A heart's desire #AtoZchallenge 2026 #Writing #Plotting #StoryBeats and #IWSG Fractions of Existence Playlist

My theme for the 2026 A to Z Challenge is plotting Book Three in my Existence series — Cave of Existence.

Cave of Existence picks up where Proof of Existence left off. Heath had a revelation (thanks to Chance). 

This is the fourth scene in the book. Heath is determined to find Hannah. He had been like a rudderless ship, washing into any port, often crashing against the rocks. (Hilarious, given his true nature.) But as his memories of his past lives slip from his rocky mind, he gains a sense of purpose. He feels that Hannah is the key to everything.

Check that the opening has some primal urges:

• Survival (The Existence is working to keep life surviving, the Eyes in the Shadows are trying to end all life on Earth.)
• Hunger (We see Heath and Chance eating a light meal while standing and waiting.)
• Sex (😍😉😚 Give Heath a minute... )
• Protection of Loved Ones (No one is in immediate danger at the opening scene.)
• Fear of Death (No One is dying in the opening scene)

So we start by seeing the "flawed" world in which Hannah and Heath have been apart. 

The first time we see Hannah is on a gangplank as she's leaving the cruise ship she was on. 🚢 Hannah is happily chatting with a nonverbal boy with cerebral palsy (who uses a computerised communication touchpad). His parents shed tears of joy, as the boy had never interacted so much with anyone. 

^ video of a show with a young person who uses a computerised communication touchpad ^

This novel will examine whether "love conquers all," meaning that external obstacles and internal struggles will test relationships while highlighting love as the driving force in overcoming these challenges, even if the victory comes at a high cost. 

Have you ever felt like another person could be the key to unlocking your truest self?
What would get you to instantly feel a strong connection to a character? (An elderly, kind, female character.)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/249351265-cave-of-existence - "Want to read" (Book is not yet published)

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https://writestats.com/writing-books-readers-discuss-how-to-write-books-readers-want-to-talk-about-not-just-finish/  - In Fractions of Existence, Xavier faces the decision to protect Wend's ignorance rather than force a truth and responsibility on her. 
Cave of Existence has a moral quandary about relationships. Heath's choices seem one way, but Hannah sees them another way. 

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InsecureWritersSupportGroup.com

https://www.facebook.com/groups/IWSG13

Shout-out to Alex and the awesome co-hosts for today: Melissa Maygrove, Cathrina Constantine, Kate Larkinsdale, and Rebecca Douglass!

April 1 question - If you have a playlist (or could put one together) that either gets you in the groove to write or fits with one of your books, what is it? What type of music or what songs?

I don't really have a playlist, but for this prompt, I made one for Fractions of Existence.


Chapter 1 takes place in 2003

1. "Here Without You" - 3 Doors Down
   

The rest of the book is set in 2005.

2. "Rain" -Madonna
3. "Furious" - Ja Rule
4. "I’ll Be Back Around" - I Am the Avalanche (whoops, that's from 2011)
5. "Baby One More Time" - Travis
   
6. "Painkiller" - Three Days Grace
7. "Miss This" - Soul Asylum
8. "Hands Down" - Dashboard Confessional
9. "Numb" – Linkin Park
10. "Sugar, We're Goin Down" - Fall Out Boy
11. "The Islander" - Nightwish
12. "Water’s Edge" - Seven Mary Three
13. "Teenage Dirtbag” by Wheatus
14. "Lips Like Morphine" - Kill Hannah (whoops, that's from 2006)
15. "Mr. Brightside" - The Killers
16. "Tubthumping" - Chumbawamba
17. "The Reason" – Hoobastank
18. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" - Green Day
19. "Sweetness" - Jimmy Eat World
20. "Hey There Delilah" - Plain White T's (bonus song in the "credits")

I used Spotify for the first time. So, if you want to listen to the (totally unofficial, I have NO LEGAL RIGHTS to any of these, for an entertaining blog post ONLY) soundtrack, there's that.
I'm leaving the Travis video because most people know the lyrics from another artist, but the way Travis performs the song gives an entirely different vibe.

 

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📚💙 — J (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Speculative Fiction & Reference Author and Co-host of the April Blogging #AtoZChallenge

🛒Existence Series books: https://amzn.to/4rQwBsv
https://bsky.app/profile/jlennidorner.bsky.social  My current favorite social media site.
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/j-lenni-dorner  I'm grateful for follows!  https://www.goodreads.com/j_lenni_dorner
  #AtoZChallenge a-to-zchallenge.com Kindly check out the blog hop's website. 

