Evolution Cover Reveal: the second book in the E series

Outpost Three is still standing… barely. But the deadliest threat it has ever faced is on its way– a violent force that will annihilate every man, woman, and child.

With the Sentries under his control and Grey’s army defeated, Matt is more powerful than ever. Eden is little more than his prisoner, but that line is blurring as her affection for him grows. Now, as the Outpost faces total destruction, Matt must sacrifice the possibility of attaining Eden’s love in the vague hope that her past might hold the key to saving them all.

Eden’s journey will begin to unravel the mysteries of her previous life, reveal dangerous new questions, and change not only the future of Outpost Three, but shape the course of history.

This eagerly anticipated sequel to Kate Wrath’s E begins an epic quest into the dark, dystopian landscape of Eden’s world.

Reviews

Reviews

The Holy Grail of the writer.

We seek them out, desperately hoping that if enough good ones pile up they will finally help us reach more readers.

But how do you get them?

The sad fact is, most people who read your book won’t leave a review. I know I don’t review every book I read. Most people unfortunately only review if something blows them away, either by how good it is or by how bad it is. And as much as we want reviews, we certainly don’t want the latter!

For most indie books building that review pile can seem impossible. We see the sales, but if feels like they’re disappearing into the ether, because there’s no feedback. Whilst part of me subscribes to the no news is good news idea, I also hunger, like any other author, for more reviews.

Now you can sit back and let them come in naturally, or you can try and generate some more yourself.

How?

One option is book bloggers, blogs like this one that offer a free and honest review of your book in exchange for a free copy. There are plenty of sites, like World Literary Café, just as example, that have forums to connect authors with bloggers looking for books to review. The downside is, a lot of those bloggers have huge to read lists, and it can take a while for them to get to you. But if you can be patient you might be rewarded with a nice full blog post about your book.

Another option is Goodreads. There seems to be a growing trend for R4R discussion groups where you can find readers who are willing to write reviews in exchange for a copy of the book. Find groups that fit your genre and market and join up. Try and be a part of the community, and you may soon find you have a steady stream of people willing to review your book.

The one path I don’t recommend: paid reviews. It might seem like a tempting idea. Pay for a few reviews to boost your rankings and ratings, and hopefully generate some real sales. But what this means is that you’re lying to your reader, and that’s hardly the best way to start out a new ‘relationship’.

So what about you? Do you love reviews or hate them? What are your tips for bumping those reviews on Amazon and Goodreads?

Artistic Choices AKA You Can't Please Everyone

I think of myself as a crafty writer.  The words are important.  To me, it's as important how you tell about what happened as it is that you have an engaging, interesting story.  One of my reviewers called me "a magician with words", which is embarrassingly flattering, but also a beautiful metaphor for a story.  I love the idea that a well-told story is a weaving of a special kind of magic, subtly casting a spell on the reader. 

When I wrote E, I made some very careful choices about how I wanted to tell the story.  One of those choices was in regards to world-building.  I chose not to go in depth about the complexities of the society I had created.  I did not explain how certain things had come to be, aside from dropping a few hints.  My story is told in first person, so I felt that the scope of the world was limited to what my character was seeing and perceiving, and that the immediate threats to her well-being far superceded any pondering over government, politics, and so on.  I felt that world-building needed to happen on that immediate level.  On the level that was most relevant to the story.  Did that leave some questions?  Yeah, of course it did.  However, that was also my intent.  I wanted my readers to ask those questions, as they are relevant to the ongoing story.  I thought of them as teasers that would draw my readers into the bigger picture.

To a large extent, this all worked as intended.  I have those readers who totally got what I was doing, and they are on board one hundred percent.  I've had lovely reviews that have praised the world-building and many readers who have made comments about the unique world, etc.  Then, on the other hand, I have a handful of readers who did not like that I held those things back.  They wanted answers to the questions that were raised.  They wanted them now!  So, essentially, the choices I made did not please everyone.  However, they did have the desired effect in both groups of raising questions and offering teasers that lead into the next story.

The hard part is when people take off a star on a review for something that I intended to be a certain way, and absolutely would not change about my story.  I love reviews, and even the ones that are not entirely positive are well worth reading in my opinion.  I love to see what is happening in my readers' minds when they read my story.  But yeah, that missing star can be painful, especially when a reader claims to have loved the story in the review!  I think the thing is, we need to sometimes focus on what readers are saying in reviews, not looking at the missing stars. 

