Christine Amsden's Blog: Christine Amsden Author Blog, page 26

How to Choose a Virtual Tour Service Provider: My Reading Addiction

 

 

 

If there was one thing I learned during this book release it’s that persistence pays off. If you’re looking to put your book on the internet, then there are thousands of bloggers you can reach. A few hundred here, a few hundred there, sooner or later it makes a real impact. That’s what I was thinking when I rehired Reading Addiction Book Tours to do a one-month tour of Cassie Scot in July 2013.

I first hired this company for The Immortality Virus last summer and I have to confess, it didn’t do much at all. I scraped together a handful of sales over the course of the entire month, and that was after drastically (and temporarily) reducing the price to $0.99. But there were a lot of factors working against that tour, especially the fact that it took place more than a year after the release of the book. (Some reviewers were even confused by this fact and listed the release date as June 2012 instead of June 2011.) I thought that I could revive interest in the title because it had recently won awards, but that didn’t seem to be the case. (I should write an article about awards and what they do/don’t do for you sometime.)

Books are made or broken in the first few months after release. 

I’m not saying there’s nothing you can do to sell a book a year later. There is something — release another book. A better book. And do a better job of marketing it. I’ve sold more copies of The Immortality Virus this summer than I did the summer it was released!

There was one other problem with my Reading Addiction Tour of The Immortality Virus — wrong genre wrong audience. The Immortality Virus is pure scifi. I switched course dramatically to write the Cassie Scot series, which is urban fantasy/paranormal, mystery, and romance. I didn’t write it to play the market, but I think I managed to do just that. This is a story the market wants right now, and it is what Reading Addiction Book Tours does best.

If you go to My Reading Addiction’s packages page, you may notice something that struck me as important when I used them last month. Their biggest tours have a caveat:

*Available to Young Adult/New Adult and Paranormal Genres

Since I’ve used their services twice and one of those times I toured a science fiction novel, I feel comfortable saying that this is an important caveat. I got some nice reviews of The Immortality Virus from their bloggers, but I felt like most of them (and their readers) were more into the paranormal, especially with a romantic spin. To this day I’m not sure what the best source for scifi reviews is because I never found it. I happened to write a scifi book that got a lot of  ”I don’t normally read this genre but this was very good” comments. At the time I thought that would mean something to the people reading the reviews, but I’ve lost some of that naivete. I now believe that the people reading the reviews were more likely to go, “Hm. Well, if I’m ever in the mood for something different…” then put it on a to-read list that never gets read. To support that statement, I note that I have more “to reads” for The Immortality Virus on goodreads than I do for Cassie Scot, but far, far more people have bought Cassie Scot.

Price

Reading Addiction Book Tours are low cost. Their biggest tour with 40 stops and plenty of bells and whistles is only $200. I ended up using their standard tour — 20 stops, half reviews, which is $90. Since I was a repeat customer, I got a 10% discount. They have great repeat customer specials, special pricing for publishers touring multiple books, and they often have sales or coupons going on so keep an eye on that. Even without the discounts, though, they are inexpensive.

Value

I believe Reading Addiction is a value if your book is in their blogger’s target reading interest. That is to say paranormal, romance, young adult, or new adult. I do not believe it is a value if you are writing science fiction. I’m not sure about other genres. But for their target genres you will get your book reviewed by engaging, enthusiastic bloggers.

Look and Feel

The only truly negative thing I have to say about Reading Addiction Book Tours is that their banner was blah.

They did make me a nice static page that remains active (click on the banner to see it). They also updated the blogger links so that after a blogger posted my review or spotlight, the link went directly to that post rather than the home page. This was a nice touch. 

Professionalism and Communication

Wonderful! Friendly, responsive, and on their game.

**It is worth noting that Reading Addiction Book Tours does not allow negative reviews during their tour. If a host really does not care for a book (ie would give it less than 3 stars), the host has the option of switching to promo only. They may post the review on their own after the tour is over.

Bottom Line

I recommend a Reading Addiction tour for paranormal, romance, young adult, or new adult book tours. I recommend them as part of a bigger effort, if your budget can handle it.

Secrets and Lies Cover Art Reveal

Ural Akyutz once again provided the cover artwork for this book.

With the cover art in, we can now OFFICIALLY say that the release date for Secrets and Lies is November 15, 2013. The book will be available in ebook, paperback, and if I can manage to get it recorded by then, audiobook. (I’m hoping to announce the release of Cassie Scot #1 in audiobook later this month.)

