Meet author Starr Z. Davies; while pursuing her Creative Writing degree, Starr gained a reputation as the “Character Assassin” because she had a habit of utterly destroying her characters emotionally and physically.
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Check out STARR’s books below!
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(As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. That means, when you purchase a book using an Amazon link on this site, I earn an affiliate commission. All commission earnings go back into funding my books; editing, cover design, etc.)
When I self-published my first book, I was sure there was an audience for a Greek/English bilingual collection of short stories. There are huge Greek-American communities all across the country and thousands of students young and old trooping off to church for Greek School every week. Surely, I thought, some of them would be interested in quality stories to supplement their language learning! I was sort of right. I sold more books than might be expected for such a niche genre debut from an unknown author, but it wasn’t nearly enough to cover the costs I’d incurred by using a professional translator. I don’t regret it—my Greek definitely isn’t up to that level, and it was worth it for my family in Greece to be able to read my work—but I definitely learned from the experience. When the time came to publish my first novel, I ran a pre-order campaign through Kickstarter to make sure that my audience was at least big enough to cover my publishing costs. To my delight, my Kickstarter was successfully funded, and I was able to publish without putting myself further in the red.
2.Know your weaknesses!
I’ve always prided myself on my ability to learn new things, but it pays to be realistic about what you can and can’t do (like, say, learn Photoshop in less than a month). I’m not saying not to try new things, but definitely don’t put all your eggs in a basket that might break. Do your homework and try out new skills far in advance of when you’ll actually need them so that you can decide what’s worth a little educational investment and what’s not. Once those decisions are made, you can save up for the tasks that will require a professional.
3.Know your strengths!
Conversely, it also pays—or maybe saves—to know what you can do yourself. For instance, I could have done my own line editing for my first book and saved myself a pretty penny. I know some of you are probably gasping or rolling your eyes at my arrogance, but it’s true. I know this not only because I’ve been teaching grammar for close to ten years but because the editor I hired ended up bringing me on to her own staff as an editor just a few months after working on my collection. For my novel, I relied on my own skills and that of my eagle-eyed grammar nerd of a mother, and I have zero regrets (and a lot more money in the bank). I’m definitely not saying you shouldn’t hire an editor. I’m saying you shouldn’t hire an editor just because all those articles and tweets and posts say you aren’t a credible author if you don’t. Similarly, if you’re a trained artist, why shouldn’t you do your own cover art? If you know you’re a damned good designer, why shouldn’t you design your own cover? Of course, in an ideal world an experienced professional is almost always going to be preferable to even a highly skilled amateur, but we don’t live in an ideal world where everyone has the money to hire professionals for everything. Most of us will have to make choices about where we spend our money, and by being realistic about both our weaknesses and our strengths, we can make those choices wisely.
4.Remember that no one can please everyone, but be prepared to grow!
It makes me proud (and relieved) that not a single reviewer has yet tried to diss my writing or editing technique. Many, in fact, make a point of praising the writing itself…which is how I make it through the reviews that critique everything else. Especially hurtful the ones that crap all over my protagonist. Of course I rail internally against those reviews and vent to my CP’s about how a character can’t show any growth if they’re already perfect and how (shocker) teenagers don’t always react like mature adults and how my precious protagonist is UNDER A LOT OF PRESSURE, OKAY?! But then I calm down and remember that, if I’ve done my job, characters are like real people. Just like not everyone is going to like me as a person, not everyone is going to like my characters, and that’s okay. Instead, I pay attention to the reviews that have real critiques to offer. After looking for patterns in reviews across my different books, I have a better understanding of my weaknesses and know what I need to work on in my next book.
5. Come prepared to work, because this sh*t is hard!
Meet Danielle Orsino, author of Birth of Fae: Locked Out of Heaven. Her book delves into the realm of fairies and retells their origins from a completely new perspective.
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Ride on the backs of fire breathing dragons with the Dark Fae and watch the Light Fae play in the shadows of primitive humanity as they build their magical world. Abandoned by their creator, two factions of powerful angels remain on earth after the Great War with Lucifer. They struggle to comprehend their Creator’s plan while their angel wings, a symbol of their angelic lineage, slowly and painfully decay. With no hope of returning to the Shining Kingdom, two groups of angels denounce their angelic lineage and develop into separate factions – the Court of Light, led by Queen Aurora, a former Virtue Angel, and the Court of Dark, ruled by King Jarvok, a former Power Brigade Angel. The two monarchs have opposing views on how to govern their kin, but the one belief they agree on is that human worship equals power.
