I thought some of you might like to know about this fun contest for kids or anyone who loves children's books.


"Hey there, buddies! This is me, Crosley, with an EXCELSIOR idea!

I’m lookin’ for some wacky new words to add t’ my wacky vocabulary, on account of the author of the Night Buddies Adventure series of books is into writin’ his third one. It’ll be featuring’ me an’ my good buddy John, of course.
All ya need t’ do is come up with a new word an’ say what it means!"
Enter to Win These Prizes!
Winner #1 will receive a $25 gift card to a bookstore of their choice & both titles signed by the author.
Winner #2 will receive both titles signed by the author.
Winner #3 will receive a copy of Night Buddies, Impostors, and One Far-Out Flying Ma-chine.
Winner #4 will receive a copy of Night Buddies and the Pine-apple Cheesecake Scare.
Winner #5 will receive both titles as eBooks.
You can find full details about the contest and how to enter at http://familiesmatter2us.blogspot.com

I often complain that people submitting guest posts for my blogs don't follow the guidelines. I swear about 80% of writers submitting guest posts and interviews don't follow the guidelines. This is a huge amount and really makes me worry about the state of the writing industry on the whole as well as for the careers of these individual writers.

As writers we're constantly faced with guidelines to follow. It's widely known that writers who submit manuscripts that don't follow the publisher/agents guidelines will get added to the reject pile without the editor getting past the first page. So why do writers choose to ignore guidelines for blogs?

Blogs are mainstream now and one of the best mediums for spreading the word about your latest release and drumming up some interest in your book. Guest blogging gives you great back-links to your website and sales pages too which makes a huge difference to search results for your website.

So why do writers not follow the guidelines?

It's really not that hard people! The weird thing is that by not following the guidelines writers often create more work for themselves as well as getting added to the hosts "list of people that can't follow guidelines" (Yep I have one and I know many others do too). I also have a list for people that stand out as being good guests. They supply good content, FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES, and do a great job of promoting their post. These people are the ones I will make space for when they are touring a book and need stops.

My Writers and Authors blog is high traffic and spaces are in high demand (I have to turn large numbers of people away as I simply don't have any free days left for posting and I book up at least 2 months in advance if not more). This makes it even more annoying when I get a guest post that doesn't follow the guidelines. I turned others away to give them the space and they didn't even follow some simply guidelines. I can't help but think that maybe I should have given the space to one of the others?

Guidelines for guest posts at Writers and Authors

My biggest pet peeve at the moment is people who indent. It takes me ages to edit the piece for publishing when they do as I have to reformat the whole lot of it before I can post to the site.

Another is people who don't include images to go with their post. This one really mystifies me as surely one of the main points in doing a guest post is to promote their book.

Number 3 are those that turn the whole post into a sales pitch. A guest post is where you share your knowledge and experience. Using examples of your own work is fine but you need to keep the focus on the audience. You're writing for the reader of the blog NOT an advertising space. The post is where you build your author brand and build a reputation for being an expert in your field. The promotional part takes part in the byline.

I'm definitely thinking of cracking down of those who don't follow my guidelines. Time for this blogger to get tough!

Featured Friday

Hidden Earth Series by Janet Beasley

This post may contain affiliate links. Meaning, I get a commission if you purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Read the full disclosure here.

Author Bio for Janet Beasley

Janet Beasley, author of The Hidden Earth Series (a six novel series), is successfully carving her niche` in the inspirational epic fantasy genre for middle grades and YAs. Even the young at heart are enjoying the escape her writing style presents. By appearing at local and out-of-state events, book signings, and speaking engagements, audiences are now perking up when they hear this author’s name. Janet is multi-talented when it comes to her creativity. She excels in multi-media presentations, event planning (currently her company JLB Creatives is a proud presenter of the Authors in the Park Event Series), has developed a training center and its curriculum for AV technicians, and produced – directed – and served as a theater technician. She has written fiction - non-fiction – stage plays - and an autobiography. She has crafted award winning poetry, been published in anthologies and trade specific magazines. Janet enjoys the outdoors by kayaking and hiking with her husband, and photographing nature. She also loves animals (dogs are her favorite), spending time with her family, and baking cupcakes.

