Debut Author

A spotlight on authors showcasing their debut novels.

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Cover Reveal: The Right Design by Isabella Louise Anderson

I’m so happy to share the cover today of The Right Design, the debut novel from Isabella Louise Anderson. Isabella runs the popular website Chick Lit Goddess,…

Author Profile: Laura Kilmartin

Author Name: Laura Kilmartin
Website: http://laurakilmartin.com/
Bio: Next Year I’ll be Perfect is Laura Kilmartin’s first novel. She previously published four essays in Write for the Fight: A Collection of Seasonal Essays. All author royalties from that collection have been donated to breast cancer charities.

Laura is an attorney who lives and works in her native Southern Maine. A pop culture savant, she loves to read, write, travel and collect DVDs of cancelled TV shows in her spare time. Please visit Laura’s blog at http://laurakilmartin.com or follow her (@LauraCKilmartin) on Twitter.
Visit Laura’s tour page!
See CLP’s 5 star review for Next Year I’ll Be Perfect!
Buy the Book!

Amazon paperback http://www.amazon.com/Next-Year-Ill-Be-Perfect/dp/1935961721/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1349039443&sr=1-1
Amazon kindle http://www.amazon.com/Next-Year-Ill-Perfect-ebook/dp/B009H695TA/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1349039443&sr=1-1
Barnes and Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/next-year-ill-be-perfect-laura-kilmartin/1113018760?ean=9781935961727

Release Day: Hard Hats and Doormats by Laura Chapman

Today, Marching Ink released its fifth title. Huge congratulations to Laura Chapman and her debut novel Hard Hats and Doormats. I met Laura online via…

Debut Author Spotlight: Karen E. Martin

Title:  Modogamous Genre:  Chick Lit / New Adult / Rom-Com Blurb: Kate Adams has it all figured out. Five years out of college, she’s got…

Author Profile: Sheena Lambert

Author Name: Sheena Lambert
Website: http://sheenalambertauthor.com/
Bio: It took ten years working as an engineer on a landfill site, five years running a fashion boutique and one year lecturing in waste management and recycling before 39 year old Sheena Lambert from Dublin, Ireland, realised she was supposed to have been a writer all along.
She self-published her first novel, ALBERTA CLIPPER, in November 2012. The paperback was selected for distribution by Easons. Her short stories have been shortlisted in a number of prestigious competitions in Ireland.
Now, in addition to raising two boys and making the dinner every day, she writes feature articles for a living, and has just completed her second novel.
Sheena lives in Dublin, Ireland for the moment, but if she wins the lottery, you will find her in a little village somewhere in the south of France, making red wine.
Title: Alberta Clipper
Bio retrieved from sheenalambertauthor.com

Author Profile: Jessica Gordon

Connect with Jessica!

www.jessica-gordon.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JessicaGordonBooks
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16077397-becoming-mrs-walsh
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jessicabgordon

Buy the Book!

Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Mrs-Walsh-ebook/dp/B009O3NO9I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357616042&sr=8-1&keywords=becoming+mrs+walsh

Barnes & Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/becoming-mrs-walsh-jessica-gordon/1113576054?ean=2940044984059

Apple: Available in iBookstore accessed through iPad and iPhone

Smashwords includes (Sony Reader, Kobo, and most e-reading apps including Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions): http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/243474

Interview with Laura Barnard

When did you know writing was for you?
From a very young age. My mum says even as a small toddler I was obsessed with books and the minute I could put pen to paper I was coming up with all sorts of stories. I used to bore my mum senseless making her listen to them. As I got older I started to pester teachers with marking extra stories, but then hit my teens and got a bit shy.

How would you describe your books?
I would say they are a portal for you to enter into another woman’s hilarious life. There are laugh out loud moments, but also serious, tender moments. There’s a romance (the amount of people that refer to Ryan as a real person is hysterical!), but really my book is centered around friendship. It shows with the right love and support you can get through and laugh about anything.

Why was The Debt and the Doormat a book you wanted to write?
A lot of my friends started struggling with debt and they’d always come to me embarrassed, as I’m normally so careful and organised with money. I would try to help them, but realize that unless you totally take control over someone there is no way you can change them. That’s where the idea came from. I still get phone calls from friends, frantically asking me ‘Am I Jazz???’ However, without these friends I would be a total bore! I’m such a Poppy! They’re the ones persuading me to get another bottle of wine in or treat myself to a new outfit. I think opposites suit each other as they can both bring out the best in the other.

