Posts Tagged ‘Amazon’

“Rose:” A Video Review on YouTube

Posted: September 30, 2019 in Novel, Review, Scary Stuff, Writing
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So yesterday evening, a video was uploaded onto YouTube. But not just any YouTube video: this video was a review of my novel Rose by DeathGroundReviews, a YouTuber whom I’m met through Twitter, where he uses the handle Death Ground Writer. He reads and reviews a lot of speculative fiction, especially horror, and he decided to read and review Rose. The result is this video, which I highly recommend you check out.

Pretty awesome, huh? First off, I love Death Ground Writer’s voice. He’s got a scratchy quality that I think is great for podcasts and narrating scary stories. Which makes his reading of a short passage from Chapter One of Rose all the more creepy (and that music in the background is nice icing on the cake).

Second, after he does his reading and before he does his review, he talks about the novel and how he came across it. We actually talked quite a bit over Twitter before he posted the video, and as you heard, he includes a lot from those conversations in the video. Though to answer your question, DWG, I’m not a pantser,* but a plotter. I plot out 95% of the stories I write, sometimes with several pages worth of notes, names, and plot points. It’s just with Rose, I had to adjust the outline as I discovered issues with the story and had to find new ways to fix themm. Thus we have a story where, at one point, over two-thirds of the novel were rewritten to fix one or two major flaws with the stories.

And obviously, I liked his review. While stating that he likes it and would recommend it, he also goes into what he didn’t care for in the novel. I’m happy to hear that there were things that could be improved. And no, your preferences aren’t weird. I can understand, though if, in the future, a novel requires that kind of storytelling, I probably will use it.

Yes, I know I should state what exactly his criticism was, but I figure by not telling you all the specifics, you’re more likely to watch the video.

Speaking of which, if you haven’t yet, I highly recommend you check out DeathGroundWriter’s video and give it a watch/listen. And if you like what you see/hear, give the video a like and consider subscribing. Doing so supports his channel and allows him to continue doing what he’s doing, so I recommend you at least think about supporting the channel.

At the same time, if you would like to check out Rose, I’ll include the links below. Please consider checking the book out and, if you read it, please consider leaving a review. Positive or negative, I love receiving feedback from readers, and your thoughts help me out in the long run. Believe me on that!

Well, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ve got exercising to do and stories to write up. Until next time, pleasant nightmares!

Rose: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada

*Pantser, for those who don’t know, is a writer who discovers the story as they write. Basically they make it up as they go along, only they do it much better than someone who needs to come up with a quick cover story for why something they did is really suspicious.

Rose: Three Months Since Publication

Posted: September 20, 2019 in Novel, Progress Report, Scary Stuff, Writing
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A lot of people have commented to me that they can’t believe we’re already in September. They just can’t wrap their heads around the idea that we only have a third of 2019 left. And honestly, I can sympathize. This year has gone by rather fast. Though in my case, that might be because so much has happened in the past eight months. Including back in June, the publication of Rose and all that has ensued since then.

Yeah, Rose has been out three months. And what a three months it’s been!

But I’ll get into all that in a bit. For those who don’t know, Rose is a novel I wrote in college, and is the first book I published with a publisher. The novel is a Kafkaesque horror story revolving around a young woman who becomes a plant creature (and that’s just the start of her problems). Yeah, I wrote a novel around that weird concept, got it published, and as of today, it has twenty-two reviews, the majority of which are four and five stars, across Amazon’s English-speaking websites, as well as some positive reviews from folks like Angela Yuriko Smith, editor of Space & Time Magazine, and Dead Head Reviews.

Honestly, I’ve been very happy with the responses I’ve gotten from the book. For one thing, not everyone who’s reading it and leaving reviews is a relative of mine or being blackmailed, which is always a nice change of pace. In fact, quite a few readers are people I’ve never met before. They heard about the book through my many different marketing strategies (including one sponsored YouTube video), picked it up, and have enjoyed it. Or been freaked out by it. That’s also been a reaction. Someone recently notified me through Facebook that she’s been having weird dreams whenever she’s read Rose before bed. To which I say, “Mission accomplished.”

With any luck, this will all lead to more people reading and maybe leaving feedback on the book, which might make things easier for the next time I publish something.

