In addition to all the
other work authors do, such as maintain writer blogs/pages, tweet on twitter,
interact on Goodreads, and keep an eye on trends and what’s selling, we also
need to advertise ourselves; especially Indie authors! If you’re working with a publisher who is
putting out the word for you, that’s great. Here’s another possible advertising
idea for all authors, though some of you are likely using this already.
I needed to advertise
some kittens we have available to new homes, and I thought I should put up an
ad for my short story, The Everlasting Spell while I was at it.
I’ve started with Kijiji in my local area here in
Ontario, Canada. I really like Kijiji
because they’re a simple-to-use platform, and it only takes minutes to post.
Best of all, they’re Free! You can post
an image of your book cover, and any other visuals you’d like to put
alongside. For an additional fee ($5.00/month
where I am), you can place a link to your website. Kijiji is available in Canada, Italy, Hong
Kong, and Taiwan according to Wikipedia as of Oct 2014. You can only post in your local home town
area, but it could be worth it to find new readers.
Then I wondered about
other free internet classifieds sites, and found another good one, Locanto. They are also free, and are
available in more than 50 countries. You can pay for upgrades of course to
increase visibility for your ad. One
online classifieds I wouldn’t recommend is adpost.com. They are riddled with continuous ads of their
own and I find the site quite junky. You
can also try Craigslist. I’ve heard good things about them, but lately a lot of
complaints that people steal your emails, etc.
If you have more info or success stories, I'd love to hear about them in comments.
What an interesting new author! In Lindsay Leggett’s second novel in her Flight
series, Wasteland comes as a solid,
well written progression of plot, characters, and action. Here we find ace
harpy hunter, Piper Madden, now jailed by Rupert Elder and subjected to
bio-drug experimentation.
The author uses an interesting scene-switching
technique from this torturous present, intertwined with the story line of Piper’s
past as she became an ace harpy hunter when her brother, David, was still
alive, to advance two plot lines. This technique keeps the reader on their toes
to follow each sequence along intermittently (I admit to being a little
confused at times).
Leggett is a rapidly evolving writer as I find her
style a curious mixture of mature, ambitious themes (corrupted use of war,
issues with human mortality, and even transference of souls), and young-ish, expressions
(‘freaking’, etc.) as well as homey traditions such as her mother baking
homemade bread (in a post-apocalyptic world partly destroyed by radiation, and
at war with mutated beings).
Wasteland
moves Piper’s story from being the Corp’s top harpy hunter along to something much
more frightening as she discovers the Elder Corp has just been feeding her lies.
Now she uncovers unbearable truths, and is beset by betrayals, and is even
biometrically implanted. To top all of this, the Elder Corp has already started
war with the harpy kingdom and Piper’s world is on a collision course. Her love, Asher, the harpy prince, is a
little in the background here but he has enormous obstacles of his own.
I would have liked to see more description of the
characters and some time spent on how the radiation occurred with its
particular effects. However, Lindsay Leggett
is very good with modern tech like simulated reality training games, and her
action sequences.
My very favourite part is that Asher takes a
moment in time to bring Piper to his family’s palace, where she meets his
mother, the Empress. What a scene this
would make! Leggett paints an interesting, magical feel to the harpy world.
Wasteland
has a stunning, catastrophic climax, and I think the series would make a fantastic
film. Now, on to book 3, Valkyrie! Available at Amazon here.
Wasteland at Amazon
Spring, summer, and into fall 2014 has been
insanely busy, with scarcely a moment for reading/writing. It doesn’t help that
with the fall arriving, I’m also really loving getting back to knitting. But
things are finally smoothing out, and I’ve had a chance to read Nimbus, by
Austin King, and B.J. Keeton.
Lately I’ve been drawn to reading Steampunk, as
the sense of adventure on board a free flying air ship has tremendous appeal. All
the gizmos and curious steam inventions just add to the experience, though it
seems that writing Steampunk well is challenging.
Nimbus, Part 1, has been an intriguing read. The authors have created a creditable world
where people now live either in burrows below ground to escape a life-threatening
fog that covers a layer of the planet,
or in sky ports that serve as connections for various air ships that travel
back and forth, above the fog. The Gangly Dirigible is one such air ship,
and our main character, Jude,is a hoser
(crew that works hoses on board to suck up moisture vapour from clouds and
rainstorms to collect clean drinking water) who works aboard her.
