Lori Brighton's Blog, page 13

Reviews

I have finally started getting reviews in for my YA book, The Mind Readers. It's a great time, hopefully, for sales as people will be getting Ereaders for Christmas, but a bad time for reviews as everyone is so busy with the holidays. So hopefully I'll have some more in the New Year. But so far no one has hated it, which is always a plus :)

My first review came from Ramblings From A Chaotic Mind. Here's just a snippet:

"I want to cuddle up to this book and never let go! Ok, that sounds strange…eh….I love this book! It was so good! The mystery, the intrigue….THE ENDING *sigh*."


Blodeuedd from Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell had this to say:

"There is romance, suspense, and more conflicts to come. Because at the end there is a cliffhanger, that is not a cliffhanger, but still feels like a cliffhanger. Confused, well, ok, it ends well and peaceful, but then something happens, something that could mean another book. And that makes me curious."

And today I just received this review from Tiger at All-Consuming Books:

"I thought this was going to be a quick, cute paranormal read, and was I ever wrong. It's quick, and has some cute moments and some funny moments, but the themes here aren't at all frivolous. Cameron's character development is very powerful and believable, and she has to make some very tough lose/lose decisions. She moves from (mostly) accepting that what her Grandma says is true to wholeheartedly accepting what her new friends say is true, to truly thinking for herself. Cam has this absolutely wonderful strength that is seldom seen in YA, and it's hard-earned, to boot. The ending of the book contains a nice parallel to the beginning, the love story is considerably more complex than it initially looks, and I simply can't wait for volume two."

So, I must say, I'm a rather happy camper right now! To celebrate, I'm giving away a couple copies of The Mind Readers. Just leave a comment, but remember, this is an Ebook only. I'll announce winners after the holidays. Take care everyone!

Last Day for 99 cents!

Today is the last day you can get my YA book, The Mind Readers, and my adult paranormal, The Ghost Hunter, for 99 cents! Find them on Smashwords, Amazon and Barnes and Noble! Tomorrow they'll go back up to 2.99.

So, as you may or may not know, I currently live in the Southern U.S. but I'm from the North where we get plenty of snow and ice. Well, last Wednesday we got a little ice here in the South. It hadn't started when I left to take my son to indoor Soccer. The drive to soccer takes about 40 mins. Since most people told me they didn't think it would get bad, I went ahead and left home. It started raining/sleeting halfway into practice and so I decided to leave a little early. It didn't do any good. It took us 5 hours to get home!!!!! Now for the next 10 days, according to Weather.com, its going to be near to 50 degrees here. Crazy weather in the South. You never know what you'll get!

Piracy...Not The Fun Kind

Recently on my author loops there's been a lot of talk about piracy, and not the swashbuckling, peg leg kind. I'm talking about the kind in which people illegally download books for free. It's a topic that comes up often on authors loops. Authors get rather upset when they find their books on pirate sites, and although I think it's sort of a waste of time to worry about something you can't do much about, I certainly understand why they're angry.

I've made it no secret as to how much I've made on my first and so far only New York published book. I'll tell you all again in case you've missed it. Since I signed my contract for Wild Heart two years ago with a New York publisher, I've made a little over 2,000 dollars. I'm hoping to get another check in a week or two, but I'll be lucky if it's 1,000. After that, I'll be lucky to make anything more, unless I sell the book overseas. So imagine working 6 months on a book, making less than 3,000 and then you see your book being given away for free. Of course authors get upset.

As for me, I certainly don't love the idea, but I also know that there's not a lot I can do about my books being pirated. I'd rather focus on the positive and write. I also don't think, at this point, that enough books are being pirated to make a huge difference. In other words, I don't think I'm losing that much money. Most of the sales for my N.Y. books come from printed copies. But that could change in the future as it did with music and movies.

But now that I'm writing primarily Ebooks, I'm a little more nervous about pirated books. I have no printed book sales to fall back on and I have no big name publisher to fight for my rights. What money I make is totally up to me. Recently, I sent out a bunch of pdf files to reviewers for my newest book, The Mind Readers. And yes, I am a bit worried that these might be pirated. Most of these reviewers I totally trust, but many are also new to me.

And maybe you are one of those people who think its fine to get books for free and honestly, that's okay. But here's the thing I'll leave you with... If an author writes a book for a New York publisher and the first book gets great reviews, people love it, you love it, but the sales aren't great because people are getting it for free and that publisher isn't making any money, that publisher isn't going to recontract that author. Which means no book 2 of that series you loved.

And it's the same with self publishing. I've had many people ask me if I'll be writing a book two for my self published books, and I always say the same thing: it depends on sales. Sorry, but I'm not going to waste my time writing a second book if the first didn't sell well. So yes, you shouldn't pirate books because authors lose money, but it's more than that. It's about sales figures and recontracting. Honestly, if you share a book with your sister or mom, I don't care at all. Most author's don't. It's the people who purposefully go to pirate sites and bitterly feel that they deserve free books, who are upsetting.

