Add Trying to Score!

If you are an avid Goodreads.com person, I have added Trying to Score to their database! You can put it on your to- read list now!

Happy New Year everyone!

here's the link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13349614-trying-to-score

Trying to Score

A lot of people have been asking for this, so I thought I would post it again! This will be the second in the Assassins series!

Trying to Score

Fallon Parker’s dream was to have her families’ wine company at the top of all wine magazines. After graduating from college, she has worked hard to make that dream a reality, even if that meant having a nonexistent love life. She had her chance at love and that was a bust, so she put everything into the wine company. After becoming the official sponsor of the Nashville Assassins, Fallon finally feels like everything is falling in place, that is until Lucas Brooks comes back into her life.

Lucas Brooks hates his life. He is lonely, he is sober, and he is angry. On the ice, when he’s not in the sin bin, he the leading scorer in the NHL but off the ice, he is a mess. He threw away the most important person in his life, and has regretted it ever since but when Lucas sees Fallon again after being traded to the Assassins; he is bound and determined to get her back. Even if she wants nothing to do with him.

The sexual tension between Fallon and Lucas is electrifying as Lucas tries to convince Fallon that he is a change man. Fallon tries to resist Lucas, but it is so hard when all her body wants is his. But when Lucas finds out that Fallon has been keeping a huge secret from him, the game he is playing stops and penalties are called.

With new rules and new players on the ice, will Fallon and Lucas be able to work out their differences and work as a team or will they be left trying to score alone.

To be released in 2012!

I paid him to make me look like a fool!

Hello All! I wanted to write a blog about my lesson learned since the publication of Taking Shots, I thank you for taking the time out to read it. So here we go!

I finished Taking Shots on August 28, 2011. I posted the last chapter of it on Booksie, on the fifth of September. During the time that it was published on Booksie, not once did anyone complain about my editing or grammar. So I thought I was fine! I was in the final stages of going through a publisher to get published. When I got rejected at the final stages I decided that I didn’t like rejection very much and would do it on my own, so I self published on October 5, 2011. In that month I sold a good amount of books and I got great feedback, but then the editing reviews came in.

People started giving me 3s instead of 5s because of my editing. I would get reviews saying ‘The book is amazing, but the editing is horrible!’ or ‘I would have given more stars if the book was actually edited.’ I am one of those people that wear my heart on my shoulder. With every bad review, I would feel like they were personally attacking me. Taking Shots, is my baby. I love this book, I love Shea and Elli like they are my friends. So when people talked about how my grammar and spelling sucked, I felt like they were saying I sucked at writing. I know, sad huh? But, in my defense, I am new at this. I am just now getting the tough skin.

Anyways, after getting ten bad reviews and feeling like I sucked, I decided to get an editor. It took me three weeks to go through editor after editor. Like I said, I am very in love with this book and I was scared that a editor would ruin it, so I went through a lot of people. Unfortunately, a girl that was friends of a friend that I thought would be great had family issues and I didn’t want to bother her so I continued my search. Finally, I met Russell James from James Literary Services. We talked for almost two weeks before I finally made a decision to go with him. The deciding factor was when he said

“I know this is a project that is close to your heart and now it is important to me, too. I won’t disappoint!”

Boy, how I wish I knew what I know now.

I made the first payment and he told me that it would take about five days to get the book done. A week past and I hadn’t heard from him. When I emailed him, he said that he was working very hard but the book was longer than he thought. That was the first time I questioned him, because he knew how long the book was weeks before, so why was he saying it was super long now? It took 12 days for him to get the book done, when I finally got the email of the done product, I was ecstatic! I opened it, and started reading to make sure everything was good.

But it wasn’t.

In the first three chapters alone, I found over twenty mistakes. Dumb mistakes, too. Like misspelled words, and missing words, things he should have found. I got an email from him saying that he needed to pay his rent and needed the other half of my payment. Even though it was against my better judgment, I paid him because it was in the contract and figured that he could go through and fix the mistakes. My close friend and I, went through the whole book very slowly and found error after error through the whole thing. I fixed what I thought was right as I went and so did she, but we are not editors so we aren’t even sure if the things we fixed are right. Plus, I still missed things. I’ve read this book over twenty times; I know it like the back of my hand. When I write, I write. I type over 80 words a minute and when I’m going the last thing on my mind is grammar. Its to get the story on the screen, then I go back and correct what I think I messed up.

