K.A. Wiggins's Blog, page 14

Achievement Unlocked!!

B&N Press Presents

I���m super excited to announce that Blind the Eyes has been handpicked by the Barnes & Noble Press team for the Summer 2018 B&N Press Presents list!

As a creator, it���s always awesome to get a vote of confidence from a respected source like this. Blind the Eyes is on a special sale to celebrate, and it���s in some great company, so why not head over to check out the list and pick up a few summer reads while you���re at it?

Here are a few I���m most excited for:

Running with the Wolves by J.E. Reed

Another dystopian fantasy crossover with nightmare monsters���it���s this summer���s epidemic!

Chronopoint was only meant to be a game, but Kiuno finds herself trapped in that world.

As hideous, twisted monsters only seen in nightmares plague her every move, will she find allies in time or discover death has taken far more than she���d ever imagined?

Stolen Enchantress by Amber Argyle

A monsters and magic-infused sister story with a fairytale sensibility.

Any girl who goes into the Forbidden Forest never comes out again. Except the one who did. Beauty and the Beast meets The Pied Piper.

Larkin should have been watching her sister. She goes after her into the woods and even manages to escape again, but not before discovering the truth lurking beneath the wicked boughs.

Larkin may have evaded the beast once, but with the full force of his magic now fixated on her, she isn���t sure how much longer she can resist.

The Illusion Queen by T.E. Dickason

A dystopian fantasy featuring a brainwashed girl who learns to see past the lies of her homeland and fight for what matters.

Aleja is the most celebrated young woman on Corazon, an ancient and mystical island where laws and traditions are carved in stone.

Every generation one Daughter is chosen to be the Vessel. Aleja accepts the honor willingly���until she discovers her sacrifice only serves a lie that enslaves her people.

In order to survive, Aleja must reject the world she thought she knew and learn that even rules in stone can be broken.

So Many Giveaways

There are seven (and counting) (currently one, with another coming next week) for fantasy readers, paranormal readers, dystopian readers, YA readers, horror readers . . . just go enter already!

Dystopian Giveaway


Kindle Fire
Any 2 dystopian novels for your new ereader

Enter here by July 2.

Coming soon: Mortal Instruments Urban Fantasy Giveaway!

Fantasy Bookcrate Giveaway (ended May 26, 2018)

Fantasy Paperbacks Giveaway (ended May 26, 2018)

Ultimate Twilight Giveaway (ended May 30, 2018)

For the Love of YA Giveaway (ended May 30, 2018)

SFF & Horror Ebook Instafreebie Giveaway (ended May 31, 2018)

Bookbub Giveaway (ended June 2, 2018)

YA Fantasy Giveaway (Ended June 11, 2018)

Launch Day

It���s finally here!!

Three years ago today, I was sitting in so-hip-it-hurts Vancouver standby Brassneck Brewery with a tasting flight, an iPad mini, and a bluetooth keyboard in front of me.

Actually, I totally didn���t plan it this way. Facebook very helpfully reminded me this morning with this photo!

Photographic proof that I was typing the first lines of what would eventually become Blind the Eyes on June 1, 2015.

It went on sale today. Three years to the day. I mean, I wish I���d been on it enough to plan it that way, but, um. Total coincidence. ANYWAYS.

Super thanks to my amazing Beta readers who slogged through the many, many drafts over the last three years and to my awesome ARC readers who are already posting reviews!! All-stars, all of you!

So Many Giveaways

There are seven (and counting) for fantasy readers, paranormal readers, dystopian readers, YA readers, horror readers . . . just go enter already!

