Cat's Call - #WordSeach Fun No.3

Cat's Call Word Search Fun!

My apologies for being a little late this week - I have trapped a nerve or strained something in the base of my neck/back (not sure which) and until today I was typing with only one hand. 😎 As you can imagine, this was not very fast.

It's Word Search Wednesday again. How do the weeks go so fast?

N.B. Don't forget, this month's competition puzzle is still open for entries until May 13th, so check it out if you haven't already.

This week I was feeling fantasy inclined so the word search is based on my book Cat's Call. This is the first book in The Chronicles of Charlie Waterman (a trilogy at the moment) and it is full of magic and shapeshifting and multiple universe and many more exciting things. It even has dragons and vampires.

Charlie is a character very close to my heart, because he was one of the first I came up with when I decided to write books professionally. I sat down one day with no idea what I was going to write at all and simply started putting words on the page. That first chapter has long since been mostly deleted and recreated, but it gave me the essence of Charlie and for that I will always be grateful.

Q. Writers - do you ever sit down and just start to write to see what happens, or do you prefer to think it all through and plan before putting words on a page?

Options for Solving

1. Click the button below and start solving online. If you create a free account with MyWordSearch.com (you only have to pay to create word searches) you can save your progress and come back later.
   
   Create account - top left of pop-up.
2. For those who prefer the old school pen and paper, click here to download the PDF so you can print it.

Solution

For those who would like to check their answers or who can't find that last word, here is the solution:

Click to open the puzzle solution in a new window.

Q. What is your favourite kind of puzzle?

Book of the Week

Cat's Call - Chronicles of Charlie Waterman Book 1

by Natasha Duncan-Drake

Charlie doesn't believe in destiny, unfortunately destiny believes in him.

Accosted by a small clay, feline figurine, Charlie finds himself the chosen of the Cat Spirit, one of the Seven Great Spirits who protect the Balance of Existence. When he wakes up with a tail that will not go away no matter how he ignores it, he has to believe what is going on is real.

At eighteen, Charlie isn't old, but he's two years past the threshold for dealing with magic for the first time, apparently. This makes him weird, even in Between, a realm of magic, prophecy and shapeshifting. He could live without the earthquakes, thanks.

So now he has to: figure out magic; get along with five scarily competent sixteen year olds and one prickly vampire to form a team; and last but not least, be prepared to go to any world, in any universe when sent there by the Seer, so the Balance of Existence isn't destroyed by agents of chaos. All of which his mentor, Akari, assures him he did say yes to, even if he doesn't remember that part!

Charlie has never thought of himself as a hero, but Existence depends on him coming to terms with the fact that he is.

       

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New Competwition to win Cat's Call and Cat's Creation

Over at Wittegen Press we have a new competwition to win The Chronicles of Charlie Waterman.

We're offering three eBook bundles of the two books in the series as prizes over here at competwition.

What is a competwition, other than an obvious spelling mistake? Well it is a very nifty way to run a competition on Twitter. All you have to do is sign in with twitter, click one button and you're entered. The click automatically subscribes you to @wittegenpress, our company twitter, and tweets about the competition on your account.

If you win you will be contacted by us via twitter once the competition has closed on the 2nd April. Competwition is a great site and well worth checking out for lots of lovely prizes.

New book: Cat's Creation (Chronicles of Charlie Waterman #2) by Natasha Duncan-Drake

My new book is out today. This is the sequel to Cat's Call for all those who have been waiting for it.

NEW From Wittegen Press The Chronicles of Charlie Waterman eBook: Cat's Creation by Natasha Duncan-Drake Available 22 March 2012

Cat's Creation (The Chronicles of Charlie Waterman #2)
By Natasha Duncan-Drake
Genre:  Contemporary Fantasy, YA, Length:  Novel (~68,000wds)
Date Pub:  22 March 2012, Available NOW from: Smashwords - $2.99, Amazon $2.99, £1.53, €2.68
Coming Soon from: Barnes and Noble, Diesel, Sony, Kobo, WH Smith, Google Books
ISBN:  ISBN 978-1-908333-31-5, ISBN 978-1-908333-30-8
Link to full listing with all buying links for Cat's Creation
(http://www.wittegenpress.com/catalogue_v2/items/show/36)

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Description:  Life goes on for the residents of Between as they struggle to recover from the events that could have destroyed their home and that have left a gaping hole in the structure of their world. As one of the leaders of the Questors, Charlie feels responsible for helping to keep them strong and together, but he's not sure how. Added to that, his magic is being difficult and there is another task to deal with; one that requires all seven Questors and that will take them to, Mydarec, a world run by mafia-style families, where sorcerers and vampires are a part of every-day living. Forced to play a role that could cost him his life and plagued by a vision of death, Charlie must struggle to overcome his own insecurities and, with his friends, figure out why they have been sent to such a dangerous world.

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You do not need an eReader to view this publication; there are Kindle aps available for most devices as well as formats for other eReaders, devices and PC.

