Andrea Irving's Blog, page 6
March 19, 2017
March 14, 2017
First review by a blogger!
If you're interested in reading it, here it is: http://shootingstarsreviews.blogspot....
I have been really excited about the reception Common is getting. It has largely been positive. The majority of complaints have been that it ends abruptly, and it does. But if it seemed super finished, why bother getting the next one! ;) but yeah. I am definitely aware of that, and they should be more finished in the future as the plot gets more exciting. The interest Common is generating is also putting Wildfire in the spotlight a lot more. It is also getting mostly positive reviews. I'm so excited people are reading and enjoying my work.
I also got my first fan mail. Super cool! Very sweet you took time out of your day to let me know what you enjoyed in the books.
Next week is my boys' spring break (and spring break at the university where I teach), so I will be spending some time writing. We're also painting the interior of our house, so hopefully that won't take up all my "free" time. I never have enough time for everything!!!
I was going to add something else, and I have totally spaced it. Well, I'll post again if it pops into my head. If it doesn't, it probably wasn't that important anyway!
I have been really excited about the reception Common is getting. It has largely been positive. The majority of complaints have been that it ends abruptly, and it does. But if it seemed super finished, why bother getting the next one! ;) but yeah. I am definitely aware of that, and they should be more finished in the future as the plot gets more exciting. The interest Common is generating is also putting Wildfire in the spotlight a lot more. It is also getting mostly positive reviews. I'm so excited people are reading and enjoying my work.
I also got my first fan mail. Super cool! Very sweet you took time out of your day to let me know what you enjoyed in the books.
Next week is my boys' spring break (and spring break at the university where I teach), so I will be spending some time writing. We're also painting the interior of our house, so hopefully that won't take up all my "free" time. I never have enough time for everything!!!
I was going to add something else, and I have totally spaced it. Well, I'll post again if it pops into my head. If it doesn't, it probably wasn't that important anyway!
March 4, 2017
Writing again
After a couple weeks of no writing and just stalking my author pages, FB page, and Amazon's various marketplaces, I have started writing again.
I've made some progress on Earthquake and even Rarity, which surprises me because usually the last thing I want to look at after ending a project is more of that project. I also have been plotting out a series about aliens. It's early stages for that. I mean, I have more Lora and Sara to write! Don't want to involve Leah just yet...
I was reading to my son some of what I've written. He did not like Common, but he is excited to tell his daddy what my rankings are for it. He was surprised to see the sheer volume of plots and stories that I have on my laptop. Not all ideas become stories and not all stories are finished. I've never finished a series before, so I have a bit of an uphill battle. It's funny to see non-writers realize this.
Anyway.... I read the new Jaymin Eve/Jane Washington collaboration, Trickery, and I loved it. They're both talented writers. I've also been reading Siobhan Davis, Rachel E. Carter, and Jojo Bonsu. I haven't been really disappointed by a book in awhile, which makes it hard to put them down and write my own!
Speaking of distractions. The Cubs are playing in Surprise tomorrow. I will be there cheering them on, as always. Go Cubbies!
I've made some progress on Earthquake and even Rarity, which surprises me because usually the last thing I want to look at after ending a project is more of that project. I also have been plotting out a series about aliens. It's early stages for that. I mean, I have more Lora and Sara to write! Don't want to involve Leah just yet...
I was reading to my son some of what I've written. He did not like Common, but he is excited to tell his daddy what my rankings are for it. He was surprised to see the sheer volume of plots and stories that I have on my laptop. Not all ideas become stories and not all stories are finished. I've never finished a series before, so I have a bit of an uphill battle. It's funny to see non-writers realize this.
Anyway.... I read the new Jaymin Eve/Jane Washington collaboration, Trickery, and I loved it. They're both talented writers. I've also been reading Siobhan Davis, Rachel E. Carter, and Jojo Bonsu. I haven't been really disappointed by a book in awhile, which makes it hard to put them down and write my own!
Speaking of distractions. The Cubs are playing in Surprise tomorrow. I will be there cheering them on, as always. Go Cubbies!
February 26, 2017
Overwhelmed again!
It's always a crapshoot, according to other indie authors I've spoken to, when you upload a book. It could be ignored. It could do OK. Or it could totally take off. I always wanted other people to read what I wrote because I enjoyed reading what other people wrote, if that makes sense. I'm hypercritical of myself, so it never occurred to me that people would actually buy my stories and like them. I'm not sure why.