Fantasy Bookcrate Giveaway


Mystery prize book box worth up to $600
Incl. books, fantasy merch, surprise gift (usually Amazon gift card or Kindle)

Enter here

Fantasy Paperbacks Giveaway


Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Fool���s Assassin by Robin Hobb
Pestilence by Laura Thalassa
USD$25 Amazon gift card

Enter here

Ultimate Twilight Giveaway


Twilight Forever: The Complete Saga [Blu-ray + Digital]
The Twilight Saga White Collection
TEAM EDWARD Except when Jacob is Shirtless on Adult & Youth Cotton T-Shirt
The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide
Twilight ���Eclipse��� Bellas Engagement Ring Prop Replica
CafePress - Mrs. Cullen Mug - Unique Coffee Mug/Coffee Cup
New Moon: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 1 (The Twilight Saga)
Twilight: The Graphic Novel Collector���s Edition (The Twilight Saga)
Twilight Movie Poster w/Bella & Edward 24 X 36 Poster Print
Barbie Collector The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II Bella Doll

Enter here

Dystopian Giveaway


Kindle Fire
Any 2 dystopian novels for your new ereader

Enter here

SFF & Horror Ebook Instafreebie Giveaway


Choose from over 100 free books
Fill your ereader for the summer
Includes adult titles; reader discretion advised

Enter here

For the Love of YA Ebook Instafreebie Giveaway


Choose from over 70 free YA titles
Fill your ereader for the summer
All subgenres

Enter here

Bookbub Giveaway


USD$350 Amazon Giftcard

Enter here

Blind the Eyes Sneak Peek

Ebook preorders now open. Ebook and paperback on sale June 1, 2018. Audiobooks coming soon.

Chapter 1: Remnants

Cadence found me the night I surrendered to the Mara.

I got lucky. They devoured only my disobedience.

Cadence���s luck wasn���t so good. She���s been with me for over a year now, and I���m starting to think she���ll be the same impossible child forever.

���So I had this dream last night,��� she says. ���It was about trees. I miss trees. I miss climbing with . . . w-with���I just miss them. We should go find some. Let���s go now. Okay? Now. Let���s go now. Now-now-now-n������

���Stop it.��� I don���t have time for her lies. Regulation 3: Distraction is destruction. I must not allow myself to be distracted, nor be a distraction to others. It���s why everything here���s the same shade of grey: the paint, the carpet, even us. It���s the reason for these shapeless, hooded uniforms and masks. It���s even why we have to work everyday, instead of letting the computers do it all for us. Distraction leads to dreaming. Dreaming draws the Mara. The Mara would destroy us all���if the Towers of Refuge didn���t protect us.

But Cadence hates being shushed. She blows a rude noise in my ear and proceeds to singsong something that mostly consists of her new made-up word, trees, looped at different pitches.

She needs to stop telling stories and pestering me. Obviously, she can���t have actually dreamt. I���m pretty sure ghosts don���t sleep. And no one in Refuge dreams, not if they want to live.

My skin crawls in a not entirely unpleasant way.

���Dreeeams of treeeeees,��� she warbles into my ear.

���Shut up!���

I swat at her and snag my hood. The ward securing it flies off. I scramble to yank it back in place and keep my mask from sagging. The last thing I need is to expose the uneven dark blotches on my naked face.

Forty grey workers sit behind grey consoles in the grey room, bathed in dingy yellowish artificial light���the windows were painted over back when the waters rose to hide the drowned city. Cadence says it was to stop the drowned looking back. In any case, my decidedly non-regulation colouring would stand out like a vivid stain on the face of such bland perfection. Showing my face wouldn���t just be a Regulation 1 offense, either. Regulation 2: Segregation is safety. Minimal contact between workers is essential to our survival.

���Probationary Worker 18-Cole.��� The voice is nasal, cracking and uneven. ���I might���ve known.���

I flush another shade darker.

Division Supervisor Kistrfyv���s shoes nudge my shameful black probationary hoodband. His damp, bulbous gaze is neatly framed between the loose mask drawn over his nose and mouth and the crisp, even spread of his hood under the dual bands of a supervisor. They���re proper wards, of course, gleaming with protective gold thread. He���s dressed perfectly to regulation: baggy, form-obscuring grey tunic and loose pants hiding soft shoes, gloves under drooping sleeves, hood secured with its twin gold wards, and an opaque, veil-like mask covering every inch of admirably grey, medium-dark skin except the narrow opening around his eyes.

His stance isn���t quite regulation, though; he leans forward, as though eager. If he weren���t the supervisor, he���d be at risk of a violation.

