Changes to Amazon's Publishing Program

Well, if you live in the self publishing world at all then you've probably heard about the changes KDP is making in regards to how authors enrolled in the select program will make money. Now it's based on pages read---this could be a good thing, could be a bad thing. I'm never very good at explaining royalties so I'm going to refer you to one of my fave blog sites on book marketing. I saw this woman, Penny Sansevieri, lecture last year at a writing conference. She rocks! Check out her views on this latest change!

The New Changes to Kindle Unlimited

http://www.amarketingexpert.com/the-new-changes-to-kindle-unlimited/

The Voodoo of the Bayou Myth Series

It's almost Halloween! With that in mind, I thought I'd write about a topic that's been getting a lot of play lately on TV shows: Voodoo. I use it a great deal in my Bayou Myth series!--Mary Ann

I have always been fascinated by other religions--especially the more "out there" ones.

 

I was brought up Episcopalian which is basically just Diet Catholic--all of the sin, but no need for the confession! While my parents were pretty open minded, we didn't talk a lot about religion around the dinner table. It wasn't until I was in high school, about the same age as my heroine Joan from my young adult series, Bayou Myth and Bayou Scar, that I even began to really think about religions outside my own.

 

I guess that's natural since the teenage years are when you start to question everything!

 

About that time I saw the movie, The Serpent and the Rainbow. It's basically about this scientist who travels to Haiti to learn about a man who died and then came back as a zombie. While he's there, he learns a lot about Haitian voodoo and goes a little crazy. Okay. I admit that it wasn't the greatest horror movie I'd ever seen, but it did get me interested in voodoo. Everything I'd ever seen or read about voodoo had made me think it was just a crazy cult thing, but the movie indicated that the story of The Serpent and the Rainbow was based on true events.

 

Curious, I did some research and discovered that voodoo was much more than some spooky blood smeared rituals meant to frighten people. It's actually a blend of Haitian and Catholic beliefs. Yes, there are some elements that are supernaturally charged, (the creation of zombies is one example) but the intentions of voodoo--to love and be true to oneself--is essentially the same as other faiths.

 

Now, New Orleans voodoo does have a slightly different feel to it. That's because in Louisiana voodoo really is like a spicy pot of gumbo--it’s a blend of a little bit of everything! There, you have voodoo priestess who can make you love potions, create spells meant to get rid of an enemy, or make a gris gris bag to bring you good luck. This is the voodoo that Hollywood likes to show the world and  that's probably why it has such a confusing reputation.

 

When I set out to create a young adult tale that featured voodoo, I wanted to be respectful. So I did my best to include information about voodoo that is both authentic and a bit on the spooky side, too. But you can't write about New Orleans voodoo and not include one of the most famous voodoo priestess of all time either--Marie Laveau. Marie was the woman who really brought voodoo to the forefront of the New Orleans world. She is still revered--and a little bit feared--to this day!

 

So, of course I had to put her in the Bayou Myth series, too. In fact, she is the great, great, grandmother of my heroine, Joan Renault. She tends to guide Joan in the realm of voodoo, teaching her the customs and rites that will one day make Joan a powerful voodoo priestess. But like lots of teenagers, Joan isn't exactly willing to be bossed around by a lady who's been dead for almost two hundred years!

 

The really fun part of writing this series was combining my research on voodoo with the Greek myths that so many of us are familiar with. You may recognize some Greek tales that now have just a little voodoo twist to them!

 

Hopefully, I've got you curious about my series. Here's a teaser from Bayou Myth to wet your appetite a little more….

 

As a sixteen year old voodoo queen in the making, Joan Renault just wants to be like all the other girls in the small town of Monte Parish, Louisiana—obsessed with boys and swamped with social lives. If the other kids would quit calling her “hoodoo hag,” she might have a small shot at normality. It would also help if Joan’s weekend outings with her secret crush, Dave, weren’t always being interrupted by her dead Grandmere, the legendary Marie Laveau. After all, it’s hard to make out with your best friend when your grandmother is watching! But when you come from a long line of voodoo priestesses with dried gator heads decorating the wall of their huts, normal doesn’t come easily.

