Book Tour + Giveaway: The Footsteps I Follow, Authors I Admire

The Footsteps I Follow: Authors I Admire

 By: Rebecca Graf

I’ve been an avid reader since I was a small child. When my parents would travel, Mom would pick up a book everywhere she went and gave it to me. I had a box of books that I read through every day. When we’d have a storm and the lights would go out, she’d light the hurricane lamp and read to me. Those are precious memories I have.

The first chapter books I remember were Nancy Drew. You could say that Nancy Keene was the first author I fell in love with and wanted to be like. They were fun reads that had me always guessing who the culprit was.

In college, I fell in love with Amanda Quick, AKA Jayne Ann Krentz. I devoured her books. They were funny, romantic, and had a vein in mystery all through them. Great books.

Then my neighbor handed me a book I thought I’d just read out of politeness. I never dreamed that I’d fall in love with the works of Tom Clancy. Who would have thought I’d love spies and espionage and even enjoying reading books with all that military jargon. I still love his works.

Since then, I have found many authors I love. Each one of them I take a good look at their writing style and how they make a scene work or how they develop a character. There is always something to learn from any book you read including how not to do something.

But you never want to imitate them. You want to let them teach you. Read a scene from an author you admire and think about what you like about it. Do you like the amount of description in it or how the sentences are structured? Then try writing like that and give it your unique style. Let the authors you admire be the mentors for your own writing.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

Rebecca Graf spent over twenty years in the accounting field with no way to release her creative juices. To do so in accounting, could get you life. So she began writing online. From there, she ventured into fiction. Dark Connections is her fifth published book with many more in the works. Rebecca is the mother of three children and lives with them and her husband of twenty years in Wisconsin.

ABOUT THE BOOK 

The story continues from its start in Deep Connections. Brenna has given her heart to Slaton, but Creeper just won't die. Death cannot stop him from possessing the one to fulfill the prophesy. Now Brenna and Slaton have to fight not only for their own lives but for all those they love. As they do, they discover who Creeper really is and why he wants Brenna so badly. Be prepared for more mystery, suspense, and sweet love.

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Annamarie and Magdalena Virtual Book Tour + Giveaway: How to Sell You Book On-line by Marianne Spitzer

How to Sell Your Book on-line

 By Marianne Spitzer

That seems to be the question of the century and everyone has answers—different answers. I don’t have the perfect answer, but I do know what helped me and what worked for me.

The first thing that needs to be done is to get your name out into the public eye. The more your name is seen, the more chances you will have attracting someone to your book. I know you have read that your name is your brand, but it’s true. Make your name known.

How? That’s the tricky questions since not every option works for every author. Be sure and try them all to be sure to see which works for you. You need a web site. Don’t let that panic you. Most sites are easy to navigate and build. It gives you an ideal place to list your book, book trailer, synopsis, and an excerpt.

Start a blog. Again don’t panic. It may start out slow, but as you go along, you can get followers. I wrote about my difficulties of being a new Indie author when I first started my blog. Once I met fellow authors on-line, I interviewed them on my blog. Their followers read the interview and many began to follow my blog.

Where did I find these fellow authors? Facebook. I made an author page on Facebook. I searched for other authors and author groups. I liked their pages and soon authors liked my page and my group of author friends grew. I posted, they posted and I found new followers. Then I joined Twitter and followed all the authors and more on Twitter. It was amazing how many followed me back. Then people I didn’t know became followers. It was the perfect place to post my blog interviews, fun quotes about writing, links to my web site, etc. I would retweet friend’s tweets and they did the same.

I also made sure I left a comment on every blog site I visited. Each comment has a link back to my blog. Traffic increases and more people follow you. Now you have a nice base of followers and you’re ready to start selling your book. Use each of these, web site, blog, Facebook, and Twitter to let people know about your book. In turn, many will let others know. Be sure and be kind by also reposting their posts and tweets. There are also many places where you can list your book for free and some will cost a little. Some are more expensive. My best advice about who to give your hard earned money to is by asking your author friends. Many will give you the benefit of their experiences. The most important thing is keep your name and your book where they will be seen. Good luck.

ABOUT THE BOOK

“Annamarie and Magdalena” is a supernatural thriller that begins where “Gypsy Spirits” ended. Annamarie walks home from the ordeal in the pines. Certain no one will ever know of her involvement, she tries to settle into the home she inherited from Daniel’s grandfather just two weeks earlier.

Daniel, refusing to accept his own death, has other ideas, and he joins his spirit with the spirit of his best friend, Garret, and an evil man Daniel had planned on killing. What Daniel doesn’t count on is that Annamarie is protected by her great-grandmother Magdalena’s spirit, and her Gypsy spirit family. Annamarie’s unexpected pregnancy drive Daniel to plot to steal his child while Magdalena does all she can to protect mother and child.

Daniel’s evil follows and torments Annamarie in every aspect of her life. Magdalena with the aid of Josef, Annamarie’s great-grandfather, begins a vicious battle of the spirits. Will good win over evil? Will Daniel’s evil be contained? Who will survive? Will Annamarie’s baby be safe or a victim of her father’s evil plan?

PURCHASE THE BOOK

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I was born in Milwaukee, and lived there until I was eighteen. Then I spent eight years in Washington state and California before returning to Wisconsin. I love eerie places and books. I began with a love of Nancy Drew books and as I grew I found H.P Lovecraft, Agatha Christie, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle among others. When I am not writing, I am reading or watching sunsets. I have been writing short stories since I was in grade school. Most were in the form of essays relating real life events. Many were purely imaginary trips to magical places and times. I enjoy making up stories about people I meet or see on the street. I can see a story in a picture, especially if the picture is eerie. My imagination runs wild and free. I have self-published a book of essays and a book of children's stories for my granddaughter, Brittney. Gypsy Spirits is my debut novel and the first in the series of three "spirit" books. I have self-published the second "spirit" book, Annamarie and Magdalena. I also self-published a supernatural mystery, THE LETTER. I plan to have the sequel to THE LETTER out this year and the third "spirit" book available winter 2013/14. From there I am sure my muse will guide me into another story plot.

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