Christie Silvers

Blog Tour Coming in June

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:55:00 +0000

Coming June 1st I'll be on a 21-day blog tour. I don't have all the details yet, but it should be a whole lotta fun for everyone. I'll post lots more the tour when I have more details.

In the meantime, I'm working on ideas for the upcoming guest blog posts and would love to hear your thoughts.

What would you like to read about from me? Is there something you've always wanted to know about me but never asked? About the books? Characters? Etc.

If you have an idea for one of my upcoming blog tour posts feel free to post them here, on Facebook, or e-mail me at authorchristiesilvers@gmail.com .

Oh, and if you'd like to be one of the blog tour hosts, sign up at http://www.temptingbooktours.com/ .

I hope you're having a lovely Thursday. We've almost made it to the weekend! Keep going; you can do it!

Do you have a Pinterest board?

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:50:00 +0000

I'm sure many of you have already heard about the fun that is Pinterest. For those of you that haven't, OMG! Why the hell not?!

Just kidding. :)

Pinterest is a really cool site that becomes mildly addictive (you've been warned) the longer you're on it. First off, you create an account, then build "boards." You fill (pin) these boards with pictures and videos of things that interest, intrigue, motivate you. These boards are shared with your friends, who may repin your pictures as things that interest, intrigue, motivate them.

It's a continuous cycle of sharing ideas. And I love it!

I pin photos of my dogs, our gardening adventures, the follies of raising chickens, backyard ideas, places I've traveled and places I'd like to travel to, and even organizational ideas for around the house.

How does that pertain to author life, you might ask. Well, aside from pinning my books, I pin books of friends, photos that motive me to write, author inspirational quotes, locations that I might like to use for book settings, etc.

Just yesterday, I created two new boards: Liz Baker's Crazy Life and Athena's Ambrosia.

Those of you who read my Liz Baker books will definitely enjoy these boards. Though not very full at this moment, I am hoping to pin dozens upon dozens of pictures that relate to the book series. I even have plans for a Chad board, ladies! We both know you wanna see Chad in all his ex-cop hotness. Mmmm...

If you're already on Pinterest stop by and follow (I like to follow back). If you're not on Pinterest, what the heck are you waiting for? :D

Have a lovely Wednesday!

Free Liz Baker Read

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:40:00 +0000

For all you Liz Baker fans I have a little short story that gives you some insight on Liz's elderly neighbor, MaryAnne Patterson. She looks like a sweet little Southern lady on the outside, but she harbors a dark secret on the inside. Well, really, the secret is hidden in her spare bedroom. ;)

Download your copy of Death Reflected today on http://www.christiesilvers.com/shortsstories.htm .

Death Reflected coming soon

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 04:45:00 +0000

After finishing up book 3 in the Liz Baker series, Killer Intentions, I had an idea to throw out a short story about Liz's interesting elderly neighbor, MaryAnne Patterson. She has been Liz's neighbor for a while now and is always happy to step in to pick up the mail and care for Liz's cat, Tara, when Liz is away. But there was always something mingling in the back of my mind, something not quite normal about Mrs. Patterson.

Death Reflected is the story of how Liz found out the deep, dark, hidden secret MaryAnne hoped no one would ever figure out. This story will be a freebie for all my Liz Baker fans. Once completed, I'll post it free of charge on the website and let you know of it's availability.

Keep in mind that Death Reflected should be read AFTER Killer Intentions. The scene actually happens in the middle of Killer Intentions, but is only mentioned ever so slightly during a sleepy-time chat between Liz and Chad. Just enough to give me the lead in for the short story.

I'll post more about it when the editing is done and the e-cover is ready for viewing. :)

New review for the Liz Baker series.

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 13:25:00 +0000

Good reviews always make an author happy, but usually they are reviews for single books. This time I received a review for the entire Liz Baker series, thus far. Check out what Author Robin Renee Ray has to say about her enjoyment of Liz's life and the people around her. :)

"I have been a Fan of the Liz Baker series and her walk from being the non-caring bar owner to being the owner of a large estate that she inherited when a dear family friend passed. When she went from a normal state of life where hanging with friends and having flings with the same long time bud with benefits was what completed her existence. Then, of course, he came in the mist of the quake that had fallen on her world, the one who walked the night and sought more than just the blood in her veins.

Liz took the life of the one who allured her into the darkness, and saved a man that later took her heart. In this book, you see where the two have traveled and how much Liz’s journey into the world of the unknown has taken them. The things she finds out are nothing compared to finding out that she herself was half vampire, child of the one who sent the night walker to allure her to the dark side in books one and two. Even her deceased mother, who came to her aid when needed, was not as shocking as what she discovers in, Killer Intentions.

I can’t just recommend this book, without saying read them all. It is a complete tale of intrigue, deceit, paranormal in both the vampire world as well as the mystical, and the pivotal growth of romance is insurmountable. Liz not only develops as a woman, but her powers in the field of magic, that she is only on the very edge of learning, is developing faster than any can explain. Christie Silvers is taking her characters on a rapid running river of excitement in every area. If I could give this series more than a 5Star, I would be the first to do it!"

