Maegan Provan's Blog, page 8

A short update and PSA for my sanity

Hello everyone! Thank you for your continued support!! I appreciate it so much. A lot is going on with me personally and I felt I needed to update you all.

I am going back to school to become an attorney. I am a sophomore, so that’s exciting. My schedule is full time while trying to work full time, so things will be happening as they come up. My current book focus is getting the Becoming Night Touched collection together. I can’t decide on a cover, so that’s a thing. I am also rebranding both series is a lot of ways. That means that a lot is changing. ALL of the books will be getting new covers, new extras are coming to the websites, and I am working my butt off to make it happen. It is just going to take time.

I am still doing book covers, but please know that it is going to take me time to get back to you. If it takes me a couple of days to respond and you go to someone else, please do not send this:

Since [other person] responded immediately, I went with [them]

Just say that you’ve gone in another direction. That’s the polite thing to do. Don’t try to make me feel like the jerk when I didn’t do anything wrong. Let me repeat: Working full time, going to school full time, AND trying to be a cover artist and author. You can accomplish a lot more by just being polite. The only way I can respond to someone being a jerk is by replying with “okay.” Please be kind; I have a lot going on  in my life. Thank you.

Anyway, that’s what’s going on now. I hope that you all are doing well.

Why Authors Shouldn’t Be Afraid of Goodreads

If you’ve even thought about becoming an author, then you’ve probably heard about all of the review sites out there. The one with the worst reputation is Goodreads. Infamous for author-on-author bullying, endless sock accounts, trolls, author-on-reviewer bullying, and more, most authors tend to steer clear of the book-centric social media site. The first “attempt” to stop the bullying was lead by the group known as Stop the Goodreads Bullies (or STGRB), and was focused on harassing authors and reviewers that left unfavorable reviews on the books written by the founders of the group. Personal information leaks, harassment, and other insane issues rose out of that “attempt” and ultimately lead to the fall of Goodreads’ reputation. Authors that aren’t mixed up in that drama avoid the site because they’re afraid of it. They’re afraid of their career ending before it begins.

I wanted to write this post to tell all of the authors and reviewers out there to come back to Goodreads. If we allow bullies like STGRB to take over the site and police how reviews are written and what reviews are okay to post, then they win. And it won’t stop there. The harassment and insanity will spill over directly to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other review platforms. We have just as much right to our opinion as they do, don’t we? There are always going to be bullies and their play at being a Gestapo is not going to stop it. We just have to attempt to be the bigger people here.

In close, I hope that you all will join me in being more active on Goodreads, sharing reviews, book statuses, and whatnot. We deserve a platform not only to connect with each other, but with our readers as well.

On the Road with Diverse Book Tours

Maegan Provan:

Check out the tour dates for Spellbringers!! That is so exciting. (And that banner is gorgeous to boot!)

Originally posted on Tricia Drammeh:

This is an exciting week for me. My Spellbringers series is on tour with a wonderful organization called Diverse Book Tours. If you’re not familiar with them, they promote books that feature diverse characters.

I’ve participated in Diverse Book Tours as a blogger on Authors to Watch. This is my first time participating as an author, and I have to say, I’m enjoying it! If you’d like to learn more about Diverse Book Tours, click HERE.

If you’d like to follow Spellbringers on the tour, here are the stops:

August 24th: Libertad @Twinja Book Reviewswith Excerpts from the book
August 25th: Tamara @Tamara Philip Writes with Excerpts from the book
August 26th: Poulami @Daydreaming Books with a Review
August 27th: Lisa @Lisa T.Cresswell with a Dream Cast
August 28th: DC @Fantasy Fiction Kingdom with Excerpts from the books
August 31st: Constance @

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Facebook Party Seeking Vampire Authors

Maegan Provan:

This looks like a lot of fun!!

Originally posted on Amaranthine by Joleene Naylor:

You might have seen mentions of the week long Amaranthine Facebook party coming to a device near you October 11th – 17th, 2015. Each day will have a theme, with Thursday the 15th being a “Featured Author Day” where I’d like to feature fellow paranormal authors. If you – or someone you know – would be interested, then please read on:

How it Works:

If you’re not familiar with the term facebook party, it is essentially an online “gathering” – guests don’t need to be online for the whole duration, or even necessarily at a set time. They can “check in” as often as they like and participate in games, discussions, and chances for prizes. For instance on Day 1 I will post a thread asking guests to name an interesting fact about themselves – it can be anything – and encourage them to reply to one another’s comments. This…

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Honest opinions and the review that almost made me a hypocrite

Note: Please understand that I am not going back on everything I have said regarding reviews, reviewers, and reasons why you shouldn’t respond. I am, however, expressing disdain over a particular incident. I am not telling reviewers how to review a book “properly” or any nonsense like that.

I recently read a review of a book that I am particularly fond of that made me second guess everything I’ve ever said about engaging reviewers. It made me want to rage at the reviewer so hard I thought I was going to Hulk-smash my computer. That would have been a bad idea, of course, but nevertheless it upset me.

It was odd because this feeling came from a book that I had nothing to do with. I think we’re all a bit guilty of checking reviews for things that we like to make sure that other people have the same opinion. They don’t, but we can still hope.

So there I was, staring at this review on my computer screen, and I could feel my morals slipping. I started hashing out plans for a full on assault of the reviewer. I honestly wasn’t certain if I was legitimately angry or just annoyed. It’s silly thinking about it now, but at the time, I was really really upset.

Now before anyone goes off on me and tries to destroy my nonexistent career, let me provide you with a few facts. This particular book is part of a series, it’s a permafreebie, and the reviewer was pretty decent in their review for the most part. They did give the book a favorable star rating, but it was baffling.

So, keeping all of that in mind, allow me to share with you all what infuriated me so. The reviewer was upset with what they considered a “cliff hanger ending” and called the author of the book a scammer basically because the book is part of a series.

I can’t stand CLIFF HANGERS to begin with and […] I would of never gotten it to start with.

I hate being scammed into buying another book, if the book or series is good enough I would buy […] without the scam.

Now… What the fuck? What the actual fuck? Are books that are part of a series supposed to leave SOME issues unresolved because they are part of the overarching plot line of the series? Shouldn’t an author want people to read their other books? This book does not have a cliffhanger. I mean, it keeps you wanting to read more (as a good book should), but it doesn’t end randomly or set up a big scene to quickly end and laugh in your face. Just as a reminder for everyone- Miriam Webster defines a cliffhanger as

an adventure serial or melodrama; especially :  one presented in installments each ending in suspense

I don’t understand how getting a freebie is a scam. I honestly don’t. If you like the fucking book enough to read the rest of the books in the series, then the author did their fucking job. If you don’t, that’s fine. You don’t have to buy the other books. I know that might sound like a foreign concept to some, but you don’t. It’s not a requirement. So if you got a free book that you didn’t like, you only wasted a short period of your life; you were not scammed. I mean, if I considered every free book I didn’t like a scam, I’d be the world’s easiest fucking mark. I do have an alternate theory that the reviewer actually liked the book but thinks that they deserve the other books for free.

I would really like you all to weigh in on this. What are your feelings about this situation? How would you handle it? Please don’t forget to comment and follow!

Confronting Bad Book Reviews by Warren Adler

http://blog.bookbaby.com/2015/08/confronting-bad-book-reviews/?utm_campaign=BB1534&utm_source=BBeNews&utm_medium=Email&spMailingID=49346304&spUserID=MTMyMzE5MDIyMjcwS0&spJobID=742828219&spReportId=NzQyODI4MjE5S0

Adler says in the post:

Bad book reviews, bad opinions, insults, verbal abuse, diminishment, jealousy, frustration, along with effusive praise come with the territory. In today’s environment celebrate you’re being noticed and, whatever is said about you and your work, be sure your name is spelled right.

While I wouldn’t praise anyone who has retaliated against a bad review, the overall message is very uplifting. Even if the review is a 1 star, that person is still picking up your book and reading it. I know that the first instinct is to go on a diatribe about how reviewers just “don’t review books correctly” but you should never do that. We are all subject to a fair share of bad reviews. We should deal with it like people instead of bratty monsters. Adler also says that “[…]good reviews are not necessarily a harbinger of future success.” Just something to keep in mind.

Why I’m Mad About Self-Publishing Stigma

Maegan Provan:

Such a fantastic post. I am guilty of being shy about admitting what I do, but I really shouldn’t be. NONE of us should be. We work our asses off, and doing everything on our own. We should be proud of what we do, regardless of what people think!

Originally posted on Liz Long:

I’m mad.

What’s worse is that what I’m mad about is truly something out of my control. There’s not a thing I can do about it except keep pushing barriers. To hold my head high and keep on keepin’ on with the rest of the crowd.

You can probably guess why I’m angry thanks to the headline. Wait – no, I’m NOT mad about self-publishing. But rather the thoughts behind self-publishing and the ideas that we’re not as good or “real” as traditionally published authors.

The publishing system isn’t broken by any means, but the stigma behind “traditional” and “indie” publishing has really gotten my goat lately.

I’m independently published, or self-published. What does that mean? It means I do not have an agent or traditional publisher backing me. It means that I’m in control of my stories, my edits, my covers, my marketing, and everything else that goes along…

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I actually reached my first goal of the year

On June 8th, I created the post “Writing Goals-Better Late Than Never” outlining that I wanted to complete the Becoming Night Touched mini series, create the collection and publish that, AND release the new edition of TNTC Book 1: Celine. Well, I am happy to say that I have hit goal 1!

A short story typically does not take that long to write. However, if you are constantly busy and stressed out, then creativity fails to come. I pushed through and Becoming Jeremy is now published. It’s a huge relief to have it finished. It is very short, but I felt that because we learn so much about Jeremy in Book 2, there wasn’t a lot I could say in the short story that would not be repetitive. I hope that you like it.

So I am now putting the BNT collection together, but it might take me a while, there is a surprise in store for everyone that picks up a copy and I want to make sure that it’s perfect before release. The collection will be available in digital and print form.

I do have an update on my personal life as well! I was just accepted into the University of Houston and so I am going to be crazy busy for the next 6-8 years. I am going the Pre-Law Poli-Sci route. Yes, ladies and gents, I am on my way to becoming an attorney. No, I cannot provide legal advice. No, I cannot do any documents for you. Sorry. Have to get that out of the way.

Brian and I have also adopted another dog. His name is Jack! Buddy, the stray that we took in last year, has found a new home and I’m so happy for him. Jack was adopted from the local ASPCA and is a riot. He loves to fetch, pull the squeakers out of his toys, and his daddy. He has not left Brian’s side since we brought him home. So now, Oliver has a friend that is closer to his size, closer to his age, and neutered.

 

Jack!

Oliver

Ink Slingers Halloween Anthology

Maegan Provan:

It’s not too late to get a story into the next Ink Slingers Anthology!

Originally posted on Amaranthine by Joleene Naylor:

After the success of Strange Portals, the Ink Slingers’ first anthology collection, we’ve decided to do another one! This time, for Halloween.

OOooOOOoooOOOooOOOOooOOOO

(spooky noise)

Here’s the roundup of rules:

1) all stories must be between 1,000 words and 10,000 words. They can be original works, or they can be previously published, so long as you have the rights to them.

2) All stories must be spooky, scary, creepy, horror, or otherwise Halloween themed. They can have elves and fairies, they can have scary aliens, they can even be funny, there just needs to be something Halloween-ish about them. This will mean something different to everyone. You might take it literal and write about Halloween, or you might just have a scary ending, or you might just write about ghosts or vampires – whatever Halloween and the spooky spirit means to you.

3) Stories must stand alone without…

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What’s Your Excuse?

Originally posted on Tricia Drammeh:

Even though I’ve had ample time to write today, I haven’t even opened Microsoft Word. It’s just too darned hot to write. It’s 90 degrees outside, and since we don’t have air conditioning, it’s well over 80 in the house. I can’t wait until later when it’s supposed to cool down and the rain comes in.

Some people bask in the heat, but I’m not a fan of summer. These high temps leave me feeling short of breath. I’ve been having heart palpitations and I’m just exhausted.

So, that’s why I’m not writing.

I guess if I really wanted to write, I would. The truth is, I’m working on a rewrite and I’ve hit a stumbling block. I need to work things out in my mind before I move forward. I guess I could work on a different project, but for now I’m using the heat as my excuse to…

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