Saturday, March 16, 2013

A WEEK OF QUINN DAY FIVE!!!

The days just keep a rollin' by ;)
It's day FIVE!
We're ALMOST there, but not quite, so hold onto your panties because the rides still going.
 
Today is the review of Beyond The Veil
 

Though the Serbian pack has been brought to heel thanks to the downfall of their Alpha, the war is far from over.
Desdemona, a witch of unfathomable power, has escaped the wolves’ wrath, but she will not go quietly into the night. She takes refuge in a place where even the smallest sliver of light does not dare to enter. Though she had to flee, she has not given up on the treasure she wishes to acquire. Her depravity knows no bounds; she's even willing to search for the one who can assist her in opening a Veil that has not been opened in millennia – with good reason: the danger is incalculable.
Meanwhile, there are major changes rippling through the Romanian Grey wolves. Decebel has become Alpha to the Serbian pack in an effort to begin to unite the Canis lupis species. Their numbers are dwindling in the wake of the shortage of true mates and lack of offspring. The wolves are beginning to lose faith and darkness seems to be crashing in on them from all sides. But the winds of change are blowing, changes that will alter the future of not only the Canis lupis, but of another ancient race as well.
Amidst all of this, Sally is continuing to come to terms with her relationship with the playful, charming, flirty, unbelievably handsome bartender – who happens to be a member of the Romanian pack.
If all that weren’t enough, the Fates have decided to pay a little visit to Jen. It’s time to collect. She cheated the Fates of a life, her life. Now they want what they are due. The problem? It’s more than Jen is willing to pay.
Yes, the war is indeed far from over. Bargains will be struck, declarations will be made, sacrifices will be given, love will be tested, and trust will be questioned as evil makes its stand against them all.

Holy flipping bloody flying monkeys!
That is all.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Nah, just kidding :P
You're never that lucky!
Anyways, so in the fifth installment of the Grey Wolves Series, we get further into the history of the canis lupus, and further into the developing relationships and friendships between the characters.
I could go on and on about how much I love the series, this book, and Quinn, but that would just be a massive repeat of what I have been saying these past five days.
So, instead I'd like to rant about some of the 1-3 star reviews that I have seen about her work.

 
 I went through some of the reviews of Quinn's books on amazon and there's some people that I would LOVE to hunt down and punch in their throats. I mean, seriously, some of them are just ridiculous in their negative critiquing. Do they not understand that the social environment of the packs are completely different to what would be considered normal for humans? Thus the familial interaction wouldn't be the same as it would be for other people. AND not to mention that how Jen, Jacque and Sally interact with each other is that strong because they've known each other for forever and with each girl they're traits completely make up for what the others lack, thus making the friendship, dialogue and interactions completely cohesive. And not to mention that the girls, along with their mates, character traits create a perfectly fitted puzzle. So to remove even one from the whole would make the entire group incomplete and inharmonious. Seriously, I'm beginning to believe that humanity is loosing their intelligence. And why must they take everything so seriously? Are they really expecting a YA/paranormal book to be 'real'? It's fiction, for crying out loud, not a documentary of werewolf society. *falls over*. So, yeah, punching them in their throats would make me happy.
Yay aggression!

