Charlie Bray's Blog, page 17
March 31, 2013
TOP 10 INDIE BOOKS: March 31st 2013
Hello and welcome to this week’s TOP 10 INDIE BOOKS, featuring the 10 most popular books on our site this week.
This is based on the number of sales and click throughs from INDIETRIBE to Amazon in the last week. Whilst every click through does not lead to a sale, it is certainly evidence of a high level of interest, so the 10 authors should be justly proud that their books are being noticed.
I suppose the best way of aiming for this Top 10 list is to make sure readers keep tripping over your book in our Book Store, Showcase, Review series, News Flashes, Blogroll, and our brand new Chat Room and Message Board. Give your book the best chance you can.
To buy these books now, either click on the FRONT COVER to buy from Amazon.com or the TITLE to buy from Amazon.co.uk
IF YOU DO DECIDE TO BUY BOOKS, PLEASE BUY THEM WHILST YOU’RE LINKED THROUGH TO AMAZON FROM INDIETRIBE.
Anyway, with no further ado, please welcome this week’s Top 10
1 JAZZ BABY by Beem Weeks
Second week in Top Spot
2 MOMENTS IN LIFE by Shanbreen
New Entry
3 LUCK OF THE WEISSENSTEINERS by Christoph Fischer
New Entry
4 THE WARRIOR by Ty Patterson
New Entry
5 THE PERSECUTION OF MILDRED DUNLAP by Paulette Mahurin
New Entry
6 BRIDGE ICES BEFORE ROAD by S. Rose
Down from 5
7 THE AWAKENING by Angella Graff
A return to the Top 10
8 CHASE TINKER AND THE HOUSE OF MAGIC by Malia Ann Haberman
Stays at 8
9 DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR by Jason Najum
New Entry
10 SAVING BEN by Ashley Farley
New Entry
So congratulations to the books and authors in this week’s Top 10. Can’t wait to see the chart next Sunday.
If you would like to talk about our TOP 10 INDIE BOOKS, why not visit our brand new
Until then…Happy Reading, Charlie
March 28, 2013
CHARLIE BRAY’S BOOK REVIEWS – Five Great Books To Enjoy
A very warm welcome to Indie Book Reviews. If you wish to buy any of these books, click on the front cover to buy from Amazon.com or the link following the description to buy from Amazon.co.uk
IF YOU DO DECIDE TO BUY BOOKS, PLEASE BUY THEM WHILST YOU’RE LINKED THROUGH TO AMAZON FROM INDIETRIBE.
If you would like your book reviewed and published on these pages, click here now and join INDIETRIBE GOLD. You will then be entitled to a book review, author interview and guest blog
UNTIL THE FAT MAN SINGS by William V. Kelly
Mike Balmayne is a good man who works hard and plays hard. Playing hard is great, but when you do you can lose perspective and end up playing with not very nice playmates. What you see with Mike is what you get. No hidden agendas, he’s exactly as it says on the tin. Naively, he believes the same of others, more often than not, mistakenly. But he continues to enjoy the good life and the reader enjoys it with him.
Reading a book like this enables you to enjoy experiences and see things that you’re unlikely to encounter in real life – and that is the essence of a good book. You’re right there flying your own plane, sailing your own yacht – and I love it! I was reminded of a conversation I had with William when I was arranging for a copy of his book. He was catching the last of the Turkish sun as he reclined in the cockpit of his home, an ocean going yacht. I was ensconced in my drab office overlooking the incessant U.K. drizzle. Oh to dare to dream – and William’s book enables you to do better than that, you can actually live the dream for a few hours. It was also clear to me that William’s real lifestyle helped him write this book.
But they do say that nothing good lasts for ever and Balmayne proves the point. Courtesy of a dodgy business partner and a d0se of ill health, he loses everything. Desperation can spawn a different breed of character and it takes a clever writer to create the difference. William V. Kelly does so with aplomb. The story moves from a comfortable socio-documentary on the rather well-healed, to a fully fledged adventure story, and a whole set of new experiences awaits the reader.
So fasten your seat belts and enjoy the ride. I know I did.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
MOMENTS IN LIFE by SHANBREEN
Moments in life serves as a melting pot of many different cultures and classes, many of which exist in segregation upon this earth.
In many ways a tale of modern day America, probably the most intense multi-cultural environment on earth.
Through the words of fifteen varied stories, readers are able to view life through many different eyes and are left to ponder aspects of life which are quite foreign to them. Pardon the pun, but it really fits. Comparisons of culture, age, nationality, genre, sexuality, wealth and poverty are all here, wrapped up in fifteen exceptionally good tales.
Love, hatred, cruelty and abuse are all skilfully dealt with, and whilst being entertained, readers are also undoubtedly enlightened.
I’m certain you will laugh and quite sure many will shed a tear as you work your way through the twists and turns of these remarkable stories.
I’m really pleased I picked up this book, and it will live with me a long time.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
LANTAMYRA: A TAPESTRY OF FANTASY by Susan Waterwyk
My only chance to leave this world alive is on the Virgin Galactic, and even though I’m prepared to sacrifice my Nottingham Forest season ticket to achieve this, I still fall far short of the rather extortionate ticket price
In Susan Waterwyk’s book, Tylya Lansing is prepared to do more. She is willing to give up everything on Earth, but first she has to find her grandma’s crystal sceptre. Well she does, because that’s the sort of person she is. She makes it as far as Lantamyra, an earth-like planet where magic is created. About the time she is learning her way around her new habitat, Planet Earth is undergoing catastrophic changes which herald its demise. Good timing or what?
