S. Cu'Anam Policar's Blog: Cu's Journey From Aspiring to Published, page 9

Rise of Xosha Release Party Kicks off at NOON (Pst) & Big THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At noon pst (01pm cst, 02pm mst, 3pm est) The Release Party will be kicking off!

If you aren’t there you’re going to miss all the fun!

Release Party Invite

Come on and bring your friends!

I want to take a minute to thank all the awesome people who donated to this event to help me make my release amazing

I thank each and every one of you from bottom of my heart. You guys are amazing and I’m so happy to have you all in my circle >^.^<

Kelli Smith (Kelli’s Kollectibles)

James Fuller

Bryan R. South

Heather Sutherlin

Amy McClung

Pretzel Karma

Jake Bonsignore

Rising Karma

Casse NaRome

Brandy L Rivers

J.E.Haldeman

Felicia Tatum

Shannon Noelle Long

M.T. Harrte

Eric Asher

Ben Burgess Jr.

Ruthi Kight

Karen Ann Hopkins

Wendy Nystrom

Konstanz Silverbow

KC Sprayberry

Stephen Ormsby

(Even though Benny, Ruthi, and Karen accidentally donated by my somehow receiving 2 paperbacks of their books. They still get the love >^.^

I

Rise of Xosha Blog Tour Stops for Today

Today’s stops come to us from

Black Words, White Pages

Cu’s Ebook Giveaways

Stop by and check them out and don’t forget to enter the giveaway >^.^<

Rise of Xosha: Legend of Xosha 0.5 (Released September 05, 2013)

][ Kindle ][ Kindle uk ][ B&N ][ Smashwords ][ GoodReads ][

][ Amazon (print) ][ Amazon uk (print) ][ Shelfari ][

*If you want a SIGNED Copy please Contact me via Facebook Message*

A tale of epic proportions.

The Rise of Xosha tells the tale of Xosha’s beginnings.

Where Anjyls are mortal pawns,

Dragons rule the skies,

Wolves and elves roam the forests,

and demons lurk below the surface.

Oceanus, the leader of the last hord of dragons in the realms must find his people a new home.

Going only on the word of the odd colored white dragon, Rose, he leads the horde far from their home, over waters that seem to have no end.

Pyre, Oceanus’ younger, rebellious brother must come to terms with the fact that Oceanus will never see him as anything more than a welp too young to be of any use.

Jade the youngest of the three has her own thoughts and inner demons to contend with.

Then there’s Rose, The dragon with an amazing gift no one will acknowledge. The outcast of her people simply because she’s the only one of her color.

Will these four ever come to terms with why they had to leave their home?

And what strange new beings will they encounter in their new territory?

Find out when you read The Rise of Xosha; The story that started the legend.

One to lead…One to see…One to protect…One to Deceive.

The Rise of Xosha; The story that started the legend.

“not all allies are friends, not all friends are true, and some enemies will in turn be your greatest allies.”

To the Cyber Bullies claiming to be Authors That are Targeting My Sister

Let’s get just one thing straight here. Not every 1 or 2 star rated book comes from a troll out to get you. Why not READ the reviews before you set the dogs in your pathetic author bully group after people?

You claim your group is AGAINST bullying, and yet all I saw as a member of that group was you rallying the authors to bully any and everyone that gave a member’s book less then 5 stars. Let’s not forget mister bully admin that you are in fact not only an ADULT you are an author. You want to know why you’re on the BBA? It’s not because of your prior drug charges/convictions it’s because you’re a FAKE. A total fraud. you claim to be against bullying, but it seems to be only against bullying done to authors. In your eyes it’s perfectly okay for you to be doing the things you are doing which is EXACTLY what the trolls did to you and the other members of the your group. It’s not right especially when you’re accusing someone that did nothing but give an HONEST review. I’m so sorry my sister’s review isn’t the shining 5 star you and the group wanted, my sister is very much like myself, she won’t lie to protect herself and she sure in hell isn’t going to lie about a book.

She’s been reviewing/blogging for less than a MONTH. Is this REALLY the message you want to give your followers? Do you REALLY want them to all turn into the slimy no good bully YOU are? if you do? Then I pity you. You’re no better than the trolls who bully authors.

If you feel the need to continue to play martyr, at least martyr yourself to the ones who deserve it. Don’t tell your minions to flag and dislike HONEST and REAL reviews just because your feelings got hurt or you feel you haven’t fulfilled your bully quota the day.

