JOIN US FOR BOOKHOOKS
Book Hooks is a weekly meme hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog. It's a chance each week for you the reader to discover current works in progress or previously published books by possibly new-to-you authors. Thank you for stopping by. Please say hello or leave a note in the comments.
JOIN US FOR BOOKHOOKS
Book Hooks is a weekly meme hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog. It's a chance each week for you the reader to discover current works in progress or previously published books by possibly new-to-you authors. Thank you for stopping by. Please say hello or leave a note in the comments.
To be honest, I didn’t know I was birthing a monster. I thought it was only a small, innocent creature that would help writers. I had no idea it would end up changing lives, including my own.
The monster was MFRW. Marketing for Romance Writers — a peer-mentoring group open to the entire literary community has opened doors for writers, trained writers in how to handle promotion, introduced friends who would never have met any other way, and paved the way for writers to network all around the world.
I founded the group on Halloween because that year, there were no kids on my block at all and no one was ringing the doorbell. I was bored and going through my email (again) late at night.
When I saw the same marketing question from three different friends, I thought — what if I made a Yahoo group where all of us could ask a question and then whoever knew the answer could post a response? Would anyone be interested in that? I quickly set up the group, named it Marketing for Romance Writers and emailed a dozen friends.
By the end of the year, there were 100 members. Membership climbed as friends recommended the group to friends. We opened the doors to anyone in the literary community, including publishers, personal assistants, and promo companies.
The biggest thing we required was no promo. None. At. All.
Members love that. It’s the thing I’m most often thanked for when members email me. No promo to wade through. Just business-oriented questions, advice, and opportunities. If one person wants to promote a book — they ask for blog spots with other authors, and offer their own in return. If someone wants to hold a blog hop, they can announce it on the group.
Today MFRW boasts over 2400 members, and over 7000 members make up our Facebook group. We have a multiple-award-winning magazine. We have over 400 followers on Goodreads and feature our members books in the MFRW Book Place group. On Pinterest, over 1500 people follow us, we have 55 genre related boards, and almost 1000 pins. Want your book cover pinned on our site? Even if you don’t have a Pinterest account, you can take advantage of our presence there. Join our Yahoo group today and you’ll get information. Services and membership are free.
Come share your tweets on MFRW’s monthly Retweet Day. The hashtags #MFRWorg #MFRWauthor and #MFRWhooks help you promote everywhere.
If you have questions about marketing your books, join us. The MFRW motto is “seek, teach, share, learn, succeed.” Services and membership are free.
Alice Orr, Barbara Donlon Bradley, Carmen Stefanescu, Emerald, Jessica Cale, Kayelle Allen, Libby McKinmer, Lisa Lowe, Lyncee Shillard, Michelle Davis, Mona Karel, Nicole Morgan, Paloma Beck, Reet Singh, Rochelle Weber, Tina Gayle
He can save mankind. After he does one important thing. Die.
Join the Ghost Corps, they said. You'll live forever, they said. You'll save mankind, they said. They didn't say that to do it, first he had to die.
When Tornahdo signs on the dotted line, he puts his life into the steady hands of the mighty Ghost Corps. Three grisly deaths and three agonizing resurrections later, he's assigned duty on the space station Enderium Six.
He's facing his most dangerous mission yet, the very reason the corps exists.
Do they expect him to win? Fat chance. Tornahdo and his team are already dead and this mission is codenamed "Lights Out." No, there's more to this than he can see.
To discover the truth, he must face an unbeatable, unkillable enemy, and this time--somehow--find a way to keep himself alive...
Lights Out is in the Science Fiction/Space Opera anthology The Expanding Universe Vol 4, edited by Craig Martelle out Sept 17, 2018
https://kayelleallen.com/lights-out-save-mankind/
I’m sharing giveaways that I developed with my son Jamin, who’s a graphic designer. Do you like to color? You are in luck. Together, Jamin and I created coloring books for my various books and characters. You can download seven of them for free right on this website and color it yourself.
The first, Unstoppable Heroes and Heroines, features characters found in almost every one of my books. The Antonello Brothers has characters found in At the Mercy of Her Pleasure and For Women Only.
