Detail and action add up to a riveting read—An independent novel review

Gray Retribution, by Alan McDermott

No one writes action like McDermott.

From the first sentence, Gray Retribution delivers that combination of action and detail that few writers can manage. Not only does McDermott put us eye-to-eye with his characters, he gets the little things right, like the types of weapons and the way they all work, and the tactics that makes the difference between experienced soldiers and fighters who die on their first time.

Gray Retribution continues the saga of Tom Gray, the character that McDermott created for his first novel, Gray Justice. The initial trilogy told a complete, if complex saga about an ex-special forces soldier who sets up a private security company. Gray uses his arcane skills to seek tough justice against repeat criminals after his son is accidentally killed by one such repeat offender driving a stolen car, and Gray’s wife kills herself in depression.

The next two books sent Gray literally around the world and finally back to his home in the UK, rehabilitated socially if not fully psychologically. The fourth book, Gray Retribution, finds Gray back in charge of his company, struggling against the usual challenges facing any small business—plus clients nervous about being associated with someone as notorious as Tom Gray.

Once again, McDermott skillfully blends a personal and a global plot. Organized criminals threaten Gray’s new family, while in Africa, his friends and employees are caught in a war zone in Africa with scanty ammunition and supplies and a huge number of refugees to protect.

It’s a testament to the author’s skill at plotting that he manages to drive both plots simultaneously at his trademark breathtaking pace, without straining the readers’ credulity too much. The good guys are all crack shots and almost never make mistakes, but that’s part of the action genre. But I found myself identifying with Tom Gray—not because I am a crack soldier, but because I have found myself in those situations with two priorities clamouring for undivided attention because of huge, looming consequences coming up fast. I really felt for Gray as he tried to protect his family, rescue his friends and keep his business afloat, all at the same time.

McDermott’s attention to detail really brings the action to life. While he is never gratuitous with depicting violence, he doesn’t flinch when it comes to the more gruesome aspects of war. 

It all adds up to a book I could not put down.

I read a preliminary version of the book in manuscript form, and I’m looking forward to the final version sitting on my shelf.

Gray Retribution will be available on Amazon on July 8.

5*

Gray Retribution: You preview it here first!

Like most of the e-reading world, I'm anxious for the release of Alan McDermott's next Tom Gray novel. 

I'm thrilled to be able to say that Amazon is releasing Gray Retribution on July 8, just a few weeks from now. For you legions of Tom Gray fans, it features the characters you've grown to love in the three previous books, like Len Smart and Sonny Baines.

And because Alan is such a good friend and all-round great guy, he's giving Written Words a sneak preview. 

No one writes a firefight like McDermott. 

“Heads up.  We’ve got movement to the north.” 

Simon ‘Sonny’ Baines lay on the roof of the farm building and listened to the approaching band of guerrillas make a beeline for the building. 

Below, Len Smart, Carl Levine and Jeff Campbell took up defensive positions against the low wall that ran around the perimeter of the house.  Their movement was silent in comparison to that of the attacking force, which announced its presence by crashing through the undergrowth like a herd of elephants headed for a waterhole. 

The three men on the ground trained their sights on the tree line that bordered the eastern edge of the smallholding, remaining silent as they waited for the bandits to make an appearance.  The noise grew louder as the attackers approached, then suddenly stopped dead. 

Silence covered the area as the nocturnal orchestra took a time out.  It seemed as if even the animals and insects wanted to watch the action unfold. 

Len Smart slowly wiped a bead of sweat from his brow, careful not to make too quick a movement in case it was seen by the enemy. 

Mosquitoes danced around his head, kept at bay by the insect repellent, but their incessant buzzing told him that he wasn’t in Kansas anymore. 

As if the oppressive humidity wasn’t reminder enough. 

Without warning, muzzle flashes lit up the edge of the forest.  None of the defensive team returned fire, preferring to lull the enemy into advancing out of the trees and into the kill zone.  The small-arms fire continued for a few seconds before petering out, allowing silence to return. 

All remained still for over a minute, then Sonny’s voice came over the comms.  “Got people in the grass at your ten and two.  Looks like they’re trying to flank us.”

Len Smart was on the right of the trio and he saw his target a hundred yards away.  Rather, he saw the top of the three-foot tall grass sway gently as the unseen assailant crawled slowly through it.  Night-vision goggles would have come in handy, but he would have to make do with the sliver of moonlight that cast a dull shine over the African plantation. 

Besides, there were four of them and an estimated enemy strength of around fifty, so in Smart’s mind they easily had the locals outnumbered.
“Got him,” he said, and Levine on the other end of the line confirmed that he also had a bead on his man. 

The AK-47s opened up once more, but the three men continued to save their ammunition and keep their locations hidden.  They spotted a couple of armed men advancing slowly from the trees but held their fire, preferring them to get in a little closer before engaging. 

Sonny watched the scene unfold below him, oblivious to the wraith-like figure scaling the rear wall.  Nwankwo Okeke was clad in an ancient British Army smock and trousers, the disruptive-pattern material a throwback to the late seventies.  His features, like those of the four Englishmen, were obscured by the black and tan camouflage face-paint. 

The exception was that underneath the disguise, his skin was the colour of night, the war paint applied more for effect than concealment. 

The chatter of gunfire from the trees intensified, and the occasional grenade came arcing towards the defences.  They landed pitifully short, but the noise they generated helped to mask Okeke’s approach.  He reached the lip of the roof and peered over.  Sony lay five yards away with his back towards him. Okeke eased himself up on powerful forearms and quietly swung a leg over the edge.  He waited, hand over his holster, but Baines continued to focus on the battle beneath him. 

Okeke eased forward, one hushed step at a time, silently drawing his nine-inch knife from its leather sheath.
Two yards. 

One. 

He fell on Sonny’s back and yanked his head backwards, drawing the blade across his victim’s throat.  With Baines down, Okeke made an animal call that signalled his friends below.  They broke from the cover of the building and raked the trio’s positions with AK-47 fire. 

Smart, Levine and Campbell, all facing the other way, realised too late that they’d fallen for a feint. 

They never stood a chance.

Whew. I need a beer.


Gray Retribution will be available on Amazon UK and Amazon US starting on July 8. You can also visit Alan McDermott's own blog, 

Alan McDermott hails from the UK. His previous novels include the bestsellers Gray Justice, Gray Resurrection and Gray Redemption. 

Cover re-reveal: The Funny Adventures of Little Nani

It’s amazing how much better books can be when they’re under the full control of their authors. For example, here’s a new cover for The Funny Adventures of Little Nani, Cinta Garcia de la Rosa’s first published title.

Cinta released charming collection of interactive stories for children in September 2012. While the cover features a drawing by the book’s illustrator, Almudena Romero, the design uses a template from CreateSpace. “It is OK, but it is not what I wanted for my book,” she says. So Cinta had a new cover, suitable for print, designed by Mark Stone.

“All my Little Nani covers will follow the same format, so they will be easily recognisable for its readers.”

We can’t wait to see the next collection, Cinta!

What is Little Nani about?

Little Nani is a little girl who likes helping people. However, when she helps people the results can be a bit unexpected. Why is that? Little Nani is a witch! Or at least she wants to be a witch. With her magic wand, she tries to cast different spells to help her friends, but she won't be successful all the time.

Follow Little Nani in her funny adventures and meet her extraordinary friends. Funny ostriches, horses that love reading, super-fast turtles, grumpy zombies... Little Nani has lots of friends! You can also draw your own characters!

Little Nani is willing to become a good witch. Will she manage to do it? Who knows? Read the stories and discover what happens next!

About the author

Cinta Garcia de la Rosa is a Spanish writer who has loved the written word since he discovered she was able to read books at age 5. Since then, she has become a bookworm and reads around 100 books every year. She also writes, every day, compulsively, even in the middle of the night. You cannot control when inspiration hits you, can you? She writes in English because she is convinced that in a previous life she was British, so writing in English feels more natural to her than writing in her native language. Yes, she is crazy like that.

