Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve written five books. 1-4 are the Renegades Series.
I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I live with my husband, and son. I’m a dog lover and recently losing my two 15yr old girls (dogs) don’t be surprised to see a new doggie enter our lives soon (maybe two). After years of begging for a cat, I finally let my son adopt a kitten (even though I’m allergic!) A house just isn’t a home without pets.
Our whole family are avid Pittsburgh Penguins fans and we like going to hockey games when we get the chance. Having met some of the players has fueled my interest in writing about them and creating wonderful stories.
I loved writing since I was small, in school I never met a creative writing assignment that I didn’t love. In high school I even joined a Creative Writing Club that met after school. I’m lucky enough to have a wonderful husband who encourages me to write. When I was laid off from my job of 14 years, he was supportive about letting me stay home and take care of our son. During that time I discovered hockey-romances and found a renewed love of reading as well as a passion for writing.
I spend my spare time reading hockey romances. At holiday time I really enjoy any romance about Christmas. When it is the hockey off-season, I enjoy swimming and spending our days out in the sun. Basically if I’m not writing or reading, then I’m doing something that has to do with hockey!

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Zambonis and Mistletoe.
My favorite holiday is Christmas, I love the magic of the season. In December I watch every Hallmark Channel Christmas movie that I can, this year I watched them all November too! I love how they all fall in love and it’s all about Christmas magic, and decided I wanted to capture that in a book.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really, it’s pretty boring! Ha ha.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Toni Aleo was the first hockey romance I ever read. She is awesome. I’ve been lucky enough to meet her twice in person.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on the 5th book in the Renegades Ice Hockey series.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I try to post on various book sites, and get it out to the bloggers. I also participate in Facebook parties, those are good for meeting new people.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t get discouraged, and write what YOU want to write. There will be people who don’t like your story, always remember they obviously aren’t your target audience.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write for YOU, no one else.

What are you reading now?
Nothing at the moment. Getting ready to either start a holiday romance, PUCKED UP, or Toni’s latest Assassins book. Not sure yet…

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m hoping to continue my Renegades series, and try to write a romance about a breast cancer survivor. Hopefully within the year, but we’ll see.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
PUCKED by Helena Hunting, Any of the Bellevue Bullies books by Toni Aleo, and one or two hockey romances that I’ve never read from an author I know, like Catherine Gayle or Melanie Ting.

Author Websites and Profiles
Melody Heck Gatto Website
Melody Heck Gatto Amazon Profile

Melody Heck Gatto’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
When not ranting about society and its ills, I write short stories for literary and men’s magazines like “The Stake,” “SingleLife,” “A Carolina Literary Companion,” “Aura Literary/Arts Review,” and others. I have penned three eBooks: TAX BREAK, WINGS OF HONOR and SEX and the AMERICAN MALE. You can find them at Amazon.com and other ebook retailers.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Sex and the American Male is my latest book. When Douglas Adams died a number of years ago, I thought that in honor of him I’d come up with a sort of “Hitchhiker’s Guide to American Culture.” In fact, in the forward I have a little “Ode to Douglas Adams” that I hope sounds a little like his work. However, I was also inspired by the crazy mass consumerism that seems to have consumed America (pun intended). From nutty people who go blood-thirsty crazy in an effort to get the latest Cabbage Patch doll to used car salesmen who use sex and patriotism to hawk their gas guzzlers it all seemed surreal to me. So I decided to chronicle it. Okay, okay, I was also inspired by “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” which had some skits that were not only hilarious but seemed to lead to the next one. I hope my book has the same affect.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
In the “old” days I used to write everything on a notepad and then would type it up on a cheap manual typewriter I had purchased for about $10 at a pawn shop. I eventually was able to afford one of those box-like little iMacs, and so transcribed my bad handwriting to that. Now I typically write on an iPad my thoughts and early stages of stories/books and transfer it to a much upgraded iMac to flesh out the details.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Kurt Vonnegut’s “Breakfast of Champions,” Douglas Adams “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” Ludlum’s “Bourne” series, everything by James Thurber. I also was inspired by Leon Uris, James Michener, Mark Twain… Darn, the list is pretty long

What are you working on now?
I have several books I’m working on, both are mystery/adventure style books and follow-ups to my “Tax Break,” which is about a man who planted a bomb at the IRS and is chased cross-country by the Feds and an Austin cop.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Wish I had a best method. I’ve used Twitter, Facebook, et al and have not noticed any change in sales.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
If you want to write to gain fame and fortune, you’d be better off trying to get on American Idol. Write because you like to tell stories (or whatever internal reason you may have).

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
It was from Leon Uris’ “QBVII” the author, speaking as the main character was to address a room full of would-be writers:
IT CAME MY TIME TO SPEAK AT THE BANQUET. I STUDIED THE TENSE, EAGER FACES AS I APPROACHED THE ROSTRUM. “WHO HERE WANTS TO BE A WRITER?” I ASKED. EVERYONE IN THE ROOM RAISED HIS HAND. “WHY THE HELL AREN’T YOU HOME WRITING?” I SAID, AND LEFT THE STAGE. THAT ENDED MY CAREER IN WRITERS’ SEMINARS.

Uris, Leon (2011-09-27). QB VII (p. 161).

What are you reading now?
Zealot: The life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan plus a bunch of magazines/newletters I subscribe to.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Probably keep blogging and writing along until they cut the power to my place.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
A book on shipbuilding when stranded on desert islands, one on how to grow your own food, plus some motivational book to keep my spirits up while I try to build a ship and plant food.

Author Websites and Profiles
Jay Williams Website
Jay Williams Amazon Profile

Jay Williams’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m an Australian author of historical romance, from sexy to hot.

I’ve written seven romance books and seven non-fiction history books that coordinate with the Regency and early Victorian eras that I mainly write about.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
December Scandal is a Christmas novella that is a stand alone but fits in with my Scandalous Siblings Series and about five scientifically minded siblings who challenge the strict rules of early Victorian society.
I love research, especially about the scientific and medical advances of the early 1800s.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Because it’s usually hot in the north east of Australia where I live, I’m in the habit of writing wherever is the coolest spot,inside or outside. I have Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue which slows me down often, but I refuse to stop writing and reading because it keep me sane.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love Amanda Quick’s historical romance because her characters are always a little outside of true British society and are very intelligent. I’m always thrilled whenever someone says that my books remind them of Amanda Quick’s style and characters. High praise indeed.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on some more books for all my series, including my erotic Regency romances set in London’s brothels. And more of the Scandalous Siblings will be coming soon, the next one featuring Charlotte who practises the science of Phrenology, or reading head bumps.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My website and blog have lots of followers as I post lots of images from my massive collection of historical images. Many of my images I also have on my Pinterest boards, and most of my new readers find me via my posts or boards. When they get involved in all my history research, they then want to read my historical romances, which is lovely.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep writing because the more books you write, the better at writing you become and the more your readers will become engrossed in your stories and characters.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Never stop writing, no matter what life throws at you.

What are you reading now?
I’ve been reading lots of contemporary FBI type series at the moment and loving them, but I’ll go back to my favorites, Regency and historical romances, very soon.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’ll be signing books on the Gold Coast of my home state of Queensland, Australia, in March 2016 and can’t wait to meet my readers there.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
One each of Georgette Heyer, probably Regency Buck, Jane Austen, and Amanda Quick.

Author Websites and Profiles
Suzi Love Website
Suzi Love Amazon Profile
Suzi Love Author Profile on Smashwords

Suzi Love’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am from Baltimore, graduated from the US Naval Academy, and served as a Marine Corps officer. I was a defense journalist for more than a decade. I wrote the narrative nonfiction “The Black Panthers: A Story of Race, War, and Courage. The 761st Tank Battalion in World War II,” released in 2015. My fictional thriller “Blood Stripe: The Susanna Marcasi Chronicles” debuted in 2015.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My most recent work is “Blood Stripe: The Susanna Marcasi Chronicles.” My years at the academy and the Marine Corps were the inspiration, but no one wants to read that, so I fictionalized it and laced it through one heck of the thriller.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I only write in my home office on my large antique writing desk. It is a must. It is magical.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Narrative non fiction – Erik Larson

What are you working on now?
I am working on the second Marcasi thriller (a wedding — of sorts) and I am editing the Army’s history of the Iraq War

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Radio and word of mouth.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write. If you think you’ve written a winner, you haven’t. Put it down for a few days and go back to it. After you gasp in horror. Rewrite. Repeat until you achieve something bearable.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Most advice has been wrong. But one stands out as correct “Don’t write that crap” referring to fiction, unless it is high-concept. He is still right and “Blood Stripe is NOT high-concept, but he is still right.

What are you reading now?
I am too absorbed in the Iraq War for 10 hours a day to read anything else.

What’s next for you as a writer?
The second Marcasi book and a new narrative nonfiction,

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Just delete this question.

Author Websites and Profiles
Gina DiNicolo Website
Gina DiNicolo Amazon Profile

Gina DiNicolo’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a writer of 8 books based in Hong Kong, I write on serious global and social issues, and use all the proceeds from my books to help run my charity ISSLCARE!

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
It is called THE ATONEMENT, it is a simple story about the celebration of women and I got inspired to write it from my own humble childhood back in village in Nepal.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No, I am a very simple, disciplined and organized guy, I do things in the right way, and I mostly write at the afternoon at my office after finishing off all the other trivial things like tending emails, updating social media sites, promoting books and so on. I don’t work on weekend!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I mostly read books from Nobel laureates, serious stuffs, and I think the best book I ever read was the one from Marques, ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE. But I always write on my own way, instinct and by heart. I have my own style of writing and don’t follow others.

What are you working on now?
I am planning to write 5 books all at once in 2016, I spent the whole 2015 on promoting books so I didn’t write anything, so, I will have to write more in 2016.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have used many, such as BookGorilla, BookButterfly, Bookbub, Ereaders, Goodreads, Amazon paid service, and so on. I also use social media sites such as FB, twitter, Linkedin, Google+, instagram and so on.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t leave your daytime job yet…! On the serious notes, writing is one thing but promotion is totally another world, and without promotion, you are going nowhere at all. And it is all about exposure, if you don’t have it, no matter how good is our work, it won’t get any readers and your efforts will be all wasted. Therefore, as a modern writer, you must also know about promoting books, if not, hire someone. Yet, at the end, your works still must be decent, properly edited and must find its right readers.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I did everything by my own, I had no experiences of the market, no friends to help on the media, and I had to learn everything by my own. It was really hard at the beginning, I persevere and I think I am doing pretty good. Lucky for me, I had the marketing experience from my previous job, I am a fast learner and I have enough time, money and passion to make it work.

What are you reading now?
I don’t have much time to read, but I am still reading some books from my fellow authors, and the one I am reading now is called Black Tom: Terror on the Hudson by Ron Semple.

