PB Pitch Contests
Submit to Pancakes Publisher by Feb 22
#NaPiBooWriWee
Complete -
Dance Bug
Gladiolas
Grandpa's Tire
Drive-ins

Hi everyone! Working on the first draft of a romance novel set on Cape Cod. I welcome any and all tips, hints, etc. I'm having difficulty just writing "fast and hot" to get the story done. I get bogged down revising as I go. I do have a question about my setting...it's set in Chatham, Mass. I'm using some actual names such as beaches, etc., but am using fake names for real establishments. Is this the correct way to handle this?

Hi everyone! I'm Anne-Marie Rivers, a Regency romance author furiously finishing a rough draft at the moment. I'm represented by Elizabeth Winick Rubinstein, and I was one of the chapter winners from Avon's last FanLit contest. I've written three novels (currently unpublished) and my current WIP is the start to a new series. Looking forward to learning and writing alongside all of you! I'm on Twitter at @authorannemarie and online at www.annemarierivers.com.

Hello, everyone!

I'm Amy LeTourneur (pronounced la-turner), and I'm so pleased to be here! This is my second attempt at this introductory post; the first one turned into an epic bio, but even I got bored reading it. LOL So here I am in a nutshell:

• I'm 48 years old
• I'm a mother of four - two boys (18 and 22) and two girls (20 and 24)
• I've been married for 26 years
• I've spent the last 16 years home schooling my kids - the three older ones are graduated and living on their own, and the "baby" will graduate in June
• My older son is in the Air Force and stationed in Germany
• My younger son is a type 1 diabetic (yeah...the "bad" kind)
• I've always loved writing stories but didn't have the time or energy to focus on my writing when the kids were younger
• I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time in 2016 and "won," reaching the 50k word goal in just eighteen days (ahem...overwriter)
• Now that the kids are grown, their mama gets to "grow up," too! And Mama really wants to be a writer when she grows up.
• I absolutely love RVs, and we're currently saving up to buy our first one - the hubs and I plan to hit the road in our rig and hike every National Park in the US.
• I'm in training to be a copywriter, and soon I'll be launching my freelance business specializing in writing copy and content for the RV & travel industries (I'm going to pay for my RV by writing about RVs...that's a pretty good gig, right? )
• That NaNoWriMo project I mentioned before? Well, believe me when I say it was a hot mess at the end of November 2016, but the story wormed its way into my soul, and I just had to make it shine. It's taken two years of hair-pulling, multiple rewrites and revisions, and seemingly endless word-cuts (did I mention I'm an overwriter??), but it's finally done! Now all I have to do is let people read it and tell me what they think. <gulp>

Okay, so that was a pretty big nutshell. LOL If you've made it this far into this post, I thank you for indulging me! I really look forward to meeting all of you and making connections here. I love being a writer, and I'm passionate about encouraging other writers on their own journeys. So I'm excited to have found a wonderful community like this to be involved in!

Amy

I was delighted to receive this review from Diabolic Shrimp

Rating: 4 Shrimps! (Also 4* on Amazon)
When a man goes missing, an adventure is born. Rita Lee Chapman’s Missing in Egypt is both smart and engrossing. It’s a classic mystery to its core with an air of Indiana Jones. Great for any Agatha Christie lovers out there!

Never heard of Diabolic Shrimp? Or the Shrimp Tank? Check it out at https://diabolicshrimp.com/reviews-7/

Missing in Egypt
Book 1 in the Anna Davies Mystery Series

Missing in Egypt will intrigue you with its twists and turns, romance and adventure as well as its insights into Australian and Egyptian cultures. Australian Anna Davies travels to Egypt with her lover to help him search for his brother, who disappeared whilst on holiday. The Valley of the Kings, Abu Simbel and the Temple of Karnak are amongst the settings for their search. Will they be able to track him down and find him alive - or is Ramy already dead? What tragedies await Anna and Kareem as they come closer to retracing his footsteps? This fast-paced action plot will keep you guessing until the end.


Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007JOUIIE/
LARGE PRINT EDITION: http://www.amazon.com/dp/149121872X/
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/263417
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/ebook/dp/B007JOUIIE/

Missing in London
Book #3 in the Anna Davies Mystery Series

Arthur Hambledon, Anna’s best-selling author, has just finished his latest book which he says “will raise some eyebrows.” Then Arthur disappears, along with the manuscript.

Anna Davies is working in London as a Senior Editor for a respected Publishing Company. When her most famous author goes missing, Anna is determined to find out what happened to him.


Smashwords: Missing in London, an Ebook by Rita Lee Chapman
E-book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CYZTSZK/
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1986740900/
Large Print edition: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1718658842/

Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07CYZTSZK/

Good evening, your site was recommended to me by another author friend. I hope to be learning a lot in the next year. This looks very exciting.

I went to several workshops on marketing at RWA National, and I've started to look for marketing/promo opportunities. With an audiobook coming out next month and my first new release in 18 years in January, now's the time to start getting my head into marketing. I took a chance with Premium Indie Reads and have had a great experience with them so far and definitely plan to keep using them; besides marketing they've made me 2 fabulous banners, and I'm having them do a book trailer once I have the audiobook release date. I've recently run across Xpresso Book Tours, and they do a LOT... reviews, blitzes, book tours, blog tours. It makes my head swim, and I swear I don't know half of what this stuff is or how it works. Yep, really been resistant to marketing, can you tell? I just want to stay in my girl-cave and write, but that's not getting my books sold. Anyway! The point of this is... does anyone have any experience with Xpresso? They look seriously impressive (they've been featured on Forbes), and seem to have some real momentum going. They also seem a bit expensive (but what do I know?); on the other hand, from what I can see they really get the books out there! Thoughts? Advice?


