Friday, April 25, 2014

OPPORTUNITY WILL BLESS YOU TWICE




 Giving a shout out to a fellow ASMSG member Hunter S. Jones
Hunter just released her novel SEPTEMBER AGAIN and I wanted to help her get the word out. So here's a little info on her and her new book!

BIO – HUNTER S. JONES
2014
Writer. Exile on Peachtree Street.
Lover of all the finer things in life.
The art form I create when writing is much more interesting than anything you will ever know or learn about me. However, since you ask, I have lived in Tennessee and Georgia my entire life, except for one “lost summer” spent in Los Angeles. I was always a complex kid. My first published stories were for a local underground rock publication in Nashville. Since then, I have published articles on music, fashion, art, travel and history.
October 2013 saw the launch of a novel collaboration, SEPTEMBER ENDS, contemporary fiction laced with romance, erotic and supernatural elements, bound by poetry. This novel is written with an anonymous English poet. SEPTEMBER ENDS has been labeled an “Indie Sensation” due the critical reception and international recognition the novel has received.  The book has been downloaded in every Amazon domain on the planet. It has achieved #1 status on Amazon for World Literature, #1 in British Poetry and #1 in Contemporary Poetry.
The first installment of The Fortune Series, FORTUNE CALLING, released in January 2014, is the story of Dallas Fortune, a musician from Nashville who has been dealt a bad hand by fate, but finds a way. It has been #1 on Amazon in Contemporary Fiction featuring Performing Arts and #1 in Contemporary Short Stories.
Look for the next September story, SEPTEMBER AGAIN, released on Amazon on April 15, 2014.




SEPTEMBER AGAIN
By
Hunter S. Jones
&
An Anonymous English Poet

According to Cherokee beliefs, opportunity will bless you twice.
September Again, second in the series, September Stories, is the follow up to the hugely popular indie sensation, September Ends. September Again finds Liz Snow Savage leaving England. She follows her daughter Zelda Savage back to America after Zelda’s betrayal of her. More drama ensues as Liz looks for meaning in life while Zelda finds her direction after the tragedy of losing Jack O. Savage, The Poet. Set mainly in Chattanooga, Tennessee, September Again chronicles the rhythm of life's cycles. The ebb and flow of love unravel the mystery of Liz's past. September Again allows a further glimpse into the intricate web of passion and desire which have entangled Liz Snow, Pete Hendrix and Jack O. Savage for years. Will a chance encounter finally reveal the truth?  What act will change the destiny of Liz and Zelda forever? The story of sin, salvation and redemption continues in Book 2 of the September Stories, told through a mosaic of prose with a smattering of poetry.
Magic happens when you least expect it.

PURCHASE LINKS:


You can connect with me at the following social media sites:
about.me/huntersjones101
www.thehuntersjones.blogspot.com – Exile on Peachtree Street
  

I hope you'll all take a peek at Hunter's books. Thank you for stopping by and sharing your time with me.

And as always...
Dare to Dream!
Su

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Labrador + Poodle = Labradoodle

HAPPY SPRING!!!

DREAM WEAVER & ROCK STAR are still on sale for $0.99 on Amazon Kindle! Get your copy today! There's a great new gadget to get you to my books and books of featured authors.

Welcome back, everyone! I'm always excited to bring you interviews with great authors, and this week is no different. I haven't known today's guest very long so I'm getting to know him right along with you.  

******THIS JUST IN******

Christoph's novel Luck of the Weissensteiners needs votes in the 50 Self-Published Literary Novels Worth Reading 2013-2014!!! Please stop by and give him your vote!  
 
I GIVE YOU CHRISTOPH FISCHER 
Christoph, I’m so excited to have you on my blog. We’d all like to know more about you. Where are you from? Tell us about your family…including those adorable pups of yours.


Thank you, I am very excited to be here, too. So, I am originally from a small town in Bavaria, but I have been living in the UK for 23 years. After a long stay in London and Brighton I now live in a small hamlet, not far from Bath.  My partner and I have three Labradoodles, one 9, one 8 and one 4 years old and they have had 27 puppies in three adorable litters. We spoil them and treat them like children and get a lot of joy out of them. Labradoodles are such adorable and happy family pets.

