YA Indie Carnival: The Reader who Saved the von Strassenbergs

Filter was originally published first on Smashwords and then on Amazon in August of 2010. After a few months of floundering in the sea of self-published ebooks, I was convinced writing was not for me. My book was not meant to be successful. I was not meant to write. So Filter was yanked and I went back to doing my homework and trying to imagine myself in a regular 9-5. 
In early 2011, with graduation looming, it occurred to me that Filter should get another chance. So it went up for sale again and I launched an aggressive marketing campaign....without any financial backing for ads or such. Still sales were slow but better than they had been. Reviews slowly rolled in. 
Months went by and I had sold fewer than fifty books.
I was ready to throw the towel in again. 
One night, after a particularly lackluster review which misrepresented Filter, I raged against the whole idea of me being a writer. Well....a novelist. I would have to stick to journalism. In a fit of tears and prayers I swore the existence of Filter and any subsequent books would all hinge on the next review. If it was bad. I would give up writing. 
A few hours later, two five star reviews rolled in.
The first was from Dani Snell of Refracted Light Reviews.
It wasn't just that she gave Filter five stars, it was that she actually got it. From her review it was obvious to me that she saw the story as I did...a sweeping, gothic romance heavy with suspense and laced with hints of horror. That was the review that saved me and Filter and that still encourages me to carry on even when times are tough. 
Even more importantly than the review, Dani has become a good friend of mine and she is such a blessing. It is doubtful that without her and Heather and Angie and the others that BlueStocking Girl would ever have gotten started. 
See Dani's review of Filter here: http://refractedlightreviews.com/?p=41

Don't forget! When I reach 100 blog followers some lucky friend will win a signed copy of Filter and some von Strassenberg swag! Follow for a chance to win! (scroll all the way down to see the swag in my Zazzle panel!)


ALL RIGHT! Through the holidays you can download Filter from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, or Smashwords for  99 cents. Times are tough and I want to help spread the Christmas cheer! And, shouts of joy!, Amazon lowered the price of the paperback to match Barnes and Noble! Now it's only $11.11!

MORE YA INDIE CARNIVAL NEWS!!!!

Courtney Cole released her Bloodstone Saga finale, My Tattered Bonds.  It is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Get your scare on at The Paranormal Plumes Haunted Book Tour in Savannah Halloween Weekend! www.theplumessociety.com

For a limited time, Kimberly Kinrade is selling signed copies of her YA paranormal thriller/romance Forbidden Mind. As an All Hallow’s Read bonus, she is also including some awesome gifts with each purchase… including a very special bonus to the first 5 lucky people who place an order. Get a copy for yourself and buy one for a friend in celebration of All Hallow’s Read. For more details, CLICK HERE. 

30% of the royalties of Lexus Luke’s Manitou The Sky People Saga go to the ASPCA.  It is available on Barnes & Noble & Amazon

FOR MORE FAVORITE FAN MOMENTS CHECK OUT THESE OTHER CARNIES

Fisher Amelie (Author of The Understorey)

K. C. Blake (Author of Vampire Rules)

J.L. Bryan (Author of the Paranormals series)

Courtney Cole (Author of The Bloodstone Saga, Princess & Guardian)

Rachel Coles (Author of Diary of a Duct Tape Zombie and other stories)

Laura Elliott (Author of Winnemucca)

T. R. Graves (Author of The Warrior series)

P.J. Hoover (Author of Solstice)

Kimberly Kinrade (Author of Bits of You, Pieces of Me and Forbidden Mind)

Patti Larsen (Author of the short story, Henry and the newly released Run)

Michelle Leighton (Author of the Blood Like Poison series, The Reaping, Wiccan,Caterpillar, and the upcoming Madly series)

Lexus Luke (Author of Manitou and The Sky People Saga)

Amy Maurer Jones (Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy)

Alicia McCalla (Author of the upcoming debut novel Breaking Free)

Cheri Schmidt (Author of the Fateful series and Fair Maiden)

Heather Self (Author & Book Blogger)

Madeline Smoot (Author of Missing)

Dani Snell (You are here. Book Blogger)

Cidney Swanson (Author of Rippler)

Suzy Turner (Author of December Moon and Raven)

Nicole Williams (Author of Eternal Eden and the much anticipated sequel, Fallen Eden)

