Title help for Fairy Queens 1.5

I just sent out my short story (Fairy Queens 1.5) to my beta readers! Now I want input on the title (I love involving my fans). From the back cover (draft):

Arel is an acolyte destined to be the next High Priestess, but the Emperor of Idara has other plans for her. He needs a wife and heirs. She consents to marrying him on one condition: he rescues her family from a war torn province.

When the emperor refuses, Arel escapes and sets out to do the impossible: free her family and bring them to safety no matter the cost. What she doesn't yet know is that in escaping her marriage, she may have just sealed Idara’s destruction.

Title options:

1. Runaway Queen
  ~Really like this one. It has Queen in it like the other two titles, so it ties in nicely. I don't love that it's so close to The Runaway King by Jennifer Nielson (it feels like I'm stealing it or something-even though my son is the one who suggested it. So if anything, I stole it from him). But then the resonance is nice, cause our books share an audience.

The downside is that I have no idea what to call the other short story, which is about Ilyenna's mother and father.

2. Of Fire and Ash
  ~I'm writing another short story for the series (Winter Queen .5), which would be called Of Ice and Snow. Awesome tie in. Unless you guys like it better with the "Of" taken away. So it would be: Fire and Ash, Ice and Snow

I like the "Of" though.

So that was all kind of rambling. Sorry, it's late as I type this. The options are:
1. Runaway Queen
2. Of Fire and Ash
3. Fire and Ash
Also, what do you think of the description/blurb/cover copy?

And, go!

{Review} The Shadow Throne by Jennifer Nielson

Jennifer A. Nielsen takes readers on an extraordinary journey in this final installment of the NEW YORK TIMES bestselling Ascendance Trilogy.

War is coming. . . . Join Jaron as he embarks on his final adventure!

{Review}

I was lucky enough to score an ARC from Netgalley. For those of you who have to wait until release day, all I have to say is nener nener nener. 

Just kidding. Mostly, I just feel bad for you. Because I've checked to see if this book is up for sale probably every month (I'm an author, that's like synonymous for scatterbrained). And I don't have to wait anymore. But you do. *hands over the tissues*

Really though, if you read and loved the first two books in the series, The Shadow Throne will not disappoint. Jaron stays true to himself and his clever, trickster nature. He's still loyal and kind to a fault. Always looking for the good in everyone. I love that about him. Love that his strength isn't in his muscles, but in his mind and his kindness. 

The romance was perfect. I can't say more without spoiling things for you, but I will say that the resolution couldn't have been better. 

If you haven't started the series yet, what are you waiting for? This is a must for fantasy lovers. And for those of you who don't like fantasy, you should especially give this one a chance. Jennifer Nielson's voice is very accessible. The story is about the characters and the plot, rather than heavy-handed world building. 

I can't wait until they make this into a movie! 

{For Authors} 5 Reasons why your book is failing.

1. Your books aren't very good. *ouch*
I know that was painful. But if you have consistently low stars (we all have the occasional "This is the worst bit of ink to ever dribble onto the printed paper."), it's an indication that the general consensus is in (gasp) agreement.

Don't despair though! You have two options: 1. Pull the book and rework it. 2. Pull the book and start your next one.

How do you know which option to choose? That's fairly simple: if you don't understand why the book has low stars, your not ready to be published yet. Back up. You should have read at least 5 craft books and written the equivalent of 3 full length novels. I'd also recommend you sign up for David Farland's Newsletter. I will never be able to quantify how much I have learned from that man. The key here is to never get so attached to a project you can't let it go.

2. Your covers aren't good. There's no excuse here. You can get good covers for not a lot of money (50 bucks). If you're on a crazy tight budget, start a kickstarter campaign or go simple. A simple cover with text only and a free background is a great place to start. Don't know where to start or how to look? Check out my pinterest board for amazing artists.  You can also check out deviantart.com, but I think Pinterest is better cause it weeds through a lot of the crap.

3. You haven't written enough books. There's something magical about the number 5. When you have 5 books out, you suddenly start making money. Nearly every indie author I've spoken to has a huge sales spike after 5 books. There's lots of reasons for this, and I won't go into all of them here. My advice, get those five books up before you panic about your sales. Throw in a few 99 cent novellas and a bundled series to get to 5 faster.

