Indie-Vengeance Day
The other day, I took a trip to the Half Price Books near my house. I wanted to talk to them about maybe selling a few copies of Cemetery Tours to their store (they agreed!). Afterword, I got online to research more stores. On the Half Price Books homepage, I noticed a link down at the bottom of the page.
You can read more about it here: http://tracyjamesjones.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/indie-vengeance-day-weekend-begins/
Needless to say, I decided right then and there that I had to attend. I will confess, however, that I went to a party last night and was so tired, that for a short while I considered taking the day off today. However, when I woke up this morning, bright, alert, and ready, I knew that I needed to go.
I am so glad that I did.
I had the most amazing time talking with these people who traveled from all over the world to greet readers and sign their books. I expected to go, meet a few people, and maybe get some tips on marketing or any advice on making it as an independent author in general. I thought, perhaps, I might buy a book or two.
I ended up leaving with ten books, two ebooks, several business cards, and more respect for all of these wonderful authors than I ever could have imagined. Of course, I already had a lot of respect for them, knowing all that they’ve accomplished just by writing and being published, but getting to talk to them about their books, their work, their interests, their backgrounds… they are all just amazing, fascinating, and wonderful people.
Ever since I made the decision to self-publish, I’ve been wanting to make more connections in the Indie world. That includes reading and reviewing their works. I am thrilled to have so many new books to read. Sadly, I couldn’t purchase all of them, but I did find most of them on GoodReads, so I thought I could at least share them here and then review them later.
Scott Morgan is a professor at Collin County Community College and he has written several books on writing. This one, I think, was written for his class that he teaches.
Ben Ditmars was one of the first authors I met today. I’m a downright lousy poet, so I’m really looking forward to reading his work!
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5132689.Ben_Ditmars?from_search=true
I didn’t get to talk to Amber Jerome-Norrgard for very long, but I very much look forward to reading her poetry!
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5815310.Amber_Jerome_Norrgard
Lynn Hallbrooks was a sweet woman and the story of how she and David McKoy collaborated to write their novels was fascinating.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4950577.Lynn_Hallbrooks?from_search=true
Tracy James Jones was absolutely one of the sweetest people I’ve had the privilege to meet. I didn’t get to talk to him very much about his work, because he had several fans surrounding him, but his romance novel definitely sounds like a good read!
http://tracyjamesjones.wordpress.com
M.E. Franco was the first paranormal author I talked to at Half Price. She was very enthusiastic about everything vampire, ghost, magic, etc… This was the first book I purchased at the signing.
She also penned a cowboy romance novel which, as a true blue Texas girl, I really want to read.
Another paranormal/vampire novelist I met was Melissa Zaroski. I purchased her novel too. I actually haven’t read any vampire stories since the Twilight series. I’m interested to see how these new paranormal books will compare.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7255267.Melissa_Zaroski?from_search=true
I talked to Sydney native Ciara Ballintyne for a while. She was absolutely delightful as she told me about her novella, Confronting the Demon, a combination of deep fantasy and paranormal. We also had a lot of fun discussing other books we’d read.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6591156.Ciara_Ballintyne?from_search=true
I love dragons, so I picked this book up almost immediately. I am really looking forward not only to reading this, but also its sequel.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5824220.Dionne_Lister
Melissa Craig and Charity Parkerson are Australian authors too. I didn’t spend quite as long talking with them as I did others, but they were both lovely women and very funny. They had with them selections of their works, mostly erotica. I have nothing against the genre, but it’s not my favorite.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5307783.Melissa_Craig?from_search=true
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4506281.Charity_Parkerson
James Peercy was just a fun guy to talk to, and I’m especially curious to read his book, The Wall Outside, a work of fantasy set in modern-day Washington. I love fairy tales and fantasy, so I’m really interested to see how it will work in our world.
http://www.jameswilliampeercy.com
Sreya Bremtin is a photographer as well as a poet. She had a book of photographs as well, but as someone who really struggles in the poetry department, I was a lot more curious to read this.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7233499.Sreya_Bremtin
Meeting M. A. Rogers and talking to him about zombies was a lot of fun. I’ve probably mentioned before that I am a new Walking Dead fan and that zombies absolutely scare me out of my wits. For some reason, that means I love watching them on television and reading about them in books. I’m often told that I am loud and awkward, but M. A. Rogers told me that my enthusiasm made his whole day.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15745432-chivalry-is-undead
Sandcastle is a collection of short stories by Justin Bog. I haven’t read a book of short stories since about the eight grade, so I was more than eager to purchase his book. A cool fact about this book is that his father painted the picture on the cover. I thought that was so incredible!
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5832178.Justin_Bog
Julie Frayn is a Canadian author and I ended up purchasing both of her books. Well, technically I purchased one on Kindle and she gave me a free download for the other. Not only to both stories sound totally awesome, I absolutely love her cover designs.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6967128.Julie_Frayn
The last author I met was a poet named Susie Clevenger. She was so sweet. I had run out of cash by that point, but she handed me a copy and told me to write her a good, honest review, and I intend to do just that!
Everyone I met today was so amazing and wonderful and I hope I’m lucky enough to connect with all of them in the future.
