“What does every young girl wish for on her sixteenth birthday? Not to be told she’s a witch, that’s for sure!
But what if it comes with powers, a hot romance, and exciting adventure?”

Me, I’ve never liked Cinderella; I found that particular fairy tale a little too implausible. The love was simply too naive to make any real impact on me. My feelings on the romance in this book are very similar, it was just too easy and too all-consuming too quickly. However, if you liked Cinderella, aren’t completely sugared out from the holidays and have a hankering for some super sweet young adult paranormal fiction then this particular concoction might be exactly what your taste buds are waiting for.

Unfortunately it needed to spend just a little more time with a grammar/typo mortar and pestle. I can’t stress enough how important it is to have that ‘one more person’ check over your work. It makes the difference between a decent book and a great book. Good editing can take a book from tragic to tantalizing; and who wouldn’t rather read a tantalizing novel?? It is all about where in the process it is released! The answer should always be; when it is simmered to perfection, but sadly they are often released before they have had enough time to marinate.

Sorry — bit of a tangent there!

The Trouble With Spells might be about witches but there is a definite vampirical slant to the story. There is lots of romance, some icky-ness, tragedy and a whole heap of fate mixed in.

It is in first person, which as you may know is not my favourite point of view. There are a few novels in which it serves a particular purpose, but to me, this wasn’t one of them.

I wouldn’t recommend this book for a young teen. It may not take the romance all the way but it does get a little steamy from time to time.

It is the first in a series, and… I feel I must warn you; it ends on a cliffhanger.

The sequel is called “The Demon Kiss”.

/5

This ebook can be found on:
Amazon (kindle) **FREE
Smashwords (Multiple ebook formats) **FREE
Kobobooks.com (Kobo) **FREE
Barnes & Noble (Nook)

Thanks for reading!

“Self-taught tinkerer Kali McAlister is determined to build an airship and escape the frigid Yukon forever. Unfortunately, she’s the heir to the secrets of flash gold, an alchemical energy source that tends to make her a popular target for bandits, gangsters, and pirates.

Printed page count equivalent: 120″

This novella is the second in the series, the first being “Flash Gold” which I reviewed here.

It is a steampunk adventure that is filled with Lindsay Buroker’s usual flair and humorous banter. The limited amount of characters in the story ensure that everyone is nice and easy to keep track of, something that is great if you’re looking for a concoction that is both enjoyable and relaxing.

As always, Lindsay has used at least one word that I’ve had to pause a moment over; this book’s mystery ingredient was ‘ablutions’, which for the record means:

1. a cleansing with water or other liquid, especially as a religious ritual.
2. the liquid thus used.
3. a washing of the hands, body, etc.

There, now you’re just a little bit smarter… unless of course you knew that already, in which case you’re just as smart as you were before!

Ahem.

The only bad thing about this novella, aside from a few typos, was the fact that it was just way too short. I like knowing that once I’ve really gotten into a story, that I have at least a few good hours of reading. This is unfortunately never the case with a novella. Since I was enjoying it, I really didn’t want it to end!

Regardless, whether you’re a steampunk lover, adventure seeker or just happen to enjoy a fun read; I would definitely suggest you try out this particular potion! As always, if you happen to try it, I’d love it if you came back and let me know how it tasted to you!

/5

Hunted can be found for sale on Smashwords (offers multiple ereader formats), Amazon (Kindle), Barnes & Noble (Nook) and Kobobooks.com (Kobo).

Thanks for reading!

OH MY GOODNESS THEY’VE FINALLY DONE IT!!

*ahem*

Imagine my surprise when I login to Smashwords to get myself a copy of Lindsay Buroker’s “Hunted“, and right below the “Add to Cart” Option is a “Give as a gift” option!

It’s new, it’s still in beta testing, but it’s there! Now regardless of what ereader your friends/family use, you can send them fabulous indie books as gifts.

This is a super exciting moment so get giving! (And then come back and let me know how it worked out for you!)
 
WHOOHOOO!!

It seems like everyone and their dog got an reader this year for Christmas; an absolutely fabulous gift if I do say so myself! Once it’s charged, ready to go and you’ve started reading your first book on it; you want to do something very very specific.

I didn’t, and trust me when I say I regret it!

