Why the Beatles? And other things you need to know about the Abbotts of Vermont!

I’m so excited that it’s finally February and the the release week for ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE! I thought it would be fun to help prepare for release week by telling you some more about my new family as well as what inspired the titles for the series. What I didn’t know when I picked Beatles song titles for my new Green Mountain Series is that the week the first book came out would also mark the 50th anniversary of the Beatles arriving in the U.S. for the first time. What a happy little coincidence! 

Long after I sold the first two books to Berkley Publishing, I struggled to come up with great titles for the books. When writing a series, titles that “speak to each other” is a critical aspect of the branding challenge, so I needed something that satisfied a number of needs. The title of the first book had to reflect the story AND it needed to work in concert with the titles for the upcoming books. I was truly stumped and under the gun to produce my titles. I turned to music, as I often do when looking for inspiration. A Google search of the most popular love songs of all times included several Beatles titles, including ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE, which was a PERFECT fit for book 1. I kept coming back to that title and then found myself on a site that listed all the Beatles songs and it sort of took off from there. Once I decided to use Beatles song titles, I wanted to give the titles a connection to the series, which is how dad Lincoln Abbott became a crazy, over-the-top Beatles fan. Ironically, at least to my children who are Beatles fans, I am not. I like the Beatles. I love a few of their songs, especially “Let it Be,” which I hope to use in the series, and the "Long and Winding Road." Otherwise, I’m not obsessed the way a lot of my friends are. I even made a Beatles mistake in the first book that wasn’t caught before the print books were finished. I’ll let you see if you can find it.

Another funny aside on the titles is that in the U.S. titles can’t be copyrighted. However, we found out that the United Kingdom recently tightened its copyright laws so if a title is “reasonably recognizable” it can’t be used for something else. As my editor in the UK said, “I think you’ll agree that Beatles song titles are ‘reasonably recognizable’ in the UK. LOL! Thus, the slight variation on the titles in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India. ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE is YOUR LOVE IS ALL I NEED. Book 2, I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND is LET ME HOLD YOUR HAND and Book 3, I SAW HER STANDING THERE is I SAW HER STANDING THERE. Works for me! Luckily, the Beatles boo-boo was caught before the UK version went to print. Phew!

Now we’ve mentioned Lincoln, the Beatles fan, and his wife Molly Stillman Abbott. Her grandparents founded the Green Mountain Country Store during World War II, and it’s run today by Lincoln and five of their ten children. The ten kids are: twins Hunter and Hannah, 35; Will, 33; Ella, 32; Charlotte, 30; Wade, 29; Colton, 28; identical twins Lucas and Landon, 25; and Max, 22.  Molly’s dad Elmer is very much a part of their lives and is known for his free advice and his loving yet meddlesome involvement in his grandchildren’s business. My plan is to write a book for each of the Abbott kids, so there’s lots of fun and excitement to come from the Green Mountains!

Hunter is a CPA who oversees the finances for the store as well as the variety of other family business interests, such as the sugaring facility run by Colton, the Christmas tree farm run by Lucas, Landon’s woodworking business and Hannah’s handmade jewelry.  Max is still in college at the University of Vermont, but he helps Colton at the sugaring facility, which produces more than 25,000 gallons of maple syrup each year that is sold in the store under the family label.  Hunter, Will, Ella, Charlotte and Wade help their dad run the store and often engage in a bit of a push-pull with him over his big ideas to modernize their small-town business.  Lincoln’s determination to enter the modern age with a website for the store brings Cameron Murphy to the fictional town of Butler, Vermont, located in the state’s Northeast Kingdom. The series opens with Cameron’s auspicious arrival during mud season when she runs her Mini Cooper into Fred, the town moose, and finds out that wearing $500 suede boots to Vermont in mud season isn’t the best idea a “flatlander” could ever have in the mountains. Second son Will comes to her rescue, and the rest… well, read about what happens next this week in ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE!