It could well be that her new home provides the only escape for threatened humans back home. Only trouble is, they’ll have to share their new planet with dragons, who are fairly well ensconced there. Quite pleasant, intelligent dragons as it happens.
This is a sci-fi / fantasy novel for mature, rather than young, adults and abounds with drama, laced with lashings of humour. I’ve always found that if you don’t take this genre too seriously, a good read often ensues. And it certainly does in this case.
It is well written, the characters are interesting, with a lot of depth, and I feel that Lantamyra provides a wonderful escape from the mundane world that many of us inhabit
I might forget the Virgin Galactic, continue supporting Forest and get my fantasy kicks through Susan Waterwyk’s beautifully created new world.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
THE DEAD CRY FOR JUSTICE by Barbara Griffin Villemez
The Dead Cry for Justice is the second book in this series, Dreaming Dark being the first.
A honeymoon couple are enjoying their outdoor pursuits, don’t ask, and decide to track an animal through the woods. They come across some old bones, the remnants of an execution.
Now the killers that are responsible for littering the forest landscape with the bones are not too pleased that their handiwork has been exposed. They would prefer that the result of their misdemeanour remained dead and buried.
It’s never wise to stir up a hornet’s nest, but that’s just what Cate and Mitch, the honeymoon couple have done. Oh, if only they had remained in their honeymoon suite – but that’s a book for another genre.
Clearly rattled, the killers resort to type and more bodies are found.
The new bride and a friend could be next, but they are warned of impending doom by spirits of the departed, who clearly still feel affronted about being bumped off. So affronted that they don’t just restrict their activities to warning the bride, they go hell for leather, if that’s what ghosts wear, after the killers.
A very entertaining read, which I thoroughly enjoyed
Also available on Amazon.co.uk
SEAFOAM WAVE FOLLOWER and the Mysterious Ghost by Doc BRILEY
Seafoam Wave Follower is sure to be enjoyed by most children, and may well become a secret pleasure for a lot of adults.
Seafoam is a sperm whale who displays all the traits of a mischievous child, and that’s the main reason kids are going to love him.
Like many curious children, Seafoam gets into scrapes, and in Seafoam’s case it’s a really major scrape. He has to co-operate with a young human ghost to stand any chance of survival, and that could be tricky. Humans are the ancient and sworn enemies of sperm whales.
The boy and the whale do have something in common. Seafoam needs the boy to help him survive a very dangerous journey, and the boy needs Seafoam to help lift an ancient curse placed upon him in Hawaii.
The bond that slowly builds between the whale and the boy is quite captivating and is worth the price of the book alone.
But there’s much more, including warriors, sorcerers and a giant whirlpool.
There’s also a huge timing issue to keep readers on their toes. Not only do the intrepid duo have to combat many obstacles, they also have to fight against the clock – which is ticking!
All in all a great adventure story for young, and not so young, ones.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
I hope you enjoyed reading my five reviews as much as I enjoyed writing them. I look forward to publishing more reviews soon. Meanwhile… Happy reading, Charlie.
If you’d like to chat and share views on these reviews and other features on INDIETRIBE, why not visit our new Chat Room and Message Board. It’s a great place to air your views and tell the world what you’re up to.
It’s also great place to meet other INDIETRIBE members. See you there.
March 27, 2013
Everyone Loves a One-liner
“You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off”
I love one-liners.
In fact I’m looking for some.
I’m looking for buckets full of them.
I’m looking for enough one-liners to write a book with.
Well, not just one book.
One book for every one-liner.
To turn that around, I’m looking for one line from every book.
Well, one line from every Indie book, anyway.
Are you still reading this? Well I must say, I’m surprised. Because I am gibbering a bit.
So, here you go, I’ll start making sense…
I have no doubt that one line in a novel can be particularly important. If it’s at the front of the book, in the opening paragraph, or if it’s actually the very first line, then it can be incredibly important. It can be the line that motivates readers to buy the book. Or it can be a line that makes them run a mile.
But it doesn’t have to be at the front to be effective. It can be anywhere in the book. It can be one line that suddenly stands out and whacks you. It can be the basis of a ‘water cooler moment’ at the office.
Just look how we remember Michael Caine’s wonderful line in the film, The Italian Job. “You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off.“
“Do you feel lucky, Punk?”
Or Clint Eastwood’s epic, “Do you feel lucky, punk?”
I’m sure there’s one such line in every book. I’m sure there’s one such line in yours.
And I’d like you to send it to me.
Send in one line from your Indie book that you are particularly pleased with. One line that would tempt a potential reader. One line that is likely to be discussed enthusiastically within a reading group. One line that other writers could draw inspiration from. It could be a humorous line, a dramatic line, a scary line, a sexy line. It doesn’t really matter. Just send it in.
I’ll give you mine right now, just so you know I’m not setting the bar very high. This is the opening line from my first novel, Open House. It probably put off more potential readers than it attracted, but I don’t care. I’m proud of it and that’s all that matters to me.
