Month: April 2019

A thank you to everyone!

Lee Hall 5 Comments

I don’t normally post something on here unless I have the material but guys the follows and overall support I have got this month as an author is incredible!

From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU ALL. Like publishing a book in general I took a plunge or leap this month while already riding the coat tails of some already epic numbers this blog has seen in 2019. Just look where we stand now….

dem numbers

I mean those figures speak for themselves alone just for this month, but 2019 so far has been huge compared to before and there’s another incredible result…

teleporter logo

Last year I dove into the unknown of publishing a super hero comedy novella. Upon release the sales figures were insulting, my ego diminished and all belief in book stuff pretty much gone. We all want instant results but they don’t happen and so after some serious time spent making a name for myself in the literary world of indie publishing/ reviewing, The Teleporter finally arrived!

tp promo results

As you can see The Teleporter shifted some big time numbers and even had a stint as #1 in it’s particular ‘genetic engineering’ chart…

And that isn’t all because there are some genuine results from the Teleporter’s arrival!

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I had to put together a fricking slide show to display the amount of new reviews we got!

But wait there’s more, I’ve even had fellow bloggers write reviews which I then re blogged here so Thanks to Mullen Crafts and  also thanks to Elysia Lumen Strife. Both of your reviews were probably better than the damn book itself, and they made it all the way to Amazon.com! the holy grail of places for reviews! 

There was also a 1 Star review which I won’t dwell too much on, but I think some people came out to read the Teleporter in response and support of me, so thanks folks. You can read my reaction to it here via weekly ramble numero 30…. 

For those looking for book promo tips I recommend this little results post I put together earlier in April

And to everyone else, writer, blogger, tweeter or reader, a tip of the cap to you all. Peace out! That’s April folks… my best month ever in writing!  

April 7th… 

tp reviews

April 30th

teleporter now

Amazon US 

amazon us

Weekly Ramble #31

Lee Hall Leave a comment

Writing is home for me. But right now I feel far from home. Things are busy, damn busy and although it’s the fashion these days to have loads going on, it’s relentless right now. I just can’t catch a free moment, and I know if one want’s to write, one will write, but time is something I don’t have and inside it’s partially killing me not to be sat at the keyboard creating.

I’m an adult now, perhaps that’s the problem because I have responsibilities and stuff, that’s something I have to learn to live with whilst also feeding the need to write. 2019 is proving to be one of those important season finale type of deals with loads of plot arcs wrapping up and people rushing to resolve their stories whilst I’m jumping from one turning carousel to another. Many of the things I’m wrapped up in this year are more significant to others while I play the passenger and it’s tiring.

But the most important thing above all for me is that I am not alone and I haven’t been for seven years to the day. Today I celebrate walking my significant other home on a rainy late April night and asking her to be my girlfriend, it sounds like some next level sitcom romance stuff, and back then it was, and still is. I can only function while being happy, all of this circles around the concept of having someone and I do. Somebody said once that all you need is love, and beneath the shroud of busy and hectic life I have right now is just that. Don’t ever understimate the power of having someone and that makes me feel at home more than anything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review of The Teleporter by Mullen Crafts

Lee Hall Leave a comment

Mullen Crafts

Book: The Teleporter available on Amazon*

Author:  Lee Hall

The Teleporter by [Hall, Lee]Kurt Wiseman is good at one thing – being a drunken layabout. He has a dead end job, no love life, few friends, a mess of an apartment, and in general, life is going nowhere for him. But he has his booze and he seems quite ok with that. Until one day in work he has to actually do some, you know, work. Then things take a turn for the weird. His job is for a mega rich American businessman, who may sound a tad familiar as you read. You may question is he reminding you of one person, or is the entire company a symbol of the corporate, money grabbing epidemic that is slowly destroying our world? But I digress…or do I? Kurt never gave his employers much thought until things got odd. Until a lady got involved. Until…

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Book Review of The Teleporter By Elysia Lumen Strife

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A huge tip of the cap to fellow wordsmith Elysia Lumen Strife for such an epic review if The Teleporter!