What’s next for you as a writer?
As I only write for charity, I will keep writing for my charity and my charity still has a long way to go, therefore, before I can fulfill that, I have to carry on writing and I am planning to write at least 2 books each year hereon.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE, THE SATANIC VERSES, LES MISERABLE AND OLD MEN DON’T CRY

Author Websites and Profiles
TIM GURUNG Website
TIM GURUNG Amazon Profile

TIM GURUNG’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Since childhood I’ve been an artist and worked as a graphic designer in the corporate world and for newspapers for twenty-three years before I quit to write full time. But I’d already begun writing novels at 21, over forty-four years ago now, and have had twenty-two (ten romantic horror, two horror novels, two romantic SF horror, one romantic suspense, one romantic time travel, one historical romance, two thrillers, and four murder mysteries) previous novels, two novellas and twelve short stories published from Zebra Books, Leisure Books, Avalon Books, The Wild Rose Press, Damnation Books/Eternal Press; and I’ve self-published my last ten novels with Amazon Kindle Direct and my Dinosaur Lake novels and Spookie Town Mysteries (Scraps of Paper, All Things Slip Away and Ghosts Beneath Us) are my best-sellers.
I’ve been married to Russell for thirty-seven years; have a son and two grandchildren and I live in a small quaint town in Illinois, which is right across the JB Bridge from St. Louis, Mo. We have a quirky cat, Sasha, and the three of us live happily in an old house in the heart of town. Though I’ve been an artist, and a folk/classic rock singer in my youth with my brother Jim, writing has always been my greatest passion, my butterfly stage, and I’ll probably write stories until the day I die…or until my memory goes.
My published novels and short stories :
Evil Stalks the Night, The Heart of the Rose, Blood Forged, Vampire Blood, The Last Vampire (2012 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS*Finalist* in their Horror category), Witches, The Nameless One erotic horror short story, The Calling, Scraps of Paper (The First Spookie Town Murder Mystery), All Things Slip Away (The Second Spookie Town Murder Mystery), Ghosts Beneath Us (The Third Spookie Town Murder Mystery), Egyptian Heart, Winter’s Journey, The Ice Bridge, Don’t Look Back, Agnes, A Time of Demons and Angels, The Woman in Crimson, Human No Longer, Four Spooky Short Stories Collection, Forever and Always Romantic Novella, Night Carnival Short Story, Dinosaur Lake (2014 EPIC EBOOK AWARDS*Finalist* in their Thriller/Adventure category), Dinosaur Lake II: Dinosaurs Arising and Dinosaur Lake III: Infestation

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
That would be ALL of them. I just got 14 of my older 22 novels back from my last publisher and revised and republished ALL 22 with new covers. After 32 years with publishers, large and small, I started self-publishing in 2012 and have spent the last 3 years getting my rights back on all my 22 so I could self-publish each one. Here’s why I wrote the first one, Evil Stalks the Night.
The story behind Evil Stalks the Night from the author Kathryn Meyer Griffith
This book is special to me for many reasons. It was my first published novel in 1984 and as it comes out again in 2015, it’ll bring my over forty-four year writing career full circle. With its publication all of my twenty-two novels, two novellas and a sprinkling of short stories, will be out again. Sure, it’s been a grueling, tedious five years rewriting, editing, creating them in paperback and Audible audio books but I’m thrilled it’s over. I have my babies reborn and out in the world again and completely under my control for the first time in 32 years. Now I can finally move forward and write new stories.
I’ll start at the beginning because, though Evil Stalks the Night was my first published novel, it wasn’t my first written one.
That first book was The Heart of the Rose. I’d begun writing it after my only child, James, was born in late 1971. I was staying home with him, no longer going to college, not yet working full time, and was bored out of my skin. I read an historical romance one day I believed was horrible and thought I can do better than that!
And so my writing career began. Over 44 years ago now. Oh my goodness, where has the time gone? Flown away like some wild bird. It took me 12 years to get that first book published as I got sidetracked with a divorce, raising a son, getting a real job and remarrying. Life, as it always seemed to do and still does, got in the way. The manuscript was tossed into a drawer and forgotten for a time.
Then years later I decided to rewrite it; try again. I bundled up the revised pile of printed copy pages, tucked it into an empty copy paper box, plastered it with stamps, and took it to the post office. I sent it everywhere The Writer’s Market of that year said I could. And waited. Months and months and months. In those days it could take up to a year or more to sell a novel, shipping it here and there to publishers, in between revising and rewriting to please any editor that’d make suggestions or comments on how it could be better. Snail mail took forever, too, and was expensive. But eventually it sold.
In the meantime, as I waited for the mail, I’d written another book. Kind of a fictionalized look back at my childhood in a large (6 brothers and sisters) poor but loving family in the 1950’s and 60’s. I called it 707 Suncrest. I started sending that one out as well. Then one day an editor suggested that since my writing had such a spooky ambiance to it anyway, why didn’t I just turn the story into a horror novel…like Stephen King was doing? Ordinary people under supernatural circumstances? A book like that would sell easily, she said.
Hmmm. Well, it was worth a try, so I added something scary in the woods in the main character’s childhood past that she had to return to and face in her adult life, using some of my childhood and my young adult life (my heartbreaking divorce, raising my young son alone, my new love) as hers. It was more of a romantic horror when I’d finished, than a horror novel. I retitled it Evil Stalks the Night and began sending it out. That editor was right, it sold quickly to a mass market paperback publisher called Towers Publishing.
But right in the middle of editing Towers went bankrupt and was bought out by another publisher. What terrible luck, I remember brooding. The book was lost somewhere in the stacks of unedited slush in a company undergoing massive changes as the new publisher took over. I had a contract, didn’t know what to do and didn’t know how to break it. Heaven knows, I couldn’t afford a lawyer. My life with a new husband, my son and (at first) my minimum-wage assistant billing job and then my entry level one as a graphic artist a few years later, were one step above poverty at times. In those days, too, I was so clueless how to deal with the publishing industry. I’ve learned a lot since those days.
That was 1983, but luckily that take-over publisher was Leisure Books, also known as Dorchester Publishing. A publisher that quickly became huge. Talk about karma.
As often as has happened to me over my writing career, though, fate stepped in and the Tower’s editor, before she left, who’d bought my book told one of Leisure’s editors about it and asked her to give it a read. She believed in it that much.
Out of the blue, in 1984, when I’d almost given up on Evil Stalks the Night, Leisure Books sent me a letter offering to buy it. Then, miracle of miracles, my new editor asked if I had any other ideas or books she could look at. I sent her The Heart of the Rose and, liking it, too, she also bought it in 1985; asking me to sex it up some, so they could release it as an historical bodice-ripper (remember those sexy knockoffs of Rosemary Rogers and Kathleen Woodiwiss’s provocative novels?). It wasn’t a lot of money. A thousand dollar advance each and only 4% royalties on the paperbacks. But in those days the publishers had a huge distribution and thousands and thousands of the paperbacks were printed, sent to bookstores and warehoused. So 4% of all those books over the next couple of years did add up. To pennies anyway.
Thus my career began. I slowly, and like-pulling-teeth, sold ten more novels and various short stories over the next 32 years-as I was working full time, raising a family and living my hard-scramble life. Some did well, my Leisure and Zebra paperbacks, and some didn’t. Most of them, over the years, eventually went out of print.
Now, 32 years later, I’ve gone all in with self-publishing (I love the complete control and high royalties…about time!) and have finally brought out all of my 22 old/new books myself. Of course, I totally rewrote Evil Stalks the Night as well as my other early novels, because I discovered my writing when I was twenty-something had been immature and unpolished; and not having a computer and the Internet had made the original writing and rewriting so much harder. Also in the old days, editors told an author what to change and the writer only saw the manuscript once to final proof it. The bad old days that I don’t miss one little bit. There were so many mistakes in those early books. Typos. Awkward grammar. Lost plot and detail threads that all the editors never caught. So much for professionals. In the rewrites I also decided to keep the time frame (1960-1984) the same. The book’s essence would have lost too much if I’d updated it. The cell phone problem alone would have complicated everything.
As I finished the final editing and self-published it–with a stunningly haunting cover by my amazing cover artist, Dawne Dominique–I couldn’t help but reminisce about all the life changes I’ve experienced since I’d first began writing it so many years ago. Though it was actually published in 1984, remember I’d started writing it many years before; closer to 1978 or 1979. Now I’m as old as my Grandmother Fehrt, my mother’s mother and who the grandmother in the story was loosely based on, was back then. So strange. Time does move on…but I keep writing. Kathryn Meyer Griffith December 2015

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No…other than I sit on my plush sofa, laptop on my lap, TV on for company and a cup of chocolate coffee and a snack on the side table next to me.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, Anne Rice and a host of other horror/thriller writers.

What are you working on now?
My 4th DINOSAUR LAKE book and after that I think I will finally write the sequel to my best-selling 1994 book WITCHES. Witches II: The Guardians. My readers have waited a very long time for Witches II.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Awesome Gang, of course. Twitter, Facebook and any place I can list my books.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Never give up. I’ve been writing for over 44 years and have been published for over 32 of those years. Throughout my life, happiness, sorrow, trials and tribulations, divorce, remarriage, children, full-time jobs, discouragement…I never gave up. I just kept writing…and changed with the times. I self-publish now. I’m my own publisher and have learned all facets of it. Technology has amazed me. Heck, I started on an electric typewriter with White-Out, carbon copies and sending my ms in a copy paper box by snail mail; waiting months/years to see if a legacy published wanted it or not. So I love computers, the Internet, eBooks and self-publishing. I love finally having complete control over my books. So, new authors, NEVER GIVE UP. Roll with the punches and NEVER let a bad review hurt your sensitive feelings. Some people will love your books and some will hate them. It evens out, believe me.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Never give up. Develop a tough skin and write what your heart wants you to write; not what the latest craze is.

What are you reading now?
An old Stephen King novel I love: The Stand.

What’s next for you as a writer?
At my advanced age and stage of the game…I hope to write another book or two while traveling the US in an RV with my retired husband. These days with 22 novels under my belt, I think I can take a little breather, don’t you?

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Bible, a Stephen King novel and a book on: Surviving Living on a Desert Island.

Author Websites and Profiles
Kathryn Meyer Griffith Website
Kathryn Meyer Griffith Amazon Profile

Kathryn Meyer Griffith’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written three books. The release of my fourth novel is scheduled for 2016. I teach reading and writing to students of all age groups. I enjoy reading goods books and providing Self-Publishing information to new authors.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is Untraditional Love In The Dark. This book was inspired by stories that I heard other women tell about dating men who have secrets.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to write early in the morning while it is still dark outside.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Books by Maya Angelou, Stephen King, Danielle Steele have influenced me.

What are you working on now?
My fourth discusses the unfortunate life of a young woman who is abandoned by her mother, father, and family. Her life experiences cause her to become homeless, angry, and ultimately a murderer.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Amazon.com

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Never, ever, give up!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Keep writing!

What are you reading now?
Kimberla Lawson Roby, Love, Honor, and Betray

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am readjusting my mind-set. I have vowed to publish at least one book a year for the next five years.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Bible, It by Stephen King, and The Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou

Author Websites and Profiles
Victoria Warren Jackson Website
Victoria Warren Jackson Amazon Profile

Victoria Warren Jackson’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi! I’m Xio (pronounced Zee-ohh.) I’ve self-published two books and have three more on the way. I write love stories, contemporary romance and what I like to call strange, twisted tales. (The latter no doubt due to my days writing Buffy fan fiction.) I’ve also been known to write erotica and women’s fiction. I grew up in the music industry and have been recording since I was about 4 years old. I live in Philadelphia with my full-time husband and my part-time cat. Oh, and I am obsessed with all things Outlander.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest novel, FALLING STARS, began life as a serial novel called Starstruck that was posted on my Tumblr blog. The serial ran from January to September, 2013. I had no intention of publishing it, but fans of the story demanded it. So, here I am. The book (the first in a series) deals with some difficult topics, but at the heart of the story, there is a coming together of soulmates. Ahhh, love. Can it overcome everything?

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I tend to use daydreams to work out my plots. I’m a pantser by nature, as opposed to someone who plots out every scene – a plotter. I like to live with my characters before I start to write about them. I embrace the voices in my head. They’re so much more fun than I am.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Geez, this list is long. I’d never read a romance novel until 2013, after I’d written the STARSTRUCK serial. A friend made several recommendations, books by Tracy Brogan, Robin Covington, and J. R. Ward. I loved them all. Since then, I’ve devoured the works of Kim Golden, Laura Kaye, Sylvia Day, Kaia Bennett and so many more. I grew up reading Anne Rice, and looooove Jim Butcher’s Dresden series, so there’s a bit of that in there too.

What are you working on now?
Right now I’m editing book two in the Calum series and book two in the Falling Stars series, and writing book three in the Calum series. 2016 is going to be a very busy year.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My readers found me on Tumblr, and I do love it there. Facebook would be next in line. It’s easier to manage. And I love Twitter for its immediacy. Some of my characters have Twitter accounts, and it’s fun to watch them interact.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write what you love. Read, both in your genre and outside of it. (I know too many authors that refuse to read within their genre.) Don’t give up, and never stop learning.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Tell the story you want to tell, don’t worry about what’s trendy.

What are you reading now?
THE SPACESHIP NEXT DOOR by Gene Doucette and NOBODY’S PRINCESS by Sarah Hegger.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Writing, writing, writing. I’m having fun as an Indie author, but I am also intrigued by the lure of traditional publishing. I might try my hand at both.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Are you kidding? You mean three or four Kindles, right? If I were only allowed physical books, two of them would be blank so that I could write my own stories. The other two? I have no idea. Perhaps UNDENIABLE by Madeline Sheehan and THE WITCHING HOUR by Anne Rice.

Author Websites and Profiles
Xio Axelrod Website
Xio Axelrod Amazon Profile

Xio Axelrod’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a retired newspaper editor/reporter and currently librarian of my county historical society where I assist patrons with research and genealogy. I’ve published 14 novels, including six in my Sticks Hetrick mystery series, and a regional history.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Something So Divine, an historical mystery. An actual crime was the inspiration, though my imagination took the story in an entirely different direction.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t know that it’s unusual, but I like to have music (generally classical) playing low in the background as I write.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I believe a writer is influenced to some degree by everything he reads. Gradually it all filters into a personal style.

