This is an unofficial video review of “Kick” by someone who may or may not be P.T. Hylton, author of “Regulation 19” (hypothetically). I hesitate to post this on my so-called “blog” for fear drawing the attention of certain dangerous elements in the spooky regions of cyberspace. If you watch this video, be sure to wear headphones so nobody can hear it. It’s very hush hush…
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I woke up this morning to polish off the last 500 or so words in this week’s word count (and then some), when I came to a rather profound and marvelous conclusion — the Awesome Indie Project is officially a success. Since the project began, there have been a number of cool developments.
More about Carol Kean: all the indies now have Vine Voice Amazon reviews, and five have Goodreads reviews from her, and she regularly tweets and facebooks about these authors. Important note: I did NOT solicit her reviews. She discovered them after reviewing my book and following me to my blog. This is one of the amplification effects of indies banding together.
Here are Carol Kean’s Amazon reviews:
Carol Kean’s Perhehelion SF reviews:
Carol Kean’s Goodreads reviews:
The project started out with a post at the beginning of the year, which I eventually made a permanent tab at the top: https://john-l-monk.com/2014/02/14/indie-readingsupport-project/
In this post, I’d tasked myself with reading more indie books, hunting for those gems in the stacks at Amazon that were particularly glittery and bright (to me, of course — this is all very subjective stuff). I then laid out the ground rules for getting onto the Awesome Indie list.
As of today, I’ve found 6 Awesome Indies and posted about their inclusion to the list (look under ‘categories’ on the left side to see all posts that I’ve tagged ‘Awesome Indies’). All but one author got on the list without knowing I was reading his or her book. For the others, I simply read their books and then asked for permission to list them.
After the indies got on the list, the fun didn’t end there — I tweeted about them, facebooked about them, and badgered them about news on any upcoming books. Every time something big happened in their Awesome Indie lives, I made sure to blog about it and tweet it. In turn, without asking, they promoted the sequel to my first novel “Kick.” Four of them actually beta read it and helped me edit it. Talk about Awesome People.
In addition to the blog, the facebooking, the tweeting, and the emailing, I’ve also gone back to my books “Kick” and “Fool’s Ride” and inserted a page at the back listing each author and their books, and describing the Awesome Indie Project. On November 8th, I have a Bookbub promotion. On November 9th I have an Ereader News Today promotion. Both are free, for “Kick.” It’s my hope that the tens of thousands of almost guaranteed downloads of “Kick” will expose those same readers to these Awesome Indies. I’ve also asked these authors to tell me if they see an uptick in sales a week or so following the promotion.
So there it is 🙂
Filed under Awesome Indies, Indie Publishing, Writing Market
Carol Kean reviews Awesome Indie Harvey Click — please go there and have a look. Be sure to hit ‘like’ and/or reblog 🙂
I have a bone to pick with Harvey Click.
DISCLAIMER: I did not have to read this book. I do not owe any author a review of this book. I don’t know Harvey Click from Twitter. I do know him from Adam, because his name and author bio are right here at amazon.
Here’s another thing: I don’t even like horror stories or movies. And another thing: dozens of authors have sent me books in hopes of scoring a review, and most get buried deep in my Kindle. So how did this book rise to the top of my queue without any pleading or nudging from anyone?
“Demon Frenzy” popped up in the Free Today list from Kindle. The cover is grotesque: 
I wouldn’t even have read the synopsis, but my peripheral vision and speed-reading skills are so phenomenal,*a sister in search of her lost brother* (Ding! Ding! Ding!) caught fire…
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Carol Ervin’s series on the Awesome Indies continues!
One of the best characteristics of humanity is our desire and ability to create. Another is our willingness to share. Think of that the next time you wonder what the world is coming to.
Every day I’m blessed by the ideas and products of creative people–actors and artists, carpenters, cooks, engineers, mechanics, musicians, scientists, video producers, writers (to name only a few). And though the Internet is used for some terrible stuff, so much that’s good is freely shared via this medium.
Authors are my particular interest in the creative spectrum, especially authors who are doing it all themselves and doing it well. This post continues my investigation of John L. Monk’s “awesome indies.” The subject for today: P. T. Hylton, author of Regulation 19 (at this date 99 Amazon customer reviews averaging 4.5) and the newly-released A Place Without Shadows (If you hurry, you could be the first to review!)
Like so many indie writers, P…
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I read an early copy of this book and was floored — what an incredible sequel in a fun, fascinating series. For those of you who haven’t read book one and would like to know a little more about it, here’s my review: Regulation 19.
Both books are fast reads, and you sort of forget you’re reading a book — which is great, because we all hate books right? 🙂
Haha, kidding (now go buy my books).
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It’s that time again where nobody cares about my blog but me 🙂 Yes, I’ll begin posting my word counts every week, on Sunday, with either a Ralphie if I break 7k words in 7 days, or a Scut Farkus if I don’t. All the editing and post-publication “stuff” is done for Fool’s Ride, and it’s time to keep on keepin’ on. Can’t be a writer if I don’t write, can’t be an author if I don’t auth.
