If you've been following me for this long, then you'll probably know that I like to help pimp out talented authors. Well, one of my favorite authors is a wonderful lady named Eli Constant.

Eli is one of those authors that writes stories that completely suck you in, using both realistic characters and fantastic world building. Her stories range from the crazy to the beautiful, and she writes with such poetic skill that even when she writes a genre I don't normally read, I find myself lost within her words.

I first met Eli over two years ago, when we traded review chapters for our then first books. Mine was Limerence, and hers was Dead Trees. I instantly fell in love with it. 
It wasn't without its flaws--just as Limerence wasn't. The science lost me at times, but I was both equally amazed that she knew so much the subject as I was drinking it all in. Plus those damn characters were so easy for me to relate to, and those monsters, Jesus, they were so inventive and well thought out. 

Two years later, after much nagging and hounding from me, and I got to beta read Dead Trees 2. And it is AWESOME. It's the right amount of strong female protagonist, hot male (hubba hubba), well thought out plot, tear-evoking (oh, the feels!!!) and scary monsters that every great book needs.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I PREDICT GREAT THINGS FOR THIS AUTHOR! 

Dead Trees 2 doesn't release until tomorrow, but I'm going to give you the chance to win a copy of either Dead Trees 1 or Dead Trees 2. I'm literally putting my money where my mouth is. So have a read through, get a taste for the series, and for Eli (but no biting her) and enter!


Good Luck

Claire

Ps. Congratulations, Eli. I'm so freaking proud of you!


                                  *                     *                  *                  *


Author Bio

Eli Constant is a genre-jumping detail junkie, obsessed with the nature of humanity. She believes that there is beauty at the core of most everything, but that truly unredeemable characters create the best stories. Eli is the author of “Dead Trees,” “Dead Trees 2,” “Mastic,” “DRAG.N” and is a contributor to the charity anthology “Let’s Scare Cancer to Death.” (LSCtD: TW Brown, Editor MayDecember Publications) 100% sales proceeds go to the V Foundation, a leader in cancer research for the past twenty years).

Her works-in-progress include the final book in the Dead Trees Trilogy, a 3-author anthology exploring the psychosis of serial killers, a 6-author anthology exploring humanity in the face of hopelessness, the second companion novel to DRAG.N, and a zombie origins novel (this last work in progress comes as a huge surprise to Eli; she honestly thought she’d never write about zombies, but somehow, she fell down the zombie hole and couldn’t crawl out, or rather, didn’t want to crawl out). 


Keep posted on these upcoming publications by following Eli on any of her social links below.

www.eliconstant.com | Twitter | Facebook | Books on Amazon | Goodreads | Wordpress

Release Information: “Dead Trees 2” is the sequel to Eli Constant’s début book, “Dead Trees”. Fans of the series include- Claire C. Riley (Odium Series, Limerence), Jerry Benns (Editor/Owner Charon Coin Press), Author TW Brown (The Dead Series, That Ghoul Ava) & more. 

book prices from Friday 30th May!

Dead Trees Book 1 on sale @ $1.99 

Dead Trees Book 2 @ $3.49

Set: Book 1 & 2 + Bonus Short Story (“Day of Amarok”) @ $4.49

Paperback: full price, available next week

Two years of peace in a primitive setting can make anyone forget a past full of science, beasties, and blood. 

On the day of her son’s birth, the past invades the Yukon valley where Elise and her family reside and they are once again forced to travel survival-road. The General has found her… tracked her across the miles. Elise is his obsession; he wants her for reasons beyond comprehension.

H2H was supposed to be the answer, but the world’s ‘savior’ has created a new pack of demons. The Rippers, beasties on steroids. Wild undergrounders are a mild nightmare in comparison.

Thankfully, humanity has an ace up its sleeves.

The question is: This time, when a new solution for saving humanity is put into action, what will the consequences be?

Horror author TW Brown had this to say about Dead Trees.



