Blog Archives
FAST FORWARD is FREE for a Limited Time
Just a quick post to let you know that my romantic comedy novel FAST FORWARD is currently available for free on both Amazon and Amazon UK!
Grab it while you can, and if you’ve already got it, let your friends know they can pick up a free read for the weekend 🙂
Plus, the more downloads it gets, the higher up the Amazon rankings it goes, which means greater exposure and visibility for the book.
At the time of posting, Fast Forward is up to #64 in the Top 100 of Amazon’s ‘free list‘. Let’s see if it can go higher!
Here are the links to download a free copy from Amazon:
>>Free copy of FAST FORWARD AT Amazon:Â http://www.amazon.com/Fast-Forward-Juliet-Madison-ebook/dp/B00B7VP6BY/
>>Free copy of FAST FORWARD AT Amazon UK:Â http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fast-Forward-Juliet-Madison-ebook/dp/B00B7VP6BY/
Thanks to those who have shared the links already, and I hope you enjoy the read! 🙂
~ Juliet xx
Voting Now Open: Vote for Fast Forward in Book Junkies Choice Awards!
Just a quick post to let you know my debut novel, FAST FORWARD is a finalist in the Book Junkies Choice Awards in the Women’s Fiction category (yay! Thanks to those who nominated it)! I’m thrilled to be alongside some great authors!
But I need your votes….
If you would like to give my little book baby, my first published novel, a chance at getting some great recognition and exposure, all you have to do is vote via the quick and easy form on the site.
You only need to enter your email address, and then select Fast Forward from the list, and voila! Your vote will be cast. You will receive an email confirmation of your vote, and you can only vote once.
>>VOTE HERE.
Voting is open until the 25th October, so get those votes in now, and THANK YOU! 🙂
If you haven’t yet read Fast Forward, here is a link to the details of the book and where it can be purchased from.
It’s My Calliversary!
What’s a calliversary? Well, you may (or may not) have heard authors talk about getting The Call, as in an offer of publication from a publishing house (or from an agent who wants to offer representation or tell you of a publishing offer). On this day last year, 5th October, I got what’s referred to as The Call, even though it was an email (Emailiversary just doesn’t sound right though, so let’s stick with call) 😉
You can read about my Call in the blog post I wrote about it last year, here. But basically, this is what happened…
I went outside to have a bit of relaxation on the balcony, and just as I lay down on my deck chair, my email pinged (yes I was holding my phone, I’m surgically attached to it). Let’s just say my relaxation lasted all of five seconds. The email said:
Thank you for submitting Fast Forward. I am delighted to accept it for publication (and lots of other stuff, but that’s all I could read in that moment of excitement, relief, and general overwhelming emotion).
So here I am today, one year later, and that book has been published and available for over eight months now. Not only that, I signed three more contracts within this last year, all with Escape Publishing. Fast Forward, my debut novel, was published in February, I Dream of Johnny was published in September, Starstruck in Seattle was published in October (as in just recently), and The January Wish will be published in January 2014. So it’s quadruple the fun for me on this calliversary!
How time flies! It’s been one hell of a fun ride, and let me tell you, being published is only the beginning of this journey. It doesn’t end there. If anything, I have more goals, am more focused on my writing, and more committed to making a success of my writing career.
Now, back to Fast Forward and some milestones that have occurred over the past year…
Cover luurve:
I was over the moon when I got my first cover, it was like seeing my baby for the first time, and didn’t the designers do an awesome job?! I’m also grateful to everyone who’s left a review, and really pleased that the majority have been extremely positive. It’s such a great feeling to know that people have enjoyed my book.
Book club:
Earlier this year I got to participate in my first online book club, thanks to Harlequin Junkie who chose Fast Forward as their book club pick of the month. I had a ball chatting to readers and they asked me some great questions.
Publicity:
And just the other day I got a huge surprise when I was told Fast Forward was featured in the Big W catalogue that gets delivered to many houses around Australia! (For those not in Aus, Big W is a big (well, of course) discount department store, and a huge seller of books). My book was used to help promote their new ebook section. And they have it available for free for a limited time, so if you’re in Australia you can download it here. If not, you can buy it from all good ebook retailers, the links to which are here.
Awards:
If that’s not exciting enough, the book is a finalist in the Book Junkies Choice Awards in the women’s fiction category! Voting starts on the 14th October so keep an eye out and get voting! 😉
…I can’t believe a year has already gone by since I sat down to relax that day, not knowing an important email was about to hit my inbox. And I can’t wait to see how things are this time next year!
Thanks Escape Publishing for publishing my books, and thanks readers for buying and reading them. And now, I’m off to celebrate my Calliversary! J
Vote in the Book Junkies Choice Awards…
There’s a new contest that’s open for nominations until the 15th Sept 2013, so head on over to Book Junkies to nominate your favourite books. You can nominate just one, or several books in different categories. Help your favourite books get the recognition they deserve!
