Thursday, January 23, 2014

Indie Authors Naked Book Blast

  Indie Authors Naked

Indie Authors Naked explores and defines the world of independent publishing. Comprised of a series of essays and interviews by indie authors, booksellers and publishers, readers will get a look at the many aspects of the indie community, where publishing professionals of all types come together with the simple goal of creating something unique; something that speaks directly to the reader, no middleman necessary. Contributors include: James Franco, Hugh Howey, McNally Jackson Books, Sarah Gerard, OHWOW Books, Raine Miller, David Vinjamuri, Toby Neal, Rachel Thompson, Eden Baylee, Christoph Paul, Jessica Redmerski, Dan Holloway, Orna Ross and more.  
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  About the Authors


Loren Kleinman is a writer and poet with roots in New Jersey. She has a B.A. in English Literature from Drew University and an M.A. in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Sussex. Kleinman is a columnist for IndieReader.com (IR) where she interviews New York Times and USA Today bestselling indie authors. Some of those interviews in IR reappeared in USA Today and The Huffington Post. Her poetry has appeared in literary journals such as Nimrod, Journal of New Jersey Poets, Paterson Literary Review, Wilderness House Literary Review, Writer’s Bloc, Resurgence (UK), HerCircleEzine and Aesthetica Annual. She was the recipient of the Spire Press Poetry Prize (2003), was a 2000 and 2003 Pushcart Prize nominee, and a 2004 Nimrod/Pablo Neruda Poetry Prize finalist. In 2003, Spire Press published her first collection of poetry Flamenco Sketches, which explored the relationship between love and jazz. Her second collection of poetry, The Dark Cave Between My Ribs, is due to release with Winter Goose Publishing in March 2014. She is currently working on a New Adult romance, This Way to Forever.
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Amy Holman Edelman launched IndieReader, the essential consumer guide to self-published books and the people who write them, way back in 2007. Since then, indie authors have stormed the bestseller lists, been courted by trad publishers and (after all that), finally gained a modicum of respect. Amy self-published her first book, The Fashion Resource Directory, back in the 80s, long before POD and Amazon and e-readers roamed the land. Her second and third books (The Little Black Dress and Manless in Montclair), were traditionally published (by Simon & Schuster and Shaye Areheart Books, an imprint of Crown). As an author and a publicist with over 20 years’ experience, Amy’s goal for IndieReader is no less than to make indie a respected and desirable category within the publishing world. This book is just one step in that direction.
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  Excerpt from the Introduction of Indie Authors Naked by Amy Edelman:

IndieReader was launched in ‘07, otherwise known as the dark days of self-publishing. Back then, every book was considered a vanity publication, every author a failed writer. Denial ran so high that when the self-pubbed book, Her Last Letter by Nancy C. Johnson hit The New York Times bestseller list, the good folks at the NYT were still saying that they’d never include one! And then there was The Shack, another indie that snuck through the gauntlet to appear on the NYTimes list for an astounding 172 weeks between June 2008 to early 2010 (52 of those weeks at #1). Flash forward to 2012-2013. With the advent of ebooks, the publishing landscape has completely and irrevocably changed. Bowker, the ISBN people, recently reported that the number of self-published books in 2012 rose 59% over 2011, growing to over 391,000 titles in 2012. That’s a lot of indie. But it’s not just availability that has changed the notion of what a self-pubbed book can be. Either the whole “vanity” thing was propaganda on the part of trad publishing—after all, Virginia Woolf famously did it with Hogarth Press—or publishing ebooks makes it easier for talented writers to get their work seen. Either way, over the last couple of years—beginning with the high-profile snagging of Amanda Hocking—at least 50 indie authors (many of them interviewed in this very book) have been courted and won by traditional publishers. Did these authors’ books change from when they were self-pubbed to when they became trads? Or did their appearance on the bonafide bestseller lists (The New York Times, USA Today) just make it easier for the Big 5 to spot them? Not that getting picked up by a traditional publisher is always an indie author’s end-game. In fact, a recent survey conducted by The Bookseller noted that only about one-third of the self-published authors surveyed stated that they would consider a traditional book deal. That’s a lot of authors who aren’t willing to trade the freedom of creation for the chance to have their works packaged by committee. So whether an author decides to sell their work to a trad publisher or not—it is clear that indies are here to stay. Their books resonate with readers who really couldn’t give a damn if they came through the hallowed halls of a traditional publisher or just via their ereaders. The indie writing community is strong and getting stronger, as are the options for placing their books (been to your local bookstore lately? You may be surprised at the titles you find on the shelves). Yes, dear readers, this time—thanks to technology and changing perceptions—self-publishing is clearly here to stay. And via interviews and essays, Indie Authors Naked aims to highlight the best of the best.

  
BookBlast Giveaway $50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash

 Ends 2/10/14
 Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Please Welcome Amy Durham as She Shares her New Release--DUSK!

It's always a pleasure to have Amy Durham on the blog.  I'm especially excited to know more about Dusk, her latest paranormal young adult romance!  So, without further ado, here she is:

Thanks for the invitation to come hang out in your corner of the blogosphere! I’m always happy to meet new readers and writers!

I write young adult romance, with a bit of a paranormal twist. In DUSK, my newest release, Zoe Gray, high school senior, must work through a tragic season in her life and learn the power of forgiveness and second chances. There to help her is Adrian Shaw, hot new guy at school and biker-boy. But, as Zoe discovers, there’s more to Adrian than meets the eye.

In the following excerpt, Zoe is getting her first, up close look at Adrian. She’s at her locker, looking around for her best friend, Vivian. She finds Adrian instead.

Looking to my left, I saw Viv making her way down the hall. And then he stepped into my vision, blocking out Viv and the rest of the chaos in the hallway.
          Umm, wow. He was even better up close. The ability to speak left me.
          “Hey,” he said, and considering he was standing so close, I knew he was talking to me.
          I looked up. Way up. He had to be over six feet tall. And looked straight into the most gorgeous set of baby blues I’d ever seen. The deep green shirt he wore today accentuated the color of his irises.
          Black hair and blue eyes were totally hot together.
          “I saw you yesterday,” he continued, unaffected by my stunned silence. “I’m Adrian.”
          Adrian. It suited him. His name was just as beautiful as he was.
          I should talk. Say something. Introduce myself. Wipe the drool from my chin.
          “Zoe,” I squeaked, cringing at how stupid I sounded. “Zoe Gray.”
          “Adrian Shaw.” He stuck his hand out, waiting for me to shake it.
          I stared at his hand. He wanted me to put my hand in his, and even as I told myself it was just a simple greeting, the thought of feeling his skin against mine left me frozen.
          Snap out of it! Act like you have a brain, not just raging hormones!
          I gripped his hand. His fingers closed around mine, and everything inside me went still, calm… right. The noise around me stopped. The bustle of the kids in the hall faded away. And I found myself lost in the feeling of my hand in his, drowning in the way his eyes searched mine.




DUSK (blurb)
Zoe Gray lost her father... in more ways than one. Angry and bitter, Zoe spends the summer before her senior year of high school doing everything she can to forget, legal or not. But a close call triggers a reality check, and Zoe decides to put her life back together, a task that proves a lot harder than she thought.

Adrian Shaw shows up on the first day of school, creating quite a stir with his striking good looks and gleaming black motorcycle. But Adrian is much more than a "biker boy", and as Zoe discovers, he may just hold the key she needs to put her life back on the right path.

But as they do battle with evil forces that want nothing more than to destroy Zoe's chance at a normal life, will their feelings for one another make them stronger, or be the reason Zoe's happiness slips away forever?

And will Zoe learn to forgive before it's too late?

Learn more about Amy at the following places:

Find DUSK:





Available soon at iBooks and in print edition from Amazon.

Thanks!

Happy Writing and Reading!