Australian Women Writer's Challenge Completed

Once again I have loved being involved in the Australian Women Writer's Challenge in 2013. Setting my target a little higher than in 2012, I am happy to report that I have made (and exceeded slightly) my goal in a more timely fashion this year. (Last year I was reading until the 31st December). My goal was 55 books read and 40 reviews - I made it to 58 read and may get through another one before the end of the year. My review goal was right on at 40.

I have read a mixture of genres this year, although once again Contemporary Fiction has been my main category. My favourites in this group were The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty (really loved it), House For All Season by Jenn. J McLeod, Paper Chains by Nicola Moriarty, Sisters of Mercy by Caroline Overington and Last Summer by Kylie Ladd.  In historical fiction I loved two of Kate Morton's books - The Secret Keeper and The Forgotten Garden as well as Amanda Curtin's Elemental. In the biography/memoir genre my top picks were Cliffy by Julietta Jameson and How To Do a Liver Transplant by Kellee Slater. In psychological thrillers Dark Horse by Honey Brown, The Cry by Helen Fitzgerald and Blood Secret by Jaye Ford held me captive as I frantically turned the pages. Melanie Casey's Hindsight introduced me to paranormal crime fiction and I look forward to reading more from her. In saying all that though, I have enjoyed all the books I have read for the challenge this year. There were none that I started and could not finish - those mentioned above stood out just a little above the others.If you read my Goodreads ratings, you will see that most of the books I read rated a solid 4, which to me is a satisfying, entertaining and very enjoyable book.

Great Aussie Reads Challenge Wrap Up

My Great Aussie Reads challenge incorporates the books I have read for the Australian Women Writer's challenge, plus those written by Australian male writers. As I will summarise my AWW books in a separate post, I will concentrate only on those by male writers in this post.

I am not sure why, but basically all my GAR books by male writers are non-fiction - with a fairly even distribution of biography/memoir and true crime. I didn't deliberately set out to only include those genres, but perhaps that is just my reading preferences playing themselves out.

Reading and Reviewing Challenges - Nearly There!

Yeah I know you don't want to hear that we are now officially into the final quarter of 2013 - but we are. So I thought it was time for another update with my reading and reviewing challenges for  the year.Unlike last year where I found myself scrambling at the last minute and reading a large pile of books in the final weeks of 2012, I am happy to report that as at this time I am running ahead of schedule. Yay!

I have read 52 books (towards my target of 55) and reviewed 36 (target 40) for the Australian Women Writers Challenge. It will be nice to end at a more leisurely pace. I haven't quite decided on my last three books but as always I know I am spoilt for choice with what is out there. The reviews list for the year continues to grow and every time I look on there I discover at least one book I've never heard of. It is so nice to have an ever growing pile of books to choose from. You can check out the list of reviews at the AWW website: http://auswomenwriters.weebly.com/index.html

For the Great Aussie Reads challenge, I am at 60 books read with a target of 65 - so once again I am pretty close. You can check out the website at http://www.greataussiereads.com

Flashback

While book number two is taking longer than planned, I am happy to announce that I have released a mini volume of three short stories entitled Flashback. At this time it is only available as an Amazon e-book but I am looking to other formats in the coming months.

Amazon link: click HERE

Why I'm Sold On e-Books

Can I just say to begin with that I do now (and think I always will) prefer reading a "real" book than a digital one. There is something about the weight and texture of a real book and the feel of turning paper pages, not to mention the sight of a physical "to be read" pile (and crammed bookshelves) that cannot (in my opinion) be replicated with an e-reader. Yet as an author (and a reader) I can see the real appeal of electronic books and I am incredibly grateful for the way e-books have transformed the publishing industry for ever.

When my book was first published it was initially only created as a paperback. My publisher did not deal with e-books (although he gave me the option of exploring that possibility myself) and I must admit I was not that fussed about creating an digital version of my novel. Although I was aware of e-readers I did not own one and had never really seen one in operation. Besides I figured that if anybody really wanted to read my book then they would buy a paperback. It didn't take me too long to realise that was not the case! In fact I soon realised that when asked if there was an e-book and I said no, rather than offering to buy a paperback many potential customers simply asked me to let them know if and when the e-book was released.

