Hello everyone. It’s such a great feeling to find a brand new book in a genre you love. I’ve found some really good romantic comedy reads this weekend. I’ve mostly been reading books about book advertising lately. It feels wonderful to sink into a new comedy read and to have a giggle. One of my romance books is going to be promoted on an amazing book site called BookBub soon and I’m pretty excited about that. It will be on the 1st Sept, so don’t forget to go and grab yourself a bargain on that day!
viewbook.at/IfYouLoveMe-ImYours
Which genre do you find yourself picking up or adding to your kindle the most? If you looked at your book collection, is it by a mix of authors, or do you tend to stick to your favourites?
Hello everyone. How are you all?
It been exciting here, as all five of my books have been in various bestseller lists recently. I’m an indie writer who is published by an independent press, so it’s wonderful to see people reading my books. A big thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, shared news of online and told their friends about my work. I appreciate each and every one of you.
I’ve just completed my 7th novel, which means I have two new books which will hopefully be out this year. I have also invited four other bestselling authors to join me as admins for my Facebook group, Lizzie’s Book Group. This group shares news of books we love, has marketing tips for creatives and it about mutual support of writers, artists, creatives and readers. If you are a writer or avid reader and would like to join the group, feel free! The link is Lizzie’s Book Group.
To grab one of my latest books, click here.
I’m also trying to work out how to update my newsletter more often. I apologise for any delay, but for someone who thinks she is quite tech savvy, the instructions go straight over my head! I just managed to change my welcome email to an updated newsletter by mistake and now every new subscriber will get my July news! Lol:) I will work it out one day.
Have an amazing week.
Relax, enjoy and have some fun.
From Lizzie.
Hello everyone. I went on a Facebook Masterclass last week and as soon as I got home I deleted my personal profile and my business account and started again! I now have a page that’s a few days old and barely finds an audience, but I’m working on it again. The page is Lizzie Chantree Author if any of you want to pop by. My other page had over a thousand likes and follows, but it’s much easier just having one business page linked to one profile page.
You can only have one profile on Facebook, so you can’t have one for your close friends and one for your business that has friends on it. You can however have several business pages linked to one profile. With your business profile, although it’s great to get ‘likes’ and ‘follows’, the best way to widen your audience is from comments. Facebook like interaction and are focussing on meaningful posts and mental health. This means that ads or links are not as valued as chat and will not reach as many people’s FB pages.
Another thing I didn’t realise was that you can still be followed on Fb if you don’t approve a friend request. Check where it says INTRO. Under that it will say how many people who are following your profile anyway.
I’ll be posting more tips in my FB book group Lizzie’s Book Group and here on my blog in the coming weeks.
I finally completed my latest manuscript and am on my second set of my own edits before it wings its way to my editor. It’s such an exciting feeling to hold a finished book in my hands. I can’t wait to start on my next one too! Have an amazing week everyone.
Hello everyone. I’ve just started to take a closer look at Bookbub. I ran a promotion with them for my first book, Babe Driven, when I was first published in 2013 and hadn’t a clue what I was doing! I think BookBub must have been pretty new then too and I was very lucky to have my application accepted.
I have just tried with another book and been told to apply again in three months and to think about applying for my backlist to be included. It’s kind of exciting to think that your book could be accepted, as it’s a wonderful lift for any book to receive. It does cost a lot for the promotion, but the readers your book might catch the eye of, could become true fans of your work . For me, with the first promotion I ran, it was well worth the investment, as Babe Driven swung in and out of the bestseller lists for its first year, getting as high as #323 overall in all of the paid kindle store. It got to #1 on most of its free book runs. Babe Driven is currently back in the bestseller lists, years after its first publication, and it’s great fun to see one of my indie books finding new readers. To be honest I love seeing all of my books finding new readers!
Back to BookBub. I have updated my author profile and BookBub sends out hints to have a greater presence there. One of their tips is to recommend books, as this sends your profile to lots of timelines and can help you to gain more Bookbub followers, who are all book lovers like me. It’s also a good way of sharing news of books you enjoy and helping those authors be seen.
If anyone here is on BookBub and would like to link up and follow each other there and share news of latest releases and books we read, then that would be great. I’m still learning more about it and I’ll share any updates here on my blog.
Have a great week. From Lizzie.
Hello everyone. It’s a bank holiday weekend and I’m looking forward to relaxing with a good book! I hope you are too.
I don’t think we take enough time to sit back and rejuvenate after a long week of work and we are somehow conditioned to believe that if we are sitting still, that we are wasting time. Drinking a coffee and reading a magazine or book by a great view and having a little time off of work, not only makes me come back to my desk invigorated (not just by the coffee), but means I’m not too exhausted to begin work again.