King and Keeton have done a really great job
interweaving a second plot line that is about the governing body of the world,
the High Prelate, Cornelius Rucca, and his son, Demetrius. There is a great
mystery about them as the story begins with a curious scene where Demetrius is
saved from certain death by an unknown force.
It seems we will not find out what this force is until another book,
although we see this force in work through Demetrius in Part 1.
So, the best elements of this story are very good
interweaving of two story lines which don’t meet in this part, and an
interesting scenario in the death fog and how everyone lives around it. I really
enjoyed the scene where the Gangly
Dirigible is working through a terrible storm with tornado-style wind
forces, even though there is loss.
On the other side is the near complete lack of
description of our characters, or the air ship. One feels as though they are in
a sort of vacuum not knowing what Jude looks like, or what sort of air ship he
works on (aside from wooden decks). I don’t
know if this is a deal breaker, but I feel somewhat blind going through the adventure.
For adventure, story line,
and world building I would give this four stars. For lack of being able to
visualize the characters and world clearly, two stars. If you really love
steampunk, this is still worth a read.
The Pearl Savage
By
Tamara Rose Blodgett
I was really taken with the unique future world
presented in The Pearl Savage and for
other reasons I’ll mention, I would recommend reading this book. Princess Clara lives in a dome world in order
to survive a past earth disaster. The domes are maintained by steam machines
and Clara’s dome farms oysters and pearls for their food and wealth.
There’s nothing like an easily identifiable enemy
to rally the reader to the heroine’s cause.
Clara’s mother, the Queen, is a cruel woman whose only grasp on daily
life is to keep a wine bottle in one hand and disperse drunken ‘discipline’
with the other, especially upon Clara.
So I really feel for Clara who takes the option of not retaliating in
order to keep a few of her friends close to her and not wreak havoc upon their
lives. But it’s hard to deal with Queen Ada’s unrelenting viciousness.
As is common in royal families, Clara is to be
engaged to Prince Frederick who also turns out to be equally vicious as the
Queen; maybe worse since he’s sober.
Clara finally agrees with her good friend Charles and maid that to save
her own life, she must breach the domes and venture out into the outer world. Where the savages are.
Clara has already seen two savages who have dared
to observe her from outside her personal quarters. She is even curiously
attracted to one of them.
This intriguing story then relates how Clara
bravely learns about the outer world of the so-called savages. She also has an
unusual connection with the savage clans in the romance department.
Clara I think represents the sacred feminine or
goddess principle. This is most clearly
shown in the scene where she is tested with some members of the savage clan to
determine who should be her mate/king. While the scene is somewhat basic, the
idea that the reproductive forces of a Select
female are held in such high honour, really highlight and promote the idea that
the goddess principle is sacred and of value. Whatever the weaknesses of this
book, I commend Blodgett.
I didn’t like the level of violence that Clara
endured as it seemed a bit much at times though I would also say this shows how
the goddess principle is currently under attack as well. Clara endured with
strength. I would have liked more description of what everyone looked
like. I found this an interesting
premise if somewhat simplistic execution. Overall I found the book entertaining
and it ends with a positive promise to be taken up in the next book, The Savage Blood (five books total in
the series).
Favourite quote “Bravery
was a matter of containing your fear while throwing away caution.” (pp 225 of
337).
Happy St. Patrick's Day! 
I wanted to read something set in Eire or thereabouts and decided on The King's Druidess by Sky Purington. This is a short story or novelette prelude to Sky
Purington’s MacLomain series (Fate’s Monolith, Destiny’s Denial and Sylvan Mist). Purington also has written other series.
This novelette begins with a sensual scene of
Chiomara (a druidess/diviner of the goddess Brigit) meeting King Erc for a
mystical coupling in the circle of the stones before his forthcoming marriage.
The king is very taken with her and Chiomara herself has had feelings for Erc
for a long time; however, their destiny may not allow them to be together.
Despite this, they will have a predestined child.
