Website: Lizzy Stevens
Author's Blog: Lizzy Stevens Blog
Twitter: @LizzyStevens123
E-Mail: witchesofsnowhollow@gmail.com
Goodreads: Check Out Goodreads
LinkedIn: Check Out LinkedIn
Facebook: Check Out Facebook
Author Description: Lizzy Stevens is a Amazon Best Selling Author. She is a wife & mother of 2 boys. She has been writing for years and got her first publishing contract in 2008. "I like to write whatever comes to mind. I don't stick to a genre."
SPOTLIGHT Questions and Answers with the Author
First things first. Do you have another book on the horizon? Can you tell us the timeline for its release and give us a little tease.
Actually Yes. I just released today " A Lost Memory"
It's a short story. Romance/ Fantasy.
A Lost Memory
By Lizzy Stevens and Steve Miller
Available Now at Amazon.
Additional Information Below.
You have great twitter following (over 38K followers). How important are the social media relationships that you’ve formed to your writing success?
Social media in my opinion is the number one thing that an author needs to do. I just told somebody the other day this very same thing. I told them to ask themselves a question and I think today every author should ask this very same question.
Ask yourself this question:
If you have 2 books that you are thinking about buying but you only have enough money to buy one of them which one would you buy?
Both look equally interesting to you, both have nice covers, both are by authors that you have not read before.
Book #1 is by an author you have never heard of before.
Book #2 is by an author that you see chatting with their readers/fans on facebook or twitter daily and you have even jumped in on the conversation and chatted with this author too and this author has responded to you and chatted back to you.
Which book do you think you would end up buying?
Just some food for thought.
You have great covers. How does your book cover creation process work? Do you hand over the basic theme or do you have more of a hands-on approach? Do you get your readers involved in its development?
Thanks! Half of them I made myself and the others I have it all layed out in my head and I, just in an email, pretty much describe what I'm thinking and they make it for me.
Have you created a book trailer for any of your books to promote your books online?
Yes. I think book trailers help put a picture in the readers head. It's nice to see the story play out in front of you.
I see you belong to the IAN Author’s group. We have had several of the members included in this blog. What other support groups do you belong too? Do they help with writing, marketing and the publishing process?
I like all the basics. Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Goodreads. I would have to say that Twitter is probably my favorite.
With your busy schedule, how do you have time to keep up with your followers? Between your book writing, blogging, marketing, family and all the other things that can get in your way, how do you manage your time? Do you have a set schedule or do your sort of play it by ear?
I am very lucky. I work from home on my computer so I just keep a tab opened all day to both facebook and twitter and while I'm working if a thought pops in my mind I click on the tab and share it with my followers.
I always check my retweets and mentioned and always respond when somebody says something to me. I think it's important for authors to connect with their readers.
Has the advent of ebooks changed anything in your writing, your marketing and the relationship with your readers and fans?
I personally prefer ebooks. I think and others may disagree but I find ebooks easier to market. It's easier to give your link to the amazon page or your website and post a free chapter or excerpt, tell the blurb all in an online post. You can market and promote to several places all with the ease of hitting a button. Ebooks also make it easier to write a short story. I enjoy writing short stories.
Maybe an author doesn't want to write the next big novel of 100K words. Before ebooks, you couldn't write a simple short story. It all had to be large novels. A lot of people don't want to and don't have the time to read a huge novel. Ebooks makes it possible to have other options.
What has been your experience in giving your books away free? Have you been involved in other types of giveaways and how did that work out?
I have given my books away free in the past and probably will again in the future but I don't like doing it. I had great success with it. I made it onto the top 100 list in several categories with it and was even in the top 10 of that list. But just because a book is free doesn't mean people are going to go get it. You still have to market and promote that the book is free. You still have to work just as hard getting the name out there that it's free as you would if it wasn't free.
It's hard for an author to compete with free books. It's a good tool to get people interested in your books by letting them try one. So the way I normally do it is I give book one of a series away free in the hopes that it will help boost the sales of book two. So the thought process behind it is that I am trying to pick up sales for the newer released sequel to the one I'm giving away.
But the problem with this is, like I said, it's hard for authors to compete with free books. It's hard to make money on a book that you spent so much time on when everyone else is giving theirs away. A prime example of what I'm talking about is: November of 2011 I bought somebody their very first kindle. So they have had it now for a year and a couple of months and to this day this person has not had to buy one book. They go to Amazon every day or a couple of days a week and load it up with all the free books for the day. In over a year they have not had to pay for any books. At this very moment they have 200 books on their kindle all free.
