Urban Fantasy Investigations …
September 25, 2013 • No Comments
Urban Fantasy Investigations – talking about the temptations Evelina has to face – http://urbanfantasyinvestigations.blogspot.ca/2013/09/guest-post-giveaway-study-in-silks-by.html
Drop by and see me!
Blogapalooza!
September 22, 2013 • No Comments
Congratulations to Lysette, my winner from Blogs ‘n’ Kisses!
I’m up at some other blogs right now:
Reading and Writing Urban Fantasy: http://readingandwritingurbanfantasy.blogspot.ca/2013/09/writing-publishing-tips-opening.html
Fantasy Book Cafe: http://www.fantasybookcafe.com/2013/09/guest-post-the-uses-of-macaroni-in-fantasy-by-emma-jane-holloway/
Literary Escapism: http://www.literaryescapism.com/39594/guest-author-emma-jane-holloway
Stop by, comment and win stuff!
First 50 Pages Free Read–and a trailer!
September 13, 2013 • 5 Comments
Read the opening of A Study in Silks HERE courtesy of the Suvudu site! Not just a taste test, but a decent helping to see if you like it.
And the Baskerville Affair book trailer debuted today. Watch it HERE!
Not bad for Friday the 13th!
Guest blogging
September 9, 2013 • 1 Comment
Over at Books-n-Kisses today! Come visit and enter to win a giveaway.
The Baskerville Book League Wants You!
September 8, 2013 • No Comments
The mission is clear. Those of stout heart and brave spirit are welcomed to join in a campaign of bookshelf domination. I’m inviting friends of the Baskerville Affair trilogy to band together and spread the word about the series in a fun way. I’ll be there to chat with you, cheer you on, and show my appreciation.
First, contact me at [email protected] I will hook you up with the Book League and its Facebook page where you will meet other adventurers.
Then, undertake the mission that works for you. The first rule of the league is to enjoy yourself—so do whatever you are comfortable with. Running through the streets wearing nothing but a book jacket always gains great publicity, but not all of us are up for that. The mission is simple: to encourage as many people as possible to read my stories.
Share your thoughts about my books on your blog or web site. Share my posts or updates on your Facebook or Twitter page. The most important thing is that you: A) have fun and B) share the book love with people you think might enjoy my work. Sadly, we do discourage actual body modification as a sign of extreme fan devotion. Just because some of the characters are half-human and half-machine, it’s not a life choice we recommend in pursuit of purely cosmetic results.
The Adventure begins . . . Pick at least three* League activities that you’re comfortable with. Please let me know what you’re doing, with links, pictures, or whatever you can provide. If have questions, let me know.
If you’re sallying forth in-person, I’ll send you a supply package before the book release with pamphlets, postcards or various goodies to share with booksellers, friends, random book-reading strangers, etc. If you need more materials, let me know. If you need less, let me know that, too. I’ll always include a little something for you, too, just to convey my appreciation. If you’re only doing online Book Love sharing, you’ll still receive that special thank-you gift.
*You are welcome to pick more than three, activities of course—but to earn goodies, you just need three. They don’t have to be the same for each book. Whatever works for you is greatly appreciated.
The Baskerville Book League Mission Options:
In Person
- If you’re going to purchase a book, consider buying the book the first week it’s out. First week sales are what make books bestsellers! Authors like that!
- Visit your local bookstore(s). Chat with the bookseller, talk up the book, ask to put bookmarks in all of the copies and leave promo materials at the sales or information desk. We appreciate it if you can get their card so that we can follow up later with additional information.
- Visit your local store(s) that sells the book (independent and chain bookstores as well as Target, Walmart, Superstore, drug store, etc) and put the bookmarks in the books. See if the store manager will let you put promo materials in the book section or on their freebie table. And if you don’t see the book on the shelves, ask the manager to stock it.
- Visit your library(s) and talk the books up to the librarian. Ask them to order the books and let them know I’m happy to supply reading group questions or do an online chat with readers. Ask to leave promo materials at the desk.
- Talk to your local Reader Groups about reading the book. Share promotional materials with them. Set up an online reader group chat with me to discuss the story.
- Talk the books up to your friends, neighbors, hairdresser, dog walker, or the lady in line behind you at the grocery store. Give out pamphlets and recruit other league members. Eventually, we will achieve world domination.