Also, when it comes to the people bemoaning about the editing.
1) Yes, there are some grammatical errors and 'oopsie's' as I call them. Did it bug me while reading? No. Why? Because I don't have my head that far up my..... *clears throat*..... because I was more interested in what happened in the story than about whether or not the editor missed something in the book.
2) Quinn Loftis is an INDIE AUTHOR. Now, what makes and Indie author different than, oh geeze, I don't know, a published author with a big boy publishing company such as Nora Roberts or Maggie Shayne, is that an Indie author DOES EVERYTHING BY HIS/HERSELF.
Now, what does that entail? You may ask.
Simple really.
An Indie author writes the books, finances the books (SURPRISE! Indie authors don't have an unlimited supply of finances for people such as editors, cover designers, marketing people, etc). With the financing, you may say '*scoffs* it doesn't cost THAT much to get an editor'. Okay, then you pull $500+ dollars out of your..... *clears throat*..... to purchase the experience of a professionally trained editor who has worked for publishers, it costs on average $500+ depending on book size.  For a good graphic designer, you're looking anywhere from $200 (the very basic) to $450+ (just for the cover of the book!)
Now, add in the cost of doing blog tours, the cost of either having swag made or getting the items needed to make your own swag, plus not to mention the cost of getting the books published so we can have giveaways like these, and it all comes to a VERY pretty, shiny, bling-ed out penny!
Now, since no one has the ability to sh*t out.... *clears throat*..... since no one has the ability to pull money from the air, you can see where some problems would occur when it comes to managing your budget.
Also, Indie authors don't have publishers and publishers assistants and their own marketing team to promote their work for them. They do it all by themselves (which is A LOT of hours taken away from your family and friends, just to bring the story TO YOU).
Now, you're probably saying that 'well it's not like they're going to lose money! I mean, their paperbacks cost like 12 bucks alone!'.
Here, I have to stop and start laughing hysterically.
Okay, so 'omg they get paid 12 buck a paperback, right?'
WRONG! It costs (on average) $8 to print the books, which means that out of that twelve you would get paid $4 (if royalties allow it).
So, lets say that you spend $1500 for everything needed to design, publish and market your book. If you sold the ebook copies for 1.99, you would make a profit of 1.33 (depending on the royalty percentage). So, you would thus have to sell either 375 paperbacks or 1,128 ebooks (or a combo of the two) JUST to break even!
And yes, that does take awhile. Sometimes a couple of months depending on how well you marketed your book.

So, in conclusion, next time you want to b*tch about small things in a review to an author, just remember that they're doing their best with what they have to work with.  Yes, there will be mistakes (sh*t, there's mistakes in even the most established veteran author's works {and don't try to argue that there's not, because there is}), so unless its an absolutely atrocious story you have ever written that your five year old could of written better then I DON'T want to hear nit picking over every little freaking detail. Yes, everyone is entitled to their opinions (I sure have no problems stating mine), but whenever you're writing a negative review JUST because you can with it not even pertaining any negative remarks towards the story itself and that review turns others away from said book then that creates a HUGE FREAKING PROBLEM because you are basically f*ck..... *coughs..... defalcate someone out of a story/series that they may potentially love.

Also, all of what I said above could be pointed out towards pirating sites and those that are too f*ck..... *coughs*..... and those that are ill-informed about authors situations and all the details that involves publishing a book for your entertainment, who knowingly go to those pirating sites for free books instead of paying the 1.99 for said book.
(these types need to be punched in the throat also).
Oh, and just so you guys know, if you are caught either pirating from authors, running a pirating site, or getting items from pirating sites, you can and WILL be persecuted to the full extent of the law because all published books ARE copyrighted, and you can be charged IN FEDERAL COURT for copyright infringement. So there's some happy thoughts for those of you who either do, or think about pirating or getting pirated items.

Now, before I forget to *cough* after every bad word and become so heated and become such a vigilante that I start spewing forth deprecating facts about said people like a vengeful goddess from Thy Kingdom of Nerds, lets move on to more happier things, like the GIVEAWAY!



a Rafflecopter giveaway
To purchase your copy of Beyond the Veil for Kindle click HERE for Nook click HERE

8 comments:

  1. Love vampires, but werewolves are awesome as well.

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  2. Wow, great post! I LOVE QUINN too, so any negative reviews makes me sad. But, you did such a great job describing all that goes into writing books and what an Indie Author even means. I always wondered that! How cool! I'm even more impressed with our Quinn! Thank you for your review!

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  3. I love werewolves and shifters!:)

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  4. I love Quinn's books. I also don't like the negative reviews

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  5. Omg. Your awesome! I love Quinn's books!!! I could not of said it better my self.

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  6. Haha I love that you just spoke for all of Quinn loftis true book lovers and you could have not said it any better and if you need a buddy to help you punch some of those people in the throat. I'm here. Hehe :)

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