Read the first chapter here and see how Will and Cameron meet.

Read about all the great release week contest offerings!

And get the book here on Tuesday:

Preorder the ebook here:
Kindle US:http://amzn.to/161ScB8 
Kindle CA:http://amzn.to/IHnLs4
iBooks:http://bit.ly/1feiIsD
iBooks CA:http://bit.ly/1f45JvA 
Nook:http://bit.ly/139VI8d 
Google:http://bit.ly/1glkJFt

Those of you looking for it in PRINT, start checking your favorite retailers this weekend and remember the great SELFIE contest:
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1hnZWBW
Walmart: http://www.walmart.com/ip/27204304 
IndieBound:http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780425266762

The print version will also be available in Target stores, and you can preorder a print copy from Amazon:http://amzn.to/1fWNCvj. 

The audio book is available for preorder at Amazonhttp://amzn.to/1ftJ2ly and coming soon to other retailers!

Meet the Abbotts of Vermont!

For the first time in my life, I’ve found myself looking forward to freezing cold February! That’s because ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE, the first book in my new Green Mountain Series, is out this month after a rather long incubation period that began all the way back in 2011 with a spot on the NBC Nightly News. I’m a tad bit addicted to Brian Williams and his nightly broadcast—okay, I TiVo it, don’t judge me. A story about the Vermont Country Store and the hunky brothers who run it with their dad caught my attention. That led to a trip to Vermont, some retail therapy at both of the Vermont Country Stores, an idea about a moose, a Mini-Cooper, a city girl arriving in mud season wearing $500 suede boots… And the Abbott family of Vermont was born!

I get asked all the time about where my ideas come from. The idea for the Green Mountain Series smacked me right upside the head and wouldn’t let go until I did something about it. I’m very excited to introduce you to the Abbott Family, led by parents Lincoln, a crazy, over-the-top Beatles fan, and Molly, who is the daughter of Elmer Stillman, the second-generation owner of my fictional Green Mountain Country Store. Elmer is a bit of a character, and one of my favorite slices of Vermont life made it into Elmer’s yard in the form of a sign I saw in Stowe, Vermont, that advertised: Justice of the Peace, Notary Public, Free Advice. Elmer’s grandson Will, the hero of ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE, comments that free advice is the backbone of Elmer’s business, which gives you an idea of what you can expect from him!

Lincoln and Molly have ten children: twins Hunter and Hannah, Will, Ella, Charlotte Wade, Colton, identical twins Lucas and Landon and Max. Hunter, Will, Ella, Charlotte and Wade help their father run the Stillman family business while their other siblings provide products that are sold in the store, including maple syrup, woodworking, handmade jewelry and Christmas trees. When Lincoln gets a big idea to take their small-town business to the next level by hiring web designer Cameron Murphy from New York City, the sparks fly between a city girl who lives with the world at her fingertips via her smart phone and country boy Will, who doesn’t own a cell phone and can’t imagine what he’d do with one.

I’ve already written the first two books in the series, ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE, featuring Will and Cameron, and I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND, featuring oldest daughter Hannah, an Iraqi war widow who finds new love with her late husband’s close friend. I’m well into book 3, I SAW HER STANDING THERE, featuring Colton Abbott, who lives without electricity or running water on Butler Mountain where he runs the family’s sugaring facility.

The road to happily ever after for the Abbott siblings promises to be muddy and pitted with potholes, especially with their meddlesome father and grandfather pulling the strings from behind the scenes. I hope you enjoy the Green Mountain Series as much as I’ve enjoyed writing about the Abbott family! Make sure you check out my website at marieforce.com for tons of great contest info!

xoxo

Marie

Preorder now here:
Kindle US:http://amzn.to/161ScB8 
Kindle CA:http://amzn.to/IHnLs4
iBooks:http://bit.ly/1feiIsD
iBooks CA:http://bit.ly/1f45JvA 
Nook:http://bit.ly/139VI8d 
Google:http://bit.ly/1glkJFt 

Those of you looking for it in PRINT, start checking your favorite retailers this weekend:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1fWNCvj 
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1hnZWBW
Walmart: http://www.walmart.com/ip/27204304 
IndieBound:http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780425266762

The print version will also be available in Target stores. 