I’m not sure how we can start to be a bit kinder to ourselves and to understand we are worth the fun and relaxation of taking time out and not looking at our phones or keyboards for a few hours. How we feel inside should offer as much validation as social media likes and praise, but somehow it feels like there is an imbalance. Our mental health is sometimes overlooked and grabbing a great book is a wonderful way to take time for yourself, jump into different dimensions and to basically have a good laugh. I’m going to try and read at least one book every couple of weeks this year and I’m sure I’ll enjoy every minute.
Have a great week everyone. From Lizzie:)
Rachel tells us: Where do you get your ideas?
That’s a question many authors get. It makes me think there must be a little shop somewhere, hidden away down a dark alley, that sells ideas. Or an online shop that only those in the know have the web address for. Hang on, there’s a story developing here, isn’t there? About a magical shop…? I wonder what else it sells beside ideas…? And who owns it and why…?
That’s the answer really. Not the shop, but the question. Ideas can come from absolutely anywhere. It just takes one innocent sentence, thought or question and I’m off into a new world looking for the story. I’ve got an early and part written draft of another book which came out of a comment on social media. Someone said they were a sucker for any book cover which included a winged man. So, an angel? What might an angel really look like? I headed for some of the descriptions in the Bible. Hmm, three sets of wings? Why would they want threepairs of wings? How many Archangels are there really? What’s the difference between Archangels (capital A) and archangels (little a)? Somehow, twenty thousand words got written almost before I stopped for breath. But that story will have to wait until the full Choices and Consequences series is published.
As for the idea for Choices and Consequences, that started with a dream. If you haven’t read book 1, Strand of Faith, this is a Spoiler Alert. I dreamt the scene at the end of Strand of Faith where Prospero wraps his cloak around Leonie and proposes to her. (No, I have no idea what that says about my unconscious mind!) It was very intense in my dream and I needed to find out what happened to lead up to it, and what would happen next. Slowly, I started to ask questions, find answers and fit the pieces together. As I did so, other things in the world around me influenced what those answers and pieces were.
Surprisingly, one of those influences was a hymn. I am absolutely tone deaf. If I start singing, those around me wince. My only defence is that the Bible says make a joyfulnoise, not make a tunefulnoise. I can do joyful. Despite being tone deaf, I enjoy listening to music, but because I’m tone deaf, the influences are more about the lyrics than the tune.
Underlying the whole foundation and world building of Choices and Consequences, and particularly House St Peter (where the first two books are set) and House Tennant is Graham Kendrick’s Beauty for Brokenness, also sometimes known as God of the Poor. It was written in 1993 for the 25thanniversary of the charity Tearfund. It was influenced by a visit that Graham Kendrick made to India in 1992 and his perception of the contrast between Indian poverty and Western affluence. I wanted to build a world that tried to live up to those lyrics.
I can identify any number of other influences. Certainly my hobbies and interests affect my characters. Leonie loves reading and chocolate chip cookies because I do. Prospero is very musical because I’m not. Herbs are used extensively in medicine and cooking because I enjoy growing them. Most of those are just details, fleshing out the world and the characters. As far as the plot goes, well, we live in Lancashire, but our eldest was born in Yorkshire. I’ve always been fascinated by the War of the Roses, which at the time was known more as the Cousins’ War. And I’m involved at our local Youth Theatre which was putting on a version of Romeo and Juliet. But you’ll have to read the full series to find out just how both of those impact on the story!
Thread Of Hope
The enthralling sequel to the compelling Strand of Faith.
What if your secrets are so dangerous they could destroy the one you love?
Is honesty always the best policy?
Leonie may have run away but Prospero will find her. He loves her and he wants a future with her by his side whatever the consequences. Only when he does find her, he ought to tell her who he really is, outside the monastery. That’ll make her run again. Dare he risk it? But if he doesn’t tell her, someone else may…
Marriage to Prospero is what Leonie wants most and the one thing she knows she can’t have. If he found out what she was really like, what she’d been, what she’d done, he’d despise her and she couldn’t bear that. Better to leave now than live a lie – but it’s harder than she expected. If only…
Gabriel is starting to discover the secrets inherent in Leonie, secrets that not even she knows, secrets that will tear the world apart. And the secrets he is keeping are tearing him apart. How can sacrificing those he loves possibly achieve peace when everything he discovers risks the death of millions?
Purchase Links:
Amazon Kindle – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07NBH7J2T
Google Play –
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Rachel_J_Bonner_Thread_of_Hope?id=bMCSDwAAQBAJ
Other ebook retailers – https://books2read.com/threadofhope
During the book tour Strand of Faith will be at 99p, Thread of Hope is priced at £2.99.
Strand of Faith details…
A girl. A monk. An unthinkable sacrifice.
When the choice is between love and life, how can anyone decide?
In a post-apocalyptic future, a girl and a monk, both with extraordinary mental powers, have compelling reasons not to fall in love. But their choices will have consequences for the rest of the world.
