From Challenge Theme to Profession – A Challenge Participant’s Unique Opportunity!

Today I have the honor of interviewing a man of many talents and an awesome friends, Michael Di Gesu! His theme for last year’s Challenge was introducing fellow bloggers’ novels in his own, original way – through flash fiction. What began as something fun morphed into an opportunity though, as he is now doing them professionally.

Your theme became more than just a fun thing to do, didn’t it?

Yes. For over a year I had witnessed cover reveals and thought they lacked imagination. A cover reveal should be special, exciting. Something EVERYONE will remember. When yours had come up I decided to have a bit of fun with it. Create a FlASH FICTION intro to make it special. That’s how it all began. After those first few, blogger buddies approached me. That is when I decided to use my “intros” for the A-Z theme.

What was the response of the authors you featured?

When I “announced” my theme and asked for books to feature, the response was OVERWHELMING. After the featured authors' intros were published, their responses where almost one in the same … they were excited. Many even wrote me and told they had wished the scene I had created was part of their books. I was very humbled and touched by their gratitude.

How difficult was it to find books to fit all of the letters?

As I had mentioned before, the response was “OVERWHELMING.” I received many requests for the same letters, so I picked those who had contacted me first for their choice. Only two letters I had no books, so I had created a “Joker’s wild” pick. The two authors I had featured were picked randomly from those who wished to be featured whose letters were already taken.

Which book was the most challenging?

That is hard to say. Each intro created had to be in the style of the author, so it would be believable. But one particular book’s subject matter was a tough challenge. Kittie Howard’s, RINGS OF TRUST. The subject matter catapults the reader into a world which sadly is still part of our society. White supremacy.

Which book was your favorite?

Oh, man, Alex …. you are sooo bad. You really want me to choose only ONE! Well, if I must … I’d have to say Nicki Elson’s “D” Double header. Since I had the exclusive for her cover reveal with DIVINE TEMPTATION before the A=Z Challenge, I had created an intro for her first book, THREE DAVES. This book brought me back to the 80’s which was a very special time in my life. The music. The fashion. The people. It was the most fun intro I wrote for the challenge.

How long did it take to prepare each post?

As most of my blogger friends know, I usually escape to Florida in March and April. Once I arrived to my usual destination, there was NO INTERNET SERVICE. So, for the first time I HAD to write many of the posts in March and schedule them. I am usually a pantser, so this almost killed me. I HAD to PLAN ahead. LOL. Something I rarely do. Each post took several hours. First I had to read each author’s blurb/synopsis and study the cover. I take my intros very seriously and each must be unique and special. I don’t just rush through them. On average, I would say about four - five hours to research and write, then another hour to post to blogger. Many I had used special fonts and colors which took additional time.

Where did you get the idea to introduce novels?

As I had said in my answer. I was bored with the usual cover reveals. I totally understand the time restraints of writers, but if a an author asks me to reveal their cover, I couldn’t just slap up the cover and the author’s blurb and info. Many of the reveals I feature are the author’s first books. This is a VERY exciting time for an author, so a reveal has to be memorable!.

If you do the Challenge again this year, what theme will you tackle next?

If I decide to do this year’s challenge, my fourth … I honestly don’t know. I know my theme was very successful, but since the challenge, I now offer intros as part of my author services for hire. So I would have to come up with another unique and exiting theme. If I commit, I want to give 150 percent to the challenge. We’ll just have to see where my life is in April. I am currently working on rewriting my second novel with an editor from a publisher. But I hope to have that all wrapped up before April 1st.

Thank you so much Alex for the interview. This challenge in all honesty changed my life. It opened up new opportunities for me.

Thank YOU for doing the interview, Michael. You rock!!

Co-host Ninja Captain Alex is the author of Amazon Best Sellers CassaStar, CassaFire, and CassaStorm. He is the founder of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group and his blog can be found HERE

What Works...Online Marketing Symposium

Do you ever wonder why some books become bestsellers while others can barely be given away? Why some businesses succeed and others fail?  

How does a blog post or a YouTube video manage to go viral? What does it take to reach celebrity status? Why does a person who is less intelligent than you are become the teacher's favorite and make better grades with less work?

Is it a matter of luck or is there some magic formula for success? 
   

Would you like to know what works and what doesn't?

Well, now maybe we can latch on to some of the secrets and tricks that make success happen or what we might want to avoid. We want you to tell us your stories of success (or not so successful) as we present the blogging event that will help us learn.

                                               What Works...

               The first ever "Online Marketing Symposium!"

A blogfest with information you can use.

The event happens on Monday January 20, 2014.

