First off, I have to give a huge SQUEEEEEEE from the events
of last weekend when I met Maghon from Happy Tails and Tales. She is my self-proclaimed stalker, quite possibly the biggest fan of my Dirty Blood series, and most definitely the president of #TeamAlex! I was in New Orleans for the day and she
drove in with her friend Bonnie and OMG, I tried alligator meat and we had a blast at Pat O'Brien's!! We talked
about strawberry beer, motorcycles, and airboats, along with all of the "crazy" that sets apart New Orleans from my corner of the world in Virginia. Alcohol was consumed before
noon. In short, we had the best time and I just LOVE that my life involved meeting people as awesome as Maghon and then spending face-time together. I am so grateful for every friendships I've made with bloggers since becoming an author. Bloggers are the best!
I also tried escargot (snails!!!! WHAT?!), spent the evening on Bourbon Street on Friday night, AND found out they sell what is basically adult Slurpees. It was an entire row of machines of the sweet, slushy stuff but with alcohol. Mine was Mango and it was delicious!
Whew!
Okay. Now to answer the question everyone keeps asking… What am I working on next?
I spent some time on Maghon's blog yesterday answering that question, but I also want you to hear it directly from me here. Basically what happened is that a couple of months ago, I was reading through some notes I’d
taken while at UtopYA from the various panels. And I got to thinking about all of the new authors I’d
met and how clueless we all are when we start out. I
know I was. And I thought about all the awesome
readers and bloggers and cover artists and the spiderweb of connections that is
needed to get these awesome indie books into readers’ hands.
And it got me thinking…
What if there was someone to help new and aspiring authors?
Like a coach or a mentor who laid out all of the paths and bread crumbs in an
easy-to-follow trail of information? A timeline; not so much a how-to, but also
a when-to ….?
If I’d had someone guiding me through the muddy waters and
rough seas of publishing back then, I would have saved so much time and effort
and money. Not that I regret the journey because it’s been awesome and I’ve met
so many fantastic new friends but—there’s something to be said about working
smarter and all that.
Many aspiring authors I’ve met are readers-turned-fellow
authors, so, basically, YOU GUYS. And I couldn’t have gotten where I am without
you, so this is my way of giving it back or paying it forward—or all of the
above.
Phoenix is a company I’ve designed specifically for guiding
and mentoring authors through self-publishing and the business that follows.
Marketing, promoting, how to meet bloggers, because I heart bloggers to the
ends of the earth—All of it will be covered in a guide I am publishing later
this month.
In addition to the information contained will be links galore!
Cover artists, editors, bloggers- all of the people you need to hook up with to
get a book published and promoted. Like I said, it’s all of the information I
never had and always wanted—and I’m offering it to you.
Along with The Guide, Phoenix will offer consultations to
build on the information contained in the book (Q & A time with me!),
coaching or mentoring on a monthly basis, and content editing and feedback on
your rough draft.
Look for more information and an official release/launch
date and PARTY (#freestuffforyouguys) coming very soon!
Now, because I know you’re all asking what I’m doing NEXT,
NEXT… As in, what FICTION book am I writing after this fantastical company
launch I speak of? Let me tell you because I am so excited about that!!
I am going to be working on Imitation #2 AND the sequel to A
Risk Worth Taking. It’s called A Bet Worth Making and it’s Casey’s story.
*cheesy grin* Both are stories I can’t wait to share with all of you! There's a special secret involving Imitation that I will have more information about next month so stay tuned for that. We will definitely talk soon.
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