Showing posts with label .Terry Persun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label .Terry Persun. Show all posts

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Winners of Blondie and the Brit Awards


Welcome to the first annual Blondie and the Brit Awards and Birthday Bash celebration! If you’ve grabbed your party hat please don it and join in.
Thank you for all of your votes, shares and support! This has been a fantastic five weeks of voting. We appreciate all of your support. 



First things first. All of our winners will receive:

1.   A Blondie and the Brit award (pictured above),
2.   The opportunity for a second interview on the show sometime in the next year,
3.   A widget for your website with your award announcement,
4.   A Best of Blondie and the Brit podcast with a quick interview update for those who make themselves available,
5.   Listing on our website under Awards Winners, and
6.   Eternal bragging rights.

SJ Hermann Podcast Hero Award


 SJ Hermann
Our first award is one of our Blondie and Brit Hero Awards. Congratulations to SJ Hermann for being our first recipient of The Blondie and The Brit Hero Award. SJ’s is an emphatic supporter of Blondie and the Brit, both in reposting about our books and our supporting our podcast in general, he is also an encouraging advocate for all Indie Authors. One of our earlier interviews, his podcast has far surpassed any other in the number of downloads. S.J. is a writer of paranormal, science fiction, horror and urban fantasy novels. You can find out more about him here on his website. http://sjhermannauthor.blogspot.com/


Category 1 – Best Social Media Tip 

  
Our nominees for the Best Social Media tip are:
Rachel Thompson -- #MondayBlogs
Laurence O'Bryan -- Extending Your Book onto Your Blog
Joey Pinkney -- How to Present Yourself Online
Nicole Persun -- SEO Optimization
Claude Bouchard -- Twitter Growth

And our winner is:



Rachel Thompson
We loved this tip from Rachel Thompson about her #MondayBlogs creation. Rachel had so many great author tips it was hard to pick just one to feature. Congrats Rachel for the win! Please check out her website at http://rachelintheoc.com/.

Here is Rachel’s winning clip: https://clyp.it/yr2crcso

 Category 2 – Most Creative Book Promotion

 The nominees for the Most Creative Book Promotion Award are:

Caragh O'Brien -- California Drought
Ian Mackenzie -- South African Politics
Vaun Murphrey -- Science in the News
Amy Quick Parrish -- Web Series to Pilot to Novel 
Barbara Sissel Taylor -- Living on the Grounds of a Correctional Facility
Emily Drake Carpenter -- Ideas Form in the Bath 

Nicole Waggoner

Our winner in the category Most Creative Book Promotion is the amazing Nicole Waggoner. No surprises here! Her tip on how to pull a potential reader into a second book in a series was a great promotional tool. Both Blondie and the Brit are planning on using this one in their own upcoming books.  Check out her website http://www.nicolewaggonerauthor.com/
Here is the winning clip https://clyp.it/aagp4wv2 (Nicole)


Category 3 – Best Fangirl/Boy Story


Our nominees in this category are:

Camille Di Maio -- How she presented her book to Paul McCartney 
Tom Nichols -- Hollywood Hills with Tarintino 
Kim Hunt Harris -- Diana Gabaldon Ultimate Fan Girl
Edward Stanton -- Paul Stanley of KISS Fame Keeping his Identity Secret




Kim Harris


Congratulations to Kim Hunt Harris for winning Best Fangirl story. Kim’s interview was hilarious and we really loved hearing her story about meeting Diana Gabaldon. Diana is KJ’s favorite author so I agree with our audience on this one for sure. Thank you Kim for giving us a great interview with such a great clip. You can find out more about Kim on her website http://kimhuntharris.com/.

Here is the winning clip (Kim) https://clyp.it/ocyoowjm

Category 4 – Funniest Podcast

 Our nominees for this category are:

Kerry Schafer -- Twitter Shenanigans
J.D. Lexx -- Lightning Round Hilarity
Sharon Anderson -- Phone a Friend
Luke Romyn -- Bicycle Underpants Story
Lynn Lamb -- Burning Down the House

J.D. Lexx

There were many podcasts we could have included in this award as we have had so much fun with so many authors, however we had to narrow it down and the winner in the category with the most votes from our podcast audience is J.D. Lexx with his incredible wit who kept us laughing through the whole interview. Learn more about J.D. on his website http://www.jdlexx.com/.


