Rebelious rules by Kristina Gallo

Iwan Ross is a multi-genre author with a passion for weaving tales oozing with romance and supernatural intrigue. Raised by a mother figure, he quickly found solace in the local library, where his love for reading took root. It was there, as a junior staff member, that he had a strange encounter with a fellow reader. A book tumbled to the floor, its pages rustling as if unseen fingers were flipping through them. Wide-eyed, he let out a primal scream and bolted to the librarian. She simply adjusted her glasses and said in her signature German accent, “Ah, you’ve met Julia.” Since that fateful day, Iwan has had a best friend who shares tales spanning centuries. His love for Paranormal Romance was born, and he has spent years trying to reunite his otherworldly companion with her long-lost family. When not conjuring up supernatural stories, Iwan is a keen recipe designer. Married to a former chef, he spends countless hours in the kitchen making a mess and perfecting recipes inspired by fla...

Inspired by a lot of messages I got on Instagram from authors, I wish to make difference between amateurs and professional authors. It is clearly that you can't come in inbox with your link and asking for a review or purchase. This show egocentrism, bad manners and a lack of knowledge about promotions.  What makes confussion to some new authors? The act of following. If I follow you, it doesn't mean I will automatically read your books. I will not.  Your likes or comments. If I like your book cover, I will not automatically buy the book. I do it from courtesy or I return the like. The view on stories. If I view your story, I will not buy the book. The fact is, I am the author. This means I write my books, I have daily job, I make promotion for my books. Yes, I have TBR list but this is about 30 books per year, that is made at the start of this year and it will not update soon. A professional author will not brag about lack of followers. He will not brag about many followers, t...

Everyone talks about AI because this is a topic you can't avoid . What you knew about books and writing could be forgotten when you talk about AI. I start to write when I was sixteen. I was writing in my notebook. Soon I had a bunch of notebooks, and many pencils. Some of that manuscripts stayed on my shelf, never published. The pages of notebook are yellow and full of dust. After this, I was writing on a typing machine. It was unpractical work . My hands got  dirty from black color of printer toner and I had many of typing errors that wasted my time.  With the age of computer, my work progressed. 2017 I was publishing my first book in Amazon Kindle. Today, I have cell phones, tablet and laptop, I can pick where to write. What did not change is my desire to write. I have this narrative instinct inside of me.  When I hear people talk about AI covers and AI books, I froze. It looks, anyone can write with a help of AI. That is gross. I remember guys from my high school who w...

As someone who is not a native English speaker, I face with opinions about book editing. I worked with few editors, but nobody is perfect and almighty. Errors are something that is a part of the book. Even famous authors have errors in their books, but readers are not complaining. If you are indie author, you need to be perfect, your books must be polished because you are not famous. It is good to warn readers about bad editing if a book is not readable. What is not fair, is when you based your review only on editing errors. When you wrote: "A book needs a work of editor. " "A book would be benefited with American or English editor", you are making a bad marketing for the author. The author might have small errors that are not noticeable, but for someone who is thinking about to buy the book, this could be a reason to give up. Besides, the book can be lost in a translation, when you have some phrases in your language, that doesn't sound the same in English versi...

I f you post about books in social media, your images and links will get unnoticed. You will not get a big engagement. In average, you can get 10-20 views in Threads, 20 likes in Instagram and few reposts in Bluesky. X is worse, you can get few reposts and likes. Facebook will give you few shares and likes, if you post in author's groups you might get more.  You Tube will give you in average 200 visits and few likes, and the same situation is with Tik Tok. The conclusion is: people are not interested for book posts of indie author, because you are not Emily Henry, Freida Mc Fadden or Stephen King. When people see indie authors posts, they think how anyone could write and publish. If you try to get attention with personal photos, funny videos or concerts, even if you review movies and other books, situation is different. For video from the party I got 1.730 views, that is more than good. When I posted about Pisces Zodiac and tranzit of Saturn, I got 77 likes.  Algorythms are me...

Using Amazon advertising as a way of promoting books can get you sales. But, in the end of the promoting month, you will not get a profit. Probably, you will get less money than you invest. That is a reason why I am calculating with this way of promotion. When I advertised books in Amazon Germany, I paid eight euro for targeting my product. I got over 5000 impressions and many clicks. The unpleasant surprise was when I saw additional taxes for advertising, 8 euros bonus.  Who can get profit with this? It happens, when someone buy your book, Amazon advertising will do everything to get you as much money they can. First, they will count additional taxes. Then, Kindle will get their part of your royalties. After this, a national bank will get their part. What you get from this are remains. So, when I got 27 dollars of book sales, what was left was 16 dollars. For indie authors, Amazon ads are way of harrasing our wallet. We are not Emily Henry or Freida Mc Fadden to get a profit. If I...

