The Shameless Plea

The title of this blog says it all. I want something. Ironically, the title is a bit misleading. After settling on the title, it took me a good five minutes to decide how I was going to start so here goes...

Last year, I released a story on Wattpad entitled, Like You Mean It. The story of a young athlete who loses his arm in a car accident struck a chord with readers. Reviews on Wattpad sent the story to the top ten of the site’s teen fiction category. As word spread, my readership grew and I couldn’t have been more delighted.

Like You Mean It was a story that was seven years in the making. I wrote the first draft in 2005 and spent several years polishing and perfecting the story. One year, I even entered it into the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards. Though it made the semi-final round, it didn’t win. I did, however, get some good feedback from readers as well as a professional reviewer that helped me to make the novel what it is today.

Even though I didn’t win the Amazon contest, I never stopped believing in the story. Anxious to see how it would fare all these revisions later, I posted it to Wattpad. My perseverance was rewarded by the glowing reviews and votes of generous readers, many of whom pushed me to have the novel published so they would be able to have a printed copy. It was their encouragement that led me to jump back into the search for a publisher.

Earlier this year, I was thrilled to be offered a contract for the book which would make it available in both electronic and print formats. After accepting the contract, and no longer owning the full rights to the story at that point, I removed Like You Mean It from Wattpad. Soon after beginning to work with the publisher, I quickly came to regret my decision to sign with her. To make a long story short, we mutually agreed, in writing of course, to terminate the contract on the basis of creative differences and Like You Mean It was my story again. Determined to see the book published, I forged ahead on my own though I couldn’t offer it in print. Instead, I released the book via Smashwords in an electronic version and continued to offer it as a free book.

Not long after this new version of Like You Mean It was released, I received notice that for the first time ever, Writer’s Digest would hold a contest exclusively for e-books. The books would be judged on the overall story as well as the grammar, spelling and punctuation, along with the cover design. Seeing this as a sign, I entered the contest. Although it wasn’t specified in the judging criteria, I suspect that reviews of the book will play a part in the decision making process. Logic would dictate that a book with more positive reader reviews is more attractive to judges. The more positive reviews a story has, the more marketable it appears. This is where my shameless plea comes in.

I need your help. To those of you that have read and enjoyed Like You Mean It, please take a moment to review the story. If you have an Apple iBooks account, you can download, rate and review it for free. If you have a Nook, you can also download, rate and review for free.

Sadly, the story isn’t available on Kindle yet. However, you can get a Kindle ready copy by visiting https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/355303

If you don’t have an e-reading device, this same website will also offer many other versions of the story which can all be downloaded for free. Once you download the story, I’d really appreciate it if you’d take a moment to leave a review on this site.  With any luck, the more reviews I have, the better my odds to win the contest. And even if I don’t win the contest, seeing those reviews would still mean a lot to me. I sure hope you can help me out and please feel free to pass this plea and the accompanying web address along via all of your social media outlets. 

Thanks in advance, and good or bad, I’ll keep you posted as to the results.