Book Blurb

Cassie Scot, still stinging from her parents’ betrayal, wants out of the magical world. But it isn’t letting her go. Her family is falling apart and despite everything, it looks like she may be the only one who can save them.

To complicate matters, Cassie owes Evan her life, making it difficult for her to deny him anything he really wants. And he wants her. Sparks fly when they team up to find two girls missing from summer camp, but long-buried secrets may ruin their hopes for happiness. Book 2 in the Cassie Scot Mystery series.

You can read the first few chapters here.

About the Series

These books do not stand alone!!!. I cannot stress this enough. I would love for you to read Secrets and Lies, but if you haven’t read Cassie Scot: ParaNormal Detective, you won’t get it. Give that one a try first and see what you think.

Secrets and Lies is the second book in the Cassie Scot mystery series. Each book in the series is framed by a mystery, hopefully providing a natural stopping point, if not exactly a sense of conclusion. I admit that I wrote each ending hoping the reader would want to come back for more! IMHO, this second volume ends on a steeper cliff than the first. I might have cackled evilly when I first wrote the ending to this book. Tough to remember.

Cassie’s story is four books long, and all of those books have been written. With any luck, the final two books in this series will be available by next summer. Books three and four are called Mind Games and Dreamer respectively.

Spin-off sequels are planned for Cassie’s two best friends, Madison and Kaitlin. I expect to finish writing Madison’s Song soon. Kaitlin’s story is barely at the drawing board so no promises on that one. The reason I’m writing these books is that Madison and Kaitlin got too big and told me that not only was there not enough room for their stories inside Cassie’s, but that their stories really weren’t Cassie’s to tell anyway. I really couldn’t fault their logic.

Those are all the stories I have planned for this series. After that, I’ll go wherever the writing wind takes me.

Secrets and Lies teasers:

There is more romance in this book than in the first.
Cassie will learn something about her mom that she never knew before.
Madison and Kaitlin will both become more important, developing subplots of their own (that will eventually spin off into their own novels).
Angie is not in this book.
Long-time enemies Victor Blackwood (Evan’s father) and Edward Scot (Cassie’s father) will meet face to face in this book. The results may be explosive.
You will learn a bit more about why Victor and Edward hate one another.

Enjoy!

How to Choose a Virtual Tour Service Provider: Innovative Online Book Tours

I made the decision to hire Innovative Online Tours about a month and a half before the release of my latest novel, Cassie Scot: ParaNormal Detective. I had already signed up with Pump Up Your Book but was feeling a bit nervous about the number of reviews I was getting through the bigger tour. Ultimately, I think I was right to feel a little nervous about that, although the PUYB tour did do well for me. (See their review.)

Reviews are critical. Big reviews. Little reviews. Blog reviews. Goodreads reviews. Amazon reviews. Barnes and Noble reviews aren’t bad, although that company has not properly established its potential role in the world of on-line product reviews (much to their detriment, but that’s their bigwigs’ concern, not mine).

What is the #1 reason that people buy books? Because someone recommended it to them. What is the #2 reason people buy books? Because a great many people recommended it to them so they can’t seem to get away from the thing! You want your readers thinking, “All right already! I get the point. I should read this book!”

For that reason, reviews are a huge part of any blog tour. I won’t go so far as to say book tours without reviews aren’t useful, but reviews go one extra step — they aren’t just putting the book in the reader’s face. They’re putting it in the reader’s face with the unbiased addendum, “And this was awesome! You SO need to get this book!” (Doesn’t work so well coming from the author. )

Of course, you have to have written a really good book. And then you have to believe in yourself. I know from experience that these are at least equally difficult tasks.

So on to Innovative Online Tours…

I was worried that I wasn’t getting enough reviews so I started searching specifically for places that would help me distribute my book for review. I wasn’t going to pay directly for reviews. (Oh never do this! It’s a scam and a half. Can you say conflict of interests? I knew you could!) Going through an online tour service to get a book review works because you’re not paying for the review. You’re paying for someone to help you find people who are willing to review the book. The reviewers themselves only get a copy of the book, which is appropriate.

Innovative Online Tours doesn’t even promise good reviews. They warn you right up front that they will not attempt to control what their reviewers say about your book.

Ohhhh, self confidence… don’t fail me now!

