Trebs

Haven't used a nook - can they also take a pdf? If so, do the above on a computer, then pdf the file (easy if you're on a mac - on a pc, there are free versions of pdf writers, like cutepdf). Then email the pdf to yourself (or however you transfer stuff to the nook

I've loved TheEggman's writings for a long time, and when I saw that TheEggman had stated posting "A New Life" here on GA.Stories, I was very excited. I'm not the only one - many of our members are avidly following this story and joann414 was gracious enough to write up a review of Author TheEggman's fantastic story. Enjoy! A New Life by TheEggman Reviewed by: joann414 Status: In Progress Word Count: 206,099 So, as many of you know, when I see someone post a new story, I can't resist. I have to check it out. Well, "A New Life" by TheEggman was a wonderful and interesting surprise. The author introduces three of his main characters, and you kinda think, hmmmm. Then, I kept reading and he brought in a cast of characters that made me say, "What?". Meaning, when he introduces you to a character, he gives them their own place in his tale, a backstory, and makes you fall in love with them. His story takes you into a happy accepting family that has a gay son that falls in love with a new Californian, that is a transplant from Texas. Their journey is one including their two best friends, who are also gay, a couple of kid brothers, and awesome parents. Did I forget to mention a homophobic dad and brother of one of the friends?. Nothing is ever all rainbows and ponies as we all know. Sometimes an author throws so many characters at you that you have to re-read the last chapter to see what the heck is going on. Eggman throws his characters out there with a story, and you don't forget it. Each and everyone find a way into your heart. I don't even have to glance at the last chapter to figure out what is going on. I just know. This is not a spoiler, but he gives us a chapter in diary form and it blew me away. The character that the diary belongs to tugs at your feelings from the time he is introduced into the story. Once you read the diary, you feel like a whole new glimpse into this plot has been unveiled. As the story moves along , the characters develop, and many things unfold unexpectedly. The boys grow in their relationship, their best friend faces the homophobic father, and they all deal with their feelings after this major event. If you haven't checked out A New Life, you are missing a great story, and a great presentation of youngsters trying to become who they know they are, dodging the cruelty and disapproval of society and family. Go read and let Eggman know how awesome his story is and the enjoyment it gave you. It certainly did it for me.

Yes - when you are in GA.Stories on the main story page (title at top, details, description, list of all of the chapters), right next to the author's name (and immediately below the story title), is a picture of a printer. Click on the printer and you get the story as one long document. This version is great to use, especially if you are about to lose internet connection (ie, boarding a plane). A downside is for those that like leaving reviews/comments on chapters, you then have to go back to the chapter to do so. Hope this helps

Hi Ron - what is posted here is everything that we're aware Dom has written and released. I, like you, wish he'd come back as in my opinion, he is one of the best authors out there. I'm not sure what happened - he's taken long breaks before so he may or may not come back. I know that's not helpful but unfortunately realistic.

I updated the list and checking to see what might be going on with the update date on your story. Thanks for letting us know!

I love our community and how many members just dive in and get so totally involved. On Monday, we had a great review from Sasha Distan, a relatively new member who nevertheless has already made almost 400 posts and has a reputation of over 1100! Sasha reviewed Nemesis by Author Thorn Wilde, another new member who has become very involved with GayAuthors! On Wednesday, we saw July's edition of Dark's popular feature, Ask An Author - with this month's interviewees being Luc Rosen, Libby Drew and Mark Arbour. And for Friday - not only two great new writing prompts from comicfan - one of them has a tag line of "Zombie Apocalypse" - ZOMG!!! We also were treated to Kitt's response to the prior week's prompt #243. So - how was your week? Anthology Announcements: Fall Anthology: Pandora's Box - Due Sept 8th Winter Anthology: Recipe for Disaster - Due Dec 8th NEW READING In Premium this week: Picked at the Peak by Cia By our Hosted Authors this week: Recovery by Nephylim Flash Fiction - Second Shot - The Senior Year by Andrew_Q_Gordon Odyssey by Mark Arbour, Book 6 of Bridgemont The Secret Life of Billy Chase 7 by Comicality, Book 7 of The Secret Life of Billy Chase Adverse Effects by Cia, Book 2 of Saving Caeorleia In the Arms of an Angel by Nephylim, Book 1 of Wednesday Briefs 9.11 by Mark Arbour, Book 13 of Chronicles of An Academic Predator (CAP) "Waiting Outside The Lines" by Comicality, Book 0 of "Waiting Outside The Lines" Needing You by Cia Thwarted by Renee Stevens By our Promising Authors this week: Pour Me Another by K.C. 0300 Book 1 by David McLeod The Talents of the Fallen by JMH, Book 1 of Fallen The Prophecy by Dolores Esteban Have a great week everyone! Read, Write, REVIEW!!!