I saw an article about the influencer who read 200 books last year. Many people want viral post, and talking about reading books became a popular way to gain followers in social media. While authors post links in hope to sell their books and get reviews, scammers are using ways to get noticed by huge engagement. If we think realistic, it is impossible to read  a huge amount of books in a short time. To read you must have a good eyesight and plenty of free hours. Most of the people don't have this luxury. We have 40 hours working week, housework, and all this make us tired. If you can't sleep enough you will not have will to read. For reading books, you must be focused. When you have notifications in social media, that steals your focus. To be honest, I read 15 books last year. The rest of my To Be Read list I will finish this year. We are not robots, we can't stare at our phones 24 hours a day.  If you need to choose between walking in nature or reading, you will choose fre...

Recently I asked for a featured Bookbub deal for one of my books. I got response that my book should be free priced and my expense would be 230 dollars. This is really funny, because I could expect people grab my book for free and give me one star (as it happens when books are available for everyone). To pay such amount of money would be waste and without a purpose. I am mix of traditional and indie author. Having a publisher, but not bestseller books, I am looking for ways to increase my book sales. Promo sites like Bookbub are very expensive and they offer their deals for 25% books from authors who applied for this. I had an insight to author's books who grabbed Bookbub deals. It works will authors who are already selling a good amount of their books. In general, promo sites are not working for favor of indie authors. These are five myths about promo sites: Promo sites give many readers. It is not true, because you will get visibility and many trolls, but not readers. Promo sites...

Lorraine Carey is not only a paranormal enthusiast but has had many unexplained events in her lifetime and has used these as a focal point in her fiction novels. Most of Carey’s books were written during the course of nine years while living in the Caymans with her husband. The island was the perfect inspiration for her. As a veteran Reading Specialist in elementary schools, Lorraine began to write for Young Adults hoping to inspire young readers. Her students always loved hearing her spooky tales. Jonathan’s Locket was a finalist in the Wind Dancer Film Contest back in 2014. Lorraine currently resides in St. Petersburg, Florida where she is a private tutor for young children. She continues to write and is planning on joining up with a paranormal investigative team. Her empathic abilities seem to attract the spirits giving her even more motivation to continue writing. My favorite book from the author: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Night-Mistress-Paradise-Palms-Lorraine/dp/1087989906?ref_=as...

  A British author writes horror stories with a psychological effect.  Born in Essex, UK, in 1978 Rob currently resides in Thurrock, Essex, UK. Rob's books include: - My Girl - Semianimus - Deadders - The Caretaker - Friends Like Us and more. Rob has featured alongside such legends as Graham Masterton and Jack Ketchum in Terror Tract's October Ezine horror anthologies. Rob has also appeared in several other anthologies including Dark light 2 (by S.J. Davis), Liphar - Short Stories Vol.1, Unleash The Undead (Collated & Edited by Samie Sands), Kevin Hall's Thirteen 2: The Horror Continues & Thirteen vol.3 to name a few. One of my favorites is his horror novel The Caretaker . https://a.co/d/g3bGwtU When young couple rent an apartment,  everything seems good. But secrets will reveal and nothing will be the same. A scary and brutal horror novel will take you into the world of a psychopath Caretaker. Caring about occupants in the building, Caretaker hides a horrified se...

  My new book is getting reviews. Join to my readers and share your opinion.  My book is free with Kindle unlimited.  Opinion of readers matters. It depends how much I will be motivated to write. It is important to write a honest review.  Talking about my book characters make me happy.   A video review for one of my books. Check it out: My book link: https://a.co/d/0zideZ1

  An interesting British author is familiar for horror stories with a touch of psychological drama.  Like he said : " I was dragged into the world in 1965 - when TV was black&white and nobody swore before nine o'clock in the evening. From the start, I was obsessed with monsters, with the things in the dark, with the thing that would bite you if you let them. I left it very, very late to become a writer - I had a "proper" job with just made me miserable for nineteen years - but I'm here now. And I will bite. If you let me. " Recently I read his book that is amazing work. Here is my review. The author approaches to his characters with a doze of humor and sarcasm, which leads into adrenaline plot. Paul is a fifty years old divorcee man who flirts with his colleague, a younger woman, while remembering his life tragedies. He lost a little son a long time ago, his marriage broke and his daughter Sonia is his only comfort. His real-life tragedies mix with his a...

When you promote a book, you can use hashtags to attract your targeted audience. It should be people who love to read your genre. For example, if you write thrillers, you can use hashtags as #hardboiled thrilers #suspense and similar. The algorithms will help you to find your group of interested audience. People who have not experience with promoting will jump up into other's content. They will post their music, cooking, design or any kind of art, inviting you in their circle. It can finish with conflict, because they are not respecting your choice.  Trying to sell your music to someone who is looking for books is a wrong marketing. Your targeted audience need to know what are you offering. A description of your blurb is necessary to attract desired readers. My book "The guy from another league" is looking for readers who love contemporary romance. This book is not offering a happy ending, rather a realistic message. If some girl can find herself caught in the toxic relat...

