Easy things YOU can do to help indie authors

Love indie authors? Want to help spread the word about their books? Here are some ways you can do so, and they aren't too hard to do either. ^_^

~*~

1. Buy Their Book

This seems simple enough, right? Generally speaking, most indie novels are priced reasonably (in the range of $0.99 to $4.99). So it's not a huge investment, especially if it's 99 cents! Compare that to traditionally published ebooks, you're saving quite a bit and getting (more often than most think) an equally as good story.

2. Read And Review

I have to admit, I am notorious for not following through on this. It's easy to click "BUY NOW" and get a book. This does help an author out. What helps more is reading it and then posting a review online. This way more people can see it who may not have heard of the book yet. Also, your review may help them decide to check the book out for themselves.

If possible, put your review on not only your blog, but also other sites like Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Smashwords (you can only post on there if you purchase from them), and other sites that offer a review feature. I know when I am browsing on these sites I am more likely to take a peek at reviews that are posted right there rather than search elsewhere for them.

3. Host A Giveaway

Loved the book so much you want to tell all your friends? Do one better and give a copy away on your blog. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords have the option of gifting ebooks to others. It's really simple--all you'll need is the winner's email address and which ereader they use.

Already have too many books and review requests on your plate? Can't afford to buy any more books at the moment? There are free ways to support and promote authors.

4. Retweet And Share

Follow indie authors on Twitter and like their Facebook pages. When they post something in promotion of their novel (release date or maybe even a sale), retweet or share it. This gives them a little bit more exposure by spreading the word to the people who follow you.

5. Promote The Book

Dedicate a post to the author or their book. You don't even have to contact the author. Do a cover reveal if they just revealed it on their blog. Spotlight a debut indie author (or multiple indie authors) and/or their book (or books).

Some authors will reach out to their followers to host a blog tour stop on their blog. They are more than happy to provide you with a free copy of their novel so that you can take part in the tour. All you need to do is read, review, and post on your blog tour date. If you want, you can do something more, like an author spotlight, excerpt, or interview. Sometimes they can provide a copy of the ebook for you to giveaway. It won't cost you anything, and it offers one of your followers the chance to read the book.

~*~

These are some of the little things we can do as readers and bloggers to help promote our indie author friends. I've been able to a little something from each section above at least once. Every indie author appreciates all the support they can get from us, no matter how small it is.

~Jessica

Winner of the Feed Your Reader Giveaway Hop is...

.....(drumroll please).....

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Lacey T.!

 

 

You will be receiving an email from me shortly for more info.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the giveaway! *many hugs*

~Jessica

Update Thursday #74

Welcome to Update Thursday, my own personal meme of sorts where I post an update of the goings on at my blog, with reading and writing. Feel free to borrow the idea from me for your own bookish musings.

~*~
 

Reading...

Books I Finished:

~Charmed Thirds by Megan McCafferty~

 

Books I'm reading:

~Cracked Up To Be by Courtney Summers~
~Defy the Stars by Stephanie Parent~
~The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery~

692 of 1026 E.E. Cummings poems finished (28 this week)

~*~
 

Writing...

~ If Only We ~ 30,010 ~

~ Before We Knew ~ 11, 449 ~

~ Whatever This Is ~ outlining ~
~ Under Enchanted Skies ~ 1,550/plotting ~
~ Beyond The Horizon ~ plotting ~
~ So I Thought ~ plotting ~
~ Hold Your Breath ~ plotting ~

The latest = Not a lot. Two quick things...

I am more determined than ever to get this story written. I wanted it out by the end of the year, but at this point, unless I finish tomorrow, I don't see it happening. So, I may have to tweak my expectations there, but I am still determined to get it done SOON.

The second thing is this: I was struggling this last week with a scene leading into another scene. I sat there looking at it, rewording it and changing it and deleting lines and adding lines. Nothing was working. So I just ignored it until the next day. Then the next day. Finally I looked at it yesterday and realized something... I was thinking too big. This scene didn't even need to exist. All I needed to do was allude to it and then GO to it. And then... the clouds cleared up and my mind was free again!

Amazing feeling, let me tell you. ^_^

~*~

Until next time!

~Jessica

And in this corner... Survey Results!

I think I'm slap happy today... I really am.

Anyways!

