As Promised: Save The Dates

Last time I posted I promised I would be setting some official dates for you to look forward to. Let it never be said I don't keep my promises!

Cover Reveal: April 21st

eBook, Paperback Available: May 27th

I'm still planning to send out ARC's, so if you're interested shoot me an email at : shannonahiner@live.com

I'm also going to be doing a Giveaway on Goodreads, but I don't have a hard date for that one yet.

Bookmarks are on order to go out with ARC's and Giveaway copies!

Next on my To-Do List:

1. Finish designing eBook
2. Make a book trailer for YouTube

It's a long process, but it's fun, and totally worth it! Thanks for reading, and help spread the word!

Coming Soon: Save the Dates!

Sooo, this is a post about a future post! One that I expect you all to keep your eyes wide open for!

Today I finished designing the cover, spine, and back for Shadows On The Wall. First of all, It's amazing. I think everyone is going to love it as much as I do. It may, in fact, be my favorite cover thus far from the series.

Finishing that up though got me thinking about doing a special Cover Reveal. It's a great way to get readers excited and spread the word, and it appeals to my "Surprise!!!" sensibilities.

I'm trying to time everything together to give the actual publication of Shadows On The Wall a proper countdown. Setting dates is quite difficult though, as I have not received the final edits back from Editor Pat. The hope I harbor at this point is to publish the book sometime in late spring (May?). As soon as editing is finished I will set a hard date, and be able to work backwards from there are other dates.

These are the joyous happenings I am planning:

1. Send ARC's to Booktubers, bloggers etc...

2. Cover Reveal

3. Giveaway 3 copies on Goodreads

4. Publish eBook

5. Publish Paperback (and maybe a hardcover too!)

Hopefully I will be able to send the ARC's out by the end of March!

In the meantime, please help me spread the word and get the excitement up there! And if you haven't read Only The Stars Know yet, do it! The eBook is only $0.99 and it's available on ALL eReaders, platforms etc! There is no good excuse!

Die For Me Again (Rewrite Begins!)

Those of you who follow me on Facebook know that a few months ago I finally finished the rewrite of Shadows On The Wall. I delivered to the manuscript (about 54,000 words) to Editor Pat and she had been diligently working on the edits since then. Notice, I write 'diligently' but there's not been much 'gentle' about it. I often get into the trap of assuming you all can see exactly what is in my head, so I don't write it out. Of course, the majority of you readers are not, in fact, mind readers, so this is a problem. I suspect that once I receive the manuscript back I will be adding a solid 5000 words to it.

Whilst I wait, though, I have grown bored! In addition to tearing up Pinterest with Die For Me Again boards, I have begun the rewrite on said novel. It is going absolutely swimmingly! I forgot how much I love this book and it's characters. Well, that's not hard seeing as Angela Estrada doesn't particularly love me back. All the same, I adore her and writing her story gives me a lot of smiles.

Thus far, I have completed the newly added prologue, and the first two chapters. I have kept in mind Editor Pat's complaints with SOTW, so hopefully I shall stay out of the same traps I have fallen into on the last two books.

On a side note about SOTW, I have added it to Goodreads, sans a cover or blurb, but you may add it there To Be Read!

My Writing Board has morphed into the Post-Writing Board with a checklist for SOTW about a mile long...of which only 3 things have been checked off. However, I am hoping it will go rather faster once I actually have the book again.


As always, check me out on Facebook for slightly less irregular updates! Until then, aufwiedersehen!

From Cam to Ange : )

Angela Estrada

New Venues for Only The Stars Know

In my tunnel vision, I originally only published Only The Stars Know to Kindle and Paperback...how stupid is that? Well, via Smashwords Only The Stars Know is now available on just about ALL ereaders. Including, but not limited to: Apple iPads/Books, Nooks, Sony eReaders, etc... Click Here to go to the Smashwords page for my book where you can buy it for only $0.99.

 Also, you can read the first 20% of the book for free to see if you like it. If you do, and you read the whole thing, please post a review! Reviews are something my books and I need to live and thrive!


In other news! I got about 30% of the outlining for In The Darkness Remain done yesterday. Those of you who know me well probably remember that I normally don't outline at all. Well, I've been having so many ideas for the story that I'm afraid I'll start forgetting them. As for the actual writing itself, I have started some drafting from Damon's POV, which most of the story will be in, but I doubt any of what I've written thus far will be in the book. Mostly it's just background on his life before being a vampire to help me understand him as well as possible. There are certainly some curious circumstances...Don't worry, I'm not going to continue being this vague within the book. You will understand Damon almost as well as I do, once you read it.

In my personal life, my Pangur Ban is turning 7 months old this Sunday, the 15th! Her birthday present is something she would have been most happy to do without, she was spayed yesterday by the Paws Clinic in town. She is not altogether happy with me. She's taking her pain killers with a good grace that makes me suspicious, and frankly I fear she will kill me in my sleep.

Also, I'm decorating my apartment. I'm hanging pictures and art like crazy. I am cleaning a lot as well, my roommate thinks I'm either on drugs or suffering from some type of hormonal imbalance due to pregnancy. I told her she's insane and then threw out the 5 year old apple cider dry mix that was rotting in the kitchen cabinets. Honestly...

I am in my second month of my new job and my stress levels have gone waaaaay down. I do have a wee bit of a cold at the moment, but I'm taking Zicam and vitamins like crazy, so hopefully it will amount to nothing.


One last note, I know you might be wondering why I am working on In The Darkness Remain instead of Shadows On The Wall. My normal routine is to write the rough draft of one book, then revise a different book until I publish it. I was going to scrap that routine after I published Only The Stars Know in favor of a faster publishing time for the next book, but Damon has been bugging me lately to write his story. And I recognize the feel of the pull, the story is ready to be written.

Until we meet again! Adieu!

OSK Available in Paperback

See? I told you! Only The Stars Know is finally available in Paperback from CreateSpace.

Super Special Preview available....

Where to Buy the book

Also, for those of you local to me, I will soon be placing copies in

Discount Books, Oroville CA
& Lyon Books, Chico CA

Where's My Credibility Gone?

I wouldn't be surprised if you no longer believed that Only The Stars Know is actually going to ever reach a paperback form...It has been much longer than I ever wanted us to wait.

My poor explanation is that I now fully understand what I paid Author House for, when they created the paperback version of Submerged In Darkness. They made it easy on me, I just wrote the book and told them what I wanted it to look like. This time around, using CreateSpace, is worlds apart. Since I do not have to pay them to do the work, I must do it.

The end result is something I am so incredibly proud of. Every page, every letter, every single piece of formatting is ME. The only thing that's not is the barcode on the back. I am not exaggerating.

I tried to make Only The Stars Know as similar to Submerged In Darkness as I could. I think I succeeded right to the perfect point. They look like the same series, but different books, perfect.

My hope is to approve the book for distribution tomorrow, but it may not happen until Wednesday. I am waiting for the files to be reviewed and approved, which I have no doubt they will, but it takes up to 48hrs. Cross your fingers and pray they get back to me in only 24.

I apologize heartily for the delay, but I hope you beautiful readers can understand that you are getting a much better product for your wait.

It has been through this process that I have discovered a passion for book design. If the writing gig doesn't work out I could always get a job at a publishing house in design. :)

Thank you for your patience (or at least for not voicing your impatience) and feel safe in the reality that you will only have to wait a couple more days.

Only The Stars Know Available as An Ebook!

Only The Stars Know is now available as an ebook through Amazon.com! Even if you don't have a Kindle, I know from experience that downloading the Kindle for PC is a piece of cake! (Delicious, booklike cake!)

It will only cost you $0.99 and it's so instantaneous it brings on a whole new level of instant gratification!

I'm still working with CreateSpace to make some nice paperbacks for you, we're in the review process now so hopefully it won't be long.

Don't forget! Interview with Romancing-The-Book in less than 2 weeks! (8/20/11)

Excerpt from Only The Stars Know

I'm giving you a Sneak Peek at Only The Stars Know until you are able to get your own copy to read! This will have to tide you over until you sit down to read the whole thing!

Without further ado, from one of my favorite scenes, I present you,

Only The Stars Know

.....

The animals were moving about the woods freely, that was a good sign. A herd of deer were a ways off. She could hear them chewing the leaves from surrounding trees. It didn’t calm her like normal. The air around her was tainted with her fuming rage. The animals gave her a wide berth. She wanted to scream that she was not a predator to them, but it seemed too much like a lie. Another lie.

