There’s something about strangers reading my book and liking it that is magical. It’s a dream as an author to write something and have people like it. The entire time I was writing and editing Force of Corruption, I kept saying, “If just one person likes it, I will be happy. I will consider myself successful.” My husband argued that finishing my book made me successful. To me the goal was for a stranger to read my book and like it. Now that more than one stranger has liked my book, I’m so humbled and surprised. Of course, I had lots of hope someone would like it. My self-doubt didn’t let me believe it would happen. Imposter syndrome doesn’t let me believe it’s real, now that it’s happened either. I seem like much less of a mess in person, than I sound like here.
Have you ever had contact with a reader, a stranger, and been surprised by their insights and understanding of your story? I’m starting to have readers express interest in alpha/beta/ARC reading my next book, Force Majeure. I’m so excited about this. My readers are so smart! They have offered the best suggestions and information about the story. Their thoughts are priceless to me. I absolutely love hearing from them. Even the negative stuff. I know that’s weird, but I think some of the negative comments are spot on. Some reviewers have offered suggestions on how to fix the issue they found. I completely disagree with other comments, but I still enjoy hearing them. Sometimes their dislike of it tells me I did it right.
I’ve gotten about eight reviews, only three reported any mistakes in the book. Unbeknownst to my ARC readers, I’m having a secret contest for them. There’s a typo that I found. No one has reported it yet. If someone reports it, they’re getting a prize. I will announce it with the 12/31 reviewer give away I’m having for my reviewers. If you haven’t heard yet, I’m having a drawing for the people who posted a review for Force of Corruption. I will draw one name from everyone who posted a review. They will receive a Book Box. It will contain a signed copy of Force of Corruption, a signed copy of Haunted Hunting Camp, some book merch, and a book store gift card.
One of the good things that have happened on this journey are the friends I’ve made. The people I’ve met and shared information or humor with, have been amazing. One of my new friends, author Louise Glass, has a wonderful paranormal romance book, Dream Lover. Here’s my review of it:
Dream Lover by Louise Glass, is a funny, romantic, story about three friends. Think Sex and The City meets Friends meets Stranger Things. (There is a paranormal edge as well.) It has everything you could want in a romance. Plenty of spice, plenty of humor, plenty of romance, plenty mysterious other-worldly events…
Ali finds herself having psychic premonitions. Looking for knowledge, she meets the love of her life, you might say her dream lover. When Lizzie gives up on men, she meets another loser. Or maybe he is not what he seems? Suzanne gave up on love a while ago. Focusing on her career helps her ignore her lack of a love life. Even though she has given up on love, she hasn’t given up men. Thankfully, the worst night of her life puts her back on the path towards love.
These women have a wonderful friendship and as their lives twist and turn, they don’t let anything come between them. Even dreaming about a lover, every, single, night, won’t change their minds. When premonitions and ghosts become as much a part of their lives as their nutty pets, these women just keep on going.
I laughed out loud more than once. I cried, twice. I smiled with joy multiple times. The paranormal portions of the story are nothing short of fascinating. The author is obviously well versed in paranormal topics, she must have done years of research. Louise Glass describes everything so vividly I felt like I was right there with the characters. The scenery is beautifully portrayed, her knowledge of décor, fashion, and New York City, lends an authenticity to the story. I could picture everything so well; I think it would make a great movie!
I heard the author is hard at work on the next book. I can’t wait to read it!
I’m starting work on my podcast/YouTube recording of me reading stories. I played around with my new headset and it’s really nice. It does a great job of cancelling out background noise. My son recommended them, they are gamer headphones. (Razer is the brand) They are supposed to be great for podcasts. I’m also using Spotify as my podcast platform. It’s very user friendly and in my practice round, I discovered I can add music to the background of my recording. I really need that. Have you heard that old saying, “She has a face for radio?” I definitely have a face for radio, but the voice not so much. I hope it doesn’t torture listeners. My family is not known for having pleasant vocal ability. When we were kids, my brother and I would sing the hymns in church. I remember the people in front of us turning around with looks of shock on their faces when we would belt out the lyrics. My kids used to beg me not to sing in the car. There’ve been many signs that my voice sucks. Hopefully that won’t keep people from listening to me read. I promise not to sing! I will keep you posted on my progress with this project.
I mentioned above that I’m having a contest for reviewers who find a specific typo. I have about four reported errors in my book. I’ve never read a book that didn’t have at least one error. Even professional authors like Stephen King always have at least one. I wonder if they do it on purpose to see if anyone finds it. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the errors yet. If I have a chance to fix them, I absolutely will do that. But I’m pretty sure that’s going to involve a new round of formatting. I want to be smart about it if I decide to go ahead with fixing errors and reformatting. If I do that, I think I may also add some reviews to my cover. I’m also considering adding a character to get those extra 5k words to meet the criteria of my accidentally found local publisher. You may remember hearing about Four Horsemen Publishing in a previous blog.
That is a lot of decisions and a lot of money to redo so many things. I’m enjoying having no real deadlines hanging over my head right now. I am slowly finishing Force Majeure. I am trying to finish before the end of the year, but I’m not holding myself to a hard and fast deadline. I’m not sure if my editor is still available to edit my future books. Her life has gotten very busy. I'll find someone else if not, but it will be difficult. She’s awesome and will be impossible to replace.
I haven’t had any sales on my website yet. If I do have sales on there, I’m not sure how I will know about it. I think I’ll be notified by email, but I haven’t tested that out. Note to self!
I’ve joined a few new websites and groups, I’m always experimenting. I joined StickerMule, it’s a site to design and make stickers to gift and sell. I’ve been using Sticky Brand so far, and I’m pretty happy with the results. They have a special offer almost every week. I think I got 50 stickers for $19 the first round. I just ordered the same design with a hologram effect. I think it’s 100 stickers for $39. I also joined Draft2Digital. I haven’t checked it out fully yet, but it seems to be a site that helps you format and publish your eBook.
I found out about another misstep I made. I am ordering a paperback copy of Force of Corruption from every store where it’s available. I wanted to compare the product and the timliness, etc. I will be making a video about that. There is a difference between the distributors. Anyway, I tried to order through Kobo. Turns out they only have ebooks as far as I can tell. I uploaded my book twice, in two different formats I thought. Epub and pdf, I priced them separately and uploaded the descriptions. I truly believed I had uploaded a paperback copy. Apparently not. I had to go back and delete what I thought was the paperback. I don’t know how I did that. I’m going to call it a medication or lack of sleep glitch.
I got my first review on Bookbub. I didn’t even know it was there. I finally got an email from Bookbub telling me about the review. It’s a really nice 5 star review. My favorite thing about a good review is when I can tell the reader got it. They read my story and understood what I was trying to portray. It’s the best!
As always, thanks for reading, and Merry Christmas!