Is Twitter Blue Worth it?

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This post lays out in detail my experiences with Twitter Blue. Using the analytics available to me alongside everything I have experienced, my hope is to put together a balanced report of my findings with a view to help others decide if Twitter blue could be for them. My motivations will be explained ahead along with everything else so let us dive in and see if Twitter Blue is worth it…

My Motivations

For those who aren’t familiar with me, I’m a mutli-genre author where much of my marketing efforts are driven by social media and blogging. I’m active on Twitter everyday and have been for several years. The results over time have been quite good – from reaching 40,000 Followers at the close of 2022 to selling books regularly just from my presence on the platform. To put things into some perspective, back in 2020 I started that year with 3,000 Twitter followers so the numbers kind of speak for themselves in terms of what I figured out to become semi-successful with the tweet machine.

Numerous times has it been mentioned by others that soon enough I’d have a verified Twitter account during my rise to 40k follows so it was on the cards although this was before Twitter blue became what it is today. I’d looked into becoming a verified content creator a few times to simply see that the process was not easy and kind of gate kept. In order to be verified I would need to be mentioned in multiple articles or places of prominence by those already verified. I’m not of the elite persuasion and you won’t be seeing me getting mentioned in vogue anytime soon so it was kind of a door in the face. Then Twitter was taken over. The old verification system was out and a newer easy access one was in.

Having pondered for a few months after Blue launched, I eventually decided to take the plunge after reaching that 40k milestone. My motivations were and still are to simply see if there is any real differences or anything better than just having regular Twitter. This was a business decision for me and a serious one because I have always taken my endeavours seriously which is the first step to serious results. Right now I stand somewhere between writing as a hobby and it soon potentially being more. Reaching more people to sell more books is pinnacle to that.

The Financials

A huge factor in my decision to sign up for Blue was in my ability to pay for it without actually being out of pocket so to say. Each month I sell enough books to cover the cost of Blue and so with that in mind, I consider this an experiment that kind of pays for itself. As long as I continue to remain active online and on Twitter to the point where I can sell enough books to pay for this subscription, I’ll keep it.

There are those out there who flat out refuse to put money into the pocket of Twitter’s latest owner but to me, I’m above all that opinionated stuff and I don’t even see it that way. It’s okay to have an opinion about whoever or whatever billionaire is in the driving seat but I’m signed up with Blue for productivity based results so my energy remains elsewhere. Basically for this to be financially viable, I need to sell books or get page reads.

As a resident of the UK, Twitter Blue costs £9.60 a month. My monthly book royalties are on average around £50 and as long as those sales don’t slow down, this whole deal will be viable financially. But this isn’t always about the money and there are plenty of other analytical/observational measures to see if this whole thing has been worthwhile.

Analytics Before Blue

Twitter Analytics is something I have a nerdy obsession with and every day I use it to see what needs work on. These numbers include daily organic impressions (blue bar graph) which is my first port of call when looking at analytics. As you can see for this period of December 2022 and before Twitter Blue it ranged from nearly 40,000 down to 7,000 on any given day. The higher end of 40k is really good in terms of reach and if you can reach people organically with a number similar to your follow count or more, you are doing really well. 583.8K total impressions for the month is also great.

(You can find your own Twitter analytics via the browser version)

I also keep track of my engagement rate which was rather erratic but also good. For me this moves quite a lot but anything around 5% engagement is good. All of these numbers are worth keeping an eye on and they are also live which means they move in real time. Link clicks (purple bars) are particularly relevant as they are the rate in which readers visit my blog and those who potentially by my books.

Analytics with Blue

As you can see from this analytics graph of April 2023, the results are a little divisive. The major observation here is the total impressions are lower than December 2022 but with Twitter blue my daily organic impressions did not slip below 10,000 for the entire month. Twitter Blue seems to give a better level of stable consistency in terms of organic reach. (Ignore the grey bars – this amount of tweets but for some reason it didn’t show up for December 2022 – the analytics can be unreliable sometimes…)

The link click’s number below is much higher suggesting Blue supports links a little more as opposed to regular Twitter. The engagement rate average is also higher but day to day it seems the same for the most part.