Congrats Henry - you can post in GA.Stories or as a reply to one of the prompt threads in our Writing Prompts forum, and since you did both prompts in one response, you can put it either under prompt 244 or prompt 245

Mark - we all are "growing old" - since it beats the one alternative ;-) Gotta say - the GA legend part is equally accurate.

Thanks AJ

One regular feature of this GayAuthor.org News Blog that I personally enjoy is "Ask An Author" - a piece developed and produced by Dark. Though normally posted the first Wednesday of each month, Dark was gracious enough to let us delay July's so that we could bring you last week's post about the Editor/Beta Ballroom. So - after a slight delay, here is Ask An Author number 6 - take it away Dark! Ask an Author #6 Welcome back to another quirky question and answer session with your favorite authors! In AtA #5, we had questions for authors wrathofmagneto, Naptowngirl, and C James. In AtA #6, we hear from authors Luc Rosen, Libby Drew, and Mark Arbour. For their protection, the members who asked these questions shall remain nameless (unless they choose to reveal themselves). Please note that all author replies are copied as is, spelling errors and grammar eccentricities original to the individual. Today’s first author is Luc Rosen (the author formerly known as FishWings). This author has been with GA since 2007 and would love to meet someone faithful and loyal. Poor Rover would, too, but … but … but …! I can’t believe you left us hanging like that. Want to know what this is about? Check out Luc Rosen's story, I'm Not From Earth. To Luc Rosen: If you could become famous (or infamous) for one story you've written, what would that story be about? One that I have in mind is currently in progress, a science fiction work set in a hypothetical city some twenty years into the future. A mysterious disease has swept across the nation, and a secret agency is doing everything in their power to curb its presence to the ever-watchful eye of the public. The story follows a young high school boy who is chased and captured by that agency and focuses on his forced integration into the staff. There will be a primordial emphasis on ethics and nerdy scientific concepts, with secondary focus on romance…. And gore! I think I’d rather this story gain publicity than the stories that I have already published on this site because it’s one that really reflects my passions and opinions of prevalent global issues. Today’s next author is Hosted (and published) Author Libby Drew. She has also been with GA since 2007 and has over the last 2 years started publishing her stories, stories that began their lives here. I confess I first ran into her after purchasing and loving Great Restorations. Carina Press has Libby’s latest novel, 40 Souls to Keep, and I’m told that another original-GA story will be published through them. I’m hoping it’s the one about the model railroad! To Libby Drew: Which story have you written are you most proud of? Why? I’m always proudest of the last story I’ve written. Writing is not about going halfway or giving a certain percentage. Every time I sit down to write, I try to do it better. Every finished project is the apple of my eye… until I start the next one. That said, there will always be a special place in my heart for Running Far Afield. Capturing and retelling the truth accurately is a huge burden. It’s nothing like invention and supposition. I’m proud of Running Far Afield because I gave immortality to the boys who inspired the fictional Chris and Aaron. Their bravery deserved it. Every young person facing hatred and intolerance deserves it. The final author of the day needs no introduction, but I’m going to give him one anyway. Mark Arbour is another founding member of GA. He’s a Hosted Author today and continues to spew stories left and right. There’s the family dynasty CAP series, the historical naval orgy of the Bridgemont series, and a handful of others. Posting a new chapter with astounding regularity has made Mark Arbour a bit of a legend around here. I wonder if that’s a side benefit to growing old? To Mark Arbour: In your landmark serial story, The CAP Saga, you are currently transitioning to a new generation of characters. Did you find it difficult to write a new generation, and how do you feel this new generation has affected the way you've writing CAP? Actually, this is my third generation, so I've already done that transition once before. The transition from one generation to another has a few challenges, but the primary obstacle is creating characters that are not too similar. It's easy to create clones of prior characters and just have them live out new scenarios, but that's disingenuous. At the same time, children often have similar traits to their parents. So the mission is to try and create characters that have similarities so readers feel the continuity, but with pronounced differences so the story isn't simply a redux. Moving from the second to third generation has changed the series in two distinct ways. First of all, because the characters are younger, I'm dealing with the under-age issue, and all the things that go with that. I've done that by showing two characters who are similar in age but entirely dissimilar in development. Laws and guidelines on underaged guys are standardized, but guys aren't. A 14 year old who feels like he's 18 physically is going to be a lot different than a 14 year old guy who has the body of a 12 year old. It's been in interesting topic to explore. The second big change is in dealing with parental relationships, primarily father-son relationships. That's been an interesting journey, one that I'll share with you if you're so inclined. That’s it for now! For more info on these authors, go check out their stories, post in their forums, and/or catch them in chat! Coming next time: JWolf, K.C., and Mann Ramblings. Want to ask your favorite author a question? Simply PM me (Dark). Until next time! Dark

