Were you thinking of participating but weren’t sure? Now is your chance! Visit the party page to see how you can join in. Guests of all kinds are welcome, and I’ll announce your guest posts via the party page and my blog.
You are cordially invitedto the Virtual Release Party for Don’t Judge a Book By Its Magic.
This online soiree will feature contests, giveaways, freebies, featured reviewers, guest books, and a great celebration of the people who made the first book of my first series possible.
Yes, it’s all online! Visit when you like, participate, and have fun, all without any tiresome travel or diet-busting treats. Anything you want to know about what’s happening is right here: https://katepolicani.com/release-party/
The party will last for three days from Oct 26-28 here at katepolicani.com. Please join in the fun!
My kickstarter project is funded! It just goes to show you that there are some awesome people out there. It was saved at the last minute by a few kind folks.
I learned a bit about Kickstarter and how it works, and I think that a hallmark to success is selling your vision with the audience in a compelling way. It isn’t enough to just state your objectives and offer nice incentives. That is good, but what sells people is your own passion for what you want to accomplish. I’m going to focus on this next time I do a kickstarter.
The winner of the print copy of The Queen and the Handyman is Maria’s choice, Chiefoftheleast! Please contact me at katepolicani(at)gmail.com to get your prize!
Here are the winners of my ebooks!
New blog followers/current followers commenting: NewEnglandMuse
Facebook page likes: Jax R. Jones
Goodreads fan: J.J. Kearbey
My favorite commenter–I decided to pick a winner from among the “likes” since lots of people liked and were too shy to speak up. –Ashsilverlock
Twitter follower: Molly Greene
Host Blog comments: Maria Tatham (She wins the whole party, so I’m going to have to figure out a great prize since she already has read both of my books)
The three winners of the print books are:
Maria’s favorite: TBA
This is the last official post of the party. Please participate up until 12:00am to win prizes. I’ll post the results tomorrow, so cross your fingers!
Thank you, Rosa Sophia, for sharing my book on your blog! Here is where you can see Rosa Sophia’s post: http://rosasophia.com/2012/03/17/the-lustre-by-kate-policani/
Keep an eye out for her upcoming review!
Erik Sederstrom teamed up with his wife, Heidi Barnett to create the cover for The Disenchanted Pet!
I met Erik and Heidi when I was looking on our church website for an artist for my first book cover. Seattle is a fabulous place to find artists and our church is a very art-friendly community. I had a lot of fun exchanging ideas about the cover art and seeing what they would visualize. Both artists were very patient with all my little details about the perfect image. Erik came over with the final piece and we worked for quite a while photographing it from different angles to get just the right shot.
His website is still under construction.
Here are some of his other fabulous pieces!
Heidi Barnett teamed up with her husband, Erik Sederstrom to create the beautiful cover for The Disenchanted Pet!
For Heidi, art not isn’t just a job or an outlet but a way of life. Color is very important to her and how colors help the viewer feel moods and emotions. The colors often relay a story behind each piece of art.
Heidi is a reissuance artist, having the ability to work in a verity of mediums from oil paints to jewelry designing.Her passion is for painting and she loves to paint murals. She lives in Everett, Washington and loves her job teaching art to children and elderly, opening their eyes to new and exciting ways of thinking creatively as well as artistically.She is an expert at breaking art down into a level in which all can be satisfied with the creation they have made.
Heidi on “How I came to find myself as an artist”:
“I grew up in Southern California surrounded by art, my Mother being an artist herself. Art has always been a way of life for me and what we do. Christmas time was always exciting because it meant new art supplies. Around the age of fourteen I started getting serious about painting, learning the techniques and how to use color, shapes, and perspective. I have study art in collage as well as Art History. I found that I truly learned the most studying under artist I admire watching their techniques and making them my own. I also enjoy working with my husband who is an artist himself. I find we benefit each other well in the areas of art I am weak he seem to make up and vise versa. So we are able to encourage and teach each one another. We have worked on pieces together and apart. We over all help develop and encourage each other to grow in our own unique styles.”
See her page with more of her artwork here: http://heidibarnett.artweb.com/
In “Grave Chesapeake”, a young girl discovers that the scariest place–and the most comforting–is in the middle of the bay on a dark night. In “The Landing”, an old woman loses her mind, and an old man loses his footing. And finally, in “Photograph”, Claudette finds the horrors of her own past confined within a negative. In these short tales, Rosa Sophia tackles the darker sides of the human condition–loneliness, depression and most of all, a fear of facing the person that stares back from the other side of the mirror.
Buy it for Kindle
or Buy it for Nook
Rosa Sophia has been writing since childhood. Taking 1960, her first novel, was published by Oaklight Publishing in August of 2010. Rosa began her editing work while she was still in high school; she worked as an intern and reviewed submissions for the Bucks County Writer. Shortly after that, she joined the staff of Wild River Review and began doing freelance editing on the side. She also taught a fiction writing workshop at Tinicum Art and Science and edited for a Writers Community geared toward alternative faiths.
Rosa currently divides her time between writing, editing, working, and pursuing a degree in Automotive Business Management. Rosa is also the official Historian for the Village of North Palm Beach. When she finds the time, she enjoys writing about automotive topicsand history. Click here to visit her personal blog, The Back-words Writer. Rosa currently resides in south Florida.
Learn more about Rosa Sophia at http://rosasophia.com/
https://www.createspace.com/3806356 for the slate colored cover QPNR7TJ2 $5.00 off!
https://www.createspace.com/3811292 for the black and white cover VK84CASF $5.00 off!
https://www.createspace.com/3811460 for the red cover 3U5B5THD $5.00 off!
