Victorine Writes

I've published...now what?

2011-12-06T09:17:00.001-06:00

So you've worked and slaved, polished up your book until it sparkles, hired an editor and cover artist, and now it's finally published. Whew! That's a euphoric feeling, isn't it?

Hmm. What do you do now? Maybe you've announced your book on Facebook and Twitter. You might have even joined a forum or two and announced it there. I'm guessing your close friends and family might have even bought a copy. And now you find yourself strumming your fingers on the table.

Don't worry. I've made a list of things to do now. (And combined it with things NOT to do.)

1. I'm going to assume you did your homework and hired a reputable editor. You probably got sample edits from several sources, looked at the different editing styles, and chose your favorite. You maybe even hired a proofreader to catch any stray errors after you're done making the final edits. Good. Please make sure you did this before doing anything else, or you could end up embarrassed. If you've published prematurely, don't worry, just hire an editor now and upload a new file once it's edited.

2. Now you're ready to submit your book to book reviewers. (I also call them book bloggers.) Don't go submitting without doing your homework. Make sure they take self-published books and review your genre. Read their guidelines and respect them. Don't send them an ebook if they only take paper copies. You may also want to read some of their reviews to see if you think they would mesh well with your book. You can find book reviewers with google searches, or on Twitter. It may be helpful to find another self-published book that is similar to yours and search for book bloggers who have reviewed that book. Here's a couple of websites that list reviewers who accept indie books to get you started: http://indiebookreviewer.wordpress.com/ and http://www.theindieview.com

3. It takes a while for book bloggers to get to your book. Don't pester them. Some might never get around to reviewing your book. Accept that and send out a lot of books so you have a better chance at getting some reviews.

4. If a book blogger gives you a bad review, do not respond. I know your fingers will itch to post on their blog telling them they don't know what they're doing. Resist the urge. Even if they said your book was riddled with typos, and you paid several hundred dollars to have it edited. Don't respond. Even if they said, "I hated the zombies" and there are no zombies in your book. Go take a walk. Breathe in and out. Do NOT respond to any negative reviews. Ever. It just makes you look bad, no matter what you do. And don't respond in private either. The only correct response for a review, good or bad, is to thank the reviewer. You'll be shocked to hear it, but I know reviewers who have had threatening emails after posting a bad review. Never never never do this. A bad review isn't the end of your book. If you get a bad review, the best thing to do is look up your favorite book on Amazon and read all of the one star reviews. It will make you feel a lot better.

5. Okay, now that you've sent off your book to some book reviewers and prepared yourself to react in a super awesome way no matter what kind of reviews you get, it's time to build yourself a fan base. Giveaways are a great way to do this. You can give away books on a Facebook page that you've created for yourself, or on your blog. Attracting readers to these things can be hard, but don't despair. This is where the next step comes in.

6. Join some forums or social networks and socialize. The socialize part is the most important part of this. It's easy to join social networks. Twitter, Facebook, Kindleboards, Goodreads...these are great social networks. The hard part is the socializing part. Do not join these places and send out messages about why people should buy your book. That is called Spam and it doesn't work. You'll only annoy people. What you'll want to do is join in the conversations. There are some great people on Twitter. Follow some people. Watch their tweets. If they don't talk to people, they're probably not worth your time to follow. Try to follow some real people. When they post something interesting, respond with something equally interesting. Try to strike up some conversations of your own by posting witty comments. Be yourself. You'll make friends. Once you've made friends, you can invite them to your giveaways. You'd go participate in a giveaway from a friend, but you probably wouldn't care if it were someone you didn't know.

7. Don't spam, but don't be shy about the fact you're an author either. When you sign up for social networks, make sure to put in information about your book. On facebook, you can use your book cover as your avatar if you want. On Kindleboards, they allow you to put your book cover in your signature line. On Twitter, put that you're an author in your bio, and mention the title of your book. And of course you're using your author's name everywhere you sign up, right? (Whatever you're using on your book covers.) You want to get your name out there. If someone gets to know 'writerchick' on Twitter, they might want to check out her book. But they can't remember her name. It's important to get your name out there.

8. Network with other authors. This is important. If you log in each day and check out the Writer's Cafe on Kindleboards, you will find opportunities to advertise. I recently started up a website called Addicted to eBooks.com. I announced it on Kindleboards and invited authors to post their books. If you check the new posts each day, you'll find lots of great opportunities to share your book with others. Be sure to post regularly too, so authors will get to know you. You might be invited to do an interview or participate in something else.

9. Do unto others as you would have them do to you. Don't be so focused on yourself that you forget to help others. If you see a new author asking what you might think is a silly question, answer it. Be kind. If another author has a book that looks like it would be good, buy it and read it. If you liked it, post about it on the social networks. Tell others why you liked the book. Wouldn't you want someone else to do that for you, if they read and liked your book? If you have a blog, maybe you want to interview other authors. If you see an opportunity to help someone, do it. You would like the same thing done for you. And I always believe that what goes around comes around.

10. Be professional. Like it or not, if you've published a book you are now in the public eye. Be careful what you post on the internet. Treat others with respect. It's okay to joke around, but never do it at the expense of others. If someone on the internet makes you angry, don't react right away. Cool off and come back with a level head. Never participate in flame wars. And most of the time it's better not to say anything than get involved in an online argument.

11. Be ethical. Don't go ask your friends to post good reviews of your book, or worse, post fake reviews using sock puppet accounts. It doesn't make you look good to have reviews like that.

12. And finally, watch and learn. Keep an eye on the successful indies, and watch what they are doing. Read their posts on their blogs and on the forums. See what kinds of decisions they make, and which ones work for them and which ones don't. Many of us try a lot of things. Some of them work and some of them don't. Before you make a decision about something, look to see how successful it is. Pay attention to the trends. What worked last year might not work today. And if you see someone giving out advice, click to see what rank their book is. Sure, it might save you money to do your cover art yourself or not hire an editor, but if you see the person giving out that advice has their book ranked #250,000 on Amazon and has several one star reviews, maybe that's not the best advice to take.

Mark Whiteway on Affordable Cover Deisgners

2011-10-26T11:38:00.000-05:00

When fellow author Mark Whiteway showed me his new book covers, and mentioned what it cost him to have them commissioned, I asked him if he would write up a guest post about it. I'll let him take it from here.

Affordable Cover Designers

by Mark Whiteway

Imagine aworld where people with all manner of skills would work for highly affordablerates, whilst falling over themselves to please you. A world where you call theshots, you set the deadlines and you pay for work only when you are totallysatisfied.

WhenVictorine assessed my books and it became clear that I needed new covers, myheart sank. I have the design skills of a four year old finger painter, and Idon’t have the time, money or patience to get involved with photoshop or theequivalent. What to do? I queried several designers who wanted anything from 80to 200 bucks per cover including some who would only let you use the finishedproduct under license. It was then that I stumbled across oDesk. https://www.odesk.com/

oDesk isbest described as an online virtual supermarket for employers. There areliterally hundreds of people offering skills, many of which are highly relevantto independent authors. Need an editor? No problem. Graphic design? Got youcovered. Formatting? Sure. Web design? Can do.

Manycontractors are from the third world and will work for rates that we in theWest would consider derisory. A custom designed ebook cover for example, willtypically set you back no more than 15 or 20 bucks. Usually you will work withthem using skype which is a highly effective way of collaborating and swappingdesign ideas in real time.

Navigatingthe site is easy. You sign up as a new employer, which is free, and within minutesyou can be posting your first job.

Spend alittle time perusing the highly informative blogs and tutorial videos. You cansearch for contractors and offer them work directly, but unless you are lookingfor something highly specialised, it’s better to put out a general post. Take alook at job posts from those who want similar work done and you will quicklyget the idea.

You canoffer fixed price or hourly rate. For an ebook cover, choose fixed price and indicatethat payment in full is to be made only on satisfactory completion of theproject. You can specify the minimum skills you expect the person to have. As Iam a techno dunce, I specified that the contractor had to produce upload readyfiles of the final design for Kindle, Nook and Smashwords. I offered 30 bucksbecause frankly I was not comfortable offering less than that!

Within 48hours I had already accumulated 12 applicants. How do you tell if they are anygood? Simple. Each contractor has a work history where they have been rated bypast employers. Look particularly for those who have experience in the skill(s)you want and who have been re-engaged by the same people for further work. Graphicdesigners will have portfolios where you can view their past work.

Next,transfer your possible candidates to a short list and then interview them.There is an excellent blog on suggested interview questions. You can interviewthem in real time on skype, but I suggest sending them proforma interviewfirst, so that you can evaluate their written responses.

Thecontractor I selected, who was from the Philippines, was Jharwin Barrozo. His Englishis excellent, and he completely lived up to expectations, producing thefinished design and upload ready files for each cover in about 48 hours onaverage. My covers are displayed here, so you can see Jharwin’s work.

The risk isminimal, since the contractor has to complete the job to your satisfaction inorder to get paid. I did try another contractor, but she was not able to fulfilthe task, and so I had no obligation to pay her.

Publishing a book entails mastering a bewilderingvariety of skills. For those without the technical know-how, who are on alimited budget, and who do not have the will or the time to develop all ofthese ancillary skills, or for those of us who would frankly rather just get onwith the business of writing, oDesk can provide a highly cost effectivesolution.

Mark's books can be found on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords.

Another Sneak Peek: Witness Protection

2011-10-07T10:59:00.000-05:00

Here's more of my work in progress: Witness Protection

If you missed the first part, you can read it here.

Enjoy!

***

Joni wiped her hands on her jeans. Thesmall room was a bit too cold, but that didn’t keep her from sweating. Sheplaced her arms on the table in front of her. They said someone would be comingin. They’d better hurry, she didn’t see a trash can, and her cookies were aboutto be tossed.

She ran her hand through her shortdark hair. She must look terrible. Her mascara had probably run down her faceas she was telling the police officers what had happened.

A thin man wearing a dark suitentered the room. He clutched a file to his chest. “My name is DetectiveMorris. You must be Ms. Appleton.”

Joni stood, and shook his warmhand. “Yes, I’m Joni.”

“Please, have a seat. Would youlike a soda?”

Her stomach lurched. “No, thankyou.”

Detective Morris slapped his filedown on the table, his chair scraping on the floor as he sat. “I’m going toshow you some photographs. I want you to take your time. Tell me if yourecognize any of these people.”

He pulled out several pages, eachwith a dozen thumbnail photographs on them. Joni leaned over the pictures. Unfamiliarfaces peered back at her. She scanned the images, looking for anythingfamiliar. When she got to the third page, she saw him. It was Anthony, she wassure of it. He stared back at her, the same hard, cold face from earlier thatnight.

She pointed. “There. That’s the manI saw. I watched him shoot two people.”

The detective gave a slight nod. “Areyou sure?”

Joni peered down at the photographonce more. A cold feeling crept over her. “Yes. That’s him.”

With no reaction to what she said,he gathered up the file and stood. “Thank you.”

“Now what? Can I go home?”

A sad smile flitted across hisface. “I’ll be sending someone in to talk to you.”

“Wait,” she said, trying not to shout.“Tell me. Are you going to hold me all night? Because I really need to go homeand get some sleep. I’ve got an early shift at the Deli in the morning.”

“I’m sorry, you won’t be able to gohome.”

Joni stepped back. “What do youmean?”

“Anthony Valdeo is a very dangerousman. If he doesn’t know who you are, he will soon find out. We need to put youin protective custody.”

***

The mountainous terrain sped byoutside her window as Joni sat in the back seat of the US Marshal’s car. Colorado.She had never been to Colorado. Nowshe would have to live there… indefinitely.

Her insides twisted up. She hadn’teven been allowed to go home and pack. All she had were the clothes on her backwhich weren’t even her own, some jeans and a t-shirt, and the watch she hadsaved up to buy at Macy’s. One brief phone call to her mother, and they put heron a plane. They even took away her name. Kathy Stone, that’s what she’ssupposed to go by now. She hated it.

Two agents sat in the front seat,talking like nothing in the world could be wrong. The taller one, he said hisname was Donavan, drove, while the short guy, Carlson, prattled on about somebaseball team.

She closed her eyes. This was nothow her life was supposed to go. Sure, marrying Jeffrey right out of highschool had been a bad idea. But after he left, she was able to pick up thepieces and move on. With her summer night classes at the community college, andher job at the Deli, she was starting to get her life on track. Now what wasshe supposed to do?

The car slowed and Joni glancedaround. They were pulling into a small mom and pop gas station. Carlson peeredout the window. “What are you doing? We don’t need gas.”

“Bathroom break,” Donavan said in aflat tone. “I’ve got to use the can.”

“We’re not supposed to stop untilwe get there.”

Donavan looked annoyed, his eyessquinting at his partner. “I won’t be too long.”

Carlson waved his hand at him. “Whatever.”

The car came to a stop in front ofthe store and Donavan put it in park before getting out. There were only a fewcars in the parking lot. Joni caught herself chewing on her fingernail as theywaited. She stuffed her hands under her legs.

“Kathy?” Carlson said turning tolook at her and sending pangs of irritation through Joni. No one could hearthem. Why couldn’t he call her by her name? “Do you need to use the bathroom?”

“No.”

The side window shattered and Carlsonslumped over, a trickle of blood coming from a hole in his temple. Joni duckeddown in the back seat, her heart hammering. Not again. This can’t be happening.How did they find her?

Another bullet went through theback seat window. There was no gun shot sound. They must be using a silencer,or whatever they use on television. Were those even real?

She saw the gun in Carlson’sholster and grabbed it. The gun was heavier than it looked. Her hands shook.She’d never held a gun before, but it gave her comfort to know she had it.

Joni crawled to the opposite door.She had to get out of here. She pulled on the handle and eased herself onto thepavement, her legs shaking.

“Go that way!” a man’s voice calledout.

There were two of them. At least.Joni swallowed the bile that came up in her throat. She circled aroundsomeone’s car, her head down, the gun pointed at the ground. Through the glasson the storefront she could see the shop owner behind the counter. He wasn’tlooking her way.

She willed Donavan to come out ofthe shop. Please. The seconds ticked by. He wasn’t in sight.

Then she noticed the reflection onthe glass. A man walked toward the Marshall’scar, a gun in his right hand. He had a jagged scar across his face. It wasn’tAnthony.

She saw another man she didn’trecognize coming from the other direction. If she stayed, the second man would catchher. Her eyes darted about the scene, calculating. She couldn’t shoot both ofthem. In fact, chances were good she couldn’t even shoot one of them. From thelooks of it, her only chance of survival would be to get to the woods behindthe store.

She didn’t wait another second. Grippingthe gun, she sprinted toward the side of the shop.

“There she is!”

A piece of brick exploded besideher head as she rounded the corner. She ran to the back and kept going towardthe trees, up a hill. Something whizzed beside her ear. Her legs pumped harder.

Her muscles screamed at her but shedidn’t care. The trees were only a few yards away. With high school track shehad learned how to keep pushing. She stepped on a branch and twisted her ankle.Pain shot up her leg as she staggered into the trees.

A quick glance behind told her themen were coming after her. She paused to lift the gun and squeeze the trigger.The kickback was a little more than she had anticipated. A clod of dirtexploded on the ground. She fired again, and then again. Apparently this gundidn’t need reloading. Unfortunately her aim was so bad it didn’t stop the men.

Scar face raised his gun. She abandoned the idea oftrying to shoot them and took off into the woods.

***

If you enjoyed the sneak peek and would like an email when this book comes out, join my mailing list! (I only send out emails when I have a new book out, so you won't get a LOT of email. Maybe two a year.)

Click here to join my mailing list!

Have a great day.

Vicki

Witness Protection: Sneak Peek

2011-09-27T10:42:00.002-05:00

I'm still working on the second book in the Overtaking series, but I recently got some inspiration on my other work in progress, Witness Protection. I thought it would be fun to share a snip with you.

Enjoy!

Witness Protection - Work in Progress

Joni clasped the steering wheel,craning her neck to read the sign in the pale light of the street lamp. Dunlap Street. Where in the heck is Dunlap Street? Shecursed her friend for giving her such poor directions. She pulled through theintersection, avoiding the broken glass. That’s all she needed, a flat tire inthis neighborhood.

After a few more blocks, theresidential street turned into a rundown industrial belt. Graffiti marred thecement buildings, and Joni got the feeling that she should never have left herapartment. She didn’t need any Tupperware. What the heck was she thinking?

Finally pulling over with a sigh ofdefeat, Joni reached for her glove compartment. The map should be in theresomewhere. She riffled through the papers, longing for the day when she hadenough money to get a GPS system. Or a cellphone. A phone would be nice right now.

Shouting carried from up thestreet, distracting her.

“I swear to you, man. I didn’t. Putthat thing away.”

“You mess with my girl, and think youcan walk away from it?”

Scanning the darkness, she tried tosee where the voices were coming from. The pale light from a street lamp shoneon two men circling each other, one with his arms in the air. When the otherturned she saw the gun. Her breath caught and she instinctively crouched lowerin her seat.

“You’re over-reacting,” the manwith his arms in the air said.

A woman got out of a dark green van.She wore a mini skirt so short Joni wondered where the rest of it went. “Anthony,calm down. We didn’t do nothin’.”

“Stay out of this, Theresa.” Hewaved her away.

“I ain’t gonna let you plug Nick.” Theresagrabbed his arm, struggling with the gun. Anthony jerked his arm away, and thenpointed the gun at her. A noise like a firecracker sounded. She doubled over,slumped to her knees, and then crumbled to the pavement. Nick took off in theother direction. Anthony fired again, and Nick fell face first onto the street.Two other men got out of the van.

“Put them in the back.”

Joni’s throat tightened. She didnot just see that. The men lifted Theresa by the arms and legs, her headbobbing lifelessly as they carried her. They threw her body into the back ofthe van.

“Hey, are those headlights on? Issomeone in that car?” One of the men pointed in her direction.

Fear clenched her stomach, and shefumbled to put the car into drive. Anthony turned, his gun pointed at her, ahard stare on his face. She floored it, the car lurching forward. She jerkedthe steering wheel, flipping the car around. Her back window shattered.

With no time to think, Joni slammedon the accelerator, desperately trying to remember the way she had come. Shesped through the streets until she was deeply entrenched in the residentialhousing. Constantly scanning the street behind her, she turned and twistedthrough the area until she found a major arterial. Highway thirty. She knewwhere she was. Relief hit her hard, but her heart didn’t slow down until shepulled into the police station.

Ghost Dog of Roanoke Island

2011-09-26T09:22:00.001-05:00

Today I have C.K. Volnek here to talk about her new book, Ghost Dog of Roanoke Island. It's a wonderful middle grade book about the 117colonists that vanished from Roanoke Island.

C.K.: Hi Vicki. Thanks for allowing me tovisit your blog today.

Vicki:Tell us a little bit about yourself.

C.K.: I live in small-town USAin the upper plains state of Nebraska.I’m married and we have three children and four Papillon fur-kids. A graphicartist and meeting planner by day, I keep myself busy writing and blogging bynight. I’m proud to present my debut novel, Ghost Dog of Roanoke Island,available now!

I have always loved telling stories. I remember sitting atthe campfire when I was young and my cousins would all turn to me to spin the nextscary tale that would keep them up all night. I couldn’t help but oblige.:-) Ialso loved to read and after reading Black Beauty, I decided I wanted to be thenext Anna Sewell.

I grew up and got married, ready to tackle the publishedworld, but the demands of family and paying the bills forced me to limit mywriting to articles and short stories. (I do have one ‘Chicken Soup’ story,JUST ANOTHER DAY, still making the rounds on the internet, though.)

As my children grew and developed into teenagers, I began tothink about my novels once again, but finding the time to write on our ‘one’home computer was another challenge. That is until my children and husbandsurprised me with my very own lap-top so I wouldn’t have to share anymore. Buteven greater than their gift of the laptop, was their gift of encouragement andfaith in my writing ability. It has carried me through many a rejection andgiven me the hope to make it to my debut novel.

Vicki: What inspired you to write this story?

C.K.: GHOST DOG OF ROANOKE ISLAND was actually inspired afterreading a news article about the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island. In 1587, 117colonists disappeared from Roanoke Island. Disappearedwithout a trace. To be honest, I don’t remember studying the Lost Colony inschool so this mystery truly intrigued me. I was fascinated and couldn’t helpbut wonder what happened to these colonists. How could they have just vanished?

After researching the entire mystery surrounding the LostColony, I was appalled by the actions of Sir Richard Grenville and Ralph Lane. They destroyed an entire Native Americanvillage simply because Grenville thought one of the Native Americans stole asilver cup from his ship. This action triggered my muse to create a story of myown…a story evoking the value of acceptance and tolerance and the power offorgiveness.

What really happened to the Lost Colony? You’ll have to readGHOST DOG OF ROANOKE ISLAND to find out. ;-)

Vicki: Can you tell us about the story's evolution and publishing history?

C.K.: Writing GHOST DOG OF ROANOKE ISLAND came fairly quickly,though it took another year to edit and make its way through my two on-linecritique groups. I sent it to a few agents and publishers, and though a fewexpressed some interest in the story, I didn’t receive any requests. That isuntil a friend informed me MuseItUp Publishing had started accepted tweenstories. I decided to query Lea Schizas. I’d come to know Lea through herMuseItUp conferences and respected her immensely. Within two weeks ofsubmitting the manuscript to her, I had my first book contract.

Vicki: What can readers expect from you in the future?

C.K.: I have two additional MG books coming out from MuseItUp. AHORSE CALLED TROUBLE is a horse story (of course) for tween girls and comes outin December, 2011. Atrouble teen must overcome her abusive past to save the defiant horse thattaught her to love and trust again.

THE SECRET OF THESTONES is the first of a series called THE LOST DIARIES OF NORTHUMBERLAND andwill make its debut in April of 2012. THE STONES is a much lighter story and isa Harry Potter meets Merlin the Magician kind of story. A Merlin-loving tweenis thrust into magic mayhem when the gift he’s been entrusted to protect turnsout to be the enchanted object detailed in a mysterious prophecy.

Vicki: Where can readers find you?

My readers can contact me at ckvolnek (at) yahoo (dot) com.

They can join me on my web page: www.ckvolnek.com,or visit me at my blog: www.ckvolnek.com/blog.html.

They can also find me on Facebook (C.K. Volnek) or Twitter(@CKVolnek), Good Reads and Jacket Flap.

My book trailer is on youtube: Here

My books are available at the MuseItUp Book Store as well as Amazon, and many other fine book locations on-line.

Thanks again, Vicki, for allowing me to join you today!

C.K. Volnek

Ghost Dog of Roanoke Island

In 1587, 117 colonistsdisappeared from Roanoke Island, NC, leaving behind not only unanswered questions,but a terrifying evil.

Now, it's up to twelve year-old Jack Dahlgren to unravel the age-old mysteryand save his family from the hateful beast haunting his home.

With the help of newfound friend, Manny, a Native American shaman, and anelusive Giant Mastiff, Jack must piece together the clues to the disappearanceof the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island to uncover what really happened. Shroudedin ancient Native American folklore, it's up to Jack to discover what the evilis and why it haunts his island in a horrifying campaign of revenge. But canJack stop the beast...before it destroys him?

Sneak Peek at book 2 of The Overtaking Series

2011-09-21T17:46:00.000-05:00

I know, I know, I don't even have a definite title yet for book 2...thinking about The Captive or The Under Trodden, not sure, and here I am giving you a sneak peek at it.

I readily admit I'm pathetic. I can't keep a secret to save my life. But I thought it would be fun to share snips of the book, even though it's not all done.

Enjoy!

***Sneak Peek***

Trenton’sbreath was hot on Danielle’s cheek, the sharp metal point still poking her inthe throat. She stood deathly still in the dark room, waiting for something tohappen. He was either going to kill her, or let her go.

Trenton’sgrasp relaxed, the tool lowered and she wiggled free. Her hand went up to feelher neck. Wet and sticky. Blood.

The lights flicked on and sherealized they were standing in someone’s living room. Maybe Trentonhad a place in the Holodome.

“Of course I have a home in theHolodome. I’m not going to sleep in my office.” Trentonreading her mind sent a fresh wave of anger through her. He set the sharp tooldown on an end table beside a leather couch. The entire room was dark wood andleather. Danielle eyed Trenton,wondering what he was going to do with her.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to harmyou.”