Book Blurb for Hidden Earth Series Volume 1 Maycly the Trilogy

Maycly is a world everyone longs to experience, but for Iona it has become a fading dream. Get ready to experience the epitome of epic fairy tales.

In Part 1 of the trilogy, “Two Altered Worlds,” the reader briefly meets Iona on Earth. She is forced to fend for herself after her family mysteriously disappears. Her health deteriorates, money dwindles, and heartbreak and emotional drain bring her to a personal promise: “I will never love another living being.” But the Grand Wizard, SUL (Sorcerer of Unequivocal Leadership), has a plan. An abandoned puppy magically shows up on Iona's doorstep the day before she is evicted. Breaking her own promise, she falls in love with the puppy, and together they embark on a journey in search of her family. The story shifts to Maycly 100 years prior. It drops the reader into a world of both whimsical and frightening lands and characters undergoing the onset of Evil. (Fun fact: There is an acrostic in Part 1, inspired by Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass). Part 2, “The Battle of Trust and Treachery,” opens with Mayclysians preparing for the arrival of their long-awaited queen. It climaxes in a battle between Good and Evil with tactics that will surprise even the most seasoned battle aficionado. Evil is overcome but not obliterated. In “The Queen,” Part 3, the reader will rejoice when Iona is reunited with her family. But conflict soon returns. Earth has fallen prey to Evil, and destruction is the only solution. Iona must save Maycly from consumption by Evil while SUL nearly exhausts His creative magic annihilating Earth with the Evil from Maycly. But in His omniscience, SUL hides four pieces of Earth (only Iona and the reader are privy to this) and selects one special inhabitant on each to help Him create His new Earth; hence, the next five themed volumes (Planet Land, slated for a 2013 release, Planet Water, Planet Sky, Planet Fire, SUL's New Earth). The reader will identify with Iona during her quests, her friendships, and at times, her flawed ways of coping, as her character develops throughout the series.

The Hidden Earth Series Project

Volume I, Maycly the Trilogy, has received excellent reviews, including one that compares it to The Wizard of Oz, but unlike the land of Oz, the world of Maycly is not the result of a young girl's dream. Volume I is self-published and has sold 1500+ copies worldwide in paperback and ebook formats. Black and white illustrations and maps are dispersed throughout and have received accolades by middle grades, YAs, and adults. A self-published full color illustration book and a cookbook, pet treats, hand crafted jewelry, and related paraphernalia accompany Maycly the Trilogy. Plans are to expand the next five volumes in similar ways, thus making the Hidden Earth series an entire project. The Maycly collection appears on shelves at small business establishments, in schools and libraries, and on Amazon where, on 12/31/12, it claimed the first three positions in its genre, and landed ahead of The Hunger Games in another. It is being considered for classroom application and placement on national reader lists by Macaroni Kid and YALSA and is entered in two 2013 national contests.

Review Comments

Maycly is a magical book it takes you back to that lovely childhood feeling of when you still believed in the tooth fairy.

I'm loving every minute of my journey through Maycly and I can't WAIT to share it with my students! The imagry is so clear I feel I could be right on Maycly living with the chukkons!! A must read for the whole family!!

I am enthralled by this wonderful new world. Reminiscent of the character journeys of both Star Wars and Wizard of Oz, I am looking forward to the complete epic of Hidden Earth.

This is the kind of book that you'll want to keep for your children as they grow older. It has just the right balance of reality, fantasy and magic - everything that makes childhood a little more exciting.

Interview with Janet Beasley

You mentioned a cookbook. Would you like to tell us more about that?

I’d love to! Before I was a full time author, I was a full time food-industry fanatic. I had developed a bakery and a BARK-ery. From there I had several themed restaurants laid out complete with menus, venue layouts, recipes, etc. ready to build. I collapsed health wise causing me to put the dream aside. Not being a quitter, I pulled out my novel, Maycly, and began to get serious. After putting myself through writing school at age 49 I was able to complete the story – but surprisingly it took many different directions. One being the cookbook. My husband graciously suggested since I had all of the “hard work” done on the restaurants, why not incorporate them onto the world of Maycly? Long story short. . .after a few renditions, developing the owner (character) histories, and pulling out the stops with my love of photography. . .voi-lah!. . .a fairy tale cookbook was birthed.