It's taken me WAY too long to compile and put this together. I don't know what excuses I have. Not many. But here it is... the results!

~*~

1).  How do you follow?  Mostly via GFC and a couple through email.

2).  Do you follow me elsewhere?  Pretty even between Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads, slightly lower for Pinterest.

3).  Are you a reader, a writer, or both?  Most of you chose being both, and I thought that was awesome.

4).  How do you like the overall look of Thoughts At One In The Morning?  There were no complaints here!

5).  Is my blog easy to navigate?  All a resounding yes!

6).  In general, what are your favorite types of posts?  This one deserves a pie chart. The 14% goes to Reviews, then on down the line to 13% going to Writing Posts.

7).  In turn, what are your least favorite types of posts?  Memes were least liked. It was pretty much even between the following: Giveaways, Guest Posts by Authors, Guest Posts by Bloggers, Author Interviews, Blogger Interviews, Excerpts, Blog Tours, Non-Book Related Random Posts, and Cover Reveals.

8).  What would you like to see more of?  You mostly want to see more Discussion Posts and a little more Writing Posts, but you also want more Reviews, Giveaways, Author Interviews, and Non-Book Related Random Posts.

9).  What would you like to see less of?  The things you want less of are mostly guest posts, interviews, and memes, but for the most part you said nothing, so I must be doing something right!

10).  What type of giveaways do you like?  Between the choices of Pick your own book, Pick from a list, ARC's, and Any of the above, most of you answered with Any of the above.

11).  What kind of reviews do you prefer?  Almost everyone agreed on Short and sweet and Spoiler free. One person answered with “What suits the book,” and another “Somewhere in the middle.”

12).  What do you think of how I write my reviews?  Your answers just warmed my heart. You were sweet and a couple of you even said my review influences your choice to read it or not. There were mixed opinions on whether they were too long or just right. I believe that’s due to the fact that I tend to gush when I love a book too much. You guys also like seeing the synopsis and links at the top.

13).  What do you think of how I write my articles/discussion posts?  You like them and how they make you think.

14).  Do you have any specific suggestions of what things you like to see in a book blog in general?  Here’s where I got a lot of good information from you guys. You like posts about “adventures in writing” and “personal stuff about the blogger”. One person mentioned international giveaways that aren’t just from The Book Depository. Another said “original content… or if it’s something that’s already been done, a fresh spin somehow.” The following suggestion I liked a lot: “Maybe do some posts on books that you read in the past that are close to your heart.” More on this below.

15).  Is there anything you would change about my blog?  It was pretty much mostly the beginning of Billy Joel’s "Just the Way You Are"… “Don’t go changing…”

~*~

My thoughts after reading all of your thoughts:

Thank you for your honest and kind words. While most of this blog will remain the same, I plan on tweaking and implementing some of your suggestions. I will be balancing out my different posts by having one of each every month: a discussion post, a writing post, and a non-book related random post. I’ll also be adding in a new little feature where I discuss books with special meaning that I’ve read awhile ago. Not sure when I’ll start that one up, but I’ll try for at least a couple by the end of this year. I am going to add a little more variety to my giveaways, not just The Book Depository, plus I’m going to keep entries simple and easy (in other words, most of the time I’ll stick with just following this blog as an entry). I have another fun idea in the works that I can’t wait to share with you. I’m still working out the details, but it will be a replacement for The Journey of Self-Publishing series. It has to do with lists... that's the only hint I'll give!

That's all for now! Thank you again for your insights and for triggering some ideas and changes to Thoughts At One In The Morning! ^_^

~Jessica

Review: Brightest Kind Of Darkness by P.T. Michelle

Title: Brightest Kind Of Darkness
Author: P.T. Michelle
Published: June 27th 2011
Source: Purchased
Genre: Young Adult/Paranormal
Buy: Amazon ~*~ Barnes & Noble
Add to your Goodreads shelf
Caution: May contain spoilers

Nara Collins is an average sixteen-year-old, with one exception: every night she dreams the events of the following day. Due to an incident in her past, Nara avoids using her special gift to change fate…until she dreams a future she can’t ignore.

After Nara prevents a bombing at Blue Ridge High, her ability to see the future starts to fade, while people at school are suddenly being injured at an unusually high rate.

