My presumptuous comparisons with Pottermore ( I think J.K. Rowling stole my idea)

Let me start with several points. First, I am thrilled that J.K. Rowling is starting her new Pottermore site. I'm looking forward to using the site and wish I was part of the beta test. I am a big fan of the Harry Potter series, and I believe that reading the books helped my sons to become skilled readers and writers. Several months ago, I was very interested to learn about Pottermore because I am a fan, but also because I was already trying something similar with my own Anabar Series Blog for my books Anabar's Run and Anabar Rises.
I am really not trying to say I am as good as J.K. Rowling, but I did start my site/blog before I heard of Pottermore. I want my site to be a fun, interactive experience for my readers, and I think it is quite unique. The web offers us many exciting opportunities to add to the reading experience, and I plan to keep adding more material to the site.
Please check out my site. Let me know what you think. I would love to hear your suggestions and ideas.

Thanks, and Merry Christmas,

Will

My review of "The Bones of the Earth: Part 1, Initiation Rites" A definite must read.

I don't review many books, but this new series is really excellent, and I can't wait to read more from author Scott Bury.

The Bones of the Earth, Part 1: Initiation Rites is the first novel by author Scott Bury. I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to much more from him. I liked this coming-of-age epic filled with believable characters and situations, tense action, and mystical, magical elements. This is the story of Javor, a young man unknowingly destined to defend the world against evil forces pouring out of the east.

The story begins with a fertility ritual led by Vorona, the village witch and performed by the adolescent members of the village. Bury deftly accomplishes several things in this scene. First, he introduces the characters as typical young people, a bit confused about life, but eager to become adults. It also shows Javor to be naive, which makes his later ascendance even more appealing, as the reader sees how much he grows during the story.

Unaware of his destiny as a conqueror of evil, Javor gets his first taste of combat when Elli is captured by Avars, a pack of savage horsemen. He rescues her, exhibiting a both natural talent for fighting and an unshakable courage in the face of extreme danger. Javor returns a hero, and his life changes when he meets Photius, who convinces Javor to join him on a quest to drive evil from the lands.

The rest of the story is filled with intense action as Javor and Photius encounter a variety of monsters and creatures; each time Javor learns a bit more of just how powerful and capable he is. Eventually, Photius admits that he is part of a secretive group of warriors and that he believes Javor to be destined to join the group and lead the defeat of evil forces coming out of the east.

Bury does a great job here, combining violent, exciting action, with Javor's reluctance to accept his new role. Javor is a realistic young man, pulled in different directions by confusion about what he ought to do with his life. Still, and perhaps despite Javor's reluctance, we see him growing in power and confidence, and he eventually starts to accept, and thrive in, his new role.

The violence, combined with several scenes in which Javor is intimate with female characters, makes this more suited for older teens. The novel also contains many characters, which help give it a foreign feel. This makes it initially difficult to keep track of them, but it becomes clear after a few chapters.

The real strength of The Bones of the Earth is that Bury has created a realistic character chosen by fate and destiny, who is able to fight magical, mystical forces with his very human strength, skill, and determination. I look forward to reading more of this series.

I'm wasting my time talking so much to authors

I need to think about how I should be trying to promote by books. Like everyone else, especially writers, I have a limited amount of time to write and promote, and work at my day job. I have been at this now since February, and while I have made some good friends and learned a great deal on various discussion boards and blogs. all of that is taking time away from communicating with potential readers.

Take, for example, my MG/YA books Anabar's Run and Anabar Rises. Instead of discussing them on author blogs and websites, I should be communicating with young teens and their parents and librarians and maybe even teachers. I need to focus on the people who I think are likely to read and enjoy my books.

Then there is social networking. To be honest, I still haven't really learned Facebook very well. I have a page and started a fan page, but I know I ought to be writing instead. Then there is Twitter. I do like Twitter, and I can usually spare a few minutes to send a few quick tweets or re-tweets. I just reached 100 followers this week, and I felt like that was a significant milestone for me; however, I see many people with thousands of followers. Instead of envying them, I wonder how much time it must have taken them to get so many followers, and for what?

I do believe networking and other forms of marketing are important when you are trying to make it in self publishing, but at some point they become intrusive. I see all this discussing books with other writers taking time away from my writing and connecting with readers.

I have made a few important connections with people in the business, but I don't need thousands of connections with people who probably won't read my books. I understand when other writers don't buy my books. I don't expect them to.

I have joined in a partnership with a small group of professionals involved in publishing. We are actively helping each other to revise, proofread, and market our books. This is vastly different from all those Facebook friends and Twitters folks. In this partnership, we are committed to working together and selling or books. I will write more about this in the coming weeks.

There is nothing wrong if you enjoy social networking and all the other forms of electronic communication available to us. Many people really enjoy them, and I am all for people doing things they enjoy, but I should be focusing on the people who I want to buy my books.
I wouldn't have this blog if I didn't want to sell my books.

Great review for Anabar's Run on CatholicFiction.net

Anabar's Run just received an excellent review on the CatholicFiction.net website at: http://www.catholicfiction.net/2011/07/18/anabars-run-by-will-granger/ .

I appreciate Jody Rakis taking the time to read and review my book. While I did not write Anabar's Run and Anabar Rises to be overtly Catholic or religious books, they do have some underlying themes of peace and avoiding hatred that I hope will appeal to readers of the reviews on CatholicFiction.net as well as other readers. I really hope MG and YA readers will benefit from these messages.

In other news, I also posted an original poem,Why , on my Anabar Series Blog. I wrote it as if it was written by Marabel, Anabar's mother, and I am quite happy with the way it came out. Poems are great fun to write.

Audio Interview with Will Granger at Work-At-Home-Success Website

Big thanks go to Leslie Truex from the excellent Work-At-Home-Success website for interviewing me this week. We talked about my experiences as an online college teacher and author.

First, I talked about some of the different opportunities in teaching college classes online through correspondence and webcam-based formats. I also explained what I know about the qualifications and experience one generally needs to become an adjunct professor at community colleges and universities. This is a great job, and there are plenty of opportunities out there.

Second, Leslie asked about my experience as an author. I told her about what I have earned about self publishing ebooks and promoting. I always like it when I get the chance to talk about my books.

Please go to the Work-At-Home-Success website and listen to the interview .

I really appreciate Leslie taking the time to interview me. I hope you enjoy it.

Vampire Truths: my new short horror story

I just published my newest short horror story, Vampire Truths, on Amazon.com. I decided to write this because I wanted to show my view of what life as a vampire would be like. This is no love story, and my vampire is definitely no romantic hero.

You can read an excerpt from Vampire Truths and learn about my other horror shorts Gladitorium Immortuos and The Deadly Path at my blog: http://baddreamsgranger.blogspot.com/ . I plan to have the story for sale on Smashwords.com next week.

I am having a great deal of fun writing horror stories, and although I plan to start Anabar's Night, which will be book #3 of my Anabar Series,  I think I'll stick with horror for a while. My next horror short will have the title Green, and then I have ideas for a lumberjack tale and another zombie story.

Anabar Rises featured on Indie Snippets Blog

Thanks to Bryan at the Indie Snippets blog for posting an excerpt for Anabar Rises , book #2 of my Anabar series of YA action coming-of-age books

You can read the snippet here: Anabar Rises Snippet .

You can also read more about Anabar Rises and Anabar's Run, book #1 in the series, at my Anabar series blog at http://anabarseries.blogspot.com/ where I have more excerpts, maps, photographs, posters, and other features.

Please check out the Indie Snippets blog. Bryan is doing a great job of promoting many great Indie books by providing excerpts from "New INDIE fiction in bite sized-flavors."

Excellent Review of The Deadly Path on My Book Addiction blog

Please check out a great review of my short horror story The Deadly Path on The Book Addiction Blog at Review of The Deadly Path . Big thanks to BookGirl for taking the time to read the story and write the review. Sales have started out very well for The Deadly Path  and my other horror short Gladitorium Immortuos and I believe this review will help my numbers even more.