Price

Innovative Online Tours are extremely inexpensive. I paid $75 for their 10-stop release-day review blitz. All of their packages are inexpensive, and they seem to specialize in single-day events… blitzes, cover reveals, etc. They do have weeks-long tours for reasonable rates as well, but there is a certain magic that can happen when you flood the Internet all at once. It’s called getting those volatile amazon sales ranks low enough that amazon itself starts plugging for your book.

Value

There’s inexpensive and then there’s cheap. You know what I’m talking about. I consider Innovative Online Tours to be inexpensive. Granted, their tour hosts aren’t the biggest blogging fish on the Internet, but they deliver reviews. On May 15 (release day), I got not 10 but 12 review stops (more on that later) and all reviews went up on amazon.com, swelling my numbers there. Most of them went on goodreads as well. My amazon sales rank bottomed out as dozens of people bought the book on the exact same day. I can’t say it will work as well for anyone else — there is a lot more to a successful book sale recipe than any single tour — but I do believe that for $7.50 per review stop, this is a value.

Look and Feel

My banner is up top and it’s nice if simple. I didn’t expect a lot from the tour banner for $75, to be honest. But if I have one complaint about the company, it’s not the banner so much as the fact that the banner no longer has a home to link to. They have their current banners listed on their front page but only a handful of older tours all listed together on the same page. You do not get a personalized tour page with a list of stops. Since I run my own web page I know how easy and inexpensive a feature this is so I find it disappointing that IO Tours didn’t offer this standard, especially during the tour. Most of the virtual book tour services I have worked with continue to list my tour stops even after it’s all said and done.

Professionalism and Communication

IO Book Tours responded promptly and professionally to every inquiry I made of them. They provided their service as promised and on time. This was one of the smoothest running tours I did with the fewest hiccups. They even went the extra step of allowing 2 extra stops for no additional charge when more reviewers showed an interest in my book.

Bottom Line

I highgly recommend IO Book Tours.

Book Review: Ill WInds

I had trouble getting into this story, but it rallied at the end.

Joanna is on the run when the story unfolds, but the reason why doesn’t come clear until about halfway through. Oh, we get hints, but not the full story. She just talks about the “demon mark” as if a reader new to the series would have any idea what that means or what the implications are. The pacing of this book was a problem. There were a number of early flashbacks that slowed things down without, IMO, delivering true bursts of understanding that would have made that sacrifice worthwhile.

The world came together slowly and in the end I think it may be an interesting place, although my understanding remains tenuous even now. It was apparent from the first that the gin (genies) would be important and they are. I only wish I had understood more about these beings before Joanna came into contact with them so that I could have appreciated what they did, what she did in response, and how/why she broke the rules.

Joanna herself needs development, IMHO. She was a sassy heroine into fast cars but I didn’t get a sense for what motivated her outside of the events directly effecting the plot. She’s not shallow — there’s a lot of history here and I think a lot of thought went into her — but it didn’t come out in this book. Maybe we’ll learn more in the sequels.

The romance was hard to accept. Joanna was a bit too interested in every halfway attractive man she ran across. I didn’t recognize a difference when she ran into the man who (at least in this book) seems to have been the “love” interest. The whole relationship came about a bit too abruptly for me to really feel the love, especially in light of other things that would be spoilerish to mention.

Any one of these issues would have been manageable, but put together I found there wasn’t anything I could sink my teeth into and hold onto. I almost didn’t finish the book, which would have been a shame.

The last chapter was very engaging. The ending was completely unexpected, possibly brilliant, and it may convince me to give the series another try. It definitely won’t be the first series I’ve gotten into that took a little warm up! Fantasy in particular can be tough because the author has to introduce the reader to a whole new world while at the same time keeping the plot moving.

I haven’t decided whether or not to recommend this fantasy series. Give me another book and I’ll let you know!

Rating: 3/5

Title: Ill WInd

Author: Rachel Caine

ISBN: 0451459520

Published December 2003

Review of Pump Up Your Book

 

Pump Up Your Book is usually on the other side of reviews — either giving them, or arranging for others to give them. The company specializes in putting together virtual book tours for authors who want to get some buzz going for their books across the Internet. Today I’m putting them on the hot seat.

Let me start by saying that I plan to rebook with them for the release of Secrets and Lies, the second book in my Cassie Scot series. My overall experience with PUYB has been positive, both personally and more importantly — in terms of success. Cassie Scot wasn’t my first book, it was my third, but it was the first book that sold well. PUYB had a big hand in that.

When you book as many services as I did, it’s hard to isolate the success of any one method over another. Before my tour with PUYB started, I had a publicist get me some early reviews and interviews, and I booked a release-day review blitz with Innovative Online Tours (who will also be getting a positive review from me soon). So when my sales release week shot up and stayed up, which part was PUYB?

I don’t know for sure. I do know that from May 16-July 1, they were the only service providing publicity for my book, and my sales stayed high throughout that time. They got me exposure on some high-traffic sites and they tweeted my stops to their thousands of followers.

Now, let’s break down their services by category:

Price

Please note that I have no control over PUYB packages or pricing and they may change at any time. My commentary is based on current pricing only.

There are many cheaper services out their than PUYB, which starts at $299 for its cheapest package. (That’s top-tier for some providers.) Their platinum tour is currently $899, which I feel is a fair price. I paid more for it for my Cassie Scot campaign and felt it was a bit overpriced. I had tentatively planned to downgrade to a gold tour until I got the new pricing information. Now I will rebook at the platinum level.

Price isn’t just about the dollars and cents, of course. It’s really about value. But I’m sure you’re on a budget so I wanted to bottom-line the price range we’re talking about here.

Value

Speaking of value, is it a value? We’re talking hundreds of dollars, so is it worth it?

Yes.

That’s the short answer. The long answer is this: You can get more stops at lower prices from many other tour service providers, but those tour providers don’t have the access to top-notch blogs that PUYB has. Not every blog stop is created equal. PUYB deals almost exclusively with bloggers who have thousands of followers (hundreds at a minimum). You can visit a hundred blogs with twelve followers and not get the same kind of exposure.

Look and Feel

I thought PUYB came up with a gorgeous banner for me, utilizing my cover art magnificently. I also got a personal tour page with all my information and links to tour stop. Also a rafflecopter for the kindle-fire giveaway.Follow the link. Look. Feel. Decide what you think.

Professionalism

PUYB was always courteous and professional when we communicated. I worked more closely with Tracee, who was friendly and enthusiastic. She was responsive, courteous, and quickly corrected any problems that arose. She worked hard to make sure my tour was a success.

Communication

If I have one complaint about this company it is that communication was sometimes a problem. Early on I’m not sure if e-mails got lost or something, but I didn’t get the information I needed to put together my book trailer until I contacted them and asked when we were going to do it. They said they’d sent the information previously. I learned not to let too many days go by before following up on an e-mail. If they didn’t respond quickly, the message had usually gone astray.

Going back further… PUYB is one of the older service providers out there. They came to my attention years ago when I was putting together my campaign for The Immortality Virus. I didn’t use their services because they never responded to my inquiry e-mail. And actually, I sent two of them. When it came time to promote Cassie Scot I was wary of approaching them again, but I had seen enough positive reviews of the company that I decided to give it a try. This was last summer, and they did get back to me. (Obviously or I wouldn’t have booked the tour.) Communication there still isn’t perfect, so don’t be shy about resending e-mails until you get a response.

Bottom Line

I highly recommend Pump Up Your Book.

How to Hire a Virtual Tour Service

Why should I plan a virtual book tour for my book?

I’ll start with the easiest question to answer… You should plan a virtual book tour for your book because the Internet is how books are sold. Even if people end up going to a brick and mortar store (and most don’t bother), they find out about books online. Readers are on social media. They’re on Goodreads. They visit their favorite review blogs.

In-person appearances have their place, but they tend to be more effective once you’ve developed a name and reputation. Or if you have some kind of expertise that makes you attractive to those seeking public speakers. The most effective in-person events are only peripherally about your book. Book signings, unless you have a following, are more of a direct public appeal to whoever happens to be in the bookstore that day. Maybe you’re a good salesman and you even manage to sell a few copies. I sold an average of six books every time I did a two-hour book signing event during a high-traffic time. The trouble was, each of those sales was stand-alone. It didn’t grow my brand or the book’s brand.

Books are most commonly sold by word of mouth. The key is to get the right words into the right mouths. Random customer in a bookstore may buy your book, but is unlikely to be the person to influence twenty other sales. So who is?

Thanks to the Internet, anyone can review books these days and many of them do. I’m a book reviewer myself, currently in the top 1% of reviewers on Goodreads. I have hundreds of followers so when I recommend a book, I usually see at least a few people clicking “to read.” And it is just as easy as that on sites like Goodreads – that looks good, I’ll list it “to read.” Getting them to actually buy the book is the next step. Often people need to see the same book from several different sources before they take the real plunge.

