Monday, December 10, 2012

Am I Your 'Next Big Thing?'


There are the books everyone has heard about: Twilight, Hunger Games, Fifty Shades of Gray. But what about all those books written by people you’ve never heard of? Some of them are treasures, just waiting to be found, and that’s what this blog hop is all about: the books you might not have heard about, but that you might end up loving.
This blog hop is like a game of tag. One author posts and tags up to five other authors who link back to their website the next week and tag five new authors. If you follow the blog hop long enough, you’re bound to find some books you’ll love! Maybe you’ll even discover a book that ends up being the next big thing.
I was tagged by Robyn Peterman, a fabulous friend and writer. You can learn more about her hilarious book How Hard Can It Be? on her website, and it will be out mid-January. I’ll tell you, I’ve never read anything funnier. Pee-your-pants kind of funny. You need to make note of her name.
Taryn Raye is the first author on my list you need to check out. She's been a good friend for many years and has released her first book, a fabulous, sweeping historical titled Castaway Hearts through Turquoise Morning Press. It's in print and ebook!
This blog hop includes ten questions to help you learn more about an author’s current work in progress, so here’s a little info about my current project:
1: What is the working title of your book? Embattled Love
2: Where did the idea come from for the book? Well, really, it came from all the veterans we have returning from war right now. I don't think anybody has written this type of storyline before.
3: What genre does your book fall under? It will be romantic suspense.
4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? Hmmm, for the male I think I’ll dream big and say Hugh Jackman, mostly because of his look and ability to slip into any role. This would be a hard one for him though because the hero is wheelchair bound. As for the female, maybe a Mila Kunis or Natalie Portman look.
5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? Wow. Ok. Wheelchair bound hero struggles to keep love-interest safe from vengeful ex-boyfriend/stalker. 60,000 words in one sentence.
6: Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? Self-published, of course. Traditional probably wouldn’t even look at something like this.
7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? Still going. On the final chapters though. In total, I’ve worked on this series a couple of years.
8: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? Hmmm, a lot of people have tapped on the military aspect, but I don’t know anyone who’s done a vet series like this.
9: Who or What inspired you to write this book? The vets returning from the war. It’s not as bad as when the Vietnam Vets came home with all the protests, but the same disregard still seems to pervade the public about what they’ve had to do to serve their country. It’s easy to go along with our daily lives and forget we have people dying (and killing) for our safety every single day. They need to be recognized. And appreciated. And of course they need love.
10: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? This is going to be a multi book series and the prequel, Embattled Road, is already out on Amazon. It goes through the men’s background and fills in the back story of their friendship and how they recovered from their devastating injuries.
And a portion of the proceeds of the books will be donated to a wounded veteran charity.

Here is a list of fabulous authors who will be joining the hop for week 26 on December 17th. I hope you’ll visit their blogs next week and learn more about their wonderful books. Maybe one of them will become your new favorite author!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

This type of blog is absolutely essential to the newbie. I would suggest that anyone looking to self-publish not to limit your due diligence to just reviews on the internet. Look for a blog or forum that discusses the publisher in detail. After looking at several other publishers I too was leaning towards Archway to publish my book but just had an uneasy feeling about their schedule of services. Needless to say that after reading the comments here I have scratched Archway off the list.

I'm sure there has to be a legitimate self-publishing company out there that can trusted. It's unfortunate that they are surrounded by the "Archways" out there.

I spent 3 years writing my "masterpiece" and I've decided to try the traditional route for a little bit. I am fully aware that this won't be easy and that trying to interest a literary agent will be frustrating. But after the time and labor I've invested I think it's worth the additional investment to possibly get my book out to the largest possible audience.

Best of luck to everyone reading this blog!