Guest Post and Giveaway with author D.L Richardson

It is always such an honour to have an author visit and I'd like to offer D.L. Richardson a huge thank you and welcome to My Book Chatter today!  

Thank you for hosting me as part of my book tour. For those who don’t know me I write speculative fiction, which encompasses fantasy, science fiction, time travel, ghosts, paranormal etc. I have three YA novels published and they all contain paranormal elements. Some readers might remember when Cath’s Book Chatter featured my YA sci-fi novel Feedback in December 2012.

Promoting a novel involves a million things. There are press releases to write, schools to email, book stores to send flyers to, newsletters to send, websites to updates, guest posts to write, and promotional items to create. I thought I’d share with you one of the things I like to do with my promotional items. I like to make them myself.

Today I created some bookmarks (photo below). These are easy to make but what many readers have said they like about these bookmarks is that they are unique because they are made by hand. I make promotional SWAG for all my novels. For me, this is one way of connecting with readers. What they hold in their little hands, I made with mine.

You will see from the photo that the bookmarks have “a little red gem for my little red gem” and a red jewel on the front. The significance of the text “a little red gem for my little red gem” is important to the novel. It’s when the main character, Ruby, starts to realize that the love of her life, Leo, isn’t seeing her the way she wants him to. It doesn’t help that she died and returned from the grave in someone else’s body, but Ruby strongly believes that if she and Leo are soul mates then Leo should be able to recognize her beneath any facade.

Here is an extract of one part of the novel where she starts to realize that things aren’t going the way she planned them:

The moment I was back inside Audrey’s bedroom I noticed the faint blue glow of my phone. Still plugged into the charger, I pulled the cable as far as it reached and lay down on the bed. I stared at the blank screen letting the millions of questions take flight inside my brain, and for the first time in ages, none of these flying thoughts were about me.

Did Audrey have a boyfriend? Did she send a text good night to a special person? Did she update her social networking sites? Did she even have social networking sites? I belonged to most of them and I’d never come across her profile once.

After a minute I told myself to put the phone back on the bedside. After another minute I was still clutching the phone to my chest, warning myself that nothing good could come from playing with fire, still I couldn’t put the phone back on the bedside table.

I gave up humoring myself and typed in the words GOOD NITE then I punched in Leo’s number and hit SEND.

Leaning my head against the headboard, waiting for a reply that might never come, my mind drifted back to the dinner conversation. Years ago, I’d have given anything for my parents to be together. Months ago, before I’d hooked up with Leo, I’d have seriously considered moving to Texas to play happy family. The prospect of leaving Providence now was out of the question.

A thousand minutes flew by where I drifted off and jerked myself awake. The final time I jerked awake, the screen of the phone was glowing. I checked the message.

THAT U AUDREY

Giddily, I clutched the phone to my chest. A whole other dimension separated us, yet Leo and I were connected spiritually, telepathically, emotionally…wherever this connection came from, I was convinced it existed.

GOOD GUESS I texted back.

Leo texted back SWEET DREAMS AUDREY and I realized I could live a thousand lifetimes and never would I known such physical and emotional torture like I did now. I would never be Leo’s Little Red Gem again. Not while I was Audrey Adams. And Audrey Adams was the only person I could be.

I didn’t hear again from Leo. I also didn’t sleep a wink that night.

I hope you get a chance to read Little Red Gem and fall in love with this feisty, independent character, Ruby Parker. I hope you make Little Red Gem your next curl-up-under-the-covers novel while listening to power ballads and love songs. And I hope you can find the inner strength you need to stay strong and positive.

"One lucky reader who comments on this blog post will be randomly selected to win an ebook copy of Little Red Gem and everyone else will receive one of these unique bookmarks."

Title: Little Red Gem
Author: D L Richardson
Release date: October 11, 2013
Publisher: D L Richardson
Number of pages: 196 eBook | 250 print
Cover artist: D L Richardson
Format: eBook – epub, mobi, pdf | Print
Genre: YA paranormal romance
Digital ISBN: 9781301976485
Print ISBN- 13: 9781492939924
Print ISBN-10: 1492939927

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18525150-little-red-gem

Love can make you do crazy things as Ruby Parker discovers when she dies and returns from the grave to unearth how much Leo Culver loved her. With the aid of bad advice from a ghost who is trapped by a curse, a little bit of magic courtesy of her unsuspecting half-sister, and a televised music talent show coming to town to hold auditions, Ruby Parker makes more of a mess in death than she ever did in life. Can she fix everything before it’s too late? Or will she spend eternity as a ghost, haunted by the unknown depths of love? Either way, one thing Ruby learns is that while love can make you do crazy things, it can make you do amazing things too. But at what cost?

Available at all good online retailers such as:

eBook

Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/365185

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/little-red-gem

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/little-red-gem-d-l-richardson/1117076354?ean=2940045315517

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FUMQDUO

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Red-Gem-D-Richardson-ebook/dp/B00FUMQDUO/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1382054810&sr=1-1&keywords=little+red+gem

Print

Create Space: https://www.createspace.com/4465741

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Little-Red-Gem-D-Richardson/dp/1492939927/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382051507&sr=8-1&keywords=little+red+gem

Bonus material!!!
Here is a unique book trailer.
Listen to D L Richardson as she performs one of the songs featured in the novel. “I apologize in advance for the quality. I haven’t performed live in over 10 years. I’m a little rusty.”

