What are the Inkies? Well, the members at inkpop.com decided to put together their own little awards show online. Most of the voting was done by appointed judges, but other members could vote too, their tops choices possibly deciding any close calls by the judges.
Here are the full Results
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
DotS available in stores! Well store.
I got this email this week from iUniverse:
Dear Shiraz,
Dear Shiraz,
Great news! Defenders of the Scroll will be stocked January 11th - March 15th in the following Chapters store:
Chapters - Square One
189 Rathburn Road West,
Mississauga, Ontario L5B 4C1
Canada
(905)281-8342
It is important to promote, market and drive traffic to the store location listed above to purchase your book. Creating demand and traffic is crucial for expanded and long term distribution with Chapters. So alert, family, friends and acquaintances that your book is now available with Canada's largest book retailer.
Congratulations and job well done!
Shelley Rogers
iUniverse, Inc.
Publishing Program Manager
-------------------------
So what are you waiting for people? Get to Square One and pick up DotS so that the whole country can soon enjoy it!!! ;-)
Guest Post for My Friend Amy
I probably should have put this link up a couple weeks ago, but here it is now. Amy hasn't had a chance to read DotS yet, so she offered me a guest post over the holidays.
My Friend Amy Guest Post
My Friend Amy Guest Post
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Inkpop.com
Where have I been? Trying to get DotS to the top of the charts at inkpop.com. It shot to #7 in a just a week, but got stuck between the #7 & #8 spots for November. It's currently at #4 and if I can keep it in the top 5 for the rest of the month then HarperCollins will review it. This could lead to a book deal. So here's hoping.
I really didn't think being on the site would be work, but as it turns out, I have to approach each of the 20-30 new members each day and convince them to read the book (well, 1/2 of it is posted on the site) and then Pick it as one of their favourites. The problem is you can only 5 favourites, so the book gets bumped off lists after a while. This is going to be a long nerve-wracking month.
In other news, I just finished my local book tour which went pretty well. Sold lots of books and hopefully word about the DotS will spread after Christmas since most of the book sold are going to be Christmas presents.
I keep waiting for a little downtime from this book promo stuff, but I think there never actually will be any.
I really didn't think being on the site would be work, but as it turns out, I have to approach each of the 20-30 new members each day and convince them to read the book (well, 1/2 of it is posted on the site) and then Pick it as one of their favourites. The problem is you can only 5 favourites, so the book gets bumped off lists after a while. This is going to be a long nerve-wracking month.
In other news, I just finished my local book tour which went pretty well. Sold lots of books and hopefully word about the DotS will spread after Christmas since most of the book sold are going to be Christmas presents.
I keep waiting for a little downtime from this book promo stuff, but I think there never actually will be any.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The Game of Gaming
Well that was an intense 2 weeks. I was at GameOn Finance one week and the Vortex Game Design Competition the next with my book promo party on the weekend between them. Talk about a serious lack of sleep. It also including an all-nighter with some of the big players on a Wednesday!
On the game side, I didn't win the competition but I made the finals and generated a lot of buzz. I have a pile of business cards an inch high to follow-up on and a couple of them I've already scheduled meetings with. If I'm good, I should have some deals in place by January.
On the book side, the launch went fairly well. I hired a guy that looked like Alex to walk around and promote the book and I dressed up my niece to look like Dara. The party went until close for some of us and I didn't end up at home until 4am. (Then I had to get up early and start prep for the competition.)
The very cool news was from the book promo this last Sunday. A lady came in and bought DotS for her grandson because it was on his Christmas wish-list! DotS is on wish-lists! How cool is that?!
On the game side, I didn't win the competition but I made the finals and generated a lot of buzz. I have a pile of business cards an inch high to follow-up on and a couple of them I've already scheduled meetings with. If I'm good, I should have some deals in place by January.
On the book side, the launch went fairly well. I hired a guy that looked like Alex to walk around and promote the book and I dressed up my niece to look like Dara. The party went until close for some of us and I didn't end up at home until 4am. (Then I had to get up early and start prep for the competition.)
The very cool news was from the book promo this last Sunday. A lady came in and bought DotS for her grandson because it was on his Christmas wish-list! DotS is on wish-lists! How cool is that?!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Not just books...
In case you haven't heard, I don't only write. I design too. I'm currently entered in a game design competition here in Toronto. The deadline for the 1 page proposal is Friday. It just checked up on that today and thank goodness I did. I thought it was NEXT Friday. I might have missed it. I managed to write up 2 proposals today. I'll tweak them over the next day and hopefully they'll get me into the semi-finals. Wish me luck!
Meanwhile I have a game finance conference to prepare for that takes place next week. So I basically don't get a break for the next 2 weeks between the games and the book, and I'm not getting paid for any of this. I really must be crazy!
Meanwhile I have a game finance conference to prepare for that takes place next week. So I basically don't get a break for the next 2 weeks between the games and the book, and I'm not getting paid for any of this. I really must be crazy!
A review that's not a review and more!
I've been so busy getting ready for the first book promo (that took place last Sunday) that I haven't had time to post. Here's a quick recap on the reviews that came in over the last week:
My Life In Not So Many Words "The book is full of rich characters, fantastic adventures and danger all the way through it. It even has pirates! So much fun!"
The Bookologist "Shiraz's flowing and effortless writing pulled me into a world of magic and fantasy. In other words, it's amazing."
Ramblings of the Teenage Bookworm "There was never a dull moment, there was a lot of action, adventure, and fantasy."
Today's Adventure "Mysterious and magical- I was entranced."
Wow. That's pretty good for one week!
The big surprise, however, came from a blogger who didn't read the book. Check out what Gwendolyn at A Sea Of Books wrote!
The first promo wasn't bad. I need some good signage (which I'm working on) and a better audio-visual display (also working on). I think I'll have all the kinks out by the big 8 hour promo on Halloween. Rupinder (one of the creators) said he's hiring 3 teens to play Alex, Scorpius, and Maya at the event. I've got a room booked at the bar across the street for afterwards. It'll end up being a 16 hour day for me promoting then hosting. I'll collapse shortly afterward.
My Life In Not So Many Words "The book is full of rich characters, fantastic adventures and danger all the way through it. It even has pirates! So much fun!"
The Bookologist "Shiraz's flowing and effortless writing pulled me into a world of magic and fantasy. In other words, it's amazing."
Ramblings of the Teenage Bookworm "There was never a dull moment, there was a lot of action, adventure, and fantasy."
Today's Adventure "Mysterious and magical- I was entranced."
Wow. That's pretty good for one week!
The big surprise, however, came from a blogger who didn't read the book. Check out what Gwendolyn at A Sea Of Books wrote!
The first promo wasn't bad. I need some good signage (which I'm working on) and a better audio-visual display (also working on). I think I'll have all the kinks out by the big 8 hour promo on Halloween. Rupinder (one of the creators) said he's hiring 3 teens to play Alex, Scorpius, and Maya at the event. I've got a room booked at the bar across the street for afterwards. It'll end up being a 16 hour day for me promoting then hosting. I'll collapse shortly afterward.