The day I announced to the world I was writing a new adult romance and planned to release it mid-March was one of my scariest career moves to date. I locked myself in at that point. No turning back.

I scheduled my cover designer before I even started writing the book. I had a finished cover before I was 1/4 through writing the first draft. I had never worked backward like this before, but my timing was incredibly tight if I planned to have the book out in mid-March. And I LOVED the cover that Sarah Hansen from Okay Creations made. It is gorgeous.

But a funny thing happened when I was revising and editing After Math. I loved it. And I not only loved it, I decided to make it a series, which was easy to do with Scarlett’s best friend and roommate Caroline.

I was supposed to write the next book in the Rose Gardner Mystery series when I finished After Math but my developmental editor took a position at Thomas & Mercer.  While I was fortunate that she kept me as a client, she had to put off my edit for a couple of months until she got settled in her new job and city.

Which meant I had time to write the second book of my new adult series–a series that didn’t even have a title. After Math was a standalone, remember?

Trisha Leigh–BFF, critique partner, author (The Last Year series as Trisha Leigh and Broken at Love, the first book in the Whitman University, NA series as Lyla Payne) and master titler–came up with the title Redesigned for Caroline along with the series title–Off the Subject. Each book title would feature the main character’s major. (Trisha is a genius, I’m not gonna lie.)

But then it came time to create a cover. Unfortunately, Sara Hansen couldn’t fit  Redesigned’s cover into my even  tighter schedule, so I had to find a new different cover designer. Once the new designer started, she  instantly faced a problem: How did we match the cover of After Math for series continuity?

We came up with the cover for Redesigned first.

Gorgeous, no? We the made the extremely difficult decision was made to make a new cover for After Math to match the Off the Subject series.

Also gorgeous, especially when you put them together.

I can’t wait to show you the cover for Business as Usual!

Redesigned blurb:

While fashion design major Caroline Hunter may have been born economically unlucky, in college, she’s been lucky in love. Until her senior year at Southern University. She’s gone from a serious long term boyfriend to a string of crappy dates.

Then she meets mathematics grad student Reed Pendergraft.

Reed is everything she’s not looking for. Serious. Headed for a low paying university job. Boring. Caroline spent the first eighteen years of her life wondering where her next meal was coming from. She sure wasn’t getting trapped in that life again with a man living on a professor’s salary.

An encounter with Reed in a club proves she might have pegged him wrong. He brings out a lusty side she never knew she had. But just when she’s about to give in to her hormones, Reed makes a fool out of her.

When she shows up for the first committee meeting for Southern University’s Fall fashion show, a fundraiser for underprivileged kids, Caroline’s horrified to discover the insufferable Reed is the committee chairman.  While she refuses to tolerate his totalitarian rule of the committee, she’s not sure she’ll survive the month with her heart—and her pride—intact. Just when she thinks she has everything figured out, she finds that her entire life has been redesigned, thanks to Reed Pendergraft.  

You can now preorder Redesigned!!!

It’s currently available for preorder on:

Amazon
Kobo
iTunes (coming soon)

I’m so excited! I’m one of twenty authors taking part in  the Toronto Author Signing on October 5, 2013!  I would LOVE to see you there!  Go visit the website and register to attend. Tickets for the event are $10 each. Quantities are limited be sure to sign up!  Also be sure to like the event Facebook page!

Wednesday a dream came true for me! I became a USA Today Best-Seller!!! I had a feeling that AFTER MATH might be the book to get  me there, but I  didn’t think it would happen until May when I have a big marketing plan in place.

THANK YOU to everyone who bought my book and told your friends about it! I couldn’t have done this if it weren’t for YOU!!!

I never, ever take you for granted, dear reader! You inspire me to write more books!

Your Name

Your Mailing Address

Your Email Address

Your t-shirt size(these are unisex t-shirts that run true to size)

Your favorite Denise books

Your birthday

I look forward to hearing from you.

But there’s a second part to the contest, one I came up with while writing up the rules for the main contest. I called this second one a “bonus” contest.  I was creatively frustrated for quite some time before I started torturing characters in books,  and I looked for ways to express that creativity in various, embarrassing ways on my blog.  (You can find links to these if you follow the link above.)

Yeah, I did some crazy things, but I”m quite certain I’m not the only creatively frustrated person out there.

So I came up with the bonus contest: Make a creative recommendation for After Math and be eligible for a $50 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card. And if I’m blown away by more than one entry, I’ll give away more than one prize!

