Writing A Novel: Getting A Literary Agent

I've made a big decision about my latest manuscript: Before self-publishing this book, I'd like to see if I can get an agent -- and get my book published in a traditional venue.

I think I've written about this before, but just to recap, I've been through this process twice. In 2003, I received offers from two agents who were interested in representing BAND GEEK (at the time, I was calling the book WHO'S ON FIRST? because of the narrator's fight for first chair flute). I signed on with the bigger agent, who was based in New York City and had many connections. She was a wonderful agent; she helped me fix some major problems in my book and stuck with me for a couple of years. Two publishing houses came close to buying my book, but no dice, so my agents and I parted ways. Yes, I was basically dumped -- but I have absolutely no hard feelings. Business is business and she really took a chance on me. How can I be angry about that?

A few years later, my husband and I came up with an idea for a quirky travel guide. Again, we managed to get an agent and she sent our outline to about 20 publishing houses. The editors loved our work and were ready to buy it. I really got my hopes up and thought that there might even be a bidding war... but this time, it was the marketing people who canned our idea. They couldn't figure out where our guide would be placed in the bookstore because it combined several genres.

It was at this point that I became very jaded about the publishing industry. Then I broke my leg and got into making jewelry ... but that's a whole other story! Anyway, by 2012 -- 10 years after I'd written BAND GEEK -- I just wanted to put my writing out there and chose to self publish. I'm so happy I did so, too. I have all the respect in the world for independent authors. There are many talented writers whose work "doesn't fit" in the traditional publishing world, for whatever reason; sites like Amazon and Smashwords are giving them the opportunity to share their writing. Completing a book is difficult enough, but I've found that it's even harder to have to market your own work. I'm still learning how to do that.

I've always dreamed of seeing my book in a book store, though. I realize that the publishing industry is changing, but I'd still like to take a shot at having someone like my work enough that they actually want to pay me an advance (even if said advance is only three figures) and help me sell my book. This is why I'm going to see if I can get an agent for my latest ms. Third time's the charm, right? I have nothing to lose; if I don't find an agent or my book isn't sold to a publishing house, all I have to do is publish it on my own. Either way, I win.

Right now, I'm editing my work and hope to send it out to agents some time next month. Meantime, please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Getting Back Into Blogging

It's been a really long time since I've blogged about my writing, but all has been well. My jewelry businesses, Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations, have really taken off in the past few months. I've also been busy at work finishing up the first draft of Novel No. 2. So a lot has been going on.

I'm really pleased with how Novel No. 2 is turning out. My draft ended up being over 100,000 words, so it's longer than BAND GEEK. It's also a bit more mature and intense. My writer friend Amy did a read on it and made some great suggestions -- and says that she likes it more than BAND GEEK. I'm also having another friend do a professional edit of my work. With BAND GEEK, I had some people note editing errors and typos and I want to make sure that this doesn't happen with the new book.

I'm not exactly sure when the new book will be available. I'm waiting for my friend to finish her edits, which is taking longer than we both anticipated. Still, I figure that the more time that's put into it, the better. I don't want her to rush through it. I'm hoping to have it ready by the spring. I feel like the story is very tight and focused; it's just a matter of rewriting some scenes.

I plan to do another virtual book tour and place my book on Amazon Kindle. However, I think that I'm going to try some other author outlets, as well. I want to try Smashwords and see if I can get some sales in other venues.

I'll admit, I've been kind of lazy about promoting BAND GEEK, but I only have so many hours in the day and I wanted to devote my time to finishing my book and promoting my jewelry. It's no surprise then that sales haven't been so great. The good news is, I've gotten some nice reviews on Amazon, so I at least know that my story is entertaining some readers. For the most part, I've been trying to stay away from reviews, but it's hard to resist reading them when you find out that someone gave your book five stars.

This year I'd like to see if I can regain some of the publicity I lost. I have to give credit to those self-published authors whose e-books become best sellers. You not only need a good story and great word-of-mouth, but you have to put in a LOT of work to keep readers' interested. Those authors are constantly on Facebook or Twitter, or in the Goodreads forums... and frankly, I don't know how they do it! They really work for their success and understand the business side of writing.

Meantime, I'm going to update this blog more often, at least once a week. Be sure to check out my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD on Amazon.

