YA Indie Carnival - Week Eight

Welcome back to theeighth installment of the YA Indie Carnival . This week, my fellow authors/bloggers are disclosing three tips thatcould be beneficial to other YA Indie authors. Early on in my Indie publishing career, I would have given almostanything to access this type of advice from mentors as inspiring as thoseparticipating in this carnival. Actually, I'm confident that I will discover secrets that will benefitme even today. 
I can honestly say that I have spent more hours than I care to admit searchingfor ways to improve Warriors of the Cross and my marketing of it.  Since the young adult genre is swarming with thousandsof great books/authors, I knew this would be a difficult task…and an exciting journey.  I was right on both accounts. 
Below, I'm revealing three of my favorite treasures.  It was difficult to narrow this list down to three.  There are so many talented and supportivepeople, wonderful tools to simplify the most complicated project, and unbelievable sites to help with every aspect of marketing.  While I want to share everything that I'velearned, I'm limited to a book cover designer, a book trailer creator,and a great marketing tool.
·        Bookcover Designero  Claudia with Phatpuppy Art is a phenomenalartist and a godsend to this Indie author. So far, she has graciously created three cover art designs for me.  She was the first person I contacted…and thelast.  Working with her makes this dauntingtask less intimidating.
HOT OF THE PRESSES: Enemies of the Cross - cover art

·        VideoProductiono  Animoto allows me to generate great (andprofessionally produced) book trailers. This is a small miracle considering the fact that I had spent hoursattempting - unsuccessfully - to develop book trailers.  Despitemy hard work, I was never able to create anything I wanted to share with theworld.  Animoto was so ridiculously simplethat I cursed myself for not finding them sooner.
·        GiveawayManagero  Goodreads. Need I say more?  This is the perfectwebsite which offers the chance for writers to communicate with the same peoplereading their books.  As an added bonus, Goodreadswill host a giveaway for the author. Everything about the giveaway is controlled by the author (how manybooks, how long it's listed, and the mailing of the prize books).  I can say from personal experience that this siteand all its author programs has contributed to my books getting added tomore than 1,000 book shelves.  Equally astonishing is the fact that almost 2,000 people entered the Warriors of the Cross / Guardians of the Cross Giveaways.   
Join me in visiting Aimee Brown's Blog where Heather Cashman's book PERCEPTION (The Tigers' Eye Trilogy, Book 1) is being given away.  Also, congratulations, Patti Larson, on the release of your new book Hide (Book Two of the Hunted Series).

NEXT, take a ride (by clicking their name) with:
Dani Snell - Book Blogger
Pattie Larsen - Author
Courtney Cole - Author
Wren Emerson - Author
Nicole Williams - Author
Fisher Amelie - Author
P. J. Hoover - Author
Laura Elliott - Author
Amy Jones Young - Author
Rachel Coles - Author and Book Blogger
Tiffany King - Author
Cyndi Tefft - Author
Alicia McCalla - Author
Heather Cashman - Author
Abbi Glines - Author
Cidney Swanson - Author
Cheri Schmidt - Author
T. R. Graves - Author

(see previous blogs for the authors' booklists)