The Disenchanted Pet free ebook–enter code : LA26E at this address: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/93067
http://cynnerjane.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/the-lustre-virtual-launch-party/
http://kateschannel.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/book-it-party-room-kate-policanis-the-lustre/
http://kathleenfberg.webs.com/apps/blog/entries/show/12686610-the-lustre
http://kathleenfberg.webs.com/apps/blog/entries/show/13198452-the-lustre-is-available-for-purchase-
http://pagesunforgotten.wordpress.com/2012/03/16/kate-policanis-the-lustre/
http://quillwielder.com/2012/03/15/book-review-the-lustre/
A Hole in the Pavement by Tahlia Newland
Christopher Barker: Photographer and Musician
Kathleen Firstenberg: Editor
Megan Michaelis: Photographer
The Queen and the Handyman by Maria Tatham
This is for all you traditionalists who love the feeling of a book in your hand. I can’t give you the paperbacks for free, because they aren’t free to make. But I can give you discount coupons!
Buy them here:
https://www.createspace.com/3806356 for the slate colored cover QPNR7TJ2 $5.00 off!
https://www.createspace.com/3811292 for the black and white cover VK84CASF $5.00 off!
https://www.createspace.com/3811460 for the red cover 3U5B5THD $5.00 off!
To celebrate the launch of my new book, I’m going to give you a free ecopy of my first book! Yes, you could end up with two free ebooks today!
Here is the coupon! It expires on the 18th, so use it soon!
Enter code : LA26E at this address: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/93067
See my review of A Hole in the Pavement and the other short stories in the collection, A Matter of Perception here: http://katepolicanisreviews.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/a-matter-of-perception-by-tahlia-newland/
Every morning, Norris watches his goddess walk to the bus stop in front of him, the gap between them far wider than the physical distance. This morning, she stumbles. He wants to run and help her, but finds himself stuck in a hole that appeared along with his self doubt. By the time he gets out, she’s long gone. He vows that if it happens again, he won’t hesitate, but when she falls the next day, he has more than just his own hole to deal with. Can he find his heroic self before she walks away?
This heart warming, humorous and profound magical realism short story (5000 words) is a readers’ favourite from ‘A Matter of Perception,’ a collection of short stories by Tahlia Newland.
Tahlia writes fantasy and magical realism for adults & young adults that challenges readers to contemplate the nature of reality, mind and perception. She has studied philosophy & meditation for many years and is an avid reader, an extremely casual high school teacher, and an occasional mask-maker. After creating and performing in Visual Theatre shows for 20 years, she is now a bone-fide expatriate of the performing arts. She lives in an Australian rainforest, is married with a teenage daughter and love cats, but she doesn’t have one because they eat native birds.
A Hole in the Pavement is an ebook available on Amazon and Smashwords. It’s also one of the stories in ‘A Matter of Perception’ and it’s free if you sign up for Tahlia’s newsletter on her website.
Tahlia’s website http://tahlianewland.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tahlia-Newland-author/188047104605893
Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/TahliaNewland
Goodreads page http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5283573.Tahlia_Newland
Norris is based on a really lovely student that I taught once. He was extremely bright, well organised, always neat and well presented, very shy and the sweetest person you could imagine. Everyone loved him, but his shyness was a handicap when it came to relationships. When I wrote Norris, I had the warmth in my heart that I always got when I thought of this person. His smile was a blessing to all who saw it.
The holes Norris and Georgia fall into represent their emotional holes, the ones we habitually fall into. It’s dark and muddy in those holes and falling into them make us miserable and holds us back from doing what we want to do. We often don’t realise that we make them ourselves and that we can get ourselves out, and better still, that once we are aware of them, we can avoid falling in at all.
I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll let the idea percolate and if an idea for where the story could go pops up, I’ll definitely consider it. I really enjoyed writing this and the other magical realism story in ‘A Matter of Perception’ – my collection of short stories – so I’m writing more in that style, presently a YA novella with a bullying theme.
Single shorts, as I call them, are tailor made for busy people, perfect for reading in those in between times, like when you’re waiting for the rest of the family to sit down and watch a movie with you, or you’re waiting for an appointment, or you’ve just finished a novel and aren’t quite ready to dive into another one. They’re also a really good way to taste an author’s style because they’re cheap and don’t require a big time commitment.
Be like Lorenzo: patronize an artist like me!
Kate Policani 
The Virtual Launch Party Analysis
I would say that this party was a great success!
The biggest success was in blog views. I recieved 170 the first day, 133 the second and, 127 on the third day. Normally I get between15 and 50 views when I post something. I also got 18 spam posts! (Hehe it stinks but it also shows that even spammers were paying attention.) I had 31 total likes on posts.
The most popular posts were:
My book sales were great too. I sold 4 print books and 3 Kindle books. These aren’t fantastic numbers but it is way more than I sold during my diminutive release of The Disenchanted Pet. The Black and White print cover won out with 2 sales versus one each of the red and slate.
I gained 4 blog followers for a total of 101 and 5 new twitter followers. I had one new Goodreads buddy (Thanks Maria!) , but nobody tried LibraryThing.
Maria Tatham was the hands-down participant winner and I need to think of a great gift for her to thank her for being so involved!
Was it worth the work? Absolutely. It was a lot of work with little return but also great to connect with so many people and try something completely new.
What results did you see participants, on your site? I’d love for you to post them in replies!