Reading and Reviewing Challenges Update

As crazy as it seems to be saying the year is almost half over - it is quite true, so I thought it was a good opportunity to make a progress report on my reading and reviewing challenges for 2013. I am again LOVING being part of the Australian Women Writer's Challenge and the Great Aussie Reads Challenge. Similarly to last year I am spoilt for choice in the array of amazing literature available (both new release and previously published titles). This year I have embraced the historical fiction genre a little more and am really enjoying it - devouring several of Kate Morton's titles as well as a new favourite Amanda Curtin.

I have challenged myself to go a little beyond the 50 titles I read for the AWW challenge last year and am aiming for 55 with 40 reviews. At the almost half way point I am up to 33 read and 23 reviews, which puts me a little ahead of schedule - but I am realistic to know this can easily change as other things crop up - so it is handy to be a little ahead of the pace at this stage.

For anybody interested in either challenge it is not too late to sign up. Click on the icons on the sidebar of my blog for further details. You definitely won't be disappointed.

Amazing Community Libraries

Having always had access to a well-stocked Council library, I was blissfully unaware of the amazing work done by community libraries all over the country. It was not until I was invited to speak as an author (quite a thrill I must say) that I had the pleasure of visiting my first community library and learning all about what a huge role they play in small towns. 

After doing a little research I learned that community libraries are generally run by volunteers and they rely mainly on donations to stock their shelves. So, to be honest I was expecting a small building with lots of second hand books (and there would have been absolutely nothing wrong with that). Imagine my surprise when I arrived to find a good sized, modern building with a huge range of books, all lovingly cared for. There was even free internet. To know that this is all made possible by the work of a great band of dedicated volunteers is what made it truly remarkable. Books are either donated (mostly new) or purchased with funds raised (by the same group of volunteers). All the work involved in the running of a library (which basically has the same borrowing system as a regular library) is carried out by volunteers. Although the hours are not as long as a normal library, they certainly offer enough time for anybody to squeeze in a visit and borrow some books.

As a writer, all you want is for people to read your work. Sure it is nice to make lots of sales, but it is equally nice to know that strangers go into a library, browse the shelves, pick up your book and take it home to read. In a time when some are questioning the validity of libraries in our modern world, the community library is a shining example of why we DO and will always need a place we can go and find books. 

So I say hats off to all the community libraries out there! Keep doing what you're doing and we authors will always have a reason to keep doing what we do.

The Kindness of Kids

Today's blog post has nothing to do with writing or book reviews - although it is kind of related to a book I'm reading (My James by Ralph Bulger). Most of us remember the absolutely horrific murder of an angelic looking two year old boy James Bulger back in 1993. Almost as shocking as the brutality of the crime was the fact it was carried out by two ten-year-old boys. Reading this book you cannot help but be absolutely horrified at what this young boy suffered and feel despair that kids could be capable of such evil. Unfortunately we usually only hear the horrible things kids do and rarely the good, so I would like to write a little about that today.

Getting That Second Book Finished

It is always a great compliment when a reader finishes your book and asks, 'So when is your next book coming out?'

What is not so great is when you don't have a firm date to give them. Even though authors generally hate marketing their product, you can't help but realise you have lost a marketing opportunity by not having another product to offer an interested customer.

I was interviewed recently for a newspaper article and the journalist was very interested to know when my next book would be published. Thinking on my feet I answered, 'Hopefully by the end of the year.'

Seeing the interview in print I decided that December 2013 is officially my deadline for my next book. No more vague, 'I'm not really sure....' answers - December it is! 

It's not like I'm starting from scratch - I am working on it. I've just let it be pushed aside by the demands of my day job(s) and the constant push trying to promote my first book The Beach House. But that is no longer an excuse - I'm on a mission. My fifteen year old niece has recently taken to asking me (increasingly bluntly) how much work I've done on my new book. I'm onto it Charlotte, I promise!

Unlike The Beach House, I have not yet decided on a title.....I'm hoping it will come to me soon as I get more involved in this new book and let TBH take a back seat for a while (in my mind at least - for readers I very much hope it stays front seat!). 