What are you working on now?
Working on another Hetrick mystery and just wrapping up a Western.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
No one seems certain of the best method. Try every possible device and hope it stimulates some interest.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Echoing Stephen King: write a lot and read a lot.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Initially I wanted to be an artist. I asked the late Thomas Hart Benton for advice on how to succeed as a painter. His reply was one word: “Paint.” I think the same probably applies to writing.

What are you reading now?
I generally have several books going at the same time. Just finished Elizabeth George’s “A Banquet of Consequences” and now reading Michael Orenduff’s “The Pot Thief who Studied Georgia O’Keeffe.”

What’s next for you as a writer?
A best seller would be nice, though money never has been the ultimate goal.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Hmph, tough one. Probably “Don Quixote,” “Moby Dick” and the latest from James Lee Burke and/or Ruth Rendell.

Author Websites and Profiles
J. R. Lindermuth Website
J. R. Lindermuth Amazon Profile

J. R. Lindermuth’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve written three books so far: Minor, Novice and Limbo. I’ve been keeping journals for 28 years and I’m transcribing all of them and sharing them with readers. I love to write and read and be in love. I like camping and hiking and campfires and folklore and ghost stories and crossword puzzles and human beings and all our messy emotions and puzzling behaviors and choices.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Minor: The Journals of Meghan McDonnell Volume One
Novice: The Journals of Meghan McDonnell Volume Two
Limbo: The Journals of Meghan McDonnell Volume Three
A couple of years ago, a friend suggested I publish one of my journals. It stuck in my subconscious and months later I thought, “Why just one of them? Why not publish all of them?” And here we are. I just published volumes 1-3 and am about to begin working on volume 4.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I still write with pen and paper.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
The Russians (Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, et al.)
John Steinbeck
O. Henry
Charles Dickens
Olive Kitteridge – Elizabeth Strout
A Little Life – Hanya Yanagihara

What are you working on now?
A series of journals I’ve been writing since I was 8 years old. I’m 36. I’m publishing them semi-anonymously in order. They’re a 28-year account of my entire life – the mundane and the amazing and everything in between. They’re my thoughts, emotions, and impressions of people, our culture, books, music, movies and random details of life that make me laugh or cry or get mad or compel me to put pen to paper.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m still learning the answer to this question and it’s always changing. I’m very grateful for Amazon’s KDP and avenues like Smashwords but it’s up to writer’s to get the word out after publishing. The possibilities and roads to take are infinite.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Simplify as much as you can. It can be overwhelming so keep lists and do a little bit every day. The more you familiarize yourself with something that intimidates you (formatting, social media, marketing, etc.), the more knowledgeable and confident you become and that can compel you to keep going even when you feel defeated or stuck. If you want to write for a living, make sure you love the process and all it entails. Your love for it makes the pain more acceptable and helps you weather the roller coaster.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Whatever you’re meant to do, do it now. The conditions are always impossible.” – Doris Lessing

What are you reading now?
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand at the behest of my sweetheart and Flash Boys by Michael Lewis on my brother’s recommendation. The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff is on hold for me at the library.

What’s next for you as a writer?
With transcribing, editing, formatting and marketing the next 20 volumes of the journals, I’ve got my work cut out for at least the next 3 years.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
A compendium of American folklore
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
A book of Van Gogh’s paintings
The Bible

Author Websites and Profiles
Meghan McDonnell Website
Meghan McDonnell Amazon Profile
Meghan McDonnell Author Profile on Smashwords

Meghan McDonnell’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Terence J Goodchild I am an English writer born in Manchester in the north of England and now live in Tasmania with my wife on a farm with our horses. After travelling in Europe for many years my wife and I came to Australia for a holiday in 1981 and found that we could live in this country, so we migrated in 1988 to Melbourne, but now live in Tasmania. I have been writing for about 12 years, and have written 17 novels of fiction and about 100 poems that I may put in a book one day, I try and make my books somewhere the reader can escape to, and hope they enjoy my stories, I put in a few truths, just for spice to make it more interesting, and a few one liners, I put the characters in my stories of people I have met and places I have travelled to and write how I see things, I have had two books published in the UK one by i2i publishing.co.uk called The Joker, and one by Austin Macualey called The legacy of Tallow manor, which has just had a five star review, my web pages are

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Soul of Gordi Fitzsimons, when I lived in the UK there was a house at the end of a long lane and it seemed no one lived in the house, but rumours were rife about kids seeing strange shapes behind the curtains and some weird happening at night, now long after and many years from then, I sat down and wrote this book.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes my one habit is I don’t get writers block and don’t know why, I can work on at least three books at once

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Frank Yearby, Jeffery Archer, Brice Courtney

What are you working on now?
Fifteen Minutes of Fame, a story about a publisher’s clerk who has to interview a famous Rugby Player with dire consequences.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My own web page and pages like this one, which are very good

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t give up

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be proud of what you write even if one person reads it

What are you reading now?
nothing at the moment

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am hoping to do some book signing for my last book which will be featured in the New York book fair in May 2016

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Tobias and the Angel, Frank Yearby, The eleventh commandment, Jeffery Archer, Insomnia Steven King

Author Websites and Profiles
terence goodchild Website
terence goodchild Amazon Profile
terence goodchild Author Profile on Smashwords

terence goodchild’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am an Ohio native who lives in Michigan. I have been married since 1988 and we have 4 children. I have traveled to Europe and lived in Africa for three years which inspired my first novel, Savages Sinners and Saints. I enjoy reading and writing, wilderness camping and hiking. I currently have three books on Amazon and of course more in the works. I enjoy public speaking and encouraging people to dream.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My most recent novel titled, Truth Be Told takes place in Michigan centered around a man Steven Loleo who is falsely imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. I include some local cultural ideas including the art community in Grand Rapids, the dutch and polish names and local restaurants. Inspired by home sickness as I sweated it out under a tropical sun in West Africa.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I usually have the TV on with my lap top in my lap with lousy posture and snacks. Sometimes I listen to music or watch a football game. The home chaos seems to make no difference to me when I hit the zone I can write all day. Other times it has to sit and marinate as I decide where the story needs to go next. Out line, what outline?

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have read a lot of books, Tom Clancy, John Grisham, Michael Connelly , Jeffery Archer, Frank Peretti and many others. My goal is to tell a good story and leave my readers waiting for the next one. I have a style but not a niche yet. I have always admired Michael Crichton because he wrote on such a wide set of topics and just told a great story.

What are you working on now?
Jason Kemeny an Adrenalin junky, is on a quest to contact an untouched people group . When he turns up missing, his best friend, Nathan Thayer must strike out on a rescue mission or a body retrieval. His guide a local girl who is as tough as she needs to be understands the people and the politics. With rival groups, hostile tribes, FUNAI and greedy exploitation, they may never make it out alive. But that’s why they call it adventure.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Word of mouth, Facebook and emails are some. I just never stop promoting my books. They haven’t been read by everyone so they are still new to so many. I believe these stories are worth the read or I would not write them.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t write to be read, write to be proud of what you produced. If you want to read it or get a thrill when it turns out better than you originally planned then you have succeeded. Be humble, be confident and know you have accomplished something most people will never accomplished.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write. Write Write Write and write some more. The more you practice the better the game. Never give up on your dream of being published, read and admired for telling a great story.

What are you reading now?
I’m in research mode which eats up most of my reading time. I am reading on various subjects for research on my current project. I most recently read John Grisham, Gray Mountain and The Racketeer.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have several short stories in the works and multiple full length novels in the idea stages and a non fiction short book on hiking the Smokey Mountains AT.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Bible, War and Peace (my son recommended it and I have not read it) a “How to” book on Boat manufacturing on deserted islands and a book on salt water fishing.

Author Websites and Profiles
Daniel Byrum Website
Daniel Byrum Amazon Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi, all! I’m Morgan. I’m a mother of two, a boy and a girl. I’ve been an avid reader my whole life, and I read EVERYTHING. Romance, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Non-Fiction. I’m obsessed with words, and the fact that twenty-six little letters can combine in so many ways to create something that makes us cry, laugh, rage. I’ve published one book, Free to Fly, so far and my second book, The Weight of Memories, will release early Summer 2016.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book is titled Free to Fly, and it was inspired by the world around us and my own personal experiences. It talks a lot about panic and PTSD and how difficult overcoming it can be.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Well, I think it’s unusual, haha! I love to use music as inspiration for my writing. But I can’t actually listen to it WHILE I’m writing. It’s too distracting. But I also can’t write in silence. So, what I do is get my manuscript set up, listen to a few songs to set the mood, and then switch to classical so I can actually write! It’s kind of silly, but it works for me!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Hmm… I’d have to say that Colleen Hoover, Leisa Rayven, Kresley Cole and Karen Marie Moning were big inspirations to me. Each of them are amazing writers, and the way they write emotion is unique and evocative.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on book two in the Never Ever After series, The Weight of Memories. Each book is a stand alone, and it’s been great to watch each character’s journey unfold.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I mainly use Facebook.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
You have to actually write. It’s so easy to fall into that trap of “I’m not published yet. This isn’t an actual job, so it isn’t a priority.” Make time to write. Not just 20-30 minutes here and there, either. Lock yourself in a room for hours, turn off your internet, and WRITE! Everything else comes later. After that first draft is done, THEN you can go back and edit and fix and clean it up. But there have to be words first.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The best advice I’ve ever heard is to stop the comparisions. Just because something worked for someone else doesn’t mean it has to work for you. And vice versa. Everyone is different. And that’s what makes reading so limitless. You can give ten authors the exact same prompt and they’ll all give you a unique story. Be you. You’re the only one who can.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m going to continue in my Never Ever After series. There are five books plotted out so far, with two more wandering around as possibilities. I have a few other side projects, but I’m keeping them under wraps for now.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
This one is hard!! *whining*

Wuthering Heights. This is one of my favorite romances. Period.
Harry Potter (I’m going to imagine that they’re in one massive edition. Shh. )
Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover
Bright Side by Kim Holden

Author Websites and Profiles
Morgan Reeves Amazon Profile
Morgan Reeves Author Profile on Smashwords

Morgan Reeves’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a Mainer born and bred, so if you ever have the occasion to meet me don’t be surprised by the heavy Northern accent. I’ve never been in a city bigger than Portland, Maine and I have no wish to.

I’m a country person down past the bone into the very marrow of me. But even in the country, I don’t fit the “normal” mold. I’ve never hunted animals with anything other than my camera, nor have I raised my own meat or planted a garden.

My seven acres of our great country has been given back to nature’s hand with not even a lawnmower touching it in the last nine years. The wild grasses, blackberry, and raspberry patches have taken over and I watch the native animals enjoying them on a regular basis.

I write poetry, short stories for both children and adults, and science fiction for fun. But I’ve only ever written one book that could make the world a better place by allowing people to see how special and loyal horses are when they are raised with love.

“Come Running When I Call” is my tribute to the most special horse in the world, Trixie, the silly filly and beautiful girl who changed my destiny for the better.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Come Running When I Call” a coming-of-age memoir inspired by my twenty-six relationship with my horse, Trixie, who saved e from my bi-polar, abusive father.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?

What authors, or books have influenced you?
James Herriot, Marguerite Henry, Anna Sewall

What are you working on now?
A science fiction series.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Horse groups have helped me promote my book.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be stubborn!

What are you reading now?
Robin Hobb, The Fitz and The Fool Series

What’s next for you as a writer?
Learning to edit more quickly and efficiently!

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Eeks, only 3 or 4, I wouldn’t be able to narrow it down to less than a couple of hundred.

Author Websites and Profiles
Kimberly McLaughlin Website
Kimberly McLaughlin Amazon Profile

Kimberly McLaughlin’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am the author of four books — two novels, a sci-fi novella, and a collection of short stories — and I have fifth book coming out in March 2016. With the exception of the science fiction novella, my books are all in the mystery thriller and suspense genre. My first book, Duty, was a collection of new and previously published mystery and suspense short stories centered around the theme of military service.

My first novel, The Killing Depths, is a military mystery thriller involving a serial killer aboard an American attack submarine. That was followed by Empty Places, a noirish mystery thriller set in the rich desert playground of Palm Springs, California. After that, I took a respite from mystery thrillers and wrote Eden: A Sci-fi Novella, about a group of American GIs in Iraq who stumble onto an ancient secret about the beginnings of mankind.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest novel is called The Last Refuge, and it’s a sequel to Empty Places. It takes place not long after the first Iraq war — Operation Desert Storm. Peter Brandt, the battle-scarred journalist protagonist of Empty Places is hired by a magazine to look into supposed lawsuit filed against the government and a defense contractor over a friendly fire incident during Desert Storm. Peter discovers the government denies the lawsuit exists, and that someone is willing to kill to keep the truth about the fratricide incident from coming out.