Publishing A Novel: Hiring A Professional Editor

This morning, I got a three-star review for BAND GEEK. That isn't too bad, but the reader did have some hurtful things to say about my work. She felt that my basic story -- bad boy grows close to misfit girl -- was "stereotypical" (as Josh would say, it's not a cliche, it's a classic).

She went on to say that she didn't think that my story is memorable and that a week from now, she'd mainly remember the cover (hey, at least she liked something, right?). But what I find interesting is that this woman, who says that she wasn't moved by my work, wrote the longest review I've ever seen! Seriously, it goes on and on for about eight paragraphs and is easily 1000 words. She wrote a freakin' thesis explaining why my book is mediocre ... so obviously, it did mean something to her, right?

Anyway, I don't agree with most of her criticisms, but one thing she does nail me for is typos. I've had a few readers complain about this (though most have not), so I've decided to hire a professional editor to help me put together my next book. I'm willing to own up to my mistakes and clearly I need an extra professional eye to catch typos and help me with formatting. I really worked hard to make BAND GEEK as clean as possible and had several people read it over for me, but I obviously need more help. I'm not embarassed to admit this; writers who are published by big houses have editors go through their books, so why shouldn't I? If all goes well and she does a good job, I may hire her to fix up BAND GEEK, too. Then I can promote both books at once.

I'm still proud of BAND GEEK, especially since it's my first novel. I love my story, even if it doesn't appeal to everyone's tastes and am using this experience to make my second novel even better. I don't see mistakes as a bad thing; I'm just keeping track so I can learn from them. Meantime, I'm glad that so many people are enjoying BAND GEEK.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD. Every critique helps!

Marketing An Indie Book: Blog Tour Disappointment

Part of being an indie author means that you have to do your own marketing of your book -- and in most cases, this means putting money into some things.

I don't mind making an investment if I feel as if the cost will be worth it and I realize that with marketing, as with selling most things online, it's kind of a crap shoot. You can pay to have the most popular blog in the world review your work, but that doesn't necessarily mean that people will buy your book. Still, I at least want the services for which I paid to be carried out.

Sadly, this does not seem to be happening with my latest blog tour, which is supposed to be an all-review tour. The first two days went as planned; both blogs had reviews posted right on time. One review wasn't as positive as I'd hoped, but she was what I asked for. That blogger did her job.

Unfortunately, the tour has since fallen apart. One blogger had to postpone her review due to illness. That's fine. I don't expect anyone to work while they are sick and she gave me a new post date well ahead of schedule. But the other two blogs just sort of flaked. One still hasn't posted a review; the other posted a blurb and excerpt, but no review ... which is well, specifically what I paid for.

I want to make it clear that none of my annoyance has to do with the host company. They've been great. They've kept me posted on my tour schedule and have sent me continual alerts about the review (or lack thereof) situation. I know that they've contacted the bloggers to find out what's up.

But I am upset with people for not honoring their commitment and not meeting deadlines. I understand that life can get in the way, that people have jobs, kids, doctor's appointments and a number of other things that can make a schedule crazy. But if you can't get something done on time -- something for which I PAID MONEY -- at least have the courtesy to tell me that you can't do the job.

I do want to say that I'm grateful to the bloggers who've hosted me or have posted reviews of BAND GEEK. Blogging does take a lot of time and it was generous of them to feature me on their sites. I hope that these other bloggers come through in the end and that the rest of this tour goes smoothly. I just want my money's worth and don't think that this is asking for too much.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, 4.5 stars on Amazon, now just 99 cents!

Kindle Direct Publishing: Pricing Your Book

I published my novel with Kindle Direct Publishing almost three months ago, but am still trying to figure out what the best price is for it. Thankfully, Kindle makes it easy to change your book's information, including its price, so self-published authors can experiment and see what readers are willing to pay.

I initially sold BAND GEEK for $2.99 because several other indie pub YA titles that I like sell at that price. However, what I didn't take into account is that these authors are more established than I am and have had their work up on Amazon for a while. Readers know what they're getting with these authors so they're willing to pay a bit more for their work. New authors, like me, still need to prove themselves. That said, I did manage to sell a few downloads at $2.99, but it was mostly to friends and family members. After that, sale died down.

I decided to lower the price significantly and repriced my book at 99 cents. Sales went up tremendously! I guess people are looking for a bargain, especially when it comes to unknown names. I ended up making more on my book at $.99 because I sold so many more copies. I also sold a bunch of books in the United Kingdom, Germany and France.

