An Ode to Bloggers by Terri Giuliano Long

An Ode to Bloggers - Guest post by Terri Giuliano Long, author of In Leah's Wake

Last May, a month or so after I began marketing my novel, In Leah’s Wake, a former agent told me that I would never sell 500 books. A rookie, I had no idea what to expect. When I published the novel, I’d dreamed of selling a 3,000 – 5,000 books, hoping healthy sales numbers would attract the attention of an agent or traditional publishing house for my next novel.

The agent had left New York, but she’d been in the business for a long time, and her words stung. I hung up the phone, heartbroken, depressed. Had I not been in the midst of my first blog tour, I might have pulled my novel off the market that day.

Determined to see the tour through, I soldiered on. On the tour, I met wonderful, caring people, book bloggers, whose kindness buoyed and sustained me.

Over the next few months, In Leah’s Wake appeared on hundreds of blogs. Bloggers opened their hearts and spread the word about this quiet literary novel. In August, In Leah’s Wake hit the Barnes & Noble and Amazon charts. Now, seven months after my talk with that agent, the book has been in the Amazon top 200 for over five months, and we’ve sold just shy of 80,000 copies.

Book bloggers rock! I don’t know how to say it any better. Book bloggers are the fairy godmothers and godfathers of the literary world. They invest their talent, their energy, and their time into reviewing and promoting books – and keeping dreams alive.

Even today, traditional media refuse to recognize or review indie books. In this very real sense, book bloggers are the heart and soul of the indie revolution. Their vision, their energy, and their determination have enabled this amazing populist movement to take hold.

Today, we have the great good fortune of hearing the funny, poignant, intelligent voices of new authors from around the world - voices that, just a few years ago, might have been silenced by the gatekeepers of the old guard. These voices reach into hearts and minds, forging connections, uniting us in a community of readers and writers, searching for and finding, through words, the better part of ourselves. Because, truly, at heart, this is what reading and writing is all about.

Here’s to you, book bloggers! You are and always will be my heroes!

About the author:
Terri Giuliano Long is the bestselling author of the award-winning novel In Leah’s Wake. Her life outside of books is devoted to her family. In her free time, she enjoys walking, traveling, and listening to music. True to her Italian-American heritage, she’s an enthusiastic cook. In an alternate reality, she might be an international food writer. She lives with her family on the East Coast and teaches at Boston College. In Leah’s Wake is her debut novel.

You can find Terri on her site, blog, Twitter, and Facebook.

This week, Terri and Inspired Quill Press (paperback edition), launch a newly edited edition of In Leah’s Wake. The newly edited novel features a new chapter and several new scenes, adding new connections and insights, and tightens the book, cutting 60 pages – all while maintaining the integrity of the original edition.

For more information, please visit her website: www.tglong.com/blog or any of these retailer sales. (Your local library or bookstore can also order the book through major distribution channels.)

Amazon Kindle / Amazon Paperback / Barnes & Noble / Indie Bound

BOOK INFORMATION

IN LEAH’S WAKE
Terri Giuliano Long
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback, Kindle
ISBN: 1456310542
Publisher: CreateSpace/Inspired Quill Press
Website: www.tglong.com

***Newly edited by Sara-Jayne Slack, Inspired Quill Press***

The Tylers have a perfect life—beautiful home, established careers, two sweet and talented daughters. Their eldest daughter, Leah, an exceptional soccer player, is on track for a prestigious scholarship. Their youngest, Justine—more responsible than seems possible for her 12 years—just wants her sister’s approval. With Leah nearing the end of high school and Justine a seemingly “together” kid, the parents are set to enjoy a peaceful life…until everything goes wrong. Can this family survive in Leah’s wake?

Margot Livesey, award-winning author of Banishing Verona, calls In Leah's Wake "a beautifully written and absorbing novel."

When happens when love just isn't enough?

Recipient of the CTRR Award for excellence 
2011 Book Bundlz Book Pick 
Book Bundlz 2011 Favorites, First Place

Praise for In Leah’s Wake

"Sometimes scary, sometimes sad, and always tender."
Susan Straight, National Book Award finalist, author Take One Candle Light A Room

"In Leah's Wake is a beautifully written and absorbing novel."
Margot Livesey, Award-winning author of Banishing Verona

“Pulled me right along as I continued to make comparisons to my own life.”
Jennifer Donovan, 5 Minutes for Books, Top 50 Book Blog

“An incredibly strong debut, this book is fantastic on many fronts.”
Naomi Blackburn, Founder Sisterhood of the Traveling Book



The Facebook competition will run from January 23^rd January to January 27^th on Terri’s Facebook page, under the ‘Photo Contest’ tab: (http://www.facebook.com/tglongwrites?sk=app_197602066931325).  There are two $50 Amazon gift certificates available: one for the best photograph and one for the best caption.  Entrants can take a photograph of themselves with their paperback copy of In Leah’s Wake or showing the book on their ereader or laptop, or perhaps get family members and/or pets involved!  For the really creative, why not recreate a scene from the book?

