Bid on an Awesome Package from our Operatives!

For this year's Pens for Paws Auction, our members are offering an entire package that includes:

From Karen McCoy:
Signed ARCs of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, The Marvels by Brian Selznick, and Winter Falls by Nicole Maggi

From Katrina Lantz:
 $15 gift card for Amazon.com

From S. L. Saboviec:
E-books of Guarding Angel and Reaping Angel (books one and two in the Fallen Redemption series)

PLUS A Critique of your first chapter 

From Kara Reynolds:
Critique of Twitter pitch, query, and synopsis (between Kara's crits and Samantha's, you could have an entire submission package ready to go!)

From Angelica R. Jackson: Signed paperback of Crow's Rest plus swag

This item will close on May 8, 2016, at 9:00 PM EST, so hurry over and get your bids in!

Pens for Paws Auction 2016

Pens for Paws is an online auction with writers, artists, and others from the publishing community. Items in the Pens for Paws Auction 2016 will go up May 2nd through 6th! Look for critiques from agents, editors, and your favorite authors, plus signed books, jewelry, and handicrafts.

All proceeds go directly to support Fat Kitty City, a no-kill, cage-free, cat (and dog!) sanctuary in El Dorado Hills, California.

Feel free to explore past auctions to see the kind of items we've offered in the past. I'll be keeping a running list, too, as I get confirmation of donated items for this year's auction. If you'd like to donate but are not sure what we're looking for, go to the Donate page

 And brace yourselves for a special offering: a package of books and critiques from Operation Awesome operatives! Be sure to follow the Pens for Paws Twitter account for updates and reminders during the auction.

Crow's Rest Book Blitz

Welcome to the Crow's Rest Book Blitz! Of course I had to participate in the blitz for my own book, lol. This post is chock full o' goodness, including a how-to for a literary garden accent, buy links for the Crow's Rest e-book on sale, a peek at the illustrated sampler for the Crow's Rest world, and--deep breath--a giveaway!

I'm so excited to be able to share the illustrated companion to Crow's Rest, which is called A Compendium of the Faer Folke. It's been in the works nearly as long as Crow's Rest itself, and I just love the way it turned out. Kudos to Errick Nunnally, who ably handled the art direction on this bonus material!

But first, if you're a Crow's Rest newbie, here's some more about the novel:

Crow's Rest
by Angelica R. Jackson
Release Date: May 12th 2015

Summary from Goodreads:

Avery Flynn arrives for a visit at her Uncle Tam's, eager to rekindle her summertime romance with her crush-next-door, Daniel.

But Daniel’s not the sweet, neurotic guy she remembers—and she wonders if this is her Daniel at all. Or if someone—some thing—has taken his place.

Her quest to find the real Daniel—and get him back—plunges Avery into a world of Fae and changelings, where creatures swap bodies like humans change their socks, and magic lives much closer to home than she ever imagined. 

 AND THE E-BOOK IS ON SALE THROUGH JULY 31 (THE BLUE MOON)!
  Buy Links:

Amazon│Barnes & Noble│Kobo Books

To add a little more value to this post (and drag out the suspense for A Compendium of the Faer Folke), I'm also sharing a how-to for a signpost I recently put up in my garden:

DIY Literary Sign Post 

I got this idea when I saw a photo of a similar signpost in somebody’s garden, except theirs pointed to all the places they’d traveled to all over the world. Since my trips to imaginary places far outnumber my travels to real places, it only made sense to create a bookish sign post for my garden. It was so much fun to decide which ones to include, and to doodle little accents to the hand-lettered destinations.

What you’ll need:

1- 4”x4”x8’ fence post (don’t use pressure-treated wood if you have edible plants nearby, but otherwise use what you like: wood, composite, vinyl, etc)

Wooden fence pickets, either plain pointed ones, or Gothic like those pictured (we used 12)

Paint for the picket pointers (we used spray paint because the hardware store wanted us to buy at least a quart of each color. One can of spray paint did two coats on two pickets with some left over)

Paint and Sharpie markers for lettering and doodles

A list of destinations

What to do:

1.       Set fence post in ground, with or without a concrete footing. We had to hire somebody to dig a hole in our rocky soil, and since we’re not supporting an actual fence on the post we opted not to do concrete.

2.       Cut (or break them off if you want them to look more rustic) pickets to random lengths, leaving plenty of room for you to letter the destinations on them.

3.       Paint the main color on the pickets, making sure the wood is well-covered so they’ll last longer in the elements.

