Heather Grey's Blog, page 4

January 11, 2012

Did you say 'free'?

Why yes, I did! Sending out a reminder to everyone that tomorrow, January 12th, Secrets and Keys will again be available for free on Amazon! There was a great number of downloads on my first free day, and I'm hoping for similar (maybe even better?) results tomorrow! So tell your friends, enemies, family, coworkers, anyone who you think may enjoy the story.

This morning, I logged onto Amazon. After my first free promotion day, I've literally checked the list page for Secrets and Keys every day (usually a few times a day), hoping that at least one of those 350+ readers would give it a review. I know, I should give them time to read it, but what can I say? I've been excited and am not very patient. Well to my delight, I found my first review today! Not only that, but the reviewer seemed to enjoy my novel AND gave it five stars. So if you were the first reader to review my novel on Amazon, I want to give you a giant THANK YOU for making my day today! Hopefully others will follow you and leave their comments as well!

I've been using Goodreads a lot lately. One thing I noticed on there is that authors have book giveaways. I actually think this would be a cool idea at some point in the future, especially since I am the only one who owns physical copies of Secrets and Keys. It'd be awhile though, as the hardcover/paperback versions I do have contain the original cover (yes, the cover you see on this page is my newer, much improved cover!). So I would have to go through the process of ordering more, which is something I planned to do in the next few weeks anyway. What do you guys think? Would that be a good idea? It's just a thought, so no promises, but definitely a possibility!

Alright, that's all I have for now. Leave me a comment on what you think about the giveaway (I know you're out there, the stats tell me so!!! =]). I'd also love to hear if you already have Secrets and Keys, or plan on downloading it on the free days!
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Published on January 11, 2012 13:48

January 7, 2012

Thank you!

I wanted to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who downloaded my novel yesterday! I had 350+ downloads in just one day! Personally I find this incredible, especially knowing that some Indie authors use multiple days of their free promotion in a row, and get maybe 400 downloads! I am so excited that so many people now own my novel! My only hope is that I get a few reviews (*hint hint* =P) out of all those downloads! I love to hear feedback. I am very excited for January 12th (besides the fact that it's my birthday), and hopefully I'll see similar results with that free promotion. At one point, I think I ended up at a #55 position in children's books yesterday, which was so cool to see.

School starts on Monday again, which is a bummer. My schedule doesn't seem awful though! Luckily, I did get quite a bit of writing done on the second novel. I'm nearly complete with Chapter 15! I have a feeling this novel is going to be longer than Secrets and Keys, and that came to be about 250 pages in printed form (which unfortunately I do not have available at this time). I'm sure no one will mind a longer novel though! I just have so many ideas that all need to be tied in, but it's getting there.

That's all I have for this post. Be on the lookout for updates, and I will for sure make another reminder for the next free promotion if you missed yesterdays. As soon as I pick the last three free days, I'll let you know as well! If you read Secrets and Keys, I'd love to hear feedback from you. So leave me a comment here or on Amazon! Thank you again for making yesterday so exciting!! =]
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Published on January 07, 2012 14:40

January 5, 2012

Get Ready!

Guess what? In just a few short hours, Secrets and Keys will be up on Amazon for FREE! It's only for 24 hours, so make sure you act fast! No worries if you miss it though. The next free promotion will be on January 12th! I'm so excited to get this novel out there. Random fact: I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but I used to write fanfiction. I wrote fanfiction a LOT, and I loved to get stories out for free as more people would read them. It's always exciting to connect with an audience, and share a story they enjoy reading. That's the only downside to publishing on Amazon, that I can't always offer my novel for free. My novel isn't fanfiction either, so I had trouble finding a good home for it. This is why I am so excited for tomorrow and I'm hoping for good results!

Keeping this short and sweet today, as I just wanted to put up a reminder. Hopefully I'll have more next time! =]
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Published on January 05, 2012 17:22

December 31, 2011

Happy New Years!

Hi everyone!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and happy holidays! It was a green Christmas here, the first one I can remember in a long time. Oh well, at least the roads aren't icy! Did it snow by you?

So, I finally made a decision for Secrets and Keys. You may or may not have noticed, but I took off the link to the novel on Barnes and Noble's website. That's right, I caved and signed up for the Kindle Select. I think this will be a good thing for the novel. After researching the messaging boards on Barnes and Noble, it seems that sales for Indie authors have been very, very slow lately. Added to the fact that I haven't sold a single copy there, I figured no one would miss it- for at least the next 90 days.

Being part of the Kindle Select program, I get 5 free promotional days. This means that through the course of the next 90 days, I get to choose 5 days to offer my novel for free. I have two days set up so far. I'm not sure if I'll keep them, but I'll definitely keep one. So keep an eye out on January 12-13, as right now Secrets and Keys will be offered for free those days! I may or may not keep January 13, as I want to be able to spread out my five days. January 12 is staying though, as it will be my birthday gift to everyone (seeing people downloading my novel will be my birthday gift to myself)! =]

That's all I have for now! Keep an eye out for updates on if I decide to keep the 13th as a free day, as well as the last 3 free days I get! And in case you were wondering, Lies and Locks is coming along amazingly, and I think you will really enjoy it!

Happy New Years!


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Update: I have updated the free sale promotion days! I took away the 13th, and instead moved the date to January 6th. I've been quite impatient, and really want to see if there will be any results ASAP. So be on the lookout January 6th and January 12th for Secrets and Keys to be available for free these days! I'll announce the next three free days as soon as I pick them!!
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Published on December 31, 2011 13:33

December 23, 2011

Happy Holidays!

Happy holidays everyone! I hope the weather is treating you well, where ever you are! The first thing I want to mention is that I read a 500 page novel in one day a few days ago. I read Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare. It's fantastic! If you haven't read any of her novels, I definitely suggest them! I've been trying to decide on my next novel to read, but after loving Clockwork Prince so much, I'm concerned I will be disappointed by whatever I read next. If you have any suggestions, do share!

So I've been reading and thinking a lot lately on discussion boards. Apparently independent authors have been seeing higher success when raising their prices. Secrets and Keys is currently on sale for $0.99. I've been debating raising the price, in hopes that people don't take the lower price as a short work of fiction that they don't care to read. I plan to leave the price as is for now since Christmas is almost here, and people may want to fill new e-readers with cheap novels! If there is no change, I may raise the price though.

The second thing I have been thinking about is Amazon KDP Select. If I do this, I will have to take my novel off sale at Barnes and Noble for at least 90 days. While I don't necessarily want to do this, I think the 5 days of free promotion could be a good thing for Secrets and Keys. Plus, I have yet to sell anything on Barnes and Noble's site. Again, I don't plan on doing anything until after Christmas, and I probably wouldn't choose to do this until after New Years. I would love any and all feedback on what others think!!

In case you were curious, I just finished chapter eleven of the second book! It's exciting that this is coming along so much faster than the first novel. I literally spent two years writing Secrets and Keys. Though, in those two years I had months between writing anything. This past summer I became really motivated, and that's when I actually wrote almost the entire second half plus some of the novel. I'm hoping it doesn't take me forever to finish the second novel, but I gave myself a deadline of the end of summer 2012! I've finally decided on how to end the second novel, and I think you're going to like it. Well, maybe not since unfortunately it must end on a tiny cliffhanger. I know, I really hate those too. It's the only way to make the third book transition smoothly though!

That's all I have for now. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!
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Published on December 23, 2011 17:01

December 14, 2011

Hurray!

So I finally finished my exams for this semester! Do you know what that means? I have more time to work on the second novel! You should definitely get excited, because as I write, I continue to think of new twists to add that will more than likely leave you wanting more! Why do I think that? Well, as the (not yet set in stone) title says, this novel will be full of lies, and yes, you guessed it! Locks! Mostly lies though.

I have been published on Amazon and Barnes and Noble for probably about two weeks now. I love reading the community postings, but one thing really bothers me. People complaining that they're only selling a few hundred novels a week! I'm happy to have sold three... yes you read it right, THREE total novels! Not going to lie, when I saw that many people purchased my novel, I couldn't have been happier. The reason I write is to share my crazy imagination with others. Not to make profit. So to the people complaining about only selling one hundred novels this week, think of it this way: that's one hundred more people that you get to share your thoughts with. One hundred people that, for a few hours, you get to entertain, and maybe make smile. I know I love the novels I read. Okay, done with my sappy rant. Seriously though, I love that three people took a chance on me!

Promoting my novel has definitely been the hardest thing, since I'm actually very shy about my writing. This means that only two of my friends know of this novel, and that's it! No family and no other friends know about the existence of this book (for now anyways). I have written for years. I used to write fanfiction, and have two stories that had quite a lot of hits (the only two stories that I posted to fanfiction.net). When this novel came to mind though, I stopped the fanfiction- one chapter from the end of one story, and maybe 1/3 the way through the other. I feel bad that I left those people hanging, and I'm not even allowed to let them know why (I don't want what I do have up there removed because the admins think I'm trying to self promote)!

With promoting on Facebook being completely out of the question, that leaves me with little options for promoting while still maintaining anonymous. So this leaves you, my random followers that stumbled upon my page! I'm so grateful that you're here, and you've read this much! If you've already read my novel, I hope you enjoyed it, and will be on the lookout for the second! If you haven't, I hope you do choose to read it at some point! Below I will be adding a short teaser section from the novel. Hopefully you enjoy!