���I don���t like him,��� Cadence says. ���He���s a bully. And creepy.���

I tighten my grip on the sagging hood. Cadence may be a forbidden distraction, but there���s no way I know of to get rid of her. She���s been around ever since that night in Corrections. The Mara could have killed me, down on Floor 6. It wasn���t the first time I���d failed to follow regulation, or I wouldn���t have been there in the first place. But instead of ending me, the Mara only ate my dreams���and left a troublemaking ghost in their wake.

I earned my way to a probationary position in the Surveillance Technology Division less than six months later. It���s not hard to obey regulation anymore; the Mara took the part of me that could make bad choices. Or any choices. I���m better off without it. If only Cadence would stop getting me into trouble.

���Probationary worker,��� Supervisor Kistrfyv says again, leaning in too close. ���I will not have you destabilizing my division. Submit. Now.���

The chair squeaks as I stand. My mask droops. I tuck my chin, partly to keep my face shadowed, mostly because the supervisor twitches and glares whenever my head rises higher than his. Head bowed, I shuffle around the console to pick up the black ward���a mark of shameful failure; I won���t qualify for gold unless I can pass probation���and snug it down over my hood. If I could, I���d dream of being invisible. But I don���t want things anymore. I just obey.

���Probationary worker,��� Cadence mimics in a whiny tone so like the supervisor���s it makes me flinch, ���I demand you extract my head from my butt. Probationary worker, I have nothing better to do with my time than stand here and blink like a fish. Probationary worker, I������

���Probationary worker.��� The real Kistrfyv speaks over her in warning tones. ���You���ve held us all up long enough. Submit, and be quick about it.���

���He���s such a weenie,��� she huffs.

I twist my hands in the loose fabric at my sides to keep them still and try to look contrite as I mumble through a comprehensive list of my violations: distracting behaviour, immodest dress, lack of focus . . . I wrap it up by mumbling the ritual phrase three times: ���I call upon the Mara to eat my dreams.���

Rote submission is different than being Mara-taken. It���s meant as appeasement, a sort of pre-emptive measure. Void your disobedient impulses, turn over your hopes and desires to the Mara fast enough, regularly enough, and they���ll consume the offering and leave the rest of you intact. I���ve performed submission hundreds, maybe thousands of times. Before Cadence came, often there���d be a rush of emptiness left in their wake. Now, I feel nothing. I don���t have enough dreams left to satisfy them; if they came, they���d probably just end me.

Kistrfyv makes me repeat the summons again. Louder. Clearer. Again. I scrunch my eyes shut and tighten my fists. This show of terror seems to please Kistrfyv, or maybe he just gets bored, because he finally lets me stop.

Cadence starts breathing the word weenie in a sort of singsong, gasping air in and puffing it out, drowning out Kistrfyv, who has started in on a lecture without giving me leave to sit. My thighs tremble.

I duck my chin another inch to appear more submissive. I need Kistrfyv to be pleased with me. Pleased enough to arrange a probationary trial soon. Pleased enough to grant me a promotion to full worker and hand over the gold band that wards off the Mara to replace my black one. Pleased enough to erase my record of failure once and for all.

Kistrfyv smooths the dual wards around his forehead as if to emphasize his elevated position and keeps lecturing.

���Betcha he���s bald under that hood.��� Cadence warbles an improvised ode to his presumed follicular deficiency at top volume.

I���d kick her right about now, if I could. My legs are starting to ache from standing with my knees locked, but I don���t dare shift my weight under the force of the supervisor���s damp gaze. To make things worse, the pants on this latest uniform are too loose. They edge past my hipbones, one anxiety-spurring fraction of an inch at a time. Meanwhile, Cadence seems to be experimenting with how long she can sustain each syllable. It���s annoying. And distracting. And kind of amazing.

���Aren���t you sick of it all?��� she says, as if she knows what I���m thinking. ���I know I���m bored.���

I tense. I prefer it when she���s picking on other people.

���Why do you put up with it?���

As if we haven���t been over it. As if she doesn���t know just as well as I do. Better, even.

���Fight back! Defend yourself. Look at him. He���s a shrimp. He���s scared of you. You can���t be satisfied with this. How can you be so passive? Do something���anything! Do you have a pulse? Hellooo . . .���

I can���t respond. She���ll get bored with me���or Kistrfyv will, if I can just hold out long enough.