Grow the fuq up mister Admin Bully, you’ve put yourself on a very high dais there, it’s going to hurt like a bitch when you fall.

Message From the Soap Box: Cyber Bullies

Topic: Cyber Bullies

This is a term we all know entirely too well. The sad part is, is that 99% of us that spend all day hearing about them are in fact adults and not 12 year old prepubescent children.

The sad part is, is that the majority of the people that are “against” cyber bullies are only against the ones that target authors. Granted these bullies are low lives lacking any kind of social skills to function as a “normal” member of online society and seem to get their “jollies” off by trashing authors and their books. But this post isn’t about those bullies. There is nothing I can add about those individuals that the entire online world doesn’t already know.

Instead the main focus of this soap box rant is aimed at the cyber bullies that just so happen to be authors.

Believe it or not, more authors bully reviewers than people bully authors. I know it’s hard to imagine isn’t it? But it is fact. There are a lot of authors who will automatically assume anyone that gives them a low rating or a critical review is a troll and out to destroy them.

Case in point, my sister is a damn good reviewer, better than me even! She reads everything with a professional and very critical eye. She even comes to me and asks me if her reviews sound harsh because it’s not her intention to tear an author down or to make them feel bad, she just feels if she’s going to review a book she’s going to do so thoroughly. Which she has done with me playing her “wing man”. She’ll review, I’ll add it to my tbr and comment on how good the review was and how even if the book’s flawed it’s caught my interest. (This works great since I like a ton of books my sister has read recently).  I’m going to assume the trouble my sister is having at this point in time is due to me not being around when she posted her review. I just know she’s outright being bullied by this author.

I myself have been bullied by an author about two months ago (maybe more maybe less it wasn’t important enough to mark the date on my calendar). This author trashed me all over her facebook author page for not one valid reason other than a lie told to her by someone else. Instead of being an adult, this author opted instead to mock me, make fun of me, lie about me to her fans, and call my mental stability into question when I hadn’t even said anything to her.

These authors and several others play all the same dirty tricks that the trolls play, so what makes them exempt from the “anti-bully” campaign? Why is not okay to tell an author that their actions are wrong and unjust? Why is it okay for an author to bully someone but not some Joe Nobody to bully an author? I assume by now you see the real topic of this rant yeah?

A Bully is a Bully. Whether an author, a reviewer, a blogger, freaking Jo Nobody.. NO ONE deserves to be bullied by ANYONE. NO ONE should have to be afraid to post an HONEST comment/review/blog post, or whatever because of the fear of someone coming along and bullying them because of it.

Everyone one online is a face in a box, not a single person here is better then or beneath anyone else here. That goes for the authors too. Until you’re making six figures and aren’t ALLOWED to mingle with the commoners, you’re no better than the rest of us.

Bullies are typically created due to poor upbringing. Whether the bully was picked on by older siblings mercilessly or by their parents it still comes down to that fact. It doesn’t make them better than non bullies and it doesn’t make non bullies better than they are.

Several people, author and blogger alike, whine and cry and call themselves victims, while in the same breathe they post nasty blogs about the bullies, or set the “dogs” on them or do those asinine “I’m going to give all your books 1 star ratings because blah blah blah” whatever. Grow up… Stop feeding the problem and the problem will get bored and go away.

So long as everyone continues to act like spoiled little children who aren’t getting their way, the bullies will always win.

You have to remember, especially if your an author, your actions and your behavior reflect upon YOU. if you bully someone for giving you a bad review, what does that really say about you? Who’s going to want to review a book for you if they’re petrified to?

Bloggers and Reviewers, if you’re trolling authors and giving false reviews and rating, it’ll eventually come to light, some people aren’t sheep you know. But your actions will reflect upon you as well. I mean who’s going to want to trust someone with a book that’s just going to trash it and the person that wrote it?

The Jo Nobodies which let’s face it, bully or victim, NOTHING happens to them to hurt their reputations, not one thing. They are nobodies so there’s nothing to tarnish, but An author’s, blogger’s, or reviewer’s reputation can be shot six ways to hell over one stupid bully move.

Please, think twice before you become the thing you all claim you hate the most.

This has been another Message from the Soap Box brought to you by:

Isle of Xosha online Store!

Yeap We have a store on Zazzle now!

As each new book’s cover is released new products will be added for it!

This is very exciting lol

New stuff are being added every day to this new store so come on over and check out our wares >^.^<

Isle of Xosha

Current designs include:

Character products coming soon!!!!

