Hello to all of you beautiful nerds and welcome back from traveling the vast nerd universe. Time for another book review!

My Image of You by. Melanie Moraland

Disclaimer

This review is based on thoughts and opinions based on this book. Please respect the thoughts and opinions from the writer! You have been warned!

Synopsis

In this book, we meet Adam Cinwho is a famous photographer for a magazine in Toronto who ends up in the hospital due to a head injury. While being in the hospital, he meets Alex, a nurse, who becomes his nightingale throughout his time. After getting out, both he and Alex end up knowing more about each other including Alex’s past that deals with how she lost her stepbrother at a young age and has to be the scapegoat for her stepfather and mother to please them, marry a great man in their social circle, go to benefits, and just be prim and proper. Adam decides to break all that and get to know Alex for who she really is and have her live with him and things are great until Alex loses her true family member, Elena, her great aunt. After going to Africa for one final job, Adam comes home to find Alex gone and soon to find out that he was told to no longer see anymore except she was really in an accident and doesn’t remember him at all just the things that she has in front of her. Can he get her back to the woman he fell in love with and hope to marry?

Thoughts

I loved this book throughout the entirety of reading it on my Kindle. I think it was so good that it broke one of my ear buds and had to switch to one of my other pairs. Just kidding! My Tozo was not great with the Kindle where one of them kept on losing charge so now I’m using a pair of Raykons which connect a lot better. I wished I had read this book sooner since I am trying to keep up with my backlog and this was something I was not expecting with how it was written.

I loved the characters and how they interacted with each other. I found Alex and Adam the cutest couple from the start with how they had chemistry. I did not expect Alex’s back story to be a rich girl trying to please her family due to how they preferred her stepbrother over her. I know how she feels si9nce I am not the type who prefers flashy things nor fancy items, I prefer a pair of sneakers over heels any day. Adam did help her out with letting go of her mother and the guy who was wanting to get into her skirts and that he wanted her happy rather than being forced into what the mother expected due to social status. I did have a feeling that the mother did have something to do with Alex not remembering him since she hated Adam with every fiber of her being since he was not a doctor and he had tattoos which Alex got one and enjoyed his ink. It’s like the old stereotype of if you have piercings or tattoos then you can’t get anywhere in life or someone who would cause trouble. After getting my piercings, I stayed in school and kept working, my ears don’t speak for themselves so Adam’s ink is the same way since he traveled and took pictures for a living and had his own apartment, well entire building, motorcycle, and other things.

One thing though I did admit is wanting to slap Alex’s mother throughout the encounters Adam had with her. I felt that her attitude to things around her was something I didn’t enjoy. I remembered the part in the book when Alex made an appearance to an auction and QAdam donated a piece he made to it, not only Alex’s mom but her stepfather and the guy that was interested in her, Bradley, were not interested in art. They just gave glass looks. My Humanities Degree heart broke since even though I can’t see a painting doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the meaning and the artist behind it. I even just got a mug of the “Scream” by Edvard Munch recently due to how it was a reaction to Krakatoa’s eruption.

One thing I have noticed throughout the book is the loss that Alex had to face since she did lose her stepbrother in her back story and then her great aunt, Elena, who was the only other family member besides the brother who had loved her. While listening to the book, I heard Jane Lynch as Elena’s voice since it kind of ti due to her personality being sarcastic. I liked her since she was different from her son, which is her stepfather, and how Adam made her smile throughout the visits they were able to have. After the death, it felt as though the past was trying to be taken away from Alex due to how she found a connection with at least one family member and that Elena wanted to take custody. I think Alex wanted to hold on despite how much it hurt her even while her memory was lost for a bit. I did like how Adam used the money Elena had left him with a note about knowing what to do with it and was to help people in Africa with medicare services and that is what we need to see more of. 

