Reed Family Tour with Tyora Moody

Thank you, LaToya for hosting me on your blog today. I want to thank your readers for stopping by today to learn about the Reed Family.

 Currently there are three sisters features in three novellas, Broken Heart, Troubled Heart, and Relentless Heart. In 2018, I hope to continue the series with the brothers.

This week we will focus on the second book in the series, Troubled Heart. Below you will find a synopsis and an excerpt from the book.

Troubled Heart: A Novella

Forensic artist Toni Reed loves when her work helps the police catch criminals.  Tasked with helping a traumatized woman identify her attacker, Toni is troubled when she sketches a face that resembles a man from her past. Is it the same man who brutally attacked her two years ago?

Despite longtime family friend Detective Cam Noble’s insistence that she not interfere with the case, Toni becomes obsessed with seeking justice. Will she let God lead her to come to terms with her past

Order Online at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N58JRX4

 Read An Excerpt

PROLOGUE

Two Years Ago

Toni Reed sensed the next few minutes would not go well for her.

As soon as Paul Lambert’s handsome face turned red, she knew. His blond side-swept bangs lay plastered across his forehead. The charmer’s usually playful blue eyes gleamed bright with anger. He shouted, “Were you trying to sabotage me?”

“No!” She backed away from Paul’s piercing stare bumping into the chair. “No,” she yelled, her eyes wide with fright. It felt like the air had been sucked out of the room. This must be what it feels like to be in the room with a wild animal where any sudden movements could result in a strike. The crazy thing was Paul had never laid a hand on her before. She tried to convince herself he would calm down and walk away.

I’ve seen him like this before.

Toni glanced at the wall behind Paul. Less than a month ago, she watched in horror as he punched a hole in the wall above his entertainment system. Books and DVD’s crashed to the floor as Paul swept his arm across the top shelf. The hole had since been covered up with one of her paintings, all the items neatly put back in place and not a word said about the incident.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to appear calm. “You know I would never do anything to sabotage you. I want you to look good. We talked about this last night. Remember? You said it was an important point.”

Paul stepped forward, “I had it under control. You’re trying to say you could do it better. That I don’t know what I’m doing. You made me look like an idiot.”

That’s not how I remember it. Why is he blowing this out of proportion?

Her heart pounded when she saw Paul’s clenched fists. Toni shook her head. “No, no…I just wanted to make sure you told him the benefits you could bring to his company.”

“You wanted me to appear like I was desperate and didn’t know my own company. He will never invest now.”

“That’s not true. You did a great job and —” Before she could finish her sentence, Paul grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her against the wall. She cried out in pain as her head bounced off the hard surface.

“You ruined everything! I saw the look on his face.”

The back of her head throbbed as she tried to focus. She wheezed, “What is wrong with you?”

Paul’s hand came across her face.

He’s crazy!

Anger surged. She was no match for Paul’s size, but she had to get away from him. Lifting her right knee, she shoved it up as high as she could into his groin area.

Paul groaned from the impact and loosened his grip on her arm. “You — “

Toni wrenched her arm away and wasted no time moving around him. She had to get out of there. Her bag was on the coffee table. She grabbed it and moved quickly to the front door. As soon as she reached it, she felt a strong hand grab her shoulder.

She screamed and turned, swinging her heavy bag across Paul’s face.

He stumbled from the blow, but it didn’t prevent him from reaching. He wrapped his arms around her body. Toni felt her feet lift off the carpet. She struggled and screamed. Suddenly her body was thrown across the room, crashing into the coffee table.

She cried out in pain as she felt something snap in her arm.

Through her tears, she saw Paul looming over her.

God, help me!

 Reed Family Series Links

Broken Heart: A Novella (Book 1)
http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Heart-Reed-Family-Book-ebook/dp/B01B9YP3M0/

Troubled Heart: A Novella (Book 2)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N58JRX4

Relentless Heart: A Novella (Book 3)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074S6JF3B/

 

About the Author

Tyora Moody is the author of Soul-Searching Suspense books which include the Reed Family Novellas, Eugeena Patterson Mysteries, Serena Manchester Series, and the Victory Gospel Series. She is also the author of the nonfiction book, The Literary Entrepreneur’s Toolkit, and the compilation editor for the Stepping Into Victory Compilations under her company, Tymm Publishing LLC.

As a literary-focused entrepreneur, she has assisted countless authors with developing an online presence via her design and marketing company, Tywebbin Creations LLC. Popular services include virtual event planning, book covers and book trailers.

To contact Tyora about book club discussions or for book marketing workshops, visit her online at TyoraMoody.com.

You can find her on social media at  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

Book Review: Step-by-Step Author Website Guide by Tyora Moody

Step-by-Step Author Website Guide by Tyora Moody
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A short read but is packed with valuable information for every author new and seasoned. I loved that it was broken down into small chapters that had various actions for you to complete to help reinforce what you learned. Through reading this book I was able to go back review my website and make changes to it. This is definitely a book that I will keep on hand as a reference.
LaToya Murchison Author of Anika's Story (Novelette)


View all my reviews

Tyora Moody Author of the Reed Family Novellas

About the Reed Family

Romantic Suspense/Christian Fiction

Meet the siblings of the crime-fighting Reed Family. Kicking off the series is Detective Jo Reed-Powell whose hunting down a copycat killer and coming to grips with her cheating husband in Broken Heart (Feb 2016).
Forensic artist Toni Reed has been trying to start her life over after a brutal attack two years ago. Is the man responsible for wreaking havoc on other women? Toni’s determined to find out and stop him in Troubled Heart (Dec 2016).

