Desperately selling books: by Vici Howard

My shameless cheap marketing tool for my YA book series, The chick friends rules.

What's the point of this blog!

I'm documenting the marketing for my YA book series "The chick friends rules". I want to see which marketing strategies will work best in creating buzz and hopefully income. So, sign up below and take the journey with me.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

It really bugs me that I need my 16 year old kid to help me build this blog and now I have to wait past noon cause he's still sleeping.

Posted by Vici Howard at 7:47 AM

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About Me

Vici Howard: My name is Vici, you know as in Veni, Vidi, Vici. "I came, I saw, I conqured"; well, I'm the "I conquered" in Caesar's famous quote. (No pressure at all mom and dad) But, perhaps it was serendipitous to be saddled with such a name. Don't we all have great expectations of ourselves. So, here's to climbing the mountain of greatness. And mine,start with a book and a blog.

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email: vic021@sbcglobal.net

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freshman year

available now for only $0.99 on Kindle and Nook

sophomore year

available for only $1.99 on Kindle and Nook

Junior year

available for only $1.99 on Kindle and Nook

senior year

available for only $0.99 on Kindle and Nook

My Blog List

First Novels Club

Crafting a Novel’s Pitch: 7 Tips (Guest Column by Chuck Sambuchino)
7 years ago
Cup of Tea Reviews

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
11 years ago
Step-By-Step Self-Publishing - Home

The chick friends rules website

http://www.thechickfriendsrules.com

The chick friends rules book trailer

Youtube

HOW THE CHICK FRIENDS SNOWBALL STARTED

See, it happened like this:

One day my 13 year old son (he’s now 16 and super cute) came home from school and tells me about a female friend who shared with him that she was being molested by her stepfather and her mother called her a liar and didn’t believe her. I felt awful for the girl, so I write an anonymous letter to the school explaining the situation and to my surprise she gets taken out of the school and sent to live with relatives in another state. So, I’m feeling pretty good about myself for having done my Christian duty by helping this young girl but three weeks later she’s back at school and back at home with her abuser and I’m like “What the…just happened?” I’ll never know why she was sent back to that house. But she told my son she was vilified by the family for "starting trouble". By now, I’m beside myself and so angry that the system didn’t protect this girl and sent her back to her abuser. Out of frustration, I felt a story developing, and started writing but after reading the first draft, an entire novel on molestation was too heavy. So, I decide to tell the story from the point of view of the platonic male friend and make him the main character instead of the girl. Besides, I believe boys are underrepresented in YA novels so I figured if I can write a book about boys that still appeals to girls; I bridged a gap. This young girl has become my muse and here we are, 4 books later and a mad scramble to get the story out.

My first real review! Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!! from Thebookscapereport.com

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Before I really jump into my review, I have to say this: There is a lot of talk about sex in this book. It's somewhat graphic. If you don't like reading that type of novel, then this book is definitely not for you. I know that a lot of people don't like there to be any grammatical errors in their novels. I'm not exactly a fan of it, either, but it's usually not enough to make me stop reading. People make mistakes, and I've noticed factual and grammatical errors in plenty of novels. That said, I also wanted to mention that there are some grammatical errors in The Chick Friends Rules! (Freshman Year), mostly in the form of comma splices. As I mentioned, it was't enough to make me stop reading, because I found the story to be enjoyable, but for those of you who do stop reading when you see that kind of thing, I wanted to give you a fair warning.

All the sex talk that was in the book didn't bother me, although I'm not sure how believable it is, either. Grant has sex. A lot. He's only fifteen. It could just be that I was really naive in high school, or it could just be that the culture in my high school was really different than the culture in Grant's high school, but when I was in high school, I wasn't aware of anyone being like Grant. I never heard any rumors about people sleeping around. Then again, I also wasn't part of the popular crowd, and I just didn't really hear too many rumors in general. So I suppose it's completely plausible that experiences like Grant's really do happen. It's just hard for me to believe because of what my high school experience was like.

I was expecting The Chick Friends Rules! (Freshman Year) to be a really fun, beach-read type of novel. In some places, it was. I loved reading about Grant going onto the golf course to stargaze, jumping out of two-story windows with his friend, and going to a party during summer break. I love reading about people's summer break experiences, because they're so different depending on where you live. Despite those scenes and how fun they are, there are some majorly serious undertones to this novel: race, sexual abuse, affairs, and the consequences of sexting are just a few. It was interesting and refreshing to read about these issues from a male character's point of view. I really loved reading a novel with a male narrator, since the majority of the YA novels I read are told from a female's point of view.

Grant's reactions to some of the more serious issues were admirable. There were times when I got really frustrated with him though, like when he wouldn't stand up to someone when he that someone was doing something wrong, just because he didn't want to get on that person's bad side and/or he was worried about his own reputation. I think those moments are so realistic, though, because as a fifteen year old, Grant is still so young and immature in some ways, but he's also learning about life and himself, so in those moments, we also get to see instances of maturity. I think Vici Howard struck the perfect balance in creating those moments.

I also loved Grant's relationship with his family. I loved his loyalty to his mother, and I loved it that he had a mostly good relationship with his stepfather, since he couldn't have that kind of relationship with his father. The sibling rivalry between Grant and Lexie was well-done. There were moments when I wondered why Grant was so mean to his sister, but as the novel progresses, it becomes more and more clear why he treats her the way he does, even if it's not obvious to Grant.

One character I really loved in this novel was Marta. I thought she was fantastic. I loved it that she could act as Grant's confidant, and that she was willing to be upfront and honest with him. I didn't get to see nearly as much of Marta as I would have liked in this novel, so I can't wait for the next book in the series. I'm really hoping that in the next book, we'll really get to delve into Marta's character more and learn more about her.

The Chick Friends Rules! (Freshman Year) was an enjoyable read. I don't know that I'd exactly call it fun, because of the serious issues presented in the novel, but it had its fun moments, and it was definitely a pleasurable read. Grant is a fantastic character and I look forward to seeing how Grant's experiences will shape his sophomore year.

The characters

Grant and his chick friends

Marta

Sandy

Shauna

Kaitlyn and Amanda

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What's the point of this blog!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

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