Is there any way we can catch a sneak peek at Planet Land?

Sure! This adventurous, cowboy fantasy was so much fun to write. I don’t want to dish out any spoiler alerts, but I will tell you it stems from Volume 1 Maycly the Trilogy in a way you can’t even imagine. Volume 2 Planet Land takes place in the Lower West. Cub and his best friend Nash have found a land they didn’t even know existed. But fate has a funny way about getting you where you need to be, and usually right on time. It’s modeled after the old west, but carries ab element of fantasy that is sure to keep the reader entertained. It’s targeted at MGs and YAs, but like Maycly, adults who are reading the ARCs are falling in love with this action packed tale. We’re hoping for a summer 2013 release.

Now you’ve got us going! Any chance you want to drop some nuggets regarding any of the other volumes in the Hidden Earth Series?

Absolutely! While Planet Land has been in editing, I’ve been working diligently on Volume 3 Planet Water. With its floating islands and icebergs, underwater haunted caves, unique inhabitants including Vikings and draugar, readers will have the chance to not only sail atop the water on a magical tall ship, but also dive into the depths where danger awaits. It’s all up to Arrowanna, a teenage girl who has been given a task she’s not too sure she’s ready to handle. But if she doesn’t do her part SUL’s grand plan will not come to pass and Evil will consume all.

You mentioned event planning and the Authors in the Park Event Series. We’d love to hear more about that.

I need to start by saying I am the owner/founder of JLB Creatives – a subsidiary of our company Multi-Tech Productions, Inc. JLBC handles the literary side of the business. Authors in the Park is an event series that was brought to the table by JLB Creatives executive team member, author Mark Miller. Mark, myself, and JLBC team executive team member author Jean E. Lane have put together a series of events where local authors can “strut their stuff.” Our goal is to produce four events per year. Each event has its own theme, and we try to showcase a few new authors at each event. We just finished our Spring Into Art ~ The Gallery Walk event. It was a huge success, and we’re already in the planning stages for our next event coming July 6 – Picnic with an Author. For more information, and to keep up with all the AIP news I’d love to personally invite you to visit and become a fan of Authors in the Park on Facebook. Here’s the link: FB.com/AuthorsInThePark

That sounds amazing! Would you be willing to elaborate on your company JLB Creatives?

I’d be honored. JLB Creatives was developed by authors, for authors. In addition to producing and hosting the AIP events there are many things we offer. Hot off the press is our newly developed, ready-to-go, educational review and critique sessions we’ve titled Lit Wits. In these sessions aspiring writers will have the opportunity to have their short pieces reviewed anonymously. After the review and critique portion the aspiring writers will have the opportunity to probe the minds of the JLBC executive team regarding the writing industry. In addition the aspiring writers will be given the opportunities to be featured on the JLBC Blog as well as be published in an anthology created from the short stories of those at the Lit Wits Sessions.

Along with event planning and Lit Wits, JLBC offers services such as book cover design, formatting, query letter assistance, and other services specific to the writing world.

You will also find myself and my executive team at book festivals throughout the year. Our next one will be April 13, 2013 – The UCF Book Festival. We will have JLB Creatives information and books available, along with taking Lit Wits registrations for the 2013 schedule.

Where can we find your books and information regarding JLB Creatives?

The best place to visit is www.HiddenEarthSeries.com Everything you would want to know about the series, upcoming novels, media, reviews, excerpts, etc., as well as AIP, Lit Wits sign-up and other information regarding JLB Creatives is on that site. The books are available on Amazon too. Here’s the link to my author bio there: Author Janet Beasley on Amazon

Anything else you'd like to add?

If anyone is interested in becoming a part of the newly created JLB Creatives Community (for authors AND readers) on Google+ here is the link: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/110240539246885163403

Thanks so much for having me Jo. It’s been a pleasure.