Why Author Giveaways Are Great for Writers and Readers Alike

I am so happy! I have won five books this month from author giveaways. The good news is that I’ve got lots of great reading ahead. And I will do a review for each one on this blog and on other sites as well, along with a review of A Luminous Future by Teodor Flonta (which I didn’t win). Watch to find out what I say about each one, and if you would like me to do a review of your book, post a comment here or on one of the review posts. I will be honest, but know that I am a generally positive person and I only offer constructive criticism if any.

At first, giving away my book for free seemed counterproductive. Then, I remembered why I wrote it. I had an important and interesting story to tell, and I wanted others to read it. It is exciting when my friends and family read the book. So far, they have all been very enthusiastic about it. And let me tell you, this is not an enthusiastic bunch on most days.

It is fun to hear them telling me the story as if I don’t know what’s in it. They tell me what they thought and felt when they were reading the book, and they seem quite fascinated and moved. Just what I wanted! It builds my confidence more than ever.

I have also done other giveaways as well. All but one person has reviewed it. The ones who posted on Amazon gave me five stars, seemed very happy to have read it and excited to tell other people about it. That’s not just good publicity, but it is also good will. Now, they are looking forward to my next book. I can’t wait to finish it and make it available for them to read.

I got two reviews on GoodReads as well. Both readers only gave me three out of five stars. But, face it: GoodReads members tend to be tough. Most of them have read many, many books, and are sometimes comparing my books to the greats of literature. Well, this is my first book, after all, and I don’t expect to measure up to those standards.

Even though the two GoodReads author giveaway winners didn’t give me five stars, they were very positive in their reviews. In addition, they pointed out a few things that they would have liked to see more of in the book. Their advice was very helpful for the most part. And in the end, both of them recommended my book.

If you are a first time author, I would suggest that you do author giveaways too. You don’t have to give a signed print copy, either. All of the books I won were either PDF files or Kindle downloads. So, it doesn’t have to be any great cost for you, if any at all.

Giving away your book to just a few readers is a great way to connect with your audience and get people reading and talking about your book. I give author giveaways five stars, and I would recommend them to authors and readers alike!

I am doing several giveaways in September as a part of my blog tour. I will add a post with all my blog dates and URL’s so you can enter if you wish. Each winner will get a signed copy of my first novel, Loving the Missing Link.

In the meantime, check out this great giveaway by another author. She is giving away several Kindle Fire ereaders. That’s right, I said Kindle Fire! What a great way to thank readers and expose her work to people on social media. Here’s the Link: http://bit.ly/17aF9ji

Best of Luck on all your giveaways, both the ones you enter and the ones you sponsor.

And, as always, happy reading to all of you!

I Finally Found My Genre!

Not being up on all the latest publishing trends, I struggled to categorize my novel, Loving the Missing Link. I did want to put it into a category so people would have some idea of what they were getting. Yet, it seemed to be its own unique entity – I had never read a book quite like it. When I wrote it, I wasn’t thinking about these things. I was only writing what was in my mind and in my heart. Here’s why it didn’t seem to fit into the old categories.

Young Adult (YA)

It dealt with issues that young adults are not ready to tackle. Like leaving home, exploring sexuality, struggling with career choices, making your own home. By putting the label of YA on it, I would be telling the world that children could read it. Certainly, some midgrade and teens would be able to get it, but I think the parents would need to be involved to make that call. It is not an obscene book, but it does imply sex and sometimes puts a positive spin on things parents might want to talk to their child about – like teen marriage and infidelity. So, YA didn’t seem quite right.

Coming of Age

It is a coming of age story, but it is about the coming of age that happens not only in your teens, but also in your 20’s. It is sort of a crossbreed. By saying it’s a coming of age novel, I would imply that it is about the teen years. Cheryl, my protagonist goes through a coming of age gone wrong in her teen years. It is only in her 20’s that she finds herself, as well as exploring all those grownup issues. I listed it as coming of age on Amazon simply because I didn’t see a category that fit better. Yet, that wasn’t quite right either.

Literary

I was told by a writer who has been published multiple times by traditional publishers that it should be in the literary genre. However, I felt that my story was too simple for that. I have taken as many college classes as I could squeeze into my life – figuring out to be about midway through the Junior year of college. But I don’t want to give readers the wrong idea. I don’t want to claim to be a master of fiction, but that is what I think the literary genre implies. I am still learning, and have a lot more to learn. I think my story is a good one, and every reader who has reviewed it or contacted me has recommended it to others. I would love to think it is high art, but I feel presumptuous making that claim.

Finally Found It!

Just this month, I discovered the New Adult category. It is not listed on CreateSpace as a category yet, so I couldn’t label it as such there. But, the gist of it is that a New Adult book is supposed to cover issues like…leaving home, exploring sexuality and making career choices. Sound familiar? It did to me too.

Many people have maligned this new category. Some see it as a marketing scheme, but don’t all writers need to market their books? Anyway, I didn’t write it with marketing in mind. I just realized after it was written that it needed to be set apart in some way so readers would immediately say, “Oh, that’s what it is!” I understand that not everyone is familiar with the new genre of New Adult. After all, I just found out about it this month myself. But as the genre gains momentum, my book will already be on the shelves, one of the trailblazers that helped define the genre.

If you don’t know much about the New Adult category, just do a Google search. There is lots of information about it. Some of it is negative and other articles and blogs are positive about it. I encourage you to learn about both sides of the issue.

And read my previous blog post called “Coming of Age – What Is It, Really?” You’ll know why it makes sense to me to call Loving the Missing Link a New Adult novel.

Excerpt from Loving the Missing Link – Cheryl Begins Her Story

Loving the Missing Link is now available on Amazon, both as a print book and a Kindle edition. You can read more on the “Look Inside” feature, but here is a little taste of what I have in store for you:

“I never intended to be a bassoon player in the first place. I just wanted to be in the band. I’d heard the kids talking about their trips-like staying at the Ramada Inn for band contests. Orgies in someone’s hotel room. Not that I knew exactly what they meant by that, but I vaguely connected it with sophistication. I imagined it was what kids from New York did on a regular basis-the real New York, that is. Not the New York I grew up in, a hick town in Missouri.

It had always been my private fantasy that some guy from New York City brought his poor relation out to Missouri so he wouldn’t clutter up his swanky uptown apartment. Dumped him in the middle of nowhere like people dump a mutt that won’t be housetrained. Given him his own little town.

Of course, the poor relation had to go and name the town New York. And his cousin-third cousin twice removed-never spoke to him again.
Well, that’s the explanation I came up with for why our town was named New York. And for why nothing ever happened there.

But the band offered a link to the outside…”

Check me out on Amazon.

Why I’m Not Celie J. Halsewell

As I neared the beginning of publishing Loving the Missing Link, I began to think about my name. Julia Thomas. Boring, ordinary, unmemorable. I thought it would be as bad as publishing under the name of Jane Doe. Somehow, I wanted people to know that I was a real, live, individual person. So, I thought about publishing under a pen name.

To devise my pen name, I took the first and middle initials of all my grandchildren and began to manipulate the letters to create a sort of anagram. Somewhere during the process, I looked up my maiden name and found that Halsewell was a related name. It made sense because it had a similar sound. Asel, Halsewell. Sounded good to me. Plus, it fit into the theme of using my grandchildren’s initials.

I began to love the name Celie J. Halsewell. I imagined that I was an intriguing person with loads of personality. I thought that no one would ever mix up Celie’s work with that of anyone else. It all seemed so ideal.

Then, I began to think about marketing. Throughout the marketing process, I would have to pose as Celie J. Halsewell for interviews, blog posts and comments, and any other person-to-person interaction. Heaven forbid that my book would become so popular that I would have to make personal, face-to-face appearances. Suddenly, I saw my proposed pen name as a commitment to lie. Sorry, but that’s just not me.

I settled for adding my unusual maiden name in between my ordinary first name and my boring last name. I did drop an “s” from my maiden name, but that was a practical consideration designed to prevent unfortunate mispronunciations. It all seemed like a good compromise, and I loved the idea of being me rather than trying to be someone else.

So, look for my work under the name of Julia Asel Thomas. It’s a good name, it’s a solid name, and it’s the name I can honestly call my own.

A Dream to Ponder

A Dream to Ponder

The other night, I had the most amazing dream. Perhaps significantly or perhaps not, it came to me on the night Loving the Missing Link, my first book, went live on Amazon. I don’t want to break its beautiful spell by tearing it apart. But I would be interested in what you think it might mean.
The Dream:

I am sitting, cross-legged on the most beautiful hardwood floor I have ever seen. It is made of a rich, golden oak and polished to a brilliant shine. The floor stretches out in all directions so far that I can’t see the end of it.

But, I am not so much sitting on the floor as I am hovering about a inch or two above it. I am looking at the beauty of the floor and enjoying the gentle sounds of music playing from somewhere far away. I am at perfect peace.

Suddenly, my vision begins to fade, and then I become blind. My hearing begins to fail, and I become deaf. My arms and legs begin to go numb, and then I can’t feel anything. Yet, I am not afraid.

The only thing left to my awareness is what is going on in my mind. In the dream, I am asking myself, “Am I dead? Is this what death feels like?” And yet, I am still not afraid or panicked. I feel wonderful.

So, that’s the end of the dream.

I told my son about the dream, and he had an answer for me. He said, “Mom, you weren’t dead.”

I asked, “How do you know?”

He said, “You thought, therefore you were.”

Well, I guess that’s as good an answer to that question as any, but I still don’t know what that dream meant or where it came from. I only know that I woke up feeling happy. Isn’t that odd?

So, if you have any insight into the meaning of this incredible dream, share it with me. I don’t want to dissect it myself, but I am interested in your impressions about it. Give it your best shot. I’ll be anxiously awaiting any input you might have. So, comment away. Your opinions matter to me and as always, they matter to the world.