Rating: 5 Shooting Star Paws Out of 5

I enjoyed this book from start to finish and almost cried at points, I think I had tears at one part myself. It had a great ending as well. It shows how you have to keep the ones you love closer and the ones you don’t far away. Adam had been there for Alex throughout everything with her family due to his love and didn’t want to lose her in the end which I knew he didn’t want to give up on her. If I was in her position, I would be suffocated by those around me and seeing Adam being that fresh air helped, even Emma, her friend, and Elena as well. I’m glad I finished another book in my NetGGalley backlog and onto the next!

That ends this review! I am onto the next book! I am up for another Yeah, Meh, Nah for summer! Stay tuned!

Hello to all of you beautiful nerds and welcome back from traveling the vast nerd universe! I am back with a new review!

An Unsuitable Heir by KJ Charles

Disclaimer

This review is based on thoughts and opinions of the lead author of this blog. Please respect her thoughts on this piece of media. You have been warned!

Synopsis

In this book, we meet Mark who gets swept up in passion while looking for a lost Earl in Victorian London. Once he finds Pen Starling, he gets swept up in the majestic work of his trapeze performances he does with his twin sister, Greta. He knows he has to get him to take on his late father’s legacy but lose his lover in the mix. 

Pen Starling is a trapeze artist that enjoys flying in the air and tumbling until he meets Mark who sweeps him off his feet and tries to force him to take on his father’s earldom. He doesn’t want to take on the work since he enjoys the life he has and enjoys being himself by wearing dresses, heels, and his hair down. When a murderer comes after him and tries to kill him, he never thought he would have to take back Mark after being betrayed but prefers having his life saved and keeping his sister out of danger.

Thoughts

I didn’t know this was a part of a trilogy which I now have to go back and read. I am glad I got three credits on Audible so I can read them. I do notice how this book just stands on its own with the story by itself. I did enjoy and kind of blush at times during the love scenes. I admit, I am a Fudoshi, as in a fan of the boy’s love, and man I did enjoy this. I also did enjoy how there was a mystery tied in with this one too since the murderer was going after people who would be in line for the throne and Pen was not noticed until later on in the book when he ends up at his father’s home. I admit I like how Pen was able to defend himself by dodging the rock that was thrown at him, thank you tumbling practice since he and Greta did make a place for that in the home, and bruising the guy’s wrist while he was being suffocated. I guess being on the streets of London you have to defend yourself even while onstage. It even impressed Mark how Pen explained how he fended the culprit off.

Rating: 5 Out of 5 Shooting Star Paws!

This was a really good book even if it was the last in a trilogy. I will be using my credits on this trilogy to read them to get  a better idea of the series and how it came to be. I have a feeling the other two deal with boys’ love as well. I liked the characters and the interactions everyone had with each other throughout the book. I will update once I read all three over on Twitter! 

That completes this review! I am starting on the next book so stay tuned for the  next book. Next I will also be doing a technology post by going back to the Battle of the Braille Devices but this time in which would be the best for school work! Thought it would be appropriate since my semester is winding down and will be off for the summer! Stay tuned!

Hello to all of you beautiful nerds and welcome back from traveling the vast nerd universe! Just read another book in my major catch up!

The Space Between Words by. Michelle Phoenix

Disclaimer!

This review is based on thoughts and opinions of the lead writer of this blog. Please respect her thoughts on this particular media that is being reviewed. Also, this is a Christian work where she may have some beliefs that she follows, so also respect that as well! You have been warned!

Synopsis

This book is a combination of historical fiction and current events at the time of this book. We meet Jessica who was traveling to France with friends while one of them, her roommate Patrick, has been living there for the entire semester while in college. When her friend and other roommate, Vanda, suggest going to a concert on their last night in Paris, their time of partying gets shattered by a terrorist attack and Jessica gets injured and Patrick is killed outside. Once she survives and is abandoned by her friend, Vanda, she continues the trip in France to a small town in the south and stays at a family Airbnb where she visits a flea market that leads to her a mysterious sewing box from the 17th century that holds a mystery inside its confines. Jessica believes that this is something Patrick wanted her to solve with the help of Grant, Mona’s brother, in order to find what had happened to Adeline and her family when they escaped from the king’s clutches and able to show that one event not only wrecked her life but find the courage to move on and solve what’s in front of her with a treasure that was brought to her by spirit.