I'm looking forward to having a new book on my bookshelf page on my website very soon.

Watch this space - I'll keep you posted.

     

Here are just some of the books I will be reading for the Australian Women Writer's Challenge in 2013. I am really looking forward to expanding the list as the year goes on.

                               

       
                         

Ready For Another Great Year Of Reading!

As you can see by my previous post I have absolutely loved being part of the Australian Women Writer's Challenge and had no hesitation about participating again in 2013. I have decided to up the ante a little and aim for a total of 55 books this year and hope to review at least 40 of them. I look forward to sharing the reviews here on my blog and on my Goodreads page.

Just a reminder that ANYBODY can participate in the challenge and you don't have to review books, you can just read them. Your challenge level is totally up to you - but just remember any book your read can help promote an Australian Women Writer.

So will you join us this year?? For more details check out the Australian Women Writer's website.

A Wonderful Year of Reading!

It was about this time last year that I stumbled across the Australian Women Writer's Challenge for 2012. As an Australian female author, I was so excited to find a challenge promoting me (among many others of course!!). And I will admit my first thought was more about how it could help gain publicity for my book than how it could improve my own reading habits. But that idea soon changed.

I have long been passionate about reading books written by Australian authors, but as many of us know they can be hard to find. While many libraries have the books, very few have a specific section for Australian fiction - let alone Australian female fiction. So the idea of creating a website that combined the knowledge of as many readers as possible was just brilliant. Truthfully when I first set myself a target of reading 50 books for the challenge, I was dubious if I could do it. Not the number of books, but if I could find that many books by Australian women writers. What a pleasant surprise to find that there was easily that many - plus dozens more I was excited about devouring.

I have LOVED reading the books for this challenge and am proud to have reached my goal of 50 books with reviews of 38. Furthermore I hope that some of my reviews have encouraged other participants to read more books by Australian women authors. 

A huge thank you to all the challenge organisers. It truly goes to show that one person can make a huge impact when they are passionate about changing something. Kudos to you! Thanks also to Shellyrae and her amazing Book Blog Book'd Out. It is through her that I have discovered many new authors and gotten myself onto the head of the library queue for upcoming releases. 

Amazon Price Freeze

One month ago I changed the price for the Kindle version of my book to $2.99 for one weekend as a special promotion (normal price is $7.99). It is easy to do and I had done it several times before without incident. When I went to change the price back, it didn't happen. It just froze in the processing mode. Knowing that there are sometimes glitches on the system I didn't think much of it and decided I would change it the next day. So the next day the same thing happened. I decided to Google it and see if anyone else was having the same problem. Apparently nobody else was. So I moved onto Amazon help. I outlined the problem and received a response a few hours later. They were puzzled but promised they would look into it. A few days later they were still puzzled. We tried various things but still the same result. The person handling the problem said he would check with somebody else but would get back to me in a few days. A few days later, they still couldn't explain it.

Next they decided they would change the price back up on my behalf. This seemed to work....initially. After the usual six to twelve hours it takes to flow through the system, the price is still "in review" and remains there after nine days. I am awaiting yet another response :-(

I think the main thing that amazes me is that for such a massive global company, this seems like a really tiny problem that could be fixed pretty fast. I'm not complaining about Amazon's help, they people on the case seem to be trying - I'm just amazed they haven't come up with a solution that's a bit more out of the box. I did have the idea to delete the file and upload it again - but now I can't access that function. Argh!!

So the good news for book buyers is that The Beach House is still $2.99. The not so good news for me is that my royalties for this month will be way, way down. Ah well, there is literally nothing I can do about it and who knows, maybe this is in fact an advantageous thing for me?? I'd like to think so anyway.

Kindle Sale!

The Kindle version of The Beach House is just $2.99 for the weekend. Check it out at Amazon or Amazon UK

Thanks Fellow Authors

I really am very glad that I have become an author in the Internet age! In fact in all honesty, I might not even be here if it wasn't for the sweeping changes that the Internet has brought into the publishing industry. Not only is it much easier to get your work out on the world stage, but there is a huge community of fellow authors out there who are ready and willing to help you make it in the writing world. Over the past couple of months I have managed to conquer two of the biggest challenges facing (non U.S.) authors publishing on Amazon Kindle - tax and payment.