 

More bonus material!!!

Coming soon – Listen to D L Richardson as she performs a second song featured in the novel.

Coming for Christmas - Bonus novella/s. What happened to Audrey while she was trapped in the underworld? More of the story behind the two ghosts, Anne and William.

 Author biography

Music first captured the creative interest of young adult author D L Richardson. From choir, to her first acoustic guitar at age ten, to singing with the school band and performed in main roles in two school musicals. When she left school she helped form her own rock band where she sang lead vocals, played bass guitar, and wrote all the lyrics. At age 26 she sold her equipment and focused on writing instead.

 She lives in Australia on the NSW South Coast with her husband and dog. When she's not writing or reading she can be found playing her piano or guitars, renovating the house, or walking the dog.

Contact

Email: dlrichardsonbooks@bigpond.com 
Blog:  http://dlrichardsonwrites.blogspot.com

Website: www.dlrichardson.com
Facebook:  http://facebook.com/dlrichardsonbooks

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/#!/DLRichardson1 

Guest Post and GIVEAWAY with Author Toni Kenyon

Toni Kenyon

For my sins, when I contacted Cath I suggested something "Smart, Sassy and Pithy" for her blog she agreed.

I'm not sure that I've been smart, sassy and pithy all in one article in my life!

So, I thought about the reasons Cath and I connected in the first place - aside from me being a writer and Cath being a reader.

1. We both live in New Zealand - Aotearoa - the land of the long white cloud;

2. We're both imports. We were transplanted to New Zealand as youngsters from England.

I consider myself an Antipodean gal now, even though due to some inbred kind of patriotism that I don't understand, I can still be found glued to the television bawling in front of a Royal Wedding. There's something inherent about the pomp, ceremony and tradition that pulls at my heartstrings.

So then I took a moment to think about how my background (displaced youngster, struggling to come to terms with a new life, new rituals and a new country) may have influenced the way I approach writing romance novels. If you've read PRIVATE LOVE IN A PUBLIC PLACE, you'll have come to see that my take on romance is little outside the 'usual'. I realize that's a massive generalization, but my writing has been described as 'gritty' and I think that's appropriate and a fair observation.

I love the romance genre and I adore happy endings, but there's some deep-rooted, intrinsic part of me that rebels at the thought of writing a 'traditional' romance. When I look at my own personal history, the way I grew up and the effect being transplanted from my motherland had on me, it makes sense that I would rebel. One of the things I'm enjoying about indie publishing is that I no longer have to 'fit' inside the strict boundaries of a 'line' and the internet gives my work the chance to find its readership over time. As I was explaining to a friend recently as we walked the beach with my dogs, "My stories don't have to come out of the starting gate with a hiss and a roar." They can build to a slow boil - just the way I like my sex scenes... :-)

The lack of restrictions involved in shelf-life as well, means that the stories will be available on-line ad infinitum. I don't know about you, but that kinda blows my mind.

So, what is it that I've mined from the story-telling well to take it's place for eternity in the internet library? PRIVATE LOVE IN A PUBLIC PLACE is the story of Mags and Julian and essentially focuses on Mag's experience with Julian the man and Julian the mega super star. I have always been surrounded by musicians, unfortunately not of the mega super star status, but we're working on that :-) My dad was a bass player and I grew up with a double bass and Vox amplifier in my bedroom. I could often be found as a youngster gaffa taping cables down at the gigs Dad played that evening. Strangely, my husband-to-be is a musician, I sing in a band and my son is currently studying for a degree in rock music. It's not surprising that music plays a large part in my life and that experience (with a lot of help from my imagination) has translated nicely onto the page.

Here's the blurb:

Mags O'Brien lives on the alcohol-soaked, drug-enhanced concert circuit, managing out-of-control rocker Julian MacAvoy. She helps him spread his musical gospel to his adoring followers, despite the fast-spinning turnstile on his bedroom door, and the broken hearts he leaves in his wake.
Mags believes she’s immune to Julian’s magnetic personality but when controversy hits the tour, she finds herself in danger of falling at his feet, slave to his appetites and her own desire and need.
Julian refuses to be tamed, but the pressure of the ravenous crowds clamps tighter and tighter around him. His chaotic world starts to crumble when he realizes his motivation to continue touring comes from an unobtainable woman. Can he force her to make the agonizing choice between himself and her estranged husband?
An erotic and candid look at life on the road.

I hope you enjoy PRIVATE LOVE IN A PUBLIC PLACE. Book two in the series is scheduled for release in April 2013 and also keep an eye out for my short novella, THE FAN which follows the journey of one of Julian's groupies.

In the meantime, I have another couple of novels due for release. If you want to stay informed, sign up for my newsletter at http://www.tonikenyon.com 

I've been blessed to have music touch my life in various ways. Why don't you tell me how music, or a musician has touched your life.
Cath will be making a random draw from those who have commented and I'll send you a $15.00 gift voucher from your preferred ebook retail store.

Thanks for having me, Cath. It's been a pleasure.

             `````````````````````````````````````````````
Thank you so much for the great guest post Toni, and WOW, what an awesome giveaway :)

So come on friends, leave a comment (and include your email address), answering Toni's question for your chance to win that $15 gift voucher!

Giveaway will be open until next Wednesday (NZ time) and 1 winner will be drawn at Random :)

You can read my review of Private Love in a Public Place here