Radio Progs, Literary Dogs, and Helpful Blogs

It's been a busy week on the radio side with some fantastic shows and guests on my blog radio show "A BOOK AND A CHAT".

I have been very lucky with my guests, and the response and feed back has been nothing but good. So much so that there seldom seems to be a day go by without an email or a message asking if such and such a writer could be a guest.

I am now, or so it seems going to shows on three nights a week, with even these dates filled for much of the next couple of months. Up and coming guests range from bloggers to reviewers to writers and publicist. Hopefully all will enjoy their chat over a cup of tea, in the friendly fun format I always try and promote.

I have been asked recently to create a couple of guest blogs about doing a radio show, the first of which can be found at


http://marketmynovel.com/2009/08/how-to-find-a-good-online-radio-show.html


I was also asked in another interview for the pitfalls and drawbacks of blog radio, guest no shows etc. One item I did forget, which was brought home to me over the last few days is the fact that to do a show, I have to shut the windows and turn off the air conditioning or fan while doing the show, to avoid background noise. in the humidity we've had on the east coast the last week, this is definitely not a good thing.

For those of you who caught the show on Friday with The Story Siren, we had a little dog interruption on one of the calls, as well as discussing Kristi's own dog, Xander who appears on her Vlogs. Well if you check "The Story Siren" today you see Xander can also help put book cases together.

Many blogs are full of helpful advice, for writers and readers, places to go, books to read, free things etc. I even did my own "Book Promotion on a Budget" five day blog to help people. On Wednesday I will hopefully be producing a blog with some more helpful locations for software and advice.

As for the AMAZON reviews... the number at the Deli counter has not ticked over and I'm still standing at...




Barry (Storyheart)




Author of Young Adult Romance/Fiction book
"Across the Pond"

Barbara Bretton, Story Siren, Radio Shows and the Magic 99

The last few days have been full of fun, adventure and entertainment.

Today my Saturday "Book and a Chat" guest was Barbara Bretton, is the USA Today bestselling, award-winning author of more than 40 books. She currently has over ten million copies in print around the world. Her works have been translated into twelve languages in over twenty countries. Not counting that she is also a major knitter of socks...





As normal it was a great thirty minutes chatting with Barbara about her family, her writing, and her new book "Laced with Magic" the second book in the Sugar Maple series. As I always try for the show was full of laughter.

Check the show out at

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Across-the-Pond/2009/08/22/A-BOOK-AND-A-CHAT-with-Barbara-Bretton

Talking about laughter yesterday I had a wonderful time chatting with Kristi "The Story Siren" and many other YA Bloggers (Check yesterdays blog). I had a wonderful follow up from that show receiving this great email...

I was just listening to your interview with the darling Story
Siren.... I'm thrilled to hear that so many people have mentioned
WILLOW on your show! Thank you for your most positive comments! If
you would be interested in having me on....

Julia Hoban

Of course to get the author of Willow as a guest I jumped at it, so keep a look out for Julia coming as a future guest.

Talking about humor... with all the shows this week I did not have a Weird News day, though beleive me there were some great snippets.

In New Zealand (we have some great one from there) a man went into a record store, ordered a box set of CD's and gave the assistant his address and telephone number so he could be notified when the set arrived. He then robbed the store, but could not work out how the police were there waiting for him at his house when he got home.

Now that Magic 99.

I have had several fresh and very kind reviews at Amazon, each one clicking up the review counter, until today that total is sitting at 99... waiting... waiting to tick over to that wonderful 100

So that is the news for today I'll be back tomorrow with my UK BLOG where you can read about the fastest kettle in the world

Barry






Author of Young Adult Romance/Fiction book
"Across the Pond"

A Book and a Chat with "The Story Siren"

Sometimes a show is so special that you have make it stand out above other shows, change your night extend the length of your show, whatever it takes. Tonight was one of those special shows.

A Book and a Chat with "The Story Siren"

Kristi alias "The Story Siren" has one of the leading lights in the YA blogging community, with almost 200,000 Visitors in under 2 years, number 6 in the top book sites, followed by over 800 on twitter, the plaudits just go on and on. The Story Siren blog has been nominated for TEN different categories in the BBAW awards.

Listen to this special radio program about a special blogger, with interaction from other guests and chat room folk

Stop what your doing and share this forty five minute fascinating incite into the world of YA blogging.

Listen at

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Across-the-Pond/2009/08/21/A-BOOK-AND-A-CHAT-with-The-Story-Siren

or on my blog at

http://acrossthepond-storyheart.blogspot.com

"The Story Siren" did a great recap of the show...(in her words) which I'll share so it gives you an idea of how it went.

The Story Sirens Recap:

* Well there was an introduction! ha!
* We talked about how books can help with things like: self esteem for example
* That I was an "invisible" person in high school, I related to The Opposite of Invisible by Liz Gallagher.
* I showed up for my first swim practice in a two piece.
* Books are an escape!
* Xander is my Rotten-weiler. Everyone loves him, especially Cat.
* I've gotten to meet other bloggers. I mentioned Chelsea of the Page Flipper and Lauren of Shooting Stars Mag. I'm amazed that you can have real friendships that develop online!
* Why I like reading YA: relate to the characters and Fantastic Writers! They are the complete package!
* Vlogs
* That I can't help buying books! Even if I already have them.
* My Favorite books from this year: well the ones I remembered to mention: Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert, Willow by Julia Hoban, and Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater.
* The YA Connection, that is in retirement at the moment.
* The genre that I wish I could read more of: fantasy! Diana Peterfreund author of Rampant asked this one!
* Cindy of Cindy's Love of Books stopped by
* Cindy asked what was the one thing about blogging that surprised me the most? That authors are accessible! You can talk to them and everything, that's just crazy!
* Cindy's favorite book she mention was Willow by Julia Hoban. Lots of Willow talk.
* We couldn't pick a favorite author!
* Also, thanks to Adele of Persnickety Snark, I remembered I loved Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols.
* Book Blogger Appreciation Week, started by My Friend Amy. And my 10 nominations!
* Vania of Reverie Book Reviews stopped by.
* V asked what's one of the hardest thing about bloggin? My reviews! I stink at writing them!
* Steph asked what books I read and loved as a teen? I read James Patterson and Micheal Crichton, loved the Jurassic Park books. I didn't read teen books, there weren't really any. Loved Goosebumps and Babysitters Club when I was younger.
* Talked about the fact that you can read YA at any age, and the recent negative email and comments that were made on the blog.
* Diana from The Book Resort called in.
* Diana asked where do I see YA trending? We need a new "vampire" I'm predicting unicorns, zombies, faeries and angels!
* Khy from Frenetic Reader stopped by too!
* Khy asked what books have gotten overlooked? I mentioned The Dairy Queen series by Catherine Gilbert Murdock.
* Team Unicorn!
* Plus a few other things that I might have mentioned!

Thanks for such a great run down Kristi



Author of Young Adult Romance/Fiction book
"Across the Pond"