Like most of my work, The Last Refuge was inspired by real events. In this case, it was the voluminous number of scandals concerning corruption in the defense industry during the 1980s and early 1990s. The title comes from Samuel Johnson’s rebuke to his fellow politicians who tried to hide their corrupt activities under a veil of patriotic fervor. “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Unfortunately, I am not a full-time author. I work for the U.S. Navy as an analyst in combat casualty care. Between that job, family commitments, and military reserve commitments, I don’t get a lot of free time. So I have to be ready to write whenever I get a chance. Therefore, I carry a Kindle Fire tablet and Bluetooth keyboard with me everywhere. Whenever I get some free time, I pull them out of my ruck and start writing.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
As a young man, I consumed books by the Lost Generation authors — Hemingway, Remarque, Dos Passos, etc. Being of the Vietnam generation myself, I guess I felt a certain sympatico with them. I also enjoyed science fiction greats like H.G Wells, and still frequently read his work. Contemporary writers I enjoy reading include David Morrell, James Rollins, Bob Mayer, and Jack Higgins.

What are you working on now?
As we do this interview, The Last Refuge is in the final proofing stages. It launches in March, though it is already available for pre-ordering from Amazon. So I’ve mostly been concentrating on pre-launch promotional activities.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I don’t believe there is any one solution to promoting your books. It’s a mixture of everything — social media like Twitter, Facebook, Google+; web sites like Awesome Gang, Goodreads, and so on; and advertising campaigns. I run a couple of modest pay-per-click advertising campaigns on Goodreads and Google.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Take time to do proper rewriting. Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. The art is not in the writing, but the rewriting.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Someone once said, “Allow yourself to write a bad first draft.” I live by that.

What are you reading now?
I just finished Jack Higgins’ Touch the Devil, the fourth and last of his Liam Devlin series that started with his classic The Eagle Has Landed. And I just start Bob Mayer’s Atlantis Gate.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m working on two more books. I’m on the first rewrite of a sequel to The Killing Depths, which again features Special Agent Linus Schag. I’m also in the plotting stages of a book that will be a sort of quasi-sci-fi military thriller featuring an elite unit of the U.S. Coast Guard. I’m a Coast Guard veteran myself, and of the three branches I’ve served in, the Coast Guard remains my favorite.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Well, besides doing search and rescue in the Coast Guard, I was also on a wilderness SAR team for six years. So I’m pretty pragmatic about this answer. The first book I would choose would be a good survival handbook. Then I would choose Anton Myrer’s Once an Eagle. It’s a wonderful read and incredibly long. Not only would take a long time to read, its so big I could use it as a pillow. Then I might take G.K. Chesterton’s What’s Wrong With the World, because reading it might help me see the silver lining to not being rescued. And then I’d take the Bible, because it’s always good to have God on your side.

Author Websites and Profiles
Martin Roy Hill Website
Martin Roy Hill Amazon Profile

Martin Roy Hill’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Get Your House Clean Now: The Home Cleaning Method Anyone Can Master is my second independently published book on cleaning. After 20 years as owner of a professional residential cleaning business, I’m sharing my efficient method, favorite tools and supplies, and a touch of motivation and humor to get your house clean too.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Get Your House Clean Now: The Home Cleaning Method Anyone Can Master was inspired by my 20 years as owner of a professional residential cleaning business. Over the years, many clients have asked me to provide them with a manual to teach them what I do. Finally, I share my technique and favorite tools and products with everyone.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
My writing method includes brainstorming, outlining, writing and several edits by myself and others. I like to sit in my office with lots of framed photographs of flowers from my many gardens to inspire my writing while drinking Mandarin Orange Spice tea.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Anne Lamott, Stephen King, Justin Cronin, and Barbara Kingsolver have all inspired my desire to write. I dream of inspiring others to do something new, to try something different, to embrace their foibles and fears, to pick themselves up and move forward, head held high.

What are you working on now?
I am working on more titles to contribute to a cleaning series, as well as a longer work about women in society.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Bethmcgeebooks.com

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be brave, work every day, don’t expect it to happen without hard work. Breathe deeply and enjoy the doing.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write on!

What are you reading now?
The Stories of John Cheever

What’s next for you as a writer?
I intend to release several titles in two different genre in 2016. Stay tuned!

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Anything by Erma Bombeck, anything new by Justin Cronin, and anything non-horror by Stephen King.

Author Websites and Profiles
Beth McGee Website
Beth McGee Amazon Profile

Beth McGee’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I live in Littleton, NH with her husband wonderful Corey and my cat Salem. My job as a licensed nursing assistant is very rewarding and gives me the opportunity learn every day. At birth I was diagnosed with a rare medical condition called FFU (Femur, Fibula, Ulna Dyspepsia); and dyslexia. I was born second oldest of seven children, was raised Amish until my mother got up the courage to leave my abusive father. My wonderful mother raised us alone and continued to home-school straight through high school. Having dyslexia meant that reading and writing were not easily subjects. But, my mother never gave up and cultivated in me a great imagination and love of literature. Mark Twain, J.K. Rowling, Tamora Pierce among others inspired me to start writing and to keep trying. It took years of hard work and dedication but, I found worlds and stories existed within me had never known. I have just finished and self-published my first book: Jaden’s Heart and I am currently working on the next instalment of the series: Jaden’s Choice. The journey to publication was filled with countless struggles but I learn every step of the way. I hopes to give someone the same joy and inspiration I was given.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
What inspired Jaden’s Heart? Well that question comes with a very strange answer. It came to me in a dream – No really – an actual dream. I went to bed and Jaden’s story was the dream. The amazing part was I remembered everything. When I woke up, I started writing, and continued writing for a whole year and three months. The weird part is every night scene I have dreamt the same dream each a different part of the whole story. It never leaves me just like a shadow it fallows me everywhere.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Every day I set aside time to write-mostly at night. Because I work night shift and I love the mysterious pull that the dark brings with it and the allure of the setting and rising sun. I get all my best ideas during the day when I’m sleeping and use that allure to help get my creative juices flowing. If I am truly inspired I will write about 2,000 – 4,000 words in one sitting. To stay inspired I love to daydream, read, watch movies and you guessed it – sleep.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Mark Twain, J.K. Rowling, Tamora Pierce, Jane Austen, Aaron Allston, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Anne Rice only name a few. I have read every Star Wars book out there and every vampire book I could get my hands on. Anne Rice’s work is truly inspired.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on the next book in Jaden’s Journey. Book 2: Jaden’s Choice catches up to our heroin a year after the events in Book 1: Jaden’s Heart. It has been a hard year for Jaden. She has had to learn to use her new powers as a Seer and manage the Seventh House admits the constant threat of an unseen enemy and is army of ‘Crazed Immortal’. Despite everything going on around her, Jaden leaves her reluctant apprentice, Timothy, in charge and returns to London. However, her reunion with Alexis will be far from easy, as war wages around them.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I mostly use social media, word of mouth and I have my own website: http://www.authormjackson.com

I also use bookmarks, flyers and book signings/readings. Mostly I’m just happy I wrote a book and published it.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I would say don’t give up and don’t let anyone tell you its not good enough. Writing a book is hard work, it doesn’t matter whats it about. It takes dedication and determination. So when someone says something hurtful just laugh and say “have you ever wrote 90,000 words?” Then walk away will all your pride and dignity.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Writing is both a gift and an art. As a gift, it must be approached with humility: the writer is only the vessel through which inspiration flows. As an art, it must be approached with passion and discipline: a gift that’s never developed wasn’t worth the giving. – K.M. Weiland

What are you reading now?
I’m reading a few things right now, but I have put them on hold to read my book. The physical copy in my hands, fresh of the press smell. WOW!

Other books: Storming: A Dieselpunk Adventure-K.M. Weiland and Writing Deep Point Of View: Professional Techniques for Fiction Authors by Rayne Hall

What’s next for you as a writer?
Well I’m currently working on Jaden’s Choice and then I planning on writing the 3rd Book in the series: Jaden’s Journey. Book 3: Jaden’s Future will not be for a few years. After I don’t know. I will have to wait and see what dreams come to me.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The first one would be a notebook. Because then you can create your own adventure.
The second would be a dictionary, so you never run out of words to fill your imagination.
The third would be a thesaurus, so you can use your new words to produce a masterpiece.
The fourth book would be a desert survival manual. You cannot write if you are dead.

Author Websites and Profiles
Melanie Jackson Website
Melanie Jackson Amazon Profile
Melanie Jackson Author Profile on Smashwords

Melanie Jackson’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a 53 year-old grandfather living in Ohio. I’ve written a mystery series which is presently five books deep with more on the way. The introductory book is available free in electronic format and the other four books were just put out in a box set which is currently enrolled in Select, so it’s free to Prime members. I also have a noir collection, a graphic novel, several novellas and a non-fiction offering available. Most are available in both paperback as well as digitally in wide distribution.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest release is called 8 Tales of Noir, a collection of short pulp-style and other darker or crime stories. Six of the short stories from the collection were written for my podcast. It’s called The Thrills and Mystery podcast, and on it I read short suspenseful stories by myself as well as other indie writers.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to write when the house is either otherwise empty or when everyone else is asleep. I’m kind of a night owl. Also, I tend to write something, then leave it for a while to germinate in my head, then I come back to it and edit in a frenzy. I treat my ideas for stories in a similar fashion. I don’t begin writing a story as soon as i think of it. i wait a while and if the story doesn’t fade from my mind, then i know I can be passionate enough about it to actually write it.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love Kurt Vonnegut, Dan Brown, Rex Stout, Mark Twain, and Lewis Carroll. Books that have influenced me include The Big Sleep, A Clockwork Orange, and All About Jeeves.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on the sixth installment in my mystery canon. Like the third book in the series, it’s going to be a collection of three novellas. I do this because the series is pastiche of the Nero Wolfe novels which was itself pastiche of the Sherlock Holmes series. Both of those series were made up of full-length novels and shorter works, so I’m carrying on that tradition.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m really bad at self-promotion, so my advice in this department isn’t worth a heck of a lot. I have tried blogging, guest-blogging, interviews, podcasting, … you name it. I’ve done book give-aways, countdown deals, writing for anthologies, really everything in my power short of paying for ads which I have no budget for. All with limited success. I mean, sure I have some sales from all of these endeavors, but nowhere near as many as I’d like.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I have no original advice for new authors. All I can do is parrot the CW. Write in a series, and hold your first book until you have a few in your pocket so you can capitalize on momentum.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Make the first book in a series free as soon as possible.

What are you reading now?
I just picked up The Martian and I’m also reading over the manuscript of a friend who has written several books in other genres, but asked me to read over his first mystery to offer any advice I might have to improve the story.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I actually just instigated a project with several other genre writers. We’re going to create a character who we can all write unique stories about. Then we’ll collaborate on a prequel giving that character’s backstory. Eventually we’ll offer the character under creative commons license so that other authors are free to use her. Our hope is that readers who like the character will follow her from story to story discovering new authors along the way.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Alice in Wonderland, The DaVinci Code, and Gambit.

Author Websites and Profiles
J. David Core Website
J. David Core Amazon Profile
J. David Core Author Profile on Smashwords

J. David Core’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
A. S. Minor lives in Florida with his wife, two sons, two dogs, a cat and a snake. He is a spoken word competition-winning poet and novelist, as well as a member of the veteran performance poetry group called The Combat Hippies, which has made quite an impact in Florida. He has written half a dozen unpublished novels and countless poems, both in prose and spoken word form. He has numerous individual poems published, and a complete book of poetry, and is currently in negotiations with a publisher to get one of his newest novels published.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of his latest novel is “Writer’s Block.” It was inspired by the idea of Greek muses and their mythological influences on writers.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I often have two-sided conversations with myself in order to organize my thoughts.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have been majorly influenced by Anne Rice, Stephen King, and Robert Jordan. I grew up reading Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, and obsessively gobbled up Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series and Stephen King’s Dark Tower series.

What are you working on now?
At the moment I amade working on the sequel to Writer’s Block.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I believe that diversification is essential when it comes to marketing and promotions, so though sites like Amazon.com are invaluable, I also feel that social media is just as important.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
For a new author I would say to recognize that “wanting to be” a writer is not possible. If you write, then you are a writer. We, as writers, have a tendency to look at the most successful authors and view them as somehow different than us. Once you accept the fact that they’re not, then you can really successfully invest yourself into your craft. If you’re a writer, then write!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Write the book that you want to read, and don’t be afraid that it’s different than what’s already out there.”

