Author Ta'Mara Hanscom

ABOUT TA’MARA HANSCOM

Having experienced the healing work of the Lord in their own marriage, Ta`Mara and her husband, Jim, are strong promoters of a healthy marriage through obedience to Christ. Ta`Mara shares a testimony of deliverance and healing for hurting marriages, as well as messages on other topics. References can be provided.

It is Ta`Mara’s prayer that, as the readers explore the truths in these volumes, they will come away with a new perspective on love, obedience, and God’s plan for marriage.

Ta`Mara Hanscom has worked on The Caselli Family Series since 1996. Within three weeks she had created a 900 page rough draft of what would become a five- novel series of the epic love story of Tillie Caselli and Noah Hansen.

Loving all things Italian, Ta`Mara created the Caselli family true to their ethnic name. Born and raised in South Dakota, she brings this traditional family alive on the Great Plains where she has spent the entirety of her life.

WEBSITE

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ABOUT THE CASELLI FAMILY SERIES

BOOK 1 – THE PRETENDER

My Jean-Marc’s uncle was married to an English woman, and she told us once, a very long time ago, that in this world there are men of two kinds. The one, the knight, is the man possessing only strength and quality of moral character. He will never ask a lady to compromise her honor for less than a vow, and never, ever will he consider another once he has captured her heart. A knight keeps his vow, even when it hurts, and the honor of a knight is a thing a country is built upon. A knight comes along only seldom these days.

Now, a blackguard is a man who can be found quite easily, for it is an easy thing to be a blackguard. He attempts to trick the young ladies into taking him home and caring for him, making them believe their honor can be given away as a mere trifle, offering no vow, and making only human demands. The blackguard is to be avoided at all costs, for to settle for someone like him is to settle for something less than ideal.

In the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota, Tillie Caselli promises to marry Noah Hansen. Theirs’ was a love intended to last, and their promises were never to be broken. But when there’s an illusion of unfaithfulness, the result is an error in judgment—an error that changes the course of lives.

Epic romance, global adventure, ethnic passion, and Christian values inspire this new series.

BOOK 2 – PIT OF AMBITION

Rosa begged Guiseppi to reveal their prayers to Angel.  But Guiseppi was stubborn…and the thing with Alex went too far.  Guiseppi buried Noah’s identity deep within himself and demanded that Rosa do the same. Now Guiseppi is tempted to tell Angel the secret that is crushing his heart—but Noah will find out first!

 

BOOK 3 – A BLACKGUARD’S REDEMPTION

A Blackguard’s Redemption picks up where Pit of Ambition left off. Noah has discovered the identity of his beloved Angel and he schemes a way to have words with her alone at church.

Tillie is not at all happy with the situation. Surprisingly, she is still extremely angry with Noah for what transpired between the two of them more than eleven years before. She makes Noah promise that he will not ever tell Alex, or any of her brothers. Noah agrees.

Alex decides to run for political office—and it’s worse than ever. He reveals his real “blackguardly side” by notifying Tillie that he’s spent enough time at home with her and the kids, and that he should move (by himself) to another city. He leaves Tillie and the kids behind in order to pursue his career.

 

BOOK 4 – THE GIFT: THE STORY OF ANNIE LAURIE

They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings as eagles;

they shall run, and not be weary;

and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Isaiah 40:31

 

BOOK 5 – THE TRUTH: SALVATORE’S REVENGE

As Marquette Caselli plans his retirement, the pinnacle of his career takes center stage and the end of an era draws near…

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The Caselli Family Series Virtual Book Publicity Tour Schedule

