RELEASE DAY: Something a little different.

TODAY IS RELEASE DAY of 'LOVE FOOL' - I am so excited to be sharing with you my very first published New Adult Romance story. 

When Vicky Dean finds herself drowning in the ocean of cool that is the London indie music scene, she soon learns that if she's to survive, it's time to change the record.

It's one of 10 short novels published in WaWa Productions' '10 Things I Love About You' collection and it's out TODAY. 

BLURB: The 90s: The decade of AOL, Grunge music, the Gulf War, OJ Simpson trial, Friends, Seinfeld, Britney and Christina, tattoos and belly button piercings, Monica Lewinsky, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Tarantino movies. It was a decade of polarities and hilarity.

Those who reached adulthood in the Nineties were branded Generation X, and were labeled apathetic slackers and cynics. But, ultimately, this generation was called on to bridge the gap between old ideals and new technologies and ways of living. 

These new adults had to find jobs, find themselves, and find love amidst rapidly changing landscapes online and off.

TEN THINGS I LOVE ABOUT YOU is a collection of ten contemporary romance, new adult, stand-alone stories set in the 1990s.

The title of each love story will be a hit song from the year that the novella represents, and are written, respectively, by award-winning and bestselling authors.

1990: "Nothing Compares 2 U" -- Michele G Miller + Mindy Hayes
Can one weekend erase a first love's betrayal?

1991: "More Than Words" -- Christina Benjamin
It takes more than words to make it in love and music.

1992: "Jump" -- Micalea Smeltzer
Jenna's shy, quiet, and a bookworm. Caleb is wild, sarcastic, and an adrenaline junkie. One trip will bring their worlds together in ways they never expected.

1993: “Can't Help Falling in Love” -- L.A. Fiore
Emma doesn’t put much stock in fairy tales and happily ever afters, but finding herself stranded in some unknown town, in a diner late at night, dripping cheeseburger juice on her wedding gown is so not how she saw her big day ending. But when the town’s sexy mechanic comes riding to her rescue, maybe her fairy godmother is onto something.

1994: “The Sign” -- Carey Heywood
Are personalized mix tapes, Ferris Wheel rides, and ice cream-flavored kisses signs that I'm falling in love with my best friend?

1995: “Who Will Save Your Soul” -- Skye Warren
Emily's a pathological liar. When her life is at stake, will anyone believe her?

1996: “Always Be My Baby” -- Mary Ting
Lucas' words might have begun to sew me back up, but Grayson's love would heal the wound and ensure there were no scars.

1997: “Lovefool” -- Katie M John
When Vicky Dean finds herself drowning in the ocean of cool that is the London indie music scene, she soon learns that if she's to survive, it's time to change the record.

1998: "My Heart Will Go On" -- Tia Silverthorne Bach
After a tragic car accident, Kerry After a tragic car accident, Kerry struggles to put the pieces of her life back together. Until Jase walks into her life, and a spark of hope ignites. Can her heart go on? 

1999: "Genie in a Bottle" -- Elise Kova
When high school senior Erin Williams discovers that an N64 game she picked up at a yard sale contains a real (and really hot) genie, she gains three wishes and a much-needed confidant. However, the final wish may cost her more than she wants to give.

You can get your copy here https://www.amazon.co.uk/Things-Love-About-You…/…/B0762CF5QN

** A portion of proceeds goes to the National Kidney Foundation **

Introducing the founder of Little Bird Publishing....

That will be me.

Many of you don't realise that as well as being a 'full time' (that's a bit of an inside joke) writer, I am also the founder of Little Bird Publishing House.

Originally, I set Little Bird Publishing House up as my own unique press. It was designed to be the business front of my indie publishing career, and it worked really well. This was way back in 2010 when the idea of owning your own publishing house was still quite a novelty in the whole indie book world.

However, with the boom in indie books and authors, I began to see a LOT of dream paddlers; people offering to take your book, charge you a couple of thousand pounds and turn it into a bestseller - yeah, right!

It wasn't right - and it wasn't fair, and by late 2013, I had learned SOOO much on my steep learning curve, it felt time to help some other folks out. I began branching the idea of a publishing house with the establishment of two anthology projects. Dark Heart & Night Shade. It was an amazing way of testing the ground to see if I was ready to actually become not only an indie author, but a publisher, too. The Dark Heart & Night Shade projects led to some fabulous author friendships, and two of the authors are now fully-fledged Little Bird authors.

Fast forward to 2016 and we are a publishing family of ten; Hazel Robinson, Toya Richardson, Helen Whapshott, Alison Clarke, Martin Ferguson, Jo Richardson, Jill Turner, Katie M. John (me) and in 2017 Brandon Robb and L. Keane will be joining us. And when I use the term family, I don't use it lightly. As a collective of authors, we support each other, encourage, build, lend a hand, and generally hang out on social media.

My mission with Little Bird is and always has been that we are stronger together. That when we begin to work as a community of artists, amazing things happen - and they do.

I treat every single one of the books that run through Little Bird as dearly as my own, from the first initial edits, to the art work, to the marketing, to the love of the story - all Little Bird books are my beautiful nieces and nephews. Every author I work with is respected for their own unique and beautiful voice - that's what Little Bird is about; not crushing authors and creatives into a marketing book, but giving unique voices a chance to shine.

Every single Little Bird Book is worked until it is of a quality ready for readership - and the reviews, awards and fan-bases prove that.

I don't worry about markets and sales trends when it comes to selecting the stories we are going to publish, I focus on the story, on the author behind the story - and it doesn't matter if it sells 10,000 copies, or 10, every single story is important. Every single author's voice is important.

The thing about writing and defining oneself as an author is that it's freaking scary as hell. You're terrified that someone is going to 'out' you as a fraud, that someone is going to knock you down so hard that your'e never going to quite get up - and although it isn't always the nicest of worlds, by creating a community of authors who have genuine friendships grown through shared experiences and belonging to something a little bigger than being all by themselves, it makes the whole thing a lot less scary, and a hell of a lot more exciting.

In 2017 we see the next big step for us as a publishing house. We are the primary sponsors of Chapter.Con London and many of the Little Bird Family will be attending and manning our Little Bird super table, and we are also going to have a full publishing table at Leeds in 2018 with Hourglass Events. We are always growing and despite sometimes feeling like I have a million hats to wear, editor, designer, publisher, marketer, author, business woman, it's an amazingly fulfilling way to live.

If you want to find out more about Little Bird Publishing, or if you are an indie author who thinks that they might like to try a different kind of indie publishing, then you can see our public website www.thelittlebirdbookstore.com, which also has a link for authors to our publisher's website www.littlebirdpublishinghouse.com 



You can also come over and give us a LIKE at our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter at @LittlebirdPub - which amusingly is not a place you can procure beer from, but keep up to date with what we are all doing.