For you writers and fiction-lovers out there who read this blog, I wrote a profile for the Huffington Post on author Maria Murnane, who originally self-published her novel, Perfect on Paper: the (Mis)adventures of Waverly Bryson (a sweet romantic comedy). After tirelessly promoting the book, and using very clever and original marketing methods, the novel had so much buzz that Amazon picked it up and published it through its publishing arm, AmazonEncore. The book has since been published in Hungarian and German, through Random House, and a film agent is scouting for a film deal. Amazon is also publishing her sequel, It’s a Waverly Life, this November. Ahhh, the success every indie author hopes for 🙂 Here is an earlier review I wrote of Perfect on Paper. And here is my HuffPo profile on Murnane.
I’m Interviewed at Smashwords Blog, Iranian Publishers, and SYTYCD Auditions
I am way behind on blogging again, you guys, and again I’m sorry. It seems like for the past year book issues always seem to be popping up to keep me from blogging. I’m several dance reviews behind and I will try to catch up this week.
Anyway, today I am interviewed at Neil Crabtree’s excellent Smashwords blog! My sales have been so much stronger at Amazon – and I realize that’s probably because I’ve done so much promotion on the Kindle blogs, so I’m really trying to get the word out about my ebook’s being available at Smashwords and their distributees – iBookstore, Kobo, Nook, Sony, and Diesel – as well. So thank you, Neil!
Yesterday, I’d planned to blog about the Dance Times Square ballroom showcase and the Guggenheim’s preview of Ratmansky’s new Nutcracker for ABT, but one such aforementioned “book issue” popped up. I’d exhibited my novel with ForeWord Magazine’s small press collective at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October. (I was a finalist in ForeWord’s Book of the Year Award and they gave me a very good review in their online magazine. Frankfurt is the largest book trade fair in the world, where foreign rights are often negotiated.) Anyway, an Iranian publisher saw my book at Frankfurt, spoke to the ForeWord rep, and gave her his contact info to send along to me and the others whose books he was possibly interested in acquiring foreign rights to. Curious to see what kinds of books his company publishes, I went to look up the publisher on the internet, and couldn’t find anything. I called ForeWord and they had no further information but said the rep did meet with him and he expressed interest in several of their titles; he was legit.
I posted a query on a publishing website I belong to just asking if anyone had heard of the company, and no one had, but several people expressed disbelief that I would even consider sending my book to an Iranian publisher. People said: with 9/11 happening in the book, you shouldn’t send it to an Iranian publisher; there’s an embargo, you could get in serious trouble for entering into a business agreement with an Iranian company; the publisher couldn’t possibly be serious about acquiring American books with the censorship committee there; and – my favorite – oh my god, are you trying to get your name on Homeland Security’s “people of interest” list sending a package to Iran???
I knew about the embargo but am certainly not anywhere near any stage at which I’d be entering into any business agreement. The publisher just wants to see the book at this point. If I ever was at such a stage, I would definitely have an agent do that. As for the 9/11 stuff, I mean, I don’t know. I didn’t write about it in a political way at all. You just never know how someone from a completely different culture will view something you write. There are sexual connotations as well in the book – who knows; it’s not something I ever thought that much about before. The whole censorship thing made me interested though, and I spent yesterday doing a good deal of internet research on publishing in Iran, and there is supposedly a big backup because of all the books waiting to be inspected by the committee.
It’s all very interesting. This whole year has taught me so much about publishing, book-selling, book buying, publicity, marketing, advertising, trade shows, rights, agents, ebooks versus physical books, Amazon versus everyone else, self-publishing versus traditional publishing versus small presses versus foreign presses, bloggers versus professional critics, etc. etc. etc. – it’s all so much. But it’s really been one of the most educational years of my life I have to say.
Anyway, back to dance: I’m off to see a So You Think You Can Dance audition at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. At least I think I am. After I signed up, I received my verification tickets, which said that it didn’t guarantee a seat; it was first come first served. If it’s the type of thing where people are lining up for hours beforehand, I’m not getting in. But I figure I’ll give it a try since I’ve never been to an audition. Wish me luck 🙂
Swallow Discounted for the Holidays
Just letting everyone know I was able to reduce the price of the paperback version of Swallow to $9.99 on Amazon. The price of the ebook is still 99 cents; Amazon and Kobo have it discounted to $.89. I intend to raise the ebook price after the beginning of the year though. But I will probably keep the price of the paperback as low as I can for a while. I know not everyone has, or likes to read with, an ereader 🙂
Thank you again for all of your tremendous support you guys!
Here is the link to the Kindle edition (above is the paperback version):
Stacey Cochran’s Book Chatter Interview Is Up!
Here’s the Book Chatter interview I participated in last night! The show is hosted by popular Claws author Stacey Cochran, and the hour-long interview includes a total of five indie authors: Zoe Winters, R.J. Keller, P.A. Woodburn, Lynda Hilbrun, and me. It was great fun – and R.J. revealed her hugely exciting news! Several viewers IM’d in questions about that, so if you’re an author, seriously, watch the video.
I haven’t watched it yet but I probably sound so squeaky-voiced and nervous! My apartment is always SO loud on Friday nights – guy and girl upstairs clomping around in hard-soled shoes and blasting music, guy next door blasting TV, guy and girl under me blasting music, etc. etc. etc. So I decided to go the Writers Room, where I have a membership, and use their designated “phone room” to do the phone-in interview. Well, for the first time EVER it was insanely loud there on a Friday night. Usually, no one is there at that time; everyone is out having a life. But last night it was packed; people were coming in and out of the phone room like mad, making calls, talking to themselves and what not, noisily picking up and rattling keys to the ladies’ / men’s rooms. Then, a person came in to re-paint the kitchen. And of course the supply room they banged around in just had to be right off from the phone room. I finally ended up in the building’s lobby where ringing bells from the elevators signaling floor stops abounded. All the noise made me so nervous! Someday, I will have to leave New York, so I can have peace and quiet in a room of my own…
Anyway, it was a blast chatting about our books and the publishing process and ebooks and Amazon and self-publishing with four other authors and Mr. Cochran. I don’t think he’s ever had that many on the show at once 🙂
Thank You, English Person, Who Bought My Book and Put Me on the Map in the Amazon UK Store :)
Hehe, I am all giddy because I just made my first UK sale! This officially puts Swallow on the Amazon UK bookstore map since it now has a ranking – and believe it or not, is currently ranked number 2 in legal fiction and number 32 in literary fiction there! Just realized it’s also ranked in the top 50 in literary fiction in the US store as well, and this marks the sixth week that it’s in the top 10 in legal fiction here. I really couldn’t be more thrilled. I am so happy that people are reading my book and (most anyway!) are liking it. I am really curious to see how the Brits, and others outside of the US, like it, so am really happy it’s at least available in one foreign bookstore. My dream would be to get a big publisher and have it translated and mass distributed in physical bookstores and all that, but we’ll have to wait and see on that… In the meantime, I’m beyond thrilled with my e-book sales – am just about to reach a major milestone 😀
Also, I just received a really wonderful, detailed, well thought-out review from a new blogger, Media Mover, who is an American ex-pat living in Mexico and who I met on Kindleboards. In a short time, she’s already become a top 1000 Amazon reviewer, and has recently started this blog as well. She’s an excellent writer and reviewer (and not just because I love what she said about my novel ;)), so please read her other reviews as well. She’s posting one review every Sunday, and she’s reviewing indie books. Yes! We need more reviewers of indie books!!!
I’ve been very fortunate to receive lots of blogger reviews, for which I’m immensely thankful. I haven’t posted about every one so as not to sound like I was constantly pumping myself (I probably do sound like that sometimes anyway…sorry!), but am linking to them all now on the “reviews” page.
One other thing regarding my book and then I’ll shut up. I just wanted to call attention to this excellent program, Operation E-Book Drop, which another indie author (and former Army Sergeant) who I also met on Kindleboards, has founded and which I have just begun participating in. Authors join and give free ebooks to our troops overseas. If you happen to be an author, please consider donating. And, also, join Kindleboards!
A Psychologist Likes Swallow!
Swallow just received a very good review from a psychologist and top 10 reviewer on Amazon! I was a bit worried since the book is mainly about a psychological condition, and a psychologist is one of the main characters, so I’m thrilled she liked it. The psychologist in the book is very Freudian, which is I guess is not the norm today. Anyway, it definitely helped me to get over the sting of my first one-star review! That’s okay – knew I’d have to get one at some point…
I’m also having fun sending the book out to international bloggers. It recently received a good review from a blogger, Violet Crush, in Singapore, and Blue Archipelago Reviews, in England. And I just sent it out to a blogger in Australia. I’m having too much fun 🙂 The kindle version recently went up on the Amazon U.K. site. I don’t think as many readers in the U.K. use e-readers and my Amazon.com reviews don’t seem to be transferring, so if any British readers of this blog would like a review copy (or if anyone else wants to review it), please let me know!
PLEASE PLEASE!
Hey you guys! I have the hugest favor to ask 🙂
So my novel in e-book form has been climbing the Amazon best-seller charts, winning awards and getting good reviews. I’ve been told that if it continues with this success that there’s a chance I could get picked up by a good publishing company, which is my dream beyond dreams! So, I’m just asking you all to spread the word! It’s about a young Manhattan attorney with an anxiety disorder called Globus Hystericus, and it’s comical in places, but also very serious. Reviewers have found it both entertaining and thought-provoking. People who like books about lawyers, women’s fiction, or books about anxiety disorders seem to be liking it the most. It’s currently 99 cents in e-book form and is $14.99 in the paperback version. But since the e-book version is doing so well and people seem not to mind taking a chance on a new author at that price, I’m trying to get the word out about that one. So if you know anyone who reads e-books (the Kindle version is downloadable onto any e-reader as well as a PC or Mac) and likes the kind of fiction mentioned above, please let them know!
Thank you so much you guys!
KINDLE NATION DAILY EDITOR'S NOTE
I’m today’s sponsor of the fabulous website Kindle Nation Daily‘s daily email. Look at what the editor wrote in his note! (I sent him a review copy of Swallow.)
