Marilyn Levinson – Ruff Drafts

Shepherd.com: A Unique New Book Recommendation Site

Posted on March 9, 2022 by Debbie

Have you discovered Shepherd.com? If you enjoy reading books and are looking for some great recommendations or are an author who would like to find another way to promote your work, check out this site created by entrepreneur Ben Fox as an alternative to Amazon and Goodreads.

Fox explains his vision for the website. “I want Shepherd to be a place that makes book discovery fun online. I want it to evoke the same feeling that you get when you wander around your local bookstore, but in vastly different ways given the limitless nature of the internet. And, while doing this, I want to help authors bump into new readers who are the most likely to be interested in their book. It is a hard world for authors and I want to make it easier for them to connect with readers in some cool ways.”

Shepherd.com launched in April 2021. In January 2022, Fox and his team launched a new front page, search, and topic sections called bookshelves. Bookshelves help visitors browse through books with subjects such as World War 2, dragons, grief, and many other topics. Fox says that “The next step is to bring in genres so that on the bookshelves you can filter to see only historical fiction, history, or other genre types. And then we will also add genre pages where you can filter by topic. So you can be on a science fiction page and filter to see only books about cyborgs or artificial intelligence or other fun ways to discover amazing books. Once we have that base in place, I have a lot of plans to create more new and unique ways to find books. Slowly but surely, we will make book browsing online less like buying toothpaste :).”The way Shepherd.com works is that an author can submit short recommendations of five book titles on a particular subject. For instance, I have a cozy mystery series, The Cobble Cove mysteries, that feature a librarian as the main character. I recommended five other first books of cozy mystery series that also include libraries and librarians. Here’s the link to my page on Shepherd.com: https://shepherd.com/best-books/mystery-series-featuring-libraries-and-librarians

Here is a list of a few other book recommendations featured on Shepherd.com:

https://shepherd.com/best-books/historical-mysteries-to-enlighten-your-imagination

https://shepherd.com/best-books/mysteries-set-in-space

https://shepherd.com/best-books/mystery-when-you-really-want-to-hug-the-detect

Shepherd.com isn’t only for mysteries or fiction. Here are some other lists:

https://shepherd.com/best-books/on-space-exploration

https://shepherd.com/best-books/the-history-of-paris

https://shepherd.com/best-books/changing-how-you-see-history

Shepherd.com had 67,000+ unique visitors last month. Fox works with a team that helps with different aspects of the site. Learn more about the Shepherd team here: https://forauthors.shepherd.com/team, and check out the exciting plans for Shepherd.com as outlined in its 2022 Roadmap: https://forauthors.shepherd.com/roadmap

Cozy Mysteries, holidays

Happy Cozy Mystery Day!

Posted on September 15, 2019September 15, 2019 by Debbie

We celebrate International Cozy Mystery day on September 15, the birthday of Agatha Christie. For those who don’t know what a cozy mystery is, it’s the type of writing that Ms. Christie was famous for. It involves murder of the less gory kind and an absence of explicit sex and violence. It usually takes place in a small town. There can be recipes or pets as central themes in the mystery along with an off-scene murder to solve and a cast of quirky characters with interesting professions.

I write a cozy mystery series called. Cobble Cove mysteries, for the name of the fictional town in which they are set. It includes a librarian and a library cat. A reviewer of the first book of the series, A Stone’s Throw, termed the story, “Agatha Christie meets a small town librarian.”

My recent standalone mystery, Sea Scope, was reviewed as “Imagine Agatha Christie Writing a Psychological Thriller.”

People enjoy reading cozy mysteries because they become familiar with the characters and like the settings. Some of my favorite cozies feature cats, as do mine. I’ve enjoyed fellow Cat Writer’s Association members books such as Carole Nelson Douglas‘ Midnight Louis series, Shirley Rousseau’s Joe Grey tales, and, Mollie Hunt’s Crazy Cat Lady series. For food-related mysteries, I like Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swenson mysteries. Mary Feliz, who provided some of the graphics included in this post, is a fellow Sisters-in-Crime member, and also a cozy mystery author who writes the Maggie McDonald series that features a Golden Retriever. Another SINC member, Marilyn Levinson who writes as Allison Brook writes a cozy that features a librarian and a ghost. Her latest in the Haunted Library series, Buried in the Stacks, was just released. A fellow author from Next Chapter, James J. Cudney IV, writes mysteries taking place on college campuses. The fifth book in his Braxton Campus mysteries, Haunted House Ghost, was also just released.

Do you have a favorite cozy mystery author or series, or haven’t you read a cozy mystery yet? Have you read any of mine? I’d love to hear your comments.

Author Spotlight, Blog Tour, Cozy Mystery

Author Spotlight of Marilyn Levinson aka Allison Brook, Author of Read and Gone, a Haunted Library Mystery

Posted on September 20, 2018 by Debbie

I’m pleased to have Marilyn Levinson (aka Allison Brook), fellow Long Island and cozy mystery author from Holbrook, NY here to speak about her writing and new release, Read and Gone, that is on blog tour with Escape with Dollycas into a Good Book.

