Suze Reese's Blog, page 3

Stop 9: An ExtraNormal Blog Tour

Can you believe we're at the 9th stop for an ExtraNormal Blog Tour? I swear it's flying by for me, but it's been a blast so far. Jennifer at Mom Zunas has posted a 5-star review (Yay! Gotta love those!)

So hop on over there, leave a comment, and come back to the ExtraNormal Tour tab to enter to win one of those amazing prizes.

And on other business: if you're looking for the I Heart YA Carnival, check back next week, same time same place. I'm itching to get it resumed (loads of ideas), but had to cut back in order to not go totally insane (one of my major life goals).

Thanks y'all for stopping by! (I never say y'all but sometimes it just fits, y'know?)

Stop 8: ExtraNormal Blog Tour

Due to technical difficulties (that might possibly, maybe, involve me being a dweeb) today's stop of An ExtraNormal Blog Tour has been delayed. Stay tuned, and thanks for your patience!

UPDATE: Yay! It's alive! Sorry for those who tried to find it, but Book Whales have posted another great review! Thanks ladies!

Head on over and then come back to the Blog Tour tab to enter to win that Kindle, Book Bag, Awesome ExtraNormal T-shirt, book and MORE! Woop! Woop!

Stops 6 & 7: An ExtraNormal Blog Tour

We get another two-fer today at An ExtraNormal Blog Tour!

Stop 6: With All Things Fabulous is a brand-new site that promises to be...well...fabulous! They've got a mix of all kinds of things, including books. The ladies there are interviewing the beautiful and intelligent Mira Johns. (Commonly mistaken for an alien, but please do not call her that.) They are also offering a giveaway of their own with some fun crafty supplies. So make sure you head on over.

And Stop 7: I'll be hanging at From the Shadows with a guest author interview. If you haven't been there you should. It's a wonderful blog.

And don't forget to come back and click on the Rafflecopter. Just in case you haven't heard - there are fabulous prizes up for grabs: An ExtraNormal book bag stuff full with bookmarks, an ExtraNormal t-shirt, an ExtraNormal paperback, Amazon gift cards, AND a Kindle. You seriously don't want to miss all that!

Thanks for all your support! It's been a great first week - make sure you come back next Monday for more awesomeness!

Stops 4 & 5: An ExtraNormal Blog Tour

Great news today - double stops! That's right - today we have double stops!

Savannah over at Books With Bite gave ExtraNormal a great review!


Plus I'll be hanging out with Emily at Emily's Crammed Bookshelf. Sadly, Emily wasn't too thrilled with ExtraNormal, but that's okay. It can't be for everyone, and I appreciate that she took the time to read it, even when it wasn't her thing.

Don't forget to come back here and get your credits on the Linky Tool. (ExtraNormal Blog Tour Tab)

Stop Three: An ExtraNormal Blog Tour

Okay, I hate to play favorites. But today's stop is seriously way up there on my list. Wherever else you go today, you can not miss this stop. I don't want to give too much away, but my very fave character of all time might just be a guest there.

Jillian at Pidgin Peas Book Nook is awesome (she's not the character, she's the host,) but she does a great job. So head over there for a great interview, and then make sure you come back and fill out the Rafflecopter linky under the Blog Tour tab. That stuffed book bag is one seriously awesome prize, if I saw so myself!



Thanks all for your support - this has been a fabulous tour so far!

Oh - and have you noticed the price drop on the eBook? Yep, a blog tour promotion price of $2.99!

Stop Two of An ExtraNormal Blog Tour

First, let me say that if you've come looking for I Heart YA Blog Carnival, we'll be taking a break for the next two weeks while the ExtraNormal Blog Tour is happening. But participating in the tour is even better since there are prizes!

(And if you were counting on a prompt for the day - how about telling us what you love/hate/or don't care about when it comes to blog tours? Original, isn't it? I don't know where I come up with these things. =)

Okay - we're off to the second stop on An ExtraNormal Blog Tour with another fabulous review! Jenny posted hers on Amazon early on, and it made my week. Make sure you stop by her Imaginary World and check it out. Then come back to the ExtraNormal Blog Tour tab on this site to earn your points towards that Kindle and more great stuff!

Thanks y'all for participating!

An ExtraNormal Blog Tour Starts Today!

(Excuse please. I have to interrupt this regularly-scheduled blog post/announcement to say that I'm crying over the two reviews that came out today. Seriously guys. There are tears. Go. Go read them. Now. Well, I guess you should read all the stuff below or you won't know where to go. But after that, yeah, get over there! (Just don't read Pidgin Peas magic highlights if you haven't read the book! And tell Frishawn she's amazing!)

After weeks of anticipation, I'm so excited to begin "An ExtraNormal Blog Tour" and celebration of the debut of the paranormal romance ExtraNormal. We have stops around the blog-o-sphere daily for the next two weeks with reviews, interviews, giveaways and even visits from a couple of my favorite ExtraNormal characters.

Best of all, there will be opportunities at every stop to earn points towards some fabulous swag and even a Kindle!

Check out the stops and details at the ExtraNormal Blog Tour Tab on this site. And make sure you come back to that link to enter your visits on the Rafflecopter linky.

Now with those details out of the way, let's get things started. The first stop on the tour is Frishawn at  WTFareyoureading? with a review and a giveaway. Frishawn has been wonderful and I'm so honored to have her kicking off the tour.

And as a little first-day bonus, Pidgin Pea Book Nook has a review posted today as well. (We'll be making an official stop there in a couple of days to visit with my favorite best friend and alien, Geery.)

One more thing before we start - as of this writing, Amazon is still "populating" the paperback version on its site. (I love that word, feels like it's giving birth her something.) So while Amazon is in labor, the digital version is there and available, and if you have your heart set on the paperback (which I totally recommend, Eve Ventrue's art is so worth holding in your hands), it's available for probably the cheaper than Amazon's price directly from my website. (Look to your right - yep, right there!)

Okay, that's it! Off you go to the first stop!

How to (Not) Drive Yourself Crazy as an Author

For the past several weeks I've felt a little like a flower girl at a wedding--except instead of petals I'm tossing around ARCs, review requests, blog tour requests, swag.

The best/worst part of all this buzz is the feedback that has started rolling in. Not that feedback is new, I've been asking for and receiving great feedback throughout the entire writing process. But this feedback is different, because I can't use it for anything constructive. The book is what it is. Take it or leave it. And for the most part the feedback has been wonderful. (Sniff. Thank you. =)

But as happy as feedback can make an author, it can also drive that same author crazy. For instance, a couple of days ago I was chatting with my hairdresser about ExtraNormal (Do I ever chat about anything else? I think not.) She was very excited about it, until she asked, "Does it have any violence?" I had to think about that one. It's mostly a romance, and a tame one at that, but there are a couple of action scenes that get pretty intense. "I can't read it then," she said. "I've given up all violence in movies, tv, and books. It gives me nightmares."

I had to respect that. I certainly don't want to be the cause of her nightmares. But the funny part was that not an hour later I saw a comment from a reader wishing the book had more action and less romance. Hmmm. One can wish, yes. Except that it is a romance. Perhaps if I took out all action and romance? Uh. no.

Do you see the seed of insanity being planted in my little brain?

Honestly neither of those comments were out of the ordinary. I just found them a prime example of the dilemma an author faces on a regular basis.

So here's the important thing to remember as both a reader and an author who is trying to retain his/her sanity: there is literally no book in the world that pleases everyone. Really. Not a one. Even the huge best-sellers aren't for everyone. And it's often not the book that's at fault. A book that is considered boring by one reader can be inspirational for another. A book with too much violence for one can be too romantic for another.

A lot of that has to do with expectations. Usually, what a negative review is really saying is, "This book didn't meet my expectations. I wasn't what I thought it would be when I purchased it." What was wrong could be bad writing or major plot holes or something that can really kill a book. But it's just as likely to be that it just doesn't suit the reader's taste. They wanted action and got romance.