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Monday, February 4

Book excerpt at Between the Covers

Tuesday, February 5

Book spotlight at The Book Connection

Interviewed at Literal Exposure

Wednesday, February 6

Interviewed at Beyond the Books

Thursday, February 7

First Chapter Reveal at Literal Exposure

Friday, February 8

Guest blogging at Literarily Speaking

Monday, February 11

Guest blogging at The Paperback Pursuer

Tuesday, February 12

Guest blogging at Allvoices

Wednesday, February 13

Book spotlight at Lena Sledge’s Blog

Thursday, February 14

Interviewed at Review From Here

Friday, February 15

Interviewed at Digital Journal

Monday, February 18

Book spotlight at Splashes of Joy

Tuesday, February 19

Book review and First Chapter Reveal at My Book Addiction and More

Wednesday, February 20

Interviewed at Book Lover Stop

Thursday, February 21

Book review and interviewed at My Seasons of Opportunities

Friday, February 22

Book spotlight at My Devotional Thoughts

Monday, February 25

Guest blogging at The Story Behind the Book

Tuesday, February 26

Interviewed at The Writer’s Life

Wednesday, February 27

Interviewed at Parenting from a Child’s Point of View

Thursday, February 28

Interviewed at Yahoo News

Interviewed at Pump Up Your Book

For What It's Worth by Karey White

For What It's Worth by Karey White


Twenty-four year-old, Abby Benson has dreams of owning her own wedding cake shop. An inheritance from her aunt gives her the ability to make those dreams come true. She hires Dane, a handsome contractor, to help her get the bakery up and running and soon they’re moving toward their own happy ending.

Unsure what to charge for her cakes, Abby has a crazy idea to let the customer decide what they think their cake is worth. This plan has its ups and downs, but the novelty of the idea makes her a local celebrity. When she is interviewed on television about the unusual idea, business booms and Abby has cake adventures she never dreamed possible. But as her fame grows, Abby is swept up in a whirlwind that threatens everything she values. With the challenges that face her, will she be able to determine what is worth the most?

Praise for For What It's Worth


Reading Karey White’s books, like eating chocolate cake, is always satisfying and brings a smile to my face. For What It’s Worth is light, romantic, and delicious. It’s a great pleasure read. Sit down and get lost in the charming world of wedding cakes and love. As an added bonus, each chapter  starts with a recipe, so it’s a novel and cookbook all in one. A fun read!
—Teri Harman, KSL columnist, Studio 5 contributor, and author of Blood Moon, available June 22, 2013

I just loved the book – loved it. Hated putting it down and hated finishing it. Karey White is my new Maeve Binchy, her writing as warm as the bakery her novel is set in. For What It’s Worth surprised me, made me smile, say “no” out loud in a public place. I love when a character feels like my sister. I didn’t want to finish it, so now I may try the recipes that began every chapter.
—Amanda Dickson, author and radio personality

This book oozes charm, romance, and mouth-watering recipes. If you want to escape reality and curl up with a darling story, For What It’s Worth is the perfect fit. Thank you, Karey White!
—Rachael Anderson, author

This is a book worth every penny of the price. In the business of baking wedding cakes, every detail must be perfection, but this story remembers that real life is oh-so-messy. White’s clear and honest writing left me hungry for good food, a close family, and a little romance. A beautiful marriage of food, family, and faith.
—Regina Sirois, author of On Little Wings, 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

Purchase

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

Book Trailer

Author Karey White


Karey White grew up in Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and Missouri. She attended Ricks College and Brigham Young University. Her first novel, Gifted, was a Whitney Award Finalist.

She loves to travel, read, bake treats, and spend time with family and friends. She and her husband are the parents of four great children. She teaches summer creative writing courses to young people and is currently working on her next book.

Links

Website * Twitter * Facebook 

Blog Tour December 2012

Tour Schedule

Book Blast Giveaway Details
$50 Amazon Gift Card or PayPal Cash from Author Karey White
Ends 12/14/12
*You need not enter your twitter name for each entry. Simply enter it when you follow Karey and leave the others blank.


Open to anyone who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent's permission. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

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Book Blast with Rachael Anderson

Rachael Anderson is the author of The Reluctant Bachelorette, Luck of the Draw, Divinely Designed and Minor Adjustments. She is currently on a blog tour hosted by I Am a Reader, Not a Writer. On October 9, 2012 she will do a guest post on my blog about her journey into the literary world and how she became published. So stay tuned and make sure you come back to read her post. In the meanwhile, you can enter the giveaway for a $50 Amazon gift card. That's a big help for your upcoming holiday shopping. All you have to do is fill out the rafflecopter form below. 

There will also be an additional giveaway up the day she does her guest post on October 9th, so come back to enter that giveaway as well for a $15 Amazon gift card and other goodies. I also posted her book trailer for her book, Minor Adjustments. Tell me what you think about it. Y'all know I'm a huge fan of book trailers and I look forward to your opinions and comments. 

