Caroline Peckham's Blog, page 2
December 17, 2017
The Vampire Games Book 2 – OUT NOW!
Buy from Amazon.com
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THE GAMES AREN’T OVER.
Selena Grey has faced death and won. Freedom awaits so long as she can let go of the last thing that ties her to the island where the V Games were held. But despite the fact surviving has always been her priority, suddenly, she finds herself torn between her head and her heart.
Meanwhile, the Helsings are about to host a brand new game on the Isle of Lidelse where blood and money rule above all else. But when Selena finds out a devastating truth that puts her loyalty to the test, will she find the courage to go on? Or will she retreat from a life she never wanted, even if that means giving up the one person her heart beats for?
Haven’t read book 1?
Start the series now with V Games – check out some of the reviews it’s had below!
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Buy now from Amazon.com
Buy now from Amazon.co.uk
“Holy smokes, this novel was everything I have ever wanted, needed and craved. Easiest 5 star review of the year.” – Goodreads Reviewer
“6 stars for the fast-paced plot! There was not a wasted moment in this one. Be warned: once you start, you’d better have the time to finish, because you won’t want to put it down.” – Top 100 Goodreads Reviewer
“Want the truth? This book was a complete surprise. I’ve never had great times with vampire novels, but I’ve got to admit with a pinch of smugness that V Games is the vampire novel I didn’t know I needed until I started reading it.” – Top 3 Best Reviewer on Goodreads
“ Think The Hunger Games , The Testing , and Vampire Academy …but BETTER. You read that correctly! This book surpasses some of my favorite books of all time! Color me very, very pleasantly surprised!” – Goodreads Reviewer
“ This has to be the most OUTSTANDING BOOK, I have read all year in 2017 so far, and I don’t say this lightly!!! – Goodreads Reviewer
October 6, 2017
Pre-order now! V Games (The Vampire Games, Book 1)
[image error] LAST ONE TO THE GRAVE, WINS.
Being a killer wasn’t what eighteen year old Selena Grey ever expected she’d become. But with her stepfather’s blood fresh on her hands, she finds herself walking into an eight by six prison cell where she’ll live out the next twenty five years of her life.
Or so she thought…
When a man as beautiful as he is terrifying walks into the prison, Selena is the only one seemingly unaffected by his charms. But Varick’s impossibly dark eyes are trained on her and her alone, frightening Selena of what his presence forewarns. It’s not long before she finds out as she wakes on a ship in the dead of night, a captive of the forbidding Varick who seems more beast than man.
But when she arrives at a barren and isolated island in the stormy north sea, she soon realises that the obnoxious Varick may be her only hope of survival. Because, in a place where polar night reigns for the next six months, a powerful and cruel family are about to start this year’s season of the V Games. And Selena is marked to participate in the blood sport, hunted by ravenous vampires and surviving the harsh terrain of the bleak island. And, not only that, but Selena just became the highest bid on contestant in a century…
PRE-ORDER NOW FOR A LIMITED TIME RELEASE PRICE OF 0.99!
June 30, 2017
COMING SOON – T.R.O.I THE FINAL INSTALMENT
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The final instalment of The Rise of Isaac Series: Failing Light is out soon!
Keep up to date with announcements, plus get exclusive sneak peeks, giveaways and more when you follow me on
FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM!
Don’t miss out for the chance to get your hands on ARC copies of Failing Light – opportunities will be announced on Facebook soon!
See you there 
January 1, 2017
One year into self-publishing – Advice, tips and tricks
First of all Happy New Year!
2016 was a very eventful year for lots of reasons from Britain leaving the EU, to saying goodbye to a whole host of famous faces, to Trump becoming president of the US (and much more!).
I think it’s safe to say that 2017 is looking like it’s going to be a year of big changes and perhaps some uncertainty that will have even the top-selling indie authors shifting nervously in their seats.
So what have I learnt one year on and four books in to self publishing? Turns out, a helluva lot. The learning curve has been massive! This article is going to be a long one so maybe grab a snack.
Got it? Okay, deep breath.
It’s hard (like really, really hard)
If nothing else, I’ve learnt this. But it’s only made me push myself and realise how much I really want this. So my advice to anyone readying to click the self-publish button is this: you are by no means ‘done’. But don’t fret! Because if you want it enough, everything will be fine.