~Twisting the post-apocalypse story in a GOOD way!~

DEAD TREES is a morlock-esque take on the apocalypse. This reads much different than what you will find in the zombie genre (NO, this is NOT a zombie book, but rather a post-apocalyptic tale with "Beasties" as they are dubbed by the narrator hat have emerged from underground a la H.G. Wells.) First, know that there is some exceptional attention to detail here that is often lacking in the genre.

One thing that makes this book stand out is a strong female protagonist. SO often this genre is dominated by uber-military MacGyver types that have all the answers and can get out of every scrape. Elise is a mother simply trying her best to keep her daughter's alive, and while she does "hook up" with Jason, you get the impression that she can do with or without him just fine.

What you need to know is that this book is a page turner. It has plenty of action and strong character development. There are time when it gets "sciencey" but those times flow within the scope of the story and are not cumbersome. There are some editing flaws, but nothing that will make you pause or detract from the flow of the story (and the author has worked to make improvements in that area for those wondering). This is a strong book and you WILL be pestering her Ms. Constant about the sequel. I did not rate this book 5 stars because it was perfect. Truly, nothing really is. I rated it 5 stars because it took chances (that paid off) and it kept me wanting to read more.

Author TW Brown

The Dead Series, That Ghoul Ava Series

@maydecpub | Amazon Author Page

Jerry Benns Owner of Charon Coin Press had this to say




~ What would you do if the world we knew didn’t exist anymore? What would you do to protect your children and survive? ~ 

Eli Constant answers these questions and takes the end of the world to new levels in "Dead Trees". Starting on page one, readers are immersed into a world where humans are no longer at the top of the food chain and survival is measured in hours. Constant’s storytelling abilities bring the characters, setting, and the 'beasties' to life, making "Dead Trees" one of the most engrossing and ghoulish dystopian tales I have read in quite some time.

-Jerry Benns: Editor for State of Horror Anthologies, Charon Coin Press

State of Horror Anthology Facebook Page | Charon Coin Press Website

As Always... Happy Reading you fabulous little book whores!

Claire C Riley

Today we’re going to talk about formatting your book.

Formatting is something that you either get, or you don’t. Some people find it an easy task, and others—like me, don’t.

I think that the formatting is something that goes by the wayside in many respects, but a badly formatted book can completely ruin the reading experience for a reader. Blank pages in books, writing out of alignment, font size too small or too big, wrong text, it ALL makes a difference to the experience that you’re selling to a reader. Not only that, but it can be an incredibly frustrating business for someone inexperienced at it.

I know through my own trial and error how I nearly didn’t bother with the paperback for any of my books for this very reason. It’s complicated, frustrating, and disheartening. Then when you do finally manage to embed everything, align everything, number your pages etc. etc., you order your sample book. You wait with eagerness for days—possibly a couple of weeks unless you want to pay for expensive super-fast shipping, to finally get your book in your hands and find that, actually, you did it all wrong and it looks terrible.

Formatting isn’t something that a new writer thinks about. I mean, you wrote it in Microsoft Word, so how hard can it be to upload? Simple answer? Very.

It’s not just a matter of just uploading your edited book. Each format—whether it be paperback, Kindle, Nook, iBooks differs from platform to platform. That’s where your formatter comes in—or mine.

Meet Karen Perkins. Amongst being an incredibly talented author of several popular pirate adventure books, she also owns and runs LionheART Publishing Services. It’s like a one-stop shop for everything an author will need. Whether it be cover design, editing, proofing, and of course, formatting.

I’ve known Karen a long time, we’ve beta read for each other several times, and I can honestly say that she’s an absolute pleasure to work with.

I’ll hand it over to her, and you can get to know her and her work a bit more.

About Me and My Self-Publishing Journey

I have been passionate about books since I first learned to read, and also had a very active life, including being a very keen sailor. Unfortunately, I injured myself in the Contender European Championships in 1995 (although still won the ladies title), which resulted in a condition called fibromyalgia. This is an extremely painful and debilitating condition and resulted in the loss of my previous career as a financial advisor.