She pulled her hand away from herneck, showing the blood to Trenton.

His lips curled up. “I mean really harm you. You’re safe.”

Danielle didn’t feel safe. In factshe felt weak and her legs wobbled.

With a wave of his hand, Trentonsaid, “Sit.”

She obeyed, sinking into a largeleather chair. Trenton pulled hiscloak off and walked over to the window to pull back the dark curtain. “It’slate. You should probably get some rest. We’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

The way he said it made her skincrawl, and she shrunk into the chair. “What are you going to do to me?”

Trentonglared at her. “What kind of person do you think I am? I told you I’m not goingto hurt you. In fact, tomorrow I’m taking you somewhere you’ll be extra safe.”

Danielle didn’t like the sound ofthat.

“Don’t be frightened. I’ll be righthere.” Trenton dragged a chair infront of the door and sat in it. Then he started fiddling with his watch.

The Gathering

2011-09-17T19:00:00.002-05:00

If anyone is interested in reading more about the world I've created in The Overtaking, I've published a new short story titled The Gathering. It focuses on Danielle, and how she came to be convinced that the Maslonian people were better off with their memories wiped and living a lie in a fake world.

The Gathering is free on Smashwords! Here's a link: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/89243

I'm working on getting it free on Amazon. If you don't want the hassle of plugging in your Kindle to download it, you can get it on Amazon right now for 99 cents. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005NIAPHW

Interview with Chrystalla

2011-08-26T10:04:00.000-05:00

I had the pleasure to interview Chrystalla Thoma, author of Rex Rising, a new young adult science fiction book. This book is on my kindle, and I can't wait to read it. It's next on my list!

Anyway, here's the interview.

Victorine: Welcome, Chrys. I’m so glad to have you on my blog today. Tell me a little bit about your book.

Chrystalla: Hi Vicki, thank you for having me here! You are the reason I discovered indie publishing and decided to publish my novel this way.

My novel, Rex Rising, is a YA science fiction adventure set in a post-apocalyptic sort of world ruled by a race of women called the Gultur. In this world, where parasites create new human races, Elei leads a peaceful life as aircar driver — until a mysterious attack on his boss sends him fleeing with a bullet in his side and the fleet at his heels. Pursued for a secret he does not possess, he has but one thought: to stay alive. Yet his pursuers aren’t inclined to sit down and talk, and that’s not the end of Elei’s troubles. The two powerful parasites inhabiting his body, at a balance until now, choose this moment to bring him down, leaving Elei with no choice but to trust in people he barely knows in a mad race against time. It won’t be long before he realizes he must find out this deadly secret — a secret that might change the fate of his world and everything he has ever known — or die trying.

Victorine: What inspired you to write this book?

Chrystalla: Several things came together to make me write Rex Rising. One of them was the idea of sensing who to trust from the people around you, an instinct we have but rarely trust. Should we trust our gut feeling or the facts as they appear? Another was my fascination with parasites, which basically started after reading a wonderful book called “Parasite Rex” by Carl Zimmer on all the crazy things parasites can do, how they can change our behavior, our abilities and our very nature. They are almost magical!

Victorine: Do you have a favorite scene in the book?

Chrystalla: I love many scenes and I don’t want to give away the plot, but there is one where I really like for the settings. The four protagonists are discussing what to do (they suspect a traitor in their midst) in the shadow of giant white mushrooms:

“The agaric stalks shed white light into the night. Elei led the others underneath the huge milky caps. Kalaes and Maera huddled at the base of a huge mushroom. Their breaths rose in clouds into the air, mingling with fireflies and scintillating flying spores.”

Victorine: Have you always wanted to be a writer?

Chrystalla: No, I was innocent and carefree until the age of nine, lol. Then I read a fantastic book, The Neverending Story by Michael Ende, and my fate was sealed. I immediately started writing fantastic stories, much to the chagrin of my parents who hoped I’d become a serious person one day. lol!

Joking aside, I really love my parents, they always encouraged me to do whatever I wanted with my life.

Victorine: Why did you decide to self-publish this book?

Chrystalla: I saw the revolution in publishing take place – mainly through you, Vicki – and I liked what I saw. Having published stories the traditional way too, I know to appreciate the degree of freedom self publishing allows the author. In particular, I was really interested in seeing what it felt like to be the one in control of the cover and general design and of the editing. I also liked the fact that I wouldn’t have to wait for at least a year to see my story out (as is the norm even with small traditional publishers) and that I could set the price, change it, re-upload new versions of the story if I found problems, and in general have all this freedom that you have when you are your own publisher in the digital era.

Victorine: How has your experience been so far?

Chrystalla: So far it has all been great. Since I did all the design and formatting myself, I did run into small problems from time to time, but I had wonderful people around me who helped me a lot. It all went amazingly well and fast, better than I expected. Since I only paid for the royalty free image I used for my cover and for the copyright, I have already practically paid off all expenses already. I am very happy.

Victorine: What has been the hardest thing about self-publishing?

Chrystalla: Deciding to do it. Weighing the pros and cons for months, asking for and receiving sound advise for either option, knowing I can do either but having to make up my mind.

Victorine: What has been the most rewarding?

Chrystalla: Seeing the book on Amazon and Smashwords the way I want it. I am quite proud of all the work I put in it, definitely more than I would have for traditional publishing. After all, I did everything – from writing to editing to designing to formatting it!

Victorine: Thank you for coming by my blog today, Chrys!

Chrystalla: Thank you again for having me here!

You can find Rex Rising at the following distributors:

Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon DE
Smashwords

Watch the book trailer:

Visit Chrystalla’s blog for more information on the world of Rex Rising and her other works:

http://chrystallathoma.wordpress.com

Summer Book Club - Guest Post by Mark Williams

2011-08-20T16:11:00.002-05:00

Sugar & Spice - The Story Behind The Story

It’s just over a year now since the Saffina Desforges Partnership began. And what a year!

It’s been a roller-coaster ride so improbable that if we used it as the plot for a novel it would be rejected as unbelievable.

An unknown name (actually two writers collaborating via email from different continents, that met for only the third time just this month) with a novel some of the UK’s top agents branded as “unsellable” and “the last taboo” (not to mention, at 120,000 words, too long).

This was the summer of 2010. Of course we’d heard of Konrath and Hocking and the way things were going across the pond in the States, but in the UK the Kindle-UK site had only just been launched, and seeing as no-one actually owned a Kindle in the UK it all seemed pretty pointless.

Besides, we’d been brought up on the dogma that self-publishing was vanity publishing. So we pitched to agents and followed the rules and guidelines, jumping through ridiculous hoops just to get the opening chapters read. Then jumping through more hoops on those few occasions where we got to the next stage.

And when the rejections started coming back we faced the big question all new novelists have to confront: How can professional agents be wrong? They’re the “experts” in this business, after all.

Sure, you can ignore the “thanks, but no thanks” slips. No writer can learn anything from a form rejection.

But if the top agents say it’s too long, it must be too long. If they there’s too many POVs, there must be too many POVs. If they say the storyline is “unsellable,” then at what stage does a writer face the truth? Maybe we are just deluded wannabes, and in reality can’t string a sentence together for toffee.

But I’d been a creative writing tutor for more years than I care to admit. I’d written for TV, radio and theater, and freelanced as a journalist and travel write. Whatever the requisite number of words is to have under your belt before you can supposedly write a good novel, I had long surpassed that number.

That said, writing a novel is a whole different ball game from writing for theater, or running off a short article about an exotic island in the sun. And I had taken what I believed were the best aspects of theater (dialogue driven) and TV (visual imagery without long descriptive prose; switching between short scenes rather than lengthy chapters; fast paced action interspersed with short breaks of relaxed writing).

On top of this we had Saffi herself, bringing to bear her own unique style. A raw, edgy writer still new enough at the game not to be over-burdened with pointless rules created by the gatekeepers.

The thing is, we knew Sugar & Spice was not the same as the other crime-thrillers out there. But as readers we wanted to read something different from the plodding police procedurals and stereotype serial killer novels that turned up time and time again in the book-stores. So we threw away the rule book and wrote something different.

What we hadn’t realized then was that the gatekeepers don’t want different. They want safe. What could be less safe than a novel exploring the innermost workings of the pedophile mind? It became clear the gatekeepers did not want it. And if the gatekeepers don’t want it, the readers don’t get the option. Therefore it doesn’t sell, proving the gatekeepers were right.

As 2010 drew to a close we watched, more curious than envious, as fellow Brit indie writers tested the Kindle waters. Not least Lexi Revellian, whose feel-good thriller Remix had already sold 10,000 by the time we joined the e-show. Remix was the first e-book I bought, and I was totally impressed by the professionalism that shone through. I’d been led to believe (as had we all) that e-books were just self-published rubbish (the “tsunami of crap” as Konrath so elegantly puts it), so Lexi’s book was a revelation.

Of course it was a totally different story from the dark and sinister insights into the mind of a child-killer that defines Sugar & Spice. The agents’ words about our novel being “the last taboo” and “unsellable” kept coming back to haunt us.

But in November 2010 we finally slipped in into the murky waters of the Kindle ocean, where it pretty much sank without trace. We were determined not to give it any artificial boost by getting friends and relatives to buy it and review it, so we told no-one it was there. And for three months we sold nothing apart from the two copies we bought ourselves to see how it looked.

Meanwhile Saffi and I beavered away at other scripts. But half-heartedly. Were we wasting our time? We were still querying agents while Sugar & Spice was on Kindle, but the rejections were still coming back. We had no idea what to work on next. Should we stick with crime thrillers, given Sugar & Spice was so unwanted? Was it the subject matter that was the problem? Or our writing style? Or our non-existent marketing? We had no idea.

Marketing was one option we could toy with, so we started new blogs and began some promotional efforts. Our promotion story, a fairy-tale on itself, can be found over on Kristen Lamb’s blog.

Somewhere along the line we started actually selling. Not many. Units became tens. Tens became the first hundred. Had a hundred people really bought our unsellable book? Were we about to get a hundred negative reviews saying they’d been robbed? Were the gatekeepers right?

At this same time another British agent came back positive saying they loved the sample. We sent the full script and a month later they came back saying their reader loved the full book. Would we give them exclusive consideration? We explained we had the e-book on Kindle and had actually sold a few, but they were welcome to exclusively consider the book. Why not? We were hardly expecting a big New York agent to come calling instead. We were fiction novelists, not total fantasists.

It took three months from first contact with that agent to them coming back with their decision. On reflection, despite the glowing review from their own reader, they didn’t think it was commercially viable. That's agent-talk for unsellable.

Well thanks, guys. Funny how your own reader thought otherwise. That was three months on exclusive, raising our hopes, stopping us querying other agents, wasted.

Were we disappointed? Well no, actually.

Because in the three months that agent played their agents’ games we had actually been selling. The unsellable story that had just, yet again, been rejected as commercially unviable, was now at #2 in the Kindle UK chart. The second best-selling e-book in the UK!

In the time that professional agent had our book under exclusive consideration, only to say it was unsellable, we had sold fifty thousand e-books. We hadn’t the heart to tell her.

And the next thing we knew we had one of the biggest agents in New York on the phone wanting to represent us.

Bizarrely, three months on, we still haven’t signed with that NY agent or any other. One thing we’ve learned is that there are good agents, bad agents and indifferent agents. And that the worst thing any writer could do would be to sign up with the first agency that comes along, just because they are “an agent.”

The publishing world of 2009-10 is a different planet from the publishing world of 2011, and a writer, if they still need an agent at all, needs one who is living on Planet Publishing 2011-12, not Planet Last Year.

Which brings us to where we are now.

The big “New York agent” (we can’t name names at this stage, but they are BIG!) who came knocking for Sugar & Spice bizarrely decided it was "too long", despite a then proven track record of 50,000 sales. They decided they liked our next book, then unfinished, but told us we should not e-publish. Let them have it exclusively for three months.

Yeah, right. Once bitten…

One of the true joys of being indie is sending rejection letters to agents.

That’s not to say we’re anti-agent – in fact we’re still talking to several. We’re under no illusions that a good agent, who understands the new publishing world, can help reach markets currently beyond us. But we engage with agents now on equal terms, not as starry-eyed wannabes signing on the dotted line.

Our debut novel, the unsellable story by the unknown writing duo that tackled the last taboo in crime fiction, has now sold close to 100,000 copies without an agent or publisher in sight. It’s hit #2 in the Kindle-UK chart on three separate occasions, with over 100 five-star reviews, and has just broken into the top twenty on the Waterstone’s e-chart (Waterstone’s is the UK’s equivalent of B&N).

As fiction writers we necessarily spend half our lives living in fantasy worlds. But when it comes to real life, you just couldn’t make it up.

This past week we launched the first of our new crime thriller series, Rose Red Book 1: Snow White. This time we e-publish first and go direct to the only gatekeepers that matter: our readers.

+ + + + +

Sugar & Spice is available on amazon.com and amazon.co.uk

Sugar & Spice US Edition (American English spellings. US locations. Same great story!) is available on amazon.com and amazon.co.uk

Rose Red Book 1: Snow White is available from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk

The Secret to My Success

2011-08-13T12:06:00.000-05:00

Since my book made the New York Times best seller list, I've had a lot of people prodding me to tell them the secret. How can they have success with their own book? Which, of course, made me ponder. What is the secret? Here's what I came up with.

First of all, in order to have a best seller you have to write a best seller. Duh, you say. That's a given. But it's amazing how many people come to me and ask me for help to create the same phenomenon with their own book, when they've written one titled "The Joy of Raising Naked Mole Rats." Sure, there's probably a small market for that, but it's never going to become a best seller. (Sorry if I sound harsh.) If you've written for a niche market, that's fine, but don't feel bad when sales are slow.

If your book is not aimed at a niche market, you're already a step ahead. However, to become a best seller, your book needs to appeal to the masses. There's a reason why books that don't have a clear genre have a hard time finding an agent or publisher. That's because in order to appeal to the masses your book needs to be well defined. That's not to say that a contemporary-western-mystery-romance-fantasy can't sell. There are people out there willing to give cross genre books a chance. But it won't appeal to the masses unless it's got a clear genre.

To write a best seller you also have to craft a good story. To do this you have to get outside opinion on your work. If you've skipped this step, remedy it right away. Join a critique group. Trade chocolate for beta reading. If all you get is praise from your outside opinion givers, it's time to seek other opinions. You need some people who are going to tear your story apart and make it better. The best critics are other writers who have been down the road a few times, have had success finding an audience and who preferably write in your own genre. And don't try to edit your own book. You'll miss stuff.

The next thing on my list is having an eye catching cover. Not only eye catching, but it needs to communicate the genre at a glance. If it's a romance, don't put an apple and a pencil on the cover, even if your main character is a teacher. Now, I'm not going to tell all authors they have to hire a cover designer. Why? Because I've seen some great covers created by the authors themselves. And I'd be a hypocrite because I designed my own covers. I will stress how important it is to get outside opinion on your cover. Again, seek opinions from other authors who have been down the road a few times and have found success in your genre. (Kindleboards.com is a great place to find such people.)

If you try and can't create a good looking cover, don't settle. Pay a professional. Sure, it can be expensive. So can replacing your stove when it breaks. But who eats raw chicken each night because they can't afford a new stove? Not you I hope. You scrape together the money. Don't expect people to buy your book if the cover doesn't look professional. You're offering them raw chicken. Not a lot of people are going to bite. Scrape together the money and pay for a professional looking cover.

The last thing I think needs to be done to have a best seller is to make people aware of your book. I did giveaways, joined forums, posted on facebook, tweeted, blogged, and paid for a couple of ads. But what really helped spread the word was lowering my price to 99 cents. I had already created a buzz about my book before I lowered the price. After lowering it other people started announcing the price change. Blogs that feature low cost books announced the price change. This got me an initial flood of sales. Then Amazon's algorithms kicked in and they started marketing for me. My low price made it an impulse buy. If you don't want to price at 99 cents you can still become a best seller, you'll just need to work more on the marketing to make people aware of your book. Come up with some creative things to do.

And don't expect your book to become a best seller overnight. It takes time. Most people I know who have sold thousands of books have had a slow build. The ones that didn't had means to spread the word to a lot of people right away.

Finally I'd like to say I'm not advocating changing the way you write just to become a best seller. If you're passionate about writing contemporary-western-mystery-romance-fantasy novels, by all means keep writing them. If you write an engaging story, it will find an audience.

Vicki

Summer Book Club - Guest Post by Scott Nicholson

2011-07-28T13:54:00.000-05:00

Crime thriller Disintegration by Scott Nicholson is available at Amazon, Amazon UK, B&N, and Smashwords. Signed copies available at Haunted Computer.

Disintegration was written four or five years ago during a dark time in my life. The title just sums up what was going on, and what I had to write to survive. I knew it was going to be dark and bleak, and that good people would do bad things and terrible people would do worse things. The evil twins are just a symbol of where I was at the time. And I knew the ending was not going to be happy, and I put off writing the last five pages for nearly a year because I knew what had to happen and I didn’t want to type it and make it real.

I don’t think I ever showed it to my agent. I thought it was too dark to ever share with people, and I was a little ashamed of what it revealed about me. I think stories help us solve what is going on inside our heads and hearts, but it also leaves us vulnerable because written communication is so personal and intimate. If it wasn’t for self-publishing, and the encouragement of mystery writer Vicki Tyley, I never would have released it. My wife said, “Somebody might need that message.”

With low expectations, I put it out during my 90-day Kindle Giveaway Blog Tour last fall, and it hit #30 on the Kindle list. That was weird, to have the biggest success of my writing career on a book I never wanted to publish, on my own, after six books with a traditional press. That taught me something about “writing to market” or “writing to please people.” First, you have to take chances and put it all there. If you get the back end, and the connection with readers, that’s the bonus and completes the purpose of the story.

Luckily, I’ve put the pieces back together over the years since I first wrote the novel, and it helped launch me onto other books and success. I owe a bit to Jim Thompson and James M. Cain and some of the other noir writers, and William Goldman, Shirley Jackson, Kurt Vonnegut, Richard Brautigan, Patricia Highsmith, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Ira Levin, James Lee Burke…that list could just keep going.

I am a full-time writer now, but I’m only as good as whatever chance I take today, whatever basic principles of the craft I discover anew, and whatever I get back from a reader. Really, I’m only as good as the last sentence. And the next. There’s no other way to write a novel except by building it out of nothing. It’s easy to stay humble when you are tackling something that is essentially impossible. Once in a while, you get lucky and the words fall in place and share something about what it’s like to be on the crazy ride we call Life.

Enjoy the ride.

---

Scott Nicholson is author of more than 20 books, including Liquid Fear, The Red Church, and Speed Dating with the Dead. His website is www.hauntedcomputer.com and he wastes too much time being clever on Facebook and glib on Twitter

Agents Becoming Epublishers

2011-07-26T16:18:00.000-05:00

This has probably been beaten to death by everyone around me, so I hesitated to post this, but I feel like I need to get this out. So here it is.

I don't think it's a conflict of interest for an agent to epublish their clients. There. I said it. (Please don't hit me with rotten tomatoes.) I'd like to address some of the arguments I'm seeing.

Agents should be representing the author. If they're publishing the author, who is representing them? - Okay, first of all, the reason we all want to get an agent is because the large publishing houses won't look at your book if you don't have an agent. They're the go-between. They get to read all the slush, find the books they like, and submit them to the large publishing houses. If you don't care about being published in a large house, you can probably submit your book to some smaller publishers all on your own. In fact, I know quite a few authors who have been published without an agent. I don't see anyone up in arms over what the small publishers are doing. They are doing something for the author that they don't want to do for themselves, and that is set up their own publishing company.

That's right, authors. You can set up your own print publishing company and do it all yourself. It's much easier now than it was 30 years ago. But how many authors want to go through that work and expense? A lot of them don't. So they sign with a small press, without an agent, and the press does the work. And guess what, the small press takes a cut of the profit.

But what if an agent selfishly tells you to publish with them instead of someone else? What if there's a deal on the table and they don't even tell you about it? - If you believe your agent is honest and trustworthy, why would starting up an epublishing company change that? And if you don't believe your agent is honest and trustworthy, why did you sign with them in the first place? To me, this comes down to checking with places like preditors and editors to make sure you're signing with someone reputable.

But agents know nothing about publishing. - Bull. How in the world can someone work as a literary agent and not know anything about publishing? Admit it, agents know something about publishing. Do they know everything? Of course not. But I don't know a single indie author who went into self-publishing knowing everything. There is a learning curve, and we're all on it. In fact, I'd guess that the average agent is better equipped to self-publish than most of the indie authors out there were before they took the plunge.

But the authors can do this themselves, for a lot less than 15% over the life of the book! - Sure, an author can self-publish an ebook, just like we've established that an author can start up their own publishing company and publish paper copies. I know some authors who have done this. However, not every author wants to. It's a lot of work, time and money. Well, guess what. It's a lot of work to self-publish an ebook too. Less work than starting up your own paper publishing company, less money, and less time, but still it's not something all authors want to do. In fact I'd venture a guess that some authors don't even have the internet on their computer. Heck, some of them might not even have a computer.

What happens when problems arise? What if your agent isn't being honest with you? - What happens when problems arise with a small publisher? What if they're not being honest with you? What happens when an author has a problem with their agent that isn't epublishing related? Come on, folks. This isn't new. There are problems and issues with all aspects of publishing. This is no different. Be smart. Don't sign anything that you don't understand. If there's a conflict that cannot be resolved with discussions, go get an attorney.

What is an agent going to do for you that you can't do for yourself? - Okay, we know authors can self-publish. We know they can pay for a cover, pay for editing, and pay for formatting. We know they can pay for ads and build a website and market themselves. If an author wants to do all that, they're free to! But some authors don't. And I suspect that having an agent's marketing muscle behind a book would not be a bad thing.

Here's what it all boils down to. If an agent epublishes and the books skyrocket to the top of the charts, I suspect there will be some shifting of opinion on this matter. What indie wouldn't want their book in the top 100 on all the major ebook outlets? If all of the books languish at the bottom of the pool, it's possible some of the authors will be motivated to learn how to self-publish their next book in the hopes of being able to do something different and make that big splash.

In the end, we're all trying to find our way in this new world of publishing. This is my opinion on the matter. Now, don't throw those tomatoes too hard at me, I have sensitive skin.

Vicki

Summer Book Club - Guest Post by Sibel Hodge

2011-07-21T00:23:00.001-05:00

Sibel Hodge’s chick lit mystery is the next book to be featured in The Summer Book Club.

About Sibel…

Sibel Hodge is the author of romantic comedies and chick lit mysteries. In her spare time she’s Wonder Woman!

Her first novel, Fourteen Days Later, was short-listed for the Harry Bowling Prize 2008 and received a highly commended by the Yeovil Literary Prize 2009. It is a romantic comedy with a unique infusion of British and Turkish Cypriot culture. Written in a similar style to Sophie Kinsella and Marian Keyes, Fourteen Days Later is My Big Fat Greek Wedding meets Bridget Jones. My Perfect Wedding is the sequel to Fourteen Days Later, although it can be read as a standalone novel.

The Fashion Police was a runner up in the Chapter One Promotions Novel Competition 2010 and nominated Best Novel with Romantic Elements 2010 by The Romance Reviews. It is a screwball comedy-mystery, combining murder and mayhem with romance and chick-lit, and the first in a series featuring feisty, larger-than-life insurance investigator, Amber Fox. Written in a similar style to Janet Evanovich and Myron Bolitar, The Fashion Police is Stephanie Plum meets Harlan Coben. Be Careful What You Wish For is the second Amber Fox Mystery.

Tell us a bit about Be Careful What You Wish For…

Be Careful What You Wish For is the second Amber Fox murder mystery that follows on from The Fashion Police:

For fans of Janet Evanovich, Kate Johnson, and Gemma Halliday...

Armed with cool sarcasm and uncontrollable hair, feisty insurance investigator Amber Fox is back in a new mystery combining murder and mayhem with romance and chicklit…

Three deaths.
A safety deposit box robbery.
The boxing heavyweight champion of the world.

Somehow, they’re all related, and Amber has to solve a four year old crime to find out why.

