Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Book Publishing Secrets Behind The Peruke Maker by Ruby Dominguez

Driven by a mystical dream I had after trying on a 100% hand-tied human hair wig that I purchased online as described to be harvested from a reliable and youthful donor.


I woke-up from the dream in shivers, seemingly reliving a dark history of a young woman’s horrifying fate named Bridget and her father’s (The Peruke Maker) vindictive quest for justice beyond the grave.


Eerily, I believed that in Salem, Massachusettes from three centuries ago, the Peruke Maker’s Shop lay hidden behind a forgotten and abandoned room of an old crematorium built-up with dust and cobwebs with a finished white wig still sits by the boarded up window to this day.


Wefts of yak, goat, horse and human hair, fishhook-like needles, pomade, powder and a wooden head are laid down on a work table wherein a pair of rusty scissors, entwined with strands of Bridget’s red hair eerily rests by the wall mirror.


So, I have decided to travel to Salem, Massachusettes on a book tour this October 2009 and investigate the existence of the Peruke Maker’s Shop, and to retrace the agonizing ordeal of his daughter, Bridget in Gallows Hill.


THE PERUKE MAKER – The Salem Witch Hunt Curse, is my first published book written as a screenplay.


It was my initial intention and still is, that it becomes a Halloween blockbuster movie.

In the meantime to generate a buzz, I opted for self-publishing/vanity press for immediate distribution to the e-world.


It didn’t take me long to discover Outskirts Press via internet and then submitted my manuscript for their consideration and acceptance.


And now my book is available in 25,000 internet stores around the world.


A highly professional publisher, who holds your hand every step of the way down the road to success!


Outskirts Press services offers me a variety of marketing options inclusive of a PR Marketing Assistant/Leah Zions and a PR Publicist.


It took me 1 year of dreaming about it, 1 year of research work, 4 weeks to put down into written words, and another 2 years to crystallize the story.


Submitted it to Lejen Literary Consultant – Lee Levinson for a script coverage analysis and after 2 months received it back with a good review.


Thereafter, it took Outskirts Press approximately 2 weeks to review and accept.


Words of inspiration to other writers:

When all things fail, let your passion be your retirement plan.

As writers we are very fortunate to be living in an electronic world wherein there are no boundaries for success! Virtual book tours are testaments to sayings like, “What a small world


What’s next for Ruby Dominguez?

I shall be promoting my second and third publshed book titled, ROMANCING THE CLADDAGH – The Curse of Macha (horror/romance) and IT’S OVER MICHAEL, But….(romance/comedy) and in between writing my fourth book, THE RED DRAGON’S TRIANGLE – Boudicca’s Curse (mystery/horror).


The author, Ruby Dominguez is challenged by the conflicting complexities of the past and future. Undeterred, she strokes with pen the somber and bright hues of her visions. She currently resides in San Francisco and works in the field of property management/leasing. She has been a recipient of the “Editor’s Choice Award,” by the National Library of Poetry in 1999 and 2007 for her published poems in the SHELTER OF SHADE. Visit her website at: www.outskirtspress.com/theperukemaker, www.facebook.com/theperukemaker and blog at www.salemcurse.wordpress.com.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Meggie's Remains by Historical Fiction Author Joanne Sundell

Has it only been five years since I almost lost it all, giving new meaning to the “literary pitch?” I’d flown to Albuquerque to collect my very first win in a Romance Writers of America, chapter contest; this one with the Land of Enchantment Romance Authors in New Mexico. The moment I saw the contest posted in the RWA Report—the Rebecca Contest—I had to enter something, since Rebecca is the name of my oldest daughter. It’s a sign, I thought; hopefully a sign of good things to come. Darn if it wasn’t! My third completed manuscript, Matchmaker, Matchmaker, won!

You would think that when given the opportunity to make a pitch to editors at the LERA Conference, I would pitch my winning historical romance, Matchmaker, Matchmaker. Nervous and naive, I sat down with the likes of NAL and Five Star-Gale, and rambled on with another manuscript. I still don’t know what I was thinking . . . but I do know I wasn’t thinking! Russell Davis, the-then-Five Star-editor, actually congratulated me on my contest win at the beginning of my pitch, and I still didn’t get it! When politely asked to submit my manuscript of choice to Five Star-Gale, I snail-mailed my second, completed novel and not my contest win.

Months went by before I got “the call,” saying thank you but . . . no thank you. It’s the answer I expected, being rejected. But wait, the call wasn’t over. Five Star-Gale asked if I had something else I might want to submit. When given this golden opportunity, you bet this time I sent in my contest winner! Some time later I got the call again, saying thank you and let’s talk sale!
That one moment will ever withstand the test of time as “the moment” in my writing life . . . five years and counting.

Joanne Sundell’s first sale was in 2005, to Five Star, Gale, Cengage Learning. The prime market for Five Star Expressions is the library market, but Five Star’s books are also available on-line at Barnes & Noble and all bookstores. The Five Star Expressions line is a combination of romance and women’s fiction. Joanne’s particular interest is in historical romance with suspenseful elements.

To date, Joanne’s sales to Five Star include: MATCHMAKER, MATCHMAKER (06), A…MY NAME’S AMELIA (07) also out in Large Print, THE PARLOR HOUSE DAUGHTER (08) also out in Large Print, MEGGIE’S REMAINS (09), & THE QUAKER AND THE CONFEDERATE upcoming series (5/10, 9/10). Joanne’s first sale was reviewed nationally by Booklist, her second by Library Journal and Publisher’s Weekly, and her third by Publisher’s Weekly and Booklist. A…MY NAME’S AMELIA garnered a top 4&1/2 star rating from Romantic Times Magazine.

History is always a strong character in Joanne’s books, with her first four stories set in colorful, turbulent Colorado history and her next, a two-book series set in Civil War Virginia. As important as it is for Joanne to convey a strong, credible, historical flavor of the time, it is equally important for Joanne to portray strong, credible heroines and heroes. A strong, determined heroine deserves an equally strong and determined hero. Joanne grew up reading romance, historical and contemporary, falling in love with heroes and heroines from Regency England to the American West, from London’s pubs to Colorado’s ski slopes, loving that moment when the hero and heroine meet and fall in love. That moment to Joanne is the moment when Jane Eyre meets Edward Rochester, when Elizabeth Bennett meets Mr. Darcy … that’s the heart-stopping, passionate moment for Joanne in romance. That moment is what led her to attempt traditional, old-fashioned historical romance.