  My new paranormal thriller is here. The blurb: Frustrated with her job, Susan Grant is desperate to change her life. Curious about what her future may hold, she visits her aunt Dorothy Brown, a tarot master, for a reading. As Susan and her husband Charles return from the trip to Dover, they are involved in a car accident, during which a thunderbolt hits Susan leading to shocking consequences. Nothing will be the same after Susan's personality changes. The review: Multi-genre author Kristina Gallo has a talent for writing high-octane novella length thrillers, and ‘The Thunderbolt Effect’ is no exception. The plot revolves around the female members of one family: Dorothy Brown, a widow and accomplished Tarot reader whose accurate predictions are much sought after; her sister, Alice Smith, an adulteress who died in a suspicious car accident; and Alice’s daughter, Susan Grant, trapped in a dead-end job as an advertising analyst. Driving home from Dover after a Tarot reading with her ...

The old trick some authors use is a fake engagement in social media. It happens that I posted news about my book and the other author wrote under my post about his book.  So, why he did not do it in his page? Because my number of followers is bigger than his number. He hopes to get engagement and attention from my followers. This will get a negative effect, nobody will pay attention and his number of followers will not be bigger. Why talk about indie author's solidarity when there is a competition ? Fighting for followers, pushing their books to outshine others looks ugly. Everyone can post in social media and build their community. Followers decide about their interests.  Goodreads spammers use new tricks. First, they rate random books with five stars, then they send friend requests. If you accept them, they will offer you their services to promote books for money. If you see random five stars on Goodreads, this is not true rating. They have no clue about your book. This rati...

Four stars for LGBT novel by Lucas Ryker. Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2025 Format: Kindle I mark this book in the category of drama with melancholic notes. In a kind of monologue, the main character Noel try to deal with his fears and phobias. When the virtual character Faded contact him, it will rock his life. Noel is full of self-doubts and lack of trust. His best friend is Marsha who is connected to his job. As the story goes, we will witness his internal fight between desires and real abilities. He wants to be famous author, but he doesn't know how to bear the burden of public appearance. He wants to meet Faded, but he is afraid of human touch. The book is emotional deep story, thoughtful and kind of life coaching for introverts. Check out my video review.   https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SkQmRPttUu0

  "I will read your book if you read and review mine." This is an example of author's deal when it comes time for reviews. Reviews is hard to get. If you sell books, it is still not guarantee you will get reviews. If I could get a review for every book I sold, it would be great. People will buy book to collect it on the shelves and leave it un-read. Or, they will read but not rate it. Many reasons are for not getting reviews, but some people don't know where and how to write reviews or are not eligible. That is the reason why authors will turn to other authors, with a proposition for review. The danger of such review is on Amazon rules: author can't review other's author books on request. I love to read indie authors and they inspire me, but I have my circle and I never accept offers to read someone I never heard about. Once I got a proposition :" Hey, I saw your review for XX author, can you write it for me, too?" I ignored it. When you have a deal ...

Nowadays are many things online and it is impossible to keep reader's attention too long. A long descriptions and blurbs are contra-productive. If you don't want to annoy people with long explanation,  lean on audio and visual effects. Using Tik Tok, Instagram and YouTube for my videos with audio and visual effects gave me a great experience.  https://youtube.com/shorts/4iMQl69C19g?si=ZPzK6Azxzs5PcCfr A mix of good music and visual effects bring more visits and likes than a long article.   Reader's could be intrigued with a dramatic atmosphere and flash effects. Every good trailer has a shiny background and noise. It reminds on movie.   Let colors speak for you. A voice of AI can also help to get more views. Younger readers are used to technology and this is adjustment for a new audience.

Many people asked me: " Why do you write in English language?" I tried to write for Croatian market, I was columnist for internet portals, but I was not paid. It was impossible to get money from my articles, so I gave up from this.  Eight years ago, I decided to write on English. My blog was active and I collected some posts from my blog in my first book "Lost in the virtual world." After this, I released my second book "Get over your ex lover." I will not forget the moment when my book got a one star review. This was my welcome greetings in Amazon. Since then, I am progressing and my book number 20 is on the way. I don't like when people post me reviews like " It would look better with a help of editor. " I worked with five different editors and my style developed for better. I would appreciate reviews based on the content of my books. When someone pull fingers on grammar mistakes, they want to offer you services and ask for money. Scammers ...

Joseph Hallet is a ward-winning author. Member of the Horror Writers Association. He writes horror, science fiction, and urban fantasy. He is intensely interested in the paranormal, cryptids, UfO/UAPs, and other esoteric subjects that influence my writing. His Amazon author's profile: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B09J998ZQM/about?ccs_id=9675d6d5-cc50-4147-a5fd-bb63ddd108b9 Yellow Man is his most popular book for its spooky setting and intriguing mystery. Who is the Yellow man? The review: An excellent story about a ghost haunting. The team of ghost hunters is gathered to research the lighthouse about presence of Yellow man. The author focus on relation between characters, not only on mystery, horror story. Some of characters had a mutual past. Page by page, in his precize, fast style, author leads us in the world of unknown mysteries. This is book one of the Emergence Duology—essentially the first half of the story.