Lovely! I want to come visit!

What kinds of books do you like to read?

I like to read a bit of everything, really. Heavy stuff, like Dostoevsky, cross-cultural and intense literary or historical fiction, but also comedy and thrillers.

Since I have met other authors online and have read their books to see what they are like, I have developed a taste for more or less everything.

I was just thinking the same thing today. There's so many great writers out there you kind of develop an eclectic taste in books. So, what kinds of books do you write?

I write mostly historical fiction. Family research got me inspired for my first novel and that led to more research and the follow-on novels. I also write contemporary fiction with subjects such as mental health and Alzheimers. I’d love to write a comedy but so far it does not seem to come naturally. ;-)



What is your best advice to someone who is thinking of writing and self-publishing a book?
Just do it. Write, write and write some more. Don’t sit at home and think about writing. Just write down anything, write a diary or a letter. It is a start. Then get good editors and honest beta readers.

Did you try the traditional route of querying agents and editors? If so, do you recommend it to other writers?

Publishing is not what it used to be. It can be a road of impersonal rejection, just because of the number of books competing for the attention of literary agents. Publishers will still expect you to do a lot of the promotional and social media platform work yourself. I was not prepared to give up the rights and control over my work for what is being offered in return, but I know of people who have who are very happy with the deals they have got, so I keep an open mind about it.

So true. It never made sense to me get contracted with a 'publisher' and yet I still had to do all the work I already do, and I'd have to share the proceeds. So, are you on KDP Select and why did you chose to use it?
I am on KDP Select because I tried Createspace and KDP first and I was never dissatisfied with it. KDP offered a good opportunity to get my work out there to people who otherwise might not have bought it. The follow-on sales were encouraging.
I keep meaning to explore other avenues, such as Smashwords or KOBO, to compare notes, but my first KDP giveaway was a big success so I am not in a hurry. I am not entirely happy with their demands of exclusivity, but right now I can easily offer that to KDP.

Why did you become a writer? And how long has your writing journey been?
I experimented with a short story 4 years ago and found I had enough ideas to turn it into a novel. I then began some family research that led to the ideas of more books. A friend persuaded me to publish one of the books on Amazon and it eventually got enough attention for me to go ahead with the second. Meeting other writers has been very inspiring.

Who are your favorite traditionally published writers?
So many. Christos Tsiolkas, Richard Yates, Lionel Shriver, KhaledHosseini, Enid Blyton, Douglas Adams, Henning Mankell, Dostoyevsky, Sartre….

Any great new talent out there you’d like to give a shout out for?
P.C. Zick writes excellent contemporary and literary fiction with great subjects, I read great thrillers by Malla Duncan, Khalid Muhammad and Seumas Gallagher, hilarious comedy by Ian Hutson, Maureen Fisher and Andrew Peters, top scifi by Ceri London and Nicholas Smith and historical fiction by John FHanley and Rob Carter. I could go on, but I won’t…

Can you tell readers the most helpful tools/websites you’ve discovered?
For some reason Twitter seems a very important medium for me. My sales drop when I stop tweeting about my books.  Bookshow.me is very good for links to one book on all Amazon sites. If you have a blog, triberr is worth your while.

Is there anything else you’d like my readers to know about you or your books? Any exciting events coming up?
My new book “Time To Let Go” comes out May 15th. It is a contemporary family drama that touches on Alzheimers and family dynamics.

I like interviews short and sweet; and I like to end them with something fun. So, if I gave you a snowball, a baby and a coin…what kind of story would you write? You can even give it a title if you want.
Probably a horror short story with a slot machine that looks like the baby Chuckie. It kills people in Las Vegas with snowballs, leaving no trace of the murder weapon and it feeds off the left over coins.

Mwahaha! Sounds creepy!

Christoph on:







The Luck of the Weissensteiners Trailer
(You gotta check this out! Even the pups get a cameo!)



Buy Links for Books:






Who could resist that face?!
Christoph, thank you so much for visiting with us today. It’s always great to have indie authors share their work and experience with us.
Cheers!
Christoph's lovely yard
Thank you again for stopping by everyone. I always appreciate the moments of your day that you share with me. 
And as always...
Dare to Dream!
Su