With her three, Colorado-mountain-raised-children grown and off on their own adventures, Joanne lives part-time in Colorado and California, with her husband and their entourage` of felines and huskies.

Joanne is a member of Colorado Romance Writers, Romance Writers of America, Women Writing the West, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and Los Angeles Romance Authors.

e-mail Joanne: author@joannesundell.com

www.joannesundell.com
www.joannesundell/blogspot.com
www.myspace.com/joannesundell

Thursday, September 17, 2009

COMING FOR MONEY by F.W. vom Scheidt

I have always followed a creative life; and, as a result, never seem to have followed a usual route or done anything in a usual manner.

How I got published is no exception.

Because I have an encompassing business career, which always has more work than hours in the day … and, for that matter, does not even have a regular day because I work simultaneously in many different times zones, I suppose I have not felt the same need to publish as many other writers.

Yet I have always sought to maintain my integrity in a struggle with questions that have no answers ... who am I … why am I here … what comes after this life.

And, because of that, I have always written.

Following the adage of writing from what you know best, I wrote from my first hand-hand experience accumulated as a director of an international investment firm. I wrote as truthfully as possible of the world of international finance — not with the over dramatization so common in film and television, but with an intimate telling through a first-person narrative ... of what it can be like to labour in the world of money spinning ... of how the money’s immense leverage for triumph or disaster doesn’t so much corrupt people as corrupt the way they treat each other ... of how the relentless demands of the money so often deprive you of sufficient time and energy to live through the events of your emotional and interior life.

The plot advances along questions arising from how we relate to our careers: How much money is too much? And how fast is too fast in life? And the central character advances along deeper questions in his own life: How do we cope with love and loss?

The story follows Paris Smith. As he steps onto the top rungs of the corporate ladder, he is caught between his need for fulfillment and his need for understanding; between his drive for power and his inability to cope with his growing emptiness where there was once love. When his wife disappears from the core of his life, his loneliness and sense of disconnection threaten to overwhelm him. When he tries to compensate by losing himself in his work, he stumbles off the treadmill of his own success, and is entangled in the web of a fraudulent bond deal that threatens to derail his career and his life.

Forced to put his personal life on hold while he travels nonstop between Toronto, Singapore and Bangkok to salvage his career, he is deprived of the time and space to mourn the absence of his wife and regain his equilibrium.

In the heat and turmoil and fast money of Southeast Asia, half a world from home, and half a life from his last remembered smile, he finds duplicity, friendship and power --- and a special woman who might heal his heart.

Overall, it is a deeply felt story about the isolation of today’s society, the prices great and small paid for success and the damages resulting from the ruthless exercise of financial power.

Yet, although it is a literary novel, it is also fast-paced and highly readable. By the time I had finished writing it, I recognized that readers would find the details fascinating, and would find the characters real, and not easily forgotten.

Because of this, it is the first writing that I have wanted to publish for wide circulation.

Prior to this, my primary fans have been editors who have followed my writing, always been supportive and encouraging, and always patiently promoted that I bring a book to print.

Finding a publisher was not as difficult as I thought it would be.

I retained a professional editor for final proofreading; the editor showed the manuscript to a publisher, Blue Butterfly Books; and the publisher accepted it on first reading.

As incredulous as it may seem, I would not have published with them simply because they offered me a contract.

Upon introduction, I was greatly impressed.

The company is founded on the mission statement of the publisher, Dr. Patrick Boyer, to bring to the market "interesting and important stories that are well-written for a wide audience."

All facets of the organization are entrepreneurial, and the people have great energy and dedication.

They publish some engaging and thought provoking non-fiction, especially in politics, history, public policy and biography; and they are building a selective list of high quality fiction. Their books have been very well received.

The website is: www.bluebutterflybooks.ca

Coming For Money has just been released, and is starting to attract a lot of attention.

As usual, in not following a usual path as with so many other parts of my life, I jumped straight from keyboard to published novel without an agent.

But I am looking for a high quality film production deal.

So I would be interested in hearing from an agent who would like to take on this initiative.

F. W. vom Scheidt is a director of an international investment firm. He works and travels in the world’s capital markets, and makes his home in Toronto, Canada. He is also the author of a new book, Coming for Money (Blue Butterfly Book Publishing), a remarkable and provocative novel about the world of international finance and the human quests for success, understanding and love. You can find out more about his book at http://www.bluebutterflybooks.ca/titles/money.html.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

FREEDOM OF PRESS by Balthazar Rodrigue Nzomono-Balenda

I hope my story can inspire any writer around the world, who is determined to find a publisher that’s willing to publish his/her works. I have been asked to share my experiences on how I got published by Pumpupyourbookpromotion.

On June 2008, I was publishing poems at the International Library of Poetry’s website (Poetry.com), as I received an invitation to Las Vegas by the International Society of Poets, which was one of the world’s largest poetry organizations. I was invited in Las Vegas because I was one of the nominees as Poet of the Year 2007. I was invited because of my poetic accomplishments at Poetry.com. It was an opportunity for me to meet the Pulitzer Prize Laureate, W.D. Snodgrass, Academy of American Poets Past Chancellor David Wagoner and others. But I couldn’t go in the U.S. because I wasn’t well physically and I was sad about it.

Somewhere in July 2008, I was talking with one of my acquaintances about my poems, while we were at a library in Kolding (Denmark). I also showed him the letter I received from the International Society of Poets.

He recommended that I write a book because he saw a potential in me as a writer, but I didn’t. I was afraid to write a book because I thought that I would make a fool out of myself to the world. I didn’t think that I could write good books and I always dreaded that people won’t like my books.

And then I thought about it and I decided to get help from a Danish library, in Kolding concerning finding a publisher. I was willing to find a publisher everywhere in Denmark, but common sense told me that I had to try to find a publisher in the U.S. because most of my poems are written in English and the book market in the States is bigger than in Denmark.

On August 2008, I decided to give it a try. I decided to write my first book and find a publisher across United States and Canada. But I faced lots of challenges because some publishers wouldn’t allow me to publish my book, because I don’t live in either the States or Canada. But I didn’t give up and I still had hope that United States or Canada are the places for me to publish my books.

I contacted Trafford Publishing from Canada and they were willing to publish my book, but I realized that I realized that I didn’t have enough resources and it would be too expensive for me to get my book published.

I felt like hope was gone and I almost quit writing my book. In September 2008, I was publishing my poems as usual at allpoetry.com. Accidentally, I found I-Proclaim’s website. I was very skeptic about their services because many publishers always ask for money before they publish your book. But I decided to get out of my comfortable zone and take this chance, which I might never of gotten.