���Don���t you want more? You���re really going to let that weenie bully you for the rest of your life?���

It���s clear she would do things differently, if she could. Her tragedy is that she literally can���t. Mine is she���ll never let me forget it.

Kistrfyv seems to see past my mask to the exasperated twist beneath. His sneer is so pronounced it escapes the upper edge of his mask. The effect is unpleasant, but not nearly as much as his punishment will be: extra cycles of rec and more Noosh���the dense, flavourless goop that meets all nutritional requirements while ensuring uniformity among the populace. Or it���s supposed to, anyway. It drains the color from the other workers��� skin, keeps them shapeless and slim and more or less the same. I remain an inexplicably vivid shade of brown, my eyes and hair still too saturated and distinctive. I���m too tall and too bony���which only adds to the misery of the rec cycles. On the bright side, every time they increase my Noosh allotment, it seems to dull Cadence���s voice and makes it easier to resist her distractions.

I can see my probationary trial receding further with every blink of the supervisor���s bulbous, judging eyes. He has no intention of letting me live down my failure, letting me blend in with the crowd. He just likes watching me squirm.

I make no further apology, though Kistrfyv eyes me expectantly. He���d probably appreciate a little groveling or a few tears. Maybe I should make more of a show of contrition. Maybe it would motivate him to promote me sooner.

Or maybe it���s hopeless. He tops off his lecture with a group chorus of benevolent regulation, watching me the whole time. After, I���m allowed to sit.

I shift, all sharp angles at odds with the smooth, ergonomic curves of my seat, another reminder that I���m never right, even for something as simple as a chair. A wheel squeaks, high and thin. I cringe.

���You���re both weenies,��� Cadence says.

I���d like to tell her to shut up. I���d like to tell her I have no choice, and she knows it. I���d like to tell her it���s better than being like her, forever complaining and never able to do a thing about it.

I���d like to, but I won���t. As much trouble as she is, she���s all I have left. And she���ll back off soon, because I���m all she has. All she���ll ever have.

Want more? Join the newsletter for bonus content including an extended sneak peek ebook, deleted and preview scenes, and other exclusive content!

Are you a bookstagrammer, bookblogger, or reviewer? Get in touch today about eARCS and promotional opportunities.

For longer-running fans and book geeks interested in just how much a manuscript transforms from start to finish, the full first beta readers��� edition is being serialized on Wattpad as BTE Beta1

Updates, ARCs, and Giveaways!

Reminder: join the newsletter to be the first get content like this and more exclusives. Here���s a quick list of what���s going on:

Kindle Scout update
ARCs are coming~
Giveaways


So, about that Kindle Scout campaign . . .

First off, thanks for all your nominations! You pushed BLIND THE EYES to the trending list on Kindle Scout!

. . . Unfortunately, they announced their plans to cancel the whole program on the last day of its campaign, so . . . yeah.

Corporations . . . mumble grumble

Just wanted to say how much I appreciate your support in this prelaunch phase. It���s been a long wait, but we���re finally nearing the end ��� aaand, on that note:

ARCS are coming!!

. . . for real this time!

I���m not quite ready to announce preorder and on-sale dates for BLIND THE EYES, but plans are well underway. There are a few extra hoops to jump through in order to get print editions, but digital Advanced Reading Copies/Review Galleys/Digital Proofs (whatever you want to call them) are nearly ready to head out into the world.

If you���re a book blogger, reviewer, #bookstagrammer, etc. and would like an early review copy of the ebook, get in touch!

The prequel you didn���t know you needed

Um, yeah. It sort of just snuck up on me?

I mean, there I was, minding my own business, racing to get BLIND THE EYES out to you and the sequel underway and . . . BELOW THE SURFACE pulled a JAWS on me and dragged me under.

What it is: a spinoff short that takes place ~6 years before the events of BLIND THE EYES and the main THREADS OF DREAMS trilogy.

Blurb: The twins��� bond kept them together through their parents��� murder, the memory wipe, and assignment to separate work divisions in the Towers of Refuge, the only surviving habitat in their flooded city.

But when protective older sister Ange follows carefree Amy into the abandoned lower reaches of the towers, the secrets they discover below the waterline could sever their bond for good.

A dystopian dark fantasy that ranges from the sterile Towers of Refuge to glittering clubs and abandoned tunnels, BELOW THE SURFACE is a prequel to the Threads of Dreams trilogy and blends monsters and magic with near-future post eco-disaster cityscapes and a splash of romance.

I���m doing this for Camp NaNoWriMo, which is a spinoff version of National Novel Writing Month where you set your own goals and pick a writing target for the months of April and July. The idea is for this to be a long short story or short novella, in the 20-30k word range, that I can release as a free newsletter exclusive in the next couple months.

So in other words, sorry that you���re going to have to wait longer for a sequel, but on the flip side, there���ll be something cool to read in the meantime~

Fantasy Giveaways~~

I���m ramping up marketing in advance of the BLIND THE EYES book launch and I���ve got a bunch of giveaways planned over the coming months. Some of them are multi-author team-ups, while others will be exclusive to my followers.

You just missed the Ultimate Harry Potter Giveaway. Follow me on Twitter for giveaway news, since some of them will only run for a short time.

You can still enter the Fantasy Bookcrate Giveaway until May 26, 2018 to win a book box with surprise fantasy-themed content worth up to $600.

In the past, these have included books, gear or swag, and a high-value gift (like a Kindle or an Amazon gift card).

This is a multi-author collaboration giveaway and you can get entries by joining mailing lists.

I���ve also planned collaborative giveaways with dystopian and paranormal themes for those of you who like your fiction with extra bite. Again, you can follow me on Twitter to make sure you don���t miss any opportunities.

And while I���m at it, if you have any ideas for giveaway items or themes (like your favourite author/series/genre) for prizes you���d love to have a chance at winning, feel free to shoot me a message and let me know what those are!

Thanks for being on this journey with me; I can���t wait for you to read BLIND THE EYES! You can���t preorder it (yet), but you can Add it on Goodreads.

And don���t forget to enter those giveaways!

Camp NaNoWriMo

I tend to have too many projects on the go at one time. My plan is to solve that by . . . yup, adding another one! Yaaaay~~

Quick pause for a commercial: Blind the Eyes is down to its final days in Kindle Scout! If you haven���t already, you can go to Kindle Scout and nominate Blind the Eyes as a book you want to read. If it wins, you get a free copy before its release date!

���Kay, back to the new news. :) So I���ve entered Camp NaNoWriMo to push myself to make more progress writing a prequel to Blind the Eyes that will sit outside of the Threads of Dreams Trilogy and may be a serial, short story, or novella. It shouldn���t be all that long, maybe 10-20,000 words (contrast with BtE at 97k), and it���s not going to go through the same level of production.

The idea is that this could be some sort of incentive/newsletter exclusive or ���reader magnet��� - in other words, a freebie writing sample that lets me explore some of the world-building backstory, try out some different pacing and structures, and take a different sort of story for a spin while getting over my anxiety about writing book 2 in the trilogy (lol). But my projects have a tendancy to balloon in size and scope, so we���ll see - there���s a chance it could spin off into a full book/series if I don���t watch it like a hawk!

Camp NaNoWriMo runs in April and July, and it���s a sort of ���choose your own adventure��� version of National Novel Writing Month where you set your own goal (regular NaNoWriMo is a minimum of 50,000 words). I���m hoping the peer pressure/defined timeline/deadline helps me dig in and get my word counts back up and running!

To boost my motivation, I even made it a cover! Check out the synopsis, excerpt and cover on the campsite or scroll on for more:

Synopsis

The twins��� bond kept them together through the death of their parents, the memory wipe, and assignment to separate work divisions in the Towers of Refuge, the only surviving habitat in their flooded post eco-disaster city.

But when protective older sister Ange follows carefree Amy into the abandoned lower reaches of the towers, the secrets they discover below the waterline could sever their bond for good.

