Debutante Ball - A Feast of Debut Authors

Announcing : Guardian by Gillian Joy

Let me introduce you to Hannah, headstrong and determined, she always knew that she would become the Guardian. She was the keeper and the protector of all supernatural. What she didn't expect was that it would mean she would have to endure the agonising death of her mother first hand as their supernatural connection brings her to her knees, or that it would mean that she could never be with the man she loved.

Blond haired, blue eyed Gabriel was her handsome childhood friend, but would circumstances prevent her from ever being able to explore her true feelings for him?

Jesse, the dark alluring but incorrigible vampire would give anything to be with her, but as the guardian Hannah is forbidden to fall in love with the supernatural.

With her life in turmoil over her conflicting emotions about Gabriel and Jesse and her frustration at being unable to exact revenge for her mother’s horrific death, Hannah flees her life in an attempt to start over. But can we ever really escape from ourselves?

There is no escaping destiny no matter how hard she might try and Hannah must learn to reconcile her commitment to her family with her responsibility as the Guardian and her duty to her heart.

"Gillian Joy is a wonderful talented author who knows just how to tell a story. From the moment I began to read the Guardian I knew I would enjoy it. I highly recommened this book to everyone who enjoys a great story." Crystal Cattabriga, author Shattered into Pieces and Saving Bobby

"Guardian" has a delectable spread of the supernatural and has a amazing story line and well written strong & dependable Characters ....." Confessions of a Bookaholic

"Guardian was an incredibly easy read because of the depth of the characters and Gillian Joy's ability to draw you into her story. Guardian is a must read" YA Book Addict

As an author I'm sure we'd all love to one day see our stories portrayed on the big screen. if I ever had this opportunity I would love to see Emma Watson in the role of Hannah.

So are you interested in Guardian?

You can check out the Website http://www.gillianjoy.com/

Your can follow on facebook or twitter 

Gillian Joy is also online at Goodreads

Do you want to buy a copy of Guardian?

smashwords

Barnes & Noble

Amazon

in paperback at Lulu

or if you would like a signed paperback contact me through the website

This is what you'll get just by leaving a comment--but wait!
The more shout outs you do on Facebook, Twitter or where you hang,
the more chances you get to win! Just let me know what you've done
in this post! (one entry per shout out per day--YES, per day!)

1-e-book copy of Guardian.

1- personally signed Guardian Bookmark.

1-Guardian fridge Magnet.

1- personally signed Guardian 2012 calendar.

1-Gillian Joy wallpaper banner.

All WINNERS announced at the end of the tour on 31st Dec.

Want to win more book fun? Please follow the author names and dates below! You can even go back and book a dance with the authors that have already visited. Good luck and have FUN!

12 Elizabeth Mueller elizabethmueller.blogspot.com

13 Regan Guerra reganguerra.blogspot.com

14 Melissa Pearl melissapearl.blogspot.com

 

15 Claudia Lefeve claudialefeve.com

 

