So a pitch is just like being a salesperson. You have maybe 5 mins to sell your product to that manager of the shop, factory, office. A story is no different. The first line has to be the shocker, the lead line; Leading the agent or publisher to read the next part.
The rule of pitching SHORT BUT SWEET. But then you all know I like to break the rules! 😉
So without further ado here’s my pitch.
What do you do if you’re stranded in a barren land and the sky turns red, a sign that the acid rain is about to pour down on you and melt your skin and bones? Bez is thrown out of Mount Elta for having a big mouth. Kyte for being an instigator and disturbing the peace. The Committee, are the law inside what was their home. No one would dare stand up to them in fear of being cast out. Now with a backpack containing an acid-proof tent, a little food and medical supplies all created from the precious Terra Plant, the two hunt for the OutCasts; those that had somehow survived. There was proof of their existence but not of their habitat. Can they find them in time, and more importantly, will they be welcomed?
So how did I do? Does it make you want to know more? Can you work out what genre of fiction this book is?
Gosh, where do I start? This is what I do so I could go on for hours but I’ll list the most important lessons. (I will be tough.)
Write about what you know.
For example, this is your first book and you’re writing a detective mystery about a body being found on an archaeology site. Why would you do this to yourself? Do you know how much research you would have to do? What do you know about police procedures? What do you know about archaeology?
Write about what YOU know. When you write about something you’re passionate about, something you’ve actually experienced. That will come across in your writing. Giving it depth, realism and valid description.
Remember the three essentials.
Editor (No, not your mum or next-door neighbour)
Formatter ( No, not a converter. A formatter makes it pretty inside, adds the chapter and front and back matter.)
Cover Designer (No, not Canva or Fiverr)
These three essential cost a lot of money and if you don’t have that money, then you are not ready to publish.
Don’t cut corners. Your book has to be polished before it goes out to the public. It needs the three essentials and a kick-arse blurb. Your book has one chance to be a success, if you send it out after writing the first draft, not having it edited and using a cover you did, I can guarantee failure. And that’s a word we authors DON’T want to hear.
Have that first line ready. The tag line is what you will use on your promos, graphics or posts. It’s going to be the first thing a potential reader sees when they look at the blurb. That one line has to have power, it needs to pack a punch so that the person who reads it will then continue to read the rest of the blurb.
Anything worth dying for is certainly worth living for – Catch 22.
Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same – Wuthering heights.
Paul Sheldon used to write for a living. Now he’s writing to stay alive. – Misery.
They are feared, hated, hunted down and destroyed….and yet they are mankind’s last hope. -The Aldoron Chronicles.
Gosh, there are so many people I should thank for helping me to get where I am today.
I certainly wouldn’t have as many books published if it wasn’t for a group on Facebook, which at this time I can’t remember the name of, but I do remember it was run by Marjory. We would trade fake money to buy a service. Such as, say I would beta read someone’s short story and was given $1000 trading bucks by the author. I need a new cover but I don’t have enough trading bucks to pay for it so, I will trade a cover from a designer, in return for a book trailer. She gets the book trailer, I get my cover and we’re both happy. This went on for years. Huge shout out to Sharon Lipman from Fantasia Cover Designs. We traded, we swapped services, and we were able to get our books finished and ready for publication without it costing us anything. I know I didn’t have the money back then to afford an editor, let alone a book cover. Sadly as life moves on, so does your tribe. I can’t remember what the group was called as it was so long ago, but I know I still have around 140,000 trading bucks in my bank. lol
Next, I want to shout out to all the members of the Authors-Professionals Co-op on Facebook. The group has now almost come to a standstill, which is sad. But I know how much the regular, active members got from this group. I’ve made lifelong friends. I met my co-author, Karen J Mossman, with who, I wrote Toxic with. And an amazing man who helped get my daughter, Alexia’s, first illustrated book published. He’s the brains behind the EE branding Electric Eclectic, and he’s an amazing author, Paul White. There are more members, but I can’t remember names, so thank you for your support and for helping me along on my journey.
