December #MeetNewAuthors #FindNewBooks Event

 #meetnewauthors #findnewbooks

The winter months are a form of quiet blessing, a rare permission from the world to draw inwards, become small, and enjoy a hibernation of spirit. 

The evenings are dark, the streetlights outside jaundiced and unreal, and cold air rides in on every gust. We build our own warmth, pieced together from the pleasures of thick socks, a hot mug of chocolate with whipped cream, and the familiar weight of a hardcover book resting on our knees. 

There is an art in this ritual of stacking blankets just so, the deliberate choosing of which unread novel to begin, and the slow, luxurious collapse onto the couch. 

When the radiators groan to life, and the city’s background noise dulls beneath the snow, these are the most cherished hours, finding in them a small but vital resistance to the disorder of the outside world.

We draw the blanket over our legs, inhale the unmistakable scent of a new book, and then exhale slowly, and open the book to its first page.

Starting December 1st, every day a new author and one of their books will be introduced to you. Bookmark this blog, you might find a few gems to last you for the long winter months. Happy reading!

The featured authors in December

 December 1 Erika M Szabo

December 2 heather Russell-Kay

 December 3 Christina Weigand

 December 4 Q.M. Gatlin

 December 5 Joni Kerr

 December 6 Carla McBeath

 December 7 Holly May Cormier

 December 8 Eva Pasco

 December 9 Emma Finlayson

 December 10 Gina LoBiondo

 December 11 J.F. Howard

 December 12 Diane Lauer Hallman

 December 13 Katie Vandrilla

 December 14 Miriam Tedesco

 December 15 David James

 December 16 Lulu Smyles

 December 17 Darla Hall

 December 18 MaryEllen Whitton

 December 19 Maureen Cummins

The event is organised and presented by

https://www.authorerikamszabo.com

Book Sunday

 Featured Books Sunday

Time travel romance

The stakes are high, and the risks even higher. SEE MORE

Embark on a journey through time with Dylan Anderson, the lead guitarist of Ablaze, as he strives to recreate the magic of the '70s, inspired by Kenny Chesney's iconic hit, "I Go Back." In his pursuit of reliving his golden days, Dylan becomes entangled in the hidden world of a mysterious cult, eager to uncover the secrets of time travel.
The stakes are high, and the risks even higher - challenges he's prepared to confront head-on.
This adventure is far from a solo act. With his enduring love, Jennifer Kovich, by his side, Dylan is determined to bring her along on this journey whether she's ready or not. However, there's a catch - The dark spell Dylan has created will not allow him to return to the present even if he ever wanted to. Only Jennifer would have a chance at finding an escape route back home, but according to Dylan, it's almost impossible. Or is it? Brace yourself for a tale of love, danger, and the irresistible pull of a past era as Dylan leads us on an unforgettable voyage to the heart of the '70s.

Historical thriller

When the descendants pay the price of the ancient family curse SEE MORE 

Jayden and his archeology group find the burial site of a Medicine Woman from the 5th century. Strangely, Jayden also finds a crude leather book in his grandmother's secret room that was written in 426 by a Shaman.
His sister, Sofia, decodes the ancient runes, and they learn that a powerful curse cast sixteen hundred years ago destroyed the lives of their ancestors for centuries. If it remains unbroken, the curse will ruin the lives of future generations as well.
Dark memories of their childhood start to surface, and they’re stunned to realize the similarities between the tragedy of the family described in the Shaman’s book and theirs, sixteen hundred years later. They’re stunned by the conclusion that Jayden is in danger due to a family curse.

Occult ghost & haunted houses

The dark side of Southern Maryland SEE MORE

Take a journey to the dark side of Southern Maryland, one of the most haunted spots in America, and visit with the ghosts and otherworldly specters of the area.

Southern Maryland is one of the most haunted spots in America. From pre-colonial settlements to modern times, the tales of every era of its history are often dark and sometimes bloody. Brave readers will meet the many otherworldly specters that loved the area too much to leave, like the spirit of the witch Moll Dyer or the nun reclaiming her ancestral home. Learn the haunted history of Sotterley Plantation and the stories of the ghosts that remained after the Civil War. Author David W. Thompson takes the reader on a spooky journey through Southern Maryland's long history.

