Jade Varden Official Blog

Synopsis Alex had everything when he was with Madison. But the darkness within him wouldn't go away. After two years apart, he returns to Pelican Bluffs and to the girl he never wanted to leave. Madison wants to give their love another chance, but Alex can't fight fate. He is what he is. Ruined. Crazy like his mother. And Madison deserves so much more. When his secrets spill out into their small town, Alex has a choice to make. Hide away in the darkness forever, or let love in. Author Q&A Tell us 3 fun facts about yourself. 1. I'm half Chinese; my father's family immigrated from Shanghai in the 1940's 2. My father's a glider pilot, so when I was a kid I spent a lot of weekends hanging around the airport and flying planes. 3. I've got more names than you can shake a stick at. I was born Emily Mary Mah and my Chinese family gave me the name Shi Yue. Then when I married my husband I got the last name, Tippetts, so I can ...

What's the very best word you could ever find in any of your reviews? Stop trying to think of the most fantastic superlatives you can muster, because the best word you can find isn't a synonym for "fantastic." It's believable ...and you can write books that are even if the pages are filled with unicorns and dragons. Let me tell you how.  Being Believable Believable writing isn't about creating a book that takes place in Dayton, Ohio. It's not even about writing stuff that's actually true (or even stuff that seems like it could be). Your book can still have believability even if it takes place on the planet of Jupiter (however, since Jupiter is a gas giant this would take some real creativity). Believable writing isn't the setting, and it's not about whether or not unicorns and dragons factor into the story. The Harry Potter books, at first blush, are ludicrously unbelievable. But read them, and you're going to catch yourself wishi...

You use social media to promote your books. You maintain a blog. You engage fans, you post on forums, you comment on blogs. You could still be doing more to boost your image as a writer...because you could be writing other things. Why stop at being an indie author, when you can be a freelancer, too? An Author By Any Other Name... Working as a freelancer is a great way to get your name out there. Even when you're not promoting your books directly, you're still promoting yourself as a writer if you're publishing content for others to read. The articles you create don't have to be related to your books, writing or even your genre in any way, but it's much easier to cross-promote your freelance articles if they are.  Self-published authors have a lot of information to contribute about book writing, formatting for ebooks, self-promotion, social media -- well, you know all the stuff you've learned in your journey as an indie author. Look for topics th...

I used to think all authors were tortured, anti-social artists who locked themselves in dank attics in order to create their amazing words. This is how I would probably behave, if I could. But I'm an indie author. That means my main job description is availability. As an indie, you have to be accessible. Not just to readers, or other writers. You have to be available to the entire world. Being Available The idea that authors are untouchable and aloof is an old one, and untrue. Today's tech makes it possible for just about any two people to connect, and no author is an island anymore. That is especially true for indie authors. Being accessible is about more than having social media profiles , or maintaining a blog. True accessibility means answering and responding . What I mean is this: having a blog isn't helping you if you never respond to comments. Writing all those tweets is less meaningful if you aren't checking your mentions throughout the...

Oracle of Delphi Giveaway  Prizes are listed a Rafflecopter giveaway Prophecy of the Author's Genius Contest   Solve the prophecy, win a $25 Amazon Giftcard  (must guess the classic book title and author)   a Rafflecopter giveaway   About the Author Diantha Jones was born the day thousands of turkeys sacrificed their lives to fill millions of American bellies on November 22 which also happened to be Thanksgiving Day (Her mother says she owes her a turkey). She is a Journalism graduate who wants to be a career novelist (of books, not Facebook posts). When not writing or working, she is reading on her Nook, being hypnotized by Netflix or on a mission to procure french fries.   The  Oracle of Delphi  fantasy series is her first series. She is also the author of  Mythos: Stories from Olympus , a companion series, and there is another fantasy series in the works. She also writes...

If you aren't checking Google every day, you're missing a ton of marketing opportunities for you and all your books. Find out why you should go Google yourself at least once in every 24-hour period, and find all those missed promotions that are falling through the cracks.  Powering the Indie Engine You should already be doing periodic searches of your pen name to avoid plagiarism (or at the very least, catch it when it's happening). But an occasional content check just isn't enough, not if you're going to catch all those potential marketing opportunities that are just out there waiting for you. To do that, you're going to have to perform a search every day. Narrow down your results by time frame, an option you'll usually find above or below the search bar (depending on the search engine you're using), to look at results from the past 24 hours. Do this every day, and you're going to catch all those marketing opportunities you'd be mi...

Tired of your ereader? Stick of straining your eyes to look at a screen? Now, you can enjoy the thrilling conclusion to the Deck of Lies series on good old paper. Judgment (Deck of Lies, #4) is now available in paperback . Get every exciting moment, inside the courtroom and out, and never worry about your battery power. Here's what other readers are saying about Judgment:  "It is everything I could have asked for (had I known what to ask for) in an ending!!"        -Theresa Jones "All I hoped it would be... I couldn't and didn't put it down."        -Leslie Chadwick "A must read!"        -Sienna, Lost to Books Cashing Out  Do I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? How can I, when the truth will destroy us all? Now that I've started telling lies, I can't stop. Not until all this is over, and I'm free of the family tha...

Reports are circulating that Microsoft may put indie software developers on equal footing with the big-name giants. If the rumors are correct, a whole world of indie gaming may open up to you on Microsoft's ultra-popular platform XBox Live.  Indies, Not Equals But, don't run right out and buy that year-long subscription to the online service just yet. Microsoft hasn't confirmed that it's involved in any game-changing talks, and the whispers are saying that the platform won't be open to all indies. Small single-man and two-man operations still won't find a foothold for publishing their games with Microsoft, but small indie development firms will find themselves on more equal footing with the big boys. The news is important to indies of all types, including authors, because it represents a growing trend that even the little guys and the smallest operations could have the chance to put their products "out there." If even Microsoft is co...