Giving away five copies of Anabar series for Young Adult Book Club

From July 1 until July 7, I'm giving away five copies of Anabar's Run and Anabar Rises as part of the YABC Festival celebrating the first six months of the Young Adult Book Club (YABC) on Goodreads.com. YABC
This giveaway will be available for the first five YABC members that post a comment here asking for the books.
Readers can find much more about both books at my Anabar Series Blog: http://anabarseries.blogspot.com/

Shameless Comparison to Pottermore

I know some of you might accuse me of trying to take advantage of J.K Rowling's announcement of her new Pottermore website venture, but (here goes) I believe I have been trying to do a similar thing with my Anabar Series blog. Since I began working on my blog several months ago, I have been trying to make it an interactive immersive experience for readers of my Anabar series.

I carefully read Rowling's press release announcement of Pottermore, and I was happy to see her include ideas similar to what I am doing with my my blog.

The press release states: "J.K. Rowling has written extensive new material about the characters, places and objects in the much-loved stories, which will inform, inspire and entertain readers as they journey through the storylines of the books."


Well, everything on my blog is new material I have written, and I hope it will entertain my readers and add to the experience of reading my books.


Rowling's press release also states: "In the new website, the storyline will be brought to life with sumptuous newly-commissioned illustrations and interactive ‘Moments’ through which you can navigate, starting with the first book..."


Again, I am trying to do much the same thing. My blog now has new photographs, posters, notes, a map, and a journal. I believe these feature will bring my stories to life. I also have plans to continue to add to my blog every week in the foreseeable future. To be honest, I am having fun working on my blog - I hope readers and potential readers will have fun there too.


I think Pottermore is great news for those of us trying to promote our ebooks. Rowling had injected a huge amount of legitimacy to ebooks with her announcement. That can only help us all.


Please check out my blog. I would love to hear what you think.
http://anabarseries.blogspot.com/

New horror short stories and blog

I've just opened a new blog at Bad Dreams From Will Granger where I am promoting the first of my new horror short stories.


The Deadly Path is the tale of five-year-old Cindy, who often watches from her bedroom window as an old man passes by her house in the middle of the night. Strangely drawn to the man, Cindy sneaks out of her house and finds him by following a golden path that only they can see. She watches as he buries strange coins by the corners of several houses. 
What Cindy does not know is that people start dying in those houses. Cindy's life changes when her best friend dies in a fire, and she finds one of the coins buried under the ashes.

Gladitorium Immortuos takes place in Ancient Rome. Soldiers capture some Immortuos (Zombies), which are then used in a new form of gladiatorial combat where the audience gets to participate. The Roman crowd loves the new games, and everyone is happy until...well, ah, when do things ever end well with Zombies?

Anabar's Run featured on Indie Snippets Blog

Thanks go to Bryan for posting a snippet feature on Anabar's Run at Indie Snippets Blog. Bryan runs a great blog where he promotes many authors with interesting "Snippets" or excerpts of 200 words or less. He provides a great service for writers and readers alike. Please check out his blog at http://indiesnippets.blogspot.com/ follow it, and help spread the word about it.

Getting featured on Indie Snippets is my latest step in promoting my books and my Anabar brand. I also just moved my Anabar Series blog to Blogger at http://anabarseries.blogspot.com/ . I believe I have succeeded a creating a fun and interesting site for my readers, especially the Middle Grade readers. I will continue to add to site site.

I think my Anabar Series blog is an example of what writers can now do with our books to add to the overall experience of reading. I believe we will see more and more writers creating interesting websites to compliment their books.

Continuing YA discussion on Wall Street Journal boards

There is an enthusiastic discussion going on at the Wall Street Journal web page at this page.
Many people are debating Meghan Cox Gurdon's article Darkness Too Visible
Her subheading, "Contemporary fiction for teens is rife with explicit abuse, violence and depravity. Why is this considered a good idea?" should give you a good idea of what she says in her article.


I agree that some YA fiction is excessively vulgar, and I think the best way to deal with this is for parents to pay attention to what their children are reading. 
Whatever your position on this, post a comment so we can discuss it. Also, if you agree with me, join me on the WSJ site - I need some backup there!
Thanks,
Will

Free ebooks! My First Giveaway of Anabar's Run and Anabar Rises

Hi everyone,


I know other authors offer giveaways from time to time, so I decided to offer free copies of my books. Hopefully some of you will take advantage of my offer and enjoy read the books. If you post a reply here or send me a message on Twitter at my Twitter page  by June 23, I'll be happy to send you a Smashwords.com coupon code for free copies of both Anabar's Run and Anabar Rises.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Thanks,


Will

Profiteering Instead of Therapy in Vulgar YA Literature

There is an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal titled "Darkness Too Visible" (Link to article) by Meghan Cox Gurdon in which she includes the sub heading, "Contemporary fiction for teens is rife with explicit abuse, violence and depravity. Why is this considered a good idea?".  She makes the point that there is too much extreme violence and explicit sexual content in YA literature today.