Multi Genre Books #OurAuthosGang

Golden Box Books Publishing supports Indie authors and started promoting books on their genre pages. There is a nice collection of awesome books on the pages already.

Click on the links and view the recommended and featured books.

AUTHORS

Promote your books & fill the genre pages

http://www.goldenboxbooks.com/submission.html

http://www.goldenboxbooks.com/kids-ya-books.html

http://www.goldenboxbooks.com/romance-books.html

http://www.goldenboxbooks.com/fantasy-books.html

http://www.goldenboxbooks.com/sci-fi-books.html

 http://www.goldenboxbooks.com/womens-fiction-books.html

http://www.goldenboxbooks.com/poetry-books.html

http://www.goldenboxbooks.com/paranormal-books.html

http://www.goldenboxbooks.com/mystery-books.html

http://www.goldenboxbooks.com/non-fiction-books.html

http://www.goldenboxbooks.com/foreign-language-books.html

http://www.goldenboxbooks.com/action-adventure-books.html

http://www.goldenboxbooks.com/adult-books.html

http://www.goldenboxbooks.com/audio-books.html

Do Your Characters Have A Family Tree? #OurAuthorGang

Tolkien did it, CS Lewis did it and various other authors do it, too.
In the back of their books they add all these interesting little tidbits to draw readers even deeper into their imaginary worlds. Things like a glossary, which lists a brief biography of all their characters; detailed maps of their fantasy worlds and, at times, even a genealogy.
I love genealogies.
Books series' often go through a range of characters, sometimes over generations, so seeing them all presented on one chart is a great reminder of their relationship to each other as the stories progress.
I created one for my Dantonville Legacy series and it was included as part of the back matter in the first paperback edition of Book 1, BloodGifted, but it was harder to do in the digital version, and so it didn't go in.
But, here it is now and I've included an updated version with characters from the 2nd and 3rd books.

If you want to find out more about these characters, you can start the series here - Amazon

Keep Calm and Fart Rainbows

As Charles Dickens writes in A Tale of Two Cities: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." The same could be said for being an indie author nowadays, living in an exciting time where we're free to write and publish our own stories without having to rely on the arbitrary approval of traditional publishers. But it also means we're responsible for all our own marketing and publicity, dealing with reader expectations, good and bad reviews and piracy.

Then, there's the issue of free books.
Don't readers understand that asking authors to give away our books is destroying our livelihoods? I wonder if they really care? Between the freeloaders and the pirate sites downloading our books illegally, there's not much chance of earning a crust in this job. But then, since most people see writing as a hobby, I guess they reckon we don't need to be paid.

We can live on air, right? And of course, everyone knows the pixies pay the mortgage, authors don't have families that eat and unicorns fart rainbows.
Ah, the wonderful world of readers' illusions.
Unless this culture of entitlement changes, I can see more and more writers quitting the business. Why put all that time, effort and money into writing, editing, polishing and marketing a book only for it to be either stolen or ignored by the general reading public until they can grab it for free?
In the four years I've been published, my sales have bottomed out. By now, with 4 books out, I should be selling 4-8 books/day. Instead, I'm lucky to get 1-2 sales/day.
And it's not as if my books are invisible.
 
According to the experts, I'm doing all the right things - offering my short story (Laura's Locket) for FREE, and Book One (BloodGifted) for only 99c; an active social media presence; a fantastic number of genuine followers on twitter (even a bunch of Russian and Asian hookers, bless their little pearly G-strings. Guess they like reading paranormal romance in their spare time!); a website with a blog, and I'm even on Instagram posting pretty pics that take me hours to create or locate in hope somebody might like it enough to check out my profile - yet the results are enough to turn even a unicorn's rainbow poop brown.
 
And paid marketing sites aren't as effective as they used to be.
 
This has never happened before. My cover and blurb are just the same, so I can't blame the lack of sales on that.
Nope, the book world is changing.
With so many free books saturating the market, it's freeloader heaven. Why pay? And that pricey $3.99 book readers are dying to get their hands on? Well, they can simply download it from a myriad pirate sites while sipping their $5 Starbucks coffee.
And they say it's the best time to be a writer.
I suppose that depends on your point of view.

If you haven't yet read my Dantonville Legacy Series, and would like to support an indie author,  here's your chance 😊
Get BloodGifted on Amazon