Samantha Durante's Blog | Stitch Trilogy | Grief Writing for Babyloss Families

Jan 8, 2014
2 min

Distribution Updates – Kindle MatchBook, iTunes & More!

Hey Stitch Fans! Just wanted to let you know about a few quick updates made to Stitch & Shudder’s distribution. Lots of details below, but here’s the short version: don’t worry if you don’t see Stitch or Shudder available for sale where they should be for a couple days. And if you bought Stitch or Shudder from Amazon in print, you can now grab a Kindle copy at a reduced price! Okay, and here’s the long version: First, it recently came to my attention that Shudder had not be

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Aug 13, 2013
2 min

Guest Post: “Book Pirates: Not the ‘Arrrgh’ Kind” + Alessa/Isaac Interview,

From the Alessa/Isaac interview:Naomi: Hi Alessa and Isaac! Welcome to my Paranormal Palace!! Alessa: We’re very excited to be here! Isaac: Thanks so much for having us, Naomi! Naomi: The pleasure is mine, I assure you! Alright, let’s get straight into the nitty gritty. How are you both adjusting to life now that you are out of the spotlight, not that you realised that you were being filmed before… A: (big sigh) It’s a relief! It was SO difficult during Stitch once I realize

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Aug 5, 2013
2 min

Guest Post: “Death to the Dreaded Second Book Syndrome” + Review & Giveaway

First, check out yesterday’s guest post at Cocktails & Books about how to avoid the dreaded Second (Middle) Book Syndrome: Middle books in a trilogy have gotten a bad rap, particularly in YA. They’re often known to be bland filler, simply a bridge between the first and last books in the series, where not much of anything happens and the characters just kind of, well, stagnate, whittling away the hours while they (and the readers…) wait (im)patiently for Book 3 to come along.

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Aug 3, 2013
1 min

Smorgasbord of Content – 2 Guest Posts, 2 Excerpts, 3 Reviews & 3 Giveaways

Excerpt and giveaway at Books with Bite Guest post featuring another Sayings SMACKDOWN (this time w/ Lizzie and Janie) at Coffee Books & Me A great review (“another great novel that captured my attention with standout characters and worldbuilding”) and excerpt at An Avid Reader’s Musings Author interview, review, and giveaway at Red Reader Reviews Review, giveaway, and guest post (“Why I Love the First Line of Shudder”) at Bex ‘n’ Books Follow the links above for the full sto

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Jul 23, 2013
2 min

Guest Post: “Characters Behaving Badly” + Related Excerpt, Review & Giveaways

Here’s a snippet of the guest post over at To Read or Not to Read: Sometimes… characters just won’t do what you want them to do. I guess this is the problem with a well-developed character – she is no longer an object under your control, she’s a living, breathing person with motivations and thoughts and feelings all her own. And sometimes, even when she’s supposed to be the big, tough heroine of your story, she just doesn’t want to be. And we – as the readers – just have to d

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Jun 26, 2013
1 min

“If you like Delirium and syfi dystopian, you’ll love this book.” 2 Reviews &

First, check out the 4.5-star Stitch review at Escape Into A Book. Then swing by Tressa’s Wishful Endings to hear what Tressa had to say about both Stitch & Shudder – here’s a sneak peek: I really liked Alessa’s character. I thought she was a great MC and I connected with her and her struggles under the circumstances she was dealing with…. The society and plot were plausible (for a scifi/paranormal) to me as well. The drugs used on the people and separation of the classes; t

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Jun 18, 2013
2 min

“What’s In a Name? How I Titled Shudder” + 2 Reviews & Big Giveaway

First, swing by Books & Such for the guest post, “What’s In a Name? How I Titled Shudder” along with an awesome review. Here’s a sneak peek of both: From the guest post: You’d think that writing a book is the most difficult part of the process, but for me, that’s generally not the case – coming up with a decent title once I’ve written the thing is *infinitely* harder. After all, a good title is as important as a good cover – it’s just reality that readers are going to make

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Jun 15, 2013
3 min

Shudder LAUNCH & Blog Tour Kick-Off, Woo-Hoo!!

Here’s where you can grab your copy: Amazon: Kindle ($2.99) or print ($9.49) formats Smashwords: all other e-book formats ($2.99) Coming soon to B&N Nook, iTunes, Kobo, etc. in e-book format, expected by early July (And for anyone you know who hasn’t read Stitch yet, it’s available in all the same places for just $0.99!) To celebrate Shudder’s arrival, today we’re also kicking off an EPIC 12-week Blog Tour running from now until September 1st with 150+ stops at amazing blogs

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Jun 10, 2013
1 min

Surprise! Shudder Sample Chapters!!

Here it is, hot off the presses for your reading pleasure – TA DA! The Shudder Sample Chapters. :-D Inside you’ll find 31 pages of BRAND NEW, never-before-seen Shudder content. (Well, okay, if you read the sneak peek Epilogue in Stitch, then you’ve seen the Preface, but the rest is new!) Can’t wait to hear what you guys think! Be sure to let me know in the comments. So what are you waiting for?? Head over to the Shudder Sample Chapters page now to download a copy and get

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Jun 9, 2013
2 min

Added Prizes to Stitch Free Days Giveaway! (THANK YOU!)