I-Proclaim was very supportive and they helped making changes, when they weren’t satisfied with the way my document looked. In January 2009, my first book of poetry, The Depth of my Soul was published. In February, my second book, The Struggle of Power and the Fight for Survival and other books, like Freedom of press the sitting duck and Silent Talking. Currently, I am working on my fifth and last book of the year, which going to be a non-fiction book, thanks to the opportunity, I-Proclaim has given me.

My hope is that you get published and that you may be happy, when you look at your first book. Don’t give up on yourself. I know it can be frustrated, but keep on moving and do something remarkable. Don’t let someone’s negative opinion become your reality.

Balthazar Rodrigue Nzomono-Balenda is not only an author and a poet, but also a student, multimedia designer and translator. His previous books include The Depth of My Soul and The Struggle for Power and the Fight for Survival. Balthazar became interested in poetry by accident in 2003 when he wasn’t satisfied with the way things were going in his early studies and in the Danish society. His latest book is Freedom of Press: The Sitting Duck. You can visit Balthazar on the web at http://www.redroom.com/author/balthazar-rodrigue-nzomono-balenda.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Diary of a Mad Gen Y er by Marcus Dino

I decided to publish my second novel Diary of a Mad Gen Yer as an E book. I had my manuscript published by my publisher, Summertime Productions am now in the process of getting my book onto major Ebook sites such as Smashwords. This is in contrast to my first book Fifi, Anything goes in the Double Os which was first published as a hardback by Iuniverse in 2003 and as paperback by Airleaf in 2005. Why did I use an E book publishing platform as opposed to publishing Diary as a printed book? There are several reasons:

The first reason is that e-publishing is more convenient than print publishing. Assuming you have a publisher who gives you the author, a lot of freedom, I can get an e-book published in a week after writing my manuscript as opposed to twelve months. I can make editing changes overnight as opposed to say waiting a month for my changes to come back from editor. It is much easier to market an e-book than a printed book. I can send review copies to reviewers by email as soon as my book is published. I can show my target audience and fans samples of my e-book on my website within days after I have finished writing my manuscript.

Expense is another major reason why I chose to e-publish my book. Face it print publishing a book can be a major expense. There are expenses to the publisher if you self publish, expenses to a professional editor, marketing expenses, etc….With e-publishing you pay a fraction the cost of print-publishing your book. Of course like an author or publisher you want to test the ‘sale ability’ of your book. What if sales are slow and there is little interest in your book? The potential losses are smaller with e-publishing than with printed-book publishing.

Your target audience, what’s more convenient, seeing a book advertised on the net where you can download it onto your PC or e-book reader in a matter or have to drive to several bookstores to see if they even have the book or place an order on the Net and wait several days plus pay shipping costs? E-books are just so user friendly and convenient for readers. E-books have potential if not now but perhaps in the near future more potential for a greater target audience than printed books do.

Editing, no matter how hard we and our editors fine comb our books, typos and grammatical errors still may appear after we have published our books. How exhilarating does it feel to finally see your printed book on a store shelf only to feel a big let down when you see a few glaring typos in the book. With e-publishing you can take care of those glaring typos in a matter of minutes as opposed to the time and expense to have your print books reprinted to take out the errors.

Is e-publishing perfect? Far from it, at this point only a small percentage of the reader population reads e-books. But that population is growing, especially with the younger generation such as the gen y audience, the people I try to target for Diary and Fifi, my first published book. Illustrations may be cruder and less refined than books that are printed, and of course as we all know, e-books may be subject to piracy, that is why writers need to copyright their books to the hilt. Finally the disadvantage of the convenience of getting an e-book published quickly could lead to poor writing and sloppy editing.

But at least in my opinion the benefits outweigh disadvantages and at least in the foreseeable future any books that I publish will initially be published as an e-book.

Marcus Dino has had an interesting professional career, first as an Aerospace engineer, next as a passionate math teacher teaching in urban Los Angeles which he currently still does, and finally, as a part time literary fiction author. It is Mr Dino’s being a die hard movie buff that led him to writing Diary of a Mad Gen Yer in addition to his first novel, Fifi, Anything goes in the Double Os, first published in 2003. Mr Dino is a graduate of Chapman University and he also has Masters Degrees in both Education and Electrical Engineering. Diary of a Mad Gen Yer and Fifi can be found at www.smashwords.com and www.summertimproductions.net. Mr Dino’s personal website which includes numerous blogs, short stories, and poems involving his central character Fifi Larouche, which helped inspire him to write his anthology, Diary, can be found at www.authorsden.com/marcusdino.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Murder Mystery Novelist J.R. Hauptman talks about publishing The Target

After another person discovers that I have written a book, I usually know what the next question will be. That is; “How long did it take you to write your book?” When I answer, that it took nearly twenty years, there inevitably comes the question “Why?”

The easy answer I usually give is that, “I didn’t know how it would turn out!” Perhaps too glib and short an answer but it usually saves a lot of words, an excellent skill for a budding author to develop.

I began the book about five years after I lost my job as an airline pilot during the turmoil of the early years of airline deregulation when a corporate raider took control of our airline, drove the company into bankruptcy and used that as a pretext to tear up our labor contracts. There was a great deal of loose talk at the time that it was a wonder that someone had not assassinated this person who was regarded at the time as “the most hated man in the industry.” The obvious answer to this question is that you want your airline pilots to be “rational” people and that “rational people” don’t set out to kill their boss!

I contemplated these questions sometime after I decided to return to aviation when my new career as a securities broker went down in flames with the stock market Crash of ’87. Faced with the prospect of starting all over at the bottom of the flying business, it occurred to me, what would I do if I were in the mountains on my elk hunting stand and this individual happened to coincidently walk out in front of me? Would impulse overcome rationality?

Not knowing the answer, I wrote the first few chapters of the book and set out to find a writers agent. At that time self-publishing was virtually unheard of and unsurprisingly, my first thirty or so author queries were met with total rejection, at least from the agents who had the courtesy to respond. Some expressed shock that I would even consider writing a novel on this subject. I guess they hadn’t heard of murder mysteries.

As we all know, getting past rejection is easier said than done and I devoted my energies to finding another airline job. I caught on with two charter outfits that promptly went bankrupt themselves before I landed a job with an airfreight outfit and settled into a steady routine that lasted for nearly twelve years. I had thought that I would be able to complete the book during that time, since being back in the flying business had presented me with much in potential material and possible story scenarios, but my progress was much too slow.