As she stumbles across a trail of dead bodies and a web of lies spanning both sides of the social divide, it’s starting to get personal. Someone thinks Amber’s poking her nose in where it’s not wanted, sparking off a game of fox and mouse – only this time, Amber’s the mouse.

Amber’s forced to take refuge in the home of her ex-fiancé, Brad Beckett, and now it’s not just the case that’s hotting up. So is the bedroom…

All Levi Carter wanted to be was the boxing heavyweight champion of the world, but at what cost?

All Carl Thomas wanted was to be rich, but would his greed be his downfall?

All Brad Beckett wants is to get Amber back, but there’s a reason for the ex word.

Be careful what you wish for…you might just get it.

Amber Fox is a feisty, wise-cracking insurance investigator with wild hair. Is she anything like you at all?

Absolutely! She's got a lot of her in me but I'm not telling you exactly which bits for fear I might incriminate myself!

What was your favorite part of Be Careful What you Wish For?

Ooh, that's sooo hard! It's my baby so it's all my favourite. I love the fact that it's got a solid mystery combined with a lot of humor, wit, and romance. Probably typing The End is my favourite part - then you know that all the ideas in your head have finally come together.

Will we get to hear more from Amber Fox in the future?

Amber loves to talk so she'll definitely back to tell another story. Just try and shut her up!

How do you get the ideas for your books?

It's all the voices in my head that make me do it. I write so I won't have to be medicated!

Do you ever suffer from Writer's Block?

Sometimes. When that happens I usually drink a bottle of wine and throw ideas around with my husband. Well, that's my excuse for cracking the wine open anyway!

What's your favorite thing to snack on while writing?

Nuts (no jokes, please!).

Do you plot everything before you start writing or do you just see where the story takes you?

I’m definitely a fly-by-the-seat of my Wonder Woman knickers kind of girl! I think I’ve got Plotophobia. I make most of it up as I go a long - creative or crazy? I’m not sure which.

What are you working on now?

I'm working on some new ideas for my next chicklit novel which will be called The Hen Party. It's about a group of girls who go to Vegas for...yes, you've guessed it, a hen party. But they end up getting much more than they bargained for. I’m also hoping to start the next Amber Fox mystery at the end of summer.

Do you have any advice for aspiring indie authors?

First and foremost, you have to write a good book with a good blurb and cover if you want to succeed. But to do that, you need to learn your craft well. That’s the first hard bit over with! The second is marketing and promoting, and this is pretty hard, too. What works for someone else won’t always work for you, and it takes up a lot of time that you could spend on writing. But I’ve mingled with some inspiring and fantastic authors and met some great fans because of it. Would you get that if you were trad-pubbed with a marketing department? I don’t think so. Being on a personal level is so much more rewarding.

I think you can do anything you want to in life. You might have to go a different route to get there than you originally thought, but if you never try, you never know what might be. Go for it!

What do you do besides write?

Promotion takes up a lot of my time, but it's lovely to interact with other readers and authors. I swim, do yoga, walk, read. Oh yes...and the occasional bottle of wine!

More about Sibel…

Sibel talks to WG2E about how she went from 200 rejections to Amazon top 200! http://thewritersguidetoepublishing.com/welcome-to-the-wg2e-sibel-hodge

Sibel’s interview on The Eerie Digest, the Online Mystery and Hollywood Insider Magazine. http://www.eeriedigest.com/wordpress/2011/07/interview-with-author-sibel-hodge/

Sibel talks about plotting her novels on Traci Hohenstein’s blog. http://msthriller.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/guest-blog-by-sibel-hodge/#comment-152

You can find out more about Sibel on her website: http://www.sibelhodge.com/

Be Careful What You Wish For is available from:

Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004VGWJYE/ref=s9_simh_gw_p351_d0_i4?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=04MN44YYE7YSJ8C0369G&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

Amazon.co.uk

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Careful-What-Amber-Mystery-ebook/dp/B004VGWJYE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1310631718&sr=8-3

Smashwords

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/51824

And Sibel will be doing a live Facebook chat at https://www.facebook.com/summerbookclub on Saturday night July 23rd at 6.30 pm UTC/GMT - which for the US is 11.30 Pacific, 12.30 Mountain, 1.30 Central, and 2.30 Eastern. She’ll be giving away an ebook copy of Be Careful What You Wish For to one lucky commenter!

Summer Book Club - Guest Post by J. Carson Black

2011-07-12T23:24:00.000-05:00

Facebook Alert! J. Carson Black will be doing a live Facebook chat on Saturday July 16^th at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time at http://www.facebook.com/summerbookclub Please join us with your questions for J. Carson.

How the Cult of Personality Inspired My Thriller THE SHOP

When I decided to write a new thriller, I had several ideas on the table. None of them made the final cut. The idea for THE SHOP came out of the blue, thanks to a cable TV news show.

Come to think of it, most of my ideas come out of left field. When one of these ideas strikes, it’s like being hit by lightning. I get a tingle in my gut and then my mind starts working a hundred miles a minute.

This time, my husband Glenn and I were watching cable news while eating dinner. John Mark Karr’s plane was coming into Boulder, Colorado, where he would face charges for killing JonBenet Ramsey. He’d been flown over from Europe, dining on shrimp cocktail and entertaining his captors—federal marshals, I believe—and generally having a great time of it. Now the press was lined up along the airstrip in Boulder to cover his arrival. Picture the private jet coming in for a landing, with all the pomp and circumstance of the Space Shuttle. The reporters, the news vans, the cameras, the microphones, the breathless reporting on the ground and in the studio: an absolute frenzy!

Glenn and I looked at each other. This was a farce worthy of commentary. This is the new American way: celebrity from nothing. It turned out later that John Mark Karr was playing everybody. He didn’t kill JonBenet Ramsey. But he’d fulfilled his purpose—he’d fed the hungry maw of the media for a short time.

Something could be done with this—the distraction of celebrity. That was the seed for my story, THE SHOP.

In the opening scene of THE SHOP, celebrity Brienne Cross is killed in her Aspen chalet, along with the four finalists of her reality show, SOUL MATE, and the producer of the show.

I knew right away who killed them. But why?

Even the killer wants to know why. And so he sets out to find the truth.

Getting a plot idea from the instant celebrity mode of television news. Who knew?

*****

J. Carson Black is the author of THE SHOP—available for purchase as a Kindle ebook for $0.99 (USD)—a Summer Book Club promotion for a limited time at amazon US and amazon UK.

Learn more about J. Carson at her website and blog at jcarsonblack.com

Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/jcarsonblack

Fan her Facebook page at facebook.com/pages/J-Carson-Black-Author-Page

Summer Book Club - Guest Post by Cheryl Shireman

2011-07-06T00:31:00.001-05:00

I have an amazing guest post today from author Cheryl Shireman. I admit I had to grab some tissues while reading this post. And then I went and hugged my kids. :)

Here's Cheryl:

I BURNED MY BRA FOR THIS? ONE WOMAN’S FANTASY

I’m a Baby Boomer. Which means that I remember bell-bottoms, Happy Days, and having only three channels on the television. I played Donny Osmond albums on a record player. My parents watched Gunsmoke, and on Sunday nights we all watched The Wonderful World of Disney. In the living room. Together. On the only television we owned. Imagine that! I remember the first time I saw Bonanza in color. I remember the first time I heard about remote controls for televisions. The whole idea seemed ridiculous. With three channels, really, how often would it be needed? I remember the Watergate hearings playing on the television when I came home from school.

I also remember watching feminists (does anyone use that word anymore?) burn their bras and march for equal rights. I grew up believing that a woman deserves equal pay for equal work and that a woman is not defined by the man she marries or by the children she gives birth to. In fact, we were told that both men and children were optional. The idea seemed revolutionary at the time. It still does. Women were mad as hell and they weren’t taking it anymore. We called it Women’s Liberation, and though it was never said, it was certainly implied (and believed in most circles) that a woman who did not work was a bit inferior to a career woman. That was when such women were called housewives and not “stay at home” moms. Women were divided into two groups – those who worked and those who didn’t. Back then, no one thought that staying home and taking care of a family and home was work. The women of my generation wanted more, demanded more, and believed we were entitled to just that – more. We sometimes looked at our own mothers, most of whom did not have real jobs, as women who simply did not understand that there was more to life than being a mother. If truth be told, we thought they were a bit simple-minded and we secretly vowed to do more with our lives.

And yet…as this Baby Boomer looks at her life, I realize nothing I have ever done, or will ever do, is as important as being a mother. Not career, volunteer work, graduate school, or any creative pursuit. Nothing else even comes close to being a mother. Period.

One of my children lives half an hour away, another is one state away, and the third is on the other side of the world in Denmark. Yesterday, my husband and I spent the entire day with our two-year-old granddaughter. She then spent the night. As I write this, I hear her gentle breathing in the baby monitor positioned atop the table close to where I sit.

To say that my children, and now my granddaughter, have filled my life with love and joy is an understatement. As children, they expanded my heart in ways I could never have imagined. For the first time in my life, I not only understood, but received unconditional love. As adults, they are three people that I know I can always count on. They will always be there for me. Just as I will always be there for them. Can you say the same about your career?

There used to be a tv show called Fantasy Island. People visited the island and lived out their fantasies – no matter how wild (okay, not that wild – this was primetime family tv in the seventies). Not too long ago, my husband and I had a discussion about that old tv show and asked each other – What would your fantasy be? Mine was easy. If I could have a Fantasy Island day, I would relive one day with my children. My son would be 10, which would make my daughters 4 and 2. We would spend the day doing whatever they wanted. Going to the park, going to the movies, playing games, baking cookies, or just sitting on the floor playing with Legos and Barbies. I would hug them a lot. And kiss the tops of their heads. And take tons of pictures. I wouldn’t cook. I wouldn’t clean. And I wouldn’t worry about my career.

I would watch my son show his younger sisters how to do things, like he always did in his older brother sort of way. I would watch my 2 year-old daughter follow her older 4 year-old sister around the room, shadowing her every move. Just as she did, even through their college years when they shared an apartment near Indiana University. I would watch the older sister taking care of her younger sister, as if she were her baby. Which is what she called her when she was born – my baby.

Bedtime would be later than usual on that fantasy night. I would tuck them into their beds, fresh from baths and smelling of shampoo. The girls smelling like baby lotion. My son would hug me goodnight with his long skinny arms and tell me he loves me. And I would feel the truth in that. I would tuck in my girls and tell them it is time to go to sleep. I would take extra care in covering the older girl’s feet, because she always kicked her blankets off during the night. I would kiss the baby and hold her a little longer, because I would know that, as I type this she is in Denmark which makes visiting tough.

And, as I walk down the hall and turn out the lights, I would call out to all of them, as I always did… “Goodnight. Love you. Sweet dreams. See you in the morning.”

And that would be my fantasy day. Oddly enough, it has nothing to do with my career as a writer. Even though being a writer has always been my dream. My first novel, Life is But a Dream, was published earlier this year. The main character, Grace Adams, is a woman facing an empty nest and the possible demise of her marriage. Grace withdraws to a secluded lake cabin to redefine her life and try to find a reason to continue living. While at the lake, Grace not only finds renewed purpose and hope, but when things take a turn for the worse at the lake, she finds a strength she never knew she possessed. The novel is thought-provoking, sometimes frightening, and often funny (just like life). It is also, very definitely, fiction.

Even though my “nest” is empty, I am enjoying this time and this new focus on my career. I am not suicidal or lacking in purpose. My husband and I both work from home (he designs websites), we live on a lake, and our schedule is our own. It is truly a wonderful time in our lives. Sometimes I have popcorn for dinner. Enough said.

But, would my current life be as wonderful if I had not pursued career and graduate school and developed the skills I am using now? Probably not. I managed to combine work and school and motherhood. I believed I could have it all, and do it all, but to be honest – the kids always came first. And being a mother is the strongest and best part of my identity. It is the thing I am most proud of. My greatest achievement. And, once in a while, I miss those days when toys where scattered across the floor, the washer was always running, and we bought eight gallons of milk a week.

If you have children at home, cherish those simple every-day moments with them. They really will be gone in the blink of an eye – sooner than you can possibly imagine. Get off of your computer. Now. Go sit on the floor and play a game. Pop some popcorn, put on one of their favorite movies, and cuddle up on the couch. Live that “fantasy” right now. You will never be able to recapture these moments again. Enjoy them now. There is no greater gift than the love of your children. Spend the rest of your day letting it pour over you. And pour your love right back over them.

As I type this, I can hear my granddaughter waking up. I am shutting my computer off, too. Right now, I am going to go upstairs and scoop her up from her crib. She will probably wrap her little arms around my neck and ask, “Play blocks, Bomb Bomb?”

And we will play blocks.

Cheryl Shireman is the author of Life is But a Dream which can be purchased as an ebook for 99 cents at Amazon US Amazon UK Barnes&Noble or as a paperback for 11.99 at the Amazon locations. Learn more about Cheryl at her website and blog at http://www.cherylshireman.com or by following her on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/cherylshireman or on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/cherylshireman or her books page http://www.facebook.com/cherylshiremanbooks

She will be doing a live Facebook chat on Saturday July 9^th at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time at http://www.facebook.com/summerbookclub Please join us with your questions for Cheryl!

Summer Book Club

2011-06-30T14:58:00.002-05:00

I will be participaing in a Summer Book Club where 8 best selling authors are getting together to hang out on Facebook, give away some free copies of their books, and answer interview questions!

Here's the Facebook page if you'd like to chat with the authors or enter to win a drawing! http://www.facebook.com/summerbookclub

Killing Cupid is the first book to be featured in the Summer Book Club. Mark Edwards, who co-wrote this darkly-funny stalker thriller with Louise Voss, will be on Facebook on Saturday evening to answer questions and chat. He will even answer questions about the controversial Dan Brown/Stieg Larsson subtitle scandal if you are nice. Please drop by as his psychiatrist has warned him several times about talking to himself... Go to www.facebook.com/summerbookclub for more information.

Can you sum up your book in no more than 25 words?

Killing Cupid is a stalker thriller in which a wannabe writer becomes obsessed with his tutor. But then she turns the tables, with devastating results.

How important is a book's central character?

Vital. Killing Cupid has two central characters. I wrote Alex, who starts off as a creepy stalker but, I hope, becomes more sympathetic as the novel goes on. Louise wrote Siobhan, a lonely writer who it turns out, has a lot of issues. The central idea of the novel is that there is someone out there for everyone - no matter how crazy you are.

What are the central themes of the book?

Love. Or rather, obsessive love. Both of the central characters in Killing Cupid are lonely and frustrated; they feel that their lives would be complete with a significant 'other'. But neither of them know the best way to find that other person so they act in increasingly bizarre ways. Of course, we all do stupid things when we're in love, but Alex and Siobhan take it to the extreme. If this makes Killing Cupid sound like a serious book, it isn't. It's a dark comedy with lots of twists and turns and a great joke about hemorrhoid cream.

What was your motivation for writing it?

Killing Cupid was co-written by Louise Voss and me. When we started, Louise was in the middle of a four-book contract with Transworld. I had recently been dumped by my agent. We got drunk one night and came up with the idea of writing something together as an experiment - and also because we thought the idea of a stalker novel in which the stalker becomes the stalkee (I think I just invented that word) was compelling. Two months into writing it, a lucky meeting attracted the attention of a BBC producer who optioned it. It never got made in the end but it gave us the motivation to make sure we finished it.

What parts of the book are you most proud of?

Apart from the fact that we managed to pull off the tricky act of co-writing a novel without any tantrums, tears or throwing of teacups, my favorite parts of the novel are the scenes where Alex is creeping around Siobhan's house, inspecting her possessions, reading her diary, sitting on her toilet seat for a thrill. And I love the second half of the book, in which everything turns around and starts moving really fast. And I love Louise's chapters because I just love reading everything she writes. It was like simultaneously writing and reading a novel. Great fun.

What's your favorite part of the writing process?

I love the first draft because my favorite aspect of writing is plotting, although we never work out the full plot before sitting down to write. We enjoy working it out as we go along. The characters tend to take a life of their own and tell you what they would do next. With Killing Cupid I wrote a chapter which I sent to Louise with some notes about what might happen next. She edited my chapter then did the same. We had no idea how it would all turn out.

Can you tell us something about being an indie writer?

The best thing about the rather insane few months we've spent as indie writers - apart from hitting the No.1 spot on Amazon.co.uk with our second novel, Catch Your Death! - has been the opportunity to 'meet' lots of other writers who have been incredibly supportive. That's where the idea of the Summer Book Club came from: the idea of creating a mutually-supportive group to celebrate the fact that we'd done it for ourselves, and to show readers out there how many great self-published books there are on Amazon.

Bio: Mark Edwards lives in south London with his girlfriend, their daughter and, arriving this August, a son. He is the co-author, along with Louise Voss, of Killing Cupid and Catch Your Death, a conspiracy thriller that was the first novel by British indie authors to reach No.1 on Amazon. You can find him on Twitter @mredwards.

Killing Cupid is £0.49 on Amazon.co.uk: http://amzn.to/gXGez2

and $0.99 on Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/eGhcPx

Mark's blog: http://www.indieiq.com

How do I know my book isn't junk?

2011-06-20T17:07:00.000-05:00

I've heard it said many times. Self-published books are not worth anything. They're badly written, poorly formatted and not edited.

But we know that's a generalization that doesn't hold up for every self-published book. Especially now that authors are taking this epublishing thing very seriously. I know I've read some amazing indie published work.

So, how do you know if your novel is ready for self-publication? If you don't submit to an agent, and get a publisher's stamp of approval, how do you know it's not a big steamy pile of cow manure?

Let's face it. There's no sure-fire way to know your book will sell a zillion copies. But there are some steps you can take to make sure you're not putting out shoddy work.

1. Read some how-to books on novel writing.

I know what you're thinking. Why should I read about novel writing? Wouldn't I learn more by just doing it?

Sure, you do learn by writing. But you also need guidance. I suggest you read at least one book on the art of writing a novel. I think Stephen King's book, On Writing, is one of the best. Even if you don't like to read his horror novels, his writing memoir is fantastic. The Elements of Style by Strunk and White is also highly recommended.

2. Join a critique group.

No matter how many how-to books you read, you're still going to need other eyes on your work. (And even though your mom is great, she doesn't count.) You need to join a critique group to rip that novel of yours up, chapter by chapter. You also need to critique other work. You'll see things in other work that you don't see in your own writing. This will help you as well. Critiquecircle.com is my favorite online critique group.

I've heard a lot of authors say that they don't want to join a critique group because they are afraid of criticism from other authors. Believe me, hearing your novel stinks in private from another author is much better than hearing your novel stinks through public reviews posted for the world to read. If you're going to be a writer, you'll need to grow a thick skin. Better to do that before you publish.

I've also heard writers say they don't want to show their book to another writer because they don't want their million dollar idea stolen. Don't worry. Writers have enough million dollar ideas of their own. The last thing they want to do is write something someone else came up with. Writers are passionate about their own ideas. They're not going to steal yours.

3. Set it aside, and give it time.

You'll be surprised at how much you can see when you set that novel aside and come back to it later. Give it at least three weeks. Six is even better. If you can set it aside and come back to it with fresh eyes, you'll see ways to improve it that you didn't before.

4. Employ beta readers.

A beta reader is similar to a critique partner, but they read the entire novel, and their critiques aren't usually as in depth. This is best if you've already had the novel put through a critique group, and want to get a more over-all opinion of the book.

I highly suggest getting at least four beta readers who are other authors. I also use friends I know who like to read my work as beta readers, although the authors usually give me more feedback. It is good to get both perspectives, though, in my opinion.

5. Hire an editor.

If you have read how-to books, have put your book through the ringers of a critique group, set it aside, and then utilized beta readers, you should have a pretty good idea if your novel is ready to publish or not. If you feel it's ready, don't forget to hire an editor for that final polish. This is very important. Don't skip this step.

Now, if you have published a novel and you're wondering if it's a pile of junk, time to assess what steps you took before publishing. If you've skipped some of these important steps, there's nothing wrong with reworking the novel, especially if it's not selling or if it's getting bad reviews.

The best thing about indie publishing is the total control we have over what we put out there. Take the steps to make sure your novel is the best it can be.

Vicki

Indies to Watch - David McAfee

2011-06-06T13:14:00.000-05:00

I'm going to start a small series of indie interviews focusing on authors I feel we should all keep our eye on. These are authors who are very talented, and who I think deserve our attention. I'm thrilled to start with David McAfee. I read 33AD last year and admit I couldn't put the book down. Which is saying something, because I generally don't read horror!

Victorine: Thank you for joining me today on my blog, David. You're one of the first indie authors I got to know over on the Kindleboards. What has your publishing journey been like?

David: My publishing journey started off hopeful, then fell into a disappointing series of rejections and close calls. I think that is probably true for most of us trying to make it in fiction. I must have sent the book out to over a hundred agents, and only one showed any interest. So I started submitting to publishers. I finally found one in the UK that wanted the book, but that turned into a huge disaster. (Incidentally, anyone thinking of publishing their book with Neil Jackson of Ghostwriter Publications and The Penny Dreadful Company should run away. Fast! Check my blog for details, if you want: mcafeeland.wordpress.com)

After the incident with Ghostwriter, I realized if I wanted 33 AD to see the light of day I was going to have to do it myself. I commissioned a cover, spent a couple of months going over the manuscript (to eliminate passive voice, adverbs, clunky phrasing, etc.), formatted the file for print, and set everything up through Lightning Source. If you look through the print version of 33 AD, everything you see will be me. I did it all. The chapter headings, the page numbers, even the little vampire teeth doodle. I wanted it to be an attractive book that would look as professional as possible. The Kindle version was an afterthought, honestly. I wanted the print book to sell. Who’d have thought the Kindle version would become my primary source of income? Not me, but I’m not complaining.

I did read slush for one small press. They rejected my book, but complimented me on my writing and asked if I wouldn’t mind looking through some of their prospects. I did, and that’s when I realized how bad most slush really is. I think every writer should have to wade through a slushpile at some point in their careers just to get a feel for how much crap is really out there.

Victorine: 33AD has a bold storyline, with vampires in biblical times. Why did you take such a risk?

David: The idea for 33 AD hit me while I was working on another project, and it wouldn’t leave me alone. Vampires in Biblical Jerusalem. Had it ever been done. I was sure it had, but I hadn’t heard of it. It never occurred to me that it might be a risky idea, it was just a story that needed to be explored. I never had any intention of making it a “religious” book. In fact, the first draft left the question of Jesus’ divinity open. I wanted to avoid answering that question. In subsequent drafts, however, I realized that people might feel ripped off if they read through the whole book and were left wondering, so I went with established doctrine, which actually gave the book a better ending, in my opinion. So far, no Christians have been offended by it, although a handful of agnostics have taken issue with certain aspects of the plot. But that’s the game. You can never make everyone happy, right?

Overall, I’m pretty proud of 33 AD.

Victorine: I heard Lee Goldberg read your book, 33AD, and immensely enjoyed it. Since he's been outspoken about the poor quality of indie writing, how did that make you feel?

David: He did, and he sent me a private message on Kindleboards to tell me how much he liked it. Then he posted a thread in KB to tell everyone else. I was floored. You mentioned his general disdain for indies—which is pretty well-noted—so to have him give such glowing praise for my work...well, it made me feel like maybe I could do this, after all. Maybe I don’t suck.

Not long after, he emailed me asking if I would like to contribute a story to a new series he and William Rabkin (of Psyche fame) had cooked up. I was honored to even be considered, so it was an easy yes. I emailed him my idea for the story, and he emailed me back to say that he and Will loved it. Then when I sent them the draft, they loved that, too. My contribution to the series is called THE DEAD WOMAN, and so far the reviews have been pretty good. Definitely a positive experience all around.

Victorine: You recently quit your job to write full time. Was that a scary decision for you?

David: Very. My wife and I mulled it over for months while we waited for our son to arrive. In the end, we considered how much better it would be for our baby (we didn’t know at the time that the baby was a boy; we waited to find out until birth.) to be raised by one of us rather than spend time in Day Care. Since Heather is an engineer and makes pretty good money, we decided I would be the one to stay home. It helped that I was making a nice income from my book sales, although I’m still not where I would like to be.

Victorine: Do you mind telling us how many books you've sold?

