Posts tagged The Raven
The Blog Tour Comes to an End. Buy the Book Already…
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And so more than a month of blogging, interviewing, pimping, and otherwise striving to find ways to introduce Nevermore, A Novel of Love, Loss & Edgar Allan Poe to the world has reached its end. Yesterday the final two blog posts went live – they are linked below, along with all of the other stops along the way. More than 40,000 words written to promote a book that is about 52,000 words long… I must be crazy.
But I love this book. I have huge faith in the story, and the characters. Reviews have borne this out – but no matter what I do, or say, despite a “social media reach” that should be in the ten thousand range, the book only trickles out. Such is a writer’s life.
I’ve been buried nose deep in writing The Note Quite Right Reverend Cletus J. Diggs and The Crazy Case of Foreman James, and in marketing / formatting / proofing and editing books for Crossroad Press all along, but I’ve dedicated myself to pushing this book. I will remain so dedicated. You should go and buy it and read it. If you are a print only person, it’s available in hardcover and trade paperback. If you like eBooks, it’s available in every format at a cost of only $2.99 for the moment (the sale price I set it at for the promotion). If all of that fails to move you, Gigi Shane has narrated an unabridged audiobook of the novel which is fabulous, her voice bringing things to the novel that the written word cannot. I can’t think of a single thing to say beyond what I have said in all the posts below, and all the blog posts pointing people toward them, so I will now let this go.
Congratulations to those who have entered to win copies of the book; I will have your names / etc. soon and will have all the copies out to you.
-DNW
Audible.com | Barnes & Noble | Crossroad Press
THE ENTIRE TOUR! READ THEM ALL, INTERVIEWS, GUEST POSTS, CHARACTER INTERVIEWS…
Read My Post “Ancient Evil is the Best Evil” at the Sun Mountain Reviews Blog
Read about how I was Drawn to the Darkness in my writing at the Blog of A Chick Who Reads
Read My Interview with Edgar Allan Poe at the blog of Deal Sharing Aunt
Read some about the birth of the novel Nevermore at Paranormal Dimensions!
Read a Character interview with LENORE (My version) at Michelle Lee’s blog
Read my post about what influences my writing at Rinn Reads!
Read my guest post about Donovan DeChance at the Paranormal Book Club
Read my post about romance in books over at Fierce Dolan’s Blog..
How personal and North Carolina history affect the novel – read at the FLYING HIGH blog!
Read about mining history for your fiction at Christine’s Words!
Read about the cover art by Lisa Snellings at Workaday Reads
Read the review of the book, and the guest post on keeping your series new
Read the interview at One More Chapter
Read my post about writers – and reading – at Janna Shay’s blog!
Read My post – Everybody Loves a Mystery – here in this blog!
Read my post “Let There be Magic” at the main Buy the Book Tour Site!
Read my post about “The Dark South” at The Open Book Society Blog…;
Read about Genres & Why I hate them : ==> AT THE AUTHOR’S CAFE
READ THE Guest Post about History in fiction at MELISSA’S BLOG!
Interview with me at the Blog of author Hywela Lin
Interview with Donovan DeChance at Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews
Interview with Edgar Allan Poe at MJ Schiller’s Blog (join the discussion)
Get the details of the book tour – and the giveaways – at Buy the Book Tours…
BUY NEVERMORE! AT AMAZON.COM or BARNES & NOBLE or CROSSROAD PRESS
DOWNLOAD THE AUDIOBOOK FROM AUDIBLE.COM – NARRATED BY GIGI SHANE!
An Interview With Edgar Allan Poe …
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I hope it’s not getting monotonous, my posting the entire tour links every day. I am hoping that people who have missed the earlier posts will still find them interesting. Some of them, like today’s post, are unique. When I was given the schedule for this blog tour, I was also given an “assignment” for each blog. Some wanted interviews. Some wanted a guest post for their blog. Still others wanted me to interview a character.
