Friday, April 29, 2011

Interview with Kathi S. Barton Author of 'Blood, Body, and Mind - an Aaron's Kiss Novel'

Good friend of mine, Kathi S. Barton releases her first full length novel this weekend, and I am so thrilled to have the opportunity to talk with Kathi about being an author and her upcoming books. 'Blood, Body and Mind' releases this weekend and is classified as a Dark Fantasy that includes Vampire, Magic, and increasing heat levels. There are more than a dozen books in her Aaron's Kiss series and she also has a great line of romance novels called 'The Grant Brothers Series' also releasing later this summer. Kathi promises to keep us entertained and romanced with her amazing talent. Now with out further ado lets meet Kathi and hear what she has to share with us.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Book Review - Lifeline Echos by Kay Springsteen

Lifeline Echos by Kay Springsteen is an amazing Romance published by Astraea Press. Here is the synopsis taken from the Astraea press website, "Voices form a powerful connection. The day the earth rocked LA, Sandy Wheaton became a voice lifeline over the radio for trapped firefighter, "Mick." Less than twenty four hours later, she had fallen in love with him. Shattered when she learned that rescue came too late, she sought solace Wyoming, the home state he had loved. Now, seven years later, she's made a life there as the owner of a popular local bar. But her wounds are still fresh, and she longs to let go of the past and her lost love so she can begin living again. That opportunity presents itself when the local prodigal son returns home. The attraction between them is instant. It feels like she's known him far longer than just a few days." 

This book had me captured right from the start and then took me on the emotional roller coaster of a life time. You fall in love with these characters, Sandy and Ryan and never stop wanting the best for them. I am a big believer in soul mates and 'Lifeline Echos" touches on the impact of soul mates and true love.

This story will fulfill you in every way and ties up things nicely in the end, yet leaves you hoping there is more to come., Kay Springsteen has a great talent for story telling, this is he second novel and after reading both, I know she will not disappoint her readers with future publications. You can get your copy of 'Lifeline Echos' through the Astraea Press site or on Amazon.com. I can't wait for the next release from the budding new author.    

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

New E-Books

I thought today would be a good day to introduce some great new short stories from Vamptasy Publishing. As of today there are seven different short stories available, in a wide variety of tastes. These e-books can be found and purchased on the Vamptasy website or from Amazon Kindle. These shorts also come at a very reasonable cost of $0.47 to $1.61 and range from supernatural and horror to a wonderful children's story.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Agent Challenge

Okay, so I had this great idea for an Agent Challenge and it seems to be flopping. What was this great idea you ask, well I was hoping to enlist an agent to read through a query (just one) and give his/her response. Okay big deal right. Well then I wanted them to read the entire novel and give their impression. Basically see if they would still accept or reject the book.

The agents that I have spoke to don't really like this idea, and I can understand why. Their point is it is hard to determine if you have made a right choice until sales are in. What I had hoped to do with this challenge is prove how important a killer query letter is, and even with a perfect query you can still get rejected.

The query/book I was hoping to use for this is a soon to be published romance...not written by me. It is amazing and every test reader (all fellow writers) have been blown away be the novel. The plot, character and excitement of this story promises to take your emotions on a roller coaster ride. The author has her readers laughing out loud on minute and the sobbing the next. Your heart races at the anticipation of what comes next and you fall in love with the characters...even if you don't want to.

So what is this amazing book I am talking about you ask. Author Kathi s. Barton's 'Nickolas - A Grant Brothers Novel'. To be released later this year on e-book and trade paper back through World Castle Publishing. The Grant Brother's book is a six book series following each one of the brothers.

I am still hopeful that I will find an agent to accept this challenge and then we can go over some of the do's and don'ts of querying. Either way I am very happy for Kathi Barton, and look forward to the many great stories she will have to share with us. Congratulations on yet another contract and great story Kathi.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

My Road to Publishing

Wow, what a week I have had. Yesterday I announced that I have a publishing deal. Vamptasy Publishing has picked up Immortal Embrace, my first book in the Embrace Series a paranormal romance for young adults. Release is set for summer 2011 and will be available on e-book first with a print release at a later date. I am so excited and have been working hard with my publisher to get things ready for you.

