Change of hat for the Wandering Writer

It's that wonderful time again when the Wandering Writer turns into the Marketing Writer.
Just like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I am going to transform myself, to give you some updated and fresh news.

First of all, I have now a new website.
It had been a lot of work, money and time spent tweaking the way I think it is best. Eventually, this is not even the final version, and with time, it will be improved and updated more frequently. Nevertheless, if you want to drop by and give some hints and suggestions, I would be more than grateful.

CHECK THE NEW WEBSITE

Every week I will change the header's picture updating a Quote of the week.

About the trilogy, I have bundled recently into a box set,  I would like to make some remarks. The novella Deadly Deception - Prelude, has been tweaked one more time and edited. Also, the other books have gone through a screening to fix some minor/medium issues with the dialogues. I must say that those reviews which were not so positive gave me a lot to think and gave me the chance to improve and see my novels with the eyes of those readers. Not being an English native speaker is challenging, but on the other hand, I need to tell those stories I kept in my heart, and that's mostly the reason why I published them.

About my next release I have sent it to my editor, and I plan to have it published by next month. The date is still to be decided also based on my ARC team's schedule.
But stay tuned and keep an eye on my Facebook page/blog/website for the news, as soon I will start releasing some sneak peeks and the cover.

So for this time, I guess it is all, but don't hesitate and contact me for whatever question. I am (almost) always open. LOL

Have a great weekend!

To err is human

Oh well. I guess I am not the only one who has passed through this step. I still consider myself a beginner in the publishing industry, and this kind of mistake is easy to make.
What I am talking about is the re-issuing of the second book I have ever published, "The Ghosts of Morgan Street."
In the beginning, I gave the editing work to someone who had great feedback about her turnaround times and quality of work. Particularly the latter impressed me, so without even caring about the price, I chose her.
Now, and only now, I start to reconsider that the job was not done correctly. Particularly after having found a new editor who did a fantastic job with Aquila et Noctua, I decided to give her the task to re-edit the work.
Better later than never.
Anyway, I am considering to go through all the other books, including the trilogy, and see how can I improve them.
Of course, there couldn't be any re-edition without dressing the book for the party with a brand new cover. That was perhaps another problem that could have resulted in poor sales. Using the blessed time of being alone for the whole week in the house, I put myself to work. Then, with the help with the best purchase ever, a drawing tablet, I started to combine, cut, draw, and color, until I could reach a satisfying result.
Of course, you would like to see it, and here it is:

It is nothing fancy; actually, I kept it as simple as possible, making it more compliant with the standard for the genre, psychological thriller.
Any feedback is welcome.
The re-release will come in the following week, so it's a good time to stay tuned and hope for the best.
So another thing I have been learning is the importance of not just choosing a good editor, but the one that can work with the kind of issue that most likely is affecting your writing.
For example, my problem is not being a native speaker and finding a person who is qualified for editing works of people who have English as a second language, is critical.
Every writer has a particular issue, whether it is a problem of plot holes, stilted dialogues, or anything else, finding the right editor is crucial.
Of course, this means also going through a list of wrong editors. So far, I changed four editors before finding the right one. Therefore, if you are in the same situation as I am now, and are wondering whether your editor is the right one, I suggest following more closely what the readers say and how do they react to everything you are publishing. They are, at least from my point of view, the best channel to understand whether what you are doing is right.
That said, I wish you all a great weekend and see you next week.

It's birthday week

It has been three years since the day when, for the first time in my life, I have pressed the 'publish' button on what it was back in the days CreateSpace of Amazon.
It was for my novel "A Tale of a Rough Diamond."
For this milestone and birthday, I have set up a deal, and from the rest of the month, my debut novel is going to be priced 0.99 $ ONLY ON KOBO!:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/a-tale-of-a-rough-diamond

The reason why I hadn't put the sale on Amazon is that the book is not inserted in Kindle Unlimited, so I cannot set a limited time deal.

