Guest Blogger ~ Ariana Dupre'

Hi Title Magicians all. Today we have an amazing lady and author with us. I first heard her, yes, ‘heard’ because I listened to her blog radio show. There was a link on the Passionate Ink forum, and being a radio fan (not to mention curious) I tuned in. Impressively, Ariana Dupre’/Melissa Alvarez interviewed authors and publishers. She also gave a ‘psychic’ reading or two, which, personally, I find even more impressive. Having dabbled in that arena myself and listened to several outstanding psychics over the years, I kinda know what rings true.
Ms. Dupre’ also rings true as a superb author. She is a paranormal author with Cerridwen, and her current novel, the Talgorian Prophecy, is receiving outstanding reviews. One after another! So many it makes my head spin. And, nope, I’m not possessed by an earthbound spirit! Contrary to popular opinion.
Without further adieu...

To Be Or Not To Be…..

That really is the question isn’t it? As authors we can be ourselves or we can be someone else and use a pen name. Since I write under a pen name I thought this would be interesting topic for today but before I start I’d like to thank ya’ll (yep, I’m a Southerner) for having me here today. I thoroughly enjoy your blog and am honored that Savanna asked me to participate as a guest blogger.
I saw that Mai posted about pen names not too long ago (so go check the archives because it’s a great post) and I’d like to add my experience to the mix. Why would an author decide to use a pen name? Well, there are a couple of reasons that I know of:
A) They want to protect their privacy.
B) They don’t want anyone to know what they write because it could adversely affect their day jobs.
C) They are so prolific that no one would believe they could write that many books in a year.
D) They write in multiple genres and don’t want the two confused.
E) And this list could go on and on and on and on like that little pink bunny.
I decided to use a pen name for several reasons. First, I’d worked as the guide to About.com for over a year and a half and I knew a lot of people in the industry. I was also the owner of a publishing company. I wanted my work to stand on its own – to either fail miserably or do well – based solely on the writing and not on my name. As in every industry some people may like you and some may not and I didn’t want the book to be given great reviews because someone liked me or poor reviews because they didn’t so I used a pen name that I’d come up with years earlier. I was fortunate in that the book received rave reviews and won awards – all without anyone knowing my identity. But having a secret pen name is crazy hard! Here’s an example. In 2004 with the original release of Night Visions, I was invited to the Cataromance Reviewer’s Choice Awards chat where they revealed all of the winners. Since I have quite a few authors with New Age Dimensions, I was pretty sure that one of our books was going to receive an award – I just didn’t know which one. So here I am sitting in the chat as Melissa Alvarez, owner of and publisher at New Age Dimensions, when they announced the winner of the Winner of the CataRomance.com Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Single Title Paranormal Romance 2004 – it was Night Visions by Ariana Dupré. I was so shocked that I couldn’t even type for a minute and then when I was able to answer I had to accept on Ariana’s behalf because she wasn’t there. But I really was! LOL Can you imagine – accepting a book of the year award on for yourself and not being able to tell everyone? After that I decided that it was just too hard having a secret identity so I held a contest (which was tons of fun) to reveal Ariana’s true identity. If you decide to go with a secret pen name you have to be prepared to celebrate successes by yourself unless everyone knows you only by that name.
I also write in multiple genres so that was another consideration for me to write under a pen name. I actually have a few. I write paranormal romantic suspense as Ariana Dupre, nonfiction as Melissa Alvarez and am self publishing two children’s books as Jara Jordan. By having multiple pen names people know exactly what they can expect from each of my names (engaging romantic suspense, eye opening nonfiction or fun and educational children’s books) even though it’s not a secret they all of those names belong to me.
When you’re thinking about the pen name that you’d like to use consider why you need one to begin with. Then take advice from Mai’s post and look at the importance of the type of name you choose and it’s marketability. Keeping a pen name secret is hard but it can be done.
Thanks again for having me here today! It’s been great fun.
Smiles,
Melissa Alvarez/Ariana Dupre
Talgorian Prophecy On Sale Now
http://melissaa.com , http://aspsychichaven.com

SIMPLY ROMANCE REVIEWS: TALGORIAN PROPHECY ~ GRADE: A
What would you do if you were a famous psychic and your son was just kidnapped by a ruthless serial killer? Go the police? I think not, especially when they don’t believe a word you say. You head off to find him, and that’s just what Megan Cassidy does in Talgorian Prophecy.
No one believes she can find her son but she knows she can, her visions become more and more haunting and she has no choice but to ask for the help of her ex-fiancé Brody Phelps. She has never stopped loving him but he has never forgiven her for the loss of his parents seven years ago.
But Megan has a secret she’s kept from Brody and when he finds out and agrees to help her find Robbie they learn even more unbelievable truths as they hike through the mountains of Virginia.
What is the Talgorian Prophecy? Well you’ll have to read this fast paced, hold on to the edge of your chair book by Ariana Dupré to find out. I’m not going to spoil one word of this excellent story. Can you say "what a twist?" You will and more as you hike along with Megan and Brody on their desperate search for Robbie before time runs out.
I really loved this book, it had a couple of really great surprises and it was never slow. The characters were well rounded from the obnoxious police officer (I swear I wanted to kick his butt myself) to Megan, our heroine, who loved her son so deeply nothing not even the threat of death would keep her from rescuing him. One warning, make sure when you start Talgorian Prophecy you have plenty of time to read because you won’t want to put it down until you have turned the last page. I can’t wait to read more by this very talented author. ~Reviewed by Lynda

p.s. She has horses. Beautiful gorgeous horses. Check out melissaa.com.