Important dates for A-to-Z 2026:

March 23- April 4 Sign-up

April The International April Blogging from A to Z Challenge Blog Hop 

May 4 -9 Reflections (bonus blog hop)

An Alphabetical List of Authors and WordPress Comment Hack

A list of Authors from A to Z

alphabetical by surname

Q, X, and Y are authors whose books I own but haven't read yet.
All others on this list I can highly recommend reading! 📚

• A— Aveyard, Victoria
• B— Biswas, Damyanti
• C— Cavanaugh, Alex J.
• D— Davis, Jean
Dorner, J Lenni

• E— Ellis, Sherry
• F— Fraser, Jemi
• G— Garcia, Pat
• H— Hammons, D.L.
• I— Ivey, Nicki
• J— Janse van Vuuren, Ronel
• K— Keltner, L.G.
• L— Larkindale, Kate
• M— McKenzie, C. Lee
• N— Ng, Celeste
• O— O'Neale, Stacey
• P— Pett, Jemima
• Q— Quinn, Susan Kaye
• R— Renee, Yolanda
• S— Solet, C.
• T— Thomasma, Eric B.
• U— Uaro, Ia
• V— Vincente, J.R.
• W— Whyte, Lori
• X— Xerri, Philip
• Y— York, Zoe
• Z— Zucker, Jordan

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WORDPRESS COMMENT HACK

Something I've noticed with a bunch of WordPress blogs. After leaving a comment, an annoying box pops up. If you don't click something, your comment usually won't go through. But if you aren't interested in subscribing, you're stuck! Well, ha ha ha, I have discovered that if you click the white area under the prompt (which wants your email), that white area is "continue" or "continue reading." It FREES YOU from the pop-up, allows your comment to be submitted, and lets you get on with your life without being coerced into another subscription. 

(Some WordPress sites leave the option visible, but others make the words match the background so they're 🙈 invisible invisible 🥸. An attempt to circumvent your consent and violate certain GDPR laws.)

 

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📚💙 — J (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Speculative Fiction & Reference Author and Co-host of the April Blogging #AtoZChallenge

🛒Existence Series books: https://amzn.to/4rQwBsv
https://bsky.app/profile/jlennidorner.bsky.social  My current favorite social media site.
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/j-lenni-dorner  I'm grateful for follows!  https://www.goodreads.com/j_lenni_dorner
  #AtoZChallenge a-to-zchallenge.com Kindly check out the blog hop's website. 

Important dates for A-to-Z 2026:

April The International April Blogging from A to Z Challenge Blog Hop 

May 4 -9 Reflections (bonus blog hop)

March Down the TBR Pile 📚💙 and #bookreview Moving Fear by D.L. Hammons

Back in 2017, at the former location of this blog, I took part in a regularly-scheduled bloghop called "Down the TBR hole." The objective was to highlight books the blogger intended to read, highlight books the blogger intended to purchase, and/or highlight the fact that we have huge piles of books we intend to read (to-be-read= TBR) but fail to make the time to do so (hilariously, by spending time making a list rather than reading). I used it for the buying purpose, as my Amazon wishlist (https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/ZRW0Y5LGHMN9) grows out of control and I forget why I intended to buy certain books!


[My "Price "wishing" for: $ (US 💵💰)" section is because I'm cheap lately as income has decreased significantly over the last five years, and is in NO WAY a reflection of the value I know books have, but rather the 💸 lack of my own funds.]

1. TITLE: A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger
   LINK: https://amzn.to/4rYKiWQ
   Interested because: YA Native American friendship paranormal story
   Price "wishing" for: 🛒 purchased
   


2. TITLE: The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood
   LINK: https://amzn.to/4bhDcpd
   Interested because: Diverse book by debut author
   Price "wishing" for: 🛒 purchased
   


3. TITLE: After the Fall by Kate Hart
   LINK: https://amzn.to/4b7PDDS
   Interested because: YA with complicated relationships
   Price "wishing" for: 🛒 purchased
   