Conclusion of Analytics

Using the nifty slider for a fun closer comparison shows there isn’t much difference other than the improved tendency of consistent but overall lower numbers with Blue and the improved link click rate. So in conclusion, Twitter Blue seems to offer improvement in these places:

More consistent with organic impressions every day (10,000 or more for me)

Better link click rates

For someone who has spent much time in the author social media trenches, I know that consistency is the key to success sometimes and having consistent numbers for a month will lead to book sales. Link clicks are also vital as it has always been suspected that Twitter seem to reduce visibility with them but having Blue suggests the opposite.

Other Measures

So we have looked at the analytics Twitter provide, but what else can we look at to determine whether Blue is worthwhile.

Follower Count

Follower Count is an obvious and very visible way of tracking Twitter progress and on the day before my Blue subscription began January 14th 2023 my Twitter following was:

40,599

My current Twitter Follower Count at the time of writing this post is:

44,685

Which means since signing up to Blue and in the time I have been subscribed (just over 5 months) my Follower Count has risen by:

4,086

Book Sales

The important driving factor for Blue is book sales for me and so, has Blue helped with sales? Let us look at December 2022’s sales. This was a month without any paid advertising so most sales are driven by Twitter/social media:

16 Sales for a month without any paid advertising is great. And drove around £54 in royalties which would have been more than enough to cover the cost of Blue. Now let us look at a month where I did have Blue:

Divisive results yet again as the number of sales remained the same but the royalties were a little less at £39 which is still enough to cover the cost of Blue but not as great as December 2022.

So using this information we can partially conclude that not much seems to change with Twitter Blue or we can at least see there are no real vast improvements across the board apart from the link clicks and overall consistency in organic views. But as an online content creator, there are still more places to measure and with improved link clicks in mind, let us take a look at my Patreon growth:

For those who do rely on link clicks from Twitter and have content out there, this graphic is promising in that regard and I’m quite proud of it. Finding paying Patrons to sign up is a huge deal for me and the numbers since signing up for Blue have risen. Of course there are cancellations but that is offset by the arrival of new sign-ups. This is kind of a big deal for me.

Observations

From my experience with Twitter Blue, the lesser known features are what make it worthwhile. Those who do have that blue tick, seem to be given priority and better visibility when commenting on a popular thread. Quite recently, I simply dropped this GIF on a thread and the numbers speak for themselves…

I wouldn’t have experienced great numbers like this without Blue. 45.5k impressions for a single reply is several days worth of impressions.

The edit a tweet feature is just okay and kind of clunky but also quite useful on occasion.

John Cena follows me also… something I imagine wouldn’t happen without Blue.

Final Conclusion

Twitter has always been an enigma and I have a feeling no matter who runs it, that’s how they want it to be. My Twitter Blue experience hasn’t been negative and my numbers haven’t decreased noticeably, they also haven’t risen sharply but perhaps just steadily on a consistent basis.

Consistency and priority in tweet threads along with a good number of link clicks are what I seem have gotten out of the service mostly. For someone who relies on finding people to read my content online and buy my books, this has been quite valuable. Right now, enough money is coming in to pay for Blue and so I’m going to keep it for the time being. If I am to keep going with it, I’ll most probably hit 50,000 Twitter followers by December of this year – something I’d consider a worthwhile achievement. If things go really well then I can also expect a few more Patrons also.

Blue has features that aren’t particularly obvious but can help with visibility and ultimately keep the numbers ticking along consistently. To have an average of 10,000 organic impressions daily is just a shy of a 25% of my following, but still great in my eyes. Twitter is busy and noisy so to get that kind of daily number is an achievement. Having Blue feels like I have to try less to reach people and so my focus or worries can be somewhere else like on writing or procrastinating or thinking about procrastinating.

For Twitter to work on any level for anyone, you have to be present on the platform and learn what works for you and your following.

Thank you for reading what I hope will be useful to a fellow Tweeter. You shall find some further resources and reading below.

My journey to over 40,000 Twitter followers is laid out in detail via my Patreon in a series of Twitter Coaching Sessions. There are also several analytical guides much like this one that are exclusive if you sign up. From finding more book reviews to selling and marketing books – you’ll find a stack of content over there that isn’t available anywhere else. Soon I shall also be releasing a new series all about my querying journey.

