A Prophecy Forgotten Making a Splash on Digital Blogs

This is an example of how doing something new can create a bit of buzz over the Internet. My publisher, ArcheBooks Publishing, Inc. decided to use new text to speech technology to create an audio book of A Prophecy Forgotten. After we released the audio book, ArcheBooks and my publicist sent out separate press releases about Archebooks's new audio book. The press releases did not necessarily tout ArcheBooks creating an audio book. Many publishers create audio books--nothing newsworthy there. They instead focused on the technology that ArcheBooks used to create the audio book. As a result of these press releases, many blogs about text to speech and audio books have included articles about the audio version of A Prophecy Forgotten.

For example, on September 17th, the Text to Speech Blog posted an article about how my publisher used Neospeech to create the audio book. Also, on September, 21st, the Art Audio Books Blog also discussed the new audio version of A Prophecy Forgotten.

Tons of publishers create audio books, but ArcheBooks decided to do something newsworthy by trying something new, resulting in increased publicity for Archebooks, me, and A Prophecy Forgotten. Click here for more information about A Prophecy Forgotten in audio. Also, stay tuned. I'm going to be producing a separate audio book of A Prophecy Forgotten in audio read by yours truly pretty soon.

Tags: audio books, Neospeech, Text to Speech, A Prophecy Forgotten, ArcheBooks

Breaking News: ArcheBooks and M. B. Weston Sign a Contract on Out of the Shadows: Book II of the Elysian Chronicles!

Out of the Shadows Scheduled to Debut in December 2007!

For all you Davian fans out there and for all of you who came to my book signing, I have awesome, colossal news! ArcheBooks and I reached an agreement today on the sequel to A Prophecy Forgotten. It’s called Out of the Shadows: Book II of the Elysian Chronicles, and ArcheBooks also plans to publish Out of the Shadows by late November—just in time for Christmas!

I want to thank all of you who showed up at my book signing and who purchased A Prophecy Forgotten during this time. You are the reason that ArcheBooks offered me this contract so soon, and you are also the reason for the pre-Christmas debut date. Thanks to each of you for your support!

To celebrate, I’m going to post a little bit of the prologue and the first chapter of Out of the Shadows on my website each month at http://www.elysianchronicles.com/oots_sample_ch.htm. Check it out! The first post is already there!


For more information on my novel, A Prophecy Forgotten: Book I of the Elysian Chronicles, and my upcoming novel, Out of the Shadows: Book II of the Elysian Chronicles, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com.

My Adventures at the Naples Press Club Writers Conference

I had a grand weekend at the Naples Press Club Writers Conference as a volunteer. So many things happened there that I'm going to have to sum it up with obnoxious bullets.

• I got to know the members of the Naples Press Club. What a generous bunch of people. They made me feel included even though I didn't know anyone well. They even invited me to have dinner with them on Saturday night. I had to wait until my sister's birthday party was over, but I stopped by for fifteen minutes and brought the hubby. I'm going to join the Naples Press Club as an Associate Member as soon as I can steal $50 from my food budget. (With Weston Commercial Cleaning, Inc. still a startup business, $50 is a lot.) For more information on the Naples Press Club, visit www.naplespressclub.org.
• I got to reaquaint myself with Dr. Molly Barrow, Ph.D. Molly is a fellow ArcheBooks author. She's a psycologist, and her first book, Matchlines, is about relationships and finding a good match. I've read the book, and she's right on. If you're in a serious relationship or thinking about getting married, I encourage you to read Matchlines. Now you wouldn't believe it, but almost 7 years ago, I was the manager of a small coffee shop called Java Java, and Molly and her husband used to come in all the time. I can't believe that both of us are now fellow ArcheBooks authors. Find out more about Dr. Molly at www.askdrmolly.com.
• I got to know Robert Dean Bair. Bob is an ArcheBooks author whose book, The Cloisters of Canterbury, was published by ArcheBooks in September. Bob was part of a secret special forces Army unit back in World War II. My husband immediately liked him and wanted to know more about his experiences, so I bought him Bob's book.
• I got to hang out with my friend, Sandy Lender (see the Today the Dragon Wins link), and ArcheBooks authors: Linda Bilodeau
  (www.lindabilodeau.com), Prudy Taylor Board (www.prudytaylorboard.com), and Penny Lauer. We formed an author speaking group called the ArcheBook Divas. (Actually, they formed it. I just chimed in every now and then because I kept getting called away, but they included me anyway because they are a great bunch of women.)
• I got to hang out with Linnea Sinclair, a RITA award winner (think Oscars for the Romance genre) and writer of a bunch of science fiction/romance books. She gave me a lot of practical advice, and even offered to help me become a better writer. I love Linnea's personality. She's honest and intense--my kind of woman. (I love to hang out with intense women. It's one of my requirements.) She's also the secretary of the South Florida Romance Writers of America--more on them later. What I love about Linnea is her desire to help other authors. I watched her give writing advice and even offer to refer other authors to her agent all days. What a generous woman. For more about Linnea Sinclair and her books, visit www.linneasinclair.com.
• I got to watch my publisher, Robert Gelinas, solve a rubics cube in less than three minutes. I'm telling you, the guy is a genious. I'm going to have to catch him at a dull moment and get him to teach me how to do it. (He kind of gave me a start at a strategy, so I might be buying a rubics cube in the near future....)
• I made some valuable contacts, and new things might be on the horizon.... I'll keep you all informed.

If you're a writer, and you want to get published, I really encourage you to go to writers conferences. I probably made three contacts this weekend that might pay big dividends in the future, and that's just at this conference. Last conference, I had (endured might be a better term) a fifteen minute pitch session with a man named Robert Gelinas (which turned into an hour long conversation), and six weeks later, he offered me a contract for a book called A Prophecy Forgotten. Who knows where a writers conference might get you.

For more information on my debut novel, A Prophecy Forgotten, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com.