For me, I know that my sequel has to include answers to some of those questions, and more world-building, which is all on track with how it was going to be anyway.  I'm headed in the right direction.  The main lesson I have learned as a writer is that I am never going to be able to please everyone.  That just reinforces that I really write for myself, because I love to write.  Sharing my stories with others is just an added bonus.  I will continue to stay true to what I believe is the best way to craft my stories, and I believe that ultimately, that will lead to success.

The Three Ingredients of Indie Success

There are a lot of different success stories out there, but the failures outweigh them by far in terms of sheer numbers.  So what's the magical formula for Indie success?  As far as I can tell, there are three key ingredients to Indie success.

A Great Book:

If you want to be successful, you need to start with first things first.  You need a great book.  This means that editing, formatting, and even the cover should be the absolute best that you can produce.  Never settle for OK.  Your book needs to scream five-stars from all angles.  Take the time.  Invest the effort.  Pour every ounce of your creative genius into that baby, then refine, refine, refine until it is as close to perfect as you can get.

Luck:

Yeah.  I know.  I don't like this one either.  But let's face it.  Luck plays a huge part in this game.  The market is constantly changing, so marketing tactics that work one minute don't work the next.  Add to that fact that the market is entirely flooded with Indie books.  Add to that fact that many of those Indie books probably shouldn't be published yet because they are full of errors, etc, (sorry, but it's true), and thus readers are wary of even picking up an Indie book in the first place....  Luck plays a huge role.  The chances of someone finding your book are right up there with the chances of finding the proverbial needle in a haystack.  Yay.

Persistence:

Out of all the factors, this is the one that you have the most control over.  Sure, you control the effort you put into the creation of your book, but there are certain innate talent factors that we have no say in.  We can refine our skills, but each of us have a limit, whether we like it or not.  It's part of being human.  However, you have total control over your actions, and that is where persistence comes in.  You must stubbornly refuse to give up.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  You have to be like a rabid pit bull.  You have to hold on to that thing that you believe in, and not let go, no matter how discouraged, how hopeless, how incredibly lost in the sea of Indie authors you feel.  When you feel like giving up, you need to give yourself a pep talk along the lines of "Hell no!", keep your chin up, and keep going.  This is a marathon, folks.  Quitters are automatic losers.  Only the ones who keep going ever have a chance of running into magic ingredient #2, Luck. 

A Rocking Review of The Subtle Fiend by Jane Dougherty

 

When reality becomes a nightmare, only dreams can save the world.

Deborah, daughter of the fabled Green Woman, has disappeared, and Hera, another grey-robed schoolgirl, has become the hostage in her place. Hera fears she will be left to languish, unnoticed and forgotten, in her prison cell. But the honesty in her eyes touches a young Black Boy, her prison guard—Amon.

Amon is destined for a military career, but convinced of the innocence of his prisoner, he begins to question the laws and values of his city. In befriending Hera, he risks his life by standing between her and the most powerful man in Providence—the Protector.

The Protector’s new hostage will serve her purpose. After all, one veiled girl looks much like another. But if Deborah has joined her mother and her host of myths and stories, the sham will be revealed. To hang onto power the Protector determines to destroy the Green Woman's allies within Providence by lighting the sacrificial fires of Moloch. When the flames have burned out none will be left, not even the child at its mother's breast.

As the flames of evil leap and dance in Providence, Hera and Amon resolve to defy the Protector, with courage as their only weapon.

 Buy this book on Amazon

Firstly, let me say I did not intend to review this book, at least not right away.  Somehow, immediately after finishing the last book, I found myself on Amazon clicking the "Buy Now" button.  I simply had to have it.  I had to know what came next in this amazing series.  But honestly, part of me was thinking this one couldn't be as good as the first, especially considering I knew already that this book left the main character of the first novel behind for a little while to focus on telling a different aspect of the story.  I was so wrong.

The second book in The Green Woman series does not disappoint at all.  In fact, it is even better than the first.  Seriously.  

You want characters you can root for?  Characters you will love for their humanity and admire for their growth?  Got it.  I loved so many of the characters in this book (of which there are quite a few, but somehow Jane keeps all those balls in the air without confusing the reader or losing the strength of the connection with each character).  Every time the perspective switched to a different group, I experienced that little disappointment of leaving the last character behind, but then immediately found myself caught up in what was going on in the new scene.  My level of engagement with the characters and the plot was very high.  I did not want to set the book down at all!

Speaking of plot, wow, there is a lot going on in this book.  When Jane heard that I was reading the second book, she emailed me something to the effect of "You really don't need to read that one.  It's just what's going on in Providence in the meantime."  To which I say, Jane, you are indeed crazy.  If I had missed this one, I would have missed sooooo much.  "Just what's going on in Providence" is epic, moving, heart-breaking, and absolutely not to be missed.