In the meantime though, the fun doesn’t stop! I mentioned in a previous post that an audio book of Rose was in the works. Today, my publisher sent me the first fifteen minutes of the audio book. Oh God, the shivers that went up my spine! I listened to it twice, and couldn’t move for either listen. I cannot wait for the full book to be available. Once it is, I plan to advertise from here to Timbuktu, and make sure as many people who want to check out the audio book can.

For now though, I’m leaving below the links for Rose below. If you’re interested, check it out, read the reviews, and maybe pick up a copy. And if you do read it, leave me a review with your thoughts. Positive or negative, I love reader feedback, and it helps me out in the long run. And if you’re reading Rose right now, I hope you’re enjoying it! Can’t wait to hear what you think.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Until next time, pleasant nightmares!

Rose: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada

Updates on What I’m Doing

Posted: September 2, 2019 in Living and Life, Progress Report, Writing
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It’s been over a week since I last wrote a blog post, so I just wanted to let you know I haven’t died and either become a ghost or returned to my home dimension. Of course, every blog post needs a subject, so I thought I’d update you on the many projects I’ve got going on. And believe me, it’s a lot of projects.

Rose

Now, I’m sure you’re aware that Rose has been out for about two and a half months at this point. What more could be happening with that? Plenty, actually. Firstly, there’s an audio book on the way. Yep, Rose is going to be in audio format. Now, I can’t share many particulars on that just yet, but I can tell you the audio book will hopefully be out in the next month and will be available from Amazon and Audible.

Which of course means I need to do a lot of work to make sure that the paperback, ebook, and audio book do well and get into the hands/devices of plenty of readers and listeners. Hopefully it all pays off.

And in the meantime, if you haven’t checked Rose out yet but want to, you can find it on Amazon, as well as on Amazon UK and Amazon Canada. Take a look, and if you enjoy the book, let me know what you think.

River of Wrath

Dante Alighieri, author of “Inferno.”

Some of you may recall that last year in the days before Halloween, I finished a novel called River of Wrath that was partially inspired by Dante’s Inferno. Since then, I haven’t touched that story once, but that’ll change soon. I have a beta reader who’s working his way through the book and says he’s going to be done soon. Once I get it back from him, I’ll get to work on editing it, with the goal of having the second draft done by Halloween. After that, I’ll hopefully be able to find a publisher for the story. River‘s a little too straight horror for Castrum Press, so I’ll have to look elsewhere. But I think there are plenty of publishers who might be interested in this one. With any luck, I could have River out some tie in 2020. Fingers crossed!

 

 

 

National Novel Writing Month

I’ve got something for NaNoWriMo this year, just wait and see.

As many of you are aware, November is National Novel Writing Month (though at this point, a name change should be considered, as it’s pretty much international at this point). During NaNoWriMo, participating authors try to write an entire novel of fifty-thousand words before November 30th, or about seventeen-hundred words a day. This’ll be my first year since college that I’ll be participating, and I’m almost done doing research for the book. I don’t expect to make the daily word count or even the final goal for the challenge (and even if I did, I doubt the resulting story would be high-quality. That’s what editing is for!). Regardless, I’m going to try and see what I can accomplish. I even plan to take some time off at the beginning of the month to help me get it done. With any luck, I’ll get enough done that by the time I return to work, I’ll have made significant progress on the story.

And as for what I’m writing for NaNoWriMo, you’ll just have to wait. I’ll announce what I’m working on when we’re a bit closer to November. Though I can tell you this: it’s going to be a very strange and unexpected story. Which I think means it’s going to be a lot of fun, both to write and to read.

A new short story collection is on its way!

You read that right. I’m putting together another collection of original short stories. And I know I’ve made that promise before, but this time I’ve made significant progress towards that goal. I already have several stories, novelettes and novellas on stand-by for the collection, and am working on finishing up a few other stories for it.

Sadly, at this stage the collection’s still gestating, so to speak, so it would be premature to state its contents, what it’s called or when/how I’ll be releasing it. However, as soon as I have that information, I’ll be sure to let you know.

Other

Castrum Press will be putting out a call for alternative history short stories for an anthology soon, so I’ll be editing up my Arthurian short story Mother of the King soon. Since I’m already one of their client, I hope that’ll help get the story in, but as you would expect, this sort of thing depends greatly on quality, timing and luck.

And here on the blog, I’m getting ready to write the next part in my series of marketing posts, as well as another anime recommendations list (because when you’re me, you devour anime like Scooby-Doo devours everything edible). Hopefully I’ll find time for both of those before the month is out.

 

Well, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I think the next time I post, it’ll be after seeing IT: Chapter Two. I’m looking forward to it!

Until next time, pleasant nightmares!

The Bexley Local Author Festival 2019: My First Author Festival

Posted: August 25, 2019 in Living and Life, Writing
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My seat at the Bexley Local Author Festival. Photo courtesy of my mother., who came by to support me.

I’ve never been to an author festival or book fair or whatever you want to call them, at least not in the capacity of an author. But then a month or two ago, I spoke to the owner of Gramercy Books Bexley, one of the local bookstores, who asked if I would like to be one of the authors at Bexley Local Authors Festival.* Of course, I said yes.

I arrived at the location earlier today a little after 1:30, with extra books, my cloak (gotta sell that horror writer vibe, don’t I?) and a few props packed up in a box. The past two years the author festival has been held at the Bexley Public Library, as Gramercy doesn’t have enough room inside its store to hold all those authors. Even still, it was pretty crowded: there were forty authors in the library”s auditorium, in four rows of tables, with two authors per table. We kept having to jump over one another to get to our seats! And that was before the people were let in.

Despite how crowded it was, it was a lot of fun. I sat next to another author, Robert Turner, who was also here for the first time, and he was pretty cool guy. We talked quite a bit while we were trying to attract customers, and he told me about his book, which he summed up as “a suicide note from Judas Iscariot.” You couldn’t help but feel a little bit curious after hearing a synopsis like that (and if anyone wants to check it out, click the link here)!

And on my other side were two people close to my age who wrote memoirs about their experiences living abroad. One was a guy who lived and taught English in South Korea for two years, and what that was like. The other was a young woman who wrote about a book about the people she came across while traveling through Japan, China and other countries. They joked to attendees that they were the Asian travel section, and between the two of them, they had the entirety of Southeast Asia covered. It was kind of funny.

And now, for those of you who are wondering, how did Rose do? Well, it’s not easy to sell books in any location. The festival had a huge mix of different authors selling every type of book under the sun, from memoir and self-help to children’s books and historical romances. And believe me when I say, many folks were there to say hi to people they knew selling books at the festival. Add in that space was pretty tight, and it’s a lot to work with and get people interested in your work.

That being said, I still managed to sign and sell some copies of Rose. One even went to one of my professors from college. And for every book sold, I think about ten people got a business card, where they could find more information about me and order a copy of Rose if they wish later on. Many of the people who took cards seemed genuinely interested, so I think they’ll end up buying a copy at home. On the whole, I think you could call today a success.

And if I get invited back again next year, I think I’ll go. I had a lot of fun, talked to some great people, and maybe found a few new readers and fans. What more could a guy ask for?**

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’m off to dream up more terrors for you all. Until next time, pleasant nightmares!

*For those unaware, Bexley is a suburb of Columbus, with a range of house types and sizes and well-known for its high Jewish population. I grew up there for a number of years, and I’ve been back several times for a number of reasons since I’ve moved out.

**Plenty, actually, but I count my blessings.

Rose: Two Months Since Publication

Posted: August 21, 2019 in Living and Life, Novel, Progress Report, Review, Scary Stuff, Writing
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It’s hard to believe we’re in the second half of August, and October (AKA the Halloween season, AKA the most wonderful time of the year), is right around the corner. Soon, we’re going to have to get ready for witches and goblins and more candy than is probably healthy. But before we go into all that (as well as some of what I have planned for that month), I have to mark a milestone. That’s right, my novel Rose has been out for two whole months!

So for those of you who know, Rose is a fantasy-horror novel I wrote as a college thesis project. The novel follows a young woman named Rose Taggert who awakens with the past two years missing from her memories. She quickly undergoes a terrifying transformation into a plant-like creature, which begins a saga to ensure her survival as she realizes people in her life are hiding dark secrets from her.

