Tag Archives: book

New Release!

Braelynn’s Birthright–Book 1: Wendigo

I am proud to have published Braelynn’s Birthright–Book 1: Wendigo. This is the first in what I hope will be a series of books featuring the same set of characters. Book1: Wendigo is a young adult supernatural/horror urban fantasy novel.

Book 2: Fallen Angel is near completion. This book is a new adult novel, taking place a few years after Book 1. It also unites characters from a number of my books including Phase Shift, The Revenant, and Revamped. Look for the release of Book 2: Fallen Angel in November of this year.

If you’re a fan of Supernatural, Nancy Drew (current TV series), or Legacies (Vampire Diaries spin-off) you will love the Braelynn’s Birthright series, as well as the other books mentioned here.

Here is a closer look at what Braelynn’s Birthright–Book 1: Wendigo is about:

Imagine a world where the creatures of nightmare are real. This becomes fifteen-year-old Braelynn Hanlon’s world once she inherits her birthright in the form of her grandmother’s ring and is tricked into putting it on. You see, the women in her family have been cursed, doomed to defend humanity from things that go bump in the night. On the upside, the ring comes with super-healing powers, but it also makes her a magnet for all things supernatural. Her mother has had years to come to terms with her fate, but Braelynn’s about to get a crash course on how to be a hunter of all things paranormal.

Her boyfriend, Seth, turns out to be a vampire. When Braelynn vanquishes him, the leader of Seth’s gang sends a bugbear to seek revenge. If that’s not bad enough, her best friend, Shannon, is a werewolf, and Shannon’s girl crush is enchanted. To make matters worse, the school’s activist, Winona, is an Ojibwe shaman in training, hot on the trail of a wendigo disguised as a local businessman who is threatening to destroy the local watershed. Braelynn and her friends agree to help Winona vanquish the wendigo, but will her ring and her new-found powers be enough to keep her safe?

Braelynn’s Birthright–Book 1: Wendigo is available at Amazon (paperback and eBook), B & N, Apple Books, and Rakuten Kobo.

15 Free Book Promo Sites

image made on placeit.net

I’m on the book promo path again. Newly edited, my last book, I Was, Am, Will Be Alice will be on sale for the month of January 2017 for only $0.99. I threw a lot of money behind it for advertising in the summer when it was released, so this time I’m reluctant to put any new money into the project. To that end, I went searching online and found 15 amazing and free book promo sites. I signed up at all of them, hoping it will help my prospects, and I want to share them all with you.

Without further ado, here are 15 free book promo sites (in no particular order) you can use to help promote your book. Note that I am writing this blog post in advance of seeing my book advertised and having any sales, so I cannot vouch for some of these sites except for the fact that they allow you to upload your book for free.

1. eBookSkill

Free promotions for eBook deals and giveaways.

2. eBookLister

Free promotions for eBooks that are free and/or under $2.99.

3. Armadillo eBooks

Free promotions for eBooks priced under $2.99. There is also a paid option to submit to 25 other sites for $25.00 (of which I did not take advantage).

4. Reading Deals

Free submissions for free and bargain books, though spots are limited and posts are not guaranteed. There is a $29.00 guaranteed post available. Reading Deals will send your post out to the 40,000 people they have on their mailing list.

5. Book Hippo

Book Hippo offers free book promos priced below 3.61 pounds. They will also post something called a “Drabble”, which is a flash fiction piece of 100 words or less. I have used Book Hippo before and they do not disappoint. Note that you will have to create a login for yourself before you will be allowed to post.

6. Discount Bookman

Free promotions for books with a $19.00 option for a featured post.

7. eBooksHabit

I applied to this site even though they require 5 reviews and I only have 3, so we’ll see what happens. They don’t accept erotica and they do check your price, so be sure to have the sale price in place before you apply.

8. This Is Writing

This is Writing offers guest posts, email blasts, interviews, and excerpt postings. Though they claim to get back to you asap, I have not heard back from them yet as of the posting of this blog (almost 1 week later), but they do say that it might take up to a month for them to respond to your request.