Big reviewers such as the New York Times and Publisher’s Weekly still have a solid place in the book world, but mainly that place is to establish credibility. With millions of self-published books coming out every year, there are more books released in a day than many will read in a lifetime. The fact that a “big name” reviewer gave a book the time of day lends some legitimacy to it that can definitely help. It helped me a ton to get a Publisher’s Weekly review for Cassie Scot, which is why I proudly quote it on the front page of my website. But Publisher’s Weekly was only the first step. And thanks to a widespread network of reviewers on the Internet, if that step had never come about, it wouldn’t have been game over.

The Internet sells books. Social media sells books. Book bloggers sell books.

So why should you plan a virtual book tour? Because you want to sell books.

Can’t I just plan a tour myself?

I don’t know, can you? You can certainly try. It never hurts to approach bloggers personally, especially if you have any kind of relationship with that blogger.

But let’s face it: You’re a busy author. You’ve got sequels to write, probably a day job to pay the actual bills, and you can’t spend 24 hours a day on the Internet forming personal relationships with everyone who might help you sell your book. And heck, even if you did it might not work. Where’s your “in?” After you’ve done a few tours and have a running list of reviewers who have left glowing reviews or your book, you may be able to do things differently. But for now…

You have to invest something in your book. It is not free to publish a book, whatever you’ve been led to believe. And I’m not just talking to self-published authors here. Traditional publishing advice often quotes the “money flows to the author” line. The advice makes sense to a point. You certainly don’t pay your publisher to publish a book or else you’ve stumbled upon a vanity press. But if you think your publisher is going to handle all the marketing for you while you sit back and write your next book, you’re in for a rude awakening.

However you publish a book, you have to promote it. Bottom line. The biggest monetary advantage you get by going big press is a small (for first-time authors a few thousand dollars) advance that you can reinvest in your marketing campaign.

There are some ways to use time in lieu of money as an investment tool, but personally I think you need both. There isn’t a 1:1 exchange rate between time and money. There are some aspects of marketing that money can’t buy – personal interaction with fans, for instance. And there are some aspects of marketing that time cannot buy – connections to top-tier bloggers, for example. (At least, not unless you’re living in an alternate dimension with more hours in a day than the typical human living in this dimension has available. If you’ve got a TARDIS, this article isn’t for you.)

I’ve spent countless hours on the Internet trying to personally contact bloggers. This was largely how I handled the marketing for my second novel, The Immortality Virus. (Touch of Fate, my first book, was my brick and mortar store lesson.) I sent e-mails to hundreds of bloggers requesting reviews and interviews. I created my own blog and updated it regularly. I got active on social media.

I’ll give the approach this much – it worked better than the brick and mortar store angle. But for every 100 bloggers I contacted directly, maybe 5 got back to me. I worked with a publicist early on to get me 20 reviews and interviews, which helped. If I had been starting from scratch, I’m not sure I would have goten as much response as I did. I have no idea how many hundreds of reviewers I contacted directly. I had a bit of luck on a social networking site called “Book Bloggers” but this site has since been overrun by self-published authors trying to get attention for their work and the real reviewers have gone elsewhere. It’s a predictable pattern, but it makes it difficult for authors trying to get that free publicity. You have to stay ahead of the social media trends. This requires dedication, persistence, and intuition. I can’t tell you which sites to visit. Next month or next year, all the information will be out of date.

So why should you hire a service to help you with a virtual book tour? Because those services have access to bloggers that you don’t have and that no amount of time or effort will get you.

Millions of new books each year. No exaggeration. If you want in that game you’ve got to be a serious player. The good news is that most of those millions of new books, largely put out by self-published authors, aren’t serious at all. That give syou an edge.

How much money are we talking about here?

How much you got? You can spend as much money as you can imagine. You can pay for publicists and advertising as well as virtual tours. You can buy more expensive tours or cheaper tours.

Parting with money is tough and I’m not trying to scam you out of anything. I’ve got nothing invested in you or your money. I’m not running a PR service! I’m telling you that I think if you’re serious, you may want to hire a PR service. Today I’m telling you why. Next week I’m going to start seriously reviewing some of the many virtual tour services I’ve personally done business with. I have no relationship with any of them other than as a customer and I’m planning to write reviews because I see a genuine need for such information. I will be as fair and thorough as possible in my reviews.

Whatever you do, don’t invest more money than you can afford!!!!!

Your family comes first. The odds of you turning a profit on your book, even with the right marketing approach, are extremely slim. You’ll be lucky to break even. So make sure your priorities are straight. Feed your family. Don’t go into debt for this. Don’t mortgage your house. Don’t run up your credit card bill. (Please don’t run up your credit card bill! Talk about an insane fiscal decision.)