“Upon our arrival I will piss over the drawbridge, drip slowly, and then park my chopper.”
So you see, there’s nothing to follow.
I’ve actually cheated a bit by joining two short lines. I’ll turn a blind eye if you do that too. It’s not cheating, anyway. It’s called editing.
Please send me your line now, using the form below. Include the book title and author (you) in the Comment section.
THEY’LL ALL GO IN A BUCKET.
Every week we will select ten one-liners from the bucket and publish them, together with a link from the line to the book’s details page on Amazon.com. You never know, that one line could indeed sell your book.
I’m waiting with my empty bucket so I can say, “Great line!”
Please get emailing,
Charlie Bray
[contact-form]
March 25, 2013
SHOWCASE 14: Nine Indie Books For Your Consideration
Welcome to the fourteenth Showcase. If you would like to buy any of these books, click on the image to buy from Amazon.com, or the link in each book’s description to buy from Amazon.co.uk
IF YOU DO DECIDE TO BUY BOOKS, PLEASE BUY THEM WHILST YOU’RE LINKED THROUGH TO AMAZON FROM INDIETRIBE.
If you’d like to see your book featured, simply JOIN INDIETRIBE, and we’ll make sure your book is showcased.
If your book has already been showcased and you would like more of your books to enjoy the same promotion, click here.
DANGEROUS TIMES by Phillip Frey
DANGEROUS TIMES is a contemporary noir crime-thriller with strong women characters, dark humor and the pull of the unpredictable. This book is not for the squeamish. It begins as a creepy slow burner that leads to betrayal, sex, violence and murder.
Frank Moore is a diabolical criminal who has come up with an outrageous, malevolent plan. After a frustrating search he has finally found the key to his plan’s success. Frank has found his look-alike, a close-enough double: John Kirk.
In the harbor city of San Pedro, John Kirk leads a troublesome life, common troubles that fall by the wayside when Frank Moore comes to town. John Kirk, hunted down and pegged for death without knowing why.
Phillip Frey grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, where he performed as a child actor at The Cleveland Playhouse. The day after he graduated high school he moved to Los Angeles and performed in local theater. He then moved to New York where he performed with The New York Shakespeare Festival, followed by The Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center.
With a change of interest Phillip wrote, directed, and edited 3 short films, all of which had international showings, including The New York Film Festival.
With yet another change of interest he returned to Los Angeles to become a produced screenwriter. And now more recently, Phillip Frey has turned to narrative fiction with the books “Dangerous Times” and “Hym and Hur,” and a collection of short stories.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
Eternal Samurai by B.D. Heywood
Eternal Samurai—an erotic, pulse-pounding story of an eternal love between mortal enemies.
Tatsu Kurosaki Cobb, the last of an ancient samurai house, will not stop until he takes the head of the vampire that butchered his family. But his vow of revenge means he gives up on any hope for that once-and-forever love. Then he crosses swords with Saito Arisada, second-in-command of Seattle’s vampires and the most beautiful creature Tatsu has ever seen. The sexual chemistry between them is pure, hard, and undeniable. Unable to accept Arisada might be the killer, Tatsu begins a dangerous game. A game driven by the all-consuming thirst for blood that will force them to the extremes of love and hate.
From the bloody battlefields of feudal Japan to a world where humans and vampires fight for survival, Arisada and Tatsu must choose. At stake is not only love but honor.
Warning: Adult content. This book contains sexually explicit scenes, violence and adult language that may be considered offensive to some readers. This book is for sale to adults only as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase,
In addition to working on Eternal Warrior, the sequel to Eternal Samurai, and an anthology of erotic gay stories, B.D. Heywood provides editorial fiction and non-fiction services for a variety of clients. Any spare time goes to his family, training horses, advocating for gay rights, and supporting several community organizations including an equine rescue operation.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
THE GUILTY by Gabriel Boutros
Robert Bratt is a lawyer who has always done whatever it took to win his cases. After twenty years of defending the most hardened criminals, many of whom he knew to be guilty, the only thing he can no longer do is look at himself in the mirror. Loosely based on a multiple-murder that shocked Montreal in the 1990s, this riveting story pulls the reader into the inner workings of a murder trial, and reveals what one lawyer must do when he has to defend “The Guilty.”
Gabriel Boutros lived in Montreal for almost his whole life, and this is where he found the two great loves of his life: his wife Rose, and the Montreal Canadiens hockey team. He practiced criminal law for 24 years and during his career he saw many honest, ethical lawyers who worked hard to guarantee that anyone accused of a crime got a fair trial. These were honorable men and women who took their obligation to defend their clients to the best of their abilities very seriously. But, occasionally he would meet a lawyer who would gladly cross the ethical line, as long as he, and his client, came out winners. In writing “The Guilty” he pictured the main character, Robert Bratt, a top-notch criminal lawyer, as someone who is essentially a good person, but whose need to win has led him to forget his inherent honesty, and driven him to do things that he wished he hadn’t.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
FRACTURE GRADIENT by Jim McCulloch
1985 . . . the south Texas oilfields of the United States. Fletcher Boyd and Hollis Cade have a serious problem. They’ve stumbled upon a green, alternative energy discovery that threatens the global oil industry and international balance of power with catastrophic fracture. Their employer and a multinational oil company want to steal it; in fact, both want it so badly they’re willing to kill for it. Fletcher and Hollis just want to be paid. Then it becomes complicated. The governments of the United States and Saudi Arabia join the fray and the men are forced to flee. Other OPEC member-states become involved and things really go south for the men and their families.