Peril — the Immortal’s Game is a unique coloring book. It has characters but also a maze and multi-sided dice to color.
Pietas — the Bringer of Chaos has over a dozen dragons. Pietas dreams about dragons and their symbolism appears in his stories. In a future book, he will bond with one. Do you like flowers and butterflies? There are two coloring books that showcase those.
Anxiety and stress is controlled by the amygdala, a center of the brain that deals with motivation and emotion. The act of creating with color calms this portion of the brain. This part of the brain also controls the “fight or flight” response. Intense focus on a simple activity, like coloring, can calm the body and brain.
When people get together to color, the activity relieves stress, improves mood, promotes socialization, and provides an outlet for self-expression. In seniors, it can also improve dexterity and hand-eye coordination.
How odd that an activity once considered just a means to keep kids busy has become such a valued commodity in the mental health community. Coloring exercises both sides of the brain, because it uses logic as well as creativity. That adds value in terms of cognitive health and can assist with problem-solving.
But one big reason is because it’s fun to do! How long has it been since you sat down and colored? What’s stopping you? If it’s that you don’t have anything to color, I’ve got a fix for that. I offer seven free coloring books. Click, download, and print.
You can pick up inexpensive boxes of crayons and take yourself back to your childhood. I have several sets of colored pencils and pens. My favorite type is gel because the colors are so rich and bright. The Eparon gel pen set has 40 unique colors and they’re only $6.99. If you have Amazon Prime you can get them without shipping fees. There are 4 standard coloring pens, 6 neon, 5 mixed pastels, 5 solid pastels, 10 glitter, and 10 metallic. They are acid-free, non-toxic, and environmentally friendly. My advice is to get this set in addition to another. You’ll see suggestions for other types on my coloring book download page.
Want to know when more free coloring books are added? Join one of my reader groups and you’ll have first dibs on new ones. You’ll be first to know when my next book is released, plus you’ll get access to exclusive content limited to members.
Thank you for stopping by. Do you like coloring? What is your favorite thing to color?
JOIN US FOR BOOKHOOKS
Book Hooks is a weekly meme hosted by Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog. It’s a chance each week for you the reader to discover current works in progress or previously published books by possibly new-to-you authors. Thank you for stopping by. Please say hello or leave a note in the comments.
In this two-part discussion on time travel, I’ll share a fascinating discussion in my reader group. I love science fiction and fantasy, space opera, whether film, TV, book, or magazine. Likewise, time travel has always fascinated me. But is it sci fi or historical? I decided to ask my readers. Here is the winning response, from Jackie. We had a great discussion.
I offered a $10 gift certificate to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Amazon (winner’s choice) for the best answer. One of my readers is author Dariel Raye, who in turn asked some of her readers. I got responses from both groups. (read part 1 of this discussion)
Jackie:
Your description of sci/fi and historical time travel seems right. Also if its not too far into the future or past then I suppose it would just be plain old time travel. I guess one would have to know how long ago historical really is, and how far into the future is really sci/fi. Interesting time line question to think about.
Kayelle:
Hadn’t considered that. So maybe there could even be levels of historical or futuristic. Maybe ancient history or far future? I like that!
Yeah I think there would have to be different levels. Not as simple as 1 2 3 or A B C. Maybe more like middle ages or maybe even just a simple as a year like 1800’s historical. Now future we would have to come up with different era names.
Kayelle:
Any in mind? What would you call them?
I am not sure what I would call them. Maybe something involving destiny, or future generations, or the coming of? What do you think?
Kayelle:
Well now that’s different. A time travel to the future wouldn’t affect the past, until you were in the future — and then your actions would be in the past. So the new future’s past would definitely be altered. Kind of makes your head spin, doesn’t it? 😉
LOL yes it does. I actually read what you wrote twice. I am reading a series now that has time travel involved, both past, present and future. So many things change and sometimes one doesn’t realize when you change one thing it can bring about a much different out come than you expected or wanted.
