RIVEN Official Blog Tour List and Info

So lately I have been doing a mixture of working with the lovely Megan from Reading Away The Days and emailing a few of you personally for a little 'event' of sorts I have coming up. Now with RIVEN's cover having been revealed and all, I can happily begin madly promoting the event with a festive flurry reminiscent of peacock feathers. Because seriously, who doesn't love peacock feathers?

If the button above isn't quite your fancy, or if you aren't a fan of reading grey font on black backgrounds (yikes!) then read on, I'll fill you in! Thanks to Megan, RIVEN will be doing a hefty blog tour this winter, just in time for its wild release. And I'm making sure to pull out all the stops for this one. That's right, I'm not holding back any punches. 

A few of you have already emailed me from seeing some earlier posts and hints that I was looking for bloggers for the event- if I haven't emailed you back, check your box today or email me again. I get a cluster-mash of emails daily and things have been known to go to the wrong box, miss me entirely, I miss it, etc. Mainly it's me who misses the email, and then I feel like a shmuck afterwards for not seeing it, and inserting tons of apologies into a single email. But this time, I've got it all worked out. Those participating in the RIVEN tour will be marked here, in this post, updated daily if I need to. They'll also be on my calendar on my desktop, laptop, and highlighted with purple in my inbox tags. I want to be sure no one is missed this time! 

So let's say you want to participate in the tour and you're an author, or book blogger, or rabid fan who totally just wants to be in with the awesomeness. Email me with the subject line 'RIVEN Blog Tour Info' and I'll send you back the same email everyone else is getting. Currently I have the following spots filled: 

NOVEMBER 26TH - Book Excerpt via Reading A Little Bit Of Everything

NOVEMBER 27TH - Guest Post via Reading Away The Days!

NOVEMBER 28TH - Guest Post on being an Indie Author via Stan Brookshire AND Interview via We Do Write

NOVEMBER 29TH - Character Interview with ______ via Reading Under the Stars

NOVEMBER 30TH - Post via BelleBooks

DECEMBER 1ST - Book Reviews via Book Briefs

DECEMBER 2ND - Review of ILLUMINE via Roland Capablo

DECEMBER 3RD - Review of either ILLUMINE or OBUMBRATE via Just Me, Myself and I 

DECEMBER 4TH - Character Casting, Possible Review of ILLUMINE and OBUMBRATE via Michelle's Paranormal Vault Of Books

DECEMBER 5TH - Character Interviews with Essallie & Kayden via Hopelessly Devoted Bilbliophile AND Guest Post via Frankie Rose, Author of SOVEREIGN HOPE

DECEMBER 6TH - Post via Mademoiselle Le Sphinx

DECEMBER 7TH - RIVEN Release Day Party via Facebook + Twitter 

DECEMBER 8TH - Post via Uniquely Moi Books

DECEMBER 9TH - Guest Post on Writing Process + Reviews of ILLUMINE and OBUMBRATE via My Guilty Obsession

*List above is subject to change at any given time.

My #1 goal is to fill all those spots so at least one thing is going on every single day, two things if I can figure it, three if I get enough requests. And that list will change with every email I get and send out, so please don't wait if you're curious about anchoring a spot for the day. 

That being said, notice where it says DECEMBER 7TH? That's RIVEN's release date, and throughout that whole day, I'll be slamming Facebook, Twitter, probably post on Tumblr (still trying to figure that one out) and I'll even share some stuff through Google+ and Goodreads. But if you want to be right front and center for the release day (and possibly grab some seriously awesome winnings) you'll want to join the event on Facebook.  

And with that, I'm off to answer some emails! 

*UPDATE- December 2nd is now taken. 
*UPDATE- December 4th is now taken.
*UPDATE- November 26th, 28th, and December 1st, 3rd, and 6th are now taken.
*UPDATE- Blog names and more details have been added, and November 27th is now taken. 
*UPDATE- November 30th is now taken. 
*UPDATE- December 8th is now taken. All spots are filled! If you're reading this now and interested in booking along with someone on a certain date, I'm willing to take a few more on for the tour. 
*UPDATE- Frankie Rose joined in on the tour, HOW COOL IS THAT?! Seriously, mindblown over here. 

COVER REVEAL: Riven

Psssst, it's that time again! Who's ready for a kick-BUTT cover reveal?! 

I present to you, Riven, the third book to the Illumine Series. Here's the dictionary definition of Riven: 

riv·en [riv-uhn]  

1. to tear or rend apart.
2. to separate by striking; split; cleave.
3. to rend, harrow, or distress (the feelings, heart, etc.).

And now, without further ado...

At this time, I am also doing some hunting for a few blogs interested in participating for the RIVEN Official Blog Tour (book blogs, fellow authors, etc.), so if you're sneaking a peek at this post and you'd like to help out a gal, give me a shout! 

UPDATE- Megan at READING AWAY THE DAYS is booking dates for the RIVEN tour, as am I. If it happens, I will aim for two blogs posting events on the same day. 

P.S.- I sort of made an 'oops' by revealing it on the blog tour button a little early, but I figured hey, it's small, you can't see the awesomeness at that size. But now you can! Yay! 

Why Authors Everywhere Need A Wake-Up Call

Hey you. Yes, you, crazy author. Take your fingers away from the keyboard, keep your eyes on the screen, and read these words for the next few minutes. It might just save your career.

If you've been thinking of leaving a nasty reply to someone who left an unkind review about your book, stop.
If you've been contemplating pulling a John Locke and buying 5-star reviews to sell your work, stop.
If you've been hovering over the idea of creating a false account and writing glowing reviews for your own books, and scathing reviews for your competition, seriously, STOP.

Do you have any idea what you're doing by thinking of these things? Even if only thinking about them in theory? I'll tell you what you're doing; you're essentially aiming to ruin whatever reputation you planned on having to your name. You're planning on blacklisting yourself from tons of bloggers who would actually consider you for review, but now won't even give you the time of day because you're what we call a 'badly behaving author'. You're setting yourself on fire, laughing about it, and while you keep inwardly hoping the fire department comes and hoses you down, you secretly know they're never going to come.

Okay, so the last bit was a little on the dramatic side, but it isn't without cause. Authors, have you seen the news lately? Been on Twitter? How about Goodreads, or Facebook? Crawled out from under a rock in the last year? If you have, chances are you know exactly what I'm talking about, or at the very least you know a bit of what I'm talking about. It's called drama, and we're begging you, both well behaving authors and bloggers alike, to quit stirring the damn pot.

Every day now, the writing world doesn't go by without some new article concerning authors and their less-than-tasteful actions. Buying reviews to make themselves look good, instigating fights on social media sites, sock-puppeting to make other authors look bad in your genre. And I'm here to tell you this has got to stop.

Stay with me here, as I'm sure some of you are already rolling your eyes, probably muttering something under your breath and close to clicking out of the page. Because, quite frankly, I've had just about enough of this madness. We're authors, writers of the written word, crafters of worlds beyond imagination, inventors of bright and beautiful characters that speak to the souls of those who pick up our books, thumb through the pages, and find a new home to fall in love with.

Do you know what we are not? Bullies.
Do you know what you are becoming by faking reviews and fighting with readers? A bully.

You, yes you, are destroying the world we love the most. The world where authors and bloggers cross bridges together, make friendships that can last lifetimes, and share this very friendship love with the readers who read bloggers and look up to us authors. This is supposed to be a give-and-give relationship, from all of us. Instead, we show readers a battlefield, a tenuous relationship where bloggers are afraid to review certain ends of the book market for fear of retribution, a place where authors have to cause public fits just to get a reaction of their writing. And it sickens me.

I'm going to share a little secret with you guys. When I was younger, I wanted to be a writer. Shocking, right? Not really. But I'll share something with you that I'm sure all writers can agree with. When I dreamt of being a writer, I never dreamt of being mean to my prospective readers. I never dreamt of having to fake reviews just to sell an extra copy per month. I just wanted to write, find people who liked my writing, and talk to them. That's it. To me, that was success, and to this day it still is. I may not be JK Rowling rich, or heck even John Locke rich, but I'm rich for the connections I've made with bloggers-turned-friends, with fellow authors, and with the very readers I dreamt of sharing my writing with. And no paycheck, no amount of pressure to make myself 'look good' on Amazon with fake reviews, no desire to bash a negative review, will change that. Because I'll never do these things. And neither will any author who values their readerbase, their brand, their own integrity.

So seriously, crazy authors out there, don't do it. Your writing is good enough to sell on its own. Trust me, if you believe in it, so will everyone else.

Besides, lying never gets you anywhere good in life anyway. Want to know how I know that?

I'll share one last secret with you.

When I first began writing on RPG forums, I wasn't very popular. In fact, my characters were kind of hated. Too perfect, too dramatic, too emotional. So one day I made a new character, under a new username and claimed to be a different person entirely. I talked to my too perfect characters under this fake identity, and for a while I thought it was working. But my friends saw right through it. Not only was I laughed at it for it, but it taught me a lesson; don't lie, don't claim to be someone else and think it's okay.

Illumine Nominated For BEST YA COVER Of 2012!

Uhm. Excuse me while I scream and squeal pure joy.

AHHHHHHHHH!

Earlier today I got the news that Illumine was nominated for BEST YA COVER of 2012 on Goodreads! Holy crap! Sweet ripened bananas, how cool is this?

Even better part? If you have a Facebook or Goodreads account, you can vote for Illumine, too! Just click the ever-so-gorgeous cover below, find it on the list and hit 'vote for this book'! Easy, right? Right. Easier than petting a unicorn. Or eating one. I've always imagined unicorn meat to be on the chewy side.

Anyway, click! And THANK YOU to those who have voted for Illumine already! You know light up my world like no body else. ;)