My 2014 Blogging Plans to continue supporting authors

A New Year and plenty of New Opportunities for 2014. This is going to be the Year of the Indie author, with more and more people taking the plunge and putting their words and thoughts to paper or e-book. Check out Kristen Lamb’s 2014 predictions for writers I’m planning on supporting those people as well as all the millions of authors already out there as best I can. In 2013 I read and reviewed a staggering 154 books on the Goodreads reading Challenge and I shall continue to enrol again this year. What makes it great is if I am reading and reviewing a book that I’ve been asked to by a fellow author, if it helps them get exposure for their work, then I’m all for it. If you have a book or are planning on publishing one this year I urge you to open a free Goodreads account now and get networking. Read other people’s books in your chosen genre and see what makes a good book, what works and what needs more work.

So if you have a book that you’d like me to read and review, please do contact me via the link which you’ll find along the top of the blog.

This year I’m going to take part in the A to Z Challenge again in April. This is a fantastic challenge and gets some brilliant exposure for any bloggers. This year I want to make my theme be dominated by the Indie Author, so this is a heads up. For 26 days (we get Sundays off) in April I will blog each day using the letters of the Alphabet (A-Z) to promote books, using the book titles. For instance last year I used the following books “A” A Love Never Lost by Stephanie Hurt, “E” Embracing The Flames by Candace Knoebel and “Y” You Wish by Terry Tyler. So you get the idea, for more challenging letters like “Q, U and X” I’ll allow a little poetic licence as long as we can work the letter in somehow. AUTHORS CAN CONTACT ME FROM NOW ON AND PLACES WILL FILL UP QUICKLY, so start the year positively with this gift to promote your work.

My Year of Doing Good, continues into April because I started the challenge back in the spring. Author Judith O’Reilly will be joining me on the blog on Sunday 5th January. She is the inspiration behind my own challenge from her book “A Year of Doing Good” I was thrilled when other bloggers took up the challenge too and I’ve made some great new friends along the way. There are some very special people out there all making the world a better place to live in.Last year saw the start of my “Rosie’s Good Read” page in my local magazine “Fleet Life“. It produces 5000 paperback copies which go out to households around Fleet, and it has an online version accessible from across the world. With its own Twitter and Facebook pages too, the potential to reach new readers of both the magazine and my book review page is enormous. Each month I review 5 books of my choice and I’ve really enjoyed seeing my work in print each month. With 12 months under my belt, I’m raring to go with my next draft of book reviews. The January issue is out in paperback and the online version should be out by 5th January. www.fleetlife.org.uk click on the online directory and scroll through the magazine each month. Here is a copy of my January page http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4mz

Back in September I joined with fellow Indie Author Stephanie Hurt and we launched our Romancing September Across the World Tour. Each day we celebrated romance books in two destinations across the world. I opened the day here in England with an author interview about the author and their work, then when the sun rose in beautiful Georgia USA, Stephanie posted a piece discussing with each author the challenge of writing romance in today’s society. Each author got plugs for their work and themselves. It was a lot of work, but produced some fantastic feedback from readers. It’s definitely something I will be considering doing this year, possibly with a different genre. If anyone has a genre they would like me to consider or who would like to work with me on a similar tour please contact me.

I also plan to add book cover reveals and book tour promotions from authors as part of my networking to meet and support more and more authors. Don’t be shy about approaching me if you have upcoming publicity dates for your work.

That’s all from me today, just time to Thank you for reading this post and supporting my blog, Twitter and Facebook pages.

“A” The AtoZ Challenge Day 1 of 26

A Very BIG WELCOME to my first day of the AtoZ Challenge, there are over 1200 bloggers taking part in this years challenge. My challenge is to blog about books which have titles all beginning with a different letter of the alphabet. It’s been great fun discovering all of the books which I am using in the challenge. PLEASE drop by each day to read about the next book. During the challenge we are encouraging everyone who visits to LEAVE A COMMENT. So here we go then, the first book that I have chosen is; A Love never lost by Stephanie Hurt. Stephanie writes romance books, take a look at this one below;

Friends since early childhood, Lilly and Zane have always been inseparable. After four years apart, will their relationship change? Upon seeing Lilly again after such a long absence he realizes his heart belongs to her. When a wealthy ranch owner from Texas offers Lilly the job of a lifetime, will she leave knowing the effect it will have on Zane and their relationship? Will her new boss expect more than just an employer/employee relationship? Just how far will he go to win her over? Will Zane be able to pull her from the ties of the ranch or will it be A Love Never Lost?

