Tag: publishing

Monday Blog: The Boys of Our Lady

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Nick
Aidan
Rob
Mike
Jon

 

 

 

We’ve arrived at the final blog post for the month of June. To close out one of this month’s themes, this one is all about the male characters in the Our Lady of Righteous Rage series. I won’t lie: this is my favorite W.E. series, and I’ve sort of been looking forward to this post.

Our Lady follows Amy Edwards and friends as they start a business, a band, and try to keep up with both, while jumping over hurdle after hurdle. What sets this series apart from the others I’ve published so far, are the characters: they are anthropomorphic cats. However, when you’re reading the books in this series, you may find yourself completely ignoring that, and just enjoying the story. Another difference: stream of consciousness. Each chapter is narrated by a different character (think William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying). On the surface, that may sound confusing, but I can assure you it’s not. The chapters are short, and there aren’t that many characters to keep up with. So, let’s get to the boys, shall we? (SPOILER ALERT AHEAD!)

David Sarconi: He and Amy start out as friends, then they become boyfriend and girlfriend, then they get married. And then, it all changes. David tries to be passionate about music, but he just doesn’t seem to be his thing. On top of that, he doesn’t think it should be Amy’s thing, either. He’s also Nick’s cousin, and while the two start out just fine, David changes and begins to distance himself from his cousin.

Nicolas “Nick” Lianetti: Born in Sicily and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Nick is the lead singer and primary song writer for Our Lady of Righteous Rage. Music has been his passion since he was young. His father wasn’t around very much while he was growing up, but it helped shape him into a mature and responsible young man (or cat). He’s very even-tempered; he remains calm in situations that would send any other person into a rage (such as a cheating girlfriend…).

Aidan Sirci: Okay, I’ll just say it: Aidan is my favorite male character in the series. Life knocked him down more times than not, but he just keeps getting up. He’s generally cheerful and in a good mood, cracking jokes and making sarcastic remarks. He’s Nick’s best friend, and Amy’s non-biological big brother. Tall, blond, and green-eyed, most of the band’s female fans tend to gravitate to him, even though he’s deeply in love with his wife, Dee.

Rob Zickye: He’s half Scottish and half German, and the tallest member of the band (six foot five, btw). He’s been in love with Amy since they met in high school, but the two don’t get together until later on. Rob is a self-taught drummer, and can play nearly any song by ear. He’s also my second favorite, and another character who’s father wasn’t in the picture (a common theme in this series). He’s protective of his family, especially his older brother, who happens to be bipolar.

Mike Murnsen: Mike knows his way around audio and recording equipment. He’s been helping his father at his store since he was young, and when Our Lady opens a studio, he helps them produce their first album. Later, he becomes their manager.  He’s married to one of  the founding members of  the Urban Collective, Vanessa. The two of them constantly bounce ideas off one another. Mike is quiet, but he has no problem standing up for himself, or the band.

Jon Sarconi: Amy’s adopted son. He’s actually David’s younger cousin, and the two of them adopted him shortly after they got married. After their divorce, Amy had to fight to get custody of Jon. He idolizes his mother, and wants to be a rock star, just like her. The older he gets, the more assertive he becomes.

Next week is the first week of July, so it will be time for a new theme. I’m considering running 2 again. One of them will be New Fiction: I’m working on three new books, and my mother is working on one, too! If you’re an indie author and you’d like to share what you’re working on, please contact me. I’d love to post some info about you and your work! Until next week…

Monday Blog: Celebrating Jo Fuentes

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JoFuentes_KDP

 

This month, Woolaston Entertainment is celebrating two themes: Male Character Month, and Pride Month. I’ve decided to begin with the later. This week’s blog post, is all about Jo Fuentes of the Valentine and Valentine Apart series.

Jo is the first LGBTQ character to be featured in a published Woolaston Entertainment book. She’s also W.E.’s first LGBTQ character to receive a stand-alone book, Jo Fuentes: The Black Queen. When I created Jo, I was thinking of a sort of alter-ego for Valentine.  The two of them do share a few characteristics: they’re tall, mouthy, and they don’t take any crap. Jo was never intended to be a soldier of any kind, but I had a dream about the scene in the second chapter of The Black Queen, where Jo takes out eight men in under sixty seconds. I thought, it would be cool to have a female character experience a James Bond moment, but I needed a reason. I decided, making her a Marine, would be the best reason.

Jo is a great character, because she’s a little complicated. She has a frightening set of skills, and she has no idea where she learned them. She’s gay, and proud of it. She values the friendships of the people who matter the most to her, and she’ll do anything for them.  She easily makes the transition from Marine to Hitwoman when she begins working for Kelly McCormick. And, she has a wicked sense of humor.

I’m honoring Jo, by making Jo Fuentes: The Black Queen, available for FREE, June 4-June 6. If you’ve never read it, this is a great opportunity to become acquainted with Jo, and the rest of the Valentine Apart/Valentine series.

Jo Fuentes on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jo-Fuentes-Black-Queen-Valentine-ebook/dp/B078TNHBRF/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528138515&sr=8-1&keywords=jo+fuentes+the+black+queen

Next week: the boys of Valentine and Valentine Apart

Monday Blog: The Ladies of “Our Lady”

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Amy
Dee
Nyda
Vanessa
Carmen
Erin
Olivia

 

Hello! Welcome to the first official blog post of the month of May! To kick off one of the two themes of the month, Female Character Month, I decided to start with the ladies of the Our Lady series. Her we go….

The Ladies of Our Lady of Righteous Rage

While there is a pretty long list of female characters in the Our Lady series, I’m going to focus on the most important ladies, who appear across nearly every book.

Amy Edwards: Amy is the lead character of the series, and she handles most of the narration.  She grew up in a single-parent home, with her two brothers and her sister. Raised in Bayside, in New York, Amy falls in love with Punk Rock when she receives a copy Green Day’s Dookie album. From there, she decides to learn to play the guitar. She and her friends start playing, and eventually form a band, Our Lady of Righteous Rage, named after a poem Amy wrote. She’s also a mother: she and ex-husband David Sarconi adopted his cousin Jon when he was little, and despite the divorce Amy and Jon are still extremely close.

Dee Seybrook: Amy’s best friend, and the wife of Our Lady’s bassist, Aidan Sirci. Dee is petite, but she has no problem standing up for herself, and refuses to be pushed around. She’s a singer, and a drummer; she discovers she has a natural talent for drumming and develops it very quickly.

Nyda Summit: Dee’s cousin, and Nick Lianetti’s wife. Nyda is soft-spoken and tall, and an artist. Photography is her passion, and she has even taken pictures of the members of Our Lady for their album covers.

Vanessa Vance: The woman with the plan. Vanessa comes up with the idea of running a business with her friends in high school. She’s the co-founder of the Urban Collective: the store she and her friends created in order to sell their books, music and artwork. Vanessa is ambitious and a handworker, and will do anything to help her business and her friends succeed.

Carmen Portez: Carmen went to school with Amy, Dee and Vanessa. She’s a talented painter, and she began selling her artwork while she was still in high school. She eventually opened her very own art studio, Portez Art Studio, where she shows her artwork, and the work of other local artists.

Erin Michaels: Erin goes from quiet girl who likes to read, to a Punk Rock/Emo chick with a passion for music. She meets the band, and begins to work for them, after a tragic experience with her family brings her and her mother to New York. She later becomes the band’s social media expert. She’s particularly fond of Amy, and thinks of her as a big sister.

Olivia Midkiff: One of Jon’s friends and a really talented drummer.  Olivia is upbeat and generally in a good mood. When Dee takes her under her wing, the two form a big sister-little sister relationship. Olivia is sometimes unsure of herself, but she’s learning to be more confident. 

 

I created all of these characters years before I wrote this series. I used bits and pieces of my personality, and my mother’s personality, when I developed them for the Our Lady series. There’s a lot of Mom in Dee and Nyda (especially Dee). Amy and Erin represent my punk rock side. One of the reasons Our Lady is written using stream of consciousness, is because I wanted to give watch character an opportunity to grow and change. You meet Amy, Dee, Nyda, Vanessa and Erin, as teens, and you get to watch them “grow up”, so to speak. And, it was important to have a female character in the lead role. Amy’s talents as a guitarist, song writer, and artist, reflect my personal belief that girls can do anything. She’s a challenge to the status quo.

If you haven’t read Our Lady of Righteous Rage, I hope you decided to pick it up and see what its all about. I think you’ll enjoy it. 

Monday Blog: Words of Wisdom

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We’ve arrived at the final Monday Blog for the month of April. Yes, I know: April 30th is a Monday, but it’s also the last day of the month, and I didn’t think it was necessary to discuss April any further. Next week, I will begin posting about all of the wonderful things I have planned for May.

This month’s theme was Inspiration. I wanted to end the month, with some words of wisdom.

 

“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” —Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Did you ever run into a particular person, who ended up helping you with a job or a project you were working on? Or, maybe you walked by a place you had never noticed before? Some people will say, it was by accident or by chance. I don’t believe in chance. I believe everything happens for a reason. For example, in 2014, I went to see Green Day in concert, in Brooklyn. While I would have loved to wait around after the show in hope of meeting the band, I figured it was a long shot, so instead, I went home. The following day, I went into NYC to meet my mother for lunch. For some strange reason, I took a train I normally don’t take, and would up near the Flatiron building. Tre Cool, Green Day’s drummer, walked past me. I caught up to him, said hello, and took a picture with him. Now, you could say that happened by chance. I happened to get on the wrong train, and I happened to get off at a stop that put me on the street at the same time as Tre Cool. It’s all coincidence. Or, maybe the universe was simply acting on my behalf.

 

“No need to fear screwing up a lot, as we learn more from mercy towards failure than we do from commendation for success.” —Julien Baker

 

“To do something that you feel in your heart that’s great, you need to make a lot of mistakes. Anything that’s successful is a series of mistakes.” —Billie Joe Armstrong

Fear used to hold me back from doing so many things. Fear is the reason I took so long to publish my first book. When I was going through that process, I thought, “I like what I wrote, but what if no one else does?” Later, I decided to let fear become my motivation. Sure, other people may not like what I write, but who cares? I’m going to do this for me.  When you’re working to achieve your goal, you’re going to make a lot of mistakes. But, mistakes are a GOOD THING. You can learn from them. Mistakes teach us to know the difference between what works, and what doesn’t. Once you learn from your mistakes (hopefully) you don’t repeat them. I worked with two publishers who ultimately failed me, before I made the decision to publish on my own. I’ve had to go back through some of the books I have published, and correct errors I found after they were made available for sale. But, it was all worth it.

Next month, I’m having a special promotion for the Our Lady of Righteous Rage series, so please continue to visit this blog for more info! Until next week…

First Editions For Sale!

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old edition sale

Long long ago, back in 2009, I published my first book, Fortune’s Wing, with a POD (print-on-demand) company called Xlibris. Then, I published Valentine.  I published a third book, and would have happily contiuned to work with them, until I went to an ALA convention. My books, along with the books of several other Xlibris authors, was on display, with the hope that libraries and schools would order copies. I was given the impression, the someone would be  on hand to offer info about the books. Instead, the books were placed on a large bookshelf, and the representative from Xlibris simply sat at the table in silence. Top notch marketing…

Fast forward to 2015. I republished on my own, via Create Space, Amazon’s self-publishing platform. Needless to say, I’m much happier with Create Space, and KDP. However, I still have copies of the editions I published with Xlibris, and I’d like to sell what I have left. 