It took a lot of work, about seven drafts, and more than a few anxiety attacks, but after five years, Rose was released on June 21st, 2019. And I’m proud to say that it’s been doing well. Everyone I’ve talked to who’s read it seems to like it, or at the very least, not hate it. Just this past Sunday, for example, I received two new reviews of Rose, each from very different reviewers. For example, The first came from Angela Yuriko Smith, editor of S’pace and Time Magazine, who shared her thoughts on her personal website (which apparently she read the same week she put in a garden. Now that’s synergy!). The other came from Elle Turnpitt of Dead Head Reviews, who found it terrifying and gave the novel as a whole a 4 out of 5.  Nice stuff.

Me at the reading on Sunday. Yes, I am wearing a black cloak. Does that surprise you at all?

Also on Sunday, I had my very first solo author reading* at Brothers Drake Meadery in Columbus. I’ve loved that place since my college years, and I was super excited to have my reading there (plus, the mead!). A small but very enthusiastic crowd showed up for the reading, only three of whom were related to me, and they liked what they heard. After the reading, they asked me a lot of questions (my favorite was if I’m a LARPer–I wish I had the time for that!) and a few people even bought signed copies. It was an amazing experience, one I hope to do again with them someday.

Did I mention the owners of Brothers Drake messaged me on Instagram today to let me know they’re reading it? I’m really excited to hear what they think.

Anyway, if any of this has made you curious about Rose, I’ll leave the links below so you can check it out, read some of the other reviews people have left, and then decide to get a copy. And if you do get one, please let me know what you think. Positive or negative, email or online review, I love feedback and it helps me out in the long run.

The table featuring the copies of “Rose,” which I enjoyed signing books and talking to people at.

Oh, and before I forget, I’ll be at the Bexley Local Author Festival at the Bexley Public Library on Sunday, August 25th, in Bexley, Ohio. I’ll be selling and signing copies of Rose, taking photographs, and probably not sacrificing the lives of the innocent in order to start a terrifying plague. Hope to see you there if you can make it. And if you can’t, I’ll likely be blogging about it, so you can read that. Should be a good time.

Well, that’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I have to torture the souls of famous personages from history who were secretly serial killers (you’ll never guess which American Founding Father is among that group) and then work on a possession story before heading to bed. Until next time, happy reading and pleasant nightmares!

Rose: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada

*Sort of. I had one in college in my dorm, but given that I bribed or blackmailed most of the five people who showed up and it didn’t really result in any sales of The Quiet Game, I’m not sure it counts anymore.

Some Ideas on Marketing a New Book, Part 1

Posted: August 7, 2019 in Reflections
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Quite recently, Rose received its sixteenth review on Amazon’s US site. This is a big deal for me, because the only other book I’ve published with that many reviews is the first book I ever published, The Quiet Game: Five Tales to Chill Your Bones. Guess how long it took for that one to get that many reviews?

Six years.

Why did it take so long for The Quiet Game to get that many reviews, when Rose was able to do it in less than two months? There are a number of factors at play, in my opinion. My writing has vastly improved since 2013, and my audience across different platforms has grown as well. But the big difference, if I’m being honest, is my marketing plan. Unlike my previous works, I had an actual marketing plan in place when I published Rose. And it seems to have worked pretty well so far.

Given that, I thought I’d share what I’ve learned from having an actual plan in place. And given all the lessons to impart, it’ll probably take a few posts (hence the “Part 1” in the post’s title). Hell, sponsoring a YouTube video will probably take up its own post. But if it helps a promising author with a new book coming out from making the same mistakes as I did, then it’ll be worth it.

So without further ado, let’s go over some essentials for having a marketing plan.

Rose wouldn’t be doing as well as it is without a marketing plan.

First, don’t expect your book to just take off without putting in any work. I know it’s tempting, after all the writing and editing and either finding a publisher to work with or putting in the time, effort and even cash to self-publish, to just sit back and hope that word of mouth will be enough. You may do a couple of blog posts, some boosted Facebook ads, and a friend’s podcast, but in your mind, the reviews and good word of your friends, family and some blog followers will be enough. Eventually, more and more people will discover your story and things will snowball from there and your book is doing a steady business with a few new reviews every month and you suddenly have a little extra spending money.