After reading over the book and finding so many errors that it made my head spin, I became so angry. I had posted a review saying that I had gotten the book edited that it was ready for the public, I even posted the new version because I thought when I got the book, you push accept all changes and you save, but nope, I was completely wrong. I felt horrible and I even sent the new version to people that had bought the old version. I did everything in my power to make it better. My efforts were a waste because even the new version was crap.

I contacted Russell James from James Literary Services, and told him about the errors and that I wanted them fix. He wrote me back saying to go through the book and show him what he did wrong. I didn’t think that I should have to read the book again to point out errors he made. He said that he would go over it again, and while he was doing this, I got three reviews that hurt me so bad, that I emailed them to him so that he could see what he had done wrong. His reply was:

“If I may be so bold, I think the issue is that what your readers are used to are romance novels that are not edited well. I can take any romance book out there and pick them apart for mechanics because they are not edited.”

I know what you’re thinking because I thought the same thing, what the hell is he talking about. I have never read a book where it wasn’t edited. I know I don’t write like regular authors, I write the way I talk. I feel it is more personable and that it gives more emotion. But when I paid for my book to be edited, it needed to be freaking edited. I told him this, and he said he would do it again. A week later I got the book, and it still wasn’t fixed.

I’ve decided that I basically paid this guy to make me look like a fool, and I am eating the money I spent. I have found someone new and I’m hoping for a finished product soon. I apologize again to anyone that bought the book and was distracted by all my mistakes, but believe me I did hire an editor and got screwed. The reason I wrote this blog was because someone said that I had basically lied about hiring an editor, but I hadn’t. I am one of the realest people you’ll meet. I am honest, and I am kind, I guess that’s why I got taken advantage of.

I have met so many amazing people on this journey. I want to thank everyone that has stuck by me and continues to take time out of their days to write me to tell me how much they love my book. I never thought I would be where I am today. I was just writing about two people and hockey. I never thought it would touch people and that they would connect with the book but now that I know this, I have never been so happy.

Thankfully though all this I have learned a lot. I feel that my new book is way better grammatically! I know the difference between too, and to, then and than, and hey! I know how to spell orgasm now! Lol. I may misspell something and leave out a word, but it’s okay, because I will have a real editor this time! I love hearing from everyone, so continue with the tweets, the Facebook post, and the emails. I promise that I will always try to answer you! Thank you again, and I wish you all a Happy New Year!!

Love,
Toni

Also, to any authors that read this. Do not go through James Literary Services!

Merry Christmas Readers!

Merry Christmas Everyone! Sorry for the sideways video!

Oh, Amazon, how I love thee.

I was doing my morning 'check on Taking Shots' routine, where I go and check my sales, my reviews, my Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon, when I saw a new part of Amazon that they put up. Its called 'Popular Highlights', I was like..hmm..whats this? Underneath was a quote from my book and I giggled when I read it. Its one of my favorite lines from the book, and apparently, people love it too! Here it is:

Whoever said, 'Absence makes the heart grow founder’ was an idiot. Absence makes a bitch go crazy.

Just a little back story. Most of the things in the Taking Shots are inspired by something that has happened to me. This for instance, came to me when my husband started working a lot last summer. I hardly ever see him in the Summer because he is so busy with work. Between the kids, cleaning, working, and writing a book, I was going a little crazy and I just wanted my husband. So this little line holds special meaning to me, and I love that people love it too.

BEST REVIEW EVER!

I received a friend request on my personal Facebook page and I was like "Who is this?" so I clicked on the link, and came to her page which is called "Book Junkie". First thing I saw was:

Check out one hell of a good book by author Toni Aleo

I screamed a little and clicked the link. Let me tell you, I have gotten a lot of reviews but this one, blew me away. Her attention to detail, and the way she just describes everything she loved about Taking Shots, seriously brought tears to my eyes. One of my favorites quotes from her review was:

Especially by a first time published writer, and what a first book! Toni really started out of the gates with a bang!

It feels so good when people really connect with my book. It is the reason I write, and I wanted to share this amazing review! So thank you so much Ms. Brande from Book Junkie! You have made my day!!!!!

Please go check out the review at: http://myfoolishwisdom.blogspot.com/2011/12/taking-shots-by-toni-aleo.html

Cool stuff!

according to the Autumn Review, I'm a writer that wows her!

Writers that wow me @tonilovesweber6 @TammaraWebber @elisalorello @AuthorElizabeth @DonnaFaz @JLArmentrout @YasmineGalenorn @andreacremer

Hey, this tweet made my day!

