K.C. Neal's Blog, page 8

Getting the Most From Twitter (Part 3: Why You Need to Be Yourself)

If you're active on Twitter, you've probably noticed how people's personalities come through. I'm always amazed by this, that 140 little characters can be so revealing. I think the short posts force tweeps to distill their thoughts, which means they're often left with the essence of their message... and of themselves.

It's not easy to articulate how it works, but I'm convinced that in order to successfully connect with people online, you must be yourself. This isn't about being un-boring, although that's important, too. It's about letting who YOU are shine though.

I'm not recommending you tweet every passing thought. Complaints, especially, get old reeeaaally quickly. My next post will have suggestions for the types of things to tweet. In this post, I want to emphasize that your tweets should be uniquely you.

"But It's 'Unprofessional'"
Some people think it's more "professional" to present a high-gloss slice of themselves on social media. But really, it's boring. BORING. Yep, I said it. Not only is it boring to read your professional persona, I believe that people who present themselves this way ultimately are less engaged because it's simply less enjoyable to utilize only a narrow part of themselves in their online interactions.

Generic Marketing Messages Are Not YOU
Most likely, you're on Twitter at least in part to market something--your blog posts, your books, your services, whatever--but no one wants to read a bunch of markety-sounding updates. You know how you get up for a snack during commercials, or fast-forward through the ads on TiVo? Don't be the tweeter other tweeps want to tune out. Marketing messages are fine. Just don't become a non-stop infomercial for yourself. And please, find a way to be YOU in your marketing messages.

If you're presenting a facade online... why? Just be yourself! :)


Missed previous posts?
Part 1: Why I LOVE Twitter
Part 2: How to Find People to Follow

Next up in Getting the Most From Twitter is Part 4: How to Gain Followers


Author K.C. Neal:: Pyxis Series :: YA ParanormalPlease visit http://kcneal.blogspot.com/ for more info and features. Thanks for reading!

Review of LAMENT by Maggie Stiefvater

Lament by Maggie Stiefvater
Review of LAMENT: THE FAERIE QUEEN'S DECEPTION by Maggie Stiefvater
(YA/young adult book)

1-Second Review: RECOMMENDED

10-Second Review:
This is my first contemporary YA fairy (faery?) book. I'm not familiar with fairy tropes, so I have no idea how this book and the world in it compare with other fairy books. Stiefvater is a spectacular and poetic writer, and I was drawn in as much by her writing as by the story. I didn't find Dee, the main character, terribly compelling. The fairy elements of the story and the brief but memorable snippets of description really kept my attention. The juxtaposition of blood and flowers, beauty and brutality, innocence and evil, are quite masterful from a writing perspective. Looking forward to the next in the series.

Book Blurb (from Barnes + Noble):
Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan is a painfully shy but prodigiously gifted musician. She's about to find out she's also a cloverhand—one who can see faeries. Deirdre finds herself infatuated with a mysterious boy who enters her ordinary suburban life, seemingly out of thin air. Trouble is, the enigmatic and gorgeous Luke turns out to be a gallowglass—a soulless faerie assassin. An equally hunky—and equally dangerous—dark faerie soldier named Aodhan is also stalking Deirdre. Sworn enemies, Luke and Aodhan each have a deadly assignment from the Faerie Queen. Namely, kill Deirdre before her music captures the attention of the Fae and threatens the Queen's sovereignty. Caught in the crossfire with Deirdre is James, her wisecracking but loyal best friend. Deirdre had been wishing her life weren't so dull, but getting trapped in the middle of a centuries-old faerie war isn't exactly what she had in mind.

Author K.C. Neal:: Pyxis Series :: YA ParanormalPlease visit http://kcneal.blogspot.com/ for more info and features. Thanks for reading!

Reserve a Review Copy of Pyxis: The Discovery

Get a review copy! :)
I set up a form for book bloggers to reserve a review copy of Pyxis: The Discovery. It will be released as a eBook sometime in October. I don't have the exact date yet, but if you fill out the form (it's really quick, I promise!), you'll get a copy around the time of the release. Early, if I can swing it. :)

Click here to go to the request form.