I started writing, almost as therapy, and it quickly became a compulsion. I cannot see myself ever stopping now! I struggle to travel, and realized this would work against me in looking for an agent and traditional publisher so I decided to self-publish as a way to show publishers I was able and willing to promote and market my books online, as well as—hopefully—prove sales and gain positive independent reviews.

I enjoy the publishing side of writing so much, I have not submitted to a single agent since I pressed that ‘Publish’ button the first time, nor do I expect to. All three of my current books: Ill Wind and Dead Reckoning in the Valkyrie Series (historical novels about piracy and slavery in seventeenth-century Caribbean), and Thores-Cross (a historical paranormal stand-alone novel) are #1 best sellers in their categories on Amazon--Ill Wind and Dead Reckoning in Sea Adventures, and Thores-Cross in British Horror.

I also established LionheART Publishing House when I published my first books and this has grown to offer copyediting, proofreading and formatting services for other self-published authors, as well as book cover design and book trailers. In the past year, I feel very privileged to have helped over one hundred books be published on four continents—some very successfully.

To help indie authors who prefer to have complete control over their books, including the editing and formatting, I have also recently published The LionheART Guide to Formatting, which is a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to formatting e-books and paperbacks in Word 2010 and covers formatting your manuscript for Kindle, paperback and Smashwords, as well as taking you through the upload processes. This was recently followed by The LionheART Guide to Editing, in both UK and US Editions.

Formatting

There are three main avenues to publish your book as an Indie author: Kindle (KDP), paperback (usually CreateSpace) and EPUB (usually Smashwords), and each avenue needs a different format, each with its own challenges.

Kindle (KDP). The main difficulty in your Kindle format is that what you see in Word is not necessarily what you get on a Kindle after your Word file has been converted to their mobi format. This means indents have to be properly set (tabs or a number of spaces don’t convert well), and watch out for spaces at the ends of your paragraphs and extra paragraph breaks with can result in blank pages in the Kindle book.

CreateSpace is an Amazon print–on–demand company. Publishing through them means your paperback will be available on every Amazon site in the world (including Book Depository), and they will print and send a copy of your book to order. You therefore have worldwide distribution with little or no set up costs. This is also the format where you can add your own style to the finished book, with headers and footers, different fonts etc., and the main issues here revolve around the sizing of the file, and formatting page numbers etc. correctly.

Smashwords is the difficult one. They convert your file into a number of formats, the most important of which is EPUB, and distribute to a wide range of online e–book companies, including Barnes &Noble (Nook), Kobo and iBooks. Because your book has to meet the criteria of all these sites, the requirements are more stringent than for KDP above. The best way to ensure your book passes is to use their Nuclear Method, which strips out all the existing formatting, and then start again. It is time consuming (and at times frustrating), but it is the best way of ensuring there is no stray formatting, such as hidden bookmarks or fields, that would cause your book to fail their review process.

Formatting Tips/E-books 

Watch your text size and line spacing. Many readers do not like books with large text or spacing, as it means they have to turn the pages more often. All the main e-readers do have settings for font size, so if somebody does prefer larger text, they can set their reader accordingly. Many e-readers can only cope with the Times New Roman font, although some, such as Kobo, allow the reader to select their preferred font, and e-books should always be formatted in TNR to avoid any corruption. Also I see a lot of e-books with empty lines between every paragraph, which can mark your books as self-published – people are not used to reading fiction where every paragraph looks like a block paragraph, and these should be reserved for when there is a change in time or point of view.

Many self-published authors present ellipses as three dots together with no spaces…like this. This has the effect of linking the two words and it may result in them being presented on a new line, leaving a half-line and spoiling the justification of your work. Leaving spaces in between . . . does mean it may be split over a line in an e-book, but this is regarded as the lesser of two evils and is the standard format in the publishing industry today.

The best piece of advice I can give when formatting e-books is to keep it simple. There are so many different brands and models of e-reader, each of which has a wide variety of individual settings available, your formatting needs to present as well as possible on each variation of device and your readers’ preferred settings.

Paperbacks

You do have more leeway with paperbacks as the finished book will present in the same way as Word, for the most part. Most fonts in Word are licensed for print and can be used to add style to your title page and chapter headings, and you can control where each page ends, so you ensure your book presents as well as possible.

The main things to keep in mind here are the margins, checking punctuation does not cross a line and arranging your book so that the dedication and first chapter etc. are placed on the recto (right-hand) page, as well as setting headers and page numbers.

My final piece of advice is to check, recheck and check again – the best formatting is not noticed by our readers. When somebody reads one of our books, we want them to be lost in the characters, their world, and their stories, and not be distracted from their reading by empty pages or lines, inconsistent indents, or incorrectly sized text.

I hope you find this useful and more information can be found on my website: www.lionheartgalleries.co.uk.

Happy writing and I wish you every success with your books.

Karen Perkins


Contacts me if you have any questions, I am always happy to help, and you can reach me at:

publishing@lionheartgalleries.co.uk | Amazon Author Page |

Smashwords Author Page | Facebook Valkyrie Series |  

Facebook Lionheart Publishing | Twitter Valkyrie Series |

Twitter Lionheart Publishing | Goodreads |

LinkedIn | Google+ |

You Can Purchase The LionheART Guide To Formatting Here: Formatting Guide

As Always... Happy Reading!

Claire C Riley

Heads up book whores! 
The Bookie Monster is looking for new reviewers for her blog. Check out the information and get in contact with her.


Claire

The Bookie Monster is looking for additional reviewers.

Love to read? Got opinions? The Bookie Monster is looking for some new teammates. We focus on fiction (zombies, horror, fantasy, science fiction, paranormal, supernatural, thrillers…) and will supply the books.

No previous review experience is required, all are welcome to apply and will be given the opportunity to submit a review

Reviews are priceless to authors and helpful to many readers when selecting their next book. The Bookie Monster offers nothing but an honest unbiased review, there are no guarantees of a positive review.

This opportunity will help you build your portfolio, increase book sales from recognition and add publications to your resume. Many of our reviews rank on the first page of Google search results, giving them great exposure to a wide readership.

Email any questions to shana.festa@bookie-monster.com or submit your application at http://bookie-monster.com/join-the-team to join an awesome group on an amazing site!

Good Luck If You Apply And As Always Happy Reading


Claire C. Riley

Awesome news! 
The amazing Rhonda Hopkins has a new book coming out, and it's about one of my favorite subjects...no, not tequila, it's about zombies! Don't forget to add it to your shelf!








Award–winning author, Rhonda Hopkins, has learned first-hand that truth is stranger than fiction. Her two decades of experience as an investigator provide her characters with a depth and realism that gives truth a run for its money. Having come in contact with the best and the worst that society has to offer, Rhonda’s imagination is filled with story ideas. Rhonda writes horror, suspense, paranormal, and YA Urban Fantasy.

Rhonda also enjoys reading every bit as much as writing and tends to read a little of everything, but her personal favourites are: suspense/thrillers, romantic suspense, horror, paranormal, and YA. She grew up reading the Nancy Drew series and graduated to Stephen King novels by the time she was twelve.

Rhonda loves living the small town life but enjoys residing close enough to a big city to have the best of both worlds. A native Texan, she resides in the DFW area with her Russian Blue cat. Samantha doesn't seem to realize she’s a cat and has trained her human quite well. Rhonda even swears she can talk.