Bad Ratings and Bad Reviews: Why are they “Important”

This is NOT a soap box rant. I just decided to explain a few things to people who read books who may not know O.o

Obviously every author enjoys the 5 star ratings and the shining reviews. They not only promote the author and the work, but they also help put the book out there and get it known.

But this post isn’t about the good ratings and reviews, it’s about the ones most people whine and complain about.. The dreaded 1-3 stars.

These reviews, while sometimes (okay most of the time) are hurtful and written in the entirely wrong way, are detrimental to an author’s career. Yes they will lower your ratings, but if done correctly they will teach the author what needs to be fixed within their work so they can grow and improve as an author.

What does NOT help the author, are low ratings with no reviews. An author cannot correct errors they are not aware of. So long as your review is honest and well written, there should be no worry about anything negative being said to you. Though there are a few authors will just because they think their work is flawless when in fact there is no such thing. Every book will have something wrong with it, pointing those out in a professional manner will help the author learn what to do and what not to do.

So I ask everyone that reads a book don’t just rate a book, write a review good or bad. Most authors have a lot potential that is buried in a “bad” work, they cannot become the shining stars they’re meant to be without the help of a critical eye.

To the authors, if you receive a low rated review, don’t automatically assume the person is “out to get you”. Paranoia will do nothing for your career as a writer and a public figure.  Read the review, really read it. You’ll find most negative reviews aren’t meant to be hurtful they are more helpful and will show you things that need to be fixed to make the work better. People that write nasty reviews are NOT worth the time and effort it takes to snap back. Ignore the “false” reviews. Adding fuel to the fire will only hurt you not them.

Message from the Soap Box: Cyber Bullies. When does a victim cross the line and become a bully themself?

I bring this topic up because there are a lot of groups aimed at combating the cyber bullies in the indie world.  So the topic of this post is “When does a victim become a bully?”

I am in several groups aimed at combating the cyber bullies. Some are for Authors that have been bullied by people on goodreads. Some are for bloggers who have been bullied by authors (and yes that happens a lot more than people think it does). And others are for authors who have been bullied by other authors.

The ideas behind these groups are sound. Let’s face it bullying hurts people. I myself have been bullied on here by a tour group and an author. It’s not a pleasant experience.

The groups are created to give the victims of these attacks a place to talk about what happened and find out what things can be done to stop it and prevent it from repeating itself. When people in the group start crossing the line and start doing the same hurtful things the bullies are doing, they in fact become the exact thing they are combating against.. A bully.

All of these groups have the premise that the bullies are bad. They senseless attack people with false shelves on goodreads, nasty reviews for books they haven’t read, have their friends 1 star a targets book everywhere to destroy them. If they gain access to your personal information (address, phone number, work info) then shyt gets really bad and the online harrassment becomes very very real as they spam your personal information to their friends. At that point it’s no longer a case of bullying, it borders now on stalking.

When you have a group that’s supposed to be against this action, suddenly give their members the personal information of a bully, that victim then becomes a bully to.

We aren’t children anymore. We are adults. And not only that we are professionals. We are authors who want our books to do well. When you cross this thin line between victim and bully you will end up hurting yourself a lot more than you will your target.

There are better, more adult ways to handle being bullied. there are legal steps to combat it since there are laws against cyber bullying. Use those and save yourself from becoming the thing you deplore the most…

This concludes this message from the Soap Box.

The First EVER Print Edition of Rise of Xosha!!!

Here it is! The author proof print copy of TRoX!

Let’s not get into how UN-photogetic I am x.x I hate being in pictures ROFL!

I am so excited about this book it’s amazing! I keep staring at it cause I swear I’m going to wake up and find out all this was a dream x.x

No Sleeves and Short Dresses: A Summer Anthology (Released August 29, 2013)

This is the Third Anthology I had submitted to. It’s release had been pushed back due to the charity backing out.

All Proceeds for this book go to BLISS which a UK based charity that helps premature and sick babies.

My Story in this one is “The Battle for Summer” which is a remix on the Pagan lore of the Oak King and the Holly King as seen through the eyes of the fairies that work for them.

][ Amazon (print) ][ Amazon uk (print) ][ GoodReads ][

This is an anthology of short stories and poetry based around a summer theme. There is a mixture of dark fiction, romance and supernatural features.

This holiday read is all for charity. All royalties will go to Bliss for premature and sick babies.