Which leads me to an author's sanity. When I'm in the writing mode, I carefully consider every bit of feedback. I don't always use it, but I'm always grateful to anyone willing to read a rough manuscript and share their thoughts. And I always contemplate whether I can use their comments to strengthen the manuscript.

The problem with this kind of feedback is that it can be completely stifling to an author. Changing up a story time and time again in order to please every set of eyes that reads it can result in a literal never-ending and muddled story. At some point you just have to say 'enough' and come to terms with the fact that this is your story and it's never going to satisfy every reader.

When the book is finally complete, the best an author can do is make sure the marketing (title, cover, blurb) match the contents, in order to avoid disappointed readers. Your best chance at good reviews (besides having a polished book) is making sure the reader who picks up your book knows what to expect. That is, if you even have a say in those things. (Most publishers take care of that themselves.)

And after that?
1. Thick skin is a must.
2. Don't take anything personally -- whether a review is good or bad, it's about a book, not you. Yes, the book came out of your brain, but it is a separate entity from you.
3. Remember that one person's negative is another's positive.

And if all else fails buy a bumper sticker that says, "My imaginary friends are better than your imaginary friends" and call it good.

I Heart YA #14: What's Your Price Point?

Welcome to the 14th weekly I HEART YA Blog Carnival! I HEART YA is a Blog Carnival for readers, writers, and lovers of young adult fiction. Every Tuesday there will be a blogging prompt that celebrates my favorite reading genre --YA fiction. Bloggers are invited to write their own take on the topic and post a link in the comment section, or if you prefer just put your thoughts in the comments. Either way, if you own a blog, grab the button to show your pride, and add your link to the list below. If you're not sure what to do, go to the I HEART YA tab for more details. 


There's been more big news this past week in the topsy-turvy world of book publishing. Nathan Bransford wrote a great summary for those who want to know more. But in my own (less brilliant) words, the government has taken an interest in the price of eBooks because Apple and a bunch of big publishers apparently colluded to keep eBook prices high. The wacky part of this arrangement was that some eBooks were priced higher than the same book in paperback. 


I've done a lot of reading about the situation, and have seen a lot of finger pointing. And those fingers aren't just wagging at the parties being accused of wrong-doing. Some blame the government, some Amazon, and some blame independent authors and the rise of the .99 cent eBook. 


So what does this have to do with the blog carnival? Yeah I admit dollar signs make my eyes go blurry. But it's made me ponder several money-related questions that I'm going to pass on to you:


What's the top price you're willing to pay for an eBook? Do you embrace the .99 cent eBooks or avoid them? Why? Are there any you would recommend? What about paperbacks? What's the most you're willing to pay? Would you ever pay more for an eBook than a print copy? 


Those are a few, but feel free to come up with your own questions. 






And don't forget: 1. Add your link to the linkytool (Only once is necessary. Links will be removed after two months of not participating.) 2. Add your link to the comment section so we know you participated this week. 3. Grab the button if you haven't already. 4. Check out the other blog posts. Ready...set...go!

Exciting News About the ExtraNormal Blog Tour!

In case you're keeping track, I did not post on Thursday, my scheduled day. I hope that doesn't happen very often. But I had a good excuse. My eyes have been afflicted with something no author's (or human's) eyes should have. Too much screen time has resulted in a dull ache and tearing every time I look at a screen, whether it's the computer or my cell phone.) The wisest course of action was to give them rest. Which I did. They're still doing it a little, so I guess I'll just try to go easy on them from here on out. (Wiping away a non-emotional tear.)

But during this little rest of mine, I was able to come up with some great swag for the ExtraNormal blog tour, plus a fabulous prize - a Kindle! That's right, stuffed in the ExtraNormal book bag is going to be an ExtraNormal t-shirt, some bee-utifal bookmarks, the paperback version of ExtraNormal (or a $15 gift card if you'd like. Just in case you can't stand the wait and buy the book before the tour ends.) =)


How sweet is that?!? A week from today, and it all starts here! (Check out the ExtraNormal Book Tour tab for all the details and a list of the fabulous bloggers!)