4. Your not marketing. Now, before you start bawling about how you blog and facebook and tweet, that's creating brand recognition and selling to an existing audience (but guess what? your fans are only going to buy one of each of your books, so stop hitting them over the head with buying your book every five seconds). That's only one facet of marketing. What you need to do is expand into new demographics. This is how. And newsflash, it works the best after you have 5 books out.

5. You don't have any books up for free. Believe me, I struggled with this. I didn't like the idea of giving something I spent a year and a lot of money on for free. And then I spoke with Cindy Hogan, who explained it to me in a way that clicked. She said that giving a book away for free is basically giving something away to pay for your marketing.

If you give away 10,000 books, not all those people will read the book (ebooks are too easy to hoard). But let's say 5% actually reads the book. Of those 5%, 2.5% decide to purchase the sequel. That's still 250 books sold. I'm guessing that's more than you would have lost in revenue from sales from the first book.

6. (Because I thought of one after this post went live) Write a series. Put the first one free. I don't know anyone who makes it selling stand alones.

There are, of course, other things that can go wrong (indie authors shouldn't have any regular ebooks over 4.99), but this covers most of the mistakes I see.

{Release} Sun and Moon by Lee Strauss

Sun & Moon by Lee Strauss

(Book One in the Minstrel Series)

 January 26th!

If you’re a fan of the movie Inside Llewyn Davis, ABC television’s Nashville or Colleen Hoover’s upcoming novel, "Maybe Someday", the Minstrel Series is for you!

The Minstrel Series is a collection of contemporary romance novels set in the singer/songwriter world. The books are companion novels, with shared settings and characters, but each are complete standalone stories with a HEA (happily ever after) and no cliffhangers!

She has a past. He has a secret.

Katja Stoltz is a risk-taking singer-songwriter hoping to make it in the indie music scene in Dresden, Germany. Micah Sturm's a brooding uptown banker on a quest.

Driven to the streets, Katja is picked up by Micah - but he doesn't want what she thinks he does.

There’s an undeniable attraction between them, a gravitational pull they both struggle to resist. Katja knows she mustn’t fall in love with this handsome enigma. There’s something dark lurking beneath the surface. He could be dangerous.

And even if her life isn’t on the line, her heart most definitely is.




*not erotica - no explicit sex or coarse language

Buy now!

 Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | itunes

Enter to win a $50 Amazon gift card, MP3s of all four songs featured on Sun & Moon, and a 12 month calendar from Dresden, Germany featuring many of the settings found in Sun & Moon.

Dresden, Germany

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Sometimes I Wish He Would Just Hit Me so I Can Leave Him

Since my post on abuse, I've been contacted by quite a few women (one of them said the words above, a glaring neon sign for an emotionally abused woman). I did not expect that. Some want my help. Some want to share their story. Some simply want to connect with another human being because they feel desperately alone.

I'm not a therapist. I'm not a lawyer. But there are a few things I know from experience. 

Physical abuse leaves scars on our bodies and our souls. Emotional abuse maims our souls. Whoever the person is who said, "Sticks and stones will break your bones, but words will never hurt you." That person is an idiot. 

I will also say that I went through more than one abusive situation. But that hasn't happened to me for years. Why? Because of one moment that changed my life into a before and after. The moment when I rose up and said:

No one has the right to hurt me. 

I would shout that from the rooftops if I could. I would have it skywritten by a plane with fireworks and a brass band pounding it out in the background. 

In my dealings with the abused, they all have one thing in common, it's this skittish, hard to pin down "I don't know what the right thing to do is." Abusers are experts as sowing confusion and chaos. It's the equivalent of being lost in a blizzard, with no landmarks while under a constant barrage of pain and fear.

No one has the right to hurt you. Let those words show you where to go. 

I don't know where those words will take you. I am an advocate for marriage when both parties are willing to do whatever it takes to make that marriage work. I'm an advocate for divorce when that is not the case.

No one has the right to hurt you. Let those words change your life like they did mine. Let me show you that there is a way out of the deep dark pit you've found yourself in. Though the climb is long, hard, and full of setbacks, there is happiness and light waiting for you. You must find people willing to help you, but you are the only one who can pull yourself out.

I promise you it's worth it.