9. BookBongo

Free post on their site and Facebook page, though the post is not guaranteed. Guaranteed posts are available for between $9.99 and $29.99.

10. BookBrag

Free book promotion for books under $5.99. Other promotional packages are available for $10.00 and $20.00. I’ve used BookBrag for book promotion before and they always come through. They add your book to their site for free. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you even make their newsletter. It’s nice to open up an email and see your own book being professionally promoted.

11. Book of the Day

Book of the Day will post your book in an “unfiltered” post for free on the day you choose. They also have paid options which allow you greater exposure and access to some of their advertising tools for $11.95. Once your book has been posted, you can pay $7.95 for a 21-day tour around their site for increased exposure.

12. Awesome Gang

Awesome Gang is truly awesome. In addition to offering advice and tools for authors, they allow you to post your books for free. There is a paid option that I’ve used in the past, $10.00 to feature your book, but I didn’t see a boost in sales (or any sales, for that matter), but that’s been the case for many paid features I’ve used at other sites, too.

13. Pretty-Hot

Like Awesome Gang, Pretty-Hot lets you post your books for free. Like BookBrag, you get a permanent listing for your book and sometimes wind up in their email blast. Also like the other sites, there is the option to feature your book for $25.00. I’ve used this site before and they’re pretty reliable as far as posting goes and I’ve made their newsletter more often than some of the other sites.

14. My Book Place

Affiliated with Pretty-Hot, My Book Place will post your books for free. There is also a $25.00 featured book post. Also like Pretty-Hot, My Book Place is reliable when it comes to posting on their site and I’ve seen my book a few times in their email blast, too.

15. Read Write Club

Similar set-up to the previous two sites, you can post your books for free and/or opt for the featured book post for $25.00.

My Marketing Plan

Also in my marketing plan for this sale is a BKKnights post (on Fivver) and boosting a Facebook post for $7. I also plan to do some posting myself in my own newsletter, on my sites, and to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The proceeds from any book sales will go into keeping the momentum going by upping the ante and paying for a few ads to see how many copies in total I can sell.

Do you know of any other sites on which you can post discount books for free? If so, please feel free to share them in the comments of this post.

Bonus sites

I’m still searching for more promotional sites for free. Here is another that I found after I published the above article:

1. Free 99 Books

Though there is no guarantee they will add your book to their newsletter, they do create a page for your book on their site.

 

5 Sites to Promote Your book on a Shoestring Budget

shoestringbudget

graphic from http://edgewatertech.files.wordpress.com/ 2009/03/2955706736_a31585470e.jpg

[Tweet “Calling all indie authors: read 5 Sites to Promote Your Book on a Shoestring Budget”]

When it comes to promoting your book, you have to spend money to make money.

How many of you have been told that?

The first time I heard it, my heart filled with desolation. I live in the real world where disposable income is as rare as the unicorn–in other words, it doesn’t exist. What chance do I have of being successful with my marketing endeavours without the coin to back it?

The answer is: I don’t know. My book is relatively new (just over a month old at the time of my writing this) and it’s really too soon to tell. Nevertheless, I thought I’d share some of the places I’ve found online that allow me to advertise my book for free. Here are the 5 sites that top my list so far.

Indies Unlimited

The vetting process on this site is incredibly helpful. I submitted my novel for their free promotion. About 6 weeks later, the site contacted me with an excellent critique of my book description as well as suggestions on how to improve it. I made the corrections and received a second critique and even more suggestions–all for free! As far as I’m concerned, this site is indie author gold, for that reason alone.

[Tweet “@IndiesUnlimited is indie #author gold! See 5 Sites to Promote Your Book on a Shoestring Budget.”]

Online PR News

This site provides a free place to post and distribute a press release. You have to write the press release yourself, but this is an excellent opportunity to reach people to which you might not otherwise have access.

[Tweet “@PRnews reaches people U otherwise might not. 5 Sites to Promote Your Book on Shoestring Budget”]

New Book Journal

Free author announcements for anything author related. Announce your book release or a book signing…the possibilities are endless.

