Hot off the press

UT School visits

I had so much fun visiting Garland Elementary & McKinley Elementary to visit with the 3rd-5th graders in Northern Utah.

Preorder

Great news! The second book of The Princess Chronicles, Finding Sleeping Beauty, is NOW available for pre-order on Amazon. Woohoo!!! FINDING SLEEPING BEAUTY

Be an Amazon Associate

Tristi Pinkston is not only an amazing author, she also gives great advice. On her blog, she talks about being an Amazon Associate. Check it out: TRISTI PINKSTON

HeyKayli shoutout

My cousin, Kayli Butler, has a youtube channel and she did a shoutout for my book on Instagram. Check out her videos. She's awesome! #Heykayli This pretty girl and I get SOO excited every time we see one of our very favorite books, "I'm not Cinderella" written by my amazing cousin #TarrahMontgomery!! We have both read it twice💙If you love fairytales and Cinderella as much as we do you must get this book!! You can also find it on Amazon!! #ImNotCinderella #BraiBrai

Writing Advice

I've been asked a lot for writing advice, and I thought I would put it here for anyone else who was interested. Publishing a book has been a great experience for me, but it has been a long road.

1- Writing a book is the first challenge and 99% of people who want to write a book never finish. So, you're almost there by just writing a book. My most recent published book is my 4th book I've actually written (2nd one published). My first 2 need some work, but I like to write so I continue to write.

2- Next is to do rewrites and get some feedback from your book. Have some people read your book and tell you honestly what they think. Family will be kind and nice, so maybe try to find some neutral feedback. You can find beta readers online to read your book. You can also join a local writer's group to get feedback. This is where rewrite is a big part of the writing process. Many authors rewrite a dozen times before submitting.

3- The next challenge is finding an agent/publisher. Of the people who write a book, 99% of them never get their book published. Every author does it differently. I read a lot of books that are the same genre and style of my book and I wrote to those publishers to see if they would be interested in my book. Many publishing companies require you to go through an agent, while some others don't. My publisher didn't require an agent. A great book to buy to see what agents/publishers are out there is: Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, and Literary Agents

4- This is about signing a contract and going through edits with your publisher. My publisher assigned an editor to my book and together we have gone through on at least 6 edits of my book (this is not counting the 3 rewrites I did prior to submitting my manuscript).

5- You must follow the guidelines of your publisher. Most publishers have their own illustrators to do the cover. They just want your book. Period. Publishers also have a calendar of when your book will be released and that is subject to change.

6- Last is to promote your book. Facebook, twitter, blog. Start a blog or website now and talk about the writing process. Get people excited about your upcoming book. I hope this information helps. I wish the best of luck to you.

Cover Reveal...new book 'Finding Sleeping Beauty' out in October

aw...shucks

I love fan mail: Tarrah, I absolutely loved "I'm Not Cinderella"!!!!!!!!!!! SO MUCH!! At the end, I thought Brinlee was actually going to leave Dennan, so I was overjoyed with the ending! I adore fairy tales...and this is the best twist on Cinderella EVER!! You are an amazing writer. I'm sure you get that all the time, but seriously, you are very talented! Keep writing! By the way, I am in love Dennan!! Too bad he isn't real! :) Again, I love the book!

Congratulations!!!

2014 Whitney Award Finalists

Thanks Catherine

My name is Catherine, I live in Salt Lake City Utah, and I am 13 years old. I have to start off by saying that I have completely fallen in love with your book. Yesterday, I finished reading it twice and today, I read all of my favorite parts (which was like half of the book). Well, yesterday I FINISHED it twice. I kinda stayed up reading and lost track of time, and when my flashlight broke from me using it too much, I realized it was 2:30 in the morning. I could NOT stop turning the pages. Every single word made the book even better, which I don't know if it could even get better. Brinlee was the most amazing character and her personality was so outgoing. I loved Katie as well with the way she was to Brinlee. Dennan was so perfect because of how you described him. Some authors just have a gift of writing and you are probably one of the best/my favorite. For years, my favorite books were the books by Jessica Day George, but know, I love your book even more. I really hope that you write another book, and it would be cool to base it off of a really well known fairytale again. What if something happened to Cass, or Gabby, as if one of them got lost in a different world with a red cape (hint, hint: red riding hood) ... Otherwise, you could tell the tale of the Queen, or the Grandma-I would love to hear that one. You can probably tell that I have been thinking about this all day. I can't wait to see what your imagination has you write next. I have always wanted to be an author, and I want to have an amazing book like you someday. From, Catherine A reader who can't stop reading your book.

Reader emails

I love it when readers email me and tell me what they think about my book. I received this one over the holidays, and it was the kind that made me happy. :) "Tarrah, Thank you so much for writing the most perfect book!! Just finished it tonight. You did an amazing job!! I loved every bit of it. I am dying to read more. Please tell me your going to have a new book out soon?! Thanks again for creating such a beautiful story."