Sunday, June 29, 2014

Reaching Readers - How to Sell Self-published Books on Twitter

I thought this was pretty interesting.  I usually don't give shout-outs unless I know they are really reputable, but the price was cheap enough to say, "what do you have to lose?" (49.00 US dollars)

Reaching Readers - How to Sell Self-published Books on Twitter

Monday, June 9, 2014

A Blog Hop Between Authors


As you watch yourself grow within the writing community, your circle of friends and authors you admire continue to grow as well.  In this post I'm going to answer four questions pertaining to my own writing, and then I'd like to give a shout-out to two wonderful authors you should know about.  Here we go:

What am I working on?

I'm working on The Mask of Midnight, the 3rd in the series.  Honestly, it's done, but thanks to my critique partners, I realized it was only halfway done.  See the 4th questions for a continuation on this particular point!  Also, I'm happy to announce that my publishing company, FYD Media, has signed its first two authors, Joy Ruth Mickelson and Daryl Glynn Tanner.  I've been after their manuscripts for a while now and love their work.  

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

My work is heavily psychological.  I guess you're asking, "What's the difference between that and a normal psycho-thriller.  Well, in the words of another writer I admire, William Knoedelseder, (author of the NYT bestseller Bitter Brew) he says, "In her debut effort, Laurie Stevens may have created a new sub-genre of mystery novel--the psychiatric thriller.

Why do I write what I do?

I'm a fan of this type of book, so I write what I like to read.  Plus, if I dare venture in the badlands of "delivering a message," (instant frown, huh?)  I feel that a lot of folks either don't recognize how their fear is dominating their lives or they are unwilling to face their fear.  I wanted to create a character who was challenged to do both. The theme behind the series is really about his journey.


How does my writing process work?

Okay, if you take where I'm at right now on this 3rd book...   When I turned the most recent draft into my group of editors (a small but effective group), the response was lukewarm.  Even I knew that the work was incomplete, but I was stuck and didn't know where to go with it.  I put down the work, wrote a novella for publisher Stark Raving Books, a short story for a contest, and then returned to The Mask of Midnight.  The break was worth it.  I saw that I had a very linear book on my hands.  Chunks of plot laid out in a row. I knew I had to weave everything together in a tapestry.  So, I took a literary hammer and broke all those chunks to pieces.  Now I'm like a weaver, threading all the pieces into each other.  I like it much better and hope you will too when it comes out this Fall (fingers crossed).  The best way to keep in the loop is to like my page on Facebook, which I update continually.  Here's the link: Laurie's Facebook Page

Now I would like to make you aware of a couple of other authors and how to get a hold of their work.  

Take care of your physical and mental self until we "meet" again,

Laurie

and now introducing...

Craig Faustus Buck

Anthony Award Nominated short story "Dead End"the prequel to Psycho Logica novella 
 
   
     
Psycho Logic, a noir romp about love, murder, 
porn, psychiatry and valet parking  

Find Craig and more about his books at http://craigfaustusbuck.com


Ray Daniel

Ray Daniel writes first-person, wise-cracking, Boston-based crime fiction including the Tucker mysteries. 

Ray was born in Boston and raised in Revere, MA, a city journalists tend to describe as "gritty." He graduated with honors from the University of Massachusetts with a degree in Computer Engineering and a Minor in English. His work has been published in the Level Best Anthologies THIN ICE and BLOOD MOON.

His first novel-length work, TERMINATED, will be published by Midnight Ink this summer 2014.


Find Ray at 
www.raydanielmystery.com
Twitter: @raydanielmystry
Facebook: www.facebook.com/raydanielmystery