The Winner Is...And Happy Release Day!

Hi, everyone! Well, I survived my cover reveal and first round of edits last week! I think that calls for celebration, don't you?

Wait, I already celebrated.

The Giveaway for the $25 Amazon gift card has ended, and we have a WINNER!! The winner is..................

Joycedale Laurien Chapman!!! Congrats to Joycedale!! Joycedale is excited to buy more books with the gift card! I think that sounds like a great way to spend the money, don't you? :)

Do you want to see the crazy thing my husband and I did over the weekend?

That's right! We got puppies! Not one, but TWO!! I think we might have had a temporary moment of insanity! Lol.


Also, Happy Release Day to Tamara Grantham, a friend and fellow author of Crimson Tree Publishing (the sister publisher to Clean Teen Publishing). BLOODTHORN, the third book in her Olive Kennedy - Fairy World MD series, released yesterday! Check out this awesome cover!

BLOODTHORN by Tamara Grantham

Release Week Sale $3.99. (Regularly $5.99)

NOW AVAILABLE! AMAZON / iBOOKS / NOOK

SPELLWEAVER by Tamara Grantham

Available now on sale for $3.99. (Regularly $5.99)

AMAZON / NOOK / KOBO / iTUNES / SMASHWORDS 

READ THE FIRST BOOK TODAY FOR FREE:

AMAZON / NOOK / KOBO / iTUNES / SMASHWORDS 

Visiting Faythander is a nasty business. Forget the fairies and unicorns, most people come back with lost memories and mental problems. Olive Kennedy knows. She's the therapist who treats patients suffering from Faythander's side effects. Despite her empty bank account, she takes pride in her job as Houston's only Fairy World medical doctor. She's never failed to cure a client—until now. Traveling back to Faythander wasn't on Olive's to-do list. But she has no choice. The fate of both Earth and Fairy depends on her ability to stop an ancient being called the Dreamthief. To complicate matters, she may be losing her heart to someone who can't love her in return. Saving the world, she can handle. Falling in love—not so much

As if battling the forces of evil wasn't difficult enough…

ABOUT TAMARA GRANTHAM:

FACEBOOK / TWITTER

Tamara Grantham was born and raised in Southeast Texas. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in English from Lamar University. After marrying her husband David, she followed him through his training to become a burn surgeon, which consisted of moving from Vidor, Texas to Galveston, Texas, then to Tulsa, Oklahoma, back to Galveston, and they finally settled in Wichita, Kansas. Tamara and David have five active, sweet, and almost always well-mannered children, ages zero to ten years. Their two pets, June—the Jack Russell Terrier, and Chester—a black cat, help to keep the house lively (in addition to the children.)

When Tamara isn’t writing or tending her children, she enjoys taking walks through the woods, eating chocolate, and very infrequently, she enjoys a good night’s sleep.

Check out Tamara's website at: http://www.tamaragranthambooks.com

What's up with you? Have you celebrated anything lately? What would you do with a $25 Amazon gift card? Do you think you might read Tamara's free book?

Catalyst Cover Reveal and Giveaway!

Today is the day! I'm super excited to share the cover for Catalyst with all of you. But first, a word from my publisher. ;)

Clean Teen Publishing is proud to present the official cover reveal for Catalyst by Kristin Smith.  

This is the first book in the thrilling new Deception Games series coming November 21, 2016!

Are you ready for this???

Can I get a drumroll, please?

***************

***************

***************

***************

***************

***************

***************

***************

AND... here it is! :)

Title: Catalyst (The Deception Game, Book One)

Author: Kristin Smith

Release Date: November 21, 2016

Publisher: Clean Teen Publishing

Genre: YA near-future thriller

Book Synopsis:

Too pretty.

Too smart.

Too perfect.

In a crumbling, futuristic Las Vegas where the wealthy choose the characteristics of their children like ordering off a drive-thru menu, seventeen-year-old Sienna Preston doesn’t fit in. As a normal girl surrounded by genetically modified teens, all of her imperfections are on display. But after the death of her father, everything she's ever known and loved changes in an instant.

With little skills to help provide for her family, Sienna clings to the two things that come easily—lying and stealing. But not all thief-for-hire assignments go as planned. When a covert exchange of a stolen computer chip is intercepted, she becomes entangled with a corrupt government official who uses her thieving past as leverage, her mother as collateral, and the genetically modified poster boy she’s falling for as bait.

In order to rescue her mother, there may only be one option—joining forces with the Fringe, an extremist group, and their young leader who’s too hot to be bad. Problem is, these revolutionaries aren’t what they seem, and the secrets they’re hiding could be more dangerous than Sienna is prepared for. In the end, she must be willing to risk everything to save the one thing that matters most.

***PRE-ORDER CATALYST HERE!***

About the Author:

Kristin Smith writes young adult contemporary and science fiction novels with enough kissing to make her mother blush. She's a beach lover and a Just Dance guru who enjoys belting out karaoke (from the comfort of her own home). As a self-professed chocoholic, Kristin is a firm believer that if a dessert doesn't have chocolate in it, then it's not considered a dessert. (Except for crème brûlée. She can always make an exception for crème brûlée.) Kristin currently resides in the middle-of-nowhere North Carolina with her husband and five incredibly loud but extremely cute boys. To read more about her obsession with YA novels or her addiction to scarves, you can connect with her at the links below.