Here is the winning clip from J.D https://clyp.it/he1vz3v4
  

Susan Wingate Podcast Hero Award


Susan Wingate

We are honored to introduce to you to another amazing author who is recipient of our second Blondie and The Brit Hero Award. Susan Wingate is not only a fabulous writer but she is also a great support and resources for other writers. Over the last year we have felt Susan's support in so many different ways from helping us through our book launches and Facebook parties to interviewing us on her own podcast. Both a traditionally and Indie author she extents herself in so many way to support the writing community, through her classes, her online influence and her whole-hearted devotion to her craft. We can't think of a better choice for our special hero award. Thank you Susan for all you do. You can find more about Susan by visiting her website here: http://www.susanwingate.com/


Category 5 – Best New Author Story 

Our next category was Best New Author Story where authors shared how they were discovered. Our nominees are:

Darynda Jones -- Agent Beauty Contest
Susan Spann -- Ten Years of Tenacity
Patricia Sands -- Every Day is a Gift
David Estes -- Accountant to Full-Time Writer on the Beach



And the Winner is: Darynda Jones

Congrats! Darynda was our very first aired interview on October 1, 2015. Her story of being discovered by St. Martin’s Press after winning the Golden Heart Romance Award was a very inspiring. Thank you Darynda for giving us your time and talents for our debut podcast. You can find out more about Darynda at http://www.daryndajones.com/.Here is the winning clip from Darynda  https://clyp.it/notykb11


Category 6 – Most Helpful Writing Process

Nominees for the Most Helpful Writing Process award are:

Melody Robinette -- The Pomodoro Method 
Graeme Ing -- Scrivener Software for Writers
Deb Lund -- Increasing the Conflict and Suspense in Fiction
Terry Persun -- Fostering Creativity in your Life to Enhance Your Writing 
Ellie Alexander -- Writing in Layers to Enhance the Story 

Melody Robinette

We are excited to announce the Most Helpful Writing Process winner is Melody Robinette. 

Our listeners deemed this as the Most Helpful Writing Process. We were so glad to meet this great author and KJ has already tried and used this writing tip successfully. Melody Robinette was our winner with her great Pomodoro technique. Find out more about Melody on her website: https://melodyrobinette.com/
  
Here is the winning clip from Melody https://clyp.it/whgefrkc


Category 7 – Most Inspired Storytelling

The nominees for our Most Inspired Storytelling category are:

Melody Robinette -- The Pomodoro Method 
Graeme Ing -- Scrivener Software for Writers
Deb Lund -- Increasing the Conflict and Suspense in Fiction
Terry Persun -- Fostering Creativity in your Life to Enhance Your Writing 
Ellie Alexander -- Writing in Layers to Enhance the Story 


 VaunMurphrey

Vaun Murphrey is the winner of the Most Inspired Storytelling with her description of what inspires her science fiction writing. I loved this clip where she shares the scientific articles that were the spark for two of her novels. Congratulations Vaun! We loved your interview and were glad you were able to stay up past 8:00 pm to talk to us. Check her out on her website http://www.vaunmurphrey.com/.


Here is the winning clip from Vaun https://clyp.it/lg0xzeqi

Martin Lastrapes Hero Award


Martin Lastrapes

We are so excited to introduce to you to our third amazing author who is the recipient of our Blondie and The Brit Hero Award. Martin Lastrapes was a great support to us and our podcast when we first launched and featured us on his Podcast for an in depth interview. Martin is an award-winning novelist, a Buffy enthusiast, and a podcaster. His debut novel, Inside the Outside, has been praised by readers and critics alike and in the spring of 2012 it won the Grand Prize in the Paris Book Festival.  You can find out more about Martin here on his website: http://www.martinlastrapes.com/

Category 8 – Best Professional Publishing Tip 


Nominees for the Best Professional Publishing Tip are:

Andrea Hurst -- How to Approach an Agent
Gisela Hausmann -- Advice for Contacting Book Reviewers 
Evan Marshall -- What Does an Agent Bring to the Equation
Jeri Walker -- How to Choose and Editor Carlie Cullen -- Common Writer Mistakes 


Jeri Walker 


Our winner for the Best Professional Tip is Jeri Walker! Congrats! Jeri joined us on the program to talk editing and we ended up learning a lot about blogging and other author marketing resources. Thank you for sharing your expertise Jeri! For more great book marketing and writing advice check out her blog http://jeriwb.com/.

Here is Jeri’s winning clip: https://clyp.it/hnrc3l20

Best Overall Podcast -- Blondie’s Choice 

The last category for us is our overall personal favorite podcasts. We both chose the one we had enjoyed the most over the whole year. 

I’m so excited to announce Blondie’s Choice award for my favorite podcast of the year. Rachel Thompson!


I chose Rachel’s podcast for this award because of the endless great advice contained within. We gave you her clip on #MondayBlogs but it truly was hard to choose the best one in the interview that we spread out into two podcasts because it was so full of great author and book marketing tips and advice. Rachel gives back so much to our author community with her #bookmarketing chats Wednesday nights, her great articles on her blog and endless great content and tips.

Thank you Rachel! Stay tuned because next week we will have an update from Rachel on the podcast about all of the new and exciting things she is working on now.


Best Overall Podcast -- Brit’s Choice – Terry Persun

For the Brit, there was no contest for this award. This author was not only gracious, funny, and informative. He was also one of the most versatile and knowledgeable authors I have ever met. We ended up interviewing him twice for an hour each time and he had new and interesting things to say. I also had my writers “ahh” moment during one of those interviews. 

Terry Persun 

I am excited to announce that the Brits favorite over all podcast interview went to the amazing Terry Persun. Thank you Terry for all you do for authors and for the amazing creative spirit you are.  You can find out more about Terry at http://www.terrypersun.com/

Here is Terry’s winning clip: https://clyp.it/rrrkmyfd



Congratulations to all of our Winning Authors 



Thank you for all of your support of the podcast and Suzanne and KJ.
Don't miss an episode, subscribe on:


or iTunes 


Free Chapters of KJ Waters' Upcoming Release! 


As a party favor KJ is offering the first two chapters of her next novel, Shattering Time. Please click on the link here. http://www.kjwaters.com/shattering-time-book-2

You can have the first six chapters of Shattering time (the sequel to Stealing Time) by subscribing to her newsletter here. http://www.kjwaters.com/

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Saturday, March 19, 2016

10 Things You Didn't Know About Blondie and the Brit: Inside the Podcast with Suzanne Kelman

10 Things You Didn't Know About Blondie and the Brit


Blondie and the Brit!

Suzanne and I have had an incredible nine months working on Blondie and the Brit Podcast together. In celebration of her soon to be relaunched book, The Rejected Writers’ Book Club, I wanted to give her fans a little behind the scenes on the show by diving into her perspective with Ten things you didn't know about Blondie and the Brit.

To learn more about Suzanne and The Rejected Writers' Book Club, her hilarious and heartwarming book that was picked up by Lake Union, an arm of Amazon Publishing, see the end of the post for links to her podcast interview and other stops along her blog tour. 

Check out the new cover, it really is quite spectacular. Doesn't it want to make you jump right into the adventure? 

Buy it here!

Also, I would like to personally invite you to a party I am hosting to celebrate the launch. It is a facebook party on April 8 called Blondie and the Brit's Book Launch Blast. Please click on the link here to join the fun. (You will need to click join to be part of the party.)

Join the facebook party here!

 Here goes!  

1. KJ: We have had so much fun working together on the podcast. I’m curious, what is your favorite moment so far?

SK: My favorite moment so far was the very first time I heard the podcast recording on the air and realized we could do this and how much fun it was going to be. Up to the launch it had been a lot of hill climbing and I was beginning to wonder if it was all worth it. Then suddenly we had a show, that was quite a moment. The other times that are the most memorable are when we are laughing so hard at something we have goofed up. Most of the time it doesn’t actually make it onto the regular podcasts but ends up on the blooper reel. Here is the blooper reel if you want to hear the fun. 
  

2. KJ: It really was a magical moment when we were finally live after three months of hard work. And if you haven’t guessed already, Suzanne and I spend a lot of time laughing when we’re together. But, we can’t have the good without the bad so tell us what was your worst moment so far on the podcast?

SK: I think the worst moment so far was the very first interview we did with Munir Bello, not only because I was very nervous but because also I had a lot of  weird interruptions that first recording, things I hadn't anticipated, from my cuckoo clock going off, to a barking dog and the yard guy cutting the grass. I ended up spending most of the interview crouched in the bottom of my darkened pantry with the door closed to keep the recording from picking up all the noise. You can listen to that podcast here.

  
3.  KJ: I still can’t believe you went through all of that. You are such a professional you managed to conduct the interview seamlessly – I really had no idea all of that was going on. I was afraid you were going to call me out for my uber blondness and some of the seriously ridiculous moments as a result my affliction. What is it like working on the podcast with a Blonde?

SK: It is so much fun, in fact, that’s how we both get through the more difficult aspects of podcasting. We are both technically challenged, each in our own way, and the technical issues blur went we are laughing so much. I love the fact that we are both very professional but also easy going about things that are out of our control - those things that crop up because life happens. Working alongside a fun, upbeat person who knows how to juggle many things and yet still gets things done. It is my favorite part of working with "the Blonde."


4. KJ: Well thank you for saying all of that. I’ll pay you the fifty bucks later (wink). I apologize in advance for our next snafu as a result of my Blonditude. Let’s move on to some of your favorite fundamentals of the program. In the podcast we have three elements in each episode – writing tips, social media tips, and to finish it off a fun and furious lightning round. Let’s dive right in.
What is your favorite writing tip?