Mandatory retirement from the airlines was followed by a job flying corporate jets and another excuse for the lack of writing discipline. The answer finally came from what we all know too well; to be successful as an author, YOU MUST WRITE! Perhaps it is trite, but it is something we have to tell ourselves every day. I had come up with the final plot for the book when I was still flying airfreight but it remained for me to set goals: a total page count, a chapter outline and a word goal for each chapter. Once organized, it was “only” a matter of fleshing out the story. I say that tongue-in-cheek because it still took two more years to finish, even once I had adopted a more disciplined approach.

I was even able to add a denouement to bring the story into the present time and the first edition was published just before the deregulation of the securities and banking industries led to the nearly total meltdown of our economy.

Of course, finishing the book is only half the story; getting published is entirely another matter. Frankly, it is a rarity these days for a first time, unpublished author to land a contract with a major publisher, unless one is a celebrity or a politician. From bitter experience, I know that bulk mailing query letters to literary agents is a waste of postage, ink and stationary. Queries must be specifically targeted to the preferred genre of the agent. One agent replied in her rejection note that what I needed was not an agent, but a publicist. I hired a nationally prominent publicity firm and it was not long before I realized that I could exhaust my retirement funds with very little to show for it. By this time it was obvious that I would have to self-publish and with the guidance of a good friend and mentor, it became clear that the best way to promote sales is through the internet. I am about to enter my third month of online promotion with a virtual tour organized by Dorothy Thompson of Pump Up Your Book Promotion and the internet exposure has grown exponentially.

In the end, I believe your success as a writer is a direct result of your determination and your confidence in the quality of your writing. You must be brutally honest when you ask your self and your readers whether you actually have a good book!

I have been fortunate to have lived a life of rich and rewarding experiences that have provided me with enough writing material to last for the rest of my life. If your life has not yet yielded the “big story,” start with the small ones, especially the one you lived today.

J.R. Hauptman has been a professional pilot for nearly a half century. Barely twenty years old, he began as a military pilot and for almost two years he flew combat support missions in the Viet Nam War. Upon leaving military service he was hired by a major airline and was initially based on the West Coast. His flying career was interrupted by the turmoil that racked the airline industry during the early days of deregulation. In the interim, he worked as a travel agent, a stockbroker and even trained dogs and horses. In the late nineteen-eighties, he returned to aviation, flying jet charters and air freight. He concluded his career flying corporate jets and now lives in Florida. He is completing his second work, a non-fictional social commentary and surfs every day, waves or not. You can visit his website at http://www.caddispublishing.com/.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

How I Got Published by Christian Fiction Author Jimmy Root, Jr.

A permanent fixture etched in my childhood memories is that of an ancient hymn. It was sung off key by parishioners seated in wooden pews with the harsh strands of an old organ dragging it along. But not only the gusto of the singing stuck in my mind, so did the truth of the words. “It took a miracle to fling the stars in space.” From that tender age onward I have been convinced that miracles happen.

There are those that believe the art of getting a book published rests solely on hard work. They are the real blood, sweat, and tears aficionados. They might even be classified as literary sadists. You know; those that believe an author must suffer through years of angst and nail biting just so that they can be classified as having “paid their dues.” But what happens when someone comes along and breaks the rules by way of a miracle or two?

After I had notched the last period on the manuscript of Distant Thunder, Book One of the Lightning Chronicles, I joyfully and expectantly began the search for a publisher. I was clueless, but clueless can be good, at least when it comes to that part about angst and nail biting. No one told me that I was supposed to plow my way through months, maybe years of rejection. No one coached me on how to write a query letter for submitting the manuscript. I simply pressed forward, formed what I thought was a decent query, implemented my Google search button, and began.

"No one told me I was supposed to plow my way through months, maybe years of rejection."

For those of you who are now beginning to shake your head in disbelief or click your tongue on the back of your teeth like a school teacher lecturing a wayward second grader, you have to realize I am totally given over to the miraculous. Yes, you heard it correctly. I believe in the miraculous. From the way God works with those who seek him, to the way cool things happen for those who persevere and believe, I believe in miracles. In the case of the publishing of Distant Thunder, hard work and a miracle worked hand in hand.

Over two hundred query letters were pecked out on my keyboard. Manuscripts were sent. Selected chapters, synopsis, outlines, and character sketches were divided up and handed out over the internet. It all happened in gleeful bliss. And then the responses began to flood in. No! Sorry! Not what we’re looking for at this time! Check with so-and-so. Nice idea, but not our style! We don’t publish new authors, ever! Over two hundred queries attracted over two hundred rejections. But something in the back of my mind said, “Don’t give up. This book is good.” So I folded perseverance into a prayer for a miracle! That is when it happened. I received a positive response in the form of a contract exactly four months after beginning the hunt. And then another contract arrived, and another. Three contracts in all. I chose the one that fit my needs the best, American Book Publishers, and Distant Thunder became a reality.

If you are getting discouraged in your hunt for a publisher, I have some advice. Keep looking. Learn from the rejections. Persevere! In the meantime, polish your work in every way. Then, when you are working your hardest, step aside from the angst and allow yourself to believe for a miracle. Miracles still happen.

Jimmy Root Jr., has served as an ordained minister with the Assemblies of God since 1982, including service in Nebraska, Missouri, and a seven year term as a missionary in Colombia, South America. Jimmy is the lead Pastor of Family Worship Center of Smithville, a growing suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. Married to his wife Jean for twenty-nine years, the Roots have three grown children. Root is a 1981 alumnus of Central Bible College of Springfield, Missouri where he majored in Biblical Studies and Pastoral Theology. He is also an alumnus of Southeastern University, Lakeland Florida, where he majored in Intercultural Studies. A lifetime student of Biblical prophecy, Jimmy is also the Professor of Eschatology, The Study of End Times, for Berean University through the Northern Missouri District School of Ministry. He is a featured speaker at Churches and other venues, and is the host of “The Bible Uncensored” radio broadcast heard on radio stations around the country. His writings, both in book form as well as his blog, are purposed to be a wake-up call to a sleepy American church that seems to be losing a truly Christian World View. Distant Thunder and its sequels, A Gathering Storm and Then Comes Lightning, will reveal to the adventure/thriller aficionado the reality of the coming fulfillment of Biblically prophesied events. You can visit his website at www.lightningchronicles.com or his blog at www.prophecyalert.blogspot.com. Connect with him on twitter at www.twitter.com/JimmyRootJr and Facebook at www.facebook.com/jimmyrootjr.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

THE DEPTH OF MY SOUL by Balthazar Rodrigue Nzomono-Balenda

To be honest with you, I never thought that I would imagine myself publishing a book. It was one of the things, I feared to do. But now, it is a hobby to me and I enjoy it. I began to write my first book, “The Depth of My Soul” in August 2008. I struggled to find a title, which suite my book. Before I began writing my first book, I spent time looking for a publisher who would value my book. However, I had doubts finding a Danish publisher, who would publish my book. Then I decided to look for publisher on the internet across United States and Canada, but there were publishers that would not allow anybody to publish their books, if they aren’t residents in United States or Canada. In September 2008, I wanted to publish with Publish Today, which is situated in Owings Mills, Maryland. However, they don’t do any direct marketing or sales for books. They provide a small marketing packet that would give me helpful tips to start selling my book. I did not have a good approach about this idea because I expected to find a publisher that would let my book be available on his website.