If I've already told you that you're on my list for a review copy, you don't have to fill out the form. If you're not sure, you might want to go ahead and fill it out.


Author K.C. Neal:: Pyxis Series :: YA ParanormalPlease visit http://kcneal.blogspot.com/ for more info and features. Thanks for reading!

Review of HOLLOWLAND by Amanda Hocking

Hollowland by Amanda HockingHOLLOWLAND by Amanda Hocking (YA/young adult book)

1-Second Review: RECOMMENDED

10-Second Review:
This is the fifth book by Amanda Hocking I've read, and it's by far my favorite. I liked Remy, the main character, a take-charge heroine fighting zombies and trying to save her little brother. The cast of characters is much more interesting in this book than in the other Hocking books I've read, and the mystery about her brother kept me reading. Amazon says this is the first book in a series, but I haven't been able to find much of anything about a HOLLOWLAND sequel. I'd buy it if it ever gets published.

Book blurb (from Amazon):
Hollowland - the first book in the young adult dystopian series The Hollows.. "This is the way the world ends - not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door." Nineteen-year-old Remy King is on a mission to get across the wasteland left of America, and nothing will stand in her way - not violent marauders, a spoiled rock star, or an army of flesh-eating zombies.


Find HOLLOWLAND in the Amazon Kindle store and other ebook outlets.

Author K.C. Neal:: Pyxis Series :: YA ParanormalPlease visit http://kcneal.blogspot.com/ for more info and features. Thanks for reading!

Getting the Most From Twitter (Part 2: How to Find People to Follow)

Over about 6 months, my Twitter followers increased more than 12-fold (from 60ish to over 750), and I gain new followers every day. Plenty of other people have done it faster or gained a lot more followers in that timeframe. But my approach is all about making connections and having fun, and I don't use any aggressive tactics (or any "tactics" at all, really) to try to grow my list of followers. I'm happy with the way it's evolving, so I don't worry about the numbers.

The first thing to know is that if you want to gain followers on Twitter, you must follow others. Unless you're already famous, of course. :) If you're an author, you should be on Twitter trying to connect with readers (current and potential), book bloggers, other writers, people in publishing, etc.

But I know it can be tough, especially at first, to find people to follow. Here are some tips:

1. Leverage Your Other Social Networks
You're on Facebook, right? Go to your friends' pages and look for their Twitter links. Maybe post an update asking for your friends' Twitter handles. If you belong to FB groups, tell them you're trying to get more active on Twitter and ask for their Twitter handles.

Go to the blogs you frequent, look for bloggers' Twitter links, and follow them.

If you spend time on message boards, in Goodreads groups, etc, look for a thread where people have posted their Twitter handles. If there isn't a Twitter thread, start one.

2. Look at Who Your Friends Follow and Talk to
In the stream of updates from the people you follow on Twitter, pay attention to who they're talking to, take a peek at their profiles, and follow some of them; I do this all the time because it's so easy. You can also comb your Twitter friends' follow lists.

Look at your Twitter friends' Follow Friday (#FF) or Writer Wednesday (#WW) tweets. Ask your friends for recommendations. If you have a couple of Twitter friends who are pretty well-established, ask them to tweet a shoutout for you. I've done this a number of times for others, I'll say something along the lines of "Hey friends, book blogger so-and-so is new to Twitter - please follow and say hello!" Plenty of people are willing to help, just ask. And when they do help, don't forget to send out a thank-you tweet.

3. Look for Established Authors, Gurus, and Industry Leaders
If you read about writing, books, and the publishing industry - you are doing that, right? - find the Twitter accounts for people who write about writing, books, and publishing. Follow some of your favorite authors. Twitter is interesting in that it's one of the few platforms where there's a decent chance that someone relatively well-known could see your tweet and respond to you. It's happened to me a few times - nearly always in conversations that have nothing to do with writing or publishing, interestingly - and it's pretty cool.

Missed Part 1: Why I LOVE Twitter? Read it here.

Watch for the next post in the series, Part 3: Why You Need to Be Yourself


Author K.C. Neal:: Pyxis Series :: YA ParanormalPlease visit http://kcneal.blogspot.com/ for more info and features. Thanks for reading!

Read My YA-Aholic Interview!

Book blogger extraordinaire Haley interviewed me over at YA-Aholic.com. Find out which three Pyxis characters are named after real people, what career I'd like to have besides writing, and more.

Here's a little excerpt from the interview: 

What can your readers expect from your upcoming novel Pyxis?

Pyxis: The Discovery is a young adult paranormal book, the first in the Pyxis Series. The main character, 16-year-old Corinne, discovers there are two universes - the waking universe we live in every day, and a universe our minds enter when we're asleep. Her destiny is to protect a weakness between the two universes, to keep evil and harm from cycling between them, but the person who was supposed to teach her everything she needs to do this died unexpectedly. Her friend Mason has a role in all of this, too, and together they search for answers. I don't want to give away too much, but there are some fun paranormal elements to the story - ESP, pyrokinesis, things like that. I think readers will find it a fast-paced read that's full  of mystery. 

Read the full interview >>


Author K.C. Neal:: Pyxis Series :: YA ParanormalPlease visit http://kcneal.blogspot.com/ for more info and features. Thanks for reading!

Review of PORTAL by Imogen Rose

PORTAL by Imogen Rose (YA/young adult book)

1-Second Review: Not Recommended

10-Second Review:
I think the premise for PORTAL has a ton of potential and the author shows some great creativity, but the execution felt very uneven and the story seemed to wander a bit. Many of the characters seemed flat and some of the situations I couldn't quite buy into because they hadn't been properly set up. I was intrigued by the mystery about Arizona's mother's involvement in the time travel/life switching, but ultimately didn't feel there was enough conflict to hold my interest. I'd love to see this book reworked with the help of a really good creative editor.

Book blurb (from Amazon):
Come Find Me Two Years Ago... Six words that propelled ice hockey playing tomboy, Arizona, into an alternate dimension. She suddenly found herself in the past. In one moment she went from being an ice hockey playing teenager in New Jersey to a glamorous cheerleader in California. She found herself transported from a happy life with her dad, Dillard, to a new, strange one living with her mother whom she hates. Apparently it's a life she's always lived in. Everyone knows her as Arizona Darley, but she isn't. She is Arizona Stevens. As she struggles to find answers she is certain of one thing- that her mother Olivia, a brilliant physicist, is somehow responsible.PORTAL is the story of the repercussions of Olivia Darley's attempt at creating a perfect world for herself and her children. Arizona's quest for answers threatens to undermine the seemingly perfect world that her mother has so carefully constructed. PORTAL is the first book of the Portal Chronicles. Fans of time travel, romance, and the supernatural will enjoy Arizona's quest for answers.

Find PORTAL on Amazon in paper and digital formats, and though other online book retailers.


K.C. Neal :: Pyxis Series :: YA ParanormalPlease visit http://kcneal.blogspot.com/ for more info and features. Thanks for reading!

Getting the Most From Twitter (Part 1: Why I LOVE Twitter)

This is the first in a series of posts about Twitter. And I'm gonna be honest with you: in this post, I'm basically going on about how much I love Twitter and why. Practical info will come later. :)

How It All Started....
I created my Twitter account in 2009, not totally understanding what I was supposed to do with it. I mostly followed famous people. It was mildly entertaining, but not very engaging because I wasn't interacting with anyone. I found a few interesting non-famous people to follow, but still, it didn't really take off for me. No one I knew IRL was on Twitter.

Fast-forward to February of this year.... I decided I needed to ramp up my Twitter activity because I wanted to publish a novel, and it seemed like I was reading everywhere about how authors needed to be on Twitter, Facebook, etc, for marketing purposes. I had about 60 followers at the end of February 2011, and I knew I needed to change that. So I started finding writers and book bloggers to follow. I talked to them, and some of them talked back. A bunch of them started following me.

Hey, suddenly Twitter was kinda fun!

