Saturday, July 23, 2016

Schedule for July 25 - July 29, 2016

Schedule
July 25 - 29, 2016

Mon., July 25 - The Fabulous Art of Dutch Artist
          Suzan Drummen
Tues., July 26 - Interview with Horror Crime Fiction
          Author Suzi Albracht
Wed., July 27 - More Christmas in July
          I Need Christmas FREE Today!
Thurs., July 28 - Book Review of Amy Metz'
          Murder and Mayhem in Goose Pimple Junction
Fri., July 29 - Release Day for Amber Daulton's
          Timeless Beginnings




Friday, July 22, 2016

February White Lies


Join Cat Collier from January Black Ice as she starts her own detective agency, Red Cat Investigations, inside the gorgeous old Palazzo Castellano Hotel and solves her first real paid case, the case of Shotzie, the missing French poodle. 

Just when she feels she is destined to find lost pets and missing luggage for the rest of her life in her beautiful new office, complete with business cards, magazines in the waiting room, and her Red Cat logo painted on the frosted glass door, a lovely, mysterious woman named Ms. White hires her to find out who is stalking her. A dead rat on her car. Being run off the road. A car bombing. Someone wants her frightened or maybe…dead. 

The trail of graft and corruption leads Cat into danger as she hides the mystery woman with the old, reclusive lawyer Detrick Bittmor for safe keeping. 


Cat’s relationship with the handsome Erick “Carter” Larsen is put in jeopardy when she teams up with Officer Kiernan Scott from the Heaton Valley Police Department to unravel the mystery in February White Lies. 

Thursday, July 21, 2016

The Owl Branch Book Promotions




THE OWL BRANCH BOOK PROMOTIONS MEDIA PACKAGE 2016

 The Owl Branch Book Promotions is dedicated to customer service. We provide support and promotional membership packages to authors looking to gain more sales volume for their books.
We at The Owl Branch stand for integrity and honesty. We are here to help your books get noticed in the vast world of literary works.  
We provide these services to help, we of course are also in it for a profit. However, we realize we cannot possibly make a living off of helping you sell your books. Also because we ourselves are authors and know it takes a team to sell a book. It is a hard life being an author. It takes dedication and commitment. We are here for you.
We will endeavor to help you solve the problems you are having promoting your books. It is up to you as our customers to give us all the information to help you.
Through this website you are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of The Owl Branch Book Promotions. We have no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them. www.theowlbranch2015.net
The Owl Branch respects all of its clients, employees and partners. We strive to make this business the best it can be.
We would like to welcome you to The Owl Branch.
We will be there to serve you.
Who runs this business? 
Crystal Miles Gauthier is a publicist with The Owl Branch. She is also an author herself.
Her specialty is promoting social media coverage, public relations, bookkeeping and webpage content.
Susan Clark is a publicist with The Owl Branch. She is also an Author, Graphic Designer and Production Assistant
Viv Drewa is our associate personal assistant. She is also an Author, PA, Award Winner and Rone Judge.

Our current authors have expressed their happiness with our promotional work for them and their books. We utilize social media, advertisements, video’s, book teasers, meme’s, several blog sites, email, newsletter, magazines, libraries and much more in our promotion of books.
Here is a list of our current authors. We are sure you will see a couple that you may know.
Viv Drewa                                                                              Victoria H. Loren                                                  
Katherine A. Nevitt                                                                Bill Miller
T. Cobbins (Tricia)                                                                 Gary D. Henry
Tak tse Profit                                                                           Raven Bohannon
Eliot Parker                                                                             Danielle Lee Zwissler
Jaden Sinclair                                                                          Pamela Ackerson
TW Knight                                                                               K. L. Silver
C. Tuttle (Cija)                                                                         G.E. Stills – Gary Stillman
Juliette Douglas                                                                        P. S. Winn (Pam)
Freya LeCrow                                                                          Carol Ann Kauffman
Alma White                                                                              C.L. Scholey
Heather Guimond                                                                     Becca Moree
Baby Paris                                                                                Susan (S.C. Clarke) Clarke
Darlene Kuncytes                                                                     Brenda Tetreault
Michelle Rabe                                                                           Rissa Blakely
                                                                                                  Crystal Miles Gauthier