After the troubles of his youth, Brother Prospero has found comfort and fulfilment in the monastery. Then he discovers something that forces him to reconsider his whole vocation. How can it possibly be right to leave a life of worship and service for human desire? And if he does leave, will the pressures from his past destroy him?
Orphaned and mistreated, Leonie has found sanctuary and safety at the Abbey. When she comes into contact with Prospero everything spirals out of her control. Everyone she’s ever loved has died. She can’t do that to him. But how can she walk away from the first place she’s truly belonged?
Abbot Gabriel is faced with an impossible choice. He can do nothing and watch the world descend into war. Or he can manipulate events and ensure peace – at the cost of two lives that he is responsible for. Is he strong enough to sacrifice those he loves?
Strand of Faith Purchase Links
Strand of Faith Amazonhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07GKZT8LF/
Strand of Faith Google Play https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Rachel_J_Bonner_Strand_of_Faith?id=bQyBDwAAQBAJ
Strand of Faith Other retailers https://www.books2read.com/strandoffaith
Author Bio
Rachel J Bonner is the author of the four book Choices and Consequences series, the first of which, Strand of Faith, is due out in November 2018.
Getting a degree in engineering, followed by a career in accountancy is probably not a conventional path to becoming an author, particularly in paranormal romance. Rachel says that, although accountancy isn’t anything like as boring as everyone thinks, writing is a lot more fun. When not writing, she can be found walking in the beautiful countryside near where she lives, which has influenced much of the scenery in her books, or shooting things with her local archery club. Target shooting only, honest. Nothing to worry about.
She also enjoys swimming, eating chocolate chip cookies and growing aromatic herbs, especially thyme and rosemary. It’s no coincidence that her heroine likes the same things.
Website http://www.racheljbonner.co.uk/
Blog http://www.racheljbonner.co.uk/blogofweek.html
Twitter https://www.twitter.com/racheljbonner1
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/racheljbonnerauthor
Newsletter sign up http://www.racheljbonner.co.uk/newsletter.html or https://www.subscribepage.com/o8x8t3
Giveaway to Win Signed copies of both Strand of Faith and Thread of Hope, plus bookmarks and business cards that match each book, and one of the Holding Crosses that the monks and nuns have. (Open INT)*
https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/33c69494222/
*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
It’s my pleasure to introduce you to author Ros Rendle today. Ros is a fellow member of the Romantic Novelists Association.
From Ros:
I am Ros Rendle and I tell fibs for a living. Well. . . don’t all writers? It’s the best job there is, living in many different worlds and meeting the people of my dreams, ensuring they do what I want and having happy endings.
I used to be a head teacher, writing policy documents, essays and letters, although also telling the odd story that young children seemed to enjoy. Now, writing for adults, the challenge is more demanding but very satisfying, especially when people give honest and positive reviews, I win awards, and manage to get an Amazon best-seller sticker.
When we moved to live in France, I had time to explore my imagination using many of the local colourful people and situations as stimulus. Support from the Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writers’ scheme gave me the impetus I needed to succeed. Sense and French Ability was my first published novel, followed quickly by Peace of Time. My publisher has these two are on a price reduction currently.
A series, about three sisters during times of major 20thcentury conflict, are also on Amazon and gaining good reviews. These are Flowers of Flanders, Flowers of Resistance and a novella, Delphi’s Dilemma. I collect Fumsup lucky charms that were given to soldiers in WW1 for a speedy and safe return. In Flowers for Flandersone sister tells another a malicious lie which will affect the course of all their lives. When Michael goes to war, Rose gives her Fumsup to Michael. To discover whether it works at all and whether he comes back to her or her sister, you will need to read the book.
Further information can be found at :
www.facebook.com/RosalindRendleAuthor
and books are available from:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Ros+Rendle&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
or
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=ros+rendle&ref=nb_sb_noss
Thank you, Lizzie, for this opportunity. I hope people continue to enjoy my books and the next should be revealing itself soon.
Hi everyone. This was supposed to be an introducing post for an author, but there was a last minute change of plan. I thought I’d tell you all about my latest book. I have written about 45% of my 7th book and have had to do a bit of juggling as I’m currently also updating the first three books I wrote. I’ve just got one more edit of the third book and all of my books will have shiny new covers and tighter stories.
I visited Spain for a few days and it was wonderful to walk by the sea, catch up on reading some books I’ve been meaning to read for ages and also to relax a little. I took some photos of the books I finished, as I thought the authors might like to see their books travelling abroad. I really enjoy seeing photos of my own books sent in by readers when they travel, so I decided to take some snaps too and let the authors know. They were very happy, which made my day.
Do you take photos of books you read whilst abroad and share them with the authors? It’s a big help for them if they are allowed to use them for publicity and it’s also a lot of fun. Have a great week.