My last free giveaway was a success and gave my sales a huge boost. It was then that I decided to take a chance and raise my price back up to $1.99. And ... sales went down. I still did alright, but not as well as before. Plus, I didn't sell any copies overseas at that price.

I've kept my book at $1.99 for a few weeks just to see how it would do, but I've now decided to relist it once again at $.99. I'd like to eventually sell my work at a higher price, but as I said, I'm still a new author and I feel like I can make up for the cost with increased volume. It's now so easy for readers to get thousands of free books for their Kindles that I need to stay competitive and remember where I stand. I'm still at the bottom of the ladder in terms of author recognition. BAND GEEK is getting good reviews and readers are enjoying it, but it's not yet a bestseller. Until that time comes, I think I'm just going to keep it at 99 cents.

I'm not epxecting to get rich from my writing. I would like to make some money, but more than that I'd simply like to get my work out there. If pricing my book low is to way to do it -- for now -- then this is what I'll do to reach my goal.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, now just 99 cents!

Seasonal Success

One thing that I've learned from having various online ventures is that sales will ebb and flow according to the time of year. Since I have a few different businesses, each one seems to be peaking at a different time.

My jewelry sites went through a lull at the beginning of November. I was concerned about the sudden drop in sales, but when I asked some people in my jewelry class about it, they shrugged and assured me, "Oh, it's always slow early in the month. Don't worry, things will pick up around Thanksgiving." Sure enough, things indeed picked up around then and Etsy sales have been going really well since (knock on wood). It does make sense when you think about it; in early November, people are probably saving up to purchase holiday gifts and are holding off on spending for themselves. It's around Thanksgiving that the holiday season truly kicks off.

My writing sales also go through waves. I write articles for HubPages and though I make money from that pretty steadily, I always do really well around Christmas. I do have a lot of holiday-themed articles, but I also have articles relating to other holidays and seasons. I guess readers are more interested in finding about Christmas and Chanukah events than say, ones for Mother's Day, so the HubPages holiday season is good to me.

Unfortunately, December is turning out to be a slow month for sales of BAND GEEK. Since this is my first published novel, I'm still learning about the typical yearly sales patterns for books. I was really pleased with sales in October and November. Granted, I was doing the book tour in November, but I continued to sell well for a few weeks after it ended. It was a few days ago that things began to slow down for me. My guess is that with the holidays here, people are shopping, partying, cooking, wrapping presents and decorating their homes -- and aren't really taking the time out to read. What's helping me make sales on Etsy is hurting my book's numbers. I suspect, though -- I hope, anyway -- that once Christmas hits (and people receive Kindles!) my book sales will go back up. Of course, my Etsy sales will then drop, but I already know to be ready for that.

I'm just glad that I have businesses that do well at different times. I love what I do and am happy that I'm finding ways to make my job(s) work out.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Kindle Book Review Feature

As part of my publicity campaign for BAND GEEK, I'm having it featured in The Kindle Book Review site. It seems to be working so far because I've had decent sales today after a bit of a slow-down. Moreover, I love the way the sensationalist tabloid-like headline that they gave to my blurb: "Mel Just Lost First Chair -- And She Wants Revenge!" I'm picturing Zombie Mel coming after Kathy with a chainsaw. It's certainly an attention-grabbing way to advertise my book!

As a journalist, I appreciate that they took the time to come up with a catchy header. I also like that the person who put this together obviously spent a lot of time reading through my blurb, bio and Amazon page to come up with an appropriate ad for me. Thirdly, they link to my purchase page several times throughout the ad. Overall, I'd say that I got my money's worth.

Meanwhile, my blog tour is going strong -- or at least it's supposed to be. So far, a couple of sites have yet to post my guest blog entries on deadline. But I also understand that life sometimes happens and that sometimes people can't get to their computers for reasons beyond their control (massive hurricanes, for instance). So I'm trying to be patient and hope that my posts will appear soon enough. (Update: it was indeed a power outage that prevented my post from going up. But it's up now and I will link tomorrow).

Some people are questioning my decision to pay for publicity, but I believe in that old adage, "You need to spend money to make money." I believe in it to a point, anyway. Obviously, you don't want to go into debt or to spend money on things that won't help your business. But I've learned through my jewelry businesses that you do need to spend at least a little cash to get results. This is why I don't mind too much if I have to pay the registration fee for a craft fair or for some book advertising. I've set a budget for both and see these as worthy investments.