Emotion:  This book reached up and slapped me in the face.  Literally.  I have bruises to prove it.

I could ramble on all day about how amazing this book is, but I am afraid to say too much.  Here is the bottom line:  Put this series on your to-read list.  If I recommend one series to people right now, it's this one.  It's one of the best things I've read in a long time.  I now have the third book, Beyond the Realm of Night, in my possession, and it is all I can do to make myself not read it so I can make some progress on the waiting list of review books instead.  (Sorry all you waiting authors out there, but blame Jane, not me.  It's completely her fault.)

Connect with Jane Dougherty:

Jane's Blog
  Jane Dougherty on Goodreads
Jane Dougherty on Twitter

Book 1: The Dark Citadel on Amazon US

Book 1: The Dark Citadel on Amazon  UK

The Indie Book Routine by Guest Author Mark Shaw

Since releasing my first novel The Keeper of the Wind, the one thing I noticed right away on social media was the frenzied way everyone seemed to be promoting their books. I thought it was crazy how Indie authors were basically begging for someone to either buy or take a look at their book for free. Social media is saturated with this, and I found this very discouraging and wondered how i could compete in such chaos, and I’m sure many new Indie authors think the same way in the beginning, too. Being a very creative person, right away I started thinking of ways to get around the frantic hustle that promoting Indie books seemed to be based around, and started thinking of other alternatives to promote my book. 

A few days after putting my book out, another Indie author sent me a note asking me how my book was selling and how I was promoting it. He then proceeded to tell me how his current book wasn’t selling well at all, and he was in the process of releasing his 4^th novel. I thought this was crazy. Then right after, I read an article online titled “Keep Your Day Job”. It broke down how very few Indie authors are making money at their craft. And how the chances of them being able to make a decent living from their writing are slim to none. This pissed me off, and I saw it as a challenge for change. With this notion I came up with the #IndieBooksBeSeen movement. 

The first thing I set out to do was to make July 1^st of every year IndieBooksBeSeen Day. A day where Indie authors show we’re unified and proud to be Indie. We would post a picture of us holding up our Indie titles and then constantly retweet everyone else’s book, for the world and all social media to see. One grand gesture to show the world that we’re here and strong together. It was a better success than I thought it would be, and I was very moved by others' warm sentiments and sense of pride. This gave me hope and I felt encouraged to forge ahead with a new plan while the momentum was still present. 

I then decided to attempt giving struggling authors a boost, by challenging all others to seek these authors out and give them reviews to bolster them. I for one know what it’s like to just start out and hardly anyone will give you reviews, unless you pay for them. So i felt this would be an easy challenge, and boy was I wrong! I began to tweet several participants of our indie pride day to start. Thinking they were still feeling the love from our #indiebooksbeseen day a couple weeks before. Only to get one person say that she felt like she was being spammed by me. And i thought wow! But it wasn’t spam when I and tons of others spent hours retweeting your title. To make things worse, the review challenge never took flight. Out of all the people I reached out to, only a few took part. What this said to me was that most Indie authors will only get involved in projects that are self-serving to their own cause, unless they’re part of a group. 

What is so clear to me and a few others is most Indie authors can’t seem to shake this routine of hustling the books at all cost. This mindset will keep us right where we are, with some doing great and most of us not! I am doing everything I can to break this routine with new innovative ideas on how to take us to that next level where being Indie is trendy. I want Indie books to be the cool alternative to mainstream books and the only way I can see this happening is if we become one voice for the industry itself. I’m not saying don’t promote your book, I’m just asking you to give some of your energy to boosting our industry. Because when the light shines on our industry, it’ll shine on all of us.       

Connect with Mark Shaw:

Twitter

Facebook

Youtube

A Petition to Add More Hours to the Day

...Because there needs to be more!  Right?

My high school calculus teacher (who was the awesomest*, by the way!) once decided to dedicate a class period to time management instead of higher mathematics.  He had us do this simple little exercise:  Write down all the things you do each day, and how long you spend on them.  Everything from teeth-brushing to sports practice.  Don't forget sleep.

OK, class.  Get out your paper 'n' pencil, and write it all down.  ;)

 

Alrighty....  Anybody come up with more than 24 hours? 

 

...So how does that work?  Hint: the first thing to go is usually sleep.