Thanks Cannd - a friend saw the pciture and recommended I should use it as my avatar and so I switched it. I do love how she gets all needy and cuddly sometimes - she's a 4 1/2 year old yellow lab named Mila (short for Milaya). I also have a pocket beagle named Dori

We have a great review from a new member who has only been with us for a short while, but who has totally embraced and been embraced by the GA community. Not only is Sasha an author as well, but in less than four months has over 360 posts and a reputation of almost a thousand. Here is Sasha's review of Nemesis, by Author Thorn Wilde and if you enjoy Nemesis, Thorn has six other current stories on GA.Stories. Enjoy! Nemesis by Thorn Wilde Reviewer: Sasha Distan Status: Complete Word Count: 61,073 Thorn Wilde’s first novella Nemesis made me smile pretty much all the way through, except for the bits that made me unspeakably upset and concerned for the characters. Mr Wilde puts them through hell, and even though some of them deserve it, it was tough going at times. I read Nemesis mostly because the title and the blurb kept on hanging around my brain, and I loved the idea of having a ‘best enemy.’ The story follows the final school year of Nick Davies and Dave Thompson, who have been bitter enemies since the age of five, who find each other somewhere between hate, animosity and dropping books on each other. Thorn writes his two protagonists of Nick and Dave in a coherent and consistent manner. Dave is cocky and arrogant in his voice and actions, while Nick is softer; shy and endearing, but perfectly able to use his great wit and stand up for himself. The relationship and history between the two is palpable and entertaining and their various little tics and habits help to enrich the story and along with the realistic descriptions of the town and school (and of course, the bike sheds) make the world that Thorn has created intriguing and exciting. The cast of supporting characters are well rounded and interesting, and the exploration of the through Thorn Wilde’s collection of short stories is a lovely added bonus to the novel. Dave’s collection of friends start out falling into very defined stereotypes and while the main characters find their way in the big bad world of love and relationships, the supporting cast bash their way out of their boxes, developing and changing to become real solid people. It is a refreshing and exciting expansion of the core story. Nemesis is an enthralling story, one which I read as a reward system on which I then ended up cheating on myself with because I was driven to continue reading by the various twists and turns the characters take. Throughout the novel there are elements of fear and secrecy, the town in which Thorn sets his stories is deeply suspicious and homophobic in a very real way, and the constant drive to act undercover drives the characters to make rash decisions, chose interesting choices and ultimately build themselves up toward a climatic finish. The main character of Nick is a delight to experience. The little tousle haired geek who reads Neil Gaimen religiously and snaps at those who annoy and irritate him got right under my skin and drew me in. His circumstances, the rocky relationship with his mother, his sweet but rather independent sister and her deeply irritating and downright dangerous boyfriend, all spin together to create an empathic and believable character. This book has taken a decade to come to fruition, and it is easy to see where Thorn has allowed his character time to develop. The world he creates is rich and detailed, utterly absorbing, and the central relationship between Nick and Dave is strong enough to take a hell of a beating whilst still being beautifully fragile in the way of teenage romance everywhere.