I discovered Trafford Publishing, which has offices in the U.S. Canada and the U.K. I really wanted to publish my book with them, but I came up with the conclusion that I wasn’t financially stable enough to publish a book with them. Trafford Publishing is one of the most credible publishers, I have discovered because they have a wonderful service to new authors, who want their books to be published.

I kept struggling finding a publisher that would value my talent as a writer. Between October and November 2008, I gave up on finding a publisher that would publish my book and I put the idea of me writing a book aside. When I went at www.allpoetry.com , I found a publisher that promoted their service and it was about becoming a published author in minutes. I was very sceptic about their offers, but I decided to give it a try. I was very glad at first. However I had face struggles with the margins of my documents and it took me a while to get it publish. When my book got published, I was very happy.

Balthazar Rodrigue Nzomono-Balenda is the author of the book of poetry, The Depth of My Soul. You can visit his website at www.ganymedeweb.com.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Virtual Book Tour: Publishing Secrets of Women's Fiction Author Shaila Abdullah

As a young teen, if I had known about the perils of breaking into the literary market, I might have quit early and not attempted to write any short stories. Selling a dozen or so shorts to Pakistani magazines in the 90s didn’t seem like a hard task, but years later, when I completed my collection of short stories, I realized how tough it is to sell a short story collection. Agent after agent gave the same response: they loved the writing but short stories are a hard sell. It was then that I decided to self publish through iUniverse—an experience I immensely enjoyed as I was able to control many aspects of publishing and marketing by myself. Being a veteran designer for over 15 years, I designed the cover of the book and all the marketing materials myself. The effort paid off. The collection was internationally recognized, garnered much media attention, and won the Norumbega Jury Prize for Outstanding Fiction and the DIY Festival Award.

In early 2006, I had an agent and encouraged by the success of the collection, I started working on my novel Saffron Dream and received a grant from Hobson Foundation for that work. My agent and I parted ways a year later because we had very different vision for my future. It was then that I decided to approach small publishers with my novel. When Victor Volkman of Modern History Press offered to publish it, I gladly accepted the offer. The publisher is known to get behind his authors 100% and actively participate in making their books successful. Volkman is very inclusive, listens well to his author’s suggestions, and responds to their needs in a timely manner. He is also great with ideas on marketing and book promotion. With him, there is no waiting for the phone to ring. If you have a question, you can bet that it will be answered at once. I didn’t have to do much arm-twisting to design the book cover for Saffron Dreams. Again, I actively participated in the marketing of the book and designed all the marketing materials, including the website for the new book.

There are a few benefits of going traditional versus going self-published. You have more avenues available for promotion. Despite the recent popularity of some self published titles, the stigma still exists around self-publishing.There are many reviewers and even book festivals out there that would not consider your book if it is self-published.

Perhaps my path has not been riddled with hurdles as some, but I do appreciate how tough the market is and applaud every author for picking up their pen and trying. We are all in this together and need to help each other with ideas, suggestions and yes, occasionally even with blurbs.

FREE GIFT

You can find a wealth of information on my website at www.shailaabdullah.com including a reading guide, excerpt, reviews, and buying information. For those with comments and questions, I can be reached at shailaabdullah@gmail.com. If you comment on this posting and leave your email address, you will receive a free e-book called A Taste of Saffron, containing recipes of dishes mentioned in Saffron Dreams. Readers who sign up for updates on my website will get a free excerpt of my 2005 book, Beyond the Cayenne Wall.

Shaila Abdullah is an award-winning author and designer, based in Austin, Texas. Her creative work focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of Pakistani women and their often unconventional choices in life. Her debut book, Beyond the Cayenne Wall, is a collection of stories about Pakistani women struggling to find their individualities despite the barriers imposed by society. Among other accolades, the book won the Norumbega Jury Prize for Outstanding Fiction and the DIY Festival Award. Abdullah received a grant from the Hobson Foundation for her new novel, Saffron Dreams which is about the trials and tribulations of a 9/11 Muslim widow. Abdullah has written several short stories, articles, and personal essays for various publications, such as Dallas Child, Web Guru, About Families, Sulekha, Women's Own, She, Fashion Collection and a magazine of the Daily Dawn newspaper called Tuesday Review, etc. She is a member of the Texas Writers' League. A Pakistani-American, Abdullah is also a seasoned print, web, and multimedia designer as well. See a complete bio at http://www.shailaabdullah.com/bio.html.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Virtual Book Tour: Publishing Secrets of Religious Leader and Author Jerry Pollock

I am grateful to be sharing this journey with your readers. Thank you.

After writing and publishing seventy-five articles in peer reviewed scientific journals and books, and writing grants to fund my research in the Oral Biology & Pathology Department as a Professor at Stony Brook University, I thought I was a writer. Wrong! When it came to write my spiritual memoir, Divinely Inspired: Spiritual Awakening of a Soul, it was a very different experience. My first draft of my incomplete biography was about five-hundred plus pages. I just wrote and wrote wanting to capture every moment. When I looked at what I wrote, I said, “This stinks,” I need help.

I read Dan Poynter’s Self-Publishing Manual and picked out an editor, Gail Kearns, from his list at the back of his book. This was back in 2002 as the first edition of Divinely Inspired was published in 2003. The paperback came out as a second edition in January of 2009 under our Shechinah Third Temple, Inc. publishing wing. You wouldn’t want to have read Gail’s comments if you were me. “This is not a book,” she wrote and she was right. I went back to the drawing board and now instead of wrote and wrote, I cut and cut. What would be Gail’s response this time. “Well now Jerry, you have the makings of a book. You are about 80 percent there.” I was ecstatic. I now added a copy editor, Barbara Coster, listed in Dan’s book and Divinely Inspired soon was ready for publication.