What are you reading now?
“Prince Lestat” by Anne Rice

What’s next for you as a writer?
I will continue to write my Writer’s Block books, creating a series.

Author Websites and Profiles
Allen Minor Amazon Profile

Allen Minor’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve written one nonfiction history book, Fips, Bots, Doggeries, and More (2012), which is based on a journal written by my great-great-great grandfather to chronicle his 1838 trip from Cincinnati to New York City. I’m currently working on Pride of the Valley, a companion volume to that book, which is projected to be published in 2017.

I also write YA thrillers! Counteract (2014) and Resist (2015) are the first two volumes in the Resistance Series. Here’s a little about the premise for Counteract: Who do you trust when your world unravels and everything you believed is a lie? For the past fifteen years, The Office of Civilian Safety and Defense has guarded the public against the rampant threat of terrorism. Teenagers Tommy and Careen have never known life without the government-approved Civilian Restrictions. For them, there’s no social media. No one is allowed to gather in public places or attend concerts or sporting events. Only a small, select group of adults have driving privileges. It’s a small price to pay for safety. Now a new, more deadly, terrorist threat looms: airborne chemical weapons that can be activated without warning. The OCSD is ready with an antidote to counteract the effects of the toxins. Three drops a day is all it takes. It’s a small price to pay for health. Tommy and Careen obediently take the antidote; neither considers stopping when strange things begin to happen. The day the disaster sirens signal the dreaded attack, Tommy shares his last dose with Careen, even though doing so might hasten his death. It’s a small price to pay for a friend. Follow Tommy and Careen as they uncover a web of lies and deceit reaching to the highest levels of the United States government and join an underground resistance group that’s determined to expose the truth.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Ignite, the third book in the Resistance Series, picks up where Resist left off. I love working with Tommy and Careen and the rest of the cast of these books, and can’t wait to let readers know what happens next as they take on the oppressive Office of Civilian Safety and Defense!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write in notebooks and then, after the words have had time to stew, type them into the computer, where the scenes really take form.

I listen to my characters speak (yes, inside my head) and let them direct the story.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I studied creative writing with Daniel Keyes, author of Flowers for Algernon. He was a huge influence on my desire to write.

What are you working on now?
Besides Pride of the Valley, Ignite, and Revolt (which will be the final volume in the Resistance Series) I have an idea in the pipeline for an historical fiction about a young woman who was a member of the Dutch Resistance during World War II. It is based on a true story.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I love live events for interacting with readers, and I think I promote my books best in person. I use Facebook and Twitter, as well as paid promotions, to reach out to new readers.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t give up! Learn all you can about the craft of writing. Try and stay organized, and be sure to invest in a good editor.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Follow your dream. Oh, and write like everyone you know is dead so you don’t shrink from telling your story the way it needs to be told!

What are you reading now?
I just finished Delirium.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Gotta go–I have a deadline for Ignite!

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Gone with the Wind
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Looking for Alaska
Understood Betsy

Author Websites and Profiles
Tracy Lawson Website
Tracy Lawson Amazon Profile

Tracy Lawson’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I write so that I might reveal to all the glory and wonder of dear sweet life. I write so that the reader will know with every moment that yes, indeed life is good, and a gift to be treasured, and not a meaningless, empty, tortuous nightmare, monotonous, tedious, sickening, revolting disgustathon. Hmm. Considering the works I have published I don’t think I’m doing a very good job of that. Oh well, a dream unfulfilled. So it goes. Aside from a section of “What A Wonderful World” regarding a horribly ill fated trip I took to India, my writing is representational of my life and the world, not presented as events actually unfolded. As for those, failing miserably to achieve my declared mission statement, I have 10 self-published books. Two are novels, a short one entitled “Dawn”, a long one entitled “What A Wonderful World”, a novella entitled “Xavier Cockroachal Damon’s, Um, Entirely Fictitious Autobiography By Xavier Cockroachal Damon, and, Um, In Many Ways the Character Is Not At All Like Me I Guess That is Somewhat Ironic, 3 books that are novella length compilations of shorter works, and the rest are plays, Dung a Play, Just One of Those Days (a Play), Suicide Fanatics and The Amnesiac Two plays, and Dog Years Within the Curse of 7. Two Plays or Technically Would That Be 14 Plays?

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The last thing I wrote is the sixth installment of Xavier Cockroachal Damon’s fictitious autobiography entitled “The Mystery of the Ignonomous and Preposterous Hapheshalesh” and it is part of the compilation, entries 2-6, entitled “Autobiography Second Verse for He Whom Life Forever Curse, and I Will Create Stars In an Empty Sky, Third of the Absurd, and the Mysteries That Follow, Entries Up to Six, Hanging From Your Crucifix”. The inspiration for it was just to update the glorious life that is Xavier Cockroachal Damon. For there was more of the story to tell.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Dude, kindly try and refrain from punching your laptop screen.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Not sure I’d say influenced me but I liked Tin Drum, some Vonnegut, and Malone Dies by Beckett.

What are you working on now?
My laptop. And by that I mean trying to fix its screen which I um, punched. My ways are eccentric, what do you want from me?

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I haven’t the foggiest how to effectively promote my books. I do not know what the hell I am doing.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Alwayz bee cairflull bout spelling errrorrs nd gwammer,. See that a lot. And really now, isn’t that what truly is important and what truly matters rather than the work itself. “Oh my God tge that should have been the, I, I, cannot continue with this piece of garbage about the meaning or meaninglessness of life!” To be perfectly honest I’ve intentionally left typos in because the notion that so any spout that that is of ultimate importance really pisses me off.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Hard to say. Me and good advice are sort of estranged and not on speaking terms. Any good advice I’ve ever been given I’ve ignored. So maybe the answer would be don’t do as the moron clown does. Wait, but then I would be giving myself credit. Can’t have that. I hate that douche. So then, let’s see, oh yes, believe in yourself.

What are you reading now?
The words what are you reading now.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Transliterating my already published works into Sumerian. Big market out there for that. Is my financial aptitude showing?

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Books about the most effective ways to shovel snow and melt ice and a tutorial book about how to snowboard even though I think all winter sports are idiotic. It was either that or Berries to Eat, Berries Not to Eat, How to Survive on a Desert Island, and How to Be Rescued and Escape a Desert Island. I believe I made the right choice. I always do. By the way, I am on a desert island. It’s called life.

Author Websites and Profiles
Xavier Cockroachal Damon Website
Xavier Cockroachal Damon Amazon Profile
Xavier Cockroachal Damon Author Profile on Smashwords

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I live in London with my wife and two daughters. The Pages of Time is my first book.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Pages of Time is a time travel thriller. It follows the adventures of Sam Rayner, a teenager who, after suffering a traumatic brain injury, develops seizures during which he slips into the body of a past or future self.

I first had the idea for the book after watching a documentary featuring the physicist Julian Barbour. He argues that each individual moment of time exists as complete and whole in its own right – “nows” – and that what we experience as the passage of time is, in fact, an illusion: the linking together of these distinct nows by their similarity to one another. This led me to wonder what would happen if someone suffered a disorder which affected the way they link nows together, jumbling their experience of the passage of time, which gave rise to the idea of Sam’s brain injury.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Having a new baby in the house means my sleeping habits are pretty unusual. The early morning is often my most productive time.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I had to read The Chrysalids by John Wyndham for my GCSE English Literature class, and I think that book, along with The Day of the Triffids by the same author, sparked my love of Science Fiction. Shortly after I read the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, which totally blew my mind.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on Ripples of the Past, the sequel to The Pages of Time. It continues to follow the present-day adventures of Sam and his friends, while delving more deeply into the backstory of Pages.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m a big fan of Goodreads, both as a promotional tool and as way of interacting with readers and other authors.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Try to get as many pairs of eyeballs as possible on your work before you publish, including those of a professional editor if you can, and take on board criticism when it’s constructive. Remember you can’t please everyone, and if you disagree with something, ignore it and move on.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
In On Writing, Stephen King mentions a rejection slip he once received, which said something along the lines of:

2nd Draft = 1st Draft – 10%.

I think that’s sound advice, and something I try to follow. Even if you don’t cut the full ten percent, what you do shave off will tighten the story.

What are you reading now?
The Farm by Tom Rob Smith (author of Child 44). I’m near the beginning, but it’s already hard to put down.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Ripples of the Past is coming together, but is still a little way from ready. After that, I’m planning a third book in the series.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Foundation by Isaac Asimov, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, Oryx and Crake by Margret Atwood and Under the Dome by Stephen King.

Author Websites and Profiles
Damian Knight Website
Damian Knight Amazon Profile
Damian Knight’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Gail has over 30 years’ senior executive experience in banking, securities, real estate, insurance, marketing and telecommunications. Originally a Registered Nurse, Gail later became a branch manager with the TDBank and then a stockbroker with Merrill Lynch and then opened her independent financial services firm. Gail is CEO of Willow Consortium LLC with a division “Safe Wealth Creation” offering individuals and companies services to achieve financial independence safely. Gail is a published author of several books on Amazon.com along with her husband and business partner, Richard Cherry, and is an instructor on Udemy.com and loves to help people achieve an improved lifestyle with increased wealth and health

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Money NOW Safely: Ka-Ching! by Gail Nichols and Richard Cherry

This is the 2nd of 8 books in the Money NOW Safely series on Kindle.

I wrote it (and the other 7) to be a bite-sized, fun, informative and useful way to help demystify how to become financially secure.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I find creating a detailed blueprint for my books is necessary to help keep me focused and organized.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Napoleon Hill, Steve Siebold, Anthony Robbins

What are you working on now?
The 3rd in my series of 8 books on Money NOW Safely.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am exploring many since I have just started promoting my books the last week. I started with joining Facebook Author Groups which have been beneficial. Your site was recommended by another author.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write, revise, get input from friends, clients, associates. Revise and publish. Put your ego on the shelf

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Just Do It.

What are you reading now?
Napoleon Hill’s Law of Success.

What’s next for you as a writer?
More books in my series of Money NOW Safely.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Law of Success by Napoleon Hill

Author Websites and Profiles
Gail Nichols Website
Gail Nichols Amazon Profile

Gail Nichols’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Prophecy is the first book I’ve published, though I’ve written a few more that will never see the light of day! I live in BC, Canada with my amazing family and am part of a fun, supportive writing group.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book is called Prophecy, and is Book 1 in the Antigone: The True Story series. I absolutely love Greek myth and strong heroines, so I decided to write about one of the most interesting characters from that time — Antigone, daughter of Oedipus (the one who married his mother, killed his father, then blinded himself). The name Prophecy came to me while brainstorming because prophecies and how the gods have used them to play with Antigone and her family are a big part of the story.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really. I do a large part of my writing during National Novel Writing Month (a challenge to write 50,000 words in November), then I spend much of the rest of the year editing, re-writing, and finishing what I started.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
A big influence is JK Rowling as she really helped to bring young adult books to a larger audience. I love Kristin Cashore and Maria V Snyder for their amazing heroines. Madeline L’Engle was one of the first fantasy authors I read as a teen and made me fall in love with the genre. I am also drawn to Classical authors such as Homer and Sophocles — I get taken in by the huge, heroic themes combined with fragile humanity.

What are you working on now?
I am working on Book 2 of the Antigone series, called Fate.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am very new to this, so am not sure yet. This site looks great. I think just being out there, active on my own website and social media, talking about books and writing, reading other people’s sites and participating that way. So far, I do like Joanna Penn and Lindsay Buroker for advice on self publishing.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I feel like because I’m a new author, I’m still looking for advice myself! But, stick with it. It’s overwhelming to get that book in your hand or to see it up on Amazon. For me, I wrote a story that I love with a character who speaks to me, then worked and polished and got help editing and designing the cover and formatting in order to put out something that I’m proud of.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write bad rough copies. They are meant to be bad. If you worry about writing something good, it will never get written. Turn off your inner editor while you are writing and let your words get written. You can’t edit something that’s not down on paper.

What are you reading now?
The Diviners by Libba Bray and Penguins Can’t Fly by Jason Kotecki.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Keep writing. I really want to get Fate out in 2016. The basic story is written, but I need to make some changes.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
That’s one of the worst questions you can ask a book lover! Can I get around this a bit with anthologies? I don’t even know where to begin.