Unknowingly cast as the bachelorette for her town’s charity event, Taycee Emerson wants out. Especially when she discovers her old teenage crush, Luke Carney, is one of the bachelors and it's up to the viewers--not her--to decide which bachelors stay or go. Coerced into participating, Taycee does what any self-preserving girl would do. She launches a subtle attack on Luke’s good name with the hope of getting him voted off the show. Unfortunately, Luke's an eye-for-an-eye kind of guy, and when he discovers what she's up to, it means revenge. But when their pranks go south, will they screw up any chance they have at a future together, or will they be able to forgive and forget and prove that love really does conquer all?

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10 Unique Ways to Market Your Book

Most of my readers know by now that my debut book, If I Had My Way, is being released on February 1, 2012. I have had to do a great bit of marketing in the last year to get to a place where hopefully readers other than my loved ones will buy my book. I will admit marketing can be difficult. I say difficult because there is always something else to do or that you could be doing. But I found out through lack of sleep, that I can't do everything because I have other priorities. So I learned to do what works and what is most beneficial to me in the long run. There are hundreds if not thousands of marketing strategies and tips available that can be useful to sell books, but today I will share only ten.


1. Get Actively Involved. 
Join associations and organizations geared toward networking, helping or supporting writers and authors. But don't just join and fade into the background. Get active, volunteer or sponsor events to get recognition. By doing so, you could meet potential publishers, editors and agents. Not to mention you can make lasting literary connections. Most associations and organization have a newsletter. When your book is being released, you can request to have it mentioned in the newsletter which is usually sent out to hundreds or more members. I am currently a member of several literary organizations. The one I'm most involved in is The Alabama Writers' Conclave. It's one of the oldest writers' organizations in continuous existence in the United States. I am also the Publicity Chair for the Alabama Writers' Conclave. The AWC holds an annual writers conference every year in different parts of Alabama. This year it will be held in Huntsville, Alabama. There you can network, attend workshops, and meet great people. If you are a member of the AWC, you can get a discount on the conference as well.

2. Attend Local Book Fairs and Festivals
By attending book fairs and festivals you have the opportunity to meet readers. People who attend book fairs and festival are there because they love books. Most book fairs and festivals have opportunities for authors to rent tables or booths to sell their books. But even if you can't afford to rent a booth or a table, you can mingle amongst the crowd with a large book bag filled with books ready to sell should you meet a potential reader or buyer. Or you could go fully stocked with bookmarks and business cards to hand to passersby. There are a few festivals and book fairs that are opened free to the public. Check out my list of book fairs and festivals page.

3. Get Noticed in the Community News
When you go to any public event to talk about your book such as a book signing, make sure the local newspapers list your event in the Event section of the newspaper. In my area, the local newspaper offers this service for free.

4. Attend Trade Shows and Conventions
Nearly every genre or literary market is represented at trade shows and conventions. There you have the possibility of meeting publishers, editors, agents, manufacturers, buyers, authors, suppliers, media and distributors. You can network, draw up leads and contacts in one weekend that would likely be more beneficial than attending in other event. To find trade shows visit Gale,  Expo Guide and Trade Show News Network.

5. Visit the Library
The library is an abundant source of information for any author. Libraries can give you feedback on what people are reading, what genres are being read the most, provide databases, information on publishers, websites, magazines or general information to help you find more resources and facts. The library can also help you find a list of directories for periodicals and associations for marketing purposes. And most libraries will let you use their facility for a book signing. Possibly for free, but some may charge a small fee. To find a library in your area, contact Public Libraries.