I looked for a Publisher and quickly found out that no one is interested in a memoir of someone like myself, who is not a famous person. What the hell did they mean? I was a Professor and I was not only writing about my life, I was writing about miracles and God’s intervention into my life. Who wouldn’t be interested to read my book? The better question to ask might have been, who would want to read my book? So I gave up on the publishers and tried contacting agents. For the two or three who responded to my queries, the answer was the same as the publishers. Being a more than a little defiant and stubborn too, I threw caution to the wind and self-published. God leads humans in the direction they wish to go.

The self-publishing meant learning a whole new industry. I had to get my ISBN, my LCCN, find out about and learn book design programs, get a Book Cover Image, seek endorsements, and learn how to organize a book. With a lot of grit and inquisitiveness, I managed to put a book together. I was fortunate that my colleague, Phil Garant, at Stony Brook University was writing his own academic book and he helped me with the Adobe PageMaker program. I was also lucky that my youngest daughter Erin married Magnus, a graphic design artist and wonderful human being. My son-in-law is an exceptionally gifted artist but this was his first attempt at a Book Cover. I flew from New York to Los Angeles, and then Magnus and I drove to visit Alan Gadney and Carolyn Porter, marketing specialists, who told us exactly how to set up the Book Cover. They also set up our initial publicity campaign. Little did I know that writing and publishing the book was only five percent of the endeavor. The remainder was marketing which turns out to be far tougher.

The research for the book required more than two years of my time. I had a full time job as an academic at Stony Brook. I began writing the book after the unusual spiritual experiences I had in late 1998 that carried over to 1999 and thereafter. After about a month of writing, I realized that yes I was a scientist, but I didn’t know anything about my heritage and not much about anything else outside of science. Just about every day in the wee hours of the morning, I would be reading. I read the Hebrew Bible, parts of the New Testament, a bit of the Qur’an, other books on different religions like Buddhism, articles and book descriptions of the soul and faith, the origin of life and the universe, Creation and Evolution, and human anthropology. I condensed all of my readings into the Epilogue chapter of Divinely Inspired. Your readers may find the Epilogue interesting. My original ideas are penned in this last chapter. It’s where my faith came together with my science. I will always be a scientist, but I now have unshakable belief and trust in God. You can’t separate my science from my faith and vice versa. I see God as the master scientist responsible for both Evolution and Creation.

Although Divinely Inspired is an incomplete biography, I now realize that without writing my memoir, I probably wouldn’t have written the Messiah Interviews five years later in 2008. Maybe my third book will be another five years from now. I would like to complete the trilogy. In my dreams, I would like to tell God’s story in His own words so that humanity would know Him. It is prophesied that we shall know God in the Messianic Age at the End of Days; that is, if we are lucky enough to be admitted. I write about this in the Messiah Interviews.

You can find out more about me, the books, and our Third Temple Nonprofit by visiting our website at www.shechinahthirdtemple.org Go also to the Blog for additional information and publicity. If readers are interested in speaking with me, they can contact me at jerrypollock@bellsouth.net

Again thank you for the opportunity to share with your readers. May I wish all of you much joy and happiness.

Jerry Pollock is the author of seventy-five scientific publications. His background includes both a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Pharmacy from the University of Toronto, a Ph.D. in Biophysics from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, and Postdoctoral training in Microbiology at the New York University School of Medicine. Dr. Pollock is currently Professor Emeritus in the Oral Biology and Pathology Department in the School of Dental Medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook on Long Island. Jerry’s first writer of the arts book, Divinely Inspired: Spiritual Awakening of a Soul, was a spiritual memoir originally published in 2003. The second edition of Divinely Inspired will be reissued in Paperback on Jan. 1, 2009. His ‘not so fictional’ novel, Messiah Interviews: Belonging to God, due out also on Jan. 1, 2009, is Jerry’s way of giving back to the Creator. Jerry is married to Marcia, his bashert or destined one. They reside in Florida.

For more about Jerry and his work, please visit www.shechinahthirdtemple.org.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Virtual Book Tour: Publishing Secrets of Historical Fiction Author J.A. Hunsinger

This is the worst time in publishing history for a new author to get published. I spent a solid year sending submission packets to literary agents because you cannot approach publishers directly, only through an agent. Agents have their very own criteria for submissions, so do your homework, otherwise forget it. The effort was futile, heart-wrenching, and a waste of my time. Unless you have a controversial topic that is certain to cause a flap, or are already famous, you can forget the agent/publisher route.

I formed a publishing company and I work with BookMasters, Inc. and copy editors to publish, print, warehouse, and distribute my works. At this point, it is virtually the only avenue to publication. Be warned, it is expensive and that is why the road to publication is fraught with obstacles.

J. A. Hunsinger lives in Colorado, USA, with his wife Phyllis. The first novel of his character-driven, historical fiction series, Axe of Iron: The Settlers, represents his first serious effort to craft the story of a lifelong interest in the Viking Age—especially as it pertains to Norse exploration west of Iceland—and extensive research and archaeological site visitations as an amateur historian. He has tied the discovery of many of the Norse artifacts found on this continent to places and events portrayed in his novels. Much of his adult life has been associated with commercial aviation, both in and out of the cockpit. As an Engineering Technical Writer for Honeywell Commercial Flight Systems Group, Phoenix, AZ, he authored two comprehensive pilots’ manuals on aircraft computer guidance systems and several supplemental aircraft radar manuals. His manuals were published and distributed worldwide to airline operators by Honeywell Engineering, Phoenix, AZ. He also published an article, Flight Into Danger, in Flying Magazine, (August 2002). Historical Novel Society, American Institute of Archaeology, Canadian Archaeology Association, and IBPA-Independent Book Publishers Association, are among the fraternal and trade organizations in which he holds membership. You can visit his website at www.vinlandpublishing.com.









J.A. Hunsinger will be on virtual book tour in March and April '09. Please visit his official tour page here to find out more about his new book, Axe of Iron: The Settlers!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Virtual Book Tour: Publishing Secrets of Heroic Fantasy Author R. Scot Johns

Do you have a novel that you’ve written but have struggled to get published? Have you spent endless hours crafting a work no editor will ever read? If your answer is “yes,” then you’re not alone. In fact, you are only one among a vast majority of authors whose long labor goes unrewarded. Certainly many of these have neither the skill nor talent it requires to rise above the others in the highly competitive world of commercial fiction. But then, many of them never intended to do so. Most books simply don’t fall into that category, and so have little chance. Trade publishers run a multi-billion dollar business, and they just can’t take the chance on very many manuscripts of esoteric interest.

