Monday, December 31, 2012

Happy New Year: more #Fitzgeralds #Guardians&demons #romance @ednahwalters http://amzn.to/ww3nEF


So what does the future hold for you? Any plans? Goals? Resolutions? I hate resolutions coz I never fulfill them. Goals are good coz you need one even if it is a tentative one.

Here is my to-do list for 2013. What do you think?
  •  Write 6 full-length books-finish the next GL book, write the next 2 Runes book (these are YA, 80,000 words), 1 paranormal adult romance (a new series,) and the next 2 Fitzgerald books (adult contemporary romance)
  • Write 2 contemporary novella
  • Save the world at least 3 times (that's what my paranormal series are about, men and women saving the world from total annihilation)
  • Find a publisher for my picture books
  • Cure world hunger one child at a time (my family is planning on supporting a child in an orphanage in Kenya, $35 a month this year)

 It seems like a daunting list, but I’m at that place where I’m certain I can do all 5 things. Eight books, LOL, I'm pushing it, but hey, they say dream big, right? If I make it, I'll be Queen of the Bookdom. Will start working on one next week.
 
In the meantime, let me know what your plans are.

Ooh, before I forget. Winner of Mid-Winter HOP is: Holly Underhill (hope you got my e-mail)

Here’s to 2013!!!

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

3rd Annual Mid-Winter's Eve Give@way H*0*P*: Betrayed (book#1) #mustread #yaednah_walters #Hunted (book2) Coming April 2013


This hop goes from Dec 21st-27th.
As usual, thanks to Kathy and Oasis for YA for hosting it

If you haven't read BETRAYED, book #1 of the Guardian Legacy series, here's your chance to win a copy. It will be mailed to you from Amazon or Book Depository.


 
BLURB:  Lil isn't just an average teenager. She's one of the Nephilim--the descendants of humans and angels--which gives her some serious psi skills and a mission for redemption. Just when Lil thinks she's found a balance between her normal life with human friends and her training to become a Guardian, she's warned that someone close to her will betray her.
 
When the boy she loves starts acting strangely and one of her human friends acquires a supernatural ability, Lil begins to realize that someone is manipulating the people she loves... and won't stop until she's been lured to the dark side


HUNTED, Book #2 of the Guardian Legacy Series: Coming April 2013:



BLURB: Bran and Lil may have escaped an attempt to lure Lil to the dark side, and recovered the contracts damned people signed with Bran when he was a soul collector, but someone forgot to tell them that no one switches sides or cancels contracts without consequences.

Hunted by an unknown but powerful enemy, Lil, Bran and the Guardians must seek help from unlikely sources to avert total annihilation of the Guardians. When they finally face their enemy, one of them may have to make the ultimate sacrifice


 
 
WHAT TO DO TO WIN:
 
1. Add HUNTED on Goodreads
2. Join my Fanpage on FB
3. What book are you looking forward to reading in 2013-Leave a comment with your e-mail (don't forget to leave your e-mail...I'll use it to notify you if you win)


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Monday, December 17, 2012

COVER REVEAL: The Devil's Triangle by Toni De Palma


 
 
IT IS HERE!!!

The cover reveal for another YA book.

The Devil's Triangle

by

Toni De Palma

When 17 year old Cooper dies in an attempt to burn down his school, he finds himself in the afterlife. Lucy, the Devil's sister who has crossed party lines, decides to give Cooper another shot at heaven. The deal? Cooper returns to Earth and has to find a girl named Grace. The rest is up to him.

While Cooper figures out his mission, he's thrown into the life he's always wanted. Great parents, a spot on the Varsity football team and a real future are all within reach. But what he really wants is Grace, a feisty girl with an abusive boyfriend that can pound Cooper into pulp if he doesn't watch out.

While Lucy plays demonic-puppeteer, clues to an unknown past between Cooper and Grace start to unravel. Cooper discovers that what's keeping him and Grace apart is far more sinister than anything this bad boy could have ever imagined.

ISBNs

978-1-939173-03-4Devil’s Triangle print
978-1-939173-04-1Devil’s triangle Ebook
Find Toni and The Devil's Triangle here:

 

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Simon & Schuster Joins Forces With Author Solutions To Rip Off Writers



This article was originally written by David Gaughran. The article is interesting, but as always, the comments that follow are even more informative. Reblogging after informing the author.


Simon & Schuster has launched a self-publishing operation, Archway Publishing, contracting one of the most disreputable players in the business to run the show: Author Solutions.
We’ll get to that distasteful link-up in a second, but first let’s have a look at what Simon & Schuster are offering prospective customers (i.e. writers).