Thoughts

I have to say that this book was very wholesome in how it was written. At first, I was a little confused since Paris did go through those terrible terrorist attacks and it did make sense to write a current event into your pages and how it would affect a character as we read through with Jessica. Of course, we did get to see the past in this one with Adeline and her family going through the purge of the Huguenots in France in the 17th century.. It showed how the past meets the present and how mysteries can bring two people who have been damaged together.

I was reading through when Mona, the head of the B&B, talked about how people thought she and Grant were married but her husband left and Grant came to help her out due to something taking place. When Jessica told them the truth about what had happened in Paris, he didn’t know what to think since he went through trouble with his home flipping business which caused someone to be injured to fire. It showed that he and Jessica were able to work together despite their hardships and solve their mystery. I liked how it went from France to England since I did my own research and that the Huganots were a group of Protestants in France and believed in the teachings of John Calvin and when the Catholics came after them at the time a lot did flee throughout Europe, which included England. I did like how both the sewing box and a pencil roll that was made for Julie, Adeline’s sister, were used to hide scripture pages the both of them carried. It did say earlier in the book that their scriptures did get confiscated and burned and Adeline’s father did have the only Bible they read from and separated the pages so they could hold onto their teachings even if some of them fled. It did take some guts for Adeline to stay behind since she did teach children in the village but I wonder what did they do exactly to where she was hiding? Did they burn the blacksmith’s forge or did she reveal herself? I have a feeling she turned herself in since the last frew diary pages that Jessica and Grant read that they were hurting her family’s friend, it would make sense since the sewing box was found somehow in the loft.. 

I did notice towards the back of this book that there were discussion questions, I have a feeling that this book would be read in either middle or high school since it would be something that would be discussed in a history or literature class and I like that idea. I remembered when I first joined NetGalley one of the books I read, Lilac Girls, had a bit of a book club revolving around it but I would assign this one and that one, Lilac Girls as books to read during school since they did show parts of history we rarely get to see.I did find annoying with this file though is that I couldn’t navigate chapter if I miss something while falling asleep at night. When I read at night I do fall asleep since I have to wake up early at 5 for work and trying to find my way back was really annoying with this book so I had to continue from where I was earlier to finish up the book. I think the final release at the time would have been better where someone could use the Go To feature with chapters.

Rating: 5 Shooting Star Paws Out of 5

I enjoyed this entire book and I was glad to have it in my NetGalley list since I do enjoy reading historical fiction books. This was one where I got to learn more about other religious groups that existed in history and how they were ousted out of their homes. I know I have tons more on my shelf I have to get to and it gives a nice work out for my Kindle since I am not letting it gather dust. Glad I got to read this!

That completes this review! I am glad to read another back and got to delete it offf afterwards so I can save some room on my paper White. I do have the next book on my shelf ready to go! Next post will be a technology one since I gave my Braille Sense 6 and Braille Note Touch Plus a work out this past semester with Black Board! I figured it would be appropriate since my semester is winding down! Until next time, stay beautiful!

Book Quadrant: A Jot of Blood by. Catherine Bayliss

Hello to all of you beautiful nerds and welcome back from traveling the vast nerd universe! I decided to not do the celebrity brands bit because I already mentioned the ones I buy from already from my subscription days but I do have a new book review!

A Jot of Blood by. Catherine Bayliss

Disclaimer!

This review is based on thoughts and opinions on the media that the lead writer of this blog either read or watch. Please respect her thoughts and opinions! You have been warned!

Synopsis

In this book, which is a start of the Coventry  series, we meet Lira who is a clairvoyant who has to cover her skin or if someone gets contact with her or she touches an object she sees the memories of that person. She is an outsider to many all thanks to certain bullies she knows, like her former best friend that lies about her blackmailing anyone and a teacher that makes her go to the front of the class to retrieve some color coded papers. Her life starts turning around when she meets Cal Mars and Zack Carter, in which Cal is a werewolf and Zack is an Occultum. She finds out they are really at the school to solve a kidnapping of two werewolves that are family to Cal and find someone has been murdered, a famous sorcerer, during a night that Lira had to do a dare in order to prove herself. Can she and the others be able to solve this murder and find the missing?