You’ve heard me mention his name several times already in posts. He’s an advocate for indie artists, owning and running one of the biggest media platforms for indie artists such as authors, directors, actors, musicians and more, And he’s an author himself, with books you all need to check out called, Amongst The Killing and We The Moral Majority. So big thank you for all you’ve done for me Mr Joe Compton and on behalf of all indie artists that you have helped promote, with Go Indie Now, we salute you.
And, recently I met a wonderful lady who runs The Writer’s Tribe Facebook group. I haven’t been a member here long, but I’ve been welcomed into the tribe and then practically forced to write by Venessa Giunta and her sprints, lol. So, shout out to our cheerleader, who is inspiring, bubbly and always encouraging the tribe.
So many other people have played a part in helping me on my journey. Please forgive me if I haven’t singled you out that doesn’t mean I think any less of you, it just means my memory, which I have problems with, couldn’t remember you at the time I wrote this post.
I am just a little cog in the indie writing community but you are MY TRIBE.
I’ve been an author for the last 28 years, and I’ve never taken part in a sprint before. The thought of everyone being on camera and just working didn’t make sense to me… until now!
On one of the panel shows by Go Indie Now, with Joe Compton. I met a very busy, talented lady author by the name of Venessa Giunta. And she runs an amazing group of writers on FaceBook called The Writing Tribe (TWT) and Nessie ( I call her that) organises sprints. I went to the first one last month and I couldn’t believe how enjoyable it was to work in a group for twenty minutes, then we stop, talk about what we managed to get down, the words count and so fourth. We have a chat, sometimes and then back to work for another 20 minutes. She also does a Zoom sprint where we are on camera and don’t need to type our conversation. These last around 30 minutes and after a couple of them, everyone has a chance to share any good news they have. It’s such a supportive community of talented writers. I have been trying to attend the sprints regularly, and in the beginning, I used the sprints to get AuthorAssist work done, such as newsletters, promotions, and podcasts. I had a book I needed to write, but I was avoiding the damn thing. However, I started work on it last week, and every sprint I’m getting over 1k done, and Nessie has solved some dilemmas I’ve had with the book. I know without TWT and the sprints, I wouldn’t be writing as much or at all. So I am very thank full to the group and Nessie.
So, what are you working on Karina? Oh if it was so simple to answer.
I have a four-book series called OUTLAW. Each book is a stand-alone read. Each book is about outcasts, outlaws, whether it’s an MC (motorcycle club) or a street gang. Each book is connected to this theme. The first book is called, In Times of Violence. If you read my 2nd-day blog post, you would know that In Times of Violence started as an 18-page short story. As I was young back then, I wrote it specifically to target my age group YA (young adult) https://explosivewriter.com/2022/03/03/marchofthewriters/
The problem now is that it was many years later when I wrote Huntress the second book in the series, but not the second book to have been written, So now a mature writer, the mature themes come into play. By the time I got to Road Rage, there were no rules anymore. Can you see my dilemma? Yep, that’s correct you can have one book a YA and the rest 18+ this was the first mistake I made. I kept them together, but marketed the YA differently and I could never do a box set with all four. The solution is easy, right? Yep, write another ITOV but an adult version. Unfortunately, life happened and shit happened and the book got lost in the shuffle. It would be 13 books and nearly 20 years later, I’m finally working on ITOV adult edition.
So, the second mistake. Over the years, my writing has matured along with me, and so my writing style and topics have been pretty graphic and intense. So that’s okay, you need to write a mature version of the first book ITOV. Yes, it could only be that easy. What I should have done was kept the original MS (manuscript) throw in some explicit sex and some graphic violence and bingo! – Nah.
I started writing out the first scenes and the only resemblance it had to the opening scene of the YA version, is the names of the characters. I had started a brand new book. A couple of chapters in, and I realise that Huntress which is a sequel to ITOV YA edition and will continue as book two to the YA and that if I carry on the way I’ve chosen to go, Huntress will need a re-write. I knew I had a decision to make, and I agonised over it, and there was no way I could bin the two new chapters I wrote, as they are GOLD. So to cut a long story short, my WIP is ITOV adult edition.
I’ve gone into new territories I’ve yet to delve into. I’m doing something I’ve never done before. I’m doing a year’s time jump just so I can stay on track to the genre and theme and not stray off the path. then I’m going to write a novella about that year. What happened to her and how much she suffered. The reader will have the choice to read it or not (I think most will.)
Would you like a sneek peek?
(Remember this is a first draft and not edited.)
The money lasted five days, even though I stayed in a cheap hotel in a rough part of the city. I had no money, no food and no place to sleep. This wasn’t how my life was supposed to go. I wasn’t looking for fame, I never wanted fortune, so why couldn’t I get a break.
I hugged my rucksack as I fell asleep either on an empty bench or a shop doorway. It shocked me at the amount of homeless people on the streets. And they weren’t friendly to newcomers. Telling me to piss off and find somewhere else to sleep, that I was in their patch. I walked until my eyes couldn’t stay open and then took the first vacant sheltered sleeping space I could find.
As for looking for a job. I would change my clothes, tidy myself up and ask at every store, shop and kiosk, but as soon as I was asked my address, they became uninterested and used the excuse of being overqualified, or unqualified for the job.
***
I was sleeping on a green bench that I luckily found vacant in an open park. I soon understood why the bench was vacant when I woke to someone trying to pull the rucksack from me. I stood up and tried to keep my grip of the only possessions I had. I screamed at them to let go, but there was more than one person, and I soon found a fist in my face but I wasn’t going to give up that easily so I kicked one of the in the nuts, while he fell to the ground groaning, another two laid into me with punches and kicks. I dropped the rucksack. There was nothing in there to lose my life over, I thought, as I covered my head from being punched. But a kick to my stomach made me fall down to the ground. I heard a roaring of motorbikes and then shouting before a boot hit my head. My vision blurred as I saw a shade of black racing towards me. The shouting started to fade as did my consciousness. The last thing I remembered about that night was the smell of aftershave mixed with soap.
Agh… my favourite pastime. Where to begin. At the start, where else!
The first book I had published was In Times of Violence YA edition (currently working on the adult edition)
1) In Times of Violence started as an 18 A4 page typed (yes, I said typed) story.
2) S.E.Hinton and her book, The Outsiders, was the reason I wrote ITOV.
3) A woman was reading the book by a pool and was so caught in the story, she didn’t see or hear her boyfriend calling to her as he got cramp, and was going under. Oops.
Then came Huntress Dark MC romance 18+ due to explicit scenes and graphic violence.
I had no plans to write a sequel to ITOV, but the fans demanded it, and you have to give them what they want.
Readers have said Huntress is like reading a script from, the SOA TV series, created and written by Kurt Sutter. Who has a warped mind and awesome acting abilities. (My book was out way before their MS hit the table.)
After two male-oriented MC novels, I wanted the women to have their turn. Book three is a vigilante thriller MC novel called Lawless Justice.
I got the idea for this bad ass biker MC, from the film Death Proof, staring Kurt Russel and written and directed by Quentin Tarantino.
There is a message in the front of the book, to the awesome actor, film critiqe and oscar winning director, Quentin Tarantino.
Lawless Justice is the book that the fans want to see turned into a movie! Guess who I would have as my director? ….. Yep, you got it. Quentin Taratnino. ( Are you seeing a pattern here?)
The last book in the series is Road Rage it’s a stand-alone read. 18+ because of the graphic violent scenes and the explicit sexual scenes.
One of the smaller characters in Lawless Justice is the main character in Road Rage. I needed to tell her story.
Road Rage is the second most popular book in my collection.
It was the film Biker Boyz, that inspire me to write the storyline about another MC. The clean-cut public superbike racing team, Rage.
Moving on- this was my first (and won’t be the last) Dark Mafia Romance, Broken Chains. I enjoyed writing this book so much, and I had loads of fun with it. 18+ due to explicit content and graphic violence.
