Maegan Provan's Blog, page 31
March 23, 2014
Vlog 22!
Just a quick update! New contact form on the website!
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March 14, 2014
The Hand That Feeds- Nine Inch Nails
GREAT editing song!
March 13, 2014
Jenny Pox (The Paranormals, Book 1) by JL Bryan
Click here to get your copy!
Jenny Morton is the pure definition of an outcast. Weird, quite and anti-social, Jenny kept to herself for good reason; she is hiding a dark secret. Jenny has the ability to spread a deadly plague with just a single touch (“Jenny pox.”) Never getting close enough to anyone for them to touch her, Jenny developed the precautionary measure of wearing gloves and long sleeves no matter what time of year. She had begun to accept the fact that she would more than likely end up alone.
Then she meets Seth Barrett, son of the wealthiest family in town. Seth is dating Jenny’s mortal enemy, Ashleigh Goodling. When their paths cross, Jenny finds out that Seth is the one person she can get close to. Close enough to touch.
I went in to this novel not expecting a whole heck of a lot since it was one of the freebies I picked up on Amazon. It proved itself a billion times over. Well written, well executed, J.L. Bryan did a fantastic job of bringing Jenny and the whole town of Fallen Oaks to life.
I felt myself attached to Jenny from page one. Being a weirdo in high school myself, I felt that I could relate to her in a lot of ways. Misunderstood and just looking for any one to connect with, Jenny was not necessarily your typical heroine. What I have seen in a lot of books where the protagonist starts off as a weak, Mary-Sue type, they don’t go very far from that. They never gain strength or conviction. Jenny was so different from that. Plus, how many heroines do you know that can create blistering, infectious plagues with just a single touch?
The books antagonist, Ashleigh, was everything I have wanted to see out of an antagonist. She was mean, calculating, ruthless. I hated her with every fiber of my being. She takes the term “sociopath” to a whole different level. She was spoiled, privileged, and psycho, which always makes for a good bad guy.
And of course, Seth, the love interest. He was pretty darn likable. I kind of wish there had been a little more delving into who Seth was as a character, but I still liked him!
I also really liked the fact that Mr. Bryan showed how dangerous religion can be when used for the wrong reasons. He wasn’t afraid to show Ashleigh using God as the forefront for her evil plan.
To me, Jenny Pox is what a New Adult novel should be. It wasn’t trying to put on rose colored glasses and prance carefully along the line of Young Adult and New Adult. It jumped into its genre feet first. The whole point of New Adult is to be able to talk about sex, or talk about graphic and disgusting death and not have to hide it.
I totally loved it and recommend it to everyone! I will be reading the rest of this series!! It is still free for Kindle on Amazon, so I strongly suggest you get your copy while you can!
March 9, 2014
What am I doing with my life?
Well, a lot actually. I have had to take even more time off from Jeremy due to a lot of personal stuff. That seems to happen a lot, doesn’t it? I also applied for a part time job working for an apartment community that I hope I get. It won’t take time away from writing, but everything else in my life seems to. I know I make a bunch of excuses and whine about it, but I do appreciate those of you who are sticking with me. Vlog coming soon!
Anyone Can Be a Gatekeeper
Another great post by the amazing Mrs. Drammeh. I think EVERYONE should read this.
Originally posted on Tricia Drammeh:
Today, I read an article titled
“Self-Publishers Should Not Be Called Authors”
by Michael Kozlowski. In the article, the blogger states: “Just because its easy to upload your written word, so that it can be downloaded to another machine does not make you an author, any more than me buying a stethoscope allows me to be called a doctor.” This attitude is not uncommon in the publishing world. As more and more self-published authors emerge, there are some in the industry who scoff and say, “Anyone can be an author these days.”
Well, as it turns out, anyone can be a gatekeeper–or, at least they can try. In the past, agents and traditional publishers acted as gatekeepers to the literary world. Now that self-publishing is a viable option for thousands of authors, a few authors and bloggers have decided to be unofficial gatekeepers to the industry. They can’t prevent authors from publishing, so instead they use snobbery and disdain to try to discredit self-published authors. They aren’t the only gatekeepers. Certain professional organizations have rules about who can and cannot join, and most of these rules come down to money. How much of an advance did the author receive? How much money did they make in royalties?
Yes, there are still gatekeepers. It’s still difficult for authors to make their way in the world. And when a blogger writes, “Indie authors and self-published authors who claim they are real authors makes me laugh,” it can be very disheartening to be a self-published author.