But creativity is subjective, so I’m using a TEAM of judges to help me pick. I’ll tell you more about them in a week or so, but we’ve joined together and created a box set of EIGHT mystery novels from eight bestselling authors and we’re selling them for a limited time at $0.99. (Even at full price it will be $9.99.) So you can see how awesome they are, right? (My book Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes is included in the omnibus.)

So I know what you’re saying. “Denise, what in tarnation is a ‘creative recommendation’?”

Well, let me tell you.

A creative recommendation is ANYTHING that tells people about After Math. It can be a YouTube video. It can be a fan made book trailer. I can be a poem or a song you make up. Change the words to an existing song. Make up a goofy story. It can be a video, an mp3, a  Word document. It has to be something that *I* can share with my readers on my website. You can be serious. You can be crazy. Bottom line, I want YOU to be creative and HAVE FUN.

THE ONLY RULES:

• Nothing negative–either about AFTER MATH or any other book or author.
• The submission must encourage people to read  AFTER MATH. This doesn’t have to be a sales pitch.
• I will post the finalists and the winners on my website.
• Have FUN!!!
• Email the link to your video or send your document or whatever you have created  to denisegroverswank@gmail.com

The winner will get a $50 Amazon gift card (or B&N if you so desire.)  And if there’s more than one entry that blows the judges away, I’LL GIVE MORE THAN ONE PRIZE. I want you guys to have fun with this!!! And I’m willing to pay up to encourage you. 

When I pick the  finalists, I’ll post links to their entries  while the judges decide who the winner(s) are.

The original contest ended on March 31, but I’m going to give you all time to WOW me! The contest is now extended to April 15.  Winners will be announced by April 22, if not sooner.  The finalists and winner(s) will be featured on my website with links shared via Facebook and Twitter.

Since I didn’t have any entries, I asked my daughter Julia and her friend, Megan, to make an example for you all. Let’s just say you have some stiff competition. If they were eligible. Which they aren’t. Unless no one else enters. Don’t let me down, you all.

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

I’m super excited! This is a new genre for me, but I’ve been reading is since late last summer. Trisha and Heather got tired of hearing me say “I think I want to write a contemporary romance.” And finally told me to shut up and do it.

If you want to read the first three chapters of AFTER MATH go here.

I want to get the word out that AFTER MATH is available and I’d love  for you to help me.

What can you do?

First, you can read AFTER MATH and leave reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and/or your own blog.

Next, you can tweet or Facebook about AFTER MATH or post about it on your blog or Tumblr or any other social media outlet that let’s people know about AFTER MATH’s release.

And to show you my thanks, I’m hosting a GIVEAWAY!!!

• For every review you leave, you get one entry.
• Every time you tweet or Facebook or post somewhere about AFTER MATH, you get an entry.
• Tweet or Facebook or share my special BONUS PRIZE

What can you win?

Signed copy of AFTER MATH

Necklace inspired by AFTER MATH and created by jewelry designer Autumn Markley

Denise Grover Swank insulated travel mug

$25 Amazon gift card (or B&N if you chose)

 The giveaway starts Tuesday March 12 and ends at midnight, Sunday March 31. Winners will be notified by email. You can enter the tweet and Facebook status update once a  day.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

But wait! There’s going to be a special bonus prize.

(Now I feel like one of those infomercials.)

I’m a creative person and have always tried to find ways to express my creativity. Before I began pouring all that energy into writing books, I used to have a blog– There’s Always Room for One More. I used to do all kinds of crazy things.

• I did a post about how wearing pearls makes me classy when I clean my house
• I made a commercial for a breakfast cereal
• My own take of the Oscars with Blog Awards (that post took me HOURS to write)
• Creating illustrations to emphasis my points
• My weeks long hostage crisis with Best Buy and my dishwasher

You get the point.

My creativity was DYING for an outlet! As I came up with this giveaway, I thought maybe I’m not the only person who likes to think up crazy things. Why not let the readers come up with their own unique way to let people know about my book?

Let them be CREATIVE!!!

The thing is, creativity is a hard thing to quantify. So I’ve decided to use a few judges to help me. I’ll announce them later.  But for now, you can do ANYTHING YOU WANT. A video. A song. A redone music video. A poem. A crazy blog post. The ideas are endless.

The only rules are:

• Nothing negative–either about AFTER MATH or any other book or author.
• The submission must encourage people to read  AFTER MATH. This doesn’t have to be a sales pitch.
• I will post the finalists and the winners on my website.
• Have FUN!!!