4.       Paint on the letters for each picket pointer, and use the Sharpie markers to accent the letters as well as adding a doodle if you like. Don’t worry if they’re not perfect—it just adds to the charm. But if you really want them to be uniform, you can print out a font from your computer and use that as a stencil on the pointer.

5.       Once they’re the way you want them and have fully dried, spray a UV-protective acrylic sealer over all.

6.       Drill pilot holes, and use 2” wooden screws to mount each pointer. You can use all four sides of the post if it’s in the center of an open space, but we decided to only use two sides since ours would back up to a crepe myrtle tree.

And that’s all! It was totally easy. Here are a few more pictures. (all photos by Angelica R. Jackson)

And now--drum roll please--check out the illustrated companion, A Compendium of the Faer Folke! Read it here, or get it as a free download!

About the Author:

In keeping with her scattered Gemini nature, Angelica R. Jackson has far too many interests to list here.

She has an obsession with creating more writing nooks in the home she shares with her husband and two corpulent cats in California's Gold Country. Fortunately, the writing nooks serve for reading and cat cuddling too.

Other pastimes include cooking for food allergies (not necessarily by choice, but she’s come to terms with it), photography, and volunteering at a local no-kill sanctuary.

She blogs at Angelic Muse, and is a contributing member of Operation Awesome and the Fearless Fifteeners.

Author Links:

   

GIVEAWAY:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

UtopYA Con 2015 and Beyond

One of my original critique partners, Christina Mercer, started going to the UtopYA Con in Nashville a few years back, and raved about the experience. Which is why that con was the first one to come to mind when I decided earlier this year that I wanted to travel to a fun con as a debut author.

It took some planning (and more money than I anticipated) to be able to attend this year, and I'm so glad I did! UtopYA started with a focus on YA paranormal and fantasy books, and has evolved over its four-year lifetime. For 2016 and the fifth year, they're expanding the scope to include MG through Adult categories, in the paranormal, fantasy, and contemporary genres, with a name change to Utopia Con to reflect that it's not just YA any longer.

Panel on "Is Time Travel Really Possible?" with Myra McIntyre, PK Hrezo (an Operation Awesome alumna), Robert Scherrer, Rysa Walker, and Sherry Ficklin

This is the most fan-based con I've ever gone to, and there was so much enthusiasm given to each and every author--we all joked that we're spoiled for other cons now, because we know what it's like to go to a great one. EVERYONE I interacted with was friendly and welcoming, and the creepster factor encountered at a lot of cons was nearly completely absent (I only heard of one incident with a member of the public trying to push his book idea on authors on fan day). Oh, and I got to have fellow Operative Karen McCoy as a housemate!

For me and Crow's Rest, going to UtopYA Con allowed me to peek into an entire other world of bloggers and fans that I haven't been tapping into. These authors (mostly indie- and self-published, and even trad pubbed authors like Rachel Harris) at UtopYA were doing everything right, and have a fan base that I wasn't even aware of. I hadn't ever heard of many of them before the Con, and yet they had fans traveling cross-country to squee over meeting them--and then those fans bought every single print book by that author to get it signed. I know of several people that left with close to 200 books they'd purchased at UtopYA. 

And not only did the con offer good-quality workshops, panels, and talks, there were tons of opportunity for letting loose! On karaoke night, the theme was time travel, so I wore one of my steampunk outfits and got lots of compliments

L to R: me, Karen McCoy, Michelle Kellogg, and Lora Beth Johnson

Karen and I rented a condo with critique partner Alison Kemper, and we got out into the humidity for a walk and to see some of Nashville. We were located on the Cumberland river and my photographer side fell in love with all the rusted metal

The railroad bridge near our condo

The drawbridge upriver from our condo

The view from our balcony

A statue of a French dude which I mocked mercilessly

And then on Saturday, there was a Fan Day and signing event, and Alison and I both had tables set up

Alison's books are rom-zom-com (romantic zombie comedy), so she gave out eyeball lollipops at her blood-spattered table

My display included my trailer on a loop, free bookplates, buttons, and bookmarks. You can't see it in this picture, but my skirt has blackbirds embroidered on it!

On Sunday, one of the attendees, Eva Pohler, organized a tour of the Parthenon replica in Nashville's Centennial Park.

I know I'm not doing this con justice--there were just so many cool things that happened, large and small--oh, oh, we saw nuns playing basketball!