David: To date I’ve sold around 22,000 ebooks, mostly via Kindle. I don’t count the free giveaways, but if you add those in I’ve gained about 50,000 readers in the year since I’ve been doing this. I don’t know the print numbers, though. For the record, this month 33 AD will sell its 10,000th Kindle copy. I never dreamed it would hit that number a year ago. (Back in March 2010 it sold 11 copies!) So things keep looking up. Maybe next year I can catch up to you, Vic. ;)

Victorine: What are your goals for your writing career?

David: They are pretty simple, really. I’d like to continue to write. I enjoy it, and it gives me time to spend with my son while he’s small enough to still need me. Eventually I would like to branch out a bit. So far all my books are horror novels, but I’d like to try my hand at an epic fantasy and maybe a bit of Middle Grade or YA. For now, though, I’ll stick with what has worked for me.

Financially, I don’t want a private jet, or my own island in the Galapagos, I just want to support my family. I’d love to earn enough from writing for my wife to be able to quit her job (she hates it!) and stay home. If I could make that happen, I’d be satisfied.

Victorine: Thanks again, David, for coming on over here and answering some questions. I wish you the best of luck in your publishing journey!

Free Review Copy - Done!

2011-05-16T14:13:00.001-05:00

Thank you, everyone who stopped by today and grabbed a review copy of my new book, The Overtaking.

I hope you all enjoy the read!

Thanks,

Vicki

Announcing: The Overtaking

2011-05-14T15:07:00.001-05:00

I'm excited to announce the release of my newest novel, The Overtaking, a YA Romance. It's Book One of The Overtaking Series.

If you haven't heard about this book, I'd love to give you a little blurb:

Shayne Bartlet has been kidnapped, his powers disabled and his memory altered. He's not having a good day. And he doesn't even know it.

When Shayne's telepathic abilities surface, he finds out Danielle isn't the normal teenager she appears to be. In fact, she's not even from his world. And when he finds out her race is responsible for the overtaking of his entire planet, he sets out to uncover the truth about her.

This book is available on Kindle and Nook for $2.99, and we're working on a paperback version that will be available soon.

Thanks for stopping by, and checking out my new novel!

Vicki

Press Releases

2011-04-27T16:15:00.000-05:00

What is a press release? How does it help an author sell books? Is it worth the time and effort? These are questions every author should know the answers to, but I have found that many do not.

Before I go into what a press release is, it might help to start by saying what a press release isn't.

1. A press release is not a book advertisement. Do not write up your book blurb in the form of a press release in the hopes that you'll get a free ad in the newspaper or in online articles. These will be ignored.

2. A press release is not a book launch announcement. No one is going to care that another unknown person is launching a book. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but it is important to know that you can't write a press release about a book launch and expect it to get you sales. It won't.

3. A press release is not about writing what you want to say. Don't frame your press release with you in mind. You should be writing a press release with the reader in mind.

So, now you know what a press release is not. What is it, then? It is a communication to members of the news media for the purpose of announcing something newsworthy. There is one word in this definition that you should pay the most attention to, and that is newsworthy.

If you're going to write a press release, think of yourself as a news reporter. What story could you write that would be newsworthy? (And of course, how can you tie in your book or yourself to the article?)

With the explosion of ereaders, and ebook sales on the rise, now is the perfect time to write an article that would be relevant to the media today. Such stories could be: Local Author Joins the Ebook Revolution; Nebraska Author Makes a Living on Ebook Sales; or Ebook Sales on the Rise - Seward Author Profits. (You'll notice I focused on the local media. Unless you've accomplished something fantastic, the national news probably won't be interested.)

When writing a press release, focus on the newsworthy part of the story. Write it as though your article will be reprinted as-is. Many times, if you do write it well, the newspaper will run the copy just as you submit it. It saves them time in re-writing or editing your story. If they are limited on space, they might cut parts of the story.

Cater your press release to the entity in which you are sending it. Lets say you're sending out a press release to your local, college, and your hometown newspapers. Don't send the same press release to them all. Change the wording on the title and alter the story so they each have that personal connection to you.

You can send your press release to television stations as well as newspapers. Maybe your local station has a feature show about women who succeed, and you are a woman. You can cater your press release to fit that show, especially if you overcame a hardship in order to publish your book. (You were rejected by traditional publishers, for instance.)

Your press release should look professional. Here are some tips on writing the actual press release.

1. Type: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE at the top of your page. You can also put PRESS RELEASE at the top of the page if you'd like, but it's not necessary.

2. Date the press release.

3. Contact information. Include your phone number and email address so they can contact you if they want to do an interview.

4. Begin the press release with your headline. It should be brief, clear, and to the point. Make it something you would be interested in if you picked up a newspaper. Type the headline in bold or all caps.

5. Start the body of the press release with the city for which the press release is originated. The first paragraph should summarize what the press release is about. The rest should tell who, what, when, where and why. Add in quotes to personalize the story. If you're just starting out selling and don't have huge sales numbers to report, feel free to interview another author or two to get some sales numbers or quotes.

6. Use a basic font like Times New Roman.

7. End your press release with -30- or ###. This tells them that is the end of the story. If it continues onto a second page, use -More- at the end of the first page. (This is not recommended, try to keep your press release to one page.)

8. If you used online sources for information, link to those at the bottom.

Okay, so now you know what to write and how to write it. Now you need to know who to send it out to. Here's a link to a website that might be helpful if you live in the US: http://www.easymedialist.com/

I suggest clicking on the top link, USA city and state local media lists, and then clicking on your state. You can pay to get the list of contacts, or you can just google each individual news outlet and dig up the contact information yourself. When looking on a website for where to send a press release, look for "Contact" or "Newsroom."

One last thing, sometimes newspapers will run your story without contacting you to tell you. Be sure to check to see if they ran your story.

Good luck with your press releases. Let me know if you got any coverage!

More About Marketing

2011-04-19T20:01:00.000-05:00

It's no secret that the word 'marketing' scares people. I've heard quite a few people say that they're trying to get traditionally published because they don't want to do the marketing. (Let's forget for a second that if you are traditionally published, you still need to do some marketing.)

However, I can't get over the similarities between trying to get traditionally published, and trying to market an already self-published book. Let's take a peek at it, and compare.

1. Research. When you're looking for an agent, the first thing you need to do is research, and most likely you'll do this online these days. You visit websites that list reputable agents, and go to their individual websites to make sure you're conforming to their submission guidelines. When you're marketing your self-published book, you start with research also. You visit blogs that review books and figure out their submission guidelines. You research forums that readers hang out in, and research what is appropriate and what isn't for posting about your book.

2. Submitting. Next comes submitting to agents. Again, most of this is done online now, through email, although some agents still only take paper queries. Submitting query letters takes a lot of time and effort, and you have to be organized or you'll waste your time. Same with submitting to book review sites. Many of them now take electronic books through email. Some still only take paper. Submitting for review takes time and effort, and you do need to be organized as well. You can also submit your book to blogs that feature low cost ebooks or indie authors.

3. Waiting. After you send off your query letters, you wait to see what responses you get. In fact, you probably have to wait months. Same thing happens after you send your book off to review blogs, you have to wait for reviews to be posted. But you can continue to be social on blogs and forums to get the word out about your book.

4. End results: The end result to querying agents, if you're good enough, is getting published. The end result to marketing your self-published book is book sales. Both avenues bring in money. (How much? I won't argue that, there are large numbers in traditional publishing as well as indie publishing, just like there are small numbers in both avenues.) However, if you're saying you don't want to self-publish because you can't spend the time to market your book, you're basically going to be doing the same thing as you query agents.

Professionalism

2011-04-03T19:13:00.000-05:00

Social networking is a reality for authors these days. If you want to get the word out about your book, you have to join some social networks and start talking with people. Facebook, Twitter, blogs and forums are pretty necessary for new authors. But remember, you're not only selling books, you're selling yourself. It's easy to forget this as we try to get noticed amongst the noise, but being professional is key in getting sales.

One of the big things I see that authors do to 'turn people off' is to spam everyone. There is a time and a place for talking about your book. The trick is to do your research first, and figure out where the places are that you can post ads about your book without coming off as a Sir Spam-a-Lot.

When someone mentions a forum they've successfully used to sell their book, don't rush in and post all kinds of messages about your book. Each forum has its own rules about this. Take some time to read all of the posted rules, and also read the forum messages to learn some of the 'unspoken' rules. For instance, on the Amazon Kindle forum, the stated rule is to not post any messages about a product you're selling, but there are some threads created specifically for posting about your kindle book. If you spend some time on the forum, you'll get to know what is socially acceptable there as far as self-promotion. You'll also get to see what happens to authors that overstep their bounds.

In some places you'll find there are no written 'rules' about posting ads. You'll have to either ask the people in the group or use common sense. For instance, on the Facebook Kindle page the people there will tell you that it is perfectly fine to post a message about your book as long as you're not doing it too often. I think once a week is fine. Any more than that and you run the risk of annoying the people there. And common sense should tell you that if you only show up once a week to post an 'ad,' you'll probably be ignored. Try posting other messages, really talking to people, or answering some questions. Then when you do post about your book you will get a much better response.

On Twitter, I have seen authors whose entire Twitter feed is posting ads for their books. (I've seen this on Facebook too.) Honestly, this is not going to get you anywhere. Sure, you can post every once in a while about your book, that's fine. But who is going to listen to you when all you do is shout an ad every hour? Turn it around and look at it from a different perspective. Imagine you're in a room full of people. As you near someone he starts giving you a sales pitch about his merchandise he's selling. He doesn't greet you, he doesn't ask your name, he just continues trying to sell you something. Later on you meet someone else. She says hello to you and asks you how you're doing. You strike up a conversation, and find out you have a lot in common. Who are you going to want to hang around with?

Social networks are like a large social gathering. Don't be that guy that just goes around trying to sell something to people. Be the kind of person you would want to hang out with, and you'll find yourself in a much better situation.

Okay, enough talk about ads. Now you know how not to be that annoying Sir Spam-a-Lot. That's good. But if you're not talking about your book... what are you supposed to talk about? The answer is simple. Talk about whatever everyone else wants to talk about. Be polite. Let everyone get to know your personality.

Sometimes on forums you will see a post that might get under your skin. Whatever you do, don't post a snarky response. On the internet you can't hear someone's inflection. Read over your posts to make sure you aren't coming across as rude. Use a smiley face if you want to tell people you're not being snarky. Don't participate in flame wars. And if someone really makes you upset, step away from the computer. Don't post a response when you're emotionally involved, you'll regret it later.

Remember, the internet is massive. Not only could your post be read by potential readers, it could be read by agents, editors, publishers, or your mother. Before you click that 'send' button, read over your post to make sure it wouldn't potentially offend anyone. Think about how professional you sound. Are you portraying yourself in a good light? Do you come across as a know-it-all? Could anyone take your post in the wrong way?

If you're new to a forum, make sure you're not jumping in and asking questions that have already been asked a million times. Most forums have a search option. Go ahead and do some searching to see if your question can be answered by checking old threads.

And of course, do not respond to bad reviews. That goes without saying, right?

Vicki

Reasons Why You Should Not Self-Publish

2011-03-26T15:34:00.001-05:00

These are the reasons why I've heard you should not self-publish. (And my answers to them.)

Reason: You'll publish crap. You'll get a reputation for bad writing and no one will buy your books.

Answer: Don't publish crap. Seriously, it's that easy. You have total control over this aspect.

Reason: But writers are too close to their work to realize they can't write worth a darn. It takes years of submitting and getting rejection letters to figure out you need to improve.

Answer: Don't use agents and publishers as your sounding board. Join a critique group. Get specific advice from veteran writers. Critique others, you'll see what isn't working in other work more easily than your own. Pick up some books on the craft of writing fiction, and study them. Take the time to do it right. There's nothing magical about getting rejection letters that makes you a better writer. That's just silly.

Reason: Self-published books are riddled with typos and errors. Do you really want to be lumped in with those?

Answer: Don't publish a book that is riddled with typos and errors. If your book is clean, no one will lump it in with the ones full of errors. Hire an editor. Utilize beta readers. Get as many eyes on the book as you can before you click to publish. And if (heaven forbid) you find an error after you publish, fix it and upload the file again.

Reason: You'll never sell any books, and you'll die in obscurity.

Answer: Why would you not sell any books? If you really believe your book isn't good enough to sell, you probably shouldn't self-publish, or even query agents. There are plenty of other authors selling well on the Kindle/Nook. You literally have millions of potential customers who can purchase your book with one click. And as more ereaders sell, the potential audience increases.

Reason: But ebooks are only 8%* of the market. (*Or substitute whatever % is currently being used.)

Answer: Which traditionally published author sells to 100% of the market? There are over 8 million Kindles out there, not to mention the Nook and all of the other ereaders, or the people reading ebooks on their phones and ipads. If you sold to 1% of just the Kindle owners, you'd sell 80,000 books. In fact, I just crossed that mark. Believe me, if that's all you ever sold, that will be more than a lot of traditionally published authors.

Reason: You won't earn enough to make a living.

Answer: Some indie authors are actually earning a living on their books. Some are not. The same can be said for traditionally published authors. I took an unscientific poll over on Kindleboards and asked how many indies were earning a living on their self-published works. 110 people took the pole. 19 of those people said they were earning a living. That's 17.3%. Here's what's even more encouraging. 12 more people said they were almost earning a living. That equals 28.2% who are either earning a living or almost earning a living. And on average ebook sales continue to grow. Plus writers usually are working on more novels to put up for sale. These percentages will only get better as time goes on.

Reason: If you self-publish, you give up your first rights.

Answer: If you traditionally publish, you give up your first rights too. The question is, which way will actually bring in more money? At the end of this month, I'll have made over $30,000 on one 99 cent book. And that's not the end of the road. I can sell my book for years to come. Does giving up your first rights mean you won't ever be able to sell your book to a traditional publisher if that's what you want? No. Just look at DB Henson, Michael Sullivan, Boyd Morrison, and all the other authors who have sold their books after self-publishing.

Reason: If your book doesn't sell, you'll have ruined your chances for traditional publishing.

Answer: First off, why do you keep insisting the book won't sell? If it's not good enough to sell, go back to the beginning of this post and read about making your book better. If the book is good, I mean really good, but it's still not selling then get some advice about the cover/blurb/price. Does the cover fit the genre? Does it look like other covers from the traditional market? Does the blurb pull you in, and make you want to read more? Is the price too high? The best thing about self-publishing an ebook is you have total control over these things. And if all of these things are perfect, maybe you're not marketing the book in an effective way. How many book bloggers have reviewed the book? Have you done blog interviews? Are you active on social media websites? Even if your book languishes in a trickle of sales for months, that doesn't mean it has to stay that way forever. Just one person posting that they enjoyed your book on their blog could spur a floodgate of sales. And if you sell well, you could get a traditional publishing contract, like the authors mentioned above.

Reason: You'll spend money on hiring a cover artist and an editor that you won't ever make back.

Answer: Forever is a long time to sell something. If you spent $500 on cover art and an editor, you'll have to sell 1,429 books at 99 cents each to earn that money back. If you sell your book for a year, that equals roughly 4 sales a day. If you sell it for two years, that's only 2 sales a day. And most books are selling more and more each month. Honestly this one goes back to believing in the sales potential of your book again.

Reason: You'll never get the recognition that you deserve if you self-publish.

Answer: Do you want recognition or sales/income? (By the way, I'm not so sure that assumption is correct. I made the USA Today and the NYT's best seller lists with my self-published ebook. That was pretty good recognition for me. And I've seen other self-published books crop up on there too.)

Reason: There's no prestige with self-publishing.

Answer: There's no prestige with cleaning toilets either, but I did that for a while to pay the bills.

Reason: You never addressed the fact that if you jump the gun and publish crap you'll ruin your name.

Answer: Okay, I admit, some self-published books need work. However, most of them don't sell well. How does selling a few copies a month of your book ruin your name? No one knows who you are and no one knows you published a poorly written book. And if for some reason you sell four million copies of your utter garbage, and everyone knows you as a hack, you just became a millionaire. You can afford to take time off and learn to write better, and publish future books under a pen name.

After having said all that, I will add that I don't think traditional publishing is bad. There are great reasons why someone would go that route. If you have an offer from a publisher, you have choices and that's fantastic. The more choices you have the better off you are. But 99% of the writers out there won't have the choice to traditionally publish. Their choice is to query agents and publishers for years and gather up piles of rejections, or self-publish. (Or pay a lot of money to vanity publish, but we won't go into that today.) The hard truth is there are just too many good books out there to all find homes with agents and publishers. So I'm not against traditional publishing. I'm for taking your future into your own hands and making something of yourself.

Vicki

Sales Growth Over Time

2011-03-18T14:26:00.002-05:00

I love crunching numbers. So I decided to take some sales numbers of indie authors over time to see the growth. I hope you find it as interesting as I did. I won't comment too much more, I'll let the data speak for itself. Just pay attention to the growth, and how most authors total sales are largely from the last few months they've been selling, especially as you get into the authors that have really started to sell well. I'm especially encouraged by the authors who had months of small numbers and then suddenly took off. This tells me that no book is without hope of selling. If it's not moving, change the cover, play with the price, try different marketing ideas, join a critique group and make sure it's well written. If your book isn't selling, there is something you can do about it, don't give up hope.

I'm going to list people in order of total sales, starting with the lowest first. I hadn't asked anyone about marketing or anything else, but some people did give me comments, which I found interesting so I'll include that here.

*****

Annie Bellet
Jul - 3
Aug - 4
Sept - 3
Oct - 4
Nov - 2
Dec - 12
Jan - 17 (released another book in Jan)
Feb - 18 (released another book in Feb)

Total Sold: 60
Number of Books: 5
Genre: Literary (all short stories), Sci/fi (1 novelette, 1 short story collection), Fantasy (novel)
I don't really promote and I've just started getting actual novels up under the name that has some traditional publishing sales, so I figure it can only go up from here.

*****

K.A. Jordan
Aug - 16
Sept - 5
Oct - 4
Nov - 1
Dec - 4
Jan - 16
Feb - 15

Total Sold: 61
Number of Books: 1
Genre: Contemporary romance

*****

Tiffany Turner
Jan - 3
Feb - 2
Mar - 0
Apr - 3
May - 4 (2nd bk release on Kindle)
Jun - 8
Jul - 11
Aug - 7
Sep - 0
Oct - 0
Nov - 4
Dec - 9
Jan - 18
Feb - 6

Total Sold: 75
Number of Books: 2
Genre: Middle Grade

*****

Talia Jager
Jul - 4
Aug - 6
Sept - 6
Oct - 8
Nov - 3
Dec - 15
Jan - 17
Feb - 20 (released 2nd book)

Total Sold: 89
Number of Books: 2
Genre: YA - drama

*****

Matthew & Stefanie Verish
Jul - 23
Aug - 10
Sept - 2 (raised price)
Oct - 6 (lowered price)
Nov - 14
Dec - 9
Jan - 23 (Added novelette)
Feb - 34

Total Sold: 121
Number of Books: 2
Genre: Fantasy

*****

John Hamilton
Jun - 3
July - 7
Aug - 1
Sep - 2
Oct - 44
Nov - 8
Dec - 19
Jan - 57
Feb - 55

Total Sold: 141
Number of Books: 2
Genre: Horror, Historical Thriller

*****

Steve Silkin
Jun - 1
Jul - 1
Aug - 0
Sept - 3
Oct - 4
Nov - 41*
Dec - 12
Jan - 15
Feb - 103*

Total Sold: 180
Number of Books: 4
Genre: Political Thriller, Short Story Collections
*Kindle Nation Daily sponsorships

*****

Chris J. Randolph
Jun - 15
Jul - 20
Aug - 10
Sep - 41
Oct - 42
Nov - 49
Dec - 20
Jan - 27
Feb - 23

Total Sold: 247
Number of Books: 2
Genre: Sci-Fi, Fantasy

*****

Consuelo Saah Baehr
Aug - 0
Sept - 10
Oct - 20
Nov - 25
Dec - 33
Jan - 60
Feb - 112

Total Sold: 260
Number of Books: 6
Genre: Historical; Women's Fiction/Suspense; Memoir (non-fiction); Short Stories

*****

Scott Cleveland
Jan - 0
Feb - 1
Mar - 0
Apr - 0
May - 1
Jun - 13
Jul - 10
Aug - 26
Sept -17
Oct - 34
Nov - 31
Dec - 42
Jan - 43
Feb - 46

Total Sold: 264
Number of Books: 1
Genre: Sci-Fi

*****

V.J. Chambers
May - 3
Jun - 19
Jul - 21
Aug - 5
Sept - 4
Oct - 2
Nov - 6
Dec - 3
Jan - 6
Feb - 3
Mar - 1
Apr - 0
May - 9
Jun - 7
Jul - 6
Aug - 9
Sept - 3
Oct - 31
Nov - 27
Dec - 70
Jan - 71
Feb - 106

Total Sold: 341
Number of Books: 8 (but were obviously not all out the entire time. Last two released in February)
Genre: YA Supernatural Romance, YA Horror, Urban Fantasy, Horror (adult)

*****

Judi Coltman
Aug - 8
Sept - 4
Oct - 30
Nov - 16
Dec - 17
Jan - 163
Feb - 179

Total sold: 497
Number of books: 1
Genre: Humor

*****

Michael Crane
Jul - 5
Aug - 12
Sept - 12
Oct - 40
Nov - 38
Dec - 107
Jan - 188
Feb - 222

Total Sold: 627
Number of Books: 4
Genre: Horror/Dark Humor, Short Stories

*****

J.M. Pierce
Apr - 5
May - 11
Jun - 11
Jul - 16
Aug -18
Sept - 19
Oct - 127
Nov - 75
Dec - 152
Jan - 123
Feb - 81

Total Sold: 638
Number of Books: 2
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy

*****

J.M. Zambrano
Jul - 9
Aug - 3
Sep - 1
Oct - 32
Nov - 373
Dec - 40
Jan - 40
Feb - 81

Total Sold: 659
Number of Books: 2
Genre: Suspense/Thriller, Mystery/Suspense

*****

Joel Arnold
May - 44
Jun - 62
Jul - 100
Aug - 104
Sept - 99
Oct - 71
Nov - 79
Dec - 73
Jan - 107
Feb - 98

Total Sold: 837
Number of Books: 8
Genre: Horror, Short Story Collections, YA, Mystery

*****

Jamie DeBree
Aug - 7
Sept - 9
Oct - 7
Nov - 28 (Lowered to .99 cents)
Dec - 42 (Joined Independent Author Network for marketing)
Jan - 255 (Released 2nd book)
Feb - 391

Total Sold: 847
Number of Books: 3 (one Mar. release)
Genre: 2 Romantic Suspense, 1 Erotic Romance

*****

Daniel Pyle
Aug - 37
Sept - 28
Oct - 59
Nov - 109
Dec - 176
Jan - 260
Feb - 283

Total sold: 1,042
Number of books: 2
Genre: Horror

*****

Suzanne Tyrpak
Aug - 27 (Dating My Vibrator at $2.99)
Sept - 27
Oct - 27
Nov - 158 (lowered price of Dating My Vibrator to .99cents)
Dec - 352 (added Vestal Virgin at .99 cents mid-month)
Jan - 415 (raised price of Vestal Virgin to $2.99 Jan 2, Kept Dating My Vibrator at .99cents)
Feb - 456

Total Sold: 1,462
Number of Books: 2
Genre: Humor, Historical Romance

*****

Anne Marie Novark
Aug - 9
Sept - 4
Oct - 24
Nov - 9
Dec - 131
Jan - 643
Feb - 826

Total sold: 1,646
Number of books: 7
Genre: Regency Romance, Contemporary Western, Contemporary

*****

Katie Salidas
Mar - 37 (Original Price 4.99)
Apr - 378
May - 401
Jun - 175
Jul - 119 - (Price Drop 3.99)
Aug - 109
Sept - 49 - (Price Drop 2.99)
Oct - 51
Nov - 38
Dec - 81 - (Price Drop to 0.99, Released sequel to the series)
Jan - 195
Feb - 124

Total Sold: 1,757
Number of Books: Author has 5, these numbers are for 1 book.
Genre: Urban Fantasy

*****

Sandy Night
Aug - 2
Sept - 8
Oct - 16
Nov - 44
Dec - 97
Jan - 348
Feb - 1,483

Total Sold: 1,998
Number of Books: 1
Genre: Romantic Suspense

*****

William Esmont
May - 1
Jun - 11
Jul - 6
Aug - 11
Sep - 10
Oct - 29 (Released 2nd book at end of the month)
Nov - 40
Dec - 99
Jan - 538
Feb - 768

Total Sold: 2,025
Number of Books: 2
Genre: 1 Espionage Thriller, 1 General Thriller

*****

Diana Estill
Aug - 8
Sept - 22
Oct - 105
Nov - 94
Dec - 469 (released third book)
Jan - 942
Feb - 612 (price increase on one book)

Total Sold: 2,252
Number of Books: 3
Genre: Humor

*****

Joseph Mitchell
Jun - 5
Jul - 63
Aug - 70
Sept - 113
Oct - 148
Nov - 210
Dec - 722
Jan - 877
Feb - 445

Total Sold: 2,653
Number of Books: 1
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy

*****

Martin Sharlow
Dec - 6
Jan - 8
Feb - 16
Mar - 5
Apr - 7
May - 35
Jun - 56
Jul - 31
Aug - 52
Sep - 68
Oct - 61
Nov - 91
Dec - 151
Jan - 389
Feb - 2,317

Total Sold: 3,293
Number of Books: 5
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Y.A. Fantasy

*****

John Pearson
Jan - 74
Feb - 48
Mar - 110
Apr - 276
May - 136
Jun - 285
Jul - 345
Aug - 287
Sept - 166
Oct - 248
Nov - 72
Dec - 372
Jan - 1,144
Feb - 579

Total Sold: 4,928 (that's since Jul 09)
Number of Books: 1
Genre: Humor

*****

William Meikle
Apr - 100
May - 300
Jun - 500
Jul - 450
Aug - 1,547
Sept - 2,255

Total Sold: 5,152
Number of Books 8
Genre: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Horror
About 1/2 of the sales were from the Sci-Fi title THE INVASION

*****

Jan Hurst-Nicholson
Jun - 1
Jul - 0
Aug - 0
Sept - 11 (this is when Amazon UK came on line - I think)
Oct - 18
Nov - 34
Dec - 181
Jan - 2,355
Feb - 2,876

Total Sold: 5,476
Number of Books: 5
Genre: Humor

*****

Joseph Nassise
Jan - 7
Feb - 5
Mar - 100
Apr - 106
May - 164
Jun - 161
Jul - 274
Aug - 410
Sept - 431
Oct - 404
Nov - 444
Dec - 844
Jan - 1,633
Feb - 2,121

Total Sold: 7,104
Number of Books: 4
Genre: Urban fantasy, horror
Each significant jump in sales for me was a result of either a change to the cover or to the description. I've done very little promotion, aside from an occasional mention on my blog.