Treachery, dishonesty, greed, and mindless violence rock their world as they scramble for safety and a payday that may never come. Can they withstand the onslaught? Can they beat back the savage economic forces hell-bent on destroying their discovery . . . and live to tell the story? One thing is certain; they’re willing to die trying.
Jim McCulloch’s career includes multiple industries and transfers around the country. It’s from firsthand experience that Jim draws his expert knowledge of the oil industry, finance, international business, military, firearms, and radio communications to achieve a high level of accuracy and detail in Fracture Gradient.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR by Jason Najum
A book that asks the big questions facing today’s generation
DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR is part dark and humorous memoir, part relentless cultural critique. How can a people who have so much still feel dissatisfied? How does an educated but jaded society reconcile what they know with what they see happening around them? These and other big questions are examined and updated for today. If you have ever felt that more should be happening – in your life, in this culture we give ourselves to – then this book is for you.
Using a familiar backstory and well-known cultural examples, revisiting our history to better see where we came from, DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR is a passionate and personal examination of that “something” that is missing in our lives, why this something continues to eat at us, and why we need a different approach to how we deal with it.
Jason Najum is a writer living and working in Montreal, Canada. He writes and blogs about current events with a focus on cultural commentary. His aim is to bring a fresh perspective and deeper look to today’s issues. His work has been featured in the Montreal Gazette, Canada’s oldest daily newspaper.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
A TRIO OF BLUES by Andrew Scorah
Andrew Scorah’s Jimmy Dalton series, all three books in one collection.
Dalton’s Blues – It was a night to end all nights. The night Jimmy Dalton’s life changed forever. Will Jimmy walk away unscathed or will he sink to the depraved depths of those around him? What started as a night out with the boys, soon descends into a drug fuelled ride of madness and mayhem.
Homecoming Blues – Coming home from war can be hell. All Jimmy Dalton wanted after fighting for his country was to escape his demons and live a quiet life. But a notorious gangster has other ideas and Jimmy finds himself in a war of a different kind. The daughter of Phil Duggan has been kidnapped by the Russian Mafia and Dalton is coerced into rescuing her. What he finds out sees Dalton set on a path of revenge that may turn the streets of London red with blood, a path that may not only destroy those he cares about; but also his sanity and his very soul.
Border Town Blues – Dalton’s on the run with a gal, and a gun! What begins as a search for missing D.E.A agents turns into a race against time, through the Sonoran Desert. Jimmy Dalton & Jamie Duggan uncover a plot to unleash a terrible Biological weapon. Suicide bombers loaded with viral death are on their way to unleash hell, only Dalton & Jamie stand in their way.
Andrew Scorah’s writing has appeared in Action Pulse Pounding Tales alongside best selling thriller authors Matt Hilton, Stephen Leather, Adrian Magson, Zoe Sharpe and Joe McCoubrey. He also has a couple of books published on Amazon, A Collection in Time, Eastern Fury and Other Tales, The Beast, which is a short story, and Homecoming Blues a tale of revenge and redemption set in gangland London, and the sequel Border Town Blues. He is currently working on the third book in his Blues series, Jericho Blues which will be published April/May 2013.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
CANCER ON THE BRAIN by Jay Lefevers
Lefevers has written a compelling memoir titled Cancer on the Brain, which chronicles a rollercoaster five-year period of his life in Phoenix, Ariz., during which he coached a rough-and-tumble Little League All-Star team to victory, saw his appraisal company named to the “Inc. 5000″ list and raised three children with his wife — all while battling a brain tumor, surviving multiple operations and then unexpectedly being diagnosed with cancer (lymphoma).
In Cancer on the Brain, Lefevers takes readers through the bewildering world of surgeries and treatments, and endless rounds of doctor visits and hospital stays with humor, irreverence and a no-nonsense, no-self-pity attitude. While grateful for the doctors and medical professionals who helped save his life, he doesn’t pull any punches in describing how easy it can be to rely unwisely on time-crunched and over-burdened physicians
Jay Lefevers is a businessman, a baseball coach, and a brain tumor and cancer (lymphoma) survivor.” Cancer on the Brain — a memoir — is his first book.
A proud Longhorn, Jay Lefevers graduated with a business degree from the University of Texas, and holds an M.B.A. from Baylor University. He lives and works in Phoenix, Arizona. Cancer on the Brain is the true story of his battles with a brain tumor and cancer … while running a business, being a husband and father, and coaching an inner-city Little League team to baseball victory.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
SAVING BEN by Ashley Farley
Life is sweet for Katherine Langley. A freshman at the University of Virginia, she is free from the drama of her parents’ dysfunctional marriage and ready to focus on studying to become a nurse. Her brother, Ben, belongs to the hottest fraternity on campus, and her new roommate, Emma, is beautiful and charming, a party girl whose answer for a hangover is happy hour. She is also a psychopath.
When Katherine’s obsessive-compulsive overprotective brother succumbs to Emma’s charms and falls dangerously off-track, Katherine must save Ben from himself. Lives are threatened and someone disappears on New Year’s Day. The only evidence left: a single set of footprints in the snow.
