A Free Signed Copy of Chasing Innocence

http://amzn.to/waQ1EO

Any day now, the thousands of people that have downloaded Chasing Innocence to their Kindles, will turn to the last page. When they do they will see my offer of a free signed copy of Chasing Innocence in paperback. Which is just below my request for them to immediately rush out and coerce everyone they know into downloading the book too.

The deal is you write an honest review of Chasing Innocence and post it to either the US or UK Amazon site, or both. You then email me the review or a link to the review. The email address is  listed on the last page of Chasing Innocence. Only the first claim to a review will be considered, so send the review or link when you submit it. Each month three people will be drawn from a hat from those that send me their review. I will contact each of the three and send a signed copy to each. A forth copy will be sent to whoever wrote the review I liked the most. If you write a particularly insightful review, I might just send you a book anyway. Honesty is the key. If you didn't like Chasing Innocence you simply say why. Or, of course, you can say why you loved it.

If you're comfortable writing a review then jump down to the bottom of the page. If you want some direction, then this next bit's for you. I've been writing reviews on Amazon for a few years now and tend to hover around the top 100 reviewer mark. A good review doesn't need to be long, although I can occasionally wax lyrical.

At all times while writing a review I try to be chatty rather than official and try to provide succinct information about my experience with the product. I have used my recent review of The Warrior as an example here. It's probably longer than you will want to write but at least it's full of examples for you to pull on:

The Stars
One Star - Seriously flawed or nothing like it was described
Two Star - Likewise, but less so
Three Stars - Delivered a good experience but nothing to stand it out
Four Stars - Contains some remarkable quality that really imprints on me
Five Stars - Quite simply Brilliant. Right up there with the best of the best

The Title
This will be as short as I can while quantifying my overall impressions. If I haven't thought of something by the end of writing the review I'll usually use a line from the review.

Opening Paragraph
This puts me, the review writer, in context with what I'm reviewing. How I came to it and what I thought of it. I write this so the Amazon browser can read only this paragraph and know what I thought. Sometimes I'll post only this paragraph. The rest of the review is just details. Here's my opener from the Warrior (DVD):

'I thought the advertising for the cinematic release of Warrior was slightly off the mark. Making it seem a little too much like a young fight flick, which it most definitely isn't. I think it might also have suffered from being the last of the recent fight genre movies released. This movie, regardless of genre, is quite simply one of the best I have EVER seen. I watched it three times on the roll during a long haul flight and immediately pre-ordered it from Amazon when I landed.'

The Overview
My next paragraph is a summary of the story without opinion or giving anything away. This can seem tough but basically details the key characters, their relationships and summarises what happens for the first third of the story. This paragraph is designed to contrast against the next one, which is your opinion. Here's my overview from the Warrior:

'Warrior is about two estranged brothers and a family ripped apart by a violently driven alcoholic father who was once a fighting coach. When the oldest brother finds the cost of saving his daughter from heart disease, is the mortgage on his house, he is forced to return to fighting to make ends meet. Always a greater technician over a great fighter, he now has something worth fighting for, his family. This is contrasted against Tommy, the young brother and prodigal son. A deserter from the army after his platoon were all killed in a friendly fire incident, he is fighting only to raise money for the families of the dead soldiers. As the UFC competition plays out in front of the media, it is these two very personal battles, that drives this emotionally intense and very violent story to its conclusion.'

Your Opinion
This is where you detail what you thought. I usually cover the characters and what they meant to me, the depth of the story overall and how it played in my mind. This will include the pace and quality of the writing/filmmaking. Also the levels of violence if relevant and how involved I was in the experience. This sometimes runs into a couple of paragraphs. Once more, from The Warrior:

'The quality starts with the script, it's incredibly well put together, managing the fine mix of violence and drama. This is backed-up by great acting throughout. Some of the key characters do not have a lot of screen time but bring such depth to the character you get them more from who they are over what they say. Tom Hardy combines raw physical intensity with real depth of character, and for me, as great and brutal as his fighting was, the scenes between him and his father and brother were riveting. Joel Edgerton for me though was the star. The underdog that will not give in because doing so will lose his family the roof over their heads.

'The climax is incredible because come the end, there is no favourite. How it is done is quite brilliant and sends chills down my spine just thinking about it.'

The Summary
I end my reviews with a short summary. Something that once more quantifies for the reader what I thought of the experience:

'Quite simply, Warrior is one of the best movies I have ever watched at any level. I can't recommend it highly enough.'

You can read the whole Warrior review here

So there you go folks. Don't forget, if you do write a review of Chasing Innocence and want a signed paperback, email it to me. The address is at the back of the book. If you already bought the paperback but want a signed one as well, the address is there on the last page. All reviews emailed to me count.

Click one or both the following links to be taken to the Chasing Innocence product page so you can write your review. The reviews selected each month will be listed on this site. The first draw will be April 1st. Deliveries in the the UK will be via Royal Mail, overseas via DHL.

Chasing Innocence UK
Chasing Innocence US

Thanking you in advance.

Who do you think you are?

When failure is a modern cliché it is easy to step back from even trying. Getting published via traditional paths is beyond difficult if you are not notorious. It leaves you with a hard choice - you give in or you publish yourself. The harsh truth is that over 80% of self published books sell less than 100 copies.

Which screams: Give in now Potter. Although it is encouraging that over half the fiction books sold anywhere, are thriller/crime. That is all I want, to write stories that are enthralling, violent and touching. I want to entertain modern minds, both of women and men. The question is: With one book written and two others in development, how do I get lots of people to read what I write?

You need a good product. I have that, I'm pretty sure. Then you get it out there, which is a story for another day. And then you need to get it noticed. For established authors getting noticed is easy, you type their name into Amazon. The cover art for these authors is usually iconic, images that confirm what you love about the  experience. Admittedly I do have half a very established name, but anyone expecting magic here will be disappointed. At least in the realm of casting spells. Occasionally I manage magical, I like to believe.

So how does no name Potter attract readers? Word of mouth for a start. But even before that I need cover art that isn't just iconic, it must stop the casual browser in their tracks. It seems obvious this imagery for a thriller crime novel about lost innocence, should contain a beguiling woman. That seems as obvious as it was to make the books main character a woman. You have to be careful though. Real stories of lost innocence abound, they are a small niche. My imagery, immediately below the title Chasing Innocence, needs to make it very clear fiction is on offer - fast, violent, enthralling and touching. The image must tell a story and create questions in the casual browsers mind. Questions that need answering. It must make the casual browser click the books thumbnail, so that when they are presented with the cover -  a beguiling woman, haunted, resilient, a warrior. They are consumed by a need to know the woman's story.

For this kind of imagery stock photos are not going to do it, I know, I tried. You need a great photographer and above all, you need a special kind of female model. That model took a long time to find. She has now been booked, along with the photographer and the studio. In two weeks I will be sat in that studio watching the imagery being created. Of course I will doubt myself, who do I think I am, playing at publisher? But I could never not do this. It's about failure not being the default option. What would be the point having poured my creative soul into the book's content, if I did not invest the same into bringing it to everyone's attention?