*****

L.C. Evans
Feb - 77 (2 Books priced at $1.99)
Mar - 265
Apr - 415
May - 294
Jun - 169 (Raised price to $2.99)
Jul - 143
Aug - 51
Sept - 108 (Released a third book, Jobless Recovery)
Oct - 90
Nov - 82
Dec - 252
Jan - 1,852 (Released fourth book, The Witness Wore Blood Bay and lowered prices to $.99. Got new cover for WITD.)
Feb - 3,702

Total Sold: 7,500
Number of Books: 4
Genre: Mystery, Chick Lit, Non-Fiction

*****

Valmore Daniels
Jul - 13
Aug - 93
Sep - 194
Oct - 1,583
Nov - 1,642
Dec - 1,118
Jan - 1,768 (Released 2nd Book)
Feb - 1,330

Total: 7,641
Number of Books: 2
Genre: Science Fiction / Fantasy

*****

Sibel Hodge
Mar - 44
Apr - 60
May - 158
Jun - 197
Jul - 273
Aug - 312
Sept - 359
Oct - 444
Nov - 472
Dec - 1,152
Jan - 2,073 (released My Perfect Wedding)
Feb - 4,012

Total Sold: 9,556
Number of Books: Mostly 2 books (3rd one released last month)
Genre: Romantic Comedy/Chicklit Mystery

*****

Abigail Lawrence
Apr - 13
May - 46
Jun - 50
Jul - 69
Aug - 104
Sept - 96
Oct - 157
Nov - 281
Dec - 1,802
Jan - 3,500
Feb 3,226

Total Sold: 9,772
Number of Books: 1
Genre: YA Coming of Age

*****

Ellen O-Connell
Feb - 182
Mar - 309
Apr - 300
May - 492
Jun - 864
Jul - 678
Aug - 600
Sept - 673
Oct - 571
Nov - 708
Jan - 2,580
Feb - 1,930

Total Sold: 9,887
Number of Books: 3
Genre: Romance, Mystery
*****

David McAfee
Mar - 11
Apr - 97
May - 146
Jun - 256
Jul - 350
Aug - 957
Sept - 1,075
Oct - 1,246
Nov - 1,225
Dec - 1,668
Jan - 2,857
Feb - 2,098

Total Sold: 11,986
Number of Books: 5
Genre: Horror

*****

Monique Martin
Feb - 20
Mar - 18
Apr - 25
May - 16
Jun - 12
Jul - 26
Aug - 80
Sept - 411
Oct - 306
Nov - 321
Dec - 1,167
Jan - 4,461
Feb - 5,899

Total sold: 12,780
Number of books: 1
Genre: Paranormal Romance

*****

Rachel Yu
Sept - 134
Oct - 1,081
Nov - 1,690
Dec - 2,507
Jan - 7,146
Feb - 3,626

Total Sold: 16,184
Number of Books: 5
Genre: Picture Books for Children

*****

Lexi Revellian
Aug - 9
Sept - 81
Oct - 664
Nov - 1,559
Dec - 4,281
Jan - 5,940
Feb - 3,692
Mar - 735

Total Sold: 16,952
Number of Books: 1
Genre: Romantic Suspense

In February, Remix was no longer featured on Amazon UK's ebooks under £2 page, which was brilliant exposure - I think this is why sales dropped.

*****

Karen Cantwell
Jun - 45
Jul - 151
Aug - 1,083
Sept - 1,909
Oct - 1,628 (released Marr-nia short story collection)
Nov - 1,505
Dec - 3,685
Jan - 7,213
Feb - 8,429

Total Sold: 25,648
Number of Books: 2
Genre: Mystery, Short Stories

*****

David Dalglish
Feb - 76
Mar - 103
Apr - 341
May - 332
Jun - 475
Jul - 727
Aug - 840
Sept - 843
Oct - 2,146
Nov - 2,366
Dec - 4,635
Jan - 7,514
Feb - 7,682

Total sold: 28,000
Number of books: now up to 8 (plus an Omni).
Genre: all fantasy but for one short-story anthology.

*****

Beth Orsoff
Jun - 4 (1 book, 1 week)
Jul - 118 (released 2nd book in week 3)
Aug - 571
Sept - 767
Oct - 644
Nov - 1,157 (released 3rd book in week 1, put all three books up on B&N Thanksgiving weekend)
Dec - 3,836
Jan - 13,194
Feb - 12,169

Total Sold: 32,460
Number of Books: 3
Genre: Chick Lit, Romantic Comedy

*****

Michael J. Sullivan
(These numbers are approx.)
Apr - 1,000
May - 1,000
Jun - 1,000
Jul - 1,000
Aug - 1,000
Sept - 1,000
Oct - 2,600 (5th book released)
Nov - 7,600
Dec - 10,500
Jan - 11,500
Feb - 10,500

Total Sold: 48,700
Number of Books: 5
Genre: Fantasy

*****

Victorine Lieske
Apr - 7
May - 151
Jun - 456
Jul - 176
Aug - 106
Sept - 389
Oct - 1,401
Nov - 2,670
Dec - 11,162
Jan - 21,484
Feb - 28, 745

Total Sold: 66,766
Number of Books: 1
Genre: Romantic Suspense

*****

Tina Folsom
Jun - 410
Jul - 1,223 (released my 2nd Vampire novel on July 2 & redesigned covers of older books)
Aug - 3,215 (signed up with Smashwords)
Sep - 1,901
Oct - 14,779 (signed up with Pubit!, also: Amazon had my short story Steal Me as a 4-day freebie - sold 9,500 copies, these are included in this figure, because Amazon paid me royalties on this)
Nov - 3,663
Dec - 23,597 (released my 3rd Vampire novel on Dec 2)
Jan - 26,852
Feb - 22,406

Total: 88,046
Genre; Romance/Paranormal/Erotic
Titles: 12 (incl. short stories)

*****

Are you getting your name out there?

2011-03-01T14:17:00.000-06:00

As an indie author with a unique name, I felt it was important to build on that and 'get my name out there' so to speak. A recent post on KB reaffirmed my gut feeling that using your name whenever possible is a huge plus for authors.

When I sign up on forums or social networks, I always use Victorine or Victorine Lieske. My handle on Twitter is @VictorineLieske. My website is VictorineLieske.com. It's the same on Goodreads.com, the Nook boards, and even on this blog. I like the continuity of using my name on everything, and it's easy for people to find me if they want to. (Remember, Google is your friend!)

You're not only trying to sell books, you're trying to make a name for yourself. So use your name! Let people know who you are. And if you're worried about posting your name on the Internet, use a pseudonym, but don't sign up for a forum and use BookWriter as your moniker. (Not unless your name actually is Book Writer. Then you can.)

I'm not a huge fan of using your initials. Sure, it worked for J.K. Rowling, but more often than not I find myself forgetting names that are just two letters. But I see a lot of authors doing it, so it must have some appeal. To me it gives off an impersonal feeling, so I'd shy away from that. However, if you do use your initials, make sure you use them everywhere. Whatever you do, be consistent.

Another thing I do is use my book cover whenever possible. My avatar on KB is my book cover. That's what it is on the Nook Boards as well. I have it as my Facebook photo. If your book cover is well done, it will definitely help your name recognition to have it on everything you're doing.

Vicki

P.S. You might be wondering why I sign my name "Vicki" instead of "Victorine." Well, all of my friends call me "Vicki" so I do it to be more casual, and give an approachable feeling to my posts. Hopefully it's not confusing my brand.

Marketing Your Ebook

2011-01-27T11:34:00.000-06:00

I've had quite a few people ask me how I marketed my book. Since this comes up a lot, I thought I would spill all of my secrets. Here goes:

When I first clicked "Publish" on my book, I honestly had one marketing lead, and that was Kindleboards.com. I had read JA Konrath's blog, and Karen McQuestion said she got her first sales by joining the Kindleboards. So that's where I started. I joined and introduced myself, and read the rules about advertising my book.

I quickly learned that the wonderful people over on the Kindleboards don't appreciate authors who post an ad once a week and never stick around to socialize. Those get ignored. I found that the best way to draw attention to my book was to put my book cover in my signature line with a link to the Kindle version, and then get to know people. I posted on the threads that I was interested in. I joined in the conversations. I tried to be polite. I also tried to make sure my posts weren't filled with grammatical errors or typos. (Firefox is nice for this, it underlines my spelling errors in red so I can correct them before I click "post.")

Now, Kindleboards.com is a fantastic place for authors to mingle with readers. But it's also a wonderful place for authors to network with each other. When any author was looking for another author to interview, I signed up. When a new person was starting a review blog, I submitted my book. I found out a lot of ways to promote by reading the posts in the Writer's Cafe.

Here are some things I tried to help promote my book:

1. Giveaways. Goodreads.com is a great place to give away paper copies. If you're giving away Kindle books, try posting about it on the Amazon Kindle facebook page. Just have people send you their email in a private message. Doing giveaways on your own facebook fan page is a good way to get more followers. I also did a giveaway on this blog.

2. Book Bloggers. Submit your book for review to some book bloggers, but make sure your genre matches their guidelines. To find book bloggers, try searching "book reviews" on Kindleboards using the search box. There have been many helpful threads with links to different book review blogs.

3. Forums. Being active on a forum is important for your internet presence. Kindleboards.com, Amazon's forum, mobileread.com, and Goodreads.com are all good places to chat with readers. Just be sure to read the guidelines for posting, and get familiar with the site before posting. And don't spam posts about your book. The purpose of joining a forum is to get to know people, who will then want to know more about your book. Don't be one of those annoying authors who post inappropriate ads for their books.

4. Paid advertising. I am very careful with my money, but I did pay for two ads. One with Kindle Nation Daily, and the other was an ad on Red Adept's review blog. Before paying for advertising, I would highly suggest watching books that are being featured and noticing what happens to their rank. You can also ask people what advertising did work for them. The authors I chat with are very open about sharing information.

Last, but not least, I watched and listened. If you look at what other authors are doing, and notice what works and what doesn't, it will give you important information. Don't be afraid to try some different things out. When you find something that works, stick with it.

If you have a promotional idea that worked for you, feel free to post it in the comments section!

Vicki

December Sales Numbers

2011-01-07T13:47:00.000-06:00

I don't post my sales numbers to brag. I post them to help others decide if putting their book on the Kindle and Nook is a good idea, or if they should continue to submit to agents and try to get a traditional publishing deal. I don't want to convince anyone to do what I did, but I do think it's important to have specific information if you're making the choice.

My December sales blew all my previous months out of the water. Here's a quick recap of my sales:

April: 7
May: 151
June: 456
July: 176
August: 106
September: 389
October: 1,401
November: 2,670

As you can see, from April to June I was increasing in sales each month. Then I raised my price from $1.99 to $2.99 near the end of June and sales went down in July. They continued to go down in August. In September I had two very good promotions, and that bumped my sales up for a day or two, but then sales slowed down again. So near the end of September I lowered my price to 99 cents. 220 of my September sales were from the last four days when my 99 cent price went into effect.

October was fantastic, and November almost doubled my October numbers. But December left everything in the dust.

December: 11,162

That's more than double my sales from April through November combined! This is important, because it tells me no matter what your sales are right now, they can explode one day. It's also important because with these numbers I can actually earn a living selling books.

So, if you're trying to decide if turning to self-publishing is a good idea, you probably need more concrete figures. How much am I making? I know some people think it's crass to talk about money, but if I don't, people won't know the earning potential there is with self-publishing an ebook. So here goes. If me posting how much I'm earning is offensive to you, stop reading now.

This is what I earned in each month since I started. I won't do April because I didn't earn enough to get a paycheck, and it was lumped in with May's payment.

May: $110.60
June: $334.05
July: $349.43
August: $208.26
September: $393.73
October: $477.88
November: $903.29
December: $3,833.20

*Note, these are earnings from Kindle only. I did earn a little from paperback sales and Nook sales, but less than $400 and not enough to make it worth my time calculating it out. Also, December is an estimate because I don't have the actual report yet, and they convert my UK sales into GBP and then back into USD, so it's slightly off.

If I add all of these up, I've earned $6,610.44 through December. This is actually quite a decent advance for a first book. And I've already earned more than $1,000 for the month of January, so I know this number is just going to increase as the months go by.

I have been asked for a review copy of my book from a foreign rights agent in Thailand. I'm very excited about the possibilities that will come up in the future. I've had a lot of people read my book, and I'm getting more readers every day. I'm working on a second book which will come out in 2011, and have plans to start a third this year.

I hope being blunt about how much I'm making at this is helpful to those trying to decide if this is the right path for them.

Vicki

Woot!

2010-11-04T12:18:00.000-05:00

I'm listed on Joe Konrath's blog!

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2010/11/with-little-help.html

Okay, I'm listed with a zillion other people, but it's cool just the same. Check it out, and check out all the other cool books listed on there as well.

Vicki

My 99 cent experiment continues...

2010-10-20T15:01:00.000-05:00

You're probably tired of this by now, but I wanted to give another update on how things are going for me this month, with my 99 cent price experiment. If you remember, to match my best month in sales priced at $2.99 I need to sell 32 books a day priced at 99 cents.

I just sold my 800th book for this month. Since it's the 20th, it's easy math. I'm averaging 40 sales per day. Now, the first four days of the month were fantastic, and it did slow down from there. So, I calculated out just the 5th to the 19th to get a more accurate picture of what my average sales per day are. In that snapshot I averaged 32 sales a day. Right were I need to be to tie my biggest money maker month. Yay!

Now, I want to address the issue of "cheapening" by work by selling my book at only 99 cents. I know some people think it devalues my novel, or conditions people to expect a low price for my future works. I don't take much stock in that thought.

I'm a totally unknown author. People don't know my name, they don't know if they like my work. If I can get several thousand people to try my book, and they do enjoy it, they'll pay more for future books. It's a marketing strategy, and in my case, it's working.

Now, I don't know how many people buy my book and add it to an already long to be read pile. But I do know that some people are reading it. I'm getting feedback from people. I'm getting reviews. More people are joining my Facebook fan page. (Yay!) So I know that not everyone is buying and not reading.

Which is fantastic. When I get an email telling me how much someone enjoyed my book, it makes all of this worth it. :)

Vicki

More Sales Numbers

2010-10-08T15:17:00.000-05:00

I know you're all just waiting for me to post more of my numbers. Well, I won't keep you waiting any longer. Here's what's been happening this month so far with my sales:

1st: 116 sold. (Wow, what happened that day?)
2nd: 50 sold.
3rd: 66 sold.
4th: 56 sold.
5th: 34 sold.
6th: 30 sold.
7th: 35 sold.

As you can see, the month started off with a bang! And things have slowed down here lately. But I still am selling well beyond my 17 sales that I need to tie what I was doing before I dropped my price to 99 cents. So, even though I'm slowing down, I am still happy with the 99 cent price and plan on keeping the price for now.

As for what I will price my next book at... I'm really not sure. At first I thought I would start it out at $2.99 to see what it can do. Then I changed my mind, wanting to make a bigger bang with rank and decided to start it at 99 cents. Right now I keep waffling back and forth, not sure what I will do. I might try an introductory price of 99 cents, and see what happens. But I don't want to be locked into raising it if it's selling much better than Not What She Seems. So I'm torn.

Have you played around with your book price? I'd love to know if you have found that sweet spot for your book.

Vicki

My $.99 Experiment

2010-09-30T16:48:00.000-05:00

Hi, I just wanted to let everyone know how my 99 cent experiment is working so far. This is only the 4th day, but so far the results are good.

Before I show my sales for the past few days, I'll share a little bit of background. My average sales for August and September (with the exception of my Kindle Nation Daily spot and my price drop) were 3 books a day. In order to match this and not lose money from where I was at in August and September, I need to sell at least 17.4 books a day at the new $.99 price.

Monday - 49 books sold.
Tuesday - 67 books sold.
Wednesday - 40 books sold.
Thursday so far - 31 books sold at 4:42 pm.

My best month was July, for royalties not sales, and I sold an average of 5.6 books a day. To match my best month, I need to sell 32 books per day. So far, this has been easy to surpass. It looks like my 99 cent price is going to earn me more royalties than my $2.99 price, even though I only get 35%.

And I get more readers. And more reviews.

Something else is happening also. I am getting mentioned on blogs and facebook pages that list very cheap books.

I'll keep you updated as this progresses. I must say that Joe Konrath might be missing the boat a little telling people that the sweet pricing spot is $2.99. At least for me, the 99 cent price is looking sweeter.

Vicki

I changed my Kindle ebook price!

2010-09-27T18:58:00.000-05:00

Okay, I know I just blogged about how happy I am with my sales. That was right after I was featured in Kindle Nation Daily and I was still on the sales high. My sales really slumped yesterday, so I decided to experiment. (That's the nice thing about having your book on the Kindle.)

I changed my price to 99 cents.

Wow, what was I thinking... right? How can going from making $2.04 per sale to $.35 per sale be a good thing? Well, if I'm selling 3 books a day at $2.99, I'm making $6.12 a day. (That's been my average this month, with the exception of my Kindle Nation Daily short coming out.) And that's assuming all of my sales are in the US. (They're not.)

But, if lowering my price to 99 cents allows me to sell 33 books a day (that's what I've sold today since I changed my price and announced it), then I'm making $11.55 per day. And more people get to enjoy my book. And I get more reviews. And a higher rank on Amazon which gives me more exposure.

That might not seem like a big deal to you, but let's do the math.

$2.99 price + 3 sales a day = $183.60 per month.

$.99 price + 33 sales a day = $346.50 per month.

That almost equals my best month at $2.99. And more people get to enjoy my book, I get more reviews, and a higher rank on Amazon.

Now, I have no idea if these crazy great sales will continue. If the sales drop off the planet, I'll come crawling back here in sorrow, and do more math to figure out my next move. But for now, I'm really liking this 99 cent price drop. :)

I'll keep you posted as to how it's going!

Vicki

1000th Copy Sold!

2010-09-25T14:39:00.000-05:00

I'm celebrating this week because I've sold my 1,000th copy of my book! Wow. It's amazing to think that a thousand people have purchased something that I wrote. I'm both humbled and extremely excited.

For those of you who are wondering how long it took me, here's a quick recap of my sales by month. I uploaded my book on April 20th, 2010.

April - 7
May - 151
June - 456
July - 176
August - 106
September (so far) - 143

As you can see, the bulk of my sales came from June. I attribute this to being featured on some great blogs, and my book was still priced at $1.99. I priced it low for the first three months, which allowed me to gain momentum and get some reviews under my belt. Sales fell dramatically in July when I raised my price to $2.99.

Now, do I feel like I made a mistake raising my price? Maybe. However, I did make a little more money in July than I did in June. Why? Because Amazon raised their royalty rates to 70% in July for all Kindle books priced between $2.99 and $9.99. Before, at $1.99 I was making 35% royalties. ($.70 per sale) Starting in July when I raised my price to $2.99 I began making 70% royalties for all sales in the US. ($2.04 per sale) That's a huge jump in royalties.

August, however, was a very slow sales month for me. I'll never know if I had kept my lower price, if I would have kept my sales momentum. In the end, I am happy with how well it's been selling. I'm very excited for my next book, The Overtaking, which will probably be ready for the Kindle around the end of the year. I do think the secret to success on the Kindle is having a loss leader, so I plan on making The Overtaking mine. I'll price it at 99 cents, at least for the first three months, in hopes that it will sell like crazy and draw some attention to my higher priced book.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Vicki

Hook Victorine #11

2010-08-10T18:10:00.000-05:00

Here's the first 400 words from Secrets in the Shadows, by T.L. Haddix.

As dawn reached its fingers out over the Midwest, the sun creating pink trails that stretched toward the rivers and fields, the woman’s sleep was disturbed by haunting images of quiet violence. The dream started innocuously enough, as she was walking through a sunlit meadow, the warm summer breezes gently teasing her hair away from her face. As she turned her face toward the sky, eyes closed against the glare of the sun, a sudden chill coursed across her skin, and a shadow fell across her face. Opening her eyes, she was startled to see that ugly black clouds had covered the sky from horizon to horizon, roiling, churning things, filled with a malevolence she could sense in her core.

I like the author’s writing style. The descriptions are poetic, and yet I don’t feel like they’re overwritten. The thing that I would warn against is beginning with a dream. I know I’ve already covered that. If you didn’t read my other post about it, here’s the recap. Starting with a dream is done a lot. And I mean a lot. This is the fourth book in my Hook Victorine that has started with a dream. So, just be aware it’s done quite a bit. I won’t mention it again, I’ll go on and let you know if I’m hooked based on the premise of the story.

I also feel distanced from the character, in this narrated point of view. I’d rather be in her point of view, know her name, and feel what she feels. This is something else I see a lot, and I personally dislike it. However, this is just my opinion, so you might find others who really like that distanced point of view in the beginning.

Turning, she ran toward the house, the place that had always been a safe haven. As she reached the worn steps, she stopped, hesitating and confused. A growing sense of unease was moving through her, telling her to not open the door, to not go in the house. Unable to stop her body, she watched as she raised her hand and opened the door, stepping over the threshold and into the gloomy darkness.

I would suggest a little bit of tweaking here. “A growing sense of unease was moving through her,” I would change to “A growing sense of unease moved through her.” I am curious as to why she’s feeling this unease. I’ll read on to see what happens.

Suddenly, as dreams often do, she was in another place, but still aware of the growing storm outside the windows, as well as of the fear that was growing inside her body.