4. TITLE: None of the Above by I. W. Gregorio
   LINK: https://amzn.to/3P5WRAU
   Interested because: LGBTQIA+ YA Story of Intersex Teen Identity and Self-Acceptance
   Price "wishing" for: 🛒 purchased
   


5. TITLE: The Last Labyrinth by Gwendolyn Womack
   LINK: https://amzn.to/47MQQzw
   Interested because: speculative fiction
   Price "wishing" for: 🛒 purchased
   


6. TITLE: Ruthless Kingdom by Cathrina Constantine
   LINK: https://amzn.to/47wuSkc
   Interested because: A 400-page high fantasy looks interesting.
   Price "wishing" for: $3.99 (US 💵💰)


7. TITLE: The Secret Winners Club by Donna Galanti
   LINK: https://amzn.to/4bJA9Yc
   Interested because: Read a blog post about this 300 page MG book. Sounds cool.
   Price "wishing" for: $2.99 (US 💵💰)


8. TITLE: First Love: The Art of Making Doughnuts - IWSG Anthology
   LINK: https://amzn.to/4dmiAP8
   Interested because: IWSG
   Price "wishing" for: 🛒 purchased


9. TITLE: The Last God by Jean Davis
   LINK: https://amzn.to/3P7P4CO
   Interested because: god-like beings, violent battle between gods
   Price "wishing" for: 🛒 purchased


10. TITLE: Things Fall Apart (African Trilogy, Book 1) by Chinua Achebe
    LINK: https://amzn.to/47z0hCB
    Interested because: Things Fall Apart provides one of the most illuminating and permanent monuments to African experience. Achebe does not only capture life in a pre-colonial African village, he conveys the tragedy of the loss of that world while broadening our understanding of our contemporary realities.
    Price "wishing" for: 🛒 purchased

Moving Fear by D.L. Hammons
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It has been my great privilege and pleasure to read this book. It's a heart-pounding adventure full of mysteries and horror. There's some tragedy, a very light budding romance, lots of chills, plenty of haunting, a good dose of thrills and action, many plot twists, felt unpredictable (I'm usually pretty good at guessing the "whodonit" but not this time), very entertaining, a strong author’s voice (reminds me of Christoper Pike), and a bit of diversity.

The Prelude may seem unconnected at first, but by Chapter 36, the reader knows for sure it was not. The second prelude also comes back around.
The main character, Knox, is a teenage boy, so this is technically a YA mystery horror. Knox chapters are in first person, from his point of view, other chapters are third person point of view. (Chase Knox, he opted to go by his middle name after his father remarried.) I like that he has done some light writing, nothing he's shared or published, but that he has put pen to page.
Travis, a teenage boy in a black wheelchair with fire-engine red spokes, is a social butterfly. Lindsey (the scholarly one) and Jadie (the popular one) are identical twin sisters. There's a retired 74-year-old grandmother who seems fairly active with her career.
Lewis is a pretty interesting character, as his "negative trait" and his big secret are so perfectly opposite of each other.
The dad is in the Navy, which is why they move around so often. (I never knew there were landlocked naval bases, or Navy officers living off-base so far from the coast, such as in Oklahoma. Honestly, I never thought about it.)
I really enjoyed the character arc of Brad "Tug" Dempsey, who is only a minor character yet gets fully fleshed out.
It's great how Brodie is described as beautiful, yet that's not what's interesting about her, it's her toughness and her mind that make her special.
Wilfred was a surprising character, in the end, and such a twist.
Chapter Fourteen reminded me of a scene in the original Ghostbusters movie, with the books. I loved in Chapter 19 when Knox and Lewis discussed the metric system. And I loved the incorporation of the theory of the multiverse. Lewis reminded me of Sam and Dean in the show Supernatural, hitting the books and the Internet to find out about the lore. Chapter 24 mentions the television show Monk (the defective detective), which I like.
The revelation about Lewis' dad in Chapter Twenty-Five amused me.
Chapter Forty-Eight ends with a huge twist that was the exact opposite of what I expected.
What was written on the balloon in chapter fifty-one? That's the only unresolved question for me.

The title makes sense, and I like the cover with the boxes (one black one, words on duct tape).
Triggers - Chapter 9 has vomiting, there's a scene where someone has a firearm while at a school (but not for the usual headline-news reasons), there is some animal death, and demon possession.

The theme is about not underestimating people. I felt most connected to the Lewis character, and would like to live in his basement, please.