A dystopian dark fantasy that ranges from sterile towers to glittering clubs and abandoned tunnels, BELOW THE SURFACE is a prequel to the THREADS OF DREAMS trilogy and blends monsters and magic with near-future post eco-disaster cityscapes.

Excerpt

���I���m tired. Aren���t you tired? Maybe we should go back and do this another night.��� Or not at all.

Amy hooked her arm through Ange���s and bumped heads. ���I���m not tired, and I���m not letting you off the hook, either. This���ll be fun. It���s something different. Something new.���

���I like routine. It���s safe.���

Amy paused, their linked arms dragging Ange off balance. ���Nothing���s safe. Nothing���s allowed. Which just makes it all more interesting, don���t you think?���

���You won���t be saying that when the Mara take you.���

Amy snorted and tugged on Ange���s arm to get her moving again. ���The Mara are a myth created by Refuge. They���re nothing more than the Bakunawa, the Aswang, the Batibat, the������

���Stop! Don���t. They���ll come for you.���

���Ange, come on. I haven���t performed submission for months and nothing���s happened to me. Refuge���s just making up monsters to scare us. To control us.���

The metallic tang of fear weighed down Ange���s tongue as she hurriedly muttered submission for the both of them: ���I call upon the Mara to eat my dreams.��� She repeated it three times while Amy threw up her arms and pressed on down the stairs.

Ritual complete, Ange hurried after her. ���It���s not a lie. Our mother believed in the multo, the ghost-monsters, or don���t you remember? Our father told stories about the Nightmare, and the Each Uisge. Refuge protects us from the Mara.���

���Believe what you want. Anyway, if I���m going to get eaten by the boogeyman, I���m at least having some fun before I go.���

Preview Cover

One Week Left

Blind the Eyes is down to its final week in Kindle Scout! It���s been a great learning experience, and I���m excited to finish up the competition and get on with sharing this book with all of you.

If you haven���t already, you can go to Kindle Scout and nominate Blind the Eyes as a book you want to read. If it wins, you get a free copy before its release date!

When I first started researching Kindle Scout, there wasn���t a lot of information online from people who had recently gone through the competition, so for those of you who are interested (& for posterity), here���s what I���ve learned so far. I���ll also update after the competition closes with a retrospective.

What is it?


Kindle Scout is the American Idol of publishing
Readers vote on pre-published books during a 30 day period
Editors read the manuscripts at the end of voting
Amazon publishes the best of the combined editor- and fan-approved books in ebook format
Amazon sends a free ebook to everyone who voted for (���nominated���) a book that gets published!

That���s it in a nutshell, but of course it���s more complicated behind the scenes. Visit Kindle Scout for their current prerequisites and contract.

The best resources I���ve found with the freshest information are this board, this board & this compilation of blog links so check those out if you���re researching for your own campaign.

To apply for your first campaign, you need:

Amazon account
Complete, finished, edited, and proofread manuscript
Cover image
45 character one-liner
500 character description
500 character author bio
500 character Thank you note to be sent to nominators at the end of the campaign

You can also add social media links and a few short Q&A style statements about your work. You���ll choose up to four categories (genres) for your book.

In case you���re not used to thinking in terms of character (not word) counts, this is all REALLY short and limited. Spend some time browsing on the KS site before campaigning. You���ll see that the first thing nominators see is your cover, title and tagline, so those have to pop. If they draw nominators in, they can hover over the cover to read the first half or so of your description, and click to see your campaign page, which includes the cover and tagline, full description, first few chapters of your book, and author bio, links, and any other information you shared. Keep in mind, there are less people looking at your material with each step.

The most important things are: cover, title, and one-liner.

These will automatically be seen by the most people and they���re your chance to draw readers/nominators in. Next most important is your description, then your first lines/first chapters (expect to start losing people after 5-10 words if the opening isn���t strong).

In my campaign, I think choosing a weak one-liner was my biggest mistake. That, and not writing a more popular genre to begin with! At only 45 characters, you���re hard pressed to cover setting, character, and stakes. Same with the description; there���s just not a lot to work with, so your choices have huges impacts.