16 Joseph Beekman http://josephsstoriesandtales.blogspot.com/

17 Pendragon Innmen PendragonWrites.com 

19 Alex J. Cavanaugh alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com

20 Gillian Schafer gillianjoy-livingtowrite.blogspot.com

21 FiaunaLund formyfour.blogspot.com

22 Anastasia V. Pergakis http://labotomyofawriter.com/

23 Heidi Murphy http://murph4slaw.blogspot.com/

26 Tanya Contois http://speedyreader-allthingsbooks.blogspot.com

27 Patti Larsen pattilarsen.blogspot.com

28 Red Tash RedTash.com

29 Annetta Ribken wordwebbing.com

30 Cindy Hogan watched-thebook.blogspot.com



Ratings and Reviews

I read an article in the Huffington Post recently about book ratings. The article talked about how easy it was for authors to cheat the system, how they could log in under different names and leave themselves higher ratings to boost their books popularity. Not something I had even thought about before but hey, whatever floats your boat I guess.
It also talked about how the rating system can negatively affect the author too, if people leave bad ratings, sometimes just because they can. Someone at one stage was rating all indie books with one star just because they didn't like independent authors.
I recently had a conversation with some fellow authors about this, some had received 1 and 2 star ratings from people who obviously hadn't even read the book. Ok so you didn't like it personally and didn't even bother to read past the first chapter, so how can you actually rate it, you don't really know if the book was any good if you didn't actually read it.
But the part of the article that really drew my attention was the comment about books with only high ratings. The article claimed that you should beware of these books. Either it was a sure sign that the author was manipulating the system, of if there were only a few ratings, then the book had only been read and rated by the authors family and close friends.
So that annoyed me! Guardian, at this stage only has 4 or 5 star ratings. In total at time of writing 4 x 4stars and 23 x 5stars. Of all those ratings only one was posted by a friend. A few of the reviewers have since become quite good Internet friends but only one was a close friend who knew me prior to me even writing Guardian. I hate being lumped in with a generalization.
I keep expecting a bad rating, it has to come eventually, but I didn't want to feel like I should look forward to it.
Cheers
Gillian

Debutante Ball - Updated Author List

Here's the updated list of FaNtAbUlOuS  dEbUt  AuThOrS that will lure you with lots of cool stuff to win!

Remember, most of all, have fun!

12 Elizabeth Mueller elizabethmueller.blogspot.com

13 Regan Guerra reganguerra.blogspot.com

14 Melissa Pearl melissapearl.blogspot.com

16 Joseph Beekman http://josephsstoriesandtales.blogspot.com/

17 Pendragon Innmen PendragonWrites.com 

19 Alex J. Cavanaugh alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com

20 Gillian Schafer gillianjoy-livingtowrite.blogspot.com

21 FiaunaLund formyfour.blogspot.com

22 Anastasia V. Pergakis http://labotomyofawriter.com/

23 Heidi Murphy http://murph4slaw.blogspot.com/

26 Tanya Contois http://speedyreader-allthingsbooks.blogspot.com

27 Patti Larsen pattilarsen.blogspot.com

28 Red Tash RedTash.com

29 Annetta Ribken wordwebbing.com

30 Cindy Hogan watched-thebook.blogspot.com

See you there!

20 Days of prizes - easy to win TONS!!!!

Welcome to our Debutante Ball, a Feast of Debut Authors Blog Tour!

So a bunch of us debut authors have decided to cohort and we came up with a sweet deal for our loyal readers!

We will spotlight our books and share some  cinematic fun as well!

 

The party will start Monday the 12th, and will go on through the rest of the year until the 30th! 

Wait, that's not all!  We love our books so much that we want to give them to you along with cool swag! Most of our contests will end Saturday, the 31st!

What do we want of you? Just your comment luvin' and cool invites to as many friends as you can gather for our every appearance--each shout out you do is just that much more of a chance to WIN BIG! Just let us know as you do them so we know to throw that in the voting box.

Here's the list of FaNtAbUlOuS  dEbUt  AuThOrS that will lure you with lots of cool stuff to win!

Remember, most of all, have fun!

12 Elizabeth Mueller elizabethmueller.blogspot.com

13 Regan Guerra reganguerra.blogspot.com

14 Melissa Pearl melissapearl.blogspot.com

16 Joseph Beekman http://josephsstoriesandtales.blogspot.com/

17 Pendragon Innmen PendragonWrites.com 

19 Alex J. Cavanaugh alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com

20 Gillian Schafer gillianjoy-livingtowrite.blogspot.com

21 FiaunaLund formyfour.blogspot.com

22 Anastasia V. Pergakis http://labotomyofawriter.com/

26 Tanya Contois http://speedyreader-allthingsbooks.blogspot.com

27 Patti Larsen pattilarsen.blogspot.com

28 Red Tash RedTash.com

29 Annetta Ribken wordwebbing.com

30 Cindy Hogan watched-thebook.blogspot.com

Guest Interview

Hey guys,
You need to pop over and check this out.
Sam, Hannahs best friend from Guardian is doing an interview with Stacy Eaton on her blog.
I wasn't even invited (how rude)
I think she had fun though, and she deserves a bit more of the limelight. Let me know what you think.
Gillian