You’ll want to go and pick yourself up a cover! Regardless of what kind of ereader you have, a cover will help protect it from the scratches… and the possibility of it being dropped! What you will really want to pay attention to is whether or not the covers you are looking at will fit your particular ereader version. (Most of them are a little different from each other!)

If you found yourself the proud new owner of an ereader-tablet of some variety, you’ll want to protect that as well!

If you got a Kindle; then Amazon is full of various kinds of covers for all the styles of Kindle!

If you recieved a Kobo, then things get a little complicated. Just a little! You’ll buy your books from Kobobooks.com but the Kobo accessories are all found at chapters.indigo.ca — the parent company for Kobo!

When it comes to Nook; everything you need can be found at Barnes & Noble!

Regardless of which ereader you use, you can find cases that are hard, soft, colourful, plain, come with lights, stands, etc… the key is determining which will be the most useful for you! 

Hello all!

It’s that time of year again; after all the baking, the shopping and the slogging through the snow, it is finally here. You’ve probably been a little stressed, something didn’t go quite right… but don’t worry! This will be the best Christmas yet, you just need to want it to be!

I hope, from the bottom of my heart, that you have a very Merry Christmas; a Christmas filled with love, light and laughter — a little wine, rum, etc… would be acceptable as well.

To go with my present-hauling-lego-stormtrooper I thought I might bring to you a bit of unconventional Christmas Cheer.

To start things off; Check out this post about a Steampunk Christmas tree. It’s pretty sweet if you don’t mind me saying.

Then….

Watch this video:

Imagine how much fun that family had at Christmas!!!

:D

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I know, I know, Christmas is only days away, but if you’re like me… then your Christmas shopping list still isn’t completed! If you have a few book lovers on your list, never fear; there is still loads of time to buy them any books you like.

As long as they have an ereader, a smart phone, a tablet, etc… you can purchase ebooks for them. What’s that you say? An e-mail isn’t personal enough? Well here’s the sneaky thing when it comes to gifting ebooks; you can send them the minute you buy them, or schedule them on the day in question. (Or the day after the day in question; what ever you like!) You can even have the gift email sent to you so that YOU can send it on when you are ready!

You can give them a card with the details, make up a paper scroll to fit in their stocking that lists the books they can expect to find, sneak it into a larger present, or wrap it in consecutively larger boxes so that they have to work for it! Think of it kinda like a gift card… only better. WAY better.

If you are shopping on Amazon, all you need to do is go to the book page! Under your own “Buy now with 1 Click” option is the “Give as a Gift” button. It’s orange, you can’t miss it! Just click on that and it will walk you through the steps to gift it!

If Barnes & Noble is your ebook retailer of choice; the process is pretty much the same! Beneath their orange “Buy Now” button on the right side is the option to “Buy as Gift”!

Kobobooks.com features the same option; beneath the “Buy Now” button are your gift options!

Easy as pie!

I’m still waiting for Smashwords to allow you to gift ebooks and give giftcards, sadly that option isn’t available before Christmas, but I’ll be sure to mention it once it is!

If you are not sure what book to buy someone else; I’m always happy to help. Send me a tweet with their preferred genre, ereader and a favorite book or two and I’ll send you some suggestions!

I sneakily added the button, and mentioned it in the giveaway post; but I never really did anything to make it official.

So here it is!

The Ebook Apothecary now has its very own Google+ page. To support it, stalk it.. or whatever your preference may be; you can find it here:

Over the last 10 months I’ve been putting a lot of time into getting my book review blog going and learning as much as I can about the self-publishing world. It might still be a while until I’m ready for that step, but when it happens I want to be as prepared as I possibly can.

Since I can’t currently use any of the information I have come across, it only makes sense to share it with people who might be able to put it to use.

WHERE TO PUBLISH

I think most people’s first instinct is to publish via Amazon; it’s what everyone is talking about and it seems to be where many of the success stories are coming from.

Yes. Publish via Amazon. But don’t JUST publish through them. I know they have their lending library and that you can only be a part of it if they have exclusive rights; but that just doesn’t sit well with me. If you have a crazy success story that stems from the lending library, please tell me and I’ll think about changing my opinion.

