Book Tour: The Frost Series By Liz DeJesus

Title: First Frost
Series: The Frost Series Book # 1
By Liz DeJesus
Publication Date: June 22, 2012
Published By: Musa Publishing

Publisher | Amazon Kindle

Blurb:

Fairytales aren't real…yeah…that's exactly what Bianca thought. She was wrong.

For generations, the Frost family has run the Museum of Magical and Rare Artifacts, handing down guardianship from mother to daughter, always keeping their secrets to "family only."

Gathered within museum's walls is a collection dedicated to the Grimm fairy tales and to the rare items the family has acquired: Cinderella's glass slipper, Snow White's poisoned apple, the evil queen's magic mirror, Sleeping Beauty's enchanted spinning wheel…

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Frost wants none of it, dreaming instead of a career in art or photography or…well, anything except working in the family's museum. She knows the items in the glass display cases are fakes because, of course, magic doesn't really exist.

She's about to find out how wrong she is.

Title: Glass Frost
Series: The Frost Series Book # 2
By Liz DeJesus
Publication Date: July 19th, 2013
Published By: Musa Publishing

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Blurb:

When joined together, Cinderella's slippers grant the wearer her heart's desire. But whose wish will be granted?

When Cinderella's glass slipper is stolen, Queen Felicia sends her faithful steward Terrance to the real world to retrieve his love and witch-in-training, Bianca Frost. The power of the glass slipper, when paired with its mate, and in the wrong hands, could ruin the peace of Everafter. Bianca must gather every bit of magic she has learned in the past few weeks to find the slipper and protect her new love. Together, Bianca, Ming, Prince Ferdinand, and Terrance venture deep into the heart of Everafter to seek clues as to who has stolen the slipper and why. Along the way, they uncover what happened to the Seven Dwarves after Snow White married the prince, but also learn the awful risk of tampering with black magic and the high price that must be paid for magic, even when used for good.

Bianca and Terrance's relationship is put to the test. Through the pain of suffering and loss, Bianca must determine if following her gallant boyfriend into his faraway world is in fact her heart's desire.

Guest Post:

How does music affect your writing?

I'm pretty sure that if I had been an extrovert instead of an extremely shy, nerdy introvert I'd be in a rock band. And yes, I can actually sing, but my throat gets dry and seals itself shut the moment someone asks me to sing for them. So instead of being the next Gwen Stefani, I listen to music while I write. Some of the scenes in First Frost and Glass Frost were actually inspired by certain songs.

For some reason I always start listening to Imogen Heap before I start writing. I love her music, it has such a dream-like quality to it and sometimes I feel as though it takes me to a completely different place in my mind. One of my favorite songs of hers are: "Hide and Seek", "Let Go", "The Moment I Said It", "2 - 1", "Can't Take It In" and "Glittering Cloud".

The song "The Cave" by Mumford and Sons inspired a scene in First Frost. It was this particular part of the song that made me stop and think:

But I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck

And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

I could picture Bianca with black ribbons around her neck as Queen Mirabel slowly drained the life out of her. What was amazing to me was how clearly I could imagine this happening to Bianca so it became my goal to get my characters to reach that point in the story. And then I had to ask myself will Bianca survive? Who will come to her rescue? What will happen to Mirabel afterwards?

Last year while I was thinking about the sequel to First Frost, I was listening to "The Catalyst" by Linkin Park. I hadn't written a single word yet, but as I listened to this song I had a clear image of Bianca crawling out of a pit. I was driving at the time (which is a dangerous thing to do if you have my brain because I literally go somewhere else when I'm writing) and I just burst into tears. I wanted to know what happened that made Bianca fall into that dark place. How was she supposed to get out of there? Why wasn't there someone there to help her? So that was another plot point that I could reach.

Like memories in cold decay
Transmissions echoing away
Far from the world of you and I
Where oceans bleed into the sky
Lift me up, Let me go...

It was that particular part of the song that just got to me for some reason. I can't wait for you all to read that scene in the book. I hate torturing my characters, but sometimes that's the only way they will learn and grow.

Another song that inspired a scene in Glass Frost is "Shipping Up to Boston" by Dropkick Murphys (yes, my taste in music is ALL OVER THE PLACE). I can't really tell you about it because it'll ruin part of the book. But I can say that Bianca learns a very harsh lesson on karma.

"Enchanted" by Taylor Swift. When I first heard that song I could only think of Bianca and Terrance dancing to it. I love the romance that has blossomed between them. Their relationship goes through many trials in the sequel. I really push them to the edge and I test their resolve to stay together. I do everything in my power to see if these two characters really are meant to be together.

I also listen to classical music when I write, because sometimes the lyrics get jumbled up in my mind and get in the way of my writing. I'll sometimes listen to Mozart, Beethoven and Vanessa Mae's album "Storm". I've also been listening to Vitamin String Quartet Performs Imogen Heap, all of my favorite songs of hers are played by a four string quartet.

