Carmen DeSousa

As always, I like to remind the folks who are reading this blog that first and foremost, I am a reader, then a writer. I read anywhere from one to three books a week, even when I'm writing. And considering the fact that I write only one to three books a year, I believe that means I have more clout as a reader than a writer. My opinion, of course. And ...  I do understand that not everyone likes what I like. But that's okay. I never forget that. My posts are just my opinions. Also, since I also market books for a living, usually sharing one to six books daily, I read a lot of reviews. So, with that disclosure, onto today's discussion about reading and/or writing. Today I want to talk about the unbelievable story and happily-ever-after comments in reviews. One of my least favorite comments in a review is that the story was unbelievable. I guess when a reader says that, I'd just like a little more clarification. What was unbelievable? The fact tha...

Thank you Shirleen Davies for this prompt. You can learn more about Shirleen on her website . What are you working on? An easier question would be 'what am I not working on', but okay, you asked for it. I have three series running: The Southern Suspense Series, The Creatus Series, and a Paranormal Series with a Ghostly Edge, but apparently, that wasn't enough to keep my mind occupied. About four years ago, I penned a novel, but I wasn't sure where I'd sell it, as it wasn't Young Adult and it wasn't Adult, it was somewhere in between. I knew that it wouldn't work for either category, but I loved it, so I wrote it anyway, and then it's just been sitting in my computer. Lucky me, in steps 'New Adult' in the last couple of years. So ... even though I have three stories waiting in my other series, this book is already finished, so I decided to edit it before I move on. Of course, I thought this would be an easy task. Umm ... no...

It may sound like a simple answer;  but in my case, it's because I want you to read it. In general, authors write because they love writing. Most of us didn’t just decide in college that this was our career choice; we’ve been writing as long as we could hold a pen. We were great pen pals, kept diaries, didn’t mind writing our grandmothers a thank you note, passed messages back and forth in school, and usually drove our boyfriends/girlfriends  crazy with our four-page love letters . But there’s one thing almost every writer I know loves more than writing, and that’s ‘being read’. And more importantly, readers reading our writing and then letting us know it touched them. As most Indie writers, I tend to check my book stats daily. But there’s something I do that proved my above assessment of myself—and I assume other authors —true . When I jump on my PC in the morning to see how my book fares in the notorious Amazon ranking system, if I see th...

Ahh ... I thought that would get your attention. Notice I didn't say  write   a bestseller. I've been in the business of books about ten years now. Before I published my first book three years ago, I worked behind the scenes as a proofreader and a marketing adviser. I’ll admit that I too had the belief that if you wrote a great book, it would sell. If you wrote something refreshing and new, it’d fly off the proverbial bookshelf. And in some cases, that’s true.  I believe the success behind Twilight and Hunger Games lies in the originality of the story and the fact that they catered to young-adult readers, without treating young adults as though they were young and ignorant. In both stories, the main characters acted—for the most part—mature. So the books appealed to the younger crowd. And the mature situations and chivalrous heroes appealed to the older women too. Err … umm … like me. But what if you haven’t come up with the ‘next best thing,’ ju...