Cinta Garcia is the author of “The Funny Adventures of Little Nani”, a collection of short stories for children, and “A Foreigner in London”, a short story published on Smashwords. She is a member of Independent Authors International.



You can get your own copies at:

The Funny Adventures of Little Nani (print) on Createspace: http://www.createspace.com/3914481

E-book: Amazon (US): http://www.amazon.com/Funny-Adventures-Little-Nani-ebook/dp/B009YMBXJW/ref=tag_dpp_lp_edpp_ttl_in

Amazon (UK): http://www.amazon.co.uk/Funny-Adventures-Little-Nani-ebook/dp/B009YMBXJW/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

A Foriegner in London (e-book) at Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/298936

MEDIA LINKS:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/CintaGarciaRosa

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cinta-Garc%C3%ADa-de-la-Rosa-Author/333755993341596

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6470058.Cinta_Garc_a_de_la_Rosa

Amazon Author: http://www.amazon.com/Cinta-Garc%C3%ADa-de-la-Rosa/e/B009LHYYSM

Smashwords Author: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Austenite78

Website: http://www.cintagarciadelarosa.com/

Independent Authors International author

Blogs: Cinta's Corner http://cintascorner.wordpress.com/
I Can't Stop Reading http://icantstopreadingblog.com/ //

Indie Authors You Want to Read http://authorsyouwanttoread.wordpress.com/

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/CintaGarciaRosa/

Tumblr: http://www.tumblr.com/blog/cintascorner

About.me: http://about.me/cintagarcia

Authorsdb: http://authorsdb.com/authors-directory/1034-cinta-garcia-de-la-rosa

Askdavid.com: http://askdavid.com/reviews/book/children-book/3237

David C. Cassidy's Velvet Rain: an independent novel review

What if you could go back in time and correct your mistakes? Would you?

What would the price be?

In Velvet Rain, David C. Cassidy answers that question imaginatively, realistically and fearlessly.

The answer, though, is difficult and terrifying.

As a skilled writer, Cassidy brings the answer out through the story. He begins with fictitious headlines that we know cannot be true, like Buddy Holly surviving that plane crash or Hitler being tried for war crimes. He then gets right into the story, answering a universal question with a particular story — the mark of the artist.


Kain Richards is a wanderer, a drifter with the strange ability to move back in time, which he uses to hustle pool.


Richards, though, is running from something or someone. He avoids even the most temporary relationships, because he must never be tied down.


Naturally, his heart breaks his rule, and he falls for Lynn Bishop, a single mom with two teenagers, Lee-Anne and Ryan. She’s estranged from her husband, the town drunk and iconic wife-beater, Ray. Her situation and family history cause a tangle of problems that are symbolic of far too many families in the world today. But Cassidy doesn’t preach: he remains focused on the story he’s telling.


Kain’s problems and pain become entangled with Lynn’s, but this never feels forced or artificial. If you can believe in Kain’s strange time-shifting abilities, then the rest of the story falls into place as naturally as rain. And the story reveals the pain and horror that are the price of Kain’s powers.


Cassidy’s story contains a great deal of pain, but the author also captures the simple, quiet joy and pleasure of a simple life, the humour and love of a county fair, an honest day’s work, of the connection between a man and a woman, between youth and maturity. The writing style is descriptive, but never heavy-handed, and it never drags.


And he delivers on the implied promise. What is the cost of the power to change the past? The new present you have created, because no matter what you do, everything has consequences.

5 stars.

You can find Velvet Rain as an e-book from Amazon, or in paper format through Amazon or through the author's own website.

American Goddesses: a high-octane superhero story for grown-ups

Independent book review: American Goddesses

By Gary Henry

Gary Henry’s American Goddesses is a book that’s a lot of fun to read, and you can tell the author had a lot of fun writing it.

The premise of American Goddesses is this: what would happen to a marriage if the wife suddenly developed super-powers? One answer: super-powered lovemaking.

Megan Harris is a slim, 40-year-old book editor from the Midwest who develops super-powers after an experimental medical treatment. She has super-strength, the ability to fly and can win a football game single-handed against the defensive sides of two professional teams.

