Books by Melissa Bowersock

Books by Melissa Bowersock

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Book Launch - Part I

My latest book is done. Well, 99.99% done. I'm just double-checking EVERYthing, but it's very, very close to being completely done. 

 And I really like it.

 It's called Stone's Ghost, and it's a modern day ghost story with a twist. Here's the blurb:
Matthew Stone doesn't believe in ghosts … until he meets one. He owns a successful business in Lake Havasu, Arizona, home to the famed London Bridge that was brought over stone by stone and rebuilt over the Colorado River. He has a gorgeous girlfriend, a doting mother, and more money than he needs, but no time for stories about the ghosts who were transplanted from England with the famed bridge. When a chance encounter with a female ghost leads to unexpected friendship, Matt and the ghost are forced to rely on each other as they confront the pasts that haunt them.

In my next post, I'll reveal part of the cover. Gotta keep you guessing, right?

So here's the deal: I'm planning an online launch party. It's going to be July 26 all day long, and it's called the Friendly Ghost Party. I will host the party on a Facebook event page as well as my blog, and I'm  hoping that other bloggers will join in and host on their pages, as well. If you're interested in taking part, you can sign up here: 
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/904044DA5AE2CA64-blog. I'll be posting a list of all the blogs that agree to host and encourage partiers to spill over and share the love. I'll share updates and news on the FB page and on Twitter, using the hashmark #friendlyghostparty.

I'll have a giveaway going on Goodreads, plus a couple of contests between Facebook and my blog. You all may know that FB does not allow contests, so we have to be slightly devious about it. What I'd love is for you all to post any photos you have that are ghost-related on the FB events page: https://www.facebook.com/events/142948992566792/ Let's see pics of scary ghosts, funny ghosts, dog and cat ghosts, even ghost food. As the photos are posted and the page gets longer, please scroll through and "like" your favorites. At the end of the day, the photo with the most likes will win, so encourage your friends to drop by and vote for your pic. (Prizes to be announced!)

The second contest will be here on my blog. On that day, July 26, I'd love to have everyone tell us a ghost story in the comments section. Please keep your post under 250 words, but your story can be real, fiction, fantasy, whatever. Stories told around campfires. Stories told in sofa-cushion forts when you were a kid. At the end of the day, I'll put all the names in a hat and pick a random winner for a prize.

And finally, in honor of the new book, the Kindle version e-book will be available for .99 for that day only. And, just for fun, I'm going to lower the price on every book in my back list to .99 for the day as well. I'll be posting links to make it easy for you. 

What do you think? Sound like fun? I'll be posting more about it over the next several weeks. Stay tuned!




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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Author Interview - Jill Sanders

As part of a blog tour, today I’m interviewing prolific author Jill Sanders, about her new book Returning Pride. This is the third in a series of books that take place in the town of Pride, Oregon. The other titles are Finding Pride, Discovering Pride and Lasting Pride.



Tell us about Returning Pride.  

Everything seems to be going Iian’s way, he has a successful restaurant, a beautiful home, family, and friends. He’s even overcome the loss of his hearing, but why does he still feels like something is missing.

Allison has worked hard to make a name for herself in the art world, now all she wants is peace and quiet to work on her passion. But, with her mother overtaken by illness, she has less time than ever. When everything is stripped away in one tragic blow, and she’s being stalked by a mad-man, she’ll need the help of her hometown and an old flame, to turn everything around and find what she’s been looking for.


  
What are the challenges of writing a series of books about the same place?

None really. Each book still needs details and descriptions so they could stand on their own. 

What are the advantages?

You get to tell other great stories about characters people grow fond of. 

In all your books, who is your favorite character? Why?  

Iian Jordan. Because he is so damn sexy. He was also my most challenging, because he is deaf.

What's your favorite non-writer thing to do for fun?

Hang with my family, play in the sun with them and my dogs and take pictures.

What's next on the horizon? What projects do you have planned?  

I'll be editing Lasting Pride and getting it ready for its release in October. Then I'm starting on Katie's story and the next three books in a new series. In this new series there will be adventure, excitement, a little sci-fi & paranormal activities, and as always, romance.

 For more links to the blog tour, see below. Please visit these blogs and share some love!

About Jill

Jill Sanders survived 80's pop music, and life as an identical twin in a chaotic family of nine.  A feat by any standard!  She was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, relocating to Colorado for college and a successful IT career at IBM in Boulder.

Narrowly escaping before all creativity was squashed, she jumped at the chance to trade the mundane world of computers for the sexy, exciting world of her own imagination. She now lives in charming rural Texas writing wonderful novels such as the Pride series.

Her debut novel, Finding Pride, was shortlisted in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards 2013, and has received glowing industry and reader reviews from around the world.  

Connect with Jill:

website: http://www.jillmsanders.com
email:    jill@jillmsanders.com
twitter:   https://twitter.com/jillmsanders
fbook:    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jill-Sanders-Author/544154822265045




Retruning Pride's Blog Tour: http://bit.ly/13AGThi

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6/24/2013 

6/25/2013 

6/26/2013

6/27/2013

6/28/2013 

6/29/2013 

6/30/2013 

7/1/2013 
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Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Best Children's Books I've Seen in a While

I have recently found a wonderful series of children's books that star a captivating curly-coated Jack Russell terrier named Mr. Pish. These books are pure joy. Mr. Pish embodies all the wonder and excitement of children discovering the larger world around them, and draws his young readers in with questions about their own surroundings and their own discoveries. Mr. Pish teaches about geology and geography, flora and fauna, history and culture with little bite-sized tidbits of fun. Never heavy-handed, Mr. Pish invites his readers to come along and share in his adventures and the results are several books that promise to spark a child's brain with a love of reading and knowledge. How cool is that?

