What Do You Want To Achieve In 2014?

I've always been a goal setter. I like to have something to aim for and I love that sense of achievement when I can cross something off my list. I also love the sense of directions goals give me.

So - in regards to YAlicious this year...here are some of my goals:

- Although this blog is called YAlicious, I have started to include some New Adult novels as well. I have read some fantastic NA novels lately and I want to be able to include them on this blog, so my goal is to include a wider variety of books and authors this year. I will still continue to talk movies occasionally as well - I just can't help myself ;)

- I want to continue inviting amazing authors to visit. It's been so cool featuring all these great books and highlighting new writers for you to discover. This will continue to be the main focus of this blog.
If you have any authors you absolutely love, let me know, I'd love to have them visit YAlicious.

- I want to continue with some of the special features - Cover Love, Discussion Time, Book Reviewer Interviews. I'm also going to introduce two new features this year - Top 5 & The Monthly Awesomeness Award.
If you are a book reviewer and would like to tell us a little about yourself in the interview feature, please let me know. I'd love to have you.

- Another initiative I want to start this year is Weekly Winner. Most Mondays I will be featuring an author and one or two of their books. These features will always be accompanied with a giveaway and each Sunday, a Weekly Winner will be chosen.

- And because this is my blog, I will still continue to highlight what's going on in my writing world ;)

Have you set any goals for yourself this year?
If so, I wish you the best of luck in achieving them.

And because it's Monday, let's start our first giveaway of the year.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Discussion Time: Is is okay for an author to write in multiple genres?

I have written about this topic before. If you'd like to read my previous post on Indies Unlimited, you can check it out here.

The post generated quite a bit of discussion among other writers, most of them saying that writing in multiple genres is completely fine.

But I want to know what readers think.

You see, as an author, I don't want to get trapped into only writing one genre. I'm happy playing with YA at the moment. I love it actually, but I have some adult stories up my sleeve that I hope to write one day. Also, within YA, I have a plethora of stories I'd like to write ranging from paranormal/fantasy through to contemporary and some action/thrillers. I can promise my readers that no matter what genre my story falls into, it will always have a strong romantic element running through it, be fast paced and filled with lots of dialogue.

As a reader, I quite like it when authors branch out and try new things, as long as they don't lose their voice too much.

As a reader, do you mind if an author strays into different genres? Or do you prefer knowing that when you reach for a book by a particular author that you will get exactly what you expect?

I'm fascinated by what people think about this and I would love it if you could leave your opinion in the comments section.

It's Time To Make Some Changes

Over the past month, I've been thinking a lot about this blog. I ran the Author-fest throughout October and had so much fun with it. It made me realize how many amazing authors there are out there and how I want to get to know them better.

Having had a chat with Brenda, we think it is time to make some changes to our blog.

YAlicious is all about celebrating Young Adult books and movies. So it's time to start doing that a little more. From now on, we are going to dedicate this blog to book and movie reviews, author guests posts, blogger guest posts and chats about what author's are working on.

We want this to be a place of discussion and fun.

If you are an author, or know of an author you think would be good for this blog, please let us know in the comments section. This also applies to book bloggers. You guys read so many amazing books, we'd love to hear your favourites and find out what you think about writers as well.

We're also on the hunt for questions you want answered. As a reader or writer, what kinds of interview questions do you want to ask an author or book blogger?

Thank you so much to the followers we have and thank you in advance to all the wonderful guests we will having visiting our blog. We're so excited about these changes!!

Let the fun begin :)

PS - Posting times are going to shift as well. We will now be posting on a Monday and a Thursday. 

Friday Favourites - Non-fiction Authors

I tend to avoid non-fiction. To me those two little words, joined with that small hyphen, scream boredom. But the truth is, every time I do reach for a non-fiction book I am always pleasantly surprised by how readable it is and how much I get out of it.

Do you read non-fiction?
Who are your favourite non-fiction writers?

My list is steadily growing. I've broken my favourites into a few different categories.

 Life Stories
The most profound and moving story I've ever read was written by a Dutch lady - Corrie Ten Boom. She harboured Jews during World War 2 and was eventually captured. She spent the rest of the war surviving the horrific conditions of Ravensbruck Concentration Camp. She faced many horrors and tragedies, but her book, The Hiding Place, is written with grace and wit. I haven't read her other books, but I'm sure I would enjoy them.

Humor
I have never laughed so much reading a book than when I read I Should Have Seen It Coming When The Rabbit Died by Teresa Bloomingdale. It was such a fantastic book and her writing was so heartfelt and personal.

 Educational
Being a writer, I have obviously read quite a few books on writing. My list of recommendations is ridiculously long, but I can say that one of the most enjoyable books to read was On Writing by Stephen King. His easy style and points of advice made for almost light reading with impacting content. I didn't feel bogged down by information, but more inspired with a list of new strategies to execute.


Self-Help
The most enjoyable and helpful "self-help" book I've ever read has been Personality Plus by Florence Littauer. Once again, it is peppered with humor, but also laid out in a very practical, easy to follow manner with charts and lists. I love that kind of thing.

So, that's me.
Which non-fiction authors do you keep an eye out for?

Friday Favourites - Traditionally Published Authors

In sticking with the author theme of this month, I am now asking people who their favourite traditionally published authors are.

Last week I posted about favourite indie authors if you'd like to check it out.

So - traditionally published.... hmmmm - there are just so many, aren't there?

 The first few that pop into my head are:

Francine Rivers - I have loved most of her books - particularly Redeeming Love and The Mark of the Lion Trilogy.

Dee Henderson - I own all of her books - the first series I read was the Uncommon Heroes. LOVED it!

Simone Elkeles - I have loved most of her books. Perfect Chemistry was the first book of hers I read and I couldn't put it down.

How about you?
Which traditionally published authors have you looking for their latest releases?

Author-fest!

It's October and in Germany they are celebrating with Oktoberfest... so I thought, why not have an Author-fest.

So for the month of October, I'll be posting twice a week with a short author interview. It'll be a great chance to get to know some fantastic authors a little better and find out about what they're up to. If you're an author and you'd like to be involved, you can message me through my Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/melissapearlauthor.

I hope everyone's having a great start to their week :)

MP

The Honest Truth

There has been a lot of discussion lately about some very underhand tactics to get a ton of reviews on Amazon and therefore shoot books into stardom. For example, authors paying for reviews or making up phony aliases so they can write their own reviews. Many whom I have spoken with are appalled and sadden by these methods. I'm sure you feel the same way.

I don't want to harp on about it, but since I am getting ready to e-mail a copy of Betwixt to all the blog tour participants (Betwixt blog tour hosted by A Tale of Many Reviews, Dec 3 - 8), I thought I'd touch on the subject today.

What is an honest review worth?

To me, as a reader and a writer, the answer is simple - gold. An honest review is what I'm looking for. I don't want to give buyers false impressions about my books. I also don't want to buy a book based on false reviews. I want my books to be reviewed by readers and I want to know what they think. I value readers' opinions and I particularly love reading a review that is well thought out and shows the reviewer has really understood the book.

Whenever I review a book, I tend to keep it brief as I never want to give away spoilers. I hardly ever read a book that I think is perfect, but I try to err on the positive when I'm writing a review. If I have a huge issue with something in the book, I will mention it, but on the whole I like to be upbeat. I will never write anything I don't agree with though.

What kind of reviewer are you?

I'd like to finish by saying a huge thank you to anyone who has reviewed or rated my books. I so appreciate the time you have taken to read them and then share your opinion on them. It's people like you that help us indie authors get exposure for our work, so a thousand times thank you :)

Go on! Tell them!

I had a real "feel good" moment yesterday when I bumped into a work colleague who had purchased Golden Blood for her daughter. She took the time to tell me that her daughter, who is a prolific reader (especially in YA), loved my book so much. She was raving about it and couldn't wait to tell all her friends.

As you can imagine, it TOTALLY made my day. I flew home and told my husband, I posted it on Facebook, I was elated. It got me thinking about how much time I've spent stressing about sales and marketing over the last month. With my own life being ridiculously busy, I just haven't had the time to spend on it. But you know, when you hear that one person loves your book so much, you can step back and say, "This is what it's all about." It's not a numbers game. That's not why I published my work. I published it because I wanted to give readers some really fun time out. I wanted them to enjoy my books.

So - whether I sell one more book or five million. I am still a success, because there are people out there who have really, really enjoyed my stuff.

This brings me to my main point... if you're a reader and you've read a great book that you loved. I want to encourage you to take the time to contact the author and let them know.

I have done this on several occasions and have had some fantastic responses. It's only taken ten minutes of my time and more often than not, the authors reply. It's a win-win situation.

Have you ever contacted an author personally?