Amy, Elysia, & Sybur Indie Publishing

Book Review: The Teleporter By Lee Hall (4 Stars)

A humorously crass story of a drunkard turned superhero.

Hall has created a realistic world in which corporations hold the power and the common man has little control over his own life, until fate elects a portion and hands it over in the form of teleportation karma. The transformation of our main character, Kurt, is depicted with a perfect amount of stumbles, physical and emotional, and leaves us rooting for him as he finds his new place in society.

The voice isn’t hindered by formalities; it is free and true to character and, yes, littered with curses. But it fits so perfectly with Kurt’s sarcastic/apathetic personality that it is hard to be bothered by it.

The story picks up quickly and doesn’t linger too long in any one scene. Hall has done a great job at keeping a smooth pace and…

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Daughter of Kali: Unholy Alliance by Shiulie Ghosh – Review

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“I’m not a kid anymore. I’m a Warrior now…”

kali 2

In the already established world of demons and Warriors we are reintroduced to the still very feisty and likeable ‘Kaz’ as the next chapter of her journey continues. The story picks up pretty much where the previous finished only now readers are taken further down the rabbit hole of magic, mythical creatures and gods in what is an epic sequel.

Much of what is suggested previously and skimmed the surface comes to light in ‘Unholy Alliance’ with ‘Kaz’s’ destiny taking center stage as she becomes a fully fledged Warrior alongside others who are apprenticed by the guild. This provides an opportunity to introduce new characters such as ‘Jack’ who plays a semi love interest and sometimes shoulder to cry on for our hero. Of course characters from the first story are back with many that still serve a purpose to the now evolving story (Em, Darius and Di come to mind).

Many of the themes seen in the previous adventure are back such as coming of age, prophecy and deception all of which cleverly ties in with Hindu and Indian heritage; a concept that carries much originality and scope for near enough unlimited intrigue. Also back is the voice that ‘Kaz’ hears in her head now known as ‘the other’ which is a force that comes to fruition in the latter stages. She must look to save her mother who is comatose after the end of the last story and this runs as one of the main arcs that spreads across the book’s entirety.

Destiny and prophecy is something hero ‘Kaz’ must face and nearer the end she journey’s alone on what seems like a pilgrimage of sorts in order to solve the worsening demon problems her guild faces and of course saving the world!

Overall ‘Daughter of Kali: Unholy Alliance’ is a great read and just as good as the first story. I found myself taking my time with this read as I enjoyed it so much while being sure to take in every detail. Not once did I think this book suffered from middle story syndrome (as it is part of a planned trilogy) and it may actually be stronger than the first in keeping the reader turning those pages. With many possibilities of where the story could go at the end, I look forward the next one!

5 Stars 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly Ramble #30

Lee Hall Leave a comment

I find myself resisting the urge to react to a negative review of The Teleporter. I know the ‘rule’ is to ignore and move on but this format here is my yard and I’ll use it however I like. First of all I don’t wan’t to appear to ‘retaliate’ in anyway but everyone whom I have spoken to about this has deemed the situation a little unjust and that’s something The Teleporter fights for…

You can find the review on Goodreads and if you ask me; like others have pointed out, it’s contradictory. And should I even be doing this? Right now, yeah, as I’ve said this is my motherfu**ing yard’ll say what I like.

The main gripe focuses on the reviewer not appreciating name calling of a certain character. In fact this reviewer clocked up the precise amount of times this character was called a certain name or referred to it as that name, which tells me there was more counting going on than reading and delving into the words. I just feel as if this book reviewer has rushed through my work and not actually read it properly. Maybe we’re just looking to add another number to the goodreads list…

The focus on this name calling which I wont fully explain because I don’t need to, can be defined with this statement:

 If you don’t get it, you don’t get it, but the whole name calling thing of this character is a part of her journey. Plus this book is a comedy of the comic book persuasion, sometimes people and places are named quite literally. It’s never said in an abusive or bullying type of manner. Her journey which includes this name she is called comes to a culmination with her winning and then choosing to embrace the name everyone calls her, how can’t you see that? 