Most of us Indie authors are working at least two jobs.  Author.  PR rep.  That's before you consider that many of us have a day job as well.  So that's three.  Now, add in a personal life.  Perhaps a family.  Friends.  Either we are seriously over-achievers, or we simply love writing so much that we are willing to grind ourselves into the ground for the mere hope that someone out there will read and connect with our writing.

Now, you may ask if I have a point.  Am I saying that readers should appreciate how much Indie authors put into their work?  Am I asking Indie authors to look after themselves and try to get the rest they need and deserve?  Am I advocating cutting out the unnecessary crap that doesn't seem to be selling any books?  

No!  I am petitioning to add more hours to the day because I want to do it all!  Indie authors, are you with me?  Sign my petition by commenting below and telling us how many hours are in your day?

*Yes, I know that's not a word.  It is now.

Think Tank: Authors, Bloggers, Readers wanted

Hey everyone!  While trying to decide what to write about this week, I realized that we had an idea a while back that has not really taken off yet, and I would like to try to get it going (with your help).  This won't work without you, so check it out and see what you think!

The idea:

An online think tank composed of authors, bloggers, and readers.  We'll tackle some of the tough questions of Indie publishing, hot topics, and what-worked-for-you sort of things.  All you great thinkers will put your minds together, and we will publish your answers to the questions.

How it works:

Sign up with your email here.  We won't spam you, sell your info, or anything like that.  Every once in a while, you will be emailed a question from Rock the Book.  We'll try to give you plenty of time to answer it.  If you don't have time, or you don't like the question, then simply don't reply.  If you would like to contribute to the post, reply with your answer.  Include a link to your site if you like.  You receive credit for your work.  We reserve the right to edit spelling and punctuation errors, and to cut excerpts (if everyone sends us twenty-page answers, it might be a little much).  All the answers received will be compiled into the post.  It's kind of like a mini guest post.  Hopefully all our participants will remember to share, which translates to exposure.  Exposure is good.

Pretty cool, huh?  I hope we can get some interesting discussion going soon.  So, if you have a couple of minutes now and then to be part of the RTB Think Tank, go ahead and sign up!

Breaking News:  

Jane Dougherty is launching her third book in the Green Woman series today.  Congrats, Jane!  *Waves and jumps up and down like a rabid fan*  If any of you read my 5-star review of Jane's first book, The Dark Citadel, you know I absolutely loved it.  Well, guess what?  To celebrate the launch, The Dark Citadel is free on Kindle August 20th and 21st.  It doesn't get any better than free.  And this book is truly amazing.  If you don't believe me, check out Jane's other reviews from her other rabid fans.  So go here and get it now:  The Dark Citadel on Kindle.  Tell your friends, and your friend's friends.  All you fellow Indies out there, let's support Jane's launch!  And... come to the launch party Facebook event at : Beyond the Realm of Night Launch Party  Last thing: check out my special interview with Jane tomorrow to learn more about the inner workings of her amazing stories!

Change in the Publishing Industry

It's no secret that there has been a lot of high emotion between traditional publishing and Indie publishing lately.  The Indie publishing movement has thrown a bit of a wrench in the works for traditional publishers, who are losing some of their best writers.  Even longtime traditionally-published authors are abandoning ship in favor of better royalties and creative control.

It only makes sense that traditional publishers are not very happy about this.  They want to strike back.  They want Indie publishing to stop.  Well, it's not going to stop unless we let it.  (Are you planning on it?  I'm not!)

I give you today a petition from Change.org:

"Stop fighting low prices and fair wages"

This is a petition to Hachette, regarding a push to raise eBook prices, that would translate to eBooks becoming expensive and thus inaccessible to many customers.  This is a change that could be a huge blow to Indie publishing.  I won't explain the whole issue-- it is explained if you follow the link-- but suffice to say, we probably don't want this.  Check it out, read what it's about, and decide as an Indie author or Indie reader: are you on board?  As of the time I am writing this, 338 more signatures are needed.  If you believe this is an important issue, please share with your Indie author and reader friends.  Go on, rock the petition.  :)

Now, let's be fair about this.  Traditional publishing is a huge industry, and it would be a shame to see its downfall as well.  Personally, I wish there was a better way.  I wish traditional publishers would see where they have gone wrong.  I wish they would pay and support their authors better, because yes, I think there could be a place for traditional publishing.  I believe we could all have a happy future where traditional publishing and authors skip happily through the flowery fields of book-making together, and stuff.  It's just... right now that's a long way off. 

I would love to hear some comments on this issue.  What do you all think?  What needs to change?  Is there a way for everyone to be happy?