Today I was asked how long the whole process has taken me, I thought I could do a little recap of my road to publishing. First off I want to say it takes a lot of hard work, dedication and you have to love what you do. I am a stay at home mother and I have been able to work on my writing career full time. This has consisted of a ton of networking, research, and writing, some good and some bad. I have met some amazing writers, agents, editors and publishers through the past few years. So my first suggestion is do your home work.

So I began writing Immortal Embrace in December 2009, after many re-writes and revisions I decided to have it professionally edited. I hired a editor to do a full edit of my book, this included content, grammar, spelling, and readability the entire editing process took about three months (this was a little long because my editor had a family loss). I then began my query process November 5, 2010 (I still have not heard from this first agent). To date I have collected about thirty rejections, closed fifteen queries to no response and still have nine queries outstanding. After only wanting to go the traditional route I began looking at e-publisher from there I received one referral, and two rejections. During this time I continued to research my options and look for a home for Immortal Embrace. I also continued  to write, I have completed two other stories and have two working in progress. I also began writing articles online and was even paid for these.

This week I noticed a message from Vamptasy Publishing with the subject Query/Immortal Embrace. I have gotten used to seeing these and no longer get excited, it is quite the opposite. When I see my query being returned to me I didn't think, Oh maybe this is the one. Instead I thought Oh here's my next rejection, wonder if they have any feed back? I opened the e-mail and was shocked to see an offer to publish staring back at me. There is no way to describe the excitement one feels when they realize their dreams. I was shaking and couldn't speak...actually I squealed. I went running down the stair, with my cell phone in hand (I opened the e-mail on my cell) "EEEEEEEEEEEEE" was all that came out. My daughter asked "What is it?" and I threw my phone at her to read. The next several hours consisted of me jumping around and screaming with a small group of preteen girls (and I felt like one too). Now with a contract, a book cover, authors page, I finally feel like a real author. Now I know I was before, but any of you unpublished authors out there...well you know what I mean. It is a kind of validation, you get that after you finish your novel and then again when you take the next step.

I hope this helps any of you who are still looking to publish you book or even if you are thinking about writing a book. I wish you all the best of luck in whatever your dream is and I am glad to share mine with you now.  I am a believer in following your dreams so the best piece of advice I can give you is a quote from Gandhi. "A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes." 


Saturday, April 2, 2011

I Finally Have A Blog!

Well today I finally caved in and started a blog. I feel it is an important step in my writing career. Blogs are a great way to gain friends and fans, so here I go.
This week I have been very busy editing book three in the Embrace series, and loving it. I also decided to help a good friend of mine Author Kathi Barton get some things in order so she can submit a romance series she has completed. Working with her and a few other friends on getting her query letter and synopsis ready for submissions has been a blast.
Kathi allowed me the honor of reading the complete series of 'Grant Brother Novels' I have have fallen head over heals in love. Unable to put these books down, I averaged about five hours to complete each full length novel. Currently Kathi is looking for test readers for this series, so if you are interested please let me know and I can set you up.
Kathi's first novel 'Blood, Body, and Mind - an Aaron's Kiss Novel' debuts on April 30th through Hell Fire Publishing. So keep your eyes peeled this is a great book for those over eighteen.
Another author that I recommend is Kay Springsteen and her debut novel 'Heartsight'. This is and amazing heart felt read that is available though Astraea Press. Since it's release 'Heartsight' has gotten rave reviews from it's readers. You will not be disappointed with this romantic tale.
Well I think that is all I have to say for my first entry, but keep posted and I will continue to give out great reads and authors for you to follow. As well as keep you posted on how things are moving forward in my career and the 'Embrace series'. Have a great weekend and happy reading.
Charlotte

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