I'm not here to talk about the events and happenings in my life. I'm here to discuss the support of indie authors and to promote one of my favourite indie authors, Kira Adams. Before I put the spotlight on her, I would like to talk a little about supporting indie authors.
I enlarged this so everyone could read it.
Indie Authors are just as amazing as regular authors. The difference between us and authors is that we have to promote ourselves, using social networking websites, blogs, and the like. Unfortunately, there are other indie authors and social networking website users who will try to undercut indie authors by leaving a bad review to drop book ratings and rankings, and those who will report promotional posts as harassment. We don't have PR people to advertise for us. It's all on us. Be respectful. If you don't want to see promotional posts, there is a little down arrow on the right top corner on Facebook posts that will bring down an options menu. Click on it and select "I don't want to see this". It's as simple as that.
It's not that difficult.
If you love an indie author's book, review it, tell your friends about it, like the indie author's page, and invite your friends to have a dekko at their page and like it. Send a message to the indie author and personally tell them how much you enjoyed their work! I recently found out that I had two serious fans, and that meant more to me than the money I've made so far. All authors, not just us indies, want their readers to fall in love with the characters as much as they have. The money is nice, but that's not the point. The fans are what's important.
Leave a review, an honest but fair review.
I cannot stress this enough. The best way to support an indie author is to leave a review. Make it an honest and fair review. Constructive criticism helps us to improve our skills and produce quality books in the process.
When did readers become so picky? I used to follow a page called IABB on Facebook, It was an indie author confessions type of page. I didn't see many confessions from indie authors. All I saw was hateful remarks from readers stating why they won't buy an indie author's book. They whinged about everything! It made me angry, so I unliked and unfollowed the page. I'm not that bloody picky! If the book is that good, I'm not going to nitpick at every grammatical error or a few misspelled words! If the mistakes are so bad that I can't read the book, that's a different story entirely, but I still wouldn't trash an indie author. I may contact them and kindly explain to them why I couldn't finish the book, or if I have time, I'd be willing to help them by editing. We're in this together. Let's help each other out instead of cut each other down.
In the beginning, our books are not perfect, but everyone starts out slow. The thing is once you get to the top, you have nowhere to go but down. Remember that.
Show an Indie Author Love.
Read and Review.
I will stop whinging and get to the second reason I am here. I'm here to support one of my favourite indie authors, Kira Adams! Not only is her new book, Emerging From The Darkness being released on March 31st, she has re-released Into The Darkness. It is free on Amazon now through March 30th! You can purchase it here.
This is the cover!
And now it's confession time. This is a REAL confession from a REAL indie author, not a whinging picky reader. I wish I could remember who promoted Kira's book, but someone put it out there on Facebook. (This is why promotion is important.) I clicked on the link. The ebook was $0.99 on Amazon, and I immediately purchased it. Now for the confession. The reason I was drawn to the book was because (and try not to laugh) there was a redhead on the cover. I know, that may sound ridiculous, but that will make me purchase an ebook quicker than anything. Fall covers are my second favourite. (Put a redhead surrounded by Autumn trees covered with colourful fall leaves and my mind might just explode!) For some reason, it's not the same with hard copy book covers, but I do like being able to look at the characters.
Now a warning: if you put a character on the cover and I can't picture him or her the way he or she is depicted, well...it just gets confusing. V.C. Andrews' ghost writer has done that with a character called Jordan March. The little girl was a sufferer of precocious puberty. She was depicted as a brunette. No matter how many times I stopped and looked at the cover, I COULD NOT picture her as a brunette. She was blond haired in my mind, and my mind refused to believe anything else.
It was the same with Sidney Sheldon's Rage of Angels. My nine year old brain saw Jennifer Parker's character looking like Melissa Reeves from Days of Our Lives. There was no picture on the cover of the copy I read to tell me otherwise, even though the book describes Jennifer Parker as a brunette.
Kira has NEVER done this, wrote a character that I couldn't picture as how she described them. I can clearly picture the character on the cover in great detail. I can hear their voice. She has perfected this.
I'm getting off track here, so let's move on to the teasers! Before I do, I don't want to forget to mention that I LOVED Into the Darkness! I couldn't put it down! I read it in approximately two hours! Now she's re-releasing it? How can you improve what I thought was perfection?!? I seriously cannot wait to read the re-released version! Did I mention that you can purchase it here?
The story begins with Ike and Cullen, along with other members of the military, being briefed on top secret military affairs in an undisclosed location (which you will find out when you read the book). Meanwhile everyone is just going about their daily lives. Think about your daily routine for a moment. Picture others grocery shopping, driving their kids to school, or home from school, or to some sort of after school activity. While everyone is engaged in their routines, all of Hell is breaking loose. Nobody realizes it. (I'm being secretive, because I wasn't expecting anything that took place! I want other readers to be just as surprised) They're just doing their thing.
The news reports a curfew, to which main character Phoenix doesn't adhere. She's a rebel. She wants to go out on her date. She doesn't care about the curfew. So she does what she does best and rebels. She goes out on her date. When she returns home, she is shocked at what she finds...
During the midst of chaos, Phoenix and Ike cross paths. They later meet up with Cullen and a few others, as well as dangers untold, betrayal, and loss. It's all about survival, which includes learning who you can and cannot trust. (The rules of society have changed dramatically.)
DO NOT READ THIS BOOK IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A MINIMUM OF THREE HOURS!!!! I say this because you will not be able to put it down!!!!
If this re-release of what I already thought was the most perfect book ever wasn't enough, Kira is releasing the second book in the series, Emerging From The Darkness! (I can't wait to see the cover!)
OMG!!! OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You can check out Kira Adams and the woman behind the author, Krista Pakseresht on Facebook, and Amazon. She's written many other books, including The Infinite Love Series, which contains the four books, Learning To Live, My Forever, Beautifully Broken, and Against All Odds. I recently shared a post promoting the Infinite Love Series. She has an awesome street team, in which I am involved. (That's not why it's awesome though.) And you can purchase the re-released copy of Into The Darkness here.
Support the Indie Authors you love! I have a list that I absolutely adore. Krista Pakseresht/Kira Adams is on that list, as well as Casey Bond, Jennifer Fisch-Ferguson, JB Stilwell, Annalisa Nicole, Cathy Jackson, and many more! (Ladies, if you would send me teasers, I'd be happy to do a spotlight post on the wonderful books I have read or currently reading!)
Pick up your copy of Into The Darkness today through March 31st for free on Amazon!
Cheers!