On event day you tell us about a marketing idea that you've used and what worked or didn't work. Your post could describe a campaign that succeeded in a big or small way or one that failed drastically. Tell us about a business campaign, an organizational event, a fundraiser – anything where a bit of promotion was necessary!

The What Works.. Marketing Symposium is not limited to authors but also to anyone in a business that has a promotional aspect – online or otherwise!

Posts can be informational, statistical, a personal experience account, or a funny marketing story. Experience gained from a promotional effort in one area can have applications in other efforts in which we are involved so anything goes as long as promotion or marketing methodology has been involved. 

The ultimate goal is to learn.

Remember – no book – no problem. Marketing and promotion principles apply to your blog, your business, any dream, or project, because we all want to win people over.

This information exchange is more than just a "blogfest"!

It's an online forum where ideas are shared and success for all is the goal.  

Does the thought of marketing and promotion scare you or turn you cold? Fear no more—let's learn together.

It's possible the blogging community can help you make that next project a viral success orthat next book a best seller!

Join our first ever Online Marketing Symposium

Monday January 20, 2014

*****

sign up below:

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Challenge Participant Feature - Roland Yeomans

This month’s Challenge Participant is the amazing author, Roland Yeomans! His theme was Words of Wisdom for Writers, something he offers on a regular basis at his blog.


Please welcome Roland in an interview like none other!




Meilori's was empty for once: everyone was out Christmas shopping. What do ghosts give one another? Don't ask. You'll sleep easier.

Alex sat opposite me, toying with his Romulan Ale.

Alex:
You know, Roland. After our "Hangover" adventure with Mark Twain, I don't touch this stuff.

Roland:
Mark wanted to show you Asgard next ... with Jamie Alexander ... as his date.

Alex (rolling his eyes):
Of course as HIS date. Your blog always offers words of wisdom. Was it hard matching letters to your topics?

Roland:
With as varied a place as Meilori's and as populated as my linked novels are, it was fun. Sort of like bobbing for ideas.

In fact, some of my literary friends fought for some topics. Some letters were challenges, of course -- like Q or X or Z. That's what makes the A to Z Challenge fun.

Alex (sipping at his Romulan Ale):
Hey! This is Ginger Ale!

Roland:
I didn't want to risk you with Loki.

Alex:
Thanks for having my back.

Roland:
This way I get to accompany Jamie Alexander to Asgard.

Alex:
Oh, it was Jamie's back you were interested in. I should have figured. Your F post was on Frost. Do you really think poetry is dead? And just how important is poetry anyway to a prose writer?

Roland:
If poetry is dead, we prose writers are in the next ward over, wheezing noisily, with our family gathered around looking concerned and asking about our DVD's.

There are about six people who buy new poetry, but they are not feeling very well. I joke, of course. But poetry is becoming a lost taste in reading. A shame really.

Ernest Hemingway said that the best writing was poetry in prose. Read some of the early Stephen King and you will see what Hemingway meant.

Alex (stiffening in his chair):
Was that Carl Jung who just strolled by?

Roland:
Yes, and we writers can learn alot from him.

Carl Jung was a “spiritual thinker” who offered Western culture a way back to religion that places no shame on being human.

He said: "As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being." And isn't that what fiction is meant to do as well?

Alex:
What are some of the keys to writing success, do you think?

Roland:
Well, Mark Twain had some keys:

#1 - Write without pay until someone pays you to do it.

#2 - Don't say the old lady screamed. Drag her out on the stage and have her caterwaul herself.

#3 - Do not hoard.

Give each paragraph all the dynamite you possess. Do not save "a good bit" for later. Your reader may become bored and wander off before your novel explodes.

Alex:
Which post was your favorite and which one was the readers' favorite?

Roland:
The post I am working on is always my favorite, for everything seems possible and the only limits are my imagination and my skill -- so I constantly push myself.

The readers' favorite is WHY FRIENDSHIP? (A RETURN VISIT) See it HERE.

In this digital age, we have never been so connected, yet so alone. Yvette Vickers, star of ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN, was found mummified sitting in front of her computer, having lived the last tragic days of her life, touching people only digitally.

Alex:
So tragic. But enough gloom. My favorite post was our Galactic Hangover adventure. How much fun was that for you?

Roland:
Immense fun. You got the hangover. I got the laughs. Flying through space in Ming the Merciless's space ship was a hoot. And I hope it got people to read about Gordon R Dickson's HOKA. :-)

Alex:
If you do tackle the A to Z Challenge again, what do you think might be your focus?

Roland:
The world is changing so, especially the publishing one. I might write on CHANGE.

You can't stop the future. You can't rewind the past.

The only way to learn the secret of life is to press "Play."


Thank you, Roland!

Co-host Ninja Captain Alex is the author of Amazon Best Sellers CassaStar, CassaFire and CassaStorm, and his blog can be found HERE

A thru Z? The Possibilities Are Limitless!