This reviewer has totally misinterpreted The Teleporter by basically concentrating on finding something that could be deemed as offensive. Maybe we were looking to slam a book because we haven’t given a bad review before… Unfortunately the world is full of name calling, sometimes it can be considered as banter or fun and sometimes it’s part of wider story that the reviewer didn’t quite grasp.

We live in a world where if one person gets offended by something arbitrary then all of a sudden everybody grabs a pitch fork and torch; this is my one fear in the outcome of this review. I’m not against anyone having an opinion, that’s allowed, but make sure you execute what you have to say in a less contradictory manner.

I don’t give shit if it got one star and it wasn’t somebodies cup of tea, try tequila instead and grow the fuck up.

 

Pet Sematary – Review

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For the first time this year I have been to the cinema! Time flies when your busy, really busy, but finally I was able to go out with my significant other and we chose to see the latest Stephen King film adaptation Pet Sematary….

pet sem

Before we start, you must know Pet Semetary (which I read a few years ago) is in fact my favorite Stephen King novel, so as you expect there’s a lot riding on my expectations, this is a home game for me and I’m looking for a win. I have also seen the early 90’s adaptation which felt more like a TV film than anything remotely near cinema, so here we go…

For those who haven’t had the pleasure of reading my once in a blue moon movie reviews, I don’t give away major spoilers, I want readers to be persuaded to see a film that I came away liking, and I liked this a lot.

Pet Semetary does a fantastic job in probably being more of a remake than adaptation of the actual book although this time around we see more detail in some areas. Overall you’re never going to get the detail of the book, which is quite an extensive read and screenwriters can only cram in so much in a few hours.

Main character Louis Creed and his young family (all of which were perfectly cast) are moving into their new home in rural Maine. Both Jason Clarke and Amy Seimetz fit perfectly as the Creeds and look like a real couple (no Hollywood glamour here) alongside their likeable and curious daughter Ellie (Jeté Laurence, who may have stolen the show), of course there is the younger sibling and son Gage, who considering his young age did an awesome job. They have a cat, that’s not a major plot point or anything…

The story differs a little compared to both the earlier film and book, something which made for an unexpected turn of twists later on. The neighbor across the road Jud Crandall played by John Lithgow may have been the most perfect of castings since Robbie Coltrane became Hagrid and his relationship is a little different for the film but makes for events to happen quicker than they do in the book.

What I liked the most about Pet Semetary; book and this film is the level of darkness the story goes to, and there are a few moments in this film that capture the essence of what the book achieved. Death, no matter the circumstances, is a dark thing and those concepts in this film will make the characters spiral into madness. There is also a huge psychological element that preys on some character’s minds, making it as creepy as ‘IT’ in places, of course there are a few jump scares but I found in this film to be less action stuff and more of the deeper darker mind stuff.  It’s the ultimate ‘what if’ scenarios that play in the back of our deep conscience and this film was done very well.

Pet Semetary is probably never going to win any awards but the performances are strong, the cinematography is great and the overall production does the book justice. The locations and sets were awesome. I even loved the fact they have re made the Pet Semetary song which played after a different but good solid ending.

4 Stars

 

Where the Darkness Hides by Duncan Thompson – Review

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A sequel and continuation into the shadows…

dark hides

I liked the fact this story didn’t try to copy or do exactly what the first one did. It goes to different places while also exploring concepts from the original in more detail. There are many sequels that get made just because the first was good or successful but they rarely deliver. Was ‘Where the Darkness Hides’ just as terrifying as ‘Within the Dark Places’? Probably not, and it doesn’t need to be because they are two completely different stories, and the differences is what makes this one just as good.

This time around the story begins with a slower build and instead of being a more on the scary side its more of a tension filled experience. We sort of know what’s coming, but it comes from the unexpected. The police begin to investigate the events of the previous story and while we know what has happened, they don’t and it becomes that old fashioned full proof horror scenario of readers saying out loud ‘don’t go in there!’ or in this case don’t got into the Druid Woods.

