Giveaways and Reviews of Brother Betrayed and Tips for Authors

Thanks to all the fans who made Brother Betrayed a number one book on Amazon!

(screen shot from February 15th)

To celebrate we are giving away a signed copy of Brother Betrayed through Goodreads, enter to win here:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Brother, Betrayed

by Danielle Raver

Giveaway ends February 28, 2012.


See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

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Are you an author? Here's some tips for increasing book sales:

1)  Find the price "Sweet Spot" - putting your price at $.99 can allow you post your book onto many "Cheap Kindle Book" groups on Facebook, Goodreads, and other public forums. Once sales pick up you can increase the price.

2)  Create a blog and let readers know about you and your work. Make sure you feature links back to your book sale sites.

3)  Have a cover that appeals to your target audience. I found my cover artist (the fabulous Walt Barna) through Deviant Art, a great community for commissioning.

4)  Act like an author, not a salesman - if all you do is spam on Twitter, Facebook, and book forums, then most people will ignore you. Post links to your work, but find other things to announce and discuss.

5)  Increase your local audience - send author updates to the culture section of your local newspaper. They may or may not publish all of them - but if they do it's free publicity! 

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New Reviews of Brother Betrayed

Five Star Review on Amazon:
I just finished Brother Betrayed by the amazing author Danielle Raver, and give it a full 5 Stars! It was a well crafted fantasy novel, filled with characters that came to life on the pages, especially the three princes! It is a large story, and one that takes the reader along for adventure, political intrigue, love, and betrayal. I recommend this book to anyone who likes traditional fantasy on a grand scale.
- Dean Lappi author of Black Numbers

Five Star Review on Amazon:

I didn't have huge expectations when I downloaded this book, but absolutely loved it. I think it clearly depicted the differences between three brothers, and how small personality conflicts as young men can quickly become kingdom-rending during times of war.

- Kenneth Hudley

Five Star Review on Amazon:
'Brother Betrayed' is a fantasy adventure about three young princes. Whilst exploring the lands of their kingdom, one day they come across a mysterious woman who tells them that one day one of the brothers is going to be betray the others, and since then the brothers had been perturbed and uneasy. To an action fan like me, the first half of the book seemed a bit slow-paced, but in the second half there are a lot of epic battles and many intense moments, moments that get you to wonder of how the events will turn out. Action, however, is not the highlight of this book. The highlight to me was how well the major characters were developed, especially the three brothers, and the chemistry between them. It truly felt like they were real people. This is a solid fantasy adventure story. 

- Matthew Ashworth author of the Melancholy Wing series

Thanks for visiting! More announcements of upcoming publications by Danielle Raver coming soon!

Fifteen Years of Progress: A Writer's Journey

Over fifteen years ago I started writing a novel titled Flight Moon. After a series of rewrites, I have finally decided to finish it. The basic story is the same, but as my writing matured, the story had to as well.

I would like to share a sample of this new novel, with the version from the first write and the current scene in progress.

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 Here is the old version, complete as I wrote it as a preteen (with spelling and grammatical errors as they were in 1998).

     Flight Moon heard the voices and something overtook her, she was swelled in a brilliant flash of red light. Gakulisan stepped back and looked at the split-second gleam of colors. He shielded his eyes and then opened them as he felt the sudden heat diminish. He then looked at a small child, barley old enough to walk, which had no legs. Though struck, he still picked up the child and wrapped her in his cloak just as Corban came around the corner. The wizard did not look up to them; he just stared at the child in his arms. Although Gakulisan never saw the baby before, he felt as though he knew her. He looked into the baby’s eyes; they were as red a fire. Flight Moon was alive inside the child.

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Lifetime and education experience has molded me into the writer I am today. Hiring an editor was one of the best decisions I made as an author. Being a member of critique websites such as critters.org and Scribophile improved my writing as well.

Here is the new version of the same scene (slight spoiler alert!)

     “Your family is not my concern,” Flight Moon spoke, but felt her throat constricting when she glanced at the child.
     “You seek the Mage... but why, if you are not his allies? Is he your foe?” Corban demanded.
     The dragon’s face twitched. “It depends what he did to me,” she growled.
     The boy infant, startled, turned to face her.
    The back of Flight Moon’s eyes burned at the sight of his face. She felt detached from the vision, as if she moved backwards from it. Surrounded by a tunnel of darkness, the light became smaller. She was falling backwards into herself. She drew one long, distant breath, and the light went out.
     The great beast collapsed before them. Before Gakulisan could approach her, strong energy started to radiate from her body. Surges seared from her like lisps of horizontal flame across the ground. A nearby plant was consumed by the energy and burst into glowing orange ash. The ground beneath the dragon began to char and cinder and the air crackled with unbalanced charge.
     “Get back!” Gakulisan ordered the two onlookers and they complied, watching the dragon’s body remain still, and yet change.
     The dragon was... fading. Her scales seemed translucent. The energy field strengthened, then manifested into a burst of flame. An intense blue sphere expanded outward with a crackling hum. The blanket of flames shot towards the onlookers and they ducked and tried to shield themselves. But Gakulisan looked back. Through the heat distortion he was barely able to see the red of her scales. Then with a dramatic pull of air pressure and a deafening boom, she disappeared.

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Thanks for stopping by! Come back again for more excerpts and previews.

All content is original work and copyrighted by the author.