What do I mean by hard? – I now look at self-publishing as a business (so if you’re publishing books for a hobby or aren’t bothered about making money straight away then just disregard this advice). But if you are looking to do this full time as I am, then the sooner you look at this as a long-term endeavour, the better. There’s no harm in wistfully looking to the top runners out there who are doing this (and killing it) but just remember that they worked their asses off to be where they are. It may seem like they popped out of the ether into success but remember this quote by Steve Jobs:
“If you look really closely. Most overnight success take a long time.”
Sure, some people get lucky and I think to make it really ‘big’ there has to be an element of luck somewhere along the line. But I think to get lucky you have to put yourself in the firing line of luck’s assault rifle by working your butt off.
I’ve read a lot (like a lot a lot) of blog posts from successful indie authors searching for their secrets but what I found was just a lot of sensible business-minded advice. It seems one of the key things to making a success of self-publishing is being prolific. This is the one piece of advice that I’ve seen given again and again from the people doing this full time. So stop reading this and go write your next book…I’ll wait.
Back? Okay. But what if I can’t get more than one book out a year, I hear you say? Well, that’s fine. Just write and continue to write. It just might take longer to be a success that way. There is obviously a trade-off between time and quality. So if you can (semi)comfortably write a novel 50k plus and bring it out within say, 3 months at a high standard? Then you can publish four books a year. Like me
December 30, 2016
An author abroad – follow me across the world!
2016 has been an eventful year for me. Last Christmas I made the decision that I wanted my life to change…though I had no idea quite how I wanted that to happen…
Skip f[image error]orward five months and a helluva a lot of umming and ahhing – I took a trip to Costa Rica to take a break and think about what I wanted next from life (not a bad place to do it, sitting on a Caribbean beach with a cocktail in hand!)
It wasn’t until two days before I came home, laying in a hammock beneath a swaying palm tree (slightly concerned about the coconuts which had been plummeting like missiles from the sky the previous day) and I had an epiphany. I didn’t want to go home.
Now I should mention I am by no means what you would call ‘misfortunate’ in the life I was leading back in the UK. But I had, for the past year or so, been looking for something more.[image error]
And I wasn’t sure just what that was until I lay under the Costa Rican sun in a hammock. Of course, life isn’t a holiday. I couldn’t stay abroad and I inevitably got on my British Airways flight home – but with a renewed sense of purpose. Because I had decided to make the move abroad- something I would scarcely have even considered the previous year but which suddenly made so much sense.
The year ticked by, I returned to my job, became an auntie to a beautiful baby girl and continued to write my fantasy series in the meantime. But the desire never went away. So I booked a ticket back to Costa Rica, enrolled in a TEFL course on the stunning pacific coast and in 20 days time I will be jetting back across the world to embark on a new adventure.
I’ll still be writing, the final instalment of The Rise of Isaac is well underway but I’ll also be focusing on blogging about my experiences as I risk it all and take a metaphorical leap of faith. I feel the weight of that risk very much at the moment- giving up my comfortable life, my steady income, my gorgeous flat – but sometimes in life you’ve just got to risk it all for that gut feeling.
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December 14, 2016
The war begins…Weeping Sky (T.R.O.I, #4) Out Now!
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There’s more to fear in Theald than Oliver ever expected. Plunged into the fifth world of caged cities and ferocious creatures, Oliver and his friends are taken to the army base where plans are being laid to thwart the enemy. But when blood is shed by Rimori and his band of followers, the war is kick-started and Oliver is thrown right into the heart of it.
Bound by a deal with the High Mage, Oliver finds himself in more danger than ever as he becomes tangled in an extravagant plan that will not only put his life on the line, but that of his loved ones too…
How far will Oliver go to keep his sister safe? And how many people will have to die in the process…?
Click here to buy it now!