6. Virtual Book Tours
The person to person book tour is not as popular as it use to be. Mostly because some publishers don't want to foot the bill with so much competition going on with eBook publishing and one hit wonders. Virtual book tours have become popular with some authors because it's more economical; there's no need to get dressed, rent a car or buy an airplane ticket nor is it necessary reserve a hotel room for a days stay. Nope, with virtual book tours you contact a virtual book tour company, go over their fees or packages and they essentially do the rest for you. What a virtual book tour company does is contact several blogs that are already signed up with them to host authors or do book reviews on their blog. Once the virtual book tour company contacts its host, the host then receives a copy of your book, and they are asked whether they'd like to do an interview with the author, a book review or let the author do a guest post on their blog. Each day the author is hosted on a different blog. So lets say, I'm on tour, I would be hosted on 10 different blogs in say 10 days. Each day is an opportunity to meet new readers and make contact with bloggers that might like my book or that I could develop a future relationship with for future book releases. It also gives the blog recognition and page views because the virtual book tour owner would likely do some advertising to announce where the author will be each one of those 10 days. It's like a blog hop for authors. I am starting a virtual book tour company called Spotlight Virtual Book Tours and I'm in the process of accumulating potential hosts for virtual book tours. If you own a blog and would like to be a host, contact me at spotlight@lenasledge.com or read the Spotlight Virtual Book Tour info in the upper right hand corner of my sidebar.

7. Start a Blog
Blogging is beneficial for authors because it gives the author a way to connect to readers and fans in a more personal format. Also, search engines spider blogs more frequently than websites. Search engines look for new content, and websites usually don't have daily or weekly updated material like a blog. Once the blogger post the content, generally and hopefully readers will comment. Comments are new content/updates. The more comments, the more inbound and outbound links, the more search engines assume your blog is popular. Thus attracting more readers. More readers means increased potential to sell books. To find out other reasons why blogging is great for authors, check out my post, 5 Reasons Authors Should Blog.

8. Become active on Amazon
Amazon is a useful tool to use to get your name in front of readers. You can do this several ways. I will cover just a few. First, create lists using Listmania. Listmania is a list of books categorized by whatever title you give it. For instance, I could create a list titled Best Book for Self-Publishers. Once I have a title, I then add books that would fit into that category thus creating a list. Then people searching for books for self-publishers could choose to search using Listmania. Then viola, your list pops up along with your user name and author page info. You are now drawing attention to yourself as an expert or someone that is familiar with those types of books. Another way to get recognition on Amazon is do reviews of products or books. Trust me, people read reviews and they check the authority of the reviewer to see how many times the reviewer has reviewed something. Readers check for credibility. So don't just post one review, get in the habit of doing one a week. Plus, if your book is listed on Amazon, you'd likely hope someone would do the same for you when your book is released.

9. Be Prepared to Give Away Free Copies
I once read an article that said any author should be prepared to give away 10% of the books they expect to sell. So if you plan to sell 6,000 copies, be prepared to give away 600 copies for free. Why free? Free drums up publicity. Publicity generates sells. You can give copies away to doctor's offices for their waiting rooms or give them away as part of a contest or promotion. You can partner up with other authors or events to give away your books. Make sure when you give books away there is a way to contact you for future sales. You can create your own label and stick it on the back cover or in the inside jacket of the book. Also, as discussed above, you need reviews. You can get reviews easier when you give away copies. People are more inclined to do it considering they received the book for free. If you request a review, just be sure to ask for an honest review and once you receive the review, make sure and say thank you. Also, don't get upset if the review is not 5 stars. You want honest and fair reviews. Remember readers check the credibility of the reviewer.

10. Do a Radio Interview
There are so many radio blogs on the Internet. Some of them are searching for guest speakers to fill their time slots. Others would love to interview an author and talk about the author's recent work. It can be done by phone and pre-recorded for a later date or on air. And it's free. I was recently interviewed by bestselling authors, Reshonda Tate Billingsley and Pat Tucker for their literary radio talk show, From Cover to Cover on FM and Internet radio. It was my first radio interview, so I was extremely nervous. But it helps that both authors were welcoming and supportive so it eased some of the jitters and butterflies I had. I think I will do even better the next time I do a radio interview. But it's good to get your feet wet and get prepared to talk about your book and why you love doing what you do. No one can express the love and passion you have for your book better than you. So practice and be prepared to talk about yourself, your book and make that sell. You never know who may be listening.

Good Luck and Blessings!