If that means you don’t have any money to invest in your book then so be it. This is a business. You have to treat it like a business. If you don’t have the money then you’ve got to figure out how to get it. Historically, the arts have often been supported by wealthy sponsors. These days we call those wealthy sponsors publishers and you can still approach them with your manuscripts. The top publishers even offer advances you can use to invest in your brand.

I’m not suggesting you do that. This article isn’t about traditional vs. self-publishing. I’m just covering bases here and urging you to understand one simple truth: Publishing isn’t free. Someone has to pay for it, whether that person is you or someone else. If you’ve accepted this truth, then you won’t publish a book unless you have the money.

I used a small traditional press without the resources to pay advances, although I do earn generous royalties on every book I sell. (And I don’t pay any up-front publishing costs.) To earn money for my marketing campaigns, I’ve started doing freelance editing work so I don’t have to dip into the family budget to cover my business expenses. That’s just one approach, but it has worked for me. I’ve earned several thousand dollars from my editing work that I have been able to re-invest into marketing, largely in the form of book tours. This is how I can bring you reviews of so many different services.

Next time: A review of Pump Up Your Book

Haven’t I Read This Story Before?

This was supposed to be a review of The Mystery Woman by Amanda Quick, an author who I have enjoyed under all three of her names. (She’s also Jayne Ann Krentz and Jayne Castle.) Then I realized that I’ve read this story before. Oh, not this book — but definitely this story.

It’s a good story, which makes it hard to review the book. Amanda Quick writes Victorian mysteries/romances, lately with a touch of the paranormal. Her mysteries are well conceived, her paranormal element is subtle and well-thought out… her romances are thin of late but then again, she’s more of a mystery writer these days.

But I’ve read it before. When I tried to figure out how to review this book, how to summarize it, I couldn’t separate the details of this mystery from those of a dozen others by the same author.

There comes a time in some authors’ careers when I think they write too many books back to back. It’s a strategy that makes money, so I can’t really blame them. People like Amanda Quick. They see she’s got a new book and they buy it. But I think I can no longer be one of those people. It’s time for me to read a new story and so, with fond memories, I will say good-bye to this author while I seek out new experiences.

Secrets and Lies Delays

I’ve been saying for months that Secrets and Lies, book 2 in the Cassie Scot series, would officially be released on September 15. Well, as you may have noticed, we still don’t have cover art. (That was the bottleneck for book 1 as well.) We’re expecting it soon… any day now in fact, but even if we get it tomorrow it’s too late for a September 15 release. We need 3 months of pre-release to properly promote a book. So odds are that we’re looking at November. December on the outside, but I’m trying to be optimistic.

For those of you who are sick of waiting, you can purchase an ARC (advanced reader copy) from Twilight Times Books. This ARC does not currently have final cover art (it has a temporary cover) and may still contain minor errors. But the story is there for you to read.

The Ebook version of Secrets and Lies will likely be available through Amazon and B&N much earlier than November. I’ll keep you posted — you’ll know almost as soon as I will, I promise!

Characters Welcome: The Curse Giver

Hi, my name is Dora Machado and I’m doing something a little bit unusual but very fun today. I’m interviewing one of the characters of my new fantasy novel, The Curse Giver.

But first, let me tell you a little about the story. The Curse Giver is about Lusielle, an innocent healer who is betrayed and condemned to die for a crime she didn’t commit. She’s on the pyre and about to die, when Bren, the embittered Lord of Laonia, rescues her. He’s not her savior. On the contrary, he is doomed by a mysterious curse and Lusielle’s murder is his only salvation. Stalked by intrigue and confounded by forbidden passion, predator and prey must band together to defeat not only the vile curse obliterating their lives, but also the curse giver who has already conjured their ends.

For my interview today I’ve invited the villain of the story, the curse giver herself, to answer my questions. Please forgive me if I seem a little on edge. The curse giver is very devious and mysterious and I’m not necessarily comfortable having her around. So don’t expect any kindnesses from her and beware: You don’t want to attract the curse giver’s attention.

Let’s begin:

DM: Welcome curse giver. Perhaps we can start with the basics. What should I call you?

CG: Curse giver is fine.

DM: Don’t you have a name?

CG: Why would you want to know my name?

DM: Well, for easy reference, I suppose.

CG: Have you been cursed lately?