In my experience, that doesn’t work. I used that approach for the first four of my books, and three of those still have less than ten reviews on Amazon. Books rarely, if ever, snowball like we dream. These days, you need a detailed plan to get people interested in your book, and that requires work. It requires research, identifying places to send your book for reviews or promotion, talking to people and places (e.g. bookstores) that might be interested in what you’re published, maybe even making new business cards or bookmarks. Anything that can get your book noticed and get readers interested.

In other words, expect the work to keep on going long after your book is released to the public. If you want the public to give a damn about your book, that is.

Second, know your niche. Companies like Coca-Cola, no matter how they market, can afford to market it to thousands of random people. They’re Coca-Cola, they can afford it. You, however, can’t afford it. After all, your book is a particular type of story. So what do you do? You figure what audience you’re aiming to get reading your books, and you try to stick to that. Know what language in an ad or in a description would entice for them. What kind of mood are you trying to convey? Are they more likely to be pulled in by mentions of the grotesque and macabre, or by descriptions of beautiful men and women and scenic locales?

This seems like common sense, but you’d be surprised how easy it is to forget. More than once I’ve tried to interest people in my stories who are more fans of Parks & Rec or Ten Things I Hate About You than serial killers or the demonic. Sure, occasionally you find people who step out of their comfort zones and will read your story, but they’re a minority.

So, identify your niche and what’s likely to get them interested. You’ll save yourself a lot of trouble (and a few business cards) if you do.

And third, talk to your network. I’m not saying ask every Facebook friend to read your book. That doesn’t work, believe me. But most likely you know other authors whom you can ask for tips. They probably know quite a bit about finding your audience and getting them interested, or where to send your book for a possible review, or a hundred other ways to market your story.

And even if you don’t know other authors, there’s likely someone in your circle who knows a bit about business or marketing. After Rose was accepted for publication, I actually called up and met with a friend who’s been involved with a number of successful start-ups. He gave me some solid advice for reaching readers which I tried to keep in mind when I started the marketing machine for Rose.

No matter who you work with though, make sure to take down notes so you can refer back to them later. After all, it may take a long time between when you ask and when the book gets out there. Believe me, I know (fifteen months between acceptance and release).

Write advice down, or there’s a chance what you’ll learn will be forgotten later on.

So now this post is getting a bit long, I think I’ll cut it off here. Suffice to say, before you even start the marketing, there’s a lot of things to keep in mind and to work on. However, they’re part of a successful start to getting your book noticed by more people than your mother and a few friends. And once you have those down, you’ll have the start to your marketing plan.

That’s all for Part 1 of this series. Next time I’ll talk about more concrete tactics. In the meantime, you have until October 16th to submit questions to ramiungar@ramiungarthewriter.com for an AMA in honor of this blog’s eighth anniversary. Ask me (almost) anything about writing, horror, Rose, or myself and if I get enough responses, I’ll be happy to answer them in a special blog post.

And if any of this gets you interested in reading Rose, I’ll include the links below. And if you do read the book, let me know what you think. Positive or negative, I love reviews and it helps me in the long run.

Until next time, Followers of Fear, pleasant nightmares!

Rose: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada

Rose: The Author Copies Came In!!!

Posted: July 26, 2019 in Living and Life, Novel
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I have been unusually quiet on the blog lately (at least by my standards). I bet you thought I was busy writing that whole time. I’m sorry to disappoint, but I actually had a writing-sparse week. Work got crazy on some days, and on other days my attention was taken up by other things, which left no time for writing. I hope I can rectify that this weekend, but we’ll just have to see how things shake out.

In the meantime, let’s talk about why you clicked on this post: today, the author copies of Rose I ordered arrived. Yeah, about forty copies of the book, all in one giant box that my rental managers warned me might be too heavy to carry and that I might need a shopping cart to get it to my building. Turns out, it was just heavy enough to give my arms a workout while carrying it, so I wasn’t in too much pain.

