Rebelious rules by Kristina Gallo

Today I am featuring an awesome author, whose books I read with pleasure. P.J. Blakey-Novis is a British writer living on the south coast of England. Writing in numerous genres, most of his work falls firmly under horror. He is the author of two novels, eight collections of short stories, a novella, and a series of children’s books.  P.J. is also the co-founder of Red Cape Publishing, a small press focused on everything horror, from novels to anthologies. Peter lives with his wife and five children in a small town in Sussex, England. For as long as he can remember it had always been an ambition to complete a novel and, after the success of his debut, The Broken Doll, it has been fantastic to have the opportunity to turn a hobby into a new career. Since the release of The Broken Doll in February 2017, Peter has released the follow-up novel, Shattered Pieces, as well as seven collections of short horror stories, a horror novella, and three children's books. Peter has had work publish...

Many authors complain about bad reviews because that is an unpleasant experience. It is not comfortable when you read bad critics about your books, that could be mockery or insults.  However, bad reviews have a positive side, your book is getting noticed. Somehow you touched someone's nerve, or your book really needs work so the reviewer is right. It means you will have a direction on how to fix your mistakes. Unless it is trolling, bad reviews should not have always bad effects. Ignorance is another problem that indie authors face.  You can see it in a few ways: You promoted your book, and invested money, but your sales are low. You asked for reviews, but nobody answered you. You made a status about your book, but nobody clicked a link to buy it. Sometimes, you will get a promise. It would be a promise that will never be realized. It means a polite rejection. "Well, you will have to wait. Currently, I have no time to read it." When you were writing your book, you did not...

These days I was faced with intruders in my personal inbox. Goodreads and Facebook brought me messages from strangers. Shortly, they wanted a kind of education about sales and promotions, and to be a member of their groups. I am always fascinated by how someone can write to an unknown person, without checking her profile. What kind of genre do I write, do I wish to communicate with people I don't know, all could be clear from my profiles.  How do I answer these messages? With blocking, I don't want to waste time explaining what I want and what I don't want. This made me think, how many authors promote themselves in the wrong ways? I understand the desire to sell your book, but you can make a contra effect by forcing others to notice you. Social media are filled with book links. Authors are focused on numbers, they are automatically collecting followers, but a big number of followers doesn't mean selling by default. You will get a bunch of people on Twitter, Tik Tok, and...

A uthor James G. Carlson writes in a specific way, with depth and deep inspiration. James G. Carlson is an award-winning author of horror, science fiction, and dark fantasy. His short stories have appeared in various anthologies from small presses. He has also released two collections of dark fiction, SEVEN EXHUMATIONS and THE EVER-DESCENDING STAIRCASE, as well as two novellas, THE LEGION MACHINE and MIDNIGHT IN THE CITY OF THE CARRION KID. From the weird state of Pennsylvania, James drinks too much coffee and writes at a desk surrounded by animals and family in the mad zoo he calls home . My review for his book Legion machine: Welcome to the world of androids and machines. Angela seeks revenge for her beloved partner Rae and meets a guy who repairs her. She is ready for the battle. The action in this novel is filled with the emotions and habits of machines who live like humans, just on a higher level. Angela is introduced with Legion Machine, but the price for justice is maybe too hig...

When you are an indie author, it is like everything is against you. Amazon rules, trolls who write negative reviews, expensive editing, and readers' ignorance. Many people started to write and gave up, because of a lack of motivation. How to motivate yourself when there are big chances that you will never sell more than five books in a month? 5 reasons that motivated me are next: Show that you can to those who underestimated you. I was in the situation when I experienced how is to be without support, surrounded by people who disliked me. My keyboard was my only friend. Expel your traumas . If you feel that there is a secret inside of you, embarrassing or hard to tell, you can write. Make a story with fictional characters, play with their destinies and you will feel illuminated. You have an audience. Look at your ratings, reviews. First time I got reviews I was very happy. Wow, someone read my books. It might not be the audience I dreamed about, but a group of people read my books...

The problem with indie authors is about the visibility of their books. Your book can be interesting and great, but it is not important if nobody is seeing your book. Indie authors are millions on Amazon. We are drowning in the crowd, hoping to get some crumbles in selling our books. How to jump out from the crowd? The main step is to create your community. If you think you will publish a book in Kindle and wait for sales, you will never sell the book. Some ways how to make your book visible? Create a newsletter. Your newsletter needs subscribers, and if you have many subscribers, you can notify your subscribers every week about news in your writing, interviews, videos, reviews.  Make an interview. I made four video interviews with various writers who were hosting me. Make a group for writers . Nothing connects people more than talking about common interests. Gain many followers on social media . Tik Tok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter. You never know how will read your books. Promot...