Just a nit pick here, but earlier she had a growing sense of unease, and how the storm is growing and the fear is growing. I might suggest a rewording, it just jumped out at me. As far as the story goes, I like the sense of fear, and I’m wondering what is going to happen next.

It was night, and the lightning was flashing, but all she could hear was her heartbeat and the sound of her own breathing.

Another nit pick. Instead of saying “It was night,” I would show that it’s night by describing the dark. Also, the lightning was flashing is passive, I would make it more active. Here’s what I would do to tweak it: “The lightning flashed across the pitch black sky, but all she heard was her heartbeat and the sound of her own breathing.”

Her pulse was racing, pounding in her ears, and her breath was sawing in and out of her lungs as though she had run for miles.

Her pulse raced, pounding in her ears. I’ll stop taking out the passive ‘was’ phrases, I’m starting to annoy myself. I’m picking at nits. I’ll keep reading and let you know if I’m hooked.

As she looked around her, she discovered that she was standing in her own room, now faded and gray, the surfaces covered in dust. Staring at the bed, she realized there was someone in it, cowering under the covers. She could see the bedspread shaking with tremors, and she knew that whoever the person was in the bed, they were terrified. A dim light slowly grew across the bed, light from the hall that was quickly extinguished as whoever had entered her room closed the door rapidly behind them.

I don’t think I like someone coming in the bedroom at night. I think this might be a predator of some sort. It gives me a very creepy feeling. If this is what the author is going for, they’re doing a great job.

As her breathing and pulse quieted down, she was finally able to hear the sounds outside her body, and as she listened, heavy boot steps made their way across the room from the door.

Yep, I don’t like the guy with the boots. Okay, here’s my assessment. I would keep reading to see if they creepy guy was going to kill the person shaking in their bed. If this turns out to be a story about the molestation of a child, I wouldn’t continue to read. That’s just my personal preference though. I don’t like to read about horrible things happening to children. But on the upswing, I do think the author has done a good job with creating a creepy mood for this book.

The Winners!

2010-08-03T15:12:00.000-05:00

Thank you everyone who entered my contest! I put everyone's names in a bowl and my daughter drew three of them out.

And the winners are... Kippoe... Stormy... and Linda!

Congratulations!

Now I just need your email addresses. Just click this link, fill out the form letting me know you won, and I'll send you the .prc file of my book.

Thank you!

Vicki

Free Kindle Book Giveaway

2010-08-02T16:12:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone!

I'm giving away three free Mobi (.prc) files of my book, Not What She Seems. This can be read on your Kindle. (You are not obligated to review it after you've read it.)

The only thing you have to do to enter, is post a comment on here! I'll throw all the names into a hat and draw one out tomorrow the 3rd of August. I'll do the drawing in the afternoon, and then announce the three winners. You have to use your name when you post, obviously. Then you send me your email address and I'll email you the book.

Not sure if you'd like my book? Here's the blurb:

Steven Ashton, a billionaire from New York, and Emily Grant, on the run from the law... and when they meet he can’t help falling for her. What he doesn’t know is that interfering in her life will put his own life in danger.

Not What She Seems holds you in suspense from the moment you begin down the path of murder and romance.
Synopsis:
When billionaire Steven Ashton couldn’t stand his high society social life anymore, he left the stress of New York on a vacation for his soul. The need to meet real down to earth people lead him to a small Nebraska town he remembered visiting as a child. He didn’t want to lie about who he was, but he couldn’t exactly tell them the truth.

Emily could have easily fallen in love with Steven, under different circumstances, but her past was catching up with her and she needed a new life. If the authorities found out about her, she could lose the one thing that meant everything, her four year old son.

Not What She Seems is approximately 67,000 words long. (326 pages in paperback.)

This book is a "sweet" romantic suspense, appropriate for all ages.

Leave a comment below to be entered into the drawing.

Thanks for participating!

Vicki

Hook Victorine #10

2010-08-01T16:19:00.000-05:00

Here's the first 400 words from Eland Dances, not yet published, by Philip van Wulven.

I have no cover art, since it's not yet published, so I'll just jump right on in.

Chapter 1 - Welcome to the Jungle -

I froze in the chair. There was a lion right there in the room, on the other side of the table.

Hmm, interesting beginning. It makes me wonder… what kind of room? A dining room, since there’s a table? I’ll keep reading to see.

Just what I’d been warned about, but hadn’t believed.

So unlikely, even in Africa. Here, in Heathrow, in a bar that smelt of stale beer, cigarettes, and damp socks, it was plain unbelievable.

Ah, a bar. This is interesting. I’d like to see the lion a little better, does he look like he’s going to strike?

I tried not to move. Maybe he’d ignore me.

No such luck. His shoulder muscles bunched and his eyes blazed red as he looked at me.

Perfect. This is just what I wanted. You’ve got me hooked. I want to know what he’s going to do now.

Avoid eye contact. Don’t challenge them. I looked down at my beer.

Since it’s just one lion, I’d say, “Don’t challenge him,” but that’s nit picky.

“I'm in charge at the loony bin, Pete. My cabbagepatch. Like when the loonies get the s***s I take care of things. Fix 'em up. They're always so friggin' grateful.”

I’m a bit confused. Who is speaking? And why are they speaking so casually with a lion in the room? Don’t they see the lion?

I looked up and saw just plain old Big Sid hunched forward over the formica table, pint in paw, with the light from the ‘DEPARTURES’ sign outside the bar reflected on his bottle-bottom thick specs.

Ah, I fell for it. There’s no lion… only Big Sid. Well, of course I’m relieved for the MC, but also disappointed. I was hoping for a tense lion charging moment.

His shoulder length blond straggle was backlit by light reflected off the mirror behind the counter, so just for a moment his silhouette, combined with his attitudes, had shown him as what Gran called a man possessed by a lion spirit.

He chugged beer, burped, and carried on. “The doctors think they know it all. Nobody else could do their job. Bloody power freaks don't want us to do medical stuff, even simple things. They keep it all complicated. Keep it all scientific and that. I mean, look at how they treat someone who's dehydrated. Simple, all they need is fluids in them.”

This is mildly interesting to me, the voice is good. I’m still not as hooked as I would have been if there were a real lion about to charge. But I do like the writing style. And of course, everything I say is just my personal opinion.

I looked down at my mug and tried to keep my face expressionless, but couldn't help thinking, ‘Power-freak yourself. Bloody predator. Everyone’s just prey, ego-food on the hoof to you.’ I wanted to say that, but I knew there was no way a guy like Sid, five years older and a foot taller, could let me score any points.

So I played along. “Go on then. Tell us, Sid. What's wrong with how they treat that, then?”

“They stick 'em in a bed, with needles and tubes and one of those drip things. Scientific. Now we all, us orderlies, we know that's not needed. Then too, we like to keep things cool, you know. There's stuff that's better kept quiet.”

“Now why would that be, in a nice place like the Hertfordshire Psych.?”

Hmm, now that part is interesting to me. What should be kept quiet? This implies that bad stuff is happening over there, and it would make me read more. Great! My only suggestion would be to move that part up. I’m not sure the whole lion fake out is needed to grasp someone’s attention. But you did hook me in the end!

Hook Victorine #9

2010-07-26T15:23:00.000-05:00

Here are the first 400 words of Child of the Mist (Gem of the Galaxy) by Kae Cheatham.

No more running away, the young woman thought as she jogged through the dense forest. Her quiet pace was matched by a young ocsoni with silky black hair springing several centimeters over its dense fur. This time I’m running to something. My destiny, perhaps.

I’m new to this story and this world, and I like how the author plops me into it here, instead of explaining what an ocsoni is. I would like a little more description of it, but I’m sure that will come. Right now I’ve got a jaguar image in my mind, with some kind of long hair on the head like a main or something.

I’m not in love with this thing a lot of authors do, and that’s starting off with this distanced POV. Since were in the young woman’s POV, just say her name instead of ‘the young woman’. That pulls me in closer, and I like to know whose head I’m in as I read.

Leaves of saplings cloaked her while she negotiated the path around house-sized trunks of mature trees; large leaves blocked light from the late afternoon sky, keeping the forest cool. She didn’t carry much: a small pot for water, a solbey plate to cook on, a warming net for cold nights, an extra pair of leggings and boots. For weapons: a sheathed knife—the blade as long as her forearm—and a whiprod she had taken off the guard she killed when she escaped one-hundred-and-thirty days ago. Running. Hiding. Stopping long enough to have that awful baby, and then…

Oh my, she had a baby and then what? Did she leave it somewhere? She called it awful, and that’s a bit disturbing to me. I know this is fiction, and no real baby is in danger. But it’s still disturbing to me, and it makes me not like the main character. I’ll keep reading, but with a frown on my face.

Continual anger churned through her. No more running. I’ve ruined their plans, and now I’ll attend the business I was born to. This her continual thought without a concept for success.

Personally, I’d rather be shown the anger here, instead of told that anger churned through her. She could clench her fists or her teeth, or narrow her eyes. Or we could gather the anger from the other things that she’s thinking.

“We must be close to the wall,” she quietly said to her furry companion. “I don’t know what I’ll do with you when I go inside, but…” She pushed back a tendril of poorly-cut hair. When her sable locks became more than a finger’s length, she hacked them off and muttered, “For you, mother.” The childish look this gave her totally belied her intense nature.

I like how the author describes her hair here. I’m wondering why she cut her hair for her mother though.

Her pup companion slowed, neck hairs up and nose testing the wind. She stopped, also sniffing the breeze. Nothing. Fear skittered along her slender limbs. Faucrin Rudeg’s henchmen could be waiting in ambush. She fingered the hilt of her knife while studying her surroundings. In the dense foliage and shoulder-high mushrooms sprouting between trees, the only sign was of a bush fox recently passed. “They can’t possibly know where I am,” she murmured to the pup as she stroked its head. She was certain the Xirophans wouldn’t relinquish her to her government. Many tribes had hidden her from the Rudegs. The last tribe had given her a map—told her about the way in.

Ah, a pup. So this is more like a dog creature. I like the descriptions here. Nice job.

The ocsoni, still tense, whined and strained to dash forward as she tied the pup’s shoulder harness to a thick sapling. She removed her pack and secured it out of his reach. “Stay, Ton,” she ordered. With whiprod fastened to her purple jerkin, she stealthily climbed fifty meters into the dense canopy and leapt from one tree to the next, barely ruffling the huge leaves.

I am interested in what she’s going to do here, but I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the woman talking about her baby in that way. I assume since she was in prison, she was mistreated and that’s why she is talking this way about her child. But a baby is innocent and shouldn’t be punished for whatever happened before it was born.

I think the descriptions flowed nicely, and the beginning had no boring back story, so I applaud the author for this. My one big concern is that the baby got left somewhere to die. And if I were to guess, that child would show up again somewhere later in the book... probably angry. Overall, the writing is fairly clean with only a few nit picks on my part. I think the author did a good job.

Hook Victorine #8

2010-07-25T14:30:00.000-05:00

Here are the first 400 words from The Gazelle, by S. Wolf.

The final colors of the day were draining over the horizon, as the pair watched through the smattering of tiny sand fly corpses dotting the windshield.

I like the colorful language, but personally, I’m not a huge fan of the distanced POV. But that is just me.

Their conversation had been engaging since she had joined him in the car several hours ago, but when the evening sky blossomed into a fiery display of reds and oranges, they shared it in silence. Now, all that remained of the majestic show was a thin ribbon of fire that snaked its way behind the looming mountains.

Nice descriptions. I’m not very hooked yet... but I’ll keep reading.

Thomas glanced over at his lovely passenger, her obvious delight in the spectacle adding to his attraction towards her. Her being here, watching it with him, enhanced his own enjoyment. What made it especially poignant for him, was knowing that this would be the last sunset she would ever see.

Oh, here we add in some ominous feeling with that last sentence. Is he a killer? A vampire? This does make me want to read more.

I’m also glad we pulled out of the distanced POV to Thomas’s POV. Personally, I would rather just open in Thomas’s POV. He’s the more interesting character here anyway, and I don’t think it adds anything to create this narrated beginning, only to switch into Thomas’s mind in a few sentences. But I do tend to like starting in third person limited, so you can take this with a grain of salt.

One thing that I think would strengthen this would be to take out the ‘telling’ and change it to ‘showing’. I’ll give you an example. ‘Her obvious delight’ is telling us she is delighted. I’d rather see this. How does he know she’s delighted? Maybe her eyes light up and she’s smiling. Let the reader come to their own conclusion about her delight.

After the last colors faded to gray, Thomas said, “I'm getting some water, would you like another bottle?”

“Love some,” Kat replied, and then asked, “Don’t you have anything stronger?” She leaned forward and resumed her preoccupation with the car radio, which she had been fussing over since they had driven out of range of the San Antonio stations two hours ago.

I like her fussing with the radio. This tells me she’s kind of flighty like that. I can also see him coming up behind her with a pistol as she fiddling with the dial. *Evil grin*

“Nope, just water,” he replied as he reached between the seats to the cooler in the back. “Besides, you’re a bit under the drinking age anyway.”

“That’s cold Tommy,” she said as she rotated the tuning dial, the radio responding with varying levels of static. “I thought we were friends.”

I wonder if there’s a knife in the cooler.

“Nice try,” he grinned as he held the steering wheel in one hand and groped behind him into the cooler with the other. “But we're in the middle of the Texas desert, and the last thing I need is some redneck state trooper tossing me in jail for giving alcohol to a teenager.”

“Probably a smart choice,” she said, still focused on the radio, but then turned and looked at him with a grin, “Your cellmates would just love a pretty boy like you.” She pursed her lips and blew an exaggerated kiss in his direction.

“You got that right,” he said, returning the smile. He pulled his arm back, holding two bottles of Evian still dripping from the ice in the cooler. Taking a moment to examine them, he placed one in his cup holder, and handed her the other.

Awe, no knife. The thing keeping me going here is the one sentence about this being the last sun set she will ever see. I’ll keep reading to see what he meant by that. The rest wasn’t too interesting, but I can cope with the mundane stuck in with the eerie feeling that he’s going to chop her into little pieces at any minute. Nice job!

Hook Victorine #7

2010-07-17T14:37:00.000-05:00

Here is the first 400 words from Dead Forever: Awakening by William Campbell.

WE REMIND: Events depicted in this record occurred during the use of language systems other than English. In consideration of the reader, all representations of character thought and speech have been translated to the nearest English equivalent in use at the time of transcription.

Fun beginning! I do like how we jump right into this strange world with this simple notice. Nice way to get the reader’s attention.

One

Blackness, crashing, every touch is a searing impact. Extreme motion without purpose or destination—chaos. Up and down have become mere concepts in this nightmare of heat and confusion.

Interesting... I’m not sure what’s going on but I’m intrigued by this. As long as it’s not a dream. Please, don’t start your book with a dream. Waaaaay too many people do it. Literary agents blog about it all the time... don’t start with a dream or someone waking up. Alright, off my soapbox now.

A flickering glow bleeds from the void—flames.

I’m still confused by this, but it’s okay because I want to know more. If I don’t get grounded in a scene pretty quickly though, I’ll get bored and move on.

“Put it out,” a woman shouts.

Yes, thank you, I hope we’re going to get grounded in a scene now.

My skin is burning. Snapped alert by a blistering surface, I spring up only to tumble over and smack the floor. Or was it the ceiling? The two have traded places, and again, flipping end over end.

Boy this sure reads like a dream. I suspect it is. The funny thing is several of the previous authors confessed to me that their beginnings were dreams too. I don’t want to say that you’re totally sunk if you start with a dream, just be aware of what is out there. (And what is out there are a lot of books starting with dreams. A lot.)

From thick smoke, flames snap out like whips, steel panels glisten white-hot, creak and moan, melting conduits dangle and sway. The upending eases but the compartment is spiraling—we’re falling. A warm flow trickles down my forehead, into my eyes. I reach for my scalp and the wet mess leaves my fingertips bloody. Something hard and I became far more intimate than we should have.

Ha ha ha, funny. I actually have a line in my book that is quite similar to this last one. I guess great minds think alike.

Someone darts through the smoke. Then back again, and she stops to look at me.

“Put it out.”

Since the main character keeps mentioning heat, I’m assuming the “put it out” is about a fire. I’m getting glimpses of what is going on, and despite the fact that many books begin with dreams, I will admit this one is well written. The reader gets the feeling of a dream, and I can’t find any nit picky things about the writing.

She is strangely familiar. Rusty hair in a high ponytail, determined stare, her cheeks are heated rosy. A woman of such beauty she may be a goddess, casting a disapproving glare as if provoked and contemplating wrath if I don’t get up and . . . do what?

I like this description of her.

Dread strikes. Something bad is going to happen, and worse—it happens to her.

There’s a change in tense here that I might reword. I might say: Something bad is going to happen, and worse—it will happen to her.

“Hurry!” she cries.

The fire. I came here to put out a fire. An extinguisher is here somewhere. In a cabinet, but the door won’t budge. The hinges are melted, the handle is hot, now my palms are charred.

Failure obscures all fear. I don’t know which is worse—the fear, the failure, the dread—or knowing that I’m completely useless.

Towering flames rise at her back. She rushes to reach me, her arms outstretched. The goddess is drained of wrath, stricken by sorrow, streaming tears and hollow. Her hopeless stare won’t let go, yearning for a last embrace, and testament to our fate—there is no tomorrow.

Again, this is well written. I am interested in what will happen after the main character wakes up.

“We won’t survive,” she says. “Don’t get lost. Remember, I’ll find you. I’ll find you!”

I can’t tell if she’s mad here, and is saying she’ll find him to harm him, or if she is saying this out of love. I’m guessing she isn’t mad, but I can’t quite tell.

Rapt by her mesmerizing gaze, I am spellbound, the threat of incineration a distant concern. Her eyes—so clear, so light, so blue.

Tender blue eyes, that may never forgive me.

I’m wondering if this is a dream about the future, or the past. I admit I would read on, even though I’ll keep telling authors to not start with a dream. Not that you can’t get published with a book that opens with a dream. A very popular series opens with a dream in the second book. I was surprised by this. And I don’t want to say anything bad about the book because I did enjoy it. I’ve just seen dream openings so much that I tend to get put off by them.

Hook Victorine #6

2010-07-15T12:52:00.000-05:00

Here's the first 400 words of Erich's Plea, by Tracey Alley.

Slade could feel the warmth of the rising sun on his face. The subtle scent of the sacred oak trees filled the air. All around him was the slow chanting of the druids who made this forest their home. Opening his eyes Slade saw his druidic mentor standing before him, a guide to this sunrise initiation ceremony. Karel’s wise, heavily lined face was hidden by the coarse linen cowl he wore but Slade could sense the gentle smile underneath the rhythmic chanting.

Good beginning here. I get a great feel for the setting and the genre. I like the descriptions, and feel like they’re not overwritten. It’s a slow start, but I don’t mind that too much as long as I get something to grab onto soon.

Karel had once been a mercenary soldier, selling his skill with a blade to the highest bidder. Then Karel had turned his back on his former profession and joined the ranks of those who served the gentle woodland goddess Freyita. After years of service he was now her high priest and Archdruid of the Sacred Grove.

I’m not a huge fan of back story in the first chapter. I’d rather gather some of this through dialogue or in small bits. I’ll keep reading though, we’re barely in, and I’m interested in the ceremony.

The other male and female members of the Grove, who represented virtually every race in The Kingdoms, formed a chanting circle around Slade and Karel as they welcomed Slade into their circle.

Ah, yes, back to the ceremony. Good.

Once the ritual was completed Slade would be presented with the druidic ring with its wide, silver band engraved with oak leaves and begin his new life.

This is just my opinion, but I’d rather read what is happening at the moment, than what will happen in a minute. So, if it were me writing this, I’d describe this as it happens.

Slade felt as though his heart would burst with pride. Joining the druids of the Sacred Grove had been his dream for more than a year. Finally he had succeeded and it was a triumph he had earned solely on his own merits, owing nothing to his birth.

“Owing nothing to his birth” sounds like maybe Slade is of royal birth, or of some importance. This is a good thing to stick in here. Just a hint, with not too much explanation.

From this day on Slade would renounce his former life. He would give up the right to continue the training he had begun with the warrior-monks of the Black Lotus and dedicate his life instead to serving Freyita. Slade’s decision involved more than just giving up an old profession. He had also given up his name and his birthright. No longer would he be known as Einreich Gudmundson. No longer would he be the Crown Prince of the vast northern kingdom of Vestland. He would no longer be Erich’s designated heir, in spite of his position as a second son, to the centuries old High Throne.

Slade knew he had disappointed his father, High King Erich, in his decision to leave court. Nevertheless his father had allowed it, would even have attended this ceremony had protocol allowed. Knowing he had hurt his father pained Slade deeply but he knew it was the right decision for him.

Well, we do get some explanation here... which I would love to come out later in the story. I’m just a huge fan of ‘hook me first, explain the whole background later’. As it stands right now, I’m curious to know more about Freyita and why he wants to serve her, but I wouldn’t call it a strong hook for me. I probably would keep reading for a little while, hoping that the action would take off.

Thanks so much for submitting your first 400!

Hook Victorine #5

2010-07-14T12:30:00.001-05:00

Here's the first 400 words of Courtesan, by D. A. Boulter.

"They are going through your files."

Interesting first line. I’ve heard it said by some that you shouldn’t open your novel with dialogue unless it’s intriguing, and I think you’re successful with this one.

Jaswinder Saroya stared at the blank screen of the tele-vid and attempted to put a face to the distorted voice. Even as she heard the sharp click of disconnection, she realized it didn't matter. She moved. Before the tele-vid reset she had taken three steps towards the bedroom.

Wow, that name is a mouthful. I’m not sure I’m in love with it. I really like names that are easy for me to pronounce in my head. This one has a hard time rolling off my mind’s tongue. Is it Ja-swine-der? Or Jaz-wind-er? Sa-roy-a? Or Sar-oh-ya? I’m not sure, and that does annoy me a little bit. But I know a lot of readers who love creative names, so it could just be me.

I like the distorted voice, and the tele-vid. This gives me a good idea of the setting and we jump right into it, instead of giving me long back story about where and when we are. Great job with that.

Harold Preston, no doubt.

Oh, so she knows who the voice belonged to? I thought it didn’t matter. If she knows the voice, I would mention this sooner, and cut the parts about not being able to put a face to the voice, and it not mattering. If she just realizes who this might be, then I would take out the “no doubt” part. Because if there’s no doubt, she would have known it before now.

He had warned her, and that warning had prompted her precautions. She pulled the ready-case from her closet, opened it for a quick last check, then reverently placed the disks containing her notes and research into a hidden compartment. She gave her portable computer a wistful glance. It belonged to Plender University and she couldn't justify taking it.

Tele-vid makes me think of the future, but the word ‘disks’ makes me think of the past. I’m probably off here, but I might call them Data Units or Data Sticks... or something more futuristic sounding. But that’s my only nit pick. The adverb isn’t horrible, so I’ll leave it alone.

"They are going through your files."

Is she hearing this again out loud? Or thinking about it? Because if she’s thinking it, I would put it in italics instead of quote marks.

She shuddered as she closed the case. Preston's impromptu lecture spelled out the possibilities: people from the university; government agents; colonists (either side), or the Interplanetary Corporations.

Fear pushed down the annoyance at the arrogance implied by the invasion of her privacy at Plender University, pushed down the anger at the realization that her home would be next. She wanted to meet these unknown intruders and give them a blast they'd never forget. Instead, Jaswinder grabbed her overcoat and ensured her long black tresses stayed inside. Looking around her bedroom, she sighed. The rooms had served as a warm and comfortable refuge, as opposed to the sterile officiousness of her university office. She caught her gaze in the mirror and it surprised her to find no trace of the fear she felt. She laughed harshly.

I’m interested to know who is looking through her files... but for me this lacks some sense of danger that I feel it should have. As of now, I don’t know what is in those files, and I don’t have a sense of why she would have to pack and leave. I’m sure there’s a good reason, and I’d love a little peek at it, just to whet my appetite.

The call had not come unexpected. And, expecting it, she had prepared as thoroughly as she had prepared any of her experiments. A few days earlier might have caught her unready, but today she just flowed from step to step.

To me, this is an unnecessary explanation. If she’s packing and leaving, and she already mentioned the warnings, I can assume she has planned for this. But I’m kind of a “skip the unnecessary parts and get to the good stuff” kind of person.