I also kind of got a little caught up in the moment, and filmed/posted an unboxing video. For those unaware, an unboxing video is when someone opens up a box and marvels at the content, all while capturing it on video. As ridiculous as that sounds, it’s actually a pretty big thing on YouTube, and advertisers love it. And I was so excited, I just filmed myself opening up the box and uploaded the footage to my own YouTube channel. You can watch it below, if you’re interested.

Yeah, not the best unboxing video on the Internet, but did you expect any different from me? Especially since I wasn’t ghost-hunting while I filmed it or anything like that.

Anyway, I’m very happy these finally came in for me. I have a couple of author events that I’m either already set to attend or working on setting up so I can attend, and I’m hoping by bringing these books along, I can find them some new readers to go home with. This is something I’ve dreamed of doing as a writer, so I’m very excited. Meeting readers in a public setting, signing books, and thanking them for reading my books. It’s the reason we write them in the first place, isn’t it?

Well, that’s all for now. It’s getting late, and I want to sleep like the dead (corpse flies and all). So I’ll just sign off by saying that I hope you get a chance to read Rose in the near future. It’s the story of a young woman who starts turning into a plant creature (and that’s just the start of her problems). It’s a fantasy-horror novel I’ve been working on for almost five years, and now that’s it out, I’m glad to see people are enjoying it.

I’ll include links below for anyone who wants to check it out. And if you do end up getting a copy, I hope you’ll leave me a review letting me know what you think. Positive or negative, I love feedback, and it helps me out in the long run.

Until next time, my Followers of Fear, pleasant nightmares!

Rose: Amazon US, Amazon Canada, Amazon UK

Rose: One Month Since Release

Posted: July 21, 2019 in Novel, Scary Stuff, Writing
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It’s Sunday, July 21st, 2019. Exactly a month since Rose was released to the world. And wow, what a month it has been!

So for those of you who don’t know (and for those who do, feel free to skip ahead), Rose is my fantasy-horror novel, and my first with a publisher. The novel’s description goes like this:

Rose Taggert awakens in a greenhouse with no clear memory of the past two years and, to her horror, finds her body transformed into an unrecognizable form.

Paris Kuyper has convinced Rose that they are lovers and as Paris could not bear for her to die, he has used an ancient and dark magic to save her from certain death.

But the dark magic Paris has used comes at a price. A price which a terrible demon is determined to extract from Rose.

As Rose struggles to understand what is happening to her, she must navigate Paris’s lies and secrets; secrets that Paris will do anything to protect.

I’m still in a giddy state over the novel being out. I started it as a thesis project in college, and while I always thought it had potential, there were several moments where I was sure it was a crap novel and wasn’t going to go anywhere. This was especially true when I did the first round of edits after Castrum Press accepted the novel, and I realized just how much editing and rewriting I had to do.

Thankfully, Rose seems to be doing well now that it’s out. A lot of people have called it “twisty,” “exciting” and “hard to put down.” One guy at work even said he can visualize a movie version (I wish). It makes me glad that I stuck with the book.

And that I came up with an actual marketing plan with this book before it was released. Seriously, I wish I knew how important those were before I self-published my other books. Oh well, at least I know now.

Anyway, if you want to check out Rose, I’ll include the links below. And if you do get a copy, please let me know what you think. Positive or negative, I love feedback and reviews, and they help me out in the long run.

And for those who’ve already read and even posted reviews of Rose, thank you so much. Your support is not only helping me reach more readers, but keeps me going and makes me want to write even more. With time, I hope I can follow the book up with plenty more stories for you to enjoy. But for now, thank you. You have my gratitude for helping me make this dream come true.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. Until next time, pleasant nightmares!

Rose: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada

101 Facts About Stephen King: A YouTube Video I Was Lucky Enough To Sponsor

Posted: July 20, 2019 in Living and Life, Scary Stuff
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It has been difficult beyond belief to keep this under wraps for so long. Hell, I even dreamed about this last night, I was so excited! But today, I can proudly announce that I had the opportunity to sponsor the latest video from YouTube channel 101 Facts, in honor of the release of Rose. 101 Facts puts out a new video each week listing off–you guessed it–101 facts on different subjects, ranging from the latest in movies and TV shows, celebrities, historical events, countries, topics in science and literature, and so much more. And they do it in such a way that’s engaging and hilarious, might I add. At the time I’m writing this, they have over four hundred forty-two thousand subscribers on YouTube, which goes to show how well they’ve been doing with this series.

