A Slice of Orange

Home

My ‘Good Day’ Post about a scare in the air: a podcast series from Ulverscroft UK by Jina Bacarr

January 11, 2021 by Jina Bacarr in category Jina’s Book Chat tagged as Good Day, historical fiction, Library, Memories, podcast, podcasts, Ulverscroft, women's fiction, writing

My #AGoodDay #podcast is up today re: a scare I had up in the air years ago.

Thanks to @uLibraryDigital for producing these stories!

You can listen below and on the Ulverscroft page on Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/episode/07cHfvk7h59dfewTRVxNO7?si=u26TNw4XQVWqZEDq-dW1jA

————

0 0 Read more

Finish Your Book This Year by Kitty Bucholtz

January 9, 2021 by Kitty Bucholtz in category It's Worth It by Kitty Bucholtz tagged as encouragement, finish your book, Kitty Bucholtz, New Year's Resolutions, Write Now Workshop Podcast

Happy New Year, friends!! I hope the first week of 2021 was a beautiful surprise, with more peace and more joy and more hope than you expected. (With one glaring exception, that’s how my week went.)

I emailed my list this week and encouraged them to believe that each of us can change the world with our books and writing. I shared what a nurse friend told me, that when she loses a patient all she wants when she comes home is to escape into a story with a happy ending. Now, more than ever, I want to be part of encouraging those with necessary and difficult jobs to keep going.

And I want to encourage you to keep writing stories that help people feel connected, stories that give them hope, or nonfiction books that help people where they need it. If you’ve been stuck in your writing, if 2020 seemed to have stolen your artistry or creativity, maybe my Finish Your Book one-to-one book coaching can help. Reach out to me (kitty at kittybucholtz dot com) and let’s talk. Finishing your book and getting it out into the world is a worthwhile use of your time this year!

You may know that I always have an Encouraging Words episode on my podcast on the first Sunday of every month. This month’s episode is a great boost to get 2021 on the road to being a great year. I hope it encourages you!

0 0 Read more

The Commander by Kevin Groh

January 8, 2021 by marianne h donley in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Rabt Book Tours tagged as #Giveaway #TheCommander, #KevinGroh, #RABTBookTours, #SciFi #ScienceFiction, @RABTBookTours

Omni Legends – The Commander: Guardian of Utopia

Sci-Fi

Date Published: January 5, 2021

Welcome to Utopia—humanity’s second home for over two centuries. It is a world controlled by the military and corporations, waging war with advanced alien races, but 18-year-old Carter Sanders is about to change the rules of the game.

Freshly conscripted into boot camp, he needs all his brains and ability to
survive skirmishes and develop allies among his fellow-recruits who resent
his privilege. Training exercises in weaponry, close-quarter combat,
strategy and tactics, and missions test his bravery, while female recruits
test his moral fiber in close situations.

When bionic upgrades for soldiers become mandatory, Carter feels he needs to take a stand. Can he and his mismatched fellow-recruits get their message about preserving morale through to the top brass? Will they survive sadistic drill sergeant Banes before they’re sent off to battle giant, scaled Lorgans on unknown worlds?

The Commander–Guardian of Utopia is the first book in the US version of the epic New Adult military sci-fi fantasy Omni Legends series.

About the Author

Born and raised in Hesse, Germany, Kevin Groh imagined stories and other worlds from early childhood on. In elementary school, he concocted stories to entertain teachers and family. Kevin first visited the US when he was 8 weeks old, returning periodically to see two aunts. He fell in love with the openness of Americans and the non-judgmental environment that accepted him for who he was–a gamer and a nerd. Passionate about the English language, Kevin mastered it by reading, watching movies, playing video games, and traveling.

After high school, Kevin apprenticed as an industrial clerk, and then completed a Bachelor’s degree as an industrial engineer with a focus on electrical engineering. Eventually, he decided to put his own stories on paper, and by his early 20s, became a sensation in the German sci-fi market. His Omni Legends book series includes the best-selling subseries, “The Commander,” “The Black Wanderer,” and “The Shadow Guard.” Kevin was an Amazon Kindle Select All-Star in sales every month from August to December
in 2019. The young author is now ready to entertain a US readership looking for its next page-turner.

When he’s not writing or gaming, Kevin enjoys working out and discussing philosophical questions with his girlfriend. He also loves recording his audio books and mastering accents. Russian-accented English is one of his best. He is a member of the German “Autorenwelt” community of selfpublishers, as well as “Lovelybooks,” a network for organizing book clubs and readings.

Contact Links

Purchase Link

a Rafflecopter giveaway

0 0 Read more

Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger Featured Authors

January 7, 2021 by Janet Elizabeth Lynn and Will Zeilinger in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Featured Author of the Month, Partners in Crime by Janet Elizabeth Lynn & Will Zeilinger tagged as 1950s Crime novels, Author Interviews, Chatting with Authors, Janet Elizabeth Lynn, The Skylar Drake Murder Mystery Series, Will Zeilinger

January Featured Authors

Janet Elizabeth Lynn was born in Queens and raised in Long Island, New York. She is the author of murder mysteries, cozy mysteries and with her husband Will Zeilinger, 1950s hard-boiled detective mysteries.

Will Zeilinger has lived and traveled the world and has been writing for over ten years. His novels range from mystery to romantic comedy and those 1950s hard-boiled detective mysteries with his wife Janet.

Partners in Crime

Together Janet and Will write the Skylar Drake Mystery Series. These hard-boiled tales are based in old Hollywood of 1955. They have a free E-book How it Began: The Skylar Drake Mysteries available from Smashwords.

Their world travels have sparked several ideas for murder and crime stories. In 2021, they will team up will a penname E.J. Williams for a new mystery series. The first novel in the International Crime Files, Stone Pub will be published in May.

Chatting With Authors

In addition to writing novels, Janet and Will have a YouTube Channel, Chatting with Authors featuring informal Zoom interviews with authors of various genres. Below is a sample of one of their chats, but we encourage readers to check out all their videos.

This creative couple lives in Southern California . . . and yes, they are still married, and they even blog together at The Married Authors.

Janet and Will’s Interview with Author Rebecca Forster

Rebecca Forster started writing on a crazy dare and found her passion. Now she is a USA Today and Amazon best-selling author of over 40 books. Rebecca’s thrillers, known for their attention to detail and deep characterization. She has taught at the acclaimed UCLA Writers Program and is a sought-after speaker, including three appearances at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. In her spare time, she court watches and travels the world looking for inspiration for her novels. She is married to a Superior Court Judge and is mother to two sons.

0 0 Read more

AUTHOR RECOVERY

January 5, 2021 by Tracy Reed in category Pink Pad by Tracy Reed tagged as Planning, promotion, series, tracy read, writing

Happy New Year. I hope you had a wonderful holiday.

This morning I woke up to a daunting historical fact. Five years ago, I made a rather strange decision or idea to publish a title a month for a year. I’ve spoken about this project several times over the past years. When I set out to do it, I had one main reason, to sell more books.

I heard the best way to gain readers and sell more books was to write more books. I also heard it was easier to do advertising with more than one book.

When 2016 started I had one full-length novel, a novella and a novelette. What I didn’t have was a completed series, or at least a duet. I now know that was a big mistake. If I were to ever do another challenge like that, it would center around one series.

I have learned a lot about writing and publishing books. I think I finally have a handle on my writing style and what my readers expect from me. I write books that aren’t necessarily written to market. In my books someone is always wrestling with their feelings, raging hormones and how they mix with their faith. I like to hook my reader with something a little sweet and sassy so they can get to know the characters. The heat levels grow as the series progresses. In my writing world, the characters need to read like real people. It should feel like you’re reading about someone the reader would actually know.

I have three series and two duets I need to tie up. I’m not saying I’m going to tie up all of these collections this year, but I’m going to try.

I’m also guilty of using cliffhangers…another thing I tried to sell books. I think it would have been successful if I’d immediately released the next book in the series.

Last year I didn’t release a book and my sales suffered as a result. What did I learn from this…no new book and a lack of marketing my backlist leads to no money. I did however, participate in some incredible free promotions which gave me awesome results. My book Unexpected Love was #1 in one of my categories on Amazon US and UK for three days. I was on the roof. Both of my other books peaked in the top ten of their categories.

These promotions yielded several thousand downloads and sales which I loved.

I take responsibility for my low sales, because I failed to do adequate marketing and advertising. I refuse to kick myself for not sticking to my production schedule. I was distracted by a little thing called COVID-19.

So what is my plan for this year? I’m not quite sure. I know I’ll be releasing a book in February. My goal is to release the next in that series approximately three months later. I’ll also be releasing new covers for my Alex series as well as another book.

The other thing on my list is the follow up to Unexpected Love. I have the cover, title and eleven thousand words. Seeing several free copies have been downloaded and it ends in a cliffhanger, I need to release the follow up asap.

Before I start any writing plan for 2021, I’m going to take a few days, clear my head and make a reachable and achievable plan.

So what’s your author plan for 2021?