Though it is a great deal smaller, consider publishing through Smashwords. You won’t get the same access to readers that you will through Amazon, but you will get control. You’ll be able to generate coupon codes for specific books/specific time frames, you will be able to offer a higher commission to those promoting books via Smashwords as an incentive, you can use Smashwords as a base to promote your books on your own website, do giveaways to readers who don’t have a kindle, etc… I love the fact that they offer multiple formats; once you buy a book you can download it in; .mobi (kindle), Epub (almost everything else), .pdf, .txt, .RTF, .LRT (for older Sony readers), or you can just read it online.

As much as I enjoy my kindle, I think it is pretty silly to prevent people from reading your book if they don’t have an Amazon account.

While we’re still on the Smashwords topic; if you publish through them, they will also distribute your book to the major ebook retailers. (If you so choose.) The following is from the Smashwords website:

“As an ebook publishing and distribution platform, Smashwords will distribute your books via multiple online channels, including but not limited to the Smashwords.com web site, major online retailers (Apple iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, the Diesel eBook Store, others coming), mobile phone appvendors (Stanza on the iPhone/iPod Touch; Aldiko on Android; Kobo on all mobile platforms) and other online venues.”

For more information you can visit their Distribution Information Page. 

There are other, smaller, websites that you can sell your books on. I’ve just recently stumbled across ‘DriveThru Fantasy‘ which attracts a certain niche market. If you think your book might be a good match then you should definitely check them out. They offer incentive to publish solely through them, but they also accept books that have already been published elsewhere.

PROMOTING YOUR BOOK VIA BOOK BLOGGERS

The amount of book bloggers out there is absolutely mind boggling. At first I was a little disappointed because it meant that my own book blog was nothing new; then I decided that having so many dedicated readers out there sharing books can be nothing but fabulous.

There are bloggers who will review anything and some that focus on particular genres and niches; depending on the type of book you have written, you should search out bloggers that are the best fit for you.

Sending your book to bloggers whose focus is your genre will likely achieve the best results. You can’t guarantee a good review, but if you believe your book is good enough then it is a risk worth taking. It is free promotion which requires you to do little more than offer the blogger a copy of your book. (Smashwords coupon codes make this super easy.) Many book bloggers will also be willing to do author interviews, guest posts, host giveaways for your books… etc..

(**Warning** Shameless plug about to commence: My ebook review blog “Ebook Apothecary” is always open to new authors. I have no problem being contacted by indie authors and as long as their book is within my chosen genres I will happily test it out. For more information on how it works, check out my author information page.)

You may need to do nothing more than submit your book and wait. Other book bloggers will require you to be more involved in the process, it depends entirely on how they do things. Just remember that they don’t have to review your book and for many of them there is little to no profit in it.

OTHER AVENUES TO SHARE YOUR BOOK

There are many websites, Facebook pages, etc… that focus on a type of book, a certain format, books within a particular price range…and so on. Find some that match your book and see if they are willing to spread the word. (Some are free, some are not.) Being a successful indie author takes dedication, don’t be afraid to shout from the rooftops!

The Kindle Lovers Facebook Page shares… Kindle ebooks! If you are published on Kindle and want a little extra publicity you can submit your book to them. Whether they feature it or not is their prerogative. They have over 38,000 followers, so a promotion by them would be nothing to sneer at! (If you do send something to them, I’d love to know how it works out for you!) 

—

Alright, there you have it; my ideas for today. If you would like me to expand on any of the ideas here, just let me know and I’ll see what I can do!

See you soon!

Well hello!

Since today has gone remarkably well I figured I would stop by, say hi and let you know what’s been going on.

First of all, I’ve just discovered yet another fabulous Indie author! If nothing else my other blog (Ebook Apothecary) is certainly helping open my eyes to writers and stories that I never would have discovered without it. It is astonishing how many writers out there can weave a spell-binding tale.

The author, for those who are curious, is Charlotte E. English and I will be writing more about her, and her book Draykon, next week on the Apothecary.

In other news, my short story Intangible is still in the process of being edited. The first time I mentioned it the word count was sitting somewhere around 5k. It has now crested 7k and is expected to continue growing over the next few weeks. It is going to stay a short story but after an in-depth look into it with a rather fabulous individual it was discovered to be missing some much needed details.

I had intended for it to be available for the general public to read and critique by now but I refuse to let it out into the world until I know that it is as good as it can be. Hopefully that will be soon! (ish)

I’m still curious where most indie authors find their beta readers, if you know of some magical place to find them, please don’t hesitate to let me know!

– See you soon!