Grappling with her diminishing powers and the need to prevent another disaster, Nara meets Ethan Harris, a mysterious loner who seems to understand her better than anyone. Ethan and Nara forge an irresistible connection, but as their relationship heats up, so do her questions about his dark past.

~synopsis from Goodreads

My Thoughts:

I had been looking forward to reading this one since I first heard of it. Somehow, other books kept getting in the way. Then I won the sequel, Lucid, in a giveaway. So it got bumped up on the list. After I read the book, I couldn’t help but think ‘WHY in the world did I allow this one to be pushed aside?’ This book was more brilliant than I thought possible.

The premise of this story had a lot of potential. Sometimes authors can’t handle such a varied environment and circumstances. That was not the case here. P.T. Michelle was able to expand it in just the right way to make it intriguing and mysterious. I would read a chapter and inevitably read the next to see where she was going and what was happening.

Nara is an remarkable character. She has the weight of the world on her shoulders. Although she spent most of her life seeing what’s going to happen, she now finds herself lost when her ability disappears after the bomb threat. She relied on it for many reasons, and at times panic sets in. She wants the dreams back, but how? Why did they stop in the first place? On top of it all, her best friend is changing, making her more at a loss. And then there’s Ethan. He is one in a million. The relationship that builds between Ethan and Nara is extraordinary. I completely adored it.

I cannot, cannot, cannot emphasize enough how astounding Brightest Kind Of Darkness was. The way her world shaped as out of the ordinary things continued, you never knew what the results would be. Could she change what happens? Or is it inevitable? P.T. Michelle keeps you guessing, keeps you hoping, for the answer. I highly recommend this one to everyone. For the awesomeness of Nara, Ethan, and the intricate world they find themselves wrapped up in.

My Rating:

Exceptional: Stay up until at least 1 AM

The Journey of Self-Publishing #13: Promotion

Thoughts At One In The Morning is proud to present a blog post series for unpublished writers on the self-publishing world. I have asked four indie authors to share with you the different steps they have taken on their journey. They will discuss the writing process itself, the steps in between, and publishing itself. Please join us every week for a new topic on the journey to becoming an indie author!

Our Indie Author panel:

Marie Landry, author of Blue Sky Days

You can find her on her blog Ramblings Of A Daydreamer.

A.M. Hargrove, author of The Guardians Of The Vesteron series

You can find her on her blog A.M. Hargrove.

Avery Sawyer, author of Notes To Self

You can find her on her website The Teashop Girls.

Michelle Flick, author of The Owens Legacy: Revelations

You can find her on her blog Oh! For the LOVE of BOOKS!.

~*~
 

This week on The Journey of Self-Publishing:

~Promotion~

What ways did you use to promote your book?

Marie Landry: When the book was first published, I did extensive promotion, between the blog tour, regular blogging, and talking about it on Twitter and Facebook.

Avery Sawyer: I offered book bloggers review copies. I used social networking to announce the book. I planned free days and promoted them on social networking.

A.M. Hargrove: I started through Amazon and Smashwords. Then I got wise to Goodreads and how it could help. I also started Tweeting. If I had been smart, I would have jumped on Twitter long before I did. I didn't join until after I published. DO NOT do that. Join WAY before you publish. Start building up your followers. Use it as a place not only to promote but to make contacts. Twitter is filled with people doing the same thing--self-publishing --and they can help you SO much. It's a totally awesome social media platform. I also use my website and blog, although I don't really enjoy blogging that much. I think the reason behind that is I don't read many blogs unless they are book reviews. I'm not going to blog about other books because I think it can come off as caddy -- you know, if I read a book I don't like and review it, it may sound bad coming from another author. I think a lot of bloggers have awesome sites and are very creative, but it's just not really my thing. I mainly use my website and blog for information on my books--upcoming tours, releases, etc.

Did you do any real life promotions?

Marie Landry: No. I had an idea for one, but without having a paperback copy, it was pretty much impossible. I haven’t scrapped the idea entirely though; it’s filed away under ‘maybe someday’. ;-)

Avery Sawyer: No, although I am thinking of getting some bookmarks printed up so I have something to hand people in real life.

Did you pay for an ad on a site?

Marie Landry: No. My promotional budget was pretty much non-existent, so I had to come up with other ways to get the word out. I’ve heard that GoodReads ads are really effective though, so if I had the money, that’s where I’d spend it.

