Terah Edun's Blog, page 18

Flight Feathers: New Short Story & Giveaway!

I’ve uploaded Flight Feathers (a short story in the world of Algardis and Courtlight) to Amazon and Kobo! It should be available quite soon! So look out for it on the shelves. At 99c it’s a steal.

And I’m working on getting Red Madrassa (Book 1 in the Algardis series) introduced to the world. So that means more giveaways! I’m giving away 100 copies of the Red Madrassa ebook on LibraryThing and two copies of Red Madrassa away on Goodreads. 1/4th of the LibraryThing copies have already been spoken for!

The LibraryThing contest ends on November 24th and the Goodreads giveaway ends on December 10th. The Goodreads giveaway is featured in the sidebar on this blog, but you can also enter here. (You will need to have a Goodreads account and be signed in to enter.)

Enter the LibraryThing giveaway here. Unfortunately, LibraryThing doesn’t give you a way to go directly to a single book’s giveaway, so you’ll have to scroll down to find the book OR click Ctrl+F and search the title. As on Goodreads, you’ll need to have a LibraryThing account and be signed in to enter.

If you’d like a GUARANTEED free eb00k copy, you can just head over to my Facebook fan page and “like” it. Let me know you did, by email or comment and I’ll send you the ebook file (MOBI, EPUB or PDF) of your choice.

And as a special incentive I’m giving a$5 gift card to the first 5 people who review Red Madrassa on Amazon! Send me the link.

Want a copy of the book or posted that review? Send an email terahedun AT ya AT gmail DOT com

Filed under: Uncategorized

YA Author Club: Worth A Vote (& A Review!)

Today the YA Author Club is focusing on the importance of voting when it comes to great books and talented authors… and possibly liberties.

I would be absolutely remiss if I didn’t mention that I published my debut novel, Red Madrassa, today as well!!! *cues fireworks* On sale for only 0.99c it’s worth a VOTE and a REVIEW.

**steps down from soapbox**

Now on to the regularly reported schedule. Goodreads is hosting the 2012 Best Books Awards! An annual event, the book reader’s People’s Choice Award if you will, the contest is open to votes from all Goodreads members. So far they’ve received 604,000 votes. With a membership base of close to 10,000,000 they can and should have so many more votes in hand.

Time to do your part, take a look at 20 categories, and vote for your favorite novels from 2012!

How did Goodreads come with the contestants? I’m not sure – it could have been sales, it could have been number of reviews each book had on Amazon. After all, Fifty Shades of Grey is in the Romance section, and it is the most popular book to hit the shelves in all of 2012.

Also, Hugh Howey – famous author of Wool, is nominated in SEVERAL categories as are several other categories.

So get to VOTING and pick up a copy of RED MADRASSA on Amazon for a nice weekend read.

You never know – maybe I’ll be in the 2013 Best Book Awards of Goodreads.

Filed under: Promotional

YA Author Club: Current Works In Progress

The YA Author Club members are sharing their Current Works in Progress this week. I can’t wait to read what everyone’s been up to!

As for me I’m working on the March 2013 release of my ‘Untitled’ project which focuses on The Companion’s Guild. I think I’ve decided, but I’m not sure, to make this a full-length novel and the first novel of a second series which will complement my Algardis series. It’s set in the same world and I can’t stop thinking there’s more to this story than just a short novella.

I’ve even found a GREAT but expensive cover artist that I could use for this series. Of course, I’m keeping Amalia for my Algardis series.

Here’s a short blurb:

Ciardis Vane grew up in the snowy vale of Vaneis. When she’s chosen to train as a court Companion everything’s she ever known is gone. She must fight and win the right to choose a Patron while learning the magical skills inherited from her ancestry.

The long and short of it is that the novella was intended to appease my fans between the publication of the Algardis series books in Nov. 2012 and May 2013 but I’ve written 20,000 words in just about three weeks. By the time March rolls around I could easily have a full-novel of 60,000 words ready for publication.

The downside? The cost of publishing one of my novels. I have to factor in the costs of my editor, my cover artist, my ebook formatter and a marketing campaign. If this was a novella the price of production would be half the cost and I wouldn’t do a full marketing campaign.

Any thoughts?

Filed under: Book, Writing

Goodreads Can Make Your Career…Or Break It

Goodreads has become a book discovery mega-house. With over 11 million registered members it’s the place to find new books and discuss your next read.

The large reader base has attracted agents, authors and publishers in droves. With them came REVIEWERS. Those angelic, cherubic-faced individuals who run blogs and write book reviews for appreciative authors.

Forbes Magazine has even done an expose on the Top Goodreads Reviewers.

Authors who are smart appreciate the reviews given them and don’t diss anything said about their book. There’s something to be said for the mantra ‘Silence is Golden‘.

In the case of a bad review, silence from the author is triple platinum.

Reviewers who have been attacked (i.e. questioned in any way, shape or form about the veracity of their review) by Goodreads authors have been known to bite back.

See the examples below for why I will never respond to a bad review – publicly or privately. In fact, I’ll take it as constructive criticism.

Young Adult Authors Behave Like Their Target Age Group

Millenial Authors Cutting Their Teeth On A Global Stage

The Selection by Kiera Cass

Oh and did I mention the The Selection kerfuffle made it into Publishers Weekly?

Filed under: Book Review, Research

$60 Amazon Giveaway

Hi all,

In the lead up to the debut of my new novel, Red Madrassa, and AFTER, I'll be hosting a Rafflecopter Giveaway for an Amazon Gift Card!

Check out the details:

http://teedun.com/2012/10/05/red-madr...

Teen Reads Looking for YA Readers

Teenreads.com is conducting a survey and they’re looking for teens, young adults, new adults and the older generation!

The aim of the survey is to “hear from YA readers of all ages with their thoughts on what is happening in this genre. We know that YA readers are not just teens any more, but we want to drill down to some specifics. Survey topics include questions about book buying habits, social media, as well as other forms of entertainment enjoyed by YA Readers.”



So help them out by participating in the Teenreads.com survey!

Please spread the word! They want a diversity of opinion across genders, race and age. Plus this is the first survey since 2009!  The survey is open until November 30, 2012 and oh, did I mention there’s a huge book pile giveaway as well?

Filed under: Advertisements

YA Author Club: Spooky, Scary, Eerie

It’s the time of year when the YA Author Club sponsors pull out and share some hair-raising and spine-tingling excerpts. Take a few minutes to visit their sites, read our posts, and tell us about your own scary stories. It should make for some good Halloween fun!

Casbah Guardian

He knelt in a filthy dungeon. Water leaked down the walls – the drip, drip of stalactites filled his ears. On his wrists, handcuffs that were too small for his hands dug cruelly into his skin. Cold stone dug into his back. He knelt on his knees in the darkness. His neck was chained to a wall.

His thin tunic rattled in the underground breeze and a chill came over him. He was filthy – dirt and dung smeared his pants. His teeth were grimy with weeks of debris. The smell of his body near overwhelmed him. He hadn’t bathed in weeks. Silent tears tracked down his dirty face and accumulated at the collar of his neck. With ragged voice he called out once more, proclaiming his innocence and hoping someone…anyone…would hear his call.

After a prolonged silence he knew that only his death was coming. He was starved. He had not had food for the seven days since the sentence was passed. Water for longer. He was weak and that weakness would be his undoing. He couldn’t access his magic – any magic. He heard the slow slither of the creature coming towards him. He could not see it but he felt the vibrations in the ground and knew what it foretold. A ground snake was coming. The color of stone and the length of three horses it would devour him whole.

He shivered. The sound had stopped. Out of the darkness a light flared. It was the head light that hovered from the snake’s appendage. His vision was filled with cold evil eyes, large fangs and a flaring mouth. He opened his mouth and screamed –

 

Check out the excerpts from my Indie partners!

1.
Laura A. H. Elliott
2.
Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series


3.
T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series
4.
Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga


5.
Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog
6.
K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed


7.
Gwenn Wright, author of Filter
8.
Liz Long | Just another writer on the loose.


9.
Ella James
10.
Maureen Murrish


11.
YA Sci Fi Author’s Ramblings
12.
A Little Bit of R&R


13.
Melissa Pearl
14.
Terah Edun – YA Fantasy

Submit your link:

Filed under: Book

Amazon Fantasy: Top FREE vs Top PAID

Via a great post from the trusty YA Indie blog, I thought to look at what motivates Amazon Fantasy buyers in the Top FREE vs Top PAID sections.

Amazon Fantasy Bestsellers found here.

Nine out of the Top 20 PAID fantasy bestsellers were INDIE.

Three out of the Top 20 PAID fantasy bestsellers were by George R.R. Martin (you know, the creator of the A Song of Fire and Ice book series / A Game of Thrones TV series)

Even more interesting that besides GRRM, one other author claimed more than one title in the top 20 PAID list – Elizabeth Hunter. An Indie author who published her first  three novels within eight months of each other. Her leading novel is currently dominating the Top FREE list and she has THREE novels in the Top 20 PAID list.

Do you know what this means? 9 out of the Top 20 Bestselling Fantasy Books on Amazon did not go through an Agent or a Publisher. 

Regarding the Top FREE list only one of the novels isn’t Indie. This isn’t surprising since Traditional Publishers never give away books for free unless it’s an ARC for reviews or limited-use promotional material. I do find it hilarious that the only non-Indie free novel is by the well-known and long-dead author Lewis Caroll.

Out of the Top 20 PAID list the majority are either HIGH FANTASY or CONTEMPORARY/URBAN FANTASY. 