Social Media Links

Amazon Author Page | Website/Blog | Facebook |

Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest | Google+ |

Survival will be released in June 2014. I will be giving away several copies two days before the official release - randomly selected from my newsletter subscribers. Newsletter link: Click To Subscribe

As Always Happy Reading


Claire C. Riley

Jerry Benns, owner and editor of  Charon Coin Press just announced the list of 
authors and stories to appear in the new anthology STATE OF HORROR: ILLINOIS, coming this summer.

I'm pleased to say that I'll be a part of this great anthology, and happy to see my name 
among so many talented authors. I really enjoyed writing my story, so I hope that you'll 
pick up a copy when it comes out and tell me what you think. 

More to come on that as we near publication, but for now, here's the lineup. (not in order)

Chicago Blue by Stuart Conover

Ritter House by A. Lopez, Jr.

Vishnu Springs by DJ Tyrer

What’s Eating the Mob by Paul Puffinburger

Seek No Longer the Beloved by Jay Seate

Drowning in the Hazel by Eli Constant

In Chicago, the Dish Is So Deep, No One Can Hear You Scream by Frank J. Edler

Out Come the Wolves by Claire C. Riley

My Porcelain Monster by Eric I. Dean

Chicago Mike by Della West

Piasa Remains by Herika R. Raymer

Dying Days: Great Mistakes by Armand Rosamilia

The Ghosts of Morse by Julianne Snow

As you can see from the lineup and the amazing cover, this anthology is going to kick some serious arse! (or Ass for you Americans lol)

Head on over to Charon Coin Press's website for more information of this, and other upcoming works. 

Website | Facebook | Twitter |




Happy reading


Claire C. Riley

Just a quick post to let you all know that ODIUM II THE DEAD SAGA is now LIVE!

Find the purchase links below, go one-click this bitch, sit back, relax and enjoy! Only kidding, you're going to be on the edge of your seat the entire time! Mwua hahaha

Purchase Links: 

Odium II Paperback USA | Odium II eBook USA 
Odium II Paperback UK | Odium II eBooK UK

Happy reading!

Claire 

Any good writer will tell you this little trick. Edit, edit, and edit some more. 
But what's the big deal? You've read it, your friends have read it and Microsoft Word has spell checked it, right? So why do you need to hire and pay an expensive professional editor to check it again for you?

Because you do! Because you miss things! Because typos are the devils work! And because every book has mistakes, but the ones full of them get mocked and ridiculed and won't sell. And not only will they not sell, but when the reviews come in saying that your beautiful book is riddled with grammar and punctuation mistakes, well, you can kiss your career goodbye.  

Put it this way, would you fix your own boiler? Or would you fix your own car? (The smart-ass that said yes because that's your job, hush please!) 
My point is, that this is an editors job. They fix your work. they give it a good old spit and shine and make YOUR words sound better, more eloquent, more flowing, more smooth. They make your books shine. They make YOU look better. So why wouldn't you hire an editor?

You may wonder to yourself, when do you hire your editor? Let me hand it over to MY editor, and she can tell you a little about it. 

Amy Jackson: Copy editing happens at the tail end of the process. You've gone over your manuscript yourself and sent it through beta readers (if you're using them) and you think that you're ready for publishing - this is when you send your book to be edited. 

Claire: What's your process? How do you do your actual editing?

Amy Jackson: When I get the document, I print it out and go through it on actual paper so I can easily make notes, mark errors etc. Then I go back to the computer and electronically mark up the word file I received from you.

Claire: What if we don't agree with you, or want to change things?

Amy Jackson: Nothing I do is irreversible; you as the author obviously have the final say. I use 'track-changes' and 'comments' so that you can see exactly what has been done to your book.


There's much more information on her website regarding what other types of editing she does. For instance, for me she Americanizes my Odium series for me since I'm British. It's been a fun and unique process for both of us. I've learnt a lot more American words and she's learnt some interesting new British terms. She also does Silent Editing for me. Basically I don't want to see every single comma change that she does. I trust her to sort out that mess for me, and DO NOT need to see how badly I suck at it!