In today’s post, I have the very odd, and distinct opportunity to interview one Edgar Allan Poe – not just the historic Poe, but the Poe of my novel. To do so, I traveled with another character, Donovan DeChance, to what I can only describe as another dimension – to an office / library that Poe discovers during the novel. Tricky, but fun.
I did a lot of research on Poe prior to the writing of the novel, and have continued it ever since, because I find him fascinating. I have very, very old editions of his works. I have one of the magazines he first appeared in…I don’t have a raven, yet, but I’m working on that… I hope you enjoy the interview, and that it makes you curious enough to buy the book. Nevermore is only $2.99 for the length of this tour – but the tour ends on September 2nd, where I have my last two blog stops on two separate blogs simultaneously.
Here is a snippet from my interview with Edgar:
“DNW: Today I have the distinct pleasure of interviewing one of America’s most distinguished poets and authors. I have to thank my friend and fellow dreamer, Donovan DeChance, for the introduction, and the remarkable circumstances that have brought me to a very singular room – not quite in, or out, of my own world and time – and into the presence of a personal idol. My guest (or rather I am his) is none other than Mr. Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar, you have no idea what an honor this is…
<a href=”http://dealsharingaunt.blogspot.com/2013/08/nevermore-novel-of-love-loss-edgar.html#sthash.HkvJ6j97.dpuf”>Read the entire Interview at the blog of Deal Sharing Aunt</a>
THE TOUR SO FAR:
Read some about the birth of the novel Nevermore at Paranormal Dimensions!
Read a Character interview with LENORE (My version) at Michelle Lee’s blog
Read my post about what influences my writing at Rinn Reads!
Read my guest post about Donovan DeChance at the Paranormal Book Club
Read my post about romance in books over at Fierce Dolan’s Blog..
How personal and North Carolina history affect the novel – read at the FLYING HIGH blog!
Read about mining history for your fiction at Christine’s Words!
Read about the cover art by Lisa Snellings at Workaday Reads
Read the review of the book, and the guest post on keeping your series new
Read the interview at One More Chapter
Read my post about writers – and reading – at Janna Shay’s blog!
Read My post – Everybody Loves a Mystery – here in this blog!
Read my post “Let There be Magic” at the main Buy the Book Tour Site!
Read my post about “The Dark South” at The Open Book Society Blog…;
Read about Genres & Why I hate them : ==> AT THE AUTHOR’S CAFE
READ THE Guest Post about History in fiction at MELISSA’S BLOG!
Interview with me at the Blog of author Hywela Lin
Interview with Donovan DeChance at Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews
Interview with Edgar Allan Poe at MJ Schiller’s Blog (join the discussion)
Get the details of the book tour – and the giveaways – at Buy the Book Tours…
BUY NEVERMORE! AT AMAZON.COM or BARNES & NOBLE or CROSSROAD PRESS
DOWNLOAD THE AUDIOBOOK FROM AUDIBLE.COM – NARRATED BY GIGI SHANE!
The Birth of a Novel, and Some Comments on Commitments
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The other day a blogger took me to task for being disappointed that one of the blogs that signed up for my tour didn’t post the guest post I gave them, or respond in any way to queries about it. There was going to be a review at that tour stop too…something I’ve come to anticipate, as I’ve gotten only a moderate number so far on the book. Here’s the thing.
There was a bare minimum of effort required for that blogger to meet their commitment. I wrote the post, and I handed it in to them more than a month ahead of time. I provided a free copy of my book and, while that blog does have a review policy that says reviews not guaranteed, they committed to the review when they chose it as an option on the blog tour AND their own policy states that if they just couldn’t finish, or whatever, that they will say so… They said nothing.