It���s important to research data that���s as recent as possible; the KS program seems to be growing, and the effort-to-outcome ratio has changed considerably since the early days, and even within the last few months. A lot of early advice emphasized a professional cover and properly edited work would get you noticed. Based on the current stats being shared, you need a way to drive traffic to your campaign. Authors with books that hit and/or stay on the ���Hot and Trending��� board mostly have large mailing lists and author platforms and/or have paid for third-party marketing to advertise their campaign. That���s not to say that you don���t get organic traffic, and a cover/title/one-liner that really hits a hook or genre tropes that people love could theoretically rise to the top if it���s lucky enough to stay visible long enough, but a well-produced publication-ready book is no longer enough to get noticed on the site.

Why do Kindle Scout at all?

Indie authors in particular may not want to wait the 30-45 days it takes to be released from the Kindle Scout exclusivity period. I chose to participate because it���s free marketing. I was definitely too cocky about my ability to rise to the top without outside marketing efforts (I���ll dive into the data at the end of the campaign), but even without hitting the leaderboard, I was able to get 1k+ new eyeballs on my work at a minimal cost, take the book for a test-run to gauge response, and trial some marketing techniques.

Other benefits: at the end of your campaign, that 500 character ���thank you��� message you wrote at the beginning gets sent to everyone who nominated you, whether or not you win, so that���s a chance for some list building (I directed people to my newsletter) or asking for ARC readers or whatever other marketing effort you want to do. Additionally, other authors have noted that KS sends an email to your nominators if/when you publish that title to Amazon as a Kindle Edition - so you get another free boost in publicity.

In my case, I entered Blind the Eyes because I felt like it was a win-win whether or not the book gets picked up by Kindle Press. On the one hand, KS/KP gives you a trivial amount of cash upfront ($1.5k: yay - pay for production on the next book!) and may give it a bit of a marketing advantage you win and they publish your ebook. On the other hand, they only pick up books that fit their list closely, like with any traditional publisher, so the chances of actually getting caught in that contract (which isn���t bad by traditional standards, but which is still a bit restrictive) are minimal and you���re really more likely not to win.

On to my experience:

I built up my campaign materials and did some last minute research over the course of a couple days and submitted the application late in the week (Wed/Thurs). It took about two days to hear back that it was approved, and the launch date was two days after that (so, 4 days from upload to public).

My campaign launched at midnight eastern time on a Sunday (Saturday my time). It turns out that launching on a Sunday is ideal, because no new campaigns are posted on Mondays or Tuesdays, so you get an extra couple days of free visibility before newer campaigns bump you off the front page.

If you go to the Kindle Scout website, the landing page has sliders for the following categories:

Hot & Trending (top 20 books on the site)
Recently Added
Ending Soon
By Genre (so one each for mystery, romance, YA, etc.)

So you get front-page visibility if you reach Hot & Trending, when your campaign is about to end, and when you���re brand new (under both Recently Added and your genre). Here���s the catch: only four books are visible in the sliders at any given time. So, even if you���re in one of those categories, you may not have at-a-glance visibility the whole time. They seem to auto-rotate the ones posted on the same date for more visibility.

The number of new campaigns and total campaigns on the site will limit your organic reach (how many people see your campaign without you sending them there).

Kindle Scout did a promotion for NaNoWriMo people in February and gave free editorial advice on submissions, so that blew up the number of campaigns and made it super hard to get seen in the crowd. If you can, try not to be like me and launch at the busiest time! Ideally you want no more than four new campaigns a day for best visibility and lower competition. Right now (March 2018) there seem to be around 300 campaigns running at any given time, and about 20 spots on the Hot & Trending list available.

When you���re an author in the program, you get a campaign stats page that shows three main metrics:

Hours in Hot & Trending (aggregate and by day)
Campaign views (aggregate and by day)
Traffic sources (percentage and source)

It also shows what other books your nominators have chosen. Mine were all over the map, so people don���t necessarily stick to one genre. What it never tells you is how many people nominate your book vs. view its campaign, or how they rated different aspects of your book incl. cover, tagline, PV, blurb. Which kinda sucks, since the only way you really know if people like your book is if it hits H&T.