From the university campus to a cozy cottage on Carter’s Creek, Virginia, Saving Ben is a haunting tale of love and loyalty, anger management, substance abuse, and betrayal.
Ashley Farley wrote SAVING BEN in honor of my brother, the boy she worshipped, the man she could not save. It’s not a memoir, but a story about the special bond between siblings.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
MOVE by Sherri Fulmer Moorer
All Ruby Josen wanted was to get ahead in life. After a decade of lost relationships and missed opportunities, she’s ready to move on and desperate to do whatever it takes to get out of her rut. When Ruby meets Bryce, a handsome stranger at the town’s spring festival, his offer to turn fate to her favor seems too good to be true. But nothing comes without a price, and Ruby learns that interfering with fate has bigger consequences than she realized. It leaves her to wonder who’s really controlling her life and who – or what – Bryce really is.
Sherri Fulmer Moorer is an independent author who has published several books, short stories, and articles. Sherri writes in a number of genres including mystery, urban fantasy, science-fiction, and non-fiction. Her latest novel, Move, is a urban fantasy mystery about a young woman that can’t decide whether she’s more scared of her life rut or of what it will take to break free and is available at Amazon and Smashwords.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
I hope you’ve enjoyed this Showcase, and I look forward to publishing another one soon, with books from Florence Osmund, Linda Lang, Kelly Samarah, Keith Dixon, Zoe McNight, Lorna Lee, Kenneth C. Ryland and Craig Iglis.
If you’d like to chat and share views on this and other Showcases, why not visit our new Chat Room and Message Board. It’s a great place to air your views and tell the world what you’re up to. A great place to meet other INDIETRIBE members. See you there.
So, until the next Showcase, enjoy your reading, Charlie
NEWSFLASH: Four New INDIETRIBE Headlines
You will be able to download LIVING BY EAR by Mary Rowen free of charge on Monday, 25th and Tuesday, 26th March.
I actually reviewed this book last month for the INDIETRIBE Review series and thought it was amazing. You really should take advantage of this two day free offer. Click on the front cover to download from Amazon.com and the title to download from Amazon.co.uk
THE GIRL WHO COULD CHANGE COLOUR PUBLISHED
INDIETRIBE GOLD Member, Linda Dent Mitchell has just published her third book, The Girl Who Could Change Colour.
This superb novel in the Young Adults genre is the first book in her Lizzarda Lex Trilogy. I uploaded the book to Amazon for her, and read it word for word. I really enjoyed it, so its obviously also suitable for Rather Mature Adults.
Click on the front cover above to buy or browse on Amazon.com. Also available on Amazon.co.uk
SUN,SEA & SAVOIR-FAIRE PUBLISHED IN PAPERBACK
Kim Defforge has just announced that her Travel Focus Book, Sun, Sea & Savoir-Faire is now available in Paperback
Click on this link for MORE INFORMATION
INDIETRIBE OPENS A BRAND NEW CHAT LOUNGE
You can now enjoy your visits to INDIETRIBE even more by popping into our new Chat Room. You will be able to chat with whoever is in there, or simply leave a message re your new book publication, free promotion, or anything else relating to Indie books.
When you visit the Chat Lounge for the first time, simply sign up free on the Chatroll logo at the bottom of the page, and thereafter you simply sign in and chat away.
I look forward to meeting you there.
THAT’S IT FOR OUR LATEST NEWS FLASH. DON’T FORGET TO KEEP SENDING IN YOUR NEWS
March 24, 2013
TOP 10 INDIE BOOKS: March 24th 2013
Hello and welcome to this week’s TOP 10 INDIE BOOKS, featuring the 10 most popular books on our site this week.
This is based on the number of click throughs from INDIETRIBE to Amazon in the last week. Whilst this is not evidence of sales, it is certainly evidence of a level of interest, so the 10 authors should be justly proud that their books are being noticed.
I suppose the best way of aiming for this Top 10 list is to make sure readers keep tripping over your book in our Book Store, Showcase, Review series, News Flashes, Blogroll, and our brand new Chat Room and Message Board. Give your book the best chance you can.
To buy these books now, either click on the FRONT COVER to buy from Amazon.com or the TITLE to buy from Amazon.co.uk
Anyway, with no further ado, please welcome this week’s Top 10
1 JAZZ BABY by Beem Weeks
UP from 7
2 INCONCLUSIVE DEATH by Carol Carroll
UP from 3
3 DEAR CROSSING by Marjorie Doering
UP from 4
4 THE AFFAIRS OF HARRIET WALTERS by C.M.Spencer
DOWN from 1
5 BRIDGE ICES BEFORE ROAD by S. Rose
UP from 9
6 THE ANGEL WHO FELL TO EARTH by Barbara Villemez
DOWN from 2
7 SOLITARY DESIRE by Kim Defforge
DOWN from 6
8 CHASE TINKER AND THE HOUSE OF MAGIC by Malia Ann Haberman
UP from 10
9 THE GREAT PROMISE by Frederick L. Coxon
DOWN from 5
10 CONFESSIONS OF A CATHOLIC SCHOOL DROPOUT by Patti Lavell
NEW Entry
So congratulations to the books and authors in this week’s Top 10. Can’t wait to see the chart next Sunday.