While the love-making may be super, her husband, John, feels emasculated by his wife’s awesome power. His insecurity drives him into the arms of another woman. Of course, there’s no hiding infidelity when your wife has super-powers. Megan deals with the other woman, has it out with her husband, and then ... has her way with him.

That was fun, but Henry knows that there’s much more ore in this vein, and he exploits it. What follows is a high-energy superhero story that doesn’t let the reader go.

Author Gary Henry

A skilled writer, Henry reveals the back story as the readers need it in the course of telling the tale. That makes for a much more entertaining read than having to wade through long info-dumps that explain how the current situation came about.

One refreshing aspect of this super-hero story is that almost everyone is a believable character, people like those we’ve all met. Megan, as mentioned, is a book editor. I’ve met a number of those in my time, and I have been one, too. Trish, another woman who gained her powers at the same time as Megan, is a waitress.

The villains, Maunov and Melnikov, have depth, history and deep, powerful feelings. You have to disagree with them, but you can also understand them. And the crazy baddie, Skinner, made my skin crawl — partly because in him I recognized traits I had seen in reality.

The only flaw is that some of the later characters, brought in near the end, are a little stereotypical, almost right out of central casting. Henry could have put a little more reality into this part.

Summary: if you’re looking for entertainment in your reading, but want your fantasy written for grown-ups, turn to Gary Henry’s American Goddesses.

You can find Gary Henry's American Goddesses on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, the Diesel e-bookstory and Smashwords.

Visit Gary Henry's Honest Indie Book Reviews blog.
Follow Gary Henry on Twitter @LiteraryGary.

Independent book review: The Funny Adventures of Little Nani

The Funny Adventures of Little Nani

By Cinta Garcia de la Rosa

Cinta Garcia de la Rosa remembers what it means to be a child.  Her book, The Funny Adventures of Little Nani, proves this not only through entertaining and hilariously preposterous stories, but by engaging children in the creative process of her book.

Little Nani is a young girl with an irresistible and irrepressible positive outlook on everything that happens. She derives infectious joy from helping other people — or at least, trying to help.

At some point just before the action of the book begins, Little Nani has ordered a magic wand over the Internet. It arrives, and it has power; but Nani, as a child, does not have the patience to read the instruction manual or go through the online training program. So, she does not learn the spells properly. Thus, the results of her efforts are always a little different from what she intended, or indeed, what the objects of her help ever wanted.

With Little Nani, Garcia demonstrates fine craftsmanship as a writer and a storyteller. Her professionalism as a writer is demonstrated in the care that shows in the prose, and in the fine colour illustrations by Almudena Romero. 

The book comprises 10 stories about Little Nani: turning her friends into ostriches, meeting the world’s fastest turtle, getting a complete set of the novels of Jane Austen for her friend, the horse.

Where Garcia goes beyond what most writers do is firmly rooted in her understanding of children. What do children want to do when they read, watch or hear a story they like? They want to create more of it, of course. Garcia gives them the opportunity to participate in the creation of the Little Nani legend: every chapter has at least one spot where the author invites the reader to draw their own illustrations of the events of the story.

The only criticism I can offer is that it could have used one more edit. Garcia’s choice of prepositions is odd in some places. It may be a European thing, because it’s never wrong or illogical — it’s just not quite the choice of someone whose first language is English. But I cannot fault Garcia for that.

To sum up, kudos to Cinta Garcia de la Rosa for creating a wonderful children’s book that not only entertains, but also engages the audience in telling the story.

Disclaimer: Cinta Garcia de la Rose, like me, is a member of Independent Authors International, a cooperative organization of writers unaffiliated with any major commercial publisher.

Find The Funny Adventures of Little Nani on Amazon
Visit Cinta Garcia de la Rosa's blog. 

Writing style: Interview with author Gary Henry

In my continuing quest to define the essence of writing style, I have asked a good author-friend, Gary Henry, for his thoughts.

