Official launch date is finally here… just got the paperback onto Amazon.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0995687994 Paperback UK link
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0995687994 Paperback USA link
Category: Fantasy
Grace in Mombasa – two endorsements
I’m so excited to say that I will probably have the kindle of Grace in Mombasa up by Friday 23rd November – a whole week early!
I’d like to share with you the two endorsements that I have had for the book.
Tracy Traynor’s writing transports you from World War 1 and 2 England to the courts of heaven, via Mombasa. With characters which pop off the page and straight into your heart, this is a book you will remember for a long time. Wendy H Jones, author and member/webmaster of Association of Christian Writers.
The story of Grace captures the experience of many others who, though quite ordinary by themselves, find that the love of God propels them towards quite extraordinary endeavours. Tracy is the author of Grace’s story but the inspiration was Moira Smith and the author of her story was none other than God himself, described in the Bible as the ‘author and finisher of our faith’. I commend Tracy’s book Grace in Mombasa to you in the hope that, inspired by the story of Grace and Moira, you will become hungry for a story of your own and that you will turn to the great author of all our lives. He already has a story prepared for you” Sean McIntyre, missionary with Barnabas and now minister to the Assembly of God Church in Colchester.
“Idi & the Oracle’s Quest” by TN Traynor
IDI & THE ORACLE’S QUEST
T N Traynor
CreateSpace (2014)
ISBN 9781496043931
Reviewed by Autumn (age 14) for Reader Views Kids (7/18)
If you like mysterious rendezvous, witches, castles, demons, dragons and a quest to save the world then “Idi & The Oracle’s Quest,” book one in the Born to Be series, by T N Traynor, is a story you definitely should read.
A spell of forbidden love is cast, only to leave a princess grieving over her love after he is killed, and she is banished from her kingdom for the child she is carrying. Little does she know that the elements or earth witches have taken a solemn vow to protect her and her unborn child from an evil wizard by the name of Norvora. If he gets control of the child, he will unleash unimaginable horrors from the depths of Astaroth.
A plan is made by the…
View original post 286 more words
Reviews by kids, for kids.
Love my latest review, which is by Autumn aged 14. Nearly all my reviews are by adults and I was really happy to receive this one through the website Reviews by kids, for kids.
Idi & The Oracle’s Quest by T N Traynor
ISBN 9781496043931
Reviewed by Autumn (age 14) for Reader Views Kids (7/18)
If you like mysterious rendezvous, witches, castles, demons, dragons and a quest to save the world then “Idi & The Oracle’s Quest,” book one in the Born to Be series, by T N Traynor, is a story you definitely should read.
A spell of forbidden love is cast, only to leave a princess grieving over her love after he is killed, and she is banished from her kingdom for the child she is carrying. Little does she know that the elements or earth witches have taken a solemn vow to protect her and her unborn child from an evil wizard by the name of Norvora. If he gets control of the child, he will unleash unimaginable horrors from the depths of Astaroth.
A plan is made by the fairies to intercept Princess Cassandra and her unborn child before Norvora can reach them. Their journey takes them through a forbidden forest to reach the mountains to a town called Tamarind.
A great and kind wizard named Marcus is called upon by the oracle Oleanna to find a boy named Idi who will become the greatest wizard of all time. Idi is an orphaned boy who has been pick on his entire life and felt like he would never amount to anything, until Marcus finds him and asks that he accompanies him on an important quest to save the kingdoms. Together they will set out on a journey to find the child who is meant to be king.
I really enjoyed reading “Idi & The Oracle’s Quest.” The story line was fast paced with hint of suspense. I liked how the author combined characters such as wizards, elemental witches, dwarfs and a dragon in a not-so-fairy-tale-like setting. The chase through the forest kept you on the edge of your seat, not knowing if Cassandra and the fairies would make it to safety before the evil wizard Norvora and his henchmen caught up with them. Every chapter had a twist in the story that was exciting and unexpected. My favorite character would be Idi. He felt like no one cared for him, but he would not give up on others and was always there for them.
“Idi & The Oracle’s Quest”, book one of the Born to Be series, by T N Traynor is a magical story that will leave you wanting more. I would recommend this story for 9th graders and up, and I look forward to the next book in the “Born to Be series.”
Link below to view the review on their website.
http://readerviewskids.com/reviewtraynoridiandtheoraclesquest
The Innkeeper’s Son ~ K C Herbel
As a Christian, I love it when I find a book full of morals. One of my all-time favorites is the Narnia series by C S Lewis. Clive Staples Lewis (1898–1963) was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day.
I love that Clive went through changes in his life, which include losing his Christian faith and then finding it again later in life. A true prodigal son story. He wrote quite a few books but I think the world’s favorite must be The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe.
I adore when a story has hidden beliefs and principles for life behind the writing. My own series Born to Be, is exactly that. I was once told that my story was too innocent to get anywhere, says a lot about the world we live in doesn’t it?
I was, therefore, over the moon to read The Innkeeper’s Son by K C Herbal, and discover a beautifully written, traditional fantasy packed with caring and sensitive characters. Woven together in a magical story of dragons and fairies and magic. I loved it and highly recommend it. Very pleased to find there is already four in the series and I look forward to reading the rest.
Ruin’s Lot by ID Johnson
Over time, many authors have painted a different image of angels and demons. I loved the film Michael with John Travolta drinking, smoking and smelling of cookies… ingenious. Also, really enjoyed Constantine with Keanu Reeves, which was intriguing and spellbinding. And City of Angels with Nicolas Cage, which was lovely and moving. These are just to name a few, there is a plethora out there.
So with so many books and films to choose from, do we really need another?
Well, I’m happy to say that yes, there is still more space for unique and interesting stories. That’s what I found Ruin’s Lot by ID Johnson to be.
The story is well written and flows, making it an easy page-turner. I won’t say too much about the story itself as I don’t want to ruin it (sorry no pun intended) for you.
Audiobook now available.
Come on in and discover the world of Talia…
Very happy to announce that book 1 is now available on audiobook. Have a listen to Steve, I think he’s done a great job!
I’m looking forward to the next two already.
Are book promotions value for money?
My experience with OnlineBookClub.org 
I decided to pay to advertise my book with Onlinebookclub.org.
I paid $598.00 for their Book of the Day deal.
In the days running up, I began watching the rankings of other books that were the ‘book of the day’. I was quite excited to see a few of them rise quite high in their category sections. For example: ‘The Buried Secrets of Peonies’ by Mernegar Dorgoly rose to #7 in kindle short stories, and, ‘A second, less Capable, Head’ by James Hanna rose to #14 in kindle anthologies.
I was quite excited then and anticipated a number of sales that would also help my rankings.
I was to be hugely disappointed when I only sold 14 books. My books normally sell for $2.99 and for this deal I’d reduced the book to $0.99 to encourage sales. Total income $4.90, a loss of $593.10.
If like me, you’re an indie-author who works a full time ‘day’ job and writes like crazy in-between life’s normal activities, you will understand how crushing this was for me. That, on top of the fact that, I received some rather stringent criticism almost had me jacking it all in and calling it a day…
I do feel I’m like a typical sensitive-author, I think I should nickname myself Sea-Saw-Tracy, because I am constantly up and down. Harsh remarks though cut deep, this book is after all ‘my baby’ and I have been working on it for 25 years. I confess I haven’t yet managed to grow a thick skin.
It took my youngest (always positive) son, Daniel, to put things in perspective. I received 170 comments, of which nearly all of them were positive and encouraging. Lots of people said they added the book to their ‘want to read’ list. Time will tell if they actually read it. If you want, please feel free to check out the comments below.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/DiscountBookOfTheDay/
So maybe young adult fantasy isn’t a genre that’s really popular? Or maybe my book just isn’t up to scratch? Perhaps if you have a romance, thriller or short stories, then you’ll do loads better than I did.
Will I be booking another deal? Definitely not.
Should you book a deal? I think it depends on a few things: Is your book in a popular genre? Do you have a gripping first three chapters? Does your book cover jump up and grab people’s attention? Do you have an intriguing blurb? …and most importantly, do you have $598.00 to spare? If the answer to all these questions is yes, then go for it, because obviously some books do really well on these deals.
Book Review – Author Alexi Ferreira
Wow, I am so enjoying the Elementals MC series and I just had to stop and blog about it!
The cover may slightly giveaway the fact that these books are about drop-dead gorgeous hunks. Oh yes, girls, these are fab escapism books that are hot, hot, hot.
I find these books easy to read with a quick, keep you interested pace. I would say a perfect holiday read.
I gave the books 4/5 stars because there are some minor editing issues, but really they don’t distract from the story. Well worth a read.
AMAZON – INDIE-AUTHOR HATER?
We are sensitive people us indie-authors. I know I for one, practically fall apart when Amazon ‘hit me’ with another veto, whether removing reviews I received or those I have given.
I do feel that Amazon has taken an underlying – almost sub-conscience, decision to get rid of us, well the ones not selling thousands of books a month of course. Woe betide that they should lose someone who makes them money. Profit is their goal after all.
And therein lies the problem. Although let’s be honest, we would like to make some money, actually, our inner-drive is usually to share our stories with people. The joy I receive when someone leaves me a positive review is, in fact, a far greater reward than the pennies I earnt from the book sale. Because positive reviews make me so happy I always want to reach out to people who left them and add them to my friend’s list, I actually invite people in the back of my books to come and find me on facebook so that I can build a relationship with the readers of my books. Unfortunately, Amazon doesn’t correspond with me and ask me about it, they just see that I have become friends with someone who left a review, and bam, they take away the review and 5 others for good merit. Gosh but Amazon has made me cry on numerous occasions.
We are highly emotive, creative people, and Amazon is a money-making machine. I wouldn’t say they hate us indie-authors, but I would say they’d like to get rid of quite a few of us. We have infiltrated the world of books and if book publishers are not careful we will one day rule the world of publishing, from behind our computers in the comfort of our homes, an army of like-minded, self-driven, revolutionary writers.
Having lost several lovely reviews from people on Amazon, I have to say in hindsight, that I wish I had read Amazon’s T&C’s before blindly clicking ‘accept’. Their policy clearly states that ‘friends’ are not allowed to leave reviews. My distress comes when they removed reviews from people I have never met, who in fact were not friends, but that I foolishly clicked ‘Add friend’ to on Goodreads after they left me a review – big mistake.
Amazon owns Goodreads, what a dreadful thing that is. I always thought Goodreads was an independent place where people who loved books could leave their thoughts and share with other like-minded people, all totally nothing to do with profit and suchlike. I was, therefore, most upset to discover that the money-making machine that is Amazon actually own this previously unbiased platform. So be warned, DO NOT ADD PEOPLE AS FRIENDS JUST BECAUSE THEY LEFT YOU A REVIEW, or like me, you risk the chance of losing reviews that you have worked long and hard to receive.
REMEMBER – AMAZON ARE WATCHING YOU!