If you would like to talk about our TOP 10 INDIE BOOKS, why not visit our brand new
Until then…Happy Reading, Charlie
March 21, 2013
JOIN INDIETRIBE GOLD
UPGRADE TO GOLD MEMBERSHIP AND YOU’LL CONTINUE TO ENJOY ALL THE INDIETRIBE BENEFITS
PLUS
MUCH, MUCH MORE
INDIETRIBE GOLD Member
UPGRADE TO INDIETRIBE GOLD FOR ONLY £45
If you’ve not yet joined INDIETRIBE you can join as a GOLD member and enjoy all the standard benefits as well as the GOLD benefits. If you are already an INDIETRIBE member, you can upgrade now
SO WHAT DO YOU GET FOR BEING A GOLD MEMBER?
Well, you retain all the benefits of your normal INDIETRIBE SUBSCRIPTION, including your book showcased, a link to your blog/website and access to our News Flash service
PLUS:
YOUR BOOK REVIEWED BY CHARLIE BRAY ON INDIETRIBE
A great chance to see your book receiving the attention it deserves. A Book Review is one of the most effective forms of promotion. It will help you reach INDIETRIBE’s weekly TOP 10 books, which in turn will lead to more and more interest. The sort of ever increasing circle that will ensure your book succeeds.
YOURSELF INTERVIEWED BY CHARLIE BRAY ON INDIETRIBE
We’ll talk about whatever you want to talk about. Your new book, your old book, your next book, you name it, we’ll talk about it. What a great way to get unique selling points across to potential readers!
YOUR BLOG GUESTED ON INDIETRIBE
Promote yourself, your website, anything you like.Use this as your very own platform on the front page of the INDETRIBE blog.
ALL YOUR BOOKS FEATURED IN OUR INDIE BOOK STORE
Each book listed in the Book Store carries a £5 per year listing fee, but NOT for GOLD MEMBERS. You can include all your books for free, a great saving!
So why not JOIN INDIETRIBE GOLD now and push your book, your website and yourself towards the front?
Please subscribe me to INDIETRIBE GOLD MEMBERSHIP
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FOUR GREAT REASONS TO JOIN INDIETRIBE GOLD
UPGRADE TO GOLD MEMBERSHIP AND YOU’LL CONTINUE TO ENJOY ALL THE INDIETRIBE BENEFITS
PLUS
MUCH, MUCH MORE
INDIETRIBE GOLD Member
UPGRADE TO INDIETRIBE GOLD FOR ONLY £45
If you’ve not yet joined INDIETRIBE you can join as a GOLD member and enjoy all the standard benefits as well as the GOLD benefits. That way you save the £10 standard INDIETRIBE subscription
If you are already an INDIETRIBE member, you can upgrade now
SO WHAT DO YOU GET FOR BEING A GOLD MEMBER?
Well, you retain all the benefits of your normal INDIETRIBE SUBSCRIPTION, including your book showcased, a link to your blog/website and access to our News Flash service
PLUS:
YOUR BOOK REVIEWED BY CHARLIE BRAY ON INDIETRIBE
A great chance to see your book receiving the attention it deserves. A Book Review is one of the most effective forms of promotion. It will help you reach INDIETRIBE’s weekly TOP 10 books, which in turn will lead to more and more interest. The sort of ever increasing circle that will ensure your book succeeds.
YOURSELF INTERVIEWED BY CHARLIE BRAY ON INDIETRIBE
We’ll talk about whatever you want to talk about. Your new book, your old book, your next book, you name it, we’ll talk about it. What a great way to get unique selling points across to potential readers!
YOUR BLOG GUESTED ON INDIETRIBE
Promote yourself, your website, anything you like.Use this as your very own platform on the front page of the INDETRIBE blog.
ALL YOUR BOOKS FEATURED IN OUR INDIE BOOK STORE
Each book listed in the Book Store carries a £5 per year listing fee, but NOT for GOLD MEMBERS. You can include all your books for free, a great saving!
So why not JOIN INDIETRIBE GOLD now and push your book, your website and yourself towards the front?
March 20, 2013
Guest Blog: Marketing Takes More Than Guts
INDIETRIBE is pleased to guest a post from Kathryn Jones
MARKETING TAKES MORE THAN GUTS
By
Kathryn Elizabeth Jones
Ten years ago, when I began marketing my first book, I did a lot of things that took guts:
1. I sent off my book to reviewers who I knew would either love my book, like my book, or hate it.
2. I did some books signings where I had to speak to people I didn’t know.
3. I spoke at elementary schools, in classes, and as a keynote speaker.
But I didn’t know anything about what blog reviewers could really do for me, how an interview could bring in readers or how a video retains interest on a website or blog. In a nutshell, I was doing some pretty fearful things, but I wasn’t as organized as I should have been; I also didn’t know my options.
Allow me to share a few of my insights since then:
First, do some research. A great marketer by the name of Lynne Klippel has some great pointers on organizing your book marketing. In her article, Before, During, and After Techniques to Market Your Book, Klippel explains how writing things down can help in knowing when to market your book. She gets specific about what people should know before the book is out, what they should know during the time of book promotion, and what readers should know after they finish reading your book.
Organization will keep you focused. It will also keep you from forgetting something in your marketing that you wanted to do.