Author Websites and Profiles
Coreena McBurnie Website
Coreena McBurnie Amazon Profile
Coreena McBurnie Author Profile on Smashwords

Coreena McBurnie’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am an Alaskan born Native and live in Yakutat, Alaska. I am a retired commercial fisherman and now write articles, short stories and novels. I have taken the experiences I’ve had living in Alaska and write about them. In my short story collection, Yaakwdaat Aya, I tell the stories about the Tlingit people’s struggles with every day events and challenges that can be found in any part of the country, or the world. I think the only difference is is that we learned how to live in two worlds. During the era of assimilation and acculturation we managed to adopt the western ways, but still remain Tlingit—and succeeded at it.

I served for twelve years as the elected president of the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe, and during these years I learned about how to mesh the Tlingit ways with an ever changing western society. I wrote essays about those experiences and they were published in the capital city of Alaska’snewspaper the Juneau Empire. These articles were eventually compiled into short essays centered around the Natural Law. When Raven Cries is a novel,

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Law of Nature and Nature’s God is the collection of essays mentioned above and Kadaashan Speaks, Legal Plunder are my latest books. In these I delve into Native American politics and try to make my readers realize that there are fundamental principles that we must all learn, or relearn, to live by. The Natural Law and God’s Laws are no respecter of persons and applies to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. I was inspired to write these books when I studied and learned what the Natural Law is. I feel I should share with the world the formulas that made great nations arise, and why they fell.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Nothing unusual. I try to be consistent, but have a tendency to get slothful, but I have the habit of catching up. Often I will get up in the middle of my sleep and spend a couple hours reading, thinking and writing

What authors, or books have influenced you?
John Steinbeck, John O’ Hara, and a short story writer by the name of Douglas Thayer. Mr. Thayer inspired me a lot with his short stories because we both attended Brigham Young University (at different time, of course) but his simple description of every day life made me want to write similar stories about my village of Yakutat, Alaska. Thus came forth Yaakwdaat Aya. W. Cleon Skousen inspired me to study politics and become familiar with the U.S. Consitution and why we need to return back to the principles contained in it.

What are you working on now?
One novel called Of the Dying Years and a personal experience story about finding my history, culture and identity.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I use Awesome Gang a lot, and my own website.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read a lot, write a lot, read a lot, write a lot, read a lot, write a lot. You need to fill the filing cabnit of your minds with as much information about everything around you. When you draw close to Nature you learn many truths.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t give in to discouragement. My mother told me many times that “it is no disgrace to fall; it’s when you just lay there that’s so disgraceful.”

What are you reading now?
The Bible

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have some very strong feelings about the politics of America. I want to continue to write short stories and a novel or two, but I am driven to write stuff about the Natural Law so people can know and understand truth and where it comes from.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Triple Combination, The 5000 Year Leap, A Miracle that Changed the World, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, Under the Cottonwoods, First Things First

Author Websites and Profiles
Bertrand (Kadashan) Adams Website

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Former screenwriter and screenwriting contest judge turned novelist. My first book, a horror/thriller titled CALM BEFORE THE STORM, was released in January of 2015. My second release, a noir thriller titled IN THE DEEPEST OF WATERS, was released in July of 2015. A third release from my self-publishing moniker SUNBIRD BOOKS is scheduled for a late winter/early spring 2016 release. Plot and title are still not public, but it can best be described as Alfred Hitchcock by way of Philip K. Dick.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest completed and published work, IN THE DEEPEST OF WATERS – A Noir Thriller, was inspired by the economic state of modern society and how difficult it can be for an everyday average person to make a simple living. I felt that a noir treatment would best serve this type of story and properly exploit its themes.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write late at night when all is dark and quiet. And when I finish a book, I start a new one immediately.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, Philip K. Dick, the noir greats like Raymond Chandler and Jim Thompson, and too many others to count.

What are you working on now?
It is a mind-bending psychological chase thriller. Very fast paced, high-energy, and will have you questioning what is real and what is merely an illusion. Look for it within the coming months!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I use many paid promo sites and promote via Facebook quite often.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Spend the money on good artwork, a good editor, and good promotion. Keep your prices competitive, and don’t expect overnight success. If your first book doesn’t do well, keep writing.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Just write. Don’t procrastinate.

What are you reading now?
Wool by Hugh Howey.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Finish my work in progress, then start a new project. I have about a dozen ideas waiting to be tackled.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Dune because I haven’t read it yet, and The Zombie Survival Guide (just in case).

Author Websites and Profiles
Ryan Mullaney Website
Ryan Mullaney Amazon Profile

Ryan Mullaney’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
So far I have one published novella and my short stories are featured in three anthologies with many more awaiting publication. One of my short stories is also featured on the Dark Chapter Press website.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Tale of Sawney Bean and it was inspired by The Legend of Sawney Bean which is a Scottish legend about a cannibal family/clan living on the coast of Girvin in the 1600s. I’ve always loved the legend and Wes Craven said it inspired the original Hills Have Eyes and Jack Ketchum said it inspired Offseason so it keeps popping up. I wanted to put my own spin on the tale and tell Sawney’s side of the story for the first time.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I use a laptop that has no battery and no wifi connection so I have to sit on the floor in the corner of my living room to write. Other than that nothing I can think of.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Richard Laymon was the first author I read outside of Point Horror kids books. I tried a few others and didn’t enjoy them so read his entire catalogue. After that the internet was picking up a little and I found a message board on his website where I was recommended Brian Keene, Ray Garton, Jack Ketchum and Edward Lee. They became my go to authors as Laymon passed away and I had read all his books. As I worked my way through their catalogues I found a few other authors I still love to this day. To name a few they are J.F.Gonzalez, Bryan Smith, Jeff Strand, Iain Rob Wright, John R Little, Carlton Mellick and Wrath James White. There are many more now but I’ve read almost everything these guys have written. I feel everything I have enjoyed throughout my life as a reader has inspired me to final write myself.

What are you working on now?
A short story collection and a few submissions to upcoming anthologies I’d like to feature in. I have an idea for another novella than I need to work out a few other details for and all going well will get a first draft done over the Christmas holidays.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I mainly use Facebook, Blogger and Google+

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just write. I’ve put it off for about 19 years and when I gave it a go by sending stories away to anthologies looking for submissions they started to get accepted. It’s that simple. You will get knock backs. Everyone does. You will also need to be patient because there is often long waits for feedback but when you write something and send it off don’t wait about. Write something else and send that off too. Just keep writing.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Life’s too short!

What are you reading now?
Bryan Smith’s Christmas Eve on Haunted Hill

What’s next for you as a writer?
Just gonna keep on writing lol. I have a full time job so do this for the love rather than the money. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to be professional. I want my books to be a pleasure for the reader but I have no worries about deadlines or no feeling of pressure. I just write stories I would like to read and that seems to be working so far.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Swan Song by Robert McCammon
Body Rides by Richard Laymon
Blood Crazy by Simon Clark
Depraved Bryan Smith
It would need to be a dire emergency for me to only have four books lol

Author Websites and Profiles
Kevin J Kennedy Website
Kevin J Kennedy Amazon Profile
Kevin J Kennedy Author Profile on Smashwords

Kevin J Kennedy’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have been involved in the medical industry in a variety of ways between 1987 and 2008. After this I turned to freelance writing and have written on topics ranging from bullying to depression and contributed to a number of anthologies.

Just days after its launch, My Story of Survival ranked amongst Amazon’s Bestsellers in the categories of Nutrition, #1 Food Allergies, #1 Digestive Organs, #1 Science and #2 Health, Diet and Fitness Short Reads.

The last couple of anthologies featuring my work are ‘Glimpses of Light’ for the occasion of the International Year of Light 2015; inspiring hope for a better future. I also contributed to ‘Like A Girl’ Anthology which celebrates the strength and resilience of women with all profits to be donated to PLAN Australia.

Writing is one of my passions and comes second to my devotion to cloud surfing.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My Story of Survival was written because I felt that others would benefit from my story and I like making life easier for others.

I thought, ‘Iif only one person will benefit from reading this, then it was worth writing. Soon enough, some nice folk let me know how they had benefited from reading my book and that just felt terrific. My desire to inspire others is what dirives me.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Recliner, earplugs, industrial building site head mufflers, dark room and vanilla sleepy tea.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I am head over heels with the author of my favourite book, the Bible.

What are you working on now?
I have been out of action for quite a while and on and off managed to make some scribbles here and there. My helper will soon bundle these up and send them off to the editor.

I am eternally grateful for being alive and my BONUS time will be utilised to share my experiences, have FUN and give thanks.

Upcoming titles are, GOD healed me, false prophets, Live forever how to and Joy and Pleasure.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am a new author and am learning from John Kremer, Michael Hyatt, Penny Sansevieri and Chandler Bolt.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Learn the skills which are necessary to be a good author. What’s the use of getting your thoughts down on paper and have nobody read them? Find youself a mentor and learn from your mentor. Find readers who will give you feedback on your book before you publish it. Find and use good editors, they are worth their weight in gold.

Do not get discouraged ever! Use all feedback good and bad to polish your writing.

You can do this!!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be of good cheer.

What are you reading now?
My daily dose of Scripture and material by my mentors John Kremer, Michael Hyatt, Penny Sansevieri and Chandler Bolt.

What’s next for you as a writer?
In 2016 I intend to find good homes for around 12 of my projects. One a month.

Stay tuned!

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Holy Word, Lexicon, songbook and humour.

Author Websites and Profiles
Mimi Emmanuel Website
Mimi Emmanuel Amazon Profile

Mimi Emmanuel’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have a background in Creative Writing, but “The Spirit: Awakening” & “The Spirit: Reckoning” are the only two books I’ve published. For now.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“The Spirit: Reckoning” is the name of my latest book. I chose “Reckoning” because such was the main character’s fate. Adele had reached the point of no return, and she aimed to face her enemy and restore balance to the world he corrupted. No matter the cost.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I think everyone’s got a quirk when it comes to writing. I find my best writing comes when my body longs for sleep, but my mind just keeps running. I keep a journal by my bed so I can just get up at night and write, then revisit it the next day.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
CS Lewis and the world of Narnia. I absolutely loved his ability to weave an immense and imaginative world with so little said. Then there’s Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series; she’s so talented, and I admire her ability regarding creating characters above all others. Then there’s the “Inheritance Cycle”, and of course, “The Lord of the Rings.”

What are you working on now?
Another novel, fiction, but not fantasy. Still Young Adult though.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Probably Facebook and Twitter. I’m trying to build a fan base, and they’re some of the more reliable ways to start.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write. It’s that easy. Write because it’s your passion, write because it fills you with an energy you can’t explain. Don’t be discouraged, and take criticism in stride.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t kill your characters simply because you can. You never know when you might need them. Erase them only when you must.

What are you reading now?
I’m currently finishing up “Lady of the Lake” by Andrzej Sapkowski. I won’t deny my obsession with the Witcher series.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’ll likely finish up my current book, then on to another fantasy series!

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Hobbit, Eragon, Mistborn: The Final Empire, The Last Wish.

Author Websites and Profiles
KM Riley Website
KM Riley Amazon Profile
KM Riley Author Profile on Smashwords

KM Riley’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written and published 14 books, with another three finished but not yet published and a fourth in the process of being written. I have also written quite a few other novels over the years, but I will probably not publish any of them because they were written when I wasn’t as good a writer as I am now, although I might revisit the ideas behind those novels because some of them are still quite good.

I started out writing back in 2006, where I wrote fanfiction based off the LEGO toyline called Bionicle. But I only started publishing my work professionally in 2014, although I consider the time I spent writing fanfiction as my apprenticeship. There’s actually a lot of similiarities between posting fanfiction and publishing your books on your own, so in a way I feel that my fanfiction years helped prepare me for indie publishing my books.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my latest novel is Desinence. It is the final book in my Two Worlds science-fantasy series, so I was not really “inspired” by anything so much as I built upon the events of the last four books and wrapped up all of the main plot threads I had created in the last four books in what I hope was a satisfying and original way.

If you mean what inspired the title, “desinence” is a word meaning “a termination or ending, as the final line of a verse” (credit to Dictionary.com for that definition). I chose the title because I wanted a word that signaled that this was the final book, but I didn’t want a generic word like “finale” or whatever. I don’t know if my readers like it, but no one has complained about the title and I like it, so I guess it works.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not that I can think of, no.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I think that Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, Rachel Aaron, Hiromu Arakawa, Rick Riordan, and Greg Farshtey have been my major influences as an author. No book or books in particular have influenced me, though.

