50 Copies of What Doesn’t Kill You Available

50 Copies of What Doesn’t Kill You Available.

My lovely publisher, Choc Lit, is offering 50 Kindle copies of my latest novel, What Doesn’t Kill You, in exchange for an honest review.

To request a copy, email Choc Lit at: info@choc-lit.co.uk. Please insert ‘What Doesn’t Kill You Offer’ into the Subject heading. If you claim a copy, you will need to read the book and write an Amazon review for it.

What Doesn’t Kill You is the first title in Choc Lit’s new Dark imprint – compelling, emotional, hard-hitting novels. Not your typical romance story. An intense, emotional, heartbreaking story.

Blurb:

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger – but how strong can one person be?
Griff Hendry knows what it is to be strong. After a turbulent past, he’s dedicated himself to saving lives, working as a coastguard along the breath-taking shores of Dorset. It’s Griff’s belief that everyone is worth saving – which is why he can’t forgive his father, Logan, for what he did.
Griff’s future is plunged into uncertainty when his wife, Evie, tells him she wants a separation. The revelation is a shock and leads Griff to question what Evie could possibly be hiding – and she isn’t the only one holding back. Griff’s troubled stepdaughter, Tess, also harbours a dark secret.
As the truth is uncovered, Griff is forced to accept that perhaps he’s never understood what real strength is.

Today I’m in Choc Lit Corner defending book covers. Is it a crime to judge a book by its cover? I state my case …

Laura x

Rabbit, Bunny, Jabber, Yap, Rabbit. Romaniacs On Tour. Chi Library Talk.

Romaniacs On Tour.

This Thursday, 25th February 2016, I and two fellow Romaniacs, Sue Fortin and Catherine Miller, are giving a talk at Chichester Library. It’s the first we’ve done as a group since being published, and we are looking forward to it immensely.

Chi Library Talk

We will be chatting about our different approaches to achieving publication and what lies beyond the signing of a contract. With light refreshments, a Q&A session, and three Romaniacs in the house, it promises to be a fun, lively and entertaining evening. We would be delighted to see you there. Tickets are £3, available from the library, and are selling well.

If you would like The Romaniacs to visit a library near you, please do let us know and we shall see what we can do … 😀

Take care.

Laura.

I Have a Date on Valentine’s Day …

This Sunday, 14th February, 2016, I’m appearing at the Purbeck Literary Festival with two of my Littoralis buddies, Kate Kelly and Kathy Sharp. Our books are published by well-respected, independent publishers, and we are bringing our experiences to the festival and holding a discussion on choosing the independent publisher route.

It is free entry to our talk, but please check out the Festival website for further information. There will be books for sale, writerly chat and events for all ages over the two weeks.

We would love to see you there.

Taking The Small Publisher Route

The small publisher option for your fiction.

In an informative and lively ninety-minute discussion, Littoralis, a group of Dorset authors, share their diverse experiences in achieving publication with small, independent publishers.

Topics include:

The advantages of being an author with a small publisher.

Knowing your audience and choosing a publisher.

Preparing to submit your manuscript.

Building your online profile.

Marketing and promotion.

The importance of support networks.

Finishing with a question and answer session, we aim to encourage writers looking to achieve publication to consider the small publisher option as the first step of an exciting journey.

Laura

Monday Monday …

It’s Monday and it’s back to school and work for the James family.

It’s time for me to make headway with my work-in-progress, which has been left untouched for a couple of months. I have been writing – I wrote two Treats for my publisher, Choc Lit, and I wrote out my Christmas cards. I have been creative, designing social media adverts for my books using Canva, an excellent and easy-to-use tool, and baking a cake for my son’s birthday, and I’ve been inspired by films I’ve watched, games I’ve played, and books I’ve read during the holidays.

One of my new adverts, designed using Canva.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my break, but I have so many ideas and ways forward for the WIP, I’m raring to go.

I just need to sort out my to do list.

Speaking of which, The Romaniacs, a writing support group of which I am a member, has introduced its new schedule for 2016, kicking off with Motivation Monday. It’s a chance to list our weekly goals so we can work toward achieving them by Friday. We’re asking you all to join in, so we can encourage and support one another, and celebrate everyone’s successes, major and minor. Please hop over to find out more. Click here.

I hope you’ve all had a fab start to the year, and I look forward to hearing about your successes.

Take care.

Laura.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Thank you so much for all your support this year; for buying, reading and reviewing my books; for chatting with me on social media, and for coming to see me at library events. It is truly appreciated.

I wish you a wonderful Christmas and a very happy 2016.

Take care.

Laura x

Truth or Dare? I Dare You To Try It …

Truth or Dare?

In celebration of the release of What Doesn’t Kill You, my first novel in the Chesil Series, Truth or Dare?, is currently 99p on Amazon (10 December 2015)

If you like your romances a little darker, why not check out The Chesil Series?

Take care.

Laura x

What Doesn’t Kill You.

I am thrilled, delighted and honoured to bring you the news that my third book, What Doesn’t Kill You, is the first to be published under Choc Lit’s newest imprint!

Dark Choc Lit is the new imprint for ‘… compelling, emotional, hard-hitting novels. Not your typical romance story.’

My author tag is ‘romance without the soft edges’, and with Truth or Dare? being quoted on Amazon as ‘hard-hitting‘ (wood_beez48), ‘romance but so much more‘ (Happy reader), and ‘For those who like their romance/love stories a bit tougher, then Truth or Dare? is it.‘ (Book reviews), and Follow Me Follow You, being ‘very emotionally affecting‘ (Welsh Annie) and ‘a mature romance with it’s feet set firmly in reality‘ (Shani), I feel very at home with Dark Choc Lit.

It is most definitely the home for the third in the Chesil Series, What Doesn’t Kill You, and I’d like to take this time to thank my amazing publisher for this opportunity.

So … are you ready to see the beautiful Berni Stevens cover? I have no idea how Berni does it, but she captures the essence of the entire story with her stunning covers.

Scroll down …

It’s a beauty …

The Blurb:

From Dark Choc Lit – compelling, emotional, hard-hitting novels. Not your typical romance story.

Available for pre-order from Amazon.

I am so excited!

Set for publication on the 26th November.

I really hope you enjoy the read.

Take care.

Laura x

Emergence …

Confession: Not all of the editing took place in the cave ..

Emergence … It sounds like the final part in a Veronica Roth series. It’s not, as far as I’m aware. It’s a reference to the time I’ve spent in the edits cave with my third novel, What Doesn’t Kill You, and the fact I’m out and enjoying the October sunshine.

I’m hoping to have more information about the book soon and will let you know the minute I hear. In the meantime, I’m taking full advantage of my time outside by attending a number of writing-related events, starting with the Bridport Story Slam this Tuesday 13th October 2015, at the Beach and Barnicott in Bridport. I was honoured to be a judge last year, and this time I’m returning as the MC. It’s a fantastic evening and I urge you to come along.

Each contestant has a five-minute slot in which to read aloud their short story. If the story exceeds the time limit, the reader is dinged out. I’m not in charge of the bell.

It’s not only about writing, but the performance, too.

I will be there with copies of Follow Me Follow You for sale and would be delighted to talk books and writing during the breaks. It starts at 19:30.

On Saturday 24th October 2015, I shall be at the Redbridge Central Library, Ilford, with three of my fellow ChocLiteers, talking about writing romance. It’s excellent value at £3, and here are the details.

And make a note in your diary for the Dorset Writers Network day on Saturday 14th November.

Along with two of my Littoralis friends, Kathy Sharp and Kate Kelly, I will be presenting a panel on the advantages of being with an independent publisher. There are many events planned for that day, including writing workshops. Really worth checking out and booking in advance.

For further updates about my trips out, please go to my News and Events page.

I look forward to seeing you.

Take care,

Laura x

Website Jail

Website Jail.

I’ve been in website jail. It’s taken a little while to sort out, but I am once again free to blog!

I was victim to over a thousand spam or non-existent subscribers, and as my last blog went out, so did three thousand emails, of which hundreds pinged back. This action put my website host on alert, and quite rightly, they put the site on lock-down.

In order to gain back control, I had to delete the dead or spam email addresses and install a captcha code box to prevent robot subscribers. I spent a lot of hours copying, pasting and deleting these addresses in order to remove them from my database, and once I let my provider know I’d complied with their request, my site was unblocked.

So, lesson learned. On the off-chance my code box doesn’t pick up all the spammers, I will delete the addresses that ping back as and when they occur. The reason I didn’t do this before? Fear of the unknown. Well, now I know, and despite being a lengthy process, it turned out to be reasonably simple thing to fix.

What I wanted to tell you, whilst I was in website jail, was that both my Choc Lit novels, Truth or Dare?, and Follow Me Follow You, are in the Amazon summer sale, each 99p to download, here. If you’ve read and enjoyed them, please do recommend them to a fellow reader. Thanks.

Ahhhh. Life on the outside … Oh. It’s raining.

Time to curl up with a good book, then.

Laura x

Happy Sixth Birthday, Choc Lit!

Today, we ChocLiteers are celebrating Choc Lit’s sixth birthday!

Choc Lit publish books ‘with romance at the heart’, so six is a very special number, as not only does it represent the Lover card in Tarot, but six is the symbol of Venus, the goddess of love.

When my children turned six it meant lots of little people running through our house, paper cups daringly filled to the rim with lemonade, tiny triangular sandwiches the adults ended up eating, and a zillion orange fingerprints on the woodwork, for which the eating of Wotsits was blamed.

I see no reason why partying in this way should cease …

So, put your Wotsit on the table, raise your glass of lemonade, and join me in wishing Choc Lit a very happy sixth birthday. And here’s to another wonderful six years of love and romance.

Who’s for a game of Twister?

Be sure to follow the Choc Lit blog, Facebook page and Twitter feed (#ChocLitparty) for birthday treats.

Laura E. James

Truth in Fiction

Tag: Womens’_Fiction