December 16, 2011

Crystal Seeker is up!

Hey guys,

I'm excited to announce that Crystal Seeker is finally available!

You can get it for the Kindle or the Nook.

Here's the cover again:

Click onto the cover for a bigger version!

And here's the description:

High school junior Tracy Bachman is looking forward to beginning her new life at Oliver Academy. A private, prestigious boarding school located on a beautiful, pristine island, it's everything she's ever dreamed of. If she could only stumble upon the right guy there, everything would be perfect.


Following a rocky start, Tracy settles in and comes to love the island. Everyone is fascinated by the new girl, and Tracy is quick to make friends and meet not just one, but two different guys.


However, it doesn't take long for her friends to help her discover a latent ability deep within herself... an ability that is unlike anything she's ever experienced.


And her ability is coveted. There are others who would take advantage of her, to make use of her powers for their own gain. Suddenly, Tracy starts to realize that underneath her perfect little getaway might lurk a threat. A danger. And as she gets deeper and deeper involved, finds herself lost in a world of love, lies, and supernatural magic.

Now, I'm really excited about this book for a few reasons.  One, it's much, much longer than any of my previous books.  Crystal Seeker comes in at a full 105,000 words, or 420 written pages.  Compare that to Shattered, which was only 40,000 words (which is 160 pages).  That means that I've put way more time and effort in developing the story, fleshing out the characters, and making the setting as real and imaginable as possible.

Next, it's been professionally proof-read and edited, which means that all the misspellings, missing words, and misplaced words the plagued my earlier books are gone.  Furthermore, the professionally proof-read copy was then sent to some great readers who volunteered to get the book in advance to check for any lingering mistakes.  So, as a collective sum of everybody's effort, Crystal Seeker should be nearly 100% mistake free.  That means no more of those jarring errors that make you realize you're reading a book instead of losing yourself in the world and story of the book.

Finally, I think my writing has improved quite a bit since Shattered was published.  All the early readers commented on that (thank you!) and I strove to make sure that all the complaints people had about the Dream Realms Trilogy were taken care of.  I hope I did that.  Of course, the fact that the book is so much longer and fuller means that there's a lot more going on, and a lot more for readers to sink their teeth into.  Which I think you're all going to love.

So, Crystal Seeker is the first book of a planned 5-book series.  All of the books in the series will be about the same length, and continue to be the same (if not better) quality.  I'm really excited about the story I have to tell in Crystal Seeker, and think you guys will like it even more than Dream Realms.

Again, you can buy the book on Amazon or buy it on Barnes & Noble.  I hope all of you check it out!

~Sophia

December 12, 2011

Thanks for the awesome response!

Hey guys,

When I asked for some extra proofreaders, I had no idea the response would be so overwhelming!  As of right now, over 100 different people have gotten in touch with me about getting an advanced copy of Crystal Seeker.  This is absolutely unbelievable -- thank you!

That's way more than I need (or expected!).  I'll try to get back to everyone, but if I don't, thank you for getting in touch!

So, I don't need any more proofreaders right now.  The book will be up in a few more days for everybody to enjoy!

December 9, 2011

New Book Title and Cover! (and readers wanted)

Hey all,

Finally ready to announce the name of my next book, along with the first look at the cover image!

The book is going to be called.... Crystal Seeker!  Here's the cover (as always, you can click it for a bigger view):


Let me know what you think!  And remember, it's coming out December 15th on all available platforms.

--

For the second part of my blog post, I wanted to invite a few readers to read an advanced copy of Crystal Seeker.  The book is 100% ready right now, meaning it's been proofread, edited, and polished as much as can be.  However, I'm striving to make sure there are absolutely no proofing errors in this book.  And for that, I need a few more pairs of eyes to read over the manuscript.  I don't *think* there should be any errors or typos or misspellings in the current version, but one or two might always sneak in.

So, I need about five people who'd want to read the current version of the book and let me know if they find any mistakes.  If you want in, just email me at sophiasharp90@gmail.com.   The book's about 100,000 words (about 400 printed pages), so I'd need some quick readers to get back to me as fast as possible.

Thanks!  And looking forward to all your thoughts about the book when it goes live :)

~Sophia