Book Review - The Crossroads of Time

Happy Friday! Wow. Here we are again at the end of yet another week. I have a second book review for you today. This one I proofread a while back, and I think you're gonna enjoy the heck out of it. It was something new and different to sink my teeth into, and I found myself enjoying the story very much as I made comments and learned some new things. There's also a cool giveaway of this title after the review. Without further ado, let's get going!

As always, I'm gonna begin with information about the book up for review today.

Title: The Crossroads of Time
Author: Rhonda Denise Johnson
Genre: African American Urban and Historical Fiction
Length (print): 292 pages
Buy Links: Amazon Kindle $9.95   ~   Paperback $8.96

Synopsis:
Chloe loves to listen to music, but when the music starts listening to her, she begins to wonder. Try as she might, she can’t dismiss the strange things happening in her life as mere coincidence. Could some spirit be trying to send her a message? She tries to live a normal life as a student at California State University, but the more she tries, the more bizarre her life become. From the moment Chloe consults a Candomblé priestess to find out what’s what, the events in her life spin from uncanny to numinous.

As her visions become more corporeal, Chloe gets literally swept out of her twenty-first century Los Angeles world in the stormy vortex of Oya, the African Orisha of the wind. Oya takes Chloe on a journey through time that throws her into the world of Ayodele, her ninteenth century ancestor on a Virginia tobacco plantation.

Both women share dreams of achieving more in life than is expected of them as women and as African Americans. At the Crossroads they must decide which costs more, struggling to fulfill their dreams or letting them die—and which price are they willing to pay?

**Will not appear in review elsewhere.  I have to say, the cover doesn't give you any glimpse of the awesome inside. You all know I'm a cover junkie, so I'd like to see this one meld more with the genre.**

Now on to the good stuff!

I proofread The Crossroads of Time and loved the heck out of it. Ms. Johnson brings her characters to life on the page, and showed me a world beyond the one I'd known my whole life. My Kindle now holds a copy for me, because I bought it when it went live. Getting the chance to look inside someone else is one of the reasons I read. How many lives can I live? Well, this novel didn't disappoint. Let's move on to the review so I can tell you what I mean.

From a Reader's Perspective:
I learned a lot reading this book. From the beliefs of the Candomblé religion, to the meaning of dance and drums in African religion. One of my favorite things about being a reader of fiction is picking up new facts or tidbits of information buried in the story. I got a lot of that in this book. Chloe is a modern day college student, struggling between what she wants and what her family wants for her. Ayodele is from Chloe's family history and is struggling with the threat of losing her identity as she's enslaved for hard labor. Both women were beautifully drawn, and I felt their indecision and desire to be more than those around them. I love strong female characters, and this story has plenty of those to whet my appetite. Sure, there are men, but they play supporting roles, fading into the background of the central plot. I liked that the author didn't feel a need to bring everyone to the forefront. World building and descriptions of the goings-on of the religious groups in the book were well drawn, sucking me right in.

From an Editor's Perspective:
I didn't like that the book walked through so many POVs. It didn't do anything for the plot, and I left the book not even remembering one of the names. Of course, grammar and punctuation should be spot on from the proofread, but there were some minor syntax errors (repetition of ideas) that I picked up on here and there. All in all, not too bad.

Rating:
1 Star for teaching me a lot of interesting things
1 Star for the strong female leads, Chloe and Ayodele
1 Star for world building
.5 Star for ease of reading
-.5 Star for repetitive phrases
.5 Star for flow
-.5 Star for so many POVs
Overall, 4 out of 5 stars. A book that will lock you in and keep you reading well into the night. Recommended to fans of both historical fiction and strong female leads.

Time for the Rafflecopter form!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck, everyone!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Love Giveaways with a Guarantee of a Great Read?

Happy Friday, everyone! As you all know by now, I'm a member over at INDIE Books Gone Wild. Well, we've just had a brilliant idea to get the books by our authors into your hands with greater ease. As you know, we do a little promotion and giveaway of our authors' books (at no extra cost to them) at the end of every edit, formatting job, or proofread.

Well, here's how we're doubling the exposure for our authors, and providing great books to readers:

Every time we list a giveaway on the IBGW blog, we'll shoot our readers an e-mail with the rafflecopter link and details about the book. No more having to keep an eye on the blog to know when another great title has just hit the shelves!

Besides that one e-mail every now and again, you'll get a message every January that recaps the previous year's publications. We won't bug you about anything else, sell your e-mail address, or spam you. No crazy marketing stuff, just books by our authors we know you'll enjoy winning (and reading).