Avery Sawyer: I did a little bit of Facebook advertising, but I don’t think it worked.

Did you get hard copies of your book to giveaway?

Avery Sawyer: In the case of my self-pubbed titles, no. They are electronic only.

A.M. Hargrove: I haven't done the print version of my books yet, but I am considering it. so I can't do any hard copy giveaways.  I have don a lot of ebook giveaways though.  I've done them through blog tours, reviews and through Smashwords itself.

Did you get other media like bookmarks, postcards, buttons with your book on it made?

Marie Landry: I wanted to order bookmarks, but the sites that made the type I want only ship within the States, and I’m in Canada. Other things I thought of weren’t in my budget, but I wanted something, so I had a friend create a Blue Sky Days jewelry line with handmade beaded bookmarks and necklaces for four of the main characters, and I gave some of those away during the launch.

Avery Sawyer: Not yet.

~*~

Thank you for the great advice on promotion!

Join us next week when our Indie Author panel will tell us about The First Few Months after publishing and how to keep the interest going on your novel.


 ~If you liked this, check out the earlier editions of The Journey of Self-Publishing series~

Sunday Replay #1

Sunday Replay is a weekly recap of the postings on this blog. I will also be sharing other articles and newsworthy items I've found interesting. I may even showcase some new pictures I've uploaded. *


Stuff from the blog this week:

• I talk about how I'm addicted to series books more than I knew.
• The 12th installment of The Journey of Self-Publishing is about... drumroll... Publishing!
• I review the awesomeness that is The Princess Bride by William Goldman (I sort of go off on the movie more than the book but it's all good).
• Enter my sweet all E-Book giveaway for a chance to win one of nine books (including several fiction books and a couple books for writers).
• The latest on my reading and writing on Thursday.
• My 5th Question of the Moment about the delay in reading a book you anticipate called Why haven’t I read you yet? went up on Friday. Get in on the discussion!

In other news elsewhere on the internet..

• Writer's Digest offers up the 12 cliches we should avoid as writers.
• Molli at Once Upon a Prologue discusses how YA has evolved through the years, and Krista at Nawanda Files asks us what we think about New Adult as a genre.
• Chuck Wendig has an interesting post on writing what you want and what the audience wants to read.
• In three awesome posts, over 200 bloggers tell all on Parajunkee's View regarding what to expect when it comes to your blog size and pageviews (also a bit about advertising), handling your reviews and posts (and about how many ARC's bloggers receive weekly), and behaviors of book bloggers (including a bonus at the end of best books of the year).
• Becca Puglisi shares 5 tips for self-publishing on Laura Howard's blog.
• News on YA books to movies! Filming has begun for The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (due out next year), check out the images behind the scenes. Also, more tributes have been cast for Catching Fire, including the long awaited casting of the beloved Finnick. AND *gasp* it sounds like Divergent will be hitting the big screen in 2014! (Um... YAY!)

And, for fun, I made another LOL cat of our beloved Honeybear:

As for me, I'm going with the family to visit some friends today. There will be laughter and a movie and cheesecake. Well, I heard there might be cheesecake, so I'm hoping for cheesecake, since cheesecake is delicious.

Much love to all!

~Jessica

* Of course, since this is the first edition, some links are from more than one week ago.

Question Of The Moment: Why haven’t I read you yet? (5)

Ever find yourself standing in front of your bookshelves or scrolling through your ereader… only to realize you haven’t read several books you were so excited to receive? I’ve been going through this often lately. I have a short list of books I need to read first (like NetGalley books, for my classics challenge, a couple recent releases for review). Yet it seems like every time I finish that list, I still end up not reading the ones I intend to read next.

It makes me wonder why this keeps happening. And if there’s any way to help taper down the to be read list. Maybe I need to have willpower… focus on a goal. Part of the problem with this is that I have so many books. And keep getting tempted with ever more every day. Especially when they throw out great ebook deals. VERY ESPECIALLY.

Do you ever face this predicament? Ever been so excited for a book that you buy it and somehow forget to read it? Are you like me and can’t hold yourself back from taking advantage of bargains? Is there anything you do to help tackle the ever growing pile on your shelves or in your ereader?

I’d love to hear any suggestions and thoughts!

~Jessica

PS:  That is a picture of me pre-blogging with my barely ONE shelf of YA books. Classic.

