Amazon: http://amzn.to/2yL6gUV

Follow the tour to read reviews, exclusive interviews, guest posts, and to visit the hosts:

https://saphsbookpromotions.blogspot.com/2017/10/book-tour-schedule-building-your-author.html

Read an Excerpt from each book in the series:

From Building Your Author Platform

What is an author platform?

When I first started my publishing journey back in early 2014, I had no idea what an author platform was or how to build one.

So what is an author platform? An author platform, as the name suggests, is a launch site from where all your book marketing takes place. A platform encompasses everything from a website, social media to readership. A platform is basically the number of people you can broadcast your message to.

Publishers don’t usually gamble on new authors who don’t already have a platform and an audience ready and waiting. If you already have an established platform and a readership, they are much more likely to take an interest in you.

Essentially, a platform is built out of a website and/or a blog, social media channels, and an email newsletter. It’s a direct link to your readers.

It’s the amount of influence you have over your readership, the level of visibility and authority you have in your particular genre, and your connection to your readers.

Authors can easily reach their fans on a global scale, thanks to the Internet. Gone are the old days of having to write letters or press releases. Now you can reach readers with a click of a mouse.

Do you need an author platform?

My answer would be: yes. In my opinion, every author needs a platform, whether they are writing sword-fighting fantasy, historical romance, children’s books or business guides. Every platform is different for each author, depending on their genre.

New authors need to have a strategy to launch their book and create a hype for it. Without any kind of strategy, it will make it harder for you to sell books or gain any real readers and long-time fans.

Some authors may say that they don’t need an author platform to sell books, and this may have been the argument for authors 50+ years ago. Writers aren’t just authors nowadays, especially if you are an indie author. Now authors have to be marketers and entrepreneurs. Having a solid author platform can help you market your book and leave you able to write more in the meantime.

When should you start building your author platform?

Ideally, it’s best to start building your author platform as soon as you start writing your book or at least before you publish your first book. Many authors don’t do this. I didn’t start building my own author platform until after I had published my first novel and this definitely made things harder for me to start growing my audience and building a readership. So the time to start building your platform is right now!


From How To Write A Business Plan For Writers

Why you need to treat publishing like a business.

Writers write books, but in this new world of digital publishing, they have to be a lot more than that. Writers have to be marketers and entrepreneurs. They have to build themselves an author platform, grow their readership, engage on social media, network and so much more. Writing a book is really only the tip of the iceberg.

If you become traditionally published, you may think that your publisher will do all the work for you, but that’s rarely the case. Publishers expect authors to market their own books and build their own platforms. If you don’t have a strong author platform in place, a publisher is unlikely to take much interest in you. It’s harder to get a traditional book publishing deal now, but not impossible. EBooks have provided authors opportunities that have never been open to them before.

If you decide to self-publish your books you are essentially your own publisher. Publishing is a business and has to be treated as such. You have to sort out things such as editing, formatting, cover design and marketing.

Although you can do some of these things yourself, some of it does have to be outsourced, and like any business that takes time and money.

From the moment you decide to publish your book, you became your own business. That’s right a business. Most writers just think they’re writing when they write their book – I used to think the same thing. They don’t think of it as the product it is.

I’m a writer first and foremost, but I also have to be a lot of other things.

Yes, it takes a lot of work to publish books well and get some profit out of it. But it’s also a very exciting and rewarding job.

You put a lot of effort into your book, why not put a lot of effort into yourself as well?

Unless you only write as a hobby and expect friends and family to read your book, you are a business too. A lot of writers don’t think of themselves this way. They think they are just creatives who love the art of writing. But there’s no reason why you can’t enjoy writing your own business plan too. It can help you to focus on your business and life goals too.

If you are someone who likes plotting out their novel chapter by chapter, scene by scene, then you’re definitely going to love writing a business plan. It’s a very similar process.

If you’re the kind of writer who just likes writing on the fly then there’s something in this book for you too. Having a plan in place can help you become much more focused and produce books on a regular basis when you have clear goals in mind.

Why do you need a business plan?

You may ask why do you need a business plan. I used to think this way myself when I first started my publishing journey. You may claim that you’re not a small business, which isn’t true. Writing isn’t like starting up your own company, but you are essentially your own business. If you’re the kind of author who does local talks, goes to book signing, or does workshops you’re already promoting yourself as a business.

Having a business plan will help you plan out your goals and the future you want by building a business around your books. It will also help you to make some money. A lot of aspiring writers believe the old myth about being a starving artist, but this isn’t true. You can make money from your writing if you go about it the right way.

You want to get paid for your hard work, don’t you?

Don’t get me wrong, you’re probably not going to make millions just from your books alone, but there are plenty of people out there who do make a decent living from writing.


From The Author’s Guide To Book Blog Tours

What are book bloggers?

Book bloggers have only been around for the past few years since the use of blogs became much more popular and website platforms became much more affordable for the everyday user.

Since the growth in popularity of blogs over the past few years, dozens of booklovers have taken to writing about their favourite books. A book blogger is someone who loves reading books and writes blog posts about it on their blog. This can include thoughts on books, excerpts and posts about different books and reviews.

The different blogs reflect their owner’s tastes and vary in focus. Many readers will read a variety of different genres; other blogs will focus on a specific genre such as romance, fantasy, or young adult, etc.

Different blogs will have different kinds of audiences depending on what genre that blogger chooses to read. A blogger who likes to read a lot of different genres will probably have an audience who likes the same thing and chooses the type of posts they read on that blog.

Not every blogger will want to read your book, don’t ask a romance reader to read your sci-fi novel to help you promote your book. Choose a reader who enjoys your type of book. This may seem obvious but a lot of authors mass email book bloggers in any genre to try and promote their books, regardless of whether that blogger reads their book’s genre or not. There’s no point in trying to contact them if they don’t like your particular type of book, it’s just a waste of your time and theirs.

Who are book bloggers?

One author asked me who book bloggers are; they are, of course, people who love to read books. They enjoy sharing their thoughts about the books they have read and write about it on their blogs. They can be male or female, and range in age from teenagers to people in their 70s. A lot of teenagers love young adult books because they can relate to that genre of growing up and trying to figure out who they want to be in life.

Some book bloggers are aspiring authors experimenting with their blog to see what reactions they get to their writing. The kind of blogger to look for really depends on your target audience. For example, my urban fantasy and paranormal romance books are aimed at women, but my non-fiction books are aimed at both men and women.

For most book bloggers, blogging is just a hobby and something they do in their spare time. They don’t generally make money from their blogs – or if they do it isn’t very much. But there are exceptions to this, there are successful, profitable book blogs out there. It’s still worth approaching some of the bigger bloggers as they may still be interested in your book.

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2yL6gUV

Meet the Author:



Tiffany Shand started writing short stories when she was a child. She has always done writing in one form or another and started writing novels in her early teens.

Tiffany loves to read books and discovered her love for fantasy and paranormal romance. She writes both non-fiction and fiction, and love helping writers to build their author platforms.

After doing a creative writing course in her early 20s, she is now a freelance writer and professional editor.

Tiffany lives in Essex with her two spoiled cats and one very nutty hamster.

Find Tiffany on:

Purchase link

Tiffany’s Website

Tiffany’s blog

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads