Meg Collett's Blog, page 4

Here is the first chapter of my upcoming book, SPEAKING OF THE DEVIL! This is book one in my Days of New series. Hope you enjoy!

 

CHAPTER ONE

 

It had been six months since the Archangels reclaimed Heaven, but Clark still jolted awake, as if he was falling from one nightmare into another.

When the temporary flash of fear cleared, Clark cursed and swatted away the feathers tickling his nose. The alarm clock blared next to him and echoed through the drafty apartment. He slammed his hand onto the snooze button, sending the clock crashing to the stone floor covered in musty old rugs.

Camille, an angel soldier from the Throne choir, didn’t even stir as Clark shoved her pure white wing off him and rose from the bed. The sheet was bunched around her sprawled legs, exposing her bare ass and smooth, porcelain skin.

Running his hand over the scruff along his jaw, he walked over to a large window framing an entire wall of the bedroom. Outside, the sun was starting to illuminate the gray earth. His breath condensed against the window, the winter air crisp beyond the heated confines of his apartment. From his vantage point, he saw the entire south side of the estate, where refugee tents littered the front lawn.

Clark caught his reflection in the glass. His pink Mohawk was flat and faded, his blue eyes much the same, making him look more tired than his twenty-four years warranted. Further down his reflection, he glimpsed the tattoos on his arms and had to look away, even though the unwanted marks called to him like little whispers.

“Get your shit together, man,” Clark mumbled to himself as he turned away from the window. He couldn’t deny the crushing pressure he felt staring down at the refugees, knowing they were looking to him for survival.

Jeans, work jackets covered in dirt, and torn rock band T-shirts were strewn about the floor at his feet as he crossed the small apartment and set a metal pot on the wood-burning stove. He filled it with water, numbly watching as it began to boil. He knew the coffee would be bitter if he dumped the grounds in too early, but he did it anyway.

He drank his coffee quickly before venturing back into the bedroom to dress. Camille was in the shower, the ancient pipes thundering to life behind the walls; thankfully, the compound had a solar powered pump to maintain the water pressure. He couldn’t find his old leather jacket that had once belonged to his father, so he settled on a faded plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up unevenly, a stained white undershirt, and jeans with more holes than material. He closed the door quietly behind him and set off down the hall.

As Clark hurried to his office, he kept his head down and his eyes on the well-trodden stones of the Descendants of Enoch’s compound. Entire wings and halls had been added to the estate over the centuries, making it sprawl before him like a damp, cluttered maze. People shuffled about behind their rooms’ doors, preparing for another long day of work and cold. The place was coming alive, waking with the grudging acknowledgment of a new dawn.

He reached his office door and slipped inside silently. The wood-paneled room overlooked the back fields, a view familiar to Clark. He’d spent hundreds of hours playing in front of this very desk while his father had worked.

He sank into the leather chair behind the desk and poured himself a glass of whiskey before he turned on the stereo in the corner. The Clash spilled out and filled the room as light from the sunrise trickled through the windows. He leaned back in his chair and sighed, watching the bright colors leech into the clouds. The whiskey did the trick and burned away thoughts of the war, Sophia, and Michaela.

Because if he thought about Michaela, then he thought about Sophia. And if he thought about Sophia, he remembered his father’s death. And his father’s death brought on thoughts of hybrids and Watchers and plagues and Lucifer and Hell and unwanted tattoos and running through the woods, counting down the seconds before death. He couldn’t think of any of that or else he would be halfway through the liquor bottle before the sun had fully risen.

Because all the people he missed were all the people he’d lost, and they were gone and far away. And he needed to focus because he had to save the world today.

He heard a knock on his door. “Come in,” Clark called and took a sip.

Zarachiel limped in, his back twisted beneath his heavy coat, the pain in his eyes evident. “We have a slight situation.”

Clark groaned and quickly swallowed the rest of his whiskey. “What now?”

“It’s nothing like that…just…well, a Nephil arrived this morning. She’s demanding to see you,” Zarachiel said. He shoved his hands into the worn pockets of his work pants.

“Who is it?” Clark asked.

Just then, the door banged open behind Zarachiel, and the Nephil charged in. At the sight of her, Clark sprang to his feet, dropping the whiskey glass to the floor. It shattered on impact, sending shards across the rug. His heart was somewhere in his throat, squeezing the breath out of him.

“Sophia?” he choked out.

“No,” the Nephil said. “But I think you knew my sister.”

Clark wavered, his head spinning. For one horrible moment, he thought he might actually faint, but guys like him didn’t faint. He reached for his humor, for any badass comment that could save him from this moment, but he floundered in a sea of horrible, wrenching pain.

“You look just like her,” he whispered, his eyes sweeping over the girl’s light colored hair and eyes.

“I wouldn’t know. I haven’t seen my sister in a very long time,” the girl snapped. Her tone was brisk, her words clipped, but her hands trembled, and she had to tuck them into the simple coat she wore that was much too thin for the brutal Kentucky winter the compound was currently enduring.

“Why are you here?” Clark asked, still drinking her in. His heart kept sputtering, like a worn-out car in winter. He had to remind himself over and over that this wasn’t his precious Sophia.

Because Sophia was dead.

“This is the Descendant of Enoch’s compound, is it not? You all are the protectors of the angels, their saintly guardians on Earth. An order of humans passed down generation after generation from the great Enoch himself, right? Or did I take a wrong turn somewhere?”

The girl talked a hard game, but her lips trembled and her eyes were much too wide.

“I see you found the brochure,” Clark commented dryly. He sat back in his chair because his knees were growing too weak to hold him. His eyes traveled down the girl’s slender neck to the lapel of her coat, which revealed the tiniest glimpse of creamy white skin. Suddenly, images of Sophia beneath him in the darkness came to mind. Her heard her moan, felt her nails digging into his ass as he moved inside her. The crotch of his pants tightened, and he had to pour another drink into a new, unbroken glass.

“The Descendants don’t do much protecting these days, not since the end of the war. The plagues didn’t leave much behind, but we take any survivors who can make it here. We’re more of a refugee camp now,” Clark added, sipping from his drink. The amber liquid burned him back to life, lit a fire to his numbness.

The girl came forward, squaring her tiny shoulders. “I came here for—”

“Look,” Clark interrupted. “It’s really early in the morning, and I don’t even know your name.”

“I see I interrupted your…coffee.” The girl’s eyes flickered down to his drink, but they caught on his arms. He saw the flash of fear in her eyes. She was a Nephil, which meant she’d heard the rumors about his tattoos. “Are those the marks…the marks of the Apocrypha?”

The ink on his arms danced and itched at the name, his skin twitching under her fervent gaze. Holy shit, Clark thought. He had to get her attention back to his face. Her enraptured attention on his body was messing with his head.

“Your name?” he snapped.

She jumped at his harsh tone, but her eyes met his again. “Maya.”

“Nice to meet you, Maya. I’m Clark St. James, but apparently my reputation precedes me. As it should. Now, if you don’t mind, I have very pressing issues to attend to—”

“Wait! I need to talk to you. I came a very long way, and I—”

“Zarachiel,” Clark said, turning to the angel, who stood very quietly in the corner. “Don’t we have very, very, very important things to do right now?”

“Uh,” Zarachiel paused. Normally, they just worked in the greenhouses until lunch. As the leader of the Nephilim, Clark was in charge of growing the food for next year, which meant lots of planning and prepping in the greenhouses now. “Sure.”

“See?” Clark looked back at Maya, whose shoulders slumped, her eyes brimming with tears. “But we will talk soon. I promise,” he lied. If he had any say in the matter, he would never talk to this creature again.

He couldn’t bear it…couldn’t handle the pain of seeing all he’d lost staring back at him.

“But I really need—”

“Zarachiel, will you escort Maya to the Nephilim wing? I believe you will find an available apartment over there.”

Clark swiveled around in his chair, taking the bottle of whiskey with him. He heard Zarachiel murmuring to the girl, who seemed reluctant to go. But when the door clicked shut, Clark doubled over, clenching his stomach. His breaths were ragged and gasping as the panic attack had its way with him.

His vision grayed at the edges and floor tilted up ever so kindly to meet his face as he tumbled out of the chair.

 

The post SPEAKING OF THE DEVIL – Chapter One appeared first on Books by Meg Collett.

It was the End of Days…
…now it’s the Days of New!

 

Thank you for visiting this post and checking out the cover reveals and pre-order links for the first three books in my Days of New series! This post will also include a link to the first chapter of SPEAKING OF THE DEVIL as well as a giveaway!

Giveaway details are below!

Now for what you’ve been waiting for……..

 

 

ALL COVERS DESIGNED BY THE AMAZING NAJLA QAMBER DESIGNS!

 

 

Here’s the cover for
SPEAKING OF THE DEVIL!
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Set in the same world as the bestselling End of Days series comes the darkly comedic stand-alone serial spin-off, Days of New.

Clark St. James, self-professed man-candy with pink hair and duct-taped boots, didn’t ask to be the leader of the Nephilim clans or to have ancient angel magic contained in the unwanted tattoos on his arms. And most importantly, he didn’t ask for the holy angels to get their panties in a twist and ravage the earth during an angel civil war.

Instead, Clark is making lemonade out of life’s lemons. With vodka. And a splash of whiskey just because.

It’s up to the Descendants of Enoch—an order of humans meant to protect the holy angels while on Earth—and Clark’s Nephilim to set this destroyed world back on its axis. The angels in Heaven are busy repairing their city and rebuilding a new form of democracy. In Hell, everyone is adjusting to a new form of leadership after Clark killed Lucifer, prince of the fallen.

Technically, it was an accident. But people keep forgetting that.

Just when things were beginning to get boring, someone starts murdering Descendants in very…unique ways. Ways that incriminate Clark. But there’s always a calling card beside the bodies: a single burnt black feather. And Clark only knows one fallen angel that got crispy fried.

Apparently Lucifer is back. And he’s pissed off.

 

There is NOT a pre-order link for this book!

It will be FREE upon release on 4/27

 

 

Also releasing on April 27th….Book 2 in the Days of New series!

FULL OF THE DEVIL

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As an angel from the Throne choir, Camille knows war. It’s what she was created for. She’s captured and killed and conquered. She’s been on the frontlines of every angel battle ever fought since the creation of man. And she has the surly attitude to prove it.

But she’s never been in love before. What she feels for Clark is her greatest weakness, and she fears it’ll be her ultimate ruin. Because to love Clark is to stand in the shadow of the greatest angel ever made: Michaela, the Angel of Death. Camille highly doubts there is any room left in Clark’s heart for her.

Love hurts, and Camille is used to killing whatever tries to hurt her. Or looks at her funny.

Clark St. James has problems—problems that have landed him in jail with the most unlikely of…roommates. It’s not good timing all around. The Descendants of Enoch’s precious order is collapsing from the lack of leadership. The Nephilim are in disorganized shambles. And the refugees are panicking. It’s chaos. And Clark can’t do a damn thing about it.

But you better believe that Camille sure as hell will.

 

AMAZON US PRE-ORDER LINK

AMAZON UK PRE-ORDER LINK

And last but not least…ALSO releasing on 4/27…

BETTER THE DEVIL YOU KNOW

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They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. Lucifer doesn’t need that definition to know he’s gone mad. When he came back from the dead, he only had thoughts of revenge and taking back what he’d lost: Hell and his army of fallen angels.

Except there’s only one flaw in his evil plan: He’s falling in love with the most unlikely person. But who could love an ugly thing like the devil? And Lucifer can’t bear to be hurt again. He’s already crazy enough.

The last thing Clark cares about is Lucifer’s love life, especially when Camille is missing and an entirely new threat has arisen called the Loyalists of Adam. But this new side of Lucifer may mean that Clark can get Camille back alive and possibly prevent a new war too. It’s a dangerous notion and one that could get everyone killed.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that falling in love during times like these would be a better definition of insanity.

AMAZON US PRE-ORDER LINK

AMAZON UK PRE-ORDER LINK

GIVEAWAY!

One winner will receive a signed paperback of THE ONLY ONE (Book 3 from the End of Days series)

&

Two more winners will receive e-copies of the complete End of Days series!

To Enter:

Just COMMENT on this page and tell me how excited you are for Days of New!

 **Ecopies will be emailed in the form of mobies. Open internationally. Winner will be picked at 9 PM EST on Monday 2/16. So please check back then to see if you’re a winner! I will reply to the comment on this page!**

 

Would you like to read the first chapter of SPEAKING OF THE DEVIL? Well, here it is! Just click right HERE!

 

Thank you for checking out my cover reveals! I hope everyone is excited for this new series!

xo

-Meg

The post Days of New Cover Reveal, Pre-order Links, & GIVEAWAY! appeared first on Books by Meg Collett.

Guess what?

The cover reveal for SPEAKING OF THE DEVIL, FULL OF THE DEVIL, and BETTER THE DEVIL YOU KNOW is happening on 2/14 right here on my website! These are the first three books in my Days of New series, which is a spin-off from my End of Days series.

Right here on this page, you will be able to check out these BEAUTIFUL covers designed by the amazing Najla of Najla Qamber Designs AND you can pre-order the second and third books in the series (the first one will be FREE upon release for five days) AND check out the descriptions for each book.

There will also be a giveaways. Winners could win the entire End of Days box set on Kindle! OR a signed paperback!

Here’s a little preview of the first cover: Speaking of the Devil designed by Najla Qamber Designs.

MAKE SURE YOU SIGN UP FOR MY NEWSLETTER TO BE REMINDED ABOUT THESE BOOKS! CLICK HERE!

 

The post Cover Preview of Days of New series! appeared first on Books by Meg Collett.

If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited and are looking for some new books to check out, FAKERS is available! It’s a contemporary romance about dealing with depression and being true to yourself.

 

Amazon Link
**FREE WITH KINDLE UNLIMITED!**

“Kyra Aberdeen is a Youtube sensation. She’s always laughing and smiling, but she’s just faking it. Because beneath the surface is a simmering depression that threatens to pull Kyra under some days. In an effort to pull herself out of a slump, she moves to Canaan Island and starts falling for her contractor. If she lowers her guard and allows herself to love Hale, will the darkness creep in too?”

 

 

 

Amazon Buy Link!

The post “Fakers” is on Kindle Unlimited! appeared first on Books by Meg Collett.

So this is kind of a “Sh!t I Learned Today” post. If you’re new to my site, I write a series of posts where I discuss things I’ve learned as a newbie author in the hopes of helping other new authors. Some of these posts are “Financial Mistakes of a New Author,” “How to Run a Blog Tour/Release Day Blitz,” and “What Did/Didn’t Work in 2014 for a New Author.”

But this post is more of a lesson that suddenly dawned on me and one I’m struggling to put into practice.

I have to get over myself.

So in 2014, I published four books and one novella to a margin of success. I say “margin” very loosely. But as I published last year, I swamped myself with ALL THESE THINGS THAT MUST BE DONE. I marketed and I promoted and oh buddy, I advertised. I posted here and I posted there. I did takeovers and giveaways. And I sacrificed two chickens on a full moon to the gods of books sales.

At the end of all that, I found I was just burnt out and not getting any writing done. And to top it all off? I still wasn’t selling that many books even after all that effort. So what was the point?

Of course, you hear everyone saying that the best marketing is just to write the next book. Well, I did. And I did every single other marketing technique everyone has ever blogged about. Okay, maybe that’s a little dramatic, but it felt that way. I thought I was doing everything right by releasing all the books in my series within a couple months of each other. I thought that had me covered on the “writer” part of my job. So I knocked myself out trying to ace the “business” part of my career.

Kind of hard to manage a business when you don’t make much money!

Duh.

All that time I spent stressing over what my street team should be pimping that day would have been better spent on writing. I could have released ten books last year. Okay maybe that’s a little dramatic too. But at least a few more.

So, my point? I thought I was a bigger deal than I really was. I thought I needed to do all this stuff like street teams, ads, Facebook groups, Facebook giveaways, takeovers, etc. (Not that it didn’t help. I’m sure it did to an extent, and I met so many wonderful people, who became close friends). My point is that I’m not a big deal. But I thought I was and that was the problem. I thought all successful writers did this: this crazy hustle and bustle to sell a book. Instead of letting my ego get in the way and dictating this sense of entitlement to hours and hours spent “promoting and marketing,” I should have been writing.

This was a really hard lesson for me to learn. When a few people read my book and liked it and then read my other books, it felt like the most amazing thing in the world. And it totally was. I would never take that away from any writer,not even myself. But what happened to me was that more people started reading my books and liking my Facebook page and following me on Twitter, and I thought that all equaled up to success. And I guess it does to some extent, but it doesn’t mean that I should go weeks without writing because I’m “so busy doing takeovers and giveaways and all this other stuff.”

I had to look at my book sales and eat a big slice of humble pie. I think when the time comes for me to spend hours busting my butt on the “business” end of writing, I’ll know. Hopefully, I’ll know it by a “NYT Times Bestselling” tag on the front of my books. Ha! Until that day, I think I’ll keep my head down, my nose to the grindstone, and my eyes off Facebook so that I can use that time to write books.

So maybe that was my biggest lesson of 2014: Getting the hell over myself. I would say it’s the biggiest “Sh!t I Learned Ever” but that just sounds gross. Anyway, I’m still learning it and putting it into practice this year. So far so good.

Or at least, I like to think so.

 

The post Getting over myself so I can write books appeared first on Books by Meg Collett.

“End of Days: The Complete Trilogy”
is on sale NOW! For only $0.99.

 

Amazon Link HERE!

Get 3 full length novels for less than a dollar!
By bestselling author, Meg Collett

 

The Hunted One: Archangel Michaela, Heaven’s General, learns that one simple mistake can have a thousand consequences. Framed for crimes she didn’t commit against Heaven, Michaela must prove her innocence. But the line between right and wrong is ever shifting, and Michaela, disgraced and wingless, discovers the holy angels have their own plan for Heaven, and it is one that may prove to be the End of the Days.

The Lost One: A group of rogue angels controlling Heaven have turned their attention to the End of Days, and they won’t rest until they obtain the tools of Earth’s final destruction: the Seven Seals. But Archangel Michaela knows the secret about the seals, and she’ll fight to the death to protect them. Even amidst the devastation on Earth, Michaela struggles with her love for Gabriel, a recently fallen angel.

The Only One: In the final installment of the End of Days series, a heavenly civil war breaks out amongst the angels, and the stakes are higher than ever before. It’s the war Michaela wanted, but she’s realizing it might not be the one she’s meant to fight. What is mercy and sacrifice in the face of tyranny and madness? It’s a lesson Michaela might not live long enough to fully understand.

Amazon Link HERE!

 

Meg Collett lives deep in the hills of Tennessee where the cell phone service is a blessing and the Internet is a myth of epic proportions. She is the mother of one giant horse named Elle and two dogs named Wylla and Mandy. Her husband is a saint for putting up with her ragtag life. Her paranormal romance series, End of Days, is currently available in its entirety. Fakers, a contemporary romance, is also available.

Sign up for her newsletter and be entered for giveaways and free books.

The post End of Days: The Complete Trilogy ON SALE NOW! $0.99! appeared first on Books by Meg Collett.

2014 was a year of trial and error for me. It was my first year of publishing, so I’m okay with the mistakes I’ve made along the way. I found a lot of techniques that worked and a lot that didn’t. No matter the failures or the wasted money, I learned a lot of valuable lessons. And you can’t buy wisdom. Thank God. Cause that would be yet another thing we would have to buy in Indie publishing.

 

So, I wanted to take a moment and recap what I’ve learned from 2014 and what I’ll be taking into 2015.

 

Advertising Websites

Ereader News Today, BookSends, Book Gorilla, OHFB, The Midlist, and a new one called Books Butterfly are some of the best sites I’ve found that are cost effective and get you great downloads or sales. I’ve mostly used them to promote my free book, The Hunted One, but I did use the Midlist for a $0.99 sale. I got mediocre buys, but I believe the problem is with the book’s description/cover/etc and not the advert site.

In 2015, I have a HUGE box set sale happening this weekend. I’m using a combo of Ereader News Today, BookSends, OHFB, and The Midlist to advertise. I believe in the future, I’ll use a combo of advertising to boost a sale. I will probably blog about this sale and my techniques for getting it off the ground. If that’s something you would like to see, leave me a comment below!

 

Facebook Boosts

In 2014, I boosted my bigger Facebook posts, like if I had a release or cover reveal or even a sale alert. It worked pretty well for me. I didn’t target an audience or anything like that. I only paid to have the sponsored post showed to “friends of friends.” I’ll likely keep using this feature in 2015, but I’m also going to focus on keeping my “views” up by doing some giveaways and more interactive posts. I know Facebook supposedly made changes to limit Page views on newsfeeds, but I had one of my biggest giveaways ever at the start of this year. And I’ve managed to keep my views up pretty well. Honestly, Facebook is just a beast I know I must feed. It’s my primary interaction with fans and potential readers, so I do what I can but I don’t stress the technical stuff.

 

In early 2014, I wasted a lot of time and money on Facebook ads (meaning not boosting the individual posts, but paying for a “pay per click” or “pay per view” ad). I think this is a waste. Maybe someone knows a better way to do this, but I never really found anything that worked for me. I wasted a lot of money on Facebook ads that I never earned back. I would say that unless you know how to really target and write great sales copy and even make a great ad image, I would steer away from this.

 

Blog Tours

I’ve paid for blog tours and I’ve had blogs run them for free for me. And I’ve done them myself. I even did a post on how to run one. But I’m coming to the conclusion that blog tours are a thing of the past. They have never worked that great for me. Why? I don’t really know. Maybe it’s because I’m a lower author on the totem pole, but many blogs won’t actually post or won’t put their review on Amazon. Now, some blogs I work with actually do this, and I really appreciate it from them. And obviously, life intervenes and things come up that means a blogger can’t get everything done. Totally fine. I’m not talking about that. All I’m saying is that blog tours are a thing of the past in my opinion. I also really don’t think a lot of readers visit actual blog sites anymore (especially since there’s such a boon of Facebook blogger pages that are more interactive). This is just a hypothesis on my end, but I think it holds true.

 

In 2015, I’ll be focusing mostly on release blitzes, which I also blogged about running. I think if you can target these blitzes to just Facebook (like I said, I don’t think readers frequent blog sites much anymore) then you can see a good response.

 

Cover Reveals

I never really got the point of these cover reveals. Potential readers can only be like, “Oh! Pretty!” There’s no other interaction. However in 2015, I plan to coordinate cover reveals with preorders. This way, folks can be like “DANG THAT’S A BANGIN’ COVER. LET ME PREORDER!” I’ve yet to do a preorder for various reasons, but hopefully this will utilize cover reveals a little better.

 

Advertising the first book in a series

Okay this was a hard lesson to learn in 2014, but I think I finally got it for 2015. I spent a lot of time and effort and money advertising The Hunted One before I even had The Lost One out. And I think a lot of authors do this. But it’s a wasted effort if you don’t have other books in the series for readers to buy as well. The time and money is better spent on writing the next book. I think this will actually save me a lot of money this year.

 

I’ve also seen a lot of talk about perma-free books being a thing of the past thanks to Kindle Unlimited. It seems that people don’t scroll through the “free” lists anymore since every book is free. If they’re a subscriber to KU. Maybe this is true. However, I’m waiting to see more data on my books sold before I make any moves.

 

PA’s and Book Signings and Street Teams

You don’t need either. This is a good lesson I learned in 2014. If this is your first year of writing, as it was mine, then you don’t need a PA. You’re not that busy. I thought I was. I wasn’t. I thought I needed a PA because everyone had one. I didn’t. If you’re so busy on Facebook and everywhere else then you need to cut back on the Facebook time and just write. Don’t do a free PA. Feelings will get hurt and you’ll lose good friends. Trust me. When you’re a bestselling author and agents/publishers are beating down your door and you have signings in Europe and books coming out every month, then hire someone. Until then…don’t waste the effort.

I also started a street team last year. I had a good amount of wonderful readers who wanted to help me spread the word about my books. They were amazing. The issue with my street team came from my end. It was pretty stressful for me, and I was always worried about drama cropping up. I think street teams are great for more established authors. But I think if you’re new like me, you don’t really need one yet. What you do need…is to write another book.

Also, book signings. I did one last year and it was AMAZING. I had so much fun. Even though I sold a lot of books (which was a surprise) I still spent way too much money. I think new authors only need to schedule one a year. That’s right. Just one. I think it’s easy to give into the temptation and schedule ten or more in a year because you feel like you should or need to. But you don’t.