Update Thursday #73

Welcome to Update Thursday, my own personal meme of sorts where I post an update of the goings on at my blog, with reading and writing. Feel free to borrow the idea from me for your own bookish musings.

~*~
 

Reading...

Books I Finished:

~The Forever Contract by Avery Sawyer~

~Beautiful Disaster (Beautiful #1) by Jamie McGuire~
 

Books I'm reading:

~Charmed Thirds by Megan McCafferty~
~Cracked Up To Be by Courtney Summers~
~Defy the Stars by Stephanie Parent~

664 of 1026 E.E. Cummings poems finished (20 this week)

~*~
 

Writing...

~ If Only We ~ 30,010 ~

~ Before We Knew ~ 11, 449 ~

~ Whatever This Is ~ outlining ~
~ Under Enchanted Skies ~ 1,550/plotting ~
~ Beyond The Horizon ~ plotting ~
~ So I Thought ~ plotting ~
~ Hold Your Breath ~ plotting ~

The latest = I think I typed out one or two paragraphs altogether but I did plot out the next couple chapters. I just need to grab that notebook and write. I pulled up Before We Knew last night and started adding on to a scene because an idea to continue it came to mind. You know how that goes. I like writing out these little ideas, even though I know I'll have to rework it later when I'm actually plotting out the whole story.

I was just thinking yesterday about authors that tell their stories from an alternate character's POV (like how Stephenie Meyer was writing Midnight Sun, AKA Twilight from Edward's perspective, which, in my opinion, was a million times awesomer than the original, despite only being half done... but I digress...). It made me think about how much fun it would be to tell some of my stories from a different POV. Of course, taking on a whole retelling of the same book would be quite a task. So I thought about maybe writing novellas of the different perspectives. Not necessarily in all my stories, but maybe a couple of them when the character decides to speak to me.

~*~

Until next time!

~Jessica

Feed Your Reader (Ebooks Only) Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the Feed Your Reader Giveaway Hop! Brought to you by the wonderful I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and also hosted by Books: A True Story. The dates for this hop run from August 23rd through 29th. (It is technically a day early, but the giveaway host prefers this for linking purposes.)

Click here to check out the rest of the participating blogs!!!

I am offering one book of choice from the list below for Kindle or Nook. (If the book is available via Smashwords and you would prefer that route, I can do that too.) I have chosen a few different ebooks by indie authors, including a couple that writers may find useful.You may choose ONE book among the following books:

1. Fissure by Nicole Williams

2. What I Didn't Say by Keary Taylor

3. Breathe by Abbi Glines

4. The Boyfriend Thief by Shana Norris

5. The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi

6. Brightest Kind Of Darkness by P.T. Michelle

7. Codename: Dancer by Amanda Brice

8. Heart On A Chain by Cindy C. Bennett

9. Finding Author Success by Deborah Riley-Magnus

Sound good? Good! Here's the official rules/guidelines for the giveaway:

1. You must be a follower.

2. You must be over 15 years old.

3. This is open to international followers. (Basically, anyone with the capability of receiving ebooks for Kindle, Nook, or PC)

4. This contest runs from August 23rd to 29th.

5. You can gain extra entries by "liking" my Facebook page &/or following me on Twitter @Jess_Sankiewicz.

6. Winner will be selected at 12:01 a.m. on August 30th via Rafflecopter random selection.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you so much for entering and following! :D

Review: The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Title: The Princess Bride
Author: William Goldman
Published: 1973
Source: Purchased
Genre: Classic Fantasy
Buy: Amazon ~*~ Barnes & Noble
Add to your Goodreads shelf
Caution: May contain spoilers

.
A tale of true love and high adventure, pirates, princesses, giants, miracles, fencing, and a frightening assortment of wild beasts - The Princess Bride is a modern storytelling classic.

As Florin and Guilder teeter on the verge of war, the reluctant Princess Buttercup is devastated by the loss of her true love, kidnapped by a mercenary and his henchmen, rescued by a pirate, forced to marry Prince Humperdinck, and rescued once again by the very crew who absconded with her in the first place. In the course of this dazzling adventure, she'll meet Vizzini - the criminal philosopher who'll do anything for a bag of gold; Fezzik - the gentle giant; Inigo - the Spaniard whose steel thirsts for revenge; and Count Rugen - the evil mastermind behind it all. Foiling all their plans and jumping into their stories is Westley, Princess Buttercup's one true love and a very good friend of a very dangerous pirate.