Guest Post by Author G.G. Vandagriff

Hello everyone! Thanks for stopping by today. I have author G.G. Vandagriff guest posting today. So please help me welcome her as we encourage and congratulate her on her literary journey. Ms. Vandagriff studied writing in an advanced workshop when she was at Stanford, but was discouraged because everyone wanted her to be J.D. Salinger. She eventually began her project while commuting to and from my job in Los Angeles as an International Banker. By the time her three children were born, she had a draft, but knew it wasn't going anywhere. Discouraged, she turned to writing what she read--light mysteries. However, for fifteen years, she had been the victim of bi-polar disorder (a common ailment among writers), and after publishing three books, she became too ill to write. During that ten year struggle to survive, she learned enough about overcoming pain, and about life and love to be able to complete her Austrian project. That became The Last Waltz. After two more mysteries, she was able to complete Pieces of Paris. Her new book "The Only Way to Paradise" is the result of intense immersion in the Florentine and Tuscan culture, and most of it was written there. 

This Writer’s Life with the World of Letters

By G.G. Vandagriff

Publishing and promotion should not be topics that concern you until after you have found your writing voice, and written the very best book you possibly can. Although I had already published eleven books, and even won awards, The Only Way toParadise was three and a half years in the writing, three visits to Florence in the research, several alpha readers’ opinions in the many rewrites, and then, after it was written and published (my first e-published book), I got a professional critique, which caused me to completely rewrite it and republish it!  Now, I know it’s (probably) the best book I can write.

I would never have published a book if I hadn’t found my voice. This I did by learning to do writing practice. Vickie came over on Wednesday night. We used a trigger: first line of a poem, novel, or a piece of music.  We wrote for twenty minutes without stopping or editing, and then shared. This is the way to get into your right brain.  It frees you from your internal critic, shows you what your subconscious mind values emotionally, and strips away trite styles and figures of speech. What is left is uniquely you—what you have to say to the world. My first book started out as a writing exercise.

So, if I’ve published eleven books traditionally, why am I self-pubbing this one? 1.) I have a base of dedicated readers to launch me. 2.) I wasn’t reaching the audience I wanted with my other publishers. 3.) I firmly believe that e-pubbing is the wave of the future. My book will only gain readers. It will not go out of print. I have total control of its contents.

How did I get published in the first place? Luck. I took a college extension class from the head of publishing for Andrews and McMeel.  We had to write a sample book proposal. I put my heart and soul into it, writing about something I was passionate about—family history. I called it Voices In Your Blood. The publisher loved it, and asked that I submit it to her house. I did, it was accepted and “the rest is history.” That was twenty years ago.  The book remains so popular that used copies can always be found on line. I am revising it to go into its second edition at this time. I took another extension course on writing mysteries—my favorite reading material. That writer gave me the name of her agent. I wrote a genealogical mystery with two whacky heroines. The agent loved it, but failed to sell it to the first seven houses she tried, so she told me to write another book. Rather than let that book go to waste, I sent it to a smaller niche publisher. They accepted it immediately and my “Alex and Briggie” series was born. It is still going strong. The sixth book will come out next year, but will be self-published.  I have obtained the rights to all the books in the series and am re-pubbing them myself with newer, more stylish covers and a well-targeted campaign.

In the meantime, I had my epic historical romance, The Last Waltz: A Novel of Love and War that I had been working on for forty years. I finally felt I had done it justice, so I submitted it to my publisher. That was a mistake. The book won a big award, but the publisher never took advantage of that. The book never made it out of the Western markets. Another book that had taken twenty-five years to write, met an even worse fate. I grew truly disgusted.

Since I do not write books with explicit sex, my chances of success on the New York scene seemed poor, so I did not even try to sell The Only Way to Paradise there. My husband writes an uber blog: The Passive Voice (http://passivevoice.com) that chronicles the consequences of the technological disruption the publishing industry is experiencing with the emergence of e-books, and Amazon. He is a lawyer who works exclusively with authors who have been abused legally by agent and publisher’s contracts. These entities are going berserk under the new realities of publishing, and he cannot believe the things he is seeing in contracts!

 

So, I’m self-pubbing. And I’m finding that the Internet is the greatest resource in the world for promotion. Blogs and websites devoted exclusively to marketing books abound! It is an exciting time to be a writer. The author has finally found a way to get past the “gatekeepers.”  However, the author must have something really good to sell.
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Thank you very much Ms. Vandagriff for guest posting today. I wish you much success in all your future endeavors. 

To follow Ms. Vandagriff's journey visit the following:

G.G. Vandagriff Website
G.G Vandagriff's Blog
Twitter
Goodreads
Facebook Page