Birth of the Fae: Locked Out of Heaven is an epic fantasy adventure of heartbreak, rebirth, and hope that examines the bonds of family, friendship, and love. It is a fantastic tale of good vs evil in a beautiful world, where the Light Fae and their potent elemental magick are tested by the raw power of the dragon riding Dark Fae warriors.
This one is huge. When my publisher went under, I wanted to self-publish—but I didn’t want to invest a bunch of money on a book no one wanted to read (a mistake I’d made once already with a bilingual short story collection). So I ran a pre-order campaign on Kickstarter to make sure I at least had enough people interested to cover my publishing costs. I ended up getting nearly twice the amount I was asking for and was able to cover basic publishing costs like an ISBN number, IngramSpark publishing fee, cover design tools, and a month-long NetGalley listing.
A word of warning, however: When you set a goal for a Kickstarter campaign, make sure you factor in the costs of fulfilling rewards. When I set up my campaign, I assumed that most people would want the digital version of my book and that my shipping costs wouldn’t be that bad. I was wrong—nearly everyone wanted a paperback. So instead of $15.00 for each paperback reward, I was really only getting around $3 after printing and shipping. Luckily, I got way more pledges than I expected and was able to cover the costs and meet my profit goal, but it was by a surprisingly slim margin. The bottom line: You’re going to need more money than you think, so don’t be shy about asking for it.
2. Fiverr
Fiverr is a great resource if used (judiciously) to supplement your own work and skills, but it can’t replace them. You can’t pay someone twenty bucks and expect them to pour their heart and soul and creativity into your project. But if you have a solid creative vision and just need someone with the technical skills to make it happen, Fiverr can be a great place to find that someone. My attempt at hiring someone from Fiverr for a full-service cover design was a disaster, but when I tried coming up with my own idea and hiring someone to clean up my sketch and render it digitally, the results were fantastic.
3. Bookbrush
Bookbrush is kind of like Canva but specifically for books. You can make some pretty cool mockups and ads and download up to fifteen for free. You can also try out the cover design tools, though you’ll have to pay for a subscription in order to download or save covers. I did the subscription version ($99 for the year) and used the artwork I’d commissioned from Fiverr to design a cover I absolutely adore. The only warning I have for this service is that I ended up having to pay someone about $15 (yay Fiverr!) to tweak the formatting to make the print version work for KDP and IngramSpark. To be fair, though, the issues could very well have arisen from my own mistakes. And the e-book cover was a breeze!
4. Reedsy
Formatting a manuscript for print is a NIGHTMARE (I mean, if you’re like me and don’t have professional InDesign skills or the money to pay someone with professional InDesign skills). I have done it successfully using Microsoft Word, but it took forever and the results, though pretty darn good, were still not quite perfect. The only reason I suffered through it was the fact that the book required more customization than Reedsy could offer (poems, stories, two alphabets, oh my). When the time came to publish my novel in all its straightforward formatting glory, I just couldn’t face the thought of wrestling with Word again. What took me weeks (months? It’s all kind of a blur, now) with Word took about three minutes with Reedsy. You just select the trim size and make a few stylistic decisions and voila! It can format your work for digital distribution, too, and delivers both an EPUB and a MOBI version of your e-book. All formats include a note giving credit to Reedsy for the typesetting, of course, but that’s a tiny price to pay, especially when it saves you weeks of work or hundreds of dollars (or both).
5. Books Go Social
To be honest, I do have some reservations and caveats for this recommendation. The service is mostly geared toward marketing books through promotional packages that include four to eight weeks of tweets, with an optional month-long NetGalley listing OR three months of email promotions. I took advantage of a sale and also got a $75 ad budget. Unfortunately, the ads had a minimal impact, but I’m not sure it’s any fault of theirs, necessarily (see Where to Spend Your Advertising Budget by Glenn Miller). At the end of the day, the $90 I spent to was mostly worth it just for the NetGalley listing, as the cheapest option through NetGalley itself is a whopping $450. Be warned, though, that Books Go Social’s execution can be a bit haphazard. If you do go this route, stay on top of them and make sure you give explicit instructions for the timing and content of whatever promotional materials you choose. I think this can be a great tool, but proceed with caution and, as dear Professor Moody would say, CONSTANT VIGILANCE. In the future I will probably give Xpresso Book Tours’ package a try. It’s a bit cheaper at $65 for a month long NetGalley listing, though it comes with a waiting list and no promotional tweets.
