T.R. Graves's Blog: T. R. Graves, Author, page 15

YA Indie Carnival - Kindle Serials

Kindle Serials  - This week, the sponsors of the YA Indie Carnival are sharing our opinions on the serial novel phenomenon. For me, it's a little too new to do anything more than regurgitate the information coming straight from Amazon's Kindle Serials website: Kindle Serials are stories published in episodes. When you buy a Kindle Serial, you will receive all existing episodes on your Kindle immediately, followed by future episodes as they are published. Enjoy reading as the au...

YA Indie Carnival - Indie Opportunities

My fellow YA Indie Carnival members and I are sharing lots of great stories about the wonderful opportunities presented each and every day within the life of an indie author. This is one of those subjects where the answers are endless. Being an indie author has allowed me to achieve goals I'd never dreamed of accomplishing... open myself up in ways I'd never thought possible... and meet people I'd never have the pleasure of friending otherwise. 
Eighteen months and three published books...

Future Releases - Fall 2013

I know it seems like the fall of 2013 is forever away, but it takes months to write a book... and months more to write two. I plan to release Worth Dying For  and Worth Living For  next fall. Until then, I'm sharing the book covers--courtesy of Claudia Lucia McKinney (Phatpuppy Art)--and the synopsis for each. ENJOY!


Worth Dying For,Underwater Series #1 To Be Released 12/1/13
Isis, future Queen of the Coral City, lives a fairytale life and loves it all the way down to the last preordain...

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1) by Julie Kagawa
★★★★★

The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1) is one of those books that takes you - first - by surprise and - second - for the ride of your life. It is anything but another vampire book. It's a romance that leaves you wanting more... hoping for more. 

Equally amazing for me is the fact that Julie Kagawa wrote The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1).  I read and loved  The Iron King , The Iron Daughter ,  The Iron Queen ,...

YA Indie Carnival - It Takes a Village

This week, the sponsors of the YA Indie Carnival are talking about the people who tell us when our plots gets weak, make our books look intriguing, polish our words, and format our pages... the people we can't live without. Beta readers, book cover designers, editors, and formatting specialists. As any author can tell you, there are many who offer their services, but all are not created equal.
Beta Readers: This person is one of the most important people in the writing process....

YA Indie Carnival - Audiobooks

This week's YA Indie Carnival is all about audiobooks. Audiobooks are professionally narrated and produced recordings of today's most popular traditionally published books. Of course, any book can be made into an audiobook, but the costs associated with creating the recordings were historically prohibitive for most indie authors. At least, that was the case until Amazon began promoting acx Audiobook Creation Exchange .  acx Audiobook Creation Exchange  pairs...

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (5 Stars)


I'm embarrassed to say that I purposefully avoided Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) for a long while. I'm not a fan of the whole Cinderella story being told and retold. Mistake. Big mistake. Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) is so deep and so unique that there is barely any way to compare it to Cinderella... or any other book.

There is so much to love that I'm not sure where to begin. I think I will start with t...

YA Indie Carnival - Indie Words of Wisdom

The YA Indie Carnival sponsors are sharing words of indie wisdom this week. Anyone wanting to take the bold step into the self publishing world will be interested in our advice, suggestions, and recommendations.
An indie author could easily be labeled as a jack of all trades because self-publishing turns them into the writer, editor, cover designer, format specialist, publisher, and marketer (depending on the book's phase). These roles have taken me down new and undiscovered roads...

Shadow Slayer (Shadow #2) by Laura A.H. Elliott - Release

One of the best things about being an indie author is the way we come out in masses to support each other during releases. Today, I'm absolutely thrilled to be able to add my voice to the world of indie authors, bloggers, readers, and fans everywhere who are celebrating the release of  Shadow Slayer (Shadow #2) by Laura A.H. Elliott . Laura and I have worked together as co-sponsors of the YA Indie Carnival for the last year. She's proven time and time again that she i...

Insurgent (Divergent #2) by Veronica Roth

Insurgent (Divergent #2) by Veronica Roth

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (5 Stars)

Insurgent (Divergent #2) is one of those books that messes with your psyche and makes you question every character, their motives, and their actions. Veronica Roth is so talented that those who betray Tris might well have betrayed me because the acts felt so personal and were so unexpected.  At the same time, I love the way she takes Tris's worst enemies and turns them into humans who are capable of g...