You need to be writing another book.

 

Which brings me to the biggest lesson for 2015 I’ve learned…

 

WRITE ANOTHER BOOK

Everyone always says the best marketing tactic is just to write the next book. I understand this statement’s truth now. One book isn’t going to make you a bestseller. One book isn’t going to make you rich. The eBook gold rush is over. The only way to be a success now is to just keep writing. This is my biggest tactic for 2015. Write. As. Much. As. Possible.

 

So these are probably some of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in 2014. Obviously, these are totally my own opinions, and everyone’s path is going to be different. I think 2014 was a hard year in Indie publishing because the eBook gold rush is over. Things are settling down, and those authors who are in it for long haul are the ones who are going to make it. In 2014, I tried to push and hustle and do all the little marketing tricks to make a bunch of money on my books. It didn’t work. It didn’t work because that time in publishing is over. So 2015 is all about me writing and writing a lot. I want to have 10k word count days. I want to write a book a month. I want 2015 to be the year I dig my heels in and say, “I’m here to stay.”

The post What Did/Didn’t Work in 2014 for a Newbie Author appeared first on Books by Meg Collett.

SAVAGE

 

Book three in the Healer Series
By B N Toler

 

A savage is barbaric.

It attacks without restraint or pity.

It is fierce, merciless, and brutal.

Aldo has let that part of herself take over, drive her actions. I thought saving her from Bridge was my biggest problem.

I was wrong.

Something happened while she was missing. And it has altered her in a way that she is almost unrecognizable.

But she won’t tell me anything.

Instead, I’m forced to watch the young and naïve woman I’ve fallen in love with transition into everything I knew she could be; strong, fearless, and unstoppable. The problem is, she’s cut off her humanity, and coupled with those things, she’s a loose cannon.

She’s a savage.

My name is Daniel O’Sullivan and I’m in love with a broken woman. But I will bring her back and remind her of who she really is no matter what it takes.

Even if it kills me.

Excerpt:

     I sit as I am for hours, motionless and staring at nothing. Meditating maybe. Giving myself the mental pep-talk everyone needs sometimes—the one where my inner voice tells me to get my shit together and stop acting like such a dumbass. When I finally stand, I wipe at my face, hoping to clear the uncertainty I feel then take a deep breath. I spin around, ready to head back to the house only to stop abruptly. Daniel stands ten feet away from me, his arms crossed over his massive chest; his gray eyes fixed on mine.

 

    “How long have you been there?” I ask, my voice husky.

 

    “The entire time.”

 

    My heart flutters and crashes into my stomach at the same time. I love that he loves me so much. He would follow me to the ends of the earth just to watch me unravel, but I hate he has to. I need to be strong for him. I can’t let whatever it is I’m going through worry him. He has enough on his plate.

 

    “I know . . .” he begins, letting his arms fall to his sides and stepping toward me. “You’ve been though a lot. I want to know everything that happened. You need to talk to someone about it.”

 

    Taking a deep breath, I walk to him, and he hugs me tightly. If the roles were reversed, I’d want to know, too. If someone hurt him, I’d need to know every detail of what happened. I also know it would eat me alive and set my soul on fire. I couldn’t bear the images of someone doing to him what was done to me. So I won’t tell him.

 

    “I just need a little time to get my bearings. I’m fine.”

 

    He pulls me back and looks into my eyes. He doesn’t believe me. My hand finds his face covered with a few days worth of beard and slips into his thick dark hair.

 

    “Please don’t lie to me,” he grumbles.

 

    “Okay.” I nod. “I will be fine.” Which is the truth. At some point, I will be. When? I have no idea. Standing on my toes, I kiss him softly, and his arms tighten around me, squeezing me to his chest. I decide to share one thing—more like a thought or nightmare—from my time in the nest.

 

    “I never thought I’d see you again. I mean . . . I hoped, but there were times I thought I wouldn’t make it out, that I’d die there.” His breath hitches as he squeezes me tighter. “Will you do something for me?”

 

    “Anything,” he promises.

 

    “Make love to me. Right here. Right now,” I beg. “Just . . . touch me everywhere.”

