To start off, Pieces of Me release day blitz was a total success! I had over 100 people add it to their TBR list and over 150 new likes on Facebook in a week. I'd say that was $30 well spent. It is currently sitting with 11 reviews on Amazon, and the majority of them 4 & 5-star reviews. I'm really excited about that. While there are still mixed reviews, the majority of them tend to stay solely on Goodreads. I offered Pieces of Me free for the first three days after it's release and had 800 people download it. I've been hoping that I will begin to see a few of those reviews, so far only 2-3 have come through on Amazon, but I hope that will increase in the next few weeks.
My Forever was stagnant on Amazon and slowly climbing the ranks in numbers, so I decided to change it over to Kindle Select and also run a free promotion for it for five days. With only two days left, it has been downloaded for free over 600 times. I'd say both of my free promotions were highly successful. I'm not sure what other kinds of numbers authors see when running those, but I am satisfied with how both of mine went.
I haven't been writing at all. I think my mind needed a break to be honest. I've been going at this at 100% for over a year, and I think everyone needs a bit of a break sometimes. Although, I haven't been doing as much writing as I would like, I have began writing a new novel called Hitchhiking Life and I am so excited to begin sharing it with you guys! I already posted an excerpt on my Facebook author page. Check it out here. I am going to be putting that one aside though, because I know my main focus needs to remain on Into the Darkness and then Against All Odds. I began fleshing out the plot holes of ITD and let me tell you they were everywhere! I've never written paranormal or fantasy or even post apocalyptic before, but there is a start to everything right? I need to make sure that it is as tight as can be before I send it out for betas and critiques. I wrote an entirely new prologue in Ike's POV and I'm really excited about it and can't wait for you guys to check it out! I have also began writing Austyn and Avery's story in AAO slowly on Wattpad. If you are interested in following the rough draft as it is created click here.
Being a writer is a full time job. It's even more than that, it's 24 hours a day, round the clock. It is tiring, but I know at the end of the day--it will all be worth it.
I have decided to begin doing a Spotlight Saturday post in which I will highlight an author on both here and my Facebook author page. If you or anyone else you know are interested, please shoot me an email. My first Spotlight Saturday post should be posted on 9/13. Be on the lookout for some hidden gems!
Melissa at the Reader & the Chef was kind enough to review Pieces of Me for me. Check out her 3.5 star review here!
Lisa from a Life Bound by Books was kind enough to do a guest post with me, highlighting Pieces of Me! Check out my fun guest post here.
Serenity at Lovely Reads was awesome enough to review both My Forever and Beautifully Broken! Check out her 4-star My Forever review here. Beautifully Broken earned 5-stars from her, check out the review here. Serenity was also sweet enough to do an interview with me--check out all her questions and my answers here!
Kat from Escape Reality reviewed Pieces of Me as well. Check out her 3-star review here.
I did receive a rather upsetting 2.5-star review on Pieces of Me from Jessica at Tales Between the Pages. Normally, I wouldn't highlight a review that was unfavorable, but there were some things I needed to address regarding her review. One of her criticisms was that she didn't understand why people would choose to graduate high school early. Here in the United States, people choose to graduate early every day. My mother graduated early--I had friends who did the same. I contemplated it myself, but decided to attend my senior year even though I only really had two classes. After graduating, at my school, students were still allowed to attend the prom. You could even ask peers from other schools to attend with you. I'm not sure what it is like in other countries, but these are all normal occurrences. Another discrepancy she had was the fact that Peyton was prescribed over the counter medication for her post traumatic stress disorder. I know in other countries, they may not have over the counter medication for such disorders, but in the United States, they have a drug called Zanaprin. It is said to fight against:
- General Anxiety Disorder
- OCD Disorder
- PTSD Disorder
- Panic & Agoraphobia
- Social Anxiety Disorder
- Bi-Polar Disorder
This is the medication I researched and wrote about in Pieces of Me. It is recommended for quite a few disorders beyond PTSD, but I assure you, I did research this before I included it in the story. The last thing I wanted to shed light on was why Peyton seemed so boy-crazy and quick to lust after the boys who showed her attention. I was always a bigger girl, my entire life. In high school if ANY boy showed me attention, I was instantly interested. Sadly, this does happen and it's unfortunate. It wasn't until I grew up and really understood what I wanted that I could stop putting so much stock into every single guy that showed interest in me. Peyton is a junior in high school, and thus acts as such. Now, there were small issues Jessica pointed out in her review that I had missed and I am very thankful she posted it so that I could quickly fix them and republish Pieces of Me. If you would like to read her review, you can do so here. I appreciate that she reviewed Pieces of Me at all! Even with all of the issues she found.
Check out this awesome teaser my friend Diana made me! What do you guys think about it?
Check out this awesome teaser my friend Diana made me! What do you guys think about it?
There is one last thing I did want to address before signing off on this rather lengthy blog post. If you are an avid blogger, reader, or author you've probably heard about the controversy swirling around Chelsea Cain and probably have mixed feelings like the rest of us. To clear it up, she posted some insensitive comments regarding her fans asking 'boneheaded' questions and basically said they don't pay her bills so they should stop wasting her time. Being an author myself, I understand the importance of being able to separate personal and professional feelings. I do not agree with the way she handled the situation whatsoever and I want to let you all know that I am always here to answer any and all of your questions no matter how mundane they are. Readers are what got me where I am today and they are who will help get me where I desire to be. You guys are my friends, my acquaintances, my cheerleaders. I will always treat you as such. I promise to never take this for granted. I will never take YOU for granted.
Don't forget, if you're not doing something you love--you're not really living.
Now go out and enjoy your Saturday for me, will ya?
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