What’s your one line pitch or teaser for the book? Grab a reader’s attention with one line.
“There are far worse things than to be tormented by the souls of the dead.” – Letitia Hawking
Letitia can save a young girl’s life, but only if she exposes herself to the evil that lies beyond the veil.
Tell readers a little about your main character or characters?
Letitia is a psychic who reads the veil between life and death. She’s able to immerse herself in the final moments of their death, and give closure to those left behind. It’s a penance she pays after a séance went horribly wrong, imbuing her with a powerful gift. But she’s reluctant to help a man trying to save his niece from her growing insanity. A darkness haunts the family, but if Letitia helps them, she exposes herself to the same entities that once tried to steal her soul.
Where do you like to write? Do you have an office or writing nook?
I mostly write at my desk, music playing, and running writing sprints with a few friends. I have over a dozen projects I’m working on at the moment, so every day can be different unless I have a deadline. The wall behind my desk is full of inspirational quotes and accomplishments to keep me going.
What is one of your best marketing tips for other authors?
Reach out to book bloggers early in your book’s promotional stage, ideally six months before hand. The early reviews are a great way to build interest and it’s a good confidence boost for you. Feel free to check out my website, I have written several blogs on the subject too, there are a lot of tools there to help, and also how to find budget friendly marketing ideas.
What websites or tools have you found that offer the best results?
One of my go to platforms is Canva. It’s great for making promo images for your social media platforms. Making yourself easy to find is incredibly important, especially when someone recommends your book, and being accessible to readers also doesn’t have to be stressful. Many writers are introverts, and social media can be very intimidating, but how much you engage is very much in your sphere of control. You can always step away, use scheduling services, and set it up with automated posting sites like HootSuite.
Any advice for aspiring writers?
The best thing you can do for yourself is write… and let other people read it. It can seem very intimidating but it’s the only way we grow as writers. Editors can help us fix problems, but even they miss stuff. Multiple readers can give all kinds of feedback too, but some is helpful and other times it’s not. Learn to accept any and all feedback, but to take from it the things that resonate. Both the places you need to improve, because we all do, and the places you do well. It’s what helps you write the next book.
E. J. Dawson
Genre: Gothic Suspense
Publisher: Literary Wanderlust
Date of Publication: 1st October 2021
ISBN: 9781942856931
ASIN: B0981C89JL
Number of pages: 252
Word Count: 86k
Cover Artist: Violeta Nedkova
Tagline: To catch a killer or save her sanity
Book Description:
Can she keep the secrets of her past to rescue a girl tormented by a ghost?
In 1920s Los Angeles, Letitia Hawking reads the veil between life and death. A scrying bowl allows her to experience the final moments of the deceased. She brings closure to grief-stricken war widows and mourning families.
For Letitia, it is a penance. She knows no such peace.
For Alasdair Driscoll, it may be the only way to save his niece, Finola, from her growing night terrors. But when Letitia sees a shadowy figure attached to the household, it rouses old fears of her unspeakable past in England.
When a man comes to her about his missing daughter, the third girl to go missing in as many months, Letitia can’t help him when she can’t see who’s taken them.
As a darkness haunts Letitia’s vision, she may not be given a choice in helping the determined Mr Driscoll, or stop herself falling in love with him. But to do so risks a part of herself she locked away, and to release it may cost Letitia her sanity and her heart.
Excerpt One:
“My apologies,” Letitia said, hopeful she could put him off with an
excuse, “I’ll need a preliminary appointment and then a secondary one for the
actual session, and I’m unavailable for another three weeks―”
“I can’t wait that long,” he said, reaching into his suit pocket to
pluck out a brown envelope. “If you require a provisional report to better assess
the situation, you can come by my office in the morning, where I will have
legal paperwork for matters of confidentiality. I believe most of your
consultations are in the afternoon, so it should not interfere with your
appointment book.”
Letitia snapped the ledger shut. “I have other errands I must attend to
tomorrow.”
“I wasn’t asking you, Ms. Hawking.”
She had guessed he’d spoken to one of her patrons, which would explain
his presence on her doorstep, but now she was certain. Only during private
consultations did she give her name, and only to those who treated what she
gave them with due dignity. Each client had to meet her conditions, and each
made a substantial payment for her service. It varied on the time passed and
the trauma of death, but each one carried a price—for them and for her. Letitia
always finished her sessions by asking patrons for their discretion and giving
out a card with a telephone number and times to call. She was happy for a
client to refer her to others, but rather than call he was here in person,
making demands. He was not the kind of clientele she sought, especially one
connected to a patron who had broken her request for privacy.
“I don’t appreciate your tone of voice,” she retorted, “or opening my
door without invitation like a common thief, never mind you haven’t even
bothered to introduce yourself.”
“I believe I’ve already apologized for my error,” he said, and Letitia
would have responded in kind, but he was instructing her again. “And under the
circumstances of your profession, I’m being more than reasonable in my request
as well as reimbursement for your time.”
He attempted to hand her the envelope, and when she didn’t accept, he
dropped it where she still held the ledger. It brushed her bare fingers, and a
shadow grew behind the stranger.
The captivating dark absorbing her being, Letitia fumbled for the
mental defenses against a true apparition, stunned as she was by its vivid
form.
A cloud of darkness without face or features hovered over the man’s
shoulder, but deep inside it she sensed it staring at her. Broad arms that
could have grasped her in its embrace lay still by its side. Letitia couldn’t
draw breath to scream at the darkness within the figure, the soul-sucking
despair rendering her voiceless at the shadow’s presence.
About the Author:
Beginning a writing journey with an epic 21 book series, Ejay started her
author career in 2014 and has taken on the ups and downs of self-publishing
with her fantasy series The Last Prophecy since 2016. At the start of 2019, she
put the series on the backburner to write Behind the Veil in 25 days, and
signed a publishing contract for the gothic noir novel to independent publisher
Literary Wanderlust. Behind the Veil is set for release on the October 1st
2021. She resumed self-publishing a scifi series, Queen of Spades released
across 2020 and 2021, as well as signing another contract with Literary
Wanderlust for NA fantasy, Echo of the Evercry. Believing in more than one path
to a career in publishing, Ejay pursues self-publishing alongside querying
traditional publishers with multiple manuscripts.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Terrific cover
ReplyDelete