The Guardian - Katie Klein: My First Indie Buy!

So I've been on the Kindle Boards for a while now, and as much as I totally love all of the authors there (and I do, because they're AWESOME), I'm a YA writer and a YA reader, and most of them lean toward the adult world. It's just not really my genre.

But then I read the most amazing post today, which I just have to quote because it was that damn good.

The question was, "How hard is it to write a book?"

Here was Katie's answer (I've crossed out the part I didn't love):

"No. It's not easy. It's the hardest thing I've ever done. Every writer I know has quit a hundred times. There's a difference, though, in wanting to write a book and needing to write a book or you'll die. (lol) (This is me being dramatic.)

Most of us here can't imagine not writing. We'll always come back to it whether we're traditionally published or indies forever, have one reader or a million readers. We start and we quit and we start again and we quit again, but we always come back to the story no matter how hard it gets. "

Why do I love this so much? Because in a few simple sentences, she captured the absolute essence of writing, of being a writer, and the journey OF writing. It was so perfect, it almost broke my heart. So I quoted her in my response on the forum, then went back to check out her profile to see if she was a blogger I could follow.

Then I saw her tagline on her post.

Most authors on the boards just have pictures of their books, which is great, don't get me wrong. But it doesn't tell me anything about the book, about the genre, or about why I would want to click on the link (unless I'm judging a book by its cover, which I do, if I know the genre). But Katie's tagline had a picture of her book cover and this:

The Guardian
A YA Paranormal Romance
Kindle UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Guardian/dp/B004FPYO8K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1294080426&sr=1-2

JACKPOT! I thought. YA. Check. Paranormal. Cool. Paranormal Romance?! WIN!! I clicked on that link faster than almost any link I've ever clicked on!

And then. Oh. Then the description of the book.

Lots of descriptions, if I even make it to the book description, lose me. Because they're, frankly, boring. But not Katie's. It was exciting, and thrilling, and gave me just enough to tantalize me by setting up the story without lots of extra words and run-on sentences. (You'd be surprised at how quickly a run-on sentence can ruin your description's excitement.) And her names... Oh, she picked good names. She even picked a name I used in one of my stories! (Am I biased? It's okay to be biased, right?)

So. I bought. You're damn right I bought. I bought my first Indie Kindle book!

I opened that sucker up, and to my disappointment, I discovered that it was written in first person, present tense. (Not only do I hate first person, I REALLY don't like present tense unless it's done so impossibly well that you say, "Yes, it couldn't have been done ANY other way.") But Katie, wonderful Katie, with her beautiful way with words, waylayed all of my fears and arrested my attention with the end of her first sentence.

"sparks exploding in a kinetic frenzy."

So. There you go. If you haven't already gone out and purchased the book--why not? You can get Kindle for your PC, you know. You could be reading IT instead of my blog.

SO GO!

I'll post a review when I'm done. For now, I have some writing of my own, and some reading of my own, to do. <3

Until next time!