Happy July - isn't the year moving fast? We started the month on Monday with our usual CSR Book Club Selection - this month we're looking at Author Rob Colton's The Degan Incident. Take a look at this story (or review it if you've read it in the past) and come back on July 29th to join in the discussion day for this story! On Wednesday, we had an intro by Louis (LJH) and Joann (joann414) to the new "Editor/Beta Ballroom" - really, our re-energized Editor/Beta Program. The way they describe the program is great - for authors, editors and beta readers - and this turned out to be one of our most commented-on GA News Blog entries ever. We ended this first week of July with our fantastic Prompt Me - writing prompts courtesy of comicfan! His latest are Prompt 242 - The Prize and Prompt 243 - First Line. Where can you take them? Try it yourself and share it with the community in the Writing Prompts forum! So - how was your week? Anthology Announcements: Fall Anthology: Pandora's Box - Due Sept 8th Winter Anthology: Recipe for Disaster - Due Dec 8th NEW READING In Premium this week: Binding by Lugh, Book 3 of Vega-5 By our Hosted Authors this week: 9.11 by Mark Arbour, Book 13 of Chronicles of An Academic Predator (CAP) One Night by Cia Standing in Shadows by Krista Savage Moon 06 - The New Breed by Comicality, Book 6 of Savage Moon Odyssey by Mark Arbour, Book 6 of Bridgemont Recovery by Nephylim Legacy by Altimexis, Book 29 of Naptown Tales Line of Sight by Renee Stevens By our Promising Authors this week: The Prophecy by Dolores Esteban Life Changes by comicfan Guitars 2 by layla A Cook's Tale by Mann Ramblings, Book 2 of Ship Logs of the Santa Claus Pour Me Another by K.C. Have a great week everyone! Read, Write, REVIEW!!!

Exactly Mann - come back on July 29th for a good free-form discussion.

The stories exist - I've read a few but blanking on names right now. I'll try to remember and post here

ANNOUNCEMENT: Congratulations on our newest Promising Author, Layla! It's been a fantastic week and our week here at the GayAuthors.org News Blog started with our monthly Can't Stop Reading bookclub's Discussion Day for Reach by Promising Author Cassie Q! Wednesday was an exciting day, with a great new writing tip from Libby on Specificity! Finally - not only did comicfan give us two great new Writing Prompts for Friday - the greek chorus has already chimed in. The comments are wonderful to read through - um, though a certain bear may induce epilepsy. You'll see So - how was your week? Anthology Announcements: Fall Anthology: Pandora's Box - Due Sept 8th Winter Anthology: Recipe for Disaster - Due Dec 8th NEW READING In Premium this week: Binding by Lugh, Book 3 of Vega-5 By our Hosted Authors this week: Flash Fiction - Second Shot - The Senior Year by Andrew_Q_Gordon The Secret Life of Billy Chase 7 by Comicality, Book 7 of The Secret Life of Billy Chase One Night by Cia Odyssey by Mark Arbour, Book 6 of Bridgemont 9.11 by Mark Arbour, Book 13 of Chronicles of An Academic Predator (CAP) Thwarted by Renee Stevens Legacy by Altimexis, Book 29 of Naptown Tales By our Promising Authors this week: The Prophecy by Dolores Esteban A Cook's Tale by Mann Ramblings, Book 2 of Ship Logs of the Santa Claus Andy's Shorties by andy021278, Book 2 of GA Prompt Stories Roadhouse Reds by layla Life Changes by comicfan Guitars 2 by layla Pour Me Another by K.C. Broken Prince and Mismatched Eyes by layla The Talents of the Fallen by JMH, Book 1 of Fallen Have a great week everyone! Read, Write, REVIEW!!!

