Bringing SEEDS to the Silver Screen: Part One

In December of 2015, I was being terribly impolite by checking my phone at Christmas dinner with my family. I glanced through my emails to find an unexpected missive from a man named Josh Tickell. I skimmed it and then sat back, stunned and suddenly incapable of participating in the banter around the table. I…

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Win A Free Copy Of THE SOWING!

This week, we’re running an Amazon giveaway of THE SOWING, the first book of the Seeds trilogy. All you have to do to enter is watch a short video of me and my sister Elena introducing ourselves and the characters in the books. It’s funny! (I think.) And fun! (I hope.) And it’s super easy…

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THE HARVEST Release Day!

          JOIN THE RESISTANCE! THE HARVEST, the third book in the Seeds trilogy, is officially available for download today. Available for download on Kindle or in paperback through Amazon. Remy Alexander wants revolution. After watching Vale fall back into the hands of the Sector, she will stop at nothing to reveal…

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The Harvest Cover Reveal!

It’s been a long time coming, but the cover for THE HARVEST, the third book in the SEEDS trilogy, is finally here! For those of you interested in the process of book design, here are some notes about our process: This cover was possibly the hardest one we’ve done so far from a design perspective. We…

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How I Sold My First 10,000 Books

It’s been a crazy year and a half for one Amira K. Makansi. Since I began my journey as an author and a publisher in July of 2013, my co-authors and I have released two books and a novella, all set in the world of Okaria, a futuristic post-apocalyptic civilization. In early April we announced…

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A Day For Dreaming

Horray! Today is BOOKBUB DAY! This means that my debut novel, THE SOWING, is temporarily discounted to $0.99. DID YOU HEAR THAT? YOU CAN BUY AN ENTIRE BOOK FOR NINETY-NINE CENTS! Does anyone else find this a little bit crazy? Crazy awesome, amirite?! After all, once upon a time, books were the possessions of the elite,…

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COVER REVEAL: The Reaping

Remy Alexander wants justice. After narrowly escaping death at the hands of the Sector only to watch her world burn around her, she will defy everyone to find her revenge. Valerian Orlean wants truth. After learning what evils the Sector is truly capable of, he must confront his past in order to create a better…

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Four Ways To Avoid The Trope Of The ‘Strong Female Character’

There’s been a lot of buzz lately about the role of women in literature and film from an article called “We’re Losing All Our Strong Female Characters To Trinity Syndrome”. Published last week by Tasha Robinson, the article primarily argues that screenwriters are providing cop-out “strong female characters” who appear at first glance to be…

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Writing and Running: On Triumph And Sacrifice

Writing a book is like running a marathon. You start out feeling great. You’re flying. You’re not tired yet (not even a little bit!) and you fucking love what you’re doing. That’s the first few miles, the first few chapters, dominated by euphoria, the thrill of your story, the thrill of activity. Then you get…

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Ambition & Abandonment

2014 really started out with a bang. My debut novel, The Sowing, has been doing great on Amazon and other online retailers. I finished writing the first draft of the second book in the trilogy, The Reaping, in late December. I’m working on a novella set in the same world, from a different character’s perspective, TBR in…

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