I agree with her to a point. While I am not in favor of censorship and banning books, I think parents have the responsibility to know what their children are reading and to control it if they do not feel it is appropriate. It is also not responsible parenting to have no idea what your kids are reading. That is not permissive or enlightened - it is lazy parenting.


Some argue that Ms. Gurdon and others who agree with her cannot see that writers of such depravity are helping young readers by teaching them about what the world is really like. 
I say that it is a bullshit excuse to say that this extreme violence and sex is being written solely with our kids' best interests in mind. These writers are not some sort of quasi-therapists or inspirational figures who are seeking to enlighten our youth - they are simply profiteering and taking advantage of the market.
Still writers should write what they want, and they should do so to try to sell their books. You have to be honest if you want to be a writer. 
That's why I think it is the parent's responsibility to make the decisions about what is appropriate.

Editing complete on Anabar's Run and Anabar Rises!

Thanks to some excellent suggestions, I spent the last two weeks editing Anabar's Run and Anabar Rises. I fixed some grammar and spelling issues, but more significantly, I corrected some details and made everything a bit more concise and clear.

I enjoyed this process. It was fun getting back into my stories and getting to know my characters again. Try rereading something you wrote over a year ago - it is a unique experience.

I am confident both books are now in much better shape, and that readers will enjoy them more. Now that I am into my summer break from teaching, I have plans to do several things to build up my writing career.

First, I will move my Anabar website over to Blogger and plan to continue to add to the content. I want the site to be a very interesting and enjoyable place place for readers. My goal is to add a ton of content over the summer

I am also writing a horror short story that is vastly different that Anabar's Run and Anabar Rises. It is the story of a little girl and an old man who share a nasty talent. I have had the basic story in my head for some time, and I am enjoying finally writing it. Actually sitting down and writing is still the best part of all of this.

Major revision to Anabar's Run

I know I rushed Anabar's Run when I published it as an ebook. I had too many errors, and I know a writer establishes credibility by writing clean, error-free pages.

Now that my summer break has begun, I have the time to take a close look at the book and to fix the problems I found. They are mostly typos, but I am fixing a few details as well. I am confident readers will enjoy the story much more  after I clean it up. Thanks to those who already bought Anabar's Run. I will also scrub Anabar Rises and make it as good as I can.

Will Indie books make us readers again?

It is exciting to be getting involved in Indie publishing of ebooks. I think the best part is that we can do something every day to give ourselves a chance to become successful. We can revise and edit our books, work on our blogs and websites, promote our books on Facebook and Twitter, and best of all, we can write more stories.

With the traditional method of trying to attract an agent, and then hoping to find a willing publisher, there is too much waiting. You send a query letter and wait; you have no control over anything.

Who knows what this will all lead to? I think I can say for sure that more people will be writing and publishing books in the coming years. Will we get to the point where traditional bookstores will be gone as some are predicting? This is a surprising possibility for some who say young people are not reading enough.

As an English teacher and college professor, I do see many students with poor vocabularies. They don't read enough for fun. They have too many distractions and are growing up without reading, but this may be changing. Maybe, just maybe, as more and more people get Kindles, Nooks, iPads and other similar devices, they will start reading again. I sure hope so.

Why my books are different-even unique

I realize this title might sound a bit arrogant, but I'm just trying to promote my book. It is that simple. I've been thinking about why people ought to read my books, and I believe I have written a unique story. My character, Anabar, has no magic powers, he's not a vampire, and he has not been destined to be "the one".

Even with that, the decision he faces at the end of Anabar Rises is what really makes my story different. While at first it might seem like it is just story about fighting and war, or a young man facing difficult choices, it really has a strong message of peace. I want my readers, especially the younger ones, to see how a hero can sacrifice everything, risk everything, in order to try to bring peace. Peace is worth any cost. That is the message in my books.