Then I uploaded Wildfire. I get royalties from it, which is super cool. Not a lot, but enough that it has paid for the shutterstock photos, part of my photoshop subscription, part of my website upkeep, my web domain, and part of my ISBN numbers. Yes, I do my own covers. It's an even more humbling experience than writing. I'm not artistic. Anyway, people have read it and they like it! I don't have a ton of reviews yet, but the ones I do have are positive. I redid my search terms recently and it kind of took off. For me, anyway. It hangs out in the 100-200's in the Amazon.com rankings for its genre. Except for on amazon.de, where it's at a solid #30. Awesome!
Well, then I uploaded Common. I anticipated a similar response to Wildfire. The books have a different voice. Common is slower paced and not quite as "racy." I figured I'd get a lot of, "Is there a plot?" comments when I got them. Well maybe they're coming because Common took off like crazy. It gotten as high as #26 in its genre on Amazon.com and is currently in the 60's-80's (#30 on amazon.de... Yay Germans! Danke shon! Darn blogger won't make an umlaut...). It's currently ranked higher (at least for the next hour) than Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. ROFL at that one. I have also finished paying for everything I've spent bringing these books to my readers, which is amazing! Which means I might be able to get fancy with the covers for Earthquake (The Program #2) and Rarity (I think that's what Lora Fletcher #2 will be called, but don't quote me on it).
So.... THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!! All of you strangers who have read my books and are seeming to like them are phenomenal.
Then I uploaded Wildfire. I get royalties from it, which is super cool. Not a lot, but enough that it has paid for the shutterstock photos, part of my photoshop subscription, part of my website upkeep, my web domain, and part of my ISBN numbers. Yes, I do my own covers. It's an even more humbling experience than writing. I'm not artistic. Anyway, people have read it and they like it! I don't have a ton of reviews yet, but the ones I do have are positive. I redid my search terms recently and it kind of took off. For me, anyway. It hangs out in the 100-200's in the Amazon.com rankings for its genre. Except for on amazon.de, where it's at a solid #30. Awesome!
Well, then I uploaded Common. I anticipated a similar response to Wildfire. The books have a different voice. Common is slower paced and not quite as "racy." I figured I'd get a lot of, "Is there a plot?" comments when I got them. Well maybe they're coming because Common took off like crazy. It gotten as high as #26 in its genre on Amazon.com and is currently in the 60's-80's (#30 on amazon.de... Yay Germans! Danke shon! Darn blogger won't make an umlaut...). It's currently ranked higher (at least for the next hour) than Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. ROFL at that one. I have also finished paying for everything I've spent bringing these books to my readers, which is amazing! Which means I might be able to get fancy with the covers for Earthquake (The Program #2) and Rarity (I think that's what Lora Fletcher #2 will be called, but don't quote me on it).
So.... THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!! All of you strangers who have read my books and are seeming to like them are phenomenal.
February 23, 2017
Map issue resolved
I love how Amazon has people working on such trivial matters at 4:45 in the morning!
Anyway, the corrected content has been uploaded and should go live sometime today. Thank you so much for making Common #26 in the teen fantasy category in spite of this! It's always daunting to click that upload button. No matter how many times you review something or how many people edit for you, it seems like there's always something that gets missed. I found like 15 errors in Wildfire when I read it on my phone (yes, I read my own work because when you read in a different format it changes your whole perspective), but this error in Common had me totally freaking out. I may not have the most readers (yet), but I don't want to disappoint anyone. Thank you again for your patience.
Anyway, the corrected content has been uploaded and should go live sometime today. Thank you so much for making Common #26 in the teen fantasy category in spite of this! It's always daunting to click that upload button. No matter how many times you review something or how many people edit for you, it seems like there's always something that gets missed. I found like 15 errors in Wildfire when I read it on my phone (yes, I read my own work because when you read in a different format it changes your whole perspective), but this error in Common had me totally freaking out. I may not have the most readers (yet), but I don't want to disappoint anyone. Thank you again for your patience.
February 22, 2017
Map issue
There appears to be an issue with the map. Trying to resolve it with Amazon right now. Thank you for your patience!!
Common is live!
It's available on Kindle and KU now! Createspace (paperback on Amazon) is still in process. If you have a KU subscription, it's free with that. If you do not have KU, it's $2.99 on Kindle and will be $11.78 as a paperback. The weird price was not my idea!! Amazon sets the prices based on the length of the book and its content. Since Common is set in a fantasy world, it has a map, so that makes publishing a tad more complex.
Thank you so, so, so much for making this my best day yet for sales and KU pages read. I am overwhelmed by your kindness and generosity!!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WVVPSF3/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1487809862&sr=1-1&keywords=andrea+irving
Thank you so, so, so much for making this my best day yet for sales and KU pages read. I am overwhelmed by your kindness and generosity!!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WVVPSF3/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1487809862&sr=1-1&keywords=andrea+irving
February 12, 2017
I have a cover!
