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Young Adult

So you want to join the RAGE Street Team….

Friends! It’s been so long!

It’s been a crazy last two years for me. Publishing ROAR was the fulfillment of a long-time dream for me. I’ve been a published romance author since 2012, but in many ways that was a happy accident. I had never actually written a contemporary romance until I wrote the one that blew up and gave me the beautiful career I have today (Thanks Bliss and Garrick, oh and Angry cat Hamlet)! Prior to that, all my unpublished writing had been fantasy or paranormal or supernatural in some way. That was my first writing dream– to write  complex worlds and plots of magic and intrigue with unexpected twists and reveals (and kissing, ALWAYS KISSING). Writing and publishing ROAR was such an exhilarating and exciting journey, but if you’ve kept up with me online, you might know that around the same time that dream came true, other parts of my life started to fall apart. I had been having a variety of unexplained health issues for years, but around the time I was working on edits for ROAR, I saw a dramatic increase in the intensity of those problems. It was not until a few months after the release of the book that I found the root of those issues when I was diagnosed epilepsy in October 2017. What followed was a hectic, scary, and grueling year + of experimenting with medications (most of which did not work or made things worse), and during that time my mind was so fragmented from seizures and fogged by medication, that not only could I not write, I could barely even understand the world I had created and the words that I had already written.

I felt like I had lost myself. And I was not sure I would ever find the old me again.

After a brief hospitalization, lots of doctor’s visits, a full pharmacy of meds, ongoing therapy, and a tremendous amount of support from my family, friends, and my publishing team, I’m clawing my way back, not to the old me, but to someone stronger, who has walked through that storm and made it out the other side.

RAGE was a product of that process. It’s a book about a fighter, dealing with a changed world in the best ways she knows how. It’s about surviving and learning to thrive in a life that looks different than what you had imagined for yourself. It’s about hope and love and companionship blooming in even the darkest of situations.

I am excited (and nervous) to share this book with the world. But before it is released wide on August 27th, there will be opportunities for some readers (especially booksellers, librarians, bloggers, bookstagrammers, booktubers, etc) to read the book early as an Advanced Reader Copy (aka ARC). The e-arc is available to request now on Netgalley, in fact.

But if you loved ROAR…

Like… loved it so much that you’re dying a little inside waiting for RAGE…

I have an opportunity you might be interested in!

JOIN THE RAGE STREET TEAM!

 

MORE ABOUT THE BOOK:

All Aurora Pavan ever wanted was a choice, to control her own life. Now she’s got more choices than she can handle.

Princess or adventurer.
Duty or freedom.
Her Kingdom or the Stormhunter she loves.

If she knows anything, it’s that choices have consequences— like the storm now tangled with her heart, the alarming disappearance of her mother and friend, and the fall of her kingdom to the Locke family. To set things right, she joins a growing revolution on the streets of Pavan. She puts her knowledge of the palace to use to aid the rebellion, but the Lockes aren’t the only sinister thing plaguing Pavan. The Rage season is at it’s peak and not a day passes without the skies raining down destruction. But these storms seem… different than any she’s ever encountered. They churn with a darkness that frightens her, and attack with a will like she’s never seen.

This feels like more than Rage.
It feels like war.

Pre-order Rage through your local bookstore or at these online retailers:

WHAT IS A STREET TEAM?

For me? A street team is like my book’s family. A street team helps promote a book both before and after release. Often, this is done is small ways like:

  • Adding  or recommending the book on Goodreads
  • Requesting your local library order the book
  • Sharing your love and excitement on social media and with friends and family
  • Pre-ordering the book if you are able from your local bookstore or from any online retailer of your choice

Most of these things can be done by anyone, of course. And trust me, any author will GREATLY appreciate your doing them. But by organizing a street team, readers can often join together with the author and publisher and do even more to help a book. They can participate in marketing plans like excerpt reveals, interviews, Instagram challenges, Twitter chats, and more. They can get creative and be inspired by the book. My past street teams have even organized cool marketing ideas of their own (because they’re fabulous). We hope that the team will be a place that book lovers can use their creativity and skills and excitement to support RAGE and also have a lot of fun!

