Free Kindle Books

I recently downloaded a bunch of free kindle books. Kindle books are usually given away free when an author wants to expand their audience, or when they just want to get their work out there. I think giving away kindle books for free is a good way to get reviews and get more people to check out a book, but how do I feel about this as a reader as opposed to a writer? I haven't read a single one of the kindle books that I've downloaded yet. All of them are just sitting there on my kindle app, waiting to be read or at least cracked open. I guess I just feel more willing to read a book that I was willing to pay money for. Not saying that the free books aren't great, a lot of them are, but I feel like if I'm willing to spend money on something I better read it.

What's on my kindle?

I've done a lot of posts where I've shared what's in my to be read pile, but I realized that I've never discussed anything that's on my kindle. Today is the perfect day to change that. I read a lot of self-published books, and a lot of free ones. Some books I download and never get to.

As you can tell, I am a huge fan of HP Mallory. I realize now that I see the pictures that I haven't read many of these books. I guess my to be read list is bigger than I thought.

Book Bloggers

Part of self publishing is promotion. You have to promote yourself. I haven't been doing a lot of that since my book isn't out yet and I'm not sure when it will be. I'm not sure I know how to promote a book that isn't out yet. I haven't even written the blurb for it yet. In some ways writing the blurb is harder than writing the book. I guess because I'm too close to the project. A long time ago I remember reading Rachel Vincent's blog. She said that she didn't write her own blurbs. I was surprised, I'd always thought the author wrote those. I also found out an author doesn't really have much control over their books or how they are marketed after the rights have been sold to a publishing house. Anyway, maybe now is the time to reach out to book bloggers. I know it takes them awhile to sort through their emails and requests, but maybe I should at least start looking at book blogs. I need to find the blogs that review urban fantasy books about werewolves, and other things (I have plans for non-werewolf books too). I wouldn't mind doing some interviews after my book is released, so I need to look at those sites too. If any book bloggers happen to come across this blog and are interested in reviewing my book (no release date so far), please let me know.

Adult vs. Young Adult

For the past few months, I've struggled to find books I find interesting at Barnes and noble. I did read the Better Off Dead books by HP Mallory lately, but they were such a quick read. bought a few books that kindle suggested to me, but none of them interested me. I also tried reading the Veronica Mars novel (I'm a huge Veronica Mars fan), but that lacked the magic of the series (and so did the movie). I could read books like the Mercy Thompson series, which I haven't finished, but I want something new. I don't normally read young adult. I've tried, but a lot of the books I picked up were poorly written. I did read the ya series by Jesi Lea Ryan lately. I loved both books. It made me think that maybe there are some ya books I should give a chance. I remember being intrigued by the book 13 Reasons Why, and more recently an Alice and Wonderland series that I spotted on a ya table at Barnes and Noble. Today I happened to walk past the book section of walmart. There was a book To All The Boys I've Loved. It's not the type of book I normally read, but I picked it up and read the back. I quickly cracked it open, intrigued by the premise (it made me think of my past relationships and the things I would have said in letters if I knew they weren't going to read them). I was shocked. It didn't seem like a ya book, or not one like I'd read. I knew there were good ya books, The Outsiders, Smack, Speak, etc., but I thought all modern day ya was like Gossip Girl and twilight. I did enjoy the Jesi Lea Ryan novels, so I might pick up a few more ya books. I haven't seen many new adult books that interest me lately. All the ya books on the market remind me of Wolf Within and it's potential to be a great ya book if I edit the heck out of it.

My thoughts on Amanda Hocking

It's hard to be involved in the self-publishing world without knowing who Amanda Hocking is. She got rich by self publishing young adult books similar to Twilight. I tried to read one of her books, but I couldn't. I think it just wasn't my cup of tea. I don't normally read young adult novels. I remember hearing about her sometime in 2011, when I first started to research self publishing. This was way before I decided to self publish. Her story was one of the reasons that I decided to self publish. Not because I think I could make a fortune doing so, but because I could control my publishing experience. I'm one of those people who likes to experience things for herself, even if I'm not successful. Every now and then I google Amanda Hocking to see what she's up to, and it seems like she's disappeared. No more blog posts, no more twitter remarks. Is she forgetting that her interactions with her fans are what made her so rich and somewhat famous? She got to live her dream because of people she now ignores. Maybe she doesn't have time for all the posting anymore, but she also has an attitude that I don't like toward her publishers. Someone at a publishing house sent her flowers and she dismissed them by saying they were from 'people'. She failed to mention that those people were now busting their butts to promote her stuff. Her old blog posts are mostly about her wanting to get published. She doesn't go into detail about why she decided to self publish. I think Amanda Hocking only made it so far because of her fans. She was able to reach out to the younger crowd and sell them a product they were looking for at the time. Her story is one about her fans more than it is about herself.

About my ebook

I realize that I haven't posted much about what my ebook is actually going to be about. I guess that's because I'm nervous to share. I actually started writing a zombie story, which I plan to finish, just not now. Then I came across a werewolf story I'd started a long time ago. I reread it and noticed that it had a better storyline. Without another thought I started editing it. I'm really pleased with the way it came together, so I decided that it should be the first ebook I release. So what is it about? Well it's not that short story that I linked to the top of my blog. That story was a school project from when my writing was young and immature. I've grown since then. I might go back and edit/complete that story, but if I do that will be my first young adult fiction. Right now I'm putting the finishing touch on a ebook about a werewolf named Anyssa who works for the FBI, her life is turned upside down when her ex-boyfriend is murdered and she's assigned to find the killer. Right now that's all I can say about it, but I am going to try to aim for a release date late this month or early next month. It all depends on how soon I can get a cover.