The winner will get a $50 Amazon gift card (or B&N if you so desire.)  And if there’s more than one entry that blows the judges away, I’LL GIVE MORE THAN ONE PRIZE. I want you guys to have fun with this!!! And I’m willing to pay up to encourage you.

When you come up with your awesomely creative idea, post the link in the comments below. You have until midnight Sunday, March 31 to come up with something! Winners for the bonus prize will be announced by Friday April 5, 2013.

I can’t wait to see it what you come up with!!!

One of my readers who is from Turkey tells me that the title is CHOSEN BODIES.

Here’s the text from Marti Publishing Facebook page:

KEHANET ONUN GÖZLERİNDE GİZLİYDİ…
TÜM İNSANLIĞIN GELECEĞİ DE…

SEÇİLMİŞ BEDENLER – Denise Grover Swank

‘’Yüce kişi dolunayda var olacak
Yaz dönümünden sonra
Büyük bir acıdan doğacak
Anne kabul edecek
Seçilmiş Kişi’sini
Ve bu kişi onun işaretini taşıyacak
Sonuna kadar onu koruyacak.”

…Kaderleri Bedenlerinde Saklıydı…

1800’lerden günümüze uzanan gizli bir felsefi örgütün hedefinde olan Emma ile geleceği görebilen beş yaşındaki oğlu Jake, tüm insanlığı etkileyecek bir sırrın başkahramanlarıdır. Önemli politikacıların, işadamlarının
üye olduğu gizli bir örgütün peşlerini bir an olsun bırakmadıkları anne ve oğlun hayatı ortaya çıkan bir yabancıyla tamamen değişir. Tahmin edemeyeceği bir oyunun içine dahil olan yabancıya, Emma ya güvenecek
ya da bu amansız kaderle tek başına yüzleşecek.

Denise Swank, fantastik severleri yeni bir macerayla buluşturuyor. Kitabın sürükleyici dili ve başkahramanlarının esprili cazibeleri okuyucuları bir sonraki kitap için heyecanlandıracak.
Publishers Weekly

Denise Swank, okuyucularını bulunmaz bir aksiyonun içine çekerken, bağlılık ve aşk üzerine unutulmaz bir hikâyeyle buluşturuyor.
USA Today

Bu kitap sayesinde geçmişten gelen bir kehanetin
günümüzdeki izlerini okuyacak ve heyecan dalgasını bir an olsun kaybetmeyeceksiniz.
New York Times

400 SAYFA – 17 TL
MATBAA’DA

And here’s the Google translation:

DIVINATION was hidden in her eyes …
ALL OF HUMANITY IN THE FUTURE …

SELECTED SIZES** – Denise Grover Swank (My Turkish reader says it’s really CHOSEN BODIES)

” Great people there will be a full moon
After the turn of Summer
Pain arising from a large
Mother will accept
Selected Kişi’sini
And that person will carry his mark
Protect him until the end. ”

Their fate was hidden on their bodies … …

Ranging from the 1800s to the present day is a philosophical secret organization whose aims are five-year-old son, Jake can see the future with Emma, the protagonists of a secret affect all of humanity. Important politicians, businessmen,
is a member of a secret society after them for a moment in the life of the mother and son left no stranger to change entirely. The foreigner who is one that will be incorporated into the game, Emma, or rely on
alone or face fierce fate.

Denise Swank, fantastic lovers brings a new adventure. Language of the book is a gripping and witty charm of the major players in the next book will excite readers.
Publishers Weekly

Denise Swank, taking readers into a unique action, commitment, and an unforgettable story of love brings.
USA Today

Thanks to this book of prophecy from the past
traces the current wave of enthusiasm for a moment to read and lose.
The New York Times

But there’s more good news. And bad news, too.

Even though Alison’s going to be working full time at her new job, Alison has agreed to keep me on as a freelance client! I’m so, so lucky to keep her!

But the bad news is that she’s going to be tied up with moving and getting acclimated to her new job. Which means she won’t be able to read Thirty and a Half Excuses at the beginning of April like we had scheduled. I wouldn’t dream of publishing Rose without Alison’s touch, so the release of Thirty will be delayed at least a month. I’m hoping for a late June release.

Not to worry! I’m going to find something to fill up the month! I’m still trying to decide what project to squeeze in, but I’ll be sure to let you know when I figure it out.