~synopsis from Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Here’s my story about how I didn’t discover The Princess Bride until I was an adult. When I was a kid (I’m guessing I was 11 at the time), I was at a friend’s house and we wanted to watch something. She wanted to watch The Princess Bride and I wanted to watch Kratt’s Creatures. I can’t remember what we ended up watching, but it wasn’t The Princess Bride or Kratt’s Creatures. I heard off and on about the movie, but never ended up seeing it until I was 22. Another friend was talking about it and I decided that it was necessary for me to watch the movie. So I did. And I loved it.

True story.

I’ve probably only seen the movie all the way through 6 or 7 times total, but my family and I join in with the rest of the lovers of The Princess Bride in quoting various lines that have become iconic. Of course, my watching it only those little over a handful of times limits my quoting ability. It just means I need to watch the movie more.

But I digress… This is supposed to be about the book. And my thoughts on the book: FREAKING AMAZING. Even though I knew what was coming, I still got sucked into the world of Florin and the love of Buttercup and Westley. The lines and scenes not included in the movie were splendid. At one point early on, I found myself laughing out loud and running to the computer to post a quote on Facebook. Here it is:

"I am your Prince and you will marry me," Humperdinck said.
Buttercup whispered, "I am your servant and I refuse."
"I am your Prince and you cannot refuse."
"I am your loyal servant and I just did."

Throughout the whole thing, you can’t help but fall in love with everything. William Goldman was actually the person who wrote the screenplay and he did a fantastical job at it. A lot of the lines from the book are word for word in the movie. It was all the necessary ones, I can’t think of much that was left out that should have been there to tell the story. And the story really was an epic tale of everything that makes a good book all rolled into one: action and love and honesty and humor.

The Princess Bride is by far one of the best books written. While William Goldman didn’t pen the original story (it was written by S. Morganstern in an enormous volume had so much back story, as Goldman states in the foreword), he did an amazing job putting together the “good parts” version. Which is what writers have to do sometimes--omit all the extensive details that aren’t pertinent to the story and keep it interesting. The bottom line with this book is that it is a must read. If you don’t think you can handle the book and haven’t seen the movie, at the very least watch the movie. After you do, you probably will want to read the book.

It’s just that good.

My Rating:

Exceptional: Stay up until at least 1 AM

The Journey of Self-Publishing #12: Publishing

Thoughts At One In The Morning is proud to present a blog post series for unpublished writers on the self-publishing world. I have asked four indie authors to share with you the different steps they have taken on their journey. They will discuss the writing process itself, the steps in between, and publishing itself. Please join us every week for a new topic on the journey to becoming an indie author!

Our Indie Author panel:

Marie Landry, author of Blue Sky Days

You can find her on her blog Ramblings Of A Daydreamer.

A.M. Hargrove, author of The Guardians Of The Vesteron series

You can find her on her blog A.M. Hargrove.

Avery Sawyer, author of Notes To Self

You can find her on her website The Teashop Girls.

Michelle Flick, author of The Owens Legacy: Revelations

You can find her on her blog Oh! For the LOVE of BOOKS!.

~*~
 

This week on The Journey of Self-Publishing:

~Publishing~

Who did you publish with?

A.M. Hargrove: I published with Smashwords and let them handle everything besides Amazon and Barnes and Noble.  I did Amazon and B&N on my own.

Avery Sawyer: I publish with Amazon and Smashwords. Smashwords distributes to B&N and iTunes.

Marie Landry: I went through Smashwords and Amazon. Smashwords distributes the book to every ebook site imaginable (B&N, Kobo, Diesel, etc), and although they distribute through Amazon as well, I liked the idea of having the Amazon dashboard and being able to keep up with sales in real time.

Michelle Flick: Amazon, CreateSpace, and Barnes and Noble. They have been good to me so far.

 

How long until it was approved and ready for the public?

A.M. Hargrove: It's crazy easy to do, takes only a few minutes and within a day, you're live.

Avery Sawyer:  Amazon happens in about 12 hours, Smashwords is immediate, and approval for premium distribution to B&N and iTunes takes about two weeks.