 

    When he pulls away, the worry that’s been laced in his gaze has been replaced with heat—beautiful, scorching desire that makes me ache in all the right places. Pulling his shirt over his head, he lays it on the ground then takes a step toward me. I have no idea why I’m trembling. We’ve made love before, not even a day ago, but as he prowls toward me, the hunger and want humming from him, it feels like the first time. Grabbing the hem of my shirt, he pulls it up, lifting my arms above my head as he removes it. My hair falls freely over my shoulders and he steps back, his eyes perusing me agonizingly slowly. He doesn’t speak, just has his visual feast then comes back to remove more clothing. Each article of clothing he removes builds the fire inside me. I need him. When I’m standing before him in only my panties, he circles me, an energy thrumming from him that is almost enough to get me off alone.

 

    When his warm skin meets my back, his cock pressed against my ass, I nearly collapse. He got naked fast.

 

    A second is nothing to the average human, but to hybrids, it can be an infinite amount of time. It’s almost useless to count it anymore; there is no way to measure it. Not in moments like this. I can’t tell how long Daniel worships my body with only his mouth and hands; how long his tongue dances across my flesh, his fingers caressing all the right spots. I cannot measure the seconds, minutes, or hours that pass as he speaks to me in a language only we are privy to. All I know is it’s too long, yet not nearly long enough. It is euphoria. It is all that matters. By the time he lays me on the ground, my legs are shaking, my body trembling.

 

    Words. I need them. He has to hear I belong to him. That I love him, and could never be without him. Why can’t I speak? I’m so overcome with how I feel for him; there are no words to sum it up.

 

    “Shh,” he whispers as his body towers over mine. “Show me,” he murmurs, and my heart nearly explodes. My hands touch him everywhere, squeezing flesh, pulling him to me, begging for every bit of his weight to crush me; surely there is no more beautiful way to go than death by Daniel. When he pushes inside me, I moan, my head thrown back as I continue to claw at him.

 

The first two books in the Healer Series are on sale right now, through December, for only 99 pennies.

 

PURCHASE LINKS
HEALER

AMAZON ** B&N ** SMASHWORDS

HYBRID

AMAZON ** B&N ** SMASHWORDS

 

 

About the Author

B N Toler lives in Virginia with her three rowdy children and gearhead husband. She enjoys warm weather, beaches, reading, and music.

Connect Online

www.bntoler.com

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The post “Savage” New Release by BN Toler appeared first on Books by Meg Collett.

 

Little Girls and Their Ponies
*a literary fiction novella*

by bestselling author
Meg Collett

 

for fans of Gayle Forman, Jodie Picoult, and John Green

“There was a special kind of love between a girl and her horse. It was the purest kind of love in Alice’s opinion. It’s before boys and cars and high school, when a little girl’s life is measured in delights like galloping across a field, blue ribbons, and slobbery kisses. It’s a love defined not by wins and losses, babies and mortgages, but by the moments staring into deep brown eyes and knowing in your heart that your horse understands you better than anyone else. That’s the love of a girl and her pony.”

Description

 

That day on the road took everything from Alice Montgomery. Her beautiful face, her father’s keen mind, and her precious horse. One horrible accident left her trapped in a burning truck. They say she was lucky to survive, but they lied.

Nearly a year later, Alice feels the pain and sadness from that day just as fresh as when it happened. Her surviving is barely hanging on. How do you live when all you once lived for is dead and gone?

Then one day opportunity knocks on the door. It’s the chance to heal, to move on. Finally, Alice feels something besides the familiar, aching pain.

It’s time to leave the fire behind and truly live again, but Alice holds tight to the pain of that day, possibly too tight to ever let go.

Get it FREE on Amazon for very limited time
Amazon US

 

 

Meg Collett lives deep in the hills of Tennessee where the cell phone service is a blessing and the Internet is a myth of epic proportions. She is the mother of one giant horse named Elle and two dogs named Wylla and Mandy. Her husband is a saint for putting up with her ragtag life. Her paranormal romance series, End of Days, is currently available in its entirety. Fakers, a contemporary romance, is also available.

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The post “Little Girls and Their Ponies” by Meg Collett appeared first on Books by Meg Collett.

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