I've been a fan of this author for many years, having followed his blog and taken part in several of the same online social groups, but we do not know each other. I am thanked at the end for supporting the Kickstarter for this book. This review is my honest and unbiased opinion.


View all my reviews

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Status for the website

Theme Reveal #AtoZChallenge Blog Hop 2026

Please check out the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge
#AtoZChallenge
a-to-zchallenge.com

My theme for the 2026 A to Z Challenge is Plotting Book Three in my Existence series — Cave of Existence. 

This is some of the structure, or "beats," for an alphabet-worth of the book. (Approximately the first 2/3 of the novel.) Some authors find that having a structured plan in place before writing is helpful. Using the alphabet, I've created the basic plan for a large part of the novel, and I'll be sharing that here with you.

Posts will be about this writing project, but not excerpts of the book itself. 

The goal of my author blog is to share "behind the scenes" goodies on my books, and to establish my author "brand." Readers should feel welcome here. Like a mixer party🍷🍸🍻🍵☕- visiting this blog should feel like an opportunity to get to know me, my characters, and fellow commenters. 

(It also lets me take part in really fun blog hops and connect with fellow bloggers!) 

I am the team leader and a co-host of the A to Z Challenge, so once April starts, I will be very busy. I try to comment on every blog in the challenge. (Assuming I don't need to "sign up" or "subscribe" to something just to comment.) However, I am open to prewriting a few guest posts if anyone is looking for a guest contributor for your A to Z blog this April. Leave a comment and be sure I know how to reach you. 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/249351265-cave-of-existence - "Want to read" (Book is not yet published)

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📚💙 — J (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Speculative Fiction & Reference Author and Co-host of the April Blogging #AtoZChallenge

https://bsky.app/profile/jlennidorner.bsky.social  My current favorite social media site.
https://amzn.to/41QBB4P Author page on Amazon — please consider following and supporting this indie author! 📚 Existence Series books: https://amzn.to/4rQwBsv
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/j-lenni-dorner  BookBub author profile— I'd be grateful if you'd follow me.
  #AtoZChallenge a-to-zchallenge.com Kindly check out the blog hop's website. Watch for special features: 

Important dates for A-to-Z 2026:

March 9-14 Theme Reveal

March 23- April 4 Sign-up

Snowball Worksheet and Book Selling

This is a continuation of yesterday's post. I read and reviewed https://amzn.to/3OSlaSJ

The Snowball Book Launch: How To Create A Huge Buzz And Massive Pre-Order Sales Before You Release Your Self-Published Book  by Ray Brehm 

To further demonstrate my commitment to trying multiple methods in the book, I am sharing the results of my work here, on my blog.

I'll base this part on my Existence series.

5 Other Speculative Fiction Authors I hope to be associated with (*Who have an author page on Amazon, as required for this exercise.)

1. Veronica Roth
2. Stacey O'Neale
3. Christine Rains
4. Michelle Madow
5. Patrick Rothfuss 

I've added myself to the list as number 6 because I'm curious who Amazon already thinks are my author peers. I never looked before.

Oh, there's only one. 🤨

Okay, I'll pick a few from the Fractions of Existence "books you may also like" authors.

My list of 42 has no duplicates. 
(Technically, the next step is to go another level deep of the next 6 of each of those authors. But I'm jumping ahead for now, because this is a blog.)

• Suzanne Collins
• James Dashner
• Jennifer Lynn Barnes
• Kiera Cass
• Stephenie Meyer
• Lauren Roberts
• Stacia Stark
• C.N. Crawford
• Sav R. Miller
• Victoria Aveyard
• Rina Kent
• Leia Stone
• Marie Wilkens
• Ajme Williams
• Mara Webb
• T.W. Piperbrook
• Robyn Wideman
• Michael Cheney
• Chandelle LaVaun
• Jen L. Grey
• Megan Montero
• Shadow City ~ Jen L. Grey
• Krista Street
• Heather Renee
• Brandon Sanderson
• James Islington
• Pierce Brown
• Robin Hobb
• Joe Abercrombie
• Christopher Ruocchio
• Allyson R. Abbott
• Andy Weir
• James Islington
• Kristin Hannah
• George R. R. Martin
• Pierce Brown

Okay, next up is keywords. (I know, it seems like it'd be about those authors, the list which is meant to be over 700 names. But it's not. See why I'm moving to the next part? Because I don't know what the list of authors was for.)