What does that leave out? Dystopian, Steampunk, Children’s (this does NOT include Young Adult), Historical, Dark Urban (think Laurell K. Hamilton)

Out of the Top 20 FREE list there is much more variety, but the majority are URBAN FANTASY or CONTEMPORARY THRILLER FANTASY.

Why did you separate contemporary and urban for the FREE section but not PAID? Because there was a clear distinction in the works of Cont/Urban in Free section and enough contemporary/urban works to justify the difference.

What’s Contemporary Thriller Fantasy? Girl lives in small town USA, girl discovers magical powers, girl discovers a syndicate is after her in New York / girl discovers a serial killer is on the loose in her small town, girl must save the world/her small town with new powers.

Amazon updates it’s sales numbers hourly so the outlook will change but this is pretty interesting data.

Filed under: Sales

My Crazy Week with 99Designs

Sometimes I felt like laughing or crying…or both.

Quite a few of the initial covers I received were atrocious.

But let me start at the beginning. I went to 99Designs to receive a new cover for Red Madrassa, see explanation post here.

99Designs is a crowd-sourcing graphic design venture where multiple artists compete to win a contest based on a submitted design brief. I figured it was a win-win situation. The artist gets $300 bucks from me and I get multiple designs to choose from. I was wary of going with just one designer as I did before.

The contest is 7 days of madness.

Qualifying Round -> 4 Days

I twiddled my thumbs on Saturday and Sunday wondering ‘Why oh why haven’t designers rushed to send me my glorious designs’. First of all…it takes time to make a quality book cover. Something I should have known because it took 4-6 weeks to get my initial cover art.

I received emails right off the bat from designers who wanted more time…because they needed to draw the work or were participating in a different contest. I thought – fair enough. So I extended my qualifying round for a further 2 days. But I couldn’t see myself waiting much longer than that.

The only initial design that came close to matching a traditional publishing house cover came in at the 15 hour mark. I had an hour left in the Qualifying Round and there was nothing else that was even remotely close to realizing my vision.

In the opening round I had the interest of 12 designers and only 4-5 initial designs which I thought had any potential. It’s crazy but I wasn’t looking at the big picture at the time.

I realized days later that it’s not QUANTITY that counts but QUALITY and lots of patience.

Select Finalists -> Up to 3 Days – Took me 15 minutes

I moved four qualifying designers to the final round with my eye on 1-2 that had what I was looking for.

Final Round -> 3 Days

Then my designers pulled out all the stops! I had only three designers which I considered serious contenders but wow oh wow I loved what they submitted. They each worked with me through numerous messages trying to fine-tune their designs from hair texture, to the color of the model’s shirt, to adding red leaves in the background.

The final cover is amazing and I plan on working with my chosen designer for the next cover in the coming months!

My Advice to succeed on 99Designs:

- Don’t be afraid to be flexible with your vision.

- Interact with the designers.

- Give plenty of feedback.

- Check out the other in-progress and finished contests in your category.

-Invite great designers to your contest.

Filed under: Book Cover, Self Publish

Diversity in Young Adult Indie Fiction

If you’re an author or reader of Young Adult fiction chances are you’ve noticed a distinct lack of covers with non-white faces on them.  Jessica Sager explores this issue in her piece Have Young Adult Novels Been Whitewashed? But it takes more than just exploration to get past this issue – it takes action.

Kate Hart’s thrilling expose into young adult covers shows the need for change. Now I’d like to go further. It’s great to read about it and to write about it, but it’s even better to put words into action. Indie Authors are at the forefront of that change by actively calling for a new publishing landscape and creating a more diverse author dialogue.

Young Adults and Young Adult fiction readers come in all colors, sizes, hair textures and backgrounds. To box descriptions and cover models into stereotypical boxes is uncool, and quite frankly, actively excludes a large portion of the population who might enjoy a different read.

Take a look at these brilliant Indie Authors:

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It’s been said people of color on the front of books is not what the market ‘wants’ and that those covers won’t sell.  Can’t an Asian woman with straight black hair be just as much a hipster, fairy Queen as a Caucasian woman with long blonde hair?

I had a multitude of reasons to decide to self-publish, not the least of which was the ability to make decisions on the design of my book cover.

As an Indie Author I wanted my cover to depict the actual characters that I write in a way that’s suitable for my audience, emulative of my character descriptions and eye-catching.   I couldn’t imagine being given a cover that didn’t represent the character I wanted it to emphasize or worse yet – a cover with a random, ‘symbolic’ woman on the front meant to fool the masses.

I’ve read numerous articles where the conclusive suggestion to a lack of people of color on young adult book covers is ‘So what? At least they are in the books!’ That’s not enough. Yes, covers of lovely, young Caucasian women sell in bookstores and online. But that’s not to say that a cover of an equally beautiful Latina, Asian, Black or Biracial woman couldn’t do the same.

The YA Indie market is giving these cover models a chance.

Terah Edun’s debut novel, Red Madrassa, will be published in November 2012.

Filed under: Book Cover