I missed the screenshot at #13, whoops! I am so incredibly blown away by the success of the Stitch free days – and so grateful for all the help that so, so many of you have given me in spreading the word – that I decided to add a few more prizes to the giveaway so I can thank more of you for everything you’ve done for Stitch! This morning, Stitch peaked at #13 on Amazon’s Top 100 Free Books, and though it has since dropped to #24 overall (which is still amazing), it remains i

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Jun 8, 2013
1 min

Stitch Reaches #19 on Amazon’s Top 100 Free!

WOW. Wow wow wow. Thank you so, so much to everyone who’s grabbed a free copy of Stitch in the past 24 hours. Apparently it’s been a lot of you, b/c somehow Stitch has made its way into the Top 20 Free books on Amazon!! Look – here it is at #19! Only in my wildest dreams did I dare hope that Stitch might make it into the Top 100, let alone the Top 20, so this is really an amazing surprise! I feel SO grateful that so many people (just about 7600 at this point according to

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Jun 7, 2013
1 min

Big News – Stitch is FREE Today!

Wha-wha-whaaaaat?? You heard me! It’s free!! For reals! From June 7th-11th, anyone can mosey on over to the Stitch Amazon page and pick up a brand-spankin’-new copy of Stitch for $0 – that’s zero, zip, zilch, nada. I know most of you reading this have probably already read and enjoyed Stitch (otherwise why are you following my blog, right?), BUT I’m sure you know at least one or two – or perhaps a hundred? – people who HAVEN’T yet read Stitch and who might also enjoy it…

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Jun 4, 2013
1 min

Guess what came in the mail today!

AHHHHHH! They’re here!!!!! Can’t wait to crack one of these babies open and find me some typos! (Actually, I hate proofreading, but whatevs – needs to be done.) And if you’re one of the bloggers on the tour, good news: I’ve got the e-ARCs ready to go as well! Just need to give those one more read-through to make sure they’re functioning properly, and then I’ll be sending them out. Get ready!! :-D #process #print #createspace #omg #arc #shudder #publishing #amazing

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May 31, 2013
2 min

Thank You Brewster High School for an Absolutely Awesome Visit!

Anyway, I got to meet with the Humanities club which is run by two of my favorite teachers, Ms. McLeod and Mrs. Fine (shout out also to Mr. Stack for organizing!), and 20+ AMAZING students showed up for the discussion. I was SO blown away by these kids, seriously – they ranged from freshmen to seniors and were just so incredibly thoughtful and bright and well-read, and had so much to say about a great variety of topics. We touched on everything from my inspiration for Stitch

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May 29, 2013
2 min

Reminder – Shudder ARC Giveaway Ends Saturday!

It’s almost here! Squeeee!! (Okay, I’m really not a squee-er, but you get the point.) So I know my blogging has been a little slow lately (sorry!), and that’s because I’ve been working diligently on finishing up the revisions to Shudder and getting this publishing/promotion train MOOOVIN’! I’ve now got an almost-final ARC manuscript ready to send to the printer (and to myself for e-book formatting, ughhhh), 80+ bloggers signed up for the tour (and more on the way!), and a lo

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May 7, 2013
2 min

Pre-Release Jitters – Guest Post @ Reutreads

In a new guest post up today at Reutreads, I’m offering a glimpse into the handful of things that are keeping me awake in these nights leading up to Shudder’s release. Here’s a quick preview: 1. How do I make my book NOT SUCK? Okay, I’ll be straight with you – I don’t think the current draft of my next book sucks. I actually think it’s pretty good. But I thought that about my last book, too, up until the day I released it, and then almost immediately after I realized that I

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Apr 25, 2013
1 min

Thank you Stamford High School for the AMAZING Visit!

I just got back from what was definitely one of the *coolest* experiences I’ve had as an author thus far – I got to visit the Stamford High School Book Club (in Stamford, CT) for an awesome discussion about Stitch (which they read recently) and my experience as an author! Let me tell you – talking to readers is about the awesome-est thing ever (and yes I know awesome-est isn’t word, but it is now!!), and I hear from a lot of you guys online (which is AMAZING), but this was my

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Apr 23, 2013
5 min

Clarifying the Cryptic Amazon Email

If you own a Kindle version of Stitch, you may have received an email from Amazon in the wee hours of the morning that went something a little like this: An updated version of your past Kindle purchase of Stitch (Stitch Trilogy, Book 1) by Samantha Durante is now available. The updated version contains the following changes: – Typos have been corrected. – Significant editorial changes have been made. Since that email is entirely cryptic and makes the changes I made so

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Apr 20, 2013
1 min

“You are sick!” AKA Final Shudder-o-Meter Beta Reader Comments

When I finished the first draft of Shudder a few days ago, I promised I would follow up with some beta reader reactions after they’d had some time to read. Well, here you go! :-) Yeah, the beta readers kinda looked a little like this… “You are sick!” “What is <name hidden to avoid spoilers> thinking?? Betraying the rebels? Really??” “AHHHH WHY DOESN’T SHE KILL HIM?” “I’m actually experiencing a book hangover after finishing that, so I decided to re-read Stitch for a littl

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Apr 14, 2013
1 min

Stitch Might Be Temporarily Unavailable

Hey guys – just wanted to give you a heads up that the Stitch print/Kindle versions may not be available in the Amazon store temporarily over the next 48 hours or so. I published an update to the files (nothing major, just fixing the 2 typos I found since publication last summer), so while the new files are being reviewed, you might not be able to buy the book. No worries! I’d imagine everything should be back to normal by the end of Monday if not before. :-) #process #pu

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