S.A. Hunter's Journal

My Review of A Hidden Magic

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Mon, 28 May 2012 15:17:00 +0000

A Hidden Magic by Vivian Vande Velde

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was actually a reread. I was looking at my bookshelves the other day and saw it. It was in my already read books group (as opposed to my unread books group) and picked it up because I couldn't remember a single thing about it, and the description didn't ring any bells. It wasn't until I was thirty plus pages in that I could definitively say I'd read this book before.

I've read other Vande Velde books and enjoyed them and have quite a few more on the TBR shelves, but this one was a little disappointing. It was very light on the characterization. There's a very lovely story here, but we're presented with only the barest bones of it. I feel it could have been easily twice as long. Jennifer and Norman's relationship doesn't develop. We're told they're in love and that's it. A little more relationship building would have been nice.

I feel this book is too lightly written. It hangs precariously between juvenile and easy reader. It could've been a lovely easy reader or an outstanding juvenile novel. The illustrations are lovely and some bits are great, but overall, I can understand why I forgot this book completely.

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My Review of Silent in the Grave

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Mon, 07 May 2012 03:59:00 +0000

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I picked this book up to read for the Vaginal Fantasy Hangout. Considering this was the pick for February, you can see how far behind I am with everything. I was kind of surprised that the second pick of the group would be a non-urban paranormal mystery, but I found myself quickly engrossed in this Victorian mystery. While I couldn’t put the book down, I find the gloss quickly wears off due to fridge logic and an ending that seemed a little too scandalous.

The story begins with Juliet’s husband dying. Being a proper lady, there are many proper things one must do for the funeral. I liked reading about all the pomp and formality, made imminently bearable because Jane doesn’t care one real whit about them, but she follows through with it all because it is what one is expected to do.

I don’t want to spoil any of it for you because I do think it was very worthwhile read, but the fridge logic man…In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, here is TV Tropes definition of this handy term, “It refers to some illogical or implausible plot point that the audience doesn't realize during the show, but only long afterwards.” There are certain things I’m willing to let slide, but what’s revealed about Juliet’s husband seems a little too far-fetched. I mean they were married for years and had grown up together, but she did not know him at all it appears. How did that happen? And don’t tell me that back then, couples didn’t know each other, and some couples today don’t know each other. This wasn’t an arranged marriage, and they’d grown up together. I don’t know, I could’ve accepted some of the things revealed, but the stuff with hubby was off the charts.

And there’s one maddening spot in the book where the author pulls away and doesn’t let us see that is truly happening and it is maddening because of a later mention of a particular bruise and a fat lip that seemed to indicate something pretty sinister in my book, but doesn’t seem to be construed as such in this book. And I’m really trying not to be spoilery.

All-in-all the resolution of the mystery is where this book falters. I was really digging it until the end when everything started hitting the fan. Stuff just seemed to be coming out of left field. I was turning the pages going, “What?” And afterwards, I closed the book, slept on it, and the next day was going, “Wait, really, what?” Which is unfortunate because I’d loved the character progression of Juliet. Her slow blossoming was lovely to read.

I’m curious about the next book, which may be more tolerable if Juliet isn’t supposed to be lifelong friends with the victim and/or suspects. If she’s an outsider, it may all be understandable.

You may notice I haven’t mentioned Brisbane, our detective, except if you’ve read the book and know what the maddening scene refers to. Anyway, Brisbane was interesting. He’s still a mystery himself, and I don’t know how I feel about some of the revelations with him and I’m afraid if I think about him too much that he’ll go down in my estimation. I mean he’s a jerk, but he’s upfront about it, but really, he’s a first class jerk. Ugh, I'm thinking about him now, and I do believe I would've kicked him in the balls. Still, I really enjoyed the book while I was reading it, but I don't like thinking about it afterwards.

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We have an Anthem!

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 01:45:00 +0000

Here's the latest music video from the Guild. How did I not know about this until now?! Game On and Do You Wanna Date My Avatar are literally the only songs I've ever bought on iTunes. I've already watched this video over five times. It's great, and I hope you like it, too! Now I'm off to make my third ever purchase from iTunes. :-)
WARNING: Foul Language! You may not want to play it through your cubicle speakers.

My Review of Hunger Games: The Movie

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 03:06:00 +0000

So over the weekend, I went to see The Hunger Games. I'd read the book and reviewed it. I was optimistic about the movie because the book is an adventure story that would translate well to screen. It may be told in first person present tense, but that's to make the action more immediate. Sure, things about Katniss' personality would be lost with the transfer to screen, but with the casting of Jennifer Lawrence, I thought she would communicate Katniss' instinctive distrust of others well. I greatly admired her performance in Winter's Bone and think that was the role that got her chosen for Katniss.

Overall, the movie was good. I'm glad I went to see it. Will I trek out to the movie theater to see the second one? Probably not. I will rent it on DVD and enjoy it in my home. I don't go to the movies a lot. I prefer to watch DVDs. The movie has to be really special for me to make the effort to go out of my way. Johnny Depp basically can get my butt in a theater but not much else. (And OMG, I saw the trailer for Tim Burton's Dark Shadows, and it looks like it will be a hoot. I may be going to the theaters again sooner than I thought.)

Getting back to the movie that I'm supposed to be reviewing, I thought this was a good adaptation. The script changes minor things. Some minor characters are not included, but it is understandable, and I liked the color commentary during the Hunger Games which wasn't possible in the book due to the narrative constraints. Stanley Tucci was wonderful as Caesar and bless them for keeping Caesar's hair blue. It was almost like I pictured it. (I pictured it a little more poofy.)

As for the two young male leads, Gale doesn't have a very big role in this installment so the actor didn't make much of an impression. I can't say yay or nay on him. The young man playing Peeta was very good. I was especially impressed with his interview scene with Caesar. I think he did a good job.

As for the adults, I already said Tucci was good. Elizabeth Banks was unrecognizable in her makeup, and I think her costumes and makeup helped her as much as her acting. She certainly stood out as Effie Trinket. The makeup people really deserve praise for her. The lipstick and fake eyelashes in this movie were unbelievably creative. I'm not up on current fashion, but if fancy eyelashes weren't hip before, I think they will be now. When Woody Harrelson was announced to play Haymitch, I believe the general consensus was he would be wonderful in the role, and the general consensus was correct. In fact, I think I like Haymitch more now after seeing Woody in the role. He'll be who I picture when I finally read Mockingjay. The fact is, I didn't really care for Haymitch in the books, I wasn't drawn to him. He had no charisma in the text, but Woody brings that and I think it was a quality Haymitch needed.

One complaint I have is the director's use of shaky camera motion and quick cuts to establish locations. This is very prevalent at the beginning of the film and made me groan. I whispered to my friend sitting beside me that I hoped the whole movie wasn't like that, and I'm not one to notice direction much, especially on first watch. After the movie, another friend complained of the closeups on mouths and faces. We often didn't get a good look at a scene because we were zoomed in on someone's lips. She wondered why they built impressive sets if they were only going to show them for five seconds. I did notice this at one point briefly because the camera seemed to be having trouble keeping up with two people having a conversation. It seemed sloppy.

So overall, the actors were good, the adaptation was good, the sets and costumes were good, but the direction was a little lacking. I'd give the movie a letter grade of B. It would take an A grade to get me back in the theater to see the sequel, but I doubt my absence in the theater will hurt the profits much for the sequel. It is guaranteed to be a success.

Like Me?

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 03:22:00 +0000

Results for "Should I have a Facebook Page?"

Well, it seemed pretty clear that I should have a Facebook Page. So, I've set up a Facebook page. There isn't a lot there yet because I don't know what to put up and because Facebook has been flakey. If you have any requests or possibly would like to 'like' me, go right ahead!

I've posted some never before seen pictures. (All of 2 currently.) My current profile picture is one of the early ideas for the cover of Scary Mary. I still really like it, and if I can come up with an idea that's similar for Stalking Shadows, I might just use it for the no-date-set-yet realease of the print editions. I even put up a poll that everyone is welcome to chime in on. The banner picture is of my cat Caper. I didn't know what else to post because Facebook said the banner shouldn't have much text. I could post a cover image without text I guess, but didn't have the means for it, and that's a pretty darn cute picture of my cat.

The page is in the new format so it has a timeline, which seem pretty wonky to me, and as I mentioned, Facebook has been pretty flakey today. I don't know how much tweaking I'll do to the page. If Goodreads ever becomes compatable (they claim to not be currently), I'll add that to the page, but for now, I don't know what apps to add or anything, and I don't know if I should make pages for each book or not.

If you have any advice or suggestions, PLEASE SHARE! I'm not a Facebook native and could use all the help I can get.

I've added a link to the page on the sidebar and here it is as well:

Ugh! And it would help A LOT if Facebook would freaking load more than 50% of the time so I can see if the page looks right or not! If it doesn't load, it's most likely Facebook's fault.

My Review of Catching Fire

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 19:25:00 +0000

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

With every trilogy, the second book always has the tough job of continuing the story but not finishing it. Catching Fire being the second in the Hunger Games Trilogy had to keep the momentum but stop before the story can truly come to a rest. The second book picks up where The Hunger Games left off. The first book had a relatively easy job. It introduced us to the characters, the world, and had the actual Hunger Games to drive the story. In the second book, Catching Fire had to expand the story and progress beyond the Hunger Games.

I'm NOT going to try and make this spoiler free, so read at your own risk from here on out.

I have only just finished reading the book and have to return it tomorrow to the library so I’m rushing myself a bit with this review, but on the whole, I liked the story. Katniss continues to struggle with understanding people, but in the first book, she struggled with who to trust and everyone who was clearly trustworthy we could silently root for her to accept. In the second book, the rug gets pulled out from under her, and she finds herself a pawn in a new game and with no one to trust.