As you may be aware, we're planning to add six new editors to our amazing team! Details about those lovely ladies will come on the IBGW blog next week and the week after. Keep your eyes peeled! This is going to be amazing. I've searched the web to find editors who have a love for the finished product and adoration for their clients. I think you'll all be extremely pleased to get to know them, work with them, and add them to your "go to" editor list. Their way of thinking melds well with ours, and I think you'll all love them as much as we do.

Time to give you that link!

MailChimp signup for INDIE Books Gone Wild Publishing News

If you're one of our authors, signing up for that e-mail will let you know when your giveaway is live.

What do you think? Did you sign up?

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Keepers of Arden The Brothers Volume One Re-release and Giveaway

Happy Tuesday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I bring to you an awesome re-release and a wonderful giveaway. If you recall, a few weeks ago I wrote a review of Keepers of Arden. Well, the author is re-releasing it and INDIE Books Gone Wild is doing a giveaway promotion! That's right, you'll have a chance to win one of two e-copies of the book. I hope you all have a clicking finger ready to go! I'm gonna start with information about the book, then move on to the Rafflecopter widget. Enjoy!

Title: Keepers of Arden (The Brothers Vol. 1)
Author: L. K. Evans
Genre: Fantasy & Sorcery
Length (print): Approx 459 Pages
Buy Links: Amazon Kindle $2.99

Synopsis:
"Slowly, year by year, day by day, hour by hour, the evil grew stronger while he grew weaker. It found ways around his shield, and, even as he sat in the sun on a beautiful spring day, he could feel the tiny nibbles
the evil bit off from his soul."

This is just the beginning of the Laybryth brothers' journey, to not only rid the lands of Arden of a vile evil, but for one brother to save the other from the darkness that lives within him.



Believe me, it's awesome. I read it and loved it, then the author let me do the proofread on it and I loved it again!

Enter away, readers! Here's your Rafflecopter widget:

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Good luck!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Editors - Good vs Evil

Happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! I realize you were all probably looking forward to meeting Ms. Allison Pensy today, but I made a last minute decision to push everyone back to the dates they were originally given for their interviews. Ms. Pensy will be here in 2 weeks. I'm super duper busy this week and want to give Allison's interview the attention all my other guests' have gotten. So, today I'm going to talk about editors instead. Grab your pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Over at IBGW, we do a lot for our authors. Not only do we take a book and help it be all that it can be; we also throw a team of editors at it while we're working it and into the promotional stuff once the book goes live. Our authors become like our family members. When the books we work on go live, we watch them like hawks. One thing can be said about every IBGW book: There are no technical flaws in the writing (unless the author rejects some of the changes that are suggested). While people may not love the story between the covers, they can't complain about the grammar.

Our mission: To have the IBGW mark/name represent quality. We want to make it known that if you pick up a book, flip to the copyright page, and see our name there, you can buy the book with confidence.

When you're looking for an editor for your novel, be sure you're in sync with your editor and that they have a proven track record of turning out quality work. How can you be sure? Here are a few tips:

• Be sure you know which style guide your editor uses and you agree with the rules between the pages (your edit will turn into a headache if you don't). Also, be sure your editor has a style guide they reference and has it listed on their about me page. Anyone who doesn't follow a style guide is going to have trouble giving your book the proper consistency.
• Ask your editor what books they've edited in the past. Check those books out on Amazon and Goodreads. See what reviewers are saying.
• Make sure your editor isn't the proofreader on your work. Once you've been through two rounds of edits (or three) your editor is as close to the work as you are and begins to miss things.
• Is your editor an author? Read their work. Read the reviews on their work. Yeah, it matters.
• Perhaps most importantly, be sure your editor has a contract and they let you read over it and ask questions before you're expected to sign.

I give you these tips because I'm a reader and Indie author as well as an editor. I can't even begin to say how angry I get when I know a fellow author paid someone a lot of money to have an edit done, and I still find a book full of errors. No, no, no! One or two are common (even in traditionally published books). Those I can ignore.

A good editor will be available to answer your questions about the changes after the work is done. They'll be able to explain any changes made to your novel and why those were done.

Please, for the love of all that's good, vet your editor like you would your child's date. Don't hand over your money willy-nilly.

A good editor won't be cheap. Understand that and be okay with it. Remember the old adage: You get what you pay for. It's as true today as it was when it was coined.

Oh, and don't hire more than one editor to work on your book at once. It shows a lack of confidence in your choice. While you may think it's a good idea, if the person finds out, they may refuse to work with you in the future. Too many chefs in the kitchen makes for an unstable soup.

I hope this post saves someone from a headache.

Tomorrow, we're gonna talk about contracts and what you should be looking for.

Questions? Comment? Epitaphs? Post them below!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Editing vs Proofreading - What's the Difference?

Happy Monday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'd like to go over the difference between an edit and a proofread; including what you should expect from each. These are just a couple of the services we provide over on INDIE Books Gone Wild. If you aren't sure what services you need, this post will help you decide and tell you how to prepare for each one. So grab those pens and notebooks and let's get going!

Editing

This is a service where you send your book to someone and they fix basic grammar and construction issues, punctuation, transitions, spelling, inconsistencies, and look to cut your word count. A good editor won't change your voice, they'll make it more legible.

Any editor you choose should give you a sample edit of your first chapter to see if you're a good fit. At IBGW, we use that first chapter to rate the quality of your writing and base our price from there. Why? Because if it doesn't take us as long to edit your book, you won't pay as much. You're paying your editor for their time and knowledge of the English language.

Be sure your editor uses a style guide so you'll know what changes to expect and have a reference.

An inline edit looks something like this:

Inline changes and notes in the sidebar are things you should expect. At IBGW, we strive to make you a better writer during our edits by providing education and noting things you should be watching out for. Every writer makes common errors; but if you know what they are, you're less likely to repeat them if you learn from your mistakes. This, I believe, is something every editor should do.

Proofreading

Different from editing, proofreading is all about looking for good transitions, proper use of punctuation, spelling issues, and redundancy. A proofreader should be able to speed-read your work and highlight issues without going into great detail. Your editor should be catching everything else. Many proofreaders will highlight things your editor may have missed and sling out a comment; but you shouldn't expect that. They're looking to give your manuscript a final once-over before it goes to print. All your T's should be crossed and your I's dotted after your manuscript is returned by a proofreader.

Your editor should never be your proofreader. They're too close to the work by the time the edit is done, and they'll miss things, just like you.

At INDIE Books Gone Wild, we use one person on our team to edit and another to proofread. Proofreading is included in the price of your edit. There's no need to shell out more money for someone else to do it. We even write it up in your contract and book your proofreading for you. That's part of the benefit of working with a team rather than a single person who tries to do it all.

No matter who you choose to work with, make sure you've read something they've written or edited and are comfortable with them as a person. Be sure you can respect their comments when your manuscript is returned. There's nothing worse than questioning every change someone makes. Trust is a huge part of the writer/editor relationship.

As a final note: Regardless of who you work with, be sure to have a contract. If your editor or proofreader balks at the idea of a contract, or won't let you read/look it over before you're expected to sign, run away. A contract is there to protect you both and shouldn't sway power one way or the other. Also, make sure it has an out clause.

I hope this helps you all in some small way.

That's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Cover Reveal - Chasing Memories by Tia Silverthorne Bach

Happy Friday, good people of the blogosphere! I'm very excited to bring you a cover reveal for a good friend of mine and an amazing author. I give you the cover of Chasing Memories by Tia Silverthorne Bach.

About Chasing Memories (Tala Prophecy, Book 1)

There isn’t another way; not now. The others are coming. I can’t let them have you…

Seventeen-year-old Reagan has a problem: She can’t remember what happened the night her brother was taken. Now, the dreams haunting her from the incident are becoming more intense by the day. All the while, the lines between what’s real and what’s a product of her paranormal-obsessed mind are becoming blurred.

Is she losing her mind or has she just stepped into a world she thought only existed in books?

Caught in a web of worried parents, competing boys, Wiccan relatives, protective amulets, and psychiatrist babble, Reagan must determine the truth before it’s too late.

Expected Publication Date: June 10, 2013

Add Chasing Memories on GoodReads.

Cover design by Jo Michaels.

About the Author

Tia Silverthorne Bach is an avid reader, sometimes runner, involved wife and mother, and rabid grammar hound in addition to being a multi-genre writer. Her three daughters were born in Chicago, San Diego, and Baltimore; and she feels fortunate to have called many places home. She's the award-winning co-author of Depression Cookies, a coming of age story written with her mother. Tia's office is wherever her laptop takes her and any place that's conducive to allowing a wild imagination like hers to flourish.

Please visit her at her blog, on Facebook, on Twitter, GoodReads, and read more about her on INDIE Books Gone Wild.

I edited the book for Tia and I'll tell you, it's a delightful story that's going to leave you aching for more at the end. I do hope you'll check it out. You won't be sorry you did. Besides, check out that awesome cover design! You know you love to look at pretty things. Haha!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo