Tag: bright

Bright, Beyond, and Belief, a dystopian future that seems, um, plausible.

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When I wrote the first draft of Bright the biggest issue in Estelle’s world was the unrelenting Light Pollution, but the story grew, the issues deepened, and by the Trilogy’s last page, Estelle became a strong activist, a brave citizen, a peaceful dissenter, and a powerful revolutionary. Also, and this is a spoiler alert, a thoughtful head of state.

Bright, Beyond, and Belief are novels about a young girl who wants to change everything but doesn’t know how, so she begins with what she can do. She starts a farm. Becomes a rebel. And unknowingly begins a revolution.

In the first book, Bright, Estelle’s world is darker than she imagines:

  • Estelle’s choices are severly limited
  • She uncovers thought control
  • Fear and pressure to submit to the control
  • The right to protest is curtailed
  • The legal system is unfair
  • Imprisonment without due process
  • and still that unrelenting Light Pollution.

 

 

Estelle fought back against the government with:

  • Protest
  • Nonviolent Resistance
  • Freedom of the Press
  • Civil-disobedience and Arrest

To get Estelle released from prison, her friends and family used:

  • Nonviolent action and occupation
  • Pressure within the legal system

In the end she is allowed the Right to Farm. And the skies above her farm are dark. Estelle feels like she has won.

__________________________

In Beyond, Estelle uncovers the depths of the Government’s darkness:

  • The glittery facade
  • Secrets
  • Citizens are disappeared
  • The hidden wrecked environment
  • The opressed workers of the products

Estelle and her friends travel into the Beyonds and fight the power with:

  • Investigations uncovering the truth
  • Exposing the injustices

 

Unfortunately they discover that the government is controlling the citizens through the water supply. In the end she and her friends are banished and are forced to sign away their right to return.

__________________________

In Belief, Estelle and her friends build a resistance:

  • They sneak into the city and stage a giant action
  • They debate the merits of sabotage vs nonviolent action
  • One of Estelle’s followers commits an act of sabotage
  • Estelle accepts the blame and turns herself in. accepting the consequences
  • The people of the city take to the streets.
  • Behind the scenes the government is pressured to step down.

Finally, the government is exposed and overthrown.

 

 

 

Through the stories Estelle is a reluctant leader, an In-Over-Her-Head activist, and a teen girl, who simply wants to see the stars, but in the end she strengthens her family, falls in love, and finds a purpose beyond her original dreams. She becomes a leader who didn’t aspire to the job, but took it because, in her own words, “. . . though almost everyone would disagree—they would be lying—I was responsible for them all.”

It is truly a story for our times, the trilogy may be bought here: 

 

 

 

 

 

The first book, Bright, is now available on audiobook, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

book marketing, experiment #29

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Because book marketing is tricky and what works is constantly changing, I have to be experimental, agile, and forgiving about my misfires. (And there have been many misfires.)

And quite a few lulls.

screen-shot-2016-09-08-at-8-23-57-am

that spike on June 23? It’s a giveaway of about a 900 books. Kicked things into high gear for about a week and then it flattened out again.

So then I was sent a link to this book:

How to Hit #1 in the Amazon Free Store by Jeff Bennington, and I decided to apply his steps. Come to find out that first giveaway, wasn’t big enough. I needed a giveaway that was enormous and would move me up the Amazon rankings. And to do that my friends I would have to spend some moolah.

I set my free days for August 15, 16, 17. At first it was for Bright, then I added Beyond and Belief too. See that negative dip above? That’s probably someone who bought my books saying, hey, what the heck, refunding them and getting them for free instead.

See this graph below? That’s the free books in that first green hump, mid August:

screen-shot-2016-09-08-at-8-40-34-am

First, I asked Bookbub.com to promote my giveaway, they’re expensive, also considered the lead-maker, also too exclusive for my books, they turned me down. So whatevs, this is what I did instead:

  • DigitalBookToday.com ran a free promo for Bright, but then I added the $30 Deal/Book of the Day
  • Booksends.com cost $60 for Bright on August 15th in the Young Adult category
  • FreeBooksy.com cost $75 for Bright in Young Adult on August 16th
  • I asked BKnights@fiverr to run a promotion for Bright on August 15 to 4800 for $5, but to schedule it fast I paid $11
  • Fussy Librarian $5 for a listing for Bright
  • Then on the days of the giveaways I boosted two posts through Facebook.com/hdknightley, they were photo memes and cost $25

I did the math, total: $206

During the giveaway I got to the top of the Amazon Bestseller list for Dystopian (Free books, which is seperate.) for both Bright and Belief, and Beyond was just a page down. I was really psyched.

screen-shot-2016-08-17-at-6-34-48-pm

But I realized I made a mistake. I paid for marketing for the first two days then continued the giveaway for another day with no buzz. That day my book downloads fell off sharply. And then when my books went to full price there were barely any accidental or intentional buys. Oops.

