Zaria Fierce by Keira Gillett Book Tour and Guest Post

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So You Wrote a Book, Now What?
Guest Post by Keira Gillett

Good day, everyone! Many thanks to Stacie for letting me be here today.

My name is Keira Gillett and I published my first book 06 March 2015. It’s titled Zaria Fierce and the Secret of Gloomwood Forest, and it’s about an American girl who moves to Norway and encounters a nasty river-troll. It leads to a wild adventure she wasn’t expecting that takes her all over Norway with a new group of friends.

If I were to publish the first book all over again, I’d approach a few things differently. So with that in mind, here’s a checklist to consider if you’re working on a book right now or just finished writing one and need to figure out what to do next.

A (New) Writer’s Checklist (Who Wants to Self-Publish):

• Finish the first draft: This might seem silly, but I’ve heard from friends and colleagues that they have a manuscript in the works… and haven’t touched their writing in years. Finish the book. You don't need anybody's permission except your own.
• Author Website: Next up, you want an author website. I’m serious. Get your author name purchased and start building the website. Consider your website as your face. It’s the first thing a publisher, publicist, friend, family member, stranger, or fan will see when looking you up online. Make sure it’s done up nicely. Hire someone if you must. Basic pages to have on your site:
  • About the Author – Bio, author photo
  • About the Book – Book blurb, book cover, excerpt, buy links, social media links to Goodreads and the like
  • Contact – How can you be reached? Maybe a contact form is best. Using Google forms is an option if you want something cheap and don’t have a built-in form for your site or blog platform.
  • Blog (optional) - I highly recommend you publish it on your website and not on another host (like blogspot.com or wordpress.com) Why give your hard earned traffic to a free-use site?
• Editing: Get your book edited. Send it out to anyone you know who is an English major, English teacher, librarian, grammar fiend, editor, proofreader, journalist, etc. They have the skills to see you through your first edits. Then hire someone to find the rest. Then reread everything twice. And even after all that there might still be errors… so read it out loud.
• ISBN’s: Decide if you’re going to buy your own ISBN’s (more expensive) or pay a nominal fee (by comparison) to obtain one from the places you are publishing through.
• Formatting: Amazon has a great free e-book on how to format and publish your e-book for Kindle. Grab it. Read it. Follow it to the letter. CreateSpace (Amazon company) has guides and samples for different print formats. Grab one. Follow it to the letter. For more information on print formatting check out my guest blog on I Heart Reading.
• Audio Book: ACX (Amazon company) was very easy to use. After your information is in Kindle Direct Publishing, you can pull the book up on ACX. Fill out what you’re looking for in a narrator, upload a scene from your book as an audition script, and listen to auditions. Rate the auditions (it’s private, the narrators don’t know if you click like or dislike on their audition). Choose your narrator and make an offer. I like that the site protects you and the narrator. You don’t get the rights to your audio book until you pay. The narrator doesn’t get paid until they submit the audio book.
• Press Release: Write your own. Include as necessary: title, author name, genre, page count, word count, series, setting, formats available, buy links, early reviews, book cover, book blurb, excerpt, author photo, website, and social media links. If you have a narrator or illustrator, include their information as well.
• Review Copies: Solicit book bloggers, newspapers, magazines, etc. in your genre. Give them your press release and a book package which can include: book cover, author photo, sample illustrations, and an audio book preview. Nothing is worse than having to save an embedded image in an e-mail, I should know (in my free time I am also a book blogger.) Try to get the book to the reviewers two to three months before you publish if you want advance buzz. Also, some places only accept advance copies and won’t review a book after it’s been published.
• Blog Tour: Write every post in advance. Some example topics are: character interviews, exclusive excerpts, author interviews, how you got the idea for the book, your experiences in producing the book, character casting, the setting for your book, fun facts about the genre, your favorite aspect of your book or genre, etc. After you’ve written them, format the blog posts for the bloggers in HTML. Any author who does this is someone I as a book blogger take notice of immediately. The author jumps every queue because the author made it easy for me to host them. Be kind to your bloggers. On the day the post goes live, visit the blogs to talk with their readers and promote the blogs on your social media accounts.

Your timeline depends on how proficient you are in the individual aspects of this list or in the routine (if it’s not your first book). I figured four months. I would recommend six as a minimum. Good luck and happy publishing.

Watch the Book Video:

Book Blurb: On her birthday, Zaria Fierce finds her usual path to school blocked by an ugly river-troll. At first she’s surprised and curious, but then Olaf threatens to eat her, which is an act Zaria could not in good conscience consent to, so Zaria counteroffers. A deal is struck and she goes to school, but Zaria is about to learn the hard way that one does not trick a river-troll and expect to win. Early Reviews: “With kids interested in “Frozen,” with Anna and Elsa, this would be a natural progression.” – Judi Oswald, Reference Librarian Available in E-book | Print | Audio Book formats. See if you're eligible to get a free copy of the audio book here. Excerpt:

Geirr stooped to pick up some decent-sized sticks, and Zaria bent to grab a few too. They talked amicably and walked, stretching their legs, until they were too burdened by their loads to keep going. “My arms are going to collapse,” Zaria huffed. Her breath fogged around her face, covering and then revealing a well-pinked nose and cheeks. “Let’s head back to camp.” “Sounds good to me,” Geirr said and turned around to do just that. Zaria followed and collided into him, dropping her load of kindling all over the ground. “Hey!” she exclaimed, as she went to gather them. “Why did you stop?” “I don’t think we’re going to find camp,” Geirr said, worrying his lip. He juggled his armful of wood and pointed haphazardly forward. “It’s like pea soup.” Zaria looked up from playing fifty-two pickup and saw what worried Geirr. In front of them was a wall of fog, thick, viscous, and impossible to see through. She gulped and carefully set down the pile she’d been working to gather again. Was it her imagination or did the fog seem to be breathing? It crept closer in stages. Not fast enough that she saw it while looking directly at it, but if she looked away and back, it most definitely moved. “Uh, Geirr,” Zaria said, slowly gaining her feet. “I think we should move and fast.” Geirr looked at her puzzled. “I don’t think fast is an option here. Now if you pick up your stack and stick near me maybe we can Marco Polo our way back to the others.” “Geirr,” Zaria hissed, her voice ratcheting higher. “The fog is moving.” He didn’t look impressed. The breathing sounds from within the fog grew louder, distressing Zaria. “No seriously, it’s moving like it’s alive.” Geirr looked back again and stared hard, trying to penetrate the fog with his gaze alone. Zaria started to ease away, firewood forgotten. “Come on, Geirr, we have to move. Can’t you hear the breathing?” “That isn’t you?” he asked, alarmed. “No!” Zaria shouted. “Run!”

Author Bio: Keira Gillett is a technical publications librarian, book blogger, world traveler, artist, and now author. She graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Arts in Drawing and Painting. From an early age her mother instilled a love of the written word, as such she has always been a big reader. Her first book, Zaria Fierce and the Secret of Gloomwood Forest, is about a young girl who must complete a quest to save her friend from a nasty river-troll. Website: http://keiragillett.com Social Media: Twitter (keiragillett), Facebook (zariafiercetrilogy), Pinterest (keiragillett) Available in E-book | Print | Audio Book formats. See if you're eligible to get a free copy of the audio book here.

Illustrator Bio: Eoghan Kerrigan is an illustrator from Kildare, Ireland who draws primarily fantasy characters and creatures. He studied illustration in Ballyfermot College of Further Education and has produced work for various independent projects. He has two cats and a soft spot for trolls.

Website: http://eoghankerrigan.blogspot.ie/http://eoghankerrigan.blogspot.ie/
Social Media: Twitter (eoghankerrigan), Facebook (eoghankart)

Narrator Bio: Michele Carpenter is an artist at heart, with a passion for acting. She and her husband (also a voice actor) often work on projects together and help one another through the journey. Together, they have three kids. Michele’s children love to hear her read stories and beg her to edit her narrations in the same room with them so they can listen too. It’s partially for this reason that Michele has come to feel a personal responsibility to only record books that aren't inappropriate for children or young adults–at their respective age levels and according to the maturity levels of the books they're able to read. “We never know how long we have on this earth and I'd rather leave behind a legacy of books that I'm not ashamed to have my friends, family and even future grandchildren, listen to forever.”

Website: http://www.michele-carpenter.com/http://www.michele-carpenter.com/
Social Media: Twitter (michelecvoice), Facebook (michelecarpentervoice), YouTube (micheleyoutube)
Additional Promotional Content (zipped), includes: Book cover, author head shot, illustrator head shot, narrator head shot, two illustrations, and a five-minute audio book sample.



Listen to a sample from the story