Speculative Fiction, superhero, Romance, gods, deities, myth

Those are the ones for Fractions of Existence. 
For Speculative Fiction, adding a letter, I get a lot of collections and anthologies. 

Superhero, even in the Kindle store, the first results are for Lego collections. Well, that's not going to sell my books.
Romance has some books that are similar to mine. But, as that's not my primary genre, I'm not going to rank high there. 

Paranormal has a lot of cozy mysteries and box sets.

Several in the Gods category would be comp titles.

Deities brings up more reference books. I should ditch this keyword.

Myth doesn't show as many comp titles as I hoped.

Being a fiction series, the advice in the book doesn't really help me with better keywords here. I mean, I may as well get a thesaurus. Or search for hashtags... https://ritetag.com/best-hashtags-for/urbanfantasy

Speculative Fiction, elemental magic, Paranormal Romance, Paranormal, gods, Urban Fantasy, Legend

Oh... the next part requires using the program, which costs about $200, where my keywords and the author list generate keywords for ads. Which would be another investment I'm not prepared to make at the moment. 

Next, I'm supposed to create a different description. And the instructions seem very much like they aren't aimed at fiction, but I'll give it a try...

How to Save the World WITHOUT forcing a loved one to give up their current life path.

If you want to read about a group of omnipotent beings, then this novel is for you!

But first, a warning, because there's another group that wants to eliminate all life on Earth, and believes reincarnation happens to everyone because of the omnipotent beings, and that's why no one can move on to a higher plane, such as Heaven. 

Gwendolyn tries to suppress her intense attraction to the mysterious and frustrating Xavier. He has been searching for her, and is convinced she's his true mate and the missing member of the Existence. Only if reunited can the group regain the rest of their memories and access all of their powers. 

You'll also discover:

• Other sexy omnipotent beings
• A cross-country roadtrip
• Religious debates
• An arranged engagement nearly resulting in multiple deaths
• A character with self-doubt who doesn't know her own powers or potential 
• A story mostly set in 2005

Don't miss out on the first book of this exciting new Speculative Fiction series! Buy your copy of Fractions of Existence NOW! https://amzn.to/3MWC2Y3

🛒📚🎁💸🛍️

The Interview

If you had to explain this book in one sentence, what would you say? 

Omnipotent beings are trying to save human existence, but need to reunite to do so, and a member is missing, but joining the others will completely destroy her life.

Who are the major influencers on your life and philosophy? 

The biggest influences on my writing life and my philosophies are my tribal elders. They're the ones who told me that I am meant to be a story keeper, meant to share an ancient legend with the world in my own, creative way. I aim to write fiction mixed with lore to unhinge your mind because I believe that all books, even fictional ones, can change the world by increasing culture. I long to share the wisdom and knowledge passed on by stories because that's the goal of my soul. Entertaining readers honors my life's purpose.

Specifically in the speculative fiction realm, I'd say Veronica Roth, Stacey O'Neale, Christine Rains, Michelle Madow, and Patrick Rothfuss are major influences.

What other books are similar to this? 

Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth (for the speculative fiction and diversity); Van Helsing Academy by Stacey O'Neale (it's a speculative fiction/ urban fantasy with a bit of mystery and a touch of paranormal romance, descriptions of Sacha remind me of my descriptions of my Existence character Heath); Elementals The Prophecy of Shadows by Michelle Madow (similar, except the main characters are teenage witches in her book); The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (it's higher fantasy than mine, but there are some paralles).

What are some of the major ideas that you integrate into this book or your life in general? 

Fractions of Existence relies heavily on the idea that there are higher-powered beings, some of whom are among us, and usually disguised as humans, and they're fighting a secret battle to preserve life on Earth.

If you could not use your current book title, what would be another choice?

Originally, the Existence book series was titled "Essential," and Fractions of Existence was going to be "Essential Elements: Water Needs Air." 

The title sounds very sciencey, and if you're humming "two atoms of hydrogen, one atom of oxygen, what do you get ... awfully wet" then you already know why I changed it. The title also gives away a fairly big spoiler, but it's possible I only believe that because I know the whole story. 