October 28, 2016
Caged cities, terrifying beasts, and a war that promises blood… Get ready for Weeping Sky (T.R.O.I Book 4)
COMING SOON…
WEEPING SKY (THE RISE OF ISAAC, BOOK 4)
There’s more to fear in Theald than Oliver ever expected. Plunged into the fifth world of caged cities and ferocious creatures, Oliver and his friends are taken to the army base where plans are being laid to thwart the enemy. But when blood is shed by Rimori and his band of followers, the war is kick-started and Oliver is thrown right into the heart of it. Bound by a deal with the High Mage, Oliver finds himself in more danger than ever as he becomes tangled in an extravagant plan that will not only put his life on the line, but that of his loved ones too…
How far will Oliver go to keep his sister safe? And how many people will have to die in the process…?
Weeping Sky is the 4th instalment of the action-packed fantasy series The Rise of Isaac.
Click here to get the first book for free!
October 24, 2016
Get ready for T.R.O.I Book 4 – Start the series for FREE now!
WEEPING SKY (THE RISE OF ISAAC, BOOK 4)
There’s more to fear in Theald than Oliver ever expected. Plunged into a world of caged cities and ferocious creatures, Oliver and his friends are taken to the army base where plans are being laid to thwart the enemy. But when blood is shed by Rimori and his band of followers, the war is kick-started and Oliver is thrown right into the heart of it. Bound by a deal with the High Mage, Oliver finds himself in more danger than ever as he becomes tangled in an extravagant plan that will not only put his life on the line, but that of his loved ones too…
How far will Oliver go to keep his sister safe? And how many people will have to die in the process…?
Weeping Sky is the 4th instalment of the action-packed fantasy series The Rise of Isaac.
Click here to get the first book for free!
August 16, 2016
New Covers for my Fantasy YA Series – what do you think?
Try the first book for FREE here!
SEVEN WORLDS. SIX DEADLY CHALLENGES. ONE CURSE.
Creeping Shadow is book 1 of 5 in the thrilling fantasy series: The Rise of Isaac.
Sixteen year old Oliver Knight is forced to question everything when his mother mysteriously disappears and he’s sent to live with his peculiar and secretive grandfather. But when Oliver’s sister falls ill to a deadly curse, the truth is revealed and his life is changed forever. There are other worlds, each locked by near-impossible challenges that will push the contestants to their limits. In order to save his sister, Oliver must face his fears and take on the journey of a lifetime.
But with the past haunting his every move, a sinister enemy on the rise, and danger awaiting him at every turn, will Oliver be able to beat all the odds and rescue his sister in time?
May 30, 2016
Eight Steps to self-publishing
6 months into self-publishing with Amazon KDP and I’ve learnt some things along the way that I think everyone going down the indie author route needs to do to start their journey.
Perfect your Novel (novella/short story/ anthology etc. etc.)
This may be a no-brainer to some but I know the feeling of wanting to jump the gun and get that e-book out as fast as humanly possible! But you want to sell quality right? Or you’re not going to make lifelong fans who buy your subsequent works. So make sure you get an editor, proof-reader and bribe as many of your friends and family to read it too! If you’ve read your novel a hundred times I can guarentee you’ll still have missing words etc. because our minds have a very annoying habit of autocorrecting mistakes…
2. Get appropriate Cover Art
If you’re handy with photoshop you may be good enough to create your own cover art like I do. But if not it’s definitely worth hiring a cover artist who can make something professional for you.
Before you go off making the prettiest cover ever, have a look at covers in your genre. It may seem like a good idea to make a cover that’s different to what’s on the market but the best way is to have a cover that is similar enough to those in the same genre that anyone who comes across your book will know what to expect from it.
3. Formatting your ebook
If you’re going the Amazon route to start your book off then here’s a simple guide on the Amazon KDP website to get your ebook in shape:
If you’re going wide with your ebook then different platforms may require different formatting. To make this step easier I suggest publishing with Smashwords who will distribute your book to Kobo, Barnes and Noble, ibooks and Overdrive without all the hassle of doing it individually (yeah -I’m lazy like that but hey! If it saves time that you can spend writing then it can’t be a bad thing, right?)
Smashwords have a FREE downloadable formatting guide which you can grab here
Tip: Don’t put any links to Amazon in the ebook version that you upload to Smashwords (e.g links to other works) – ibooks will reject you and you’ll have to start the distribution process all over again – I learnt this one by experience