Random Thought...

All hockey players are bilingual. They know English and profanity. -Gordie Howe

When I read this quote I giggled and said "Ooh this could be about hockey romance authors too!" I am a cusser by nature. I have a dirty mouth and I'm not ashamed of it. I'm proud of who I am. I'm a little crazy. I love a sport where men beat the crap out of each other and love it. I love it, and I wouldnt change anything about myself either....well maybe my weight! hehehe!

Rough Day!

Not a good day for me, but oh well. Like Demi Lovoto says:

You can take everything, I have You can break everything I am, Like I'm made of glass, Like I'm made of paper, Go on and try to tear me down I will be rising from the ground, Like a skyscraper!

Books to Read - Taking Shots!

I was extremely excited when I got a tweet saying

@tonilovesweber6 Hi Toni! Read #TakingShots and really enjoyed it. Will you be making this a series?

I giggled and danced around, something I always do when people say they enjoyed my book! When I went onto the site: http://www.autumnreview.com and saw that I was on her list of books she recommends, I almost cried! Everything is going so wonderfully for Taking Shots, and I feel so blessed with everything that is happening for me. I wanted to make sure to share http://www.autumnreview.com, since she shared me!

Taking Shots is ranked 4th out of 132 books on Goodreads.com! Check it out!

Taking Shots is available on Amazon!

To get Taking Shots, go to http://amzn.com/B005SMXVRE !

Trying to Score

Fallon Parker’s dream was to have her families’ wine company at the top of all wine magazines. After graduating from college, she has worked hard to make that dream a reality, even if that meant having a nonexistent love life. She had her chance at love and that was a bust, so she put everything into the wine company. After becoming the official sponsor of the Nashville Assassins, Fallon finally feels like everything is falling in place, that is until Lucas Brooks comes back into her life.

Lucas Brooks hates his life. He is lonely, he is sober, and he is angry. On the ice, when he’s not in the sin bin, he the leading scorer in the NHL but off the ice, he is a mess. He threw away the most important person in his life, and has regretted it ever since but when Lucas sees Fallon again after being traded to the Assassins; he is bound and determined to get her back. Even if she wants nothing to do with him.

The sexual tension between Fallon and Lucas is electrifying as Lucas tries to convince Fallon that he is a change man. Fallon tries to resist Lucas, but it is so hard when all her body wants is his. But when Lucas finds out that Fallon has been keeping a huge secret from him, the game he is playing stops and penalties are called.

With new rules and new players on the ice, will Fallon and Lucas be able to work out their differences and work as a team or will they be left trying to score alone.

To be released in 2012!

Taking Shots

Elli Fisher has never thought she was good enough, let it be her job, her weight, her love life, nothing. That is until she meets Shea Adler. After doing a promotional shoot for the NHL team, the Assassins, she meets the hunky hockey player who shoots a puck, shattering her world.

Shea Adler was tired of the life he was living outside of the rink. The girls, the money blowing, the drinking, everything had to stop and it all did when he met Eleanor Fisher. He had never met anyone like her. She was feisty, witty, shy, and simply gorgeous. When he laid eyes on her, it was as if he was taking the hardest hit of his life into the boards, and he had to have her. Elli is a little skeptical of Shea, but he knows that they were meant to be together, and he needs her in his life.

Elli just doesn't understand what Shea could see in her. She was overweight, loud, and not even that pretty, so why would someone so gorgeous and amazing want to be with her? It seemed that no matter how hard she tried to shake Shea off, he wasn't going anywhere, and for the first time Elli didn't feel alone.

But could Elli throw her insecurities out the window and love Shea with everything inside of her, or will she let a past relationship, and her family ruin any chance of her being happy?

Hello!!!

My name is Toni Aleo!
I am twenty seven years old, and married with two children. I live outside of Nashville TN, in the city called Clarksville. I have been writing since I was in high school, but never thought to publish anything until now! It took me seven months to write Taking Shots, when I was almost done; I posted it to Booksie.com and had an amazing response. Everyone loved it, and I have gotten so many comments on how real the characters are, and how every big event in the book had made people feel like they are in the book with the main characters. Which was what I wanted, I wanted people to read my book and feel for Shea and Elli, root for them when things didn’t look like they would work out. I am absolutely in love with my novel, and I hope you love it too! I am currently working on the second in the Assassins series called Trying to Score. I've been working on it for the past 3 months and I think I'm about half way through! I hope to hear from you on here, my Facebook, or my twitter! Thank you so much!