Spotlight: Oath of a Scottish Warrior by Sky Purington

Oath of a Scottish Warrior
The MacLomain Series
Later Years
Book 3
Sky Purington

Genre:  Time-travel Fantasy Romance
Date of Publication: February 23, 2016
Number of pages:  280
Cover Artist:  Tamra Westberry

Book Description:

Haunted by childhood memories and the fact she is likely going mute, Erin embraces a quiet life in Vermont away from all the mistakes she has made and the people she’s hurt. A peaceful existence with her horses. A cynic by nature, she doesn’t buy into what she soon learns. Apparently she’s part of an unending connection between twenty-first century Broun women and medieval MacLomain men. When a Claddagh ring crosses her path, she’s compelled to steal it. A bad move because the ring is meant to find true love. Something Erin feels she stopped deserving a long time ago.

Of dragon blood, Chieftain Rònan MacLeod is by birth, half MacLomain. While raised to protect the future King of Scotland, he lives life with an open mind. The idea of a ring binding him to one lass seems far-fetched. However, when a woman named Jackie calls to him from the dark edges of the Celtic Otherworld, he swears an oath to save her. That means traveling to the future to protect her before she’s taken by the enemy. The only problem? She is not where she should be. Instead, he finds a beautiful, defiant lass named Erin. Now he must make a choice. Continue seeking out Jackie or protect the one he’s with.

Thrust back in time to ninth-century Scandinavia, Rònan and Erin find sanctuary with his Viking ancestors. With help from not only King Naðr Véurr Sidgir but his offspring, they learn more than anticipated. Something that will either damn them or set them free. Drawn to one another, heat flares. A fire neither could have imagined. Scorching. Searing. Unavoidable. One they must fight if they want to save those they care for most.

Will they be able to protect wee Robert the Bruce from evil when they end up back in Scotland? Or will their repressed feelings be their ultimate doom? After all, it’s supposed to take the oath of a Scottish warrior to save a future king. Not the oath of a warrior who ended up forsaking all because he lost his heart along the way.

Amazon  | iTunes | Kobo  | BN

About the Author:

Sky Purington is the best-selling author of over twenty novels and several novellas. A New Englander born and bred, Sky was raised hearing stories of folklore, myth and legend. When combined with a love for nature, romance and time-travel, elements from the stories of her youth found release in her books.

Author Links:
Purington loves to hear from readers and can be contacted at:
Email | Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Newsletter

Tour giveaway: 

$25 gift card to winner’s choice of Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Spotlight & Guest Blog: Secrets of Successful Virtual Book Tours by Roxanne Rhoads

Secrets of Successful 
Virtual Book Tours
Quick Tips for Authors Guide
Roxanne Rhoads

Book Description:

Are you considering a virtual book tour?

Not sure where to start or exactly what an online tour will entail?

Roxanne Rhoads, book publicist and owner of Bewitching Book Tours, shares her virtual tour expertise in this Quick Tips for Authors Guide.

Secrets of Successful Virtual Book Tours will guide you in utilizing the best marketing tool available- a virtual book tour, which can create online exposure for your book, jumpstart your book sales, help build your author brand, and expand your network.


In this guide you’ll learn:

·       what you should do before a tour
·       the components of  a great author website
·       the best social media outlets for authors to utilize
·       tips for building your author brand
·       how to write great guest blogs
·       what to expect from an online book tour
·       the secrets of successful book tours
·       how to schedule your own virtual book tour

And you’ll receive in-depth details about what to do during a virtual book tour to guarantee success.

I've worked with Roxanne for several years. In addition to being an awesome lady, she is professional, hard working, and dedicated to all facets of her craft. She is tireless in helping and promoting fellow authors, and is a great author in her own right. I'm happy to host her today, and look forward to gleaning from her wisdom.
Thank you for joining us today, Roxanne!
~Cary Morgan

Quick Tips for Authors- Guide to Using a Pen Name

By Roxanne Rhoads

Many, many professional writers use pen names. Kim Harrison and Nora Roberts are two NYT Bestselling Authors that instantly come to mind.