Thoughts]

I loved this book and when I saw it was a part of a series, I want more of this series!!! I love the characters and how they interact with each other. I felt like I was there with them every step of the way and experienced the book since it was well detailed. Heck, I would go for a grilled cheese since I found it interesting that Clairvoyants in this series are more vegetarian, or at least Lira since she ends up meeting another at the end. I have tried searching to see if there were more books written since 2017n and there are other series Bayliss has written but hasn’t continued this one. I am not sure if this one sold well or not but I still want more. I want to see if other Clairvoyants come into view and want to learn more about other ancient sorcerers that may be in danger in this series, like one had in this book. THere are other species of magical folk that get mentioned and want to see how they play into this series and if Cal and Zack come back and meet up with Lira again and may involve her new buddy, Deidra. I hope we get more in the future since some writers tend to take breaks in between and come back to some series to keep working on them. I hope there is another one in the works since this was on NetGalley over six years ago from what I could see. Who knows!

Rating: 5 Shooting Star Paws out of 5!

I like this book and I found it more entertaining than most school setting stories, especially the ones with magic. Who needs an invisible train platform when you have airplanes? I like the mixture of different types of magical folk and of course there was one explanation of a fight between normal people with magical folk at some point and I did like how Lira explained her own magic. I hope another book does get written since this series should continue from what it left off. I couldn’t close up my Kindle since I was so invested in this book. I may read the other series Bayliss has written at some point in time but in the meantime I am catching up with everything I’m behind with!

That completes this review! I just started on the next book in the list so you will be seeing that review soon! I may do a technology post on top of it! Stay tuned and stay beautiful!

Hello to all of you beautiful nerds and welcome back from traveling the vast nerd universe! I am back with another book review!

Secrets of the A List(Episode 1 of 12) by Joss Wood

This was a quick read but will give a review the best as I can because I couldn’t find much information on the book I read.

Disclaimer!

This review is based on thoughts and opinions from the writer of this blog. Please respect their thoughts and opinions if you have been warned!

Synopsis

THere wasn’t much of a synopsis to read about now since it’s been years since this book got released, What I got is that the story revolves around the Marshall family who had the main figure, Harrison Marshal, gets into a serious car accident and slips into a coma due to a terminal brain injury. Now the rest of the family has to make a choice and secrets pop up. The daughter falls for a director behind her fiance’s back. The oldest brother gets an award for helping children. And the father has an account with money that they have to figure out.

Thoughts

Is it me or do I feel like I am reading an episode of Passions? I used to be into soap operas when I was younger and this kind of felt like an episode just focusing on the Crane family altogether. This book was okay which is causing me not to read the rest of the series. I am glad to just read the first book since it was so short and an easy read to give a preview. I did see people have given this a 3.4 rating on Amazon and saw not much of a description either. So, not much of a thought I would have.

Rating: 3 Shooting Star Paws out of 5

This book was a bit meh. I am not reading the rest of the episodes. It’s just meh!

I guess that is it for this quick post. Like I said, not much to say in this book, hoping the next one will be better. So, stay tuned!

Hello to all of you beautiful nerds and welcome back from traveling the vast nerd universe! It is time for another book review!

The Girl in the Tower and Winter of the Witch by. Catherine Arden

I finally finished reading the trilogy these two books were in since I already read the Bear * the Nigtengale years ago and did re-read it for review’s sake. Now, let’s see what I think but first!

Disclaimer!

This book review is based on thoughts and observations of the material from the writer of the blog here. Please respect her thoughts on these two books! You have been warned!