This is the predicament I found myself in upon completing an epic seven-hundred page historical fantasy novel. On agent that I queried replied with the brief, but pointed question: “364,000 words, are you kidding?” This from an agent who purportedly represented fantasy fiction. I responded in kind with: “Have you never heard of Robert Jordan?”

So it is that many of us with valid works are stranded outside the standard commercial channels (I feel justified in calling my work “valid” as it has since received rave reviews). But the face of publishing is changing. Today’s technology has made it possible to publish your own work, not through marginal vanity presses of ill repute, but rather by taking matters into our own hands, much as authors such as Mark Twain and Benjamin Franklin did before us. Print-on-demand technology and internet marketing bridges the gap between the authors and their audience, bringing the writer and the reader together. Today there is no need for high-priced middlemen who do little to promote your work, and pass on less when it comes to profits for the author.

Rather than waiting idly by for more replies like the one above, I started my own publishing house to produce my own books, and I did it for little more than a few hundred bucks. Today I own and operate Fantasy Castle Books, have complete artistic control and ownership of my work, and gain 100% of the profits from my novel. It’s been a long road with a steep learning curve, but I can tell you there is nothing better than success that comes from one’s own efforts. For an ongoing and in-depth discussion of the process, visit my blog at http://authoradventures.blogspot.com.

R. Scot Johns is a life-long student of ancient and medieval literature, with an enduring fascination for Norse mythology and epic fantasy. He first came to Beowulf through his love of J. R. R. Tolkien, a leading scholar on the subject. As an Honors Medieval Literature major he has given lectures on such topics as the historical King Arthur and the construction of Stonehenge. He owns and operates Fantasy Castle Books, his own publishing imprint, and writes the blog Adventures of an Independent Author, where you can follow his progress as he writes The Jester’s Quest, his second novel. You can visit his website at www.fantasycastlebooks.com.








R. Scot Johns will be on virtual book tour in March '09. Please visit his official tour page here to find out more about his new book, The Saga of Beowulf!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Virtual Blog Tour: Publishing Secrets of Inspirational Author Sheri Kaye Hoff

Sheri Kaye Hoff resides in Parker, CO with her husband and three children. She is a Life Coach and owner of the Sheri K Hoff International Coaching Company. She teaches college classes as an adjunct faculty member and has earned her Master of Arts in Organizational Management. Her new book, Keys to Living Joyfully, offers a way of living a meaningful, successful and joy filled life.

Ms. Hoff is a personal and executive life coach. Spirituality is a vital part of her life's work. Prayer and meditation are integral pieces of her daily ritual, which enables her to pursue her life's passions and live a truly joyful life.

Her words on faith are derived from her own Christian walk and spiritual self-discoveries. Her action steps mix faith and years of leadership training, mentoring, and management. Sheri Kaye Hoff suffered the tragic death of her younger brother when she was a teenager and struggled for years to rediscover the capacity to feel joy and to enjoy her successes. She has a heart felt desire to pass on her knowledge and discoveries that have led to a truly transformational life. Ms. Hoff publishes a free weekly inspiration newsletter, Coach Sheri's Weekly Inspiration Tips. The Sheri K Hoff International Coaching Company also offers:

* Teleclasses.
* Webinars
* In person small and large group Coaching
* Corporate Training
* Keynote speaking
* Seminars
* Individual Career and Life Coaching (For a limited time- receive a free introductory one hour life coaching session)

You can visit her website at www.lifeisjoyful.org.

Throughout my life, I was always interested in why some people were very successful and other people with the same or more potential were not successful. I read hundreds of books on leadership, motivation, and inspiration. I also experienced tragedy in my family at a young age,which left me dealing with post traumatic stress disorder for years afterwards. I experienced remarkable positive change and felt very deeply in my heart that I wanted to reach out to other people who were trying to find happiness. I write from a Christian faith perspective, however, I also, encompass some of the concepts of positive thinking and the law of attraction. I wanted to write a synthesis of everything that helped me get better and truly experience joy—and I wanted it to be simple, workable, and easy to read. I wrote from the heart-the words just poured out of me-time seemed to stand still when I was working on my book. From the time I started writing seriously for the book, Keys to Living Joyfully: I finished in five weeks. I decided to self-publish through createspace in order to have my book available quickly. I hired a graphic designer to create a beautiful cover and found the perfect person, Michele Caron, creator of mylifecoach.com to write the Foreword. From start to finish, the whole process took five and a half months. I have accomplished one of my life dreams and am still in awe when I wake up each morning.

About the book:

Keys to Living Joyfully is an inspirational book on experiencing joy, peace, passion, and energy in daily life. It is designed to demonstrate the powerful roles of thoughts, action, and faith. The book is a merging of Sheri Kaye Hoff's spiritual life and lifelong interests in leadership and motivation. The ideas presented in the book are techniques and processes that have worked for the author and clients. Foreword is written by Michele Caron, creator of MyLifeCoach.com
The book, Keys to Living Joyfully, was born out of a heartfelt desire to share the keys that lead to living a transformational life. Ms. Hoff is a personal and executive coach working with individuals, small businesses, and corporations. Her words on faith are derived from her own Christian walk and spiritual self-discoveries. Her action steps are a mix of faith. love, leadership skills, and management experience. Chapters include topics such as: Is your heart thinking right? And how to tap into intrinsic motivation. This book, Keys to Living Joyfully, offers the techniques and insights that move people towards more peace, joy, energy, and passion in everyday life.








Sheri Kaye Hoff will be on virtual book tour in March '09. Please visit his official tour page here to find out more about her new book, Keys to Joyful Lving!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Virtual Book Tour: Publishing Secrets of Fantasy Authors Bruce Skye

A former technical writer, detail is important to Bruce Skye. His research for the Deathsong Chronicles included medieval armor and fortresses, as well as Celtic names and magic. "If you create a world, it must be consistent. And that's what I strive for Grayrider's world to be. I've built a database of material for each of the Deathsong Chronicles. Those databases aid me in keeping the world the same from book to book. "When I wrote Grayrider, I followed the advice of Stephen King. I did not write the book following any sort of outline. I have no more idea than my readers do when I write a novel what will happen in the midst of the story. It makes it more exciting for both the readers and myself." You can visit his website at www.bruceskye.com.

A New York agency readily took my novel Grayrider. A publisher she suggested also seemed to like my work and wanted to publish it. So, what’s my big secret to being published?

In a simple word, practice makes perfect. I had written several modern day suspense novels. This work all agents rejected. But Grayrider had been an idea which had been kicking around in my head for years and I finally put it on paper. And in doing so, I finally found a winning combination of fantasy and suspense a publisher seemed to like.

About the book:

Gabriel, the exiled king of Rivalin, comes before King Airell to warn him the Ansgarian army will invade his kingdom before the night is over. Airell tells him he has no one to send. Gabriel wants revenge for the murder of his family by the Ansgarians. He decides to fight the incursion without help.

As this takes place, Deirdre (Airell’s daughter), flees the kingdom of Cynyr north of Boadhagh. She knows now her mentor, Morrigan, created the Ansgarian army her father has fought for years. She goes south to warn him of her. Because Deirdre does not believe in herself, the young sorceress has difficulty in performing magic.
Once she is reunited with her father, she tells both he and Grayrider about Morrigan. Her power is growing; only Gabriel’s magical sword may yet destroy her. He must go to Cynyr to fight her. He agrees if Deirdre attends him, seeking her counsel.

That journey will be a deadly and momentous one for them both.


Bruce Skye will be on virtual book tour in February '09. Please visit his official tour page here to find out more about him and his new book, Grayrider!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Virtual Book Tour: Publishing Secrets of Contemporary Fiction Author William Petrick

William Petrick is an Emmy Award-winning documentary producer/director who has created programs for National Geographic, Discovery, MTV, Court TV and many other cable and broadcast networks. He is currently a senior producer with Bill Moyers Journal on PBS. You can find out more about William's book by clicking here.

After trying to entice an agent for many months, one finally signed me up but the book went nowhere. Next, I took some advice from a publishing exec in New York who suggested I write to editors as well as small, independent presses. Pear house actually had seen a short story of mine in a literary magazine and so were receptive. I was worried about what would happen at a small press but it has been incredible. Neither my book nor my emails are ignored and they have been extremely supportive from edit to launch. One secret: their editor inspired me to re-do the last third of the book. I was wildly resistant at first but, in the end, made it a much better novel.

About the Book:

Struggling documentary producer Michael Burns has traveled to the remote Maya Mountains of Belize to capture exclusive footage of the last surviving curandero. The traditional Mayan healer may hold the key to discovering new medicines among the vast, uncharted flora of the rain forest.

But with a violent civil war spilling across the border from neighboring Guatemala - and Burns inexplicably drawn to the aging curandero's American apprentice - the filmmakers stumble into a more explosive story than they ever could have imagined.
At once an adventure and an exploration into the nature of perception, THE FIVE LOST DAYS exposes the clash between modern culture and ancient beliefs.

Purchase THE FIVE LOST DAYS by clicking here!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

GUEST BLOGGER: Book Publishing Secrets of Beverly Stowe McClure

Beverly’s Journey to Publication

When I was a child, I hated to read. Even though my eighth-grade teacher sent my poem “Stars” to a high school anthology and it was published in Young America Sings, I hated to write.

In high school, book reports were a nightmare. I was shy and standing in front of the class to tell about a book was pure torture. Thank heavens for the jacket flap copy, as if the teachers couldn’t tell. In spite of my rocky relationship with books I attended Midwestern University, which meant more reading: one hundred children’s books for my Kiddie Lit. class, in addition to texts for the other subjects. What was I thinking?

To my surprise, I survived college and graduated cum laude. Then I became, of all things, a teacher. And in the process I discovered what I’d been missing. Books were fun. I also started writing. Happiness magazine published my first article. More of my work was published in Ladybug, Focus on the Family Clubhouse Jr., and other children’s magazines.

Being daring, next I decided to write a novel. So I started brainstorming ideas, but couldn’t come up with a good one. On a visit to Charleston, SC, my family and I took a walking ghost tour of the historic district. The tales the tour guide told them about resident ghosts in many of the Victorian houses intrigued me. I’d write about a ghost. And my ghost was kind enough to whisper in my ear one evening and introduce herself. Yes, I hear voices, and they often turn into my characters. So I wrote Phoebe the ghost’s story.

It took me about a year and a half to write my YA novel, Listen to the Ghost. Then I sent queries to several of the big NY publishers. While I waited for replies, visions of new cars and houses and big advances danced in my head. It didn’t turn out quite that way. No one wanted my story. After a couple of years of generic form letters, I got discouraged and put the manuscript aside to concentrate on other writing.

One day, I was reading a message board that mentioned Twilight Times Books, a publisher of e-books. I knew nothing about e-books but checked their Web site anyway, and discovered the publisher liked paranormal stories. So I took the manuscript out of the filing cabinet, dusted off the cobwebs, edited the manuscript again, and sent a query. Lida Quillen, the publisher of TT, asked to see it. A few months later I had a contract.

The e-book was a finalist in the Dream Realm Award competition in 2003. But the best was yet to come. TT had started their print line of books, and in 2005, Listen to the Ghost was published in trade paperback. That’s almost as exciting as giving birth, and less painful. It only took 8 years for my dream to come true.

I now have two more YA books published: Secrets I Have Kept and my latest, Rebel in Blue Jeans.

Four more novels are under contract with various publishers: Caves, Cannons, and Crinolines; Just Breeze; I Live in a Doghouse; and Kate, Little Angel Sometimes.

Yay for small publishing houses. My only regret is that I waited so late to start reading and writing.

http://beverlystowemcclure.wordpress.com

http://rebelinbluejeans.wordpress.com

Beverly S. McClure started her writing career early—though she approached it kicking andYoung America Sings screaming—when her eighth-grade teacher sent her poem “Stars” to a high school anthology and it was published in . She graduated from Midwestern State University and became a teacher. As soon as she discovered Dr. Seuss and other great children’s stories, she willingly put pen to paper and had stories and articles published in Ladybug, Focus on the Family Clubhouse Jr., U. S. Kids, Jack and Jill and other leading children’s magazines, including an article that was reprinted in a Scott Foresman Pre-K anthology and a breakout article that appeared in the June 2007 issue of Writer magazine. A multi-published author, Beverly’s Listen to the Ghost and Secrets I Have Kept are available in trade paperback. Her latest release is Rebel in Blue Jeans, and she has four more books under contract. A member of the National Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and their North Texas Chapter, Beverly is the mother of three grown boys and lives in the country with her husband, Jack, where an occasional deer, skunk, or armadillo come to visit. For more about Beverly and her work, please visit http://beverlystowemcclure.wordpress.com