What are you working on now?
“Ascension of the Chosen,” the final book in my upcoming Tournament of the Gods epic fantasy/swords and sorcery series, which is scheduled to be released in April 2016. The first book in the series, “Gathering of the Chosen,” is scheduled for a January 2016 release.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Freebooksy is great for promoting free books. They got my novel, “The Mage’s Grave,” into the Top 100 Free books on Amazon back in September all by themselves, which has made them my favorite discount ebook advertiser on the web.

But don’t worry. Awesome Gang is pretty good, too .

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write quickly and write a lot, but also study the market and try to make your books marketable. You don’t need to make your books cookie cutter clones of whatever is hot at the moment, but being aware of popular tropes in your genre, cover trends, blurb styles, pricing trends, and so on will help you to make a book that will sell, perhaps even give you a bestseller.

Unfortunately I haven’t been studying the market as well as I should, but I plan to change that going into 2016.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t obsessively rewrite your work. Some editing and rewriting is necessary, but too much can slow production down to a halt and actually make your books worse, so try to keep rewriting and editing to a minimum.

What are you reading now?
“Frostborn: The Gray Knight” by Jonathan Mueller. I read the book before it and loved it and so far I am loving this one (although I am only a couple of chapters into it so far). Highly recommend it to any lover of epic fantasy or swords and sorcery.

What’s next for you as a writer?
That’s tough to say, because that would require being able to look into the future, which I, alas, cannot do.

But my plans for the next year are to write and publish my next series, work on another currently unnamed series that is also set to be published next year, launch a new pen name in a new genre, and try out Facebook ads. I’m hoping to make 2016 the year I make a full-time living as an author, but whether I will or won’t, it will probably at least be better than 2015.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Oh, that’s too hard for me to answer, because there are too many books I’d like to take.

But here are a few books that come to mind off the top of my head:

“Misery” by Stephen King
“The Bourne Identity” by Robert Ludlum
“The Spirit Thief” by Rachel Aaron
“Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” by J.K. Rowling

Author Websites and Profiles
Timothy L. Cerepaka Website
Timothy L. Cerepaka Amazon Profile
Timothy L. Cerepaka Author Profile on Smashwords

Timothy L. Cerepaka’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
To date, I have completed five books in The Jamie Keller Mystery Series. I am currently working on book six.

I have been a professional musician all of my adult life and love to practice piano, violin and guitar on a daily basis.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Upon the Roof, book six in the series is about how the Kellers come to build their new house. (It all starts with an infestation of mice.)

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes, I only write in the winter cozied up to my wood-stove. Mozart and Bach often accompany this process.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
A Course in Miracles really opened my eyes to a different way of thinking. I try to employ its lessons in my stories.

What are you working on now?
Upon the Roof.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ve tried many of the free sites and a few of the paid. I’m not sure what works. It’s another mystery.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be honest and pray for inspiration.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
You wouldn’t care so much about what people people think of you if you realized how seldom they do.

What are you reading now?
A Town Like Alice, by Nevil Shute.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m not sure. I never planned on being a writer, so anything goes. I might join the circus.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I’d bring my Course in Miracles and maybe, because I’ve always meant to read it, a Bible.
I also refer to the Masters of the Near East collection often, so I’d probably bring them along too.

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi. My name is Mary J. Williams and I write sexy contemporary romances. Writing has been a dream of mine for a long time. With the publication of my first book, it has become my passion. I love sitting down and discovering where my characters are going to take me. It is a surprise and a delight.
There are four books in my Harper Falls series.
IF I LOVED YOU (BOOK ONE)
IF TOMORROW NEVER COMES (BOOK TWO)
IF YOU ONLY KNEW (BOOK THREE)
IF I HAD YOU (CHRISTMAS IN HARPER FALLS)
These are all stand-alone books, but the characters cross over so it is a lot of fun to read them in order and keep up with everyone.
Book one of my Hollywood Legends series is DREAMING WITH A BROKEN HEART. This will be a four book series about the Landis brothers.
Book one of my One Pass Away series is AFTER THE RAIN. This will be a sports trilogy following the exploits of members of the Seattle Knights football team.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is DREAMING WITH A BROKEN HEART. I love movies. The characters in my Harper Falls series were always quoting and watching movies. This seemed like the perfect segue. Some of the Harper Falls characters cross over so you get a glimpse at their Happily Ever After lives.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write every day. I don’t think that is unusual. I have a vague outline in my head, but I never write one down. I like to see what is going to happen. If I tried to follow an outline I feel it would stifle the flow of my stories.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
My first love was historical romances. It was all I read when I was a teenager. Then I discovered Nora Roberts. My passion for contemporary romances was born.

What are you working on now?
I am almost finished with book two in my Hollywood Legends series. DREAMING WITH MY EYES WIDE OPEN moves away from Hollywood but not the movies. As with all my books, this is a stand-alone story. But following Nate Landis means you will meet all the characters from book one and get a good idea about book three.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I use Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads. My website and newsletter are invaluable ways to stay in touch with my readers and to let them know when I have a new book releasing.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep writing. I know that sounds easy, but trust me, it isn’t. There are so many distractions. Take time to write. The only way to grow is to do. It all gets easier.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t sweat the small stuff. A bad review. A dip in sales. If you want to be a writer, if you are in this for the long haul, these things even out. Take a deep breath, let it go, and keep writing.

What are you reading now?
The latest J. D. Robb In Death book. This is my favorite series.

What’s next for you as a writer?
2016 is big for me. A new book every month. That will keep me busy. In between, there is constant promotion and networking. It never stops. But I love what I’m doing. I can’t imagine ever stopping.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
First, Little Women. That was the first “big book” I ever read. I love it still.
Second, the complete works of Jane Austen. Enough said.
Third, an anthology of Nora Roberts works. I can read her again and again.

Author Websites and Profiles
Mary J. Williams Website
Mary J. Williams Amazon Profile
Mary J. Williams Author Profile on Smashwords

Mary J. Williams’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Am a writer, orator, human resource trainer and Pan-orthodox Christian activist. I was instrumental in founding Orthodoxy Cognate PAGE Society, an organization dedicated to pan-orthodox unity activities. Am also the founding Secretary of Insight Mission, an organization committed to youth and social empowerment. I hold a Masters in Social Work from the University of Kerala and Masters by Research in Social Sciences from the Mahatma Gandhi University. My areas of interests include human resources and community development, church management, Orthodox Christian journalism contemporary orthodoxy and Pan-orthodox studies.

I have written five books so far.

1. Orthodox Church of the East in the Twenty first Century: Challenges and Opportunities.

2. Living Conditions of the Migrant Workers in the Construction Sector.

3. Forest Management: Aspects of Community Participation.

4. Collected Writings on Orthodox Christianity.

5. The Orthodox Dilemma ( Current work)

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The current work is titled ‘ The Orthodox Dilemma’. The title is all about the confusion that exist among Orthodox Christian Churches with regard to global unity. I have got my inspiration from my own personal experiences working with Orthodox Cognate PAGE Pan-Orthodox movement.

Pan-Orthodox unity is very unique and many people are not aware of this topic. My intention is to generate awareness, discussion and dialogue between various Orthodox Churches. There exist lots of unity activities, but Orthodox Churches are not yet successful in developing a unified global platform. I wish to everyone to learn more about this topic.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I focus on non-fiction and loves to write on the topic Pan-Orthodox Christian Unity. I try to mix a bit of history, contemporary affairs, and personal thoughts in my work. You can see the same in my current work ‘The Orthodox Dilemma’. I have written this book as an Orthodox Christian faithful as well as an outsider.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have been influenced by several authors like Chinua Achebe, R K Narayanan, Ruskin Bond, Dr Phillip Jenkins, Fr Dr V C Samuel, Metropolitan Paulose Gregorious, Dan Brown, Professor Alexis Osipov. I also like Gerrard Williams and Simon Dunstan who jointly authored Grey Wolf. Jesus Wars, Malgudy days, The Da Vinci Code, The Crisis of Islam, Grey Wolf are some of the books I like. I love several books, but remain selective in my reading habits.

What are you working on now?
I have finished working on my fifth book ‘The Orthodox Dilemma’. Presently am engaged in promotional works. I will take a short break before moving to my new project.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I use social media platforms, several independent platforms, word of mouth. Also I use Orthodoxy Cognate PAGE (www.theorthodoxchurch.info) website to promote book. It is targets specific readers. I also send books for reviews. I use my personal connections with friends and writers to promote by work as well.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I have conversed with many people who would like to start their writing career. But their thoughts and stories, remain in their personal dairies and within themselves. They should bring it in papers and publish it. Keep writing, keep telling the world what you love to tell, keep inspiring the world through your works. You have a lot to offer to this world.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Follow your heart and passion. Love what you do, do what you love.
BE YOURSELF!!!

What are you reading now?
The Heaert of Islam by Syyed Hossein Nasar

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have plans to write more non-fiction book on international relations, persecution and world politics. I also plan to write my first fiction. Fiction will take time.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Tales of Terror
MalgudyDays
The Room on the Roof
Grey Wolf

Author Websites and Profiles
George Alexander Website
George Alexander Amazon Profile

George Alexander’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m an author, speaker,trainer and consultant who is passionate about helping people discover life goals and helping teams grow to their full potential.

I have two books on Amazon.
The latest of my books is titled: “If I can Just Focus: 5 Keys to Sanity & Success” which helps people live a truly focused life by first determining their life goals and then systemizing their daily life around the five principles hidden in the very word focus: Find It, Own it, Channels of Focus, Unity (& Openness to Change) and Systems of Focus.
It offers practical how-tos on achieving a life of balance and success, drawing on up-to-date research and years of coaching experience helping others to find the vital link between their daily activities and their life goals

My first book was: “The A.R.T of Motivation: Success in Life by Rediscovering Your Core Design” and it presents a three-step methodology to discovering life goals.
In the three sections of “The A.R.T of Motivation”, I talk in depth about going beyond a seasonal experience to uncovering the inexhaustible reservoir of motivation within you that flows out of your purpose, giftings and abilities : Adventure into Self, Rediscovery and Traveling the Road to your Life Goals.
This book answers questions like:
“How do I know which of all the things I am motivated about on my list of goals to focus on right now?”
“I’ve tried so many things and I was excited about this job, two years ago. I seem to have lost motivation again. Why do I hate it so much right now?”
“How do I get started discovering what my life goals are?”

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My newest book is called : “If I can Just Focus: 5 Keys to Sanity & Success”.
It was inspired while writing a blog post on the topic during a time when I felt overwhelmed by a lot of things going on. Discussions with friends and trainees from my courses also pointed to the same problem. A lot of people try to apply time management and efectiveness principles without having determined the course of their lives or at least an idea of what they really want. The truly focused life begins with life goals or long-term goals.
The second problem I address in the book is the question of how to connect daily activities with those life goals. Your focus is your life philosophy. Plain and simple.
In “In If I can Just Focus… 5 Keys to Success and Sanity”, I give practical how-tos on achieving a life of balance and success, drawing on up-to-date research and years of coaching experience helping others to find the vital link between their daily activities and their life goals.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not that I know of.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
John Maxwell on leadership, teams and growth more than any other author. I have a mini-library of his books, Mike Murdock on how to live wisely and create effective habits. Mike’s book titled :”Secrets of the richest man who ever lived”, Seth Godin on marketing and uniqueness in your message, Michael Hyatt on leadership and living a balanced life, Jack Canfield on vision and success through “The Success Principles”through have authored some of my favorite books.
The passion for living, how to live a good life and taking your unique message to the world breathes through their work.

What are you working on now?
Two books:
First, a book titled: “How to Build Corporate Learning & Development That Runs Like a Business”.
The book is based on over seven years and hundreds of thousands of training hours and consulting.
It helps teams and organizations harness the power of learning at various stages of development and align training departments to executing business goals.
My next book in the works is a personal development book.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Usually my talks, workshops and training engagements have yielded the best results. Simply because its where the target audience is. I also see facebook, twitter and bookbub.com as great channles for promotion.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
My advice is mainly to the non-fiction genre. Find your true audience and stay true to them. Don’t try to be everything to everybody.
Also, write what you think, feel and know about a topic but make sure you have something to say. You won’t be able to cover all there is to know about a topic so say what you wanted to say and then ask yourself after writing: “Have I said it?”
If not, keep editing or rewriting until you do. Also learn some story-telling. It helps your material stay interesting.
Get a yearly plan for what you want to achieve and get yourself a marketing “SYSTEM” that works. System means something you do everyday, week, month and year otherwise you’ll be wringing your hands and running helter skelter. This will take time and some painful research. Some of that pain and time wasting you will escape with a mentor or mentor group if you get smart quick enough.
There are too many scams out there for authors. Find what works in reaching your audience and stick with it. Just keep making progress and tweaking your writing and your breaks will come. Sometimes, beyond your book. It has for me. In training workshops and speaking engagements.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Know thyself,let your writing express that and find people to learn from.