Anabar Rises Now Published!

Anabar Rises, the second novel in my Anabar trilogy, is now available! You can buy it at Amazon.com for Kindle, Barnes and Noble.com for Nook, and at Smashwords.com. I am very happy to have published Anabar Rises. I am convinced it is better that Anabar's Run. 


This book was why I started this series; I pictured the climax for a long time, and I really like how it turned out. Anabar faces an impossible choice and proves himself to be a different kind of hero. Here is a brief synopsis:


In this, the second book in the Anabar trilogy, Anabar begins his new life as a Scout and finds excitement, success, and even fame. Unfortunately, fame is the one thing a Scout, duty bound to remain secretive, should never achieve. He is then banished to the dangerous border region as war threatens to engulf Semdela and Ricamar. Soldiers capture Anabar and send him to prison, an event that ultimately leads him to the arms of Princess Astrida. In the end, Anabar faces his most difficult decision: whether to perform his duty as a Scout, to seek the love of Astrida, or to risk everything to try to bring peace to the land.
You can buy both books on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com, and Smashwords.com:

Anabar's Run on Amazon.com

Anabar's Run on BarnesandNoble.com

Anabar's Run on Smashwords.com

Anabar Rises on Amazon.com

Anabar Rises on BarnesandNoble.com

Anabar Rises on Smashwords.com 
Also, please check out my new website:

Anabar Website

I have uploaded photographs, maps, and other information you cannot find in the books. I think you might enjoy taking a look.

Thanks,

Will Granger

       

 

Amazon Bestseller Book Launch for Completely Whole

Hi everyone,

Please check out this new book from Paulette Harper!

Oftentimes, many people try to seek fulfillment from money, relationships, accomplishments, or material things. Others choose to cope with difficult problems by using drugs or alcohol, but they often come up short and soon have to realize that such things do not bring true happiness and fulfillment in life. How then can we successfully solve the problems that we face and find true happiness and peace in our lives? Well, author, Paulette Harper, in her latest book, Completely Whole, shows readers how to overcome suffering caused by alcoholism, substance abuse, poverty, and other obstacles blocking the path to a life of wholeness in spirit, soul, and body. 

In her well-written, resource-filled guide, Harper provides readers with practical and biblically-based solutions to overcome everyday problems. Completely Whole features prayers, meditations, and powerful scripture passages to allow readers to interact with the text and to apply it to their own lives. Harper uses personal experiences and biblical principles to place readers on a path to be in connection with God. This life-changing book will help readers to transform their spirit, soul, and body through Jesus Christ, so they can live a life of peace, joy, and fulfillment. 

Special Today Only! May 9. Buy a copy of Completely Whole by Paulette Harper and get immediate access to amazing Free Bonus Gifts and contest giveaways.

Visit the link below for more details:


Completely Whole Book Launch

And So They Wrote Blog features Anabar's Run and Will Granger

Many thanks to Dona Wording who is featuring Anabar's Run on her excellent blog, and so they wrote.... She posted my bio and a long excerpt, chapters 12 - 19, from the book. See the blog here:          
And So They Wrote: ANABAR'S RUN, by WILL GRANGER

Anabar's Run website almost ready

I've been working on the website and hope to start promoting it next week. I plan to begin with Omalof's training log,  a map, and some pictures. My plan is to create an Anabar world and throughout the summer, when I'm not teaching and have more time,  I am going to add maps of the cities Beral and Chorazatt, flags, a Scout training manual, a page devoted to to drail with video, pictures, history, statistics, and mining, and other items that are also featured in Anabar Rises, book 2 of the Anabar trilogy.

My hope is that readers will enjoy this additional material, and I would especially like to add items that they suggest.

I have included some information on Semdela and Ricamar on my Shelfari book page at this link:  Anabar's Run Shelfari Page

20,388 wizards and 16,526 vampires!

I was thinking about how Anabar's Run is different from some of the other popular YA books. On a hunch, I went to Amazon.com and searched for "Wizards" and then "Vampires" and found 20,388 titles with "wizard" in them and 16,526 with "vampires" in them.
Anabar is neither of these literary clichés. I have to believe that readers are going to tire of them and be looking for something else.
Anabar is a normal young man who faces difficult, nearly impossible, tasks and decisions. I began Anabar's Run with the idea that everyone is capable of doing great things, and I believe this is a message young people should hear.