Review: Alice Bliss by Laura Harrington & Where's Alice Bliss

Alice Bliss by Laura Harrington
Published: June 2011
Published by: Penguin Group

"Outside the back window Alice can see the outlines of the garden, some of the furrows visible under the snow, stretching away in long thin rows. She can't imagine doing the garden without her dad. It's his thing; she's always thought of herself as his assistant at best. She can't imagine doing anything without her dad and she starts to feel like she can't breathe. And then she looks at him. Just looks at him as he watches the fire with muffin crumbs on his lap.
'I'll write to you.'
'I know, sweetheart.'
'Every day.'"
--From Alice Bliss

When Alice Bliss learns that her father, Matt, is being deployed to Iraq, she's heartbroken. Alice idolizes her father, loves working beside him in their garden, accompanying him on the occasional roofing job, playing baseball. When he ships out, Alice is faced with finding a way to fill the emptiness he has left behind.

Matt will miss seeing his daughter blossom from a tomboy into a full- blown teenager. Alice will learn to drive, join the track team, go to her first dance, and fall in love, all while trying to be strong for her mother, Angie, and take care of her precocious little sister, Ellie. But the smell of Matt is starting to fade from his blue shirt that Alice wears everyday, and the phone calls are never long enough.

Alice Bliss is a profoundly moving coming-of-age novel about love and its many variations--the support of a small town looking after its own; love between an absent father and his daughter; the complicated love between an adolescent girl and her mother; and an exploration of new love with the boy-next- door. These characters' struggles amidst uncertain times echo our own, lending the novel an immediacy and poignancy that is both relevant and real. At once universal and very personal, Alice Bliss is a transforming story about those who are left at home during wartime, and a teenage girl bravely facing the future.

My review: 
Alice Bliss is growing up while her father is away because of the war, a reality that has happened to many families in the recent years. Alice was always very close to her father and now she is dealing with everyday life without his support. Plus, her mom is having a hard time dealing with her husband being gone, and a lot of the daily responsibilities of caring for her little sister has fallen on Alice. Alice has to learn how to cope with her father being away, on top of normal teenage problems, while letters come sporadically, calls become almost non existent, and then bad news is received with almost no information.

Alice Bliss is such a sad, poignant story. I cried so many times, I ended up reading with a box of tissues next to me. This is a book that so many families today will be able to relate to. I, thankfully, have not had to deal with a parent being in the war, but I was still touched deeply. Laura Harrington has captured the emotions felt by such an experience and portrayed them beautifully. I would recommend Alice Bliss to anyone.

About the author: 

Laura Harrington’s award winning plays, musicals, operas, and radio plays have been widely produced across America, in Canada, and Europe in venues ranging from The Zipper Factory in NYC to Houston Grand Opera to the Paris Cinemateque. She is the 2008 Kleban Award Winner for most promising librettist in American Musical Theatre. Harrington has twice won both the Massachusetts Cultural Council Award in playwriting and the Clauder Competition for best new play in New England. Additional awards include a Boston IRNE Award for Best New Play, a Bunting Institute Fellowship at Harvard/ Radcliffe, a Whiting Foundation Grant-in-Aid, the Joseph Kesselring Award for Drama, a New England Emmy, and a Quebec Cinemateque Award.

Laura teaches playwriting at MIT where she was awarded the 2009 Levitan Prize for Excellence in Teaching. She has also been a frequent guest artist at Tufts, Harvard, Wellesley, and the University of Iowa. 

You can find Laura on her site, Twitter, and Facebook.  

I am participating in Where's Alice Bliss? Since Alice Bliss was in Arkansas, we thought it was only right for the visit to include a trip to Razorback Stadium. (Alice Bliss went to call the hogs!)

My copy of Alice Bliss is now going to Ashley of The Bibliophile's Corner. You can follow this copy's journey through Book Crossing.

In My Mailbox, vol. 12

In My Mailbox was created by The Story Siren.

Received for review:

 

Witch Hunt (The Hayle Coven novels, book 2) by Patti Larsen (Goodreads)

Demon Child (The Hayle Coven novels, book 3) by Patti Larsen (Goodreads)

The Wild (The Hayle Coven novels, book 4) by Patti Larsen (Goodreads)

Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown - exp. publication: June 2012 (Goodreads)

Starters by Lissa Price - exp. publication: March 2012 (Goodreads)

Slide by Jill Hathaway - exp. publication: March 2012 (Goodreads)

Lexie World by Kimberly Kinrade - Children's book (Goodreads)

Will Love for Crumbs - A Memoir by Jonna Ivin (Goodreads)

Received for a traveling ARC tour:

The Boy Project by Kami Kinard (Goodreads)

(Already reading because I have to get it sent on to someone else.)

What do you think about these books? What did you get in your mailbox this week?

Mandi Tillotson Williams, author of Mortimer Crump books - Interview & Reviews

Mandi Tillotson Williams is a 34 year old author/illustrator/mother of 3 from Florida with an imagination that is FAR from tame. She loves her family more than anything in this world. She enjoys doing anything that involves creativity. She also has a photography business as well. After experiencing a personal family tragedy-turned-miracle, she has decided to pursue her lifelong dream of writing for children.



You can find Mandi and Mortimer on their site, blog, Twitter, and Facebook.

Interview with Mandi:

Are you the illustrator for all of the Mortimer books? When did you start drawing?
Yes, I am the illustrator as well. I have always loved to draw since I was a kid but never really considered drawing my own illustrations or even pursuing publishing my books for that matter until after my youngest son was born. I want to share my poem and true story... this is WHY I am pursuing this dream of writing. (I attached the pic of my author page with the poem and pics of my son from the NICU and now)

How did you get the ideas for the Mortimer books? 
Actually as a child I had a HUGE imagination. At daycare I would tell my friends that I was from an undiscovered candy coated planet and that I came to Earth on an enormous bubble gum slide. I had some of the kids actually believing my story, LOL. This is where the idea stemmed from and Mortimer's last name Crump I used because I loved the movie Nutty Professer and their last name was Klump which I thought was funny so I somehow came up with Crump. Mortimer was just a name that matched the little boy I had pictured before writing the story.

When/how did you decide you wanted to be a writer? 
As I stated above, I have always loved to write and draw but my inspiration to move forth with the publishing process and getting my work out there came from the desire to share my miracle story of my son's birth with as many people as possible and I intend to do just that through my writing. My youngest was born 12 weeks early and had a Grade III IVH on his brain (bleed on both sides of his brain.) We were told devastating news one week after his birth that he may not walk or talk and would most likely have cerebal palsy. He had a 73 day long battle in the NICU but he is now 6 years old and thriving in so many ways. While in the NICU he overcame his brain bleed, he had 4 blood transfusions, 2 spinal taps, a hole in his heart, feeding intolerance, pneumonia, staph invention from being on the ventilator so long, apnea, hernia surgery and a few more standard preemie issues.  Looking at him now, you would never know he was a preemie. He does wear cute little blue glasses and he doesn't have stereo vision (3D vision) and still struggles with asthma but these are minor compared to what we were told in the NICU. I am so thankful.

Besides the two Mortimer books reviewed here, do you have other books or are you working on others?
Yes, actually the second book in The Many Adventures of Mortimer Crump is written but I have to do the illustrations which is the hardest part for me. It is a really cute book though and I am sure Moritmer fans will enjoy it so I am going to get to work on it soon. I have also written another story as well about a little shape named Henrietta Hexagon. I am planning a shape series geared toward the younger kids and have gotten wonderful feedback on it thus far. I have illustrated 2 pages of it at this time. Last but not least, I am in the 3rd chapter of a chapter book as well.

When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a cartoonist for Disney World, so maybe I'm not too far off base. Lol.

What was your favorite book when you were a child?
I absolutely LOVED Shel Silverstein's poem books!! I also loved the Fudge Series. :o)

What is the best thing that has happened since your books were published?
I have been able to share my story of my son with a larger crowd and if I am able to help just one person that is dealing with this type of terrible ordeal I am more than happy to do so. I have also met several new author friend that I wouldn't have met otherwise.

What advice would you give to someone else who wanted to write children's books?
I say if it's something you are passionate about, GO FOR IT!! You can do anything you put your mind to! Also, I would go ahead and begin social networking and building a fan base now as that has been my best advertisement for my books.

What is a random fact about yourself that most people don't know?
My favorite cartoons as a kid were the smurfs and garfield and I still love them, also I LOVE to make up songs to well known music. I made up a rap to ICE ICE BABY for my brother's Lawn Business. It begins,
Alright, STOP listen to this factor
Micah's back with his brand new tractor
Something grabs ahold of me tightly
Mowin them yards daily and nightly
Will he ever stop?
YO! I don't know...
Fill up the tank ... and lets go.
(I won't write the whole thing here but you get the idea.)

The Many Adventures of Mortimer Crump: Mortimer's Sweet Retreat
(Barnes&Noble/Goodreads)

Review:
Mortimer's Sweet Retreat is a children's story about friendship with whimsical rhyming. This book has a moral lesson, and is also a funny story. It has very cute hand drawn illustrations. I think young children would love Mortimer and this magical "candy land."