Synopsis

Last time we left Vasiliza in the first book, she left home to be with the Winter King knowing that she doesn’t belong anymore with her family due to thoughts of being a witch and the dangers of being burned at the stake. She decides to roam around Russia outside the walls of her home. Despite warnings of the cold and not being experienced, she ends up finding bandits kidnapping grils from villages and managed to save some girls due to training she received from the Winter King. After a daring rescue, she ends up running into her older brother, Sasha, which he has been looking for the same bandits with the Grand Prince of Moscow, Dimitri. Once safely returning the girls, Vasiliza and her brother lie to the prince and say that she’s a boy instead of a girl and go with the ruse until she reunites with her sister, Olga, in Moscow. Things get interesting once she learns that a new phantom is in the tower that overlooks Moscow and ends up risking her life and everyone else’s to her identity while finding out things even her own niece able to see the fairy tale creatures that exist in their world and to keep them from fading away due to the bells that ring in the church towers. Once she gets found out, things go wrong and Moscow burns to a crisp all thanks to a fire bird being set loose but Vasiliza gets blamed. Which goes into the final book, The Winter of the Witch, where we see the aftermath of what took place. Most of Moscow is burned to ash and Vasiliza has saved the rest of the city with the help of the Winter King. Tired and burned, she gets found out that she caused the fire and that she was a witch all this time. When Constantine appears with a mob, they tried killing her by burning her at the stake except she escapes into a new realm known as Midnight. Once inside Midnight, she meets the ghost of her Great Great Grandmother and finds out that the world was the home for her mother and her aunt and that they were witches except her aunt, Vavira. With this knowledge, she is able to use fire magic and control it at will. With the help of the Midnight Road, Vasiliza has to find the Winter King in order to save Moscow from an impending war and make sure her family is safe in the end. Will she and the Winter King be able to save Moscow? And will they be able to make sure the Chariaty don’t disappear from everyone’s sight?

Thoughts

I know this has been a long wait since I did have the second book on my Kindle for many years and starting to pick up where I left off. I was also glad to re-read the first since I forgot what took place. You can find the first book’s review in my 2019 archives if you want to see what I thought. I did find the first book a bit rough on the first read since my religious beliefs were very different from my family’s and hearing the legends of Russia was really interesting. It did kind of continue in the second book since we did get to learn a little bit more about Vasiliza and her family and how her mom came to be. I did like Maria, Olga’s daughter, though and how she figured out Vasiliza’s disguise since they always refereed to her as a “frog” due to the big green eyes. Apparently, the ancestor did have these same green eyes and it does tell where she got them from. I did like their interactions in the second book since Vasilia did teach her how to get the demons out with tributes and it helped pass the knowledge on. In the third book, we get to see Maria talk to the Demivoy in the oven in order to find out if Vasiliza was till alive or not after what took place in the beginning of the book.

I felt the third one, Winter of the Witch, kind of dragged on, especially towards the end since we were seeing more of the truth behind Vasiliza’s family traits within Midnight and how she was able to travel through the road to get to different parts of Russia without being seen. Of course, we did see the return of Mevid, the Bear, throughout the second and third books. I did read the note from the author stating that she wanted to include the antient war that took place that led to the creation of Russia, which gave the books a nice historical spin with the inclusion of old legends, I had a feeling the parts with the Winter King and Vasiliza was going to end up as a romance story since in the first book, she was playing the part of the maiden that was given the dowry from the Winter King except she turned it down because she didn’t want to get married and left home to escape from either being burnt for being a witch and the social norms which you have to be married with dowry as a woman and stay home to tend the home while men do the work and ride horses. Even Morozko, the Winter King, tried to push that on her but she refused because she’d rather see the rest of Russia and she got to do that with Moscow, even though it ended in disaster but accomplished her wants of seeing the outside. I think what the trilogy is saying is delivering the message of letting go of who you’re supposed to be in order to be someone you want to be which that is what Vasiliza had done throughout the story by saving Russia in the end. I wished an epilogue should have tied it altogether where there was a bit of a time skip and we see Vasiliza and Morozko together in Midnight but in winter watching everyone and how things took hold after the war. It would have ended the story a bit better.

Ratings:

The Girl in the Tower: 4.5 Shooting Star Paws out of 5

Winter of the Witch: 4 Shooting Star Paws Out of 5

I think I gave the first a five rating but these two kind of got a bitof a lower score because there were things I did notice and that is how Vasiliza changed through the story. Even though she was stubborn in the first book and was inexperienced being able to handle being out in the freezing cold, or even the knowledge she had of the fantastic spirits, she did seem weaker as the story drove on. Even though she was mistaken as a boy in the second one, she did kind of lose her strength towards the end of the book going into the third and feeling hopeless. I think the most strength she had was against Constantine since he was putting so many people against her and it took until Dimitri finally saw some sense in what Sasha had told him about him, even when the revelation of how he tried to kill Vasaliza at the beginning of the third book with a mob. She did become a little stronger after losing Sasha in the end of book three but she did switch back to being worthless at most points and I think that is why it did drop some points in both books. These two did tie the story end pretty well but did lose their spark a little. I do recommend though.

That ends this review!  I think the next one I am reading is also part of a series, I may take a look into it and if it is, I will be taking a good while reading. Since yesterday’s post did kind of look down on subscriptions, let’s put a positive spin with brands I’ve been purchasing even after unsubscribing? Until next time!

Hello to all of you beautiful nerds and welcome back from traveling the vast nerd universe! I do have an update for you all!

Update! Definitely Don’t Go With Writers’ Branding!

Yes, it’s another scammer update and felt like bringing up a bit of an update with Writers’ Branding and this happened right after submitting another book for publishing!

Earlier this month I submitted my sequel in the Backwards Fairy Tale series, Rose Thorns of Love. after writing it this past year. I started on it when I thought Stratton Press was legit but happened to be not legit and decided to stay with Light Switch Press and work well with them. I am appalled at Writers’ Branding after what they had done this time which made me want to stay with LSP even more. If anyone that writes or is from Writers’ Branding, knows that scams do exist and WB LLC, you are a scam!

So, a week after submitting Rose Thorns, I was at work when this happened. I noticed the call had Trenton, New Jersey with it and I had a bit of suspicion and decided to answer it because I had some words for them. I took it to my office for some privacy and this time it happened to be a higher up in the company or so they say. They gave me their pleasantries at first and then talked about how they wanted to publish Love Found in Cinders due to how good it is. If you remembered with the last person I talked to from this “company,” I did ask if they read my book but the person replied they only read the synopsis and told me how good it was. This did cause the red flag since I remembered Stratton didn’t really read my book since if you had read it then you would already know what the story is, characters, etc. This second person who was calling got my questions of how it was found and I was told one of their scouts found it. I did ask about reading it and they said that the scout read it and this turned into a talk about my publisher, Light Switch. I was not expecting this because of how much I worked with them in the past and already submitted my latest book to them for publishing that they would tell me that it was failing. It got me mad and told them that they were a scam from reviews I had read on BBB and that they should not call me again and take my number off their list. I did block the number they were calling me from to keep them from calling from it. I have a feeling they may use another in the future if they tried but I would ignore it. It did cause me to be a little concerned and sent an email to my publisher asking about it. When I got home later that day, I told Tobi what had happened and thought it was strange that LSP would be called a failing one and try to research it. My findings were interesting because they had a good score on BBB where there is an A+ score and a perfect rating score on their page when Writers’ Branding, on the other hand, has a D. I am wondering even to this day how can you call someone with a perfect rating failing?

Light switches Reply

I did manage get an answer from Light Switch and they asked me about who contacted me since they never had heard of a failing publisher at all nor them failing. I did tell them that it was Writers’ Branding and my findings about them scamming authors out of their loyalties since the BBB complaints mentioned that the most. I even asked how they would get my number. I tried asking Writers about it and they ignored my question about it. LSP did reply that they were trying to get me to join them as an author with aggression by making it sound like they’re the better publisher. I can see from how they sounded over the phone. LSP also mentioned that they were searching my name after finding my book and found my phone number that way. It’s creepy how they can use the internet in such a way to try to grab my book. We both contacted the BBB with me complaining about them and not sure what they are doing in contacting authors the way they

 Do.

Where Am I At Now?

