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...
Chained Birds Book
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...
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...
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...
Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir continues to pop up on several of Amazon’s Hot New Releases lists, despite the fact that no one’s been able to read or listen to a sample of the eBook and audiobook that are on pre-order. Fun fact: Amazon does not offer that inside look or listen (nor allow reader reviews to be...
Who among us hasn’t Googled ourselves, our companies, or our beloved pet projects? And, of course, what shows up in the search results isn’t always predictable, right? So imagine my surprise to learn, after typing Chained Birds into the search engine, that somehow, my book, which doesn’t come out until November 12, 2024, has already found its way onto...
My long-awaited cover-reveal for Chained Birds is here! And fun fact — this is actually my second cover! Let’s back up to September when WildBlue Press’ talented designer Elijah Toten produced a cover that incorporated the original artwork by Kevin Sanders (the inmate at the heart of my story), a sketch titled Chained Bird. I believe my exact words to...
My upcoming book, Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir, received a five-star review this week from the Manhattan Book Review, which launched squeals and gasps in my household (okay, this was just me; my husband is more measured). The reviewer, Philip Zozzaro, called my debut “a future true crime classic,” and I would like to send him a bouquet of flowers, or...
Anyone curious about two upcoming book projects of mine (Spoiler! They both involve true crime!) can check out my first Author Interview on a book blog hosted by author and book promoter Vinny O’Hare. I discovered Vinny in my Goodreads Mysteries & Thrillers group, where he helps promote new authors writing in the genre. As a new author myself...
It’s been a steep learning curve since I signed a book contract with WildBlue Press last December. This year, I completed the manuscript (the book was sold on proposal) and collaborated with my wonderful editor, Rowena Carenen, who helped shape Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir into the breakout debut we all hope it will be. (Publication day is...
I’m especially fond of this review blurb that landed in my inbox this week because it mentions the genre-bending aspect of Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir. I’ve been asked on numerous forms and submissions to check the genre box(s) that most apply to this debut book of mine, and the answer is—sometimes there weren’t enough boxes. I’ll begin...
I’m excited to share an early access link where curious readers can sample the first dozen pages of Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir. In partnership with BookFunnel, a secure delivery service for advanced reader copies (ARCs)—and so much more!—readers can view pre-release content that includes the book description, i.e., what will appear on the back cover, the preface,...
More early praise continues to roll in for my debut, Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir, launching November 12, 2024, with WildBlue Press. Is it okay to stop pinching myself now? As I mentioned in my post about getting my first “highly recommended” and 5-star editorial review from Readers’ Favorite, I am slowly recovering from the impostor syndrome that afflicts...
It’s no spoiler to reveal that my true crime memoir Chained Birds is also part exposé of the horrific experimental prison program that operated at Pennsylvania’s Lewisburg Prison from 2009-2018. One of the book’s main characters, federal inmate Kevin Sanders, was my inside source who helped me chronicle the cruelty and bloodshed inside Lewisburg as he was swept up...
Imagine my euphoria after opening my inbox and seeing this 5-star review from Readers’ Favorite this week. And the fact this is my first editorial critique makes it all the more special. As a debut author trying to navigate the publishing world amid a wee bit of imposter syndrome, this review by Carol Thompson validated everything I set out...
Prison artist sketch inspires book title and cover design (cover reveal coming soon!) The November 12, 2024 launch date of Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir is just around the corner! Manuscript editing is complete. My publisher, WildBlue Press, has begun its marketing efforts. And soon, I’ll be revealing the cover design that will incorporate my most cherished piece...
I’m thrilled to announce my debut true crime memoir, Chained Birds, has found a home with WildBlue Press and will be published this November! I signed with WildBlue Press at the end of 2023 following two weeks of dialogue with press co-founder (and author) Steve Jackson. Steve and I dove deep into my book’s details to ensure it would...
I never knew what a mood board was until I decided to enter a couple of X (formerly Twitter) book pitch contests this fall. Because I love tinkering with graphics, I dove into creating my first-ever mood board for November’s #MoodPitch contest — a contest that ended up getting canceled. The volunteer contest organizers decided to pull it from...
In 2014, inmate Kevin Sanders stepped off a ConAir flight from Pennsylvania to Orlando and, on the tarmac, met an “old timer” in an orange jumpsuit wearing the same belly chain and shackles. The ornery felon with a sharp tongue and Southie Boston accent turned out to be the notorious Boston mobster Whitey Bulger. Kevin and Whitey were slated...
Welcome to my digital home! This space is devoted to tidbits about my book in progress, Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir, my publishing safari, anything that catches my fancy in the true crime world, and posts about prison reform and the criminal justice system — a central theme to Chain Birds’ story. More than ten years in the...