And now here is the eagerly awaited full cover reveal of my steampunk novel, The Commodore’s Gift. I am so pleased with it. Thanks to DLG Cover Design for making my vision come to life.
Genre: Steampunk
Blurb: Under the Buldrick Empire’s rule, Owena finds herself fighting alongside a rebel force. Her aptitude for strategy and swordsmanship come to the fore. When she meets Galen, not only does she fall in love but becomes even more determined to join the fight to restore the rightful King to the throne.
10:00 am – 4:00 pm Enjoy author interviews, book trailers, Trivia games and a story sharing contest, prize draws, book readings and much more.
ATTENTION BOOK CLUBBERS!
HAVE A BOOK CLUB AND NEED A BOOK RECOMMENDATION? Have a Book Club? Or thinking of starting one? Know someone who does? If you said YES! Please contact me at www.mandyevebarnett.com I am happy to supply Q&A for any of my books and can arrange a prize draw too.
Book Review
One Step Closer by Sophie Pollard – A good debut novel by Sophie Pollard. The twists and turns and internal angst came through well in the writing.
My current read is: City of Dreams by Suzanne Burkett
With the restrictions on events and social gatherings, it is difficult to launch a new book in the traditional way. However, there are ways to promote your newest novel.
Make sure to announce the book title, it’s genre and date of publication and issue date on online sites. This can be through subscriber emails, on social media or local newspaper editorials. Or a combination of all three!
A great way to get your new novel out is a virtual book tour. You can utilize your social media platform and post dates you will be answering questions about the book. There are many options to choose from: Instagram Chat, Facebook chat, Zoom or your own YouTube channel.
If you have fellow authors willing to post your book announcement on their blogs that would be great too.
Offer blog subscribers and/or local book clubs a virtual book reading with a Q&A session afterwards.
Depending on your book’s genre (children/YA) you can create an interactive activity based on your narrative theme.
If you have a local bookstore – offer to have several signed copies available in store.
Be creative and think outside the box! What can you utilize from the story to showcase the book?
Have you launched a new book during COVID19 – how did you do it?
My own steampunk novel, The Commodore’s Gift is set for release 26th September, so I am planning a virtual launch. I have already shared steampunk images on my social media and a few teasers. I even created a steampunk bird, which was a lot of fun. Not sure if I keep him or include him in a gift basket. We will see. Of course there will be a book cover reveal as well.
Now I have to create the six week pre-launch campaign.
Well what can I say but that our road trip resulted in some spectacular revisions, editing and increased word count 72,674 for The Twesome Loop. We left just after work on Friday and made our way to Red Deer, got checked in and made the room our own! This actually means setting up laptops on the table/desks, selecting beds (usually Linda has the one near the window) and then we went for supper. Delicious meal with the chef’s specialty Bulgogi, amazing flavor.
The word Bulgogi literally means fire meat in Korean, and is derived from the Pyongan dialect. It refers to marinated meat, (generally beef if used without a qualifier), cooked using traditional grilling techniques such as gridirons or perforated dome griddles that sit on braziers, unlike deep frying or boiling in water.
Saturday morning after a leisurely breakfast we spent the morning writing in quite companionship for the most part. Then as the sunshine was too glorious to miss, set off for a drive to enjoy the afternoon and surrounding scenery. Back for wine and salad and more writing. As we have a late check out at 1 pm we utilized the time to write after breakfast and set off on a tour of the historical sites in Red Deer. At one site where old buildings have been sited we delighted at two surprise guests – a buck & doe walked in through the gate and calmly grazed just feet away from us.
Our trip home was of course the longer route (common practice for us) and took us to Sylvan Lake, through Lacombe and Clearwater counties up to Rocky Mountain House through Wetaskiwin and Braznea counties and to Leduc and home.
Linda (as my publisher) kindly completed the update of my fantasy romance, The Rython Kingdom with its new cover and ordered proof copies. So it will be soon. I had the idea of having slip covers made for the editions I have at home so the new cover can be attached. I am so pleased with how the new cover looks.
Have you changed a book cover?
Did you write over the weekend?
Do you escape to write? Where do you go?
Books:
I finished The Uninvited Guests – my Goodreads review:
What a delightful and surprising book. I had an inkling about the visitors (I will not reveal) three quarters the way through the book but it was skillfully written, wonderful prose and immersed me in Edwardian life.
Sadie has a remarkable story telling talent and I recommend you read this story. Love lost, love gained and love thwarted with touch of revenge served cold.
The beginning of The Faraday Girls gripped me from the start – a great first sentence! The story is endearing, surprising and intriguing so far.
Writing Tips:
Diana Athill: Read it aloud to yourself because that’s the only way to be sure the rhythms of the sentences are OK (prose rhythms are too complex and subtle to be thought out – they can be got right only by ear).
Margaret Atwood: If you’re using a computer, always safeguard new text with a memory stick. (I know this from experience after loosing over 5K in the midst of NaNoWriMo – not funny!)
I am pleased to announce I completed the two beta-read & editing assignments given to me and both authors were happy with the feedback. One will require me to re-read once certain details are confirmed for legal consistency and correctness.
Another project – ghost writing – is proceeding well and I am waiting on some input from the client.
As for personal projects I made progress on my reincarnation romance, The Twesome Loop this past week and the word count is over 80K – so that makes me happy. There is still some polishing to do. A surprise road trip with my dear friend Linda this weekend will give me uninterrupted writing time to do this. Love when we can escape on a whim! I had to plead for a rain check with another friend for a proposed meeting this Saturday but she was accommodating. Thank you Kathie.
The new book cover for my fantasy romance, The Rython Kingdom is in the hands of my publisher and should be ‘live’ in the next couple of weeks. All in all I am happy with my progress and writing life.
How are your projects progressing? Care to share?
Books:
I am really enjoying this book – it doesn’t give up it’s secrets quickly that’s for sure.
What are you reading?
Do you review books on Goodreads? Why not follow me for my reviews and books just click the link on the side of the page.
Writing Advice:
“You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.”Saul Bellow
So is this true? How about you?
I know I have ‘dreamed’ scenes or story ideas but always improve on them when awake.
Mandy Eve-Barnett's Blog for Readers & Writers 