I’m enjoying watching the marketing rollout this week for Chained Birds, including this 19-second Instagram reel created by Kapp Co Digital. My publisher, WildBlue Press, has just onboarded with the marketing firm, and my book is its first beneficiary. Candice Kapp, the firm’s founder and marketing specialist, has been delightful to work with and has embraced all the book’s core
Chained Birds Book Trailer
Praise for Chained Birds
The latest blog posts
Author Q-A covers prison abuse and why she writes under a pen name
Literary Titan has posted an author Q-A on their home page, which sheds light on the Lewisburg, PA, experimental prison program at the heart of Chained Birds and the safety issues I faced while writing it. Here’s a sample of the interview: What is one thing you found in your research that surprised you? I mentioned NPR and The Marshall
CRIME SCENE podcast dives into Chained Birds’ prison gangs, violence and corruption
Episode 214 of Jim Harold’s CRIME SCENE podcast dropped today, and I’m delighted to share it with true crime fans and potential readers of Chained Birds. Jim is an experienced, top-notch interviewer, and his probing questions centered on the prison abuses and corruption I reveal in the book, as well as the failings in our criminal justice system. CRIME SCENE,
Busy launch day incudes more Chained Birds reviews, shoutouts, and a box of books
It was a busy launch day at Chained Birds HQ in Philadelphia yesterday, and I’m grateful to all my well-wishers—virtual and in-person—for making my book launch so special 🥹 Yesterday morning, my wonderful write-up from Independent Book Review went live on their site, and I’m happy to post the review’s permanent link. IBR also named Chained Birds as one of their
Chained Birds earns glowing write-up by Midwest Book Review
I’ve been waiting for publication week to post (and boast) about my glowing Midwest Book Review write-up, which just went live on the review site’s Bookwatch page. MBR Senior Reviewer D. Donovan highlights the snowball at the book’s beginning, which was the nexus that led to my involvement in a federal prison case and eventually to my book Chained Birds:
Chained Birds glossary of acronyms and prison lingo
This supplement appears at the end of Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir in the print and eBook editions, but I am giving it a permanent place on my blog as a point of reference, especially for audiobook listeners. My sound engineer, who guided me through the audiobook narration process in the summer of 2024, said listeners would not want to hear
Chained Birds lauded as courtroom drama exposing harsh reality of prison gangs and corruption
This is a big week for Chained Birds book reviews as they go live on their respective websites ahead of Tuesday’s November 12, 2024 launch. And this 4-star review by Literary Titan is the first in-depth write-up of the book’s “courtroom drama” component. From the second paragraph: This memoir stands apart from the typical true crime genre. It isn’t just
Debut author group has been key to my success
In this final stretch before Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir launches on Tuesday, I wish to thank a talented, generous group of fellow debut authors who formed an alliance and brought me into their fold. I’m speaking of the 2024Debuts. Long before I joined, some entrepreneurial authors with books coming out this year banded together and created a private,
What’s it like to publish a book during Trumpocalypse 2.0?
Who were we kidding? A woman of color to be the next U.S. President? No can do. That mountain of American racism and misogyny is just too steep. Pundits and others will debate and blame Trump’s assassination attempt, defecting Latinos, or lies about migrants eating cats that stuck and held. But it really just comes down to racism and misogyny
BestThrillers review hints at political backdrop of Chained Birds
Yeah. I’m gonna go there. I need to get this out of the way … In recognition of my wonderful BestThrillers.com book review going live on their website, I’m going to expand on one theme from its critique that no other reviewer has mentioned, and that is politics. But before I dive into that cesspool, I want to highlight some
Chained Birds holds two Amazon #1 New Release spots three weeks from launch
In honor of my very first — and first 5-star, no less! — editorial review from Readers’ Favorite going live this week, I’m updating my post from two months ago when it first landed in my inbox and spurred all kinds of delirium. Coincidentally, Chained Birds has held TWO #1 spots on Amazon’s Hot New Releases lists this past week
Chained Birds pre-orders are live!
All print and digital editions of Chained Birds are available for pre-order … but not all in one place! The e-Book and audiobook can be pre-ordered on Amazon for instant delivery to devices on the 11/12/24 publication day! (And the eBook will remain on sale at $2.99 until launch day, when the price will go up!) But I know most of