REMINDER: Political posts/comments are not allowed in the GA Forums including status updates and chat - thanks! So - have you started going through withdrawals from not getting a writing tip from Libby? I really enjoy the perspective she has and the experience she shares in these tips that she does for our community. Here Libby writes on "Specificity" - Enjoy! Specificity Of course we can say “she cooked him dinner.” But why would we, when we could say “she broiled him a Delmonico to medium rare.” We experience life in particulars, not in vague generalities. Specific details jolt our memories and feelings. When writing, name things and actions specifically, but be wary of overbalancing. Too much specificity dilutes the power of your juicy Delmonicos. Specific details are the things that sell reality to the reader. They can be powerfully emotive, and they help our audience empathize and sympathize with our characters. They let us believe we have experienced what they have. Writing description—painting a vivid picture in the reader’s mind—is a bear to master. Often, we err on the side of too much or too little description to carry a scene. One key to making description work for us is specificity. It makes our prose more powerful. It can change a bland, generic piece of descriptive writing into something far more interesting to read. It draws the reader in. It makes the story more tangible and believable. There's probably no limit to the number of specific details we could build into a passage of descriptive writing. So we must be selective. Too many details can slow the action, and if they aren't of vital importance to the story, they become boring. On the other hand, a few telling details inserted in the middle of the action can paint a rich picture for the reader without slowing things down. He picked her up at seven o’clock and took her to the Chinese restaurant in town. Or… He roared up in his Porsche at seven. Candy-apple red and gleaming, it shamed the other cars lining the street. At the House of Chen, they parked next to a boulder-lined koi pond. The red fish matched the car perfectly. So… the next time one of your chapters seems a little bland, try replacing some general words with specific details. You may be amazed how much power they contain. But be selective. Think carefully on which details, when brought to life though specificity, will add the most life to your story. ~Libby

UPDATE: I forgot to include that as with the forums, statuses as well may not include politics. Again, please utilize blogs for these type of expressions. As many of you know, the US Supreme Court is due to issue a number of high interest decisions this week, not the least of which are the Prop 8, DOMA and the Fisher AA cases. It is natural that these decisions will cross political and personal issues that are important to many members but please remember, our forums, chat and member status updates are NOT for political posts. If you wish to comment on these events, you are free to use your personal or GA site blog - except in rare circumstances (such as advocating an illegal act), the blogs are not subject to the no politics on GA rule. You are responsible for moderating your personal blog on your own, however if you have a problem with someone posting a comment in your blog, you can act on that on your own by deleting it or in extreme circumstances, reporting it. As the rules for blogs mention:

The week started off on a great note with a review by Wicked Witch of Promising Author JMH's The Centurion Cycle. Wednesday, we had a great (and timely) article by Andrew_Q_Gordon on So you wanna be an Author - hope you took marketing classes. Andy gave us some great tips based on his experience - and timely as he just released his book Purpose yesterday! But whether you are writing an eBook, a published book or story that you are posting in GA.Stories, his advice is really good for any author and I hope you check out his article. And we were back in the prompt game with two wonderful New Prompts by comicfan - and Kitt has already taken up the gauntlet and written a response to one of them. Take a look and see what you can come up with - be sure to share it with the community in the Writing Prompts Forum. So - how was your week? Anthology Announcements: Fall Anthology: Pandora's Box - Due Sept 8th Announcing our Winter Anthology: Recipe for Disaster - Due Dec 8th NEW READING In Premium this week: Picked at the Peak by Cia By our Hosted Authors this week: Belovéd by Don H 9.11 by Mark Arbour, Book 13 of Chronicles of An Academic Predator (CAP) Flash Fiction - Second Shot - The Senior Year by Andrew_Q_Gordon Odyssey by Mark Arbour, Book 6 of Bridgemont One Night by Cia Recovery by Nephylim Legacy by Altimexis, Book 29 of Naptown Tales By our Promising Authors this week: Prompt Ramblings by Mann Ramblings Life Changes by comicfan The Prophecy by Dolores Esteban Andy's Shorties by andy021278, Book 2 of GA Prompt Stories Pour Me Another by K.C. A Cook's Tale by Mann Ramblings, Book 2 of Ship Logs of the Santa Claus Have a great week everyone! Read, Write, REVIEW!!!