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As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. That means, when you purchase a book using an Amazon link on this site, I earn an affiliate commission. All commission earnings go back into funding my books; editing, cover design, etc.
Today I am excited to have had the opportunity to interview KG Fletcher, author of The Nearness of You. As a full-time indie-artist, a particularly thrilling moment was when her Amazon best-selling romance novel, Georgia Pine became a 2019 Maggie Award of Excellence Finalist.
Check out KG’s book below!
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(As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. That means, when you purchase a book using an Amazon link on this site, I earn an affiliate commission. All commission earnings go back into funding my books; editing, cover design, etc.)
The Nearness of You is a breathtaking standalone contemporary romance novel. If you like swoon-worthy magnetism, celebrity situations, and speeding hearts, then you’ll adore KG Fletcher’s unforgettable story.
One of the most fun (and hardest) things about a book design is THE COVER!!! I love working with artists to see what they come up with, but then I always have a hard time picking the cover I love best. Well, I’m getting close with my newest cover design but I haven’t picked just yet.
Today I am excited to have had the opportunity to interview Shayla Raquel, author of The Suicide Tree and Author Branding. She is an expert editor, seasoned writer, and author-centric marketer, Shayla Raquel works one-on-one with authors and business owners every day. A lifelong lover of books, she has edited over 400 books and has launched several Amazon bestsellers for her clients.
Check out Shayla’s bookS below!
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(As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. That means, when you purchase a book using an Amazon link on this site, I earn an affiliate commission. All commission earnings go back into funding my books; editing, cover design, etc.)
Today I am excited to have had the opportunity to interview Georgia Cross, author of The Stepdaughter.
Georgina Cross is the suspense author of The Stepdaughter (September 2020) and Book 2 (January 2021) with Bookouture. And Book 3 with Ballantine, Penguin Random House (late 2021).
She is represented by Rachel Beck with Liza Dawson Associates with her suspense fiction appealing to readers of The Good Girl by Mary Kubica, The Marriage Lie by Kimberly Belle, The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth, and Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty.
Check out Georgina’s bookS below!
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(As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. That means, when you purchase a book using an Amazon link on this site, I earn an affiliate commission. All commission earnings go back into funding my books; editing, cover design, etc.)
Today I am excited to have had the opportunity to interview Shannon Work, author of Now I See You. Now I See You is Shannon’s first novel. She is currently busy writing the second. Book 2 in the Mountain Resort Mystery Series is a murder mystery set in Vail, Colorado.
Check out Shannon’s book below!
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(As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. That means, when you purchase a book using an Amazon link on this site, I earn an affiliate commission. All commission earnings go back into funding my books; editing, cover design, etc.)
Edited by Jeffery Deaver with stories by Jeffery Deaver, Joseph Badal, Linwood Barclay, Rhys Bowen, Heather Graham, Alan Jacobson, Paul Kemprecos, Shannon Kirk, Jon Land, John Lescroart, D.P. Lyle, Kevin O’ Brien, and Hank Phillippi Ryan
The sun sets. The moon takes its place, illuminating the most evil corners of the planet. What twisted fear dwells in that blackness? What legends attach to those of sound mind and make them go crazy in the bright light of day? Only Suspense Magazine knows…
Teaming up with New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver, Suspense Magazine offers up a nail-biting anthology titled: “Nothing Good Happens After Midnight.” This thrilling collection consists of thirteen original short stories representing the genres of suspense/thriller, mystery, sci-fi/fantasy, and more.
Readers’ favorites come together to explore the mystery of midnight. The ‘best of the best’ presenting these memorable tales, include: Joseph Badal, Linwood Barclay, Rhys Bowen, Jeffery Deaver, Heather Graham, Alan Jacobson, Paul Kemprecos, Shannon Kirk, Jon Land, John Lescroart, D. P. Lyle, Kevin O’Brien, and Hank Phillippi Ryan.
Take their hands…walk into their worlds…but be prepared to leave the light on when you’re through. After all, this incredible gathering of authors, who will delight fans of all genres, not only utilized their award-winning imaginations to answer that age-old question of why “Nothing Good Happens After Midnight”—they also made sure to pen stories that will leave you…speechless.