Meet Author Tyora Moody

Tyora Moody is the author of Soul-Searching Suspense books which include the Reed Family Novellas, Eugeena Patterson Mysteries, Serena Manchester Series, and the Victory Gospel Series. She is also the author of the nonfiction book, The Literary Entrepreneur’s Toolkit, and the compilation editor for the Stepping Into Victory Compilations under her company, Tymm Publishing LLC.

As a literary-focused entrepreneur, she has assisted countless authors with developing an online presence via her design and marketing company, Tywebbin Creations LLC. Popular services include virtual event planning, book covers and book trailers.

To contact Tyora about book club discussions or for book marketing workshops, visit her online at TyoraMoody.com

Guest Post: 5 Must Do Book Marketing Tips

5 Must Do Book Marketing Tips

This blog post was published with permission by Tyora Moody.

Whether you are a traditionally published or self-published author, daydreaming about your bestseller is not an option. As soon as you have a release date, it’s time to get down to the business of book promotion.  I have 5 book marketing tips below any new or veteran author can do.

1 -  Start Early!

While you are writing the book, marketing should be considered. What are some themes or current issues that generate discussion or attract the media? Keep a notebook of ideas. As you draw closer to your release, use an editorial calendar so you are aware of special events, holidays, etc.

2 - Create a Website

Create a website first, then social media profiles and pages.  Your professional author website is the hub of your online presence. It's the one central location (that you own) where you can keep a downloadable media kit, free excerpts or send readers to sign-up for your mailing list.

3 - Join Social Networks

When you spend time building relationships using social media platforms, you have the potential to attract a readership or influencers for your book. Remember, the best form of advertisement is word of mouth. Now don't overwhelm yourself. Start with two. Or even one. Study the best times to post and be creative.

4 -  Seek Book Reviews

Family and friends are nice, but build teams of support by connecting with book bloggers and reviewers. Be sure to have review copies or galleys at least 3-6 months before book release, both ebook and hard copies.

5 - Market Your Book Consistently

I want to encourage you to spend anywhere from ten to thirty minutes each day on book marketing. You can use this time to brainstorm new ideas and evaluate what did or didn't work.  As an offline example, you can use the time to hand out postcards or bookmarks at an event.  Or spend quality time online scheduling posts or tweets to social networks.  Stay consistent with your book marketing. You can do it!

 Download the FREE Social Media Planning Guide.

About the Author

Tyora Moody is the author of Soul-Searching Suspense novels in the Reed Family Novellas, Eugeena Patterson Mysteries, Serena Manchester Series and the Victory Gospel Series. She is also the author of the nonfiction book, The Literary Entrepreneur’s Toolkit, and the compilation editor for the Stepping Into Victory Compilations under her company, Tymm Publishing LLC. Visit her online at TyoraMoody.com or TheLiteraryEntrepreneur.com.

Guest Post: Attracting Readers - Understanding Your Author Brand

Attracting Readers - Understanding Your Author Brand

Thank you LaToya for this weekly feature. I thought it would be best to introduce what I write, but also share some of the book marketing tips. Today, I’m going to talk about understanding your author brand.

For anyone who says, “My book is for everyone,” my question for them is, "Are you sure?"

If we think about our own reading habits, we know that there are genres or book we will not read. An author can’t write for everyone because of people's diverse reading habits.  A millennial may simply not be interested in what appeals to a baby boomer. Vice-versa.

In order to for word-of-mouth marketing to start for your book, it's really important to know your genre as well as your target audience. Knowing the reader most likely to be interested in your book will define your book marketing goals.

Defining Your Genre

There are readers who read across multiple genres, but generally most readers have a favorite genre they may enjoy reading more. Whether you are a traditionally published author or an independent author, you need to understand how books are categorized.

Here are a few questions to get you started:

Do you write fiction? If you write, fiction what is your genre?  Genre are categories like romance, historicals, suspense, fantasy, etc.

Do you write nonfiction?  This genre can include many categories like a business, biography, memoir, poetry, self-help, and more.

Know Your Target Audience

Being a writer, means being a student so it helps to study what books are already selling well in your genre.

️️

●       What other authors share the readership that you’re looking for to purchase your books?

●       What can you do different to appeal to those readers and keep your stories unique?

Other questions to consider as you narrow down your target audience are demographics.

●       ️What are the age ranges of readers?

●       Does your book appeal more to women or men?

●       Does your book focus on a ethnic, cultural or religious experience?

Focusing on a specific demographic is not a bad thing. In fact narrowing your focus may help you easily find readers that would benefit from your book.

If defining your audience is new to you, plan to spend some time researching. You can easily start this process by searching on Amazon.com's Bestseller's List.