Well, for the kindle version anyway. Still working on the paperback version, which is always more difficult. And I'm still in the midst of edits. But I figured I'd share. Enjoy!
February 3, 2017
MIA
Sorry I've been a little (a lot) MIA for the past month. My goal is to try and update this every couple weeks at a minimum, and I'm falling well short of that :(
I'm on a second edit of Book 1 in the Lora Fletcher Chronicles. I'm now 99.999999999999% sure it will be called Common. Things can always change. I'm not great with titles, so... I'd be further along with this, but the new semester hit me harder than I expected. Plus both my boys are doing 2 sports and wow is that taking up a lot of time! A round of applause to my husband because the brunt of that is falling on him. I'm really blessed to have him in my life. He contributes way more than I do to our everyday needs and continues to support me in my goals and dreams on top of all the chaos I bring to our lives. Anyway, I have a cover photo for this which I really like. It's sitting down and using Photoshop now to make it into an actual cover that is getting to me. I'm not great at Photoshop, but meh. You do what you gotta do.
I've made a little bit of progress on Book 2 of The Program. I'm still pretty sure it's going to be called Earthquake. The majority of the progress, I think, will come at the end of April. And then into the summer. I don't think I am going to teach over the summer, but you never know. If I don't, I will have more time for writing and editing.
Thank you for your continued support. I've about broken even on my costs to publish Wildfire, which is pretty darn exciting, considering I have had zero advertising. Advertising costs money, so I rely a lot on word of mouth, Amazon and Goodreads reviews, and people scrolling down and checking out what other people have viewed and bought after they read other YA fantasy books. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Until next time...
I'm on a second edit of Book 1 in the Lora Fletcher Chronicles. I'm now 99.999999999999% sure it will be called Common. Things can always change. I'm not great with titles, so... I'd be further along with this, but the new semester hit me harder than I expected. Plus both my boys are doing 2 sports and wow is that taking up a lot of time! A round of applause to my husband because the brunt of that is falling on him. I'm really blessed to have him in my life. He contributes way more than I do to our everyday needs and continues to support me in my goals and dreams on top of all the chaos I bring to our lives. Anyway, I have a cover photo for this which I really like. It's sitting down and using Photoshop now to make it into an actual cover that is getting to me. I'm not great at Photoshop, but meh. You do what you gotta do.
I've made a little bit of progress on Book 2 of The Program. I'm still pretty sure it's going to be called Earthquake. The majority of the progress, I think, will come at the end of April. And then into the summer. I don't think I am going to teach over the summer, but you never know. If I don't, I will have more time for writing and editing.
Thank you for your continued support. I've about broken even on my costs to publish Wildfire, which is pretty darn exciting, considering I have had zero advertising. Advertising costs money, so I rely a lot on word of mouth, Amazon and Goodreads reviews, and people scrolling down and checking out what other people have viewed and bought after they read other YA fantasy books. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Until next time...
December 26, 2016
Happy Boxing Day
Because, you know... I totally spaced on wishing you all a Merry Christmas yesterday and a Happy Chanukah the day before. Although I have a few more days to wish people a joyous Festival of Lights.
For us Americans, Boxing Day is an old British tradition. Back in the day on the day after Christmas, rich people used to give their servants gifts. In boxes. Hence, Boxing Day. Has nothing to do with the so-called sport where people beat the crap out of each other.
I got through an initial edit on the first book in the Lora Fletcher Chronicles. It's now divided into chapters and I'm beginning to start the laborious process of editing for continuity. There were like 11 continuity errors in Wildfire, and it drives me nuts! Nothing new yet on Earthquake. It's hard when your characters ignore you when you want to write them! Unfortunately, it doesn't turn out so well when you force it. I'm hopeful to get Lora Fletcher out sometime in February. I think I've picked a cover photo to mess with in photoshop, so once that happens, it feels more real.
Anyway, happy holidays from the Irvings!
For us Americans, Boxing Day is an old British tradition. Back in the day on the day after Christmas, rich people used to give their servants gifts. In boxes. Hence, Boxing Day. Has nothing to do with the so-called sport where people beat the crap out of each other.
I got through an initial edit on the first book in the Lora Fletcher Chronicles. It's now divided into chapters and I'm beginning to start the laborious process of editing for continuity. There were like 11 continuity errors in Wildfire, and it drives me nuts! Nothing new yet on Earthquake. It's hard when your characters ignore you when you want to write them! Unfortunately, it doesn't turn out so well when you force it. I'm hopeful to get Lora Fletcher out sometime in February. I think I've picked a cover photo to mess with in photoshop, so once that happens, it feels more real.
Anyway, happy holidays from the Irvings!
