*Publish or Bust*: January 2016

Hello hello hello! It's been awhile, but I'm here! :D My wonderful, amazing friend is here again :D You'll probably think she's sort of a favorite...well, you'd be right! She is amazing!! I have long admired her grit and determination, and no more so than now. She's re-releasing some from publishers that have now left us, and I, for one, is very thankful! So, if you've been missing some of your favorites, be happy, cuz she's bringing them all back :D:D:D:D:D:D

Lust, Sex and Tattoos

Being an author is a scary profession. It is a world fill with uncertainty and challenges that you do not find at a day job. You work alone, no coworkers to help lighten the mood or chat with. Well I do count my dogs as my coworkers and bounce ideas off of them. Shockingly they are not very helpful. You often work hundreds of hours with no guarantee of publication acceptance. Even if you are accepted the number of authors who actually make a living from their writing is very, very small. So why do authors put themselves through hours of what sometimes can seem like torture? Well because they can’t not write. We have stories inside of us that drive us crazy until they make their way to paper. Being a writer is something that you just are. Like someone who loves pizza but is allergic to shellfish. It’s part of you.

Believe it or not, the writing is actually the easy part of being an author. The business side of writing them takes over. Once your baby is written now it is time for the editing to begin. First you go through and edit yourself, you will be amazed at what you find during these self-edits. This gives you a chance to polish the story and try to find as many grammar errors as possible. You will get better each time you edit, so don’t worry if it is a mess the first time around. After however many rounds of self-edits it’s either off for submission or off to an editor (if you are self-publishing). If accepted it’s off to an editor anyways. There you usually have three rounds of edits and then line edits to check for stuff like commas and grammar, then a proofread. In the meantime you either need to be giving input into a cover or making one. (The cover for Lust, Sex and Tattoos is the very first cover that I made myself!) You need to be getting a blurb and excerpt ready, you need to be coming up with a marketing plan.

Once your story is ready for publication, then you start marketing. Guest blogs, takeovers on FB and other sites, composing tweets, getting info on your own blog, getting sites to list your book, trying to get reviews. The list is endless and ever going. People have short attention spans these days, you need to somehow get them to notice your book. In the meantime you will also be writing your next book, so the cycle begins again.

Buy Link: http://amzn.com/B019PONFHQ

Short Blurb:

Karen is a woman looking to make a new beginning after breaking away from an abusive past. Her first stop is a tattoo shop, to show herself that she is no longer afraid to live her life the way she sees fit and to mark her freedom with a permanent reminder to never go back. When she catches sight of her tattoo artist, Ben, well she suddenly has things other than ink on her mind. Ben is wild, free and uninhibited, everything that she wants to be and more. Soon she is left alone with the man that embodies her dreams and sparks begin to fly. It's safe to say that she gets way more than she bargained for when she originally stepped into his shop, as Ben helps her unleash her wild child and truly begin her life again. One wild night can truly change a woman forever.

Short Excerpt:

With measured steps to try to hide her nerves, Karen followed him through the curtains and down a hall lined with tattooing rooms. She could hear the needles more clearly now and for a moment she thought of running from the shop just to escape that unnerving sound. Taking a deep breath, she continued on, knowing she could, and would do this, to prove something to herself if nothing else. Ben's tattoo room was in the very back and away from the others who were working. She stepped in and he closed the door behind them. She was completely alone with the most alluring man she had ever met. She gulped. This was definitely going to be an interesting night.

Ben motioned for her to take a seat on the tattoo chair as he sat down on a rolling stool. "Hop on up and take your shirt off for me and lay on your side, facing me."

Author Bio:

Sheri Velarde, lives in New Mexico with her husband and their two dogs.

Being an avid reader since an early age, she has wanted to be a writer for as long as she can remember. She has been writing all her life, but only recently started to actually try to pursue her dream of writing for a living. She specializes in all things paranormal and that go bump in the night. Her heart truly lies in exploring unknown worlds or adding the supernatural to our world. If it goes bump in the night or has magical connotations, Sheri writes about it.

She is constantly putting out new material with various publishers, so it is best to keep up with her on her website www.sherivelarde.weebly.com.

In her spare time Sheri is an artist, jewelry designer, independent comic writer/artist and freelance non-fiction writer. Hiking in the mountains, going to live concerts, art openings, museums, and hosting intimate dinner parties.

Links:

Website/Blog: http://sherivelarde.weebly.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sheri-VelardeKelly-Ryan/632892500084202

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sher_V