Okay, that's enough on my soapbox :) I'm off to do something productive...like writing!

Only 99 Cents!

Well, I did it...decided to put my newest release, The Mind Readers, at only 99 cents. Yes, both The Ghost Hunter and The Mind Readers are only 99 cents! But only until Dec. 20th so tell your friends to get their copies now! Some of my fellow writers think I'm insane, but hey, it's the Giving Season! Why do they think I'm insane? Because when you drop your book below 2.99, the royalties you get drop by like 40%. So not only are you getting less for your book, but also for your royalties, which is why I can only do the 99 cents for a limited time. It may take a day for the 99 cents to show up on Amazon and B&N :)

There's still time to leave a comment on H.P. Mallory's site and I'm on Fresh Fiction today and doing a contest there.

The Mind Readers

Hi all! I know I've been neglecting my blog lately but I have good reason...I've been writing! My first Young Adult Ebook, The Mind Readers, is now available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, as well as Smashwords!

I'm also interviewing at H.P. Mallory's blog and giving away a copy to 2 readers. So stop by for your chance to win.

And one more thing...to celebrate the release of The Mind Readers, my contemporary paranormal romance The Ghost Hunter is only 99 cents!!! This will only last until Dec. 20th so tell your friends to get their copy now!

Interested to know what The Mind Readers is about? Read the blurb below!

Cameron Winters is a freak. Fortunately, no one but her family knows the truth …that Cameron can read minds. For years Cameron has hidden behind a facade of normalcy, warned that there are those who would do her harm. When gorgeous and mysterious Lewis Douglas arrives he destroys everything Cameron has ever believed and tempts her with possibilities of freedom. Determined to embrace her hidden talents, Cameron heads to a secret haven with Lewis; a place where she meets others like her, Mind Readers.

But as Cameron soon finds out some things are too good to be true. When the Mind Readers realize the extent of Cameron's abilities, they want to use her powers for their own needs. Cameron suddenly finds herself involved in a war in which her idea of what is right and wrong is greatly tested. In the end she'll be forced to make a choice that will not only threaten her relationship with Lewis, but her very life.

Interview

Hi everyone! If you're from the U.S. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. We went to Savannah and Tybee Island for a few days. I'll tell you more about that trip later.

For now, I've done an interview and giveaway over at QuillsandZebras. Stop by if you want a chance to win The Ghost Hunter.

This and That

Hi all! It's been awhile. Hope you're all doing well. First of all, author and blogger Kelly Moran has interviewed me. So stop by for a chance to win an Ecopy of The Ghost Hunter.

As some of you may remember, this summer I went to the Romance Writers Of America conference. The first night there they had a huge book signing. Across from me was a Young Adult author I'd never heard of, Ally Carter. Her line was crazy long. Well, I feel like an idiot now because she's hugely popular. They gave away a copy of her book, Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover, which is part of a series. I just recently got around to reading it. I loved it! I totally understand now why she's so popular. Unfortunately, it's the third book in the series, so I'm not sure if the first 2 are just as good, although I'm sure they are. But I wanted to tell you all about it and it gave me an idea to start something on my blog, my top book picks; books I enjoy and you might as well. So look for that in the future.

And speaking of Young Adult books....

I will be publishing my Young Adult novel, The Mind Readers, within a month. Like The Ghost Hunter, it will be available on Smashwords, Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Hopefully next week I'll have a book cover and blurb for you.

Chances to Win

Hi all! If you'd like a chance to win The Ghost Hunter....I've got a couple more interviews/guest posts. The first is with Misha at My Love Affair with Books. The second is with Nikki at Ramblings from a Chaotic Mind.

Stop by if you want a chance to win!

Update...Nikki's contest is over, but Misha's is still going on!

Interview

Hi all! Hope you're having a great weekend. I'm over at Lov Liv Life Reviews and giving away copies of The Ghost Hunter. Stop by if you have a chance!

How A Picture Becomes A BookCover

Some people don't realize that those embracing couples you see on romance covers are actually real people. That's right, models come into a studio, they're dressed and photographed. Then an artist takes those photos and makes a cover out of them, either by painting or more likely now, computer animation.

Fellow Kensington author Kimberly Killion is super talented when it comes to computer designs. For awhile now she's been doing websites and bookmark designs for authors. Well, just recently she hired some models so she could make her own stock designs for book covers. I'll most likely be hiring her for my next self published covers. But, if you want you to see how a photo becomes a cover, go to her site here. The transformation that takes place is pretty interesting. I have no clue how she does it, but I'm impressed! She also has photos of her models on her facebook page, in case you're curious.

I just find the whole process so interesting, so thought I'd share!

P.S. I'm over at Romance Roundtable today and giving away two copies of The Ghost Hunter!