While Amazon might get your book out onto the global stage - unless you have your tax sorted out, the I.R.S. will take a huge 30% chunk of your earnings. Ouch! While you can apply to get this money back, it is such a long winded process it's really not worth the bother. Applying for an International Tax Number was similarly daunting - which was why I kept putting it off. Then I was lucky enough to stumble across a blog post about the much simpler to get Employee Identification Number and after a ten minute phone call I was sorted!

Dear Amazon, Please Explain......

I've said it before - Amazon has changed the way books are bought and read and given all authors a massive worldwide platform to share their work with the world. They are the King of books and I humbly acknowledge that. However, they can also be sneaky and as a huge player that knows they pretty much control the world book selling and e-book publishing industry, sometimes they do things that are just plain unfair.

Recently an indie author John Locke admitted he had paid for hundreds of glowing reviews of his own book. While it is without doubt an unethical thing to do, it was also without doubt a dumb thing to admit to. So like the whole class who gets kept in at lunch time because one kid won't admit to doing something wrong, thousands (or millions) of other authors have to suffer the fallout from this.

AWW Challenge Progress Report

I've been a little bit slack with my reviews over the past month, but thanks to a return flight to Melbourne and back, plus airport time and being away for a week I've managed to get back on track. I must admit I wondered at the beginning of the year if I would find a continuous source of  Australian Women Writers to read, as I had struggled in the past to find any kind of list or website that gave information about female writers here. Wow! I am so pleased to have been proved wrong. There ARE lots of Australian women writers out there, producing high quality fiction and non-fiction books and as long as we as readers keep supporting them, there will continue to be more books to fill our bookshelves (or Kindles).

My target for the year is still 50 and I think I'm a pretty good chance of making it. I can't thank the AWW challenge enough for inspiring me to seek out and read female writers and for providing the information about what books are out there and of course the reviews (more than 1000) that help you choose which books you would like to read.

Digital Book Sale

To celebrate spring the digital editions of The Beach House (epub and kindle) are available from my website only at the special price of $4.99. DRM free and with extra content not available in other editions, it is a great place to grab your copy. (http://www.thebeachhousenovel.com.au)

The Joys of Spring

Ah, September - spring is here again. As I child I loved September because it is my birthday month, but even as I've gotten older and birthdays aren't quite as exciting (mainly because the numbers increase way too rapidly!), it is still my favourite month of the year.

Here in Queensland, spring generally arrives right on cue. Usually in the last couple of weeks of August you can really notice the days getting longer and the warm breezes replacing the colder ones of June and July. It's easier to get up early in the morning and go for a walk or a swim and I just seem to have so much more energy and motivation.

It is no coincidence that all five stories in my book The Beach House take place in spring and early summer. Even though the beach can still be a beautiful place when the weather is cool, it is in the warm spring and summer months that it is truly magical.

To celebrate the beginning of spring, the digital editions of my book (ePub and Kindle) are available from my site only (http://www.thebeachhousenovel.com.au)  for the special price of $4.99! DRM free and with extra content not available in other editions, this is the best place to grab your digital copy.

Words That Inspire

It's always gratifying when you hear from a reader how something in your novel has had an impact on them - be it funny, sad, thought-provoking etc. But the best kind of impact is to inspire someone in some way. A reader recently told me how four words in a sentence one of my characters (Kate) spoke helped her through the last semester of her university degree. Bogged down and discouraged, she was on the verge of giving up but when she read the words "sheer force of will", it gave her the focus and determination to just push through with her own studies and finish what she'd started.

This reader could already relate to Kate as they were both students and both struggling to complete their respective degrees (although my character Kate was just at the start of hers). I have often used the words "sheer force of will" to remind myself not to give up when the going gets tough. I used them many times myself throughout school and university and definitely when writing The Beach House. Yes, there were many times in all three situations when I wanted to just give up, pack it in and try something easier. But I also knew that the obstacle in front of my was temporary and if I just focused my energy hard enough I could conquer it and get the reward of what I wanted, rather than looking back in regret later because I'd given up too easily and too early.