FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Pump Up Your Book! is proud to announce Rani St. Pucchi’s Your Body, Your Style: Simple Tips on Dressing to Flatter
virtual book tour starting November 1 and ending February 10. Rani
will be guest appearing at blogs throughout the U.S. and international
regions talking about her phenomenal new book that will help the average
woman in America which is size 14 and that relationship starts with an
individual’s relationship to self..
Thirty years ago, Rani St. Pucchi took the bridal world by storm,
despite having no formal training in fashion. She is an award winning
couture fashion designer and founder of the world-renowned bridal house
St. Pucchi. A passionate and dynamic entrepreneur who
launched her global empire in the United States in 1985, Rani’s vision
was to create an avant-garde bridal and evening couture line with
modern styling and classic details. That vision has been realized
today.
Renowned for infusing her creations with touches of magnificently
colored jewels, exquisite hand embroidery, delicate beading and
sparkling crystals on the finest silks and laces, these inspired
designs with innovative draping evoke the timeless elegance every woman
desires. As one of the foremost designers to introduce exotic silk
fabrics and hand embroidery, Rani is applauded for being a pioneer in
bringing color to the United States bridal scene, having learned that
white does not flatter everyone.
Rani has been recognized and nominated on multiple occasions for her
design talent and won numerous awards as a Style Innovator. In
addition, she has been honored with the Best Bridal Designer Award at
the prestigious Chicago Apparel Center’s DEBI Awards (Distinctive
Excellence in Bridal Industry).
Rani is famous for designing the wedding dress worn by “Phoebe” as
she captured the hearts of millions when she said “I Do” in a unique St. Pucchi Lilac corset bodice A-line gown on the finale of the hit television show Friends.
Her range of avant-garde designs are worn by the world’s most
discerning brides, including celebrities and style icons such as New
York Giants’ player Aaron Ross’ wife, Olympic gold medalist Sanya
Richards; Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback Tony Romo’s wife Candice
Crawford; Actress Tara Reid; Jason Priestley’s wife Naomi Lowde;
actress Candice Cameron and Grammy Award winning country music singer
Alison Krauss, who donned a specially designed Chantilly lace and silk
gown at the Country Music Awards.
Rani has enjoyed much media attention. Her signature designs have been recognized in high profile media such as Entertainment Tonight, Harper’s Bazaar, WWD, Town and Country, Bride’s, Cosmopolitan Brides, Inside Weddings, Martha Stewart Weddings and The Knot.
Rani’s real passion other than the world of design is to help women
who have suffered abuse and those who are struggling to find
themselves. On her quest to empower women to be their best selves, she
is passionate about helping them find their voice through building
their self-confidence. She believes that confidence must start with a
woman’s love and acceptance of her body.
Renowned for her savvy knowledge of a woman’s form and fit, Rani is
eager to share her knowledge of more than three decades with all women
so they can make better styling choices. In addition to the book you
are reading now, Rani is the author of four upcoming books: The SoulMate Checklist: Key Questions To help You Choose Your Perfect Partner; Seven Types of Men To Avoid: Recognizing Relationship Red Flags; Designing with Heart: A to Z Guide to Bridal Designing; and Unveiling: A Celebrity Fashion Designer’s Story, a Memoir of her Life Journey.
In Your Body, Your Style, Rani shares with you her knowledge
of the female form and guides you to find simple solutions to your most
pressing body concerns. The focus is on you — and how you can make
yourself more confident and appealing in almost every situation —
simply by making a few changes and different choices in planning your
wardrobe.
Once you embrace your unique attributes and dissolve your bad
relationship with your body, you’ll be amazed to find how irresistible
you are to others!
This simple and friendly guide reveals:
* What clothes and silhouettes are best for your specific body type
* Simple techniques to determine which colors flatter you most
* Solutions to common lingerie issues and the importance of fit
* The one dress that is a chameleon, and how to transform it into different looks
* How to travel stress free by planning your wardrobe well
* 101 styling secrets, professional tricks and fashion tips
RANI ST. PUCCHI is an award-winning fashion designer, an author and relationship expert. She is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post.
If you’d like to follow her tour, visit http://www.pumpupyourbook.com/2016/08/01/pump-up-your-book-presents-23-minutes-past-1-a-m-virtual-book-publicity-tour/. Please leave a comment or question at each of her tour stops to let him know you stopped by!
Pump Up Your Book! is an award-winning virtual book tour agency for
authors who want quality service at an affordable price. More
information can be found on our website at www.pumpupyourbook.com.
While there, check out our Authors on Tour page to see what we have
coming up in the months ahead. We’re always looking for new bloggers to
join our team.
Contact Information:
Dorothy Thompson
Founder of Pump Up Your Book! Virtual Book Tours
P.O. Box 643
Chincoteague, Virginia 23336
Email: thewriterslife@gmail.com
Authors' candid tales into the land of publication...
Saturday, October 29, 2016
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Book Publishing Secrets: Robynn E. Sheahan, author of 'Storm of Arranon'
I
have always been a reader. I love books. When I’m not able to read, I listen to
audio books. I started writing while working as a Paramedic/Firefighter in Northern
California. Trust me, it’s not like it appears on TV. There was
plenty of time for books, mostly reading them. I didn't seriously start
writing until I moved to my ranch in Oregon.
While waiting for lambs to be born in the middle of the night, I would head
back to the house for an hour or two and sit down at the computer. Before I
knew it, I had a manuscript. Not a good one, but a start.I joined critique
groups and attended writer's conferences. I was on the fast track to
learning.
In
2013, I received an honorable mention in Writer’s Digest’s Self Published book
awards for MG/YA. I guess I am learning something!
Ideas from dreams follow me into warm sunny days or the
quiet of falling snow. “What ifs” feed a vivid imagination. Even mistyped
phrases may lead to an "aha" moment. Brain storming sessions standing
in windy, dark parking lots with fellow writers release thoughts that pry at
the corners of my mind, grasping for purchase. Sometimes the ideas pursue me,
with persistence.
For More Information
- Visit Robynn E. Sheahan’s website.
- Connect with Robynn on Facebook and Twitter.
- Find out more about Robynn at Goodreads.
About the Book:
A
forbidden birth. A remarkable young woman. A marauding alien society. The
battle begins.
A
brutal alien society invades Korin and Arranon, intent on destroying the two
worlds that make up Cadet Erynn Yager's home. Forced to expose her strange
abilities and reveal her forbidden birth, a guarded web of secrets unravels.
Stranded
on an unfamiliar planet of eternal winter and predatory wildlife, the
mysterious living consciousness of Arranon intervenes, leading Erynn on a
mystical journey.
Aware
of Erynn's potential, the alien enemy pursues her. She struggles to gain
control of her growing powers while in a constant race to elude the invaders,
and join the forces preparing to fight a mounting occupation.
Erynn’s
secret may be her worlds' only hope, but at the cost of her life. Swept up
in a chain reaction of events, Erynn's dedication extends far beyond
service and duty. She learns the true meaning of sacrifice.
Along
with courage and hope, Erynn finds something unexpected on her journey of
awareness and growth.
Love.
For More Information
Thank you for your time in
answering our questions about getting published. Let’s begin by having
you explain to us why you decided to become an author and pen this book?
Robynn: For me,
becoming an author wasn’t a decision, not like I woke up one morning and said,
I’m going to be an author. After years of starting stories I’d never finish,
and just kinda messing around with a little fan fiction, a certain group of
characters, Erynn and Jaer, started demanding more of my time. They had a story
and they wanted it told. So, I did, and I love writing. I’ll start book five in
the series this November during NaNoWriMo.
Is this your first book?
Robynn: Yes and no. It is a second edition of my
first book with some added scenes and a new spine and back cover. I have
written and self-published books two and three in the series. Book four, picked
up by a publisher, will be published later this year.
With this particular book,
how did you publish – traditional, small press, Indie, etc. – and why did you
choose this method?
Robynn: I pursued traditional publishing and after a
year of rejection letters, I opted to self-publish. I continued to submit to
publishers and I signed with a small press this year, 2016.
Can you tell us a little
about your publishing journey? The pros
and cons?
Robynn: Overall, I’m happy with self-publishing
through CreateSpace. I’ve heard Lightning Source is a good route, also.
CreateSpace was easy to work with and they made sure I was happy with my book
before I hit the publish button. They will do as much or as little as you want
regarding formatting, interior design, and cover. I let them take care of
formatting and interior design and their prices are reasonable. My cost for
print books is quite affordable. A friend of mine did all his own formatting
and interior design with CreateSpace. He’s good at this while I’m easily
frustrated and turn into Kylo Ren throwing a temper tantrum. He paid only for
the print books he purchased.
I also published eBooks through
Smashwords and their site is very simple. You can be up and running in minutes.
I’m looking forward to
experiencing working with a publisher on book four in the series.
What lessons do you feel you
learned about your particular publishing journey and about the publishing
industry as a whole?
Robynn: First, be careful when it comes to subsidy
presses and vanity presses. In fact, my opinion only, run away. Money doesn’t
flow from the author to the publisher. It’s flows from the publisher to the
author. Second, make sure you have your work professionally edited and proof
read. Critique groups are a great resource as are writer’s conferences.
Would you recommend this
method of publishing to other authors?
Robynn: Yes. I can only recommend CreateSpace and
Smashwords, but I have heard good things from other self-published authors
about Lightning Source.
What’s the best advice you
can give to aspiring authors?
Robynn: Write. Read. Read books about writing. Join
critique groups. Don’t give up. Keep submitting. Keep learning.
Some writing books I recommend-
Any of James Scott Bells’ books
on writing
The Elements Of Style by Strunk
and White
The Writer’s Journey by
Christopher Vogler
Angela Ackerman’s and Becca
Puglisi’s books, The Positive Trait Thesaurus, The Negative Trait Thesaurus,
and The Emotion Thesaurus
On Writing by Stephen King
Monday, October 17, 2016
Book Publishing Secrets with John DeDakis, Author of 'Bullet in the Chamber'
Name: John DeDakis
Book Title: Bullet
in the Chamber
Genre: Mystery-Suspense-Thriller
Publisher: Strategic Media Books
Thank you for your time in answering our questions about
getting published. Let’s begin by having you explain to us why you
decided to become an author and pen this book?
John: I came up with the title and the image for
the cover a few days after my youngest son Stephen, 22, went missing in
2011. He was found dead in my car a week
later, the victim of an accidental heroin overdose. The image of a bullet in a
syringe is my way of conveying the Russian-roulette dangerousness of injecting
heroin even once.
But
Bullet in the Chamber merely
fictionalizes Stephen’s story, and folds it into a bigger picture. My
protagonist, Lark Chadwick, 28, is a White House correspondent for the
Associated Press. It’s her first day on
the beat when the executive mansion is attacked, the president is missing, the
first lady’s life is in danger, and the man Lark loves disappears. So, in
addition to being about drugs, it’s also about drones and journalism.
My
decision to become a writer goes back to when God was a boy, or at least an
adolescent.
I’d
been a reporter for many years, including a stint as a White House
correspondent during the last three years of Ronald Reagan’s presidency, but
then I went behind the camera as an editor at CNN. It paid well, but it was tedious, not creative. That’s when I turned to writing.
At
first, the project was a biography about a friend who’d been murdered. But the research was time-consuming,
expensive, and the information I was digging up caused his family much
consternation. So, I segued to fiction
and rolled some of that research into my first novel.
Is Bullet in the Chamber your
first book?
John: It’s my fourth in the Lark Chadwick
series. Each book stands alone, so you
can begin reading the series with “Bullet” and not feel lost. But I hope
“Bullet” entices you to read the others.
You can find out more about the series on my website: www.johndedakis.com
With this particular book, how did you publish – traditional,
small press, Indie, etc. – and why did you choose this method?
John: My
first two novels were published by ArcheBooks, a small indie house. The books
are print-on-demand, so they’re often mistakenly presumed to be
self-published. My agent, Barbara Casey,
found a new home for my next two novels at Strategic Media Books, another small
indie that takes a more traditional approach.
Can you tell us a little about your publishing journey? The pros and cons?
John: I was a just-the-facts-ma’am journalist for
forty-five years (25 at CNN), so when I turned to writing fiction, I decided to
try the traditional route of getting an agent.
That’s because I felt I needed someone other than my mother or my wife
to fall in love with my writing. I reasoned that if a stranger who’s a
professional loves my work, then I must be doing something right.
My
first novel went through fourteen major revisions over ten years before I found
Barbara— the 39th
agent I queried. For me, going the self-publishing route would have been a last
resort.
The
pros far outweigh the cons. Barbara’s
been my agent since 2004. She’s an author and an editor, plus she knows the
business. Whenever I need to talk with her, she’s available with wise and
helpful counsel.
What lessons do you feel you learned about your particular publishing
journey and about the publishing industry as a whole?
John: Perhaps the biggest surprise for me was
learning that all publishers now
expect the author to take the primary (and sometimes the exclusive)
responsibility to promote their work.
The good news for me is that I actually enjoy the marketing side. But
the downside of that is that it can be a time suck and heavily encroach on the
writing process.
I’ve
also come to see that self-publishing is a worthy pursuit, especially if you’re
writing something that might appeal only to a sliver of the population. All too often, however, I feel that people
turn to self-publishing prematurely, before they’ve taken enough time to buff
and polish their initial drafts. Their
impatience to get published (or perhaps insecurity about the quality of their
work) causes them to shunt themselves down a path that might be a discouraging
dead end.
Would you recommend this method of publishing to other authors?
