Soul Reader - #WordSearch Fun no.5 #ParanormalRomance

Soul Reader - Word Search

Hello, Lovely Visitors. I hope today finds you happy and well.💖

It is Word Search Wednesday once again and so I have another fun puzzle to all to enjoy. This week we once again have vampires, but no werewolves this time. The word search today is based on my gay paranormal romance series Soul Reader.

It has angst, it has action, it has love, and the short stories are free, while the novella is 1.99, so do please check them out after you've enjoyed the puzzle. The series is also available in one volume in eBook and paperback for those who appreciate ease of access.

Paranormal romance is a very popular genre these days, encompassing so many wonderful options. My favourite are still vampires (I can hear your gasps of shock at this revelation 😂), but there are very few combinations that I actively avoid. From fae to dragons to werewolves, it is wonderful IMHO. The fact that it is an ever expanding genre that we can all dive into and find just what we are after, fills me with joy.

Q. Do you have any paranormal romance/adventure recommendations? Please LMK in the comments since I am always looking for good new reads.

Q. What is your favourite sub-genre for paranormal romance?

The Puzzle

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.

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Book of the Week

Soul Reader Books 1-3

by Natasha Duncan-Drake

John knows that at best he can be described as a male escort and at worst as a whore, but it's what he does and he's good at it. He sells his body and his clients come with fangs so it's more about blood than sex. Hiding behind a false smile and his acting skills is the only way he survives, but when he meets one of his latest clients, Michael, his professional detachment is severely threatened, leading him into very dangerous territory.

       

Also available as individual books

Forgotten Soul (FREE)

     
 

Forbidden Soul

     

Fortunate Soul (FREE)

     
 

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Soul Reader - Cover Reveal

Soul Reader - Cover Reveal

So I am currently working on combining the Soul Reader series into a single book so I can publish it as a paperback. The stories are too short to work as cost effective individual books, so I'm putting them all together in one volume.

I'm on the proof with a red pen stage at the moment. That's what I shall be getting back to as soon as I hit publish on this :D.

I'm also working on finishing the 4th part to the series as well, but that's going to take a little longer.

So, new book means a new cover.

I spent most of the weekend on it. The original image is from pexels.com (best site for free images ever!) and is by a chap called Lalesh Aldarwish. He has some other fantastic images on there for free download too, so check him out.

From there I had some fun with the rule of thirds and the golden ratio and fire. I've just started using Illustrator as well as Photoshop and it's really good for text. Still learning, so it took me ages to get the title right, but there are many wonderful tutorials on Youtube, thank heavens.

Cover Reveal

Are you ready? I know you're on the edges of your seats, aren't you ;)

Soul Reader Books 1-3 All Rights Reserved

And here's how it will look in paperback:

Thank you for dropping by.

Do you have any favourite covers, either on your own books or on ones you have seen on the internet?

~*~

P.S. I was lucky enough to be asked to guest post on the blog of the lovely  Ronel Janse van Vuuren this last weekend. I wrote all about eBooks.

eBooks - The Future or a Mistake?

Yay - Forgotten Soul is back in searches on Amazon

For a while now my book Forgotten Soul has not been turning up in searches on Amazon because the cover was deemed too risqué. The fact it had a naked man under a sheet on it seemed to upset them. I think some people through it was a woman??!!

Anyway, at first it didn't turn up in searches outside Kindle, then it started to stop turning up at all except on my author's page.

Well as you all know, last week I changed all the covers for The Soul Reader Series, of which Forgotten Soul is #1. It now only has a naked man on it (yes, if you read the book you'll realise he is naked at this point, even if you can't see it ;)) from mid chest up and he's not doing anything apart from looking rather conflicted :).

So yesterday (Oct 9th) I submitted a request to Amazon KDP to have the book reinserted into searches.

Now in the past I have not had the greatest success when dealing with support at Amazon. I think mostly because I asked questions they didn't actually, at the time, know the answer to :). So I thought I would have to wait for ages for them to get back to me and sort it all out.

Yet ... no! They reviewed my request, took a look at the book and reinstated Forgotten Soul right away and it's there all within 24 hours. I have to say, I'm impressed.

So, thank you, Amazon KDP for being so professional and swift and letting Forgotten Soul show up in searches again.

Anyone else have similar issues with Amazon ever? Were they sorted out?

New Covers for the Soul Reader Series - Vampire Romance and Action

So the original covers for the current books in The Soul Reader Series were all created at different times over the course of publication. This means they were all slightly different. With a new book in the works I decided I wanted the covers to be more homogeneous. Hence a flurry of activity and producing three new covers. I've also recorded exactly how they were produces so future covers can be done in the same way - not something I ever thought to do in the beginning.

The links below will take you to the WittegenPress.com website which lists all buying/downloading options if anyone is interested in reading the books.

Title: Forgotten Soul (Soul Reader #1)

John knows that at best he can be described as a male escort and at worst as a whore, but it’s what he does and he’s good at it. He sells his body and his clients come with fangs so it’s more about blood than sex. Hiding behind a false smile and his acting skills is the only way he survives, but when he meets one of his latest clients, Michael, his professional detachment is severely threatened, leading him into very dangerous territory.

An exciting, sexy read in Soul Reader #1.

