M. Leighton's Blog, page 32

Like my new digs?

Ooo, pretty!!  Late bloomer that I am, it's taken me this long to discover Hot Bliggity Blog, but I totally love it!  To me, it's the blog background / accessory equivalent of shoes, only ones I won't change as often:)

Anywho, it kind of goes along with my summer-y attitude.  And along with that comes a couple other announcements I'd like to make. 

At one point, I had decided to dedicate this summer to sequels, and in a way I still will.  I have, however, changed my schedule a bit. 

With the writing of Blood Like Poison, I have discovered a love of stories that depart somewhat from my usual dark-and-dramatic tales.  It is for that reason that I have decided to do a different kind of project in between my sequels. 

I began it yesterday and hope to have it published by the end of the month.  How, you may ask?  Well, that's part of the secret.  For now, let's just say that it will open up my work to a very, very large audience and I hope to tell them all a fun tale. And, of course, love will be in the air:)

Once I get closer to finishing, I'll announce more in the way of details and my "plan."  And believe it or not, there is actually a plan, which goes totally against the grain for someone like me.  However, the "plan" has less to do with the book's content than the way I intend to publish it.  Curious yet?  Well, hang on to that.  There will soon be more to come.

After I get this work published, I may go back and write the next book in the Blood Like Poison series.  I so enjoy writing about Bo (who wouldn't, right?) that I think I'd like to do one more before I start on the sequel to The Reaping.  I'm afraid I wouldn't do the first book justice if I begin it when I'm feeling so...light.  If you've read The Reaping, I'm sure you totally get what I'm saying. 

Anyway, I think I'm going to hold off being so concrete with work, so as not to disappoint people if things change.  Soooo, as of right now, I'm saying that you can expect a new book from me tentatively by the first of July.  Much will be explained at that point and then I'll announce with absolute certainty my next project.  How does that sound?  Questions?  Comments?

As always, I really want you guys to reach out and talk to me.  Those of you who already have know how much I like to chat and hear from you.  So, by all means, give me a holler:)

Well, I guess that's it for now.  I'm off to type.  The creative juices are flowing, flowing, flowing:D

Happy Tuesday everyone!!!

Blood Like Poison: Destined for a Vampire

It's here, it's here, it's here!  Today is the official release date of the second book in the Blood Like Poison series.  YAY!!

Ridley Heller thought that all her problems would be over if she could have Bo back—back from the dead.  But what Ridley didn't know was that her wish would come at a price. 
Bo survived a condition that would have killed a lesser vampire, or any vampire for that matter.  The only reason he didn't die is because of who he is, someone Ridley doesn't know at all.  Someone Bo himself doesn't know at all.
As Ridley gets closer to finding out Bo's true identity, she discovers that loving him could also come at a price, a price much higher than she ever could have imagined.  The question is:  is there any such thing as a price too high to pay for Bo?  For his love, for his safety, for eternity in his arms?

This book is available for purchase at Amazon, Smashwords and soon at Barnes & Noble and Apple.  I will update this link as soon as they finish processing at each site.

THANKS to everyone who has supported this series, shown so much enthusiasm and given it some love on Amazon:)  You rock!!

Splash into Summer Giveaway Hop Winner

Congratulations to Krystal Larson!  She won copies of all three of my YA books: Blood Like Poison, The Reaping and Wiccan.  Happy reading, Krystal!  I hope my stories start your summer off with a bang:)

Thanks to everyone who took the time to enter the giveaway.  It is amazing to see the support y'all give us Indies and I appreciate it more than you know:)

Happy Hump Day everyone!

First Look at Blood Like Poison book 2

Alright, y'all, my author friend Courtney Cole read an advanced copy of Blood Like Poison: Destined for a Vampire and has just posted her thoughts on the book on her blog.  She also posted an excerpt (a little taste of Bo for those of us who need a fix before Friday) and she will be hosting a giveaway of the first two BLP books as a set, so you should totally go to her blog and sign up.  Like right now!  HERE'S the link.  It's so totally Courtney that it's fun to read, as all her posts are.  Go ahead on over there and give her some love, y'all:)

Blogger Hates Me

Alright, y'all.  For some reason, I still can't comment on your comments to my blog posts.  I think that Blogger secretly (or at this point not so secretly) hates me and is endeavoring to steal what's left of my sanity.  Soooo, in light of this conspiracy, if you have a question to which you'd like an answer (the nature of most questions, right?), please e-mail me at m.leighton.books@gmail.com.  Enjoy Memorial Day.  YAY troops- past, present and future!!

Cover Reveal

Alright, y'all.  I'm in the final stages of editing my sequel, book 2 of BLP.  It's called Blood Like Poison:  Destined for a Vampire.  This is the cover.  It will make more sense once you read the book.  Hope you like it.  The book, too!  It will be available Friday, June 3, 2011 on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords and Apple.  Give it some love and spread the word:)  And thanks in advance.  You guys are totally, unequivocally the most awesome readers EVER!


Ridley Heller thought that all her problems would be over if she could have Bo back—back from the dead.  But what Ridley didn't know was that her wish would come at a price. 
Bo survived a condition that would have killed a lesser vampire, or any vampire for that matter.  The only reason he didn't die is because of who he is, someone Ridley doesn't know at all.  Someone Bo himself doesn't know at all.
As Ridley gets closer to finding out Bo's true identity, she discovers that loving him could also come at a price, a price much higher than she ever could have imagined.  The question is:  is there any such thing as a price too high to pay for Bo?  For his love, for his safety, for eternity in his arms? 
Raise your hand if you love Bo:)  Woohoo!