Thankfully, the talented Michelle Lee let me borrow her blog space, and, albeit a day late, the Character Interview with LENORE is live (link below). Maybe I have unreasonable expectations, but these things have two-way commitments. I met and exceeded mine, and it’s frustrating and off-putting to have that work ignored. Enough on that. I hope nothing horrible happened in the life of the blogger in question, and I wish them well, but as a cautionary note – if you set up a blog tour, vetting the blogs carefully is important, and one thing I would check is how long it’s been in operation (the blog) and how regularly it’s updated. Also important? Traffic, comments, and popularity. If most of the traffic on a particular post is channeled through my own post about it on my blog, then I didn’t really need that other blog at all…the idea is to diversify and build the audience. I hope I’m doing that. On the up side, 287 people (or so) have signed up to win one of the prizes…
Today’s post is about the birth of Nevermore, A Novel of Love, Loss & Edgar Allan Poe. It covers the pre-story in Kali’s Tale, and moves on to explain how the book came into being. I hope you’ll enjoy it. Here’s a snippet:
“Eleven months ago, I wrote the following at the beginning of a post at my website and blog:
THE TOUR SO FAR:
Read a Character interview with LENORE (My version) at Michelle Lee’s blog
Read my post about what influences my writing at Rinn Reads!
Read my guest post about Donovan DeChance at the Paranormal Book Club
Read my post about romance in books over at Fierce Dolan’s Blog..
How personal and North Carolina history affect the novel – read at the FLYING HIGH blog!
Read about mining history for your fiction at Christine’s Words!
Read about the cover art by Lisa Snellings at Workaday Reads
Read the review of the book, and the guest post on keeping your series new
Read the interview at One More Chapter
Read my post about writers – and reading – at Janna Shay’s blog!
Read My post – Everybody Loves a Mystery – here in this blog!
Read my post “Let There be Magic” at the main Buy the Book Tour Site!
Read my post about “The Dark South” at The Open Book Society Blog…;
Read about Genres & Why I hate them : ==> AT THE AUTHOR’S CAFE
READ THE Guest Post about History in fiction at MELISSA’S BLOG!
Interview with me at the Blog of author Hywela Lin
Interview with Donovan DeChance at Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews
Interview with Edgar Allan Poe at MJ Schiller’s Blog (join the discussion)
Get the details of the book tour – and the giveaways – at Buy the Book Tours…
BUY NEVERMORE! AT AMAZON.COM or BARNES & NOBLE or CROSSROAD PRESS
DOWNLOAD THE AUDIOBOOK FROM AUDIBLE.COM – NARRATED BY GIGI SHANE!
More about History – My fictional settings – Nevermore Blog Tour
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I must have been on a history kick. Today’s post, while not like yesterdays, which dealt with using history and research to find and flesh out ideas for your fiction, is also about history. Personal history. In this post – which is hosted by FLY HIGH – one of the fine blogs on my Nevermore blog tour, I talk about the settings I’ve created – San Valencez, Old Mill, Random Illinois, and where they came from. I promise I’ll be back to posting about some other things soon, but I’m committed to getting a few of you to actually read Nevermore, a Novel of Love, Loss & Edgar Allan Poe. Anyone who thinks that 30 books and more than 25 years of gathering fans makes it easier to find readers isn’t paying attention. I have a lot of friends, even more acquaintances, get a lot of positive comments and good mentions by others – but I am my own publisher on this book. I know how many copies have, and have not sold, and I know that despite the huge push I’ve been giving this in every venue I can find, most people are saying, oh, that looks cool – and walking away… I want more of you to read my book. After all, I wrote it for you…
Here is a short bit of today’s post:
“Anyone familiar with my work (and I say this with a smile, because I’m aware that’s not as large a group as it ought to be) knows that I love history. I also have opinions about it, which I’ve written about before. I doubt very sincerely that very much of what we know of the events of our past is accurate. We have history books. We have journalistic accounts. We have diaries and biographies and even stories passed through families from generation to generation, but all of them are colored by society, prejudice, and simple error. None of that is what matters. What matters is that we keep that past alive – that we don’t let our history escape us.
THE TOUR SO FAR:
Read about mining history for your fiction at Christine’s Words!
