Today Katie Metter is visiting my blog.
Welcome, Katie!
I’m sure you can
guess the first question, Katie. Can you explain Kindle Scout for those of us
who know very little about it?
Sure, I’d be happy to. I would love more people to start
scouting J
Kindle Scout is a program through Amazon that allows authors to upload their
book to be ‘scouted’ by readers like you. It has to be a never before published
work of 50,000 words or longer. All the major genres and sub-genres are
represented at any given time.
Each “campaign” lasts for 30 days, and during that time the
author needs to get as many readers to nominate your book as they can. Kindle
Press (which is what Amazon’s imprint is called) is looking for marketable
titles that garner a lot interest from readers during those 30 days. That is
why they have the authors answer questions about their work, and they publish the
first 5,000 words of the story, so the reader can get a real feel for it.
Once you find a book you are interested in nominating, you
click the ‘nominate me’ button and it will go up on your nomination board. You
can have 3 books at any given time on that board. If you remove one book to put
another on, then you’ll be giving up the first nomination. Why is that
important? Because if the book is chosen by Kindle Press to be published, and
the book was on your nomination board at the end of the 30 day campaign, then
you’ll get a free early copy of the book before it goes live on Amazon! So
basically, you get free books just by nominating.
(Remember, books are in all stages of their campaign at any
given day, so if you see two are ending in 2 days and you want to nominate
them, you can, just go back and put the two you removed from your nomination
board back on once the first two have finished their campaign).
White Sheets & Rosy Cheeks sounds like an interesting read. The
title piqued my interest right away. Can you share the blurb and one of your
favorite passages from the story?
I’ll share the little bit longer blurb than you’ll get on
the Kindle Scout page.
Dr. Salvador Brennan left the earth a lonely and regretful
man. Given a chance to right his wrongs, he returns to Bearsfield, Wisconsin,
to manipulate two broken hearts into the greatest love story of all time, from
beyond the grave.
The first step is convincing his nephew, Eli Sheets, to
leave his life in Michigan and move to a tiny town in Wisconsin. Having put the
plan in motion before he died, he bequeathed his rundown house to Eli, with the
hope that time had healed his wounds. Eli and his three-year-old daughter,
Molly, arrive on a late spring afternoon, and Uncle Sal wonders if Eli sees the
peeling paint and sagging porch as a way to put the past behind him. When Eli
meets his next-door neighbor, Diana Forrester, does he catch a glimpse of his
future?
Initiate Operation Molly.
‘Ghostie’ befriends Molly, and together they teach Eli and
Diana that the yellow brick road is paved with acceptance and forgiveness.
Waiting at the end of the road is a love that will heal their broken hearts,
and bring them together, forever.
The first 5,000 words of the story are on my Kindle Scout
page, so I’ll let your readers head over there to read an excerpt and get a
good feel for the story. For now, I’ll post one of my favorite parts of the
story because it’s short. This is an exchange between Eli and Molly, and let’s
not forget, Dorfy.
Molly held my hand as we walked up the stairs and I opened
the door, ushering her in. She grabbed her My Little Pony sleeping bag and
pillow and spread them on the couch, then jumped in the bag and waited for me
to zip it up. Once she had her little body comfortable, I went to the door and
let in Dorothy, who was scratching at it. She jumped up on the couch, worming
her way down into the sleeping bag until all you saw was her snout sticking
out.
“Dorfy is disgusted dat you forgetted her,” Molly scolded
and I chuckled, my head shaking.
“Tell Dorothy I’m sorry.” I kissed her goodnight and made
her promise to go to sleep even though we were outside. Her eyes closed before
I finished my sentence, and I knew she wouldn’t wake anytime soon.
What would you like
the readers to know about your characters?
The characters in White Sheets & Rosy Cheeks are special
because they let you experience falling in love all over again, even though
they’re both over thirty.
Eli Franklin Sheets is the district Administrator for
Bearsfield Schools. He moves there when his long lost uncle, Dr. Salvador
Brennan, left him a house after his death. Eli is looking for a fresh start
after losing his wife three years earlier, after the birth of their daughter
Molly. He’s not necessarily looking for love as much as he’s looking for a way
to make new memories without being constantly reminded of the old ones. He
thinks a new home and a new job, hundreds of miles away, might do that.
Diana Forrester is the editor and publisher of the
Bearsfield newspaper. She lives next door to the house at 617 South Beltrane
Avenue, and she was a good friend of “Bud’s” before he died. She was more than
surprised when a man showed up claiming to be his nephew, considering Bud told
her he had no family. Diana is intriguing because she is confident and strong
when it comes to her work and in the community, but when she’s alone with Eli
she becomes submissive and weak. She’s not looking for love, now or ever for
that matter, but she has a hard time staying away from the man and his little
girl next door.
Molly Leonora Sheets is Eli’s 3-year-old daughter. She’s
clairvoyant and because of that, she is the only one who can see her ghost
friend, “Ghostie Dan”. Molly is sweet child innocence that makes you wish you
had a 3-year-old in the house again. She’s super protective of her daddy, but
aches for the love and attention of a woman.