My main goal, of course, is to get my book out there. Slowly, but surely, the word is spreading. I know that it will take time and patience -- and I'm TRYING to be patient, though it isn't always easy!

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Selling A Book On Kindle: What's Working For Me So Far

It's been less than a month since my ebook BAND GEEK became available for purchase on Kindle, but I'm gradually learning what works -- and what doesn't -- when it comes to making sales. I haven't been selling a ton of books, but I've been happy with my results so far. I figure that as my name gets out there and I get better at marketing myself, I'll make more sales. But here's what I've learned so far...

Twitter is way more useful than I'd previously thought. I'm not a huge fan of Twitter. Keeping up with everyone's tweets is exhausting and I only have so many hours in the day. But it HAS helped with sales. Every time I tweet about my book, at least one person buys a copy. Facebook has helped, as well, but mainly as a way to get friends of friends and old classmates to buy. Not bad for a skeptic!

Reviews are an absolute necessity. I now have five reviews on Amazon and a few on Goodreads... and my sales have gone up. At first, I sold a lot of copies because friends and family members were getting my book, but I'm past that point. Now it's strangers buying BAND GEEK. I'd still like to get more reviews, but I'm being patient. I'm thinking of signing up for an all-review blog tour, where I can get some professional reviews. Seems like a good idea.

Blogging is a great way to get fans and readers. I'm sure that this blog has gotten me some sales, as well. The trick is to blog often and keep it interesting. I'm trying to do that! I like to think of this blog as my book's "companion." If people like my writing here, they'll want to check out my book. Make sure to post your blog's entries on Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Goodreads is a great resource and a great way to connect with potential fans and readers. I'm not the best at social networking, but I try to at least rate books and connect a little with my Goodreads friends. I was pleasantly surprised to see how many people have BAND GEEK marked off as "plan to read." This is a site for avid readers so take advantage of that.

THE JURY IS STILL OUT ON THESE THINGS...

I signed up for publicity and advertising campaigns with several sites. One forgot to post my book and ended up giving me two bonus days. We'll see how it goes. With another, I signed up for a three-month publicity blitz. My page is up, but so far, it hasn't seemed to improve sales. Maybe that will take time. My Virtual Book Tour is happening right now. I can't judge that yet because I've only been featured on two blogs to date, but I really enjoyed writing guest blog posts -- so either way, I'm happy I signed up for it!

KDP Select Free Promotion -- I tried this once and sold hundreds of books. It definitely boosted my ranking and made more people aware of my book. But it hasn't brought too many reviews, at least not yet. I know that I need to be patient. I read very quickly and it's not fair to expect that of everyone else. I'll definitely try another promotion to see how that goes. The trick is to plan for it ahead of time and promote it like crazy.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK (AT LEAST FOR ME)

There are several "How To Get Rick On Kindle"-type books out there -- and I've found that they haven't been useful. One claimed that you don't need to social network and suggested some shady practices to get sales. I tried one of the less-offensive practices -- writing a review of another book and linking to mine ... and Amazon didn't like this. It removed my review soon after. Plus, I felt kind of icky doing that. For me, social networking HAS worked and I'm confident that my sales will pick up speed in time. The problem with books like this is that everyone's experiences are different. Marketing for a young adult book is much different than marketing, say, erotica. There are basic things that everyone can do to boost sales, but it's not one size fits all.

THE BIG PICTURE

Overall, marketing BAND GEEK is proving to be a full-time job. It is A LOT of work and I ain't getting' rich. One of my writer friends thought that Amazon does the marketing work for you and was shocked when I explained how much I'm doing on my own. But I am selling books and love that people are reading my work. That's ultimately what I wanr -- to have my writing seen and for readers to hopefully enjoy it! If I have to tweet my brains out to get that, so be it.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Thoughts About Self Publishing And Indie Publishing

When I started writing BAND GEEK in 2002, there was no way that I would've considered self-publishing my novel. At the time, I felt as if that were the last resort, a thing that a "writer" did if his or her work sucked and had no other choice. 10 years later, my very humbled older self knows how much more complicated the situation is -- and readily welcomes the changes that have taken place within the publishing industry.