March 2, 2014
Lonely Souls (Witch Avenue #1) by Karice Bolton
(Click here for buy link)
Lonely Souls is about this girl, Triss, whose mother goes missing and she spends the entire novel wanting to look for her. The members of her mother’s coven decided that there needed to be a memorial service, even though Triss’s mother wasn’t pronounced dead nor was there a body found. Her mother’s friend and the friend’s son (the later love interest of the novel) come to town for the ceremony and the son, Logan, stays to help Triss find her mom. Logan had been Triss’s childhood friend whom she had willingly lost contact with over the years, but apparently he had been keeping up with her in a weird stalker way. Throughout the beginning of the book, Triss repeatedly asks herself why she ever lost touch with Logan. She has an immediate attraction to him, but doesn’t allow herself to get to close because she wasn’t to focus on finding her mother.
That’s my first issue with this book. She seemed far more distracted by the fact that she was fighting the feelings for Logan than him distracting her from finding her mother. There was a lot of “Oh I want to like him but I can’t because I have to find my mom,” and it got really old, really fast. I feel like instead of having that yes/ no, hot/ cold nonsense, it would have been a lot more productive to just admit to the feelings and go on with her life instead of the incessant back and forth.
My next issue was the fact that the characters whispered, a lot. I mean, there was absolutely no reason to whisper where a lot of it took place. I think she meant for Triss to be soft spoken or something like that, but there was just so much whispering that it drove me nuts and took me out of the moment entirely.
There was several unneeded sentences. Instead of having Triss narrate that she simply did or didn’t want to do something, the author wrote out what the character *should* have done in the situation and then used an entire new sentence to say that the character did/didn’t want to do it. It felt like she was just trying to pad her word count.
This book felt like a poor mash up of Harry Potter, The Mortal Instruments, and a few other popular novels. She says that the character is Wiccan, but then has her using spells out of Harry Potter. Typical Wiccan spells are spoken in plain English (or whatever language is spoken by the caster.) I was really put off by that and it further took me out of the book. Add to that the fact that there is a spell that is used later in the book that is talked about with out any pretense. Triss sees a picture in the spell book and then just starts going off about the spell with Logan. There is no mention of what the spell is or *really* what it does, they just start talking about the ramifications.
The book was very immature in writing style and in most scenarios. I just honestly couldn’t look past it. Plus The Witch Avenue Coven, like, really? I’m sorry but there could have been a bit more thought put in to that.
All in all, I am glad to see another self published author trying to make it in the market, but I think if she had had a few beta readers and a good editor, this book really could have been something. I definitely won’t read anymore with this series, but I do wish her luck.
February 27, 2014
Book Promotion Etiquette
I am so glad that Tricia posted this!
Originally posted on Tricia Drammeh:
Last week, I blogged about
Marketing for Introverts
. I listed a few marketing tips I hope will be helpful. Today, I’d like to talk about marketing etiquette. As an author and a book blogger/reviewer, I’ve learned a few things I’d like to share with you. Recently, there have been some rumblings on Facebook and Twitter in which other bloggers have voiced their frustration with authors. It seems there are a few authors who might need to brush up on their communication skills. For some of you, the following list of tips might seem like common sense. For others who are new to the art of book promotion, some of these tips might come in handy.
Book Promotion Etiquette:
February 26, 2014
This is Why We Fight- The Decemberists
A great song, a great video, and definitely motivation for the part I’m working on right now. If I was writing a musical, this would be the song that Lily and Harper sing for this scene. Just gives me chills.
February 24, 2014
Trying to get yourself and your books noticed? Try bashing a famous author online!
There are literally thousands upon thousands of books out there. Several thousand of those fall in my genre/ sub-genres. Celine hasn’t preformed as well as I had hoped, but I hope that with the rest of the series being released, I may get a bit more noticed. However, I am not going to blame Stephenie Meyer or Charlene Harris for my lack of sales. They are famous authors who have had huge success with vampire romance novels. Their book sales make mine look like a few pennies in a fountain by comparison. Do I think for a minute that they should stop writing so that my books have a chance? No because what good would it do? There are so many vampire romance novels out there that even if those two pulled their books from store shelves, pulled the movies/ TV show, merchandise etc., my chances of getting noticed are still slim to none. Does this get me down? Maybe a little, because that does kind of suck, but that doesn’t mean that I am going to give up faced with that thought. I have the determination, so why stop now?
I read an article today that really sparked the idea for this post. Lynn Shepher, the author of the article, basically said that J. K. Rowling should stop writing so that other books have a chance because she is already famous. What good would that do for the author of the article? Little to no good because there are still thousands of authors out there trying to be the next Rowling. I don’t understand why one person’s success should be the subject of another’s bitter ramblings. I don’t know of many books that could rip Harry Potter from its place among the greats, and nothing that J.K. Rowling has done since has done quite as well, but where does it say that she has no right trying pursue other genres? Unless it’s in some publishing company manual somewhere not accessible to those that have self-published.
This little quote from the article bothered me as well.
I did think it a shame that adults were reading them[The Harry Potter Series] (rather than just reading them to their children, which is another thing altogether), mainly because there’s so many other books out there that are surely more stimulating for grown-up minds.
As a New Adult author who actually enjoys YA novels, I found this quote beyond rude. Adults have every right to read a novel, regardless of genre or audience. Since we, as authors, have the obligation to get people to read, what kind of sense is there in trying to belittle people?
Of course, in writing this post, I had to do a bit of digging myself to see what kind of reviews and attention Ms. Shepherd was getting on her novels. (Reviews of her novel are only available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Goodreads.) Ms. Shepherd has less than flattering numbers, granted most are in retaliation of her article. However, from those that were actual reviews, I gathered that Ms. Shepherd struggles with formatting and her stories are more like geared up fan fiction than actual independent ideas. She has a thing for the Victorian era and makes an attempt to give a Dickens like feel to her books. After seeing that, I think I get the reasoning behind her article. When you think you have a niche and you think people will pay good money to read it, it is kind of disheartening to have people not like it. But throwing a tantrum on Huffington Post not only leaves you open to scrutiny, it will further drop your ratings and sales, and makes you look like a child. I do wish her luck, but I think that perhaps if she cares about writing, she should stop.
February 16, 2014
Where have all the honest reviews gone?
Reviews have become something that I can’t seem to trust any more. There is a genuine fear from other authors when it comes to reviewing a novel because no one wants backlash. No one wants to have to deal with the repercussions of what might happen if you give a bad review. Sock puppets, angry fans/ friends of the author, Stop the Goodreads Bullies and more have a heavy handed reign on what is and isn’t okay to say in a review, and it’s not right. If you’re 100% completely honest in your review of a book, you’re considered a terribly person and end up on a list on a website where all of your personal information is used to harass and abuse you. If you’re not honest in your review, you are lying about your thoughts and potentially leading others who might trust your review to complete disappointment.
Since when should someone have to live in fear of being honest? Authors are readers, too. We have things we like and dislike about the books that we read, just like any ordinary reader. It doesn’t mean that we read other books just to scope out the “competition.” We read because we like to. We read because it’s how we got our start! Honestly, it’s kind of our thing. So why do our reviews get beaten up and spit on if they’re not in favor of the book? I experienced this last year and it was the most frustrating month of my life. I was just being honest, and I was attacked. I know I’m not alone in this, and that is the purpose of my post. I have gotten to a point where I do not pick books based on reviews. I read the synopsis and go from there. It bothers me that I can’t, you know? I mean, otherwise, what is the point of reviewing in the first place? Readers review books because they obviously have feelings about those books that they want to share. It isn’t a crime. However, it seems that so many people become delusional about their own work that when even one bad review is posted, they lose their shit. I say this knowing that I have to follow my own advice, and I do. That is my big motivation behind starting to review books on my blog. I want to share my opinion on MY website and not be afraid to be honest. Trust me, I already have been. My bad reviews are written to be mean or evil. They’re written because I want to share my opinion.
On the other side of that coin, you can’t go and just bash books because you don’t like who the author is as a person. You have to hold their book and who they are as people in two different hands. If you know that you can’t give an honest, unbiased review, then you shouldn’t touch that book. Leave it alone. Life is too short for all that drama.
My goal for this post is pretty simple; I want to see the return of the honest review. I want to go back to a time where a majority of the reviews, positive and negative, were honest. So I have started to review books again for the sake of being honest. I would love to see it happen without repercussion, but I don’t know if that can ever actually be a thing. I don’t know the authors personally, and I won’t ever review a book if someone asks me. I am just going to find books that sound interesting and go from there. I hope that you all can join me!