What are you reading now?
Judith Glaser’s book on “Conversational Intelligence”. Highly recommend it.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I see myself going into memoirs, Christian Fiction and Christian Non-Fiction in the near future.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
My Bible, two Kenneth Hagin books on :”A Bible Study Course on Faith” and “How to be led by the Spirit of God”, a book on possibility thinking and another on how to turn an island into a paradise.

Author Websites and Profiles
ubong ekpo Website
ubong ekpo Amazon Profile

ubong ekpo’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Born in Vienna, Austria, I am now living in the paradise of Perth, Australia with my wife, two married children and three grandchildren. I worked many years in the printing industry and later for the United Nations in Vienna. After an eventful life, now retired, I began to write children’s stories, had them illustrated through Upwork, and finally published the ebooks on most platforms. My dream is to see “Oliver and Jumpy” animated as a TV series.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
There are lots of fairy tales and bedtime stories around and many of them quite violent. This made me decide to write something different. On a flight from Europe to Australia I watched the movie Magic on Belle Island with Morgan Freeman, where Freeman teaches a little girl to have imagination and write her first story. This inspired me as well and the first stories with the two characters Oliver, the elegant tomcat, and Jumpy, his kangaroo lady friend, made their appearance. Some very capable illustrators have helped to create this picture book series.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I got most of the ideas for all stories in the swimming pool. The mind is free during exercise to contemplate plots.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Walt Disney for the style of the illustrations.

What are you working on now?
Promoting the series and creating other language versions. We are currently working on Chinese and German.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Promotions are all encompassing. There is no one thing that works by itself. I spend a lot of time finding reviewers. Now I try to get into local papers, TV stations, podcasts, author interviews. My aggregator helps to get the books into promotions on all ebook platforms. The social media is important. Currently I am saturating Quora, with great results.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Treat your writing as a business right from the beginning. There are tax benefits! Start building a relevant social media presence to build your own audience. You can feed them the progress of your work and they may be receptive when you finally have a finished product!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Create a series. Your possibilities become greater with more books in a series. There has to be quality in your story, but quantity comes a very close next.

What are you reading now?
Nora Roberts and JB Robb, which are the same person. Nora wrote 200 novels. She is the grand lady of romance. I have gone through about half of her novels and will take another year to finish them.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Another series with an emu and a koala. I love Australian animals.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
You guessed it! Nora Roberts.

Author Websites and Profiles
Werner Stejskal Website
Werner Stejskal Amazon Profile

Werner Stejskal’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written and published total of six books, five of which are part of the series, “Twisted Family Holidays.” I have tow out for this Christmas: “Jimmy’s Christmas Present” and “The Town Around the Christmas Tree,” which is the end of the series and a sequel to the first “The Town Beneath the Christmas Tree. My full-length, paranormal suspense novel “In Passing,” should be available as of today.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Town Around the Christmas Tree, as mentioned, is the sequel to the original Twisted Family Holidays (all short and now in anthology) book: “The Town Around the Christmas Tree.” Both books star my grandchildren. Originally, I had written a book starring my children, which is now “Destiny’s Lot: A Halloween Love Story.” Soon after, around Thanksgiving, my granddaughter, Hailey, asked if I was ever going to write a story with the grand kids. I looked at the Christmas Tree, then the town beneath the Christmas tree, and the Town series was created.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No unusual habits that I know of, but I do listen to music sometimes–mostly alternative or classic rock.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I read Dean Koontz, Dan Brown, and John Grisham the most, but my work has been likened to Charles Dickens and Rod Serling.

What are you working on now?
My paranormal suspense–“In Passing,” is being released today and with three other books published this month (Dec. 2015) and four in the last two months. I’m going to take a break but I am editing my young adult, suspense novel, “Saving Micheal.”

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Facebook and Twitter

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Like an indie musician, don’t expect a big payday, at least right away, as there is an unspoken, yet necessary, act of divine intervention or fate, when it comes to making it big.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
be true to yourself.

What are you reading now?
Contagion, by Robin Cook

What’s next for you as a writer?
Continue editing “Saving Micheal.”

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Bible, The Client-Grisham, Lightning-Koontz, and a how to to learn martial arts.

Author Websites and Profiles
JR Wirth Website
JR Wirth Amazon Profile

JR Wirth’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
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Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a Canadian living in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Something about this northern city makes it a perfect place to write. I write SF and Horror because I ‘escape’ faster through those genres. Though Historical fiction also appeals to me. I set my horror novels in Thailand probably because Thais have such a rich supernatural tradition. I’ll likely continue writing and publishing ebooks here until they physically drag me away. As for my work load, ironically I’m far busier now with the daily writing, revising, editing, and promoting than I was in the academic world years ago. Frankly, I wouldn’t have it any other way! I’ve written 2 SF titles, 2 Writing skills ebooks, and 1 Horror novella.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My last book was in the Writing Skills category, STORY CRISIS, STORY CLIMAX 2. I’m fascinated by how movie structure provides novelists a condensed structure that works extremely well in big picture planning for a novel. This can really help a writer map out the 3-Act story arc, and get a handle on the problem / decision arc the story’s protagonist struggles with. I’m always looking for ways to condense & simplify the tools a novelist uses in writing a novel.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m an outliner. In my first novel I went so far as to draw up a stairway of steps (scenes) on a 5-foot long scroll of old-style printer paper. I did that partly to convince myself the project was do-able, but then I started enjoying the process of seeing the story events in one majestic arc. It didn’t matter that I changed quite a lot of that plan, it felt great just seeing a blueprint for my story. Since then I’ve tended more to focus on planning the plot points: Act 1 Inciting Incident, Act 2 Turning Points & Midpoint, and Act 3 Crisis & Climax. Then I plan out all of each Act then write the scenes for that. Later Acts usually change as the writing progresses, so I plan those as I move into that part of the story. That keeps the story’s big picture clear in my mind.

On the day I write a scene I list that scene’s goal, problem, & character decision. and get clear on how the scene fits into the Act. I find this is more than enough planning to dispel self-doubt and writer’s block heebie-jeebies.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Bernard Cornwell, Isaac Asimov, Bobby Adair, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Patrick O’Brian, Hugh Howey, L. T. Ryan, D. H. Lawrence, Robertson Davies.

What are you working on now?
The book I’m finishing up now is INFECTION DAY, a zombie horror story set in Thailand, Malaysia, & Sumatra. I was struck by how AI & robotics inevitably will mimic human physiology & psychology. From there it seemed to me a zombie apocalypse would resemble a dystopian tech apocalypse. Both are an attack on what it means to be human. I wanted to explore that overlap.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I was surprised to find Twitter works the best for building a writer’s ‘brand awareness.’ I used Twitter to invite followers to review my books. I was surprised how well it worked.

I want to try email campaigns sent to my mailing list of subscribers, and the best for that (discovered recently) might be www.sender.info because it allows inclusion of pdf or ebook gifts in the body of an email in a campaign to subscribers. It’s a way to send subscribers useful & fun product and keep them reading. At mailchimp, for example, that feature is only to gain new subscribers, and sending a gift occurs only after the signup / confirmation / opt-in sequence.

Most other promotion sites offer paid advertising, which frankly doesn’t work so well.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
The key is finding a powerful way to connect with a segment of readers. Your job in marketing is to find an approach that is exciting for YOU. Then you’ll enjoy the process and your excitement will come through. Some writers love blog tours; others like email campaigns or doing multiple newsletters to subscribers; others prefer video, podcasts, ebook trailers, & a youtube subscription. It’s best to choose one to focus on, then do the others in support of that.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I got this from Sean Platt. A tried-and-true approach is the ‘funnel’, which works if you think long term. At the top the funnel is wide, and draws in the maximum number of readers. Place your books at different levels in your funnel (level A, wide top; level B, middle; level C, narrow bottom). Your readers enter at the top, drawn in because it’s easy, cheap. The ideal for Level A is having a Free book(s), or priced at $0.99. Then that sends them on to a book at level B, i.e. Book 2 in a series. Or it could be a spin-off series, related in some way to an earlier series. The point here is to create something to serve as an entry-point (level A), i.e. a novella or having a short story in an anthology, which then leads the reader to a conventional novel (level B).

The retail platforms are already set up this way, so it helps if your marketing reflects that. For example, a book trailer, the cover, the description, the Look Inside feature, they’re all ways of getting the reader into the funnel’s vestibule.

To digress, the first Harry Potter book was short, light, easy. The next was longer, more difficult & rewarding. By the 4th it was a tome, darker, more complex in structure & language. And so on. So this isn’t just commercial, a marketing gimmick, it reflects pedagogy of going from the easier & mundane to the more difficult, layered, & rewarding.

Design all your promotion so it invites readers in, easily. Having an email list, for example, is like having all your subscribers at Level A, who you then offer deals to, have contests for, etc. It’s not a fan club, it’s a dialogue and you all become fellow ‘posse’ members sharing a journey together.

What are you reading now?
Cheryl Shireman, COOPER MOON: The Calling; Young, INITIATION (A Harem Boy’s Saga); Cynthia Austin, BETWEEN DREAMS; Patrick O’Brian, BLUE AT THE MIZZEN.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have 4 more titles planned for the ‘Zero Point Light’ series, and 3 more for the ‘Z Inferno’ series. They’ll come out over the next 3 years. And I’d like to start a new non-fiction series on writing, of which 75 INCITING INCIDENTS would be the first. And last I’d like to try a historical series. Plus next year I want to do a quick 30,000 word ‘magnet’ book, to be given free to new subscribers, and will not be offered on any retail platform.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Patrick O’Brian’s MASTER AND COMMANDER. Chaucer’s THE CANTERBURY TALES. Henry Miller’s THE ROSY CRUCIFIXION. Isaac Asimov’s FOUNDATION.

Author Websites and Profiles
Stephen J Carter Website
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Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a die-hard romantic who writes a sexy, cozy mystery series and just sold a 3-book romance deal. I started writing the Valentine Mysteries because I love romantic mysteries, but hated that I never got to see the couple after one book, and cozy mysteries, even those with a couple, don’t have the level of romance that I enjoy. So I wrote what I want to read. Currently there are five books and one novella in the Valentine Mystery series. Each book has all the intrigue of a cozy mystery, plus the passion of a romance.

I’ve also finished two out of the three books to be published by Penner Publishing in 2016. These books are romances set in the south, each with one southern and one northern protagonist.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My most recent published book is a novella, Death Under the Mistletoe: A Valentine Christmas Mystery, which I wrote as a thank you to my fans who’d waited patiently for a year for the fifth book in the Valentine series to come out. I started with the premise; what if Santa was murdered in Tess’ (my female protagonist) couture lingerie shop.

I just submitted copy edits on Southern Comfort, a romance for Penner Publishing. I wrote this book so long ago (it sat unfinished for years), I don’t remember where the idea came from. The second book in this series is Southern Persuasion, which pays homage to my favorite Jane Austen book, Persuasion.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I think I’m typical in my writing. I like to listen to music while I write. I do my best writing in the morning.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love J.D. Robb’s In Death series and Janet Evanovich’s Fox and O’Hare series. I also like Sandra Brown and Linda Howard. And as previously mentioned, I enjoy Jane Austen, in particular Persuasion.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently prepping book two for Penner Publishing due January 1, 2016, but after that I want to start a new cozy (no sexy) mystery series involving a Harvard grad who can’t get a job and an airplane repo guy. Plus I need to write book three for Penner (due in July 2016), which will be a marriage of convenience romance. And I’m plotting book six of the Valentine Mysteries.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Getting reviews or interviews on book blogs is a big help. I’m still developing my launch and marketing plan. It seems to be an ongoing, learning process.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write and start building your author platform now, even if you don’t have a book. Especially if you want to be traditionally published, having a readi-made audience is helpful. But for self-published books too, having a platform makes it easy for fans to connect with you and share your books.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
In terms of writing, avoiding adverbs and dialogue tags has really improved my writing. In terms of marketing, build your platform now and market every day.

What are you reading now?
“Writing With Gentle Hands” by Paula Munier

What’s next for you as a writer?
Turning this part-time gig into a full-time career.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Persuasion by Jane Austen, Naked in Death by JD Robb, and a book on how to survive on a desert island.

Author Websites and Profiles
Jenna Harte Website
Jenna Harte Amazon Profile

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