SK: Gosh there are so many great tips and every week we learn something new from one of our authors. If I had to pick one it would be Terry Persun’s interview and his advice about allowing yourself to explore different creative outlets to enrich your writing. I love the way he approached the writing process by basically allowing your creativity to flow unbridled. You can listen to Terry's interview here.


5. KJ: That was a great interview. Terry was so inspirational I think I tackled my writing in a different way after hearing his take on it.  Okay, on to your favorite social media tips. This will be a difficult one to narrow down, we’ve had so many great ideas on the show. Which author gave you the best social media tip, and please share with everyone what that outstanding tip was?

SK: Wow that is hard. I think it has to be the last interview we did that hasn’t aired yet with Rachel Thompson from BadRedhead Media, every single thing she had to say was incredibly helpful. The best tip? It has to be her hashtag to promote your blog (not a book for sale) #MondayBlogs is my new take home from her. Here is a bit more on the #MondayBlogs.


6.  KJ: Yes, she is a powerhouse of social media savviness. Definitely going to use it on this here blog, eh Suzanne? For those of you who don’t know about #MondayBlogs use this hashtag on twitter to increase your blog’s reach. Just don’t abuse it by selling things, it’s for blogs, not book sales. Okay, I think I know the answer to this one but I have to ask. What is your all time favorite Lightning Round?

SK:  It has to be the one we did with JD Lexx. He is such a quick and funny guy to start with that the lightning round was just too much fun. It is worth just listening to his lightning round if you want a good laugh, he was such a very fun upbeat author.  You can listen to it here.



7. KJ:  Yes, I definitely agree. If I remember correctly he was our guinea pig for the new questions for 2016. He was so quick to and gave such clever answers we threw some of the old questions at him as well. What a blast that was! Speaking of JD, his book Malediction is releasing on March 20th. Please check it out here if you like erotic adventure. (By the way the book cover was created by my book cover business, Blondie's Custom Book Covers. Thanks JD for putting your trust in us!)
  
Okay, on to the nitty gritty. We both freely admit the podcast is a lot more work that we bargained for, between editing, marketing, interviewing and everything else that requires our attention. What is the one thing you hate the most about the podcast?

SK: It would have to be the time it takes to keep the actual business running. I have to do the newsletter each month, and I’m so technically inept that even the chimp at mail chimp can out-smart me, it takes me so long to do it just because of that.


8.  KJ: I always feel for you when you’re working on that beast. Podcast editing doesn’t seem so bad in those moments. Someday we’ll have a lovely PA to do these unloved tasks for us. Give us your vision for the podcast as we finish off our first year together.

SK: My hope is that it will continue to grow and encourage a whole new generation of writers. We have no idea who is listening each week, but it would be wonderful if in ten-years-time we would have someone say they were inspired to write their book because of listening to Blondie and the Brit. How cool would that be?


9. KJ: Wow, I love that! It would definitely be humbling to find that we inspire other writers in their craft and add to their success. I wish I’d had a Blondie and the Brit ten years ago. I might have finished my first book a heck of a lot sooner. Oh wait, I am Blondie, maybe just having the Brit 10 years ago? You know what I mean. What are some of the payoffs you never expected from podcasting?

SK: The biggest payoff has been the relationships we have developed with all the authors we interview. At the beginning we start as strangers and by the end of the recording we have transformed into old friends. With many of them, that relationship continues off the air through social media. I have met so many wonderful and talented writer friends through podcasting we are like this huge Blondie and the Brit family.


10.  KJ:  I love this family too, Suzanne. It really has surprised me the connection that develops when we spend that hour chatting with our authors. It has been really rewarding to be able to connect on a deeper level with some spectacular people.

Let’s talk about some of the ways the podcast helps authors. I’m really excited to give something back to them after they’ve put their faith in us for the interview.

SK: I think for authors it’s a support system, writing is a lonely pursuit. I like to think that people get to know us and enjoy our crazy fun banter and feel connected with two people who are also just trying to pursue a life as a writer. It also another way to be out there on social media connecting with people in a new and unique way. Even on the difficult days it's all worth it because it gives me so much joy.


KJ: Well said Suzanne. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us. I wish you the best of luck launching your book. It has already been a wild success with your prelaunch strategies. Maybe someday you’ll write a book about how to launch a book. (Hint hint)


You can connect here with Suzanne Kelman: 
Suzanne Kelman 





Please check out the other posts along the tour!

WordBank Writing & Editing


My World

SHARON


Anita's Haven

ANITA KOVACEVIC


Blondie In The Water

(You're already here)

Everyone Has A Story


Welcome To Authornomics

ANDREA HURST


Vaun

Vaun Murphey


True Lies 'N Author Stuff

Seumas Gallacher
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