Now Erin was beginning to get annoyed. Sure, she was able to wake up this morning with a feeling that she just had to come to Phoenix today. Now that she was there, the purpose wasn't quite as clear. She slowed her pace, trying to decipher exactly why she was there. Pausing in her tracks, she wondered if maybe she was going crazy already. Maybe the feeling she had to come to Phoenix was just her hope in finding someone she knew. That was when she saw something from the corner of her eye. Turning a little too quickly, Erin saw someone hurry behind a corner. Now she was seeing things? Was she being followed? Ugh, I really need to get a pet before I go completely insane, Erin thought to herself."You look lost, can I help you find something?" a voice broke her away from her silent panic."Uh…" Erin looked to her side to see a tall figure staring at her. "No, I'm fine. Thanks though," Erin smiled and walked away, confused about the feeling she got when the stranger had spoken to her. Besides the strange feeling, that was the first time a human had spoken to her without her manipulating their mind. Plus, hadn't she been making herself invisible to everyone around her? Maybe she lost focus when she was worried about going insane. Her guard was back up at full force as she continued down the street, unnoticed by the humans.
"Hello?" a husky voice answered the phone. "It's Haden," a shadowy figure rounded the corner down an alley. "Ah, Haden, I suspect this must be important for you to be calling me on this number.""Yes, Elder. I found the girl," triumph was evident in his voice.There was a long pause before the Elder spoke again. "Bring her to the Council as soon as you can.""Of course, Elder," Haden shut his phone and disappeared into the shadows.
Walking in circles for over 45 minutes, Erin finally decided that there was nothing here. She actually felt quite silly, wishing she wouldn't have given in to her gut feeling. Annoyed she had made her way out here for no reason, Erin decided to start making her way back to the car. Every once in a while she would look over her shoulder, still getting the feeling that she was being watched. Finally deciding no one was stalking her, Erin relaxed. No human around was paying her the slightest bit of attention anyway.As she got in the car, Erin took a deep breath before putting the keys into the ignition. Once started, Erin fiddled with the radio before she pulled out. Might as well listen to something good, she thought. After going back and forth between stations with commercials, Erin finally hit the preset station number one. Her gut twisted as she settled on her favorite radio station. Looking in the rearview mirror, Erin saw nothing and shook her head."I'm going crazy," Erin mumbled, pulling into the street to head home. "No you're not," a voice replied from the backseat.                  Erin screamed as her car swerved into the middle of the road.

Dun dun dunnn.... I love this section because Haden is definitely one of my favorite characters, and it's his first appearance! This isn't my absolute favorite part of the novel though. It would spoil too much if I put that up here! So I guess you'll just have to read and guess which part is my favorite! Feel free to leave me comments too! I would love to get feedback from anyone that visits my page! Even if you haven't read the book, but maybe have a question, or even if you want to just say hi, don't hesitate to leave it! I will gladly answer (almost) any questions!! =]
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Published on December 14, 2011 23:20

December 7, 2011

Welcome!

Hi everyone! I hope everyone is well. First I want to thank you for checking out my blog for this series. I am very excited about the first book, Secrets and Keys, to finally be available on the Amazon and Barnes and Noble e-bookstore! Act now for the very low price of just $0.99! Why should you buy it you ask? An overview of the book:

Erin lived an ordinary life. She had good friends, family, and even a boyfriend. Life seemed pretty normal, until her sixteenth birthday. Overcome with a strange illness that left her panicked and doing strange things, like enjoying the taste of her boyfriend's blood, Erin left. She left everything in her life behind, afraid of hurting anyone she loved, and started a new life.

Years passed, Erin living with her terrible burden, which at times could prove to be a gift. Even she couldn't believe what had happened to her years ago. One day, after getting a strange feeling to go out, Erin decided to follow her gut. Forgetting to shield herself from the humans around, she was found. Found by someone like her. That is when her secluded, secret life ended.


Reunited with those of her past and new Immortal friends, Erin begins learning about her new world. There is something everyone is determined to keep from her, and Erin is determined to find out what that is. If things couldn't get any worse, she learns that her first love had been cursed as well, but he was set out to destroy her kind. As she works to gain his trust, Erin learns of other threats in her new world, each more dangerous than the last.


When a trip to find the key to reversing their curse is arranged, nothing can stop Erin from sitting back as told, as her newfound friends and family take a journey that could cost them their lives. Secrets and Keys is the first novel in the Desire series, and will leave you wanting more! 


Yes, it is another young adult novel about vampires. No, they do not sparkle. They are attractive though! Why did I choose to write a vampire (or Immortal as Haden prefers to call it) novel? I love reading them! I would never complete a novel if I wouldn't even care to read it. Secret and Keys has been a work in progress for a few years, and I am very excited it is finally complete! Originally, I had planned to write one novel, and leave it at that. As the story progressed, new ideas came to mind, and as I'm sure many of you would love an 800+ page novel (I know I love longer novels- less waiting time between books!), I decided to break the story up. The second novel, possibly to be named 'Lies and Locks', is in the works at the moment! 

Again, thank you for checking out my blog! I will attempt to update this as much as I can, or at least when I have new and exciting things to share with you! 
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Published on December 07, 2011 11:01