Every Wednesday ALLi will tell the world about our members' latest book launches, news, awards, freebies, workshops and updates on the writing life and take a look at the projects and businesses of our partner members.
Angela England
I was able to get on a local morning news station to do a gift guide for grownups and was encouraged to bring my book. I brought two! The first, Getting Prepared: An Untrained Housewife Guide is the first self-published book I also made available as a print on demand, and the second, Backyard Farming on an Acre (More or Less) was the first print book I did.
It was so cool to be able to hold them up side by side on air and remind people that books make great gifts within a very reasonable budget.
The news segment is available here.
Chele Cooke
Sci-Festival is an online promotion of Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors throughout the month of January. Each author will answer the same interview questions and have the chance to promote their books through my website, All Science Fiction and Fantasy authors are welcome to participate.
A number of other events will be held throughout the month, such as discussions on the genre and on writing. We will also be hosting a number of giveaways of eBooks in the Sci-Fi and Fantasy genre.
Like any festival, we will have a number of headlining authors, who will not only be answering the interview questions all authors will be answering, but with longer interviews as well.
Our main headlining author is Hugh Howey, the author of the New York Times Bestseller, Wool. Mr Howey has been kind enough to also offer a number of books for a giveaway, and answer some author and reader questions, so if you would like to submit your questions, please send an email to [email protected]
Seeley James
My series on Great Writers will feature Hybrid author Elizabeth Spann Craig on Monday morning (Pacific Time)
She joins James Rollins, Hugh Howey, AG Riddle and Zoe Sharp among others.
Rohan Quine
I’m glad to receive Jane Dixon-Smith’s grand blackcurrant-coloured cover design for my upcoming novella Hallucination in Hong Kong.
Its style follows on from the covers of its sister novellas The Platinum Raven (showcase 40), The Host in the Attic (showcase 45) and Apricot Eyes (showcase 47). The four novellas will be published early in 2014, as separate ebooks and also as a paperback comprising all four together.
Continuing the visual theme of glitzy skyscrapers at night, as established in the previous three cover images of Dubai, London and New York, this cover for
Hallucination in Hong Kong shows the towers of Hong Kong seen from the Peak, where a good amount of this novella’s action is set.
In Hallucination in Hong Kong we slide from joy to nightmare and back, as a plane flight frames a journey into Jaymi’s and Angel’s polarised identities and perceptions, where past and present merge in an obsessive fantasy of love, death, horror and apocalyptic beauty.
More info soon, but meanwhile a few tasters are on my website.
Dan Holloway
“Dan Holloway's Self-publish With Integrity: Define Success in Your Own Terms and then Achieve it is now available for Kindle.
The book, which includes chapters on community building, handling self-doubt and never being afraid to be yourself, is intended as a guide to help self-publishing writers discover, and then stay true to, their fundamental writing goals, helping them steer a path through the maze of how to guides, helpful advice, and other obstacles that beset them at every stage of their writing life so that achieve long-term happiness and success on the only terms that count: their own”
Catriona Troth
On Thursday 9th January, Catriona Troth (right) will be taking part in the latest Byte the Book event at the Club @ The Ivy in central London.
She will be sharing a panel with authors Jeff Norton (Metawars) and Alexandra Heminsley (Running Like a Girl) to discuss How Authors Can Build a Platform in the Digital Age. In particular, she will be talking about her experience with the Triskele Books author collective and reflecting on the advantages of not going it alone.
Tickets are free to Byte the Book members and £15 to non-members. Event starts at 18:30.
It would be great to see lots of ALLi members there. These events are always great networking opportunities, attracting people from every corner of the publishing world (trade and indie).
Mark Speed
Mark Speed’s five-volume sci-fi comedy series, Doctor How and the Illegal Aliens begins publication this year. A promotional short story, Doctor How and the Kennedy Assassination Conspiracy is out now on Kindle.
Who really killed JFK? Doctor How recounts the story of how and why he had to stop his brother, Doctor Who, from saving JFK from Lee Harvey Oswald’s bullet in Dallas on November 22nd 1963.
Discover who knew about Jack Kennedy’s assassination in advance, and why it had to be covered up afterwards. The truth about the JFK assassination conspiracy as told by Doctor How is more shocking than you can ever have imagined.
Please note that this forms part of book two of the forthcoming five volume Doctor How series.
It is available for a limited time only and will be removed from sale prior to the release of book two. Book one: Doctor How and the Illegal Aliens? is due out on March 13th 2014. More information from www.markspeed.co.uk
Dave McCall (Writing as David Ebsworth)
Monday 13th January brings us the start of David Ebsworth's long-awaited Virtual Book Tour for his Spanish Civil War thriller, The Assassin's Mark.
The tour runs over two weeks with posts by thirteen top-rank book bloggers world-wide – author and character interviews, reviews, sneak previews, giveaways, writing tips and much more. ..
Lucy McCarraher, Rethink Press
HOW TO WRITE FICTION WITHOUT THE FUSS – AND GET PUBLISHED – Tuesday January 14th, 9.30am to 4.30pm, Norwich.
This day-long workshop, facilitated by Lucy McCarraher (author of How To Write Fiction Without The Fuss and Managing Editor of Rethink Press), is for those who want to write fiction, or have started or already written a novel or shorter work.
Amanda Addison, novelist and Creative Writing tutor, will share her experience; Joe Gregory, Managing Publisher of Rethink Press and Bookshaker, will offer design and publishing information. Attendees will receive a free copy of How To Write Fiction Without The Fuss.
For more information . Tickets on the normal booking site are £69.00. ALLi members can get a discount to £60.00 by emailing [email protected]
Roz Morris
The print edition of my second novel, Lifeform Three, is now available. Again, thanks to all the ALLI members who helped me finalise the cover by offering sage advice – even when you didn't know what kind of book you were advising on!
Paul Murphy
“Brand new member, Paul Murphy, has a new book coming out in May 2014 with Silverwood Books.
As I Walked Out Through Spain in Search of Laurie Lee is timed to coincide with English National Treasure Laurie Lee's Centenary celebrations in June 2014.
Paul has just been confirmed as a speaker at Penzance Literary Festival In July 2014 .
For further info on Paul, second chances in life and his debut book.
Elizabeth Loraine (writing as E. L. Loraine)
I am releasing my first adult contemporary mystery romance Corporate Ties under my new E. L. Loraine brand on January 16th with a cover review on the 13th. I’m excitedly nervous after writing bestselling YA for four years. Here’s the synopsis:
Olivia is determined to be successful. She’s smart, beautiful and driven. While working her way up the corporate ranks at her first job out of Grad School, Dolby Incorporated, Olivia finally has a chance to prove just how talented she is.
The client she’s been given is Matasuki International, but when she starts reading through the files on the company, she finds something disturbing. There’s a string of convenient deaths associated with their acquisitions division. The man behind this company is Isamu Matasuki, the corporation’s powerful and ruthless chairman.
Olivia knows she can use Matasuki’s interest in Dolby and her to get close enough to stop him, but is the risk worth it? Even if she saves Dolby, he’ll just move on to the next in line, and that company is Dolby’s chief rival, Stein Brothers. Can she just sit back and let that happen or is Olivia willing to lose everyone and everything she loves in order to take Matasuki down?
E.L. Loraine’s Corporate Ties, is a sizzling hot, mystery romance, set among the concrete and steel jungle of New York City and the corporate ties that bind it. A multi-level plot keeps you turning pages as Olivia is caught right in the very middle of lust, love and quest for power that drives this world of corporate intrigue and betrayal.
Philippa Rees
This is simply to say that ‘ Involution-An Odyssey Reconciling Science to God‘ was nominated as a highly commended joint runner up in the Scientific and Medical Network ‘Book of the Year (2013)'.
It will be fully reviewed in their upcoming winter ‘Network Review' due out in January.
Kristen James
Costa Rica is out on all retailers; here's the Amazon listing.
She’s going to put it all on the line for love, but what if it’s too late?
Annalisa and Drew always dreamed of going to Costa Rica, but she discovers he’s planning to take another woman there. It wasn’t just their dream. Annalisa and Drew have been best friends with Vincent and Melinda forever. Vincent’s cancer is back–his tumor is inoperable and he won’t do chemo again. The four of them talked about going to Costa Rica for years, and it’s now or never.
Annalisa wonders if they can rekindle their love in paradise, but there’s so little left. They gave up on their marriage along with their dream of having children. This trip might be about saying goodbye to Vince, her marriage and an era in her life, or it might change everything.
Clare Weiner (writing as Mari Howard)
My novel Baby, Baby is now available as a Kindle e-book from Amazon?
Hopeful Cambridge applicant Jenny Guthrie is convinced that rational science provides all of life s answers. Until she meets a paradox in the shape of Max Mullins, trainee medic and pastor s son.
Set in the 1980s, Baby, Baby tells the story of Max and Jenny, who as they face the challenges their relationship brings, learn about themselves and each other. At the same time, the novel explores issues of genetic research. And it's a novel of transformation: through the actions of the main protagonists, others too learn and change. It's also a detective story, as Max and Jenny try to discover the reason for the birth defects of Jenny's stillborn step-niece.
The book is also available as a paperback from the Hodge website.
JJMarsh
How to Make a Study Guide – JJ Marsh explains the process of building a whole new readership of language learners and breaks down the process of collaborating with a teacher to create free support material.
“Each group buys ten-twelve paperbacks for the study class. I join them for a Q&A session and build their sense of ownership. Then they come back for the next in the series, and the next, and the next …”
Julie Day
My latest sweet adult romance, now I call women's fiction, ‘Life in the Old Dog‘ is now published on Smashwords.
All about Dolores having help from her dead sister to get her marriage back on track, by singing. It is priced at $1.99. I will shortly be putting it on Amazon, Kobo and Draft2Digital.
Jennifer Szunko, Foreword Reviews
Submissions for the 2013 Book of the Year Awards are rolling in but we would love to see more entries in these categories:
Nonfiction: Pets, Philosophy, Political Science, Travel Essays, Crafts, True Crime, Social Science, Performing Arts/Music, Psycology, Self-Help, Architecture and all Graphic Novels
If you know of books published in 2013 in these categories with winning potential from small publishers, university presses or independent authors please encourage them to enter. Deadline January 15, 2014.
Feel free to contact me if you have questions. Here is the link on our website.
If you are a member of The Alliance of Independent Authors and you would like to showcase your work on our ALLi Showcase, please send it to [email protected] to reach me no later than the Friday proceeding the Wednesday you would like it published.