If you would like to purchase a copy of Fortune’s Wing or Valentine, they are available on my website, woolastonentertainment.com, for $3 each, with $1 shipping. I’ll even sign them for you!

http://www.woolastonentertainment.com/-books.html

Monday Blog: My Inspiration for Our Lady of Righteous Rage

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Happy Monday, everyone! This week, I’m thinking about all of the things that inspire me to write. I like to keep my mind active while I’m working on a book, and one way I do this is by reading material that relates to what I’m working on. I also engage in activities that relate to what I’m working on (if I can). I’m currently writing the first draft for Righteous, book four in the Our Lady of Righteous Rage series, so I’m doing a few things to keep me inspired.

 

greenday

Music: I’m a huge fan of Punk Rock, and that’s the basis of this series. I also listen to Indie Rock, a little Goth, and a few other genres.  I always listen to music while I’m on the bus or the train, but lately I’ve been making more of an effort to listen to it while I’m writing. The bands I’m listening to at the moment are:

Green Day (of course)

Blink 182

The Killers (“The Man” is my new work-out song)

Led Zeppelin

Jack White

Fall Out Boy

Portugal. The Man

IAMX (I heard “Look Outside” on How To Get Away With Murder, and now I’m in love with it!)

Fleetwood Mac (“The Chain”; thank you Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2)

Bauhaus (“Bella Lugosi’s Dead”)

That’s just the short version of the list. I can’t even begin to tell you how much music is on my phone, or how many CD’s I own (yes, I still listen to CD’s).

 

 

Guitars: I still have two of my electrics, Billie Joe and Jack. I recently donated Dillinger, my Maestro by Gibson. I’ve been spending more time with them. My goal is to get better at playing power chords. In the meantime, playing is relaxing. I used to be lazy and sit down every time I played. One day I stood up without realizing it, so that’s an improvement. I recently taught myself to play “Smile Like You Mean It”, by The Killers.

 

Reading: I’ve said it before, and I’m going to say it again: READ THE GENRE YOU’RE WRITING FOR!!!! When I’m working on anything Our Lady related, I read a ton of material about Punk Rock, music, and thumb through issues of Alternative Press and Guitar Player. I recently finished New York Rock by Steven Blush. Being a New Yorker who loves rock, I really enjoyed reading this book. It contains a lot of history about New York bands, like Velvet Underground and New York Dolls. I’ve read books like Please Kill Me and Everybody Loves Our Town, but this book was focused on New York, which made it extra special.

I believe finding things to inspire your writing is essential. Listening to music, playing my guitars and reading books and magazines that are music-related, helps me keep my brain focused on my writing, and I manage to get more writing done. If you ever find yourself facing a case of Writer’s Block, you may want to give this a try.  

Monday Blog: Is Valentine a Feminist Series?

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Val3CoverFinal
Valentine 3

 

Hello! Welcome back! I missed you over the weekend (really, I did!) It’s Monday, so it’s time for the Monday Blog. It’s Valentine month, so I have good news, and great news! Plus, I’m going to answer one of my reader’s questions: Is Valentine a feminist series?

Valentine 1 and 2 Promotion Results

The first two books in the Valentine series were free for Kindle and the Kindle App, from Feb 5th through the 9th. The results: seven of you downloaded books! Two of you emailed me to say how much you enjoyed the books! Thank you! I’m going to run promotions like this throughout the rest of the year, so you may want to check the website often. And now for the better news…

Valentine 3 Promotion

You’ve read books 1 and 2, so you may as well read 3, right? Valentine 3: Queen of Hearts, will be FREE, for Kindle and the Kindle App, from Feb 12th through 14th (starting TODAY!) So, if you have the Kindle or the Kindle App, you can download a free copy! How cool is that?

Valentine 3 is available here: https://www.amazon.com/Valentine-Hearts-Nicole-E-Woolaston-ebook/dp/B01MXXYCEC/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1518289553&sr=8-1

Is Valentine a Feminist Series?

I never really thought of myself as a feminist, or a feminist writer, for that matter. I simply write what I like. My writing began with my love of books, and my difficulty finding books with subjects I wanted to read about, over time. But I suppose I can call myself a feminist writer: most of my characters are female, and most of those females are not “damsels in distress”.

