Monday, March 30, 2015

Football Romance: Intercepted by Love by Rachelle Ayala now expanded into 4 parts

I'm totally excited and psyched to bring you Andie and Cade's love story. What happens when a librarian obsessed with ancient history falls for a pro football player who threw away the Super Bowl on an last minute interception?

HOT action and STEAMY love filled with mystery, intrigue, betrayal and surprises!

Intercepted by Love (Intercepted #1) [Available Now at Amazon]
Pro quarterback Cade Prescott's last play was to lose the Super Bowl for his team. To escape the bad press, he goes incognito to a sleepy university town.

Andie Wales's first love is researching ancient bad boy kings. She is blissfully unaware of the Super Bowl and modern day bad boys. When her dog meets and mates with Cade's dog, Andie's first concern is to get her dog to a vet. She gets waylaid by Cade and his hunky good looks and has no idea just how out of her league Cade is.

Despite his secrets, Cade feels differently about Andie and thinks he might be falling in love. Unfortunately, his past catches up to him, and he is accused of a deed way worse than losing the Super Bowl. Can a professional athlete and a research librarian truly prove the axiom that opposites not just attract, but were meant for each other?


Intercepted by Love (Intercepted #2) [Preorder at Amazon]
Research librarian Andie Wales is devastated to learn that the man she fell in love with is a professional athlete who plays on and off the field. When Cade's past mistakes catch up with him, Andie urges him to go back to California to do the right thing.

Meanwhile, Andie's father's medical bills are mounting, and she needs to take on a second job. A lucrative offer to do research for a scriptwriter lands in her inbox.

Andie flies to Los Angeles to take up the job and finds Cade Prescott at the airport, ready to take her to his place. She's shocked by the rent in Hollywood for even the dingiest closet, so she agrees to stay at Cade's to save money, as long as he promises their relationship is friends only. Can she negotiate a benefit package that'll keep her heart intact?


Intercepted by Love (Intercepted #3) [Preorder at Amazon]
Cade and Andie’s love affair take a shocking turn when both of them have obligations to people from their past. Meanwhile, a rival is trying to get Cade kicked off the team, and Andie’s family situation takes a turn for the worse.

Cade is drawn into a scandal he has no control over, being accused of things he never thought possible. Meanwhile, a huge opportunity drops in Andie’s lap, but she ends up disappointing her family when lurid pictures of her go viral on the internet.

Just when their dreams are about to come true, a bombshell throws Cade’s game off. Will Cade and Andie regroup and trust in their love to carry them forward, or will all their hopes and dreams fade away like the colors of an old movie?






Intercepted by Love [Intercepted #4] (Coming soon)

To protect those he loves, Cade is forced to play dirty with one exception: on the playing field. Meanwhile, Andie is drawn deeper into her role as an actress, playing the lover of a man who claims her heart.

After suffering a severe betrayal, Cade is not sure who he can trust. When Andie steps into the trap of her former lover, Cade wants nothing to do with her. Can Andie and Cade unravel all the forces conspiring to keep them apart and intercept the love they both deserve?



Will there be more??? I'm having a ball writing Cade and Andie's story. New surprises happen every day. If you'd like to follow my daily progress, join my private reader's club and read while I write: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ClubRachelleAyala/

Saturday, March 28, 2015

#CoverReveal Racquel Reck's Frozen Afflictions,Book #2 in the Afflictions Series #newadult #romance


Frozen Afflictions (Afflictions #2) by Racquel Reck

Release Date: June 2015
Cover Design: Amanda Simpson at Pixel Mischief Designs
GoodReads TBR: http://bit.ly/19A05E6


Blurb:

Frozen emotions of the afflicted...
Tryst Kelly's parents made him want for nothing growing up, except their love. It turned him into an emotionally closed off man. But it's not just their lack of care that's made him this way. He did something in his past. Something unforgivable. Nothing can banish the hallucinations that plague him. Not his band. Not his new found friends. 

When the dead start to rise, can Tryst protect himself, and the woman he loves, from the truth?

A burning desire for love...

Bebe Wiseler parties her way through life. From one bed to the next she's completely content with being alone. Until an old crush awakens a need in her she didn't know she had. She's prepared to put her heart on the line to obtain her shot at happiness.

When a past lover resurfaces and his sole intent is revenge, will Bebe break through Tryst's frozen exterior in time?

Bebe is the only one who can make him feel.

Tryst is the only man who truly cares.

The past isn't done with either of them...and it's about annihilate everything.





Already available in the series - Razor’s Edge (Afflictions Book One):

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1GvAN40 
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1Oan8EU 
Amazon CA: http://amzn.to/1BD3yaC 
Amazon AU: http://bit.ly/1xk6yO7 

About the Author:

Always a fan of books, Racquel began reading at the age of six.  Yes, she started early.  It fueled her imagination and she began writing her own stories at the age of ten.  Then her writing took a backseat when she discovered drama class in high school.

Becoming an actor was what she wanted to do with her life, but she changed her mind.  “I felt like I needed to do something more meaningful and planned on becoming a nurse’s assistant.”  She went to college for her CNA, but again not the career choice for her. 

When she turned twenty she met her husband, and shortly after, their daughter came.  All the while she had these voices in her head, these characters begging her to tell their stories.  “I put the mute button on them until I became pregnant with my son, now I can’t get them to shut up.”  She wrote five unpublished novels before her son turned three.  She hopes that her stories will be inspirational for people going through the same problems as her characters.

Instead of going the traditional route, sending out querys and receiving rejection letters, she decided to take on the world of indie publishing.  She writes contemporary and paranormal romances and hopes to one day step out side her genre and write a horror novel.

She resides just outside Detroit, Michigan with her husband, two children, two cats and a dog.  Summer days are spent at the race track and when night time falls, her secret worlds come alive.  

Connect with Racquel:


Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/racquelreck/boards/ 

READ an Excerpt:

My frozen exterior melts with her words. Rational thought burned away by this little woman against me. This time it’s me who initiates the first stroke of our tongues. Bebe moans and tries to get closer, going up on her tip toes. Even in her heels it’s hard for her to be at the height she needs to be. She squirms and as her nails lightly rake down the back of my neck, my cock roars to life.
I palm her tight ass, hauling her up. Never braking the connection with our mouths, I slam her against the wall and dive deeper into our kiss. Every cell in my body is on fire, spurred on by her tiny moans and frantic grinds against my cock.
Her tongue tastes like peppermint, and her body feels like heaven. I want more. More of this feeling she’s giving me.
The want.
Need.
The urge to keep her safe in my—
“F*ck me, Tryst.”
Everything ices over. “What?”
“F*ck me.” She nuzzles the side of my neck.
That simple phrase reminds me why I don't go here with her. How many times has she said those exact same words to other dudes? I set her down and slowly back away. “No.”
Her brows scrunch. “What? But I thought—”
“It was a mistake.”
She cocks her hip to the side and shakes her head. “You’re something else. You know that. This is exactly what I was talking about. You’re confusing the hell out of me. First you’re all about it then you're not? You are a hard man to read.”
I clench my jaw, mad at myself because she’s right. I’m pissed I gave in.
"Be honest." Gary is leaning up against the archway into my kitchen. "You want to bang the hell out of my little sister. But you're afraid to." He laughs. "Scared she'll find out the truth about who you really are."
The snapping of manicured fingers in front of my face makes the vision of Gary disappear. I blink.
“What is wrong with you?”
You don't know how many times I've asked myself that same question. I stare at the archway where Gary once was, but it's now vacant.
“Tryst.” Bebe claps a hand in front of me.  "What alien ship beamed up your brain?”
“You should go.” I turn, and head toward the living room. TV. There’s always an episode of Law and Order on. I need to take my mind off the woman who doesn’t know when to stop, and the ghost who finds it funny to haunt me. I grab the remote off my coffee table then park my ass on my black leather couch.
“I’m not leaving.” Bebe plops down next to me.
“It’s almost two. Thought you were fishing tonight.” I turn on the TV, flicking through channels, pretending I’m looking for something.
With her sitting next to me it’s hard to concentrate. The fruity smell of her perfume, the way she scoots closer every second or so, like she’s testing my boundaries, makes it almost damn near impossible to keep my eyes on the screen.
“Maybe I already caught a shark, and I’m waiting to see if he’ll take a bite.” She runs her hand down my chest, lightly skimming around the scratch marks left by my fans. Under my skin, the blood in my veins follows her hand south. She plays around the top of my jeans, not quite letting her hand brush my bulge.
I drop the remote and go still. Trying with everything I have, I grind my jaw to hold in a groan.
Leaning in, she sucks on my neck. Making her way to my ear lobe, she says, "Maybe I’ll bite him instead.”