What is the hardest part of the writing process for you?
The beginning! I have so many ideas, its sometimes hard to focus on just one. I like to have a rough idea of the story and then work on characters. I go so ridiculously in depth – I write interview questions for them, find similar looking celebrities, even find what sort of clothes they would wear and what kind of vocabulary they would use. Once I have a set of solid characters they seem to guide me on where the book goes and sometimes its in a totally different direction!

What are your favorite genres to read?
I love reading chic-lit and my favorite authors are Madeleine Wickham (writing as both herself and Sophie Kinsella) and Lindsay Kelk. However, while writing this I tried to broaden my tastes and wondered around my local library selecting books I wouldn’t normally bother with – crime thrillers, erotic and heavily romantic Mills and Boon books. It was strange going outside of my usual comfort zone but I loved them and feel each one taught me something different. I learnt how to write tense, edge of your seat scenes and I learnt how to write a love story the reader completely goes head over heels for.

What do you want readers to take away from your story?
Mainly I just want them to have a good laugh and when they finish the book feel like they’ve lost a friend. A great book is one you keep thinking about and wish was a bit longer. If you can remember a scene from it a few weeks later and have a giggle its a good one.

How important do you think social media is for authors these days?
I think its hugely important, especially for self-publishing. Before social media there was really no other way of mass-promoting your work on such a huge scale. You can also hear up to date information from reviewers and receive comments from the public. It’s like skipping the messenger and having everything to hand.

What would be your advice to aspiring writers
Keep writing! Sometimes it can feel like you are getting nowhere but if you carry on you’ll be surprised at how you can pull something together. The best advice given to me was by my college Tutor, Ian St Peters, who said ‘Writing is a craft. You have to perfect it over time, but if you don’t enjoy it don’t bother.’ I genuinely love writing and if only a handful of people also enjoy my story that really is enough satisfaction for me. If it isn’t maybe you’re in the wrong game.

Author Profile: Ellen Cardona

Author Name: Ellen Cardona
Website: http://www.ellencardona.com/
Bio: Ellen Cardona wrote Brownie Fix to help deal with the postpartum depression she experienced after one of her pregnancies. Through her writing, she found that postpartum depression was real but conquerable, especially when one has the help of some dark chocolate and even darker humor.

When Ellen is not writing, she teaches literature to college freshmen and attempts to help them understand the writing process, though they think she’s crazy because of her love for literature and writing.

Ellen graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas with a PhD in Humanities with a specialization in Literature. Even though she has published several academic works on Ezra Pound, she could not ignore her true passion as a fiction writer.

Ellen lives in Richardson, Texas and continues to learn daily from her husband and two children. In good times and bad, she still enjoys her brownies.
Visit Ellen’s tour page!
Connect
http://www.ellencardona.com
http://www.facebook.com/EllenCardona
http://twitter.com/#!/ellencardona
http://ellencardona.com/blog/

Buy

Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005IC38EU/ref=as_li_tf_til?tag=ellencardonac-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B005IC38EU&adid=1AR1GXZZAECEWZJEMZMT&&ref-refURL=http%3A%2F%2Fellencardona.com%2F

Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/brownie-fix-ellen-cardona/1105068099?ean=2940013043732&cm_mmc=AFFILIATES-_-Linkshare-_-plecO0ACyhE-_-2%3a2940013043732&

Paperback at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Brownie-Fix-Ellen-Cardona/dp/1466221518/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1341330305&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=ellen+cardona

