YA Indie Carnival ~ My Indie Idol

I'm moving in a few days, so I need to keep it simple this week. (Don't worry, wonderful readers, I'm working on Forever while boxing stuff up! I hope to give you a release date very soon.)

One of my indie idols is definitely John Locke. My husband purchased his book “How I sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months!”



I’ve been trying to do what he suggests, and one of those things is get lots of books out. I have three out now, and I have several more in the works. Of course this move isn’t helping my writing schedule much. Anyway, I was delighted when he started following me on Twitter the other day. Maybe many of you don’t know who he is, but for me it was like having a celebrity notice you! On his Twitter account he says, "I'm John Locke, the private investor and crime fiction writer, not the guy on Lost!" Hmm, now you'll know I never watched Lost because I know who John Locke the writer is, and not the guy on Lost.

I recommend his book for writers, and he just posted a great blog post for self-published authors...

“The world makes it hard enough for you to be successful, so you’re not going to see me piling on the negativity! Let others talk about the mountains. I’ll show you where the tunnels are! Others can talk about the raging rivers, I’ll point you toward the bridges! Yes, there are roadblocks in the land of self-publishing, but there are super highways, too.”~ John Locke

To read the whole thing, go here. www.lethalbooks.com

I have been disappointed with my US sales during the summer, but my UK sales have picked up. I don’t understand why. Even so, my sales have been great enough that I’m not going to lower my expectations. Going indie is still one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

I recently joined YA Indie Carnival and I'm really enjoying it. I'm linked in with a bunch of really great people. If you're looking for some entertaining YA reading, please check out any one of these blogs:

The Fuji Mermaid Dani Snell's Refracted Light Reviews
Leopard Girl Patti Larsen Author of The Ghost Boy of MacKenzie House, The Hunted Series and the Hayle Coven Novels.
Fire Breather Courtney Cole Author of Every Last Kiss, Fated, Princess, and Guardian. Also a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles.
The Magician Wren Emerson Author of I Wish and a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles.
Strong Woman Nicole Williams Author of Eternal Eden, and Fallen Eden. She is also a contributing author in the Glassheart Chronicles.
Champion Sword Swallower Fisher Amelie Author of The Understorey, as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles.
Snake Charmer Amy Maurer Jones Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles.
Pretzel Woman Rachel Coles. Geek Mom. Book Reviewer Author of Diary of a Duct Tape Zombie, Whistles, Beergarden, Plagues, Bees of St. John, and Mushrooms.
The Giant T. R. Graves T.R. Graves: Author of Warriors of the Cross.
Woman With A Song That Hypnotizes Cyndi Tefft Author of Between
Jungle Woman P.J. Hoover Author of Solstice, The Emerald Tablet, The Navel of the World, The Necropolis.
Shape Shifter Alicia McCalla Author of the upcoming science-fiction novel Breaking Free
Tarot Card Reader Heather Cashman Author of Perception
Fortune Teller Abbi Glines Author of Breathe, and the upcoming Existence and Vincent Boys
Knife Thrower Cheri Schmidt Author of Fateful, Fractured, Forever, and Fair Maiden
Elephant Trainer Gwenn Wright Author of Filter
Ring-Leader Kimberly Kinrade Author of Bits of You, Pieces of Me and Forbidden Mind
Prestidigitator J.L. Bryan Author of Paranormals series- Jenny Pox. Tommy Nightmare & Alexander Death
Death Defying Darby Darby Karchut Author of Griffin Rising

Welcome again to YA Indie Carnival ~ Interview and Giveaway

Today I had the pleasure of interviewing Dani Snell. She reviews YA books on her cool-looking blog with the equally cool name of Refracted Light. I suggest heading on over to her blog--after you read this interview first!--and clicking on "About Us" to learn about her. You'll discover why she named her blog Refracted Light in question number 5. I personally loved that part....

First the questions:

1.What first draws you to a book you’d like to read, the cover or the description?

I'd have to say probably a combination of both. The covers tend to draw me in, but if the blurb doesn't sound that interesting, I move on. But the opposite can also be true, in that the cover might not seem like anything special, but the blurb will catch a hold of me. I like to think I'm an equal opportunity book lover, and that I'll pick up a book despite it's cover, because when it all comes down to it, it's the blurb that seals the deal.

2.How many books do you, or can you, read at one time?

I cheat on my books horribly. <shhh...don't tell them.> I'll usually have a book going on Kindle, an audiobook I'm listening to, and an actual paper book that I'm reading all at once. I like being in the middle of several different stories at one time, but typically one of those will stand out and I won't be able to put it down. If that happens, I usually finish that one before continuing on with the others.

3.Who was your favorite character from the books you’ve read so far and why?

Oh boy. That's a really tough one. I can't say I have a one & only when it comes to favorite characters, there are so many that I love and for different reasons. But I'll list two....

I loved the title character of Greyfriar from Clay & Susan Griffith's The Greyfriar. I can't fully explain why I loved him because that would ruin the story, and you should definitely pick it up if you haven't read it. But in short, he's a bit of a steampunk superhero who fights to free humans from the vampire menace that plagues them. He's honorable, courageous, committed, selfless and yet also has a wonderfully vulnerable side. He's a character with a lot of depth....and goggles. Which is awesome.

My second character would be Elisa from Rae Carson's upcoming Girl of Fire and Thorns. I just really connected with Elisa's character for many reasons, her self-doubt, her ordinary appearance, her fears, and her hopes. I haven't connected with a character like that in a really long time and Carson does an amazing job of developing Elisa throughout the story and transforming her into this amazing, strong, confident woman. I just loved her journey and she was just a character that really resonated with me.