And I was lucky enough to be able to sponsor their latest video, centered on His Royal Scariness, Stephen King!

Honestly, I’ve been hoping for them to do a video on King since I first became a subscriber to the channel. And when Rose was accepted for publication by Castrum Press and they asked me to start looking into ways to advertise the novel, I knew I should see about sponsoring a YouTube channel, as other brands have done that very successfully. And 101 Facts was at the top of the list of YouTube channels to inquire working with, especially if I could do it on a subject I love.

It took A LOT of emails, but Stephen King was available as a subject, and after a few more questions and emails, we struck a deal. The results were uploaded today, “101 Facts About Stephen King,” which at the time I’m writing this has garnered twenty-three hundred views within a few hours (for context, the video on my YouTube channel with the most views has forty-one hundred views, and that took over a year to achieve). And if you’re interested in watching the video, you can watch it on YouTube (perfect for liking and commenting on the video itself) or by watching the embedded video down below.

I would like to thank the crew over at 101 Facts for agreeing to work with me and make this happen. The final result is freaking amazing, and I love it so much. I’m looking forward to bragging about it on Monday at work. And I hope someday, depending on what I publish in the future and what you guys release in the future, we can do it again. After all, neither of us will ever run out of subjects to write stories or make videos about, will we?

And to the people reading this post, I highly recommend you watch the video if you haven’t already, and maybe consider supporting 101 Facts with a subscription. As this video evidences, they put out great content, and it’s always nice to support creative types by supporting their work.

Speaking of which, if you’d be interested in checking out my novel Rose, I’ll include the links below. Rose is a fantasy-horror novel follows a young woman who starts turning into a plant creature (and that’s just the start of her problems). In the past month since it’s release, it’s gotten a lot of positive feedback, and I’m eager to introduce it to more and more people. And if you do end up reading it, I hope you’ll be kind enough to leave me a review letting me know what you think. Positive or negative, I love feedback, and it helps me out in the long run.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. I’ll probably have one or two more posts out very soon, so keep an eye out for those. In the meantime, I’m off to take care of some things that need doing before the end of the weekend, including something that terrifies even me: cleaning my apartment!

Until next time, pleasant nightmares!

Rose: Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada

Rose: Ten Reviews on Amazon!!!

Posted: July 11, 2019 in Novel, Review
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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All you measly humans, fall to your knees! Scream in awe and horror! Get out the beer and ice cream! In less than three weeks, Rose has attained ten reviews on Amazon!

Well actually, eleven reviews. Across Amazon’s American, Canadian, and British sites, the majority of which are on the American. But I’m making a big deal out of it anyway.

So if you have no idea what I’m going on about, well first off, you must be very new here. Welcome to the blog and to the Followers of Fear. I hope you have a scary good time with us. Second, Rose is my fantasy-horror novel which was released three weeks ago by Castrum Press. It’s my first book with a publisher (I’ve self-published previously), and is the result of about five years of work, starting in college as a senior thesis. For what it’s about, here’s the back cover blurb:

Rose Taggert awakens in a greenhouse with no clear memory of the past two years and, to her horror, finds her body transformed into an unrecognizable form.

Paris Kuyper has convinced Rose that they are lovers and as Paris could not bear for her to die, he has used an ancient and dark magic to save her from certain death.

But the dark magic Paris has used comes at a price. A price which a terrible demon is determined to extract from Rose.

As Rose struggles to understand what is happening to her, she must navigate Paris’s lies and secrets; secrets that Paris will do anything to protect.

I’m over the moon that so many people have read the book and left reviews. Not only are reviews great ways to give writers such as myself feedback on what worked and didn’t work, but it’s also a great way to let other readers know if a book is worth their time. And apparently a lot of people think this novel was worth their time.

And what reviews, too! Author of the Portia Adams mystery novels, colleague and friend Angela Misri posted this on Amazon Canada:

Rose is one of those characters (like Carrie in Stephen King’s book) who pulls you into the story, wrapping herself around you, making it impossible to stop reading.

