Is it rude to ask?

I'm getting some great star ratings on Goodreads - it really is amazing whenever I see another 5 or 4 star rating. The fact that people are enjoying my books is just wonderful. Of course it won't be everyone's cup of tea (English turn of phrase), especially when some people will just have downloaded it because it was free, so the fact so many of you have is more than I dared hope.

My one plea, as a lowly indie writer is please please leave an Amazon review too. It's really hard to get noticed at all when you are competing with the huge volumes of books out there, plus all the heavyweight authors and their publicity machines. Us little people rely on your word of mouth and reviews to get noticed at all. Hope you don't mind me asking?

Thanks in advance to anyone who does - feel free to connect via Facebook (o.c. Shaw books) or twitter @shawhopeful to let me know if you do.

O.C

Catching my breath

This weekend was amazing.  Seriously amazing.  When you do a free promotion you pray people will give your book a go, but I was seriously overwhelmed at the number of people who downloaded What Goes Around Comes Around.  I am now waiting with breath held to see what those readers think of it.  On the plus side I'm seeing lots of people intending to read Full Circle, so I'm taking that as a good sign.  

Fingers crossed I'll see reviews follow on Amazon and Goodreads.  I'll let you know!

FREEBIE - this weekend only

What Goes Around Comes Around has been available on kindle for free download this weekend.  I have to say, the response has been amazing.  On the plus side I have only ever wanted to get my stories out to people, no easy feat given how choked the market is these days with people self publishing, let alone all the established authors with the weight of the publishing promotion machines behind them.  So it seems to be working - the numbers of downloads have amazed me, particularly seeing my book listed in the top 100 free downloads on Amazon.... Amazing.

On the downside I will now have to face my critics.  Kind of scary.  I really hope people like the story (I particularly hope they like it enough to want to pay for the second and final part of Lily's story - I'm not a complete altruist).  If they don't then I hope I have the strength of character to listen to the constructive criticism and learn from it.  I'll let you know....

Just in case you too like a freebie - here are the links:

 

 

  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D7P8BDI

 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00D7P8BDI

Full Circle finally LIVE!

Full Circle, the second and final part of Lily's story is finally out there.  I now get to hold my breath and hope that people actually like it and approve of the second part in Lily's story.  As ever I'm sure it won't be everyone's cup of tea - I'm trying to focus it to the people who actually like this genre on this occasion. 

I'm already onto my next projects - more updates soon.  In the meantime please do let me know what you think - it's the only way I'll get better as a writer.

Link:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HXHIH2G

Full Circle.. The blurb

Thanks so much for your patience.  Full Circle is nearly ready to go live.  I'm really hoping you like it, and will be excited to hear your thoughts.  In the meantime, here's the blurb to get you in the mood: 

 

Admittedly, misery is a somewhat extreme dieting technique, and everything I read assures me I am likely to puff up like a blood-bloated tick the second I start eating normally again, but hey, I’m willing to take my pleasure where I can find it.

Still emotionally reeling from the cluster bomb fate decided to throw at her love life, Lily is finally shown a lifeline when her book is accepted for publication.

Cast into an unfamiliar world following the novel’s success, Lily knows she has almost everything she could ever want – except love.

Why can’t I move on, Annie?

Still haunted by dreams of her abusive husband and her dishonest lover, Lily longs to move forward and learn to love and trust again, but karma still has some surprises in store.

Karma can be a bitch, and you can expect at some point she will come back to bite you.

As her old life blends with new, Lily faces yet more choices in her quest to find her happy-ever-after.