WHAT DO YOU GET IN RETURN?

As a former book blogger, I know that your time is valuable, and you have a great many choices on how to spend your free hours. Being on a street team IS a time commitment. But I hope several things will make that commitment worth it. First, I try as hard as I can to make my street teams a community. I started my first street team back in early 2014, and I am still in close contact with many members, and I am blessed to count many of them as good friends. We’ll spend a lot of time talking about RAGE, but we’ll also talk about other books we love. We’ll talk about life, and we’ll lean on each other, and I hope you will make many new friends. As a member of the team, you’ll get exclusive sneak peeks at RAGE (and even book three as I work). You’ll also learn behind the scenes info and fun facts that no one else knows, read deleted scenes, have access to private team giveaways and chats with me, and you’ll get first dibs on ARCS*.

*Depending on the size of the team, it may not be possible to guarantee every member a print or e-ARC, but being a Street Team Member definitely gives you the best chance at reading the book early. We will also do our best to organize the team so that those who participate and put in their time are rewarded.

HOW DO I APPLY?

This is the simple part. In previous years, if you applied to my team, you might remember it as a bit of a bloodbath. We typically had hundreds of applications and had to cut it down significantly. The largest team we ever had was 50 people, and even that was BRUTAL to narrow down. The good news is… we are choosing a SIGNIFICANTLY larger team this year. This means we’ll have to adjust some things, and we will be changing up some aspects of our format. For example, we’ll be using a newsletter as our primary form of communication this year, as opposed to the private Facebook group we used in years past (don’t worry, we’ll keep the FB group as a hangout). To that end, this year’s application is a little less intense. But we still want to get to know you, so we have some questions we would like you to answer. You just need to fill out the form below.

APPLICATIONS ARE DUE BY MAY 5TH.

Seriously. May 5th. That’s the end date. So tell everyone you know who might be interested.  

APPLY NOW. *

*Applications do not guarantee acceptance onto the team. But as I mentioned, we’re trying to open up and involve more people this year, so the odds are definitely MUCH MORE in your favor. 🙂 And as always, I try to choose my teams with an eye to harmony and passion and a balance of skillsets and interests. I’m not looking at your follower count as the bottom line.

If you are interested in knowing more about the Street Team, I will be chatting Live on Instagram this Sunday at 6pm CDT (7pm EDT) with a longtime member of my street team and my good friend, Megan from Novel Grounds. We’ll talk about past street teams, what will be different this time, and because Megan is one of the lucky few who has already read RAGE, you can bet we’ll be talking about that! So make sure you are following me on Instagram (@CoraCarmack) and come hang out on Sunday! I made sure it did not interfere with Game of Thrones. Haha.

And now for the FIRST EVER RAGE ARC GIVEAWAY!!!!

This giveaway is open internationally, and also closes on MAY 5TH, just like the street team applications. There are multiple ways to enter, and you can enter once a day for several of them. Also, have a picture of the pretties.

So I hope you get lucky! Click here to enter.* 

*Puppy Sherlock not included in giveaway.

 

Thanks for reading! And I cannot wait for you all to dive back into the Stormheart Universe with me!

With all my Awkward <3,

Cora

 

P.S. For those awaiting news on other books, I’m sorry I don’t have any specifics on that front. As I mentioned at the beginning, I got very far behind on both book things and life during my health struggles over the last few years. I am improving, but during all that time, my to-do list kept piling up. I’m chipping away and hopeful I’ll have news later this year, but this is definitely a race that will need to be slow and steady in order to maintain the progress I’ve made. As always, I appreciate your patience.

The One Where You Can Work With Me!

Hello out there! Calling all aspiring authors!!! I have awesome news!

So you guys might not know this, but before I started writing full time, I had my hand in few projects with books. I was a YA book blogger, an MFA in Creative Writing Student, and I worked remotely for a small indie publisher and a literary agency.

