Wednesday, July 25, 2012

*sigh*

I've spent all night messing around on the internet (hence my blog layout updates). I don't know why I'm stalling with this edit. Sometimes everything just seems so overwhelming. At least I get in a little editing during my breaks at work.

In other news... dang! people are sure taking advantage of a free ebook! :) Over 80 downloads in just over 24 hours. I hope people leave reviews.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Get KM1 for Free (until Aug 1)

Hi everyone!

I've put KM1 up on Smashwords for FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. Of course, this is only for a limited time. I would have done the same with Amazon, but they won't let me.

Cheers and happy reading!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Oh Procrastination!

Man... I'm starting to feel lazy. Basically, I'm procrastinating big time. I come home and spent too much time trying to figure out Twitter, checking out facebook, and Perezhilton.com. This is a sad thing, especially since I'm basically in the last stages of my edit of KILLING MONSTERS. I've edited about 72 pages on my Nook, which is good progress, I suppose. I edit during my break at work and I try to do the same at the gym. This works when I'm on the stationary bike, but it's a little harder on the elliptical. Plus, if there's something more interesting on TV I'm going to watch it. Kinda like how I'm watching Chopped right now. I'm sure that I'll find my rhythm with it soon. There's always an awkward lag time in between stages of editing for me.

In other news, I just finished DESTINED, the final book in the WINGS series by Aprilynne Pike. That series was incredible. It really was. She's the kind of writer that I hope that I am (or could be). The series was really well plotted/conceived/executed. There was no awkward "second book" curse. At the very end of DESTINED, after an author's note, we were given "The Last Word" a letter from one character to another. It kinda blew my mind. It really evoked a lot of emotion. I didn't cry, but my chest felt warm. The letter was heart wrenching. It wasn't a part of the story in the sense that it comes to us in the afterward (basically), but it really is lovely. I would say that it was smart move for her not to end the book with the letter, and not because it paints anything but a "happily ever after" feeling, but because it just wouldn't have worked, in my opinion. Across the series I wasn't as drawn in to the character as I wanted to be, so maybe that's why, or maybe there just wasn't enough of a similar emotion (as the letter) throughout the series. But it's absolutely perfect in the way she introduces it to us. I'm so jealous. Can't wait to read more from her.

Next up on my reading list (after I finish editing KM2 on my Nook): SIZE 12 AND READY TO ROCK (by Meg Cabot) or SHADOW OF NIGHT (by Deborah Harkness). I'm equally excited about both. I need to read more books and watch less TV... but with the Olympics starting soon, that's definitely not going to happen!

Twitter: @tatiana_writes

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Killing Monsters Update

I'm now 35 pages away from my initial edit of KILLING MONSTERS. Yay! I'm still not comfortable with the idea of stating when it will be available as I'm going to have a beta reader go through it, plus I'll be doing a "Nook edit" (which is basically when I put it on my nook and read it again), and I've asked a friend to help me out with the cover. So... still a lot of players involved, still a lot of work to do. My goal for this book is to be free of typos. Fingers crossed... it's very likely that something small will slip through, but I'm taking my time. I need to take my time because with KM1, I rushed it a little.

Sales are still somewhat slow, a few trickle in from day to day. I'm researching ways to maximize my sales. I probably should have offered KM1 as a free ebook, in retrospect. I do plan on offering it free for a few weeks before (and probably during the release) of KM2. I still don't know what price I'm going to put KILLING MONSTERS. Maybe I'll have a better idea after I finish reading the article that I linked above.

Wanna help me out with promotion? If you bought through Amazon, go back to my page and (1) leave a review!!! (please!!!) and (2) agree with the tags (found under Tags Customers Associate with this Product). Add tags if you want. The more people "agree with tags" the more likely the book will be placed in one of the tagged categories. Reviews are the most helpful though--thank you so much to the people who have left them on both amazon.com and amazon.co.uk!

All right... we're heading to the finish line!

As a side note: I just finished reading A STARTER BOYFRIEND. That one (as one of the final books I wrote while posting to FictrionPress) isn't in bad shape--a few typos here and there. I may end up working on it for a few weeks and then uploading it. So, get excited! :)