Share what you read and enjoy
Attention authors and readers: what have you read lately? What book kept you up at night reading “just one more chapter?” What genre was it? Is the author a “new” indie author, an up and comer, or was it by an established author with a stellar reputation? Why did you pick it up? Was the book free, or did someone tell you about it, so you hurried to buy it?
Whew! A wealth of questions. But they’re important. As an author, my objective is to sell books, not just to make money, although that would be nice. The idea is to share what I have written with the world. Otherwise it would still be sitting in a drawer, waiting for my children to discover it after my death, when it would be published and forced upon high school students while their teacher compelled them to determine what I meant by “the sky is blue.” (That’s exactly what I meant).
What do I want as a reader? I want to find those good books. I want to be entertained, and to be transported as I was as a child from my ordinary life into an extraordinary one; a world where people not unlike me triumph. I want a place where my disbelief is suspended and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
This is where we can help each other out. If you found that special book, the one that truly moved and changed you, share. Found a new and talented author? Share! I’ll start, and it’s not even one of my books:
Losing It by Valentine Williams takes you inside the head of a woman imprisoned in a mental hospital, put there for killing her children. It’s one of the best psychological thrillers I’ve read in a long time, and it starts with these simple sentences:
“Once there was a girl who grew up knowing that the choices she would make as an adult would be bad choices.
Sometimes there are no good choices.”
She’s an established author from the UK who publishes with a small press out of Ireland. Seriously, read this book. I won’t say it has something for everyone, but if you will find yourself sympathizing with insanity, and wondering what you would do if you were in this woman’s shoes.
You can find it on Smashwords or Amazon in the US.
Once there was a girl who grew up knowing that the choices she would make as an adult would be bad choices. http://t.co/U1gOO7S3nn
— The Indie Exchange (@IndieExchange) June 11, 2013
Of course, if you like you could start with my novel Redemption instead, also available in the US and UK. The sequel is coming soon, and we’ll talk more about sequels and series next time.