This time around, the events feel a bit rushed and some feel a bit too drawn out. Having not read the third in the series, I don’t know if some of the scenes and characters that I thought were a bit superfluous will pay off later. But I did begin to wonder at this world and how practical it was. It is an awful totalitarian place with cruel traditions that have no regard for human life. Instead of fully going with the story, I felt myself begin to be a little incredulous of it. My suspension of disbelief began to waiver. I began to wonder what’s the point of all of this? The Capital lives in luxury completely uncaring of the harsh, deadly conditions of the districts. It appears clear that the district inhabitants out number the capital and even if all official communication was cut between districts, it’s just hard to imagine this sort of world existing. In many ways, it seems too stylized to exist. (I mean how much money do those Games cost every year? They build special arenas every year! And all just to kill 23 kids annually? I can’t see how the psychological terrorism can justify the very real monetary cost.)

So in the second book, I began to consciously question the reality while I was reading, which is never a good thing. Katniss and Peeta get pulled into a second Hunger Games a little too easily. I know it’s supposed to be by machinations of the President, but still, did we need to go down this route again? I was still drawn in to Katniss’ struggles with her feelings and trust issues, but I also began to be too aware that she is fictional and thus I did not need to worry too much about her. I became detached.

I will of course read the third book, but I’m afraid a wariness will be present in me when I begin. I won’t fall into the text like I did with the first book. I will wonder what Collins will do to Katniss next instead of hoping Katniss can get out of her next predicament.

Lots and lots of spoilers follow…

I admit that when I began the second book, I expected to watch Katniss become a mentor to another poor tribute, and I was curious about how that would affect her. But having her put into another Hunger Games stretched my credulity a little too far. I was okay up through the part with her speaking engagements, but once President Snow drew that envelope I was like, “Really, we’re doing this again?” I know it was orchestrated by the bad guys, but it felt too orchestrated, and on a side note, why hasn’t anyone done a pregnancy test on Katniss? That seems like priority one and then leak that it’s false. Or why not leak the kissing incident with Gale? That would’ve put a nail in her and Peeta’s romance pretty quick. Events just seem to be a little heavy handed. How is killing Katniss in a new Hunger Games going to destroy her as a revolutionary symbol? Better to get her hooked on that morphling stuff and let everyone see her as a druggie. Better to keep her alive as a strung out addict than martyr her in a contrived death pool.

I’m curious where the story will go from here. I would like it to be about how Katniss is an unwilling revolutionary symbol, but since I got the plot for the second book wrong, I don’t know if that will be the case. I just really hope there isn’t yet another Hunger Games in the story.

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Responding to Comments

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:30:00 +0000

I always love the comments I receive on this blog, and I try (I really do) to respond in a timely fashion with a witty and informative reply. I had a few comments lately that I wanted to share and share my replies because I think a broader audience might like them. (And I feel like I should've been doing this before now, but sometimes my brain is slow.)

First up we have this wonderful comment from I.C. Silverheart:

I just finished Unicorn Bait on my kindle that i got for Christmas only because it was free! I was seriously addicted to it! I couldn't wait for school to be over on Friday so in the last period which was my study hall I pulled out one of the schools laptops and read a whole chapter! When the book ended I was disappointed! I wanted to know what happened next! I'm so glad that you're writing another book! You made it to the top 3 authors on my favorite author list!!!!!!:):):) Take your time writing because right now I'm waiting for two more books! Take as much time as you want because I hope it's as good or better than the first book! I want to be a writer when I grow up and i hope I'm like you! DO NOT change how you write! Let me repeat: DO NOT, DO NOT change how you write! Have I told you enough? Let me tell you a couple more times: DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT, change how you write! I don't care what the other people tell you! If anyone tells you to change how you write punch them in the face and walk away! I would cry if you changed how you write!
If anyone tells you to hurry up and finish your book don't listen to them. They really learn how to wait. Take your time and don't worry if you fall behind, I can wait!!!
You are so great and I love you so much! I hope I can write like you when I grow up! Don't stop writing and what your doing!

My response:

Wow, you are passionate! I love it! I have no plans to change how I write, and if I do say so myself, I think the sequel is shaping up to be better than Unicorn Bait. I got so much wonderful feedback and interesting questions. The answers to these questions are being incorporated into the story. What's amazing to me is that I thought Unicorn Bait would be a stand alone novel, but the out pouring of love and the requests for more have prompted the sequel. Originally, I didn't know if a sequel would be possible, but now I can't imagine it not happening. Thanks so much!

Next is this comment from Angie:

This new system of publishing is really amazing. I like how much closer it brings the reader and the authors. And good luck, the more free time you have to write them more books I get to read!

Angie is referring to my hope of reducing my work schedule at the library to four days a week. This would mean less pay for me but would guarantee more writing time. She also discovered she could put a name in the name/URL option when commenting and not have to supply a URL to have a personalized name appear. You don't have to be "Anonymous" to leave a comment for me. :-)

My response to her:

Angie,

Thanks! I have been able to factor in a day every other week off work to hopefully write, or at least recuperate from the extensive time I spend writing the rest of the week. I'm on a tough schedule right now. It doesn't help any that I'm taking a college course on top of everything. I'm taking Introduction to Computer Graphics. I'm trying to become a better cover art maker. This class is showing me how much I don't know. And I already had a BA in Art! :-p

The other day off each week is actually paid time. I have enough leave built up to do that without affecting my paycheck. I can't do that forever, though!

