BLENDING TWO WORLDS INTO ONE BOOK

BLENDING TWO WORLDS INTO ONE BOOK – by Kathy Ivan

I was asked by Susan Stoker to participate in her Special Forces: Operation Alpha Kindle World launch. When somebody as hugely popular as Susan personally asked you to write a romantic suspense with paranormal elements?  I wasn't about to say no.  J 

For anybody not familiar with Kindle Worlds, it is an Amazon exclusive type of fan fiction, where an author (or anybody who wants to write) uses characters from the Worlds' creator (in my case Susan Stoker's Special Forces) and incorporates them into their story. 

Well, it's not as easy as you think, especially if you're bringing somebody else's characters into YOUR world.  But that's exactly what I did with Saving Sarah.  I wrote a novella using several characters from her Navy SEALs, and brought them down to New Orleans—where my New Orleans Connection Series takes place. 

My characters remain front and center in the book—which is exactly the way I wanted—but I didn't relegate Susan Stoker's characters to the back burner, either.  My hope is that it is a seamless blending of the two.  So far, readers haven't complained. 

Saving Sarah is the result of this mashup, and I absolutely love this book. It has a curvy, spunky heroine and a sexy ex-SEAL hero!

AMAZON LINK:  http://amzn.to/29WMMA8  

Here's the blurb:

Haunted by memories of war and strangely prophetic dreams, Gaston "Ranger" Boudreau spends his time alone in the Louisiana bayou he calls home. When fellow SEAL, Matthew "Wolf" Steel calls in a favor, Ranger can't refuse—a Boudreau always pays his debts.

Writer Sarah Sloane is in New Orleans on a mission, to find her missing sister. Unsure what she'll uncover, she needs somebody who knows the city—but more, she needs a bodyguard who can keep her safe. One sexy former Navy SEAL might be just the person for the job.

As Ranger's dreams evolve, the dangerous search for Sarah's sister becomes a race against the clock. Can they find her before it's too late, or will their quest cost more than one life?

NOTE: This is an amazon.com exclusive, and is only available on their site.

AMAZON LINK:  http://amzn.to/29WMMA8  

There are also a lot of great authors participating in launching this Kindle World.  Check out their books too.  I'm sure you'll find a whole bunch of them that you'll want to one-click. 

Aaron’s Honor, Lindsay Cross: http://amzn.to/2avS2K4 

Awakening Aubrey, Shauna Allen: http://amzn.to/2aaboFE

Cowboy D-Force,  Elle James:  http://amzn.to/2a1DgMR

Finding Ayva, Elle Christensen: http://amzn.to/2a1DX8Y

Freeing Falcon, Leigh Carman: http://amzn.to/29OxA6k

Marking Mariah:  Liz Crowe:  http://amzn.to/2avSgAQ

No Protection, Gennita Low: http://amzn.to/2acoCEJ

Protecting Beauty, MJ Nightingale:  http://amzn.to/2avSWWJ

Protecting Love, Maryann Jordan http://amzn.to/2avSCHB

Protecting Maddie, Desiree Holt: http://amzn.to/2a1E30b

Protecting New York, Lainey Reese:http://amzn.to/29W4twP

Protecting Us, Magan Vernon:  http://amzn.to/29N18Vv

Redemption for Avery, Jordan Dane:  http://amzn.to/2avTxHQ

Redemption for Misty, Anne Conley: http://amzn.to/29W52qo

Rescuing Pandora, Kori David:  http://amzn.to/2avTZWR

Saving Sarah, Kathy Ivan: http://amzn.to/29WMMA8

 Happy Reading!

Kathy

Those Matchmaking Algorithms

 

 

 

Matchmaker, matchmaker. Make me a metadata...

Say what? Who could have foreseen that today's matchmaker would be metadata?  Then imagine dating at hyperspeed and you have algorithms.  You don't see them, but algorithms bring readers and authors together on Amazon and shape what you get in your Facebook news feed.

You know how you get reads recommended for you when you log on to Amazon? That's an algorithm at work. Same for the bestseller lists. It all begins with the book's metadata. The core is the title, price, author and category. Layer on the enhanced metadata such as blurbs, bios, review quoters and sample chapters, and Amazon's algorithms ping into action to match a reader and author. Every time you write a review, every time you buy a book, Amazon feeds this into its algoritm, bringing you closer to us. [And we love being closer!]

From the author side of the equation, every time you write that five-star review about one of our books or buy our latest release, it fuels the algorithm that places us on the bestseller or recommended reads lists. [We really love this.]

Wonder why your Facebook newsfeed only displays certain updates? That's its infamous, constantly changing algorithm at play. [The darn algorithm can't even keep a nickname. Its most recent,"The Edge," was just declared dead.]  It's like a credit rating: invisible, important and unique to each user.

Every click, like, comment, tag, share or friend has weight. Think about it. Once you've visited a person's 'page' for the first time, how often do you actually go to that page? If you say 'never', you're not alone. One statistic is 96% of fans don't return to a brand's FB page. We rely on our newsfeed to keep caught up, but the newsfeed is all all about a statistical analysis determining our interaction with each other. 

Consequently, if we want to know what's going on with each other, an occasional comment is a winner. Daily, short, relevant posts with photos get high marks for engagement, but a quick like works for me.

Mathematics may bring us together, but its the human interaction we all strive for.

What FB news/story gets you to do more than 'like'? Photos, book updates...what? 


:) Carol Stephenson
JUSTICE AT ALL COSTS
HER DARK PROTECTOR, 2013 EPIC & IDA finalist
Website; Facebook; Twitter; Not Your Usual Suspects