Writing a great story is no longer enough to land a contract. With economic downsizing, publishers are extremely selective when it comes to acquiring authors, often allowing their marketing and sales department to have the final say. These days, it takes a platform that is equal to the story in excellence and potential—a complete package—for you and your book to make it through the acquisitions gauntlet.

For the first time, fiction authors have a platform reference guide written just for them. Nail It! The Secret to Building an Effective Fiction Writer’s Platform uses motivating and enlightening lessons, author interviews, and several examples to explain how to build a fiction writer’s platform that will impress publishing professionals and clear a path to success.

In 2010 Nearly Departed in Deadwood won the RWA Kiss of Death Chapter's overall Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense (as well as placing 1st in the Mainstream division in the contest).

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Little girls are vanishing from Deadwood, South Dakota. Fearing her daughter might be next, single mom, Violet Parker, is desperate to find the monster behind the abductions.

With her savings dwindling and just three weeks left to sell her first house or lose her Realtor job, Violet must convince her only buyer to stop rejecting the vintage homes she shows him as if they’re haunted. So when a handsome jeweler hires her to sell his century-old, Victorian masterpiece, she’s ecstatic … until she sees the dilapidated dwelling.

Short on time and long on worry, she refuses to give up her dream of a fresh start in Deadwood. But with a malicious coworker trying to get her fired, a secret admirer sending her creepy messages, and a sexy stranger hiding skeletons in his closet, will Violet end up as one of Deadwood’s dearly departed?