Being compared to Carrie. I consider that an honor.

On the British version, this anonymous Amazon customer left this review (which has been shortened to avoid spoilers):

This is my first encounter with Rami Ungar, and, I must say, it was an enjoyable one. The story gets you hooked right from the beginning and it doesn’t loose much steam all the way through. I liked the rhythm of the story – it’s alert, spot on, with very few dead moments. If you like slow burning, atmospheric novels, then this is definitely not gonna be up your alley.

The story itself isn’t something new, but it’s well written and very easy to follow. If you’re not a native English speaker, you will read this book with flying colours, as the author tends to use a simple and concise wording, avoiding obscure idioms or long poetic metaphors.
The story is not extremely gory like in a Serge Brussolo one, nor is it a contemplative one, like in a Michelle Paver one -I’d say it’s somewhere in the middle, with a few good twists and surprises. Characthers development is quite good, and by the end of your reading you’ll really root and feel for Rose.

And on the American website, the reviews have made my heart warm, my horns sharp, and my wings unfurl. Here’s what people are saying:

This book starts with a surreal quality (I mean, human-plant thing, hello!), but even in the midst of that bizarre stuff it’s easy to follow. The protagonist, Rose, is turning into a rose. I kept thinking, “Oh, the poor woman!” And then the story turns into something so scary that I kept holding my breath as I was reading.

PROS:
The tension between Rose and Paris (and between other characters, too) kept me turning pages.

There is a disembodied laugh in the second chapter that ignites a mystery, and the mystery isn’t solved until almost the end of the book. It’s sort of a B-story, but more like a layer of the main story. I loved this added complexity to the plot.

The fight scenes are excellent! They are well-written, easy to picture, and full of excitement.

And then there’s the twist that I should have seen coming but totally didn’t. Fabulous fun.

CONS:
The book has a fem-lit overtone having to do with how men are supposed to treat women in relationships. Rose’s thoughts got a little preachy on the matter, so I took off half a star for that.

There are a few typos, like calling Chrissy “Christy” later on, and Paris comes out “Pairs” once. But the typos are few and far between and didn’t affect my reading experience. I didn’t take off any stars for this.

OVERALL:
Rose is a fun, scary, and crazy-imaginative book. I super enjoyed reading it. 4.5 stars!

–Priscilla Bettis

Rami Ungar’s Rose is frightening from the first sentence. He creates a world of steadily deepening terror, built not just on power, but on deception and mind games. Ungar is a smart writer who isn’t afraid to leaven the darkness with wit, and the book’s plot gallops along beautifully. No wonder so many reviewers call it a page-turner. It’s irresistible to see what will come next, and always a surprise.

–June Star

This short novel starts off as if in a bad dream. Unfortunately for our main character, Rose, everything is all too real. The ancient spell that saved her life also changed her body from human to a trans-humanoid-rose. Getting back her memory and trying to remember her love and relationship with her savior, Paris, is the least of her worries. The real threat is yet to come and what will Rose do to overcome it?
The book was a page turner for me and one I didn’t want to stop reading. I liked the challenges that Rose faced. Rami was clear with his settings and situations. His characters had depth. The Japanese gods and demons concept was refreshing and deliciously twisted.
I like that this is a stand alone novel. (I am sick to death of series.) It’s a good read and I would read this author again.

–a girl is not no one

This is a solid novel. It’s always entertaining and surprising. The premise reminds me of Kafka and the book never fails to deliver the ups and downs of the protagonist while moving a solid plot forward. Enjoy!

–Hernan

I could go on, but I doubt you would keep reading if I kept tooting the proverbial horn.

Suffice to say, I am so thankful for so many people leaving their reviews on Amazon (and on Goodreads, but I’ll post about that another time). It means a lot to me that you’re enjoying Rose and are willing to spread the word about it. I can only hope that more people will check out the book soon and maybe give their own thoughts on the novel.

If you’d like to check out Rose on any of these sites, or just read a short excerpt, I’ll post the links below. And as always, thanks again for following and supporting me. I couldn’t do it without you. Until next time, my Followers of Fear, pleasant nightmares!

Rose Excerpt

Amazon US

Amazon Canada

Amazon UK

Goodreads

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