[Tweet “@R_K_Alan & New Book Journal 4 author related stuff. 5 Sites to Promote UR Book on Shoestring”]

Adventures in Sci Fi Publishing

This website posts a list of new Sci Fi releases each week. I sent an email to the site administrator asking if my book could be included in the next list and he was happy to oblige. This taught me never to be afraid to send a query to anything online I’d like to be a part of. The worst that could happen is my request will either be ignored or rejected. To my surprise, that rarely happens.

[Tweet “@AISFPodcast lists new sci fi releases every week. 5 Sites to Promote UR Book on Shoestring Budget”]

My Book Addiction’s zOctober Event

I read about zOctober on a news feed site I frequent and sent an email and was accepted right away. I am posting a “Mad Lib” style puzzle and a short story on My Book Addiction’s site in October. Great publicity for my book and my brand, all of it absolutely free!

[Tweet “@Toni_BookAddict sponsors #zOctober 5 Ways to Promote Your Book on a Shoestring Budget”]

That’s my list so far, opaline pearls in a sea of seemingly barren oysters.  Do you have any other hidden gems you are willing to share? Post them here and I’ll feature them on my next post with a link to your online pages–another great, free place to publicize!

How to write a book review in 3 easy steps

In today’s uber-wired society, most of us are bloggers. Think about it…you’ve probably already posted something on Twitter (microblogging) or Facebook (slightly longer microblogging). Or maybe you’ve used Tumblr (graphic blogging), Snapchat (also graphic blogging) or even YouTube (video blogging–or vlogging). Most of us have something to say about…well… something.

Most of us are also consumers of some kind of  popular culture, be it books, magazines, games, television or the movies. We watch voraciously. Some of us read that way, too. Most eBook sites invite users to review the books they read in order to generate sales. For us consumers, the people who pay the producers of popular culture, what better way is there than to voice an opinion on our satisfaction with the products we’ve purchased with our hard earned money than to write a review?

It’s not all that hard, really. Just three easy steps to reviewing success.

But if you’re going to review and post your review, you have to do it responsibly. Think of it this way–if you don’t understand a painting you see in the museum you wouldn’t stand in front of the museum with a sign saying “Don’t See This Painting!” Okay, so maybe some of you would. But that doesn’t make it okay. Authors put most of their blood, sweat and tears over the course of months or years into everything they write. That kind of devotion must be respected, no matter what you think about the end product. Just remember that at the receiving end of every review is a flesh and blood person with feelings and you should be okay.

Now, as promised, 3 steps to writing a good book review…

Step 1 – The Retell

Your first paragraph should retell some of the important plot points that lead up to but do not reveal the climax. Introduce main characters and their relationships and why they’re important to the story.

Step 2 – The Analysis

Every novel is written with a social conscience. This is the injustice the author sees in society that he thinks he can draw attention to by writing about it. Academics call this “theme”.

Discuss the theme in your analysis. Think about the voice and tone of the narrator; what about this is unique? Were there any recurring symbols or images and if so, how did they affect your understanding of the theme?

Step 3 – The Reflect

This is where you make connections with your understanding of the world around you. How does the novel relate to anything else you’ve ever heard or seen or read?

Lastly, discuss what you thought of the book, but before you do, try to figure out why you really liked or disliked the piece. Rather than say “The point of view is awful,” try to find a reason why you hated it so much. Maybe you didn’t like the idea of a male protagonist. Maybe  you are used to first person narratives and you just don’t get the second person viewpoint. Try to remember that this is your interpretation based on your life and reading experience and not about a major flaw in the author’s storytelling ability.

End your post with a call to action. Ask what others think in general or about a specific aspect of the work and invite them to leave a message with their opinion. Don’t forget to answer everyone kind enough to post.

What did you think?

Was this article helpful? Drop me a line letting me know why or why not. Feel free to post your book review here for feedback.

