Welcome to Episode Six of Turn the Page: The Indie Book Podcast with your host, Kay! We have a jam-packed episode for all you indie book lovers this month, chatting about things like:
Tune in for all this and more! Listen Here:Show Notes:
Here are all the links included in this episode.
Read the transcript:
Kay M. Weston: Welcome to episode six of Turn the Page: The Indie Book Podcast.
A very big, thank you to those of you who got in touch via email and on Instagram to let me know what you thought about my suggestion of doing two podcasts a month: one smaller reading update, our longer indie author interview. Most of you seem to really prefer that idea, so that's how I'm going to try and run the podcast moving forward with this not being the exception though, because it's been such a busy month that I haven't really had time to organize a special guest. But hopefully, next month we will be back on track. You might also notice that the backing music has disappeared for now, at least. I'm not sure whether or not it'll come back, but we shall see. Also, a bit of a celebration as we've now had over 500 listens, plays, downloads, whatever you call them of the Turn the Page podcast, which is amazing. So, thank you so, so much for tuning in. Please do feel free to share the podcast with anyone you think might be interested in discovering more amazing books by talented indie authors. Turn the Page is available wherever you listen to your podcasts and also YouTube. Just hit subscribe to never miss an episode. I want to dive into today's episode with a bit of a debate. A couple of weeks ago, my sister Sophie sent me a random text message asking me to help resolve a debate between her and one of her friends. Basically, she asked if I hear character voices in my head when I read. At first, I was like, yeah, of course, but then she went on to ask me if those characters had my voice, or if they spoke in their own unique voices with like accents and dialects inside my head. Now, at this point, I wasn't really reading anything, and as much as I tried to rack my brain, I was convinced that that just wasn't a thing I did, and that, of course the characters would all speak with my internal voice, for want of a better way of saying it. She then told me that she was currently reading a book by a Japanese author set in Japan, and while reading it in her head, everyone spoke with a Japanese accent. I basically laughed and was convinced that this was just a Sophie thing, but then skip forward a few days to me reading a post-apocalyptic romance novel, and suddenly out of nowhere, I'd been reading for around an hour, I realized that the characters in my head had their own voices. Like, they had really distinct voices. Some even had accents that just weren't described in the book, at least nothing to suggest any inflections or specific dialects, but there I was with these character voices just ringing around in my head. Instantly, I sent Sophie a message and blamed her, because that's what sisters do, but the more I thought about it, the more I was like, have I done this all along and just never noticed it? So, I turned to the good people of Instagram, and with the help of the poll in my stories found out that Sophie and I are not alone. In fact, 71% of the people who voted said that they too heard distinct character voices with different accents or tones of voice in their heads, when they read. So, as promised, I am now publicly apologizing to my lovely sister for doubting her and for not realizing that I also do this. To Sophie's friend who doesn't hear character voices when she reads, you're not alone, as 29% of people said that they didn't either. So, I guess this is just further proof that reading is amazing and it's a different experience for everyone, no matter what you read. That sort of leads me nicely to my next topic, which is what I've been reading this month. So, I'm going to precursor this by saying that I decided to rejoin Kindle Unlimited this month, and I have absolutely binged myself on romance novels. I wasn't supposed to be doing this because I was supposed to be reading short stories to help me with some writing craft research I was trying to do. But Anyta Sunday released the latest book in her Signs of Love series, and I was drawn into romance from there, and still haven't quite left. Anyta Sunday is one of my favourite authors for slow burn romance, and her Signs of Love series is a firm favourite of mine because it mixes a little bit of what feels like magic through the use of horoscopes and almost fate into these love stories. The latest book is Capricorn Faces Scorpio. As a Capricorn, I love that the series has two Capricorn pairings. My partner and I are both Capricorns, which is quite fun as we both pair quite well, but we do butt heads on some things. My partner is definitely more spontaneous, whereas I'm a planner and very much an overthinker by nature. So, Capricorn Faces Scorpio takes place at the same time as the last book in the series, which was Sagittarius Saves Libra. While most of these books can be read as standalones, with this one I really do recommend that you read the last one first and then this one, so that you're reading them back-to-back, because they feature some of the same characters, and as I said before, they take place at the same time. The story follows Carl, a guy who's fleeing from the prospect of being best man at his exe's wedding, and so he swaps lines with his identical twin brother. The problem is his brother is a professional pianist and Carl can't play the