Guest Post: Kristie Cook Author of Promise (Soul Savers, #1) - Blog Tour

Title: Promise (Soul Savers, #1)
Author: Kristie Cook
Publisher: Kristie Cook
Ordering Information: Amazon, Barns and Noble, How to order signed copies

Synopsis: Alexis Ames has a life full of promise…but not all promises can be kept.

When Alexis Ames is attacked by creatures that can’t be real, ...more Alexis Ames has a life full of promise…but not all promises can be kept.

When Alexis Ames is attacked by creatures that can’t be real, she decides it’s time she learns who she really is, with or without the help of her mother, who guards their family’s secrets closely. After meeting the inhumanly attractive, multi-talented Tristan Knight, however, Alexis retreats behind her façade of normalcy…until she discovers he’s not exactly normal either. Then their secrets begin to unravel.

Their union brings hope and promise to her family’s secret society, the Angels’ army, and to the future of mankind. But it also incites a dangerous pursuit by the enemy – Satan’s minions and Tristan’s creators. After all, Alexis and Tristan are a match made in Heaven and in Hell.

And now I want to welcome Kristie and say how excited I am about the series and that I was able to take part in the Blog Tour!

Going Indie

Before entering the business side of writing fiction, I never paid much attention to publishers. Like most readers (I think), all I really cared about was the author (if they were familiar) or the title (if it was recommended). I might have noticed that the cover themes of a favorite author looked different because they changed publishers. I didn’t really care much who published the book, though, as long as it was good.

When I decided to go indie to publish my books, it was with this in mind. Do readers really care? Overall, no, as long as the book meets their standards and expectations. Unfortunately, there are self-published books that are very obviously self-pubbed – their covers scream amateur with just text on an ugly background and the writing needs serious editing help. But beyond that, if the book grabs attention and, especially, if it has been recommended, it doesn’t matter who the publishing company is.

My team and I have worked hard to ensure that the cover and printing meet professional standards and that the story is well polished. If you didn’t know it was self-published, you would probably never know the difference. We’ve taken steps to ensure you can buy it on any major retailer’s website (or you will in the near future, anyway) or walk into any brick-and-mortar and order it. Eventually, if it gets enough buzz and requests, the stores and libraries will stock it on their shelves.

The biggest and most unexpected challenge has been meeting the requests of buyers outside of the U.S. We’ve had so many inquiries that we’re frantically looking for solutions besides expensive international shipping. As a tiny publisher with only one title, however, it takes time to get listed with places such as The Book Depository. I underestimated the blogosphere and how far the reach of Promise’s buzz would go and didn’t think this would be an issue for some time.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining at all. People from the U.K., Greece, Canada, Mexico and other countries have taken the time to email me because they can’t find my book and they really want to read it. How cool is that?!? Like chocolate-ice-cream-with-caramel-and-peanut-butter cool! So no complaints. We’re just learning what we can do and ask that people have patience with us.

So far, the road to publication has been a huge learning experience, sometimes challenging and sometimes a lot of work. But mostly it’s been fun. I’ve met so many people and learned so many new things. I look forward to the journey ahead.

I think you’ll be seeing more and more writers taking the same path. The six big publishers are feeling the effects of the economy, as well as the digitizing of books. They’re trying to avoid the fiasco the music industry faced with piracy and loss of sales, while dealing with old foes, such as television, newspapers, movies, video games, etc., as well as new competition for people’s attention, such as the Internet, social media, multimedia players, etc. They have little money to invest in new authors that mean even more risk than usual.

I think within the next five or so years, publishers will require debut authors to build their own audience through self-publishing. After all, it’s fairly easy and inexpensive these days. Writers can prove themselves to readers and when they have a solid fan-base, publishers will take the risk of investing in them. So readers will be the ones choosing what they want to read, with a plethora of possibilities they’ve never had before.

You’ll no longer be kept from something you might like because an agent or publisher already decided for you that you wouldn’t like it. You’ll no longer be told what’s good enough. You’ll have to figure it out for yourself, but you’ll also get to discover authors and stories that you otherwise would have never known…like Promise. Freedom to choose what you want to read? That’s pretty awesome for the reader and the author!

Thank you so much for stopping by Kristie! From reading the book, to this guest post for the blog tour, it's been a blast! Congraulations to you on the release of Promise!

For more intormation about the author and the series, please visit Kristie's Web Site
For more information about the book please visit I Have Promise


The Trailer:




*I am not compensated at all for any of the links withing this page.