Of course for a more concise experience, Consistent Creative Content is a book that lays out everything I’ve done to find success.

Weekly Ramble #173

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The process of querying has a lot of moving parts. Right now I’m arranging my pieces to begin playing what might be an enduring game of chess with patience and foresight being the attributes needed to survive.

If you don’t try, you’ll never know – that’s my philosophy as I look over my drafted synopsis and query letter. The truth is, I can follow as much guidance one can find online to perfect them but this is always going to be leap of faith. These days, it is a lot easier to find ways to connect with others online and I’m hoping social media and wider online world can be used to my advantage. Finding the right person to enjoy and then embrace my work is a game I’ve been playing for many years now. Being an indie author to me is convincing one person at a time to have faith in my stuff.

My very own chess board already contains some distinguished pieces and so I’m hopeful they can help with the process. Right now ideas are forming in my mind about putting together a specific query diary series to share with my closest and best followers. Afterall this is going to be a journey of learning.

Weekly Ramble #172

Lee Hall Leave a comment

With social media comes discord amongst those who use it and that’s nothing new. No matter your beliefs or what you follow, support and embrace, someone will have a polar opposite stance. Patience really is a virtue when it comes to being exposed to those who may not have the same beliefs as you and so many times do I see needless arguments boil over into personal and unnecessary attacks.

Having spent much time online, I’ve learned what to say and what not to say in order to mostly avoid this crap. I understand things are changing along with the times but as a creative my focus is on that creativity while also doing my best to use my time productively. Every day some drama will unfold that I chose not to be a part of. Why? Because I simply don’t have the energy. Social media is tiring enough to try and make work.

Image is everything online and those who get themselves in random arguments with random people probably won’t succeed in their endeavours. You are best spending time elsewhere. There are so many wonderful opportunities just waiting online and most them begin with supporting or embracing others.

‘Deceit of the Mind: Quantum Evolution’ by – Henry Cox Review

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A sophisticated deep-dive into the world of quantum mechanics with original concepts

Henry Cox has delivered his most sophisticated story yet and tackles the world of quantum mechanics by way of clever and original story telling. This really is a deep dive into the theory of all things quantum partnered with concepts I’ve not seen explored in fiction before.

The ‘Deceit’ series continues to grow with this latest edition that fuses history, memory, time and genetics while also retaining a thrilling spy theme as ‘Benjamin Oliver’ a retired lawyer returns to his spy roots in what becomes a rescue mission. He isn’t the only recurring character back as this series starts to become a genre in its own right with previous ‘Deceit’ stories intermingling. How the reader gets there is a journey of clever scientific theory combined with Cox’s brand of thriller that reads very much like high end fiction. We’re taken through different eras of time as ancestors and how their story relates to the present day characters unfolds with a blend of language and events delivered in a unique way.

The quantum concepts explored within have a lot of depth and theory which gives a feeling of sophistication and this is exactly what stories like this should be – clever and also thought provoking. Technology and data is out there and in certain hands can be dangerous or even wild – especially so when big business is involved. This is definitely a story that lives up to the title by having a way of playing with the reader’s mind into thinking one way but then taking you on another unexpected path.

‘From ancient times to the present, despite its pure definition, science has always been the prisoner of politics, religion, and even the created dogma of academics, in the name of science – often influenced by the purse. The theory of human evolution has become an academic theology, despite its provable inconsistences.’

A great third book by Henry Cox – I feel cleverer for reading it and that’s a feeling I haven’t had for many years and that’s exactly what this book should do.

5 Stars

Book Promotion Results: April 2023 Part 2

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And so my quest to promote books continues and this one promises to include a new book promotion site, hitting the $100 royalty milestone and an impressive near two week book sales streak. Welcome to Part 2 of my book promotion results for April 2023 which will dive in to the details of another book promo run which happened the weekend after my last.

This post first premiered via Patreon where you can find all of my exclusive and best marketing guides, audio coaching and even some fiction. Check it out here.

Let us dive in!

Aiming for Paid Sales

For this promotion, my aim was simple, paid sales and some of which were discounted for my guide book Consistent Creative Content. My aim after that first objective was to push CCC up the Amazon charts and even consider trying to get it to best seller within its chart – something I have come close to before with this book and this kind of thing requires a specific strategy.

