Temporary Poll

Hey everybody! So in light of getting my second book published and working on editing another one of my books, I've been wondering: What makes a good cover? I've never really read books by the covers so I don't know what people are looking for. So I have created a general poll that you can just take a look at right before you leave. It'll be open until my birthday and then I'll close it.


****If you would please, PLEASE, email me and explain your "other" choice that would be great! You can contact me on the right hand side of your screen and the poll is on your left. Thank you so much for your participation!

LABOR DAY SALE!

So, I wanted to give a holiday discount, and I wanted it to apply towards Amazon, but right now I can't. In the process of trying the Amazon, however, Here is the code for $1.50 off of Beyond the Unknown for this weekend:

BLE8CM7F



Just put this into your promo code slot when purchasing my book off of CreateSpace eStore. Thanks everybody!

Publicizing!

So we've finally been able to order posters for my book! The problem is, they're not extremely incredible. Just very simple. And on top of that, I still don't have many people interested in my books. I have had somewhere around 886 views to this site but less than 15 copies of my book. That worries me a lot because I don't know how else to make my book public other than word of mouth. Please share your experience with my website, and if you've read my book then that as well.

Thanks for everything everybody!

Jim Brickman In The Spotlight

Hey guys, this is Kyle Woodruff and if it weren't for him, I wouldn't be here. I owe so much to him and he's trying to get the chance to sing with Jim Brickman who is a singer he really likes. If he wins this competition, Kyle gets to sing at a Christmas concert with Jim and I was hoping you could all lend your support to him and check out his video. :) He helped me get published, now I am going to do my best to help him get on stage. Thanks guys! Love you all!

An Assembly??

Hey everybody. So I have been asked to do an assembly at an elementary school come October time (Thanks mom. You could have NOT bragged to your boss about me being published.) and I have no idea what to do. I think I want to have a PowerPoint presentation about how to outline a story. The principal and reading specialist at the school want me to get the upper grades excited to do the Youth Nanowrimo program that they're going to be doing. So I was going to give them tips on how to get their story going. I was also going to give out outlining packets as "rewards" instead of a signed copy of my book unlike most authors. My book is not a book for 4-6th graders.

I need your advice and help, everybody. Are there any frequently asked questions that need answering? Or whole "How the heck do you do this" things? I just need advice on how to TALK to small children. I'm at a total loss. Help!!

Almost Sequel?

This post has nothing to do with my recently published book Beyond the Unknown. Sorry. I do have a question for my readers that I really do need answered.

I wrote a book in April for "Camp Nanowrimo" called My World of Glass. It's a book I'd been writing since a few days after Christmas 2013 and I finished it a little bit into June. It was long and was pretty amazing if I do say so myself. Anyway, my problem is I want that book to be edited and made even more amazing, but I want to write the same book in a different character's perspective. Is this a good idea? Or should I just go through and do the alternating chapters thing? All I know is that if I did make them two separate books then Dessa's perspective would be book one (that's the book I just finished) and Demetri's POV would be book two. I love Demetri and want him to have his say and I want to write the book in his point of view but I don't know which would be easier or more practical. The book is already relatively long (for books I write, still relatively short compared to the world's standard) and it would probably double in length if I did Demetri's POV. But the thing is, I want to have this book with the same scenes and very little differences, just in a different character's POV. That's not how you do alternating chapters. I'm so confused about it! So I decided to go on and ask my blog readers for their opinions. Should I edit My World of Glass and add in alternating character's chapters and have the same scenes from Demetri's POV, or should I just write a "Part Two" almost sequel? What say you, world?

Barnes and Noble

Hey! Just found a few more places where my book is available. Right now you can get it from Barnes and Noble for a discounted price and to my Australia viewers it is available at Booktopia. I think this is awesome!

I also googled my book and found out that DC comics published some comics called From Beyond the Unknown. It was kind of crazy.

I'm excited for my book to be spreading so much! It's really cool. :) Thanks to all my readers!

Camp Nanowrimo/ 'My World of Glass'

So, this past month I've been participating in a competition called "Camp Nanowrimo". It is the mini-'summer' version of my Nanowrimo competition. In this one you don't get as many prizes, but you can set your own goal so you don't HAVE to write 50,000 words. And you get put into cabins with other people you can talk to. It's a lot of fun and it gets you ready for November.

I've been working on this book called My World of Glass since around Christmas time. One day when I was brushing my teeth the idea literally fell into my head. I could see all of my characters in my head and I heard one of them talking to me. Yes, it may sound schizophrenic, but it has created an awesome story. I love my main guy character (Though you don't learn much about him until near the end sadly) and I wish I could write the story in his point of view. Sadly, I can't. It would give everything away really quickly.

I love the idea of this story, though it is my only book I have written that I have not censored. Meaning there are three cuss words in there so far. Granted that's 3 in 50,402 right now, but that's more than all of my books combined. But they fit in and they are only used sparingly (the first time was referencing a place, the second time was for emphasis, and the third time Demetri actually corrects himself). The story is excellent, if I do say so myself, and the writing is my best quality yet. I absolutely love how it's all come together and the twists it has been taking. It's all amazing.

I have sold a few copies of Beyond the Unknown, so that's been fun, but what I'm disappointed in is how I know each of the purchasers by name. (Alright, one of them my dad knows better because they are coworkers, but still. I know them in a round about way) I was really hoping I could have sold one not to someone in Utah by now. That could have been really cool. Oh well. :) I am enjoying life and I am so lucky to have the support group I have. Thank you all so much!!