The experiences of our members are always a valuable resource here at GayAuthors.org, whether it is in reviewing, tips on writing or in this case, how to market your work. Thanks go out to Hosted Author Andrew_Q_Gordon (the artist formerly known as Quonus10) for this blog entry on what to do, and what NOT to do! So you wanna be an Author – hope you took marketing classes. by Andrew_Q_Gordon I imagine many of the writers on GA want to not only publish the work, but also sell their books as well. It's a realistic goal. Many have done it and more will. When AnytaSunday and I sold (Un)Masked to Dreamspinner Press, she had already self-published a few titles. Some were free, others were $.99 or $1.99. I figured her name recognition would translate into buckets of sales for the professionally published book that was about to be released. Sometimes I can be so wrong. I knew there was a need to 'get the word out' so I created a blog and a Facebook page and thought – well, now I'll just announce things and the sales will tumble in. It's stunning how wrong I can be at times. [A word of warning – if you use your author name as your profile, Facebook may delete it without any notice to you thereby wiping out everything there because it violates the terms and service agreement. In theory, only real people may have a FB Profile. Pen Names and the like are supposed to use their much less user friendly Author Page. It's happened before and will happen again, even if it's rare, so be aware of the issue.] In the last year I've learned a few things that might be of use to others who are considering or want to be a published author. Marketing isn't so much about getting the word out about your new book as getting your name out there so when you do have a new book, people will be interested. The idea is you want fans/readers/followers who will read your announcements and be interested in your book. Sure you can buy banner ads, or put your book cover up on literary sites and hope it will catch someone's eye enough that they'll buy it, but real sales comes from somewhere else. [For today's discussion we can leave out what genre sells better than others and speak in more general terms.] Perhaps the single best piece of advice I can give is, start early. Well before your book comes out, you should be marketing yourself as an author. You can and should be cultivate a fan base, create an interesting website/blog, engage readers on a daily basis, help promote other authors work so when your book comes out they'll return the favor and you can tap into their readers. All of these things and others take time to build up. If you do what I did and wait until your book is almost out, you'll be disappointed by the sales. Anecdotally, for (Un)Masked, there were four (4) presales before it was published. The Last Grand Master presold 8 copies. As of June 18th, Purpose has presold 18. The difference is name recognition to some degree. If you're still writing your book, now is the time to start your site, your blog, create a twitter account and join groups. Make nice with authors, re-tweet their posts, have them as a guest, review their books and post it on your site. All these things will help you build up good will that is generally returned when you're promoting your own work. The second suggestion is find a way to get readers of your blog, FB, tweets, website, whatever, to sign up for email up dates. Wordpress has an easy tool on their site where you can put up a box where folks can add their email address and get email notifications. You should put this high on the page, on every page, so that anyone who visits your site/page will see it. Not everyone will join, but at least they don't have to hunt to find it if they want to. Here is an example from my site: http://andrewqgordon.com/posts/ Once you've got your accounts and set up so people can sign up, you need to get eyeballs and you need people to keep coming back. While I'm certainly not authority on marketing – others have more experience and sell more books than I – I've noticed anecdotally that what works to get you followers and to a lesser degree what doesn't. First the don’ts. 1) While this may seem counterintuitive, I'd say don't hype your book non-stop. If all you ever post, tweet, write about, is your book, people will tune you out. No one wants to sign up to get email alerts – or tweets for that matter – non-stop about your book. If you want examples of people who do this and want to see just how annoying it is, let me know and I'll send you some Twitter names to follow. It won't take long to see how off-putting it is. 2) This piece of advice came from seasoned author and the more I think about it the more I agree. Avoid negative posts – no "this review is stupid and so is the reviewer". No posts about your horrible medical condition, or financial problems. Don't talk about how you don't get how reviewers can be so mean, or if you can't say something nice, don't leave a comment. None of that. The problem is people don't fan you to learn about your problems or to hear you talk trash about someone – or generic someones. They follow you and your characters. Readers escape into your stories. They don't want to know you have the same troubles and failings as they do. You and your characters are fictitious and they're fans of that fiction. Keep it that way. If you make friends with readers, sure share with them as you would any friend, but for the general public and on your blog – positive and up beat is the way to be. The Do's 1) Give away free stuff. I don't just mean giving away a free copy of your book. That helps generate interest, but it doesn't keep people coming back. I mean consistent free fiction that they can come back to your site to read. I was fortunate to be asked to join the Wednesday Briefs group. Cia, Nephylim and Renee Stevens all belong as well. The idea is that each Wednesday, you put out a short piece of fiction and fans who like it will sign up to get alerts. When your book comes out, they'll get that notice too and if they like you well enough, hopefully they'll buy your book. The benefit of a group is that we all help promote each other. Sure there is a lot of overlap as we probably share more readers than are unique. But even if only 20% of our followers are unique, if you have 20 people spreading the word, you can see that the reach grows exponentially. Since I've joined the group and been posting regularly, the number of people who've signed up for email alerts from my blog has jumped considerably. That is the real goal. Anyone who is willing to type in their email address to get an alert from you is far more engaged than a follower on Twitter or a like on Facebook. 2) Be a good friend. Yes, it's a bit of work, but having others visit and making it friendly and inviting is a big deal. It's also an easy source of content and new eyeballs. Having guest post – and doing it consistently and regularly is important. Each guest brings their readers/fans with them – not all but some. Many of those readers are new to you. Now they are not. You're also opening your readers to this new person. Again, some will know the author/guest, but some won't. It's a win/win for both. One of the most clicked on posts I've had in the year my blog was up was recently when SJD Peterson visited. Her post is far and away the most viewed Author/guest post. She is also a full time author with a large following. She publicized the event and her followers came. Because I can see when people follow my site, I can tell I got quite a few new followers thanks to her visit. Of course there are the usual marketing ideas – guest blogs, a blog hop, give aways, advertising, excerpts, etc. I don't mean to suggest these don't work or you should avoid them, not at all. They are all helpful and you should do these things. But in my mind the best way to sell a book is to make fans. People who know you and your work. Fans who will want to read your latest and greatest novel. It takes time, there is no magic shortcut, and it definitely will take time away from writing. But if you want to publish books, you need to do it. This is why I say, to be successful, start early. Well before your book is going to come out – and a month or two is not early. Post often. People like free and if your good enough to get people to pay for your books, giving away free fiction is a valuable commodity. It's the same as getting a free book. Make friends with others by helping promote them and their work. A tweet here, a review, letting them come take over your blog for a day – all these help build up good will that 99.9% of authors will gladly repay in kind when you need it. And ban together with others to take advantage of scale. You need to get as many people as possible to see your work. The more who read it, the more who'll sign up for email alerts. That's the prize. Engaged fans who like you well enough that they'll let you email them alerts every day. As I said, I'm no expert. I'm still feeling my way around, but if you have any questions, feel free to PM me on GA or email me directly – andrewqgordon@gmail.com.

Thanks again Andy - I enjoyed this piece. Lots of good advice for all authors - even though this is focused on self-publishing, even beginning authors can use some of these ideas to build up their reader base and direct people to a blog they may have here, and to stories they may post under GA.Stories. My best thoughts and hopes for Purpose - you are a fantastic author and I really enjoy your work.

As always, we couldn't do this without help. Thank you Wicked Witch for this great review of Promising Author JMH's "The Centurion Cycle" - much appreciated! If you have a story that hasn't been reviewed yet and want to write a review for us, let us know! Trebs and Renee Stevens The Centurion Cycle by JMH Reviewer: Wicked Witch Status: In Process Current Word Count: 698,166 Some authors awe you with the way they managed to build vast, complex cohesive plots that make perfect sense. JMH has achieved this with the massive Centurion Cycle, some nearly 700,000 words of the life of Jason Argot, Legatio of Qul Tos and his expansive group of true friends and loves. An amazing mix of medieval, fantasy and science fiction that defies genres, Centurion Cycle hooked me and then wound me right in and I spent nearly a week not stop reading it from beginning to end. Centurion Cycle isn't so much a romance as an epic novel covering war and death, struggle and ultimate sacrifice and the fate of an entire world, with romance included for good measure. Something I thoroughly enjoyed was the way JMH builds Centurion Cycle as something that is the history of the world as we know it. In the end I felt delighted I had read this masterpiece, it left me feeling much benefited by the read. An amazing portrayal of human emotion will dance across the pages as you read this, with delightful characters. Jason is just a young boy when the story begins, and you will watch him mature, grow and developed mentally and physically as the story unfolds. But he is not perfect, and not everyone can be saved. If you are looking for something with a plot that you can really sink your teeth into, you'll enjoy Centurion Cycle.

I can easily see the insurance company denying any claim, as the evidence is there that they purposely went into a Cat 4/5 hurricane (Act of God if nothing else). But between the book deal and the gold, Trev can afford the rebuild.

One factor I hope is addressed is Shane's visa status for the U.S.

Hope your week has been going well. Here, we started with a review by Wildone of Hosted Author Krista's Something Unexpected! Wednesday, we were pleased to be able to announce GayAuthors.org's first Anthology eBook: Best of 2006. Speaking of anthologies, Friday we pre-empted out weekly prompts (don't worry - they'll be back next week) for the announcement of our 2013 Summer Anthology! This anthology who's theme is "Roll the Dice" is now live and has so many great stories to read. Enjoy! So - how was your week? Anthology Announcements: "Paid Premium Anthology": 3 Summer Themes - Due June 15th (OMG - LIKE TODAY!!!) Announcing our Fall Anthology: Pandora's Box - Due Sept 8th Get writing and submitting :-) Some of us want to do some new reading NEW READING In Premium this week: Binding by Lugh, Book 3 of Vega-5 By our Hosted Authors this week: Legacy by Altimexis, Book 29 of Naptown Tales Coupled in Synchronicity by Cia Flash Fiction - Second Shot - The Senior Year by Andrew_Q_Gordon One Night by Cia 9.11 by Mark Arbour, Book 13 of Chronicles of An Academic Predator (CAP) Take a Ride by Renee Stevens, Book 3 of The Adventures of Jerry & Chris Odyssey by Mark Arbour, Book 6 of Bridgemont Thwarted by Renee Stevens By our Promising Authors this week: The Prophecy by Dolores Esteban Pour Me Another by K.C. A Cook's Tale by Mann Ramblings, Book 2 of Ship Logs of the Santa Claus Hard Choices by comicfan The Talents of the Fallen by JMH, Book 1 of Fallen October 14, 1993 by K.C. Have a great week everyone! Read, Write, REVIEW!!!