(~10K wds)

Price: FREE

Title: Forbidden Soul (Soul Reader #2)

John’s life used to be on the risky side, but it had been simple. Allowing vampires to suck his blood had never been safe, but now there is Michael and having a vampire who actually cares about him is complicated. It’s even more complicated because Michael is urging him to reconnect with the family he hasn’t seen in over five years. The fact his recent past also doesn’t want to die quietly is making his life less than easy and it’s about to become deadly.

(~22.5K wds)

Price: 99c (or local equiv)

Title: Fortunate Soul (Soul Reader #3)

With a lot of help from Michael, John is recovering slowly from his kidnapping ordeal at the hands of his previous employers. However, John has noticed changes in Michael’s behaviour towards him now that he has been marked by the organisation’s captive vampires. He’s worried his scars will be too much for their fledgling relationship.

(~6.75K wds)

Price: FREE

They're vaguely inspired by Art Deco and I wanted them to be eye catching as well as illustrative. They work well at 80x120px (the size I use for thumbnails for advertising) as well as full size, which, with eBooks especially can be very important. I wanted it to be very obvious they were vampire books, hence the surround :).

I also changed the font to one of the ones recommended by 300+ Fool-Proof Fonts to use for your Book Cover Design by Derek Murphy. I think it looks less clunky than the old one.

New Book - Fortunate Soul (Soul Reader #3) (Short Story)

My latest title is out today. It's available from Smashwords and Amazon, apologies for those who buy their books from elsewhere, it will be available at Barnes and Nobel etc once it reaches the premium catalogue on Smashwords.

Thank you in advance to anyone who reviews the book or mentions it to their friends.


Fortunate Soul by Tasha D-Drake

Description: With a lot of help from Michael, John is recovering slowly from his kidnapping ordeal at the hands of his previous employers. However, John has noticed changes in Michael's behaviour towards him now that he has been marked by the organisation's captive vampires. He's worried his scars will be too much for their fledgling relationship.

The Soul Reader Series #3

Date Pub: 18th September 2012
Length: Short Story (~6,750 wds)
Genre: Paranormal, Adult, Vampire, Male/Male, Romance
ISBN 978-1-908333-36-0, ISBN 978-1-908333-37-7

Current pricing:

Amazon UK	£0.75	Kindle  (unless price matched [?])
Amazon US	$0.99
Amazon DE	EUR0.89
Amazon FR	EUR0.89
Amazon IT	EUR0.89
Amazon ES	EUR0.89
Smashwords	Free	ePub, PDF, mobi(Kindle), rtf, ltf(Sony), Palm Doc, Plain txt

This is one of the short stories of the series and hence it will eventually be free everywhere, but Amazon take a while to be convinced of this :). Smashwords do offer a Kindle option to download if you don't mind adding it to you device the long way.

Excerpt

"You're looking pensive again, Johnny," Michael said as they reached the top.

It made him smile because, at some point over the last few days, Michael had partially picked up his family's habit of calling him Johnny. Somehow that made him happy.

"Just thinking about the worrying behaviour you've picked up from my Nan," he replied and rewarded his lover with a fond smile.

The only reason they had decided to come back to London was because Michael had things to work out for his play. Well actually John had decided, because he had caught Michael on the phone trying to postpone something and he wasn't letting Michael put everything off for him. Michael's constant attention to him was more than he could ever have asked for. If he was truthful with himself he had thought it would all end before it had really begun, especially with the stresses of reconnecting with his family.

"You undress," Michael told him, steering them into the bedroom, "I'll get the shower going."

Then, with a quick kiss, Michael was gone and John was left to pull off his travel rumpled clothes. It was as he removed his long sleeved top that he caught sight of the scars on the inside of his wrist. Two neat little puncture marks that made him just stop. He saw the other scars from his imprisonment if he looked in the mirror or studied his upper body, but he could avoid looking at them, the ones on his wrist always seemed to catch his eye.

He'd been feeding vampires for a long time, but he'd never been scarred before and it made him feel degraded. He'd been used like a thing and his users hadn't even bothered to use him properly.

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.

Forgotten Soul is now free on Amazon UK

"Forgotten Soul" has been price matched to free on Amazon UK and so it is now in line with Amazon US. It may be downloaded for nothing.

Hopefully this will help with sales as much as it did when it went free on Amazon US.

John knows that at best he can be described as a male escort and at worst as a whore, but it's what he does and he's good at it. He sells his body and his clients come with fangs so it's more about blood than sex. Hiding behind a false smile and his acting skills is the only way he survives, but when he meets one of his latest clients, Michael, his professional detachment is severely threatened, leading him into very dangerous territory.

New Book: Forbidden Soul (Soul Reader #2)

I have a new book out today. It's called Forbidden Soul and it is full of vampires and action and hot gay sex.

John's life used to be on the risky side, but it had been simple. Allowing vampires to suck his blood had never been safe, but now there is Michael and having a vampire who actually cares about him is complicated. It's even more complicated because Michael is urging him to reconnect with the family he hasn't seen in over five years. The fact his recent past also doesn't want to die quietly is making his life less than easy and it's about to become deadly.

This is the second book in The Soul Reader Series which is going to be a series of free short stories interspersed with bargain price novella length books. The first book Forgotten Soul is one of the short stories and may be downloaded free from Amazon and Smashwords (check the link above to see options).

Forbidden Soul picks up where Forgotten Soul finishes and takes the reader on the next stage of John and Michael's confusing journey. It is novella length at 22.5K wds and is available for the bargain price of 99c/77p. There is plenty of plot, romance and sex to satisfy all readers.