Running this promo as a price reduction with some advertising should drive paid sales and considering the genre (non-fiction) I was expecting good things. From experience, a good non-fiction book will sell nearly 5 times more than any fictional book, this ratio is pretty much bang on for me so there was a little expectation here.

CCC has been priced at $3.99 in digital for the best part of this year and has rarely been changed hopefully making this discount lucrative.

A Specific Strategy

So for this promo, things were a little different from last time. Using a free book to make sales for a wider series was out and instead I’d be aiming for all paid sales. This meant my chances of breaking even or perhaps making a profit were increased as well as seeing my guide book climb up the Amazon paid charts. Generally the higher price a book is, the more it will move after someone purchases a copy so my specific strategy for this promo was to discount my book and advertise it at that price and then gradually put up the price over a few days. With sales slowing down after th

e initial discount promo, the price increase should offset and hopefully help the book remain high in the chart or even go higher.

This specific strategy of gradually increasing the price after a discounted promo is how I managed to get my super hero comedy The Teleporter to best seller back in 2021.

The Results

On the 14th and 15th of April 2023 my guide book Consistent Creative Content was discounted in digital at 99 cents. Here the results.

As you can see sales peaked on day 2 of the promo with then a further 7 sales on the 16th and then 2 of the 17th as the price was gradually raised. I even made a single paperback sale in Australia.

In terms of chart position and seeing as most of the sales came from the US, CCC jumped from 1000’s in the Amazon US Writing Skill Reference chart to number 3. Even a week after the promo it managed to stay in the 200’s which should help with some visibility.

Overall, with these numbers and the chart position, I’m happy although best seller would have been nice. Now let us overlay this sales with the promo from part 1.

With the free promo numbers included, 700+ books were shifted which for me is great month. Now let us look at paid sales.

A few years ago this would have been a personal best number for paid sales in a month and even now its a top 3 of all time for me. A huge factor for success here is having multiple titles available meaning you can do more in terms of promotion. Back List is King!

Advertisers

Let us look at who I advertised with for this 99 cents promo:

Robin Reads – Day 1

E Reader News Today – Day 2

Goodkindles.net – a newer book promo site that I advertised with for both days of the promo.

Financials

Probably the big question here is how much money did I make from both promos. Considering I paid for advertising with both, this is an important point.

My total advertising spend for both book promos: $263

This may sound like a lot of money and to me it is but in order to make serious progress you sometimes have to spend seriously. Now let us take a look at the financials.

First of all, money I have made before the promo in the months of January, February and March of 2023:

KENP page reads has been a big factor here. Having all of my fiction enrolled in Kindle Unlimited has helped big-time.

And let us look at how much money has been made in the month of April so far:

So the profit total for this year is: $273

This means my costs for this promo have been covered with a $10 profit, so the drinks are on me… Or shall I say the drink is on me but this is still good progress. To run book promos that can basically pay for themselves is fantastic progress and it is not the money which matters the most. Finding new readers, future readers and reviews long after the promo is what that money goes towards.

Concluding Thoughts

It has taken me some years to progress towards this point, but now I shall take a rest from paying for any kind of advertising and hopefully allow the royalty pot to fill up again. With the downloads from promo 1 there will be hopefully a flurry of KENP page reads.

There are several factors for success here with both promos, from having a certain number of ratings for my books to pricing and even timing. All of these factors weigh heavily on the success of a book and that also includes social media presence. I’ve run many promos over the years at a loss but I will happily admit, they get better over time and it is never too late for a book or a promo to be a success.

Thank you for reading.

You’ll find a stack of similar promo scenarios like this one in my author, blogger and social media guide book Consistent Creative Content.

‘Gravenham’ by Christopher Walker – Review

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British Horror with psychological and atmospheric tones that twist into surreal revelations…

Christopher Walker presents a British horror story with plenty of the usual genre hallmarks but it is executed in a unique atmospheric style that very much sits in the head of main character ‘Edward Drummond’. The strength of this story is the tones that carry atmosphere and the concept of everything not being what it first seems with an internal monologue that adds a certain surrealism to the affairs of three city dwellers who find themselves on a mystery solving mission to the remote village of ‘Gravenham’.

