Last week, I marked three years of blogging on WordPress, and decided to hold a sale: all e-books of Snake, Reborn City and The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones cost only $0.99 to download from Amazon or Smashwords. Today is the last day to download those books, so if you’re looking for something new to read and have an e-reader and you don’t mind a little terror or some violence, now’s a good time to check out my books.
And if you decide to check out my books and you find the time to read them, please take the time to let me know what you think of them. You can leave a comment on a related post, or you can write a review on the book’s page on Amazon or Smashwords (whichever you downloaded the book from). Positive or negative, it doesn’t matter, I love getting feedback on my books. So please, let me know.
That’s all for now. I’ve got a big day ahead of me, so I’m going to get right to it. Have a wonderful weekend, my Followers of Fear.
Last night while I was out seeing Guardians of the Galaxy (which was a great film, by the way), a new review of Snake was posted on Amazon. I’m very excited and happy for this review, because reviews let me know what the readers think of the book and gives me feedback on where I can improve with the next book.
Today’s review comes from Gefilte63, which means it’s from my dad. Now before you roll your eyes and think to yourself, “Obviously he gave his son a glowing review”, I think you’ll find my dad can be quite the book critic (and critic of a bunch of other things, but I’ll save that for my stand-up comedy act). His four-star review, which he entitled A great story, a real page turner, goes like this.
This novel is a much easier read than the author’s last effort. It is a great story that keeps you wanting to see what happens next; it reads like an action/thriller movie.
Areas for improvement would include better editing. At times there is too much conversation where it isn’t necessary. Also a few plausibility issues but overall a great read!
Okay, remember when I said reviews give me feedback on where I can improve? Well, apparently I need to do a better editing job next time around. And apparently there are plausibility issues (I’m thinking he’s talking about parts in the latter half of the book), so I’ll try and make sure that’s less of a problem in the future (though if I could point out, sometimes a lot of things in life are implausible but are reality nonetheless. I mean, have you seen our gun situation?).
Anyway, I would like to thank my dad, Rabbi Michael Ungar, for taking the time out of your busy schedule to not only read Snake but to write a review for it. I hope in the future you continue to read, enjoy, and review my books.
If you would like to learn more about Snake, you can check out the page for Snake or you can check it out on Amazon and Createspace. And by the way, this week until August 9th, all e-books of my work, Snake included, are only $0.99 when you download them. So now’s a great time to check them out!
And I’ll be seeing about getting my books onto other formats like NOOK and iTunes soon, so stay posted for information about that.
Well, that’s all for now. I’ve got some work to take care of, so I’m going to get on that. Have a good day, my Followers of Fear!
Before you read anything else, just check out this video below.
Now that you’re either laughing yourself silly or wondering what the hell that was,I want to say something important. Three years ago, in a library down the road from where my mom lived, I decided, after much thought, to go on WordPress on create a blog. I didn’t know what would happen. Heck, I didn’t even really know what I was doing! My whole first post, and the first few that came after it, had lower case titles! I had no idea what the difference was between a page or a post, and I did not have categories for the first few posts. It took me even longer to figure out what tags were and why they were so important.
But I learned. I kept blogging. At some point within the first few weeks, I started gaining followers. Just one or two, but they stuck around. I gained more followers. I blogged more and more regularly, finding excuses to publish posts. I tried not to get discouraged when days or weeks would go by and I’d have only one or two views in that entire period. I made more friends, got several new followers, published three books, started writing for Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors, went abroad, wrote two more books that need to be edited as soon as possible, began work on a thesis, and survived three years of college. And these days, I average at least nine views a day, which makes me plenty happy (I love knowing people are checking out my work)!
You want to know something? I still have no f**king idea what makes a good blog post. I’m not kidding. Every time I think to myself “People are going to want to read this” , or “This could get Freshly Pressed with the right tags” or even “This probably won’t be one of my more popular posts”, more often than not I get surprised. Just the other day two of my posts got more views than I expected. I was like, “Say what?”
Anyway…
A lot has changed in three years. Not just me, though I’ve definitely grown a bit and maybe have gotten some nicer glasses. Basically I’ve grown a nice following. At the time I’m writing this, I’ve got 24.459 views, 1,922 comments, at least 1500-1800 likes (they stopped notifying me of likes after I passed 1337, but I guess-timate it’s around the range I quoted), and 645 followers. I also have 121 followers on my Facebook page and 66 followers on my Twitter feed. I’m very happy that all this has happened (especially the Facebook page and Twitter feed, I’m really surprised that anyone are into those).
So in honor of this great occasion, I’m announcing a week-long sale. From August 2nd to August 9th, all my e-books on Amazon and Smashwords are available for $0.99 to download. So if you’d like to read my books at a discount rate, now is the opportunity to do it. Just type my name into either website, and you’ll find my work. And if you do decide to read any of my books, please let me know what you think once you finish them. A comment or a review, positive or negative, I’d love to know what you think. Just as long as you’re not trolling me or anything. I’d hate that.