Go take a look at her website and get in touch with Amy. She's amazing at what she does and really easy to get along with, but best of all, my story stays my story. She never changes the voice of it, just helps to make it read clearer.

Amy Jackson (Website)

Amy Jackson (Facebook)

It's what I've tried to say all the way along, play to your strengths and don't be afraid or embarrassed to get help if you need it. All the best writers do. No one can do it all on their own, and you don't have to either.

I've also included an interview that the lovely Stephanie Lunsford did with another great editor Monique Happy Editorial Services, so that you know that I'm not just biased for my own amazing editor!

Stephanie Lunsford, Promotional Representative of Monique Happy Editorial Services, interviews Monique Happy.

 
Stephanie Lunsford:  What does a good editor do?

Monique Happy:  I start out by chatting with the author and learning about his/her book. I also read reviews on Amazon, if the book has already been self-published. I learn a lot from the poor reviews, as they point me in the right direction. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of Internet trolls out there that leave bad reviews just to be, well, trollish – however, there are some people that leave genuine, well thought-out reviews that the author can benefit from.

Then I go on to the actual editing process. I read the book for both content and context. I use Track Changes in Word, so the author can see exactly what I’ve changed/deleted/suggested. I check and correct grammar and spelling, punctuation such as hyphens, capitalization, apostrophes, etc., and ensure tenses are used consistently. I bring to the author’s attention any inconsistencies, discrepancies, or redundancies, and any unclear statements. I also offer suggestions so that their writing flows more smoothly. I’ll insert comments to bring issues to their attention, and suggest deletions and additions that I think might be beneficial to the story. (If they are not familiar with Track Changes in Word, I have several helpful tutorials I share with them.)

I’ll conduct basic fact checking; for example, product names will be vetted for correct spelling and capitalization; I’ll also bring to the author’s attention any discrepancies in facts that may need further research on their part.

I also maintain a detailed style sheet that lists each character, their descriptions, words used frequently in the book that are not commonly used, i.e. having to do with weaponry, vehicles, etc., and anything else that is necessary to maintain consistency in the book and in the series. If the author already has such a document prepared, then I will follow it and add to it as necessary and appropriate.

I carefully back up everything I do, both on my hard drive and my external hard drive.
Once I’m done editing, it's then up to the author to approve what changes they agree with. Then I do a final clean up. 

SL:  Why does an author need a book editor?

MH:  It’s been said before, but bears repeating. Even the best writer can overlook their own errors. What is in your head may not come out clearly to the reader. I’ve heard some helpful tips, such as reading your work aloud, reading it backwards (which would give ME a headache), and of course, having those awesome beta readers on hand. Many authors then go on to self-publish their books without having them professionally edited, and subsequently receive poor reviews. Their readers point out errors in SPAG (spelling, punctuation and grammar), and even faults in the story-line. And some of them aren’t very nice about it.

I have edited and assisted in a book’s re-release after such a fiasco. I’m not being immodest here - I would say 95% of the time their reviews climb into the 5-star stratosphere after a good editing. And that’s not just MY editing. Any good editor worth their salt is going to turn your book around and make it the stellar product it deserves to be.     

SL:  What can they expect from a book edit?

MH:  They can expect their book to be as close to perfect as possible. There are always errors that sneak through, especially when the book is going back and forth from editor to author. But that’s the nice thing about self-publishing an eBook. Your dedicated readers and fans will contact you and say hey, there’s an error on such-and-such a page. About a week after publishing, the author can fix those up quickly and republish the book. I always advise waiting that week or two before having the book formatted for print on demand publishing.

SL:  Are book editors usually qualified across the board or do they specialize in specific areas?

MH:  There are some that specialize in certain genres. I’m known by some as the Zombie Editor, because that’s the genre in which I got my start, and a majority of my clients write ZA fiction. But I have many authors who write in many different genres, and I find myself easily able to edit them all. As a reader, I don’t limit myself to one genre. Why should I have to in my editing job? I know what I like, as a reader. I know what others like to read. I can take any book, be it mystery, crime, fantasy, science fiction, romance, or horror, and edit it within an inch of its life and give it that special shine that’s needed before it’s sent out to the masses.  

