Pump Up Your Book Chats with Giacomo Giammatteo – WIN AN iPAD 3 & KINDLE FIRE!

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About Giacomo Giammatteo

I live in Texas now, but I grew up in Cleland Heights, a mixed ethnic neighborhood in Wilmington, Delaware that sat on the fringes of the Italian, Irish and Polish neighborhoods. The main characters of Murder Takes Time grew up in Cleland Heights and many of the scenes in the book were taken from real-life experiences.
Somehow I survived the transition to adulthood, but when my kids were young I left the Northeast and settled in Texas, where my wife suggested we get a few animals. I should have known better; we now have a full-blown animal sanctuary with rescues from all over. At last count we had 41 animals—12 dogs, a horse, a three-legged cat and 26 pigs.

Oh, and one crazy—and very large—wild boar, who takes walks with me every day and happens to also be my best buddy.

Since this is a bio some of you might wonder what I do. By day I am a headhunter, scouring the country for top talent to fill jobs in the biotech and medical device industry. In the evening I help my wife tend the animals, and at night—late at night—I turn into a writer.

Go check out the website: www.giacomogiammatteo.com. Look around, click some links, and, if you’ve got time, tell me what you think. Contact me at jim@giacomogiammatteo.com.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how long you’ve been writing?

A: I have always enjoyed writing, but I never did anything with it until my youngest son was a teenager. We used to read fantasy books and dissect the plots when we finished. After devouring a half dozen books, we decided it might be fun to write one.

We plotted the first book together, but then he lost interest. (I believe his lack of enthusiasm coincided with girls coming around the house.) In any case, I was hooked and I continued on my writing journey.

Q: Can you please tell us about your book and why you wrote it?

A: I’m a storyteller, and I wanted to mix my experiences growing up into a novel. This book is tagged as a murder mystery, but it is much more than that. It’s a story of three kids who had an undying friendship and how life changed that.

Q: What were some of the biggest challenges you faced writing it?

A: Technically, the biggest challenge was making the timelines work, and making sure the different POVs flowed smoothly. The story jumps back and forth in time as the detective is trying to solve the crimes. It drove me crazy at times making sure I had it right.

From a personal perspective, the toughest part was dealing with the emotions. As I mentioned, some of these experiences were real. The funny ones were no problem, but digging deep to find the emotions for the others proved to be more than I bargained for.

Q: Do you have a press kit and what do you include in it? Does this press kit appear online and, if so, can you provide a link to where we can see it?

A: Yes, I have a press release. It’s fairly straightforward—an image of the book cover, a few snippets from editorial reviews and the basic contact information. The release is on my website. Here’s the link: http://giacomogiammatteo.com/about/media/murder-takes-time-press-release-2/

Q: Have you either spoken to groups of people about your book or appeared on radio or TV? What are your upcoming plans for doing so?

A: I haven’t spoken to any groups, unless you count the five million times I’ve bored my dear wife with book talk. I recently completed a radio interview and another one is planned for August.

Q: Do you have an agent and, if so, would you mind sharing who he/she is? If not, have you ever had an agent or do you even feel it’s necessary to have one?

A: I do not have an agent. I tried for two years to get an agent, but it didn’t happen. Now that I braved the new world of Indie Publishing, I feel good about it. To answer your question—no, I don’t think I need one.

Q: Did you, your agent or publisher prepare a media blitz before the book came out and would you like to tell us about it?

A: I didn’t know enough about marketing a book when I launched Murder Takes Time, so I did very little in the way of promotion. Next time I’ll be better prepared.

Q: Do you plan subsequent books?

A: Yes. I have three series of books. Six books are planned for the first series, Friendship & Honor, and there are two other series: Blood Flows South and Redemption.

Q: Thank you for your interview, Giacomo. Would you like to tell my readers where they can find you on the web and how everyone can buy your book?

A: You can find me at my website: http://giacomogiammatteo.com
Or on facebook: http://facebook.com/giacomogiammatteo
And you can buy the book here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007UNJJYI

About Murder Takes Time

A string of brutal murders has bodies piling up in Brooklyn, and Detective Frankie Donovan knows what is going on. Clues left at the crime scenes point to someone from the old neighborhood, and that isn’t good.

Frankie has taken two oaths in his life—the one he took to uphold the law when he became a cop, and the one he took with his two best friends when they were eight years old and inseparable.

Those relationships have forced Frankie into many tough decisions, but now he faces the toughest one of his life; he has five murders to solve and one of those two friends is responsible. If Frankie lets him go, he breaks the oath he took as a cop and risks losing his job. But if he tries to bring him in, he breaks the oath he kept for twenty-five years—and risks losing his life.

In the neighborhood where Frankie Donovan grew up, you never broke an oath.

~ ~ ~ iPad 3 GIVEAWAY ~ ~ ~

Pump Up Your Book and Giacomo Giammatteo are teaming up to give you a chance to win an iPad 3!

ipad

Here’s how it works:

Each person will enter this giveaway by liking, following, subscribing and tweeting about this giveaway through the Rafflecopter form placed on blogs throughout the tour. If your blog isn’t set up to accept the form, we offer another way for you to participate by having people comment on your blog then directing them to where they can fill out the form to gain more entries.

This iPad 2 promotion will run from June 18 – August 31. Winner will be chosen randomly by Rafflecopter, contacted by email and announced on September 1, 2012.

Each blogger who participates in the Murder Takes Time virtual book tour is eligible to enter and win.

Visit each blog stop below to gain more entries as the Rafflecopter widget will be placed on each blog for the duration of the tour.

If you would like to participate, email Tracee at tgleichner(at)gmail.com. What a great way to not only win this fabulous prize, but to gain followers and comments too! Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

~ ~ ~ KINDLE FIRE GIVEAWAY ~ ~ ~

Pump Up Your Book and Giacomo Giammatteo are teaming up to give you a chance to win a Kindle Fire!

Here’s how it works:

This Kindle Fire promotion will run from June 18 – August 31. Winner will be chosen randomly by Rafflecopter, contacted by email and announced on September 1, 2012.

Each blogger who participates in the Murder Takes Time virtual book tour is eligible to enter and win.

Visit each blog stop below to gain more entries as the Rafflecopter widget will be placed on each blog for the duration of the tour.

If you would like to participate, email Tracee at tgleichner(at)gmail.com. What a great way to not only win this fabulous prize, but to gain followers and comments too! Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Question of the Day

How do you make sales happen for you?

A lot of hard work! I sponsor a lot of on line parties, festivals and contests. Book sales don’t magically happen, believe me. An author has to work hard to earn her readers. And then she has to work hard to keep them by giving them something they’ll enjoy reading. I try hard to make my books worth a reader’s time.

-- Sheila Roberts, Author of Winter at the Beach