Mortimer's Book of What-Ifs (A Children's Rhyming Picture Book) (Goodreads)

Review:
What if you don't clean behind your ears? What if you hear a noise in the tub? These questions and more are humorously considered. Some of the answers may surprise you. Mortimer is hidden on each page for your child to find. Cute and funny with great hand drawn illustrations. Another Mortimer book that I think would be a favorite among young children.

Both books were provided by the author for review.

You can find both books on Mandi's Amazon page.

Airel-Arson-Pyxis Blog Tour - Review & Giveaways

This blog tour features 3 books, Airel by Aaron Patterson & Chris White, Arson by Estevan Vega, and Pyxis by K.C. Neal. Please see below for my review of Pyxis and for details on how to win a signed copy of Pyxis and for more information on how to win copies of all 3 books, swag, and even a Kindle!

Airel by Aaron Patterson & Chris White 
$2.99 on Amazon.com | £2.21 on Amazon UK
Airel is a story about an angel who falls so deeply in love with a woman that he chooses to fall from heaven to be with her. She gives birth to a daughter in Arabia, 1250BC. The girl is pursued ferociously, relentlessly by an enemy in the deepest darkness. In present day Boise, Idaho is just a girl: Airel. She's just your average high school student...who turns out to be anything but average. It's because of who she is, because of her ancestry, because of her lineage. Past and present crash in on each other in the final pages as what has been twisted comes dangerously unraveled.

Arson by Estevan Vega
99c Amazon.com | 86p on Amazon UK
Arson Gable feels like a freak. He can create fire. He never asked for it. He never wanted it. But he can't shut it off. Before now, three things were true: he both loved and despised his grandmother; his life was going nowhere; and he was alone. But when a strange girl--who feels more normal behind a mask than inside her own skin--moves in next door, Arson hopes to find something he's never had: purpose. Using what he fears most about himself, Arson must face his consuming past and confront the nightmare that is his present as he walks the fine line between boy and monster.

Pyxis by K.C. Neal
99c on Amazon.com | 86p on Amazon UK
Corinne lives an average teenage life working at her dad’s cafe, hanging out with her best friend, and trying to forget a falling-out with her almost-boyfriend Mason. Things take a strange turn when she uses her late grandmother’s food dyes for a bake sale, and her customers suddenly find her irresistibly alluring. Then she discovers she and Mason are haunted by the same dreams of a dark force that consumes everything in its path. Pursued by shadowy figures and a crazy woman with secrets from the past, Corinne must find out who her grandmother really was. In her quest to unravel her family’s history, she learns she is destined to protect this world--and the dark world of her dreams. She races to find the answers she seeks before her nightmares break free.

My review of Pyxis:
Corinne uses some food dyes that belonged to her late grandmother in some items she makes for a school bake sale. Only they are not really food dyes, and the students who eat the baked goods begin acting strangely. While investigating what the liquids really are and why they cause people to act differently, Corinne begins uncovering secrets which involve her. However, the only person who can give her the information she needs is her Aunt Dorothy, who has not been in her right mind and in a retirement home since the death of Corinne's grandmother.

Pyxis is the first book in the series and only the beginning of the story. In this one, Corinne discovers the pyxis and her starts finding out her role in all of it. We get to know Corinne, Ang, and Mason and are set up for the continuation of the story. Once you read this one, you will definitely want to read the next in the series. K.C. Neal has an easy to read writing style and has well developed characters. The story is engaging and provides a lot of suspense. I enjoyed reading Pyxis and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys YA fantasy.

A copy was provided by the author for review.

About the author of Pyxis:
Young adult fantasy author K.C. Neal is repped by herself and published by StoneHouse Ink. Her debut novel, Pyxis: The Discovery, has received enthusiastic praise from readers.

Most of her days are filled with some combination of writing, reading, gardening, working, and watching stuff on Netflix with her husband and their maltipoo, Oscar. She has an irrational fixation with L.A., and during occasional trips there she pretends her life is more glamorous than it really is ("Entourage" is her guilty pleasure). She likes to surf and hang out on sandy beaches, where drinks are served adorned with tiny umbrellas.

Giveaway:
One SIGNED copy of Pyxis by K.C. Neal. To enter, just fill out the form below.

Giveaway details:
U.S. only. This giveaway will run until midnight EST on February 1. Must be 13 or older to enter. Winner will be chosen using Random.org. Winner will be emailed and this blog post will be updated to include the name of the winner. Winner has 3 days to contact me or a new winner will be selected.

You can also win copies of the other books, swag, and there is a grand prize of a Kindle. Click here for more details.

Sorry! This giveaway is now closed.

Winner: Jessica M.