Review of Mount Pleasant by Don Gillmor

I first heard about Mount Pleasant by Don Gillmor on CBC Radio One. The reviewer said he couldn’t read the novel in public because he was embarrassed by the laugh-out-loud moments. I could use a good laugh, I thought to myself, and went home, downloaded and read the preview, and liked it enough to buy the ebook. The premise of Mount Pleasant is simple enough—a middle-aged man faces the realization that life is not what he’d expected.

When Harry Salter’s father dies leaving much less by way of inheritance than Harry thought, he hires a forensic accountant to find out what has happened to his father’s money. On the way he has an affair with his father’s younger second wife, learns his own wife had an affair decades earlier, comes to terms with his son’s new girlfriend, and his ailing mother. In his quest, Harry discovers his father was cheated out of his money by colleagues involved in a ponzi investment scheme. Now, in addition to the fact that he’s barely staying financially afloat, he must pay the forensic accountant for his services and convince his wife to sell the house in order to ease their financial burden. He must also come to grips with a sense of his own mortality after a colonoscopy yields a number of polyps.

Mount Pleasant—named after the cemetery in which Harry’s father is buried—is beautifully written. It is funny in a way, but the tone is more dark and ironic than laugh-out-loud funny.  The novel paints a detailed picture of Harry and his disenfranchisement from both his family and society. Though he teaches and still has contact with youth, there is the sense that the world has passed Harry by, and Harry doesn’t quite know what to make of it. While reading the novel, White Noise by Don DeLillo came to mind as both Gillmor and DeLillo write about coming to terms with a changing, postmodern society. In White Noise, fear of the future comes in the form of airborne toxins and invisible technological miasma. In Mount Pleasant, it is in the form of growing old alone (both literally and figuratively), and finding oneself unable to maintain accustomed lifestyles in a rapidly approaching retirement.

Mount Pleasant is worth the read. Gillmor’s prose is literary, his descriptions—whether on point or on tangent—superb. Gillmor’s storytelling is even paced, though anti-climactic. Mount Pleasant is a slice-of-life parable with which many aging baby boomers will identify.

About the Author

Elise Abram, English teacher and former archaeologist, has been writing for as long as she can remember, but it wasn’t until she was asked to teach Writer’s Craft in 2001 that she began to write seriously. Her first novel, THE GUARDIAN was partially published as a Twitter novel a few summers back (and may be accessed at @RKLOGYprof). Nearly ten years after its inception Abram decided it was time to stop shopping around with traditional publication houses and publish PHASE SHIFT on her own.

Download PHASE SHIFT for the price of a tweet. Visit http://www.eliseabram.com, click on the button, tweet or Facebook about my novel and download it for FREE!

Graphic from: http://www.dongillmor.ca/

The Writing Life

Publishing online is not easy. There are a lot of questions that continue to frustrate me. Why, if I’m a Canadian writing a book that takes place in Canada, is my Kindle book listed on Amazon.com but not on on Amazon.ca? Where do I send people to order my CreateSpace publish-on-demand novel? Why, since CreateSpace and Amazon are essentially the same company, does Amazon not offer the print version of my book?  Why does CreateSpace require an EIN number (American Employee Identification Number), while other services do not? Why does the iBookstore require I have a Mac computer before I can upload an eBook, yet I can distribute it at the iBookstore via Lulu without one? And how long does it take for it to be published at the iBookstore (and for the “pending” status to be removed)?

And then there are the questions that have nothing to do with the actual publishing, but with the publicity aspect of publishing. Where can I send my press release so that it actually gets published in the print media? What do I post to my blog or web page or Twitter feed or Facebook page, Pintrest, Google+, etc. that will make people take notice? How many social media outlets are too many to which to subscribe? How many online eBook publishers? What is a good price point at which to set my eBook? My paperback?

The learning curve for this experience has definitely skyrocketed, and it continues to soar with each new day. It’s been almost a week and I still haven’t lost my sales virginity yet. I’m hoping to get all of the kinks out this time around and make any mistakes I’m going to make now so that the process will be smooth sailing for the next time.