Kayelle:
I love the idea of time travel. Time is moving, but so is space — the Earth will never again be physically in the same place it was when we leave a specific time. Which means if we tried to go back in time, we would also have to go back in space. So not only would time travel be traveling within time, but also everything time affects. Wear, distance, surroundings… how could we ever create something complex enough to take all that into consideration?
Which just fascinates me. I don’t think I’ve come across time travel that deals with that aspect. What about the series you’re reading now? What is it?
Wow I had not thought about that. The series I am reading did take some of those thoughts into consideration. Not only did circumstances change but so did the surroundings and also the people. They looked very different as well. I am reading a YA book series by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Its called the chronicles of Nick. Very cool with a dark humor to it. It was fun picking each others brains and trying to come up with a creative idea.
In this two-part discussion on time travel, I’ll share a fascinating discussion in my reader group. I love science fiction and fantasy, space opera, whether film, TV, book, or magazine. Likewise, time travel has always fascinated me. But is it sci fi or historical? I decided to ask my readers.
I offered a $10 gift certificate to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Amazon (winner’s choice) for the best answer. One of my readers is author Dariel Raye, who in turn asked some of her readers. I got responses from both groups. I’ll share some here and the winning response next week.
Anything that removes you from your present time, whether it be future or past, in my opinion is SyFy.
Kayelle:
Good point! I suppose that is quite true. 🙂
I think they both would be Sci Fi as the ability to time travel does not exist at this time.
Kayelle:
ooh very clever answer! So true. Do you think it’s something we’ll ever have?
At this point in time, I don’t think it is possible (who knows what the future holds) but it would sure be nice to be able to go back in time to experience history (there is so much I would like to experience) without changing it (be like a fly on the wall). One can dream. I’m not sure how going forward would work — would we be going into our own future or the future in general is the question. Would we be able to change anything in the future if it was bad? Future time travel generates a lot of ethical questions. What do you think?
Kayelle:
I know current science says it’s impossible. But 500 years ago, smartphones would have been considered witchcraft. Who knows? But wow I would like to be that fly on the wall myself. Long as someone didn’t swat me! LOL
I’d love to go into the past. Always been fascinated by Alexander the Great. I think a time travel story about a doctor going back in time to save Alexander’s life might be good. Except maybe it turns out that his being there is actually what killed him… Which means he had already gone back before he decided to take the trip. No matter how you look at these stories, you get mental vertigo!
I think that while time travel is Sci-Fi a book that uses it as part of the plot doesn’t have to be in that category. There’s a big difference between a story based on a time-traveller (where the main point of the story is that the character time travels and their adventures doing so) and a story where time travel is used as a plot device to get a character to a specific period of time (where the main point of the story is what happens to the character after time travelling).
I don’t think a book where the character gets to the past through time travel would be a historical novel because the character’s perspecitive and attitudes would still be from current times even after arriving in the past.
Kayelle:
Nice insight! You make great points. It’s still contemporary to the time traveler in a sense. And since it’s not the main plot (necessarily) it could be just a plot device.
I hadn’t considered that traveling to the past would still keep the person with a contemporary attitude. That’s excellent! Have you read any good time travel stories lately?
This one is awesome. It’s actually part of a series but I read them out of order lol, I bought the first one but haven’t gotten into it yet but they can be read stand-alone.
https://www.amazon.com/Chronothon-Time-Travel-Adventure-ebook/dp/B00QHIYBZ4
Kayelle:
Wow that is one different idea. A time traveling Amazing Race. I can see that could be totally misused and abused. I put that on my wishlist. Thank you. 🙂
I did see what Wikipedia said (the first paragraph) which is very similar to what I learned. The last sentence sums up the total.
Speculative fiction is an umbrella genre encompassing narrative fiction with supernatural or futuristic elements. This includes, but not limited to, the genres science fiction, fantasy, superhero fiction, science fantasy, horror, utopian and dystopian fiction, supernatural fiction, as well as their combinations. Anything using speculative science– something that hasn’t been invented– is also Science fiction. (Science- not invented- speculative- fiction)
Kayelle:
Good answer! So by these standards, you think time travel is always scifi?