After meeting reporter ‘Melanie’ at a dinner party and even when readers learn early on that ‘Edward’ doesn’t think too much of himself, he strikes up an unexpected romance which takes them both on the path, along with his photographer brother ‘Thomas’ to Grantham where a dead body is missing. This accidental romantic ‘Edward’ sets the theme of things to come as his confidence grows while the story unfolds or is that just his delusion? Something I flagged early is the concept of something doesn’t quite fit and every so often the reader is reminded of that keeping me guessing. Is this all an elaborate dream or nightmare?

The trio’s arrival and quick discovery of the situation in Grantham quickly unfolds along with a sense of danger but who can they trust? The locals are typically frosty towards them and the story leans into the likes of the ‘Wickerman’ and even popular video game film adaptation ‘Resident Evil’ in which the author mentions at the start of the book. An unexpected twist then sets the story on a weird and even obscure path that leads all the way to a finish that explains most things but lets readers fill in some of the gaps.

For those who like mystery horror with plenty of atmosphere, this one is for you.

5 Stars

Weekly Ramble #171

Lee Hall Leave a comment

This writing journey began for me on a rainy Sunday afternoon staring at the screen of a windows 98 desktop computer. It was on that day I first typed words for a story and then a book that would become the motivation for the path which would eventually unfold. Only now have I finally finished that book, my everything story about robots in the future. I say everything because all I have done to find myself at this point – the writing of several books, publishing them, figuring out this journey, selling, marketing, social media and finding success I am happy with is for that story.

In my heart is a dream that has resided for over half my life and now I am ready to pursue it properly. I’m going to query this book and subsequent series and aim for the stars. This everything story has and always be my plan and its good to have some kind of plan even if you do deviate from the path like me. On that deviation route I found where I was supposed to be, in the company of fellow creatives who would inspire me, embrace me and above all motivate me to keep going.

Writing stories has always been my truest and first passion. It is within the story of that everything book where you’ll find all of it.

With everything I have learned not just about writing but the business of it, I think I’ve got a shot at success. Then maybe this will turn out how it always was supposed to but then again if it doesn’t, deviation of the original dream is still a great place to be. I’ll never know if I don’t try and so this is it. Time to chase that dream.

Grace’s Story -An Excerpt

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Awesome author Megan Hinde shares an excerpt of her book Grace’s Story

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Grace Ann

In a farmhouse surrounded by acres of sweet corn on a warm summer’s day in late June, Grace Ann Chapman came into this world screaming.

Local paper birth announcements:

The community of Ridgeville Nebraska would like to welcome Grace Ann born June 22nd, 1974 to William and Martha Chapman. Congratulations on your healthy baby girl.

Martha clipped out the announcement from the Daily Sun Newspaper and taped it into Grace’s baby book.

William Chapman worked the land that had been handed down to him from his father. It was hard daily grueling work to keep the corn crops healthy and on schedule for harvest. He took pride in what his family had established over the past three generations of Chapman’s and did his best to keep it going. With the birth of his first child, Grace Ann he knew that there would need to be more children, he…

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Book Promotion Results: April 2023 Part 1

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This guide first premiered over on my Patreon which contains many different guides/resources much like this post. If you signup to be a Royal Rock Star Patron you’ll receive a free digital copy of my author/blogger/social media guide book Consistent Creative Content. Check out my Patreon here.

It has been a long time since I’ve paid to promote any of my books. Most of my reasoning for this is because my book sales, page reads and reviews have been rising without the real need for any investment in advertising. My last book promo effort was all the way back in September of 2022 and combined the release of my 8th book with my 1st book securing a BookBub Featured Deal. What followed was probably my best ever run of months for sales.

As someone who is constantly analysing things, I predicted that perhaps my run of luck would dry up soon enough and so I decided to book some much needed advertising but from the title you can see this is just part 1 of my April 2023 plans to sell a bunch of books.

You shall find my analysis, results and who I advertised with below. Let us dive in.

2022 was strong…

2022 happened to be my successful year ever as an indie author but it took a bunch of years to get there. It was the year of my best ever book launch and royalties – that is without mentioning the personal sales records I smashed but enough with the boasting. How did I make 2022 my best? There were lots of factors and I’ll link some further reading below but a good book promotion will bring results long after it has happened.