…And if you are so inclined to nominate Fast Forward (God bless you 😉 ), here are the details you need to include on the nomination form, simply copy & paste:
– Nominee category: select ‘women’s fiction‘. It would also fit under ‘debut novel (fiction)’ or ‘debut novel (romance)’, but the more votes in one category only, the more chance of finalling.
– Book title: FAST FORWARD
– Author name: Juliet Madison
Aspiring supermodel Kelli Crawford seems destined to marry her hotshot boyfriend, but on her 25th birthday she wakes in the future as a fifty-year-old suburban housewife married to the now middle-aged high school nerd.
Trapped in the opposite life of the one she wanted, Kelli is forced to re-evaluate her life and discover what is really important to her. Will she overcome the hilarious and heartbreaking challenges presented to her and get back to the body of her younger self? Or will she be stuck in the nightmare of hot flushes, demanding children, raunchy advances from her husband, and hideous support underwear forever?
– Cover image: right click on the image of the book cover above and select ‘save picture as‘, then on the nomination form you can click to choose the file from your computer.
– Goodreads link to book title:Â http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17239167-fast-forward
– Then include your name and email address to nominate the book (you will go in the draw for prizes!)
– Click ‘submit’ and you’re done! Easy 😉
>>Here is the link to the Book Junkies Choice Awards nomination form.
Thank you! 🙂
Birthday Memories…
Today, April 14th, is my birthday so I thought I’d do a birthday-themed blog post! It’s especially fitting because my debut novel, FAST FORWARD, which was released a couple of months ago, takes place mostly over one day – the main character’s birthday.
Young, hip, and gorgeous Kelli, from Fast Forward, is getting ready to celebrate her 25th birthday, but she wakes up to the birthday present of her nightmares – she’s jumped ahead to the future and is a 50 year old flabby, wrinkly, housewife, married to the nerd she used to tease in high school. Not only that, she has two grown children she doesn’t recognise, a daggy best friend, she has to give an important business presentation of which she knows nothing about, and she has no idea how to get back to her old, I mean, young life.
I’m glad to say I’ve never had a birthday as challenging or memorable as Kelli’s, but I’ve had a lot of good ones! (The photo of the chocolates on the plate was taken at a restaurant for my birthday a couple of years ago).
At my thirtieth I had a fancy dress costume party with a 70’s and 80’s theme. Guests had to come dressed as someone from either of those decades. I dressed as a psychedelic chick with straight hair parted in the middle and wore white flared pants and a multicoloured top, and my son dressed as Michael Jackson in the afro stage, complete with black shoes with white socks. A couple of my cousins around the same age as me dressed as girls from the eighties with lovely teased fringes (bangs, for my US friends), ponytails, and lovely eighties clothes and jewellery. We hired a juke-box to play music from those eras, and it was a lot of fun!
This birthday, I received a fantastic early present just a few days ago – an offer of publication from Escape Publishing for my romantic comedy novella, I DREAM OF JOHNNY! (More news on that later on). Now that’s memorable 🙂
I decided to ask a few facebook friends about their birthday memories, and here are their responses:
My best birthday memory was for one of those horrible ones with an 0 on the end. My family decided to treat me to a ‘ride on a Harley’ as I’d been rabitting on about it. I was collected from the house and driven right around the Gold Coast on this wonderful Harley motorbike, letting rip with whoops of joy as we zoomed around the roads. It was amazing. My ‘driver’ was a hoot and totally entered into the spirit of the thing, but a very good driver.
My mother was the archetypal feminist and she vetoed a series of dodgy presents from my wish lists over the years. Like the time I wanted a bride doll, and I got a Basil Brush puppet. Or the time I wanted Pretty in Pink Barbie, and got a budgie. All that changed when I was 12. I got some birthday money, and raced out to purchase Golden Dream Barbie. I brought her home, unwrapped her carefully, and discovered that I was kind of too old for Barbies by then anyway.
The weirdest thing is, 37 years later, my daughter has more Barbies than you could pack into a Barbie camper (mostly hand-me-downs from older cousins). And what does she want, more than anything in the world? A budgie. Go figure!!
I won a novel writing competition with the prize of publication.
The book was scheduled to come out a few days after my birthday but when I mentioned that the publisher managed to bring it forward so it came out on my birthday (30 March last year).
Don’t think a writer could have a better birthday present than a copy of their first published novel.
I spent my 40th birthday alone and homesick, having just moved to the UK for a few years. I took a rowdy early-morning call from friends back home while I was in the dining room of a Scarborough hotel I’m sure was the model for Fawlty Towers, with shades of Mr Bean’s holiday hotel thrown in. The elderly hotel guests were tutting over their baked beans and kippers as this hysterical Australian woman howled with laughter (and a few tears) into the phone. At least the horror of the hotel eased the horror of turning 40!