Fiction packages start at $1,999 and go up to $14,999. If you have written a business book, prices are saucier again: $2,999 to $24,999.


While the upper end of the pricing spectrum is obviously shocking, some of you might think that $1,999 isn’t too bad if you are getting a proper edit and a decent cover.


Not so fast.


That price tag doesn’t include any real editing, just an assessment which – according to their own website – is “not a replacement” for editorial services but “a preliminary diagnostic tool.”
But what if you need proper editing? Fear not! Simon & Schuster is here to help. For just $0.035 a word, you can have a thorough edit of your book. Which sounds cheap until you realize that a standard 80,000 word novel would cost you $2,800. So, in actual fact, the cheapest package, plus their edit, will set you back $4,799 for a standard length book.




As if that wasn’t enough, Simon & Schuster will also take half of your e-book royalties after Amazon and the other retailers take their cut – and pay pennies for print sales.


Not looking so reasonable anymore, is it.


“But wait!” I hear you cry. “Those Simon & Schuster editors might be pretty damn good.” Alas, Simon & Schuster won’t be lending any editorial expertise to this new operation; it will be run and staffed by… Author Solutions – the world famous repository of editorial talent.
In fact, the whole operation has been outsourced by Simon & Schuster to Author Solutions. In case you aren’t familiar with them, let’s go over a little history.


AUTHOR SOLUTIONS


Author Solutions is the umbrella for (and owner of) several seriously shady self-publishing service companies (or vanity presses, if you prefer) – such as AuthorHouse, Xlibris, iUniverse, and Trafford.
Each of these companies has managed to achieve disreputable status on their own, but together they have screwed over more than 150,000 writers. Going through the full history of their rip-off schemes would require a book, rather than a blog post, so I’ll stick to the highlights.
The formidable Emily Suess has been covering Author Solutions for some time:
The short list of recurring issues includes: making formerly out-of-print works available for sale without the author’s consent, improperly reporting royalty information, non-payment of royalties, breach of contract, predatory and harassing sales calls, excessive markups on review and advertising services, failure to deliver marketing services as promised, telling customers their add-ons will only cost hundreds of dollars and then charging their credit cards thousands of dollars, ignoring customer complaints, shaming and banning customers who go public with their stories, and calling at least one customer a ‘fucking asshole.’
Read the above list carefully. Take a moment to consider it. This is the company that Simon & Schuster has hired to run their self-publishing operation – a company which was purchased by Penguin in July for $116m.


If you are unfamiliar with the charges above, this post will give you a little more detail.


PENGUIN


At the time of the purchase, some commentators expressed hope that Penguin would clean up this cesspool. Instead, Penguin gave Kevin Weiss – the head of Author Solutions – a seat on the board.
A seat on the board!
And the scammy behavior hasn’t stopped; in fact, some of it is getting worse. I’ve received reports of Author Solutions staff calling prospective customers and asking if they want to be “published by Penguin.” Yes, they went there.


Then, a month after Penguin’s purchase, Author Solutions were heavily criticized for their misleading marketing strategies by Victoria Strauss of industry watchdog Writer Beware.




Aside from the usual litany of dodgy affiliate programs and misleading “independent” websites, Author Solutions had now gone a step further: using fake people to tout their services. A social media profile for “Jared Silverstone” was decked out with a stock photograph, and sent out to hustle for Author Solutions – under the pretense of recommending them independently.
Since Fake Jared’s fifteen minutes of fame, I’ve seen similar “writers” and “publishing consultants” disingenuously promoting Author Solutions companies in various writing groups on Facebook. And they’re just the ones that slip through the net – the administrator of one popular Facebook group told me that she “turns away people like this all the time.”
The latest wheeze is even better: an army of spam bots, posting comments to writing and publishing blogs, attempting to both lead people back to AuthorHouse and boost SEO. I snapped a comment from one such bot on the blog of Porter Anderson last week (which hasn’t been deleted at the time of writing).



Thank you, Author Solutions. The world really needed more spam bots.




PREDICATED ON IGNORANCE




Before you say that any writer who gets suckered only has themselves to blame, you must consider that Author Solutions is extremely disingenuous about how they target customers.
They prey on people who don’t understand the industry. Their whole business model is predicated on customer ignorance – and they are relentless at exploiting that, hounding people with incessant calls, pushing every emotional button they can think of, until they crack.
And it works. The average customer spends $5,000 getting their book published – which is crazy money – and Emily Suess has received reports of writers being tricked out of tens of thousands of dollars. After all that, the writers don’t sell anything anyway, and what little they do make is often delayed or unpaid altogether.
I can’t say it any plainer: Author Solutions are in the business of ripping people off.
That’s who Penguin purchased. That’s who Simon & Schuster hired to run their self-publishing operation. That’s who the Author’s Guild partnered with to help their members get books back in print.