SL:  How can I check to see if my book has been edited and proofread to perfection?

MH:  As I said, I use Track Changes in Word so that my authors can see exactly what I’ve done. It’s always up to them to accept or reject any changes. I also recommend one or two read-through's after the final editing is complete.

SL:  What else do you do for your authors?

MH:  Well, I am active on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, and Pinterest, which I use to network with authors, editors, reviewers, and indie publishers, all dedicated to the genres of fantasy, mystery, romance, thrillers, horror, sci fi and the supernatural. I spread the word about my authors and their published books, as well as their upcoming releases. I set up interviews and podcasts with various bloggers and reviewers to increase interest in their work.

I create and maintain a separate author page for each of my clients on my website; said page showcases their published works, and is linked to enable purchase from Amazon and wherever else their books are sold.

I can also assist in composing and/or editing of their biographies, book blurbs and descriptions, proofreading/editing of blog posts and/or written interviews, etc., and Facebook Book Release Parties.

You can find Monique on:

Twitter
Facebook
MHES on Facebook
Pinterest
Amazon
Monique Happy Editorial Services

As always I hope that was useful for you, anything else that you want to know, please get in touch with either me, Amy or Monique...

Happy reading!

Claire 

I'd like to introduce to you today Scott J. Toney. Co-founder of the Indie-Imprint BREAKWATER HARBOR BOOKS that I'm a part of. 
He's sharing with us his newest release - Nova Forge, so if you love sci-fi and fantasy, this might be right up your street, plus the guy is one of the sweetest people I've ever met.

Social Media Links

Facebook | Website

Goodreads | Amazon Author Page


Tell us about your latest book?


Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Title: NovaForge

 
Brief run down in your own words:

Scott- Here’s a review below by a fellow author to give you a good grasp on the book.

“Nova Forge is a Sci-Fi book that also fits in to the Fantasy genre. There is a distinct voice that makes this story what it is and from the onset, I knew it was going to be a good one. 

A meteor punches through the atmosphere and we meet Julieth, bow and arrows in hand, fleeing a scorched city with the ten-year-old Bayne. As she meets Ivanus something strangely wonderful happens. Not only can she fly, but Ivanus can help her people. Is this perhaps the winged woman the dark-hearted Samuel is afraid of? The descriptions in the narrative are strong and we can ‘feel’ Julieth’s pain and her sense of mistrust. Already she is a character to root for. Bayne is injured and so she must carry him to safety. This cleverly fulfils the ‘pet-the-dog’ theme through the first chapter and we can only hope he survives.

Toney has cleverly set the scene of devastation, raging battle, ripping explosions and a crumbling city in this opening chapter that will keep readers rooted to the end. I can’t recommend Toney’s work more. He never fails to entertain. A five star review for another roller-coaster ride into the unknown.”
CMT Stibbe
Author of Chasing Pharaohs and The Fowler’s Snare

Release date: 5/3/2014
 
Anything in particular that you want to say about it? Where did you get the inspiration from? Favourite characters? Tell us something unusual.

My favourite character in NovaForge is Julieth. The character Julieth in NovaForge is an intense, headstrong female character with vast feathered wings and a leaning towards the bow and arrow. She’s tough, and yet in a world that has been decimated by years of corrupt humanity, she is the character with the most heart. She understands the need for battle, and yet struggles in her mind against it.

The origin of the name Julieth has a long history for me. Each one of my books has a character in it that in some way came out of my poetry book, Dusk Crescence. In NovaForge Julieth is that character. There was a character in Dusk Crescence named Julieth who was a winged woman. She had a different personality than this Julieth, but that is the name’s original usage in my books. When I created the name I was in High School, sitting in class looking at a friend of mine, Judy. I needed a name and I thought… Judith, Judie, Julie, Juliet. But Juliet is Shakespeare’s character’s name. Then I added an H. Julieth. So now you know where and how. Julieth is a key player.

