Leave a comment and I'll gift you one of my novels or a subscription to my Wellness Ezine.

Leave a comment and I'll gift you one of my novels or a subscription to my Wellness Ezine.
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Saturday, October 23, 2010

New Contest for Writers of Young Adult Fiction

Hi Everybody,

There's a new contest over at Guide to Literary Agents you or your friends or family might be interested in.

It's the 7th "Dear Lucky Agent" Contest. This time, it's for writers who've completed a Young Adult novel that they're seeking repesentation for.

The address for detailed information on how to submit is:

Guide to Literary Agents

You can also find information about Guide to Literary Agents in my links to the right of this article.

Good luck!

All best,

Carolyn

Thursday, October 14, 2010

How Sweet it is

Yesterday? Not great. Got 7 rejections for various projects. Amazing how a few short e-mails can drag you down. Especially when they're rejections.

Last night, I questioned whether I should just do e-books with Amazon and forget about finding a spot for other works of fiction in hard copy. Somehow, I got to sleep and woke up with a newly-renewed work ethic. (Yeah, I know, I go through these phases all the time, but this time, I think it really took.)

And the reason is...I write because I love writing, because I love to laugh and cry right along with my characters. So, there will be no giving up. Understand?

When I sat down at my computer this morning, what a pleasant surprise! Another request for the full manuscript of FORENSICS BY THE NUMBERS! That makes 4, count them 1,2,3,4 and quite a few requests for chapters. Best showing ever, so maybe one of these will pan out.

If not? Then I keep writing, because it makes me happy and keeps me sane.

Hope you've found something that does the same for you.

Best,

Carolyn

Friday, October 8, 2010

What fiction are people reading these days?

Yes, yes, I know you're reading erotic fantasy, but what is the rest of the world reading?

According to a new Harris poll, here's what happening...

*Mysteries, thrillers, and crime novels beat out chick-lit (no surprise) and romance novels (big surprise!) by a large margin

*More women than men read mysteries, thrillers, and crime novels; no surprise, more women read books...and buy books

Let's see how that breaks down...

*Almost half (48%) of fiction readers said they read mysteries, thrillers and crime novels

*A quarter read science fiction (26%) and another quarter (24%) read “literature.” One in five said they read romance novels (21%) and one in 10 have read graphic novels (11%) in the past year. Chick-lit (8%) and western (5%) books are less popular

(Bear in mind this was an online survey of 2,000+ people who may not represent everybody who reads books)

*Among those who read nonfiction, 31% read histories, 29% read biographies, and 26% read religious and spirituality books.

*Although politicians garner huge advances for their books, lesser numbers have read political books (17%); so who's buying all those books? What's you guess?

*Self-help books came in at(16%); does this mean people already know what to do to help themselves or does it mean something else?

*Current affairs came in at 14%; are we tired of knowing what next bad thing is around the corner?

*True crime (12%) and business (10%) came in at the bottom; I'm surprised about true crime, but that may be part of the "wish to escape from reality" that books bring; and, business books, well, just try to read one...

*42% of respondents aged 18 to 33 said they were more likely than other age groups to read “literature”; is that because they're more apt to be in school and required to read such books or is that, "I'm refined and read only high level writing," or is it something else? You tell me.

*of course, this age group was more apt to read graphic novels (what we used to call comic books now called) graphic novels (18%).

*Readers 65 and older are more likely to read mystery, thriller, and crime novels (61%) and westerns (9%)

*As mentioned, women are more likely than men to read mysteries, thrillers, and crime novels (57% versus 39%), romance (37% versus 3%), chick-lit (12% versus 4%), and religious books (30% versus 21%).

*But men are no slouches; they're more likely to read science fiction (32% versus 20%), history books (40% versus 23%), political books (25% versus. 10%), and business books (16% versus 4%).

So that's it...If you're a writer, what does it mean for you? If you're a reader, what does it mean?

I know what it means to me...it's back to the thrillers and mysteries, and forget about writing those westerns, graphic novels, and business books.

Leave a comment and let me know what these findings mean to you!

For Fiction Writer...

That's all folks.

Oh, oh, I almost missed a chance to plug our MYSTERY AND CRIME books...You can get the e-books at the Kindle store on Amazon. com (That's ARMED AND DANGEROUS and CANDY, MURDER & ME). To read a chapter, in case you're not ready to ante up the $2.99, stop by my web site and read the first chapter, that's http://www.carolynchambersclark.com/id146.html.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Two Track Mind...or is that three?

The excitement over publishing our e-books has settled into a pleasant glow, and now it's back to getting our books published in hard copy. It's like I have two tracks running down my brain: entrepreneur/e-book hound, and fiction writer who spends hours writing and more hours looking up agents to submit to.