Having a complete book series all available via kindle unlimited has become a lucrative endeavour for me in recent times and my advice for series writers would be simple: get that book series finished – readers want a complete series and they will read them all if they are available. Much like my next bit of advice – backlist is King.

Having a backlist that includes a completed series and then advertising that successfully has brought me rewards that only really tailed off in the early days of April this year. As you can see above, the spike in the first graph represents that BookBub featured deal and then the results kept coming in.

As well as page reads, sales remained consistently strong and the amazing thing about these sales is that they were driven mostly by social media and most likely returning readers. Until April 2023 I had not advertised since September 2022. If you want to know how I sell regularly on via social media, check out my Twitter coaching sessions – they lay it out in detail.

This year started brightly and consistently…

The Promotion

Knowing I hadn’t advertised in a while, I thought maybe it was time to, but this would be a multiple book and multiple week plan of attack. Week 1 of my plan would be to run one of my oldest promo tricks in the book. A free book promo while also linking others in the series and reducing their price. My Order of the Following Series would be the instigator of this method with book 1 Open Evening being free to download while the others in the series were 99 cents or equivalent to download.

My best results from a free promo with other books attached comes from just doing this for a day or two. The factor of time and this being a ‘one off’ or once a year type of deal will entice potential readers and when it comes to a free promo, quantity is key.

The second part of this process would be to then bring the price of book 1 up to 99 cents for day 2 and advertise the whole series as discounted.

Results

On Friday April 7th 2023 Open Evening was free to download with the 4 other books in the Order of the Following Series discounted to 99 cents. Here are the results:

521 total free downloads – a great number.

82 paid sales of the 4 books in the rest of the series with Darke Apocalypse leading the way on day 1. As you can see with this graph sales continued for a few days after as the series remained discounted.

Total combined sales with free and paid came to 676 a week after the promotion. A decent spike in readers for me and probably a much needed influx of potential new readers.

A good book promo will drive sales and potential page reads for some time after. Although it is still early days, this promo brings promise of more.

Advertisers

This promo was advertised by the following book promo sites:

Freebooksy – Horror Series Promotion

My Book Place

E Reader News Today

Other Factors for Success

Advertising was a big driving factor for these results but here are some other factors that helped:

Free promos are a please all and hope to appeal to as many as possible types of deal. No matter what many people say, free promos do result in some readers.

Time – this was a limited time deal, this can tap into urgency or even impulse for potential readers to grab a deal.

Existing reviews/Ratings – the earlier books in the Order of the Following Series have a good number of reviews. Darke Blood hit 70 Amazon ratings just before the promo. You can also see that my books have decent professional covers that I invested in. Visual is everything when it comes to potential readers finding your works.

Social media is something I tend to pick and choose my moments with. I didn’t mention the free promo but the day after I did mention that all books in the series were discounted. I also put a blog post out advertising the fact.

Final Thought

An important a probably needed book promo. The Order of the Following Series sells better during fall/winter months and so I shall put my promotional efforts for it on hold over the spring/summer. Of course this is just part 1 and you can expect the next part to cover another book with another promo – stay tuned and thanks for reading.

You can read part 2 here

You shall find some relevant resources below including the link for my author/blogger/social media guide book Consistent Creative Content.

‘Split Personality’ by David Noë – Review  

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Assassin’s linked by their minds seeking redemption through the ChaosNova Universe

The space sci-fi ChaosNova Universe is back and this time tells the tale of two ‘Reclaimers’ who are uniquely linked by their minds and find themselves on a journey.

‘Luna’ and ‘Rogue’ and two very different characters who are banded together in the universe and work as assassins but their latest mission takes them on another path – from being set up to hitching a ride to then eventually being incarcerated but given an option for redemption. Their punishment becomes a mission and their freedom is at stake. An original concept and focus in the story is how these two characters communicate telepathically and it is delivered in a unique way. They use this communication method to talk, fight, get in/out of the occasional bit of trouble and eventually succeed.

Combined with the high end space sci-fi universe already established in ChaosNova universe it makes for an action laced space story with a difference. There is some great description and sequences in this story that is perfect for anyone who enjoys space sci-fi.

‘Rogue strode along the corridor, her movements rendered staccato by the strobing light, like a series of still images strung together…’

4 Stars