piano to save his life. Add to that the small town's local heartthrob, who Carl can't seem to avoid, who seems to know Carl is lying about who he is, and everything quickly goes pear shaped. I've said it for years, but Anyta Sunday honestly writes amazing slow burn romance with characters who are completely clueless when it comes to seeing what's right in front of them. This whole series has been so much fun with really sweet moments and Capricorn Faces Scorpio is no exception. After reading this, I then continued to dip in and out of romance for the rest of the month before falling into a post-apocalyptic romance series called Monstrous by Lily Mayne, where monsters i.e. creatures from another world have invaded earth thanks to a dimensional tear, I think, don't quote me on that. I've never read, sort of, monster romance before. I didn't actually realize it was a big thing, but I've really enjoyed these so far. The world building is actually one of my favourite things because the author does a really great job of bringing this post-apocalyptic world to life, where most humans live in really cramped, military-controlled cities, with others trying to survive out in what the author calls the wastes, which is basically just all of America that isn't in one of these controlled cities. These stories are m/m romance, at least so far. So, they focus on relationships between men living in the wastes, some of them are soldiers, and the monsters now roaming the earth. Like I said, a completely new thing for me that I wasn't sure I'd like, but I do enjoy the connections between the characters. How the relationships work in this sort of weird alien disbanded society, where everyone's just trying to survive is really interesting. I think the author does a really great job of making you care for the characters while also making you believe that things are really bleak and that they don't have these sorts of connections all the time, and that they're all kind of starved for like love and stuff. I do think monsters though is a bit of a broad term because they're all pretty much humanoid and have pretty human characteristics for the most part. I suppose I'm used to D&D monsters, which aren't always that human like, at all. There are some steamy scenes, a lot of steamy scenes, in these books, actually. So, if you enjoy spicy romance, do definitely give these a try. But for me, it's definitely the character dynamics and the world building that I've enjoyed the most from the series so far. Other than reading, I've also been enjoying lots of writing and editing this month. My fantasy short story collection, Spellbound, is now finished. It took me longer than it should have to get the last story in the bag as I wrote a few that just didn't feel like they fit within that particular collection. But I finally got the last one down, and I'm now very happy with the collection as a whole. I can't wait for it to come out. It's currently going through the final round of editing and just finishing everything off, and then it will be out very, very soon. I was going to do the whole pre-order thing with this book, but then I decided against it. As it's my first official release, I just wanted to get out there and available to read. So, I'm hoping that by this time, next month, that will be available, at least in e-book pretty much everywhere. So, if you enjoy bite-sized fantasy short stories do look out for that. I'll let you know as soon as it's available. I'm also editing a short story that's going to be available for free to my newsletter subscribers, which I'm still trying to finish, setting up. There's lots going on at the moment. It's a short and clean sapphic romance about journalist, Claire, who's completely besotted with her best friend, Jo, but doesn't know how to tell her, or even if she'd be interested. Throw in a magical taxicab that will deliver you to the place you need to be, even if you don't quite know it, and well, you'll see what happens if you read The Midnight Cab, when it comes out. Again, I'll let you know, as soon as it's available. The last thing that I'm working on, or the latest thing that I'm working on, is a new short story project that I'm hoping to submit to the Indie Bites Magazine. If you listened to episode four of the podcast, and if not do go and check it out, you'll remember that I chatted with indie author, Josie Jaffrey, who also edits the Indie Bites Magazine. It's a collection of short fantasy stories by a variety of indie authors and is completely free to read. So, I'm working on a short story that I'm hoping to submit for their next issue. I have my fingers crossed, and I'm really loving writing it. It's a cozy fantasy romance, but I'm not going to tell you any more than that just yet. So, you'll have to wait and see if it's selected for the issue. If it's not, I'll probably release it at some point, either as a standalone or part of another collection. So, watch this space. Speaking though of new projects, my friend, coworker, and all-around lovely person, Shana Frost, has just released the latest book in her Scottish romantic mystery series. There are seven books in the Aileen and Callan series right now, with book eight coming out next year in 2025. When Painted with Deceit is the latest book in the series, but do you go back and read them all if you'd like to discover an addictive whodunnit series sat against the backdrop of rural Scotland. It's brimming with romantic tension between detective inspector, Callan and amateur sleuth, Aileen. If you'd like to give Shana's books a try, I