Now, for the question: Is Valentine a feminist series? The answer: yes. Sure it is. Was that my intention? No. But that’s the way it worked out. Let’s consider the definition of the word feminist: person who supports feminism. Well, that didn’t help, did it? Let’s consider the definition of feminism instead: the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes. That’s much better. Think about the “heroes” we see in movies and on television. There have always been plenty of “tough guys” around. The renegade cop with a chip on his shoulder. The butt-kicking karate expert. There are plenty of strong male characters, but now, more strong female characters are emerging. Val Entienne is a female, but she has some masculine traits: she carries a pair of guns, she drives a classic Mustang, she’s not afraid to get into a fight, etc. She’s like this, because she can be like this. I wanted to take a male personality, and place it inside a female character. Then I wanted to surround her with other females like herself (Lola Vencent, Jo Fuentes, Mac Avery, etc.). In the end, I wanted to show, a girl and be both a badass, and a girl.

 

Until next week…

 

Monday Blog: 5 Things Every Self-Published Author Needs

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Books2018
20 of the Woolaston Entertainment books, by June Parris and myself

 

Hello, everyone. Here we are: the final Monday Blog for January. This week’s topic: things I think every self-published author should have. No, I’m not naming random things, here. These are things that have been a great help to me, and I wanted to share them with my fellow writers.

  1. A Website: Good Lord, if you don’t have a website, what are you doing? Sure, you may not know much about building a website, but you can always enlist the skills of others to do this for you. I created my site through Go Daddy, on my own. Plus, Go Daddy offers tech support, and has a range of templates to choose from. Like I always say, if I can do it, anyone Your website should contain info about your books, where they can be purchased, and how readers can get in contact with you. There are plenty of online sources with tips on how to set up your website, and you’re more than welcome to use mine as an example. If you decide to use Go Daddy, I suggest taking advantage of their SEO option (search engine optimization). 
  1. A Catalogue: The best way for you to get your name out there, is by giving your readers a list of books to choose from. Show your readers your true writing ability. This can be a single series of books, or several individual books. I have 4 series, and 1 individual book (which I will most likely write a sequel to). In all, I have published 19 books. Search for Nicole Woolaston on Amazon or Goodreads and take a look.
  1. Facebook Page: Yes, many of us use Snap Chat, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, etc. I’m on all of that crap, and yes, it’s tiring. But Facebook is where it’s at. Why? Two words: Ad Space. Facebook is a wonderful (and free) way to connect with a large audience. Friends can like your posts and share them, then other people will share them, and so on. As for ad space, while it may not be free, it is DIRT CHEAP. Example: I made Our Lady of Righteous Rage: Extended and Uncensored free for Kindle for 3 days. I ran an ad on Facebook (spending only $3; I could have spent a little more and reached more people). Six people downloaded my book. Over 100 saw the ad, 12 people clicked on it. Either way, I gained 6 new readers and exposure for my book.
  1. PayPal: I’m recommending this for 3 reasons. 1) It’s a safe and effective way to collect payment from book sales, should you choose to sell them on your website. 2) You can use PayPal to pay for ad space on Facebook. 3) You can use PayPal to pay for extras for your website, if you happen to use Go Daddy.
  1. Fiverr: I’ll give you a minute to let this last one marinate. Ready? Good. If you need someone to help you build your website, create an effective Facebook ad, edit your book, design a cover, etc, there are plenty of people on Fiverr who can do those things for you, starting at $5. Also, it’s a great way to earn funds to support your Facebook ads and pay for your website. I write book reviews via Fiverr, starting at $5 per review, and the money I’ve earned since August 2017 has paid for all of my Facebook ad space, and my website. Think about it.

 

Keep a few things in mind:

Everything will not be free. Many things will be, but not everything.

Sometimes, you will need to spend money in order to make money. I’m not suggesting you break the bank, but $3-$10 for some ad space, or $5 for a book review to boost readership and sales, isn’t asking a lot.

You have to be willing to try. Fear held me back for a long time, until I let go of my fear, and jumped. You have to be willing to take risks.