Infinity Room (Photo credit: pixeljones)

         Can you believe that in 2014 we will be celebrating year FIVE of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge!

          How will you be using A to Z to your best advantage?

           From that first year in 2010 I realized the potential of an event like the April Challenge.  It was a great way to meet new bloggers and add to followers to ones own blog.  Now after four Challenges we've seen the endless possibilities that A to Z has to offer.  Each year brings talented bloggers with innovative ideas to try as well as tried and true methods of improving content generation, reaching out to community, and bettering oneself as a blogger.  

         Among the ongoing A to Z community and the A to Z alumni, proudly displaying A to Z badges and other identifiers is a mark of achievement.   A to Z has become a blogging institution of integrity.

How has A to Z helped you?   How can you make the Challenge serve your needs?

         These are some questions we'll be exploring in the next coming months.  If you've given up on the April Challenge or have considered not doing it again in 2014, think again.  You may be overlooking some important potentials offered by the A to Z Challenge.

Want to Start a Blogging Wildfire?

          Please check out my Monday November 11 post at Tossing It Out.   You don't have to read the entire thing, but scroll down to the last section.  I'm planting some seeds of thought that I hope to start sowing more extensively in the next couple of weeks.

         Or if you'd rather just skip the Tossing It Out post and visit the post that started my thinking, then go to the post by Yolanda Renée at A Faraway View.  This post might make you think.  But this post is only a starting point for something else.   Something that will come later.  Be sure to leave Yolanda a comment about her post so we know that you were there.

         How has the A to Z Challenge helped you?   Are you looking for more readers on your blog?   Do you think there is any tried and true formula for increasing blog followers or subscribers who actually come back to read your posts?

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Science and the Supernatural: A Match Made in Heaven and Earth

As a writer of modern day Sci-fi, action, suspense, and horror I love marrying two polar opposites, while at the same time creating great conflict. I can think of no better subject than combining science with the supernatural.

Most civilizations, including advanced ones throughout history, believed there was more to this world than what the five senses could perceive and interpret. They thought there are more realms than the spatial dimensions we are confined in and limited to by our five senses. Most believed the supernatural was more real than the world they lived in.

Looking back on Greek and Roman mythology, these cultures were merely trying to understand and explain their universe they best they could. Theologians do the same today, the best they can. So do astronomers and biologists. And physicists. Which brings us to one of the simplest, beautiful, elegant, and powerful equations known to man.

E=MC2. Einstein’s famous, even cult-like, equation. The key to this expression is the equal sign. Both sides must be the same. E equals energy. MC2 is mass times the speed of light squared. To get an idea of the potential power of energy in mass, the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki only released one to two percent of their inherent energy.

But what I love about this equation is energy can be converted to mass and mass right back into energy. This could very well explain angels and demons. An angel is generally understood to be a spirit being, made of pure energy, and living for the most part in a dimension above and beyond the space-time continuum we reside.

These beings can, at will if they have the authority, convert themselves into mass and manifest in our world. Then, when their work is done, convert back to energy, disappear, and move with ease back into their dimensions.

Add in a wormhole or two, and let the fun begin. Who knows what evil lurks for a human traversing a portal through space for the first time? They could punch a hole through another world and bring back an evil hitchhiker. But why stop there? Wormholes are the Pandora’s Box that gets knocked over, its unknown contents spilled across the floor and unleashed upon an unsuspecting world. Let the fun begin!

As a writer, I now have free reign to do pretty much anything I want when combining science and the supernatural. I am not confined by the scientific method or need to call my work speculative fiction. I have a license to write all kinds of crazy stuff and not care if I anger someone in the scientific world or the religious field.

Believe me, I have had both camps hound me and write terrible comments on some of my blog posts over the past five years. Why, because these conflicting viewpoints, both trying to explain our universe and our place in it the best they can, do not understand E=MC2.

What about ESP? These are senses that go beyond sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. Pentecostals will call these Gifts of the Spirit, such as discerning of spirits. Mediums claim they can talk to the dead. Others will say they can read your mind, help police find a buried body, or bend spoons. Children seeing monsters in their bedrooms at night? This may not be their imagination after all. Regardless, E=MC2 goes a long way in helping to explain our universe and our place in it. It is certainly not limited to Bunsen burners and telescopes.

So to all my writer friends, you may freely move about the cabin. Take a deep breath and know you can confidently move in any direction your story demands. You may not be writing speculative fiction. You might just be onto something far more concrete than you think.

Stephen Tremp is the author of the Breakthrough trilogy. His third book Escalation is the final installment in the series and is set for release November 2013. You can visit him at www.stephentremp.com