Welcome, Marilyn. Please tell us how long you’ve been published and what titles and/or series you write.

My first published book was AND DON’T BRING JEREMY, a novel for kids, in 1985 (Holt) and was a nominee for 6 state awards. Other books for kids written around that time: NO BOYS ALLOWED, THE FOURTH-GRADE FOUR, A PLACE TO START and RUFUS AND MAGIC RUN AMOK.

About seven or eight years ago I started publishing mysteries and romantic suspense: A MURDERER AMONG US and MURDER IN THE AIR –my Twin Lakes mysteries; DANGEROUS RELATIONS, GIVING UP THE GHOST, MURDER A LA CHRISTIE and MURDER THE TEY WAY – my Golden Age of Mystery Book Club mysteries; DEATH OVERDUE and READ AND GONE – my Haunted Library mystery series written as Allison Brook

More novels for kids: GETTING BACK TO NORMAL and THE DEVIL’S PAWN

You are quite a prolific and versatile writer. I also like to write other genres in addition to my cozy mystery series.

Tell us a little bit about your books — if you write a series, any upcoming releases or your current work-in-progress. If you have an upcoming release, please specify the release date.

READ AND GONE, the second book in my Haunted Library series, is just out with Crooked Lane Books. My sleuth, Carrie Singleton, works in the Clover Ridge Library in Clover Ridge, CT as head of programs and events. She can see and communicate with the ghost of a former library assistant who sometimes helps her solve mysteries and lives with Smoky Joe, the library cat. I am currently writing the third book in the series.

I read your first and really enjoyed it. I hope to read the new one soon. As you know, as a librarian, I’m a bit partial to librarian sleuths and library cats, as I feature them in my books, too.

Describe your goals as a writer. What do you hope to achieve in the next few years? What are you planning to do to reach these goals?

I plan to keep on writing mysteries. I’d like to write another series and to add a few books to the series I’ve already begun. I also want to write the third and final Rufus book in my Rufus trilogy for readers ten to twelve.

I’m publishing the fourth book in my series soon and have an unpublished first of a cozy series I’m currently querying to agents. I’d like to continue the Cobble Cove books and am already planning the 5th.

What type of reader are you hoping to attract? Who do you believe would be most interested in reading your books?

I’m hoping to attract readers that like mysteries, unraveling secrets, and reading about my characters’ relationships with one another. I think readers who like a library setting, novels that include animals, and paranormal elements in their mysteries would love reading my books.

I hope to attract the same readers as you. Besides the paranormal theme in your books, mine feature all the others that you do. I have a standalone paranormal romance, Cloudy Rainbow, that just came out and is on blog tour with a giveaway right now.

What advice would you give other authors or those still trying to get published?

Keep on writing; belong to a critique group to give and receive input from other writers; join writers’ organizations; attend a few conferences if you can; be active in social media but don’t let it overtake the time you should be writing.

Keeping social media time down is tough especially when one works full time. Critique groups can be helpful as well as writer organizations. I’ve attendedf a few conferences and hope to attend more, but many times they are given when I’m working.

What particular challenges and struggles did you face before first becoming published?

I received many rejections.

I think all authors do, but they need not take them personally but use them as motivation to keep trying.

Do you belong to any writing groups? Which ones?

I belong to Sisters in Crime and the Guppies.

Me, too. They’re great.

What are your hobbies and interests besides writing?

I read, knit, do crossword puzzles and Sudoku. I enjoy traveling and dining out.

I used to crochet. I like logic puzzles but have never tried Sudoku. I also like to travel when I have the time and money, but I’m eating out less to keep to my diet.

What do you like most and least about being an author? What is your toughest challenge?

I enjoy hearing from readers, especially when they tell me they’ve loved reading my books and look forward to the next in the series.

Least, I suppose, are the things I can’t control. Like the rare, unfair negative review.

My toughest challenge is finding the necessary time to write. I wish I wrote faster.

I agree that time is one of the biggest challenges for authors and the more you publish, the more time you need to promote your books. I also enjoy hearing from readers and fans of my series. It gives me a reason to keep writing.

What do you like about writing cozy mysteries?

I love writing about characters that appear in a series—their lives in a small town, their concerns, and their relationships with one another. I enjoy the way my sleuths have to figure out clues and gather information to solve the mystery without the use of a forensic lab at their disposal.

Yes, characters are most important in mysteries especially cozies.

Please list your social media links, website, blog, etc. and include some book cover graphics and author photos if possible.

website: http://www.marilynlevinson.com
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Marilyn-Levinson/e/B001KHVLUU/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1521576336&sr=1-2-ent
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marilyn.levinson.10?ref=ts&fref=ts
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/161602.Marilyn_Levinson
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarilynLevinson
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/marilev/

To join Marilyn’s rafflecopter for her blog tour, follow the link here. http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/02887792759/?

Thank you so much for the interview, Marilyn, and continued success with your series, new release, and blog tour. I hope you drop by the library again, so we can chat or maybe do lunch. I may also see you at another LI event.