When Joan witnesses the brutal sacrifice of a child to a tree Druid, she learns her Grandmere’s scandalous past has come back to haunt those living in the present. Hera, a vengeful voodoo priestess, is determined to use the residual energy of Pandora’s Box to revive a sleeping voodoo god and declare war on the descendants of Marie Laveau, especially Joan. Suddenly, Greek myths are being re-enacted all over town, and Joan has her hands full trying to sort it all out. With the approach of Samedi’s Day—the voodoo day of resurrection—Joan must learn to accept her destiny in order to stop the approaching threat to her family and friends.

 

 

Mary Ann Loesch is an award winning fiction writer from Texas. Her urban fantasy, Nephilim, was published in July 2011 by Lyrical Press Inc.  An avid blogger for All Things Writing (http://www.allthingswriting.blogspot.com), Mary Ann has also contributed stories in the horror anthology, All Things Dark and Dastardly. Her latest book, Bayou Scar, was released in June 2012. While she loves dirty martinis and cuddling with her dachshund, she loves fan mail even more! Contact her through her website at www.maryannloesch.com.

 

Goodreads Giveaway--Bayou Scar

Yes. It's shameless self promotion time. Again.

As you know, my new book was released this week and I have started a giveaway at Goodreads for the paperback version. It's only open through Oct. 10 so enter while the entering is good! Feel free to drop a little review of the book off over at Goodreads or Amazon. Good luck!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Bayou Scar

by Mary Ann Loesch

Giveaway ends October 10, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Goodreads Giveaway for Bayou Scar

As I mentioned in last week's post, my book Bayou Scar comes out on October 1. I am hosting a book giveaway at Goodreads to celebrate the occasion. If you would like to receive a signed paperback version of Bayou Scar click on the link below to enter the giveaway!

I love Goodreads! It is one of my favorite websites to discover new books, authors, and writing groups.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Bayou Scar

by Mary Ann Loesch

Giveaway ends October 10, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

I'm also working on new author site! Here is the current link if you are interested in checking out my other works! MARY ANN LOESCH, AUTHOR

Bayou Scar--The Journey of Writing a Sequel

My new book, Bayou Scar, comes out on Oct. 1, 2013. Finally. It should have been out almost four months ago! But writing a trilogy isn't as easy as you might think, and when you've written the first tale to good reviews, you kinda feel that crazy pressure of the next one needing to live up to certain expectations.

I think the hardest part for me in crafting the second book was that I wrote the rough draft for it right after writing a second draft of Bayou Myth. I was inspired and ready to keep the story rolling along while it was fresh in my mind. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

But then life interfered. Edits for Bayou Myth ate up a lot of time. I started writing for multiple clients and Bayou Scar got pushed to the back burner. When I did get around to reading that rough draft, it depressed me. I'd made so many changes and edits to Bayou Myth that the draft for Bayou Scar had things in it that no longer applied or didn't make sense.

It was frustrating. Really frustrating. The kind of frustrating that makes you procrastinate big time and only work on it in small spurts.

Last spring I finally got my act together and started cleaning up the rough draft. It was surprisingly painful. Joan (my main character) and I were at odds with each other. She wanted to do one thing on the page and I wanted her to do another! She wouldn't behave.

And then I realized she really needed to run the show. So what if I had all these words already written? They weren't exciting me, much less Joan. I had to let go and let her take the lead.

Once I did, every thing fell into place.

I'm proud to announce that after writing five drafts of the novel, going through a Beta Reader group, and working with the best editor out there--Ramona DeFelice Long--the novel will be released on Oct. 1. Yippee! Just in time for Halloween!

You can pre-order your copy of Bayou Scar today at Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon!

Here is the publisher's blurb from Dragonfire Press:

The moment teenage voodoo queen Joan Renault holds the Golden Apple of Journalism in her hand, its deadly power silently infiltrates her life. But this apple is more than just a token of high school pageantry.

It's toxic. Poisonous.

And it just might kill all the people Joan loves.

This is Book 2 in the Bayou Myth series.

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Of course, now comes the hard part...writing the final book in this trilogy! It's called Bayou Curse and will hopefully be out soon!


Follow Mary Ann Loesch at Twitter or Facebook or drop by www.maryannloesch.com.