"Essential Elements: Air Must Acquiesce" became Proof of Existence -- book 2
"Essential Elements: Earth Needs Love" became Cave of Existence -- book 3
And then the other titles in the series didn't work at all, which is another reason for the change. 

👾👾👾👾👾👾👾👾👾👾👾👾👾

This interview (I altered the "What other authors or books influenced you to write this one?" question to suit my needs) has been added to my "from the author" section in Amazon's Author Central. Which, wow, I am really not using that thing to its potential! Frankly, not sure I knew it existed.

Ah, making a BookBub ad, that's where the names of authors comes in again.  https://partners.bookbub.com/ads/new

But that has to wait for another day, because it does require spending some money (though I can set the amount). What do you think would work well for this ad?

60 characters for the top and side. 
Then a button "Read Now" or "Buy Now" or something else?

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📚💙 — J (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Speculative Fiction & Reference Author and Co-host of the April Blogging #AtoZChallenge

🛒Existence Series books: https://amzn.to/4rQwBsv
https://bsky.app/profile/jlennidorner.bsky.social  My current favorite social media site.
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/j-lenni-dorner  I'm grateful for follows!  https://www.goodreads.com/j_lenni_dorner
  #AtoZChallenge a-to-zchallenge.com Kindly check out the blog hop's website. 

Important dates for A-to-Z 2026:

April The International April Blogging from A to Z Challenge Blog Hop 

May 4 -9 Reflections (bonus blog hop)

Book Launch Talk #IWSG

InsecureWritersSupportGroup.com

https://www.facebook.com/groups/IWSG13

Shout-out to Alex and the awesome co-hosts for today: PJ Colando, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, and Natalie Aguirre!

March 4 question - What elements do you include in your book launch? Or what do you have in mind for your future book launch? Or what advice do you have to offer to others planning to launch a book?

I don't know that I'm as good at launching books as I could be. For Fractions of Existence, I did multiple book blog tours. I did one book blog tour for Proof of Existence (only on blogs of blogger friends). I certainly reached a larger audience with the tours on sites of people I didn't know. 

Neither resulted in many sales. I spent more than I earned. For Proof of Existence, I also used an AllAuthor promotion. This got me a fair amount of exposure on Twitter (yup, back then, before it was sold and changed names). Below is an example of an email promo they sent me. Also, the link to my AllAuthor site. 

 
https://jlennidorner.allauthor.com My AllAuthor profile

Email promo screenshot ^

I recently bought this book. And, as this is the current topic, I read and reviewed it.


https://amzn.to/4qKi2Ws - The Snowball Book Launch: How To Create A Huge Buzz And Massive Pre-Order Sales Before You Release Your Self-Published Book Kindle Edition by Ray Brehm

The Snowball Book Launch: How To Create A Huge Buzz And Massive Pre-Order Sales Before You Release Your Self-Published Book by Ray Brehm
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I did enjoy this book overall, though it feels geared much more toward entrepreneurs who will self-publish a nonfiction book in their field of expertise, rather than toward fiction authors. However, I shall try some of the suggestions that could benefit my own author brand.

This book had been on my Amazon wishlist, and it was at a reasonable price, so I bought it. Book releases are the subject of discussion for the IWSG's March 2026 prompt, so it was the perfect time to read and review this, to my mind.

In the introduction, it talks about a book being the "primary engine of your business," which feels true for all authors, but it speaks more to how this book applies mainly to people who will publish nonfiction primarily. I would absolutely recommend this book to people who want to be an authority on a nonfiction topic. Typically, when I read reference books like this, they're aimed more at fiction authors.

By part III, it becomes fast-paced. The book is slightly complex, it's informative, and has a very strong author’s voice by someone who is clearly an authority on selling and marketing.

"The people who download your book for free are generally not as likely to buy anything from you later." This excerpt is the exact opposite of the advice of nearly every marketing book and program aimed at fiction writers, who are told that a free book gets readers hooked and encourages them to come back to buy your higher-priced fiction books later.

The book has multiple sections discussing what being a "bestseller" means, if anything at all. That such a title is no guarantee that an author will generate an income from writing. It also mentions that the average author sells fewer than 200 books. (The four books I have on Amazon have more sales than that, so I must be above average, and that news makes me feel good about myself. Thanks, Ray!)

