Monday, April 11, 2016

A Bump in the Road to Publishing My First Novel

Welcome, debut author Debra Elise! 
Hurray, you brought your debut novel, SAVING MAVERICK, released on April 4th. Friends, I've read this one and you don't want to miss it. 

AND, she's giving away prizes, so be sure to read to the end ...

Debra says: "Thank you to Cathryn for opening her blog to me today.

So one day you’re rolling along, plans all laid out nice and tidy and then something happens to challenge you. Something which tests your resilience for change, and threshold for disappointment.

Sound familiar? It happens to all of us. Hopefully not too often, but when it does how you react immediately after the stomach-dropping hit you just took, sets you up for a big decision… Turn the disappointment not into lemonade but opportunity or let it paralyze you.

I had one such disappointment last summer and it had to do with my debut baseball romance,
SAVING MAVERICK



I was so excited when Bloomsbury Spark offered me a contract last March and chose a November 2015 release date. I had gleefully told my family, friends, complete strangers, “My book is coming out in November!” I’d posted it on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, my website. You name it. I had begun to pimp it, well everywhere.

So, July rolls around and I’m eager to receive my edit letter from well, my editor, but what I received instead was a nicely worded email asking me how I would feel if they changed the release date, for marketing purposes, to early 2016?... How would I feel? Sad, very-very sad.

I found myself with this huge decision to make. Do I kick and scream and demand I get my way like a toddler who’s lost their blanky and end up alienating my editor and the publisher and perhaps blow my opportunity for books two and three? <takes deep breath> Or do I set aside my “poor me” feelings and listen to the “oh, yeah, this makes sense” voice that appeared soon after the need for the pink stuff in a bottle faded away?


The change in release date had really nothing to do with me or the quality of the book, but more to do with “Hey, there is no baseball in November” and it just made better marketing sense to release it at the beginning of baseball season, the following year.

So I’ve been patiently waiting for my new release date, April 4th, to roll around and used the last few months to get my marketing plan in order and more importantly wrote the next book in the series which will release in July.

My book, SAVING MAVERICK, is the first book in the Outlaws of Baseball series set in Pineville, ID. The Outlaws play in the fictional United States Baseball League and have just been purchased by a billionaire who’s had a life-long dream of bringing a professional team to his childhood hometown, in Idaho. You could say he pissed a few people off; including the star pitcher. 

Here’s the blurb (which was written by the beautiful Blurb Queen, aka Cathryn Cade ;)

                                    * * *
SAVING MAVERICK 
He’s the hottest pitcher in the league … she’s there to make sure he doesn’t throw it all away.

He needs someone like her …

Rand ‘Maverick’ Jansen has what it takes to be the star pitcher of the Idaho Outlaws—talent, talent and more talent. Trouble is, since his younger brother’s death in a car wreck, a mysterious ‘injury’ to Mav’s throwing arm has him sidelined. And trying to find solace in a series of all-too public drunken parties isn’t aiding his cause with the league, or the team’s owner. If Mav doesn’t accept help to work out his grief and repair his reputation, he may end up in the dugout for good. He just didn’t expect that help to come from a gorgeous little spitfire in sexy stiletto heels.

She needs to stay far away from guys like him …

Kelsey Sullivan is a publicist, and a good one. She’s not a big fan of bad boy baseball players. But when the owner of the Outlaws, a close friend, asks her to take his star pitcher from media strike out to home run, she has to say yes. But she’d rather eat her favorite Chanel purse. Mav Jansen is everything she’s spent her adult life staying far, far away from—a sports celebrity who seems to consider the world his personal playground. She just didn’t expect him to be quite so gorgeous and irresistible. 

When life throws them a curve ball, is it too late to learn that love can save them both?

                             * * *
Excerpt from Saving Maverick:

Kelsey leaned against the railing and rolled the tension out of her neck and shoulders. How much longer should she hide out here before going back in? She didn’t want to chance looking around to check on T.S. and Maverick and get caught staring, again, so she kept her gaze on the still, dark blue lake below her.

So caught up in her memories, she hadn’t heard the terrace doors opening. She only noticed the footsteps right before a hand brushed her arm. She looked up and felt a shock of heat shoot straight to her core. It was him. Maverick Jansen and he was giving her his full attention.

“Excuse me miss. I hope I’m not intruding, but I really needed a break and you seemed so relaxed out here I just had to find out why for myself.”

She looked at America’s hottest baseball player out of the corner of her eye and snorted. Her body may be firing on all cylinders from his simple touch, but he didn’t need to know that.

“Really, is that a line you practiced or did it just come to you?” Kelsey asked.

“Well, now it got you to speak to me, so I think practiced or not, it had the desired result.” He smiled, and oh my, those dimples, Kelsey thought. He held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Rand Jansen, but everyone calls me Maverick.”

She allowed him to slip his sport roughed hand around her smaller one and tilted her head to the side. How should she play this? He may be the first man in a long time to make her feel even a twinge of sexual interest, but they would soon be working together. Maybe she should test him? See exactly how he would handle a woman turning him down.
“Kelsey.” She responded.

“Just Kelsey?” He asked.

“For now.” She smiled.

“Do you usually go by just one name? Are you a secret agent or something?” Maverick grinned again.

“Or something.” She took a slight step back, to gain a bit of control and for her sanity. She could feel her nipples pebbling against her camisole and was glad she wore a blazer for her meeting with T.S., otherwise Maverick would be able to see the effect he was having on her.

She shouldn’t be having such an intense reaction. It had taken a mere brush of his hand and the sound of his sinful voice to wind her up. She needed to get a grip and get off the terrace — fast."
                     * * *

Debra Elise lives with her husband and their two sons in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. She loves to read, nap, write, and watches entirely too much reality T.V. She also enjoys hanging out with other author-type individuals and teasing her three ‘boys’ into displaying their killer smiles. Most days find her carpooling, avoiding laundry and daydreaming about her characters and how to make them come alive for her readers.

 Be sure to visit my website and enter my GIVEAWAY and sign up for my newsletter!

You can find SAVING MAVERICK at the following retailers:



                                                iBOOKS

Thanks again for stopping by, Debra Elise! Can't wait for #2 in this hot summer series!

Cathryn Cade
Red Hot Sci Fi/Contemporary/Paranormal Romance
RT 4.5 Stars and Night Owl Reviews TOP PICK
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