Cyber Monday, a Spotlight, and Writer's Block

Today's post has lots of stuff to choose from.

Not sure how to give an book as a gift?
It's easier than you might think!

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I'm excited to spotlight Natalie Palmer's new book, Second to None. I really enjoyed the first book in the series, Second Kiss.

You can see my review here.

“Things change. People change. Jess and I weren’t above it.”

Gemma’s first year of high school isn’t starting out the way she hoped. Jess is back from California and before she can memorize her class schedule their summer romance comes to a screeching halt. To add to her misery the gorgeous new girl in school also has eyes for Jess and despite Gemma’s unfailing attempts to win him back she keeps finding herself alone.

But when a late night car crash lands her a three month grounding and twenty hours of community service she discovers that there’s more to life than just romance and boyfriends.

Unpredictable and heart wrenching, Second to No One is the perfect continuation to the magical beginning of the Gemma and Jess romance.

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | BLOG | PUBLISHER

About the author:
I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah where I was spoiled to have the huge Wasatch Mountains in my backyard.  I graduated from the University of Utah with a major in English Literature but that's boring.  The exciting part was when I met and fell in love with the boy of my dreams. He wasn’t my first or second kiss but he was by far my favorite and it didn't take us long to figure out that life could never be as good apart as it was together. So we got married and have been living happily ever after ever since.

Second Kiss

“Even my most humiliating moments seemed funny somehow when I told them to Jess.” 

Gemma Mitchell is a normal girl who somehow gets herself into abnormally embarrassing circumstances. And while she thinks she's the biggest loser in school because of them, there are a few people in her life who would disagree. One of those people is her best friend, Jess Tyler, who is opposite to her in every way. He's popular, good looking, athletic, and intelligent, and he can't get enough of Gemma. But while Gemma is dealing with problems like wrong locker combinations and Valentine's Day dances, Jess is living in a world of serious issues that are foreign to Gemma, until she realizes that he's holding on to her for dear life.

Humorous and true to life, Second Kiss is an entertaining saga about a boy and girl who find that their lives have a lot more meaning once they have shared them with each other.

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Have any of you seen Amanda Hocking's hilarious blog post (yes, it's from last May) about How to Give Yourself Writer's Block?

So much good advice in there.

To my credit, while I've done them, I've never given myself writer's block. Just lucky so far, I guess. But I'm learning to steer clear of the reviews thing, especially.

Okay, be honest. Have you ever done any of those things?

Publishing ... Do It Yourself?

Lately there's been a lot of talk about how well some authors like Amanda Hocking have done self publishing electronically. Check out this article.

It sounds incredible! Her numbers are jaw dropping. Why wouldn't writers who are confident in their craft, but haven't had the luck of good timing in their genre/theme or been able to convince the right agent to champion their books, desire this?

I've had my own reservations because last September I attended a seminar at UVU that that provided some great information about self publishing, which I talked about here. One thing I took away from the training was how much work is involved in self publishing. Not just in being your own publisher but also being your own marketer.

Well, Amanda Hocking addresses that issue in her blog here. I especially like this comment

So much of what people are saying about me is, "Look what Amanda Hocking accomplished in a year," when they really should be saying is, "Look what Amanda Hocking accomplished in twenty years." Because that's how long I've been writing, that's how long I've been working towards this goal.

Sounds a little familiar to me. Like the old Hollywood stories of the actor or actress who was discovered and becomes an overnight success ... but fails to mention the years and years of hard work in training and taking small roles that led up to the discovery.

Committed writers shouldn't give up their dreams of self publishing, but it doesn't hurt to go into the effort with your eyes wide open.