Followers Became Friends

In the months after I got more involved with Twitter, I became FB friends with many of my Twitter friends, and that just gave us one more way to get to know each other. We followed each other's blogs and reposted or retweeted each other's updates. I've gotten to know some of my online friends well enough that if I'm quiet for a day or two, they wonder where I am and ask if everything is okay. It's pretty cool. :)

Apart from connecting with other writerly and bookish people, I started following some local tweeters - turns out Boise is one of the most active U.S. cities on Twitter - and I've met maybe 20 or so IRL. For someone who normally hates talking to strangers (*raises hand*) and trying to make smalltalk (*raises hand again*), Twitter has been a great prelude because in most cases I've already had some online conversations with tweeps before I meet them for reals. So they're not really strangers.

It's not easy to explain to people who aren't on Twitter, but tweeps' personalities shine through remarkably clearly despite the 140-character limit. A person's sense of humor (or lack of it) somehow gets distilled and focused. And let's face it - you have to be pretty articulate to survive on Twitter.

I Just... Freaking LOVE Twitter
I love every part of the Twitter experience: the pithy updates, fast pace, highly interactive yet low-obligation format... and yeah, the sense of voyeurism you get when "listening in" on a bunch of public conversations.

Back in Feb I had about 60 followers. Now, I have around 700 (I'll talk more about how I gained followers in my next post). I've connected with so many people on Twitter who I'm sure I never would have found otherwise. I started out thinking I'd be using Twitter as a marketing tool, but that's taken a back seat to keeping up with my friends... and just having fun. :)

Read Part 2: How to Find People to Follow on Twitter


Author K.C. Neal:: Pyxis Series :: YA ParanormalPlease visit http://kcneal.blogspot.com/ for more info and features. Thanks for reading!

Review of EXILED by M.R. Merrick

Exiled by M.R. Merrick
EXILED by M.R. Merrick (YA/young adult book)

1-Second Review: RECOMMENDED

10-Second Review:
I love that this book features a male protagonist, which seems somewhat rare in YA these days. EXILED has elements of urban fantasy earlier in the story and morphs more into high fantasy later. The characters and their relationships are well-developed and memorable. I liked the wit and play between Rayna, a half-demon, and point-of-view character Chase, a demon hunter exiled from the Circle of hunters. The fantasy elements were really imaginative and fun, and there were a lot of great action sequences. I'm eager to read the next book in the series!

Book blurb (from Amazon):
Chase Williams is a demon hunter in the Circle, or at least he was supposed to be. On his fifteenth birthday, Chase stepped up to the altar to claim his elemental power, but it never came. Elemental magic is passed down to a hunter through the bloodline, but on Chase's birthday, the bloodline stopped. Exiled without the Circle's protection, Chase has spent two years trying to survive a world riddled with half-demons and magic. When he has a run in with a frightened, and seemingly innocent demon, he learns the Circle's agenda has changed: the Circle plans to unlock a portal and unleash pure-blood demons into the world. Vowing to stop them, and knowing he can't do it alone, Chase forms a reluctant alliance with Rayna - a sexy witch with an attitude and a secret. In their attempt to stop them, Chase and Rayna find themselves in the middle of the Circle's plan, leaving one of them to decide what their friendship is worth, and the other's life depending on it.

Find EXILED in the Amazon Kindle store, the Barnes & Noble Nook store, and other ebook outlets.

Author K.C. Neal:: Pyxis Series :: YA ParanormalPlease visit http://kcneal.blogspot.com/ for more info and features. Thanks for reading!

Unresolved Mysteries

Your endless string of cliffhangers annoyed me!Cliffhangers can be really annoying. As a reader, they can make me feel manipulated when they're executed with a heavy hand. I don't like feeling manipulated. (Ahem, THE DAVINCI CODE, with your damn cliffhangers every three pages.)

What about the cousin of the cliffhanger, the unresolved mystery? In PYXIS Book 1, I set up several major and minor mysteries throughout the story. I don't resolve hardly any of them in Book 1, and I expect that this will irritate some readers. But I'm gonna do it anyway. :)

How do you feel about cliffhangers and unresolved mysteries when you're reading?


Author K.C. Neal:: Pyxis Series :: YA ParanormalPlease visit http://kcneal.blogspot.com/ for more info and features. Thanks for reading!