When it came to getting my work noticed, I didn't do too badly the first time around. I received plenty of rejection letters, but was ultimately asked to sign on with two agencies -- and actually got to be the one who rejected one of them. I signed on with Jean V. Naggar's literary agency and had very high hopes. I was going to sell millions of copies of my book and be rich! BAND GEEK would be made into a movie! I even had an idea of who I'd cast for certain roles. Back then, I thought that a not-so-messed-up Lindsay Lohan would've made a great Kathy.

Well, things didn't work out as I'd hoped. My agent was great. She was very supportive and gave me some wonderful editing notes. She's the one who'd suggested that I change my title from its original name WHO'S ON FIRST? That's when I came up with REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

My manuscript was sent to a dozen houses that handle YA books and it got a lot of positive responses. Most publishers liked my general story. Two houses actually came close to purchasing it, but wanted me to make a few changes. But no one was on board with it 100 percent. Some editors didn't like the beginning. Some loved the opening, but hated the ending. Some thought Melinda was too immature. Some thought that she was too wise beyond her years. I kept making small changes in an attempt to please everyone, but it felt as if I were twisting my book into a pretzel. I was open to constructive criticism; I wanted to make my book as good as possible, but it just wasn't working out. It wasn't just the story that mattered; its earning potential and marketing abilities were also concerns. I wanted to sell that "perfect" story to them, but couldn't figure out how to do so.

Finally, my agent exhausted all of her YA connections and basically dumped me as a client. But I have absolutely not hard feelings. She was just doing her job and had run out of options for me. I was disappointed, but didn't take it personally. As I said, she was great and really encouraged me.

I continued writing for fun and with the hope of finding another agent. Meanwhile, my husband and I came up with an amazing idea for a quirky travel guide. I'd rather not give too much information away because this is something that we're still working on, but we put together an outline and business plan. We then landed an agent (sorry, I forget her name) and she sent our outline to about 20 publishing houses.

The editors LOVED it. They went crazy over our idea and were all prepared to gvive us an advance. I was ecstatic. I seriously thought that our book would be part of a bidding war. Again, my head filled with dreams of riches, best seller lists and all that jazz.

This time, it was the marketing people who hated us. The marketing people! They couldn't figure out where our book would go in a bookstore since it straddled two categories and so they refused to take it. We were so disappointed!

It was at this point that I began to get frustrated with the publishing industry. Don't get me wrong, I think that traditional publishing is still very important. But it felt as if I had to cross one obstacle after another from landing an agent to pleasing the marketing people. Moreover, the number of people whom I was trying to please really isn't that large because the publishing industry is pretty incestuous. It may seem that you have a choice of many agents or editors, but only a certain percentage will even look at your genre. And then there are sub genres within that genre, i.e. "YA Paranormal Romance." In the end, it's only a handful of people who decide your fate. Do they really represent the opinions of the general public?

This is why I decided to become an indie author. Is it because I couldn't get my book sold to a traditional publisher? Yes. I wish it had been sold, but I gave it my best shot. However, the industry has changed and being an indie writer comes with so many exciting possibilities. I call the shots. I get to participate in my cover's design. I get to market my work. I get to plan my book tours and speaking engagements. I get to choose my own deadlines and release dates. I can write my story the way that I want to without having to worry about pleasing anyone else ... except, of course, all of my readers. Which is who we're all trying to cater to in the first place!

That said, I definitely take back any thoughts I ever had about self-publishers being "losers." There's some garbage online, but there are also many, many amazing and talented authors, many whom have "unmarketable" stories to tell. I'm so glad that we now have a platform where we can easily share our work.

I still think that there's a place for traditional publishing and I'm curious to see where it heads with ebooks growing more popular. I'm just thrilled that the Internet has provided writers, artists and musicians with so many thrilling opportunities.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, now only 99 cents!

Publishing A Book On Kindle: Finding A Good Editor

When it comes to editing my work, I'm pretty obsessive. At Soap Opera Digest, I'd read over articles multiple times and I did the same with BAND GEEK. And yet, I'm only human. There have been many times where I've read my work in print and have seen typos or have -- gasp! -- spelled an actor's name wrong. Trust me, I beat myself up over those errors; I didn't take them lightly. I'm sure that there are even typos in BAND GEEK. I did my best to catch them all, but no one is perfect.

This is why it's so important to have a capable person edit your work before it goes to print. At the magazine, we had a system of checks and balances where pages would be edited by multiple people. It wasn't 100 percent effective (again, we're all human), but it worked pretty well. For my book, I had several people do reads on it -- but I made sure that these were people who know how to write well and who'd give me an honest critique. Having friends and family read your manuscript is a great way to get some feedback, but it helps to have your work looked over by someone with actual editing skills.