Gary Henry

Gary’s novel American Goddesses crosses a number of genres. Set in the contemporary American Midwest, it features superheroines and spies, a little sex, a hefty dash of romance and lots of action. Combining these genres takes — well, a lot of style.

In addition, Gary has published a collection of short stories titled What Happened to Jory and Other Dark Departures, and The Moon Poem and Other Strange Jingle-Jangles, a collection of poetry. Gary also reviews independent novels on his blog, Honest Indie Book Reviews. His Twitter handle is @LiteraryGary.

How would you describe your own writing style?

I like to think of my writing style as “snappy” – using active-voice and vivid verbs to the best of my ability. I try to vary sentence length and incorporate colorful description.

Are there any authors whose style you admire? Do you try to emulate them?

John Steinbeck is my idol, but too far removed from my own skill level for me to attempt to emulate. Probably Robert E. Howard is my biggest influence. I grew up reading his lurid prose – not just “Conan the Barbarian,” but many of the stories he wrote for Weird Tales and other pulps, reprinted in later collections. “Pigeons from Hell” was a particular favorite. Thought it was the scariest thing I ever read, when I happened upon it at 10 years old. Still makes me shudder.

Are there authors whose writing style you dislike?

No one comes to mind. I invariably find something to like in everything I read. The Silmarillion by Tolkien is one book I’ve made repeated unsuccessful attempts to get through. I devoured the Lord of the Rings trilogy at an early age, however.

How important is your writing style to you? Are you happy with your style, or are there aspects of it you try to change during rewriting or editing?

My writing style is an intimate part of who I am. I’m happy with it. I know it’s good and I can technically show why. However, I understand it can still be improved. Going through my work, I still find instances of passive voice, wordiness, lame verbs and other weak areas. Punctuation, especially commas and dashes, is a particular weakness.

Two who have helped me improve my writing during rewrites and editing are Scott Bury and Melissa Foster, both masters of their craft. I’m not the only one they’ve helped, either.

How can readers identify your writing style? Are there particular words or kinds of words that you tend to favour? Sentence structures? Or is it more in the story, the pacing or the characters?

I think it would be difficult to identify me or any author just from an unfamiliar passage of writing. I try, not always successfully, to keep words to one or two syllables. I vary sentence structure and length. I try to vary pacing in the longer works. But these are things many of us attempt.

Do you think your genre imposes certain restrictions on writing style?

If so, I don’t pay attention. That’s why I bill my first novel, American Goddesses, as a “sexy superheroine paranormal romantic sci-fi fantasy thriller.” The story blithely invades the territory of multiple genres, from romance to sci-fi.

I read a few romance novels, actually, to learn the elements: The Merry-Go-Round by Donna Fasano and If We Dare to Dream by Collette Scott. They were good!

Do you think your audience responds to your writing style, consciously or unconsciously?

Hard to say. All the reviews of my novel, short stories and poems have dealt with content — plot and character — rather than writing style. I’m sure readers must respond to writing style on some level. I’ve seen nothing to support that regarding my own writing, however.

How important do you think writing style is to an author's commercial success?

There are as many writing styles as there are writers — perhaps more. There’s no question that a few styles occasionally capture the popular imagination and catapult the books to varying degrees of success. No one knows why those styles of writing hit. My guess is it’s a combination of luck, work and circumstance.

I believe we increase our odds of hitting the popular imagination by taking as many shots as we can. We can increase the odds by trying to improve our writing skills as much as possible.

In the end, there’s just no formula. Why does a demonstrably poorly written novel like Fifty Shades of Gray succeed, while many similar knock-offs, and many more far superior books don’t get off the ground? No one knows.

Trying to achieve success by imitating the style of a successful book is not something I’d recommend, On the other hand — who knows what the beast will find appetizing on any given day, at any given time?

For my part, I’ll just continue to refine my own style until it completely suits one particular beast — me.

Thank you very much, Gary.

What do you think, readers? What elements of style are important to you? Does a writer's style make a difference to your response to a book or other work? Would you buy or recommend an author solely because of his or her style?