One Week from Today! A New Family & A New Series!

Are you ready for the Abbotts of Vermont? I’m very excited for next Tuesday when All You Need Is Love, Book 1 in my new Green Mountain Series, becomes available everywhere e-books, print and audio books are sold. This release is different from most of my others because there’s a publisher involved—Berkley Publishing, a division of Penguin-Random House. I’ve had a great time working with the team at Berkley to bring the Abbott family to you. I wanted to make you aware of a few things about the upcoming release, including contest information!

The first thing I want you to know is All You Need Is Love is my first MAJOR print release, meaning it’s going to be EVERYWHERE, which is very exciting! You can find it at Target, Barnes & Noble, WalMart, Books-A-Million, in airports and just about everywhere books are sold. How cool is it that it’s going to be in AIRPORTS? That makes me want to book a flight just to see it there! Because this is my first really significant print release, the publisher wanted to give the print book an extra boost, thus the added content in the print release. The short story, To Know Her Is To Love Her, will only be in the print version—at first. It will be released to e-book readers at a later date, and as soon as I know when I’ll let you know. I believe the intent was to release it ahead of Book 2, I Want to Hold Your Hand, in June. I want to make sure my ebook readers know that the short story is a “fun extra” and isn’t new story. It’s more of Will and Cameron, the hero and heroine in All You Need Is Love, so it’s something fun to look forward to in a couple of months.

Second, if you ordered a signed print copy of All You Need Is Love from Island Books, my local independent bookstore, I am signing those copies today, and they will go right in the mail. Watch for them by release day if you are in the U.S. and shortly after overseas. If you decide later you want a signed copy, you can still order them through Island Books. We will keep the order form live for future requests at http://www.islandbooksri.com/all-you-need-love-autographed-author-marie-force. You will also be able to order signed copies from Island Books of the Fatal Series books that are coming to print beginning next month with Fatal Affair. Because both of these series are governed by publisher contracts, this is the only way I can offer them to you signed. This differs from my self-published books (the McCarthy and Treading Water Series, in particular), which are not governed by contract restrictions, so I am able to sell them directly to you. I know all of this can be confusing, so feel free to email me at marie@marieforce.com if you have questions about how to get signed copies of any of your favorite print books.

Third, some of you have asked why I gave away advance print copies and not ebook copies. The answer to that is simple—I had the print copies to give away, and I don’t have an ebook version at my disposal. And to be perfectly honest, I don’t give away advance ebook copies of any of my books because I’m always fearful of the digital copy ending up in the wrong hands. In today’s digital world, protecting my books from pirates is a big part of my job, and keeping the digital copies close is one way to reduce piracy. I know most of you are perfectly honest people who wouldn’t dream of misusing a digital file, but it only takes one dishonest person to ruin it for everyone. I hope you understand my need to protect my hard work from people who would steal it from me.

Fourth thing I wanted to make sure I told you is to remind my reader friends in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India to look for the book under the title Your Love Is All I Need—same story with a slightly different name and cover.

Now, on to the fun stuff! Contests galore! We have several different ways to win great prizes around the launch of All You Need Is Love!