I haven’t really budged on leaving Light Switch Press because I already have sent my book in. I am staying with them since they have not failed me once, especially after giving that satisfying middle finger to Stratton with the paperback version of Love Found in Cinders. As promised, I did choose the E Book and paperback versions for my sequel since I wanted my audience to be able to choose between the two and now three since I had found a way of being on Audible. That’s right folks! I’m going on Audible with my work since it is a membership I have loved when it comes to having better reach for reading. Plus, most people prefer audio over just reading regular print. I did remember how Stratton did ask about that and it’s interesting how they tried to get me to think that they would do it for me but a year later or so I was able to find the resource myself. I guess some of these scammers don’t realize that the self in self-publishing means you have to be independent not only in the writing phase but also promote yourself as a writer, your releases for your audience, and if you want to go audio then find that avenue as well. Heck, I had to find out how to get onto Bookshare myself with Cinders.  If I had gone with either Stratton or Writers then I would find out the hard way that they were not helping with either avenue in the end.

Another thing is how Writers’ Branding tried to sound like they’re the better choice in publishing when they have hurt people already by taking their money in the end. I understand how much it hurts to see your royalties being scammed out of you since I’ve been scammed in the past by a so-called Work At Home company and lost my bank account in the end. 

And of course, the part about how Writers made it sound like LSP was a failing publisher made me burn in my core because of how they thought that I could leave by gas lighting me by saying so. When I had done my research on both of them, what I found was interesting when it came to how long both publishers have been around. Light Switch has been around for nine years going on ten which they have been around since 2014 and I didn’t find them until around 2016 while Writers has been around for two years and they have a low grade for the time they’ve been around already. I think I remembered Stratton being around for the same length of time as Writers and they have both scammed people for that long? Really?? 

Tips for New Writers

I think it’s time to include this because it’s important for new writers to beware of any scammers.

1. Please stand your guard if you get a call from one of these companies. 
2. Ask questions if you get the call from these people, as in how did they find your book? How did they get your contact? Also, ask for their name and if they don’t give it to you right away then ask for the company name again because there are times where they say it fast.
3. Research behind the company, especially for their BBB page or even Glass Door if need be because they can give you the information you need such as how long they’ve been around, if they have good ratings, even any complaints where if there are more complaints than reviews which can tell a lot.
4. Look at their social media and see if people have posted about not working with them and how they interacted with you.
5. Speaking of interactions, pay attention to how they speak and their attitudes towards the questions or how they explain things. Sometimes the questions they ask you or talk to a new person can draw red flags. Remember my interaction with Stratton, how I got weird questions like if I believe in the paranormal and about my reactions to George Floyd which doesn’t have to do with my book.
6. If you are already working with a publisher you love, stay with them. As in, you don’t have to leave your publisher if you feel good with the work you or what they’ve done for you then just stay.
7. Check to see if their email addresses are legit and not from a different domain. An interesting point that I heard on YouTube is that the best way to work with an actual publisher is that they would have an email with the company name in it and not something like Yahoo, GMail or any others. I think I saw Writers had an email with their brand in it and I think Stratton as well but I would say still keep your guard if these two contact you or any others that may have scammed others.
8. YouTube is your friend with advice! Authors use YouTube as a platform to talk about how to get published and where to go if there are any vanity presses that may come up. Just take a look!

I think that completes my post. I hope no other one of these publishers gets to me this year. I did get a response from Writers on BBB and they are taking my number off their list since they claimed that someone pushed my book towards them and they thought I would have so much potential in the future. That’s cute! I was able to submit my sequel earlier this month and now working on getting Cinders onto Audible and found the info on my own without help. Not only that, I may have not sold much but people do stumble upon books or I sometimes do a quick word of mouth when it comes to my books and blog. Heck, I told one of the Beast Morphers about my book because he wrote poetry and who knows, he may get my book after the convention. Plus, I do work in my career field and about to head back to school for the Spring which I’m glad to be almost done.If you want to see your published writers have a future, pay them what they are owed.

So, that completes everything! Again, hoping no other scamming publishers come after me. Next will be the beauty products I loved last year.