Blog Tour de Force Presents: Cage Match with Cristyn West VS Amber Scott

Two authors from the Indie Book Collective are facing off each day from now until Monday, April 25th. First up after the bell, Cristyn West (Carolyn McCray) versus Amber Scott. Both have great indie books available, but this cage match isn't about selling books. It's about recognizing the readers. In fact, the authors are giving away great prizes. Like a Kindle. And gift cards. And free e-books.

Each comment made at either Amber Scott's blog or Carolyn McCray's blog throughout the day, will be an entry into the Kindle contest. Details at the Blog Tour de Force site.


The authors are in it to win it, with the most relevant comments on their blog. Who will come out on top? Who will win the cage match? Are you Team Amber, with her paranormal adventure, Fierce Dawn? Or Team Cristyn, with the gritty thriller, Plain Jane: Brunettes Beware? (click title to go to Goodreads page)


Check out a short guest post below from Plain Jane's author, Cristyn West (Carolyn McCray) for a little peek into how her book came to be, as well as the creation of the Indie Book Collective.

Plain Jane: Brunette’s Beware

A dark, gritty, visceral thriller.

My agent loved the book.

Every editor loved the book.

But that is where the agreement ended. Some thought it was too far off the beaten track. Others thought it was too like Patterson.

Then they all came to the same agreement.

They simply had no idea how to sell the book.

And before a few years ago, if you as an author said, “Ok, I’ll go sell it then,” you were blacklisted before you could say McCarthyism.

So there my poor forlorn “Plain Jane” sat in a desk drawer, looking up at me whenever I needed a pencil.

But then ‘Indie’ happened. The industry went from ‘vanity’ press, to self-pubbed to a whole new class of authors, “Indie.”

I wasn’t a crackpot writing down my dreams on napkins then loading them onto Amazon. I was a professional writer with a world-class product to sell just like others coming out of New York.

Add to that mix the power of social media and I was on my way!

Rapidly though I realized that I couldn’t do it on my own so I banned together with some other amazing authors (Amber Scott - @amberscottbooks and Rachel Thompson - @rachelintheoc) to create the Indie Book Collective where we teach authors how to harness social media to help sell their books.

So, choose your side and support a professional indie author. Go. Comment. Enter. Now.