Once you have a plan, step it up. If you’ve planned some book signings, do more than sit behind the desk. Read from your book, do some giveaways, have a party. If you’ve set up some speaking engagements, make them fun! Don’t just lecture, get the audience involved. Use all of the attention getters: video, questions, answers and hands-on opportunities such as book making opportunities.
Keep the momentum going. I read recently that if an author puts out 5 marketing plugs a day, (such as a blog post, a speaking event at the library, social networking on twitter, a note to a reviewer requesting a review, and a blog interview), book sales will increase substantially because of the extra media exposure generated.
Don’t give up when things get tough, and they will. This is the guts part, but it is also the stick-to-itiveness necessary to keep that momentum going. When you get a bad review, go on. When someone won’t let you do a book signing in their store because your book is “self-published,” move on. A writer with guts keeps moving forward. Consider that those people that are meant to be a part of your life will show up to help you with your book, all others were meant to travel somewhere else.
When it comes to marketing your book, don’t let fear get in the way of doing what you feel you need to be doing. It takes guts to get going, but it also takes picking yourself up when things get tough.
Yes, you will make mistakes in marketing; this is a part of learning, but you will also have success. Take it from me. I have done both, but what I’ve learned is that I will never quit, and that I will take the successes and implement them into the next book I publish.
Kathryn has been publishing her work since 1987. Her newest book, Marketing Your Book on a Budget 2013, will be available March 21. Click on the image opposite to buy it from Amazon.com.
You may also want to visit her at: http://www.ideacreationspress.com.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
I hope all our INDIETRIBE members and guests find this Guest Blog useful. It has been our pleasure to introduce you to yet another way of promoting yourself and your books.
If you would like to guest your blog in this series, join INDIETRIBE GOLD and we will liaise with you on
a suitable date for publication
March 18, 2013
SHOWCASE 13: Nine Indie Books On Show
Welcome to the thirteenth Showcase. If you would like to buy any of these books, click on the image to buy from Amazon.com, or the link in each book’s description to buy from Amazon.co.uk
If you’d like to see your book featured, simply JOIN INDIETRIBE, and we’ll make sure your book is showcased.
If your book has already been showcased and you would like more of your books to enjoy the same promotion, click here.
ACEA AND THE ANIMAL KINGDOM by Kyle Shoop
Welcome to the Animal Kingdom, where mystery and adventure roam free! Twelve-year-old Acea Bishop was always the nerdy kid who would rather go to the library during recess to read about animals instead of playing basketball like the other boys. Now, after waking up inside of an ancient kingdom strangely resembling a zoo, Acea is running from those same animals he used to love reading about. Worse yet? Acea’s not just on a quest to get home – his mom and the dad-he-never-knew are both being held hostage inside by an evil sorcerer with a vendetta.
Realizing that his odds of survival and freeing his parents are slim, Acea raises an army of animals to combat the sorcerer and regain control of the kingdom. Follow Acea as he travels through the exotic zoo habitats and unlocks the secrets of the kingdom’s mysterious past which hold the key to his fate. Acea has secrets. Big ones. He just doesn’t know it yet.
Kyle Shoop is the author of the Acea Bishop series. He currently lives in Utah with his wife and children.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
A HEALING PLACE by Joyce Shaughnessy
The reader is taken on a tumultuous journey to experience Black Sunday and the horrible dirt storms that destroyed so many lives during The American Great Depression. Follow the Miller family and their three daughters as they struggle to find a new home and finally find peace in Texon, Texas, where the author lived and thrived as a little girl. Their son-in-law, Jed is forced to walk the infamous Death March in the Philippines in WWII and lives as a POW under the cruel and inhumane Japanese until the U.S. is able to come to the rescue over three years later. Through all of their hardships, they never stop believing in each other, the power of family, and their faith in God. Meet some of what many Americans believe to be “The Greatest Generation.” This book is the first book in a trilogy named “The Pearl of the Orient.”
Joyce Shaughnessy lives in Midland, Texas with her husband and they have two daughters and four granddaughters.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
CALLY’S SECRET by Sarah R. Weldon
Cally and Paul Walker are expecting a happy event, but Cally has a secret—one that could wreck her marriage!
Sarah and Mike Wells marriage is hardly one made in heaven, for Mike has a secret, one that could destroy his marriage.
Who will be the first to kiss and tell? Will truth win the day with happy endings for all, or end in disappointment, deceit, and betrayal?
Author Sarah Royce Weldon won her first writing competition in 1966 at the age of 10—the prize, the princely sum of one guinea, and she was determined that one day, she would publish a novel.
Now living in Brittany, with her family and their two dogs, Éclair and Hugo. Her hobbies include reading, embroidery, entertaining friends, and making novelty cakes for her daughter’s birthday. France is home for her now, and she considers herself extremely lucky to work in such beautiful surroundings.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
SAVING ALESSANDRA by Christine Maria Jahn
Alessandra Willow Smythson-Drake, a widow at four and twenty, has sailed back to her family estate in England upon the death of her abusive husband. But escape from the torture she endured during her marriage was not to come easily. Both her sleeping and waking hours are controlled by night terrors and emotional turmoil. Physical scars, one of which is too hideous to hide, force her into seclusion.
