I can always rely on the kindness of strangers

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, a thirty second movie trailer went live. I was riding in the passenger seat coming back from our Thanksgiving visit when I saw the news. My initial reaction was OMG! Why is there no WiFi on the highway! Yes, I could use my data plan to stream it anyway, but I am a wee bit cheap, and I only had to be patient for a few hours.

By the time I arrived home, there was practically nothing else in my news feed. Star Wars! Han Solo was back, or at least would be next year! I was giddy. And then it hit me, my book’s re-release had gone live the same day and there was no way I could compete with that juggernaut. Have you ever hosted a party and no one show? It felt kinda like that.

I logged on to my stats. Yep, they looked pretty much as one might expect in those circumstances. I opened up my WordPress Reader and there it was, the Star Wars Trailer embedded in a post. I viewed it and my disappointment was made a little less disappointing. At least my news hadn’t gotten drowned out by something less worthwhile, like, I don’t know… a relatively unknown magazine’s decision to gain notoriety through cheap shock tactics.

A funny thing happened then. The author of that article, a fellow indie author named Michelle Prolux noticed my visit and re-blogged my post announcing my book launch. Suddenly it was like a dam opening. For those unfamiliar with her work, Michelle has written a YA Science Fiction/Romance novel called Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It and is the final days of an IndieGoGo campaign to fund her marketing efforts (she, like me, is in the process of re-releasing her work via new publishing channels). Considering the book is one of the perks of contributing, I would urge you to check out her campaign.

While I don’t necessarily believe in Karma, per say, I do completely believe that if you do kindness, others will do kindness to you. I love the idea of paying it forward. So when the opportunity to help in another indie author’s cover reveal popped up, I knew I had to jump on it. Now it is my turn to help another indie author’s big launch.

I would like to introduce you to Jessica Minyard, author of the soon to be released (Feb 2015) YA Fantasy novel, Stones and Finger Bones.

Jessica describes herself as liking to sing loudly and dance on occasion without being particularly talented at either. Her interests include reading, writing, procrastinating, animal advocacy, musicals, accessories, memes, Harry Potter, and sweet tea.

Based on this, she and I have a number of things in common. I look forward to her novel’s release and am so happy that I was given the opportunity to be one of the first to see its cover.