 

A Love Never Lost – This book came to me one day as I was just sitting watching television. I got up and started writing. It only took me about two months to totally finish this book. What’s funny is the book changed constantly as the characters developed. My favorite character is Zane because he loved with all his heart and he never gave up on the love of his life. This book was entered in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest and has made it to the second leg of the contest.

Stephanie has been a great supporter of my blog since the start and her books were among the first that I reviewed. She has also joined me as a guest author and you can read all about her here http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-dv. I featured one of her books in my Rosie’s Good reads slot in the January issue of Fleet Life Magazine.

http://www.amazon.com/A-Love-Never-Lost-ebook/dp/B009IQ0LQ0

To celebrate the first day of the challenge I’d like to send out a special thanks to the founder Arlee Bird, click over to his site and lets show our support  http://tossingitout.blogspot.com/

Here are 5 randomly chosen blog sites to other AtoZ Challengers;

http://andisbookreviews.blogspot.co.uk/

http://danibertrand.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.odetoblogging.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.achristianmomsguide.blogspot.co.uk/

http://mpaxauthor.com/blog/

Guest Author Victoria Steele answers my questions

Today my guest is Victoria Steele, she has recently read fellow guest author Stephanie Hurt’s books, you can find Stephanie’s replies to the guest blog questions at http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-dv best wishes for your own book.

1) Tell me your name: My name is V. Steele

2) Where do you live? I live in the southern United States.

3)When did you start writing? I started writing several years ago, but after a couple of people read my work and liked it only recently decided to publish my first book.

4)What type of books do you like writing the most? Romance is the genre I write in. I love the paranormal and especially vampires. It’s exciting to imagine a handsome vampire falling in love with a beautiful mortal woman.

5)Pass on 3 tips about writing or publishing. I guess if I had some tips for others they would be always let others read your work before publishing, be very descriptive when writing, it drives up the interest and lastly go the extra mile with any scene whether it be a sex scene or just a casual dinner.

6)What was the last book that you read? How would you rate it? A Love Never Lost by: Stephanie Payne Hurt. I found her on Twitter and decided to look up her books. This one caught my eye. I liked the cover image and have actually interacted with her about how she achieved that picture variation. A cover is very important in publishing. The book itself is very intriguing. It spans a lot of different scenarios from romance to suspense. Once I got into the story, I had to keep reading to find out what happened. I give it a five star rating. This book was the second of her books I’ve read. I read a lot so I have several others in line, but I do plan to read some more of her work.

7)Now choose just one of your books and add a link to it. I choose of course the only one I have currently published which is “Sweet Innocence” the first book in the “My Prodigy” series. http://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Innocence-My-Prodigy-ebook/dp/B00AYLNCE6

My Twitter is https://twitter.com/VSteele13 Come on over and follow me.

Thanks,

V. Steele

Guest Author Stephanie Hurt

Stephanie was one of the first authors that I met on-line and we have built up a great friendship through social media. Her book “Tender Flames” featured in my January reviews for “Fleet Life”. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-71

Hey Rosie,

Thanks for the opportunity to do this for one of my books. Oh, how to choose. Well here goes.

1)       Tell me your name; Stephanie Payne Hurt

2) Where do you live? Georgia (USA)

3)When did you start writing? When I was around 15 which was 29 years ago, but I only started publishing my work in May of 2012.

4)What type of books do you like writing the most? I love to write romance in any genre. I’ve published six books which span contemporary, Christian and added a little suspense.

5)Pass on 3 tips about writing or publishing. 1: Be Patient which is hard to do. 2: Go with your first instinct. 3: Always reread your manuscript several times and at least out loud once. Never publish before at least one other person has read it.

6)What was the last book that you read? How would you rate it? Faith (Book 1 of Brides of the West series) By: Lori Copeland – I enjoyed this book for many reasons. It was a sweet Christian romance set in the old west. The characters were well written and you felt like you knew them by the time the book was over. Since it’s a series I will be reading the others. The story is a timeless romance that keeps you guessing until the end about the main characters. I would recommend this book to someone who loves sweet romance sprinkled with historical elements and Christian values.

7)Now choose just one of your books and add a link to it.  The book I’m choosing is the book that has gotten me to the second round of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest, ‘A Love Never Lost’

http://www.amazon.com/A-Love-Never-Lost-ebook/dp/B009IQ0LQ0

Thanks so much sweet friend. Have a wonderful day…

Stephanie

Wednesday’s guest author is Mark Richards from “Best Dad I Can Be”