I read the entire book because it definitely builds, and you have to get to the end to get all the information! But, in the VIII section, where it talks about "lead magnet is more valuable than your book," that really didn't speak to me as a fiction author. And the major problem solved in my reference book about writing book reviews is, well, how to write a book review, and there's not really a cross-promotion to go with that. (I mean, if a fellow author bought one of my fiction books, and then used my reference guide on writing book reviews to review one of my fiction books, yes, that would be a dream come true. But I'm pretty sure that's not what this Snowball book means.)

The edition of this book I bought came with a link to get another book from the author for free. Part of the marketing plan laid out in the book is to hook customers and keep them coming back for more, so this makes sense. (The catch, of course, is getting that free book means agreeing to daily emails.)

I enjoyed the "Five Interview Questions" the most. The book talks about KDP Rocket, which no longer exists, and is now Publisher Rocket, which is twice the price.

I do like the cover with the snowball and the orange-and-white lettering, and the title makes sense.

Something I question, though it may just have changed, is that my BookBub link is bookbub DOT com/authors/j-lenni-dorner, which does not use the word "partners," which part V suggests it would if I have an author account, which I'm pretty certain that I do.

The section on "Update KDP with new categories" needs some updating, as there have been changes. However, I have attempted to follow the instructions for my reference book about writing book reviews, as there is no actual specific category for books on that topic, despite there being several such books for sale.

As a self-published author, I found this book relevant, though it doesn't feel especially aimed at writers focused primarily on selling fiction books. The book mentioned Pixels, but not as a unit of a digital image, there's a whole chapter on Pixel Linking but I still don't understand it. (I did a search and learned there's a plugin, but it slows down websites, so I'm not sure it would help me.)

This book is probably part of a series, as the author mentions some other books, but most books about selling contain mentions intended to sell more books or classes or whatnot.
This book is in the category Kindle eBooks > Computers & Technology > Electronic Publishing -- which feels accurate.

View all my Goodreads reviews

🤔

In following along with the book's instructions, I edited the categories for my book about Book Reviews:

Obviously, those ranks could be better. 😔

Here I learned that Amazon now allows authors to pick THREE categories!

The book suggests picking the "non-classifiable" category and then contacting help. (The exact method has changed since the book came out, but still, I found the general area.)


And then I sent my message with suggestions for other categories my book should be in.
There currently is no category specifically for books (regular or ebooks) about book writing bookreviews. There are, however, many books on the subject. Mine is still the only one I found aimed directly at authors (though really, anyone can use it to write a review). 



BuckBooks is now DigitalBookToday. (A site mentioned in the book.) But promotions have rating restrictions, as shown in the screenshot above.
https://booksends.com/advertise.php BookSends is also mentioned, but for my category, I need to earn one more review and then spend $40. 😧 That's more of an investment than I'm willing to make for this.
But, the next time I put Fractions of Existence on sale, I could see spending the $35 to promote it there.
PLEASE check out part two of this in tomorrow's post! I'll be focusing my efforts on Fractions of Existence. 

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I was emailed by BookBub about their new "author websites." 
A free custom domain for the first year ($15 per year after)
$9.99 per month

https://authorwebsites.bookbub.com/pricing

I didn't sign up, but I thought others might be interested.

And they have this article, which also may interest you this month:

https://insights.bookbub.com/do-bookbub-ads-work-tips-successful-advertisers

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https://diversebooks.networkforgood.com/projects/296556-native-writing-match

"Fewer than two percent of children’s to YA books published in the United States depict Native and Indigenous characters. In part because of this program, that number has increased to nearly three percent."

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📚💙 — J (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Speculative Fiction & Reference Author and Co-host of the April Blogging #AtoZChallenge

https://bsky.app/profile/jlennidorner.bsky.social  My current favorite social media site.
https://amzn.to/41QBB4P Author page on Amazon — please consider following and supporting this indie author!
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/j-lenni-dorner  BookBub author profile— I'd be grateful if you'd follow me.
 #AtoZChallenge a-to-zchallenge.com Kindly check out the blog hop's website. Watch for special features!


My THEME REVEAL post is coming this Friday!

A lifetime of engaging with language and the written word – including reading books, writing, and learning languages – could be one of the best ways to keep your mind sharp and delay or prevent dementia, according to a new study. -- https://www.sciencealert.com/simple-lifelong-habits-can-cut-your-alzheimers-risk-by-38-study-finds