Then it seemed like not much happened for a few days and then this:screen-shot-2016-09-08-at-9-57-58-am

see that rise in the blue? Those are page reads through the Kindle Unlimited program. It took a few days but readers were findng my books. And this happened:

On August 28, Bright jumped to #88 on the Amazon Best Sellers Dystopian Romance paid list. That’s top 100, baby, same list as Divergent. Not overall, but still, so good compared to what came before. And readers read the heck out of my book that week, too.screen-shot-bright-88-dystopian-aug-28

In the three weeks since the Giveaway of Bright, Beyond, and Belief started, I made back $132.49. Not in the black yet, but hey, I’ll let you know how it goes.

I hope that helps you as you strategize and market, I’d love to hear your successes and failures. I’m scoring this a success, though I need another soon.

xox,

H.D.

 

 

 

 

 

 

KindleScout and Beyond

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My book, Beyond, could use your nomination: Beyond (Book Two of The Estelle Series) on KindleScout and if you already have, thank you, heaps.

 

My journey through the world of self publishing has been full of lessons, many difficult lessons. I promise to spend some time writing about what I’ve learned in the near future.

But in the near present, I’ve learned that every time I write a book, (that’s about every 6 months), I’ll need to spend a couple of weeks or more re-learning how to publish and market that book. Things are changing lightning fast. And what worked in February of this year is something totally different in August. It makes things, um, exciting.

In the Spring I came across Kindle Scout, did my research, and passed. I was, on the one hand, happily self-publishing and, on the other, mailing agent queries. I didn’t want or need to enter a popularity contest for a publishing contract. I was above that kind of thing, and uninterested in a third way.

Which is odd for me because ‘third ways’ are kind of my thing.

After the agent queries didn’t work out (I sent an excerpt of Violet’s Mountain, which is AWESOME, yet didn’t even get one response out of twelve. And I’m not talking about positive response, I’m talking about any response at all.) Perhaps it’s my gender? But then again, like a good girl, I’ve hidden my gender behind the initials in my name, right? But not even one response? Not one?

The truth is there are too many books being queried and not enough people to read them all. I get it. The gatekeepers are swamped. They built the gate and it’s too small, so there is a literal chaotic press of people trying to get through. It’s ugly. And so, to deal, agents and publishers create instant biases:

  • “Not interested in more books by women.”
  • “Vampires are so three years ago.”
  • “If the query doesn’t grab me in the first three words, I pass.”
  • “If I read another story about quirky cancer kids I’ll scream.”
  • and lastly, “If the author self-published before, then, of course, pass.”

I revisited Kindle Scout when I finished my sequel to Bright . I was doing my ‘What’s Changed?’ research and this time thought, This is an interesting way to get to the front of the line at that gate.

These are the basics:

Kindle Scout is reader-powered publishing for new, never-before-published books. It’s a place where readers help decide if a book gets published. Selected books will be published by Kindle Press and receive 5-year renewable terms, a $1,500 advance, 50% eBook royalty rate, easy rights reversions and featured Amazon marketing.

There are some great articles about Kindle Scout. My favorite is, Kindle Scout, the pros and cons of Amazon’s new crowd-sourced publishing program I decided I was okay with the cons. And because it’s all one big experiment, why not?

I very much liked this take on Kindle Scout:

We need Kindle Scout to succeed.

If novels presented on the Kindle Scout platform are solely selected as a popularity contest, we all lose. Authors, readers, even Amazon. What we need are active readers selecting those works that are truly deserving of a publishing contract, helping to sift through some of the slush and promote great work and up-and-coming novelists.

I agree—this might be a great way to turn off those gatekeeper biases and help more writing, from more voices, through the gate—by readers vouching for the books they’d like to read.

So if you haven’t yet, please go over to Kindle Scout and nominate my book, Beyond. And while you’re at it nominate a couple of others. It’s fun! And if you nominate a book that becomes published, it will appear (like a miracle) inside of your kindle-reader-thingy. My book *I hope I hope I hope* in your kindle, because it’s published by Kindle Press, and it would all be thanks to you!

https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/AO1R2RI3Q81X
Thanks dear friend for reading all the way to the low down bottom of the page,
H.D.

Beyond is on Kindle Scout!

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I’m attempting to score an Amazon publishing contract for my book, Beyond, the sequel to Bright by joining Kindle Scout.
Beyond-cover

Kindle Scout is a crowd-sourced site.
My book is here: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/AO1R2RI3Q81X

I need my crowd to *pretty please* give me a whole bunch of ‘nominations’ in 30 days. At the end of 30 days, the folks at Amazon will decide whether to offer the author, me, H.D. Knightley, a publishing contract. The idea is to have my book listed as hot and trending as much as possible for the whole thirty days.

So please, take a second and nominate my book, it’s easy. Use your amazon account, or if more than one person in the family wants to do it, *please oh please pretty please*, just sign up a new account to vote. My kids report that it’s very easy to do.

Best part, if I get published, everyone who nominated me will receive the e-book for free.

So it’s kind of like kickstarter-crowd-sourcing-indie-coolness, except I’m not asking you for money, I’m asking you to click a little button so AMAZON will give me money. Awesome huh?

Here’s the link again in case that upper one got by you:

kindlescout.amazon.com/p/AO1R2RI3Q81X

thank you so much, and let me know how it goes in the comments!
H.D.

Violet’s Mountain and Bleak, or Dark or What is it called?

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I’ve got a final read through happening of Violet’s Mountain, but then it’s ready. I’ve decided to pre-order it for release on November 22. If you’re looking forward to seeing it hit the best seller list then hold on. It’s going to be hot. Seriously.

The sequel to Bright is being beta-read by my daughter and a few others. If you are interested in beta-reading (read the book and tell me what you think) contact me and I’ll send you a copy. I’ll thank you in the acknowledgments ;o)

Now, to work on the title…the working title is Bleak, but it’s just not a good word, right?

I want The Cost of a Thing it’s from Henry David Thoreau and yes, in book two Estelle learns that her farm has come at a cost.

Kids want Dark. They think that one word is the way to go. But what about The Dark Edges?

Any thoughts? I’m all ears and beginning work on the cover.

Bright just recieved another review, thank you R.Singer :

Thought-provoking, poignant, and inspiring. A powerful metaphor for our present and future.

And so did Fly, thank you T. Williamson:

My girls and I love this book. It’s a cleverly written magical fairytale. May girls are 11 & 15 years old and way past the Disney princess phase. This book is intelegently written and right up their alley Can’t wait to read Knightlys other books.

If you haven’t written a review yet, and enjoyed the books, could you please head over to Amazon and do do do? Thank you!

H.D. Knightley

Editing and the surprise pen and shower.

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Perhaps the recurring theme of this blog would be, I’m new to this.

It’s been about a year since I began ‘writing’ as a ‘writer’ and about 3 months since I published my first book. A year that was rife with error and missteps. I’m kind of amazed by what I didn’t know at the beginning and what I think I might know now. Of course I may be wrong. I often am.

With the story Bright, I made about 3 editing passes before I thought it was perfect. I passed it to my editor who declared it highly flawed and handed it back. I took a deep breath and gave the book about 4 more passes before handing it back and then a few more for good measure. I then passed it to a friend to read.

There’s a scene in Bright where Estelle is called into the Office to complete a questionnaire so that her future husband can be chosen. I describe the scene thusly:

The Inquiry Room, the first step in every appointment, was sparsely decorated and too cold. My guess is they kept it frigid, so we wouldn’t dawdle or fall asleep. There were four big comfortable chairs at desks with screens. Was the chair we chose part of the test? I chose the one farthest from the door. 
Once seated, my screen flashed a welcome message, “Hello, Estelle Wells, Welcome Back,” and up popped a short multiple choice test… 

Later, Estelle is called into the Office again, to fill out another questionnaire and the receptionist hands her a pen and a paper. Seriously, I had read this book at least ten times and hadn’t noticed. My editor hadn’t noticed (though in her defense there were a ton of other things she was noticing. I assume she would have eventually.) There was a pen where there shouldn’t have been.

It took new eyes to see.

In my new book Fly, I’m writing a fairy tale about a princess who flies and a Kingdom that is having some serious water issues. A young man named Hank lives in the valley and the water is gone. It’s been dammed and is held in tanks and the villagers are sick and leaving and when we meet Hank he  gives water to a friend in need. He’s a fine, upstanding man, kind, generous. Hot. So I read this book about 8 times. I declared it perfect and handed it to a friend to read and give me feedback.

She pointed out that to prepare to go to a party to meet the Princess and tell her about the water issues, Hank takes a shower. A shower. I hadn’t noticed.

It took new eyes.

I guess what I’m saying is learning new things is grand, and perfection is a worthy goal, but pick a friend and ask them to help with it all. And listen to their notes, they have new eyes.

Thank you Denine Dawson, Heather Hawkes, and Deborah Marcus.

 

 

The e-book and my good reads account

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The e-book has a review ;o)

Different and Intriguing YA story  I won’t link to  every review here (and definitely not the poor ones) but it’s my first, so I felt it was auspicious.

My good reads author account is here: HDKnightley  Many of you have already been listed as friends because the kind people of goodreads made it so that I could just link my Facebook account. Alas, the kind people of goodreads haven’t made it convenient for different pen names to be linked. Some of you may be confused by who I actually am.  I’m that lady, who wrote the novel, and once upon the time created comics under another name. That clears it up I’m sure.

 

Print books will be ready this week as soon as Createspace and I figure out what I mean by a full bleed cover.

also, my new book based on The Light Princess is at 45,000 words. I’m calling it Fly.