4.Within YA, what kinds of stories or genres really draw you in?

I mostly read paranormal, fantasy and sci-fi – anything that's “other.” I find when I read, I'm wanting to escape the mundane and the typical human problems that plague us all. I'd rather read about impossible odds and impossible abilities, fantastic lands and amazing and terrifying creatures, unlikely heroes and the age old struggle of good vs. evil. Recently, I've really gotten into Steampunk which is kind of Victorian-era sci-fi that runs on steam and is more mechanical in nature. Typically these worlds feature alternate histories, corsets, dirigibles (say that five times fast) and – of course – goggles. Do I own a pair of leather and brass goggles? No. Do I want to? Absolutely. Would I wear them? All. The. Time.

5.I love the title of your blog, Refracted Light. What inspired it?

Refracted Light. That was first inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's poem Mythopoeia, and I particularly loved this passage:

Man, Sub-creator, the refracted light

through whom is splintered from a single White

to many hues, and endlessly combined

in living shapes that move from mind to mind.

Though all the crannies of the world we filled

with Elves and Goblins, though we dared to build

Gods and their houses out of dark and light,

and sowed the seed of dragons, 'twas our right

(used or misused). The right has not decayed.

We make still by the law in which we're made.

I know that talking about God is not everyone's cup of tea. But I've always loved these lines as they infer God as ultimate Creator and that we as humans, follow in His example using our imaginations to create entire worlds, peoples, creatures, languages, histories and legends. We have been given an amazing gift – the ability to create. We are ourselves refractions of the brightest light and we continue to refract that light – reshape it and redirect it – as we create art in all forms, but specifically in this case, literature. So yeah, short answer: a love of reading inspired it. However, it also does double duty and combines my love of books and photography quite nicely I thought!

Now on to the giveaway! If you missed the Back to The Books giveaway, you have another chance. But I'm only giving away the eBook of Fractured in this one, so if you haven't tried Fateful, I suggest you snatch it up now. Plus, when Forever comes out sometime this month, Fateful will no longer be on sale for 99 cents.

TODAY'S GIVEAWAY: Just comment on a Q & A post ALL DAY TODAY and tweet the carnival [#yaindiecarnival] to win these ebooks from the carnival authors:

Kindle copy of The Understorey by Fisher Amelie
Kindle digitally-signed edition of Winnemucca by Laura A. H. Elliott and a Winnemucca signed Coffee Mug.
Kindle copy of Breathe by Abbi Glines along with an autographed canvas Breathe tote.
Kindle copy of Solstice by PJ Hoover
Kindle copy of Between by Cyndi Tefft
Kindle copy of PineLight by Jillian Peery
Kindle copy of Filter by Gwenn Wright.
Kindle copy of Eternal Eden by Nicole Williams
Kindle copy of Fallen Eden by Nicole Williams
Kindle copy of Soul Quest by Amy Maurer Jones
Kindle copy of Run and Hide by Patti Larsen (YA thrillers, 1 and 2 in a series of 4)
Kindle copy of Fractured by Cheri Schmidt
Kindle copy of Warriors of the Cross by T.R. Graves
Kindle copy of Diary of a Duct Tape Zombie, Bees of St. John, Mushrooms, Whistles, and Beergarden by Rachel Coles

There's a special surprise too. Open to all 13 and over internationally. Winners will be announced September 16. Thanks for helping to celebrate two months together! See you at the carnival next Friday and good luck!

PS: The wonderful Abbi Glines interviewed me. If you'd like to see that check it out here.

Come to the carnival every Friday! (Heh...now I'm craving cotton candy....)

YA Indie Carnival ~ 3 tips for authors...

Welcome to YA Indie Carnival! I'm going to keep this very short and to the point. My three tips for YA Indie Authors are:

1~Keep a schedule so you don’t lose track of time and spend the whole day reading blogs or blogging when you should be writing. Give yourself an hour a day for that kind of stuff, for example. I’m over my limit for today, which is partly why I’m keeping this short. Plus I won’t take up too much of your time either. ;o)

2~Befriend those who love your books. Friends are the most loyal readers!

3~Read these 2 posts by John Locke: (They were both very helpful to me.)

Bad Reviews

AND

Break Some Rules

Danny Snell's Refracted Light Reviews
Patti Larsen Author of The Ghost Boy of MacKenzie House, The Hunted Series and the Hayle Coven Novels.
Courtney Cole Author of Every Last Kiss, Fated, Princess, and Guardian. Also a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles.
Wren Emerson Author of I Wish and a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles.
Nichole A. Williams Author of Eternal Eden, and the upcoming Fallen Eden. She is also participating in the Glassheart Chronicles.
Fisher Amelie Author of The Understorey, as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles.
Laura Elliott Author of Winnemucca and the upcoming 13 on Halloween
Amy Maurer Jones Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy as well as a contributing author in The Glassheart Chronicles.
Rachel Coles. Geek Mom. Book Reviewer Author of Diary of a Duct Tape Zombie, Whistles, Beergarden, Plagues, Bees of St. John, and Mushrooms.
T. R. Graves T.R. Graves: Author of Warriors of the Cross.
Cyndi Tefft Author of Between
P.J. Hoover Author of Solstice, The Emerald Tablet, The Navel of the World, The Necropolis.
Alicia McCalla Author of the upcoming science-fiction novel Breaking Free
Heather Cashman Author of Perception
Abbi Glines Author of Breathe, and the upcoming Existence and Vincent Boys
Cidney Swanson Author of Rippler


And don't forget about my giveaway below!!!