At the door, she turned and gave the room one last look. She would miss the neatly made bed with its perfect pillows, which had taken an eternity to find. Hopefully it wouldn't be for long. She would miss the stuffed tiger, sitting in its place on the night table, a gift from an old friend. She would miss it, but someone might remember and tell. When the fuss had blown over she would return, or send, for it.

This part doesn’t help build the tension, in my opinion. I’d rather learn a little more about the danger she is in. I don’t know her very well yet, so I’m not emotionally involved. The fact that she’s leaving her stuffed tiger doesn’t mean much to me right now.

As she hurried into the kitchen it came to her that rivals, recognizing the possibilities inherent in her research, might also break into her files.

Ah, I have a feeling we are now getting to some of what I wanted to know. I would read on and see if I get a peek at what it is she’s trying to protect. And what the danger is if the files get into the wrong hands. Nice start, and I would say that I am hooked for now. If I go on and read, and don’t get more danger, I might put the book down. But for now, you got me!

Hook Victorine #4

2010-07-11T15:07:00.000-05:00

Here's the first 400 words from Cameo the Assassin (Book One), by Dawn McCullough-White.

Her eyes were wide, nearly sightless orbs staring into the sky.

Nice first sentence. If I were to get nit picky (which I always do) I would say to take out the ‘were’ to make the sentence more active. The adverb isn’t the worst in the world, so I won’t pick at it. I like the feeling this brings right here at the beginning. If she’s nearly sightless, something must be wrong. I’ll read on to see what else is happening.

She watched as the clouds drifted overhead, gasping.

This reads to me like the clouds are gasping. I know that’s not what the author meant, but I would suggest a reword. I also would take out the “She watched as”, because if she’s staring at the sky, obviously she’s watching it. It kind of repeats what the previous sentence already set up. However, the imagery is powerful, and makes me wonder what happened to this woman, that she’s staring and gasping.

She could hear her own blood bubbling at the corner of her mouth as it slithered out and slipped in a gob onto her neck.

Oh, she’s bleeding. She must be on her back or something. I might mention this. She also can’t hear her blood slip in a gob onto her neck, and it sort of reads like she does. I might say she feels it. Otherwise, good chilling picture this sets up. I want to read more.

For a moment she felt nothing, her eyes went dark, and she felt herself suck in the air once more.

Her vision probably went dark, instead of her eyes going dark. But again, this is a good image here. I want to read on to see what happens.

Never had simply breathing given her such happiness, at least, not as far back as she could remember. Maybe this is exactly how she felt with the very first breath of her life.

I like how Dawn compares death with birth here.

At her throat was the dead head of Adrian, his blonde hair was tousled gently about her.

I would try to get rid of both ‘was’ verbs, I just think it might read better. I might say “At her throat sat the severed head of Adrian, his blonde hair tousled gently about her.” I changed ‘dead’ to ‘severed’, because I liked the image better, but it might not be accurate. I figured the head was severed, but I’m not positive.

It was the first gentle thing he had done with her all day.

The first gentle thing was to die, and lie on her throat? Interesting. This makes me think he’s a kidnapper or an abusive boyfriend.

His blood was mingled with hers now, predator and prey, dead and dying lying in the beauty of the summer meadow.

Again, I’d take out ‘was’ here. It would read fine, in my opinion, to say, “His blood mingled with hers now...” Ah, and here we find out he was the predator. I wonder what happened to lead up to this.

Somewhere beside her lay sandwiches and colorful plates. Ivy had wanted pretty plates and had made certain that the silver was polished very well.

This makes me think they were having a picnic, and things got out of hand... as often happens at my picnics.

The last she had seen of her little sister had been her lifeless form, knocked hard into the Faettan soil.

This must be a fantasy novel. This beginning is quite sad and bloody. And violent. I’m usually a huge fan of action, but too much gore grosses me out. I’m saddened by her little sister, and I’m wondering if she’s still alive.

She was a few feet away now, a little body lost in the sea of tall grass ... like her own ... and like that of the young lord with his head still on her breast.

The sun was warm on her face, illuminating exactly what had taken place only a little while ago, showing all of Faetta true darkness in the brilliant light of day. Somewhere, drifting in on the summer's breeze, was the sound of people passing on the ridge, chatting about their lives as she was dying just down the hill, in the meadow.

Again, I’d try to reword some of the ‘was’ verbs in here. It’s just a weak verb. You can’t cut every one, nor should you, but sometimes it’s easy to substitute a better verb.

Her eyes were fixed; the transformation of the day into dusk was recorded behind those lenses. Her body rigidly awaited death.

Ack, this is a little disturbing. But I would keep reading, so I think the author successfully hooked me. If the character here dies, I would get disappointed and probably put the book down. Unless this is a ghost story, then I would read more. I’m hoping for a rescue though, for her and her sister. One thing I might suggest to the author, since this is in the woman’s POV, we probably should know her name. All in all, I would keep reading, so I’d say great job, Dawn!

Hook Victorine #3

2010-07-06T11:39:00.000-05:00

This is the first 400 words of Thrill of the Chase, by Christina Crooks.

Powering up through the gears, Sarah felt all the muscles in her body tighten with readiness and excitement before the two turns.

I like this beginning. I only have two nit picks. (And I’m famous for nit picking, so just ignore me.) The first nit pick is the word ‘felt’. Since we’re in her POV, we don’t really have to know she felt her muscles tighten... if her muscles are tightening, we know she’s feeling it. So, if I were to reword, I’d say, “Powering up through the gears, all the muscles in Sarah’s body tightened…”

Now the second nit pick is there is just a little bit of ‘telling’ in here. Now the best case would be for us as readers to be able to figure out she’s excited by her muscles tightening. I *think* we could figure this out, so I would try to get rid of the telling part, and just say “Powering up through the gears, all the muscles in Sarah’s body tightened before the two turns.” This shows excitement and readiness, so we don’t need to be told that. But, like I said, super nit picky and this is just the first sentence so I’ll go on to read more.

She gripped her Mustang’s custom wood-lacquered shift knob with one hand, the thick steering wheel with the other. Though the late-morning traffic was light, she checked her side mirrors twice and carefully scanned from left to right through her windshield, alert for any movement. There were no cars nearby. And, of course, no pedestrians. Nobody walked in Huntington Beach’s industrial-zoned “automotive alley.”

Ah, so I thought she was racing. Nice fake out. If you wanted to continue with it a little more, I’d like it even better.

My only other nit pick would by the adverb. “Carefully scanned” is redundant, in my opinion. If you say, “…she checked her side mirrors twice and scanned from left to right…” I as the reader can tell she’s scanning carefully for any movement. Do you ever scan for movement sloppily? No. But that’s really nit picky, so I’ll keep reading. I try not to be too much of an Adverb Nazi. I’m interested to see where this is going.

Jerking the steering wheel to the right then pulling it smoothly left, simultaneously heel-toeing the clutch and brake pedals with the edge of her running shoe, she felt her car’s tires break free from the pavement’s friction. The car slid sideways.
Now here I do get the impression that she’s racing again.

Maintaining the throttle pressure to keep her wheels spinning, she steered into the same direction she slid. She spotted the large, faded red letters of Big Red’s Auto Performance Shop’s sign out of the corner of her eye.

So, she’s racing to the Auto Performance shop? Maybe she’s late for work.

Right on target.

The four-wheel drift positioned her to race up the exact middle of the entrance to the shop’s parking lot.

With a satisfying screech of tires, she floored the gas to gather more speed, then whipped her car into the second and final turn.

Another four-wheel drift, pressing her back into the firm, curved racing seats she’d installed. She grinned as she piloted the sideways-hurtling car with an instinctive touch, lifting off the gas pedal and feathering the brakes to bleed off her speed.

The yellow Mustang slid to a halt. It was positioned perfectly in the middle of her parking space.

I liked the racing feeling of this. My only suggestion would be to take out the indicators that she’s not really in a race, until we get to this point. Then it would be a better fake out, in my opinion. But good nonetheless. We do get a nice grasp on the feeling of the book with this opening.

“Yes!” Energized, she leapt out of the car. Another day’s commute concluded.

I’d take out the word ‘energized’ here, just because we can totally tell from her dialogue and actions that she’s energized, and it’s important to cut unnecessary words. It tightens up the writing.

Now let me talk about the hook here. I like the feeling the author has created with the race talk, but now that she’s at work, the little bit of excitement is over. Now I’m looking for something else to hook me.

Sarah pushed the building’s tinted front door open, humming. She jogged through the shop’s retail area, neither seeing nor expecting to see anyone manning the front desk.

The jogging is a little strange to me. Usually people don’t jog around the work place. But I can get past that. I’m being terribly hard on the author.

Matt was probably in the back again, complaining to the technicians. He pretended to be a gearhead, but she knew they saw through it. What he should be doing was unpacking and stocking those magazine shipments she saw lining the front wall in boxes, or cleaning the grimy glass display case. He should be sitting on that padded stool answering the ringing phone. Her dad hadn’t hired him to hang out.

Matt must not be Sarah’s love interest. (Yes, I’ve read the description of this book.)

She shrugged. Matt didn’t know a 9/16th from a hole in the ground, but he wasn’t her main problem.

Hmm, now we get somewhere. Who is her main problem? I’m guessing it’s her love interest. I do like a good unrequited love story, so I would probably go on to read more and see where this goes. But if her main problem turns out to be someone else, I might lose interest. So, for me, this is a mild hook right here at the end. If we get to see some conflict between her and her crush, I would be hooked even more. Great job, Christina!

Hook Victorine #2

2010-07-02T11:27:00.000-05:00

Here's the next installment of Hook Victorine. This is the first 400 words from New Coastal Times, by Donna Callea.

Same drill. I'll critique as I go, inturrupting when I feel like it. At the end I'll tell you if I was hooked.

It wasn’t Yvette Carlyle’s fault that the beach washed away and the condos and hotels collapsed into the sea.

I like this beginning sentence. I want to know what she did, and why she’s being blamed for this. You know, “It wasn’t her fault the earth blew up. She didn’t mean to push that button.” It almost has a humorous ring to me; although I’m not sure the author meant it that way.

She’s only one person, after all. And you certainly can’t hold her responsible for all the people who died when the buildings toppled, or all the struggling hordes rendered homeless and dependent, or the total human and fiscal fiasco that’s been at least as bad as (if not worse than) the recent string of other really horrible natural disasters.

Now here we lose the humor, and I’m getting a little disappointed. Maybe I just took the first sentence wrong. I’ll clear the humor out of my head so I can get into the horror of the story. I think Donna has successfully painted a picture of disaster here. My only nit pick would be the words ‘really horrible natural disasters’. The word ‘really’ is a weak word, it doesn’t describe the horror, it weakens it for me. I’m intrigued by this picture of disaster. I’d say it is a mild hook for me.

Not to downplay them. I wouldn’t want to downplay them.

The climate is changing, and not for the better. Everyone knows that now, though maybe Yvette didn’t then. Or maybe she just didn’t think much about it then. And every major catastrophe is —well—catastrophic.

To me, this doesn’t add a whole lot to the story, so I’m starting to get a little bored. I’m still wondering why they’re blaming Yvette for the destruction, even though it wasn’t her fault. I’ll read on to see if it’s dealt with.

But from a purely local and personal perspective, Hurricane Walter really was the worst. Because it happened where we were. Because it seemed to be the beginning of the end for so many— the start of everything falling apart. Because some of the devastation really could have been prevented. By Yvette, had she known. Maybe, a little bit, by me.

Hmm, I’m wondering how anyone could say Yvette might have prevented some of the devastation. What in the world did she do?

Anyway, Yvette is as sorry now as anyone. And you really can’t blame her for everything. Not for the hurricane, obviously. Plus you’ve got to give her this. She’s got spunk.

When we were all holed up on the fourth floor of the old and creaking New Coastal Times building, in the dark and powerless newsroom, as the wind lashed at the windows and the foundation shook, didn’t she come out of her plush private office to give us hope?

The author is doing a good job of making me not like Yvette here. I’m not as drawn into the story as I would like to be, though. I think I’m distanced from it by the narration, and the ‘looking back’ perspective, rather than ‘here we are in the moment... huddling in the dark while the storm is hitting us’ kind of thing. But this is quite subjective, and could just be me. Well, of course it’s just me, everything I say is just me. ;)

Tall, big-boned Yvette, her blonde pixie-cut trimmed to perfection, her eye shadow and mascara and glossy red lipstick as garish as ever, her smile superior, her crow’s feet caked with makeup.

Yep, not liking Yvette at all.

She was never pretty. That was the problem. Or at least one of them, as far as her career was concerned. And despite extensive cosmetic surgery (she was due to have her eyes redone when the hurricane hit) she looked all of her 57 years.

She considered herself a beacon of bravery— an inspiration to us. She could easily have been elsewhere.

Yvette emerged from her recently remodeled fourth floor executive sanctuary, where at least there was light (which we could see under the door), followed by Patty and Paula, her ever-present identical twin administrative assistants.

I wonder why there’s electricity in her office and no where else. That has to be unusual. Looks like we’re pulling in closer now, the narration isn’t so distanced. I do prefer that.

Patty and Paula— helmet-haired petite brunettes who never dressed alike because that might cause confusion— carried battery-powered lanterns …

Awe, I wanted to read more. That’s a good thing! I’d say you were successful in hooking me. Great job! My only nit pick would be how long I felt distanced from the scene. I liked the beginning sentence... and I liked the hint that the narrator is somehow to blame for some of this. The rest of the narration I could have done without. But I’m really an action lover, so I do tend to gravitate to the action part of the story. As far as the writing goes, I think this was well written. In the end, I was hooked and wanted to read more, and that’s what matters most.

Hook Victorine - A Challenge

2010-06-29T21:26:00.000-05:00

Here's the challenge: Try to hook me with your first 400 words. I'll put a picture of your book on my blog with a link to it. I'll let you know if I am hooked or not.

What's the catch? The catch is I'll critique it as I go, and I must warn you, I am very nit-picky. I'll tell you exactly what is going through my mind as I read it. If it's good enough to hook me, you win. :)

Author Jenna Elizabeth Johnson was kind enough to be the first to let me rip her first 400 words apart on my blog.

Here's her book:

And now I'll post her first 400 words, interupting as I see fit. Now, I'll just say here that whatever I say is just one reader's opinion, so take that into consideration.

Gilded sunlight poured over the landscape and pushed through the trees, announcing the break of dawn or signaling the approach of evening. It was hard to tell in this strange, noiseless place.

I like the beginning. Already I have a clear picture in my mind, and it evokes a mystical feeling. Great start!

The colors here were bright, but fuzzy around the edges as if stained and blurred by water. Nothing stirred here; there were no deer, no foxes, no rabbits, not even a solitary bird to disrupt the foggy solitude. All around the trees stood silent, watching and waiting for something profound to happen.

I'm a little confused by this last sentence. All around the trees what stood silent?

And then something did happen.
Far below the wooded hillside in the bare, spacious glen something finally moved. A fair-haired child, barely older than ten, danced into sight. She looked happy and carefree, her laughter alone breaking the unnatural, oppressive silence. She wasn’t dressed like a typical girl, wearing only a plain cotton shirt over a pair of leather pants. Her hair was loose, unbound and falling past her shoulders. It caught the eerie light and reflected it in golden shards that cut through the monotony of this world. She chased after butterflies, doing cartwheels and kicking up clouds of ladybugs with her bare feet.

Nice description of the girl. I'm not so sure whose point of view we are in yet... or if we are in Omniscient. I'm not a huge fan of Omniscient, but I can take it if it's just the beginning of a novel. It's really hard to pull off for the whole thing, IMHO, so I'm hoping we switch to Third Person Limited soon.

It was obvious she felt safe here, even as the atmosphere slowly began to change. The slumbering trees grew more rigid and the pleasant scene dimmed, as if a black cloud had crept in front of the sun. Something sinister was approaching, but the girl was too caught up in her own antics to realize she was no longer alone. She was too busy dancing across the field and making merry, so she didn’t feel the change in the air; she didn’t notice the darkening sky.

I like the picture in my mind here. Jenna does a good job painting with words. I might cut the 'Something sinister was approaching', because to me that is really 'telling' the reader that, and I would much rather get the feeling of something sinister on my own, if you know what I mean. The darkening sky, and the change in the air should give me that feeling without the author telling me something sinister was coming. Also, I'd cut 'It was obvious she felt safe here' too, that's totally apparent by her playing and cartwheeling, and you don't need to tell the reader what is already apparent.

And then it happened. Something like a dark flame appeared on the edge of the meadow where the dense wood began. It was a figure wearing a blood-red cloak, creeping between the shivering trees, stalking around like a predator hunting down its prey. The creature crawled from the edge of the tree line and drew closer to the girl. But the girl kept at her games, unaware of the menacing threat to her safety.

Again, I really like Jenna's descriptions. I'm not in love with the 'Something like a dark flame appeared'... that doesn't really tell me what it is. I also see some more 'telling' in the last sentence. If she's keeping up her games, obviously she isn't aware of the threat. It's more powerful to not tell the reader that she isn't aware, just show her being unaware.

As the ominous figure moved ever closer, it threw open its arms like a great, blood-stained bat, its crimson cloak curling and flowing behind it as if pushed by an imperceptible wind. The creature began to grow, becoming larger and larger with each step.

I like the feeling Jenna's created here, and I want to know what happens to the girl. I would say this is a pretty good hook for me. I would continue to read, to see what happens. Great job Jenna!

Leave a comment and tell me if Jenna's first 400 words hooked you.

Point of View

2010-06-15T11:17:00.002-05:00

Being an indie author doesn’t automatically mean your book needs work. But I've read enough indie books to know some could use a little tightening up. Point of View (POV) is one area I have found needing a little work, so I thought I would blabber on about it today.

Let’s start with the easy one. First Person POV: In this POV, we are in the main character’s head, and the word “I” is used. We only know what the main character knows. If you start in this POV, your entire book should be written in first person. I’ve seen traditionally published books where the author started in first person, and then decided they needed to tell the story from another POV, so they switched into another character’s head. In my opinion, this is confusing and should be avoided at all costs. If you think you might want to switch the POV to another character, you should start out in Third Person. (We’ll get to that one later.)

Here’s an example of a paragraph written in first person: I grabbed my lunch and headed out, slamming the door behind me. I had only taken a few steps before I heard quiet sobbing. Sheila sat on her front stoop, her head in her hands. I rushed over to see what was wrong.

Now, here’s an example of the same paragraph, with a point of view shift that shouldn’t be there: I grabbed my lunch and headed out, slamming the door behind me. I had only taken a few steps before I heard quiet sobbing. Sheila sat on her front stoop, distraught over her husband’s harsh words. She couldn’t believe what he had just said to her. I rushed over to see what was wrong.

In the second example, we shift over to Sheila’s POV in the middle, and then back to the main character’s POV. We can easily tell because the main character wouldn’t know why Sheila was distraught. We should only be able to hear and see what the main character is hearing, seeing and thinking.

First Person POV is the easiest to stay in. It is also limiting, because we can never leave the main character’s head. If something is going on in the book outside of the main character’s knowledge, we can’t find out about it. We don’t know what other characters are feeling and thinking, only what the main character perceives through his or her five senses.

Next, we’ll talk about Second Person. This is where the word “you” is used, and you as the reader are the main character. This point of view is hardly ever used in novel writing. I’ve read a few poems written in Second Person, but it’s hard to pull off. For the purpose of this blog, I’m not going to say any more about Second Person POV. You don’t need to worry about it, you’ll probably not be using it.

Now we come to Third Person POV. This is where the author uses “he” and “she”.

There are two main types of this POV that I will touch on. The first is Third Person Omniscient. In this POV the narrator can see into everyone’s head, knows not only the past and present, but also the future.

Here’s an example written in Third Person Omniscient: Sheila wiped the tears from her cheeks and stood. Her resolve crumbled, and she entered her one story cottage. She had no idea that today would be the day that would change her life.

The reason this example is Omniscient is because Sheila wouldn’t know that today would be the day that would change her life, so we’re no longer in her POV. The narrator knows all, so the narrator can reveal all. This can be disorienting to the reader.

Third Person Omniscient is difficult to pull off, and was mostly used in the past. Today, if it is used it is usually to begin a novel, and then the author switches to Third Person Limited.

Which brings us to our next POV, Third Person Limited. This POV is probably the most used, and has the most flexibility. In this POV the author uses “he” and “she”, but stays in the mind of one character. The author can switch between characters, but only after section or chapter breaks. While we are in one section, we should stay firmly in one character’s POV.

Here is an example of Third Person Limited: Sheila stalked into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of orange juice, glad that Robert wasn’t around. Footsteps sounded behind her and she turned. Robert leaned up against the counter, his jaw clenched and his eyes narrow. “Oh, you startled me,” she said.

Here we were in Sheila’s POV. We can tell it’s Sheila’s POV because she was glad that Robert wasn’t around. We wouldn’t know this in anyone else’s POV.

Now here’s the same passage, but with a POV shift that shouldn’t be there: Sheila stalked into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of orange juice, glad that Robert wasn’t around. Robert opened the bedroom door at the sound of someone in the kitchen. He walked over to Sheila, and leaned up against the counter. Anger coursed through him. “Oh, you startled me,” she said.

The passage first starts out in Sheila’s POV. We know it’s her POV because we read that she’s glad Robert isn’t around. The POV shift happens when we read ‘at the sound of someone in the kitchen’. Sheila wouldn’t know why Robert was coming out of the bedroom, and depending on where she’s looking, and if you can see the bedroom door from the kitchen, she might not even be able to see Robert.

So, what’s the big deal? Why can’t I shift into Robert’s POV? I want to write about his anger coursing through him. Why can’t I switch?

The answer to this is simple. POV shifts are disorienting to the reader. If you want to jump into Robert’s POV, end the section and begin another one starting out in his POV. This is much less disorienting to the reader. One more thing I would like to point out, and that is with the first example I showed his anger through Sheila’s eyes. You don’t need to switch POV’s to tell the reader that Robert is angry. His clenched jaw and narrow eyes should tell the reader he’s not happy.

Okay, let’s recap the two main POV’s used these days in novels, First Person and Third Person Limited. If you start your story in First Person, you should stay there. Don’t talk about anything that your main character wouldn’t know about. The entire story should be told through one person’s eyes.

In Third Person Limited you can switch POV’s, but only after a section or chapter break. Let the reader know right away whose POV you are in if you have switched, (if it’s not obvious) to lesson confusion. This is as easy as mentioning what your character is feeling or thinking.

While in one person’s POV, only write what he or she is thinking, feeling, and seeing. If you want the reader to know about another character, give clues as to how they are feeling by ‘showing’ the reader through their actions and descriptions.

Tips:

1. When describing things, make sure the character who’s POV you are in would describe things this way. For example, if a man walked into a bar he might notice the dim lights and the scantily clad waitress. If a woman were to walk into the same bar, she might notice the crystal light fixtures or the blue eyed man sitting at the bar. Don’t describe things or people out of your character’s POV.

2. When new characters are introduced, don’t name them until the POV character finds out who they are.

3. If your POV character is a child, don’t use names for their parents. The child would think of their parents as “Mom” and “Dad”. (Unless your character is a teen who might have a bit of a chip on their shoulder. Then they might call their parents by their names.)

4. Don’t say things like “Sharon didn’t see the man in black”, because that’s outside of Sharon’s POV. If she didn’t see it, don’t mention it.

5. When describing the POV character, don’t say things that the POV character can’t see. For example, take the sentence, “I rubbed at my red, puffy eyes.” The character wouldn’t be able to see that their eyes were red and puffy unless they were looking in the mirror.

Homework: Count the POV shifts in this next example. Leave a comment and tell me how many you counted. Who knows, you could win something!

    Jennifer ran her fingers through her hair before rapping on the door. Her heart felt like a quivering lump of jell-o. Alex answered the door almost immediately. He could tell Jennifer was nervous, the way she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Hi,” he said, leaning on the door frame.
    Jennifer couldn’t back out now. She mustered up the courage to speak. “Hi.” She swallowed, her tongue feeling like sandpaper. “I was wondering what you were doing this Saturday.”
    Big blue eyes peered at him, and his heart melted. “I’m not doing much,” Alex said.
    Jennifer felt beads of sweat forming on her brow. “Well, if you’re not busy, would you take me to the Sadie Hawkin’s Dance?” She held her breath.
    After what seemed like forever, Alex smiled and said, “Sure.” He could tell she was pleased by his answer.
    Relief flooded through her. “Great. Thank you.”
    Brianna couldn’t figure out what was taking Alex so long at the door. She closed her Physics book and stood. A girl’s voice carried through the air. She frowned, and walked into the other room. Jennifer was at the door.
    Brianna appeared behind Alex, and Jennifer’s heart stopped. A slow smile crept across Brianna’s face. “Hello, Jennifer.” She possessively put a hand on Alex’s shoulder.
    Heat rose to Alex’s face. “Um, Jennifer, you know Brianna. We were just studying.”
    “Yeah, studying,” Brianna said, wiggling her eyebrows up and down.
    Pain stabbed through Jennifer’s chest. She blinked back the tears. “You know, just forget it, okay?” She turned and fled.

For extra credit, try writing this scene staying only in Alex’s POV.

Should I sell my novel on the kindle?

2010-06-06T00:53:00.000-05:00

If you've written a book and haven't sold it to a publisher, you may be considering selling your novel as an ebook on the kindle. It is free, and not too difficult to do. But is it worth it? Do ebooks sit with no sales? Or do successful kindle authors have to spend a lot of marketing dollars to get noticed?

I decided to ask some fellow indie authors to share their sales experiences with me so I could post them. If you are interested in their book(s), just click their name. (I only pictured one book cover per author.)

Author: Eric Christopherson

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
July, 2009
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
I sell two books (one co-written)
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
Price has ranged from 99 cents to $2.99
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
Over 500 sold in May
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
Books sold were less in May than in April (sales often fluctuate from month to month)
6. How many books have you sold total?
Roughly 3,400
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
Very little marketing (mostly Kindle forum mentions), no dollars spent
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
Never traditionally published (have been traditionally repped by literary agents)
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
Too early to say
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
A Hollywood film company became interested in one of my books but I didn't end up selling film rights

***************************
Author: J.M. Pierce

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
I didn't start until shortly after the first of May 2010
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
I currently only have one title for sale
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
Currently "Failing Test" is selling for $.99
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
I sold 11 in May
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
Not available in April
6. How many books have you sold total?
Total including paperback over 150
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
Book signings, Goodreads, Kindle Forums, and Facebook
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
No. Was picked up by an agent but have since gone Indie
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
I would love to be traditionally published
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
I do believe it is exposing my work to a group that might not have noticed as quickly as the more traditional paperback crowd.

***************************
Author: Darren L. Pare

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
I started in April of this year.
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
Only one, 33 Summers
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
Currently the price is $4.99
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
I sold 11 e-books in May
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
This was five more than in April.
6. How many books have you sold total?
A whopping 16
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
Very little, still trying to find where it is cool to post and where it is taboo.
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
I wanted to get my book out there quickly and foolishly went with a vanity press. We have sold about 40 books, not what I had hoped. I didn't give myself time to get rejected by the traditional publishers, rookie mistake.
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
I wouldn't turn down a big publisher, but I am in no way ashamed to be an indie.
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
No extra doors opened yet, but heck it has only been two months.

***************************
Author: Maria Rachel Hooley

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
May 2009
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
13 titles
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
From .99 to 1.49
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
235
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
Less
6. How many books have you sold total?
4,400
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
Forum posts, conferences, one paid add, interviews.
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
No
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
I like certain aspects of both, actually.
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
Yes.

***************************
Author: Tracey Alley

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
April 16, 2010
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
Three, one full length novel, two short stories
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
$.99 for the short stories, $1.99 for the novel
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
29 novels, 54 short stories
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
Much more, only sold 1 copy in April
6. How many books have you sold total?
30 novels, 54 short stories
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
Kindle Boards, Amazon posts, Facebook, Twitter - still working that aspect of things out so not many
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
No, although I've come very close.
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
At the moment I'm happy with independent - I have a lot of control over my work this way but I certainly wouldn't turn down a traditional publishing deal
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
Only in terms of things like Smashwords, which I'd never heard of before - at least at this stage but very early days for me

***************************
Author: Jenna Elizabeth Johnson

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
I first published on June 2009.
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
Two
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
Both of my books are currently priced at $1.00 each, but are usually set around $2.99.
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
In May I sold 7 books.
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
May's sales were a little more than last month's.
6. How many books have you sold total?
I have sold 138 books on Kindle so far.
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
The marketing strategies that I've tried are: having a personal website, fliers at a L.A. Book Fair, local book fair, facebook fan page, blog, business cards left in caches (geocaching), door magnet on my car, forum participation on Kindle Boards and amazon
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
I have never been traditionally published, though I'll keep trying with my other books.
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
I'd say I would like traditional publishing because they have the marketing powerhouse behind them. Other than that, I like the freedoms of being independent (it's just near impossible to make a living doing so.)
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
Publishing on Kindle has made it possible for me to offer my book at an affordable price. Unfortunately, in order to make anything from paperback books, I have to set the price much higher than I would like.

***************************
Author: Ellen Fisher

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
I've had books available through Samhain and Ellora's Cave for a while (though none of them were selling much recently), but I put up my first indie book in February 2010. My indie books are all re-releases of books I had previously published with a small press. Most of them are doing better as indie books than they did on first release.
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
Five indie titles, three Samhain titles, one EC title (under a pseudonum).
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
My indie books are all priced at 99 cents.
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
I sold 1644 indie books in May.
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
That was over 300 more than the previous month.
6. How many books have you sold total?
I've sold about 3800 indie books in total.
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
I post on the Amazon boards a lot; I post here a bit; I'm learning to tweet: I have a website and a blog, and I comment on others' blogs.
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
My first romance was with Bantam in 1998. Since then I've written a number of ebooks for small presses. A few were made into paperbacks, but only one had significant distribution.
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
Right now I don't know what my goals are. I'm just seeing how my foray back into writing goes:-).
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
Not yet, but it certainly could. I previously got a very good agent, mostly on the strength of my ebooks (she subsequently cut me, alas!). I think it's quite possible to get the attention of agents and publishers through indie publishing, if that's what one wants.

***************************
Author: Steven Best

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
March 06, 2010
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
I currently have two books on Kindle and Smashwords.
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
99 cents
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
25 books sold in May, not counting free promotional downloads from Smashwords.
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
It was 5 times more than I sold in April.
6. How many books have you sold total?
31,305 if you add in the free Smashwords downloads.
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
Posting at Kindleboards, MobileRead, and Amazon forums. I also maintain a blog.
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
Not yet.
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
I would love to be traditionally published, if only for the marketing and that intangible sense of credibility it would provide.
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
Kindle has allowed people to read books that might have sat on my hard drive for years collecting digital dust. What greater opportunity could you want?

***************************
Author: David McAfee

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
March 8, 2010.
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
1 right now, but a 2nd will be up tomorrow
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
$2.99. The one I upload tomorrow will be $1.99
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
146
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
More (97)
6. How many books have you sold total?
258 as of this moment
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
Kindleboards, mostly. Ran a Facebook ad for two weeks but it didn't do well. Also secured several reviews
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
Nope.
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
It wouldn't hurt my feelings to land a NYC publishing deal.
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
Kindle IS an opportunity, and I am enjoying the heck out of it!

***************************
Author: Jason Chan

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
April 2010
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
1
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
0.99
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
5
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
N/A
6. How many books have you sold total?
6
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
Blog and kindleboards
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
No
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
Yes, but I'd also love to be traditionally published.
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
Yes, for sure. Everyone on the kindleboards is so friendly.

***************************
Author: Ellen O'Connell

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
February 2010
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
2
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
$1.99 each
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
491 Kindle
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
More
6. How many books have you sold total?
1,217 Kindle; 26 Smashwords @ $1.99; 112 paperback @ $9.99
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
Online through forums only
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
No
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
Don't want to deal with traditional publishers
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
Only to sell books

***************************
Author: Nancy C. Johnson

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
It went live on April 27, 2010
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
1 title, a novel, Her Last Letter, mystery and romantic suspense
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
$1.99
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
177 ebooks
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
More. I sold 2 in April.
6. How many books have you sold total?
As of right now, 204 ebooks
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
I have a website and blog, and use kindle forums. I'm adding new types of promo as often as I can. Just joined Facebook. Still doing my profile.
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
No, I am a publisher (though small).
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
I'm happy now, but I'm always learning and open to new options in this publishing venture. Anything which will help readers find my book(s) is worth consideration.
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
Definitely!

***************************
Author: Amanda Hocking

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
April 17, 2010
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
3
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
One is $.99, two are $2.99
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
622
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
More - I only sold 45 in April
6. How many books have you sold total?
710, as of 10 minutes ago
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
Kindleboards, Twitter, Amazon, Facebook, review blogs, my local paper, anywhere and everywhere I can without spending money.
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
Nope.
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
I definitely wouldn't mind being traditionally published, but I wouldn't say its my "goal' anymore.
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
I think this whole thing is a massive opportunity, and bother writers and readers have much more power than they ever had before. It's fantastic.

***************************
Author: J. Dean

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
October, 2009
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
Sell? Two, but I have five free short stories and poetry pieces for perusal.
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
My novel is 99 cents. My for sale short story is a "set your own price" piece.
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
Only 8
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
A bit more, not much though.
6. How many books have you sold total?
17 of my novel and 14 of my short story.
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
Various posts on various websites, and word of mouth advertising. I'm not much of a marketing expert, so I admit that I'm limited in this manner.
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
Independently, yes
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
I'm happy with whichever one gets me more readers!
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
It has, and my free short stories do very well. I just wish that the same readers would consider my priced works as well.

***************************
Author: Daniel Arenson

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
Firefly Island was published in hardcover in 2007. I began selling the Kindle edition in April 2010.
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
Currently, only Firefly Island. However, my dark fantasy novel "Flaming Dove" will be released for Kindle late this year.
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
Firefly Island costs $2.99.
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
In May, I sold over 100 copies of Firefly Island for Kindle.
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
I sold over 100 copies in April too; about 125 or 130, I think.
6. How many books have you sold total?
Overall, I sold almost 1,000 copies of Firefly Island. I sold about 700 in late 2007, when the book was first released, and almost 300 in the past few weeks, since Firefly Island became a Kindle ebook. I hope to start selling in other ebook stores soon, too (iBookstore, etc.).
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
Firefly Island was reviewed in Library Journal, Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and a host of smaller publications. That triggered most of my sales. Otherwise, I do the basics: own a website, facebook account, and twitter.
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
Firefly Island was first published with a traditional publisher, Gale. It's now an indie ebook.

9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
I love being indie! My next novel, the dark fantasy "Flaming Dove", will be an indie release. I intend to promote it myself, and expect its sales to eclipse those of Firefly Island.
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
The best thing about Kindle is that Firefly Island now costs $2.99. The hardcover would cost $26, which was too expensive for many readers. I love Kindle and ebooks, and intend to focus on ebooks from now on!

***************************
Author: Funostra

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
My books are somewhat different - they are not books, but, rather, interactive puzzles. I started selling the books in March 2010.
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
Currently I have 3 titles.
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
All prices at $0.99
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
In May I sold total of 150 books.
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
It was a bit more than I sold in April, though difference is not that dramatic.
6. How many books have you sold total?
Totally I sold around 290 copies.
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
For marketing, I used Twitter, Facebook and several different blogs and forums.
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
I have never been traditionally published
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
I would like working with a publisher if it will significantly improve the sales.
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
For me Kindle opened the opportunity to offer an interactive experience on a platform which was traditionally used only for reading.

***************************
Author: Joseph Rhea

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
I self-published the paperback version of Cyberdrome in January 2008, and the Kindle version went online that June.
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
Just one: Cyberdrome, which is a near-future science fiction thriller.
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
Paperback: $14.95 (currently on sale for $13.45)
Kindle version: $2.99 (currently on sale for $0.99)
All other digital versions: $2.99
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
Just under 200.
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
About the same, although in March I sold over 400.
6. How many books have you sold total?
About 1,700 in the past 6 months.
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
Not much, to be honest. I have a website, and a facebook fan page. Other than that, I post [on the Kindleboards] from time to time.
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
Nope
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
As I only have the one book right now, and don't have the spare time to commit to starting another, I opted for Indie publishing. Maybe someday when I have the time, I might reconsider.
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
Sales of my paperback have increased dramatically since dropping the price of my Kindle version down to $0.99. I look at the loss of royalty from the Kindle version as a cheap form of advertisement for the paperback (and Kindle readers benefit too!)

***************************
Author: Camille LaGuire

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
March 31, 2010
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
2
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
0.99
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
14
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
Less (but the previous month was my first, so my relatives were buying.)
6. How many books have you sold total?
33 on Kindle, 65 on Smashwords
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
Not much yet. Posting on forums and my blog. I ran a Twitter promotion for Smashwords.
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
I've had quite a few short stories published in magazines and anthologies, and a play produced, but I've never had a book published traditionally. Yet.
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
Definitely both. I have certain kinds of works I reserve for the traditional market. Right now I'm just publishing odd-ball, off-genre works on Kindle, but I will be writing a few things specifically for the indie market soon.
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
Mainly it's helped me find more connections with readers, and it's also given me the opportunity to write things that don't necessarily fit in a traditional publishing career. My big opportunity is that I can experiment more.

***************************
Author: John Pearson

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
Back in October of last year.
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
Still just the 1, Learn Me Good.
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
Currently, it is priced for the Kindle at $2.99, though that has been subject to change. The hard copy price is $16.00.
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
About 10 in print, and about 140 on the Kindle.
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
This was more on the Kindle, less in print.
6. How many books have you sold total?
About 650 in print, and over 1,000 on the Kindle.
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
I had a book signing at Borders a couple of years ago, I run a blog -- learnmegood.com, I have a Facebook fan page, and I frequent chat boards like [the Kindleboards]!
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
Nope, never have.
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
I think I would like very much to be published and on shelves in bookstores as opposed to being ONLY through word of mouth.
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
It has been a fantastic avenue for exposure and sales.

***************************
Author: John Fitch V

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
I started selling my fifth book as my first book -- confusing, isn't it? -- as soon as it was available in DTB form. That was back in November 2009.
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
I currently have seven titles -- six books plus a three-book omnibus -- available.
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
I have books as low as 99 cents, while the omnibus is $4.99.
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
May was a 23-book month, the lowest of the past three months. I did 67 in March, 73 in April. I didn't do much in the way of advertising in May.
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
See above.
6. How many books have you sold total?
Turning Back The Clock, my baseball time travel novel, has sold well over 100 copies.
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
Mainly internet-based. I've done ads on Facebook, free ads on Facebook's Amazon Kindle fan page, posts on Amazon.com, as well as Kindleboards.
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
No, I haven't.
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
I'm very happy with the indie author world. I make more money this way!
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
Yes, it has.

***************************
Author: Edward C. Patterson

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
December 2, 2007
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
Fifteen
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
$ .99 $ 2.99 & $ 3.99 (Kindle) - varies in Paperback
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
422
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
Less
6. How many books have you sold total?
~~5,943~~ 5,945 as of a few minutes ago and not including Nook iPad and kobobooks (waiting for stats)
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
Only for Free - Networking, blogging, interviews, podcasts, press releases, website, Author's Den, buzz
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
No.
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
Not a goal, but I wouldn't have them miss the opportunity of becoming a fan.
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
Yes, the opportunity of paying it forward by purchasing my fellow Indie author's books.

***************************
Author: Martin C. Sharlow

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
Since mid December 2009
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
Currently 2. Almost 3.
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
0.99
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
35
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
More. Only sold 6 the month before.
6. How many books have you sold total?
81
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
Mostly just Kindle boards, and some amazon boards. Now I'm doing twitter, Face Book, and blog. I will be appearing on Indy spot light this week, and I should have a book trailer soon.
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
No I haven't.
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
I would like to be traditionally published, but I'm not striving for it. I think a lot of authors want this just for a sense of legitimacy. I wouldn't mind getting the promotional power of a publisher behind me, but it's no biggie.
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
As someone else said earlier, this is an opportunity that really hasn't existed before. I'm glad I'm here for it.

***************************
Author: Christina Crooks

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
April 2010
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
I have two on my dashboard, as of today.
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
L.A. Caveman: $0.99, Thrill of the Chase: $1.99
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
72
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
More.
6. How many books have you sold total?
108.
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
I posted covers plus descriptions of both books on my website. Other than that, a bit here on this discussion board, six or seven Amazon forum posts where they seemed appropriate, two posts on Facebook, and a link on Goodreads profile. I've sent out three review copies. I know promo is vital, but I feel awkward about self-promotion. I don't want to become spammy.
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
Yes. A trad book is due July 1st.
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
Rewards and challenges exist for both. I love the indie experience. I'm betting the diversification helps my career.
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
Being a part of e-publishing when it's getting so hot is a great opportunity!

***************************
Author: Hetal Vadanlal Doctor

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
Just 3 weeks ago.
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
One
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
0.99 [in the US] 2.99 [outside of the US]
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
My first book is sold and I was ecstatic.
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
Not applicable
6. How many books have you sold total?
One
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
I don't know much abt marketing. Just visiting [the Kindleboards] to learn more.
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
Nope
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
Yes
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
Not yet explored

***************************

I would like to thank all of these authors who have answered these questions. Just in case you're wondering, my answers to these questions are as follows:

Author: Victorine E. Lieske

1. When did you start selling your first book on the Kindle?
April 20th, 2010.
2. How many titles do you now sell on the Kindle?
One
3. What price do you currently have on your book(s)?
My book is priced at $1.99 for a limited time, it will go up to $2.99 in July.
4. How many ebooks did you sell in May?
It was my first whole month, and I sold 151 books. I'm ecstatic!
5. Was this more or less than the previous month?
A lot more, in April I only sold 7 books.
6. How many books have you sold total?
At the time I questioned everyone else, my total sales were 158. Now, six days later I've sold 220.
7. What kind of marketing have you done?
I have posted on Kindleboards.com, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon Kindle Discussions, I opened an account on Goodreads.com, and have this blog.
8. Have you ever been traditionally published?
No, I sent out 10 query letters to agents but found out that I was hoping they would turn me down. I don't have time for book signings, and I don't want to sign a contract for another book.
9. If not, is traditional publishing your goal, or are you happy with being an indie author?
Right now, I'm very happy as an indie author. I would probably turn down a traditional publishing contract unless it was a very good offer. I prefer the control of indie publishing. And I'm making more money than I thought I would.
10. Has publishing on the Kindle opened up other opportunities for you?
Nothing like a movie deal or a traditional publishing deal. However, I didn't expect the response to my book that I've gotten. I'm very happy with the opportunity to cut out the middle man and sell my book directly to my readers.

Adverbs: Are They That Terrible?

2010-05-30T15:15:00.000-05:00

Adverbs are words that describe verbs, and they usually end in 'ly'. (Quickly, loudly, slowly... etc.) If you're a writer, you've probably heard that adverbs should be limited. But why? What is it about adverbs that weaken our writing? I've pondered this, and have read many articles on the subject, and have come to recognize three distinct reasons why adverbs are weak.

1. Many times they are redundant. They repeat repeat what you just just said said. Here's an example: "She ran quickly down the street." Do you need to tell us that she ran quickly? Do people run slowly? Of course not. If you were to say, "She ran down the street", your readers would understand that she's running, and of course she's running quickly. There's no no need need to repeat repeat yourself yourself.

Here are some examples of other redundant adverb pairs: Loudly shouted, painfully stabbed, snarled menacingly, confidently strode, and my favorite, yelled angrily.

So, what's the big deal? Who cares if they are redundant? I like using adverbs. They liven up my writing. (That's what you're thinking, isn't it?) I know, I've been there. It's hard to let go of them. But if the adverb is redundant, then you don't need it. And you should always cut unnecessary words. This is important, so I'll say it again. You should always cut unnecessary words. It will tighten up your writing. Trust me.

2. If the adverb isn't redundant, than perhaps you are using a weak verb. "She went slowly down the street." (I thought I'd stick with the same theme.) If you cut the adverb, we don't get the same picture. But, couldn't we change 'went' to a stronger verb? (It isn't a very descriptive verb, is it?) Let's see what changing it would do to your mental picture. "She trudged down the street." Ah, this shows something that 'went slowly' didn't show. This would be appropriate if she were being forced to go somewhere she didn't want to. Now, let's change it again. What about "She wandered down the street." A much different mental picture. Maybe here she is simply daydreaming.

Take a peek at your adverb and see if it's paired up with a weak verb. The word "look" is usually suspect for me. "She looked closely at the markings on his arm." How about replacing 'looked closely at' with 'examined'? "She looked lovingly at his face." What about using 'gazed'? "She looked angrily at him." I'd change it to 'glared'.

3. The last reason to cut an adverb would be because it "tells" instead of "shows". We hear that all the time, don't we? Show, don't tell. Well, adverbs sometimes tell. Especially when they are used in dialogue tags. Let's look at an example. "Don't tell me what to do," she said angrily. If you don't know she's saying this angrily by the context, you should add more context instead of the 'telling' adverb. Show us her anger. Maybe she can slam the door, or the little vein in her neck is sticking out. Are her fists clenched? Let us see her as you do. Don't just tell us she said it angrily.

My biggest pet peeve is probably when writers use "suddenly". I cringe when I read it. It tells instead of shows, and annoys me to no end. And guess what? The other day when I was going through my work in progress I found one! Arg. (So, yes, even the most annoying adverbs do creep into my writing as well.) The reason I dislike "suddenly", is because it's an oxymoron. "Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and Frank jumped." If you're in Frank's point of view, he wouldn't know there was going to be a knock at the door until it happened, so don't forewarn the reader that something is going to happen by saying "suddenly". Just let it happen. It's more powerful that way. "There was a knock at the door, and Frank jumped." The reader can experience that knock on the door at the same time Frank does, and if it's a particularly tense moment, the reader might jump too. (Plus, it really is cheesy to say "suddenly" this happened, and "all of a sudden" that happened.)

Now I do want to point out that I don't agree with the people who think you must cut every single adverb out of your novel. I think that's taking it to the extreme. Sometimes for brevity it's better to use an adverb and get on with it. Especially if you don't want to dwell on it. Here's an example. "She peered at him curiously." I could cut 'curiously' and instead describe how her face shows this, but how do you describe that subtle look of curiosity? And how many words would it take to show this, instead of just using the adverb and moving on?

Okay, here's your homework. Go through your current work in progress and use the 'find' feature in Word. Search for 'ly', and see how many adverbs there are that you can cut. Be brutal. It is very hard to cut them! As writers, we do love our words, don't we? It is difficult, but you will have tighter sentences if you can cut some of those redundant, weak, or telling adverbs.

After you do your homework, come back and post in the comments section the worst adverb you found. I'll cheer you on for being able to cut it!

Just Another Writer's Blog

2010-05-24T14:15:00.001-05:00

Hello, I feel like I should introduce myself. My name is Victorine Lieske, author of the romantic suspense novel, Not What She Seems. I'm starting this blog so I can have a place to muse about writing, publishing, and being an indie author.

I decided to take the indie author plunge and make my book available on the kindle because of Joe Konrath. He posted on his blog that he was making more money putting his books on the kindle himself, than he was making in traditional publishing. That shocked me. I never knew an author could make money (and serious money) without being published by a big publishing house. Plus the control I have as an indie author is very appealing to me. It seemed like a win-win situation for me.

I've only been an indie author for about a month, so this world is new and exciting to me. I had no idea what to expect for sales. At first it was slow, one sale every other day. Now that it's been a little over a month, I've sold 90 copies so far. I'm thrilled! The best part is when people contact me and tell me they enjoyed the book. That is the coolest feeling in the world.

One thing I would like to do with this blog is share some writing tips that have come my way as I've studied the art of writing. I've been giving and getting critiques for years, and have learned a tremendous amount from that. I hope to share some of this with other writers. I love giving critiques. I've given over 600 critiques in the last few years, but it is very time consuming. Maybe if I post to this blog some of the tips I've learned, I can help other authors succeed.

I'll keep you posted on how sales are going, and anything else that comes into my head. Thanks for stopping by!

Vicki