Simon Thane Bevan, Marquess of Heavensford and childhood friend, re-enters Alessandra’s life. What starts as a simple meeting to rekindle a lost friendship quickly ignites his heart into unconditional love. Overcome with anger at the abuse his friend has suffered, he vows to save her from living the life of a recluse.
Saving Alessandra is the debut novel for Christine Maria Jahn. She currently resides in Virginia and is working on her second novel.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
CROSSING THE RIVER by Harold Titus
Standing on Lexington’s town common, humbled by the veneration of hundreds of militiamen, conceding that he had instructed them, encouraged them, in the end incited them, acknowledging that he, with others, had brought them to the river that could now be called revolution, Doctor Joseph Warren gives full credit to whom it is due. They, not he, knowing fully well the danger, had attacked the master. Standing at the river’s edge, they, of their own volition, had crossed over.
Joseph Warren is but one of Crossing the River’s many historical figures that bring to life General Thomas Gage’s failed attempt April 19, 1775, to seize and destroy military stores stockpiled at Concord by Massachusetts’s Provincial Congress. Crossing the River is both a study of man experiencing intense conflict and the varied outcomes of high-risk decision-taking.
The novel’s title is a metaphor for such decision-taking.
Born in New York State and raised in Southern California, Harold Titus graduated from UCLA in 1956 with a bachelor’s degree in history. Retiring from teaching in 1991, he began writing Crossing the River in 1994. Much of what he perceives about life and what he values in human beings he conveys in this book.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
IN THE BLOOD by Scott Skipper
George Washington Skipper was a man with secrets. He kept multiple wives in two states, spawned at least sixteen children, adopted three, spent four years in the Confederate Army, was shot twice and lived to eighty-five.
Then there was one more thing and a hundred years later the family is still scandalized over it.
The author is a recluse with a paranoid fear of social networking who has written for pleasure all his life but lacked time and patience, or perhaps wherewithal, to publish very much. He is hopeful of finding a niche in the democratic world of self-publishing.
He is retired from the metal fabrication industry and lives in the foothills of southern California with a wonderful wife and two foolish dogs.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
IN THE DEVIL’S OWN WORDS by Liz Wixley
Moving house has become a way of life for fifteen year old Isobel Miller; her father is an Army Major, her mother, a middle aged, pregnant, chain smoking alcoholic! But the move to the village of Langham could be the straw that broke the camel’s back!
The only light in her miserable existence, her grandfather, story-teller elite, her saviour. And when one of his macabre tales is mentioned in the local paper Isobel is drawn into the depths of evil and devil worship. Her world and that of everyone around her turns upside down.
Elizabeth Wixley was born in Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom but moved house many times during her childhood. She left home and slept rough on a beach in Cornwall. A year later she found herself in London where she attended Camberwell School of Art.
Creative arts have been Elizabeth’s passion throughout her life, whether visiting galleries, painting or writing. Now she enjoys nothing more than sharing a good story with others.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
THE COACH HOUSE by Florence Osmund
The Coach House story begins in 1945 Chicago. Newlyweds Marie Marchetti and her husband, Richard, have the perfect life together. Or at least it seems until Marie discovers cryptic receipts hidden in their basement and a gun in Richard’s desk drawer. When she learns he secretly attends a mobster’s funeral, her suspicions are heightened, and when she inadvertently interrupts a meeting between him and his so-called business associates in their home, he causes her to fall down the basement steps, compelling Marie to run for her life.
But ironically, it is the discovery of the identity of Marie’s real father and his ethnicity that unexpectedly affect her life more than Richard ever could.
Florence Osmund grew up in an old Victorian home in Libertyville, Illinois, complete with a coach house, the same house she used as inspiration for her first two books. She earned her master’s degree from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management and has obtained more than three decades of experience working in corporate America. In an effort to help others with a wide array of writing advice, Florence maintains a website dedicated to new authors. Osmund currently resides in Chicago where she is working on her third novel.
Alaso available from Amazon.co.uk
BECOMING HUMAN by Eliza Green
Two worlds. Two species. One terrifying secret.
In 2163, a polluted and overcrowded Earth forces humans to search for a new home. But the exoplanet they target, Exilon 5, is occupied. Having already begun a massive relocation programme, Bill Taggart is sent to monitor the Indigenes, the race that lives there. He is a man on the edge. He believes the Indigenes killed his wife, but he doesn’t know why. His surveillance focuses on the Indigene Stephen, who has risked his life to surface during the daytime.
Stephen has every reason to despise the humans and their attempts to colonise his planet. To protect his species from further harm, he must go against his very nature and become human.
BECOMING HUMAN, part one in the Exilon 5 trilogy, is a science-fiction adventure that you won’t want to put down.The Trilogy presents a future where overcrowding and global warming are serious issues and explores what happens when humans opt for the easiest solution.
Eliza Green hopes to capture the imagination of readers who shy away from the science fiction genre. Becoming Human is the first book in the Trilogy and her debut novel. She is currently working on ALTERED REALITY, book 2 in the Exilon 5 trilogy.
Also available from Amazon.co.uk
I hope you’ve enjoyed this Showcase, and I look forward to publishing another one soon, with books from B.D. Heywood, Gabrielle Boutros, Jim McCulloch, Jasum Najum,Sherri Fulmer Moorer, Andrew Scorah, Jay Lefevers, Ashley Farley and Phillip Frey
Until then, enjoy your reading, Charlie