Read an E-Book Week

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 20:15:00 +0000

March 4-10 is Read an E-Book Week. In honor of this week, I have put two of my most popular books on sale for $0.00 on Smashwords.com.

Time for Death (Liz Baker, book 1): Click here and use code RE100 at checkout to snag it for free!

Dark Promises: Click here and use code RE100 at checkout to snag it for free as well!

I hope that you'll enjoy them enough to leave a review on any book site of your choice. Some of my favorites are Smashwords (of course), Amazon, B&N, GoodReads, and Shelfari.

Now I'm off to spend a few hours with the family before the hubby starts night shift tonight. He's not pleased, but I'll have the bed all to myself for a while. :D

Check 'Em Out!

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 15:50:00 +0000

Happy Friday! Whew! I didn't think this week would ever end. I'm so looking forward to sleeping in this weekend, especially since I've been up at 5:30am every day for two weeks now. Yuck. However, it was all worth it in the end due to the wonderful people I've met and the fun I had.

As promised, today I'm going to share some of the authors I met. Keep in mind that I met a LOT of people and writers, and I can't possibly share them all. These are few of the people I talked to most and really enjoyed the time we had together.

If you read about my candy pushing method yesterday you'll remember my neighbor in candy crime. Hawk MacKinney was the funny author who wouldn't let people pass without taking candy. Hawk is a retired Navy man who teaches and writes. At Book 'Em he displayed his book Moccasin Trace. If you enjoy Civil War stories definitely check his out.

My neighbor to the left was the lovely Suzanne Adair. She's a friendly soul who smiles easily and has joked on Twitter about my candy pushing this week. I hope to see her again next year. Suzanne writes fiction set during the Revolutionary War. She says that her son calls her books stories about kick-ass women in history.

Suspense and thriller writers Michael Palmer and his son Daniel Palmer were both interesting, pleasant, and an enjoyment to be around. Daniel is hilarious and we all got a kick out of his thoughts on adding a companion dog to a story. Apparently dogs can fix any flawed manuscript. LOL!

Oh, and I can't forget the beautiful E. Marie Sanders! She is a doll. I enjoyed listening to her speak during one of the conference talks, and talking to her when she came around to my table earlier in the day. Since then we have connected online and I hope to talk with her more in the future. E. Marie writes Christian fiction. Yes, yes, definitely not my type of stories, but if you enjoy those you should check her out. :)

Last, but certainly not least, is the wonderful, talented, and super busy Trish Terrell (P.M. Terrell). Not only can this woman write, but she is the friendliest of all people I've ever met. Trish is a co-founder of the Book 'Em Foundation and, boy, did she do the work for it. The event couldn't have happened without her. Trish writes suspense novels.

There were so many other wonderful people, too many to mention, that I met over the weekend. I hope to see them all again next year!

Dinner with authors.

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 21:00:00 +0000

Continuing my recounts of the Book 'Em NC event, today I want to talk about the Author Meet-n-Greet from the night before the big event.

Let me first go into my expectations.

This was my first big conference, out of state, and I wondered if I'd have to deal with the shunning that comes with being an Independent Author. I was really dreading the first time the question about my publisher was asked. Now don't get me wrong, I've met sooooo many authors online, both indies like myself and the traditionally published ones. Ninety-nine percent of them are the kindness people you'll ever meet. Yet there's still that one percent that will look down on anyone who didn't publish in the same manner they have.

With my worries settled into the pit of my stomach, and the excitement of just being there set my nerve endings twittering, I walked into the banquet room. It only took a moment to spot one of the ladies I had been talking to online. With an excited greeting and a big hug, all that anxiety melted away. Soon I was meeting new people, all as friendly as ever. With Tim to my right, the round table we'd chosen to sit at filled in with other authors & their guests.

It took another half an hour before that most dreaded question was asked.

In line at the buffet, the author in front of me asked, "And who are you published through?" Eek! I thought my brain would explode. "I'm an independent," I replied, holding my breath.

But. . . my brain didn't explode. I wasn't looked at like I'd lost my mind. She asked how sales were, if I enjoyed it, who my printer was, and then she mentioned a friend of hers interested in the process and promised to send him to my table the next day.

YAY!!!

Throughout the weekend I answered this question a total of four times, and each time I responded the same, receiving almost identical polite responses. After being in this business as an independent author for almost 7 years, I am so happy to see that the tide is turning when it comes to the ridicule. Most readers don't care who handled the printing and distribution of a book, just so long as the book provides a good story to entertain them. And now I'm happy to see that most authors don't care either!

With the shift in publishing toward the independent side, and many traditionally published authors taking things on for themselves, I hope the question of publishers continues to dwindle in the future. No author should have to feel that ball in the pit of their stomachs over the idea of being put down for their publishing choices.

And as I told the first author to ask, I love every minute of being an independent. I have never regretted my decision to take this route and each day brings a renewed happiness of choice. Choice over deadlines, choice over cover designs, and choice over presentation of a story you've worked so hard to produce.

But I digress... I haven't gotten off the topic of dinner here.

The dinner was held at Village Station 1893 Restaurant, with the owner Arnold West greeting each author like a new best friend. The food was delicious, the staff friendly, and the conversations lively with a room full of writers. It was so much fun being in a room of people with similar interests. We talked about books, e-books, Kindles, what genre we write in, where everyone was from, introduced our spouses/guests, and discussed our children (or lack thereof). All the normal stuff. It was great fun!

At the end of the night, we had all made some new friends to talk to the next day, and hopefully long into the future. I've already friended several online since returning home and others have friended me.

As a side note story, one lady really tickled me at the dinner. She was handing out her card to everyone and came to our table. I was talking to the author on my left when this lady came up to Tim and asked, "Are you the writer, or just the husband?" Tim replied, "I'm just the husband." We laughed for days about that. I said, "You're not JUST the husband, you're also the chauffeur!" LOL.

Stop by tomorrow when I share links to some of the authors I enjoyed speaking with at the conference. They were all great people. :)

How I became a candy pusher to sell books.

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:55:00 +0000

I've always heard that you have to have a catch, something to attract readers and hold their attention long enough to tell them about your work.

I've also heard that it's good to have candies, foods of some sort, to pull people over to your table at events. Give lots of stuff away and people will stop long enough to listen to you, or at least pick up a book and check it. Hopefully leaving with said book.

I sat my table up, stacking books, spreading bookmarks and business cards, and filling a large glass vase with 4 bags of cinnamon disks. It all matched, the layout was satisfactory, and I was ready for the readers to rush through the doors. Never did I suspect I'd become a pusher of spicy candy!

Before the doors open a few Lumberton policemen strolled by. I said good morning to them, and them to me. As they walked away I heard one say to the other, "Those red things are like crack!"

Now, considering I'm still walking around a free woman I will assume that his comment was directed at the candy's addictiveness and not it's legality on the streets.

Everyone who came by heard a "Good morning!" from me, or similar salutation. I was usually greeted with a kind response and a glance at the table. Soon that greeting was followed by, "Do you like candy?" Now this drew people's attention even more. It caught them off guard enough to slow them down. Many paused to consider the question, leading them to consider the books laid out around the candy jar.

I enjoyed the fun of it so much that even the author at a neighboring table jumped on it. He would stop people to ask if they'd gotten some of my candy. He'd tell them that no one could pass without taking some. And when I'd come back to my table from being away for a bit he'd make sure I saw that my candy jar level was lower than before. LOL!

It was all very funny. I even made it a running commentary for those who would come by my table more than once. "Do you want MORE candy? Come on, take a handful and put it in your pocket."

So yes, I became the candy lady at Book 'Em. Anyone who came down the fiction hall was offered candy and most took me up on the offer. I even turned it around when someone said they didn't like vampire books with, "Well, do you like candy?" That always got a smile and usually they took my business card as well. :)

In the end, whether it's true or not, I'm going to contribute my book sells to my sparkling personality and the cinnamon disks! I went to NC with four bags and came home with half a bag, and sold more books than I expected to. Yay for candy!

Stop by tomorrow when I talk about the Author Meet-n-Greet from the night before Book 'Em.

The drive was harsh to Book 'Em NC.

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 22:35:00 +0000

Most of you know that I spent this past weekend in Lumberton, North Carolina at the Book 'Em authors' conference and book fair. And boy, what a weekend it was! It was such a crazy weekend that it has taken me this long to get started on my blog posts about it. Yes, posts. . .plural. Hell, I didn't even unpack until this afternoon.

The event wasn't until Saturday morning, but considering how long the drive would be we left Friday morning. I had everything arranged so that we could drop the kids at school and head straight out of town. We were heading on down the highway at 7:15am.

All was well and dandy until just below Atlanta. Rain started slowly, sprinkles, drizzles here and there. Then we exited to the second (of three) Interstate and the heavens opened up with the intent of drowning everyone below. We stopped three times in an attempt to simply take a breath. Once under a bridge as trees whipped around throwing stuff at the vehicles driving by. Traffic had slowed to 30 MPH in whiteout conditions at that point, the radio stations were blaring their emergency broadcasts with warnings/watches of tornadoes in the are, and all you could see was the single yellow line on the left side road.

*This was before it got too rough to see*

Needless to say, we were behind schedule by the time we made it to the Country Inn Suites in Lumberton, NC. I was just glad we'd made it safe & sound considering we'd seen 5 different cars off the road in the process of getting there. Eek!

Luckily, the drive home Sunday was much more pleasant, with sunshine and no rain. Instead of being half an hour behind schedule, we were 1 hour ahead on Sunday. Much better than expected.

Stay tuned tomorrow when I talk about the Author Meet-n-Greet dinner. Later in the week I'll post about becoming a candy pusher. Yeah, it happened before I knew what was going on. :D

Stay tuned!