Broken Chains became my number one bestseller.
Broken Chains won the Top Pick Award from Author Shout and was nominated in the top indie books of 2021 by Joe Compton, owner of the indie media platform, Go Indie Now.
Broken Chains book trailer which I created, won an award at an International Film Festival for Best Female Director for thriller short.
Moving on to my collections. Heads & Tales is a collection of flash fiction in a mixture of fiction genres.
Head and Tales was inspired by the song titles of Iron Maiden’s album Best of the Beast.
2) At least 18 of these 28 flash fiction stories, were previously published in magazines and newspapers.
3) I won a t-shirt from a magazine for my horror story Crossed for being so bad and cliche, then the following month the same short story won first prize in an international horror short story contest. ( oh, yeah, I made sure the magazine knew about that win.)
Undressed, is my second collection, It has poetry, prose, short fiction and writing prompts.
I held a cover contest. This cover was painted ( I have the original), it was everything I was looking for.
Amazon ( groan) continues to keep putting Undressed in the erotica categories when there is no mention of sex in the book.
I had many of the poems in the book, originally published in magazines and ezines.
On to my YA fantasy romance, duology, Illusional Reality. Book one.
The first book Illusional Reality was inspired by The Fellowship of the Ring from LOTR.
Illusional Reality has the most reviews, out of all my books and has won three awards so far.
Although, fantasy, there is no stereotype characters. There are no elves, dwarfs, wizards, goblins, trolls, etc and yet Illusional Reality is full of new characters and lots of magic.
There is an audiobook out for Book 1 of Illsuonal Reality.
Book two of the duology, The Quest
The duology is a duology in itself. The main character has two sides to her in each book.
The second book is inspired by The Two Towers, LOTR
No, there’s no third book like there was in LOTR
A publisher contacted me and asked if I would like to sign up with them.
The Illusional Reality has a colouring book out as well.
Stone Cold is a YA supernatural thriller.
Stone Cold is the most biographical book out of all my stories.
I did more research for this book than any of my other books.
The book is based in Scotland even though my experiences happen in Wales.
There is an audiobook for Stone Cold
The book trailer for Stone Cold has won 3 International Film Festivals awards. ( you can check the trailers up on the main menu bar)
Toxic is a sci-fi dystopian erotica (yes I like making up my own genres.)
Toxic is a collaboration with another author, Karen J Mossman. We got together on camera and spent 2 hours plotting, scheming and coming up with a fascinating dystopian world.
2) There are two versions of the same book, one naughty (mine) and one nice (Karen’s)
3) Toxic will soon be removed and republished with a new cover and a publisher. They have taken on all the books and are keeping the naughty and nice theme.
4) Toxic is a trilogy. The first draft of book 2 is ready and we’ll be working on book 3 later this year.
A Flash of Horror – A collection of flash fiction from the horror genre. (in case that wasn’t obvious)
A Flash of Horror is flash fiction taken from Heads & Tales, Undressed and a couple of original flash, that I wrote for the collection.
The paperback version of the book is pocket sized. Yes, you can actualy keep it in your handbag, or pocket.
The other two fiction books are In Times of Violence, adult edition (to go with the original OUTLAW series.) And the box set of Illusional Reality.
And that’s not all. I’ve been working on a small project with my youngest daughter. Take a look.
Notebooks, journals, colouring bookAll books are available on Amazon published under the imprint, JadeMarcus
Links to all my books will be on the right-hand side of the page. Thanks for your support and feel free to share.
You know me I love a good challenge and when I take on something, I don’t back down. This one is called March of The Writers and every day, we are given a prompt and it could be to write about a book, introduce myself, write flash fiction and so forth. I will be given a prompt and see if I can do one every day through March. This will be fun.
Well, hello world. I’m Karina Kantas award-winning author and filmmaker. I have 15 books published, some independently, some under publishing contacts. I write in most fiction genres and I go through binges. Right now it’s Dark Romance. I’m from the UK but I live on the Island of Corfu.