Hallowe’en Treat, part 4: Six spooky sentences

The ride of fear



Photo used under Creative Commons from wwarby


It’s the last Sunday before Hallowe’en, and this is the last installment of my Hallowe’en treat to readers of this blog. Don’t worry, I’ll have lots more posts in the future, including more excerpts from various works.

This six-sentence excerpt comes from Part 2 of The Bones of the Earth. Here, Javor is riding with a column of Roman Legionnaires because … well, you’ll just have to read the book for the “because” part.

At any rate, they column is riding two wide along a long, twisting forest path, when suddenly they’re attacked by something they cannot see. Their only hope is to gallop as fast as they can to the end of the path and hope …

Three times, they heard screams; three times, legionnaires at random points in the column fell to the side. But the column dared not break stride and flew along the path. Horses stumbled, but righted themselves. Men gripped their saddle horns and prayed for salvation. Javor heard nothing but thundering hooves and jangling steel, and the amulet was vibrating so hard it felt like it was on fire.

Up ahead, he could see light as the path came to some kind of clearing, but at that moment, something cold and damp clutched around his neck and yanked him from the saddle.

Want to find out what happens to Javor? Click the cover image on the right and get the whole book!

For more great six-sentence samples, visit SixSunday.com. And leave comments on every one that you visit today!

What is writing style? Guest post by Roger Eschbacher

What is writing style? It’s an elusive topic, in many ways.
To help me chase down the essence of writing style, I’ve called upon some author friends for their opinions. First, we have Roger Escbacher, author of Dragonfriend: Leonard the Great, Book 1, a middle-grade/young adult fantasy adventure story set in the court of King Arthur.

Besides Dragonfriend, Roger Eschbacher has also written two children’s books: Road Trip, and Nonsense! He Yelled, both for Dial Books. He is also a professional television animation writer who’s worked for Warner Brothers, Nickelodeon, The Hub, and Cartoon Network. His blog is The Novel Project, and his Twitter handle is @RogerEschbacher.




How would you describe your own writing style?
I would describe my writing style as cinematic. My goal is to describe the action, world and characters in my book in such a way that readers have a movie playing in their head as they read along. I think this comes from two places, the first being that I’m a television animation writer. In animation, one has to fully describe what is happening so that the artists can animate it. Detailed descriptions are required in my “day job.” Second, as a reader I’ve always preferred books written in that style. I love getting lost in the “brain movie” when I’m reading for pleasure. In general, SF/fantasy books tend to be written this way, which is probably why I read this genre almost exclusively.

Are there any authors whose style you admire? Do you try to emulate them?
I admire the writing styles of Neil Gaiman, J.R.R.Tolkien, Douglas Adams, J.K. Rowling, and Rick Riordan, to name a few. All of these folks are quite “cinematic” so I suppose that’s the reason why. Of those four, I’d say Tolkien would be the strongest influence. I love his command of the epic tale so much that I find myself rereading LOTR and The Hobbit every couple of years. Oddly enough, I try not to emulate him too closely for fear of coming off as a low-grade copy of a true master.Are there authors whose writing style you dislike?
Oh, yes.

How important is your writing style to you? Are you happy with your style, or are there aspects of it you try to change during rewriting or editing?
My writing style is very important to me and I am happy with it for the reasons listed above. When I’m editing, I do my best to make the manuscript an exciting and easy read. My goal is to produce a page-turner — something that flows. I want readers to fly through the book and not get knocked off course by speed bumps and, as Elmore Leonard says, “the parts that readers tend to skip.”

How can readers identify your writing style? Are there particular words or kinds of words that you tend to favour? Sentence structures? Or is it more in the story, the pacing or the characters?
For me, it’s all about story, pacing, and characters. Natural-sounding dialogue is important, too. I hope that readers would describe my style as fast-paced and exciting.

Do you think your genre imposes certain restrictions on writing style?
Not really. I tend to write “quest-y” stories and for me that’s liberating in that everyone expects that the hero and his friends will go somewhere, do a lot of stuff along the way, almost get killed but survive and make it home. The challenge is to tell a quest tale in a way that follows the expected rules but also continues to surprise the reader.

Do you think your audience responds to your writing style, consciously or unconsciously?
 Yes, I do. My favorite reader compliment on Dragonfriend was from a kid who said, “I can totally see this as a movie.” I smile every time I think of that.

How important do you think writing style is to an author's commercial success?
 I honestly don’t know the answer to this one.

Thank you very much, Roger.

Readers, let Roger and me know what you think. How important is a writer's style? What do you like? What do you wish authors would stop doing? And does an author's writing style affect your decision to buy or recommend a book?

Progress report: Amazon promotional giveaway event

It’s one day into the first promotional giveaway of my book, The Bones of the Earth, and I’m thrilled with the results. The numbers may not seem huge to some people, but for me, they’re great.

As I mentioned in the post last week, I’m participating in Independent Authors International’s first multi-author, multi-book giveaway through Amazon. Throughout this Labour Day long weekend, seven of us have used our Amazon Kindle Select program free days to give away copies of our e-books.

In total, there have been over 700 downloads of my book in the first 34 hours of the multi-author giveaway event. As I’m writing this, The Bones of the Earth is ranked the number two historical fantasy in Amazon’s Free lists, and number 1 in Amazon UK’s lists!

Strangely, traffic on my blog is not much heavier than normal. Other participants and friends like Cinta Garcia (who guest posted here a few months back) have noticed heavier blog traffic.

So, great results? Compared to my book’s sales since the beginning of the year, this is great! Compared to the big sellers, fair to middling.

Reasons? Perhaps the last long weekend of the summer was not a great choice: there are a lot of other things for people to do, like go to the beach one last time, or get the kids ready for school. Or maybe there are a lot of other giveaways to compete with.

Those are the results so far. I promise to publish further updates for anyone who is thinking of trying this strategy.

ON NOW! The first Independent Authors International Labor Day Free Reads Giveaway!

September 1 – 3:
3 days
7 free authors
7 great books

ALL FREE!

Independent Authors International’s Labor Day Free Reads giveaway is on NOW.

Don't miss your chance to end your summer with spectacular reading!

From September 1 to 3, anyone can download up to seven great titles from seven great, free-thinking independent authors — all for free!

I’m proud to be included in this group. Take a look at what will be available for you this coming weekend:

The Five Fortunes of Fulano — one of the Sketches from the Spanish Mustang, by Benjamin X. Wretlind. From a reviewer: “Mr. Wretlind has penned a tale of such emotional and literary depth that it will haunt the reader long after the last page is turned.”

Cassidy Jones and Vulcan’s Gift — described by a reviewer as “both the Superman 2 and Wrath of Khan to the first book,” Cassidy Jones and the Secret Formula. Both are great, esteem-building reads for the middle-grade and young adult set.

At Road’s End — the first in Zoe Saadia’s literary adventure series set in pre-Columbian America, this book has been reviewed as “a book to have on your MUST READ list.”

American Goddesses — Gary Henry’s paranormal/science-fiction yarn that makes you think, and think again.

Gray Justice — the first in Alan McDermott’s series about ex-commando Tom Gray, a man who doesn’t so much take justice into his own hands and thrust it into all of ours.

Lost — the second installment in Rob Guthrie’s thriller-horror crossover featuring one of the most interesting cops of all, Bobby Mac, and the book that established Guthrie as a truly talented and visionary writer.

And of course, my own offering: The Bones of the Earth — a tale that combines epic fantasy and historical research with a story about a young man who is trying to find his own place in a confusing and often chaotic world.

Don’t miss out. If you’re looking for some great reading material for your e-reader this fall, you could not do better than this mix from thought-provoking, truly independent authors.

To download them for free, simply type the titles into the search field in Amazon. Or watch this space and my Twitter feed for the link to the iAi Labor Day Free Reads landing page.

As if you needed another reason to celebrate a long weekend:
3 days
7 free-thinking writers
7 free books.

 



Who are iAi?

On Monday, I used this blog to announce the launch of a new group of independent authors from around the world, aptly called Independent Authors International, or iAi.

iAi is a cooperative publishing model. The idea is to bring together the skills and resources that a traditional publishing company offers to writers: appraisal of ideas, editing, proofreading, design, formatting for publication and promotion — while leaving control, and revenue, in the hands of the author.

All writers have several skills in addition to writing. Some I know are also skilled in graphic design; some have of necessity become skilled in efficiently formatting manuscripts for e-publication or printing. And some are good at promoting, marketing and selling books.

Books that are reviewed by iAi members, professionally edited (by a member or another professional), professionally designed and manufactured to a high standard, can bear the iAi colophon — a standard of quality.

Members of iAi share their skills, and at the same time, raise the quality, professionalism and credibility of its members work.

I’m proud to be associated with these skilled, talented and professional authors:

Haresh Daswani: Evolution of Insanity

Roger Eschbacher: Dragonfriend: Leonard the Great, Book 1

Will Granger: Anabar’s Run, Anabar Rises, and horror short stories

RS Guthrie: Black Beast, LOST and the newly released Dark Prairies

Gary Henry: American Goddesses, What Happened to Jory and Other Dark Departures, The Moon Poem and Other Strange Jingle Jangles

Alan McDermott: Gray Justice and Gray Resurrection

Zoe Saadia: At Road’s End, The Young Jaguar, The Jaguar Warrior, The Warrior’s Way
Elise Stokes: Cassidy Jones and the Secret Formula, Cassidy Jones and Vulcan’s Gift

Benjamin X. Wretlind: Castles: A Fictional Memoir of a Girl with Scissors, Sketches from the Spanish Mustang



Their names are all linked to their Author pages on the iAi website. If you’re looking for some good e-books to read, you’d have a hard time finding anything better!

Independent Authors International: a new model changes the way books are published

I’m very excited about a new literary venture.

I’ve joined a group of 10 authors from 5 countries who are forging a new cooperative publishing model: Independent Authors International.

The members are all professional writers not affiliated or published by any major imprint. Instead, we are all independent authors who recognize that writers can provide all the services that a major publishing house can offer: editing, proofreading, design, e-book formatting, layout for print books and publicity. We’re sharing these services with each other to raise the quality and the credibility of independent publishing.

The news release explains it all. Then check out the website: iauthorsi.org. And check out the iAi author I'm cross-promoting this month: Haresh Daswani. Followers of this blog know that I found his Evolution of Insanity irresistible, if flawed.

Every month, a different iAi member's book will be featured in that spot on the right-hand side of this blog.

And when you’re hankering for great reads, now you know where to look!

Authors’ cooperative venture changes the publishing world — again

iAi to be a symbol of quality and professionalism in publishing

A group of writers, marketers and designers unaffiliated with publishers have banded together to create their own publishing model, “Independent Authors International (iAi).”

The new organization, whose members hail from across the U.S. and around the world, aims to support and legitimize the independent author movement, and bring new voices to readers throughout the world.

“Recently developed technologies like e-readers and print-on-demand make it now possible for individual writers to publish books without the resources of a large commercial publishing enterprise,” says iAi spokesperson, Scott Bury.

“The iAi co-operative will help professional authors by bringing together the skills and services that a commercial publisher offers, while leaving the authors in control of their work, at a fraction of the cost, and with a much more responsive and personal touch.”

The iAi's goal is to help its members produce quality, professional works recognized by literary agents, publishers, booksellers, and readers. The group is a democratic, cooperative organization controlled by its members.

Membership is granted by invitation of existing members. The group vets prospective members to ensure they meet the professional writing, editing, and marketing standards of the iAi.

To receive the services of the organization, members must contribute their editing, production, or marketing skills to other members.

The iAi currently has 12 authors and publishing professionals from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Israel and the Philippines. The iAi website at http://iauthorsi.org/ has information on the organization's goals and principles, a list of members, books that meet iAi criteria and links to sites where these books can be purchased.

For more information about Independent Authors International or to schedule an interview with one of its members, please contact Scott Bury by email at scott.bury@iAuthorsi.org.