http://stacyeatonauthor.blogspot.com/

Paperback Giveaway

I'm giving away a signed paperback copy of Guardian and some swag.
All you have to do is follow the link to the Guardian facebook page. Like the page, and leave a comment telling me why you'd like to win. Easy.
So what are you waiting for. Clink the link. Go. Good luck.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001303164984#!/pages/Guardian/103939059707858

The New Cover

So let me know what you think of it?

"Forever" Cover Reveal Book 2 in the Guardian series.

Hi guys,
Pop over to my facebook page at 10pm tonight for the reveal of the new cover for book 2 in the Guardian series FOREVER. It was designed by Tishia at Paragraphic and it is awsome (I am a bit biased though cause I love Gabriel -hint-hint.)
I'll post it up her over the weekend for those of you who don't want to visit fb. But really can you wait that much longer????
Cheers
Gillian

Paranormal Goddess

Natasha at paranormal Goddess Book Blogg made this wonderful post, A quote, the Blurb and how georgeous is that picture. Thank you so much Natasha :)

http://paranormal-goddess.blogspot.com/2011/11/gillian-joy-shares-quote-with-us-from.html

Middle Age loving Young Adult

Have you ever wondered why it is that so many middle aged women are such huge fans of the ya genre? Being a middle aged woman who is a huge fan of the ya genre I believe I am more than qualified to tell you why.

The answer is really quite simple. It's fun easy reading. Adult novels are quite often bogged down with descriptive narrative and complicated plot lines. It's not fun to try to read a story when due to constant interruptions you have to keep going back and re-reading the same paragraph just to make sense of it. As a busy mother, time is something to be cherished and having to waste it re-reading the same thing time and again can be frustrating. Don't get me wrong, I look forward to the day I will have enough peace in my life to be able to find the time to sit down and read war and peace from cover to cover. But at this point in my life I know that as soon as I try to sit down to read I'll be lucky to get five minutes before I have to get up again to run a bath or get a drink or make a sandwich or break up a fight or find the husbands lost keys.

So if I can find a story that takes me away from the humdrum of that existence, and one that I can continue straight on from where I was interrupted at and easily recall what was going on, then I'm going to be much happier. So I am going to keep picking up the soppy teen fantasy stories that take me away the minute I start reading and keep me trapped in that world till I'm finished.

I live to write

Gillian

Giveaway

Here's my first blog giveaway.
Why? Because it's my birthday next week.
On October third one luck follower is going to win an e-book copy of guardian and a swag (hopefully consisting of a calendar, a magnet and a bookmark)
All you have to do to win is follow this blog, and like my Guardian Facebook page easy.
So what are you waiting for? Follow and Like.
I live to write
Gillian

Why is it so hard to make a decision on a book cover?

So obviously a book needs a nice cover, something simple but effective right. There are pages on the web that let you design your own cover for a minimal charge and I figure, hey I design houses for a living how hard could it be to design a cover for a book? So I Start with something basic and come up with a few options but then I can't decide which I like better. So I jump on Facebook and upload a couple of the options so people can let me know what they think. The only problem with that is, different people like different covers. This is a lot harder than I realized. There are a couple of alternatives I quite like but nothing really stands out at me. There has to be something else.