I was super lucky to have three days before any new books were posted (because it launched on a Sunday), so I got front page visibility for those three days (and didn���t do any off-site promotions to drive traffic.) I got 272 campaign views the first day, 370 the next day, and 435 the third day (total: 1,077).

My strategy was to take advantage of free visibility for the first few days and do a social media push later in the campaign when things got quieter. Don���t be like me, lol. I was super cocky about my chances because I���d invested a lot in a professional, custom cover and well developed work, and other books in same categories had less polished materials, but the materials I had in my campaign weren���t enough to push me to the Hot & Trending list. It could just be that people didn���t like something about the submission (I regret my one-liner), but if you look at the stories of people who had more success reaching the H&T list, they did an upfront push with social media and paid campaigns to reach it. Once you���re on it, you get more organic views and are more likely to stay on it.

I���d recommending doing a burst of newsletter and social media marketing within the first 24-48 hours of the campaign for best results.

In terms of paid promotions, I did experiment with a few outlets and saw a bit more outside traffic, but not enough to make a difference. I���ll update with complete stats at the end of the campaign, but right now I���m sitting at just under 1.7k views and zero hours on H&T with an ad spend of around USD$50. My rationale: it���s worth a few dollars in marketing to try to get higher visibility, but reaching H&T isn���t a guarantee of a contract, so it���s not worth spending too much on. Kindle Scout doesn���t just publish the most popular books; they���re looking for a book they think they can sell to Kindle Press readers, so there���s absolutely some editorial intervention, but not making the H&T list at all is a sign that it���s not a match for their regular readers.

As with all books, genre matters in terms of audience.

Romance and Mystery writers have the best shot of getting noticed, and stand alone or first in series books tend to get preference.

Verdict: I���d recommend entering.

After all, nearly 2k people just got exposed to my book on a new platform, which is like free advertising. OTOH, they���re people that have a thing for free books, so idk. It sounds like it���ll still take around four months to publish after the campaign if you win, so it���s slow by indie standards, but lightning fast by trad pub standards, and authors seem to be happy with it. I���ve heard a lot of authors saying they try to publish as soon as possible after they hear back if they���re rejected, to take advantage of whatever momentum the campaign has built. Seems like an ok indie author tool to me :)

If you���re thinking of entering, you might want to sit on the site and watch to see if there���s a slowdown in new campaigns you can take advantage of - I think it���d be a lot easier to get votes if you could hold onto your front page visibility longer!

Do you offer review copies?

If you���re a book blogger, reviewer, or bookstagrammer, first of all, you rock & I wish I could take photos even half as well as you.

Second, digital and a limited number of paper review copies (pre-publication proofs/galleys/advanced reader copies/ARCs or whatever you want to call them) of Blind the Eyes will be available starting in April 2018 - please contact me with the details of your blog or other online presence.

I welcome bloggers and reviewers from all countries; however, the ability to read and communicate in written English is a necessary requirement.

Who's your publisher?

Blind the Eyes and all other in-progress and full length works on this site are owned by K.A. Wiggins and no rights have been sold/licensed to any third parties as of March 2018. For all licensing enquiries, please contact the rights holder.

From September 2017 to March 2018 Blind the Eyes (Threads of Dreams book 1) was queried for representation and receieved multiple full requests. In March 2018, it entered an exclusive 45 day review period with Kindle Scout/Kindle Press for international ebook and audiobook rights.

What does that mean? Blind the Eyes is a 100% indie title at this time, and was written and produced with independent or hybrid publishing in mind.

Going indie means operating your own micro-sized publishing company. I had the great fortune to work with awesome professionals on every stage of bringing Blind the Eyes to life. If you���re looking for support with your own ventures, I highly recommend every name on this list.

Lisa Poisso

Developmental Editing Round 1 on Blind the Eyes
Developmental Editing Round 2 on Blind the Eyes
Substantive/Line Edit on Blind the Eyes
Plot Accelerator on Threads of Dreams book 2

Catherine Milos

Proofread on Blind the Eyes

Regina Wamba of Mae I Design

Digital and Print Cover Design on the on sale version Blind the Eyes

(Note: all other graphics and in-progress/pre-publication version covers are designed & copyrighted by K.A. Wiggins.)