Read about the cover art by Lisa Snellings at Workaday Reads
Read the review of the book, and the guest post on keeping your series new
Read the interview at One More Chapter
Read my post about writers – and reading – at Janna Shay’s blog!
Read My post – Everybody Loves a Mystery – here in this blog!
Read my post “Let There be Magic” at the main Buy the Book Tour Site!
Read my post about “The Dark South” at The Open Book Society Blog…;
Read about Genres & Why I hate them : ==> AT THE AUTHOR’S CAFE
READ THE Guest Post about History in fiction at MELISSA’S BLOG!
Interview with me at the Blog of author Hywela Lin
Interview with Donovan DeChance at Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews
Interview with Edgar Allan Poe at MJ Schiller’s Blog (join the discussion)
Get the details of the book tour – and the giveaways – at Buy the Book Tours…
BUY NEVERMORE! AT AMAZON.COM or BARNES & NOBLE or CROSSROAD PRESS
DOWNLOAD THE AUDIOBOOK FROM AUDIBLE.COM – NARRATED BY GIGI SHANE!
Making History – Nevermore Blog Tour his Christine's Words
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I have a recurring theme in posts on my blog, that of history – whether an accurate version ever existed – how to mine it for fiction, how to research it – how to preserve it. Today’s post on the Nevermore blog tour is over at Christine’s Words- where I wrote about history, in general, how it led to the creation of this particular novel – interesting stuff, to me, anyway. I hope you will pop on over there and check it out. While you’re there, you could comment, you know? You could also sign up for the gift card and free book giveaway… Here’s an excerpt from the post, and a link to the whole shebang:
“When you set out to write a story or a book that is set in the past, you have your work cut out for you. On the one hand, you need to do your research. How much research is enough varies wildly, dependent on the setting, and how the events and time period play into the story. I generally do far more research than is necessary, immersing myself in the characters, or the events of the time period, and then use what I’ve learned sparingly to keep things authentic. It’s as important not to bore your readers with details as it is not to lose them by using some event, or technology inappropriate to your setting.
But that’s the easy part. You can find a thousand articles on how to write historical fiction. There are wonderful blogs and tutorials on research, organizing your background material. I could write about those things, but I’d only be adding to a wealth of good information that’s already out there…” =>Read the Entire Post at Christine’s Words!
THE TOUR SO FAR:
Read about the cover art by Lisa Snellings at Workaday Reads
Read the review of the book, and the guest post on keeping your series new
Read the interview at One More Chapter
Read my post about writers – and reading – at Janna Shay’s blog!
Read My post – Everybody Loves a Mystery – here in this blog!
Read my post “Let There be Magic” at the main Buy the Book Tour Site!
Read my post about “The Dark South” at The Open Book Society Blog…;
Read about Genres & Why I hate them : ==> AT THE AUTHOR’S CAFE
READ THE Guest Post about History in fiction at MELISSA’S BLOG!
Interview with me at the Blog of author Hywela Lin
Interview with Donovan DeChance at Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews
Interview with Edgar Allan Poe at MJ Schiller’s Blog (join the discussion)
Get the details of the book tour – and the giveaways – at Buy the Book Tours…
BUY NEVERMORE! AT AMAZON.COM or BARNES & NOBLE or CROSSROAD PRESS
DOWNLOAD THE AUDIOBOOK FROM AUDIBLE.COM – NARRATED BY GIGI SHANE!
The Tour Rolls on: 5 Star Review & Keeping a Series New
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A lot of people who read my blog are writers. This is a two-edged sword, of course. I love the camaraderie and the sharing of ideas, but at the same time if a cruise-ship full of readers wanted to virtually dock here and start buying books – that would rock. Anyway, today’s post was – a little bit – for the authors in the crowd. It’s featured over at The Realm of Fantasy and Fiction. The subject of this post is keeping a series new and fresh – not falling into the routine, formulaic morass that can suck you down and take something magical away from your characters… There is also a very positive, five star review of Nevermore on their site…which is greatly appreciated.
Here’s a snippet from today’s guest post:
“Early in my career I wrote a lot of licensed fiction. I wrote a Star Trek Novel –Star Trek Voyager #12: Chrysalis, and I wrote a number of novels for a company called White Wolf in their “World of Darkness,” which grew from their game Vampire, the Masquerade. I wrote a trilogy about a vampire named Montrovant and his quest to find the Holy Grail, which he believed would allow him to walk in sunlight. I wrote a “Wraith” novel, and another for their game “Exalted” – I even wrote the Dark Ages clan novel – Lasombra, and ¼ of the clan novel Malkavian. For me it was a way of getting novels out there with my name on them, and to hone my writing abilities for my own projects.
A lot happened in the middle of my life, and I’m not going into that here, but I had a very slow period that nearly derailed me completely. When the dust cleared, I found that no one remembered who I was –at least, readers didn’t. People still read and loved my trilogy, and commented on the Star Trek book (lover or hate on that one, it seems) – but no one seemed really interested in what was coming next. I bumped through several agents, wrote a few things, even did a bunch of ghost-writing that was interesting and paid the bills…” ==>READ THE REST at The Realm of Fantasy & Fiction.
THE TOUR SO FAR:
Read the interview at One More Chapter
Read my post about writers – and reading – at Janna Shay’s blog!
Read My post – Everybody Loves a Mystery – here in this blog!
Read my post “Let There be Magic” at the main Buy the Book Tour Site!
Read my post about “The Dark South” at The Open Book Society Blog…;
Read about Genres & Why I hate them : ==> AT THE AUTHOR’S CAFE
READ THE Guest Post about History in fiction at MELISSA’S BLOG!
Interview with me at the Blog of author Hywela Lin
Interview with Donovan DeChance at Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews
Interview with Edgar Allan Poe at MJ Schiller’s Blog (join the discussion)
Get the details of the book tour – and the giveaways – at Buy the Book Tours…
BUY NEVERMORE! AT AMAZON.COM or BARNES & NOBLE or CROSSROAD PRESS
DOWNLOAD THE AUDIOBOOK FROM AUDIBLE.COM – NARRATED BY GIGI SHANE!
Day One of the Big Blog Tour – Two Character Interviews
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First, let me start by posting a link to the main site for the blog tour. At this site you’ll find a schedule of all the blog stops, all the ways you can enter to win copies of the Hardcover, trade paperback, audio and eBook editions of Nevermore – A Novel of Love, Loss & Edgar Allan Poe. The book is discounted for the length of the tour from $4.99 to $2.99 – nearly half off! You can find tour info here: The Buy The Bool Blog Tour for Nevermore!
The First two stops on the blog tour required me to do something I have never attempted before. They are “character interviews,” where I sit down in a virtual room and chat with the characters from my own worlds and novels …quite the change from other types of guest posts I’ve written in the past. Sort of half fiction, half real – and as it turns out, not a bad exercise in getting into the head of your own character. As it turns out, I actually had questions, and probably have a lot more – I limited myself this time out to things that relate one way or another to Nevermore…
At LAURIE’S THOUGHTS AND REVIEWS – there is an interview posted today with the protagonist of my series, The DeChance Chronicles… It’s an interesting way, I think, of showing how the series ties in with Nevermore, and hopefully convincing readers of Nevermore that they might want the entire story…and vice versa. Assuming Donovan has fans, I want them to know it is important for them to read Nevermore.
DNW: Today, I am interviewing Donovan DeChance, book collector, mage, sometimes private investigator – and some say – hero. The book Nevermore, a Novel of Love, Loss & Edgar Allan Poe would never have happened if not for Donovan’s chance visit with Poe so long ago, so I thought it would be appropriate to see what he has to say on the subject. I’ve spent a lot of hours chronicling your adventures, Donovan, but I must say – despite all of that, I still have a lot of questions.