I'm very fortunate in that I know other writers and journalists. My first draft was read by my journalism pal, Marybeth, who went through and commented on every single line. Meanwhile, I had my parents and several friends also look over and comment on it. But Marybeth was the one on whom I counted to offer serious writing critique.

For the next go-round, I had my novelist friend, Amy, go through the book. Marybeth then did another read. Again, they were both very honest and gave me some ideas of things to change.

For this most recent version, I got a nice surprise. Back in January, I received an e-mail from a young woman named Rachael who claimed to be my cousin from my mom's side of the family. I checked it out and she is indeed my second cousin. Turns out that she is also a writer/journalist, who writes personal histories for people. Basically, they tell her their life stories and she puts their history into a book. Her work is amazing.

She and I quickly bonded and she spent a week with us in June. She then graciously agreed to edit this final version of BAND GEEK. I asked her because I knew she'd be thorough and honest. And she was! She gave me such great feedback and had notes on everything from how I could improve certain lines to how I could make Josh and Melinda's relationship work better on paper. I've had many agents critique my work, but her notes rivaled any of theirs.

Not everyone is lucky enough to have journalist friends or a long-lost cousin who happens to be a writer, but you can still find someone capable to edit your book. Perhaps you have a friend who was an English major and teaches a writing course or perhaps you could turn to a former teacher for help. If not, consider joining a writing group or even take a writing class. You could hire a professional editor, but that can be very expensive. Plus, I think it's more helpful to figure out the editing on your own. Marybeth, Rachael and Amy didn't rewrite my work for me. They simply made suggestions and then it was up to me to implement them. A writing class or critique group will be helpful in the same way.

Even with all of this editing, I KNOW that BAND GEEK isn't perfect. I tried. I worked on this novel until my brain felt as if it would explode. Really, all I could do was make it as clean as possible -- and hope that my efforts paid off.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.

Book Recommendation: 6 Seconds Of Life

Being a writer is hard enough. Being an indie author is even tougher because we have to market ourselves. We don't have a publishing house behind us to arrange book tours and interviews, etc. And, as I'm learning, many book review blogs ignore indie authors and will only do write-ups on novels that are published the old-fashioned way.

In some ways, I can understand this. It's so easy to publish on Kindle that anyone can do it -- which inevitably means that there will be some terrible indie books out there. Hell, you may even think that BAND GEEK is one of them, but trust me, there's worse!

Anyway, I'm attempting to start a little project called "Project Pay It Forward." What I intend to do is select and read promising-sounding indie YA books. If I think they're must-reads, I'll post reviews on this site and Amazon. This way, I can help give some publicity to those talented authors who've decided to go solo. I may be only one person and I'm a tiny fish in a huge pond, but I'd like to do what I can. I'm hoping that other indie authors will join me and will help pay it forward by reading and reviewing other great indie books. I'm not asking them to necessarily take a look at mine -- though it would be nice!

The first book that I'd like to share with you is called 6 SECONDS OF LIFE and is by Tonya Fitzharris. In short, it's about a suicidal teen who flashes back on her life while jumping off a bridge. Before she takes that fateful last step, a stranger muses that it takes about six seconds until one hits the water ... hence the intriguing title.

This book blew me away. It was honest, raw and you really felt for the narrator, Maura. In a short time, she deals with her parents' marriage crumbling, a shaky relationship with her first boyfriend and a disastrous freshman year at college. All at lot to take in, especially for someone so young. At times, she was very unlikeable and many of her decisions were questionable. However, she was REAL. Though she was flawed, she was ultimately a good person and I rooted for her to finally come to her senses and look to the future. I really wanted her to succeed.

I especially liked the realistic way in which the author portrayed teen relationships and a not-so-great start to college. Personally, my freshman year at Binghamton sucked. In high school I was always told that things would "get better" in college and I longed for those years. When they didn't get better, and in fact got worse, it was hard to deal with. Fitzharris ably conveys how lost one can feel during this time.

My one minor quibble with the book is that there were a few typos and grammatical mistakes ... but that's another issue that indie writers have to deal with: not always having a professional editor on hand unless you want to shell out big bucks. Overall, thought, I was impressed with this story and encourage you to check it out!

Meantime, please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, now on sale for only 99 cents!