The Stuff of Nightmares

Something wicked this way comes and it seeps into my brain just before waking. At least it has for the last two nights, actually mornings, just before waking. It almost embarrassing, these nightmares that have begun to plague me. You would think I had been watching horror movies or reading Lovecraft right before falling asleep. But no. I have been reading Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear. Nothing scary about that. The nightmares have been of such a personal nature that they leave me unnerved for several hours after waking. Yesterday was worse, and I won’t even tell you about it. I have considered that perhaps it is the stress I am under. But no, despite some obvious difficulties in our lives right now we have been through much, much worse. The other thought is that perhaps it is focusing on my novel, Filter, that has brought it back. Toward the end, the story does become very dark, the reason I recommend an audience of 16+ for my family saga. If it was my daughter, she wouldn’t be allowed to read it until she was 16. Or, maybe 15, but I digress. It is difficult to think straight when my brain is so tired and confused. I could draw you a map of the neighborhood my dream took place in, it was old and slightly run-down, decorated with old trees with low-hanging branches. It must have been near a river or a powerful fog machine because there was a constant fog. Myself and some unknown person were house-sitting in this creepy, rambling three-story home. And, after a week of being there, we opened a door that we had never stumbled across. That was when the dream took a sharp turn from thriller to horror. And the evil that was behind that door followed me through the rest of the dream. The strange thing was that I wasn’t even in a deep sleep. My son stepped lightly into the room and the sound of his socked feet on the carpet was enough to wake me. Perhaps later I will tell you the rest of the dream but for now it is still too disturbing and I’m not even sure I could articulate the cause behind the terror. So much for sweet dreams.

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Going to Print

It would be really helpful if people leave some more reviews of filter. I've had 200+ downloads on Smashwords and only three at Amazon. It's really disheartening. Everyone wants six or seven months' work for free, which makes me feel as though they don't think my story is worth $2.99. And if they don't think it's worth that as an eBook I'm certainly not putting out the cash to get it printed. No way.
I don't think people realize how important reviews are from a sales standpoint. Before self-publishing I never really thought about it that way. It was just a way to tell other readers what they should and shouldn't spend their money on.
Now I know, for the indie writer customer reviews are paramount.
I'm really tired and bummed and shouldn't be blogging right now.
My husband refuses the idea of us having a baby while we're living at my parents' house. We can't move out of my parents' house because we're trying to pay off certain debt created by a certain loco ex. And in a few months we have to start paying off his school debt. And I only make a few hundred working at the university as a studio tech. It's like being a teenager. But I'm 30 and I've had my own house and I have a husband and three kids.....So, I reckon that when I graduate I will start grad school (masters in journalism and/or social media) and juggle that with having a job, preferably with a newspaper or radio station or tv news station. Which means I won't have time to write book two, which really bums me out.
Ignore the woman behind the screen she's just a shameless self-promoter dealing with a lot of crap right now.

Am I Officially A Novelist?

My sons' open houses were last night.
As it is inevitable that someone there, usually their teachers, will ask,  "What do you do?" I inquired of my son on the way, "So when people ask, do I tell them I'm a novelist? Or do I have to stick with the usual, `I'm finishing up my degree?'"
My nine year-old paused to puzzle over this.

His first reaction was going to be, "Eh, I don't think so."
After all I haven't even made twenty bucks selling novels.
Even though in the 12 days that it's been up 187 people have downloaded the book that took me four months to write. Only three have been willing to pay $2.99 for it at amazon. I bumped the price up to .99 at Smashwords and no one wanted to pay for it despite two very good reviews. I'm beginning to get this feeling that unless you've been blessed enough to rise about the slush pile people don't consider your work worth their money.
That hardly seems fair. I've only sent my book to one agency. And they get thousands of submissions a month and I'm also relying on my marketing skills to pitch my book. I am not a pitchman. I'm also holding out. There's an agency I REALLY want to represent me so I'm willing to take my time. MEANWHILE, I need to make money. I would love to offer it free forever ( it is free here http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/20957 )to teens but there is a practical side to this. And it's a struggle for me. I long for the day when YA girls are reading my stories and falling in love with William and Viktor and are just excited about talking about them as I am. That's my main motivation. But I also long for the days of having my own home (we live with my parents) and being able to fix my stupid broken tooth that hurts so much.
I've worked harder at being a writer than I have ever worked at anything (well, besides being a wife and mom....and I've worked pretty hard and filming and editing.) Sometimes (when the boys and the man are gone) I'll work from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. And my poor body is not any better for it. But this is what I love so it's okay. Just because I don't have an agent and I don't have a big publishing house behind me doesn't mean I'm not a real writer. It doesn't mean that I don't have mad storytelling skillz. It just means that the one literary agency I took a chance on hasn't called back yet, maybe my pitch wasn't good enough. Isn't that ridiculous? To base my storytelling skillz on whether or not some overworked literary agent could assess my overall work through a one page letter? One letter among hundreds and thousands? I'm not good at concise self-promotions. I'm a long-winded kind of gal. Just do me a favor, give the indie writers a chance. We're real writers too.