Now, I have to mention this because it was quite the geekgasm for me. I am a fan of Felicia Day. She has been doing some wonderful stuff the past few years. If you've never watched The Guild, YOU NEED TO WATCH THAT NOW. (Hulu has them all free to watch!)

Felicia is also a voracious reader and is the first author I fanned on Goodreads. She has begun a book club called "Vaginal Fantasy Hangout". She recently requested Sci-Fi vaginal fantasies. What she means by vaginal fantasies are not erotica per se. She means stories that have kick-ass female heroines that have cropped up in genre work. These stories generally have a strong romantic element and sexual content along with the story. I joined the book club and on a the Sci-fi forum commented that I thought Tanith Lee had a few books that fit the bill. The next day, I found a reply from Felicia Day agreeing with me!!! She knows the books I'm talking about and appears to love them as much as I do. I can't tell you how wonderful this is. Felicia Day actually read something I typed! Can I be more geeky? Yes, I can, but I don't know who else to tell about this. No one at work understands, and I don't know if you will as well, but I had to share! (And Angie, this is all proof that you're right--The online age is making readers and authors closer.)

Felicia is doing a video book club as part of the Vaginal Fantasy Hangout. I watched the first one and was entranced. She has assembled a great group of women to talk about books. I highly recommend it. It's informative and very entertaining!

My Review of Blood Price

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 04:16:00 +0000

Blood Price by Tanya Huff

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is actually a reread for me. I’d read the first three in the series and never finished it. I think the series may not have been fully published by then and that’s why I didn’t finish because I really enjoyed the first three books. Recently, I saw on Netflix that they’d made the books into a television series. I put the DVDs in my queue, but I decided that I wanted to finally read the full series first. I purchased the volumes that I didn’t own yet and am set to read them all.

Happily, I didn’t remember much of the plot of Blood Price when I reread it so I could get drawn into the story. Blood Price was published in 1991, well before the urban paranormal explosion. The books were recommended to me by a B. Dalton employee. (I miss that store.) I’d read Anne Rice, Laurell K. Hamilton, and Suzanne Collins before Tanya Huff. And one thing all of those vampires had in common was an aloofness to humans. They did not rub shoulders with us warm-blood folk. So Huff’s Henry Fitzroy was a breath of fresh air with his romance novel writing, condo, and desire for human connection. There was just enough in flashback to establish his character without weighing him down with too much history, and he just seemed so non-grandiose. He was short for Pete’s sake! So yes, I instantly liked Henry Fitzroy, but it was Vicky “Victory” Nelson, who really grabbed my attention, the fallible, everyday human. Her unwillingness to give up in the face of her mounting blindness made her admirable. She was no superhero, no Anita Blake with her superpower necromancy, far from it. Vicky couldn't walk down a street at night without real concern. Not because something would attack her, but because maybe she'd trip on a curb and seriously hurt herself. And the dreaded phone calls from her mother with their eventual guilt trips were a nice touch.

The mystery itself was actually a little too easy. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but the bad guy isn’t that hard to find. Huff does put a lot of it in the killer’s perspective and we get inside his head, but he’s not that complex. I suppose the mystery couldn’t be too complex if Huff wanted to give her characters any time to shine. Several of Fitzroy’s flashbacks were simply for background information about him, not directly involved with the mystery.

I’ll be reading the next in the series soon. I read the first three in the series before stopping, but I have them all now and plan to finish before the end of the year.

On something of a side note, I didn’t realize this until someone in my writing group pointed it out, but Vicky in Scary Mary has the same name as Vicky in the Blood series. I picked Nelson as a last name because it is pretty common in my area. I didn’t remember Victory’s last name was Nelson, too.

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No, I haven't published a new book.

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 05:16:00 +0000

(I wasn't going to comment on this here, but I forgot about the Goodreads widget in the sidebar, so felt my hand was forced.)

You may notice a new book by S.A. Hunter.

It isn't me.

It seems someone else has chosen to publish under this name. I'm not sure how to deal with this. The other S.A. Hunter has also written a fantasy novel. Goodreads has linked the book to my profile, and iTunes pulls the book up when you click the link "Other works by this author". Amazon has a clear delineation between us, but confusion is inevitable. I'm not sure why this other S.A. Hunter decided to use this particular moniker. When I Google myself or search on Amazon, I appear and thus would indicate that using that particular author name may be ill-advised, but I don't know. Maybe I'm inflating my own importance, but it is rather troubling.

The other S.A. Hunter is already on Facebook. Again, that isn't me. I haven't published a page yet. (And doesn't that sound inevitable? You can still vote in the poll and sway me.)

Right now, I'm trying to decide if I should approach this author and/or her publisher. Asking someone to change their author name seems highly presumptuous, but I picked my author name because it was rather distinctive. (And once upon a time, the number one search result for Stephanie Hunter was an Australian escort service. I could not compete with that.)

So, again, no, I haven't published a new book.

2/13/12 ETA: It appears the other author has differentiated herself by changing her author name. The book is no longer on my Goodreads profile.

Should I have a Facebook Page?

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:42:00 +0000

On my ever growing list of things to do, I have Facebook near the top. I'm not a heavy Facebook user. I barely ever log in. I know other writers have had success with Facebook, and I know a lot of readers are probably on it, but I don't know how much people would like this addition. I don't know what would happen if I did add a Facebook page. I've looked at other authors who have pages. I would definitely announce when projects were coming out, but being pithy and sharing links looks unlikely. Being pithy takes a lot of work. If you have an opinion, or if you don't, please take my poll below. It will help me know what I should do. Thanks!

Should I have a Facebook Page?

P.S. I've also added a "Subscribe by email" widget to the sidebar if anyone would like to get posts in their email. It is handled by Feedburner.

My Review of The Seventh Tower: The Fall

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:46:00 +0000

The Fall by Garth Nix

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Garth Nix creates amazing worlds in his fantasies, and the first book in the Seventh Tower series is no exception. I teetered between giving this three and four stars because I felt some of the fantastical elements were rather rushed. He throws out brief two sentence descriptions of all these unknown beasts, and they seem to be there purely to identify what the form a shadowguard assumed rather than truly adding to the story, and since none of the animals have familiar names, it's hard to keep track of them and what they're supposed to be.

The magic system is intriguing being based on light in a dark world with a strict color heirarchy for the society with those in the red tower being lower than those in the orange and so on. Finding out more about this world would be interesting. I will try to read the next in the series, but I'm not rushing out to get it. The book is listed as being for nine and up. I feel like maybe Nix was light on details to keep the younger readers interested, but older readers will be left wanting when they crack open the book. Because it is the first in a series, nothing is resolved, and Tal is no where near his goal. This is rather dissatisfying. Nix, at least, didn't leave off at too taunt a cliffhanger. I think he would've lost a star on this review if he had.

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New Things with Blog

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 15:29:00 +0000

Hi Everybody,

Well, it seems ye olde Blogger has been making some changes, and I've finally become aware of them. First, commenting is now threaded. It was begun by default on this site, but seems to still be off on the story sites. I'm not sure why that is, and I'm still not sure if I like threaded comments better than flat. (I just realized that the story sites may stay flat since they were posted before threaded was an option.) I'll keep comments threaded here until I see compelling evidence to stop it.

Another new thing is mobile view templates. I'd turned on mobile view a while back for this blog. I liked that there was a mobile view, but I didn't turn it on for the story sites. I didn't like the mobile view THAT much, but now they've updated it, and I think it could work well for the story sites. I've gone through and turned it on for them now. I think the chapters are too long for mobile view, but I can't shorten them without the changes affecting the full version sites. The main reason I changed them is because the text is A LOT easier to read on a smart phone with the mobile view enabled. I've made some small adjustments to try and make the sites functional in mobile view without changing the full web version sites too much, but have not done any hard testing. If anyone has any opinions or insights let me know. One odd thing that I've found is that if I swipe my finger across the screen, Blogger decides that I must want to go back a post or something, which is rather annoying, but I can't see how to fix that. I really don't know how many people stumble across my stories with their mobile devices, but I would like to make the sites as accessible as possible.

And yes, I picked the book template for the mobile view because I'm a nerd, and I really didn't think anyone wanted to look at the pink stripe version for longer than five seconds. I hope nobody was looking at the sites with their smart phone while I was mucking about. I changed the template a gazillion times as I tried stuff out.

Measuring Success

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:05:00 +0000

As I obsessively check sales figures, I'm trying to decide if what I'm seeing is good or not. (Reading articles about Amanda Hocking doesn't help.) How do we self-pubbed authors determine if we're successful? And I realized I never really set a bar for myself. I hadn't defined what success would be beyond a hazy concept of being able to quit my job and write full-time.

When I set Unicorn Bait and Scary Mary for free, I had no expectations. I knew I would get some downloads, but I had no idea what the numbers would be. (I'm going to use only Amazon data in this post because it is the most up-to-date and accessible.) My books were initially .99 on Amazon. They stayed .99 for a few months, and I wasn't seeing much in the way of sales. In the first month, I sold zero. Then I sold 1 the next month. I sold 84 copies in the next nine months. Then Amazon finally made Scary Mary free like I wanted.

And then my socks were knocked off. Scary Mary was downloaded 16,125 times in one month. I was beside myself. I couldn't believe just how many people were downloading Scary Mary. I was sure this was some sort of sign. And it is a sign. A sign that free is the perfect price for a lot of people.

As of today, Scary Mary and Unicorn Bait have been downloaded over 110,000 times on Amazon. If I add up all platforms, their total downloads are north of 150,000. That's amazing to me because I did no promotion outside of my own website. I've had some reviews on small indie blogs, but I know the driving force behind that six digit number is the free price tag.

Considering how well the free books did and how many people have read Scary Mary, one would think Stalking Shadows would be a great success. I mean at least 50,000 people have downloaded Scary Mary, and it appears a great many enjoyed the book...so Stalking Shadows should be a best seller, right? Um, no. Stalking Shadows was released in late October of this year, right before Halloween. At this time, it has sold about 600 copies. Don't get me wrong. 600 is pretty damn good, but when I compare it to 50,000, it seems kind of well, paltry.

So I'm having to adjust my perspective. Selling 600 copies of Stalking Shadows is GREAT. I'm very happy with that number, but I've got to accept that nothing will ever beat free. I mean look at this--Scary Mary has been downloaded 12,000 times this MONTH on Amazon.uk, and Stalking Shadows has sold 220 copies. Comparing these two numbers and wondering why there was such a disparity could drive someone insane. Someone could wonder if maybe 11,780 people read Scary Mary and didn't think it was good enough to read the sequel. Someone could wonder if she can really hack it.

Or someone could take a deep breath, stop refreshing the reports screen in Kindle Direct Publishing, and write the freaking sequel to Unicorn Bait. Someone thinks that's what she'll do.

Selling Out

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 05:45:00 +0000

I've been struggling with something that feels a little sacrilegious. I've been thinking about switching from free to charging for Scary Mary and Unicorn Bait. I would most likely leave the free versions up on their websites, but I would charge for the ebook versions, and any updates I would make to the stories (in most cases grammatical) would only appear in the ebook version. My thinking is purely monetary. My current dream is to make enough money where I could reduce my full-time job from 40 hours a week to 32 or less (while still keeping my full benefits, I would just be paid less). The ultimate goal is to support myself solely by writing, but I know that isn't likely anytime soon. I just want to reduce my schedule by one day right now.

I know if I switched both books to .99 that the downloads would take a nose dive, but they wouldn't stop completely. I would possibly make fifty bucks a month or something but that would help me get a little closer to my goal of reducing my work schedule. That's not a guaranteed dollar amount, but I feel it's very likely, especially as a lot of reviews have been generated, so new readers may be willing to put down .99 for a book that a lot of other people have seemingly liked.

In my mind, one of the hiccups to changing to .99 is the free online versions. I worry that readers might resent the fact that I charge .99 for the ebook while giving it away elsewhere, but I've been told by some readers (they email me directly) that they would've happily paid for the story. This is wonderful to hear, but I worry that other readers may not feel that way. I've also seen some other authors charge for their ebooks in one location while giving it away elsewhere.

If I did begin charging for the stories, I would at least make another pass through them to fix any errors I found. (I just realized that somehow the first piece of dialog by Mrs. Boon is not italicized in Scary Mary's ebook version. I don't know how that happened.) But I wonder about adding any other content to make paying for the story worthwhile. I could add a sneak preview of Stalking Shadows to Scary Mary. That's a no brainer, but I don't know what to do about Unicorn Bait. I could add a sneak preview to (OMG, this will be first reveal of the title to the sequel) Dragon Prey. BUT that is still being written. I'm not even sure the first chapter will stay the same, and I would need to indicate when the sequel would be available which OMG (again), I have no idea about.

And I don't know if anyone really reads these posts so I may be typing into the wind, but if you have an opinion pro or con, please feel free to leave a comment. Even if no one comments, typing out my thoughts here has helped.

ETA: Well, this is ironic. It appears I was just featured on GetFreeBooks.com. Never fear, I'm not making the books for sale this instant. I'm just thinking about it, and I'll need a little time to read back over the stories to polish them a little more, but I am seriously considering charging, especially as I look at getting professional cover art for Dragon Prey. Dragons are expensive!

Vote For Me!

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Made a fun discovery Thursday night. It seems I've been included in a few lists over on Goodreads, and there's a voting option to each list.

Unicorn Bait is on these lists:

Unicorn Books
Best Unicorn Books

Scary Mary is on this list:

Eye of the Beholder

So if you have the time and are so inclined...VOTE FOR ME!

I know I won't beat Peter S. Beagle in either Unicorn list or any list really, but I want that second place! ;-)

To whoever added me to these lists, thank you so much. They made me happy!

And no, I did not vote myself, and it has nothing to do with the fact that Goodreads tracks that sort of thing...

My Review of The Hunger Games

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Yes, I finally read this widely read, highly acclaimed, soon-to-be major motion picture book, and it was good. The story was familiar. The idea of people being chosen by lottery to kill each other has been done before. I feel every review should at least mention Battle Royale. I have not read the book but I've seen the movie of the same title and many elements are the same. Both stories center around teens who are forced to kill each other until there is one victor.

This is not to say that Battle Royale was the originator of this storyline. Go back to gladiator days and this story was actually lived by some poor souls. The idea of kill or be killed is plum storyline material. How Collins story stands out I think is in the character of Katniss Everdeen. She has lived a hard life and had only herself to rely upon, but she is still a good person. She's fiercely protective of her sister, is entirely self-reliant, and has a strong moral code. But she doesn't trust people and views everyone with suspicion and cannot accept things people say to her at face value. Her struggle to accept that other people might actually care for her and confusion of who she might care for beyond her family is wonderfully handled. I plan to read Catching Fire and am intrigued with how the story will progress beyond The Hunger Games. The world Collins created is still largely unknown but what Collins revealed in the first book makes me eager to learn more.

View all my reviews at Goodreads.

Achievement!

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:58:00 +0000

I did it with only a half hour to spare, but I wrote fifty thousand words in November! I really appreciate my local Wrimo group. I don't think I would've been nearly as successful without them. I'd never word warred before this and wouldn't have guessed it would be such a boon. I surprised myself with how much I got written while furiously typing in a room with a bunch of other furiously typing writers.

Now, don't get too excited because the STILL untitled sequel (I'm really struggling with the title) is not close to done. It needs another thirty to forty thousand words and then the editing may just kill me, but I have gotten a firm start on this book. That wouldn't have happened without Nanowrimo.

I have to say that I have seen some anti-Nanowrimo articles online and they don't make much sense to me. They claim that having a lot of people write is a bad thing. I feel there's an elitist tone to these articles. Like only select people may write stories. This is preposterous. Everyone can write a story. It doesn't matter if it's good or bad. Everyone can write a story. Now, I can have some sympathy for the agents and editors who get a flood of submissions from people who wrote a story and are now sending them in without any editing or proofreading. But I still applaud the person for participating. I think writing is a wonderful thing and everyone should do it. Now there have been studies that found journaling to being a health benefit. (One article here.) I think storytelling may offer many of the same benefits. I mean just look at the list provided in the article all of the bullets could easily apply to storytelling. So go write a story! Don't worry about it being good and have fun with it. It will do you good.

So Procrastination Looks Like This...

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 05:58:00 +0000

I'm emulating Lisa a little tonight, never mind the 8,000 words I still need to write. Have to say this was a very funny episode of The Simpsons, and why yes, that is Neil Gaiman. (Sorry about the ads, but it's Hulu's deal.)

Over halfway done!

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 07:03:00 +0000

I've made up the words that I needed to write and am now over halfway done. How's the story going you may ask, and my response would be to laugh nervously. The outline I'd written in October that I thought would serve for the 50,000 words that needed to be written is largely out the window. I've added some major elements that have taken over the story, and I'm struggling with how to deal with them. I worry too much with how the first draft should go. I know I should just let everything fly and deal with it in edits, but I can't help myself.

Now it's Thanksgiving, my cat is sick, and I need to write. So I should probably get to that...

I hope you all have a wonderful Turkey Day. I will be spending it with family and eating far, far, (ugh!) far, too much.

I'm Behind!

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 15:26:00 +0000

Well, it has finally happened. I've fallen behind in my word count. I need to make up 5,000 words. Luckily, I'm off work next week so I think it will be okay, but I'm madly trying to make up for lost time.

One thing that's throwing me off is the internet. It's so easy to lose time researching a question or checking email or responding to comments. The internet is one big time suck, but it's unavoidable. And I can't imagine giving it up. Look at me now posting to my blog. Too bad I can't count these words.

Anyhoo, here's a cool image I picked up during my research. It is a spring action snare trap. You know like on Looney Tunes. I needed to know if they really existed so I asked all-knowning Google and this is what it gave me. The image is from a book called Fox Trapping.

Update

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 04:01:00 +0000

As promised, here is an update on my so far untitled Unicorn Bait Sequel. I am on course to write 50,000 words. I'm doing pretty good, but it is tough to write 1600 words everyday. Sometimes it just feels like there isn't time! It doesn't help that the month of November seems to conspiring against me and jamming a lot of unexpected events in. But I've broken into the five figures which is a really great accomplishment.

The text is no where near polished, but there are bits of it that I am quite amused with. The humor is definitely back for the sequel. Working with all of these characters again is great. I'm really grateful to everyone who said they'd love a sequel. I had not planned to do one but I'm glad I am now.

If you're curious, Stalking Shadows is in my estimation doing well on Amazon, though I am amused by Amazon.uk being the much more robust market. I've sold four times as many copies there as on Amazon.com. I'm not sure why that is. Scary Mary was been downloaded quite a bit on the Amazon.uk site as well.

Stalking Shadows still hasn't been approved for the premium catalog on Smashwords so it is not on BN.com or in the iBookstore. It hasn't been rejected either so that's good. I saw on a forum recently that it generally takes 9 days for a submission to be approved for the premium catalog so it should go through any day now. Then it should appear on the other eBook sites a week or more later. It varies by retailer of course. Of course, this is all assuming it is approved, but I don't believe there is any problem with the upload. As far as I can tell, I did everything necessary to it.

And I am still taking requests for the Unicorn Bait sequel. I'd appreciate title suggestions too, though I know I haven't given any details about the plot. Here's what I can tell you: Naomi has to save Tavik AGAIN. Except it's not Errilol she's facing this time. The enemy is much worse. And I'm afraid to say anymore. Well, I'll keep updating that word count widget, and I'll write again in a week or less.

Thanks!

Now Taking Requests

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 02:57:00 +0000

WARNING: I am talking about the Unicorn Bait sequel so there are spoilers for Unicorn Bait. If you are planning to read Unicorn Bait and wish to be surprised, avert your eyes, AND GO READ UNICORN BAIT! It's free! I don't know how much easier I can make it for you, except reading it to you, but I got a sore throat, so tough.

WELL, I have written over 2000 words today for the Unicorn Bait sequel, which is above the daily minimum. So go me! And in a bit of perfect timing, I received an email today from someone who'd read Unicorn Bait and enjoyed it. She had one request for the sequel: More cussing woodland creatures. And you know what, I can do that. ;0) In fact, I'm all for a whole foul-mouthed forest. I don't know how crazy I'll get, but when I originally wrote Unicorn Bait, I took dares from a thread in the Nanowrimo forums. That's how the Umbreks happened and the weird tree guys in one of the happenstance realities Naomi accidentally teleports to. Sometimes having a weird, off-the-wall suggestion helps the words flow or sparks the imagination. Also I just like crazy. So go ahead, leave a suggestion and maybe it will appear in the sequel!

Oh dear, I just found the document where I saved some of the dares that intrigued me. One has already jumped out at me:

Have male characters with the nicknames Bambi, Grandma, and Polly. Bonus points if you include logical back stories.

I'm thinking biker gang. Or the high fantasy equivalent. It'll be great!

So give me your recommendations, I'd love to read them!

Let the Trumpets Sound!

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 21:02:00 +0000

Oh my, I think I've published a book! Just in time for Halloween, Stalking Shadows is out for all you ghouls and goblins! Well, actually it's available for purchase only at Smashwords at this time. Amazon is still mulling it over, and Smashwords has to push it out to Barnes and Noble and the iBookstore, which may take more than three weeks. 10/31/11 ETA: Whoopie! Amazon has it available now!

As you can see, I went with the blue shadow hand cover. Thank you everyone for voting and commenting! I hope you like it. I'm thinking I may pay someone to design the cover for my next book. I know just enough about design to see that I am not the best person to be doing this. I've uploaded SS to Amazon, but it says it will be at least 24 hours before it is available. Once it is, I will supply links.

For posterity, here are the results from the cover poll:

Which Stalking Shadows book cover do you like best?

The orange one! 106 (46%)

The blue one! 111 (48%)

Neither. :-( 8 (3%)

Can't decide, they're both great! 9 (3%)

Total Votes: 230

So...I didn't bow to the majority...which says, I don't know. I really liked the way the blue shadow hand turned out, and I didn't know how much it would cost to get permission to use the photo hand. So the poll shows that I'm cheap, but I already knew that.

What really prompted me to finally publish Stalking Shadows was NaNoWriMo. I am all excited about participating this year. My local chapter is having a lot of events and get-togethers which I hope to attend. I've done Nano twice before, but it was on my own. I think being involved in a community will really help me to stay on task.

I plan to do something crazy for Nano. I plan to write a sequel to Unicorn Bait. Unicorn Bait was my Nano project the first time I participated in Nano. I wrote 50,000 words and then I wrote an additional 30,000. It went through heavy edits and eventually became the Unicorn Bait we all know and love.

I've been working on the plot for the sequel. Getting stuff figured out before the actual writing has to begin is kind of unusual for me. I think I've got a good idea for the story, but I won't know until I start actually writing. I hope to get at least 50,000 words written this November. My secret goal is 80,000, but I really don't know if I'll manage that.

I'll keep everyone updated on my progress once a week over the next month. Really! I promise! I can't promise the updates will be coherent. But I will update. ;-)

Finishing Touches

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 03:49:00 +0000

A good friend is proof reading Stalking Shadows now, and I hope to have it back from her in a few days. Once I look over her suggestions and corrections, I'll work on getting the book formatted and ready to upload. I will be charging .99 for it on all ebook platforms, but the rough draft will remain online and free to read. Once it's uploaded, I will begin going gung-ho with the third in the series. I wrote about 1000 words tonight to Long Dead, but there's tens of thousands of more words that need to be written.

So there's still a couple of more weeks until Stalking Shadows is out for ebooks. I updated the poll to allow voting to continue and bumped the post up for it to just below this one. Thanks everyone for your input! I have to say I'm leaning heavily toward the large blue shadow hand cover that Pinky suggested, but if you feel differently about which is the better cover, please let me know.

Possible Book Covers

noreply@blogger.com (S.A. Hunter) — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 22:47:00 +0000

(This post will be "pinned" for the foreseeable future. Any new posts will appear below.)

Here are two book covers I've been working on for Stalking Shadows. Once I settle on one, I will likely work on redoing the website to reflect the cover. Tell me which one you like and any suggestions you may have. I'm not sure about the font, but haven't found one that I like better. You can leave a comment or click on the poll on the sidebar. Thanks!

Because I'm obsessive, here are two updated versions of the book covers. Not a lot of changes, but I think they're better.

ETA: 5/15/11

Pinky had an interesting suggestion. She wondered what the orange cover would look like if done in blue. I messed around with the settings and came up with this. Sort of like it, though I feel like it's missing something, but felt that way about the original orange too. Sadly, I can't edit the poll to add this one as an option. If you like it, please leave a comment!