I always wanted to be an author, but I also loved everything about books and knew the best way to give myself a step up into this career was to learn as much as I could about every facet of the business. Now, these days I only write. Between deadlines and signings, there just isn’t time to do anything else but be an author. And though being an author is a dream come true, I can’t deny that I sometimes miss other aspects of my previous jobs.

One of the best feelings in the world was to be able to find an unpublished manuscript that I loved and do my best to take it from manuscript to published book. By nature, I am a book pusher. I love recommending books to friends and family (and complete strangers).

And now I have an opportunity to do that one more time! If you’re an aspiring writer, you might be aware of the incomparable Brenda Drake. An author and a blogger, Brenda also goes out of her way several times a year to run contests to help connect writers to potential agents and publishers. One such contest is known as Pitch Wars.



Here’s the low down on how it works: Brenda has assembled a team of published and soon-to-be published authors along with industry professionals to act as mentors (and yes, I am one of them)! If you have a finished manuscript, you can submit your pitches to up to FOUR mentors for consideration. Each mentor will choose one manuscript (along with two alternates) that they believe in to take on to the next stage of the competition. As mentor, I’ll work with my chosen author on both their manuscript and their pitch to help them get ready for the Agent round where esteemed literary agents will request the work that interests them. Alternates will be advised just on their pitch and first page.

This contest has the potential to propel you from aspiring writer to agented writer and then to published author, should your work be chosen. More than that, it’s a chance to have someone like me, who’s already on this path, guide and advise you on the next steps to take. Writing can be a lonely business. I cannot overemphasize how awesome this contest is! There are tons of fantastic mentors to choose from, so you’ll definitely want to visit all of their blogs to find out which mentor is the best for you!

Here’s what you need to know about me:

BIO:

Cora Carmack is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Losing It series, and one of the early pioneers of the New Adult category.  She’s a twenty-something author who likes to write about twenty-something characters finding their way through this wacky and wonderful thing we call life. She’s also a giant nerd. Fair warning.



WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR:

  • My primary category is New Adult, since that’s what I do, but I’m also an avid YA reader. I’m open to both for the purposes of this contest. 
  • For YA: I read all subgenres: Fantasy, Contemporary, Historical, etc. In particular, I’d love to see unique YA High fantasy, magical realism, and/or contemporary with a literary or humorous bent. I tend to prefer stories with a romantic element, though it doesn’t have to be the primary plot of the story. Some favorite YA books of mine in various subgenres are: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly, The Girl of Fire and Thorns series by Rae Carson, anything by Jennifer L. Armentrout, The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson, anything by Ally Carter, and Grave Mercy by RL LaFevers. Character is the most important thing for me when reading. I want to know who your character is, what drives them, and what sets them apart from everyone else. And the name of the game in YA these days is UNIQUE. It’s a crowded market, and to make me pay attention, I have to feel like your story is something I’ve never seen before. 
  • For NA: I write NA contemporary romance, so that’s obviously something I’m open to. Character and voice are absolutely key in New Adult. Dialogue needs to feel realistic to the age of the characters. It’s not enough for the characters to be college-aged, they need to be dealing with issues that are prominent for people transitioning from their teenage years to adulthood. I love humorous NA because there’s just not enough of it out there. I’m also a sucker for a book with artistic/creative elements (Theatre, film, music, dance, art, etc). Like YA, NA contemporary romance is a saturated market, so I’m not likely to request anything that sounds like a recycled version of something that’s already out there. It would take a really unique premise to make me choose something in the whole bad boy/broken girl healed by a relationship cliche. I’m looking for something with strong romantic elements, but also an interesting premise outside the romance. This does NOT have to translate to sex. I could care less how much or how little sex there is in your NA. Not to be a broken record but I just care about your story being UNIQUE. I’m totally up for non-contemporary NA– paranormal, scifi, etc– though I’d be most interested in NA speculative fiction with a prominent romance and fantasy grounded in reality. Some of my favorite NA is by authors like J. Lynn, K.A. Tucker, Colleen Hoover, Lisa Desrochers,  and Jeaniene Frost.

What I’m NOT looking for:

  • BABIES. I love those cute, cuddly little buggers as much as the next person who gets to play with the adorable thing and then send it home to it’s mommy. But I am not the right person for books with pregnancies or happily ever after baby-filled epilogues.
  • Books where someone cheats and it’s totally okay. I can’t say I will NEVER enjoy a book that has cheating in it, but I’ve yet to find one that didn’t make me want to tear out my hair, so there’s that.
  • Heroines with no backbone. I’m not saying your heroine can’t have insecurities or weaknesses or make mistakes. But they need to have a backbone about something. If they suck at love, fine. But make them passionate and hardcore about a job or a hobby or whatever.
  • Ironic as it is, I’m a romance writer who’s not much of a romantic. I’m cynical and independent. So, I’m not likely to connect with characters whose only want in life is to fall in love.
  • I’m a character-driven author and reader, so I tend to prefer books with one POV where I can really delve into that character, though I can handle two POVs in a romance. But if you’ve got more than two POVs, each of those characters better be A-MAZING, or you’ll lose my interest fast.

Now, if you made it through those massive descriptions, here are some other things you can expect from me as a mentor:

  • Harry potter references. Possibly sprinkled with the occasional mention of Doctor Who, The Vampire Diaries, Hunger Games, Battlestar Galactica, and/or Game of Thrones. 
  • Gushy fangirling over everything I love in your manuscript. Probably with a whole bunch of these !!!!!!!!
  • Honest and realistic advice on your manuscript and your career. This is a tough business, and plenty of fantastic writers never see their work published. I’m not going to tiptoe around issues or challenges in your manuscript. This is a business, and we will definitely treat it as such. As your mentor, I’ll be thinking like an agent, an editor, a publicist, and a reader, and we’ll aim to make your book as successful as possible in each of those areas. 
  • If I like your work, I can promise I’ll be an advocate of your work long after this contest ends. Sorry. You’ll be stuck with me. 🙂
  • On the flip side, I’m a working author. I write 4-6 books a year and travel extensively for signings, events, and conferences. I sought out Brenda for this contest because I want to help the next class of emerging authors. And I’m SO excited to get started. BUT… I don’t have the time to hold your hand every step of the way. So, if you feel like your manuscript still needs a lot of work (or you just know you’re a needy person), you might be better off with another mentor. 
  • I’ll also be tweeting under the #Pitchwars hashtag on twitter some more likes, dislikes, and insight in the days leading up to submission day. So make sure you’re following me!
If I haven’t scared you away yet… AWESOMEPANTS. Here’s the schedule for the contest: 
 
  • 11/20 Mentor’s post bios and wishlists
  • 12/2: Submission Window
  • 12/3 -12/10: Mentors read their applications
  • 12/11: Mentor’s announce their picks
  • 12/11 -1/17: Mentors work with their writers
  • 1/22-1/23 Agent Round

 

NOTE: Pay attention to that submission window up there. It’s one day only! So, you’ll definitely want to be following Brenda’s blog to make sure you read all the submission guidelines and don’t miss any pertinent information leading up to submission day. 

 
And now, for the SUPER exciting part… the agents! I can attest to the awesomeness of several of these agents personally, including my own SuperNinjaAgentofAwesome, Suzie Townsend. 
 

 

1.       LouiseFury – Bent Agency

 

 

3.       NicoleResciniti – The Seymour Agency

 

 

 

 

 

 

9.       QuinlanLee – Adams Literary

 

 

14.   LanaPopovic and Natasha Alexis – Zachary Shuster Harmsworth
And last, but certainly not least, check out the list of mentors! You only get to pick FOUR mentors to submit your work to. So, choose carefully. Pay attention to their likes and dislikes. Give yourself the best possible shot of getting chosen by choosing the mentors who seem most compatible with your work!

 

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And now… go forth and prepare! I wish you all the luck!! Can’t wait to hear all about your work!