As we have done in the past, there will be a quick 25-question quiz designed to be “open book and easy to pass” that indicates you read the book during release week. Why then? The more of you who read the book the first week, the more likely it is to be a bestseller, and that would be an awesome way to welcome the Abbotts to our book family! There will be one version for ebook readers and another for print readers that will include bonus questions from the short story. The prizes for both are the same and everyone who takes the quiz will be entered into the drawing:

Grand Prize (Two Winners)

A trip to the June 2014 Vermont Launch Party for All You Need Is Love and I Want To Hold Your Hand, The Green Mountain Series, Books 1 and 2. This trip will include the following:

• Two nights lodging for up to two guests in Vermont.
• $750 toward airfare for two from anywhere in the United States. If you are overseas, you’ll have to get yourself to the U.S. We suggest flying into Manchester, NH (2.5 hours away), Burlington, VT (2.25 hours away), Hartford, CT (2.5 hours), Albany, NY (1.75 hours) or Boston, MA (3 hours).
• Reimbursement of up to approximately $300 for car rental and fuel to be used for transportation from the airport to Weston, VT.
•  A special breakfast with Marie for both winners and their guests.
• $100 gift card to the Vermont Country Store
• $100 gift card to Bryant House Restaurant at the Vermont Country Store
• Your very own stuffed “Fred the Moose”
• Signed copies of All You Need Is Love and I Want to Hold Your Hand

Second Prize (One Winner)

• $100 Gift Card to the Vermont Country Store
• $100 Gift Card to the e-book retailer of the winner’s choice
•  Your very own stuffed “Fred the Moose”
• Signed copies of All You Need Is Love and I Want to Hold Your Hand

Third Prize (One Winner)

•  $100 Gift Card to the Vermont Country Store
• Your very own stuffed “Fred the Moose”
• Signed copies of All You Need Is Love and I Want to Hold Your Hand

Runners Up (Two Winners)

• Vermont prize pack with maple syrup, pancake mix and other local treats
• Your very own stuffed “Fred the Moose”
•  Signed copies of All You Need Is Love and I Want to Hold Your Hand

**Note the signed copies of I Want to Hold Your Hand will be sent in May ahead of the June release of Book 2.

Selfie Contest!

And there’s more! Since this is my first major print release, we want to document all the many places you see the book—and we want to see YOU with the book. Send your “selfies” of you holding All You Need Is Love, along with your name, email address, location and the store where you saw the book to author@marieforce.com. Our goal is to receive photos from all 50 states and as many countries as possible. We will post the photos on Facebook throughout release week! Everyone who sends in a photo will be entered into a drawing for one of FIVE $100 gift cards to the book retailer of your choice. The more photos you send, the more chances you have to win!

Preorder now here:
Kindle US:http://amzn.to/161ScB8
Kindle CA:http://amzn.to/IHnLs4
iBooks:http://bit.ly/1feiIsD
iBooks CA:http://bit.ly/1f45JvA
Nook:http://bit.ly/139VI8d
Google:http://bit.ly/1glkJFt

Those of you looking for it in PRINT, start checking your favorite retailers this weekend:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1fWNCvj 
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1hnZWBW
Walmart: http://www.walmart.com/ip/27204304 
IndieBound:http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780425266762

The print version will also be available in Target stores. 

I can’t wait for a fun release week! Please let me know if you have any questions about any of the offerings listed above. As always, you can reach me at marie@marieforce.com.

xoxo

Marie

SURPRISE! A New Gansett Island Novella On Sale NOW!

SURPRISE!!!!! Wondering how I spent my Christmas vacation? Wonder no more! I spent it on Gansett Island, writing CHANCE FOR LOVE, a novella featuring our heartbroken billionaire, Jared James! CHANCE FOR LOVE is now LIVE for Kindle, Nook and Kobo, and coming at midnight to iBooks! I’m so excited to surprise readers with this new Gansett Island novella that’s been a top-secret, hush-hush project for the last couple of weeks. Keep in mind that a novella is much shorter than a regular book. This story is 25,000 words (vs. the usual 100,000 words or so that you normally get from me) and includes two special add ons: Will and Cameron’s first kiss in All You Need Is Love, out on Feb. 4, and the first-ever look at the cover of Fatal Jeopardy, which is out on March 24. 

Now, about CHANCE FOR LOVE….