John: I
recommend that before you pursue getting published at all you become as good a
writer as you can possibly be. That
means you should:
- Read
- Read books about writing
- Go to writer’s conferences to learn
about the writing craft, the publishing industry, and to meet authors,
agents, and publishers
- Write
- REwrite!!
- Get honest feedback on your writing
from people who will tell you the truth about what isn’t working (but
who’ll encourage you, too)
Only
after you’ve done all of the above should you even consider trying to get
published. That’s because if you prematurely send out shoddy, unprofessional
work, you won’t be taken seriously as a writer— and, consequently, you won’t get published.
When
you’re ready to find a home for your writing, I strongly suggest you get a
directory of literary agents (type “literary agents” in the Amazon browser and
you’ll get a long list of books). A good directory will tell you which agents
are interested in your genre and how they want to be approached.
I
feel trying to get an agent is more effective than querying a publisher directly
because most publishers prefer to deal with agents they already know and whose
judgment they trust.
What’s the best advice you can give to aspiring authors?
John:
Don’t give up. If you do, you’re
guaranteed not to be published. If you keep trying, there’s always a chance.
And, with self-publishing, getting your book into print is a certainty, but it
might not be a good book if it doesn’t get the editorial oversight that comes
via the more traditional route.
Monday, October 10, 2016
Book Publishing Secrets with Sally Fernandez, Author of 'Climatized'
Name: Sally Fernandez
Book Title: Climatized: a Max Ford Thriller
Genre: Political
fiction
Publisher: Dunham
Books
Thank you for your time in
answering our questions about getting published. Let’s begin by having
you explain to us why you decided to become an author and pen this book?
Sally: I’m not an English Lit major and never
considered a writing career, although I did write technical manuals and user
guides in my prior business career. But writing a novel was a bit of a fluke
and started with a challenge during the lead-up to the 2008 presidential
election. As the endless pap rained down from the media, I began to question
some of the frightening possibilities. According to my husband, who is now my
editor, my questioning was more reminiscent of a rant. That is when he
suggested I write about it instead of incessantly talking about it. So in a
stream of consciousness, I sat down at the computer, grabbed one news event
that was repeated ad nauseam and attempted to create a “what if?” mentality and
ended up with a fifty-page scenario. It required a shift from business writing
to turning out fiction and in the process I discovered I loved it. I equally
enjoyed the research, and employing factual details, weaving them into the
plot…all very much to my surprise.
The storyline for Climatized, my latest release, came from the research I conducted
for my third and fourth novels that touched upon the topic of global warming. I
discovered at the time that the scientific data did not coincide with public
policy. I felt it would be the perfect scenario for Maxine Ford, my female
protagonist, to debut as a private investigator.
Is this your first book?
Sally: Climatized
is my fifth novel, the first in the new “Max Ford Thriller” series. My prior
series, “The Simon Tetralogy” is comprised of Brotherhood Beyond the Yard, Noble’s
Quest, The Ultimate Revenge, and Redemption.
With this particular book, how
did you publish – traditional, small press, Indie, etc. – and why did you
choose this method?
Sally: Climatized
is published by Dunham Books, a boutique publishing firm. But that is not how I
started out.
Can you tell us a little about
your publishing journey? The pros and
cons?
Sally: After a year and a half from inception
to completion of my first novel, Brotherhood
Beyond the Yard, I was finally ready to publish. I weighed my options
between self-publishing or waiting it out with the big houses and accumulating a
pile of rejection slips. Finally, I opted to go with CreateSpace, a
self-publishing company under Amazon, an experience that was nothing but
positive. Then the unbelievable occurred. Four months after publishing my first
novel, I was approached by David Dunham of Dunham Books who offered me a
contract to republish my novel under their brand. They have published all my
novels since.
What lessons do you feel you
learned about your particular publishing journey and about the publishing
industry as a whole?
Sally: It’s a minefield and almost impossible
to navigate unless you have massive amount of time, money, and patience. While
self-publishing has been tarnished with the vanity press label, it afforded a great
opportunity to learn the publishing process step-by-step; from copyediting to
formatting to cover design to book trailers. When Dunham came along, I was well
prepared.
Would you recommend this
method of publishing to other authors?
Sally: My situation was extremely rare, so for
any first-time author I wouldn’t hesitate to use a self-publishing firm. Forget
the vanity label…the quality of your book will stand on its own.
What’s the best advice you can
give to aspiring authors?
Sally: Write, write, and write. Don’t get
caught up in grammar, editing, and organizing along the way; that is why cut
and paste was invented. I have lots of great narrative and dialogue I have
stripped out of my manuscripts and have saved for another day. Let your
thoughts flow, they can be shaped later.
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