My Inspiration for Dare to Kiss

Baseball has always been a sport I’ve loved. I grew up collecting baseball cards, watching the Boston Red Sox whenever a game was on TV, and playing with the boys in the schoolyard. And still after many, many years, the love of the game is still imbedded me. So much so, that my home office is riddled with pictures and memorabilia of the game.

My inspiration for Dare to Kiss goes a bit deeper. As a little girl I fought hard to play baseball on a boys’ city league. But back in the late sixties and early seventies, girls weren’t allowed to play on boys’ team. It was then I came up with the plot for Dare to Kiss on how a high school girl breaks through barriers to play on an all boys’ baseball team.

It didn’t take me long once I started writing. The protagonist, Lacey Robinson is a girl, who is a lot like myself. She loves the energy of the ball field. She loves hearing the crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd. She loves striking a batter out, but most of all she loves the game, and no matter the consequences, and she’s faced with many in Dare to Kiss, she works hard to push through everyone of them to play the game.

In today’s society it isn’t far off that we could see females in the major leagues one day. More girls are stepping up and showing their talent and skills. Case in point is seventeen-year-old Chelsea Baker who was the youngest female to ever throw at batting practice for the Tampa Bay Rays two years ago, and the first female of Hillsborough County in Florida to make the varsity team. I was so over the moon when I read about her. I mean, wow! I’m envious of any girl playing boys’ baseball.

To compliment Dare to Kiss, JKS Communications had this brilliant idea of an adult coloring book. At first, I couldn’t get my mind around the concept. As an adult, I haven’t colored since an early age. But I doodle when I sit at corporate meetings and color what I draw on paper. So why not have something fun for fans to do. I polled my fan group, and just about everyone was excited. In fact, the fans helped to pick out the scenes depicted in the coloring book. I wanted them to be part of the process, and I can’t thank them enough for all their help. One fan, Jennifer Lowe, who loves the Maxwell Series, bought the coloring books as soon as it was released. She said, “For me, it was a way to connect with the Maxwell Series, but also to get the creative juices flowing.” Not only can fans color, they can read excerpts of the scenes their coloring, which are located in the back of the coloring book.


 

S.B. Alexander writes sexy, new adult and college, sports, paranormal and military romance. She’s a former navy veteran, loves baseball, especially the Boston Red Sox, white powdered donuts, and handbags. She is an avid reader and loves to transport herself into other worlds–ones where vampires and the fantastical exist. Where life is the playground for the impossible.

Her young adult series, Vampire Seals, includes three books, On the Edge of Humanity, On the Edge of Eternity, and On the Edge of Destiny, which have garnered high praise from readers. Her Maxwell series claimed the #1 bestseller’s spot on Amazon UK’s sport’s fiction category and includes three books: Dare to KissDare to Dream, and Dare to Love.

This post was originally published on Fresh Fiction.

JKS Celebrates 9 Books on the 2016 Beverly Hills Book Awards List

The International Beverly Hills Book Awards ® contest recognizes the best in fiction and non-fiction books across various genres, and JKS is proud to celebrate seven of our talented authors (nine books total!) who have made the list this year. The awards committee focuses on print books and considers cover and interior design, promotional text, aesthetic components and other factors that demonstrate outstanding presentation, in addition to the writing.

We are so excited our JKS winners and finalists in the 4th Annual Beverly Hills Book Awards!!

WINNERS:

The Power of 10 by Rugger Burke – Leadership

Marketing For Tomorrow, Not Yesterday by Zain Raj – Marketing & Public Relations

Things Unsaid by Diana Y. Paul – New Adult Fiction

The Coalition by Samuel Marquis – Political Thriller

FINALISTS:

Indy Writes Books: A Book Lover’s Anthology edited by Travis DiNicola – Anthology

Killer Nashville Noir: Cold-Blooded edited by Clay Stafford – Anthology

The Slush Pile Brigade by Samuel Marquis – Mystery

Blind Thrust by Samuel Marquis – Suspense

Money, Family, Murder by Timothy Patten – Mystery

Congratulations to all of our authors!!

Saying “Everyone” Will Love Your Book is Actually Hurting Your Readership

There are three cringe-worthy statements when authors explain “who” will read their book:

“My book will appeal to both men and women, ages 10—100. Everyone will love it!”

“It’s the next [insert mega-selling international franchise here].”

“My book is completely unique. There’s absolutely nothing like it out there, there never has been, and there never will be.”

The fact is, the book that “everyone” loves does not exist, and never will. The only book that ages 10-100 are even potentially cracking open in the United States is the Bible (if that)—not exactly a great comp title for a new thriller. The misconception that everyone will love a book (or that it’s so unique that it’s completely dissimilar from books that are being read right now) can actually damage how authors understand and approach readers, and ultimately it can damage their sales.