Yup… It can be historical Science fiction (Yes, it really does exist) as well as speculative fiction. I would go with historical science fiction but I have seen time travel to the past and it is always in the science fiction/romantic section – if that is the premise.
Kayelle:
I can believe that. I have a sci fi that has a major plot of archaeology. Trailing Kaiwulf is about a character who’s trying to discover the history and meaning of these huge “gates” they are finding on multiple planets. Think mini size St Louis Arches side by side. So while the story is very much sci fi it is also very much archaeology. I guess you could have historical sci fi as well.
Kind of spins your head around, doesn’t it?
All if it does. I go with science fiction when anything has hard science and fantasy if it is based on ‘magic’. If it can be explained with speculative science—SciFi. If it relies on anything of the paranormal—fantasy. Of course, that all spreads over into other branches. Mind boggling possibilities with all of it. 😀
I would love to read it when you have it completed.
Kayelle:
Oh, that book is done. Want it in Kindle, epub or pdf? I’ll send you a copy.
Kindle and thank you!
Kayelle:
Here you go. This is the story concept:
Find an invisible man in another dimension? All in a day’s work at TRAIL.
Travel to a godforsaken planet on the outskirts of space. Check. Hold intrusive military goons at bay. Check. Find an invisible man in a different dimension. Check. Finish the vacation TRAIL yanked you back from to do it? Easier said than done…
I plan more books in the TRAIL series. Trace, Rescue and Identification League is a group of bounty hunters, missing person investigators, and agents who recover the unrecoverable.
Characters from this book will cross over to another book’s sequel. The “gates” they are investigating were created by the immortal king in my current Bringer of Chaos series. I write in a huge universe and it’s all tied together by this king, either as his loyal followers, his enemies, or someone being manipulated by one of the two. The one thing I haven’t done yet is a time travel. I’d like to try it one of these days.
Thank you! I will definitely read and review. Time travel has a wide variety of possibilities. Research whatever time period is going to be time consuming but it will definitely be worth it. I do read a lot of historical fiction and if something seems off—I research. (I can’t stand glaring errors! LOL) Of course, I like research so that is a plus or negative depending on what side of the book you’re on.
The bottom line that I have found over time – As long as you don’t make glaring mistakes–it is your world, your mind, and your creation. Have fun!
Tune in for part two next week…
All these comments spurred wonderful discussion and thoughts. I’m more fired up than ever and eager to write a time travel. Someday! Not sure when.
What is your favorite time travel book, film, or TV show? Share it in the comments.
I’m sharing giveaways that I developed with my son Jamin, who’s a graphic designer. Do you like to color? You are in luck.
Together, Jamin and I created coloring books for my various books and characters. You can download seven of them for free right on this website.
The first, Unstoppable Heroes and Heroines, features characters found in almost every one of my books. The Antonello Brothers has characters found in At the Mercy of Her Pleasure and For Women Only.
Peril — the Immortal’s Game is a unique coloring book. It has characters but also a maze and multi-sided dice to color.
Pietas — the Bringer of Chaos coloring book has over a dozen dragons. Pietas dreams about dragons and their symbolism appears in his stories. In a future book, he will bond with one. Do you like flowers and butterflies? There are two coloring books that feature those.
You can download them, print them, color to your heart’s content, and then click the link inside the book and come back to the page where you got it to download again. You are also welcome to share them with friends.
You can pick up inexpensive boxes of crayons and take yourself back to your childhood. When I color, I use several sets of colored pencils and pens. My favorite type is gel because the colors are so rich and bright. Shuttle Art 120 Unique Colors (No Duplicates) Gel Pens Gel Pen Set for Adult Coloring Books Art Markers. If you have Amazon Prime you can get them without shipping fees. There are 4 standard coloring pens, 6 neon, 5 mixed pastel, 5 solid pastel, 10 glitter, and 10 metallic. They are acid-free, non-toxic, and environmentally friendly. My advice is to get this set in addition to another. You’ll see suggestions for other types on my coloring book download page. I’m working on a new book to color and will have it ready by the time my next book is out.
Thank you for stopping by. Please say hello or leave a note in the comments. Do you like coloring? What is your favorite thing to color? What do you use?