And if you see a different price than what I quoted online, check back later. The websites can act funny sometimes.
That’s all for now. I’ve got work to do, so I’m going to do it. Have a great day, my Followers of Fear!
I’ve just released my most recent article on Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors. This one is about ACX, a service from Audible and Amazon that allows you to meet producers for audiobooks and turn your book into one. I thought it’d make for an interesting article, so I did some research, trolled their website several times, and made a few phone calls to the company itself to get some questions answered. What I ended up getting is one of my lengthiest articles, but hopefully also one of my best.
If you would like to find out more, click here to read the article. And if you want to, please check out the rest of the website. Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors is a website by self published authors to make indie publishing easy and cost efficient. Check it out if you are or are interested in becoming a self-published author. You never know what sort of helpful article you might come across.
And before I forget, I’ve got a question: how many of you would be interested in buying an audiobook version of one of my books? And how much would you be willing to pay to purchase an audiobook version if one were available? Just chucking that question out there for anyone interested.
That’s all for now. Have a great day, my Followers of Fear! I hope to have one or two more articles out soon, so keep your eyes peeled for them.
I swear, unless there’s a review, this’ll be the last post I write about Snake for a while. I know by now some of you are so sick of hearing about it you want to strangle me, but hey, I’d be remiss in my job as an author if I didn’t do my fair share of advertising for my books. And the one month milestone is pretty big.
For those of you who aren’t aware, Snake is my second published novel, and my third published book overall. It follows a young man whose girlfriend is kidnapped by mafioso after she overhears something she shouldn’t. In order to get her back, this young man becomes the Snake, a serial killer who takes his cue from techniques used by the Russian mafia, and starts hunting down members of the family who kidnapped his girlfriend in order to find her. He will go to any lengths to get her back, including becoming a worse monster than the ones he is hunting.
I’m very happy with how this book’s been doing during its first month. I’ve had plenty of people checking it out, including two people from England and Germany who downloaded e-books within the past week (first time that I can remember having someone from outside of North America checking out my work). And I even got my first review on Snake, from fellow author and good friend Angela Misri. Here’s what she had to say on Snake in her four-star review:
Rami Ungar makes a promise to (the reader) in all his writings: he WILL scare you, and if he does “his job is done.” Snake will scare you. I am a huge Stephen King fan, so this should give you some idea of my tolerance level for gore, death and mayhem – I was scared. Rami takes you into places you would never have believed possible, and manages to pull his hero (and eventually his heroine) out of them against all odds. If you like to be scared. If you LOVE to be scared. You should read this book.
Considering that I’m a huge fan of Stephen King and I got favorably compared to him, this is probably one of my favorite reviews of all time. And I hope it leads to more people giving it a chance and checking it out.
If you’d like to get a copy of Snake, you can follow this link to Amazon and check it out (though I will be uploading it onto other sites soon). And if you like or hate it after reading it, please don’t hesitate to write a review and let me know what you think. I love feedback, positive or negative, so if you have some for me, please don’t hesitate to share it with me.
You can also check out the page for Snake here for excerpts and more information, if you wish.
That’s all for now. I’ve got a few things to take care of this morning before work, so I’m going to get on that. Have a great day, my Followers of Fear.
If you haven’t heard yet, Snake‘s e-book is only on sale for a few more days, until July 7th. After that there won’t be any more sales for a while…no, wait. The Quiet Game‘s one-year anniversary is ten days later. Never mind.
But yeah, Snake‘s e-book will only stay $1.99 for a few more days, so if you’re interested in reading the book one author compared to a Stephen King novel, now’s the best time to check it out. All you have to do is head to Amazon, and from there it’s easy to obtain the story of how one young man is willing to become the most horrific of killers in order to save the woman he loves and bring his enemies down to their knees.
Have a great weekend, everyone. I hope to have a review out tomorrow night on the new horror movie Deliver Us From Evil, so stay tuned for it. I hear it’s going to be great.
I’m going to be perfectly honest: I nearly jumped out of my chair when I saw Snake had its first review. The only reason I didn’t was because my computer was in my lap and it’s not even six months old yet. It’d be a pain in the butt to get it fixed because of some well-deserved excitement.
Anyway, back on point: Snake received its first review, from fellow author and dear friend Angela Misri, who helped with the editing and sprucing up of Snake prior to publication. She named her review If you LOVE to be scared, you should read this book, and gave Snake four stars out of five. Here’s what she had to say:
Rami Ungar makes a promise to (the reader) in all his writings: he WILL scare you, and if he does “his job is done.” Snake will scare you. I am a huge Stephen King fan, so this should give you some idea of my tolerance level for gore, death and mayhem – I was scared. Rami takes you into places you would never have believed possible, and manages to pull his hero (and eventually his heroine) out of them against all odds. If you like to be scared. If you LOVE to be scared. You should read this book.