My Genres

I write Romantic Suspense and Cozy Mysteries under the Christian Fiction genre. That seems like a mouthful, but that’s how I specifically find my readers. In fact I go a step further with my Cozy Mysteries.

My main character in the Eugeena Patterson Mysteries is a baby-boomer, retired, a grandmother and a Type II Diabetic. Those are features are often my selling points and I have found a wide-range of readers who are drawn to the character even before they check out the back book cover summary.

Here are my book series. I hope you can check them out.

Romantic Suspense

Reed Family Novellas

Serena Manchester Series

Victory Gospel Series

Cozy Mystery

Eugeena Patterson Mysteries

About the Author

Tyora Moody is the author of Soul-Searching Suspense novels in the Reed Family Novellas, Eugeena Patterson Mysteries, Serena Manchester Series and the Victory Gospel Series. She is also the author of the nonfiction book, The Literary Entrepreneur’s Toolkit, and the compilation editor for the Stepping Into Victory Compilations under her company, Tymm Publishing LLC.

Author Interview with Tyora Moody

LaToya: Hi Tyora, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself and your background?

Tyora: I’m the author Soul-Searching Suspense books which include the Reed Family Novellas, Eugeena Patterson Mysteries, Serena Manchester Series, and the Victory Gospel Series. I’m also the author of the nonfiction book, The Literary Entrepreneur’s Toolkit, and the compilation editor for the Stepping Into Victory Compilations under her company, Tymm Publishing LLC. As a literary-focused entrepreneur, I own a literary services company, Tywebbin Creations LLC. Popular services include virtual assistance, book covers and book trailers.

LaToya: What are your ambitions for your writing career?

Tyora: I do look forward to writing full-time one day.

LaToya: Which writers inspire you?

Tyora: There are too many to name, but most of my favorite authors write mystery, suspense or thrillers. These are my favorite genres to read.

LaToya: What are you working on at the minute?

Tyora: I’m wrapping up Troubled Heart, the second novella in the Reed Family Series. The book release is in November 2016.

LaToya: What genre are your books and why?

Tyora: I write romantic suspense and cozy mystery novels under the Christian Fiction genre.

LaToya: In 10 words or less can you create a quote that describes you and your writing?

Tyora: My motto is “Serving up a creative mix, flavored with FAITH”

LaToya: Which actor/actress would you like to see playing the lead character from your most recent book?

Tyora: My most recent book is Broken Heart. The main character is a detective so I would need a actress who can play well in a crime movie. I’m thinking Sanaa Lathan would be a good choice.

LaToya: When did you decide to become a writer?

Tyora: I have always loved writing and storytelling. I think it comes from being a bookworm. I would say writing fiction officially started in 2006 when I started writing my first book. That book, When Rain Falls, became my debut novel.

LaToya: Do you write full-time or part-time?

Tyora: Part-time

LaToya: Do you have a special time to write or how is your day structured?

Tyora: Mainly on the weekends is when I find time to write.

LaToya: Do you aim for a set amount of words/pages per day?

Tyora: Since I outline my books, I usually aim for completing a chapter each time I sit down to write.

LaToya: Where do your ideas come from?

Tyora: That’s a good question! I write Christian Fiction

LaToya: Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?

Tyora: I’m a bit of a hybrid, I outline, but I remain open to letting the character guide the story too.

LaToya: How do you think you’ve evolved creatively?

Tyora: I have four book series. I think from my first book series to my current series I aim to make each read a unique experience for the reader. The one comment I get comes from readers who don’t normally read mystery or suspense are they are always surprised with how much they enjoy my books. I really enjoy that because despite writing “murder mysteries,” I have a pretty strong elements of faith.

LaToya: What is the hardest thing about writing?

Tyora: Getting started!  I don’t care how many books you write there are times when you will struggle with a story.

LaToya: What was the hardest thing about writing your latest book?

Tyora: This particular book that I’m working has taken awhile to write mainly because my focus has been pulled in many directions this year.

LaToya: What is the easiest thing about writing?

Tyora: When the story comes to you and you can flow with writing. I don’t really believe in writer’s block. I believe when it's time for the story to come, it will come.

LaToya: How long on average does it take you to write a book?

Tyora: On average I can write a book in three months.

LaToya: Where can you see yourself in 5 years’ time?

Tyora: I have three book series that I see with several books in the next 5 years.

LaToya: What advice would you give to your younger self?

Tyora: Be yourself. I spent too much time when I was younger trying to be everything but myself.

LaToya: Which famous person, living or dead would you like to meet and why?

Tyora: Jesus

LaToya: If you could have been the original author of any book, what would it have been and why?

Tyora: I’m very grateful for the books that God has given me to write.

LaToya: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Don’t give up. Keep improving our craft. Learn the importance of book marketing early.

Connect with Tyora :

Website: http://tyoramoody.com

Blog: http://theliteraryentrepreneur.com

Facebook: http://Facebook.com/authortyoramoody

Twitter: http://Twitter.com/tyoramoody

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyoramoody

Pinterest: http://Pinterest.com/tyoramoody

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Tyora-Moody/e/B005966RJ8/

Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/tyoramoody