For years I wrote under both my real name and a pen name. At times it was really confusing, especially in the beginning when I had no idea when I should use both names and when I should just use my pen name.

Throughout the years of operating Fang-tastic Books, a book review and promotion site for paranormal authors, I found that many new writers are just as confused as I was in the beginning.

One time an author, who is man but writes as a woman, sent me all his promo info for his book under his pen name and his bio under his real name. His email and web sites were also under his real name. So I assumed that he had no problem with both names being used to promote his book (since he didn’t specify otherwise). As a reviewer and promoter I publish what authors send me, I don’t change their words except for misspellings.

Well, the author contacted me a few days later very upset because I used his real name and the pen name. I explained to him the problem and suggested a few ways to stop any confusion in the future.

The things I suggested to him are ways to keep writing names separate while making your professional life much easier.

First of all, set up an email account in your pen name. Many email servers like gmail offer this for free. Use this email account for all writing transactions and submissions under your pen name.

Create a signature line for your email. For a long time I wondered after I sent an email if I accidentally signed the wrong name. Now I use signatures with my email accounts that include my name, email address, and web addresses so I never have to worry about signing the wrong name.

Create a bio for your pen name. This bio should not include any writing credits, jobs, degrees or memberships that are under any other name. When someone tries to verify the info in your bio and can’t find anything under your pen name you’ll look like a liar. So keep your names and bios separate unless you have no problem with both names being linked or being public knowledge. Some authors use different pen names for different genres, not because they are “hiding” or trying to keep their real name from the public eye. In that case you can include something like this at the end of your bio: “Suzanne Case also writes as Susannah Monroe”.

Set up separate social media accounts for your pen name. That way all your promotion can be done through those networking sites under that name alone. This is extremely helpful when you want to remain anonymous plus it helps build your author brand.

Set up a blog using only your pen name. This is extremely easy to do, especially with Blogger, WordPress or Weebly and it will help with promotion as you can publish all your book covers and publishing information on the blog, entertain readers and draw people in. Try to get the URL with your pen name in it, such as www.JadeDesire.Blogspot.com or grab a custom domain name from GoDaddy.com and point your blog to the domain www.JadeDesire.com.

The last and most important thing to remember when using a pen name…don’t ever give anyone your real name unless absolutely necessary. Book reviewers, bloggers, book promoters- none of these people have any reason to know your real name. Publishers and agents are the only ones that ever need to know your real name and sometimes there are ways around that as well.

In some localities you can file a DBA (doing business as) under your pen name. This is the same as filing for a business name. Some cities/counties/states won’t allow you to file a DBA under a person’s name while others do. If you can, this will allow you to legally use that name for all transactions. You can even open a bank account using your business/pen name. To get around the use of a social security number you can file for a taxpayer id number.

The only drawback to going this route is that it leaves a paper trail that anyone can have access to if they know where to look but you won’t have to give your real name to publishers, editors or agents.

Decide which route works best for you then stick to your guns and keep your names as far away from each other as possible.

Amazon | BN | Kobo  | Scribd  | iBooks | Smashwords | Inktera | Createspace

About the Author:

Roxanne Rhoads has been working in the world of online book promotion since 2005. She has worked as a freelance writer, author, book reviewer, book blogger, editor, self-publisher and book publicist. She has a unique advantage of knowing how multiple sides of book publishing and promotion operate.

Roxanne understands how book bloggers work and what they want to make their jobs easier while also understanding that authors need promotion to be streamlined, easy, and less time consuming.

Roxanne shares some of her knowledge in her latest release, Secrets of Successful Virtual Book Tours.

Author Links:
Website | Bewitching Book Tours | Bewitching Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Blog

Tour Giveaway:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Secrets of Successful Virtual Book Tours

by Roxanne Rhoads

Giveaway ends March 28, 2016.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Spotlight: Traveller by Abigail Drake

Traveller
Abigail Drake





Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Date of Publication: February 26, 2016
Number of pages: 250
Cover Artist: Debbie Taylor





Book Description:

Former Junior Miss Kentucky Emerson Shaw won pageants using martial arts as her talent and Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” as her guide, but a painful secret leads her to the University of York, and puts her in the path of tattooed and pierced bad boy, Michael Nightingale.