So the question is how do authors get people to break away from the free books and come pay for ours?
Author's Book List
A Lost MemoryAlley wakes up in a strange bed. She has no idea who she is or where she is. Pain shoots through her head like a bolt of lightning every time she moves. As she drifts off to sleep images of a faraway land and a handsome man with sandy blonde hair and six pack abs fills her head. He keeps saying “Alley come back to me.” Who is he and how does she know him?
Excerpt:
Chapter One
Alley lay in bed in a strange room. Glancing around nothing was familiar. Where was she? She sat up, a tingle creeping up her spine. What was going on? Anxious to get out of there, Alley yanked away the blanket and stood. Pain shot through her head, threatening to blow it apart. Her finger pressed her temple instinctively to ease the pain. She felt a bandage taped to her forehead. What has happened to me? Where am I? No longer able to withstand the pain, she lay back down.
Drifting off to sleep, images of a young man filled her dreams. She didn’t recognize him, but he was handsome with six pack abs and long sandy blonde hair that brushed the top of his shoulders. But who was he? Alley come back to me. The man seemed to know her, but she didn’t recognize him at all.
Alley was awakened by the sound of the door opening. She saw a woman standing in the doorway holding a ceramic bowl of water.
“Oh, sweetie! You’re awake,” the woman said as tears rolled down her face. She wiped at them as she walked over to the bed.
Alley stared at her not knowing what to say. Am I supposed to know this woman?
“Oh, Alley, I know you’re confused, honey. It’s me, Mom.”
Alley glanced around the room for answers but none came to her. “Mom?” she asked, puzzled.
“Yes dear, you’ve been in a terrible accident and the doctor warned us that your memory may be fuzzy when you came to.”
“An accident? What kind of accident?” Alley didn’t understand anything at that moment. She didn’t remember any accident.
“Honey, don’t push yourself to remember right now. We’ll talk about this later. I need to call your doctor and get him over here to examine you at once.” She turned and hurried out of the room.
Alley sat there more confused than she was before. She hoped the doctor would be able to shed some light on what was going on.
She glanced around the room and saw an antique dresser with three drawers made from mahogany. In the corner stood a full length mirror. The four-poster bed where she lay was draped in a sheer white canopy. Beside the bed was a small table where her mother placed the ceramic bowl of water. In the opposite corner sat a rocking chair with a red and white quilt folded neatly over the back. Everything looked neat and well taken care of, but none of it looked familiar.
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Buy Page: Amazon
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Rachel's LegacyThe Rachel Connor Saga
Rachel Connors loved her life, and her job as a manager at a ski resort in Aspen Colorado, but after learning she was ill, she decided to take a long needed vacation to her parent's home. This was when she met Kyle Landers, who in her absence had moved into her parent's lives, and before he'd even met Rachel, Kyle had decided not to like her.
Kyle had been alone in the world when Rachel's parents had taken him in; and he couldn't understand why their ungrateful daughter had chosen to distance herself from them. Rachel and Kyle grew closer, and she knew she was falling for him, but it wasn't until his accident when she learned that he also loved her. Rachel was scheduled to pick Kyle up from the hospital upon his release, but a call from her doctor summoned her back to Aspen, telling her parents there was a problem at work. When Kyle hears of this, he boards a plane to find her, learning the truth of her condition.
Their love blossomed but it was to be short lived when on their flight back to the ranch the plane crashed. Despite an extensive search, Kyle was never found, and Rachel was forced to go on without him. Four years had passed, and Rachel's relationship with Marcus, her new boyfriend, was moving to a different level, but at the same time, the thought dead Kyle had come out of his coma; his mind lost in the events four years earlier.
After Rachel accepted Marcus' proposal, Kyle returns, leaving Rachel with a dilemma. For four years Marcus had been by her side, but now Kyle was back, wanting her just as much as he had the day of the crash. She needed to get away to make her decision, so she left for Aspen, only Kyle followed her to try to convince her that they belonged together. Who will Rachel Chose? Is Kyle’s love enough to bring her back to him?
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Kyle's New BeginningThe Rachel Connor Saga - Book Two
Ten years has passed since Rachel’s death and Kyle finally falls in love again. He falls for a new doctor in town, Amanda. Amanda is a widow with a four year old daughter and Kyle has two children of his own. As their love blossoms and they marry, Amanda becomes pregnant with Kyle’s child.
