If you write romance check out Great Romance Promotions. It’s a new site for promoting your novels. You can learn more about them on this page.

They’re offering blog tours, lists of editors and cover designers and more! The next blog tour is on May 6-11 and it’s called the Pink Slip and Glass Slipper Blog Tour.

I’ve finally finished my new site at http://BookCovers.Us! I have a bunch of pre-designed covers available for only $39 and am now offering custom design services again since I’m not under a writing deadline at the moment. I’ll post new covers often now that the site is functioning correctly – it had a few glitches that are now fixed.

I’m also offering promotions where you could win free covers.

Check it out and spread the word! Thanks!

Call for questions for my book: I’ve been doing online workshops for years to help people develop their own intuitive abilities. During these workshops, many questions arise that are similar in nature so for the past few years I’ve been putting together a book that answers them and plan to publish it in the very near future. It will be available in print and as an ebook.

While I already have a lot of questions in the book already, I thought I’d ask to see if any new questions come in that haven’t already been covered. So, if you’ve ever had a question that you wanted to ask  about intuitive abilities, clairvoyance, being a medium or about the paranormal just send me an email to paranormal at MelissaA dot com, post below or send a private Facebook message. Since there is the possibility of receiving the same question from multiple people, the only way to be fair about it is to accept the FIRST person that asks the question for inclusion in the book if I select that question for inclusion. I will base this upon the time posted or sent. If I choose your question for inclusion in the book, I’ll include your name (IF you want a byline attached to your question – your name doesn’t have to be included if you don’t want it included) and I’ll give you a print copy of the book when it’s published.

That said – these are not personal reading questions but are questions about the topics in general.  Because I expect a decent response from this call for questions, unfortunately, I may not be able to respond personally to each submission (If I can, I will). If your question is selected for inclusion in the book, I’ll write to you to let you know and to get your mailing address.

So, ask away! Make the questions unique because I’ve already covered a lot of questions in the book.

Thanks for your consideration! Feel free to share this post with your friends or groups.

Smiles,

Melissa

BTS – Book & Trailer Showcase – A new website that features book trailers and a lot of other information about authors and their books is celebrating its Grand Opening on Thursday December 15, 2011. They are giving away a LOT of prizes during the grand opening so make sure you check it out! Here’s just some of the prizes being given away.

PLUS LOTS OF PRIZES FROM OTHER AUTHORS

Click on these links for the entire list of prizes and free reads. It’s still being updated so check back regularly to see all of the cool prizes you could win!

I invite you to check out my video for Talgorian Prophecy and other book information on BTS. I’m also giving away two ebooks during the grand opening: Talgorian Prophcy and Ghosts, A Spirit Guide, and A Past Life

BTS – Book & Trailer Showcase – A new website that features book trailers and a lot of other information about authors and their books is celebrating its Grand Opening on Thursday December 15, 2011. They are giving away a LOT of prizes during the grand opening so make sure you check it out! Here’s just some of the prizes being given away.

PLUS LOTS OF PRIZES FROM OTHER AUTHORS

Click on these links for the entire list of prizes and free reads. It’s still being updated so check back regularly to see all of the cool prizes you could win!

I invite you to check out my video for Talgorian Prophecy and other book information on BTS. I’m also giving away two ebooks during the grand opening: Talgorian Prophcy and Ghosts, A Spirit Guide, and A Past Life

Late last night I recieved an email from a group I’m in that said my donation to Brenda Novak’s auction for Diabetes research was getting attention. So I go to the site and was surprised to see that the bidding is already at $400. This is fantastic! For those who don’t know what I’ve donated to this excellent cause, I’m including it below. Remember, you can share this package (valued at $2200) with your friends and family. So check it out and let’s keep the bidding going. This is an excellent cause that I’ve regularly participated in since Brenda started the auction. So gather up some friends and let’s raise some money! Click here to bid!

Psychic Mentoring Extravaganza – valued at over $2200 –

Fifteen days of intensive one on one mentoring with Melissa Alvarez, internationally known clairvoyant advisor and psychic medium, who has been featured on shows such as Your Time With Kim Iverson, Connecting The Light Radio Show, Home Grown Radio NJ, Crossroads Paranormal Radio, Captain Jack Radio Show, P.O.I.N.T. Paranormal Radio, Voices in the NYGHT, and WBAL in Baltimore – The Shari Elliker Show.

Melissa conducts psychic readings from her website at www.apsychichaven.com. Melissa no longer offers mentoring through her website so the only way you can get this intensive one-on-one guidance with her is through this auction. This is not a structured class but is instead a detailed question and answer session where you will work together on situations that are specific to you, instead of covering things that may not be applicable to your life and experiences. Not only will all your metaphysical questions be answered but you will have complete, unlimited access to Melissa via email and text messaging for fifteen days. She will also be available to you via telephone Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM Eastern Time (school hours). On top of this – you will also receive one spirit guide reading, one Celtic reading and one detailed past life reading during mentoring (an additional $315 value) –

and…

are you ready for this…unlimited specific question psychic readings! Melissa’s mentoring program has never included free psychic readings but, for this auction, she is including unlimited free psychic readings, specific to you, in addition to the mentoring – a $1200 value!

And that’s not all. She will also hand craft a pendant necklace and program it for you with a purpose of your choosing during the mentoring. In addition to all of this, she is also including a copy of Talgorian Prophecy (her paranormal romantic suspense written under the pen name Ariana Dupré, which features a psychic who must save her son from a serial killer) and three decks of 2008 Silver Screen Playing Card that feature book covers from Jasmine Jade imprints.

Melissa will also allow the winner of this auction to either keep the whole package for themselves or give away any portion of the package that they choose. The only condition is that the mentoring and unlimited specific question readings must stay together and be used by only one person. So if you win the auction and want to keep the mentoring/unlimited specific questions for yourself and give your sister the Celtic reading, your best friend the spirit guide reading, your mom the past life reading, and then give three other friends the necklace, the book and the card decks – you can do that!

If you want to know more about Melissa and her readings prior to bidding, visit her website at APsychicHaven.com. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by – bid today for this exciting psychic mentoring extravaganza package.

So what do you get again?

· Fifteen days unlimited psychic mentoring ($600.00 value)

· Unlimited Specific Question Readings ($1200.00 value)

· Celtic Reading ($65.00 value)

· Spirit guide reading ($125.00 value)

· Detailed past life reading ($125.00 value)

· Handcrafted & Programmed Pendant Necklace ($65.00 value)

· Three Silver Screen Card Decks ($21.00 value)

· TALGORIAN PROPHECY by Ariana Dupré (Melissa’s pen name) ($14.99 value)

Description: Megan Cassidy, a world-renowned psychic seer, must fight a serial killer to save her six-year-old son Robbie. But she can’t do it alone. She needs help from the best tracker and Ranger in West Virginia, her ex-fiancé, Brody Phelps. In a psychic vision, Megan sees her own death during a battle with the murderer that the police have dubbed The Mountain Mangler. She soon discovers that the Mangler is also psychic and looking for a challenge that the first six victims couldn’t meet. While Brody and Megan search the mountains for the Mangler and Robbie, Megan is drawn to Talgor Ridge where they are told an unbelievable story from a Talgorian Elder. When they discover their destinies are intertwined with the immortal Talgorians, Brody and Megan must each follow their hearts to fulfill the first Talgorian Prophecy. Acceptance is the only way to save Robbie, and the Talgorians, from total destruction.

Don’t forget that Brenda Novak’s auction for Diabetes starts tomorrow. I’m donating a huge package this year so check it out here.

I’m happy to finally be able to announce that I’m participating as a mentor in the Missouri Romance Writers of America. I’ll be working with one of their members to help them in any way I can when it comes to the publishing industry. I’m really excited to be part of this program. You can see a list of all the mentors who are participating on this page. Thanks MORWA!

The world of publishing has always been a tough industry. It’s hard for authors to break in and to continue to excel by writing amazing books that readers love. Right now the industry is going through major changes due to the growth of technology and the downturn of the economy. In these turbulent times, even some of the best authors are struggling to stay ahead in the publishing game. Such is the case with author Delilah Marvelle who recently found out that her publisher isn’t going to renew her contracts citing lack of sales because the book didn’t do as well as they had hoped in preorders. It’s not due for release until August 4^th so there is still a chance that the book series can be saved. Because I’ve previously owned a publishing company, I can understand this from the publisher’s point of view and would notice a huge jump in sales at the time of release. As an author, I also see this situation from Delilah’s point of view too. So, to show my support for Delilah, I’m going to have her as a guest blogger on her release date – August 4^th.  I’m hoping to help her “save the series” by helping her promote her book, Lord of Pleasure. I’ve also pre-ordered her book.  If you love historical romance – then try out this title and let’s get the publisher’s attention! Who knows – if you show your support too you may just be able to read the second book in this series in the future.

I’m including Delilah’s post from her blog here but make sure you check out her website too. She’s holding a contest from August 4^th until   you’ll have a chance to win one of three $50 Visa Gift Cards. Just check out her website for all the details on how to enter.

Delilah isn’t giving up on her series and we shouldn’t either. Show your support and preorder a copy of her book, Lord of Pleasure, today though Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Borders  or beginning August 4^th directly from her publisher.

Here’s the post from Delilah’s  blog:

My Dearest Readers,

When I was in high school, I had a dream. I was going to be the next Stephen King. Heh. Yeah. Stay with me. Please. I knew my ideas were fabulous and I knew all it would take is for an editor to look at it and they would offer me up the moon and the stars and best of all, a contract. I had my girlfriends read everything I wrote. And they kept telling me, “This is fabulous! It’s SO funny! Hilarious!” Seeing it really wasn’t supposed to BE funny, I immediately changed course realizing I actually had a better handle on being funny than scary. I also figured adding a romance into it would even make it better since that is what I loved to read.

I then entered college as an English major. I was going to be teacher and write during the summers. Even then I was a smart girl who knew I wasn’t going to make jack and that I needed a job to support the “creative” one. Throughout all of college I wrote historical romances. One right after another. And kept submitting. And submitting. And submitting. And kept getting rejected and rejected and rejected. In the meantime, I got married. I had two kids. I joined RWA. I got critique partners. I did honed and honed and honed the crap out of my writing. And kept writing and getting rejected. I eventually racked up over 200 rejections and had written over 40 books in those 11 years of trying to get published.

When I finally sold my first historical romance, MISTRESS OF PLEASURE, and my second book, LORD OF PLEASURE, I was beside myself. It didn’t feel real. To FINALLY arrive at a destination I had been traveling toward for 11 long years seemed like a mirage. Which fortunately, I quickly snapped out of. Because after all, most of my friends are all published and unpublished writers and the stories they all have told me throughout the years made me realize I had to fight with fists up for myself every step of the way. I knew publishers did little to no promotion for their authors, so I spearheaded my own promo, ready to be more than just an author. And even though I was budgeting very well and spending countless hours networking and promoting on websites and blogs, doing tons for free, I still ended up spending $7,000 on my first book. Which was way more than my advance. But hey, every business starts in the red. Right?

Then the reviews started coming in about my series set in 1830 London England about a school that educates men on the topic of love and seduction. People loved it! Wow. It got nominated for awards. Wow. Readers are e-mailing me raving. Wow. Readers from France, Austria, Poland, South Africa and from all over the U.S and the world. Wow. It just kept getting better and better. I was beginning to feel as if every penny I spent was all worth it (even though my family and I weren’t going on any vacations and were eating out of cans). Because all that mattered was that my publisher loved me and my readers loved my series.

Come contract time, I’m ready for whatever they wanna throw at me. Or so I thought. Mistress of Pleasure, though completely sold out and unavailable anywhere (unless it’s a used copy, some going for a ridiculous amount of $40.00), hadn’t done as well as my publisher had hoped. So without waiting for the second book to come out to see if the series was even worth saving, I get a rejection from my own editor citing lack of sales.

I have to say this rejection felt more personal than any of the other two hundred and some rejections I’d received. Because it was no longer “Your book isn’t good enough” it became “Your sales aren’t good enough.” Since when is an author supposed to be a market guru AND a fabulous writer? Eck.