Decide if you just want to write books, or if you actually want to sell them. If you just want to get your name in print, then kudos! But, if you want to sell some books, you’re going to have to put some work in, beyond typing a manuscript.

See you next week…

Monday Blog: Learning From Failure

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Nicole_WEBooksMarch2017
Some of my books were published through Xlibris, others with Create Space

 

Happy Monday, everyone! This week, I wanted to discuss the importance of failure. Yes, failure is important. When things don’t go the way you want them to, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I’ve had several failures in my life, and I’m grateful for each one, because I learned a valuable lesson from them.

I’ve worked at jobs I couldn’t stand. I’ve been to college, but didn’t graduate. I’ve worked with publishers who either ripped me off, or simply folded. Something wonderful has come out of each of these events. For example:

The Event                                Negatives                                           Positives

Working at Walgreen’s         long hours, crazy schedules            $ for publishing,

                                                   limited free time                              learned to manage business

                                                                                                                learned customer service

 

Working at B&N                    not much $                                         learned book releases                                                                                                                          discount on books

                                                                                                               internet access

 

Going to Art Institute             $$student loan                              intro’d to work of Patti Smith,

                                                                                                             Rimbaud, Diane Arbus

                                                                                                             learned Photo Shop

                                                                                                             learned how to use color

                                                                                                             learned to design website

 

Working with Xlibris              $$$ for marketing                          learned about publishing

                                                   $$$ for publishing                           learned about marketing

                                                                                                               my work in print

 

 

In every case, the positives far outweighed the negatives. Take all of the negative things in your life, whether it’s your job, or school, or even a relationship, and pull as many useful things as you can from them. I may not have finished at the Art Institute (they closed their TriBeCa location because the Government sued them, BTW), but I did learn to use Photo Shop, I learned how to use a variety of color schemes, and how to design a website. Working with Xlibris may have been costly, but I was able to get my work in print for the first time. So, I took a negative, and turned it into a positive. I hope you can do the same.

Until next week…

eBooks!!!!

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I’m still learning to navigate that tricky thing known as Amazon’s KDP. It took several tries to upload two of my titles in order to convert them into eBooks, but I finally managed to get it done. The original covers wouldn’t upload, but that’s okay too; I simply created new ones. So as of today, 18 of my 19 books are available in paperback AND eBook form. Here are some of the most recent editions:

Fortune’s Wing: Flies Again: https://www.amazon.com/Fortunes-Wing-Flies-Nicole-Woolaston-ebook/dp/B078TNTLTG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1515597447&sr=8-1&keywords=fortune%27s+wing+flies+again

Her Name is Lola Vencent: https://www.amazon.com/Her-Name-Lola-Vencent-Valentine-ebook/dp/B078TPCXCZ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1515597526&sr=1-1&keywords=her+name+is+lola+vencent

Jo Fuentes: The Black Queen: https://www.amazon.com/Jo-Fuentes-Black-Queen-Valentine-ebook/dp/B078TNHBRF/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1515597565&sr=1-1&keywords=jo+fuentes+the+black+queen

Valentine 4: Past and Present: https://www.amazon.com/Valentine-4-Present-Nicole-Woolaston-ebook/dp/B078TQ7YG3/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1515597588&sr=1-1&keywords=valentine+4+past+and+present

Valentine 5: The Queen’s Fold: https://www.amazon.com/Valentine-5-Queens-Nicole-Woolaston-ebook/dp/B078TQZGYQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1515597620&sr=1-1&keywords=valentine+5+the+queens+fold

Novocaine: https://www.amazon.com/Novocaine-Lady-Righteous-Rage-Book-ebook/dp/B078WWHLWW/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1515597639&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=novocaine+nicoe+woolaston

Another Shot of Novocaine: https://www.amazon.com/Another-Shot-Novocaine-Lady-Righteous-ebook/dp/B078WWRQKH/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1515597639&sr=1-2-fkmr0&keywords=novocaine+nicoe+woolaston

 

I’m going to release the eBook version of The Witch of Fulton Lane within the next month or so. You can also expect special promotions on my eBooks, which will happen throughout the year.