Marketing With Mandy ~ Author Ciana Stone
Q: Tell us a little about your experience with Ellora’s Cave.A: I can only rave about the Cave! I have the most fabulous editor Sue Ellen Gower, our publisher, Raelene Gorlinsky is top-notch and all the Ellora’s Cave family are talented, smart people with a lot of heart. I feel honored to be part of the family.
Q: What tips/tricks do you use for marketing or promoting your own titles?
A: I put on my Hussy hat and act like a snake-oil salesman. And I run contests and ads and yak it up on The Hussies Club on yahoo.
An Exciting New Series from Publisher of Romantica, Ellora’s Cave http://www.thehussies.com
http://thehussiesblog.blogspot.com/
http://thehussiesbookslam.blogspot.com/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheHussiesClub/
From the mists of time walks a woman of power and magic, a woman by whose hand destiny was forged during a time when magic still held sway. She thought her time had passed, but it was not to be, for now the world is in a time of great change. A time when destiny will be decided, and man will flourish or fail. And it is up to her to find the women who will be the new warriors in her time honored Order of the Hussies; hunters who will be called upon to seek out and save warriors in peril, in order to insure that these men live to fulfill their destiny and help guide man toward a time when once again human and beast will live side by side and all will flourish.
But this new army of women she will build have no knowledge of the old ways. They are of the new age, and their battles will be fought on far different ground than those of the past.
The Order of the Hussies will tell the tales of these women and the men they save. And each will do it in her own unique style, bringing you steamy passion, heart-tugging romance, and knuckle-biting excitement.
Q: What is one thing you’d want to tell a newer author, just coming into the game?
A: Be like the Zen archer. Write for the love of it, because it’s your passion. Then when the writing is done, become the stonecutter, chipping away a little each day, trying to find a publishing home or a new way to promote. But most of all enjoy the journey because that’s the read joy.
Q: Could you tell us a bit about your latest release?
A: Scout’n’ Cole is the third in my Hot in the Saddle series.
Cole had no trouble attracting women. The Russell men were all blessed physically, and Cole was no exception. However, finding a woman who could match his passion for the wilderness as well as ignite passions of a different kind in his life was the problem.
Scout Windrider knew that love wasn’t for her. She’d yet to encounter a man who took her breath away, and figured it was just as well. What man would want to hook up with a woman who spent most of her life in the wild, tracking mountain lions?
Neither of them could have foreseen being paired in a no-kill hunt turned deadly would force them to confront an explosive attraction hot enough to consume them with its heat. Faced with a murderous madman intent on exacting revenge against the Windrider family, Scout and Cole take a leap of faith with each other, and discover something relegated to myth and legend prove to be true, that will touch their lives in a way that will change them forever.
Q: How do you come up with your ideas?
A: I suppose ideas come from things I read. I’m a big non-fiction fan and read a lot on the myths and legends from various cultures, as well as books on quantum mechanics because hey, science rocks! And I’m a 25 year student of religions which abound with interesting ideas.
I’m also a big “what if” person, and find myself engaging in “what if” conversations all the time. Sometimes really interesting ideas come from those dialogues.
And then there’s my muse who is found of waking me in the middle of the night and refusing to be quiet until I get up and write down the ideas.
Q: How do balance family and writing?
A: LOL, balance is a relative term, but for me balance is having time to do all the things I want to do. So, I work all week and spend the evenings with my family, I have Saturdays for taking care of the home and yard and Sunday is my day off - the day I don’t do anything for anyone. I just get up, brush my teeth and wash my face and head for the patio with my laptop where I sit and write until my butt goes numb, then I go run or swim and write some more.
Q: What would you do if you weren’t a writer?
A: What I do now, art, photography, video and enjoy life. Writing isn’t the sum of my life, but it is one of my primary passions. However, as my honey is fond of saying, I’m a woman with a lot of passions and one of the few people he knows who has the energy to explore all of them. I guess I’m just lucky. Everything I do brings me joy. It doesn’t get any better than that.
LINKS:
http://www.cianastone.com
Marketing With Mandy ~ Author Sally Painter
Q: Tell us a little about your experience with Ellora’s Cave.
A: I love writing for EC. My first book was published in 2005 and it has been a delightful surprise every step of the way. My editor, Sue-Ellen Gower (Suz) is fantastic. EC allows me to write my stories with my vision and doesn’t intrude on how I do that. It’s a dream world for any writer.
Q: What tips/tricks do you use for marketing or promoting your own titles?
A: I do the typical things on list mom day, but try to offer some info that is entertaining and fun aside from just excerpts that relates to the book or items/facts featured in them.