Contents:
INTRODUCTION by Jeffery Deaver
12:01 AM By Alan Jacobson
Cell Phone Intolerant by Kevin O'Brien
All Aboard by Hank Phillippi Ryan
Gone Forever by Joseph Badal
Night Shift by Linwood Barclay
Midnight in the Garden of Death by Heather Graham
The Sixth Decoy by Paul Kemprecos
A Creative Defense by Jeffery Deaver
After Midnight by Rhys Bowen
Easy Peasey by John Lescroart
TONIC by D.P. Lyle
Tonight is the Night by Shannon Kirk
ATM by Jon Land
Review From Publisher’s Weekly:
Most of the 13 all-original tales in this superlative anthology are unified by strange or unpleasant incidences occurring after the stroke of midnight. In contrast, Alan Jacobson’s thrilling “12:01 AM,” about a kidnapper patterning himself after a serial killer on death row, defies the perception that nothing good happens after midnight, as does John Land’s “ATM,” a redemption tale of a young man sent on a series of vague quests to improve people’s lives. Of special distinction are Linwood Barclay’s sublime nail-biter, “Night Shift,” about a newspaperman trying to stop a late-night caller from going on a killing spree, and Kevin O’Brien’s “Cell Phone Intolerant,” a darkly amusing vigilante tale of an anti–cell phone zealot whose crusade to punish inconsiderate people has shocking repercussions. Other standouts include Heather Graham’s disquieting spine-chiller, “Midnight in the Garden of Death,” in which high schoolers spend the night in a cemetery, and Deaver’s supernatural gothic, “A Creative Defense,” which underscores the power of music. This volume is guaranteed to keep readers burning the midnight oil well into the wee hours.
—Peter James, UK #1 Bestselling Author of the Detective Superintendent Roy Grace Series
“NOTHING GOOD HAPPENS AFTER MIDNIGHT is a treat—dark, chilling, and delicious. Grab it.”
—Meg Gardiner, Edgar Award-Winning Author of The Dark Corners of the Night
“NOTHING GOOD HAPPENS AFTER MIDNIGHT proves that the witching hour still has the power to haunt in this suspenseful collection of stories by luminaries in the literary world. Inventive, twisted, and downright chilling, here is an anthology to be savored—well past midnight and into the dead of night.”
—James Rollins, #1 New York Times Bestseller of The Last Odyssey
“This anthology showcases some of the best talent in the thriller genre—or in any genre. Whether quirky or creepy, each story displays the talent and uniqueness of its author. And since all are so good, this collection is a delightful read.”
—Sandra Brown, #1 New York Times Bestseller of Thick as Thieves
“If you like intrigue and suspense, you’ll love this salmagundi of tense tales from some of today’s short story masters. This book is guaranteed to keep you awake until midnight and beyond.”
—Steven James, Bestselling Author of The Bowers Files
“Nothing Good Happens After Midnight is loads of fun. The stories from this lineup of all-star authors are a blast to read, with plenty of neck-snapping twists and heart-stopping thrills that will keep you turning pages way past the title’s witching hour.”
—Boyd Morrison, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author
“Readers rarely get a gift such as this—a superb collection from the giants of mystery and suspense.”
—Robert Dugoni, Bestselling Author of the Tracy Crosswhite Series
“Midnight is the magic switch. Safe becomes dangerous, good becomes evil, quiet turns raucous. When the clock strikes twelve in NOTHING GOOD HAPPENS AFTER MIDNIGHT, a talented crew of writers unleashes a maelstrom of thrills so intense, you will never sleep again. Unputdownable!”
—K.J. Howe, International Bestselling Author of SKYJACK
“NOTHING GOOD HAPPENS AFTER MIDNIGHT is a treasure chest of novelties, curiosities and gems. From Kevin O’Brien’s ‘Cell Phone Intolerant’ to Shannon Kirk’s ‘Tonight is the Night’ and Jon Land’s heartfelt ‘ATM,’ you’ll never step outside at night in quite the same way.”
—Joseph Finder, New York Times Bestselling Author of the Nick Heller Series
Are you interested in a chance to win a $20 Amazon giftcard or a Hardcover Copy of Nothing Good Happens After Midnight (1 winner each)? Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
Nina Soden 