While going to the bank for what should be a quick stop, Amanda gets caught in the middle of bank robbery. The robber gets nervous when he hears the police sirens and grabs Amanda as his hostage. The police notify Kyle that his wife has been taken hostage. The first thoughts going through his mind are that he can’t go through this again. He can’t lose his wife to a kidnapper again. Can Kyle get to Amanda in time? Can he save her?
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A Surprise For ChristmasSamantha wasn't expecting what she got for Christmas this year. Her doorbell rang and there sitting on her porch was a baby in a basket. This changes her life for the good. But then something happens. The baby's father comes for his child. How can Samantha convince him that she is the best thing for the child?
This book, previously titled Somebody Else's Child, won 4th place in The Love is In The Air Contest.
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Midnight Falls: The BeginningAngel Michael’s is on the run from an angry warlock, Eric, who wants her dead. She is a new witch who doesn’t fully understand her powers. She knows it won’t be long before he hunts her down and kills her. She has to make it to the only person that can protect her, Hunter McDaniels. Along the way she is distracted by a mortal, Wade Jenson, and his normal family life. Part of her believes she can walk away from the magic world and be normal with him, but Eric will have no part of it. What will her fate be? Can she be normal? Will she make it to Hunter’s?
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Blackbeard's TreasureEdward Teach, better known as the pirate Blackbeard, was killed November 22, 1718. Two months before, he purposely ran his ship, Queen Anne’s Revenge, aground at what is now called Beaufort Inlet.
He emptied the ship of all treasures into his other ship, The Tender, and fled to where nobody knows. Two months later, when he reappeared, he was killed in battle, and his body was tossed into the ocean. To this day, nobody knows where the treasure went.
For years, people have searched high and low for his treasure. It has been said that Blackbeard said nobody but he and the devil knew where it was located.
Cassie Andrews returns to Branson Missouri to clean out her grandfather’s house, who recently passed away. While emptying the attic she comes across an old diary belonging to a woman who claims to have been married to Edward Teach. Cassie soon realizes that she holds the key to the famous Blackbeard’s Treasure.
Cassie turns to her friend Levi for help in finding the treasure. "In her zeal to uncover the clues to Blackbeard's Treasure Cassie lands herself in the hospital.
Attraction explodes off the page as Levi nurses Cassie back to health and together they experience the adventure of a lifetime to uncover their true feelings for one another and Blackbeard's Treasure.
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Secrets Of Snow HollowBook One: Jenna's Story Jenna is six when her parents die in a tragic car crash leaving her and her two sisters orphans. With no one to care for them they move in with their grandmother in the town of Snow Hollow where more than just a normal life awaits them. Jenna soon discovers that she is not like other girls, a fact she's felt since birth. When her grandmother finally reveals her secret Jenna is blown away by not only the fact that she's a witch, but that she is THE witch. The Ultimate One who controls the powers of the coven.
Book Two: Jamie's Story The Story of the Addison witches continue in "The Witches Of Snow Hollow Book Two Jamie's Story" Jamie Addison returns to Snow Hollow to ask her sister, Jenna, for her blessing to marry the man she loves, Danny. When she gets there she finds out that she has been under a love spell the entire time and that Danny has also put a bind on her powers. Danny has been after the Addison house all along and plans to kill the sisters. Jenna and her husband ,Jacob, vow to protect her. Jacob calls his cousin, Drake, over to protect her while the four of them plan their attack on Danny. The only way for Jamie to get her powers back is for them to kill the demon that put the spell on her.
Book Three: Jackie's Story The story of the Addison witches continues with Jackie Addison. Jackie falls in love with a vampire named Ricky and plans to take him to Snow Hollow to help fight the long awaited lunar eclipse battle. She knows that she has to get the blessing of her sister Jenna before the relationship can blossom. This is going to be a very difficult task to compete since her sister Jamie fell in love with a demon who tried to kill her. How was Jackie going to convince Jenna that Ricky was different. She knew he loved her for real and would never hurt her.
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Book Trailer: Secrets Of Snow Hollow
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Author Recommended by: HBSystems Publications
Publisher of ebooks, writing industry blogger and the sponsor of the HBS Author's Spotlight plus the blog: eBook Author’s Corner. Check out the index of other Spotlight authors. Spotlight Index.
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