Online
- Talk up the book to your friends, reader groups, Twitter pals, blog readers, Facebook friends, chat group buddies, the pizza delivery guy, and anyone and everyone you think might be interested. Send them to my site and share the love.
- If you’ve read the book and are comfortable doing so, write a review. Any review you give is great, but reviews when the book is first released help a ton! Post the review on Amazon or on Goodreads or on Barnes & Noble or on your blog or on Facebook or anywhere that supports books and authors.
- ‘Like’ the book (both mass market and Kindle) on Amazon, or on Barnes & Noble. The more likes a book gets, the better chance readers will see it.
- Host or interview me on your blog, or share my book trailers or covers.
- Share or retweet my book news, posts, and random blither. Maybe someone will see it and think ‘wow, I have to check this author out.’
- Come by and visit me when I’m blogging, or in a chat, or otherwise blundering through cyberspace.
Before you embark on this adventure, a word of advice: I appreciate any support you give me. But too much sharing is a dangerous thing, especially online. Once, twice a week is fabulous. Once, twice a day might result in de-friending or interventions. You know your friends and your reader love venue best, though. So go with what feels right, but never feel obligated to scream from the rooftops.
Free short story – prequel news
September 4, 2013 • 3 Comments
Here is some very good news! The prequel story to my series will be available FREE online this Friday at the USA Today Happy Ever After Book Blog. The Adventure of the Wollaston Ritual will be featured as part of their Steampunk Fridays! Please spread the word and enjoy the story! I’ll post a link when it’s up.
Warm fuzzies
September 3, 2013 • 2 Comments
I got a nice appraisal in the October issue of RT Book Reviews! “Holloway’s splendid first entry in her Baskerville Affair series will thrill fans of steampunk urban fantasy.” That made me very happy, since I’m not exactly the poster girl for fitting neatly inside a genre category. Sometimes coloring outside the lines can earn one a frosty glare from reviewers if they’re of a very traditional mindset. Good for RT for accepting the book on its own terms, and many kisses to them for liking what they read. “The characters are thoroughly charming and the worldbuilding is first-rate.”
Publisher’s Weekly was also kind: “Holloway stuffs her adventure with an abundance of characters and ideas and fills her heroine with talents and graces, all within a fun, brisk narrative.”
Yes, all right, so this post is shameless self-aggrandizement. However, a little encouragement is welcome since I have a thick stack of page proofs to wade through!
The Demon Lord Plots Chaos
August 25, 2013 • No Comments
The Demon Lord of Kitty Badness lurks on his cat tower. This definitely needs a LOLcats caption!
Fare thee well and safe journeys, little copyedits!
August 18, 2013 • 3 Comments
So, I finished the copy edits on A Study in Ashes, which became abbreviated in emails to ASIA. The book seemed at least as big as Asia, clocking in at around 740-odd manuscript pages, which is twice the length of many mass market paperbacks these days. So I had a few plot threads to wind down. Sue me. Readers can’t accuse me of skimping.
I finished the copyedits in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, and now I’m just waiting for the page proofs. After that I’m done with the trilogy, which has been my alternate reality for the last year and a half.
By the time I get to proofreading the printed pages, I will have reread the book so often I barely “see” it anymore, which is why I ask other people who haven’t seen it before to read it at the same time. It’s interesting that after so many pairs of eyeballs, a fresh reader will still find mistakes.
For those that don’t know, the book production process goes something like:
- Author submits draft to editor
- Editor writes a letter to author that can be summed up as “bleh, rewrite it all”
- After a stiff drink, author submits draft #2 to editor
- Editor emails back the book bristling with comments and complaints
- After two more stiff drinks and some curse words, author submits draft #3
- Editor “ “ “ with comments and complaints, hopefully fewer this time.
- After four more stiff drinks, author submits not only a draft but her soul if only the editor will JUST ACCEPT THE STUPID BOOK.
- With a heavy sigh, the editor figures that’s the best she’ll get and sends the book to production
How do I feel about finishing? A bit stunned. A bit lost. Kind of relieved, but sad at the same time. I think it’s like the empty-nest syndrome.
However, there are plenty of plot threads to pick up and run with. I woke up at about three o’clock in the morning Wednesday night and suddenly I knew what one of the secondary characters wanted for her new plot arc. I wasn’t quite ready to hear about it, but I was delighted to know there are still stories to be told about the Baskerville universe. But not until after a brief respite in the real world. I seriously need to clean my house!