DM: Me? No. Don’t look at me like that. Why do you ask?

CG: People who want to know my name usually have an agenda.

DM: What do you mean?

CG: Do you think I’m a fool? There are people who say that one way of defusing a curse is to learn the name of the curse giver.

DM: Is that true?

CG: Like I would tell you.

DM: Well, if it isn’t true, then you shouldn’t have any trouble telling us your name, should you?

CG: You think you know everything, don’t you? Well, you don’t. My given name is Jalenia.

DM: Jalenia, how old are you and where do you live?

CG: I’m ageless, but you know that. As to my lair, I’m not sharing any of that with you. Suffice to say that I travel the land of the Thousand Gods, east and west of the great river Nerpes.

DM: Okay, well, do you want to tell us a little about your occupation?

CG: I make my living casting curses in the human realm. That’s all you need to know.

DM: Curse giver—I mean, Jalenia—I’m curious. Why did you agree to do this interview?

CG: As you know, I don’t do interviews often. More like never. But I was curious about you. After all, you wrote me. You must have some redeeming qualities. Also, I’m looking for work. Who knows? Maybe you or one of your readers needs my services?

DM: Let’s not cast any curses today. Remember? You promised.

CG: I’m just saying, if somebody needs a casting . . . .

DM: How about we talk about the book? Do you feel like I did a fair job portraying your character?

CG: Me? Fairly portrayed? I don’t think so. Creatures like me are never fairly portrayed. We are secretive, devious and mysterious by nature. We don’t like the spotlight. We believe in wickedness over goodness. We enjoy doing evil. We have to cast curses to exist, and yet people fear us because we do our job so well. Face it, villains never get fair press.

DM: So you felt like I was unfair in the way I portrayed you?

CG: I fault you for leaving a couple of situations up to the reader’s interpretation, but overall, I think you did okay. I mean, I like being evil, and you got that part down. Oh, yes, you wrote me devious and powerful, just the way I am. You didn’t make excuses for me. You didn’t make me good, friendly or caring. So what if the readers loathe me?

DM: In the story, why did you curse the Lord of Laonia with such a virulent curse?

CG: Wouldn’t you like to know? I’ll tell you this: The Lord of Laonia’s father did me wrong. He deserved to be cursed. He and his entire line deserved to suffer, all the way to the last of his sons, Bren, whose tragic story you tell in The Curse Giver. He was a fighter, that one. He wasn’t willing to lay down his sword and wait for my curse to kill him like other reasonable men might have done. His sense of duty was as impressive as his endurance.

DM: It almost sounds like you admire the Lord of Laonia.

CG: Admire him? I don’t know about that. I really enjoyed stringing him along. He waged a good fight. You must understand. I relish what I do and I enjoy a worthy opponent every so often. Heroes like Bren are hard to come by in my business. Fear usually neutralizes the cursed. Not Bren. He refused to be neutralized. He made it interesting for me.

DM: Did you ever feel any compassion for him?

CG: Compassion? That’s a joke, right? I don’t feel compassion and I relish suffering. Death is nourishment, craft is breath, work is life, grief is gold. You wrote those words into my dialogue. You ought to know better.

DM: Did you have any positive emotions towards the Lord of Laonia? Did you at any time regret his suffering?

CG: I treasured the man’s hatred for me. Loathing, hatred and revulsion are thrilling, satisfying emotions worth living with and for. I cherished the Lord of Laonia as my enemy because he refused to forget and forgive. He knew that I was dangerous and would always remain so. He was a creature after my own heart and I will forever relish the scent of his scarred soul.

DM: Did you at least feel bad for all the suffering you caused Lusielle?

CG: The remedy mixer had it coming. She thought maybe she was going to be able to defeat me with her potions, to heal the curse from the very man that was trying to kill her in order to save his people from destruction. Little did Lusielle know about how foul and terrible her death would be at the hands of the man she tried to heal. Little did she know about the terrible secret that the Lord of Laonia kept from her until the very end.

DM: What are your virtues?

CG: Virtues? I want nothing to do with virtues. I’ve got none.

DM: Okay, let me rephrase the question. What are your strengths?

CG: I’m powerful, more powerful than any other curse giver that has ever existed. I’ve got potent blood lines, excellent training, and I’ve lived a long time, which means I have the skills and expertise to cast a virulent curse. I can command the elements, travel swiftly through astonishing means, and kill the strongest man with but a twist of my wrist. I’m persistent, oh yes, tenacious like the Goddess herself. And I’m a planner. My curses are impregnable, carefully crafted to address contingencies, anticipate disruptions, and ensure my victims’ demise. Finally, I’m merciless, selfish and wicked beyond redemption. These are the traits that make me the most powerful curse giver in the realms.