Does anyone have any recommendations as for marketing/promo companies?


And I have to say, just writing this post makes me want to run back in my girl-cave and hide. But writing the books isn't enough anymore. I want people to READ them! So... here I am, tiptoeing out of my comfort zone. Okay I'm going off to have a good cry now, and maybe some hot cocoa...

Allie McCormack

We're integrating the blog and forums today! This does not change the forums a bit, but makes the blog easier to find.
:-D
More coming soon!
Leslie

Hi, Everyone -

I’m not a new writer but am new to Savvy authors - I hope to learn a lot here!

Hello everyone! Happy to be a newbie in this community of writers from all over. I have a couple of works in progress, both fantasy novels. Can't wait to get one completed. I plan to take up the November writing challenge to get something ready for extensive edits.

Homeless Joy: An exposé in poetry was conceived as a follow up to J.L. Wright’s first book, Unadoptable Joy: A memoir in poetry and prose. As she wrote the honest journey of growing up in foster-care, Miss Wright looked deeper at her story - not knowing if her family and her home was permanent. She further explored her own experiences of living in a tent after graduating from college, while looking for work. Discovering that having a job doesn’t mean one can afford safe consistent housing, she began to write.

Motivated to address the issue of homelessness, J. L. began telling her own stories of homelessness. She shared the stories of others and looks at the issue of homelessness in more depth. The book Homeless Joy delves into several aspects of homelessness; including who, where, and why. Each aspect introduced with well researched prose, individual stories histories are developed in poetic verse. The tales of the homeless paint a rainbow of contradictions and complications, challenging the reader to grapple with their own personal beliefs and prejudices. This book captures the disconnect between the reality and fantasy of living on the edge; the chasm between questions, answers, and resolution and the ultimate decision to do something to change the future.


Homeless Joy now available on Amazon

I have a question about the workshops. Do you have to be writting a book at the time? I want to write a book but just want to take the workshops to help me, but haven't started one yet. I'm also a new ie posting but not to the site.

I'm new. I'm author and illustrator JD Holiday. I have 5 books, 4 of them for children and a short stories collection.
My site is: http:// jdholiday.blogspot.com
Can we post what's new on our blogs here?

I am a first-time fiction writer who has just published my novel entitled Eternity with Jesus: Now and Forever on Amazon. It is a mixed genre sci-fi/fantasy and Christian/Catholic fiction involving time travel and travel to the afterlife dimensions of Purgatory, Hell, and Heaven. I hope that you all will enjoy it!

Do any of you use writing software?
What do you use?
What is the benefit?
I currently have note books and word documents that I need to get organized.
Thank you for your feedback!

Does anyone know the full implications to why this transfer is being forced? Just wondering how this will affect costs for paperbacks and author copies?

So after 5 long years of querying, I finally got a full request on my novel.

I was over the moon. But the thing was, it wasn't from an agent; it was from a small press called Waldorf Publishing that I had queried on a whim thinking I wasn't going to make the cut. I had seen a post on Twitter that they were making decisions within a week and decided to take the plunge.
Twelve hours after sending them four chapters, I get a full request back.
Over the past four days, I've been in contact with the press and in particular a sales associate that has presented something even stranger. They're charging to publish the book. An "investment," as she says, in order to get a higher royalty rate. I have never heard of this; I have never heard of a traditional publisher charging anyone anything. And that's what she claims Waldorf is.

I've looked up Waldorf online, there was a post on a different forum that claimed they were okay. But I'm not sure. Their covers aren't great.
This offer has already cost me a potential agent from the pitchfest here earlier and another has warned me against them as I've tried to report it.

Does anyone have any opinion as to what I should do?

Business - Branding for Beginners with Romy Sommer

don't miss this great webinar!

Just joined and exploring the site. I'm a US-Maryland writer of paranormal and contemporary romance. I'm also working on a Sci-fi suspense. I just completed my first novel and am working on the second in the duology, however, I have a nine book series in progress with four first draft novels and two first draft companion novellas. I like chaos quite a bit
I'm also a photographer and a stay at home mom to two lovable gremlins. I love summer and coffee, dogs, boots, quirky mugs, people and every experience this world has to offer.

Glad to be here!

Also a member of SCBWI. Did anyone out there go to the LA Conference this year?

I'm John and I joined to learn more about writing and publishing. After reading a thread about SavvyAuthors on the Pitch Wars web site, I found my way here. I have a finished MS which I submitted to Pitch Wars but I know the odds. Hopefully I can learn to improve my storytelling here.

Hello all, I'm Marie (or T, or TM or Spark, which ever is most convenient for you), I'm a beginning author in the sense that I have yet to submit a manuscript to an agent or publisher, but I have been submitting to literary magazines and have had some of my poetry published in the past. Currently, I'm finishing my final semester of university for an English major and creative writing minor while I finish editing paranormal YA, Saving Grace. I am hoping to start querying it to potential agents in the next few months, as I am researching the discourse surrounding "own voices" as a part of my capstone course (this may or may not be the greatest choice I have ever made, but I think throwing myself out there is the best place to start, haha).

Outside of being a writer and student, I live in a small town in North Dakota with my cat, Ambrosia, and I love to watch Marvel movies and television shows in my free time. I am a die-hard Daredevil fan and I am anxiously awaiting season three to drop on Netflix later this year. I am excited to have found Savvy Authors through the writing community on twitter, where I am also active from time to time when I am not burying my head in the books as exams approach.

Thank you all for having me here. I'm excited to get to know all of you!

Hi,

I'm Jessica, and I'm an aspiring YA author that's just found this platform. I've been writing for some time, but just can't seem to get an agent to bite. I'm hoping that maybe with some help from you all that this will happen.

I hope to meet you soon! Cheers!