It’s ‘Aliens’ with shades of ‘Jeepers Creepers’, and I mean that as a compliment because this sequel see’s the story from the first one evolved. We see concepts that are explored further and elements that stretch to other genres such as the occult and psychological horror. There is a bigger cast of characters and overall the story delves further into the concepts of the original making it essential reading if you enjoyed the first one. Again the whole experience feels cinematic it never stays in the same place for long keeping readers constantly on edge.

4 Stars

 

 

 

 

A guide to Book Promotion in 2019

Lee Hall 2 Comments

Finding the right advice for Authors to promote their work takes more than consulting ‘the Google’ these days. I also know by putting the year in the title of this post will make it pretty much instantly out dated, but for the same reasons scholars recorded stuff back in the day, I aim to do the same, pass on my knowledge and findings to simply learn for the future (where there will be robots…) and I’m not a scholar but a proud Indie Author…

So here is my guide to Book Promotion in 2019.

First of all, much of the stuff in this post is taken from a very recent book promotion I did for my 3rd novel ‘The Teleporter’ which I made free to download via Kindle Direct Publishing. Many author folks will know that having a book for free does help, but there are so many factors as to why I got the results I did.

These results were as follows: 

tp promo results

Over the 4 days I set ‘The Teleporter’ free to download 817 people grabbed a copy! It even went to #1 in one of it’s amazon charts! 

Now let’s explore ‘the factors’ which drove this book to so many downloads…

Factor 1: Book Promotion Sites. 

Book Promotion sites are essential for spreading the word about your words existing; in fact, I would argue that telling people your stuff actually is out there may indeed be the biggest challenge any smaller time author faces and product awareness/distribution is what we are trying to achieve here! 

So as well as setting my book to be free on the dates I decided (about a month previous) I then set out to find some book promo sites who will list my book and send the info about it out to mailing lists. Many of them have certain criteria and some even charge but most don’t ask for a lot in terms of what the results could potentially be.

Here is the list of promo sites, I used this time around. Some I paid for promotions, and some I didn’t. I also staggered the promos to run on most of the days my book was free.

tp 1 year

A few years ago I compiled this list from a Goodreads group called ‘Support for Indie Authors’ a 14,000 strong collective of Indie minds who band together and share results from all sorts of indie related book stuff. I don’t contribute much to the group, I kind of just lurk… but there is a great amount of info on promo sites.

As you can see I only spent $10 this time around, and it also included an interview with Itswritenow which you can read here and yes on my spreadsheet document the heading of anniversary is in french (I can be pretentious like that, being published gives someone such licence to be…)

Factor 2: Established Reviews on Amazon and Goodreads

tp reviews

This is relatively simple, and there is no real sure fire way to get reviews unless the reader wants to leave one. But the 5 reviews ‘The Teleporter’ had at the time of it being free is a huge factor that drove downloads. People seem to trust something that’s been out a while and has a few reviews. Upon release I put this book up for free and only 35 or so people downloaded it. Sometimes a book just needs to be out there for a while. So if you were one of the people who read and reviewed it before last week, you helped sell it!

Factor 3: An established following

At this current time my following has never been bigger, and that should always be the case for anyone who is an active blogger and writer on social media (and sort of obvious). I have also picked up a bunch of new followers whom are yet to read any of my novels. So with that and combined with the book being free, many of the followers I have had recent interaction with came out in force.

How I got that following is complex and simple all at once. Firstly it takes some time to gather a good following of genuine people. Secondly you have to invest by interacting, leaving constructive comments by being genuine and supportive to others in the writing and blogging community. Be there for others in the same boat on the same voyage as you. I have met some incredible writers and bloggers by just being present on the writing community scene.

My following continues to rise as I review indie books, all books I have read this year have been indie books. Many authors will feel inclined to return the favor but that is something I never aimed for, I’m reviewing books from indies because I am one and I have to support them, plus it’s reading and I love reading.