Splash into Summer Giveaway Hop

I have decided, since I'm such a huge fan of summer and all things beachy, to participate in the Splash into Summer Giveaway Hop.  My giveaway is to get your summer started with my YA eBook collection--The Reaping, Wiccan and Blood Like Poison.    The winner will be drawn at midnight on May 31st and notified June 1st.  I'll post the announcement of the winner here as well.

To enter:
"Follow" my blog Leave a comment with your e-mail address+1 if you follow me on Twitter +1 if you tweet my blog addressAfter you enter here, hop on over to some of the other blogs and enter there, too.

"Hop List"

Enjoy the hop!  Let the giveaways begin...

Interview with Catie and a note

Catie over at Forbidden Passions Interviews posted her interview with me today.  You can check it out HERE.  Go by and give her new blog some love.  She reviews books over at Coffee Times Romance.  Now she's branched out, doing interviews with *cough cough, wink, wink* fascinating people :D

On another note, I cannot seem to post a comment to any of my blogs, so I'd like to answer @Dani's question here.  Yes, I have every intention of revamping (no pun intended) the 2 completed manuscripts that I have here.  I've always loved the storyline, especially of the first one.  They are both vampire novels, though, so I'd like to space them a good bit away from BLP.  Dani, I always love to hear from you, so when I get those suckers fixed up nice and pretty, I'll give you copies of both, on the house.  Deal??  Thanks so much for all your encouraging comments.  Very often, they make my day:)

And, again, for all those who haven't heard me say it and a double dose for all those who have, THANK YOU to every single person out there who reads my book(s).  I'm humbled and thrilled and eternally grateful.

My first blog hop starts tomorrow, so y'all come back and bring some friends (and get them to buy a book while they're here).  Just kidding.  Well, not really.

Megan's Interview and Giveaway

Megan McDade is a newcomer to the YA Sisterhood and she's posted an interview with me followed by a giveaway copy of BLP on her blog HERE.  Stop by and show her blog some love, and while you're there, sign up for a free copy of BLP if you haven't already read it.  If you have, sign up anyway and have your winning copy sent to a friend.  Nothing like a random act of kindness to brighten someone's day:)

The Mystery of Amazon Ranks

Most writers, especially those of the self-published variety, watch their Amazon ranks as they fluctuate from day to day, hour to hour with some degree of frustration and puzzlement.  I think a common misconception is that rank is directly tied to X number of sales.  That is true to a certain extent, but it is a very fluid tie.  On Monday you may sell 10 books in one hour and that might bring your rank down to # 4,500 for that hour, but then, the next hour you might sell 15 books and your rank will take an unwanted dive to # 5,100.  What can we possibly glean from that?  Can we look at any author's rank and tell exactly how many books they've sold to achieve that rank?  No!  No, no, no! 

Amazon's ranks are simultaneously indicative of how many copies of your book sold in the previous hour AS WELL AS how many of your competitors' books sold during that same hour.  If you are lucky enough to have been one of only a few who sold 10 copies in that first hour, then your rank will shoot up.  If you sold 10, but someone else managed to sell 25 in that same hour, your rank will likely drop as a result.  The rank is not just a measure of your sales, but a measure of your sales in comparison to other books' sales. 

I know a very popular and wildly successful author once posted that in order to achieve X low rank she sold Y number of books in Z period of time.  It's unlikely that that would ever happen again, for in order for that to be the case, every single component of that time period would have to be repeated identically.  You see what I mean?  Good ranks on any given day, at any given hour are the result of the perfect storm of great sales on your part and similar or not-so-good sales on the part of your competitors. 

Some days you might sell 2 books and see a 10K rise in rank, depending on how high or low your rank is to begin with.  Another thing I've discovered is that the lower your rank, the harder it is to make a significant move forward.  The lower you get, the higher your sales.  And the higher your sales, the greater your competition.  When you drop below #1000, you are competing with some pretty heavy hitters.  That's even more the case when you drop below #500.  Needless to say, when you drop below #100, you're in the shark tank.  You're in the company of such authors as James Patterson, John Locke, Amanda Hocking, Charlaine Harris, Lee Child, Michael Connelly and Nora Roberts.  Rank fluctuations in those esteemed positions tend to be very tight.  They're also very hard to maintain.  You have to be raking in some serious sales to hang with those guys.  But can it be done?  Absolutely!  It's just a frustrating, nail-biting, hair-pulling ride to get there.

All in all, when you look at a rank, it doesn't really start painting a very telling picture until you get pretty low.  It's safe to assume that when you see someone in the low hundreds or, even better, below #100, they're really selling some books.  Around #200-300, you can expect that they're selling hundreds per day, a thousand or better per week.  But when you get even lower, like below #100, those lucky people are selling possibly thousands per day.  Those are the ones I look at and say, "Wow!"  Take John Locke for instance.  Though he has 9 books, he sells a copy every 7 seconds.  That's roughly 9 per minute, 540 per hour, 12,960 per day, 90,720 per week, 362,880 per month and roughly 4.5 million per year, give or take a few thousand.

I think, armed with that knowledge, we have to congratulate all the authors who see the low ranks on Amazon for their amazing success.  The hard work that got them there is nothing to sneeze at and neither are the results.