What was your most memorable birthday?
Now, I’m off to celebrate, eat some yummy food, and blow out the 25 candles on my cake (ha! I wish! Oops, you have to be careful what you wish for). 😉
Opportunity to WIN a copy of Fast Forward!
Just a quick post to let you know I’m being interviewed over at the Caribbean Accent Book Reviews blog about my inspiration for Fast Forward, the most surprising feedback I’ve gotten from the book, and what’s planned for 2013!
Plus you can win a copy of the book by clicking on the rafflecopter giveaway link at the end of the interview.
Comp drawn in less than 5 days so get in quick!
Oh, and there are virtual chocolates! 😉 Read the interview here.
~ Juliet
P.S – Stay tuned for my interview with debut author Jenn J McLeod on the blog tomorrow!
WINNERS of the Fast Forward Blog Tour!
Thanks to everyone who participated in my blog tour for Fast Forward, and thanks to the amazing bloggers who hosted me on their sites!
1. $25 Amazon gift card: Shannon R who left a comment on the Ramblings From This Chick blog.
2. BONUS $25 Amazon gift card (for one lucky purchaser of Fast Forward): Caroline P.
3. GRAND PRIZE Winner of a $50 Amazon gift card: Bridget O who left a comment on Chick Lit Central.
Winners, you have been notified. Please respond to the notification email within a week to claim your prize.
If you haven’t yet got a copy of FAST FORWARD you can buy it via…
Escape Publishing, Amazon, Amazon UK, iTunes/iBookstore, Kobo.
Thanks everyone – see you on the next blog tour!
~ Juliet
Last Day Of Blog Tour – get your entries in!
WOW – what a month! It may be the shortest month of the year but I’ve enjoyed every day of February, the month my debut novel, FAST FORWARD was released into the world. It’s been both exhausting and exciting; writing guest blogs and interviews, interacting with readers, promoting on facebook and twitter, checking sales rankings, and trying to squueze in some more writing too! I managed to complete a 16,000 word novella during all the hype, which I’m pretty pleased with. 🙂
BIG thanks to all the wonderful bloggers that have hosted me on my blog tour, and to everyone who’s followed me along the blog tour and left comments on my posts and interviews, it’s been great fun! If you haven’t yet, or you’ve only made a couple of the stops, there’s still time – today is the last day of the tour and there are plenty of interesting interviews and articles to read about my writing journey, my book, my characters, my inspirations, and even which funny scene was based on personal experience!
I’d love to see you there…simply click on the below links that interest you and leave me a comment and you’ll be entered into the draw to win a $50 Amazon gift card or a $25 Amazon gift card. When it comes to ebooks, that amount can get you a LOT of great books! But you can also spend it on anything at Amazon.
Also, don’t forget if you’ve bought FAST FORWARD you can also win a bonus $25 Amazon gift card as a thank you for buying my book. Simply forward me your email receipt to fastforwardbook(at)gmail(dot)com and you’ll be in the draw!
I’ll allow a bit of time for the non-Aussies to catch up to the end of February, Australian time, and then I’ll draw the winners sometime over the next day or two, so keep an eye out on the blog, twitter and facebook and check your inbox over the weekend – it could be you!
Here are all the blogs you can leave a comment on to enter into the draw:
1st
Juliet Madison blog – Release Day celebration post
ARRA / Australian Romance Readers Association – Release Day post
2nd
Rachael Johns blog – Do You Have The Creative Curse?
3rd
Strange Candy Reviews – From Idea to Publishing Contract in Nine Months
4th
RWA / Romance Writers of Australia – Author Spotlight interview
5th
Mochas, Mysteries, and More – Book spotlight & excerpt
6th
Read In A Single Sitting – Interview/Feature
7th
You Gotta Read – You Gotta Write, Right?
8th
Manga Maniac Cafe – Interview
11th
Romance Book Paradise – Time Travel in romance – it’s not only for sci-fi
12th
Stella Ex Libris – Creating the Characters of Fast Forward
13th
Australian Bookshelf – Motherhood in Fiction
14th
Chick Lit Central – Valentine’s Day Interview
15th
Sarah Belle’s blog – 5 Fun Facts About Fast Forward
18th
Beauty & Lace – Interview
19th
Kerrie Paterson’s blog – My TBR pile; what I’m reading
20th
Louise Reynolds’ blog – Cooking The Books – the food in Fast Forward
21st
Ramblings From This Chick – Opposites Attract – the romance in Fast Forward
22nd
Chick Lit Bee – Getting inspiration from movies
24th
Susanne Bellamy’s blog – Interview
28th
Annie Seaton’s blog – How I Became a Writer
Thanks for visiting, I’ll see you on the blogs! 🙂
~ Juliet