Kevin M. Turner's Blog, page 5

THE MAGI BLITZ (Day 2)

Welcome Back!

For those of you that have read the book, if you'd like to find out which element you would control, take the quiz below!



For the rest of you, let me briefly explain the quiz:

The Magi world has a power that allows them to control the four elements:  fire, water, wind, earth.  A good portion of the story deals with the main character, Elijah Hawk, figuring out how these elements relate to him and which speak to him the most.  With the help of my friends Corey and David, I have put together a quick 10-question quiz will tell you which element you would be more likely to control if you were trained at Savenridge. 

I hope you have fun!

The Magi Buzz...

Ttoria.blogspot.com has graciously been publicizing The Magi this week for the blitz.  Ttoria is an independent reviewer from the UK and has an interview with me up here.  Check back tomorrow for her review of The Magi (I actually haven't read it yet).  

Thanks Viktoria!

http://www.ttoria.blogspot.com/

THE MAGI BLITZ (DAY 1)

1.  PURCHASE    2.  REVIEW    3.  CLICK CLICK CLICK   4.  SHARE

For those like me who need quick, simple directions without a lot of information, I've composed a list of bullet points to explain what I need.  If you are just here to check out the site because you're not sure what this is all about yet, click on THE MAGI BLITZ link at the top.
Please, NO OBLIGATIONS!


  
AVAILABLE TO ALL E-READERS 

1.  PURCHASE ($2.99)

-If you have a KINDLE, purchase here.
-If you have a NOOK, purchase here.
-If you have an iPad or iPhone, go to ibooks (or iTunes) and type in THE MAGI.
-If you have another e-reader or phone that handles books not listed above, purchase here.
-If you want a print copy, please contact me.

2.  REVIEW (You can copy and paste a review to all of these places for free.  The more reviews, the better)

-Goodreads (most important)  Click here to review, add to books, or rate.
-Amazon - Click here to review
-Barnes and Noble - Click here to review.
-iTunes (no site, but you can review on the app)
-Smashwords (can only review if you purchase from Smashwords) Click here to review.

3.  CLICK CLICK CLICK

For all of the above sites, the more clicks the better.

-LIKE everything that is a good review.
-CLICK on good reviews as "helpful".
-COMMENT when possible.
-VISIT the sites where some reviews came from (some sites are already listed above on THE MAGI REVIEWS). -FOLLOW the blog, facebook, goodreads, twitter (all links are listed on the sidebars)
4.  SHARE 

Guest Post for The Slowest Bookworm

You may have heard a version of this story before, but if you'd like to read my guest post on The Slowest Bookworm's blog, click here.  Also, click back to the main page and scroll down to read her review of The Magi, which is also linked on The Magi Reviews at the top of the page.

Stats for The Magi

While these stats are very modest, I am a goal-oriented person, so I like knowing where things stand so I know if there's improvement.  It will be fun to check back next week to see how things go.  Here are some interesting trends lately regarding The Magi:

1.  Amazon - Go to Amazon and type in The Magi, and my book comes up as the second choice.  Last week it wasn't even on the first two pages.

2.  Amazon - While this will hopefully increase steadily as I'm actually telling all of you to NOT buy my book now and wait until the 14, The Magi is ranked #49,525 in all Kindle books sold.  Now there's an uphill climb!  I'll update you all on those stats next week.

3.  Google - I'm not sure how much of Google's search pages have to do with some sort of algorithm from each individual computer, but from multiple computers, typing in The Magi will allude to the book two different places (both reviews) on the first page.  Type in The Magi series, and the whole page is filled with allusions.  It's starting to pop up thanks to all of your help! 

Looking for those stats to improve next week.  Thank you all and I hope to see you around the blog next week too.

Kevin

The Magi Cover

For those of you who have been following for a while, I should have titled it "The NEW Magi Cover" as I technically had another cover.  I had that one for advanced copies sent to reviewers and for my students to read at the beginning of the year.  However, I'm sure you'll agree (if you scroll down and see the other cover), that this one is much more professional. 

                                       -Cover and artwork/design by Jordan Harris-
This is the book's jacket for the (hopeful) hardcover edition.  I say hopeful because while I can finance a handful of printed copies on my own, part of the reason for all the publicity requesting is to get publishers' notice so these editions will become easily available.  

I'd like to take part of this post to thank Jordan Harris for all the work he put into designing the cover for The Magi.  First of all, it's amazing as you can see!  But he was extremely easy to work with and basically took my scrambled thoughts and put them down almost exactly as I imagined it (better than, actually).  If any of you need graphic design or artwork in the computer graphic field, I HIGHLY recommend Jordan! 