Actually, that unintenionally-rhyming brain detour captured it pretty well! I'm still on overload and trying to process all the things I learned and saw. I even got video of Karen's lip sync contest performance, but it didn't turn out well. The best footage is in another post by Michelle Kellogg if you'd like to see her in action.

I really hope to be able to swing the finances to attend again next year--will I see any of you there?

Bookplates the Inexpensive Way

I'm going to an event cross-country in Nashville, UtopYA Con, and one of the things that's been stressing out all of the authors attending is how many books to bring with us to sell and/or sign. Bring too few and you'll be turning people away empty-handed, and bring too many and you'll have to decide whether to pay shipping home (or take up your valuable suitcase space again).

I will be bringing my guesstimated amount of 40 books, but I still have that nagging fear that I'll run out and miss out on some fans. My solution was bookplates that I can sign and hand out, and the more I thought about it, the more I liked that idea.

If a fan has already bought an e-book of Crow's Rest, this is a way for them to have something physical to take away. Or if they're not buying my book that day (there is a very longs list of authors who will be signing, and let's face it, no one can buy every book), they can buy a copy later from the retailer of their choice and stick the bookplate in there. Voila, signed copy!

I looked around for some good prices on bookplates, but since I'm already paying for buttons to give out, as well as the transient vendor license that Nashville requires*, my budget was really tight. I wasn't able to find any that were within my budget, so I designed my own bookplates to print on my ink jet printer.

It obviously helps if you have some design skills and access to your book art, but you could make some pretty sharp bookplates with stock images. For the technical-minded, my image dimensions are 3.55x2.663 inches at 300 dpi to fit on the Avery 6464. Even with the cost of the ink figured in, I estimate that these will cost me about .15/each!

These are also great if someone out of my area wants a signed copy--instead of them sending me their copy to sign, and then me having to ship it back again, I can send them a signed bookplate instead.

What do you think? Are you going to give these a try?

*A lot of us were caught by surprise by the $112 transient vendor fee that Nashville requires to sell items, even if you're selling as part of an event like this con. Make sure you always check for these license requirements when you're thinking of selling your books out of your county (if you have a business license, you're covered in your county) because getting caught without one can mean fines.

Welcome to the Crow's Rest Bloghop!

Today I'm celebrating the release of my debut novel, Crow's Rest, by taking part in a bloghop, yay! You can see the complete schedule here. Participants were asked to share a real-life ghost encounter, or other strange happening, and boy do I have something special to share. And, there are giveaways!

But first, I wanted to share a section from Crow's Rest, which features a sinister encounter for Avery at Warren Castle (which is modeled on the real, haunted Preston Castle in Ione, California). Here she is telling Daniel about it:



The story behind the story is that the spooky events Avery describes actually happened to me at Preston Castle. And also like Avery, I've been involved in documenting the Castle's restoration in photographs. Preston Castle has been featured in an episode of Ghost Adventures and The Great Escape, and it's a pretty creepy place. They offer overnight events, but I'm not quite that brave!

Since I already indirectly shared a ghost story, I'm not going to count it as my bloghop post, lol. Instead, I offer you photographic proof of a living Fae being--I'm not sure exactly what kind he is, but this enchanted forest citizen was captured on film at the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park fifteen years ago:

You can click on the picture to see it larger, btw. Can you see the little bearded, pointy-eared man to the right? He's peering around the smaller trunk and looking very cheeky in his tophat. Perhaps my feet are blocking the entrance to his home under the tree? Tell me what mischief you think he's contemplating in the comments!

And now, for the giveaway!

One grand prize will be awarded, and it includes a signed copy of Crow's Rest, signed bookmarks, a Celtic knot necklace, and fun swag items

And two Swag Packs will also be awarded, and include signed bookmarks, a Celtic knot necklace, and fun swag items

These giveaways are open to U.S. addresses only, and you can enter through this Rafflecopter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Title:  Crow's Rest

Author:  Angelica R. Jackson

Published:  May 12, 2015

Publisher:  Spencer Hill Press

Isbn: 9781633920040
Pages: 288
Retail: $9.95

Buy Links: Barnes and Noble |  Amazon | BookDepository

About the author:
In keeping with her scattered Gemini nature, Angelica R. Jackson has far too many interests to list here.

She has an obsession with creating more writing nooks in the home she shares with her husband and two corpulent cats in California's Gold Country. Fortunately, the writing nooks serve for reading and cat cuddling too.

Other pastimes include cooking for food allergies (not necessarily by choice, but she's come to terms with it), photography, and volunteering at a local no-kill cat sanctuary.

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