150,000 writers have already been duped by Author Solutions. That number is likely to increase significantly now that Penguin has legitimized the company by purchasing them and Simon & Schuster has validated their business practices by hiring them.
Let’s make sure no more writers get ripped off.


UPDATE 29 Nov: As you can see, this post has received a lot of comments. One in particular deserves highlighting, from a writer called Khloe on her experience with Xlibris (an Author Solutions company). She says:


“They told me that with Penguin buying them they could, basically, guarantee that penguin would look at my book and because it was so good (she’d read the first couple of pages) they would definitely pick it up – the next 50 shades I was told I would be!”


This is the second such report I’ve received of Author Solutions using Penguin’s name to try and snare writers. The last person was asked (by AuthorHouse), “Would you like to be published by Penguin?” and then was offered the standard AuthorHouse packages, but with all sorts of promises about how “Penguin” would market their work.
Make no mistake, this is on Penguin. They knew what they were buying. Let’s recall the words of Penguin CEO John Makinson on the purchase of Author Solutions (ASI).


“We spent time getting to know the people at ASI and their sophisticated operation,” Makinson said. “They have skills that can help us at Penguin.”

Monday, December 3, 2012

HOLIDAY CHEER AWAY: From Spencer Hill Press, #freebooks, #swags, Spencer Hill authors

1. Winner of Dreaming of Summer is Dinda Lestarini....get in touch

2. Winner of YA Scavenger Hunt is Niahara...congrats!

3. Welcome to SPENCER HILL PRESS Giveaway, hosted by the talented author Judy Spelbring of Spencer Hill Press (my publisher). There are lots of goodies to be won, just check below.




 
SUMMERY OF GOODIES TO BE WON:
 
GRAND PRIZE Holiday Cheer Away Holiday Giveaway Bag

Books: TOUCH OF DEATH
One Spencer Hill Press book (winner's choice--can include soon to be release selections)

 

Jewelery:
Bracelet
TOUCH OF DEATH Handcrafted Pendant- www.stainedglasscreationsandbeyond.com
Handcrafted Necklace and Earrings
So Many Books, So Little Time Necklace

Giftcards:

$20 Amazon or Barnes and Nobel (Winner's Choice)
$15 Starbucks
Two $10 Amazon

Critiques:

First Chapter Critique-Mary Gray
First Chapter Critique-Rhys A Jones
Query Letter Critique-Trisha Wolfe

 

Cool Stuff:
 
GUARDIAN T-shirt
BETRAYED Fridge Magnet
Flashlight
Ornaments
Holiday Towel and Potholder
Candy- nom nom nom

Swag:
BREAKING GLASS Handcrafted Bookmark
FINN FINNEGAN Handcrafted Charmed Bookmark- www.stainedglasscreationsandbeyond.com
PERFECTION
TOUCH OF DEATH
FINN FINNEGAN
BETRAYED
ANGELINA'S SECRET
COPPER GIRL
OTHER TREE
PODs


SECOND Prize Holiday Cheer Away Holiday Giveaway Bag
Books: ANGELINA'S SECRET - 1st edition signed copy
Jewelery: Bracelet
TOUCH OF DEATH Handcrafted Pendant- www.stainedglasscreationsandbeyond.com
Earrings
Giftcards:
$10 Amazon or Barnes and Nobel (Winner's Choice)
$15 Starbucks
$10 Amazon

 

Critiques:
First Chapter Critique-Trisha Wolfe
First Chapter Critique (2500 Words Max)-Elizabeth Langston
Query Letter Critique-Kimberly Ann Miller

 

Cool Stuff:

BETRAYED Fridge Magnet
Flashlight
Ornaments
Holiday Towel and Potholder
Candy- NOM NOM NOM

 

Swag:

FINN FINNEGAN Handcrafted Charmed Bookmark- www.stainedglasscreationsandbeyond.com
PERFECTION
TOUCH OF DEATH
FINN FINNEGAN
BETRAYED
ANGELINA'S SECRET
COPPER GIRL
OTHER TREE
PODs



THIRD PRIZE Holiday Cheer Away Holiday Giveaway

Critiques:

First five pages--Sarah Guillory
First 250 word-DK Mok
Either query or first 250 word critique (your choice)--Michelle Pickett
 

 

 
 





Contest is opened to entries from Dec. 3rd to Dec. 16th

Contest is open to all ages from 13 to any adult age. ( I love to promote reading and writing with young readers.)

Contest is opened to US and Canada residents only. Sorry :(
Fill out the rafflecopter form below to enter. Good luck!

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