So much to do!

I am learning something new every day about self publishing. There are so many good websites and blogs that it is becoming difficult to keep track of them all. Still, I have become hooked on Goodreads.com and Shelfari.com.   Both sites have many authors, and it is great seeing how most people are so willing to share ideas and help each other.

To me, this is much more fun than the traditional way of trying to write a good query letter and then sending it to agents. I don't doubt that agents are busy, but something seems wrong about that process because everything comes down to the query letter. Plus, you might check 10 different sources, and all 10 will have different ideas on how to write a good query.

I can't wait to see how the publishing business changes in a few years. It seems almost inevitable that more and more people will be buying books for their electronic devices. I'm glad to be getting into this now, although I still have a lot to learn.

I am going to make my website public this weekend and start out by posting part of Omalof's Journal. The website with give me another way to market Anabar's Run, and I'm looking forward to adding features in the coming weeks such as maps, training logs, and other features that I hope will add to the experience of reading my book.

Have a great day!

Will

A good week with new friends

This week, I continued to make contact with people on various websites related to books and writing. It has been great to make several new friends on Shellfari and Goodreads. It's nice to talk to people who are also trying to achieve some success through EBooks. The great part about this has been that everyone is so willing to share ideas and advice on marketing and promoting their books. I'm feeling good about how much I have been able to market Anabar's Run so far, and I am learning something new everyday from my friends.

Excerpt from Anabar's Run

Here is an excerpt from one of the key scenes in Anabar's Run:

The giant fell face down in the snow and slid down the slope a dozen feet. He lay still, not moving for a few seconds. Then he let out a roar. He lurched to his feet and wiped snow and blood from his eyes. He looked up at the form of Anabar streaking away from him. The giant growled and headed back up the slope, his eyes locked on Anabar. His rage gave him the energy to charge up the steep incline, stomping his feet deep into the snow with each step. His speed increased as he pounded up, a grizzly bear chasing its prey. So focused was the giant on getting to Anabar, he failed to notice the cracks appearing in the snow around him.

Anabar felt the snow beneath him starting to slide, and then something dropped down the slope from above, uncoiling like a dark snake as it neared him. He saw it was a rope, and he dove for it, as the entire mountain seemed to vibrate under his feet. He caught the rope and pulled it close to his body. The snow accelerated down and away from him and he gripped the rope, his fingers turning white from the effort.

First sales!

I was happy to sell a few copies of Anabar's Run over the past several weeks! It's a start. I'm continuing to learn everything I can about marketing my books. Some writers pay editors, formatters, and artists, but for now, I am going to do this myself. After all, the thing that most appeals to me about self-publishing is that I get to control every step. Whatever initial success I achieve as an author will be up to me.

It is exciting to read about the success of authors like Amanda Hocking and Joe Konrath; however, it is also important to realize they are good writers. That has to be first. All the marketing in the world won't matter if you can't write. That's why I am so hopeful about Anabar's Run. I believe it is a good story.

Anabar struggles with the same conflicts as many young people such as leaving home, deciding what to do with his life, and following the right path for him despite disappointments. Anabar does not start out with advantages such as wealth or power, but his ultimate choices are what make him heroic.

Check out my interview on the Kindle Author Blog

David Wisehart of the Kindle Author Blog interviewed me for Anabar's Run. Check out the interview here: Interview
In the interview, I discuss the book and talk about my approach to writing. I also mention my upcoming website and some of the features I plan to add to it such as a map of Anabar's journey, Omalof's training log, and some more items in the cave.

Hello from Will Granger and welcome!

Hello!

Thanks for checking out my blog. Anabar's Run is the story of an average young man who proves that anyone can do something great - that it's good to dream and reach for a goal. While Anabar's proves he can be a warrior, he struggles between doing his duty and earning fame, or fighting for peace. I hope you will enjoy Anabar's Run. You can purchase it or read samples for Amazon.com's Kindle or Barnes and Noble's Nook. I look forward to reading your comments.

Will Granger