In my vampire book, All I Need, I took listers on a short cyber tour of vineyards in France, gave a little background on wines and then shared some of my research about vampires. Same thing with my two gargoyle books. To Kiss a Gargoyle - I took listers on a cyber tour to various sites with gargoyle statues, told the history and then added some of the myth and fantasy details.
I try to tie in some part of the research I did or capitalize on things such as Last Resort which is about a vampire tropical vacation spot - Vampire Beach Resort. I shared legends about vampire’s sensitivity to sun and garlic, highlighting possible explanations of medical conditions that might have spawned the legend of vampires.
Q: What is one thing you’d want to tell a newer author, just coming into the game?
A: You are always on the stage. Everything you say and do is important so make sure you are presenting yourself in the image you want your readers to know. I’ve seen some very rude authors and the internet makes it fast and easy for news of a rude author to travel fast, just as it down for an author who is polite and considerate.
Q: Could you tell us a bit about your latest release?
A: Divided Love (Release TBD) is part of the EC Torrid Tarot series and mine is based on the Queen of Cups card. Reci Waters is the Queen of Cups which is an underground world created by the ancient Altanteans. They live in domes structures and have the ability to breathe on land or sea.
Reci abdicates her throne in what appears to be a selfish act of betrayal, but she abandoned her kingdom to save it from a fatal war. Now, a year later, all the enemies are revealed and she plans to reclaim her throne, only something strange happens. She has been out of the water too long and falls victim to a curse.
Reci divides into two people and her worst half has no intentions of returning to the underwater city. In fact, the hot-blooded Reci decides it’s time to explore those suppressed sexual longings for the handsome Arthur Finn, Captain of the Royal Guard. She soon finds herself competing with her other self for Arthur’s attention. Things don’t just grow steamy, they are scorching hot as the twin Recis plunge into a sex war to win the man of their dreams.
Arthur has been in love with Reci ever since transferring to Cups, the underworld palace. He’s wanted to claim her as his but protocol has keep his hunger smoldering below the surface. When Reci shirked her duty and opted for a life as a land dweller, he jumped onboard her escape chariot and ever since has served as her personal body guard. He’s never confessed his feelings for his queen, but now that she is twins, Arthur is on fire, finding her irresistible – both of her.
Q: What’s your favorite genre to write in and why?
A: I love paranormal anything. It captures my imagination and I’ve had so many encounters with paranormal activity, it affords me a way to weave them into my stories
Q: Can you tell us a little about your current WIP’s?
A: I’m currently writing my first book in The Hussies™, Danu, The Beginning. Danu is the central figure in the series and I’m writing her story because Ci made me.
Danu was born into a world long before recorded history and is a PICT and is the last of her kind, a seer trained in the ancient arts. She’s a shapeshifter and a Hussy, which is the order of these mystical arts, like her mother and grandmother before her. The Dragon Queen killed Danu’s mother and she’s vowed to extract justice and kill the queen of the dragon people. These are being that can shapeshift into dragons. Danu, however can shapeshift into anything she desires, a rock, a tree, an animal, another person. Anything except a dragon.
She is guided by her ancestors and other spirits, but it’s not until she meets Ragna, a dragon hunter that the rest of her magical power are unleashed and together they set out on the quest to free the world of the tyranny of the dragon king and queen.
Q: What types of research do you do for your books?
A: A lot. I research the mythology and the creatures found in them. If in a different time period, everything I can get my hands on so I feel as though I’m right there. In All I Want, set in 1250 AD Scotland, I immersed myself in the research until I could actually smell the peat fields and feel the wind on my face as it rolled over the Highlands carrying the sound of a lone bagpipe. Research is a part of the fun of writing for me.
I’ve researched foods, wine, grog, and then for my gargoyle books I’ve studied how a bird flies, kinds of wings and feathers and how they are used in flight.
LINKS:
http://www.sallypainter.com
http://www.ellorascave.com/AuthorsBooks.asp?AuthorCode=SPai
http://sallysmidnighthour.blogspot.com
Sally_Painter_Paranormal_Books-subscribe@yahoogroups.com (Newsletter)
There will be multiple winners! Enter to win
EC Ebook (winner’s choice) — One from Ciana Stone, One from Sahara Kelly, One from Ann Wesley Hardin. All you have to do is comment on any of the Marketing with Mandy~Spotlight posts this week! Winner will be announced on Sunday!
Listen to our newest Radio Show for your chance to win a paperback copy of The Darkest Night by Gena Showalter! Gena was a really good sport. You can hear her take on her new series Lords of the Underworld and learn some of the deep secrets we managed to pry from her. :goteam:
