Dark Quest Author: Jody Lynn Nye

Jody Lynn Nye lists her main career activity as ‘spoiling cats.’ When not engaged upon this worthy occupation, she writes fantasy and science fiction books and short stories.

            Since 1987 she has published over 45 books and more than 120 short stories, including epic fantasies, contemporary humorous fantasy, humorous military science fiction, and edited three anthologies. She collaborated with Anne McCaffrey on a number of books, including the New York Times bestseller, Crisis on Doona. She also wrote eight books with Robert Asprin, and continues both of Asprin’s Myth-Adventures series and Dragons series. Her newest series is the Lord Thomas Kinago adventures, the most recent of which is Fortunes of the Imperium (Baen Books), a humorous military SF novel. She also runs the two-day intensive writers’ workshop at DragonCon.

            Her other recent books are Myth-Quoted (Ace Books), Wishing on a Star (Arc Manor Press); an e-collection of cat stories, Cats Triumphant (Event Horizon); Dragons Run (fourth in the Dragons series) and Launch Pad, an anthology of science fiction stories co-edited with Mike Brotherton (WordFire). She is also happy to announce the reissue of her Mythology series from WordFire Publishing. Jody runs the two-day intensive writers’ workshop at DragonCon, and she and her husband, Bill Fawcett are the book reviewers for Galaxy’s Edge Magazine.

Website: www.jodylynnnye.com

Twitter: @jodylynnnye

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/jodylynn.nye

1.      Tell us how you came to be an Author with Dark Quest.

I got into a conversation with Danielle Ackley McPhaill at a Broaduniverse Rapid-Fire Reading about the Badass Faeries. She mentioned that she was staffing the next one, It’s Elemental, and would I like to give it a try? Answer: yes, I would. It sounded like a bunch of fun.

2.      What do you enjoy most about being a DQ Author?

I enjoy having a chance to write in a themed anthology with a cool topic. Badass faeries. You can go anywhere with that. My ‘element’ was spirit, so I had a number of faerie-types from which to choose. I selected one that seemed to have attitude built in. My story, “Fifteen Percent,” was about a very dysfunctional co-dependent relationship between an artist, in this case an author, and his muse.

3.      What have your experiences been like working toward being published?

Every time I work with a new editor is a learning experience. Each comment teaches me something fresh about writing.

4.      What would you have done differently?

Nothing much. I like the way the story came out. If you mean on my career as a whole, I would have started sooner. I submitted a story toAnalog when I was 19. It was rejected, but with a personal letter from the editor (I would not find out for years how rare and wonderful that is) saying he liked my style and asking for something else. I would love to go back in time and tell my younger self to send another one.

5.      How has your book been marketed?

I’ve had numerous books and short stories published. (My website is www.jodylynnnye.com) I attend a number of conventions and participate on panels and workshops. I give online and newspaper articles when I can. I have done blog tours to put my name out there on the web pages of online magazines and those of other writers. I have done podcasts with SF/fantasy-oriented hosts. For my latest book, Fortunes of the Imperium (Baen Books; http://ow.ly/LsBEp), my publisher made me 2,500 cover cards, which I have distributed at conventions and in bookstores. I copy my covers onto my Facebook page, and mention new publications on Twitter. I have a website with a blog in the home page, which I admit I could update more often.

6.      Any advice on how to better market a book?

Get on social media. Promote yourself first, and your book or short story or Kickstarter sparingly. Let people get to know you as more than a salesperson. Get to know people more than as wallets that read. Encourage readers to write reviews for you, especially on Amazon.com. The more reviews you can garner (good ones!), the more likely your book is to be placed in automatic referrals when someone looks at a book in the same genre. Let people know what conventions you will be attending, and list your panels if you know them.

7.      Last question; If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go, when would it be, and what would you be wearing?

The Academy Awards, wearing a killer Marchesa gown, as they hand me the Oscar for Best Screenplay.

Blurb:

Dark Quest Books, Badass Faeries: It's Elemental, http://ow.ly/LCerm. This is the blurb on the Amazon page: 

The Bad-Ass Faeries are back and they are in their Elements!

 Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Spirit...It's time to get down to basics, for the fae answer to a natural order.

In L. Jagi Lamplighter's On Rocky Ground, Mab, Mephisto, and Erasmus go to the mountain to pay a debt, but can they pacify the earth before the mountain comes down around their ears?

 In James Chambers' The Flying Rock, Daniel seeks to give his son and daughter a taste of childhood magic before they grow too old to embrace such things, but the winds blow as they will and he soon wonders will his children even see another day.

 In James Daniel Ross's The Legend of Buck Cooper and the Child of Fire it only takes a spark to start a fire, but what will it take to stop one? Buck Cooper and the brigade must stave off the flames of a war most don't even realize is being waged.

 In N.R. Brown's Melia's Best Wave an oceanid decides she's ready for bigger things, like tackling the deadliest stretch of coastline anywhere. Will she conquer the Mavericks or wipe out for all time?

 In Jody Lynn Nye's Fifteen Percent Marcel Dorner learns it's best to get into the spirit of things when your literary agent is a filandiere, or more than just your career might not survive...

Joined by Kimberley Long-Ewing, Judi Fleming, Danny Birt, Peter Prellwitz, DL Thurston, James R. Stratton, Patrick Thomas, Bethany Herron, Keith R.A. DeCandido and Lee C. Hillman, these authors make it clear why one doesn't mess with Mother Nature...or Bad-Ass Faeries.

Dark Quest Author: Danny Birt

Award-winning author Danny Birt was born about three decades ago in Washington State to Irish and Californian parents, and has since lived in Idaho, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Hawaii, Virginia, and North Carolina. He studied music therapy and psychology at Loyola University New Orleans, and most recently graduated from Shenandoah University with his Master's Degree in Music Therapy.

Danny has been a contributing author to several sci-fi, fantasy, and professional magazines, anthologies, and journals, as well as a writer for an app. Formerly, he was an editor for Flashing Swords Magazine and Ancient Tomes Press, and is now a freelance editor. His fantasy series “The Laurian Pentology” is being published through Dark Quest Books, starting with "Ending an Ending."

Career hats Danny has worn other than author, editor, and composer include being a music therapist, a massage therapist, a college instructor and program director, a wedding photographer, an on-screen actor, a lifeguard, and a business consultant.

Currently Danny lives in Virginia where, in his spare time, he enjoys engaging in his hobby of finding new hobbies.

Find him at: www.DannyBirt.com 

1.      Tell us how you came to be an Author with Dark Quest.

Over the years of being a regular guest at conventions for my books and filk music, I got to know the good folk of Dark Quest, and I appreciated how they treated their authors, product, and brand.  When my previous publisher decided to cease operations, I submitted my three-books-published, two-books-unpublished fantasy series "The Laurian Pentology" to DQ, and they welcomed me under the DQ umbrella.

2.      What do you enjoy most about being a DQ Author?

I appreciate the personal support from DQ staff!

3.      What have your experiences been like working toward being published?

Wow, that's a broad question, worthy of a blog post all on its own!

4.      What would you have done differently?

Other than thoughts of big contracts which have more to do with others' choices than mine, I doubt I would have done much different.

5.      How has your book been marketed?

The Laurian Pentology has been sent out for reviews, list served, promoted on literary websites, has recently been made available as an e-book on Amazon's Kindle marketplace, and is promoted by word-of-mouth at every literary convention Dark Quest attends as a vendor.  It certainly shows in my royalty statements!

6.      Any advice on how to better market a book?

Step One: Write A Book.  Step Two:  _____.  Step Three: Profit!

7.      Last question; If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go, when would it be, and what would you be wearing?

The next place I would like to visit which I have not yet visited would be Germany.  I have some friends living over there I haven't seen in years, have a (very) basic understanding of the language, would enjoy sampling the foods and exploring the history in person.  As to what I would be wearing, I would probably start with clothes from home and then peruse what else was available when I got there to flesh out my wardrobe.

Dark Quest Author: Regina Glei

Bio:

"Nothing is as interesting as other people's problems."


That's the overall motto of Regina's speculative fiction.
Regina Glei was born in Germany but nourished a fascination for the Far East ever since she was a little girl. A graduate in Japanese Studies, she has resided and worked in Japan for more than ten years. 
Living far away from her home country has been a powerful influence on her fiction, which she describes as speculative and sometimes weird...

You can find news about Regina and links to her new novels, novellas, and various short stories on her website:

http://www.juka-productions.com/

Regina is also on Facebook and Twitter.

Links:

HP:  http://www.juka-productions.com/

Blog: http://www.juka-productions.com/newblog/

1.      Tell us how you came to be an Author with Dark Quest.

Oh, the traditional way, I submitted my novella “Lord of Water” some time in, I think it was 2009, and got accepted. By now I have two novellas published with Dark Quest, the second one being “That One Minute”. They are both contemporary fantasies, dealing with being able to command water in the first book and the second is what I like to call a fantasy-horror-comedy about a parallel world that is one minute “closer to death” than ours and filled with angels and demons. A third book, a full length high-fantasy novel, is also in the Dark Quest pipeline but I don’t know yet when it will come out.

2.      What do you enjoy most about being a DQ Author?

That DQ was so flexible to allow me to use “my” cover artist. ;-) Naoyuki Katoh is a renowned Japanese cover artist and he has so far done all the covers for my books.

3.      What have your experiences been like working toward being published?

To be honest I found and find the way to publication extremely hard and annoying. Too many people want to get published and there are too many people out there taking advantage of eager, hopeful and naïve authors. I’ve encountered (and paid for) fake awards, experienced the frustration of tons of empty and unfulfilled promises, and seen unbelievable arrogance and disrespect, to name but a few things. Sure, I’ve also found friends on the journey. “Survival chances” rise when good people stick together. You badly need a network of positive people to cope with the assholes out there.

4.      What would you have done differently?

Research more! Really checking whether anyone gives a damn about those awards advertized, for example. Deeply checking whether agent xyz is really worth submitting to. Subscribing to the “writer beware” newsletter right from the start.

5.      How has your book been marketed?

Marketing is a tough topic these days. There are so many books out there – it’s incredibly difficult to be heard. I have not yet found a recipe for success. I have a demanding (and interesting) full time day-job. I have no time to hang out on twitter for facebook 24/7. I’m doing “all those things” that people recommend like being on twitter and facebook (usually once a day), like writing a blog (once a week), like maintaining a homepage, like loading readings up on YouTube, like printing postcards, like going to conventions and yet success is limited, since there are a 100,000 people who are doing the same thing and we also have fewer and fewer readers. On top of that I am living in Japan (it’s a bit complicated, I’m German, live in Japan and write F and SF in English). I could do more if I lived in the UK or US, but I like living in Japan too much for giving up on that.

6.      Any advice on how to better market a book?

I’ll try something new now with a soon to be self-published piece, I’ll tweet sort of a consecutive side story once per day for four months (for the moment that’s the number of tweets I have composed already) and see whether that generates any additional interest and readership.

7.      Last question; If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go, when would it be, and what would you be wearing?

Traveling is one of my passions. I have already visited 26 countries and I am adding at least one country to the list every year. Last year I managed 4! (Turkey, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan). This year the plan is Spain and Portugal in August. (One of the categories in my blog is travels and you can find the more recent adventures there in case you are interested.)

So if I could go anywhere I would not choose the world but space! That involves wearing a space suit and other astronaut equipment  ;-)

Blurb for “Lord of Water”:

What would you do... If the sea spoke to your soul? If all water upon the earth answered to your call? If your heart...and a woman...betrayed you? Pray you never know. Eric Aquatus possesses an incredible gift: He commands water. Afraid of his ability and its consequences, he never explored it as a child. Only as he meets Meredith, the love of his life, who encourages him to experiment, does he begin to fathom all he can do with his gift. Anything from draining the oceans, raising Atlantis, or sinking Japan. Both tempted and tested by his amazing powers, Eric discovers that tough choices as to what to do with his gift and his life lie before him.