Oh, and did I forget? Every evening, I work on my contracted health promotion book. Pressure's on a bit with that one because it's due the end of December and I've got scads to write. It's going to be a beaut, though, at least I think so. So much information for nurses to use to promote health in themselves and others.

So, that's three tracks, and then there's the one just getting ready to go out and do some yard work with my teenage neighbor.

Can you run out of tracks? Not sure, but I'll let you know.

Stay tuned.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

E-Books are hot!

According to Joe Konrath go here his e-books have sold more than 100,000 copies! Mostly from amazon.com.

So, we've decided to give it a go and put three of our novels up there.

So, here are the three ebooks on www.amazon.com

Here's our international thriller, ARMED & DANGEROUS


In ARMED & DANGEROUS, Intelligence officer and ace motorcyclist,
Captain Caitlin Stanwyck’s been handpicked for a special assignment to
investigate the deaths of twenty U.S. women who died suspiciously in a
U.S. Military Hospital in Germany.

Major Keller, her old nemesis, keeps turning up at every twist and
turn of the investigation, and she can’t help wonder what game he’s
playing. When a hired assassin starts taking out the witnesses and
puts Caitlin in the cross hairs of his weapon, she finds evidence that
Keller may be drawing her into the swirling waters of deception and
betrayal of her country. Can she trust him after he’s lied to her so
many times?

With the clock ticking, the action takes her across Europe and Asia as
she tries to unravel the mystery of why the women were killed and stay
alive herself.

Readers who like plenty of action, a little romance, snappy dialogue
and whirlwind travel around the world, will like this story.



CANDY, MURDER AND ME, the first in the Cookie Berelli, Full-Figured
Mystery Series not only provides a humorous romp of a mystery, but a
lot of good recipes for you to try.

CANDY, MURDER, AND ME is an 80,000-word cozy mystery set in Florida,
in and around a dress design company, which co-stars Sigmund Freud, a
psychoanalyst dachshund.

When full-figure dress designer and candy addict Cookie Berelli
discovers the PI she hired to clear her of embezzlement charges dead
in her design studio, she investigates, to wacky results. For example,
is Eugene Gemstone involved? After all, he is her number one fabric
cutter at Florida Fashions, and he did start acting overemotional
after he wore one of the dresses she designed into the ladies’ room at
Chez Riso and got arrested. He's especially suspect now that he's
disappeared with all of Cookie's candy stash. Then again, it could be
that cute PI, Andy Shea, who shows up at the funeral of her dead PI,
and makes her hear the love song from GONE WITH THE WIND in her head,
or it could be just about anyone else on the planet.

Everyone's starting to look suspicious now, especially Yuri Yarutski,
who owns a sports bar in the bad part of town and wants to go a few
rounds with Cookie, the woman who lives in a tree (who in Florida can
live without air conditioning?), and even Bernadette Humphreys of
Bernie's Tattoos who comes up with the weirdest body art. Okay, yes,
Cookie did find the body, in fact two of them,and so she has to clear
herself, but does that mean the murderer has to go after her?

Recipes from her Norwegian and Italian heritage including Grandma
Berelli’s Pralines (“Worth going to jail for”), Cookie’s Maple Candies
(“So good they’re criminal”), and Nana’s Kringlas (“To kill for” ), among others, are available
throughout the story to break up the mayhem.



Amazon copy; don't forget to type in ebook and the title, or
or to read a sample chapter and get the e-book in your e-mail inbox, go here and scroll down


The other book we posted is I AM THE FOX. This is for middle grade readers, age
9-13, so if you have any kids, nephews or grandchildren who might appreciate
a great adventure/fantasy, this could be for you!

Here's the story...A teen's whole world is turned upside down when he receives a visit
from a 19th century dueling master after he wishes for help with his
messed up life.

In I AM THE FOX, a middle grade boys' adventure, fourteen-year-old
Luke Cassidy, the oldest son of a single parent mother, is responsible
for his eight-year-old brother, Cole. So far, Luke isn't doing too
well, what with his mother's mean boyfriend breathing down his neck
and his brother not listening to a word he says. When a man who calls
himself The Fox appears in Luke's bedroom and tells Luke he will help
him become a man, Luke is shocked. The Fox convinces Luke, and
together, they navigate the halls of Luke's school and the streets of
New York City, stopping crime and finding excitement. The only problem
is, only Luke can see The Fox

For I AM THE FOX Kindle/Whispernet copy Go here and scroll down
or have it sent in an email from my website here


If you do buy from Amazon.com, please, please, please, write a
sparkling review for the book(s) on the Amazon page where the book
appears. We don't want to grovel (too much), but getting great reviews really ups the buying process for other readers,so hurrah! and thanks for anything you can do to help!