Marie Landry:  Pretty much overnight for both. Smashwords runs it through their system to look for errors, and once it’s approved it goes live on the site immediately, but it takes about two weeks to be accepted into their ‘premium catalogue’ where it’s distributed to all the other online retailers.

Michelle Flick: Not long at all like - 3 days for each site. It was crazy fast.

Was the formatting what you expected?

Avery Sawyer:  Yes, it’s not hard to do.

Marie Landry:  Pretty much, yes. I’d done a lot of research beforehand so I knew what to expect, and I had followed all their guidelines. Luckily there were no problems, and it all went really smoothly.

Michelle Flick: I screwed up... a lot. I had to redo it... a lot. I stress again - follow the directions.

~*~

Thank you for the great advice on publishing!

Join us next week when our Indie Author panel will be going over Promotion and what you can do to get your book on the radar of readers.

~If you liked this, check out the earlier editions of The Journey of Self-Publishing series~

Winner of The Emotion Thesaurus is...

.....(drumroll please).....

 

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Janel Gradowski

 

 

You will be receiving an email from me shortly for more info.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the giveaway! *many hugs*

~Jessica

I'm Addicted to Series Books More Than I Knew

If you take a look at the book market, you notice there are a lot of books that are part of a series. For myself, I tend to shy away from as many of them as I can. A lot of the premises tend to be the same, and certain genres have started to annoy me with the ridiculousness of their similarities to each other and other book series already out there. So I honestly avoid a few of them like the plague.

However, I decided to take a look into how many of them I am not only into at the moment but also am interested in. My first stop was my bookshelf. I was… surprised… by the results. But what I own is not everything I’ve read or plan to read. I had to dig deeper.

And dig deeper I did. (Say that three times fast.)

I went through my Goodreads series shelf, alphabetically by author, and began to chart different things. What I discovered was, highly exasperating. My results were quite insane. I am going to share them with you.

Bear in mind, these are just approximate numbers/percentages. It took me hours (over three separate days) of compiling the data and staring at a screen and remembering which check marks I made where. It is very likely I missed a few books or possibly double check marked a couple times. So, like I said, approximate, but, it’s still close enough. *

~*~

TOTAL OF SERIES **: 173

DIFFERENT AUTHORS: 144

SEPARATE BOOKS *** : 684

TOTAL OF SERIES I OWN: 60

SEPARATE BOOKS I OWN: 128

~ 87% YOUNG ADULT ~ 5% ADULT ~ 8% CHILDRENS ~

~ 32% READ ~ 68% HAVEN’T READ ~

~ 9% FINISHED ~ 15% WILL NOT CONTINUE ~

~ 76% TO BE FINISHED/STARTED ~

~ 20% INDIE ~ 80% TRADITIONAL ~

~ 61% PARANORMAL & DYSTOPIAN ~
~ 39% CONTEMPORARY ~

~ 42% STARTED ~ 58% NOT STARTED ~

~ 35% OWNED ~ 65% NOT OWNED ~

~ 19% OWNED ~ 81% NOT OWNED ~

~ 54% OWNED ~ 46% TO BE PURCHASED ~

~ 41% READ ~ 59% UNREAD ~

~*~

It makes me truly realize how far behind I am. And how many series I really, REALLY need to get to. I would like to have the percentages to at least half of the series started, also more series completed. It just seems so ridiculous how many series I have taken on.

Ah, the life of an avid book reader.

Not that I suggest calculating the perilous evil of the above for any of you, but where do you think you stand? Are you diligent about finishing series that you’ve started or do you start so many that you barely have enough time to read the next book when it comes out? Or do you try to read more standalones because series books drive you nuts to keep up with?

I would love to hear your thoughts!
 

~Jessica

* For the sake of making it look neat and orderly, I have adjusted the percentages to whole numbers instead of decimals.
** Including ones I have started, finished, won’t finish, and haven’t started yet.
*** Not including ones from the childhood series I am no longer reading (i.e. series with hundreds of books like The Baby Sitter’s Club, Sweet Valley Twins, ETC. which really throw the percentages way off base)

PS: For the sake of clarity as to the reasons why I subjected myself to the above, I decided to make a pie chart for that as well.

Note: All pie charts in this post were made on this website. Check it out, it was actually fun. ;)