Luckily there are quite a few book cover designers out there who know what they're doing and based on a recommendation I jump on the Paragraphic Facebook site and have a squiz. Wow, some of those covers are absolutely fantastic but none is quite right, there's one girl who looks perfect for Hannah but the rest of the cover is just too prissy, so I contact Tisha and she is more than happy to help come up with something else, she plays with some of the images and we to and fro a little bit and I love the final design, so why do I still feel a bit apprehensive. It's so hard to be unbiased when it comes to your own cover. I can look over covers in the bookstores all the time without so much as a second glance at what could be a really good book. But how do I know if I would do the same thing to the cover I have decided on. Do I go back to Facebook again? This time around the praise is unanimous, maybe I'm on the right track. Not only is the new cover the most popular by far but, but it has managed to triple the likes on the page. So that’s definatly all good. If people are liking the page because of the new cover then they'll defiantly pick up the book. Won't they? I still can’t be objective. I do love it though. What do you think?

I live to write

Gillian

Woohoo...... I did it.

Wow I can't believe I actually did it. I am now officially a published author.

My book Guardian is now available on line. Check it out if you get a chance and let me know what you think.

I'll tell you what though it isn't easy getting a book ready for publication when you’re an indie. It's not that it’s hard, it’s just that it's fiddly and time consuming and takes a lot of effort and a lot of patience. If you want to publish yourself the first thing you need to do is get on the smashwords website. Then download their style guide and book marketing guide and these will tell you what to do. I’m still half way through the book marketing guide though.

Firstly I set up my Guardian Facebook page, but you can't just let it sit there, you need to generate interest and set a network of likers so you need to become a Facebook stalker. Get on and like as many book related pages as you can find and don't be afraid to ask them to like you back. If you can become friendly with one of the more popular book review sites they will probably do a lot of the work for you and you'll end up saying thank you an awful lot. You have to spend time working it if you want to generate interest, but the facebook family are happy to help out when they can. Make sure you also have a twitter page, not that I have any idea what I'm doing there, the followers are slow coming so I have to admit that help and guidance about twitter would be appreciated. Then you apparently also need to set up myspace networking but I haven't gone there yet which is why I say I’m only half way through the marketing guide.

I set up a web page and a blog, and there are a lot of free options out there that are really easy to use so don’t feel you have to spend a fortune.

During all this I was busy formatting the book for smashwords. They recommend what they call the nuclear method if you have problems with reformatting but I just decided it was better to be safe than sorry so I implemented it straight away. Then I just had to go through and reformat all the formatting I had just undone. Hard tedious work especially when the main character can communicate with her mind and all those conversations were in italics so I had to go through the whole book and reinsert all the italics. Oh well it's for a good cause and If you are planning on uploading to smashwords I think it's the safest way to make sure your formatting is right from the onset.

Then finally, the really hard part. Clicking the ok button when it asks “do you want to publish”. My answer was yes and it's done. Woohoo. But now the really hard work begins. Now that it's available I have to let everybody know and really start implementing the tips available in the book marketing guide.

I live to write

Gillian

Welcome

Welcome to my official blog page, and my very first post.

I’ve got no idea what I’m really doing here and I’m not really a very organised person so I’m just going to wing it and see where we end up.

I just went to check on my kids before going off to bed last night and as I've gone in to my ten year olds room I noticed a book and a torch sitting on her pillow beside her head. I had to chuckle as I thought to myself "wonder where she gets that from" but it got me thinking about how much influence we inadvertently instil on our children. I mean don't get me wrong, I love that my children have picked up my love of reading. From the time they went into a big bed our night time ritual has included a bedtime story. We go to bed and read together, and it seems to have instilled a love of reading in both of them. I went in with my son the other week and he says. "I've finished my story mum, I'm just reading the blurb." love it. How Many six year olds refer to a books blurb?

But they're the good habits that they're picking up without me having to do anything, what are the bad ones they're picking up also. Am I ruining my kid’s lives with petty prejudices and beliefs without even realizing it? Of course I am, but I'm not racist, not sexist and not even very judgmental so all I can do is hope that the traits my children pick up from me are mostly positive, like the love of reading and writing.

Feel free to post up a comment and add your own thoughts.

Live to write

Gillian