If you haven't had the chance to read it, I am going to explain the reason why you should not miss this deal.
About the story:
At first, it is a tale of a dysfunctional wealthy family. From the outside, everything seems as perfect as in a fairy tale, and even for the main character, Stephan, who finds himself dealing with a careless mother and a jealous brother, things seem to go almost fine, until all hell breaks loose, and due to his restless nature, he will find himself framed in a crime and going to jail .
Everything seems lost, and Stephan will have to fight not only for his own life but for the justice he deserves.
It is a tale of deception, and indeed not everything or anyone is the one it seems to be.
Every character has his/her own purpose, and whether from the outside, they might seem to act in a despicable way; for some of them, it is a mean to cope with unspeakable traumas.
It is a tale that gives the chance to look deeper into the soul of people before judging them.

If you want to know more, here are a couple of excerpts featuring the hero and the villain:

The Villain:
Roger looked at his hands. They were shaking – that nervous shake he’d learned to recognize and deal with a long time ago. His head felt as if it were going to explode, so strong was the pain he felt.
He reached for the cabinet, where he kept the first-aid kit and took a couple of analgesic pills. He knew they wouldn’t really help, but he took them anyway.
He was expecting two guests, both very important. The first one didn’t worry him at all, as he knew he could easily be dealt with.
The second one, however, was on a totally different level. The success or failure of all he had built so far was at stake – his firm, his career, his wealth, and his own life. That was the reason for the restless state of his mind, that made his hands shake and his head ache.
He looked anxiously at the clock. There was still time, but it seemed as his heart had a different perception of time, and it started to race in his chest. He took a couple of deep breaths and went to sit in the armchair behind his desk.

He made himself comfortable, sinking into the soft leather, and closed his eyes to regain some calm. He thought about what the deal of the game was, and how the success of both the meetings was to be achieved. Success was not an option.

The Hero:
Stephan waited in the darkness, feeling nervous and excited at the same time. Every time he was at that exact spot, waiting for the car of Reece stopping by or for Jonas to whistle him about his arrival, he felt the adrenaline rush, foretasting another adventure with his mates.
A couple of whistles, and he understood his friend arrived, just in time, before that restlessness on the background of his turmoil, would have overwhelmed the excitement and he would have ran away, scared like a child.
“It was about time, where is Reece?” asked Stephan.
“He is waiting in the car a couple of blocks away from here, there was a cop car parked there,” he said, pointing the entrance of a shop.
Jonas walked fast and barely exchanged a single word with him, like he generally used to do.
Stephan didn’t say anything either, but his behavior made him more nervous than he already was.
“Come on guys, we don’t have the whole night,” said Reece impatiently.
“What’s the matter with you tonight, it seems like we’re going to rob the Central Bank in the middle of the day,” said Stephan.
“Shut the fuck up, kid. We are not going to a party,” hissed Reece as he drove as fast as he could to their target.
Stephan could tell, when Reece had been drinking, and knew that he could become quite dangerous; therefore he sat down on the backseat of the car and remained silent as Reece ordered.
As they arrived in front of their target, Reece remained still for a moment, like he was hesitating and was almost ready to give up everything. “Fuck that!” he mumbled.
“Come on let’s go!” Reece added as he got out of the car.
“OK, kiddo, do your trick,” Jonas whispered.
It was a matter of a couple of minutes and the door opened, then a few seconds, and the alarm was put to sleep.
“Jeeha!!” Jonas exulted as they all got inside the house.

The small group of friends dispersed to the different rooms of the house, looking for something to rob that could give them some small wealth.

I hope you will give it a chance, and that you will give me your impressions/feedbacks about it.
If I grabbed your attention, and you want to know more about me and future deals, you might want to consider joining my Newsletter.
I do send news, fun facts, bonus material, and exclusive deals, to my subscribers once a month, and whenever something new happens, like when I am delivering ARCs, for example.
Here is the link to join:
http://eepurl.com/dny4RL

That will be all, and as usual, I wish you a great weekend.

Paula