(Editor’s Note: Ordinarily I don’t say much to embellish the material provided by authors and publishers for our sponsorship titles, but it’s not often that — for a mere 99 cents — we get to play a part in discovering a new novelist who is destined for very big things, as you can see from the 5-star reviews from some of the top Amazon reviewers to the great blurbs and book description below. As one of Tonya Plank’s first readers among the citizens of Kindle Nation, I promise that you are in a for a real treat. -S.W.)
How sweet is that! It’s from an email, but I think you can access it online here, or here.
Update: Only minutes after this email went out my book shot up the Kindle bestseller charts, making #307 on the overall Kindle charts, and #3 on the Legal list! 😀
WHAT INSPIRES YOU? DANCERS AND CONVICTS OF COURSE!
There’s a short interview with me, about my book, up on Kipp Poe’s blog.
I met Mr. Poe, an author, on the Kindleboards, which I’ve just recently found. If you have a Kindle, or have downloaded a Kindle app onto another kind of e-reader, it’s an excellent message board where you can chat with other Kindle owners and readers, as well as authors of Kindle books. If you don’t have some kind of e-reader – I can’t believe I’m saying this – but I highly recommend one. A lot of e-books are really low-priced compared to physical books (owing to the comparatively low production and distribution costs), and I’ve found reading books digitally surprisingly enjoyable, which I never thought I’d say. They’re easy to fit in your bag, you can read anywhere because of the internal light, and, like I said, you can buy books for a small fraction of the regular price.
About a year and a half ago, when I needed a new cell phone, I bought an iPhone and downloaded the various e-reader apps to test how I’d like reading books digitally. I didn’t think I would but I needed a new phone and was sick of T-Mobile so I figured what the hell. Now I read so much on my iPhone – not everything but a great deal. You can buy Kindle books (if you have an Amazon account) directly through the phone without having to be connected to a computer. And of course they download right away; no waiting for delivery. Only real drawback of the iPhone is the short battery life… I’ve heard the Kindle and iPad don’t have those problems though.
ANOTHER GOOD SWALLOW REVIEW!
Just got another review of my novel by lit blogger Mystee, at A Moment With Mystee. I’m particularly happy because this isn’t the usual type of book Mystee reads, and she still liked it.
She concludes with: “This book leaves us wide open for a series. Will there be another Sophie book? Even if there isn’t this one is definitely worth picking up.”
Wow, thank you Mystee! I don’t know yet if there will be a sequel. I guess it depends on how this one fares in the long run. I’m working on something else at the moment, but had originally intended for there to be another Sophie book (with the second more focused on dance; I wrote the first one before I’d become a dance fanatic), so I’m absolutely thrilled there is interest!
Also, I’m going to be doing a Q&A with Mystee later in the week. How gracious of her 🙂 — will be my first author interview! So, I will definitely be linking to that when it’s up. Read the rest of her review here.
Also, I see the book has now been made available on Barnes & Noble.com (their list price is $10.79), as well as Amazon, and Smashwords.
Oh update! Mystee just published a guest post I wrote for her about the novel, my reasons for writing it, etc. It’s the first opportunity I’ve had to publicly chat about it, so if you’re interested please read! And thank you again to Mystee, who basically rocks!
FOREWORD, SMASHWORDS, AND SHE-WRITES
Swallow received a positive review in ForeWord Reviews this week, which made me very very happy. ForeWord is an industry magazine, specializing in independently-published books and is read by librarians and booksellers and the like. The reviewer called me an “exuberant writer” — both in the book and here on my blog! Hehehe, no, really?!?! 🙂 I so love the last sentence.
Also, I’ve made the book available on Smashwords, which is an e-book seller and distributor. I know lots of people don’t have a Kindle and some were having problems downloading the Kindle ap to their computers or iphones, etc., so on Smashwords it is available in a variety of formats for virtually any kind of e-reader, including your computer. It’s been approved for the Apple iPad and should be on that soon. And pricing is the same as on the Amazon Kindle.
Finally, on Thursday night the newish writer organization SheWrites had its first NYC get-together, at the chi chi Marc Forgione bar and restaurant in TriBeCa. Huge turnout! I got a t-shirt (above) since I was one of the first five to arrive. And those of us who’ve published did a book exchange. So, I ended up making off with two books — The Last Bridge, a really intense-looking novel by Teri Coyne, and The Futurist’s Mistress, a book of poetry (which I don’t read nearly enough of) by Lorraine Schein. If you’re a writer (you don’t need to be published and you don’t need to be female; you just need to be supportive of women’s writing) I recommend joining. It’s free and fun and there are great networking and socializing opportunities.
"DANCING WITH THE QUOTES"
Hehe, here’s a new book I just saw up on Amazon. It’s by Colin M. Jarman and is a collection of humorous quotes from TV dance shows — mainly Dancing With the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance. Apparently I’m quoted somewhere inside (from my Huffington Post column). There’s a little quiz you can take to win a copy of the book on the book’s website.