Guest post from Cassandra Carpio, Book Reviewer

I first came into contact with Cassandra on Instagram. This girl loves her books and <3's anything and everything pertaining to them! I direct messaged her, thanking her for consistently liking my posts and offered up Altering Authority for her scrutiny. With baited breath, I sheepishly waited for this girl (with dark lips and eyes, her posts displayed on a Ouija board cloth), to respond, not entirely expecting her to. To my surprise, within minutes we were chatting as if we'd been friends all along. When I asked her to help me out with a post, she was just as excited as I was!  I hope you'll check her out on Instagram (Click here) and on her website where she has some great reviews, naturally (Click here).

 

Without further ado, here is our Q and A!

 

What do I look for in a book as a reviewer: I love it when the pace reflects perfectly on the plot. Sometimes authors create a fantasy world that is too slow and it's a big let down. Something that will always make me pick up a book is romance. Be it a side thing or the main plot line, I have to have some romance or I will most likely lose interest from the beginning. Also, I think we can all agree here, when the author brings something completely unique to the table. Something nobody else has even thought about portraying, not even the reader. The awe experienced after such a feat is accomplished is out of this world and addicting to say the least.

                                                                      What I love in a book: I always looking for the next incredible plot twist. I've read so many books that most often than not I see the plot twist coming a million miles away. It's a fresh breath of air when the author manages to make the world come crashing down on me when I least expect it. And when it's done more than once in a book, I am in love!  I absolutely love it when the author manages to make me forget that I'm reading about fictional characters. When the world is turned from 2D to 3D without my noticing is one of the best feelings I could ever experience. When the plot is so incredible that I am experiencing it alongside the character, if not in their shoes. When the author turns me from a spectator to a character. I also love it when a book manages to make me cry, full body-wracking sobs. It sounds pretty messy but it only proves that the author has my heart in the palm of their hands. I also have a weakness for books told in a male perspective. I love to witness the passion behind their every action and emotion.

What I hate in a book: Rushed romances and declarations of "love." Build-up in a romance is crucial tot he plot line and overall experience of the reader. Have them have sex too early, it's mostly a physical thing. Make them say "I love you" too early and it's a lie. Nobody falls in love in three minute. You fall in awe, in lust, but not in love. When the author has the main character have a best friend and delivers poorly. I have high expectations for friendships. They must have a depth to them not matched by anybody else in the character's life. I've seen so many authors portray best friends as excessive name-calling sexual beings. Excessive swearing will not make me believe they are best friends. Also, when the title has nothing to do with the plot. I've seen a couple of these. The title sounds like a fantasy but it's a taboo romance... I'm left with a "what the heck?" 

My motto for reviewing is 'Quality over Quantity.' I have read 500+ page books that can't begin to compare to the depth a 200 page novel did. It's all in the world-building. When it's done wrong, everything else falls with it. 

Favorite book/s: I have a few but the book that will always have the number one spot in my heart is 'The Exceptions' by David Cristofano. I read it last month and I was not prepared at all for it. It broke me and mended me better than the last. It's told in a male's perspective and that already had me in the palm of his hand. The main character, Jonathan, has set the bar incredibly high for every other male I read about. His emotions were raw and true to ho he is at heart. The plot is violent, family oriented, and passionate. Jonathan has no problem giving up everything in order to protect the one he loves and ensure she is completely safe from his mafia family. The ultimate price and he pays it with his head held high. I have never read nor felt emotions like I did with this book. There are MANY quotes in it that I felt down to my bones. Love is exploited in the rawest and most undeniable form. You can't help who you fall for... even if it means the death of everything you once were, a lesson Jonathan learns alongside the reader. If I could recommend one book for the rest of my life, this one would be it.

 

 

 

Cassandra is on Goodreads as well. Click Here to check her out.

I'm giving up.

Since starting the process of having Altering Authority published, I swear I've gained at least twenty pounds. I can spend literally ALL DAY reading articles about publishing, promoting, marketing, blog tours, book tours, book launches... There is no end to the plethora of self-publishing links.

I've tried all of them. Even this blog is a recommendation from one of the 837,482,374,893,789 websites I have visited about marketing. And yes, I did just smash my face on the keyboard to come up with that number.

I'm exhausted.

No two websites have the same information. There is no one way to sell a book. People are lazy and don't have the patience or time to scroll through Google+ all day long reading articles about why they should read your novel. When was the last time you did? Have you ever searched 'Giveaway' on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook? More so, have you ever won?

There's my point.

The minute you publish, your one book will tumble, brightly at first and then gradually dimmer and dimmer, into the vast universe that is the internet along with the 600,000 to 1,000,000 other copies that are produced EVERYDAY! And that's just in the U.S.!

However, each new book you publish falls into this universe as well, where they meet up with the others like them, that have your name scrawled on the front cover in an expensive font that you paid for online, and their light grows and grows until your name is shining brightly like Nora Roberts, James Patterson, Philippa Gregory and Christine Feehan.

These people have dozens of books under their names! They are bound to be recognized at some point. The fact that they can actually write is an even bigger reason why they are where they are. They've had lots of practice. They've struggled like me and I assure you, when they started writing, the term 'social media' didn't exist.

That being said, I think I will take a break from stressing out over the things I'm forgetting or the things the blogs tell me to do that I just really really don't want to. I'll put my energy into book two, book three...

... and then hopefully...

Promoting my new little baby story in a sea of bigger, more popular stories who all have lots of friends and contacts... The struggle is real.

New Author...The struggle is real.

I've imagined publishers emailing me, begging me to come over to their side. My neighbors and other members of my community recognizing me as I walk my kid to school, "Aren't you that new author of that amazing book?". I've dreamt of movie deals and one million likes on my Facebook page. Rags to riches stories like Amanda Hockings.

My book has been out for two months and the first couple of weeks I was on a high. I was selling EVERYDAY. I promoted it very little, aside from the occasional post on Facebook for friends and family to see. Reviews came in (All 5 stars) and I was so proud, elated that people saw in my story, everything I did. It REALLY is a great story!

Then I realized that the only people who knew about my book were the people on my Facebook feed. The majority of people buying, were these same people. I branched out to my community's page and with shaking hands, put myself out there. My catholic, church-going neighbors now knew that I wrote a book containing bikers, gangs, prostitutes and sex.

Still, things were slowing down. I started hash tagging everything on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest. I started a giveaway on Goodreads and on my Publishing Facebook page, I created my own website, read dozens of articles about self-marketing and promoting for new authors on Pinterest and aside from a few likes, still nothing, which leads me to believe that, while social media is the best source for promoting an indie author such as myself, my outlets lie elsewhere.

How do you promote yourself in a world where ANYONE can publish a book? Where there are probably thousands of people who, like me, feel like their story is the best? Where everyone else has been promoting for a thousand years and have written thirty trillion stories and have guest spots regularly on blogs with a bazillion followers?

Did you know there are best selling adult stories out there about Sasquatch (Sasquatches?) and having sex with a bear?! These have won awards(!) and while I'm sure they've been remarkably written, I'm sure the audience for them is far less than the audience who like a good, human love story. I could be wrong though...

I haven't figured it out yet. I'm hoping that one day I will look back at this post and think about how naïve I was but for now, I'll just keep doing what I love most, writing.