Our Membership Packages:
SILVER: $10.00 per month or $110.00 per year (One Time Fee)
INCLUDES: Your own page on our website
Social Media Coverage on: FB, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, LinkedIn,
Reddit, BingBing, Tsu’, CoPromote, Buffer, Hootesuite and more!
*********
GOLD: $20.00 per month or $220.00 per year (One Time Fee)
INCLUDES: Your own page on our website
Social Media Coverage on: FB, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, LinkedIn,
Reddit, BingBing, Tsu’, CoPromote, Buffer, Hootesuite and more!
Author Interview and Announcements of Special Events, Cover Reveals, Book Releases
**********
PLATINUM: $30.oo per month or $330.00 per year (One Time Fee)
INCLUDES: Your own page on our website
Social Media Coverage on: FB, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, LinkedIn,
Reddit, BingBing, Tsu’, CoPromote, Buffer, Hootesuite and more!
Author Interview and Announcements of Special Events, Cover Reveals, Book Releases
Hosting of an Author Event and inviting guests.
$5.00 off Blog Tours, Video’s and Advertisements.
Here are just some of the services we offer:  
- A ONE-DAY PROMO BLITZ - $10.00
The One-Day Promo Blitz is good for release days or announcing sales.

- A RELEASE DAY ANNOUNCEMENT - $10.00
We will send a release day announcement out to our entire blogger list, please push the announcement to all social media platforms.

- A FIVE-DAY PROMO BLITZ - $35.00
We book as many blogs as possible during those five days to maximize your title’s exposure. Blitzes take place Monday through Friday only. Blitz materials are sent to bloggers as both a plain text document and a HTML document (for copy/paste convenience).

- A THUNDERCLAP/HEADTALKER CAMPAIGN - $10.00
We now offer the organization of HeadTalker/Thunderclap campaigns as part of our promo package. HeadTalker/Thunderclap are crowd-sourcing platforms for sharing a message across social media.

- ONE FACEBOOK RELEASE PARTY WITH PURCHASE OF PLATINUM MEMBERSHIP or $50.00 à la carte.
Facebook release parties are a good way to announce your book is coming out and they are a good way to connect with readers. However, it’s not always easy to take the time to spend all day on Facebook for the party. What we do here at The Owl Branch PR is book authors and bloggers for time slots to fill in and keep the party going without monopolizing your time.

- VARIOUS PROMOTIONAL GRAPHICS - Contact us for Pricing.
We will supply you with two ‘coming soon’ graphics and two ‘now available’ graphics, all tour/blitz/review request graphics, a Facebook cover photo, and a square graphic for sharing on platforms such as Twitter or Instagram.

- 1 MONTH OF SOCIAL MEDIA PR by The Owl Branch- $175.00
Daily sharing of your book links across 20+ Facebook groups, 20+ Google Communities, on Twitter, TSU, and a promotional email for you and your books sent to The Owl Branch PR book blogger mailing list complete with pre-typed posts for their copy/paste/share convenience.

***THE OWL BRANCH***
OUR OTHER PAID SERVICES
Priced à la carte or included in membership packages.
- Personal Assistant Services
- NEW: The Unlimited PR Package
- NEW: Social Media PR Package
- Promo Blitz / Cover Reveal
- Promo Blitz / Cover Reveal Bundle Pack
- One Title Promo Package
- WordPress Website Build or Redesign
- Month-Long Review Drive
- Review Solicitation
- Teasers & Promo Images
- And More!
Our Links:

Thank you for your support!

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

The Art of Hans Zatzka



Hans Zatzka was an Austrian fantasy painter.  He was born on March 8, 1859 in Vienna, Austria.  His father was a construction worker and his mother was the actress Hilde Socher.  He showed artist talent at a young age. He attended  the Academie des Beaux Arts under many famous painters of his time. 