No, given the chance she would change into a giant cat of prey and tear through the forest. The very thought made her muscles twitch. Her fingers flexed, trying to ease the itch in her palms. Her eyes burned and her vision shifted. The forest was more than just shapes in the darkness now. Everything had a color now. The trees were swirls of brown and green, the ground was gray. The creatures she had heard with such clarity before were now spots of red on the edges of her vision.

Her stomach rolled and she fell to her knees. The earth felt warm beneath her palms. The animals sensed the change. Each squirrel, jackrabbit and deer fell utterly still. They turned in her direction as one.

Run.

The word was a command in the darkness. She wasn’t sure if it came from them, or her…or both. They didn’t wait. Every beast bolted.

Prey. Her muscles twitched all together and she fell on her back.

“No!” She screamed, the agony was ripping through her in waves. She had to fight it. Not again. Please God, not again. Kali fought herself. When her muscles tried to make her rise, she threw herself back to the ground. It was long minutes before she could breathe the cool air again. Her eyes finally shifted back.

The forest was utterly silent. The animals would not return here for days.
Kali curled into herself on the ground as the sobs took over. She could not get angry...She could never allow herself to revel in that emotion. Because it would happen again.

When she could finally control herself, Kali lifted herself from the ground. She wiped the dirt from her arms and shook it from her hair. The bottom of her shirt would do for wiping away the tears. When she felt relatively whole again, she starting walking back down the road. As if nothing had happened? No. She could never pretend it away. The monster inside would never go away. She would never be truly alone.

Kali folded her arms around herself and walked faster. Up ahead the forest ended and Rowan came into view. The town was built in what used to be a large meadow. The buildings lined the outer circle, and in the middle was the Rowan tree. The path to Grandma Ivana’s was almost directly across the town from the Verbotsch’s.

As Kali entered the town she again had the feeling of being watched. She slowed down and glanced around cautiously. The town had gone to sleep for the night. Most of the houses were dark, but the windows that shone light had curtains drawn down as well. There was absolutely no one in sight. She raised her nose and sniffed warily.

Nothing out of the ordinary.

She walked faster again, keeping her head down and her ears peeled. As she approached the Rowan tree, the feeling of being watched grew. Her shoulders were tense and she was ready to run at a moment’s notice. When she was directly underneath the Rowan tree she could suddenly smell cotton and soap. She stopped moving.

A twig snapped just before something hurled itself out of the Rowan tree and at her. The man landed gracefully about three feet away and stared down at her. In the dark she could not make out his features, only that he was tall, imposing, and angry. She could also smell something else on him, something strange that she had never in her life smelled before. It reminded her of the predator smell that the dangerous animals always carried. It was sharper though, and more sweet.

Kali took a step back.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” His voice was soft and dangerous, but somehow she recognized it.

The blinding hatred that drove him was vaguely familiar, but Zane wasn’t in the mood for placing it. At the moment he was doing all he could not to strangle Kali before she explained herself. Her scent carried something new with it this time, forest and predator. If he hadn’t been so angry he might have questioned what she must have run into in the forest. That would be later, after he killed her.

“Zane?!” She whispered in surprise and fright.

He stalked toward her, cutting the distance between them in half. Her fear seemed to be converting to anger. Good, he detested the smell of fear. “What are you doing with my family?” He tried to keep his voice low, he wanted to shout very badly. If he shouted though, the rest of his anger might release. He would not kill her before he knew what game she thought she was playing.

“You’ve been spying on me!” She exclaimed, “Instead of going into that house and telling your family you’re alive you hid outside and spied on me!”

He growled, a barely controlled sound that seemed to rip from the back of his throat, “I wasn’t spying on you. I was looking in on my family. You should not have been there!”

“Hah! I shouldn’t have been there?!” She crossed her arms again, “They think you are dead!”

“I am dead!” He yelled finally. He could not hold the fury anymore. Grabbing her shoulders he lifted and shook her, “I died twelve years ago! I am never coming back!"
.....

Check in tomorrow and the next day for details on where to find Only The Stars Know published!

Only The Stars Know Pub Update

Monday the 8th!!! (Of this month, of course)

The cover is done, and I am sitting down to a very long night of final edits.

On Monday I will spending the whole day online (no, seriously) to put my book up as an ebook.

As for it paperback date, I'm not positive yet.

Many more details will be coming!