Billionaire Jared James has everything a man could ever want except for the one thing money can’t buy…

After forty days holed up in his house on Gansett Island nursing a broken heart, Jared James decides enough is enough. Determined to snap out of the funk he slipped into after his girlfriend refused his marriage proposal, Jared organizes a party for the friends who’ve seen him through the worst of his heartache. Now if only he could stop thinking about the love of his life and how he will survive the rest of his days without her…

She was Elisabeth all her life until Jared made her his Lizzie…

Elisabeth “Lizzie” Sutter knows she has no business chasing Jared after she turned down his lovely, heartfelt marriage proposal in a moment of sheer panic. It didn’t take long for her to realize how foolish she’d been. Now all she can do is hope it’s not too late to set things right with the one man she can’t live without…

Author’s Note

We got to know Jared in Time for Love, when David and Daisy befriended David’s elusive landlord who’d come to the island seeking refuge after a bad breakup. We saw him again in Meant for Love, when he reconnected with Wharton classmate Jenny Wilks. Readers were eager to know more about the woman who’d broken Jared’s heart, and they wanted to know what I had in store for him. The more I thought about his story, the more I realized what I needed to do. I hope you’ll enjoy this brief visit with some Gansett Island friends as well as the introduction of a new couple.

Get it here:

Kindle US: http://amzn.to/1j1yKfJ

Kindle Canada: http://amzn.to/1hMd9rd

Kindle UK: http://amzn.to/1caaWOa

Kindle Australia: http://bit.ly/1dfKiba

B&N:  http://bit.ly/1ae3cOG

Kobo:  http://bit.ly/KdPvou

iBooks:  http://bit.ly/1hM8YeX (Available at midnight tonight)

I'm Getting Tired of Talking About Self-Publishing.... And This Is Why...

Remember WAY back in 2010, when self-publishing e-books was still new to everyone, and some of us were beginning to dabble and experiment? Remember when there were only a few brave, hearty souls out there trying this previously lambasted way to get our books to readers? Remember when it was weird and scary and we didn't know if the traditional publishers we were still working with would sue us for taking this new path? Yeah, that was sooooo three years ago. As we close in on the end of 2013, it seems like everyone is doing it or thinking about doing it. It's become "mainstream," a part of doing business for many authors, and it's no longer the headline-making development it was back in 2010. Or is it?

A month or two ago I read a blog post by an author who was taking the "brave, courageous step" into self-publishing. That made me chuckle. I wanted to post on her blog that there was nothing all that brave or courageous about taking that step—not anymore. Sure, it can be a daring move to turn down a decent contract with a traditional publisher to go totally indie. But it's not really a "brave" move anymore when it's been proven over and over by other authors that it can be a path to success if managed correctly. If thousands of other authors are doing it successfully—and by successfully I mean living off their proceeds—then those who are making the move now are doing so with far more information than many of us had back in 2010 when only a few hardy souls had taken this new path and NO ONE knew how traditional publishers would react to authors who decided to do both. That was truly scary.

At what point does the topic of self-publishing stop being all we talk about as a community? When does it become so much a part of our routine that it stops being "new" or "innovative"? For me, I think it happened sometime this fall when I realized I'm starting to get tired of talking about it. Yes, I said that out loud... I've talked about it a lot and tried to share what I've learned over the last three years. During that time I've self-published 18 books and turned my extremely well-rejected McCarthys of Gansett Island Series into a New York Times bestselling self-published series that has sold well over 1 million ebooks since Maid for Love debuted in 2011. For a long time, I enjoyed sharing what I've learned along the way, but now... I'm getting tired. I'll still talk about it because so many people are interested, and I'm always happy to lend a hand to another author, but... I'm looking forward to the day when self-publishing is as run-of-the-mill as traditional publishing, and it's not that big of a deal anymore.

How long do you think it'll be before we get there?

Meant for Love, On Sale Today!

