Diverse Reader 3 Year Blogiversary Week: AJ Rose ~Guest Post #Giveaway

Diverse Reader's 3 Year Blogiversary Week continues!!! YAY! Today we have a truly lovely post from author AJ Rose. There's a wonderful giveaway at the end so be sure to check it all out.

Meredith King is one of my best friends who just happens to run one of the biggest promotional blogs in all of m/m. She's spotlighted every release I've had since I began publishing, and she's run countless interviews and giveaways to help me get the word out for my work. Diverse Reader is a go-to in my marketing plan.

But there's far more to it than that. Yes, the focus is the books, but it's about the support. When Indiana passed that hateful RFRA law, it was to Meredith I vented (as well as my wife. Same chat window). And oh man, was I boiling mad over that. So I kicked back, setting up a fundraiser to counter the law. The idea was to get fellow authors to donate books as incentive for readers to send a bit of their reading money to a handful of charities in a position to counteract the direct effects laws like the RFRA have on LGBTQ youth. We had over 200 authors donate books, and I believe we raised (from what I could tally, since not everyone gave us a total they'd donated) over $3000 for various charities near and dear to readers' hearts. What I remember most about that? When I was mad and venting, I said, "Fuck this. I'm going to do something instead of just yelling about it." And Meredith said, "Okay, what are we going to do?"

In a heartbeat, "I" became "we" and I had an immediate partner in crime. Of course, my wife was right there with me, but it was Meredith who offered her blog, who kept track of all the author donations, and in the end, matched up readers with authors so the whole thing went off successfully. The three of us were exhausted by the end, and I think we sent over a thousand emails during the entire fundraiser, but we pulled it off. We pushed back, and Meredith—with her determination and her blog with its wide reach—made it possible. 

Meredith, happy blogiversary! I cannot thank you enough for allowing me to be a part of your story as often as you have, and for being my friend through it all. Even when I get mad and come up with insane ideas.

Meredith has also asked what's coming up for me in 2017. I have a lot of plans for the coming year, starting with the Power Exchange 4 release (to be announced). In the spirit of continuing my series, I have the sequel for The Long Fall of Night planned, as well as one for the Reaping Havoc world, and somewhere in there, I hope to get another release done. It could be a slave story that's been screaming at me from the backburner, or it could be the co-authored one Kate Aaron and I have come up with, but at this point it's too soon to tell. I do, however, have serious plans for this year.

Giveaway

For participation in this incredible blog's anniversary, I'm giving three winners an ebook of their choice from my backlist. All you have to do is follow the instructions Meredith sets.

A list of my books (and where to find them) can be found here (and I'm working on replacing the ARe distribution channel, but that will take some research before I find somewhere to land). Happy reading!

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