I’ve decided to do a book review every Wednesday. It may be an old book, a galley, or a new book. Whatever I’ve just finished reading at the moment!

I am a dedicated ebook reader, but I can’t resist buying limited edition hardcovers from Subterranean Press, simply because they are beautiful. Of course, I buy the ebook versions too! ;)

Hidden by Kelley Armstrong is no exception, although I have to admit I prefer to more realistic drawings in her other novellas to the cartoon-y style drawn by the exceptionally talented Angilram.

The story is a combination of family drama and scary adventure. Werewolf pack enforcer Clay and alpha-in-training Elena are staying up near Algonquin Park in Ontario with their twin preschoolers, Logan and Kate, when they realize there are werewolves in town and children missing. The clock is ticking down for them to figure out if there’s a connection, and if so, make sure their children aren’t the next to fall prey to a sadistic wolf. At the same time, Elena is struggling with whether or not to tell her children that they come from a family of werewolves.

Like all of Armstrong’s stories, Hidden features vivid characters, a dangerous adventure, and romance. I have to admit I missed the presence of other characters, such as werewolf pack alpha Jeremy who was spending Christmas with his necromancer girlfriend Jaime, but overall the story was wonderful. It tied into Bitten in a way that no other book in the series has so far and connected into semi-loose threads from Frostbitten as well. All-in-all, I highly recommend purchasing this book before they are sold out!

by Kelley Armstrong

So you’ve just completed your NaNoWriMo novel and you think it’s ready to go out to publishers? Not so fast. I’ve done NaNo  every year since 2005, and what I produce in that month is nowhere near ready to show to my editors. It’s only the first step in many. Here’s a crash course in getting that NaNo work up to snuff…

Finish it. Unless you’re writing category romance or middle-grade, 50,000 words is not a novel. Find out what’s standard for your genre and keep going. Done? Good. Now put it away for a few months. Get some distance. Then take it out. Read once as a reader, not an editor. Don’t line-edit. Just make notes on the big problems. Can’t find any? They’re there—look harder. Fix those. Then do your first line edit. If you’re an experienced writer (i.e. you’ve written at least 2 novels already), then skip to the next step. Otherwise, put it away for two months and repeat the editing process. Next, get feedback. Family and friends are fine. Fellow writers are better. Get their feedback. Fix the major criticisms. Do another line edit. Then find a second wave of “test subjects.” Repeat. Now, finally, you’re ready to send it out…and to begin the next novel, so those rejections won’t sting quite so much.

Does it sound like a lot of work? It is, but it’s good practice for being a professional novelist, where you’ll do a similar amount of editing on every book, getting it in the best shape possible for your editors…and hopefully an audience!

How do you find a good beta reader?

First of all, find people who DON’T already know you (they’re likely not going to want to criticize your book and hurt your feeling) but who DO read in the genre you write. A good place to find beta-readers is on message boards for authors who write in a similar style to you - authors you read, authors you love, and authors you’d be happy to discuss, since you obviously have to be an active participant on the board and not just constantly asking for favours.

I’ve beta-read books for two authors because of connections formed on Kelley Armstrong’s message board. One of them is Anne Michaud, who is definitely an “author to watch out for” because her book Rebel was amazing.

Tell your beta-readers exactly what you want from them - are you looking for story inconsistencies? Places they got bored and places they got excited? Character interest? Spelling and grammar?

If your book really needs help before you can send it out on submission, you may want to consider hiring a freelance editor like YA-author and Carina Press editor Rhonda Stapleton (or me!).

Promoting a new series or book? Have one of your characters take over your Twitter feed for a day!

Great examples of this:

- @HarlequinTeen had Grimalkin from Julie Kagawa’s Iron Fey series take over their stream for a day

- Kelley Armstrong actually built a separate Twitter profile for character Elena Michaels to Tweet from when promoting Frostbitten from her Otherworld series

- Self-published author Sean Munger created a Twitter stream for his psychotic character Giamotti when promoting the ebook releases of the series.