Release day celebration! MEANT FOR LOVE, McCarthys of Gansett Island Book 10, is now ON SALE! Jenny the lighthouse keeper finally gets her happily ever after with Alex Martinez in this latest installment from Gansett Island, which features some of your favorite characters from past books too!

AND SPECIAL BONUS! At the back of Meant for Love, get the FIRST EVER sneak preview of ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE, Book 1 in my NEW Green Mountain Series, coming February 4, 2014!

Get MEANT FOR LOVE this week to participate in the fabulous launch week contest with all kinds of prizes, including a trip to Newport, RI for Reader Weekend 2014, up for grabs! Details can be found in the back of the ebook!

Kindle/Amazon: http://amzn.to/1cqm6Br
Kindle UK: http://amzn.to/1bfi394
Kindle Canada: http://amzn.to/18bPl60
iBooks: http://bit.ly/H4pLdO
Nook: http://bit.ly/1bNQuUQ
Nook UK: http://bit.ly/17gkTLK
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1fDNJrU

Get your SIGNED print copy here:https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9WZRMGM

Hope you enjoy Jenny and Alex as much as I LOVED writing them!

Announcing MEANT FOR LOVE Release Week Contest!

We have a contest with fabulous prizes to go along with tomorrow's release of Meant for Love! The contest will run from Nov. 18 through midnight, Nov. 25 EST and will require you to provide Marie with your TOP FIVE favorite lines from Chapter 2 and beyond in the book. Make plans to read the book in time to submit your favorite lines by the deadline!

Winners will be contacted and announced the first week of December.

Randomly selected winners will receive one of these great prizes!

First prize winner will receive a trip to the 2014 Memorial Day Reader Weekend in Rhode Island (airfare in continental US, three nights hotel and registration fee). The Reader Weekend includes a day in Block Island (weather permitting), the inspiration for Gansett Island. International winner must be able to get to a US point of entry. Click here for details about the Reader Weekend in RI.

Second prize $250 gift card to the e-book retailer of the winner's choice

Third prize $100 gift card to the e-book retailer of the winner's choice

Two runners up: Signed copies of all 10 print books in the McCarthy Series and a Gansett Island beach towel

Enter the contest HERE:https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/J3GWWZP

My Favorite McCarthy Book: Meant for Love, out Nov. 18!

Only 12 more days until MEANT FOR LOVE, Book 10 in the McCarthy Series, hits e-readers! I'm sooo excited for this book, which is now my personal favorite of the McCarthy series. Why? 

I've loved Jenny since we first met her in Book 6, and learned that she lost her fiancé on 9/11. Her life since then has been a difficult journey that led her to Gansett Island and a job as the lighthouse keeper. I've found her to be an interesting character from the beginning, and I've enjoyed watching her become an essential part of the Gansett Island "family" of friends.

Her love interest, Alex Martinez, had a great career in Washington, DC, but had to come home help his brother Paul run their family business on Gansett and care for their mother, who has dementia. I loved writing Alex! He's gruff, rough around the edges and curses like a sailor, but there's a heart of gold underneath all that gruffness. Between the family demands and the business demands, he has a lot on his plate when he meets Jenny during a scorching heat wave on Gansett. The sparks fly between these two from the first minute they meet, all the way through to the Epilogue.

Both of these characters have lived through difficult times, and they take comfort from each other as their relationship goes from smolder to serious while the temperature rises on Gansett Island! I so hope you all enjoy reading Meant for Love as much as I loved writing it! I can't wait to hear what you think of Alex and Jenny!

Preorder now:
Amazon Kindle: http://amzn.to/1cqm6Br
Kindle UK: http://amzn.to/1bfi394
Kindle Canada: http://amzn.to/18bPl60
Apple/iBooks: http://bit.ly/H4pLdO
BNNOOK Press: Coming Nov. 18 (no preorder permitted)
Kobo: Coming Nov. 18

Preorder the PRINT version: http://amzn.to/HxNen4

Read Chapter 1: http://bit.ly/16fLkO3