 Reblogged from http://facing50withhumour.com/2013/06/16/of-dogs-and-writers/


Check out Mr. Pish's webpage here.

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Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Self-Publishing Goes Mainstream

Those of us who have discovered the joys of self-publishing could probably talk about it all day and the nay-sayers would never agree that it’s an idea whose time has come. Luckily for us, more “validating” sources are jumping on the bandwagon, and the issues of legitimacy are shrinking more every day.

Even the Big 6 have finally realized that self-pubbing is a viable option, and they are moving quickly to get their fingers in the pie. You can bet your bippie that they are not doing this out of the goodness of their hearts, anxious to help newbie writers and low-listers escape from their dungeons of obscurity, but because it has become a money-maker. They are finally realizing what we all knew long ago—that readers don’t really give a rat’s patootie who publishes a book. Think about it: when was the last time you wrestled with a book purchase, turned it to the back or the publication page to find out who had published it, and made your decision based on that? Anyone? Ever?

Didn’t think so.

So anyway, the Big 6 are now moving into the realm of the unwashed. In November of 2011, Penguin announced its addition of BookCountry, its self-publishing subsidiary.

“Book Country provides users with three self-publishing packages: $99 for a user-formatted e-book; $299 for a user-formatted print and e-book; and $549 for a professionally formatted print and e-book. Those who select the $549 option can choose from six styles created by Penguin’s in-house designers. Each style corresponds to a certain book genre: “The Sensation” for sci-fi/fantasy titles, for example, or “The Riddler” for mysteries and thrillers. Users can make up to 15 free formatting changes before the book is published.”

Likewise, a blog entry from November 2012 documented Simon & Schuster’s announcement of its new self-publishing arm, Archway.

"Through Archway Publishing, Simon & Schuster is pleased to be part of the rapidly expanding self-publishing segment of our industry," said Carolyn Reidy, president and CEO of Simon & Schuster. "Self-publishing has become a viable and popular route to publication for many authors, and increasingly a source of content for traditional publishers, including Simon & Schuster. We're excited that we'll be able to help more authors find their own path to publication and at the same time create a more direct connection to those self-published authors ready to make the leap to traditional publishing." (Emphasis mine)

Obviously this is not new news, but the point is that it’s trending. Self-publishing is no longer the red-haired stepchild that lives under the stairs. She’s standing up, dusting herself off, putting on her dancing shoes. She’s already got her ticket to the ball, and has plenty of dance partners to choose from. Hugh Howey, author of the indie hit Wool, has broken through the barriers in a stunning way. His book, originally self-published, is now being translated into 19 languages and Ridley Scott is slated to do the movie adaptation. Not too shabby.

Also not too shabby is the Self-Publishing Book Expo. This year marks the 5th anniversary of the book expo, slated to run in New York in November. It promises to be a cornucopia of panels, seminars, exhibitors and presenters. Sounds like the perfect place to rub shoulders with other unfettered, risk-taking, brave indie writers.

Whose time has come.
  
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Thursday, June 6, 2013

How Do You Choose the Next Project?

So I just finished my latest book, a ghost story (woo hoo!), and aside from waiting on beta-readers and fiddling with the cover and blurb, I’m ready to start my next project. But which one?

I’m guessing most of us writers have a backlog of ideas tucked away in their brains. I've got a good half dozen interesting ideas for books. There’s the novel I’m about half-way done with that concerns a past life as a Holocaust victim, the fictionalized version of the January 8th mass shooting here in Tucson, a western romance about a British girl who lands in tiny Bisbee, Arizona, and falls for the local sheriff, a biography of my father-in-law, and a time-travel story about a western actor who slips through a vortex in Sedona and ends up in the old west.

Did I ever mention the fact that I never write the same story twice?


Now you might think that the logical process would be for the No. 1 item, once it’s completed, to come off the list and then No. 2 rises up to take its place.
But, no, it’s not that easy. I've found that the next project chooses me more than I choose it.

Rather than a rational to-do list like above, I find that my ideas are more like a simmering cauldron that bubbles and boils. I’m never quite sure which one will rise to the top and catch my attention like a delectable slice of carrot or a savory baby red potato. Whatever rises to the surface will entice me with a mouth-watering aroma, leading me gently to the keyboard.


Or it’ll grab me in a headlock and drag me to my computer, handcuffing me to the chair until I pour out its story onto paper.

And, to make it worse, the bubbling and boiling doesn’t stop there. I might be knee-deep in a story (as I was in the Holocaust book) when another idea (the ghost story) rises up and refuses to go away. Roiling merrily away, the new idea keeps drawing my interest away from the story at hand until I end up staring at the now abandoned story and typing nothing because I’m imagining the new story instead.

A writer’s progress is never smooth.

Which project sounds like the best one to you?

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