There are many Celtic elements to this short read
that are interesting and overall it’s a nice story. Because it’s so short
(listed at 48 pages), there isn’t time to develop things. For example, Chiomara
is a druidess and while we see her pray to her patron, Brigit, the goddess of
divination and that she blesses the bread of some of King Erc’s subjects, there
is no other detail about her druid practices and what she’s capable of.
The time-travel element which comes in right at the end brings the reader up to speed for the next book but is written very quickly and I found it useful but not satisfying.
If you've enjoyed reading the MacLomain series and want a bit more (especially about birth origins), this is a nice tidbit but I’d wait for a free Amazon day to download it. Nice cover.
entangled in Romance has a submissions call for their 2014 Holiday Anthology ending on March 15, 2014.
It's hard to think about next Christmas as we try to get through the rest of this winter (which has been sooo cold this year). Time to write something spicy to warm things up!
They are looking for 15-20k about the holiday season in any era up to and including WWI.
Please see my new writer's calendar on page 4 of my blog for upcoming events and submissions in the publishing world too.
entangledinromance Call-for-Submissions-2014-Holiday-Anthology
Happy Valentine's Day!
I had the opportunity to read Her Sweetest Downfall by Rebecca Hamilton.
Rebecca Hamilton has a nice, smooth writing style
that makes it a pleasure to read Her
Sweetest Downfall quickly. I haven’t
read any of the other books in this series.
I would give this 3.5 stars. This novella can be read stand-alone but is clearly part of a more encompassing and bigger story.
The reader is launched into action straight away
with the abduction of Ophelia by the mysterious Ethan of Rome who has the
ability to travel via the inbetween anywhere
in a few moments. Ophelia is a sweet girl who nevertheless has some
sass and sensibility.
I’m not sure how I feel about the premise of a heroine
faced with the decision of having to become something she at least initially
abhors (a Cruor elemental) in order to fulfill her own destiny and essentially
save the world order. However, Ophelia at least questions this and other things
to her credit.
Ethan is very gentlemanly in his role but we don’t
really get to know much about him. He is very dedicated to what he sees as doing his duty.
Rebecca Hamilton uses this in-between novella in
The Forever Girl series to flesh out the elemental mythology of Cruor, Chibold,
Ankou, Morts and Strigoi races and the dual breed mixes that she writes about in
this book series. I found the ending a little convenient in face of
the challenge presented but on a romantic level, satisfying. And the ending
reads a bit rushed, as if Hamilton didn’t want to spend the time working on
it. I liked Her Sweetest Downfall as a sweet, short read despite not being a
vampire-type book fan but am not sure that I will read the others.
I think this growing new category of books is fantastic as the scope and variety are practically limitless. We see everything from contemporary romance to westerns, paranormal romance, sci-fi and really anything the imagination can conceive. I'll be watching trends over this year to see which of the sub-categories are selling better.
Flight
by Lindsay Leggett
Flight has a very unique premise. In this post-apocalyptic world, a part
of the human race has mutated into a winged being, a harpy that feeds on
regular humans. The Elder Corp. tries to protect humans from the harpies by
using specialized human hunters to kill them.
Piper is the Corp’s premier, hard-as-nails, elite hunter who we find under
cover at Ichton. Tortured with guilt over what she believes is her
responsibility for her brother’s death, David, also a hunter, Piper struggles
to put her life back together while adapting to a whole new situation where
harpies are not killed and hunters face a weapons ban.
I really like Lindsay's unusual premise for Flight. She uses both
flashbacks and dreams as plot devices to advance her story and keeps a good
pace. As the story develops, we find out new twists at every turn, not the
least of which is her love, Asher. He is very protective of her and all the
while has to deal with issues as great if not greater than hers.
Lindsay's writing style is direct and sometimes gritty. And Piper is
quite hard on herself and others at the beginning but as she gets to know new
colleagues, she forms helpful alliances with them. I like that she grows
through the story.
If
you enjoy edgy stories with strong female leads, you will want to read Flight!
I'm looking forward to the next book in the series to see how Piper and Asher
take things to the next level and what the fallout with Elder Corp will be.
FLIGHT Available at Amazon