There are many fantastic characters in NovaForge; a cyborg, a telepath, a dark priest, were-beasts, Julieth and a young boy who has to come to terms with the decimated realm he exists in, just to name a few. But Julieth is certainly my favourite.

What are you working on next and when can we expect to get our greedy little mitts on it?

I’m currently deep in the grind of writing NovaForge’s sequel, NovaSiege. It will release June 2015 and is just as high-intensity as NovaForge. I’ve got some striking plans laid out for NovaSiege.

As Always Happy Reading

Claire C Riley

Covers, covers everywhere and some of them are, let’s be brutally totally honest…terrible!

I know that my first cover for Limerence was, and it’s nothing to be ashamed about. Come on fellow authors, let’s hold hands as we all stand in a circle and announce our shame. I’ll go first… My names Claire C Riley and I had a terrible book cover for Limerence.

Thankfully I recognized it, and realized that it was a shoddy cover and my book deserved better. So I bought my picture, designed my cover and made it a hundred times better.

I’ll even shamefully show you the two covers. It doesn't even look that bad on here, but in paperback it was AWFUL!

For Odium II I had the basic concept of what I wanted, but I just couldn't get it to work for me so I handed it over to my good friend, author and awesome cover designer Amy Queau of Qdesigns. She worked her magic and within minutes she had it perfect for me.

Amy Queau: Qdesigns

I asked her a couple of questions the other day, to get a little more inside knowledge for you.

Claire - Amy, what do you think is the biggest mistake people make with their book covers? And what do you think are the most important elements?

Amy - Sometimes it’s just not that easy though, and that’s where you should never be ashamed to say that you can’t do something, or that you need help. Know your strengths and weaknesses. You need to have a great cover, an extraordinary cover, not a bad, average, or mediocre cover. Because people DO judge a book by its cover. And when those potential readers are browsing the thousands upon thousands of books on Amazon or Barnes & Noble you need YOURS to stand out from the rest.
They're afraid to play with the sizes of text and positions of artwork. I see a TON of covers that aren't properly balanced. I think there are several elements that need to come into play when considering a cover, BUT I would say that not having SOMETHING that pops (whether it's a color, or an interesting stock photo, or an interesting font), readers are going to skim right past it.


For me, I always think people forget that it has to look good in thumbnail size as well as full size. And echoing Amy's comments, it's always good to have a certain element stand out. On Odium’s cover, it’s the word ZOMBIES. Since I went for an untypical cover with my zombie book (female on front instead of zombie face) I needed people to know at first glance what the book was about so that it caught their attention.

There are many cover designers out there that can help, and I know a lot of authors are totally comfortable doing it themselves, but it’s such an important part of the books process that can often get forgotten about. .

There's also a trend of pre-made book covers going on, but let me hand you over to Rachel A Olson to tell you a little more about those. She runs Parasupernormalism book blog, and is also a freelance graphic designer at No Sweat Graphics.

Q: You make a lot of pre-made covers, how does that work?

A: Premades are pretty simple. The design is already created. When a client contacts me with interest in purchasing one of the designs, they provide me with the official title and author name that's to be used on the design. If the client is interested in purchasing the full paperback wrap, they are required to also provide final page count, preferred size of book, and white or cream coloured pages. All these things are needed for the dimensions of the image. That's it! Pretty basic.

If you’re interested in purchasing book covers or having Rachel design something specifically for you, head on over to her website and take a look at some of her work. As I said before, I make my own covers, along with the help of another very talented author friend Amy Queau, but I’ve seen Rachel’s work and will say that it is extremely good.

Website | Facebook

Email | Twitter 

I hope that you've got a little more of an idea on what to do and at least a couple of places to go for it now also. 

happy reading

Claire C Riley ♥