2015 Updates & Schedule

Happy New Year! Now that it's 2015, I thought I would check in with a few updates!

1) MORE THAN EXES is still free, so if you haven't checked it out yet, go grab it! It was #1 in Women's Humorous Fiction yesterday, which was so cool!

2) MORE THAN COMICS has grown so much in revisions that I'm switching it from calling it a novella and #1.5 in the series to a full novel and #2 in the series. Hopefully this will make all the Hector fans happy! Also, this is definitely my dirtiest book yet. Blame Hector. He's a naughty boy.

Hey, want to review the book? Or be part of my book blitz on release day? Sign up here!

3) Guess what? I have lots of books coming out this year!

Here's my tentative release schedule so far - subject to change as life happens:

More Than Comics - February 23, 2015

Behind The Seams (Julie's book) - Summer 2015

Going The Distance (Carla's book) - Fall 2015

Future Shock (my YA sci-fi)- March 2016

You know what's cool? EVERY SINGLE ONE of the books listed above has a POC main character. 2015 is definitely the year of diversity for me.

I'll try to squeeze in another book or novella at the end of 2015 if I can, but I can't promise anything yet. And in 2016 (if not sooner) I hope to launch an all new NA series. Then in 2017 the sequel to FUTURE SHOCK will be out. Yep, I have a lot of books scheduled for the next few years!

4) If you want to keep up with all my new releases the best way is to subscribe to my newsletter. I email once a month at most, and subscribers also get bonus content for my books!

5) Huge congrats to my 2014 Pitch Wars mentee Tara Sim, who signed with agent Laura Crockett of TriadaUS! That means every one of my mentees from the past 3 years of Pitch Wars has gotten an agent now. I'm so proud! Oh, and check out this interview Brenda Drake did with both of us about the Pitch Wars experience.

Fun fact: I used Tara's name (with her permission) for Hector's girl in More Than Comics. The character was originally named Emily, but I decided that name worked better for a character in a different book instead.

I think that's it for now! Thanks for reading!

Looking Back On 2014

It's hard to believe the year is already over! Today I want to take a moment to look back at 2014, one of the best years of my life -- which is surprising considering the previous year was one of my worst.

Most people don’t know this, but I was incredibly depressed in 2013. I hid it pretty well (I think?) but it was a rough time in my life. There were days when I could barely get out of bed. I had zero desire to write. I pushed people away, including my friends and family. Some days I just grabbed my dogs and cried into their fur for hours.

It was a dark time, but instead of letting that depression take over I decided to make a few changes on both a personal and professional level. And as 2014 dawned, I resolved to take control of my life again.

2014 was the year I decided I didn’t give a crap if I ever got traditionally published or not. I’d been trying for over 2 years at that point with no success (despite the hard work of my agent) and I was burnt out. But I had faith in my writing and my stories, and I had friends who were successful with self publishing, so I started to look into other paths.

For NaNoWriMo 2013 I wrote a book just for fun and just for me, and it made me remember the joy I’d once felt while writing. In 2014 I wanted to self publish it as New Adult romance, but I was hesitant. I worried I was making a huge mistake, and that if I did this I’d never be able to sell a book the traditional way. Also, up until that point I’d considered myself only a YA science fiction/fantasy writer, and worried switching to a different genre and age group would be a problem. I did a ton of research, asked a bazillion questions, discussed things with my agent, and ultimately took the plunge.

That book, More Than Music, came out in June 2014 and completely changed my life. I became a debut author, achieving one of my life’s biggest dreams. It sold thousands of copies, which baffled me because it meant that strangers were buying my books and not just people I knew. I learned a lot, made a ton of mistakes, and discovered there is no greater feeling than connecting with readers and hearing they loved your book and are excited for your next one.

Then a crazy thing happened: my agent sold one of my YA science fiction books, plus a sequel. Turns out, self publishing a New Adult romance had not barred me from traditional publishing at all. If anything, it was the opposite: editors liked my New Adult book, and they appreciated that I was building an audience of readers on my own. It’s amazing how once I gave up on my dream of selling a book to a publisher it actually came true.

With my love of writing reinvigorated I was super productive in the second half of 2014. I wrote and published More Than Exes, wrote More Than Comics, and started three other books. On a personal level, I became much happier too, and every area of my life greatly improved. Thanks to hard work, lots of support from others, and some good luck, I managed to crawl out of my dark cave of depression and create the life I wanted.

So thank you to everyone who read my books (even if you didn’t like them), everyone who supported me in my decisions this year, everyone who gave me advice or listened to me whine or answered my questions, and everyone who went on this amazing journey with me. I couldn’t have done it without all of you, and I can't wait to see what 2015 brings.

Terrible Titles Blog Hop

I was tagged by Katy Upperman for this challenge. You can check out her post here!

The rules of the blog hop are simple: Scroll through your manuscript and stop in random places. Whatever words/phrase the cursor lands on becomes one of eight terrible titles.

I picked one line from each of the first eight chapters of MORE THAN COMICS. Maybe it'll give you a tiny hint of what is happening in each one!

1) Shameless Geekiness
2) Even Hotter In Person
3) So Incredibly Intimate
4) Sit Down & Shut Up
5) Drumsticks Danced Through The Air
6) Wear Your Most Villainous Costume
7) All Nude And Glorious
8) A Friend She'd Made A Mistake With

Some of these titles are actually not TOO terrible! I don't do the tagging thing, but if you think this is fun, feel free to do with your own book!

And happy holidays everyone!

More Than Comics Cover Reveal

I'm so excited to reveal the cover of my next book, More Than Comics!

Writer Tara McFadden has been friends with artist and drummer Hector Fernandez for years, long before his band became famous on reality TV – yet they’ve never met in person. They finally have a chance to connect offline when they’re both sent to Comic-Con to promote the graphic novel they collaborated on.

Hector's secretly been in love with Tara for as long as he can remember, and once they meet, she sees him in a new light. All the years of longing lead to an incredible night of passion after one of his concerts, but neither is sure if their online relationship can translate into a real life romance – or if this will ruin their friendship forever.

Over four crazy days at Comic-Con, Hector and Tara must decide if they want a future together. But when their story seems to be over, it’s up to Hector’s entire band to make sure he and Tara get their happy ending.

A companion story to the Chasing The Dream series - all about finding love on reality TV!

Coming February 23, 2015! Preorder it now:

Amazon | iTunes | Kobo

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I love this cover! Finding the perfect photo for this one was tough because I wanted to make sure the model for Hector was actually Latino and also looked big and muscular. Luckily I found the perfect guy in Julio Elving and was able to get this beautiful photo! Many thanks to MH Photography and my cover designer Najla Qamber for making this cover so awesome!

Here's a tiny bit more about More Than Comics:

• It's told from both Tara AND Hector's point of view. 
• It's set a week after More Than Music ends. 
• It takes place over four days at Comic-Con. 
• Yes, there will be cosplay. You probably have some idea of what Maddie and Jared will dress up as if you've read More Than Music...
• It features the entire band, plus Maddie's roommates and Kyle's girlfriend, Alexis. 
• It wraps up the band part of the Chasing The Dream series and sets up Behind The Seams, which is Julie's book.
• I originally planned it as a short novella like More Than Exes, but it ended up longer. It's between More Than Exes and More Than Music in length.

This was a really fun book to write, and I hope you all enjoy it when it comes out in February! Until then, here's the Pinterest board for a little visual inspiration:

Follow Elizabeth's board More Than Comics (NA) on Pinterest.

More Than Exes is now FREE!

More Than Exes, the first story in the Chasing The Dream series, is FREE for the holidays. If you haven't picked it up yet, now is the time!

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes

Kobo | Google Play | All Romance