The Iron Butterfly Series (Chanda Hahn)

So as my few followers know, I don't actually post about other books very often, but I have a point to make about this book.

I read +Chanda Hahn 's Iron Butterfly book in the 9th grade with my very good friend. I loved it, but I got so busy with life that I never continued reading the trilogy. My friend, however, he did. He read it and very highly recommended the second book. (He didn't know the third was finished until I found it and told him.) This week I've been dealing with quite a few things on my plate that have really been emotionally detrimental. And, if you ask my mom, she'll actually tell you it's been longer than this week. But one day in math while I was bored, (come on, who really enjoys math?? Not me.) I opened my kindle app on my phone and started re-reading the Iron Butterfly book. I exasperated some friends because for the next day or so, that was all I would do. "What are you doing?" Oh, just reading this AMAZING book. Anyway, after I finished the first, I finally, three years later, bought the second book. And finished that within a day and found the third one and bought it.

These books follow a young woman named Thalia and her adventure. She meets many friends . . . feels the whip of many betrayals . . . and is such an easily relatable character for me. If you look at my copy of the first book I have so many highlights for what I connected to my freshman year. Most of them still held true. I felt like Thalia is a girl who will be hurt again and again, but she finally finds how she's supposed to live without relying on really anyone but herself. Yes, she does lean on some people throughout the trilogy, but she finds strength within herself to live again and again. There are many parallels in this story with my life, and not only with the characters. Yes, I have my own Joss, my own frustratingly perfect Kael, my tough on the outside Bearen, and even the confusing Syrani. But I also have the painful memories of my own Septori, and to go to an extreme, I have my own painful Iron Butterfly that changes me whenever I encounter it.

I have read many fantastic books, but Hahn has written one of the most amazing in my humble opinion. I wholly encourage you to check it out. Read more here about the book and where to find it. Don't just stop with the first one, even though it is absolutely amazing. To get the full effect, you must read on.

Hey guys!!

Super terrible at my blog. That'll be my next goal:  get better at the blog. If you ever have questions, Facebook is always updated.

In two days, I've written  11,581 words in my book. That is 17 single spaced pages. At the end of the first draft I had 68,412 words 120 pages. Right now I'm about 80% done and have 84,086 words and 139 pages. I love all of the changes and all of the additions I've made. My favorite part is learning more about my characters.

Problems

Alright, I'll start out with the good news. Revealing the Unknown will be coming out this April. It's all ready.

Now the bad news. I need help. Should I restart book three, or just continue what I have??  This is a very hard decision for me. Help ?

Been a While

Hey everybody !! It's been quite a while since I've posted. Lots has happened and I'm still writing ! The sequel to Beyond the Unknown should be being published in April. ( see above for more info ) I'm still working on My World of Glass and I really love it!! Thanks for all your support!

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!

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!

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!

November First

So, once again my edits are not completed. With the amount of work I am being told I need to do with this book, my goal of December publishing will not be happening. I'm sorry for yet another delay, but the completed product will be absolutely wonderful. I hope. We'll make it work.

Keep telling your friends about me and let's try to find all the support we can get. I'll continue to keep you all posted.

~Rose Winters

P.S. find me at my Google + page.

Hey there! Countdown begins!

So, first round of edits aren't done yet (the deadline is November 1st) but that's soon!! And then I'll try to only take a week so that the next round can begin. Three more weeks after that gets us the second round of edits. I'll take three days on that, and then I'll publish! That puts us somewhere around December 10, 2013!! It's getting close! And in the mean time, I'll spend November writing book 3. Depending on demand for the second book within the first little bit will determine when I will get the second one taken care of.

The other reason I am posting today, is that I am completely shocked by the amounts of page views I've gotten and from where they've been!

 I highlighted a few of the things that impress me the most. The amounts of page views in the US is really cool, but hasn't changed much lately. In Russia alone, there have been eleven! Australia, Chile, two very strange places for my page to pop up. I'm super excited! Keep telling people about this and we'll see what happens when I actually get published!!

Thanks for all of the awesome support.

Rose Winters

Final Dates!!

Alright, so, word is that the first round of edits will be finished on November first of this year...so three weeks...I'm super excited. My goal is to go through it in a week, maybe two, (because I'm a nerdy teenager who has no more life than school and work and writing) and then I will send it back to my editor (Amazing Shanna Tull) and she said she's going to try to take three more weeks editing it. Which means...*DRUM ROLL PLEASE* I can be published BEFORE CHRISTMAS!!!

With that being said, Next month is Nanowrimo (NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth). 30 days of absolute madness. 30 days of nonstop attempt of writing Beyond the Unknown 3. I already have this book outlined. I'm just waiting for those 720 hours of pure insanity. I hope to be hearing from you all soon. Can't wait to get this book out on the shelves! (Virtual and real...)

Rose Winters

Many, many updates!

Hey guys! Sorry that I haven't been able to post lately. Hectic summer! But I do have some good news for you!

Beyond the Unknown WILL be published before Christmas this year!! I'm so excited and I hope you are too! Here's the cover:

Beyond the Unknown book One!

Also, I am going to open a new tab and start spotlighting an author and/or book each month. I hope it will be fun. Check it out!

Again...Sorry....Postponed

Okay, so, the last update was last week. Because Shanna is amazing, she has told me that she would like to extend how long she has to edit. She said that if I want it to be as good as I can get it - which of course I do - I will need to wait until later. I am unsure to this point when the publishing will be, but if Shanna and Sydney both finish in the middle of the summer, I will try but no promises. My summer is going to be crazy - please keep in mind that I am a teenage girl and need a job. I will be working away from home all summer long so I hope to get some progress before School starts again in the fall. I am sorry to keep pushing back the dates, but I do wish to have a good book everyone can enjoy.

Thanks everyone!
~Rose

P.S. Working on my other series at the moment while this one is taken care of (Plinas) and today, during my write-a-thon, I reached 51,953 words on book four. The most I have ever reached, and I am not yet to 3/4 yet! I just had to share my excitement with all of you.

Beyond the Unknown-Last Days

So, there hasn't been a recent update. I am going to give you one.

May 4th. Shanna has told me that there is about another week and a half until she has finished editing. WEEK AND A HALF! Really getting excited. Sydney is an amazing girl who has so many activities going on. She is on the tennis team and has homework (ew) and many other things going on. I am so grateful that she is still willing to do this for me! She tells me that she has her idea and her supplies, she's just looking for time.

Thanks to all those who keep asking and all of my insane friends who seem to be more excited than me. Can't wait!

~Rose

P.S. If it isn't obvious, May 15th is another if-fy date. My only guaranteed publish date is before June. Thanks for all the patience!

April 10th - THE BIG DAY! ...Or not

So, here's the tenth. The big day. And it cannot happen. My book will not be published today, I am very dearly hoping that I can publish it before school ends because after that I will not be home much (but please still email me if you have comments and/or questions! *QUESTIONS ARE EXTREMELY WELCOME!!*). I will be published this year (2013) no matter what. Thanks again for all my support!

~Rose
P.S. Another -minor- reason for not publishing today, I would need to do a lot of typing to finalize things. And even typing this post is hurting my left wrist. A lot. During the month of April (Camp Nanowrimo for all who are wondering...) I have way over used my hand due to my constant typing of my new book and playing piano and guitar. So for now I will say "¡adiós!" and I will keep sending out updates as they come.

New updates

Today's the big day! My website's going up! Alright, so lots of new information about my book that I haven't been able to put on in a while:
Kyle has decided he is unable to make my cover, so thanks to my best friends Sydney Squires, my art is still progressing. And she is so amazing it will not take that much time. U will upload the pictures when they are done!
Shanna - congrats to her - has gotten married. So my editing has been postponed, but I am hoping that April 10th can be my final day...It will get done before May 15th no matter what!

On the Road!

March 8, 2013

     I am currently working on finishing my final information for my book. I have decided on March 24 for my official publishing date. I am waiting for my cover options from my friend Kyle Mieckelsen, I am waiting for some final editing to be finished so I can revise (Thanks to Shanna Westover for doing those edits) and then I will submit my book for final review. That will take less than the day, and then I  will decide on a price and submit it.
     I will be submitting my book with Amazon Kindle. and with individual bookstores and online retailers. With the Kindles, my book should be able to appear within that day or at most that week. The others will take longer to get my book noticed: 6 to 8 weeks. I will not be able to control which book stores and/or where it is bought.
     Thank you all for being supportive with my writing and offering to help in all ways you can.

  I will use this website to give updates and to give information. Again, Thanks to all those who have and will help me on my way. This is very exciting, but I am just as new to this as many others.

Please check out my books!

~Rose Winters