believe she does have a free eBook available on her website. So, you can check that out at sharnafrost.com. Speaking of free books, how would you like more of them while supporting indie authors at the same time? If you love to read books by talented authors and you like the idea of reading books for free while supporting those authors, maybe it's time to consider becoming an ARC reader. If you aren't familiar with the term ARC or A.R.C, it literally stands for advanced reader copies or advanced review copies. These are free copies of the book that authors typically give away to readers in exchange for an honest review. It's a really great way for readers to help authors by reviewing their books, because every positive review is another reason for a reader to buy their book. And each review helps an author to make their books more visible to more readers who might enjoy them. There are lots of ways to become an ARC reader for an author, or multiple authors, and it's usually pretty straightforward. The first option is to just look out for posts on social media, from your favourite authors, asking for ARC readers. They'll often include the link to something like a Google form, where you can submit your name and email address, and they'll then send you a copy of the book. If you're subscribed to their mailing list, they might also send out emails asking if you'd like to be part of their book review team. I've done this for a few of my favourite authors in the past, like Anyta Sunday, Tara Sivec, Josie Jaffrey, and it's a really great way of being the first to read their latest books. It literally costs you nothing but a bit of time to read the book and then write a review. It doesn't even have to be a long review, just a star rating and a couple of sentences goes a really long way. Now, that option does rely on you already having a few indie authors in mind and then waiting to join their ARC lists, but if you want to get started straight away, you could join a book review service as a reviewer. There are a few different ones, NetGalley is the most popular for traditional publishers, but very few indie authors use it because the costs are very high, but there are others that are more indie friendly. Now, I haven't used any of these yet, so I'm not endorsing them personally, but these are some of the services that have popped up when I've spoken with other readers and authors, and when doing my own research. BookSirens is probably the most popular. It's definitely the one that came up most in conversation and seems to give the biggest benefits to both authors because of the low costs, and readers because of the ease of use. BookSprout is another one, but I've not really heard as much about how this site works for readers or authors. So, I'm going to focus on BookSirens for now as it's the one I'm most familiar with. Basically, it seems pretty straightforward to get started as a reviewer on BookSirens. If you go to their website, which is booksirens.com, you'll see a red box on the homepage that says, 'enjoy reading arcs?', and then a click here button. On the next screen, you'll be asked to enter your email address, and then you'll receive an email asking you to confirm your account. When you create your account, you'll be asked about your preferences. This is just things like where you want to leave your reviews, Amazon, Goodreads, StoryGraph, wherever, what book format you prefer. Now, remember that most indies will only be delivering eBooks, just to keep costs down. So, if physical books are your preference, this might not be a good fit for you, but you can also select audiobooks, which is great for audio listeners. It will also ask you if you want to read books before or after they're published, and then which genres you prefer, and that's it, you'll now be presented with your dashboard and the option to browse for ARCs. You'll be presented with recommendations using the options you selected, but you can search for new categories and filter down your choices based on things like book-length and whether the book is a standalone or part of a series. When you find a book, you like, you can read an excerpt to see if you think you'll like it, and if you do, you can download a full copy of the book. What's really cool is that BookSirens will send you reminders to review the book. So, if you're like me and you are rubbish at remembering these things, they will remind you on. So, once you've read it, just upload your review and that's it, free books for you and word of mouth marketing for the indie author. If you'd like to give it a go, I'll include all the links mentioned in the show notes. So, let me know how you get on, and if you have any recommendations of other ARC review sites, do let me know. You can reach me via [email protected]. The final thing I wanted to mention before I leave you, is that it's now possible to get the latest Turn the Page podcast episode sent directly to your inbox. If you go to my website, which is kaymweston.com/turnthepage, you'll see a sign-up field. Just enter your name and email address and I'll then let you know whenever a new podcast becomes available. And that's it for this month's episode of Turn the Page: The Indie Book podcast. Thank you so much for listening. If there's anything or anyone in particular, you'd like me to feature on the podcast in future, do get in touch and let me know. I'll be back next month, hopefully with two episodes, fingers crossed. Until then, happy reading and keep turning the page.
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