The good news is that you do have a readership out there, and you can reach them if you identify them correctly. Here are some steps authors can take to understand and reach their real readers:

Identify your target demographic—really identify them. When I worked as an editor and wanted to acquire a book for my publishing house, I had to be very specific in identifying the book’s readership if I wanted to “sell” it to our team. For example, if I wanted to acquire a book about healthy living, explaining to the team that it will appeal to “women aged 18-50” isn’t realistic or useful. Saying it’s perfect for women aged 22-35, urban, physically active, interested in fitness and healthy eating habits, who probably shop organic is more accurate; we can research what these women read, and strategize how best to reach them. Your readers are out there, and the more you understand them, the better you’ll be able to approach them.

Choose good—and realistic—comp titles. Comparative or “comp” titles can do a lot of the heavy lifting when you’re pitching your book to an agent or publisher, writing a synopsis, or just trying to explain the premise to a friend. Publishers do it all the time when writing sales copy: “Fans of The Lunar Chronicles will love [this new book]” and “It’s the next read for fans of Eleanor and Park and The Spectacular Now.”

Be realistic when choosing three or four comp titles. Just because your novel has magic in it doesn’t mean it’s the next Harry Potter. Just because it’s a nonfiction memoir about a teen with cancer doesn’t mean it will appeal to fans of The Fault in Our Stars. While it would be amazing if your book really was the next literary phenomenon, picking comp titles just because they’re popular or have a thin connection to your book isn’t realistic—and can actually lead you to overlook books that are truly similar to yours, and are already garnering fans who would pick up your book when it hits shelves.

Also, if the comp title or franchise is older than three years, it’s outdated. With over three million books coming out every year, there’s always something new on the market. Once you’ve successfully identified your demographic, do some research and find out what they’re reading right now, and choose titles that accurately compare to yours.

With a little brainstorming and research, authors can more accurately identify and approach their target market, which can truly make all the difference in how a book is sold, read, and enjoyed!

Writers – Creatures of Habit

Writers- creatures of habit

Writers often claim to be creatures of habit. These habits may vary from only being able to write using a computer to scribbling on legal pads with special pens or insisting on being in a dark silent room vs. light streaming in and music blaring. Some writers, the planners, can’t produce a word until every nuance of a piece is outlined while others, known as pansters, write strictly from the seat of their pants. I wish I could tell you that I am a creature of habit, but I’m not. I write like I cook – different every time even if I am recreating the same dish.

One would think as a former litigator and judge, my writing habits would be unimaginative. That I would outline every word and idea, much like Jeffrey Deaver does. I outlined the beginning and ending of my first book, 2012 IPPY award winning Maze in Blue, a mystery set on the University of Michigan campus in the 1970s, but the middle flowed, like magic, through my fingers to the keys of a standalone computer in my office. I attributed my writing to the characters’ voices leading me through their story. The only thing necessary for the words to pour out of me was playing the soundtracks from 1776 and They’re Playing Our Song repetitively in the background.

The same songs and physical location didn’t work for my second book. In order to write Should Have Played Poker: a Carrie Martin and the Mah Jongg Players Mystery (Five Star Publishing – April 20, 2016), I relied on my laptop and an oversized chair in my living room. Century old furniture, which once belonged to my parents and grandparents, interspersed with modern cherry wood floors and an orange, gold, and blue carpet brought me a sense of peace that allowed me to bring new life to the characters from a short story published in 2010. I occasionally played folk songs and soft rock hits from the 60s and 70s, but for the most part I wrote and rewrote in silence. It was the ambiance of the room that enabled me to find and contrast the voices of the Sunshine Village Retirement Home Mah Jongg players with the 29-year-old corporate attorney protagonist and her former lover, the detective assigned to her murdered mother’s case.

My work in progress represents a hybrid of the plotter and panster habits that produced my first two books. Because the book is set in the present and the main characters are twins, I drew on my experience as a mother of twins when I outlined the basic story premise. Unlike Poker, that I wrote and edited on a laptop, this book was drafted free flow style on a laptop in an easy chair in my bedroom, revised on my stand alone computer, and the score from Frozen played constantly. Why Frozen for a book set in a small town in the South? I don’t know, but it worked.

For some, being a creature of habit is the only means to writing successfully. For me, a willingness to try different techniques and practices is what stimulates the muse and helps me avoid stale ruts. What about you? What does it take to prompt you to write effectively?

 


 

Debra H. Goldstein is the author of Should Have Played Poker: a Carrie Martin and the Mah Jongg Players Mystery, which will be released in April 2016 by Five Star Publishing. “Her debut novel, Maze in Blue, received a 2012 Independent Book Publisher Award and was reissued in May 2014 by Harlequin Worldwide Mysteries. She serves on national and local boards including Sisters in Crime, Alabama Writers Conclave, YWCA of Central Alabama and the Alys Stephens Center and is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Forum and Zonta. Goldstein lives in Birmingham, AL, with her husband.