Guest Post: Chrissy Anderson

Buriiiiiing, buriiiiing, buriiiiing….
“Hello?”
“Hi, is this Chrissy Anderson?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Hi, hunny, this is Rita Wilson. It’s an honor to speak to you.”
(Long dubious pause on my end of the receiver)
“Hunny…are you there?”
“Rita Wilson? The Rita Wilson…as in Mrs. Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson?”
“Yep! Hey, listen, I read The Life List and I have to tell you I was blown away. It’s not your average chick-lit read and Chrissy’s not your average chick-lit heroine; she’s opinionated, judgmental…snarky. I found her personality hysterical, clever and totally relatable!”
“You did?”
“Are you surprised?”
“Well, no, not surprised with what you said. It was my intention to write about myself as an authentic person that women of all kinds-twenty-somethings, housewives and super woman wanna-bes- could relate to. I think all of us can connect to the pressure of constructing the ideal life, only to fall short. I guess…I’m surprised the book found its way to you. I’ve been trying to get a copy of it in your hands for over a year. I think the closest it got was to your agent’s assistant’s assistant.”
“Are you kidding? I found my way to your book! Everyone in Hollywood is reading it. You’ve created something really special and I want to help you take it to the next level. It’s got to be a movie.”
“That’s exactly what I think!”
“You know what I love the most about it…well, beside the fact that the role of Chrissy’s therapist, Dr. Maria, is made for me!”
(OMIGOD, OMIGOD, OMIGOD! I’ve been blogging about that for over a year!)
“I love that The Life List is part I of a trilogy. This whole project has the shelf life of a can a soup! It’s going to last forever. And the whole love triangle thing happening between Kurt and Leo, and how you took two men who are polar opposites, sexy and compelling in their own right, and made them both these guys that Chrissy could easily fall in love with…it makes me giddy with excitement! I went to your website and voted for my choice. Love how you have the ability to do that there! It’s so cool to see how the votes are split between the two guys, isn’t it?”
(OMIGOD, OMIGOD, OMIGOD! Rita Wilson went to my website!)
“I go crazy thinking about the marketability of your work, Chrissy!”
“I know, right? Show me one woman who can’t identify with something I went through in this book, and I’ll show you a woman who is either very young, very much in denial, or the very luckiest woman on earth.”
“Well, hunny, I hope right now you feel like the luckiest woman on earth, because we’re about to make all of your dreams come true. Your convoluted and chaotic real life love story is about to become the American version of Bridget Jones’s Diary. Are you ready?”
******
Aaaaaaand this is where you hear a record scratch.

******
I’m chick-lit novelist Chrissy Anderson, and the pipe dream above has been my pipe dream ever since I wrote the first word of the first chapter of The Life List. Introduce me to one chick-lit novelist who says she doesn’t have a pipe dream like mine and I’ll slap her senseless for being a big fat liar! Isn’t world-wide recognition and critical acclaim for a story well-written why we stay up long after our day jobs are done, our families have been fed, the laundry folded and our kiddos have fallen asleep? Don’t we write with the hope that women everywhere will benefit in some way from the distinctive words we scour the thesaurus to find and fill our novels with? Every single time we hit CTRL-S before logging off of the computer don’t we let out a big sigh and say a little prayer that something huge will happen with our work? Don’t we all secretly wish that someone like Rita Wilson will stumble upon our books and be so moved by them that she insists on acting as a force accelerator, catapulting our work to Twilight-like proportions?
No?
Well, poop on you. I do! In fact, most days it’s that pipe dream that keeps me going. It’s that pipe dream that pushes me to enroll in promo day after promo day on KDP select, pimping myself out to any book blogger and website that’ll help me get more downloads than the month before. It’s that pipe dream that eggs me on to spend countless hours (and dollars I don’t have) promoting those promo days on e-reader websites, knowing that half of them forget to plug me on the right day. It’s that pipe dream that gives me the courage to shamelessly promote myself to my 799 facebook fans. It gives me the strength to draft another blog for my website (www.askchrissy.net) and SEO the crap out of it. To spend my weekends doing book signings…scouring the internet for opportunities to advance my rankings on Amazon’s best sellers list…Oh, and let’s not forget about cramming in some time to write the last novel in The List Trilogy.
For me, my pipe dream is my lifeline. I mean, I’m certainly not failing (far from it actually), but if you’re a relatively un-known writer like me, you know the struggle I’m talking about here. You know how hard it is to beat last month’s downloads, to make a buck from a sale, get a 5 star review, get another facebook fan, pull off a higher ranking on Amazon….to get the time to write an actual book, let alone read one! My pipe dream is what makes me smile through all of the trials and tribulations of being a small fish in this big intimidating literary ocean. It’s what gets me excited and…hopeful- hopeful that all of my creativity, hard work, and wit will pay off. If you’re an ounce of the dreamer I am, you know the kind of motivation I’m talking about.
So I know I’m not alone, share your pipe dream with me in the comment section. Who knows…maybe one of us reading this has the ability to fulfill one! C’mon, let’s get silly and support each other. Anyone know Rita Wilson?