An even swap

Chasing Filthy Lucre is stuck. It's been out for almost a year now and the reviews it's received have been good. Really good, actually. But I could use more. When you are doing the publishing yourself you could always use more reviews. Can never have enough.

Back to being stuck. Over at Amazon.com, Chasing Filthy Lucre has had nine reviews for a few months now. They are all 4 and 5 stars. But it's killing me to see it stuck at nine. I want that tenth review. Heck, I want 20 reviews. I want 30.

Same goes for my newest story, Reunion. That story needs more than the one review it has right now.

I don't know how to get more reviews other than offering a free book to anyone who agrees to read either book and then provide an honest review at Amazon and/or Barnes & Noble.

Interested? Email me at jarrettrush@yahoo.com and I'll send you a copy of either book in whatever format you need. 

Or leave a comment here with a way to get in touch with you and which format you need.

Thanks in advance.

Something for your Kindle or Nook

It's the day after Christmas. Congratulations on getting your new Kindle or Nook. Your reading wold is about to change. Not only can you put thousands of best-sellers on your new device, there is a whole world of authors who are principally available in ebook format. They may be published by a small press. They may be going out on their own and self-publishing their books. Either way, you probably won't find them being promoted in an email from Amazon or Barnes and Noble. But they are talented authors writing great books. Since you and your new device need some content, I'm going to let you in on three books I read this year that I really enjoyed. I think you will too. They are three different genres, so there should be something here for everyone.

Gabriel's Redemption 
by Steve Umstead 

Steve's a guy I met through Twitter. He was actually my first interview here a few months ago. He's a great guys and written a great book. This is the first book of the Evan Gabriel trilogy, and it had me from the first page. The future Umstead has created is believable, the characters are worth pulling for, and the technology he describes is easy to understand. He tells the story of a disgraced military man given a chance at redemption. There's plenty of actions and plenty of politics. And, while this story comes to a satisfying conclusion, there's plenty here to set up the rest of the trilogy. All three parts are available now, but you can get the first book at Amazon and Barnes and Noble by following the links below.

Amazon
Barnes and Noble


Follow the Money 
by Fingers Murphy 

Fingers isn't his real name. I've interviewed him, too. He explains the name there. This is also his first book, even though he's released two others and a novella this year. I loved this book. I loved the characters. And I loved the setting. The story takes place in L.A. and Murphy does such a good job of painting the scenes that I found myself wanting to go see these places for myself. I identified with the main character, Ollie. He's a kid from modest means that finds himself in the world of the upper crust. A law student, Ollie lands an internship at a prestigious law firm. He's assigned to a case and quickly finds himself over his head. Ollie returns in The Flaming Motel, also a good book. Get a copy of Follow the Money at the links below.

Amazon
Barnes and Noble

Burden, Kansas
by Alan Ryker

I'm not a horror fan. I've read a few Steven King books, but that's it. I picked this book up because of the setting. I'm from Kansas City, and every year when I was a kid we would drive form Texas to Missouri to see family. Our route took us straight through the part of Kansas where this book is set.
I didn't know what to expect from this vampire story, but I was pleasantly surprised. These vampires are scary, more animal than human. I liked that. I'm not a fan of the pretty boy vampires, and there was nothing pretty about these guys. I also liked that this was a personal story about revenge and redemption. The fighting here is personal. It's not just between a farmer and an invading band of vampires. It's between people with a history. That was a great unexpected twist. Like the two other selections, if you like this book Alan Ryker has other books available. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like this one is available for Nook users so the Barnes and Noble link below will take you to the paperback version.

Amazon
Barnes and Noble


So, there it is. Go get some content for your new e-reader. You'll like all these books. And while you're at it, grab mine also. You'll like those too. Each is the first in a series, and the second book in each series is getting close to being finished.

CHASING FILTHY LUCRE
Amazon
Barnes and Noble

REUNION
Amazon
Barnes and Noble

Get to know Neal Hock

As part of this interview series I wanted to talk to more than authors. I wanted to talk to book reviewers. I wanted to talk to editors. Well, Neal Hock is both. He's also another person I met through Twitter. Are you noticing a pattern here?  I think I got his name through Misty Baker, but I'm not sure. Take a few minutes and get to know Neal and what makes someone want to be an editor or book reviewer tick. 

On your blog you are a book reviewer, yet there's a link to your editing services on there also. So which came first, the editing or the reviewing? And is that one your first love?