I’m a BookTuber, YouTuber, Podcaster and Radio Host and I also run Author Assist which offers affordable assistance to writers, authors and those in the publishing business. I’m a VA , Author Manager, Publicist, Book Trailer Creator, Designer of Graphics, Social Media Consultant, Marketing and Promotion Manager and Narrator… plus a few more I haven’t mentioned.
I’m the host of the Author Assist Radio Show. Which has just celebrated five years on the air. My YouTube and audio podcast is called Behind The Pen and I get to chat and have a laugh with many in a business where they use a pen such as Illustrators, writers, musicians, and so forth.
For all links for my social media ( I’m everywhere) and for the podcasts and my YouTube channel go to
Winner of the 2021 Electric Eclectic Novella Prize
Lauren West and Ben Hughes are saving frantically for their forthcoming marriage and mortgage deposit. When Lauren sees an advert online from a firm of brokers extolling the profits to be gained by buying and selling Bitcoins, she is interested enough to pursue it further.
Lauren clicks on the advert. She is soon contacted by Paul Cash, a knowledgeable stockbroker whom Lauren trusts straight away. He is affable, plausible, and seemed genuinely interested in her welfare. Lauren looks forward to making enough money to be able to surprise Ben and bring the date of their wedding forward, and also to put a deposit down on their ideal house.
What could possibly go wrong?
An Electric Eclectic book, published by Crimson Cloak Publishing
Stevie Turner is a British author of romantic suspense, humour, paranormal stories, and women’s fiction family dramas.
She is a cancer survivor and lives in the same picturesque Suffolk village she and her husband Sam moved to in 1991 with their two boys. Her boys are now grown, and she and Sam have 5 lovely grandchildren.
Stevie Turner’s debut novel ‘Mind Games’ was self-published in October 2013 and took her 30 years to write. Stevie now had the writing bug big time!
Her serious suspense/ thriller ‘A House Without Windows, won a New Apple Book Award in 2014, and a Readers’ Favorite Gold Award in 2015.
The screenplay ‘For the Sake of a Child’, won Stevie a silver award in the 2017 Depth of Field International Film Festival.
Now SCAM! championed the EE Novella Fiction Prize.
Dark MC romance 18+ due to graphic and explicit scenes. Book 4 of the OUTLAW series (stand-alone)
Expect murder, mischief, and mayhem.
Beautiful and yet scarred, Gem works in a supermarket living the safe life she has chosen after surviving a violent past running with an outlaw motorcycle club. Excitement beckons in the form of a handsome biker named Shep, who introduces her to the rest of his legit racing club, Rage. However, members of Rage won’t accept Gem until she’s proven herself, and Shep sees her as no more than a trophy for his drugged up ego. Gem then makes the mistake of getting involved in Rage’s illegal activities, which then lands her back in the arms of an outlaw motorcycle club and a deadly conclusion.
“West has called you out. You’re racing tonight. Be at the pub by nine.”
This is what the club had been waiting for. My race against West was gonna bring in some big bucks, and I wasn’t about to lose. I had a name, street cred, and a reputation as a winner, and now West wanted a piece of me. I’d know how much Blade put on me when I got my ten percent, I thought hungrily. I wanted this. I could already taste the victory.
I met up with Blade in the bar and he pulled me to one side.
“You’ve won four out of four races,” he said. “Now I want you to lose.”
I stared at him. “You want me to lose?” I repeated.
“Yes.”
“How much you putting on this race?” I asked.
“Enough. Listen, this is between us, understand?”
“Yes and no,” I answered.
“Don’t make it look too easy. I don’t want Rage accused of fixing the race. It’s got to be a close call. Here’s five hundred,” he whispered and put a roll of money in my fist. No one saw the exchange. “And you still get your ten percent, okay?”
“Okay,” I said.
I didn’t know where Blade was going with this. I wanted to keep up my winning record, but he was the president and, as a member of Rage, I had to follow his orders.
Although there were other members racing that night, mine was the one everyone was talking about and would continue talking about, after I lost the race. I was not looking forward to it. Everyone was rooting for me, and I was about to let them all down, apart from Blade. Five hundred pounds. Five hundred pounds, I kept repeating in my head.
There were loads of spectators already waiting when we got to the rendezvous point. Word must have gotten out.
West was sitting on his Ducati with a big grin on his face and two blondes standing on either side of him. I wished I could wipe that smile off his face, but I knew he’d be shouting about his win for weeks, months even. I turned my sight back to the bike in front and followed the convoy through the deluge of spectators.
I was first up. It was such an anticipated race that no one was willing to wait or interested in watching other racers. I saw a lot of money exchange hands as I suited up. Sitting on my bike, waiting for the flag to drop, my heart was racing. Adrenaline was pumping, but this time it wasn’t because of the coming rush. Inside, I was furious. I could take West. There’d be no contest.
While I was trying to get into the ‘zone’, I pictured another race with West; this time, I won, and as I had lost the last, the stakes had been raised. I pictured myself with a helmet full of notes. A thought occurred. Blade was a smart man; maybe this was just the beginning of the hustle.
As soon as the flag dropped, my bike flew. I was already in the lead, and, from my mirror, I saw West closing the gap. The blur of spectators passed, and then it was just me and the road ahead. I allowed him to come alongside me. It was best if it looked like a dead heat. Man, I was so close, I could taste the victory. I needed to ease off slowly, but my body had other ideas. My grip was frozen.
I could see the finish line. My heart was pounding. My breath stuck in my chest. I managed to move my fingers, and that’s when West’s front tyre overtook mine and crossed the line first.
I slammed on the brakes and skidded to a stop.
“—-, —-!” I yelled, banging my fists on the tank. I wanted to throw my bike down in disgust, but it wasn’t her fault. Instead, I rode over to the side and parked the bike before taking my helmet off and throwing it on the ground. For good measure, I kicked it across the road. Anyone in the vicinity could hear my verbal abuse. They kept their distance. It was obvious I was upset, but not for the reason they thought.
Blade found me leaning against a wall, my arms crossed tight against my chest.
“I know that must have been hard,” he said.
“You’ve no —— idea,” I spat, and then walked away from him.
Doc then came jogging over. “What happened, Gem?”
“He had a better bike,” I said.
“Did he?”
I saw the look in his eyes. He knew the truth.
“Come on,” he said, nudging my shoulder. “I’m racing next, and I need your support.”
I smiled. He didn’t need me. He had enough support. However, I stood at the starting line to watch him and even put a small bet on him. I knew he’d win for me. Out of elation, I ran up to him and planted a hard kiss on his lips. Doc pulled me to him. His mouth opened, and we kissed fervently. I had never felt anything like it. My stomach turned in a good way. It went right down to my —-. The hairs on my arms stood up, and I swear I saw a spark. I loved the taste of him, and I wanted more. I had never felt so much passion from one kiss. Whistles from our audience broke the special moment. We stepped away but couldn’t take our eyes off one another.
“Whoa!” I spoke.
“My sentiment exactly,” Doc replied breathlessly.
“About bloody time,” Blade shouted.
I don’t know about Doc, but I had a huge grin on my face and was red from embarrassment.
“Come back to my place,” Doc whispered. I nodded and boy, did my heart race.
It would result in chaos. But this is what Joshua Panttelerocso did.
Let me tell you something about Josh, I call him this after the name of his podcast Just Joshing. Josh is one of the most honest, open, and positive person I’ve had the pleasure to meet.
We have talked many times and he always leaves me in awe. I’d love to know what his IQ is!
Another thing you need to know is his mind is crazy. Full, of whacky ideas, Take for instance his latest release. Alice in wonderland mixed with Greek mythology and then instead of it being a novel, he writes it as a long poem.
Josh goes over the limit of imagination in this whimsical rendition of what was once Alice in wonderland. He turns everything upside down the characters are there, the gods and infamous legends of Greek mythology are there, but neither are who you know them to be. Josh has twisted and framed the dream-like tale into something that should be impossible but will make total sense.
Explosive Writer 