DM: What are your weaknesses?

CG: I don’t have weaknesses. I’m the perfect curse giver. Shudder when you hear my name.

DM: Did you fall in love in the book?

CG: Love? Yuck. There’s enough of that from Bren and Lusielle in the story. Those two fought off the forbidden attraction growing between them almost as hard as they fought their enemies and me. I never understood. What did Lusielle see in the bitter, wretched lord fated to die by my hand? Why would she want to heal the very man who was destined to kill her? I mean, what kind of madness fuels that type of compassion? I never did figure all of that out.

DM: So I guess you don’t believe in love?

CG: If you ask me, love is a pretty disgusting ailment. It makes the heart weak and the mind feeble. Lust, on the other hand, is a bit more interesting, something that perhaps I might consider to ease my boredom from time to time.

DM: Are you interested in anyone in particular?

CG: Interested? No. There’s this creature that I had to work closely with there at the end the story, a traveler of the dark realms like myself, a soul chaser who claims the souls of the cursed when I’m done with them. To satisfy a fit of lust, he wouldn’t be bad. But love? Please.

DM: Was there a point in the book when you were afraid that your curse was going to be defeated?

CG: Afraid? Me? Ha. I’ll admit that Lusielle gave me a few surprises along the way. She ended up being stronger, more skilled and resilient than I had anticipated. Perhaps I should have taken care of her early on. Lusielle’s wits turned out to be more impressive than most.

Until he found Lusielle, the Lord of Laonia was all brawn, wrath and desperation, easy to tease, mock and mislead. But together, they tried to defeat my curse. Fools. She gave him hope. Hope is another disgusting emotion, a dangerous delusion. Have I told you how much I relish tearing people’s hopes to shreds? It’s extraordinarily fun. You ought to try it sometime.

DM: Um, no thanks. I think I’ll pass. Moving on. Spoilers aside, did you like the way the story ended?

CG: Some might think the ending curious, but I think that it reflected the true measure of my power and strength. Doomed and damned are the souls of the cursed. Useless are their struggles. I’m the curse giver and you, you will always be my prey.

DM: Do you have any words of wisdom for me, if I decided to write another book with you in it?

CG: Embrace the wickedness within and you will find me; relish it and you will understand me.

DM: Thank you for this interview, curse giver Jalenia. Will we ever see you again?

CG: Perhaps if The Soul Chaser has a story to tell, you will include me in it, for cursed souls rarely live for long and the soul chaser must come.

Dora Machado is the award-winning author of the epic fantasy Stonewiser series and her newest novel, The Curse Giver, available from Twilight Times Books, July 2013. She grew up in the Dominican Republic, where she developed a fascination for writing and a taste for Merengue. After a lifetime of straddling such compelling but different worlds, fantasy is a natural fit to her stories. She lives in Florida with her husband and three very opinionated cats. To learn more about Dora Machado and her novels, visit her website at www.doramachado.com or contact her at Dora@doramachado.com. For a free excerpt of The Curse Giver, visit http://twilighttimesbooks.com/TheCurs....

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Book Review: Redoubt

In my review of Changes, I said this series may have lost me. I recently reread my review and remembered my frustration with the slow pace of this series and in that case the sheer repetitiveness of it. I did pick up the next book in the series (obviously), mostly on the strength of Lackey’s reputation.

I’m going to start by backtracking a bit because when I thought I was reading this book, it turned out I had accidentally picked up book three again and read the first couple of chapters before I realized that it was one I’d already read. That says a lot more about Changes than Redoubt, but mostly because of one important point I feel very strongly about:

Long descriptions of sporting events do not belong in fiction. Wow! They’re boring.

Redoubt was actually a turning point for this series in a good way. I do at least see myself picking up the next book and finishing. This book got going almost halfway through when Mags gets kidnapped and starts to learn a bit about where he came from. After that things got interesting. I’m curious where this is going.

I do wish I knew how many books were planned for this series. There’s a reason I have that information on my website (under “Books -> Cassie Scot series”). I want to know if there’s an end in sight here. If anyone knows, I hope you’ll leave a comment!

Rating 3/5

Title: Redoubt

Author: Mercedes Lackey

ISBN: 0756407451

Published October 2, 2012