Hans worked as a fresco painter in 
churches and other institutions until
1885, when he was commissioned
to create the ceiling fresco The Naiad of Baden at Kurhaus Baden.


Many of his pieces were religious 
paintings or altar pieces dedicated
to Austrian churches.





  At that time, there were heavy penalties for breaking contracts imposed on artists, limiting the amount of work they could sell, and their profit. So... Han created works under many different names, among them P. Ronsard, 



Pierre de Ronsard, H. Zabateri, Joseph Bernard, and Bernard Zatzka. He may have thought this was a shrewd move at the time, but later some people didn't believe those paintings were actual his work.

In the late 19th century, some of Hans Zatzka's work was photographed and made into posters and postcards to be sold commercially.  







In the 1920s, Zatzka's style became all the rage throughout 
the European continent. Their was a big resurgence in Hans Zatzka's work and style.


All information is from Wikipedia and other online sources. Links to learn more about Han Zatzka are:

Pinterest - Han Zatzka

www.austrian-paintings.at/

www.liveauctioneers.com › 

yathra123.blogspot.com/2012/.../beautiful-paintings-by-hans-zakzka.ht...



Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Interview with Author Amy Metz


Amy Metz
Louisville, Kentucky


Good morning, Amy! And welcome to Vision and Verse, the place for Art and Authors. Can you tell us what you've written?
The Goose Pimple Junction mystery series. There are currently four books in the series.


I am reading Murder and Mayhem in Goose Pimple Junction right now and I am loving it.
Yay! That makes my day. 

What is your favorite genre to write?My favorite is cozy mysteries. No gore, violence, or bad language!

Favorite food.
Donuts.

Tea or coffee?
Tea. Make it sweet, please.

Wine or beer?
Neither!

Pizza or ice cream?
Okay, since I’m skipping wine & beer, can I have both pizza and ice cream?

Absolutely! Where would you like to visit?
So many places! My “Things To Do, Places To Go” Pinterest board has 218 pins. Basically, if there’s a view, preferably of the ocean, I’d love to visit it.


Favorite musical artist.  Do you listen to music when you write?
Chris Isaak is probably my favorite artist. No, I don’t listen to music while I write. I have a little ADD going on!


Amy, I think we writers as a group all do. What makes you laugh?
My boyfriend, Tom.


Favorite work of art or sculpture.
Edgar Degas’ “Little Dancer.”



I love that one, too. How old were you when you started writing?
Forty-eight. Old enough to know better!


Describe your perfect evening.
I’d start out with eating dinner in an outdoor or window table overlooking the ocean. We’d have dessert while watching the sun set over the ocean. After that, I’d walk on the beach watching the full moon shining on the ocean. And when I get back to my hotel room, I’d get a call telling me I’ve won a house overlooking the ocean.

Hahaha! I love it! I hope you get that phone call. Where do you get your inspiration?
Everywhere.

What do you do when you get a writer's block?
Sometimes I take a long drive and let my mind wander. If that fails, I wait it out. Sometimes I just have to wait until my characters decide to start talking to me again.

Who is your favorite author?
Robert B. Parker is my all time favorite author, but there are so many others who are very close seconds.


Best book you ever read.
I don’t know that I have a favorite, but Spencerville by Nelson B. DeMille (another favorite author) is what comes to mind at the moment.


Last book you read.
The Last Refuge, by Chris Knopf. Yet another favorite author.

What would you do for a living if you weren’t a writer?
I would probably be homeless.

Who is the one person who has influenced your personal life the most and why?
Sorry, it has to be two people: my children. Or rather, my grown sons. They are my heart and soul.


If you could sit down and have a conversation with ONE person, living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why?
I would love to talk to the real life inspiration for my John Hobb character in Murder & Mayhem in Goose Pimple Junction. I’d ask him who the real killer was.


What advice would you give someone who aspired to be a writer?
Don’t be afraid to self-publish, but get professional help for editing, cover art, and book formatting.


Do you have some links for us to follow you?

Links:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorAmyMetz


Buy link:
Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Rogues-Rascals-Pimple-Junction-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B01EGOZKSW?ie