Newsletter Sign-up

Author Website

Blog

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

         

Enter to WIN a $25 AMAZON Gift Card! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

So, what do you think??? Do you love it as much as I do?! Did you add Catalyst to Goodreads? Did you enter the Giveaway? 

Thanks for stopping by to celebrate my cover reveal with me! :)

Love List for Catalyst

On Friday, my editor sent me the first round of edits for Catalyst. I've been working hard all weekend on them, and as I've been reading through the manuscript ONE MORE TIME, I'm realizing there is so much I love about this story.

Obviously, as writers we tend to get attached to our characters. We may put them through the wringer, but ultimately, we want them to succeed. And I've got to tell you, I love Sienna, the main character in Catalyst. I love her spunk, her determination, and her fighting spirit. But I also love that she's awkward and inexperienced when it comes to boys.

With the cover reveal for Catalyst literally a few hours away, I thought I'd share some of the things I love about my story. Who knows? When you read it, you may love them too! :)

Love List for Catalyst

1) I love that Sienna is a bit of a bad-ass and rides a motorcycle.

2) She's a thief-for-hire yet she's an awesome big sister.

3) Her best friend is a skilled hacker who can break into just about anywhere.

4) The Fringe and what they stand for.

5) Match 360 and Chromo 120—the genetic matchmaking and modification companies.

6) The genetically modified teens.

7) Zane and his perfect life.

8) Trey and his dimpled smile.

9) Curly and his fun-loving attitude—he is great comic relief!

10) The underground Compound.

Cover Reveal Sign-Up

Hi everyone! I have some exciting news to share with you. Thanks to Clean Teen Publishing's amazingly talented designer, Marya Heiman, the cover for my debut novel CATALYST is FINISHED! And y'all, I love it so much. So, so much! I can't wait to show it off to the world.

Which is why I need YOUR help. I finally get to plan my very own Cover Reveal, and I'm so excited!! I'd love for you to help me spread the news! If you're interested in participating in the Cover Reveal, please sign up by clicking on the link below. Thank you! You guys are AMAZING! :)

COVER REVEAL SIGN-UP

IWSG April: I Have a Website!

Hi all of you IWSGers! I can't believe it's already April, and while most of you are kicking it with the A to Z, I'm neck deep in all the fun and exciting stuff that goes along with publishing your first book. For those of you who haven't been around in a while, I recently signed with Clean Teen Publishing to publish my debut novel CATALYST, a YA near-future thriller. And obviously, I'm THRILLED!!

Since then, I've created an author website, which you can find HERE, I've started a newsletter sign-up which you can find HERE (don't you want to sign-up to receive the latest info on cover reveals, book releases, giveaways, and general awesomeness?? Of course you do!) :) And I've been working with the designer on my cover. *insert squeal* It all feels so surreal that after wanting this for so long, it's finally happening! 

Sure, I could easily get caught up in the "but I didn't get an agent" or the "but I didn't sell to a major publishing house" but in the end, does that REALLY matter? I'm bringing my book baby to the world and that's enough for me. I love the publisher I went with (everyone has been amazing so far!) and I look forward to writing many more books for them.

Speaking of which, I have my first deadline! They'd like the sequel to Catalyst by the end of August! I've been working hard and thankfully, the words are coming, but I know it's gonna be a beast to revise.

On another note, how do you go about securing blurbs from authors? My publisher would like me to ask established authors to read an ARC and provide a little blurb to be used on the back cover or the first couple pages of the book. Obviously, I can ask CTP authors, but if I wanted to branch out, do you think most authors would be receptive? I had a friend tell me that big name authors like James Patterson actually have people pay him to do a blurb for them. Is that something I should try to do? Secure a big name YA author and pay them???

Also, has anyone ever hired a publicist? I'm trying to decide if the cost would be worth it.

Give me your thoughts! :)

This post is brought to you by the IWSG. A big thank you to Alex Cavanaugh, the brain child of this group, and all his co-hosts for this month. It's never too late to join this fun, supportive group. Click HERE if you're interested.

Happy Wednesday!!

Riding on Cloud Nine

It's been a couple weeks since I signed with Clean Teen Publishing to publish my YA novel, CATALYST, and I'm still feeling the after effects of all the excitement. I've received such a positive response from family, friends, people at church, even people I went to high school with that I can't help but be excited (and a little nervous) about bringing my book baby to the world. Basically, this song sums up how I feel:

I can't even begin to describe how thrilling it was to read the OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT regarding my book deal with Clean Teen. For those of you who haven't had a chance to read it, you can find the announcement HERE.

Now that I've signed with a publisher to publish my novel, there's a lot of preparation that has to be done, not only to get the book in the best possible shape for publication, but also to build my author brand. I think this is where CTP excels—helping their authors get their name out there. With that in mind, I recently spent some time creating my author website, and it is now up and running! Check it out and tell me what you think! You can find it HERE. Also, if you feel so inclined, please sign up to receive my newsletter and be the first to know about cover reveals, release dates, and giveaways! You can find the sign-up form on the Contact page of my website. I plan to add the newsletter sign-up to my blog (as soon as I figure out how to do it!) :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! As for me and my family, we've been enjoying the sun, sand, and surf! :)

Happy Friday!