Factor 4: Chancer’s luck #indieapril

For those who are advocates of my stuff, they will know many of my characters are kind of chancer’s and tend to luck out. They look like they are better than they actually are; why do I say that? Because I am a chancer myself and I always have been.

I thought it would be nice to put ‘The Teleporter’ up for free because its a year since publication and the last promo I did was way back in September for Open Evening. This just so happened to coincide with April and then a trending hashtag started spreading around called #indieapril

#indieapril was some genius idea by some literal genius because people started tweeting about it and their support for indies. Then they started asking for indie book links whilst my book was free! Now I normally have the luck of the three blind basta**’s but holy sh** this was an open goal. For a very long while my tactics to sharing my own book link had changed to not talking sharing it at all. So I had a field day! And ‘The Teleporter’ kicked nearly every other book’s ass, and it went up against some pretty big competition…

This is an example of what I dropped in many folks comments of the Tweet machine…

tweet example

When you are really selling something, people just need to know the important details. As you can see it’s snappy and to the point and also the truth. ‘The Teleporter’ is all of those things, apart from being free right now. Boozy undertones; it’s not all serious folks.

Factor 5: Other smaller things I did…

As well as doing all the promo things above I also put up a big ‘ol Teleporter themed blog post, saying it was free and other stuff. It drove some traffic to the blog and many of the followers of the blogging persuasion are relatively new, plus it was free so people take notice.

I don’t like to mention Facebook because I personally think they are assholes mostly, they are one of those Robocop level corporations who are probably reading this while sharpening Zuckerbergs terminator liquid metal style axe for a hand, hey Mark (waves slowly). I did put up a less than £10 boosted post. It may have helped sell a few copies and definitely a paperback which was someone I personally know so the results are inconclusive. My following is pretty good on my page, you are more than welcome to like it, link to the side somewhere over there >>>>>

Bonus factor: A back Catalogue

I currently have 4 books available which I got published in 2 years, that’s some high revolutions, foot down on the gas type of sh**. I’ve worked my ass off to get those out there and now I have, people take it seriously. It’s true when they say the more books you release the better chance you have, trust me, you got to churn out them stories!

cropped-4.jpg

Results:

The main result is the amount of times the book got downloaded, but there are also longer term results which are still coming in. Kindle Direct Publishing also track page reads (a bit creepy I know) and these are the most recent figures of people reading:

PAGES READ

You can also see somebody has taken on ‘Darke Blood’ also, good on ya, I’m liking that book more and more these days…

There has also been a new review of ‘The Teleporter’ via Goodreads!

tp goodreads rev

Conclusion:

If you’re an indie looking to get more reads, I recommend going free to download for a little while, the first thing I will say is that you are not whoring your stuff out, you are giving it to the world to enjoy and discover. I don’t do this for a living, maybe some day I will, but until then people can read my stuff for free.

Prepare and take your time, spend a few pennies and do the research in finding promo sites and creative ways to get the word out. Take a leap and you’ll never know unless you try.

Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone who downloaded ‘The Teleporter’. Rock and roll man!

 

Reviewing Darke Blood

Lee Hall Leave a comment

Feed The Crime

So, today i’m reviewing Darke Blood by Lee Hall, now I know what you’re thinking, this is a crime fiction blog Blair, why are you reviewing a supernatural book? Well this is actually my first vampire novel, and boy am I glad I read this!

Let’s get started…

“There are more than shadows lurking in the darkness of those trees.”
Blake Malone is in search of a new start and arrives in the remote forest town of Darke Heath. The memory of his past mysteriously becomes a blur as he discovers this place isn’t what it seems.
Malone shares a romantic encounter with a woman named Caitlyn and she reveals herself to be a ‘creature of the night’.

He learns of her story which intertwines with the history of the ‘Heath’. Together they must face the evil forces of vampirism and witchcraft that await them in the Darke forest.
But…

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