Shay Collins's Blog

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

OMG! I can’t believe it! My site has been done now for months after my designer switched hosts on me. That sucked. But, I am back up and running again.

So, I guess you are probably wondering where I have been.

Well, I have been working on a short story that was recently published under Borderhouse Publishing called ‘Brad’s Girl’. It is a story that deals with teen domestic violence.

It is a topic I had no idea was real.

I will write a longer post later in the week.

Just wanted to let everyone know I was still here.

 

Love you,

~Shay Collins~

Okay, so I was checking the reviews for my book, "Twisted Rage", and there were two. One was good. It was a nice rating, 4 or 5 stars. The second one however, made me want to cry, even though I had recently found out that my book was among the top 100 on the amazon [...]

I am so excited about all of the things that I am enduring this year as a result of publishing my first ebook, 'Twisted Rage'. I am happy that there are people out there who enjoy reading what I write, and I only hope that there will be many more people who will enjoy what [...]

It was well into the afternoon and I must say, I was tired. It was one of those lazy Sunday afternoons. Irene Metcalf and myself had decided that we would just lay out by the pool and soak in the sweet summer sunshine... that is, until Jeffrey Adams decided to grace us with his presence.

Jeffrey had to be the hottest guy in the tenth grade, and he was at my house, standing by my pool. How cool.

But this day, Jeffrey wasn't alone. He had brought his kid brother Jason with him. Why? We would never know.

Irene was my best friend. The two of us had been through everything together. We got our periods together. Got out our ears pierced together. Heck, we even got our first kisses together.

Irene had a mad crush on Jeffrey and everybody in the school knew it.

Everybody knew this, except for Jeffrey. To him, Irene was just a cool girl that he had the honor of knowing.

That too would change soon.

"Hey Jeff, want some lemonade?" I asked, lowering my sunglasses so that he could see my bright blue eyes.

Jeff nodded. "That'd be cool," he said as he took a seat in a patio chair next to Irene.

I saw her face go red all over.

I told them I'd be back, then headed into the house to get the lemonade.

What I saw standing in the kitchen made me nearly drop the glass.



***Just felt like writing today. Hope you like it. I will add more as I get time.****

Until next time,

~Shay~~

Hello all.



I am hard at work on my second and third books. I have so much to talk about. But enough about me, this blog, I wanted to talk about some really cool authors that I discovered.

One of them is Jamie McGuire, whose is the author of 'Beautiful Disaster', and 'Providence', which at last check were climbing the charts on Amazon.com, and 'Providence' was #98 on the Amazon's Top 100 List. That is quite an accomplishment.

Another really cool author that I have discovered so far is Sara Cannon, author of the 'Peachville High Demons' series. Her books are also among the Top 100 on Amazon.

There are many others, and to make my blog a little more interesting (there's only so much about me I want to talk about) I will talk about authors that I think are cool.



Until next time,



~Shay~~

Hi Guys,



Shay here. This week I learned an ugly truth: books don't sell themselves. So I would like to pose a question to you readers out there, what are some things that attracts you or entices you to read books by certain authors. Is it the book description? Is it the book cover? Is it 'My friend read it, so I'm going to read it too?' Please share.



And book promotion: How do you truly promote a book?



On another note,



I am hard at work on my second book. I already have the cover designed and I will be releasing sneak peeks to the book soon. Let's just say that this book is the first in a series of books.



Okay, here's what I would like for you to do:

Send me your suggestions on what can be done to get to the readers. What are your tips and tricks of the trade?

Send your suggestions to authorshay@gmail.com.



I will feature your responses on my blog, and on my facebook page as well.



~Shay~

 My First Contest



June is "Twisted Rage" Ultimate Reader Search Month! Throughout the month of June, author Shay Collins will be giving away some really cool prizes to 5 lucky readers. Each purchase of "Twisted Rage" will qualify you for a chance to win:



An autographed copy of the paperback version of "Twisted Rage"
An official "Twisted Rage" t-shirt
And an official "Twisted Rage" Poster, signed by Shay Collins


To enter, you must:



Download a copy of "Twisted Rage" by Shay Collins to your Nook, Kindle, PC or other ebook reading devide between May 31, 2011 and June 30, 2011



Forward confirmation of your paid download to authorshay@gmail.com.



5 lucky winners will be chosen and announced on July 2, 2011



Good luck. Oh, and by the way, contest ends at midnight June 30, 2011. Don't wait. You could be one of the winners.

P.S. The 5 lucky winners will be mentioned on the Shay Collins blog.

It's official! My book is now available online! I am so so excited about this and looking forward to this journey.

On another note: I am starting to work on the first book in my mystery series. I'm not letting that cat out of the bag until it's getting close to time to publish. (Don't want to be sharing the title with too many folks;)

Anywhoo, got tons of work to do.

Today I learned that it is virtually impossible not to share your book title with another author in some way, shape or form. You can research until you are blue in the face and someone else can still come out with a title that either exactly matches yours or comes pretty darn close. Sigh.

I am still happy though. My hat's off to authors and those that aspire to be. It takes a lot of work to write and publish a book. I mean, I had no idea about how to format a book, and hire an editor, and a proofreader, or get a cover designed. I thought you just came up with a name, wrote a book, uploaded it, and poof--like magic you became an author. Not so.

The book has to have a certain format. The cover has to be a certain size or the photos will look blurry. Whew! I am sweating again just thinking about all that work.

And the crazy part: now that I have one book under my belt, I am so anxious to write more;)

I hear an evil laugh building up inside of me.

I guess that's all for today. I will probably be up until the wee hours of the morning pounding away at yet another story.

It feels great to be an author.

~Shay~~

To get 'Twisted Rage' on your Nook right now click here:
To get 'Twisted Rage' on your Kindle right now, click here
Shay Collins's Smashwords Author Profile: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/authorshay
Book page to sample or purchase Twisted Rage: http://smashwords.com/b/62196

Here it is. The Introduction from 'Twisted Rage'. Let me know your thoughts;)

An Official Shay Collins Preview

PrologueHe stared at the house, thoughts of vengeance racing through his mind. Outrage filled his heart. He was only seventeen, and already he had been hurt more times than he could stand. Hurt too much by girls that made him love them, then left him. He had the red gasoline can in his hands. Had the pack of matches ready. He knew his girlfriend, well, his now ex-girlfriend, was asleep in the house. The big, towering three story house overlooking the New Chisten Bay. It would have been so easy to kill her. He saw her with that other boy. The star quarterback from Lincoln Academy. Saw her kissing him in the backseat of his sporty little red Corsica. She had lied to him though; said she was sick with the flu. Yet, she was well enough to lock lips with some super jock from Lincoln. What kind of fool did she take him for? He knew her parents were out of town. Knew her younger sister and older brother were away. She had spilled her guts to him. She trusted him. Trusted him a little too much.He made his way up the flagstone path to the porch, his eyes burning red with anger. His mouth twitched with excitement. He hated her now. Hated her with all his heart. Hated her with all the strength he once used to love her. He was ruined. Ruined because she had opened her mouth to curse him. Opened her mouth to say how much she hated him. This night he knew, that if he didn't kill her, he would never be able to love again.It wasn't enough for him to call her and say that he was through with her. To tell her that he had caught her red handed, cheating on him. He had to get revenge.He was on the porch now, his hand resting on the bronze doorknob. The book of matches now lay peacefully on top of the can of gasoline. He knew she never locked the door. Never could remember to. Now, she was going to wish that she had made it a little harder for him to kill her.Slowly he turned the knob, pushing the door open. No lights were on, except for the light over the staircase. He made his way to the steps, drenching his path with gasoline. Smiling. Pouring. Up the stairs. Pouring. Then he came to her bedroom door. It was closed. That was odd. She never slept with her door closed.  He set the can down beside the door and pressed his ear to it. He could hear her laughing. What was she doing in there? He picked up the can, and slowly opened the door. Her back was facing the door he could see, though there were no lights on in the bedroom. Atleast, someone's back was to the door. "Right there," she said, the bed squeaking as someone started to move around. She wasn't alone. She really was in bed with another guy! He was really upset now. In fact, he was furious. He frowned and ducked down, drenching the floor around him with gasoline. She was laughing again. He hated her laugh now. He hated the laugh that had once sounded so sweet to him. Now he listened as the bed squeaked once again. Had someone seen him? "I love you," a male voice said, in between long pauses. Obvious kisses. "I love you, too," she began, "now make love to me."He couldn't stand it. He hated what his ears were hearing. He had to stop it. And he had to do it now. Angrily, he made his way back out to the hall. Struck a match. Tossed it into her bedroom. First it got the carpet. Then it got the dresser. Finally, the bed was inflamed.He cried hysterically as he ran from the house. He didn't stop running until he was free. Until he was back outside, in the safety of his car. He placed his keys in the ignition. Started the engine. Drove halfway down the block. He watched through his rear view mirror as the tall house burned, filling the night air with a faint orange glow. He dropped his head and cried again. Just before he burst into laughter. It had been so easy to kill. So easy. And it would only be easier to do it again.