~Rose

Available for purchase in Paperback!

Great news! Amazon is now selling my title in paperback copy. When you look it up on amazon you'll have to specify the paperback copy. Either that or click on the paperback version once you come up on the kindle page.

Thanks so much everyone!

Kindle Edition

So, at 1:00 this morning (MST) my kindle book became live, meaning it's available on the following websites:

Amazon (US, UK, FR, BR, ES, CA, IN, IT, JP, DE, AU, and MX)
Createspace (**This is where you can find the paperback copies right now -- more to come on Amazon and Amazon UK**)

One thing I am slightly disappointed about is at this point I cannot figure out how to see how many kindle books I've sold. I know for a fact about 3 of them for sure, but I do not know about the others. I'd love it if my readers would let me know :) Thanks again!!!!!

FINALLY PUBLISHED!

We made it!! I am finally a published author before I have gotten my driver's license.

As of today (April 2, 2014) you can find my book for $8.99 on the createspace.com store website. By tomorrow Beyond the Unknown will be available on Amazon Kindle for $4.99. Within the week the paperback will be available on Amazon for $8.99. In the next 8 weeks my book will be available to schools and library for the same price. So excited!! It'll be amazing. Get the word out!

Here's the final cover :) Thank you all for all of your support! Pass along the word!

Last month. . . Hopefully?

Alright, so, as this update stands, I am currently editing my book with all of the comments my amazing editor has given me. She spent so much time on it for me and I am so grateful and I do not fault her in any way for things that have popped up along the way. I totally understand how crazy life can be. She has given me a lot of great advice and as I have gone through it, I have discovered something pretty amazing. Here is what I posted to my G+ page.

...Before I started getting my book ready for publishing (Beyond the Unknown ...) I had just over 51,000 words within it. [That equals out to a]bout 175 pages. I am currently at that exact word mark that I started at, and I still have [somewhere around a] quarter of the book left to go! Estimated final word count ... is OVER 80,000 words. ...

I'm super excited for it, if you can't tell! However, due to my incredible work load (which is only going to get heavier as school starts to 'wind down' with finals and last term) and the work load I know my editor is going through, I am going to pull a very UN-SMART move, one that I do not suggest to ANYONE. I am going to be publishing my book after this one edit. After I finish editing this book, (I'm hoping and praying it will only take to the end of this week) I will go through it once more (more of a skim over really, to make sure there are no formatting issues or stupid mistakes I missed) and then I will submit it. My goal  is to get my book publish on or very near to April 1st (Yes, I know, April Fools' Day, I'm trying not to make this a joke though) and if I am able to publish early I might just do an early release on Amazon Kindle. We will see though.

So, more on my independent publishing. How this is going to work is I am going to publish my book to Amazon in two forms. One is going to be Amazon Kindle (and it will obviously be cheaper than a paperback copy) and the other form will be the paperback copy. The company I am publishing through (Createspace, which can be found here, if I haven't already posted a link, and you can publish many MANY things through them and NOT JUST BOOKS!!!) will also have the book available in its libraries (which might be a TINY bit cheaper if I get my way) and will also be putting it out through expanded distribution which will get it available to libraries, schools, small book stores, whoever. This might be the more expensive option though because it will be going through many people. And finally, I am going to be putting a few copies into my local bookstore (so those who know me personally are lucky) and I may be doing a book signing with them. Maybe. I have also had the suggestion proposed to send it to Costco and do book signings there. That might be interesting and it would definitely get my name out.

All in all, this is really making me super excited. I have never been this excited for my writing. And here I am! This is going to be awesome.

Have a great night!
Rose

Updates. . . again. Sorry!

Alright, so the awesome news is it seems that the more time in between when I post things, the more of an audience I get. Which is a bitter sweet victory I guess. But it's still amazing!

Alright, so what it's sounding like is my editor and I have had many flaws in communication and due to the overwhelming obstacles on her plate currently, I am going to finish going through her edits and then publish. If my book is not at its fullest potential, oh well. I really am only publishing because I walked in on my dad trying to publish it himself. I never wrote this book expecting it to be the next J.K. Rowling top hit. I wrote it to get through junior high. Seriously. I took quotes, people, experiences from junior high and shoved them into a book and called it good. Lots of people like it though, surprisingly, so we're just going to deal with it.

It's appearing now, though, that here in my hometown everyone wants to know who I am. I have a small book shop that wants me to do a book signing after it's published. That means people out here will see my face. Eek! I guess I don't care. The only reason I have a pen name is to keep my school email clean from obnoxious publisher's emails. I haven't gotten any emails from anyone else so we'll see what happens when I publish. I probably would be using my real name if I wasn't a teenage girl. . . . oh well. Maybe in the future I'll write books with my actual name.

The audience for my books is getting bigger and bigger. I have 5 first draft copies floating around my hometown and the city(s) where my grandparents live. My audience for Beyond the Unknown has gone from my cousin (in fifth grade) all the way up to my 90 year old grandpa. Everyone in between as well. Lots of adults have read it and loved it and even more teenage readers have enjoyed it. I am very confident that as long as no one tries to find a theme or a meaning to my book (GASP! A book written without a purpose) people will enjoy it. Maybe I should copy Mark Twain's idea in "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and give a fair warning about the consequences of finding incorrect things in my book. . .

Anyway, thank you all for being so willing to keep up with this. :) Hope to publish and hear from you all soon!