Friday, March 27, 2015

#NewRelease Behind the Bar by P.C. Zick #romance Book #2 of Behind the Love Trilogy

Teaser

Behind the Bar is Book Two in the Behind the Love Trilogy. Behind the Bar picks up right where Behind the Altar ended--at the wedding of Dean and Leah. This time it's Susie and Reggie who must struggle to find out if their love can endure a separation and rivals trying to drive them further apart. Reggie's gambling and Susie's struggle with her past push them further apart. Join the crew at the Victory Tavern, including Sally Jean, Charlie, and of course, the cheerleaders and best friends of Reggie and Susie--Dean and Leah.


Click below for purchase links










Sunday, March 22, 2015

What I Learned After Four Years of #SelfPublishing #RachelleAyala #indieauthor #writer



1. You Just Don't Know
If traditional publishers don't know which book will sell, neither do you. You might have studied the trends, researched your competition, created the best, most polished book. You got a great cover and wrote an awesome product description. You hired the entire slew of editors. Your last book in this series sold like snow cones in a hot summer day, but this particular book isn't moving.

Meanwhile, the short story you dug out of your slush pile, the one you wrote for your mother when she was having a bad day, the one you thought should never hit the light of day, but your friends wanted you to join their boxed set on Mother's Day stories, so you give it a look-over, proofread it, dash together a hasty cover by downloading a stock photo and typing a few words on it, upload it with a dedication to your mama. That one's screaming up the charts. What's that about?

2. It Doesn't Last
You had an awesome Bookbub ad. You hit the charts. Yay! Bestseller status. You took the screenshots to prove your book was sub-100-ranked on Amazon. Not just a subcategory, but the entire freaking store! You bring out the champagne. Update your covers to say "Bestselling Author" and ride the wave.

Only... two weeks later, your book is back in the slimepits. All the hundreds and thousands of new readers who were supposed to leave glowing reviews never materialized. As for follow-on sales for the next book of your series? Where are they? You tear your hair out and apply for ads from every site you can think of. My book is a bestseller two weeks ago. Why isn't it selling? You ask you author friends for leads. Which ad should I buy? Which book blast? Should I go on a blog tour?

Hate to break it to you, but your 15 minutes of fame is just that. It's the entertainment industry. You're an entertainer. The public is always looking at the latest viral hit. What to do? Remember to save your money. Save it and don't project your earnings and quit your job. No, really. Even consistent bestselling authors can drop off the charts. REAL QUICK. Think back to who the kindle superstars were last year, or the year before? I'm not naming names, but go back and make a list. Now, look up their sales ranks. Where are they?

3. No One Else Knows
We're always asking each other: Does this work? Should I advertise here or there? Which cover of mine is better, A or B? Can you tell me if my blurb works or not? Which genre is the hottest? Do you think my space vampires steampunk zombies BDSM billionaire stepbrother romance mashup will work? What keywords should I use? And thanks to the friendliness of most indie authors who love to share, you'll find thousands of blog posts just like this one to tell you what works or what doesn't work. Remember. They don't know or if they knew, it only applies to them. Yes, really. More specifically, it only applies to that particular book at that particular time.

Once, long ago, I wrote a post about how I ran a free giveaway on Amazon for Broken Build and got tons of downloads. Then my book sold like wildfire the next week and months after that. That was 2012. That was a particular time, a particular book, a particular stroke of luck.

While it's great to sit around the kindleboards and chat about what works or doesn't work, the caveat should be like with mutual funds: "Past performance does not guarantee future results." Or even stricter: "One book in one place at one time's performance does not guarantee future results."

4. You Can't Keep Up with the Jones
Really. You can't even keep up with yourself, as points 1-2 show. But the truth is, we look at others as a gauge to our success. Sales ranking is comparative, so is author ranking, so are the NY Times and USA Today lists. We can't help but compare ourselves to other writers. That's human nature. However, if you can't even keep up with yourself, how the heck are you going to keep up with millions of other writers out there? You. Will. Drive. Yourself. Crazy.

Sadly, this 'driving yourself crazy' disease is rearing its ugly head among authors I know and care about. It's destroying their motivation to create art. It's making them question themselves about whether they're cut out for this or not. It's heaping loads of self-doubt over their head and sucking the joy out of their lives. Literally. To the point of not just quitting writing, but sinking into a crazy quilt of depression. And it's not just authors who haven't "made it." No, no, no. It's authors I greatly admire who outsell me by bazillions. Who write books I like to read and have fans who'll miss them. It's authors who have made a name for themselves. Why?

Because of points #1 and #2. You don't know and it doesn't last. Even if you hit the NY Times bestselling list. Even if you are one of the superstars of 2014, you are one book away from oblivion. Yes. That's true, IF you are comparing yourself to others. There's always going to be that book about space vampires steampunk BDSM billionaires that's going to surprise the world and blow up your carefully crafted series with the bazillion brothers, sisters, cousins, and the entire state of Virginia family saga for the #1 position. It came from nowhere! And you, my goodness, you slaved and slaved for twenty hours a day, you wrote your fingers to the bone, and you can barely open your eyes and drag yourself to your laptop one minute longer, and blammo. That book beat yours! You've lost the brass ring, the lucky charm, the golden crown. You're a HAS-BEEN!!! Ahhhh... kill me now!

5. Enjoy the Journey.
The best thing I learned is to set your own definition of success and enjoy the journey: writing, connecting, and making friends. I love to create new characters and tell stories. And I love meeting people whether in person or across the world over the internet. And yes, I write so I can be read. What writer doesn't want to be read? Everyone wants recognition or a pat on the back or even someone to scream, "I hated your characters. Kill them off." Who wants to yell into a vacuum? I mean, if a book is unread, does it mean it doesn't exist? So do what you have to get discovered. Write lots of books, hang out, socialize, and take feedback. Then let it go. You can only affect how well you can be discovered, not whether you'll be read.

Meanwhile, crave the company of your fellow travelers, relish in the delight of talking to readers, and most importantly, LOVE to write. That's how you got into this gig in the first place. Recapture that feeling of putting words on the page, and revel in the lives of your characters. After all, YOU are the artist. YOU can make a HAPPY ENDING. So go ahead, make those moments and savor the journey.

That collage I have up top? Those are my rewards. Those people and others are the gems I picked up along the way of self publishing, and I treasure every one of them. Yes, I have books, and I have sales, and I have moments of glory, and bestseller status, and income to pay taxes on, and awards, and fan clubs, and book signings and all the other perks of being a writer. But at the end of the day, it's the relationships that matter. Between you and yourself, you and your characters, you and your readers, and you and your friends and family. That is what I learned after four years of self-publishing.

How about you? Please add your comments of what you've learned and what's important to you.



Rachelle Ayala is a bestselling Asian American author of dramatic romantic suspense and humorous, sexy contemporary romances. Her heroines are feisty and her heroes hot. She writes emotionally challenging stories but believes in the power of love and hope.

Subscribe to her mailing list for upcoming books and giveaways: http://bit.ly/RachAyala and find her books at online retailers Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple iBookstore, and Smashwords.

Books by Rachelle Ayala



Sánchez Sisters

Jewells in Love

Sports Romances

Want to Contact Rachelle?




Saturday, March 21, 2015

#NewRelease INTERCEPTED BY LOVE (Football Romance) by Rachelle Ayala #sports #romance


What would you do if you threw away the Super Bowl on a last minute end-zone interception?

Meet Cade Prescott: backup quarterback for the Los Angeles Flash in their new Hollywood Stadium. He alone is responsible for his team losing the Super Bowl, so he escapes to a small college town in upstate New York to hide and lick his wounds.

Meet Andie Wales: Research librarian. She and her archaeologist family share a vivid interest in King David. In addition to his official history, she's also an expert on his love lives [plural, because of his multiple wives]. She works in a library in a small college town in upstate New York.

“… enchanting story of two people from completely different worlds” – Keli Morgan


~ Description ~

Pro quarterback Cade Prescott’s last play was to lose the Super Bowl for his team. To escape the bad press and recover from the disastrous season, he changes his appearance and hides away at a sleepy university town.

Andie Wales’s first love is researching ancient bad boy kings. She is blissfully unaware of the Super Bowl and modern day bad boys. When her dog meets and mates with Cade’s dog, Andie’s first concern is to get her dog to a vet. She gets waylaid by Cade and his hunky good looks and has no idea just how out of her league Cade is.

Despite his secrets, Cade feels differently about Andie and thinks he might be falling in love. Unfortunately, his past catches up with him, and he is forced to make a difficult decision. Can a professional athlete and a research librarian truly prove the axiom that opposites not just attract, but were meant for each other?

Intercepted by Love #1 is available at Amazon, Read FREE if on KindleUnlimited or buy for 99cents

Intercepted by Love #2 is available for Pre-order
and #3 is in the works. :)

~About Rachelle ~ 




Rachelle Ayala is a bestselling Asian American author of dramatic romantic suspense and humorous, sexy contemporary romances. Her heroines are feisty and her heroes hot. She writes emotionally challenging stories but believes in the power of love and hope.
Subscribe to her mailing list for upcoming books and giveaways: http://bit.ly/RachAyala and find her books at online retailers Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple iBookstore, and Smashwords.

Books by Rachelle Ayala



Sánchez Sisters

Jewells in Love

Sports Romances

Want to Contact Rachelle?




Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Football in Spring? New Series - Intercepted by Love by Rachelle Ayala #sports #romance

Hi all, it's been a long winter, wouldn't you say? I hope you're enjoying my two Spring Training Baseball Romances: Playing Without Rules and Playing the Rookie, set in Phoenix, Arizona with the fictional team, Phoenix Rattlers.

I'm excited to tell you that I'm working on a new series of football romances starring Cade Prescott, backup quarterback for the Los Angeles Flash with their new stadium in Hollywood. [Yes, Los Angeles has not have a pro football team for decades, but us writers get to create one, and so we have a team now. Not just any team, but a team who made it to the Super Bowl, Yay! EXCEPT, my hero, Cade Prescott, threw away victory with a last minute intercepted pass in the end zone. Boo!]

What would you do if you effed up the Super Bowl dreams of an entire city? Let's see what Cade does.

[Note: I've already changed the cover, but it will not be updated at Amazon until next week.]
New Cover:


Pro quarterback Cade Prescott’s last play was to lose the Super Bowl for his team. To escape the bad press and recover from the disastrous season, he changes his appearance and hides away at a sleepy university town.

Andie Wales’s first love is researching ancient bad boy kings. She is blissfully unaware of the Super Bowl and modern day bad boys. When her dog meets and mates with Cade’s dog, Andie’s first concern is to get her dog to a vet. She gets waylaid by Cade and his hunky good looks and has no idea just how out of her league Cade is.

Despite his secrets, Cade feels differently about Andie and thinks he might be falling in love. Unfortunately, his past catches up with him, and he is forced to make a difficult decision. Can a professional athlete and a research librarian truly prove the axiom that opposites not just attract, but were meant for each other?

Intercepted by Love is available for pre-order at Amazon [releases this Saturday, March 21] for a special release price of 99c. Be sure to pick up your copy today and get your football fix for spring.

In other news, I'm going to be working on the next book of my Jewells in Love series when Dylan's sister, Kayla, finds her forever love in Lifted by Love.

Hope you all have a wonderful first day of Spring, and thanks for following me, Rachelle

Monday, March 2, 2015

#GuestPost Rachelle Ayala on why baseball was special in her childhood #Played Sports Romances #blogtour

3677102_6x9-without-rules copy

Book Blurb
A ballplayer's girlfriend hides his daughter from him because she fears he's like his abusive father.

Marcia Powers wants nothing to do with ballplayer Brock Carter, especially after she told him to go away and pursue his dreams. She has more than she can handle with an elderly father, a business to run, and a four-year-old daughter posing as her baby sister.

Brock Carter's back in town to rekindle his romance with Marcia, and this time, he's not letting her run him out of town. Marcia is unable to resist Brock, but determined to keep her secret.

Brock's already lost his heart to Marcia once. Will he lose every dream, including baseball, when he discovers the real reason Marcia sent him away?

Author's Note

Not many people know that I was a big Baltimore Orioles fan way back in my childhood. I was a very contrary child, and it wasn't as much that I liked the Orioles, but that everyone around me loved the Miracle Mets. My brother was especially a Mets fan, so I decided I would be an Orioles fan. This created a lot of interesting conversations especially since I'm a girl and ALL the boys liked the Mets. So, I got to talk to a lot of boys, since everyone wanted to convince me to like the Mets. Since I was good in math, I was always up to date on the stats of each of my favorite players: Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, and Boog Powell.

Am I giving away how OLD I am? Anyway, baseball was a great way for me to go from being a shy fifth-grader who got a "D" in public speaking to running for office in Junior High School and even singing on stage for my campaign song. I sang "wonderful, wonderful, student body, vote for me, vote for me, vote," to the tune of Wonderful Copenhagen. No campaign promises for me.

By the time I hit high school, I and everyone else at our school switched from baseball to football. We were Banning Pilots, All-City Champs, and we lived, breathed, and dreamed football. But baseball for me will always be the days of innocence, when despite me being horrible at every skill: batting, fielding, outfield, I managed to still play pick-up games in the schoolyard and dream about hitting the winning home run for the World Series.

I hope you enjoy my baseball stories and my team, the Phoenix Rattlers, and players, Jay Pak Ahn, Ryan Hudson, Timmy Li, and Brock Carter, as well as the fascinating women they fall in love with. 

Playing Without Rules is available on Amazon (Read Free with Kindle Unlimited)

Author Info

Clare_Ayala
Rachelle Ayala is a bestselling Asian American author of dramatic romantic suspense and humorous, sexy contemporary romances. Her heroines are feisty and her heroes hot. She writes emotionally challenging stories but believes in the power of love and hope.

Subscribe to her mailing list for upcoming books and giveaways: http://bit.ly/RachAyala and find her books at online retailers Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple iBookstore, and more.

Fiction: Michal’s Window, Broken Build, Hidden Under Her Heart, Chance for Love Boxed Set, Knowing Vera, Taming Romeo, Whole Latte Love, Played by Love, Playing the Rookie, A Father for Christmas, Claiming Carlos, Roaring Hot, Playing Without Rules, Christmas Stray

Want to Contact Rachelle?

Facebook Reader’s Club *~* Aim to Love Romances

Website *~* Blog *~* Google+ *~* Facebook *~* Twitter *~* Goodreads *~* Pinterest


Review Tour Schedule

Tour Participant Blog Name Tour Date
Amber McCallister https://thewonderingsofoneperson.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/playing-without-rules-review-tour/ Tuesday, February 17
Lyssa Layne http://www.authorlyssalayne.blogspot.com/2015/02/playing-without-rules-by-rachelle-ayala.html Tuesday, February 17
Shandi K Dews http://mamadewsreviews.blogspot.com/2015/02/playing-without-rules-by-rachelle-ayala.html Wednesday, February 18
Chantel Rhondeau http://www.chantelrhondeau.com/2015/02/bookreview-playing-without-rules.html Wednesday, February 18
Jamie Fredrickson http://www.youhadmeatfreebook.blogspot.com/2015/02/review-of-playing-without-rules-by.html Thursday, February 19
Cheryl Bavaro http://bavarofamilyreviews.blogspot.com/2015/02/playing-without-rules-rachelle-ayala.html Friday, February 20
Debbie Rosa http://adivareviews.com/2015/02/21/playing-without-rules-by-rachelle-ayala-book-review-and-book-tour/ Saturday, February 21
Liza Cochico http://mlizcochico.blogspot.com/2015/02/book-review-book-tour-and-giveaway.html Sunday, February 22
Raquel Leite https://readingssunshine.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/playingwithoutrules/ Monday, February 23
Kaitlyn Sigler http://kaitmar.blogspot.com/2015/02/playing-without-rules-ebook-giveaway.html Tuesday, February 24
Nadene Reynolds http://totallyaddictedtoreading.blogspot.com/2015/02/review-tour-playing-without-rules-by.html Wednesday, February 25
Paige Boggs http://electivelypaige.com Thursday, February 26
Jessica Cali http://calibookreviews.com Friday, February 27
Krista Bainbridge http://www.savorysavings.com/playing-without-rules-book-hop-review-giveaway/ Saturday, February 28
Jessica Cassidy http://www.jessicacassidy.com/2015/03/playing-without-rules-by-rachelle-ayala-review-tour/ Sunday, March 01
Marie Dee http://www.marieclara.com/playing-without-rules/ Monday, March 02
Rachelle Ayala http://www.rachelleayala.com/2015/03/guestpost-rachelle-ayala-on-why.html Monday, March 02
Tour Giveaway

Rachelle Ayala is generously giving away a $10 gift card (Paypal or Amazon) and a key chain (US and Canada only).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A BIG THANK YOU to AMBER MCCALLISTER for organizing this tour, and to all the tour hosts! Muchas gracias, salamat, muito obrigada.

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Story Structure in Six Steps Speaker's Event - Fremont Area Writers #writertip #smashwords #selfpublishing


Story Structure in Six Steps – Fremont Area Writers Tips and Tricks – February 28, 2015
Rachelle Ayala

Whether you are a plotter or a pantser or somewhere in between, it always helps to know where you’re going. This is especially important if you have a deadline or are trying to finish a novel in a month. I’m the founder of the Romance In A Month method and have successfully taught over fifteen authors how to write faster with deeper characters and tighter plots. I recently wrote a 20,000 word novella, Christmas Stray, in 48 hours. Here’s how I did it. http://www.rachelleayala.com/2015/01/how-i-wrote-20000-word-novella-in-48.html

Six Plot Markers
1. Hook – first scene. Introduce main character (MC) and provide a story question right away. It doesn’t have to be the MAIN question, but it should hint strongly at the conflict and provide a spark to get the reader to ask “Why?” [Juliette attacks a Christmas tree.]

2. Inciting Incident. Something out of the ordinary happens to propel the MC toward facing the issues exposed by the Hook. [Juliette and Gabe find a stray dog and lost child behind the woodpile.]