Michael is a Traveller, part of an ancient line of mercenary gypsies who protect the world from vicious monsters called the Moktar. When Emerson gets attacked, she has no choice but accept Michael’s offer of protection or face certain death.

Traveller society, full of outdated rules and ridiculous superstitions, isn’t a good fit for the headstrong Emerson. Traveller women aren’t allowed to fight. Traveller women aren’t allowed to win. Traveller women aren’t allowed to leave. But Emerson will do what she must, even if it means losing the one person who matters most.

Excerpt:

“Who are you and what do you want from me?”

I took a deep breath. It probably wouldn’t be a good start to tell him he occupied my every waking thought and most of my dreams, too. I decided to go with a more conventional approach.

“You’re here every morning, and I thought I’d say hello.” I stuck out my hand. “Emerson Jane Shaw.”

He surprised me by reaching for my extended hand and holding it firmly. His hand, large, warm and rough, had cuts and bruises all over the knuckles. He had faint bruises on his face, too, and some small wounds still in the process of healing. He’d been in some kind of fight recently.

It didn’t surprise me. He had the look of a warrior about him, the lean strength and watchful eyes of a predator, and he was lethal. Sun Tzu would have seen it, too. He would have recruited him without a moment’s hesitation.

“Michael Nightingale.” He stared at me with those hypnotic eyes as he continued to hold my hand, using it to pull me nearer to him.

“I know. Mrs. Burke told me.” I couldn’t focus on what I was saying while he touched me, not that I’d done such a great job up until now with my witty repartee.

He tilted his head to one side, studying me the way a lion studies a gazelle before he eats it. His face was only inches away from mine.

 “Do you like to flirt with danger, Emerson Jane Shaw?”

“Not usually, but today I can make an exception.”

The touch of his hand sent an electric current through my body that made my heart speed up and my brain slow down. He was intoxicating. I almost had to fan myself.

Abruptly, Michael let go of me and stood up, shoving his books into his backpack. I stood up, too.

“What’s wrong?”

Michael glared at me, threw some bills on the table and stomped out of the shop. Like an idiot, I grabbed my backpack and followed him.

He walked quickly through The Shambles, dodging pedestrians and umbrellas with ease. I wasn’t quite as lucky. The rain poured down, filling the street with puddles. Michael wore combat boots and jeans. I had on a useless pair of flats and no jacket. It only took seconds for me to be soaked to the skin and miserable. In minutes, I looked like a little blonde drowned rat.

I’m pretty fast, even in slippery shoes, and I was motivated. I kept him in my sights until he reached a side street at the end of The Shambles that led down a narrow lane. I was only half a block away when he turned and looked at me, his eyes locking with mine, and disappeared.

He hadn’t walked away. He hadn’t moved. He’d been there one second, and gone the next. Running as fast as I could, I reached the spot where I’d last seen him and looked down the lane and on either side of the street. My ribbon flew out of my hair, blowing away in the wind as I slid on the wet cobblestones and nearly fell. I skidded to a halt, realizing I hadn’t been fast enough. It was a dead end, and he was gone.

Amazon  | Barnes and Noble | Kobo  | The Wild Rose Press


About the Author:

Abigail Drake has spent her life traveling the world, and collecting stories wherever she visited. She majored in Japanese and International Economics in college and worked in import/export and as an ESL teacher before she committed herself full time to writing. She writes in several romance genres, and her books are quirky, light, fun, and sexy. Abigail is a trekkie, a book hoarder, the master of the Nespresso machine, a red wine addict, and the mother of three boys (probably the main reason for her red wine addiction). A puppy named Capone is the most recent addition to her family, and she blogs about him as a way of maintaining what little sanity she has left.

Author Links:
Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter  | Pinterest

Tour giveaway: 

Sign up for Abigail’s newsletter and be entered to win a $25 Amazon gift card.