I love this series. The men in it make me laugh and it broke my heart to think that my readers will never get a chance to read about Lord Brayton, my glorious male virgin. The only alpha virgin I ever plan to write about. Then I realized something, why I am letting a publisher decide what is worth holding on to? Shouldn’t that be a reader’s job?

Ah. Herein lies the purpose of my post. I am challenging everyone, be they readers or writers to help me do something that’s never been done before. Save a series from a death sentence given by a publisher. Can it be done? Who knows. But I eat challenges for breakfast and I hope you do to. Please join me in saving my series. Come August 4th, tell everyone you know (yes, even you’re 72 year old grandfather) to buy the book, Lord of Pleasure. In doing so, you’ll have a chance to win one of three $50 Visa Gift Cards. How? Check out my website for details at http://www.delilahmarvelle.com  

That said, thank you for all the support and love everyone has already shown me. Feel free to post and repost this to everyone under the moon and the stars. To all you readers out there, thank you for supporting us writers. To all you writers out there, don’t ever give up on your writing. The moment you do, you give up on yourself. Which is why I’m not giving up on my series.

Cheers and much love,
Delilah Marvelle

You rock Delilah! I hope you have tremendous sales and are able to save your contracts!

Ransom Stevens analyzes the economics of the publishing industry in the age of Internet and ebooks. Some experts believe this could be the new publishing model for the book business. What do you think? Check out the article here:

http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/email/book-futures

There is a very cool new feature that All Romance eBooks has implemented. You can now leave full text reviews on their website. Simply log in to your on-line library, access a review link and enter a review of your books. It’s that easy!

Pass the word!

I just saw on Leah Hultenschmidt’s blog that Dorchester Publishing is now accepting general submissions via email. Read the post here.

Did you know you can buy Night Visions and Talgorian Prophecy from:

All Romance eBooks now available through Lexcycle Stanza for download directly onto your iPhone and iPod Touch!

Palm Harbor, Florida (PRWEB) November 17, 2008 – All Romance eBooks, an on-line bookstore that specializes in the sale of romance eBooks, announced today that they now offer books for direct download onto iPhone and iPod Touch through Lexcycle Stanza.

Time magazine featured the Stanza reader in their “Top 11 iPhone Applications” article and the New York Times recently included it in their list of “Seven Must-Have Offline Apps For Your iPhone/iPod Touch”. With a reading interface, which is unprecedented in its clarity and ease of use, Stanza is bringing the eBook revolution to the pockets of ove! r half a million readers worldwide. And that number is growing daily.

Through a seamless integration, All Romance eBooks’ on-line library can be accessed through Stanza’s custom catalog by adding the following url: http://allromanceebooks.com/epub-feed.xml. This groundbreaking endeavor will provide readers instant access to thousands of romance novels written by today’s hottest authors.

All Romance eBooks, LLC (www.allromanceebooks.com) sells romance eBooks for hundreds of publishers and their imprints. Founded in 2006 and privately held in partnership, All Romance eBooks is headquartered in Palm Harbor, Florida.

You can find my titles at these links: Talgorian Prophecy, Night Visions

Hey everybody!

This Haunted Blog Carnival is still running, and you have a great chance to win something from the stash of over $6000.00  in prizes! New items were JUST added. Even if you have been by, come again because there are more contributors you can add entries for. While many others have ended their contests today, we are going strong through Sunday at midnight Pacific time! TONS of books and other items are up for grabs!

Check it out here at both of the blogs!

BittenbyBooks.com – Compaq iPAQ PC -Over $3865.00 In Prizes! International YES!
http://bittenbybooks.com/?p=1526

and

Weirdstuffinmydesk.com – Over $2330.00 In Prizes! Internationals YES!
http://weirdstuffinmydesk.com/?p=176

Remember the more places you post it, the more entries you get.

Be SURE to join us on the Blood Bank. Membership is free and  you get an automatic entry for doing it. 🙂
Here’s that link:

http://bittenbybooks.ning.com

Thanks to everybody who’s been stopping by, it has been an amazing week!