3. Lock-In. [roughly 25% mark]. The MC is committed or forced to move forward with the story, i.e. working through the conflicts you set up. [Juliette and Gabe are snowed in without power with the stray dog and lost child.]

4. Midpoint Reversal, Half Time, or James Bell’s Mirror Moment. [50% mark]. Everything changes. MC goes from meandering and exploring to realization of the seriousness of his problems. Clueless to enlightened. He knows the enemy. Stakes are raised. [Juliette realizes she is the one ruining her marriage.]

5. Dark Moment [75%, but can be earlier or later, depending on how suspenseful and tight you want to set up the climax]. Everything falls apart for the MC. The tentative victories are all busted. Everything she tries fails. [Juliette’s husband rejects her clumsy seduction attempt.]

6. Climax [last 90%] The final fight or the big reveal. MC overcomes hurdles and has clawed his way back out of the dark moment to confront his greatest fear, challenge, or enemy. Big truths are revealed. [Power comes back on Christmas morning. Juliette and her husband find out the truth about the two little strays.]

One last point. Show a satisfying finish. Rewards earned, and all questions answered.

Mark Coker: Ebook Self-Publishing and Best Practice

Guest Speaker Mark Coker then spoke about the state of Self-Publishing. The first graph he showed was the growth of ebooks. Unlike the graph he showed a few years ago, the exponential growth in ebooks is leveling off. However ebooks still offer many advantages over print books, and Mr. Coker went through those in detail: they are lower cost, they are eternal, they can be read on many devices and with large or small font size, and they are portable.

Mark emphasized quality over quantity. He admits that there is a glut of quality ebooks in the market today. The Ebook Gold Rush is over. Unlike back in 2011 when a writer can throw an ebook up for 99c and gain thousands of sales a day, now, many ebooks garnish little or no sales at all.

He put up a telling chart - The Long Tail. A few ebooks do extremely well, selling millions where as the median most likely outcome is way, way, way, lower and far to the right on the graph. The average you hear bandied around [average number of copies sold per book] is heavily skewed by a small number of huge bestsellers. The median is much more telling and more meaningful to most authors.

As before, he reiterates that the sweet spot for pricing is $2.99-$3.99, and that readers prefer longer books. He showed a graph of rank versus average word count. The best sellers averaged 109,414 words and it drops off sharply as word count gets shorter.

A lot of time was spent on horrible book covers versus good ones. And while giving away free books is no longer a ticket to discovery, he presented a graph showing that when an author gives away the first book to a series, they sell much better than series where the first book is not free.

Key takeaways:
  • Quality over Quantity
  • Word of Mouth is Best Marketing
  • People Judge Books by the Cover
  • Ebooks are Eternal, if you don't get it right, don't despair, change the cover, rewrite a few scenes, try another category to put your book in.
  • Distribute widely to all ebook vendors and internationally. You never know which market or geography your book will catch on at.
  • Go to http://www.smashwords.com for more information on the tools available for you to publish your ebook and distribute it worldwide.

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Rachelle Ayala is a bestselling Asian American author of dramatic romantic suspense and humorous, sexy contemporary romances. Her heroines are feisty and her heroes hot. She writes emotionally challenging stories but believes in the power of love and hope.
She is the founder of the Romance In A Month writing club and a volunteer for the World Literary Café. She also provides book formatting services to many indie authors.

Books by Rachelle Ayala

Non Fiction
Romance In a Month
366 Ways to Know Your Character

Fiction
Michal’s Window
Roaring Hot!
A Father for Christmas
Christmas Flirt
Christmas Stray

Chance for Love
Broken Build
Hidden Under Her Heart
Knowing Vera

Sánchez Sisters
Taming Romeo
Claiming Carlos

Jewells in Love
Whole Latte Love

#Played Sports Romances
Played by Love
Playing the Rookie
Playing Without Rules

Coming Soon:
Intercepted by Love

Want to Contact Rachelle?