Uncle Sal is just plain fun. You’ve never met a ghost quite
like him. He has a serious story to tell, but in the process, he makes you
laugh and helps us see that sometimes we can’t leave things up to chance.
Sometimes we have to do a little orchestrating to get things right.
Dorothy, or Dorfy as Molly calls her, is Diana’s little
dog. Why am I mentioning her? Because
she’s awesome, and who doesn’t love a dog that looks like Toto, but is called
Dorothy? J
Even though you treat
your readers to some lighthearted moments with your characters, at the root of
each story is a powerful message. I assume it’s the same with your new book.
What can we expect from White Sheets
& Rosy Cheeks?
White Sheets & Rosy Cheeks is a little bit different
from most of my books because it’s a more upbeat, lighthearted contemporary
romance. Of course, I couldn’t leave it at that, so you’re right, there are some
hidden parts of the character’s lives that they must find a way to reveal to
each other if they want to find happiness. That said, the reader can expect to
fall in love with the characters immediately, and they’ll want to find out what
the reasons were that Uncle Sal left town without a trace. This is a fun,
flirty, summertime read it by the light of the fireflies kind of book with just
enough mystery to keep the readers on their toes.
Can you direct us to
where we can nominate your book?
Scouting is surprisingly simple. As long as you have an
Amazon account, you go to www.kindlescout.amazon.com
and White Sheets & Rosy Cheeks is listed under romance. While you are there,
you can scout books in other categories and nominate up to three. This is the
direct link to White Sheets & Rosy Cheeks if you want to go right to my
page. White Sheets
& Rosy Cheeks on Kindle Scout
I know while you’re
eagerly awaiting the results of the Kindle Scout program, you’re busy clicking
away at the keyboard with another great story. Can you say a few words about
you’re working on now?
You know me well, Jan. I’m always working on something J
My current WIP is the second book in the Kupid’s Cove series titled “Me &
Mr. I.T.” This particular series takes place in Maui and Honolulu and features
characters who work for Kupid Enterprises.
Eliana Monroe is head marketing director for Kupid
Enterprises. She’s all thumbs when it comes to technology, though. Maltrand
KeKoa, or Mr. I.T. as they call him at Kupid Enterprises, knows everything
there is to know about computers. When money and equipment start going missing,
Gideon Armstrong, owner of the resorts, asks Ellie and Mr. I.T. to go
undercover at his resort in Honolulu to find the thief.
The problem? They’ve had a crush on each other since two
months ago when Mr. I.T. found Ellie after having a little too much to drink.
She made an offer he had to refuse, even though he wanted nothing more than to
agree.
What ensues is a comedy of errors involving a fashion show,
wedding bands, a Frisbee, a baby, a thief, a kidnapping, and a confession. Through it all, the question remains for
Ellie. Will Me & Mr. I.T. ever be more than friends?
You’ve recently released
Magnificent Agony. Can you tell us a
little bit about this story?
I think Tobi Helton said it best in her review of
Magnificent Agony. “Once again, Katie Mettner has taken to writing a true to
life story that confronts life, death and struggle in faith and other people
around you.” When I first
came up with the idea for Magnificent Agony, I wanted to write a book that did
three things. I wanted to highlight the struggles families go through when they
have someone in their family who has mental disabilities. I wanted to portray
life, and death, intertwined in a way that made the reader sad, but also helped
them see the other side of death, how it teaches us to live. The third thing I
wanted to highlight was how communities come together when tragedy strikes. I
wanted the reader to remember the town of Magnificent and the way they
supported Eve when she needed them most, so when tragedy struck in their own
town, they were one of the first to step up and help.
Here is the blurb for Magnificent Agony:
Eve Darling has learned one very important lesson in her
twenty-six years; life never goes according to plan
The night of her high school graduation her heart was
bursting with hopes and dreams for the future, but the universe had other
ideas. Instead of New York and culinary school, she stayed in Magnificent,
Wisconsin. Barely an adult herself, Eve was irrevocably tasked with becoming a
mother to her big brother, Davis, the man with the heart and mind of a
five-year-old boy. Now, eight years later, she’s become a successful
entrepreneur, chef, and businesswoman. All of those responsibilities came at a
price and her personal life was payment. No one was more acutely aware of that
than she was.
And then, with one phone call, everything changed.
‘After life organizer’ Abraham Von Sallage was like no
funeral director Eve had ever met. He was young, charming, witty, and had a
unique perspective on life, because his business, was death. They both carried
burdens society couldn’t, or wouldn’t, acknowledge, and in those burdens, they
found an instantaneous connection. That night, as Abraham stood in the doorway
of her cooking school, she saw hope in his eyes.
And then her world crumbled.
An inexplicably cruel twist of fate calls into question
everything she knows about life, and death. With her soul adrift in guilt, she
clung to the only person she could trust to save her from the agony her life
has become. Shrouded by grief, it would take the love of one man, and the
resolve of an entire community, to show her just how magnificent life can be.
Thank you for being
here today, Katie, and for sharing what’s happening with your career! I wish
you much success with White Sheets &
Rosy Cheeks! I know it’s worthy of a publishing contract with Amazon and I
hope everyone else feels the same. And good luck with Magnificent Agony as well.
You can follow Katie
here...