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Excerpt

"We have other properties to see," Alexander said as soon as he read Ford's new figure, "good day, Mr Ford."
The shocked expression on Ford's face was priceless as Alexander turned away.
"Wait, wait," Ford said, stumbling over himself and hurriedly did something on the device before literally handing it to Alexander.
Now Alexander turned to face the other man properly again.
"That seems more reasonable, however I will need certain provisions if we are to close this business deal."
Ford could not hide his relief at that and for a brief moment Charlie thought he might actually have glimpsed the man behind the facade. Alexander looked poised to strike and Charlie almost felt sorry for the estate agent as the two prepared to duel it out for the house.
However, he couldn't help noticing that Ford kept looking at him out of the corner of his eye, even though most of the man's attention was on Alexander. It was abundantly clear that something about him had Ford completely on edge, which, given he was the least well armed of their whole group, was odd. On impulse he smiled at the estate agent and watched Ford go incredibly pale. It was unsettling to have such an effect, but useful, never the less.
"Call off your dog," Ford said, voice quavering, "please, I get it, you want the house. All I ask is a fair price."
"After an insult like that it had better be very fair," Charlie said, not appreciating the comment at all.
The man's eyes opened wide in shock and terror and Charlie could see Ford visibly shaking. He was pretty sure he had just stomped over local form, but he also knew backing down would hinder their negotiations, so he stepped closer instead. Ford shrank away and Charlie smiled again, since it seemed to unsettle the agent so much. He only stopped when Alexander placed a hand lightly on his shoulder and a quick flick of eyes towards the back of the room was the only communication between them. He nodded and turned, playing what he was figuring out was his part as well as he could, and stepped away to leave Alexander to buy the house.
"Do not assume to know me or my people," Alexander said, voice just above absolute zero, "it will make trouble for you, you do not want."
"I'm sorry," Ford stuttered, "I'm not used to foreigners."
"Get used to it," Alexander replied as Charlie took up a position at the back wall.
He really had no idea what he was doing, but he leant back and looked casual, keeping his eyes on the man even though there was distance between them. Why he scared Ford quite so much was a question that needed answering, but it wasn't as if they could just come out and ask. As Alexander negotiated, Charlie started sifting through the information in his head to see what he could come up with. Nothing

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If you read and enjoy this title, please consider reviewing it at Amazon, or Smashwords, or one of the other eBook shops. Thank you.
And if you'd like to help a small, independent publisher: Ways you can help us to up the profile of the book. Thank you! :) There are many and varied ways to help raised the profile of this book, we've listed a selection below.

1. Tag Cat's Creation on your local Amazon site (US, UK, DE, FR, IT, ES) Just below the product details on each Amazon page is the tag section. Please tick the boxes next to the tags you agree with (please DO NOT click the agree with all tags option, because it does not help the book).
2. Like Cat's Creation on your local Amazon site (US, UK, DE, FR, IT, ES) At the top of every page there is a like link which you can click if you are logged in.
3. Like The Chronicles of Charlie Waterman on Facebook The Chronicles of Charlie Waterman on Facebook
4. Review Cat's Creation on any of the eBook sites: Amazon (US, UK, DE, FR, IT, ES); Smashwords.
5. Tweet about Cat's Creation, example tweet: Check out the NEW Nothing The Chronicles of Charlie Waterman eBook from @WittegenPress: Cat's Creation http://bit.ly/GGCmAe
6. Circle, +1 and/or Share the The Chronicles of Charlie Waterman pages(s) on Google+ The Chronicles of Charlie Waterman on Google+
7. +1 the book page: Use the +1 Button on Cat's Creation's Book Page on Wittegen Press Site

Free Books on Amazon

I've seen several people talking about whether putting a book free on Amazon is a good idea or not. I'm not going to go into the whole KDP Select thing because I very much don't like the exclusivity clause that is involved in it. However, I have had one title price matched to free, which for me has been brilliant.

I've analysed my numbers from December to January and having a free book (Forgotten Soul ) on Amazon has doubled my sales.

I'm definitely still at the don't quit your day job stage, even though this is my day job and I can only do it because I have a wonderfully talented husband and a low mortgage :). However, it's an upturn when, ever since Amazon played with their system back in the middle of last year, my numbers have been pitiful.

However, for those considering putting titles free on Amazon, I think I should point out a couple of factors.

1. Most of my new sales were for Forbidden Soul, the direct sequel to the free book.
2. The few extra sales I saw on other books were for books of the same genre. It didn't touch my YA novel figures.

Hence I think it's probably a good idea to plan exactly how you make your titles free if you are going to do so. I suppose it makes sense that if someone has read a book of yours in a genre and liked it, they are more likely to go for the same genre again. It is also likely that fans of a certain genre go for that genre and not an alternative one.

It's actually given me a lot to think about, which is why I thought I'd share what I've seen. Of course this is only one month, I have no idea if I will see the same again this month, but I have already seen more sales in two days than sometimes in a whole week in Dec, so here's hoping.

I'm seriously considering writing a YA short story/novella just so I can put it up there for free and have a free book in my other market segment. (Only once I've published "Cat's Creation" the sequel to Cat's Call, though, promise :)).

I would be very happy to hear if anyone else has had similar or completely different results. I know that KDP select only lets you put your book up free for five days, where as mine are intended to be free for as long as the system will let me do it, so experiences may differ.