Blurb for “That One Minute”

All it Takes is That One Minute... You think you know what's wrong with the world...but which one? The one you're in? Or the one that mirrors ours, only one more minute closer to heaven or hell, where "angelics" and "demonics" constantly fight for dominance over our souls? Ask Chris Burns, struggling in a job he hates and dealing with his wife's betrayal when she chooses an Italian restaurant owner over a loser like him. What is there left to care about? But when Chris is offered a divine mission to cross that one minute and to save both worlds, he gets a shot at eternal glory. Can a down-on-his-luck loser prevent a "demonic" uprising? Will he make a difference when faced with battling demons and power-hungry Undersecretaries from the almighty "Ministry of Spirits," all with his know-it-all doppelganger in tow, constantly trying to undermine his efforts... ... at that shot at eternal glory.

Dark Quest Books:

http://www.darkquestbooks.com/store/product-list.php?pg1-cid123.html

DQ books in Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/That-One-Minute-Regina-Glei/dp/1937051781/

http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Water-Regina-Glei/dp/1937051358/

Dark Quest Author: Alma Alexander

Bio:

Alma Alexander's life so far has prepared her very well for her chosen career. She was born in a country which no longer exists on the maps, has lived and worked in seven countries on four continents (and in cyberspace!), has climbed mountains, dived in coral reefs, flown small planes, swum with dolphins, touched two-thousand-year-old tiles in a gate out of Babylon. She is a novelist, anthologist and short story writer who currently shares her life between the Pacific Northwest of the USA (where she lives with her husband and two cats) and the wonderful fantasy worlds of her own imagination. You can find out more about Alma on her website, her Facebook page or her blog (http://anghara.livejournal.com).

1.      Tell us how you came to be an Author with Dark Quest.

Before The Were Chronicles books, my current series with Palomino Press (the YA arm of DQ), I edited a short story anthology called “River” under the DQ umbrella, so they were known to me – and when the new Palomino Press imprint opened its doors and announced it was seeking books, I happened to have the right material on hand. How I crossed paths with DQ in the first place involves a complicated story of science fiction conventions, mutual friends, and shared background and interests. We all just happened to be in the right place and the right time together.

2.      What do you enjoy most about being a DQ Author?

Having people I consider friends who are involved with my books – it isn’t a huge faceless conglomerate where there’s a “department” that does the work. Here, it’s people.

3.      What have your experiences been like working toward being published?

It’s always been a tough ask. These days writers are told that more avenues are open – and to a point that’s true; there was a relentless contraction in the BIG publishers which ate imprints here there and everywhere until it was irrelevant where you submitted it was all being controlled by the head office anyway and the people in charge there were rarely editors any more but rather marketers who often looked at each acquisition with an eye to the bottom line rather than any other merits. But these days more and more quality smaller presses are springing up again – it’s as though the market ecosystem needs all the new young growth and cannot survive with only five great old trees in what is otherwise a desert – and other things are happening, like writing co-ops (consisting of a group of writers who have banded together in order to help one another with the logistics of creating books – places like Book View Café). I’ve run the gamut of the publishing experience – been published by the Big Six, in the States and internationally; been published by small(er) presses; put together a few (self-published) collections of short stories myself and planted them on Amazon and Smashwords. Personally, because I am a WRITER first and foremost and everything else follows after that, I prefer the experience of going through an actual publisher or somebody who can help with the logistics;  cover designer, copy editor, book formatter, publicist – these are all jobs I’ll tackle if I need to but I much prefer to see them being done by folks who are BETTER at them than I am while I go on to write the next book instead…

4.      What would you have done differently?

In what sense? I’d still be writing. Somehow, somewhere, I would still have been working towards publication. There *IS* no “differently”.

5.      How has your book been marketed?

DQ deals with distribution and with (some) review copies. I’ve done plenty off my own bat, regarding “Random”, the first book in The Were Chronicles, and I hope to be able to do similar things for “Wolf”, the second book, when it comes out in May. I have a presence on the Internet and the social media – as many of them as I can handle without falling over – I blog – I make personal appearances where they can be arranged – I try to keep myself out there. In the long run, whether or not any of that matters is moot because there have been writers who have been positive recluses when it comes to the Internet who are doing quite well, thank you, and there are those who are everywhere you look but that seems to be the only thing they’re doing and any actual BOOKS seem to be a sideline. You just don’t know. The power of going with an entity with an established distribution channel (like DQ) is that you DO get onto a bookstore’s radar, and the best way to market a book is to make sure it is available for purchase the moment someone’s interest has been piqued…

6.      Any advice on how to better market a book?

If I knew the answer to that I’d have people lining up at my door to offer me their first-born children for the secret. I’d love to know, myself. Is there a better way? HOW do you harness that beautiful, powerful word-of-mouth thing? When and where is there a tipping point? Why are some books instant hits, some languish in the shadows for a while and then suddenly burst into flame for no apparent reason, and some (no less deserving) simply languish and NEVER get their day in the sun? If we only knew. In the meantime, we do what we can with what we have and hope that it is enough to grab the right kind of attention at the right time…

7.      Last question; If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go, when would it be, and what would you be wearing?

I’ve travelled quite a lot, actually, already, and lived in a LOT of different places. But if I could just pop into existence somewhere, right now, it would probably be the English shires (I wouldn’t say no to being based in Oxford) in the summer. And I’d be wearing what’s comfortable and appropriate for that time and place, sitting somewhere in a shady garden under the spreading boughs of a great English oak, in a wicker chair, reading, while the lightest of breezes stirs my hair and I occasionally lift my eyes to where dogs are playing on the sward and smile at them… and am purely happy.

It begins. Somewhere.

An insignificant trickle of water.

 And it changes. And it grows up, and gathers a history, and finds its way into atlases and maps, until it finally reaches the sea, and vanishes into its vastness. You might think it of no importance. That it does not matter. But you follow where it leads...

 Rivers have always been very important to humankind. They've been explored. They've been navigated. They've been called gods. They've been blessed and cursed and venerated and used and enjoyed and exploited and polluted since the beginning of recorded history. They've been sung about and dreamed about and followed on epic journeys of discovery. They capitals of empires have risen on the banks of rivers - and so have a thousand fishing villages, and river landings, and water mills. There is only one River. Really. And it's all of them.

Every river is different - and yet they're all the same, vast and full of life and death and mystery and history and adventure and quiet dreams. Full of life. Full of mystery. Full of stories.

Amazon

My name is Jazz Marsh.

I am a Random Were, which means I am a Were of no fixed form – like all Random Were, my family can become any warm-blooded creature which is the last thing they see before they Turn.

For me, when my time came, that meant… trouble.

I was quite young when I lost my older sister, Celia, and my family never spoke about her. It was only when I found the secret diaries that she had left behind that I began to discover the truth behind her life and her death.

I never understood what drove my moody and dangerous older brother until I began to get an inkling about his part in Celia’s death… and until, driven to the edge of patience and understanding, he finally had to face his own Turn problems… and disastrously took matters into his own hands.

One thing is clear.

Everything I thought I knew about Were-kind was wrong.

ABOUT RANDOM:

“You will never read another shapeshifter book like this. Every surprise will catch you unwary. And, like me, you will find that others will have to pry it out of your fingers.”
—Tamora Pierce, bestselling author

“Alma Alexander has created a gripping and complicated story of family loyalty and teenage rebellion. [..] An excellent start to a brave new series.”
—Ysabeau Wilce, award-winning author of the Flora Segunda series

Amazon

Coming in 2015: WOLF (Book 2 in The Were Chronicles) and SHIFTER (Book 3 in The Were Chronicles)

Dark Quest Author: L. Jagi Lamplighter

L. Jagi Lamplighter is the author of  the YA fantasy: The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin. She is also the author of the Prospero’s Daughter series: Prospero Lost, Prospero In Hell, and Prospero Regained. She has published numerous articles on Japanese animation and appears in several short story anthologies, including Best Of Dreams Of Decadence, No Longer Dreams, Coliseum Morpheuon, Bad-Ass Faeries Anthologies (where she is also an assistant editor) and the Science Fiction Book Club’s Don’t Open This Book.

When not writing, she switches to her secret identity as wife and stay-home mom in Centreville, VA, where she lives with her dashing husband, author John C. Wright, and their four darling children, Orville, Ping-Ping Eve, Roland Wilbur, and Justinian Oberon.

Her website is: http://www.ljagilamplighter.com/ 

Her blog is at: http://arhyalon.livejournal.com/

On Twitter: @lampwright4

Read the first four chapters of The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin for free: http://www.ljagilamplighter.com/chapter-one-the-treacherous-art-of-making-friends/

The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Unexpected-Enlightenment-Rachel-Griffin/dp/1937051870

1.     Tell us how you came to be an Author with Dark Quest.

A friend of mine works for Dark Quest and has enjoyed other of my works. When she realized that my current series was up for grabs, she invited me to submit it.

2.     What do you enjoy most about being a DQ Author?

The people I get to work with. They’re a great bunch.

3.     What have your experiences been like working toward being published?

I wrote a long answer to that question some years back called A Writer’s Odysses. It is posted permanently on my blog, so that when people ask me about the experience of getting published I can refer them to it. You can find it here: http://www.ljagilamplighter.com/about/a-writers-odyssey/

But, the short version is: it took a tremendous amount of patience. There was a 17 year gap between writing my first book and having the book reach print. In the meantime, I rewrote the series six times.

What was finally publishes was much better than what I started with. Infinitely better.

4.     What would you have done differently?

Not really sure. I wish I could have been published sooner, but I don’t see how it could have come about. It took a long time for me to become any good. If I had been published earlier, the finished book would have not been as good.

They say it takes a million words to become a writer. I don’t now about that, but I threw out over 1000 pages during the period when I was waiting to be published. That is at least, 250,000 words, and I have no question that I—and my readers—are better for it.

I wish I could have developed into a good writer more quickly, but that, alas, was not up to me.

Nowadays, things are quite different. People can go right to publishing independently. When I started, all legitimate authors eschewed small presses. Now they laud them and independent publishing. I am pretty sure that if I had started writing fifteen years later, I would have given up on getting published by a large house and would have gone the small press or independent route right away. I am very glad that did not happen, because if it had, it would have been an early version of my book that reached readers, and I would never have learned all that I know today.

5.     How has your book been marketed?

Marketed? That’s rather a fancy term for a small press. I’m not even sure my big press books have been “marketed”.

So far, I’ve found that the best publicity currently available is to bring one’s book to the notice of someone with a large following and get them to post about it.

In 2013, I did everything I possibly could to spread word. It didn’t amount to much. I tried guest blog appearances. I got a few nice comments on my articles, but very few sales.

In 2014, the members of the Evil League of Evil Authors* posted about the books on their blogs. This sold ten times as many books as I had managed to sell by myself the year before.

*The Evil League of Evil Authors is a group of authors who were tired of being called names by a second group of authors, and so decided to just embrace the name-calling. It has been the greatest move of my husband’s career to date. The League includes John C. Wright (my husband) Larry Correia—author of the bestselling Monster Hunter Nation series, Sarah A. Hoyt, Vox Day, and Brad Torgensen. There are other members and many other auxiliary members, but those are the big ones.

6.     Any advice on how to better market a book?

No, but I would be delightfully open to hearing such advice, should anyone have some!

7.     Last question; If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go, when would it be, and what would you be wearing?

Interesting question. I probably would chose Ireland, Wales, or Scotland. I love that area of the world. And I would dress in an Inverness cloak with those long half capes over the shoulders. Maybe with a walking staff.

A more likely trip would be returning to China. I once spent two weeks wandering around in China not able to talk to anyone but just enjoying strange experience of not really having to worry about anything for a change. The only person I could speak to was my 17 year old daughter. What a wonderful and strange land!

(If anyone would like to read the blogs I kept during my trip, I have been told that they are very amusing. You can read my China Posts here: http://www.ljagilamplighter.com/works/nonfiction/china-posts/

 Rachel Griffin has one small goal: she wants to learn every secret of the universe. Roanoke Academy for the Sorcerous Arts, located in New York's Hudson Highlands, but hidden from all mortal eyes by the arts of the Wise, seems the perfect place to pursue her goal safely---until she stumbles upon a secret world within the secret world, one even the wizards are not wise to. 

 Rushing in where Warlocks fear to tread, fearless young Rachel 

finds herself in the heart of horror, 

 How could she have imagined so much could go wrong in the first week of school? 

 Deeper mysteries await her, including breathtaking vistas of truth older than magic itself. 

Curiosity can kill a cat, but nothing can quell Rachel Griffin!  

Before coming to Roanoke Academy, Rachel Griffin had been an obedient girl--but it is hard to obey the rules when the world is in danger and no one will listen.

Now, she's eavesdropping on Wisecraft Agents and breaking a great many regulations. Because if the adults will not believe her, then it is up to Rachel and her friends--crazy, orphan-boy Sigfried the Dragonslayer and Nastasia, the Princess of Magical Australia--to stop the insidious Mortimer Egg from destroying the world.

But first, she must survive truth spells, fights with her brother, detention, Alchemy experiments, talking to elves, and conjuring class. Oh, and the Raven with blood-red eyes continues to watch her. It is said to be the omen of the Doom of Worlds. Will her attempts to save her world bring the Raven's wrath down upon her?

And as if that is not bad enough, someone has just turned the boy she likes into a sheep.

Anaiah Press Author: Jennifer Novotney

                        

Jennifer Novotney is the Amazon bestselling author of Winter in the Soul. She was a 2014 recipient of the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award. Jennifer grew up in Los Angeles, California and attended Northern Arizona University, graduating with highest honors in English. She lives in Pennsylvania.

Link: http://anaiahpress.com/JNovotney.html

Link: http://anaiahpress.com/WITS.html

1.     Tell us how you came to be an Author with Anaiah Press. 

    I first came into contact with Anaiah Press during the 2013 Pitchmas Twitter event. Surge Managing Editor Kara Leigh Miller requested my manuscript and shortly after offered me a contract.

2.     What do you enjoy most about being a AP Author? 

    

    I enjoyed being an author with Anaiah Press because of the personal attention I receive. I enjoy being a part of the publishing and marketing process, something that might not be possible if I were with a larger publisher. Working with Anaiah Press is kind of like being a part of a community or large family. Everyone is very supportive of one another.

3.     What have your experiences been like working toward being published?
    
     Publishing a book is no small endeavor. Since Winter in the Soul is my first novel, I experienced all the stages of publication for the first time. I think getting noticed, whether it be by an agent or by an editor, is the first great hurdle any author must overcome. Then comes the fun part. Getting my book ready for publication was hard work, but winning the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award in the young adult category really made it all worth while. It was like receiving validation for all of that hard work. I also love hearing from fans who enjoy reading Winter in the Soul.

4.     What would you have done differently?

     I don’t think there’s anything I would have done differently. My philosophy is that everything happens for a reason and I think that I was put on this path for a reason. I learned so much from my editors at Anaiah Press, which made my publication experience so valuable to me.

5.     How has your book been marketed?

     Winter in the Soul has been marketed through blog tours and with my amazing book trailer that you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX5yYhX7lwQ

We’ve also done flash sales, which were very successful, and giveaways.

6.     Any advice on how to better market a book? 

     Marketing a book is just as important as the writing process for authors. Being a savvy marketer is just part of the package nowadays. My advice would be to get your name out there. There are so many books being written and published every year that the challenge becomes getting your book and your name in front of readers. Any way you can do that as an author will only benefit book sales and your career.

7.     Last question; If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go, when would it be, and what would you be wearing?

     If I could travel anywhere in the world, I would travel to Europe, Paris in particular. I would love to go during the summer and I would be wearing a classic French outfit like a little black dress.

In a world divided by power and greed, seventeen-year-old Lilika harbors an intense desire to return to Winter in the Soul, the place her family left to escape the darkness that was manifesting from a coldness of the soul.

When she meets Talon, their connection is evident right from the start, and together they travel through the Black Kingdom to recover Lilika’s stolen locket. And in search of an answer to the mystery behind Winter in the Soul.

Lilika holds the key to stopping the darkness from spreading. The fate of their world lies in her hands. Will she stop the Black Kingdom before its darkness overtakes them all, or will they succumb to the darkness that is spreading across the land?