There is no word count for today because I’ve been mostly working out the plot of the next book. However, that still counts as “working on the book” and so my word count this time around is something like “zero.” So here he is, Scut Farkus, in all his yellow-eyed glory:
(he has yellow eyes!)
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Though the cat has been completely scared out of the bag by Carol Kean and P.T. Hylton (thanks!), I still think I should give an official send-off to “Fool’s Ride” — Book Two of The Jenkins Cycle.
Dan Jenkins is back, body hopping a scumbag at a time in his quest for the perfect ride. He doesn’t need much. Premium cable TV, good books, a well-stocked pantry, and he’s set. But the Great Whomever has other plans.
After six months waiting in limbo, Dan catches a ride as a horror novelist whose gruesome stories aren’t just fiction. Later, he hunts a man who’s escaped justice for far too long. Then, in his greatest challenge yet, he strays too deeply into the lives of the people he loves: his most foolish ride of all.
Compelling stuff, hmm? Makes you wanna buy the series for everyone in your address book, hmm? As blurbs go, I was a little worried when I wrote it — I didn’t want Amazon’s staff banning me for unleashing this devastating coupe de plume on their unsuspecting customers. But seriously, imagine if I’d flipped my writery wattage to eleven? Millions of people around the world would go bankrupt overnight from clicking “Buy! Buy!” over and over again. When the dust settled, emergency workers would find them slumped at their computers, exhausted and starved, clicking clicking clicking, staring forever at dark visions none can comprehend. Whew, huh? If you think about it, the world sort of owes me a little. But whatever.
If you haven’t read book one yet, you can find it here: Kick, by John L. Monk. Don’t worry — this blurb has been cleared as safe for most readers.
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Just picked this up for when I finally get time to read something. Incredible deal — 99 cents for 8 books.
Yep, I’m in another great box set with some great authors. I’ve been very lucky to have been part of three of them with author Mark Tufo so far… and hoping we do many more in the future together. But wait… there’s more than just Mark and I to peruse…
First, the latest one… and only 99 cents!
The supernatural comes to life in this limited edition box set. Featuring some of the best names in horror working with some amazing new talent, this collection is full of terror and suspense.
This set includes 10 paranormal stories of ghosts, demons, vampires, shifters, and witches. Grab your copy today. Any paranormal occult fan will love the creatures crawling within Hallowed Horror.
The Spirit Clearing – Mark Tufo
All the Little Children – Christine Sutton
Fangs in Vain – Scott Nicholson
The Unsaintly – Lisa Vasquez
Generation Evil – Eric…
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If you’ve read Part One, great. If not, heads up: Carol Ervin’s doing an amazing little blog series on the “Awesome Indies.”
I absolutely love what she had to say about Lindy Moone. Lindy’s so talented, she makes me wanna just sit down in the street and moan, “Why should I even bother…”
The first “awesome” indie writer John L Monk discovered was Lindy Moone, but I found her first. Among all authors I’ve met in real and online life, I judge Lindy as the most talented and most fearless.
Currently Lindy has set aside writing the sequel to her novel Hyperlink from Hell in order to edit, format and illustrate For Whom the Bell Trolls, which she calls “a charity antrollogy” with contributions from 24 indie authors. Of these writers she says “Some of the authors are well-known. Some are just not well, not well at all. Some are hiding under their beds, or possibly bridges. (Some should be.)”
Did you get that? Editing, formatting, and illustrating–for charity. Plus Lindy selected the contributors, cajoled, critiqued, kept them laughing, and held them together to the finish.
Net proceeds from the sale of this book will benefit Equality Now, an international charity that works…
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Ok, so I was going to do this big shiny post on how the sequel to “Kick” was now for sale, and then a wonderful reviewer who’s already read a copy published a review on her blog (please go there, witness her heavenly prose, hit ‘like,’ relblog — win millions of karma points).
So yeah — I published the sequel. It’s called “Fool’s Ride” — currently available only on Amazon.
I will write more about it later.
Joy ride, or freaky, creepy carnival ride: come along.
Daniel Jenkins repeatedly returns to earth in human form to atone for his sins and deliver some good old-fashioned, oh, so gratifying, vigilante justice. Fans of Kick (The Jenkins Cycle Book 1) know Dan committed suicide while in college, bleeding all over the bedding of the girl who’d jilted him. Horrors! What in the world could entice me to spend a whole novel in the point of view of a thoughtless, self-pitying loser like Dan? Does the writer even live who could interest me in this guy’s miserable hereafter? Yes, yes, and yes again.
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Fool’s Ride (The Jenkins Cycle Book 2)
Alas, poor Dan. He comprehends the magnitude of his stupid act of suicide. His guilt is so stupendous, he somehow finds himself entering the body of a living human man. What happens to the guy’s soul while Dan…
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John L. Monk 