Tag: Swallow

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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! 😀

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DRIVE-THRU INTERVIEW, AND SWALLOW MAKES LEGAL THRILLER BEST-SELLER LIST ON AMAZON

Today I have a short, “drive-thru” interview on fabulously wonderful indie author Jenna Elizabeth Johnson’s blog, Hello Kruel, Kruel World.

I met Ms. Johnson on the Kindleboards, where I’ve connected with a number of really kind and supportive indie authors. I joined Kindleboards after hugely successful indie-turned-traditionally published author, J.A. Konrath, suggested the site as an excellent way to connect with other authors and readers of Kindle books.

It seems to have worked in my favor sales-wise as well because last week, due largely I’m sure to my reducing the price of my Kindle book to 99 cents (for at least the duration of the summer), my Kindle sales skyrocketed, putting Swallow on a couple of Amazon top-seller charts: Anxiety Disorders, and Legal Thrillers. Sales have slipped a bit over the weekend but it spent nearly all of last week in the top 10 of those two lists, which was really surreal.

Funny thing is, strictly speaking of course my novel is not a legal thriller, but the way Amazon categorizes things, since it’s legal fiction and since Amazon reviewers have tagged it with words like “lawyer,” “legal,” and “criminals,” it was categorized as legal, and the only root category for legal fiction it seems is Mysteries & Thrillers. So I guess that’s how that worked. Others have mentioned they had the same thing happen: a legal comedy and a novel whose protagonist was a lawyer but had no other connection to the law were both categorized as a legal thrillers too. Anyway, it’s not like I don’t have a product description and several reviews for people to read before deciding whether or not to purchase.

And, even though my book focuses on the main character’s anxiety disorder, it is largely about her job as a criminal appeals attorney, and representing a certain segment of society. That’s one huge thing I was hoping people would come away knowing more about after reading. So, although I worried at first about it being mis-categorized, I think it’s actually a good thing that it ended up there; it’s a sign to me of what I should be writing anyway. The book I’m working on now is more in that vein – it’s about a shooting witnessed by various people, from different perspectives.

Anyway, I’m just so thrilled some people are reading it. Thank you again to all of my wonderful, wonderful blog readers who have been so supportive! And to my new indie friends 🙂

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SWALLOW RECEIVES A VERY GOOD REVIEW IN THE EXAMINER!

By Maureen Linehan:

“Tonya Plank’s debut novel, Swallow, is as engaging as any book I have read. Although it does seem to be a little long at first (just over 400 pages), the character development is so appealing that once you start reading you find yourself eagerly anticipating what will come next, as you will undoubtedly sympathize with Sophie, and hope that she finds peace.”

Read the rest here!

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SELECTIVE MUTISM AND GLOBUS HYSTERICUS

I just saw this review of my novel. It was posted a month ago, but somehow I’d missed it.

It’s interesting because Rae says she can identify with my protagonist, Sophie, because she had something similar called selective mutism. I hadn’t heard of that before and so looked it up. It’s where a child doesn’t speak in certain situations, although the child can speak and does so at other times. It’s an anxiety disorder, as is Globus. Interesting because I remember having something similar when I was a child. I remember my father thinking I had a speech impediment and having me enrolled in a speech class in … I think it was either kindergarten or first grade. I was in a special ed class with kids who had severe lisps and couldn’t pronounce groups of words properly. The teacher told my parents that wasn’t what was wrong with me and the class wasn’t helping me. I don’t remember what happened, but eventually it must have gone away. I’m just now remembering it.

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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.

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SWALLOW ON CRYSTAL REVIEWS

Swallow has received another positive blog review 🙂

I was out at ABT last night (Sascha Radetsky and Hee Seo’s Thais Pas de Deux is, I think, the most beautiful thing I’ve seen all season. I’d seen them in rehearsal and it was well worth waiting for, and I enjoyed this cast of The Dream – David Hallberg as Oberon, Gillian Murphy as Titania and Herman Cornejo as Puck – much better than the first, and Maria Riccetto for the first time really caught my eye in both The Dream and Ashton’s Birthday Offering – she was really lovely).

Anyway, I was out late last night (actually was working all night on this, which was unbelievably hard to write, that case is so complicated). Am just now getting around to watching So You Think You Can Dance. I’ll post a review as soon as I’ve watched it. I hope it was good!

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GUEST POST ON "PUDGY PENGUIN PERUSALS"

The wonderful Kaye, who writes the charming book blog Pudgy Penguin Perusals, has a rather long write-up on my book today, for which I am immensely grateful!

I am really so grateful, beyond words, for all the bloggers who are helping me get the word out about my first book. The book blogging community is really tremendous – it’s got to be the largest arts blogging community in existence – and I’m so thankful for it and for all the wonderful writers who are so willing to help a first-time novelist get her start! Because I don’t think there’s anything harder than starting a writing career in this current publishing climate.

Anyway, thank you again, Kaye!

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GOTHAM GAL ON SWALLOW

The fabulous blogger, Gotham Gal (diary-style blog about New Yorky things she does – eating out, going to various performances, reading books, etc.) has written a little review of Swallow. It’s on the right-hand side-bar under “Books of the Moment.” Right now it’s the one listed at top. She says she “swallowed it up, no pun intended,” calls it “chatty and engaging,” and “a great beach read.” 😀

I’m a big fan of Gotham Gal so am really psyched! Thank you thank you Gotham Gal!