A Trip to the Library

I'm majorly behind on books, I guess that's what having five kids will do to you. Yesterday, I decided to go to the library and see if I could find some of the books on my 'to read' list. Unfortunately, I didn't find a lot. None of the semi-new ones were there, so I had to get even older on my list. This, of course, reminded me why I don't usually bother with the library. They never have what I want. I'd much rather go to the bookstore. But, I'm trying to do my part in the family and save some money.

What did I end up getting? Crank, Maximum Ride School's Out Forever, The Dead and the Gone, and Vampire Academy. See... old.

What did I do yesterday? Read all of Crank. I wasn't sure I'd like the book. I knew I would like the storyline, but I wasn't too sure about the poetry part. When I started reading, the words grabbed me and I was hooked. I found myself frustrated at times trying to figure out which way the page was to be read, but I got through it. I have mixed feelings about the book, but I think that's normal now because I see it from two perspectives - the teen and the mom. I'm not real good at reviews, so I'll just say that I'm glad I read it even though I really don't like how it was written.

I started The Dead and the Gone. I recently read Life As We Knew It, so I know a lot about this book already. We'll see if I like it as much.

After these four books are read, I think it'll be back to the bookstore. I don't think I want to deal much with the library.

Word Count

Word Counts ~ Novel vs Novella ~ YA vs Fiction ~ Word Counts

There are so many sites out there with information on how many words a novel should be or a novella or a young adult book, but what about a young adult novella?

Here's the dilemma - I have a young adult book that is currently 35,000 words. Once I'm finished, it should be closer to 40,000. The story is fine the way it is. I think it flows well. If I have to get it to 40,000-50,000 to be considered a good young adult length, I'll have to add fluff. And well, too much fluff, is just that - FLUFF! I don't want to put a whole bunch of nothing in my book just to get it to the right word count.

What do do? What to do? Does it matter? Does it really matter if a book is a little shorter than normal? Would some of you rather read a book with more fluff just so that it's the proper length? Mmmm... decisions.

Book Promoting and How to Help

In my quest for self e-publishing success, I have had the hardest time with promoting my books. Some of that is because I'm not sure how many teens have access to eReaders or credit cards to buy eBooks. Other reasons include how to promote books online.

Here's what I've done so far.

Joined many communities or forums to talk about writing, reading, and publishing. These include:

Kindleboards

Nookbooks

Mobileread

Bookandreader

Absolutewrite

I joined other sites like:

Goodreads

LibraryThing

Shelfari

I joined tagging groups so people would tag my books with the appropriate words. I made an author's page on Amazon and Authorsden.

I have a Twitter page and a Facebook fan page. And of course, I have my new blog.

Help I need from friends, family, or fans. If you've read the book, leave a review. If you know what the books are about, tag them with the appropriate words. If you have a blog, blog about the book - if you do giveaways on your blog and have a YA audience, I'd love to offer a free copy of my eBook.

Any of you who have an account/shelf at goodreads, librarything, or shelfari, add my books to your shelf, leave a review.

Follow my blog and add it to your blog. Leave comments.

Tell other people - neighbors, friends, teens. Or on your Facebook or Twitter.

Thank you!!!

Does Tagging Work?

In the past couple of days, I have joined a few tagging lists. You put your book on the list to be tagged and reciprocate by tagging other peoples books. Most of the time the tags are already up there, so all you have to do is click on the little boxes next to the words "agreeing" with them. In theory, this is supposed to help people searching for these words find your book and hopefully buy it.

So, my question is does it work?

Before I started tagging, I had a few tags with 2 people agreeing with it. Now, I have about 28 people agreeing with some tags. I'm curious to see if my sales will go up at all in the next few days. Stay tuned for an update!

And let me know your thoughts on tagging - has it worked for you?

Teagan's Story

My second book, Teagan's Story, is live on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Teagan's Story is available as an eBook for $2.99.

Teagan Kavanagh's life is shattered when her parents are killed in a car accident. She must move in with her brother and is forced to attend public school for the first time in her life. As if starting a new school her junior year wasn't hard enough, she continues to battle epilepsy and the constant unknown of when and where her next seizure will occur. As this new chapter in her life opens, she gets more than she bargained for. Torn between playing it safe and risking her life to be normal, Teagan must make a life changing decision.

Charli

Although I began Teagan's Story many years ago, when my friend found on me on Facebook recently, I found out her daughter had epilepsy. I immediately thought of my book and decided that I wanted to dedicate it to her.

So, Teagan's Story is dedicated to Charli. Please join her cause on Facebook and help us find a cure for epilepsy.

Charli's Cause

Happenings!!!

There is a lot going on this week! I uploaded Teagan's Story to Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Both should be live in a day or two. I made a Twitter page. And I joined a place called Authorsden.com. I'm trying to promote my books. Hopefully, by the end of the week, I'll have two books for sale.

My third book is coming along pretty well. I have a friend reading it now for a first opinion. Then the fun starts. Reading, editing, redoing, reading, editing, redoing... repeat again and again.

Ideas are flowing in my head about another book, but I haven't decided which one to go with yet.

I also started this blog. I took out all my old blog posts from my personal blogs and posted them here. So, now I'll have a writing blog and a personal blog.