Well, I guess it depends on your perspective. When I worked in the corporate world, I was the informal editor of performance reviews and business-related materials. However, I didn’t consider pursuing editing at that time. I started a book-review blog because I have a consuming passion for good books. So with regards to sharing my views on the Internet, the reviewing came first. As to what my first love is, I’d have to say I have a love of well-written, good stories. That’s my motivating passion for both editing and reviewing. However, real life has a way of funneling you in certain directions, and due to time constraints, my book reviewing is taking a backseat right now.

What makes someone decide that they want to review books?

A love for good stories. At least that’s what motivates me. I love the exhilaration I get when I finish a good story, and I can’t wait to find the next one.

What about editing? Were you the one weird kid in class who looked forward to diagramming sentences?

It’s funny, but I wasn’t that interested in grammar-related topics in school. Hell, I didn’t read a lot books throughout high school. I just didn’t get excited about The Scarlet Letter, The Good Earth, and The Great Gatsby. However, when I went to college, I had a professor for freshman English that encouraged us to discover modern authors, and from that moment on, my passion for interesting stories was ignited.

As to being a weird kid, I had my quirks. I’m probably a much weirder adult. My wife still gives me a strange look when I bring my Chicago Manual of Style to bed for bedtime reading.

Seriously, though, what kind of editing services do you provide? Do you work primarily with independent authors/self-publishers?

I provide proofreading, copyediting, and concept editing. The vast majority of my clients are independent authors, but I’ve also worked with publishers and websites.

What's the biggest error you find yourself correcting? Do you have a most infuriating mistake you find?

Wow, I’m not sure there is one that stands out. Each author has personal tendencies, so that kind of evens everything out. There are always wayward commas and misspelled or missing words. I guess the most common mistake I find across the board is missing hyphens in compound modifiers. I’ve never been infuriated when I find mistakes. It’s really quite the opposite, because mistakes mean I’ll continue to have work.

For years I did newspaper copy editing work. My favorite Associated Press style rule was for under way. It's two words except when it's used in a nautical sense. Do you have a favorite style or grammar rule? Please say you do. It will make me feel much less like a language loser.

Anyone who can appreciate such a nuance is not a language loser in my book. I’m a sucker for a hyphen in a compound modifier, and I love apostrophes of omission. When to use everyday and every day always gives me the warm fuzzies, too. See, now I look like the language dork.

Since you review books, it stands to reason that you've read a lot of them. What are three books that came across your desk that surprised you? And they don't need to be surprisingly good books. We all know that something can be unexpectedly bad.

Well, I’ll stick with the good. The whole point of my book-review site is to share good books. If I read something that I’m not crazy about, I usually just set it aside and keep my mouth shut. You know, the whole “if you can’t say something nice” thing. The biggest thing that has surprised me since I started reviewing books is the number of quality works being self-published. There are a lot of talented writers out there that are relatively unknown.

Three books that blew me away when I read them: As I Embrace My Jagged Edges by Lee Thompson, The Pack: Winter Kill by Mike Oliveri, and Identity Crisis by Debbi Mack.

I'm sure there are a few indie authors reading this. How can they contact you if they wanted to?

The website for my editing services is http://www.hockseditingservices.com. The website for my book-review site is http://bookhoundsden.blogspot.com. An e-mail address to contact me directly is on each site.

Can you give us a recommended reading list? What books do we need to read if we haven't yet?

Sheesh, you’re trying to get me in trouble here. I’m afraid I might leave someone out. Here’s a few authors everybody needs to try: Guido Henkel, Stephen James Price, Debbi Mack, Mike Oliveri, Lee Thompson, Anthony Neil Smith, Scott Nicholson, R.E. McDermott, Willie Meikle, David T. Wilbanks, and Jeff Bennington.

What's the biggest piece of advice you have for authors as a reviewer? What about as an editor?

From a reviewer’s standpoint, I’d advise authors to not argue with a reviewer about the reviewer’s review. Especially if you solicited the reviewer. Recently I’ve seen a couple of authors say all kinds of things about reviews they didn’t agree with. If you get a review that’s bad, see what you can learn from it and then move on.

From an editor’s standpoint, I’d advise authors to always continue to learn more about their craft. Continue to put tools in your writer’s toolbox. If there are things that you struggle with, pinpoint them and try to improve. In this new digital age a writer can’t afford to put out a subpar product.