This is the cover for the e-books that are available now (but wait until the 14th if you can!).  It will make more sense once you read the story, but a good portion of The Magi has to do with the four elements, and this is their symbol (at least, in the world of the Magi).  Each element is represented by a different color (just like the story), but when they unite, it looks like this.  Again, once you get to about chapter 7, this may make more sense and help with the visualization of the elemental symbols. 

Jordan Harris, you're amazing! 

A Big Thank You!

As I'm a day away from announcing The Magi Blitz and a week away from releasing the Magi, I would like to say thank you to all the Blog Reviewers that have been willing to review The Magi.  I know it's not much, but you have all been so wonderful to take on work by an unknown author and publicize my book for your readers, and it's hard to express the gratitude I have for that.

For those of you that may not know, many of these reviewers have to read multiple books a week just to get through their to-do stack, so taking on an extra book that has no buzz, written by a debut author, and is relatively unknown is a huge sacrifice and risk on their part.

I hope that the time you spend on The Magi will be time well-spent, and if there's anything I can do for you, please don't hesitate to ask.  Once again: Thank you!

Kevin

Profiling The Magi - Elijah Hawk

Elijah Hawk:  Main characterAge:  13  First of all, let's start with the name.  While The Magi is not a religious story, there are many religious references throughout.  I'm sure there are some I'm not even aware of yet, but some are obvious starting with the names of the main characters (children only).  Elijah, along with most of the other children in the story, is a biblical name.  I found it more difficult than I imagined picking the name for my protagonist.  I wanted it unique yet subtle, and Elijah just stuck out to me for some reason.  The purpose of the name Hawk I can't give away at this point because it has significance beyond just a last name.  If you read the story, you'll probably be able to figure it out, especially at the end.  However, I also like the sound of it.  I would say that about 90% of all the names in the series have significance to me.  Some are named after loved ones, and some are just named after people that have inspired me during my life, and Elijah is on that list.  In many ways, Elijah takes on the role of the common teenager.  More than anything, I wanted to create a character that we can relate to (yes, "we" meaning everyone, not just teenagers—but teenagers especially).  I think we can all relate to Elijah's insecurity with his physical appearance at some point in our lives.  It's rare to find someone who accepts who they are from the get-go (especially at 13), living their life completely secure with their appearance.  They're out there, but it's rare!  However, Elijah finds out that he has superior abilities (I won't give these all away now) and others more than accept him for those strengths.  I don't pretend to have figured out all the truths about life, but I firmly believe that people are attracted to strength, and I also believe that we all have strength somewhere.  Therefore, when used and cultivated, our strengths can overshadow our insecurities, which is one of the themes I tried to bring out when writing The Magi, and Elijah in particular.Elijah is also an inquisitive character—something I believe I subconsciously took from my own personality.  In high school, I can remember being laughed at for asking so many questions.  I'm sure it was annoying to my friends and especially, although I never picked up on it, my teachers.  I found that Elijah was just as inquisitive, and I actually find that one of his most endearing qualities (hm…I wonder why?).  You can even read some of his inquisitive nature in the first few chapters that are posted on the blog.Finally, in taking on the role of the common teenager, I wanted Elijah to be found in the middle of the crowd.  He's not a natural leader.  He shies away from attention that he cannot control.  He's intelligent, but not brilliant.  However, what makes Elijah so special is his compassion, which is a total antithesis of his enemies, the Maliphists, and is one of the few human qualities that is a choice.  I wrote Elijah not to represent the common teenager.  I wrote him to be a model.  He's not perfect.  He has his flaws (who doesn't?), but he truly wants to do good and has real empathy for all he comes in contact with (including his enemies).  I hope that for all who read The Magi, I will have succeeded in creating this model.     

Author Interview

Check out my small interview here at www.remarkablereads-sandra.blogspot.com

Also click back for upcoming reviews and release information.

Halloween Hop

I'm a little early, but I won't be around over the weekend, so I wanted to get this up.

Favorite monster movie/book?

I'm not a huge fan of horror movies.  I never saw many growing up so the desensitization that happens to young lads at an early age never happened to me.  I guess it's like never being exposed to germs at a young age making you more likely to get sick.

Anyway, I think The Shining would be up there, but I'm not sure that's a monster movie.  Just a good horror flick.

Check out the sites below for more blogger Halloween favorites!

Grab this button

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