Fun Stuff

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An Evening of Romance

I will be co-hosting An Evening of Romance with Christine Glover on Wednesday, September 9 from 6 -9 p.m. CDT. It will be a night of fun and giveaways with readers and special guest hosts.

This is an online Facebook party so attend from the comfort of your couch, coffee shop or mobile device! Join the party here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1488433404802170/

Host Schedule: All times Central

6:00 Christine Glover
6:20 Lynn Raye Harris
6:40 Cynthia D’Alba
7:00 Naima Simone
7:20 Avery Flynn
7:40 Carla Swafford
8:00 Carmen Falcone
8:20 Jodi Linton
8:40 Jacki Delecki

I hope you’ll join us and invite your reader friends!

Cover Reveal: Marriage Under Fire

Deciding on cover art is a nerve-wracking process for authors. How do you capture 80K, 50K or even 20K words in a single image? Will the image engage readers’ attention? Will it inspire them to pick up the book or click through on Amazon for more information?

According to The Book Designer, fiction book covers have a variety of goals, including:

• Convey genre (i.e. historical, contemporary, suspense)
• Establish tone (i.e. gritty, flirty, humorous)
• Generate excitement

Kim Killion of The Killion Group designs the cover for both of my romantic suspense series, The Code Breakers and Grayce Walters. I had the opportunity to meet Harvey Stables, one of Kim’s most popular cover models at a local conference.

That clinch, delightful as it was, isn’t cover worthy, but Harvey and Kim still managed to get the job done when I needed a cover for MARRIAGE UNDER FIRE.

Look for MARRIAGE UNDER FIRE, Book 4 in the Grayce Walters contemporary romantic suspense series, September 12, at most online retailers.

Authors' Dog Days of Summer

The Dog Days of Summer are finally coming to an end, at least according to the calendar. Here in Washington state we’ve been experiencing a unusual heat wave. This July was a record breaker, going down as the hottest month in Seattle history since 1890!

The Dog Days of Summer run from July 3 to August 11 and refer to the sultriest days of summer. Early observers in the Mediterranean region discovered this period coincided with the conjunction of Sirius (the dog star) and the sun.

In honor of the Dog Days of Summer, I’m featuring some of my author friends and their canine sidekicks. There’s also a little surprise squeezed in here. If you are still in need of summer reading, be sure to check out each author’s recent release!

Callie Hutton‘s four-legged friend Daisy. The Highlander’s Choice is a Scottish Regency historical.

Gunny, Chris Keniston‘s pooch pal, is also an aspiring author. If you like contemporary romance with military heroes, check out Aloha Texas.

Ava Branson‘s four-legged friend Cosmo is decidedly more feline than canine. Fiery Seas, a contemporary romance, makes a great beach read.

C.B. Williams is bound and determined to fit her Golden Doodle Miki in one of those designer handbags. Champion of Entean is science fiction romance with a splash of fantasy.

Sugar keeps Teri Riggs company while working on contemporary stories like her recent release, Sunsets and New Beginnings.

My two Golden Labs, Gus and Talley, provided inspiration for the canine characters in my contemporary romantic suspense books, such as Men Under Fire, from the Grayce Walters series.

Whose keeping you company during these steamy Dog Days of Summer?

The making of a book trailer

My name is Maria Connor, of My Author Concierge, and I am Jacki’s assistant. Jacki invited me to write a guest blog on our recent experience in creating the book trailer for her new audiobook release, A CODE OF THE HEART.

There are many services available that will create book trailers, but in reality, these video teasers aren’t that difficult to put together and it’s fun to occasionally venture into a different creative sphere. Assembling visual and audio elements requires a different perspective than working with words, but it is no less rewarding.

Join me now for a behind-the-scenes look at creating book trailers.

Developing a book trailer starts with a script. This can be the book cover copy (also called the book blurb or book summary), an excerpt from the book, or something entirely different. For A CODE OF THE HEART, we used a brief excerpt that reflected the storyline, plus the tag line for the Code Breakers series. The script can either be narrated or added as text.

The next step in the process is to assemble the graphic and audio components. This can be a challenge, as you must comply with copyright laws. You must have permission or be authorized to use the content in your trailer. To avoid any problems, I either use images owned by myself or the author, or stock art/music I have purchased. You can also use material under a Creative Commons license.

Finding licensed images for Regency romance can sometimes be a challenge. One of the images we considered using for this book trailer was discarded when we realized the male model–posed in a classic historical romance cover embrace–was wearing a gold chain necklace. We didn’t want any readers complaining about the historical inaccuracy of such an image so we selected a different graphic. Another way to solve the problem of limited Regency England images is to look for photos that reflect the story elements without specifically portraying them. For example, in this book trailer, the “spilled” tea cup represents the poisoning, danger and betrayal incidents in the story, while the British flag was selected to signify the intrigue and danger to the British monarch.

I use Windows Movie Maker to assemble the audio and video elements into a finished product. For the audio “mixing,” I use Audacity, a user-friendly program that is essentially just cutting and pasting portions of sound tracks together.

A Code of the Heart Book Trailer from Jacki Delecki on Vimeo.

For a sample of Jacki’s new audiobook, listen HERE.

I hope you enjoy our creative efforts and that we’ve made you curious to learn more about Jacki’s Regency romantic suspense! If you’d like more information about Jacki’s audiobooks, you can find A CODE OF LOVE and A CODE OF THE HEART on Audible, Amazon and iTunes.

Celebrating the Fourth of July

One of the highlights of summertime is upon us: The Fourth of July celebration! Across America, families and friends will come together in backyards, on beaches and at parks in honor of this holiday.

Independence Day is also a reminder that we are fortunate to live in a country that affords the opportunities and privileges as ours does. It’s also an opportunity to recognize those who serve to protect and defend our freedom.

Today’s military personnel serve with incredible dedication, proving that every man and woman has the potential to be a hero. That’s one of the reasons I often feature characters with a military background in my Grayce Walters series. Sergeant Nick Welby and his bomb-sniffing golden lab, the lead characters in MEN UNDER FIRE, are an example of this.

To those who have served or are currently serving, I offer a special thank you on this Fourth of July. Know that your service and sacrifice are appreciated.

How will you be celebrating Independence Day? Are you vacationing? Attending a family reunion? Cooking for friends? For those in need of culinary inspiration, check out these classic All-American recipes. One of our family traditions on the Fourth is making s’mores. If you’re interested in making homemade marshmallows and graham crackers, Martha Stewart offers a couple of recipes. Let me know how they turn out!

Happy fireworks and freedom!