Again…I love music. I think it has the power to transport you to another place in time. It can inspire you to write (even when you think your creative well is dry). It's one of the few things that can touch your soul. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my post and definitely check out some of the singers and bands I mentioned. You never know, it might inspire you to write something.

About the Author:

Liz DeJesus was born on the tiny island of Puerto Rico. She is a novelist and a poet. She has been writing for as long as she was capable of holding a pen. She is the author of the novel Nina (Blu Phi'er Publishing, October 2007), The Jackets (Arte Publico Press, March 31st 2011) First Frost (Musa Publishing, June 22nd 2012) and Glass Frost (Musa Publishing, COMING SOON).

She is also a member of The Written Remains Writers Guild.

Liz is currently working on a new novel.

Author Links:

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Guest Post Marketing with Kimberly Kinrade

So you wrote a book, or are currently working on it. That's awesome!

But writing your book is only one part of the process. It's a big part, don't get me wrong, but if your goal is to actually make MONEY doing this, to make a living or, at least pay a few bills, then you need to take the marketing part of your novel seriously.

Most writers aren't

marketers. That's where

I come in.

I went from being a single mom on welfare after my divorce years ago, to an award-winning, bestselling author making a 6 figure income on ROYALTIES ALONE. That's right, ALL of that comes from book sales.

I don't say this to brag, not at all. I'm not a New York Times bestseller (yet), or a household name (yet), but I am a successful mid-list author who has hit a few bestseller lists and sells consistently, particularly the titles I published under my own imprint. (Why I believe SO MUCH in being your own publisher, but that's a story for another post.)

While I have a lot of books out, the first 10 are with a publisher, and I have very little say over marketing, so they don't sell a whole lot. My recent books starting this January were under my imprint, allowing me to control the marketing, and they TOOK OFF! I'm now having months where I make more in 30 days then I did in a whole freaking year before.

I've been a marketing director for a small press, worked for a publicity company, and owned my own marketing and design company, and through it all I've learned a lot about how to sell books, how to brand authors, what works and what doesn't.

I don't take clients anymore, but I recently got offered a chance to teach a class with the lovely and talented Rebecca T. Dickson on marketing basics for authors, and I jumped at the chance.

Why? Because I love marketing, and I want to share that love with you. I love writing too; I'm one of those weird hybrid freaks! lol My husband (Dmytry Karpov) and I are a team. We write and market together, this whole business is ours, and we love love love it!

And it's not as hard as you think. In this class, the first thing you'll get is instant access to a bonus tutorial where I'll teach you one simple super secret trick that will help you improve your sales on Amazon. You'll learn how to get your book listed on up to 7 bestseller lists (depending on how it's selling), and how to use that to make more money! This is so ridiculously easy, but almost no one knows how to do it. I'm going to show you how as soon as you sign up for this class.

Then, on September 14th from 1-4 p.m. EDT I'm going to teach you everything you need to know about how to build your platform and all the tools of social media to find your fans and sell your book (and get THEM helping you to sell your book.) These days, book sales are about word of mouth and tribe building, and by the end of this class you'll have all the tools you need to do it like a pro and HAVE FUN while you do it.

Now head on over to the sign up page here and get an early bird discount if you register by September 7th! Go do it now, because you're going to want in on this, I promise you that!

Also, if this goes well and people are excited, there will be more. I have lots of accumulated tricks, ideas and knowledge about marketing and publishing that I'm dying to share, so help me make this a success so I can keep offering these classes and teaching you what I know.

When it comes to writing and publishing and marketing, we have to work together. There's no shortage of readers, and we as authors are NOT in competition with each other. We're going to have a blast in this class, and I really want to see YOU there. So come on over and SIGN UP HERE, then invite a friend or two or four, because I'm also going to give you your first lesson in incentivized marketing when you sign up. See? Fun! I can't wait to see you there!

What do you want to

learn how to do when it

comes to book

marketing?

Kimberly Kinrade (also known as Kimberly Karpov-Kinrade or Karpov Kinrade), is an award winning and bestselling indie author of the Seduced Saga, the Deveaux series, the Forbidden Trilogy and more. Karpov Kinrade (a husband/wife writing team) has more than 12,000 Twitter followers, a tribal Twitter reach of more than 1 million, more than 9,000 Facebook followers and friends, and has hit multiple #1 bestseller lists on Amazon.

Kinrade has been ranked in the top 30 authors for Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Fantasy Romance on Amazon. She's also worked as marketing director for a publisher and owned her own business with her husband and co-author, Dmytry Karpov, doing publicity, editing and design for authors. Now she and her husband write full-time (and support three kids comfortably on that income). That is every writer's dream. She occasionally teaches classes to other authors to share what's she's learned along the way. Find them at http://KarpovKinrade.com

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