Bittersouls by L.A. Morton-Yates - Book Tour - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hi, lovelies!!  It gives me great pleasure today to host L.A. Morton-Yates and his new book, “Bittersouls,” here on FAB!!  For other stops on his Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post.

Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $20 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!  Also, come back daily to interact with L.A. Morton-Yates and to increase your chances of winning!!

Thanks for stopping by!!  Wishing you all lots of good luck in this fabulous giveaway!!

Bittersouls

by L.A. Morton-Yates

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GENRE:   YA Fantasy

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BOOK BLURB:

A Shade. A Storm. A Soul.

Cursed with forbidden knowledge, 19-year-old Dela must hide her secret from her nomadic tribe or face exile into the frozen wasteland of the Bitters. When she becomes separated from her people during a blizzard, a mysterious and dangerous wanderer named Talon promises to help her find her way back to them. She quickly learns that nothing is what it seems, that her curse may actually be a gift, and that the Bitters are far more dangerous than she could have imagined.

Packed with unexpected twists, Bittersouls is a mixture of survival, adventure, and slow-burn romance that is sure to get your heart pounding.

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EXCERPT THREE:

A Soul

[Dela] rounded the corner, stepping into the mouth of the cave. As she expected, she wasn’t alone. But the man who leaned against the far wall of the cave, watching her with a wild and savage curiosity, was not a man she’d ever laid eyes on before. He wore a stark, white roughcloak. To Dela’s eye, it looked to be fashioned from a Jackal’s fur. The head of the beast encircled his own as a hood, the angular snout coming to a toothless point a few inches past his forehead. His arms were crossed over his chest, pushing the sides of his rough out enough to reveal a tattered and patched network of leather garments, ugly and indelicate, but which looked to be sturdy and thick. At his sides, an array of bone hooks much like her own supported various tools and weapons.

But what caught her eye most was the fiery array that spread out around him, stemming from the center of his back. Unlike those in her congregation, whose entities kept small and close and wrapped themselves around their humans, his spread all four of its ghostly appendages out behind him like crimson wings, swaying gently as though breathing or being brushed by the wind. If the congregations’ were simply alive, his was awake.

“Interesting,” the man mused. His voice was low and scratchy, as if from months or years of disuse. Dela realized she’d been staring at him for some time.

“Interesting?” she repeated. Who was this man? What was he doing out here? He’d been so close to their group… and she’d followed him out here. Alone. Had that been his plan?

The man shrugged, stepping off the wall and approaching her with footsteps too quiet to hear over the din of the storm. “I had expected another—”

“Bittersoul.”

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GUEST POST:

Describe Your Book Cover and How It Came About

Before writing this book, I didn’t know anything about how to indie publish a book or what elements were most important for successfully marketing it. So like most big projects that I don’t know anything about, I started by digging into some research. Among the most important things that I took away from that was the importance of a good cover—it is the first thing a reader sees, and despite the adage to “not judge a book by its cover”, the cover is exactly what either piques or repels most readers. It doesn’t matter how good your blurb is—much less how good your book is—if no one gets so far as picking it up off of the (possibly electronic) shelf.

But what makes a good cover? And how can such a cover be obtained? Some try their hand at designing it for themselves, as there are a host of powerful and open source art and design softwares available these days. But not being a visually artistic person myself, I decided to look for a professional option.

I looked first at Fiverr. It’s a great platform where you can find freelance creatives of every kind. I found my editor, Ceara Nobles, on there, but the sheer number of options and styles of artists made my head spin. The truth was that I didn’t know what sort of a cover I wanted, just that I wanted it to be ‘good’.

Shortly after, I stumbled upon 99designs, which offered a completely different approach to finding an artist. Rather than picking an artist and giving them a design brief, like I would on Fiverr, on 99designs I could submit a design brief and put up a certain amount of money as a potential award for the winner of a ‘contest’. Basically, artists who thought they had a vision for the brief could choose to make a design and submit it for my consideration. Over the course of the week-long contest, dozens of artists contributed their designs. I could rate them as it went and give specific feedback about tweaks that I would like to see on the ones that I liked the most. In the end, I had make the impossible decision between a handful of beautiful options.

The result, as you can see, was a beautiful, compelling, and professional cover designed by César Pardo. I’m immensely pleased with the cover and plan to use 99designs for all my future cover needs. They also give you the option of reaching out to specific artists to invite them to participate in your contests—an opportunity I will take up to invite all of the finalists of the contest for the Bittersouls cover.

Whatever path you choose to get your cover for your indie book, just remember that it’s the first thing that your readers will see—and first impressions are everything.

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AUTHOR BIO:

A life-long lover of the magic of storytelling, L.A. wrote his first story at the age of 7 and has been writing ever since. Speculative fiction, particularly fantasy, has always held a special place in his heart for the uniqueness of the places and the questions it can address. Though veiled by apparent strangeness, he has always seen it as capable of revealing deeper truth about our own reality.

L.A. graduated from Montana State University in 2015 with Honors in Biochemistry and a minor in Music Composition. This helped nurture his critical thinking and research skills which continue to be instrumental to his writing.  During his collegiate years, he also met the love of his life, Julie, whom he later married. At once his greatest supporter and his staunchest critic (when he is wrong, which is more often than he’d like to admit), she has been an integral part of his creative process ever since.

In February of 2018, L.A. became the father of his first son, Griffin. His second son, Tiber, was born in December of 2019 and his third son, Malachi, was born in January of 2022. Though life has become considerably busier since he became a family man, L.A. continues to work on writing in what little spare time he can find. He hopes to one day pass on his love of literature to his sons.

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CONNECT WITH L.A.:

Email:

l.a.mortonyates@gmail.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/authorlamortonyates

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/lamortonyates

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/lamortonyates

Substack:

https://www.lamortonyates.substack.com

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20690750.L_A_Morton_Yates

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/71469960-bittersouls

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/45DwwOE

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AMAZON BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon US Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/3N05V70

Amazon CA Paperback:

https://amzn.to/43xCBKA

Amazon CA Kindle eBook:

https://www.amazon.ca/Bittersouls-L-Morton-Yates-ebook/dp/B0BQFLM7D4

Amazon CA Paperback:

https://www.amazon.ca/Bittersouls-L-Morton-Yates/dp/B0BQ9B2RVP

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GIVEAWAY INFO:

L.A. Morton-Yates will be awarding a $20 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card (Winner’s Choice!!!) to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a purchase is made, I may receive a small commission to help support this blog.  This does not cost you anything, it just helps pay for all those fabulous community outreach projects and awesome giveaways on here**

This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions.  Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.