IE Reviews: The Selkie Spell

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It’s time for another review of an indie author who, though they are not one of the Indie Elite, they are worthy of recognition. Today I bring you The Selkie Spell by Sophie Moss. Both the description and the lovely cover of this novel drew me in but it was the beautiful writing that kept me reading. The very first page immersed me into a watery world of tragedy that I didn't want to leave, and it deepened from there. My heart ached for Tara and the ghosts of her past. And the descriptions, ah the descriptions! The author made me feel as though I were in Ireland, breathing the salty air, feeling the sand between my toes. You won't want to put this one down until you've read the last words!

There was only one hang up that kept me from giving it five stars. The author switched points of view from one main character to the other, within the same page. It was a bit disconcerting and confusing at times. Normally such an issue would have made me stop reading and refuse to do a review. But the rest of the writing, and the story, were so compelling that I simply couldn’t stop reading. I hope you’ll give it a try despite this issue because if you don’t, you’ll be missing a fantastic story by an artist of a writer. For a debut novel it was excellent.

The Crossroads Tour

From small to big-gun presses, debut novels to bestsellers, the Crossroads Blog Tour is offering unprecedented (and free!) access to amazing YA authors. This October, thirteen paranormal writers will embark on an exciting blog tour that will hook readers up with great reads and cool SWAG. Three authors in the group are also with Indie E: Judith Graves, Dawn Dalton, and Christine Fonseca.

Here’s the official roster:

  

Judith Graves – Leap Books – Under My Skin, Second Skin, Skin of My Teeth, Killer’s Instinct

Joy Preble – Sourcebooks – Dreaming Anastasia, Haunted, Anastasia Forever. Soho Press (forthcoming May 2013) – The Sweet Dead Life

Stacey Kade – Hyperion – The Ghost and the Goth, Queen of the Dead, Body & Soul

Amanda Ashby – Speak – You Had Me at Halo, Zombie Queen of Newbury High, Fairy Bad Day, Demonosity

Lucienne Diver – Flux – Vamped, Revamped, Fangtasic, Fangtabulous

Kiki Hamilton – Teen / Macmillian – The Faerie Ring, The Torn Wing

Jackie Morse Kessler – Harcourt Graphia – Hunger, Rage, Loss

Christine Fonseca – Compass Press – Transcend, Libera Me

Carrie Harris – Delacorte Books for Young Readers -Taste In Boys, Bad Hair Day

Dawn Dalton – Leap Books - SPIRITED Anthology, Killer’s Instinct

Leanna Renee Hieber- Sourcebooks – Darker Still (Magic Most Foul, #1), The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart (Magic Most Foul, #2)

Ty Drago- Sourcebooks – The Undertakers: Rise of the Corpses, The Undertakers: Queen of the Dead

Janet Fox – Speak – Faithful, Forgiven, Sirens

HOW THE TOUR WORKS

Each day of The Crossroads Blog Tour, a new research question will be revealed on The Crossroad Blog Tour main page:http://judithgraves.com/events/the-crossroads-tour/crossroads-2012/and each day the answer to that question will be found within one of the different blog posts by Crossroads Tour authors. Your job is to get the question, read the blog posts, and collect all answers by the end of the tour.

The GRAND PRIZE you’re vying for? A brand new KINDLE, preloaded with a title from each of the participating Crossroads Blog Tour Authors. That’s right folks, a free KINDLE and 13 free EBOOKS!

Follow the tour on Twitter And Facebook 

The Cover Contessa Reviews Puca

Brooke of The Cover Contessa has reviewed Heather McCorkle's To Ride A Puca and gave it four stars! Here is a bit of her review:

"The book was engaging and, for me, a page turner. I really got immersed in the reading and didn't want to put it down. ... It's a dark and sexy historical novel that will keep you enthralled from beginning to end!"~Brooke of The Cover Contessa.

To read the rest of Brooke's in-depth review click here. You can find To Ride A Puca on Amazon, B&N, The Book Depository, and more. 

Celebrating a New Release

A little over a week ago, my two oldest sons went off to college. Although we’d done this—sent our baby out into the world—once before, it never gets easier. The excitement, the fear and the wonder never go away, whether it’s your first child or your last. Part of you is ready to let go so they can truly become their own people, and part of you wants to keep them close, afraid of what the world will do to them. But, alas, we can’t hold onto them forever.

Last Thursday I sent another baby off into the world—Power, the fourth book in the Soul Savers Series. And like letting go of my human children, letting go of my book-babies never gets easier. I’m always afraid it’s not ready yet, the world isn’t going to like it, people won’t be kind. But as I have to do with my children, at some point, I have to let my books fly the nest.

And regardless of the nerves, it’s a time to celebrate. Because the thrill and the sense of accomplishment of completing yet another book never goes away, either. So I just have to say, “Yay! With a lot of help from others, I did it. Again.” Thank you to everyone, including the Indie Elite, for your unending support!

I invite you to celebrate with me and the Soul Savers fans. The Power release tour is just getting underway, with many stops planned throughout September and into October, including guest posts, interviews, reviews and giveaways. Come join the fun.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, yes, among the tears, there was a little happy dance and celebration for the boys leaving home. 2 down, 1 to go! Woohoo! Um, I mean, boohoo.

~Kristie

Kristie Cook is the author of the popular Soul Saver series. To learn more about Kristie and her books, click here. 

Creating Your Own Book Trailer

Book trailers are a creative way for authors to get the word out about their upcoming releases. But if don’t have hundreds of dollars to spend on a professional book trailer service, don’t worry! In just a few hours, and for a fraction of the cost, you can create a book trailer yourself. 

THE SOFTWARE 

Two video editing programs that are available for download are Windows Live Movie Maker and VideoPad Video Editor. They’re both free and (most importantly) relatively easy to use. Personally, I like Windows Live Movie Maker the best because it’s more straightforward and requires less of a learning curve. However, the program tends to freeze up if you give it too many commands at once, so take your time and save your work regularly. I don’t use VideoPad Video Editor as often as I do Windows Live Movie Maker because I’m not thrilled with how the subtitles just “pop” up on the screen. As far as I can tell, at least with the free version, you cannot apply special effects to your subtitles (such as fade) like you can in Movie Maker. I would suggest downloading both programs and playing around with each to see which one you prefer. Sometimes you have to use one over the other in the instance one of your files is incompatible with a particular program, as was the case when I created the trailer for BLOOD TYPE. 

THE MUSIC 

Every author has a different method of writing, and it’s no different when creating book trailers. I rarely create trailers with an actual concept in mind. Rather, I first choose the background music and go from there. It’s been my experience that I just know the perfect song when I hear it, and I can build on a particular feeling. Two sites I use frequently for inexpensive music tracks are Incompetech Royaly-Free Music and Jewel Beat. Lately I’ve been using only Jewel Beat. Overall, the site presents itself more professionally and it’s my opinion that the selection of music is better. 

THE IMAGES 

For images, I use iStockPhoto exclusively. You can narrow what you’re looking for not only by performing a keyword search, but by price, size, and type of file (photo, illustration, video, audio, and editorial). Another great feature of iStockPhoto is the ability to buy photo credits, which are good for up to a year after purchase. The more credits you buy, the less money you spend. So if you have several projects that you know you’ll be working on within the coming month, you’ll actually save money by buying in bulk.

When you’ve decided on your video editing program and you’ve purchased your background music and images, there are a few remaining points to keep in mind:

1. Keep it short. The last thing you want is for prospective readers to stop watching before they reach the end of your video. Book trailers that are too lengthy run the risk of losing the audience. Sixty- to ninety-second book trailers are ideal. 

2. Keep it simple. People who are overwhelmed tend to tune out, and nothing overwhelms me more than too much sensory input. Just because you can choose ten different clip transitions and effects doesn’t mean you should. Stick with the very basics. Remember that you’re creating a book trailer and not a film featurette. 

3. Keep it inexpensive. Don’t forget that you have to pay to use background music and images. And because all of that can quickly add up, that’s another reason to keep it simple. The total cost of the BLOOD TYPE trailer was approximately $43.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Melissa Luznicky Garrett is an author of adult and young adult novels. She lives in upstate New York with her husband, three children, and numerous animals. Melissa is currently hard at work on her next project. You can visit Melissa’s blog, connect with her on Facebook, or view additional book trailers and home videos on YouTube that she’s created using Windows Live Movie Maker and VideoPad Video Editor. 

Two IE Members Sign with Lucas Talent

Two of the Indie Elite's own have HUGE news. Dawn Dalton and Judith Graves have multiple projects on the go, from solo to team efforts as with their Most-Wanted Monsters young adult fiction series. But the fun doesn’t end with print media. Dalton and Graves also collaborate in the writing and development of scripts for film and television, and to further complicate things, they do so under their real names, Dawn Ius and Tracy Belsher. 

The writers are keen to announce they’ve recently signed with film/tv literary agent, Anna Archer of Lucas Talent for their screenwriting projects. Lucas Talent is one of Canada’s leading talent agencies and the writers are thrilled with the professionalism and comfort level they’ve experienced thus far. Here’s to navigating TV Land!

You can follow their fiction writing and screenwriting careers on their blogs:

Dawn Dalton, Dawn Ius or Tracy Belsher, Judith Graves

Congratulations ladies! We can hardly wait to see your work on the silver screen.

Cover Reveal Contest for Rise of a Rector

It’s coming, the anticipated final book in Heather McCorkle's channeler series, Rise of a Rector. The scheduled release date is the beginning of October but Heather tells us it could be a bit sooner. She's revealing the cover and you’re invited to the celebration. All next week from Monday the 27th through Friday the 31st those who would like to reveal the cover with Heather will also get an excerpt to post as well. And there’s more!

Every blogger who participates will be entered into a contest to win an eBook of their choice. And, for your readers, Heather will be giving away an eBook of To Ride A Puca. She'll make it nice and easy for you with rafflecopter forms and a readymade post that you can copy and paste.

If you’d like to participate by helping her shout out about the cover (and enter to win an eBook of your choice) please fill out the rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway