Dream Frequency Cover Reveal!

Since I finished writing this book, I've been waiting for this moment. Seeing my new book cover is the moment when the manuscript gets out of my head and starts to become its own entity in the world. No longer a vague notion, it's a real book. I think this cover is beautiful and I hope you will too. 

While you're waiting for the book to be released, I'm anticipating late June or early July 2017, please add it to your GoodReads shelf and spread the word!  

I'd like to thank Ken Suminski for his incredible talent and dedication to creating a cover that would make me happy. This definitely does. 

Without further ado, I'd like you to meet my second YA novel and conclusion to Dream Girl: Dream Frequency...

I can't stop looking at it! 

Christine would never have considered herself new recruit material for a secret U.S. agency. Until recently, she's just been an ordinary girl graduating from high school and wondering if a friendship with Gabriel, a mysterious coworker, would grow into something romantic. When Christine's fascination with Gabriel leads to her discovery of dreamworlds, she learns that she's anything but ordinary. In this thrilling conclusion to Dream Girl, Christine and Gabriel must choose their allegiances and face corruption, conspiracy, and the complexities of love in order to save themselves and everyone who matters to them - or die trying.

Happy New Year Announcement!

Happy New Year everyone! 2016 was a rough year for a lot of people, but I have nothing but hope, optimism, and excitement for 2017. Why might that be?

For starters, I'm in the final stages of getting the Dream Girl sequel ready for publication. I have received editorial notes from my incredible editor. I am also working with an insanely talented graphic designer to get the cover together. (That will be coming soon and you are going to love it!) I will also being getting edits from another trusted editor. Then I'll revise based on their notes, send to my all star proofreader, and then it's off for typesetting and voila! A new book is born! This is the year!

Now that the release year is here, I thought it'd be the perfect time to finally tell you some things.

1. The book is not called Dream Girl 2. It has its own name. With the cover artwork in production as we speak, the whole endeavor has become very real to me. I know what this beauty is going to look like. It isn't final, so I can't reveal that today (soon, I promise!) but I wanted to share my excitement by announcing to you, my loyal readers, friends, and family. The sequel, and conclusion, to Dream Girl is called Dream Frequency!

2. At this point, the release date is this April. While that might sound like forever to you, it's frighteningly close for all the work that still has to happen to get it into production.

3. You may wonder why I'm talking about doing all this stuff. In case you are, the answer is this. The publisher of Dream Girl, has decided to take a hiatus from publishing fiction. (Yes, that's kind of a bummer.) However, I didn't want to leave you guys hanging. I didn't want to leave Christine and Gabriel hanging either. So I completed the book and through the magic of the modern publishing landscape, I'll be offering a print and ebook version of Dream Frequency. It will have the same availability as Dream Girl, so you'll find it at Amazon, BN.com, iBooks, etc. It's a big undertaking to self-publish a book, which is part of why I'm making this announcement today. I'm going to need your help! Dream Frequency now has an entry on Goodreads. It would be so incredibly helpful if you could add it to your Goodreads shelf and share it with your friends who might enjoy it. There is no better way to get the word out than word of mouth, so if you enjoyed Dream Girl, please tell your friends and let them know the sequel is almost here!

4. Thank you. Seriously. Thank you so very much. Dream Frequency would not exist without you. I have to admit, when I found out my publisher wasn't going to do fiction anymore, I lost all enthusiasm for writing this book. I started writing another book and figured I'd start fresh with that. But your comments and support kept coming. You kept asking what happens next? When will the sequel come out? And then Gabriel and Christine started whispering in my head again. I realized that you guys were out there, waiting for the end of the story, and I couldn't leave you hanging. I couldn't leave Gabriel and Christine hanging either! Even if I had to figure out how to publish it myself, this was something that needed to be done. You kept me going, whether you realize it or not, and I'm so grateful for that.

I hope your new year is starting out with magic and excitement too. Let's make it an incredible year!

A Journey of Books Blog Hop

I decided to join the A Journey of Books blog hop because it looked like good fun. So, if you're new here, welcome! Before I get on with anything else, I wanted to mention that my publisher is running a flash fiction contest. The deadline is Oct. 31, so there's plenty of time to polish up a great submission. Details are here. 

Any good blog hop will introduce you to other awesome blogs out there so here are five for you to check out. 

Book Snob

Coffee, Books, & Me 

Josie's Haven

Ashley's Bookshelf

J.C. Martin Fighterwriter 

As part of the hop, we are all expected to feature a giveaway of some sort, so here is my giveaway, a copy of my debut YA novel. Win it before you can buy it! (Release date is November 12, 2013 from Scribe Publishing.) Good luck! And thanks for stopping by. 

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Dream Girl

by S.J. Lomas

Giveaway ends October 25, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Dream Girl release progress

Molleen Zwiker, Paul Flower, Barbara Pietron, S.J. Lomas, and Jody Lamb

So many wonderful things going on! I have to fill you in. First, August had a fantastic event, the Buy Michigan Now Festival in Northville, MI. My YA publisher, Scribe Publishing, had a booth for all of their wonderful books, current and forthcoming. I got to hang out with my Scribe family and we had a fantastic time! But don't take my word for it. See for yourself! Planning is in the works for us to possibly do another event later this year. I'll keep you posted.

Next, I'm crazy busy preparing for the official launch of Dream Girl. It takes an unbelievable amount of work to get a book launch off the ground. Naturally, I hope it will be a smashing success, but we won't know that until later.  Here are the important details.

Thank you to my sister-in-law for designing this fab flyer!

1. Dream Girl officially releases November 12, 2013
2. There will be a launch event at Barnes and Noble, Green Oak Village Place, in Brighton, MI on Sat. November 16, 2013. 3pm.  

 In addition to this launch, I am delighted to be working on another fun project with Scribe, the inaugural flash fiction contest! If you're a writer or you're interested in writing at all, please enter our contest. I am serving as one of the judges and I can't wait to see the submissions! All the info. is here.

Lots of exciting things going on here! If you want in on the excitement too, I hope to see you at the book launch. Regardless of whether you can make it, there are other ways to support the launch. I found this great article by Chuck Sambuchino titled How to Support an Author's New Book: 11 Ideas for You.  As much effort as I, and my publisher, put into marketing and event planning, we can't make the book be a success. That only happens if readers respond. I am so humbled by all the support and encouragement I've received from my family, friends, co-workers, and fellow writers. I sincerely hope you'll browse Mr. Sambuchino's article and see if there's anything you'd be comfortable doing to help Dream Girl. (Bonus: most of the ideas do not involve money leaving your wallet. Hooray!) I couldn't have made it this far without you and I can't be successful without you either. Thank you for all you've done already. I hope I can thank you in person at the launch.

- S.J.

News and an ARC giveaway. My ARC!

 You see I've been silent lately. Well, if you even noticed, I appreciate it. If you haven't, no hard feelings. I wouldn't have noticed either if I were you.

But I've been very busy putting the final touches on my manuscript and gearing up for the launch. Final proofs are set to come back this week for a last chance review before it goes to the printer. Once my editor and I sign off on the proofs, a limited number of review copies will be printed. How would you like to win one of those review copies? (I thought you might be interested.)

Here's the deal. The official release of DREAM GIRL is in November. In order to give everyone a sample of S.J. while you're waiting, I'm making my YA short story, KISS OF DEATH, free from Amazon this Friday and Saturday, June 28-29. Click here to get your copy.

Below, you will find a lovely little Rafflecopter that shows what you can do for your chance to win the DREAM GIRL ARC. (advance reader copy)

For 10 chances to win, you must write an honest review of KISS OF DEATH on Amazon and/or GoodReads.

For a bonus entry, you can 'like' my YA writing persona on Facebook. And for another bonus entry, you can 'like' my publisher's FB page.

The giveaway will run from Friday, June 28-Saturday July 6, 2013.  DREAM GIRL ARCs should be available around mid-July. I'll coordinate with the winner when their book is ready. I'll even autograph it, if you'd like. 

Ridiculously easy, don't you think?

While we're at it, I can finally reveal the DREAM GIRL cover! This is what you'll be winning. I think it's absolutely gorgeous. My thanks to the wonderfully talented Phatpuppy Art on the cover design. I LOVE it!

 a Rafflecopter giveaway