Unknown Cover Reveal

I am skipping my "So Many Things To Tell You" post this month and instead dedicating it to my most important news.

Unknown now has a cover!!
Thank you so much to Ruth Little for modelling for me. You're gorgeous!! And thank you to the very talented Brenda Howson. What would I do without you? xx

It is with great pleasure, that I introduce you to my first YA Fantasy book. For a little fun, I'm doing a one off, old school fantasy series... and believe me, it is SO much fun. Although I am looking forward to returning to a more contemporary style next year, I am loving the swords, arrows, horse riding and adventure that comes with the series I'm creating.

I hope you will all enjoy reading it as much as I'm enjoying writing it.

Unknown is the first book in The Elements Trilogy and is due for release, June 2013.

Darkness is covering the land. As the city of Mezrah grows with power and greed, the rest of the world can only stand by and wait for their inevitable destruction. The only hope against this growing power is an ancient prophecy that people have stopped believing in.

Then a star begins to fall.

Princess Kyla of Taramon stopped believing in the power of light the day her father died. Trapped in a city she does not care for, under the watchful glare of her mother, the queen, she struggles to accept her fate.

Then a star begins to fall.

Jethro has loved Kyla for as long as he can remember. Learning that she was to marry his cousin drove a wedge between him and the feisty princess. Watching her from a distance is a torture he is unable to free himself from.

Then a star begins to fall, sparking an ember of hope and sending two seekers on a treacherous journey into the unknown.

If you'd like to add Unknown to your TBR, here is the Goodreads link.

Will You Venture With Me?

Last week I put forward the question - is it okay for an author to write in multiple genres?

If you'd like to read the post, you can check it out here.

I asked the question because I guess I've been a little worried about writing in a slightly different genre. You see, my next project is a YA fantasy... and I'm talking old school fantasy - you know with magic and mythical creatures, adventure and a treacherous quest.

It has been SO much fun to work on, but it's also been super scary. I've never done anything like this and it is stretching me so far. I've nearly given up a few times, but I feel like the story is good and worth telling.

Doubts have accosted me at every turn, but for some reason, I keep on ploughing ahead. Hopefully I will look back and be grateful for my tenacity, but I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

So - to my dear readers - who I respect and appreciate so much... in June when the first book of this trilogy is released... will you venture with me? Will you journey into new territory? Will you take a step into the Unknown?

UNKNOWN COVER REVEAL COMING FEBRUARY 19.

2013 Resolutions

YA writers and bloggers unite each week to share their thoughts on what it's like going indie in today's publishing world.

The dawning of a new year often brings on a bunch on new resolutions. Whether we follow them through or not, it feels good to set them. It makes us feel motivated, inspired and ready to start a new year with fresh enthusiasm.

We are making some changes to the Indie Carnival this year, which is really exciting. I'm so pumped about 2013. It's going to be a year of YA Indie awesomeness! Bring it on!

I have a few resolutions for this year. 

My writing goals are to:

Write and publish four books...

Unknown (Elements Trilogy #1 - June)
Unseen (Elements Trilogy #2 - September)
Unleashed (Elements Trilogy #3 - December)

Forbidden Waters (Mica and Lexy Series #2 - release date to be decided)

My marketing goals are to:
Launch my new website (currently under construction) - www.melissapearlauthor.com
Help promote other indie authors and work with each other to spread the word about our books
Increase my social media followings and build up my newsletter subscribers

My reading goals are to:
Read 12 books. I know that doesn't sound like many, but writing takes up most of my free time. I feel like a-book-a-month is attainable for me.

If you'd like to find out what the other indie goers have planned for this year, then you can check out their sites below.

And you can also check out the YA Author Club for the latest updates and news on what we're all up to.

1.	Laura A. H. Elliott	2.	Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3.	T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series	4.	Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga
5.	Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog	6.	K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
7.	Gwenn Wright, author of Filter	8.	Liz Long | Just another writer on the loose.
9.	Ella James	10.	Maureen Murrish
11.	YA Sci Fi Author's Ramblings	12.	A Little Bit of R&R
13.	Melissa Pearl	14.	Terah Edun - YA Fantasy

So Many Things To Tell You!!

Well, it's the beginning of December, so time for my monthly progress report.

November saw the release of Betwixt, so that was a great lead-in to one of my favourite months of the year... December. Why do I love it so much?

 Because I love Christmas!! The family time, the presents, the decorations, the food, the history... I love it all.

And speaking of Christmas, that is my first piece of news. I am involved in the Christmas For Authors celebration that is being run by Young Adult and Teen Readers. If you'd like to take part in the Treasure Hunt Giveaway, you can check out my recent blog post here. This celebration will be running throughout the month and there are so many giveaways and awesome prizes. It is definitely worth joining in the event.

December has kicked off with a bang for me as A Tale of Many Reviews is currently hosting the Betwixt Blog Tour for me. Day One was filled with amazing reviews. I am so excited that people are enjoying it so much. Thank you so much to all the participants. I feel honoured to be featuring on your amazing blogs. There is a giveaway running and there will be plenty more posts to come - including interviews, a tweet chat between Nicole and Dale and a few other goodies. If you'd like to follow along, you can check out the tour schedule on my YAlicious site - Betwixt Blog Tour.

The first book of my fantasy trilogy is well underway. In fact I am hoping to finish it before I fly home for Christmas (in two weeks!! Squee!!). I am finding this project extremely challenging, but also so much fun. I have never written anything like this before and it's really stretching me. I currently have a "Name That Troll" competition running through my updates newsletter. The person who comes up with the best name for my monstrous yet completely adorable baby troll will win an Amazon gift card. If you'd like to participate, you can sign up for my Book Updates and Giveaways Newsletter. Entries close December 21st.

I had a photo shoot last week with some of the students from Suzhou Singapore International School. One of the teachers there helped me out and snapped some shots of these gorgeous kids. They are going to be the faces on the covers of my fantasy trilogy - The Elements Trilogy. The books are tentatively titled - Unknown, Unseen, Unleashed. I can't WAIT to see what my talented graphic designer comes up with. We've been discussing ideas and I think these covers are going to be pretty awesome-sauce.

On my YAlicious blog this month I have some pretty cool posts coming up - I have the amazing Patti Larsen visiting the site on Thursday, a surprise book blogger will be doing an interview for me the week after that. I also have some posts planned while I'm away for Christmas, including a giveaway, so keep your eye out for that.

In the meantime, I really hope you have a fantastic December filled with lots of warm, Christmas fuzzies. I know this season can sometimes be stressful, but it's also a season of giving and reflection and I hope you can all come away feeling better for it :-)

So Many Things To Tell You!

Well, November is finally here, so it's time for my monthly progress report.

October went by in a flurry of activity. To celebrate Golden Blood's birthday, I listed it for free. This brought the book into the spotlight and it was great to see so much activity happening around the trilogy. It is such a buzz to see something you worked on for so long entice so many readers. I'm so glad you have been enjoying the books.

Golden Blood turned one on November 4th so I have decided to continue the celebrations and keep the book FREE, on all sites, for another month.

November has been the cause for another celebration - the release of Betwixt!! I feel like it has taken forever to get here, but finally I can share this book with you. It has been such a privilege to work on this project and the support of, and response to, this book has been overwhelming. Thank you to all my reviewers, I'm so glad you loved the book and have been willing to tell everybody about it as well.

I wanted Betwixt to be an emotional story that explored the effects tragedy can  have on people's lives and the healing power of unconditional love and forgiveness, but I didn't want to bog the story down so that reader's came away depressed either. Finding that mix of humour and sorrow seemed to come quite easily and it makes me wonder if this story was meant to be written all along.

If you haven't read it yet, I really hope you enjoy it :-)

The book can be purchased on any of the Amazon stores or on Smashwords. It will also be available on Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple and Sony very soon.

For every copy of Betwixt sold, $1 will be donated to Love146 - a charity fighting against child sex trafficking and exploitation.

A Tale of Many Reviews is hosting an awesome-sauce blog tour for me from the 3rd - 8th of December. So keep an eye out for that :-)

So November has started with a hiss and a roar, but I have no intention of slowing down. The rest of the month holds lots of goodies for me. The two major ones are:

1. YAlicious blog. Brenda and I are making some changes to the blog and are hoping to host many amazing authors, spotlight some fantastic books and get some good discussions going. I'll keep you posted on progress, but so far for this month I have lined up a couple of author visits, a book review, a movie review and hopefully a visit from a book reviewer.

2. My new fantasy trilogy. I am now in the first draft stage of Book One - tentatively entitled - Unknown. My goal is to have it finished by Christmas. Hopefully I can pull that off :-) I've had so much fun planning out the story and creating the world. It is going to be a challenging project, but it's good to test your skills every now and then, right?

Thank you so much for everyone who is joining me on my writing journey. I love being able to share all this cool stuff with you.

I have just started up a Book Updates Newsletter as well, so if you'd like to sign up, you'll receive a bi-monthly update on where my books are up to and what specials or giveaways I have going on. Follow the link below to sign up.
Melissa Pearl's Book Updates