Okay, any review with me and Stephen King, and even being scarier than him, makes it onto my list of favorite reviews of all time. And I’m glad you found it terrifying, Angela. There were times I wanted to hold back on how terrifying to make the story, and I’m glad I didn’t. And I’m glad you gave Snake such a strong recommendation. Coming from you, it is a really huge compliment.
If you would like to read Snake after reading that review, you can check it out on Amazon, both in paperback and in e-book (which until the 7th is on sale for $1.99, so now’s a great time to get it). If you do decide to get Snake and end up reading it, please let me know in a comment or in a review on Amazon what you think. Good or bad, I love feedback, and I would love to hear yours.
And while you’re at it, you should also check out Angela’s book Jewel of the Thames, which I’ve reviewed here. It’s a great mystery in the style of Sherlock Holmes (in more ways than one), and great for mystery lovers. Check out her blog for details, which I’ve left a link to above.
That’s all for now, I’m off to get some more writing done before the evening’s done. Have a good night, my Followers of Fear.
Ten reviews. I’ve never gotten ten reviews on a single book before. I only have three right now, but still, this is a major milestone that I’ve been hoping would happen for a long time. And today it finally happened.
The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones was my first book, a collection of short stories I wrote and assembled while still working on the final draft of Reborn City. By far it’s also my bestselling book, which doesn’t surprise me considering that it’s my oldest book and I’m still very early in my writing career. It’s taken nearly a year for it to get to ten reviews, but I’m so glad that it finally did. This one comes from reader kimberly brouillard, who named her review liked this book a lot and gave The Quiet Game four stars out of five, bringing the book’s average to a 4.3 out of 5. Here’s what she had to say:
All of the stories were really diverse and fun to read. I also enjoyed the authors blurbs about each stories origination and development. Keep up the good work!
Thank you kimberly, I’m glad you enjoyed the book. And I’ve got two more if you want to read either of those, one sci-fi and one thriller. I’m also very glad to you and all those who provide feedback on my work. It’s very touching and it means a lot to me, because it shows where I’m doing well and where I could stand to improve. And this early in my career, I’m sure there’s spaces and places to improve.
If you would like to read The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones, you can find it on Amazon and on Smashwords. And if you do decide to get a copy and read it, please let me know what you think in a comment or in a review. I love feedback, positive or negative, so I’ll be happy to get yours.
That’s all for tonight. I’m tired, so I’m going to get read for bed and do a little reading. Goodnight, my Followers of Fear. Have some pleasant nightmares.
It’s been two weeks since Snake was published. Still can’t believe it. Just the other day I signed my dad’s copy of it (last I checked though he hasn’t seen the message I left. Abba, please know I meant it as a compliment if you’re not sure what to make of it).
Anyway, I just wanted to remind everyone that today is the last day to purchase the e-book of Snake for only $0.99. From June 25th to July 7th the price will go up to $1.99, and from July 8th onwards it’ll be $2.99 until the next sale. So if you’re interested in reading the e-book, now’s the best time to do it.
And if you prefer print books or you don’t have an e-reader, the paperback is at last check $10.37. I’m not sure what algorithms Amazon uses to control its paperback prices, but if you would like to purchase the paperback, it just got a bit more affordable over the past couple of days.
If you want to check out Snake, you can visit its Amazon page or you can see its page here on the blog. And if you end up getting Snake and reading it, please let me know in a comment or in an Amazon review what you thought of it. Positive or negative, I always enjoy feedback, so please let me know if you liked Snake, or if you thought certain aspects could be improved, or if you were mad that there wasn’t a character who smoked in the story (apparently some people will give lower grades to books depending on minute stuff like that. I don’t know anyone like that, I’ve only heard, but apparently they’re out there).
Have a great day, everyone. I hope to have another blog post out soon. Keep an eye peeled for it, and thanks for checking Snake out. I really appreciate it.
It’s been one week since my sophomore novel (I believe that’s the technical term, anyway), Snake, has been released. I’ve heard from people who have gotten their copies already or are planning on getting their copies as soon as possible. It’s very exciting to find out all these people want to read Snake, and I’m hoping that as time goes on, more people will want to read about the young man who, in order to save the love of his life, becomes a serial killer and starts hunting down the very people who hold his lover hostage.
If you wish to check out Snake, it’s available on Amazon. The print paperback’s price has gone down a bit, so it’s a bit more affordable right now should you want to read it. And of course, the e-book is available to read as well, and the price will remain at $0.99 until next week, so now’s a good time to download it if you wish.
And if you do decide to read Snake, please let me know what you think of it once you do. I love feedback, whether it’s positive or negative, so please don’t hesitate to tell me your honest opinion of the book.
All for now. Ill have plenty to write on later, so I’ll try to do that later today. If you would like to find out more about Snake, you can click here or watch the book trailer below. Have a good one, my Followers of Fear.
Rami Ungar The Writer 