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William L. Stuart

author of The Gemstone Chronicles Series

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The Carnelian

The Gemstone Chronicles: An Update!!

September 21, 2020 by Bill Stuart Leave a Comment

I haven’t done an update on The Gemstone Chronicles in a while, but I have news!

The Gemstone Chronicles Book One: The Carnelian by William L Stuart

The Gemstone Chronicles Book One: The Carnelian:

My first book celebrated its eighth birthday in August. Hard to believe it has been that long since it was published. Along the way, it garnered an Indie BRAG medallion and a Readers’ Favorite Bronze Medal. Though it has yet to reach bestseller status, it has knocked on the door a number of times, so you never know!

The Carnelian is listed on www.YABooksCentral.com (along with the rest of the series) and has been viewed over 14,000 times! Not bad, in my opinion (though I may be a little biased about the book). Lastly, it has 92 ratings and reviews on Amazon with 4.4 Stars on average!

The Gemstone Chronicles Book Two: The Amethyst

The Gemstone Chronicles Book Two: The Amethyst:

The second book of the series also received an Indie BRAG medallion in 2020! Proud moment for me to have two books listed on www.bragmedallion.com!

I entered The Amethyst in the 2020 Readers’ Favorite contest and received Finalist recognition. No medal for this one, but still quite an honor!

The book has over 5,000 views on YA Books Central and 26 ratings and reviews on Amazon with 4.6 Stars on average

The Gemstone Chronicles Book 3: The Emerald:

I haven’t submitted The Emerald for any contests, but I think I will the next time Indie Brag opens for submissions and may submit to Readers’ Favorite in 2021. Stay tuned for the results!

As I mentioned above, the book is listed on YA Books Central and has over 4600 views. Amazon has 12 ratings and reviews with 4.8 stars on average.

The Gemstone Chronicles Book Four: The Ruby:

Like The Emerald, I have submitted the final book of the series for any contests. I plan to submit to both Indie Brag and Readers’ Favorite, so we’ll see what happens.

On YA Books Central, The Ruby needs a couple hundred more views to reach HOT status like the rest of the books, but it still has over 3,000 views. If you happen to be on the website, give it a look! Ratings and reviews wise, the book has 7, but all are 5 Star! If you’ve read it, reviews would be greatly appreciated!

There you have my update on the books. I’m working (slowly) on a new book, but that’s a topic for another post! Stay tuned for updates.

Connect with me:

Don’t miss any of my blog posts. Subscribe to the blog. Find me on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and Pinterest and say hi and let’s connect!

Filed Under: The Gemstone Chronicles, William L Stuart Tagged With: BRAG medallion, fantasy adventure, fantasy author, fiction, Readers Favorite, The Amethyst, The Carnelian, The Emerald, The Gemstone Chronicles, The Ruby, William L Stuart Author

Thank You Card, Adapting to Change, and Persistence!

January 22, 2020 by Bill Stuart Leave a Comment

A Thank You Card and learning about adapting to change, persistence, and perseverance. Lessons from a reader and two bestselling authors!

Sometimes being an independent author is difficult. Not the writing part (although that is quite challenging in its own right), but the other aspects of the business of writing. Not only does an indie author have to write, but they also are the first editor, primary marketer, sales person, and just about every other role all rolled into one. I’m not complaining, mind you, just stating the facts.

In my social media feeds, I often hear writers express the frustration of not knowing whom, if anyone reads their work. If someone does read it (as evidenced by book sales), the hope is that a review materializes. More often than not, it doesn’t and the author is left wondering what readers think of their work.

I’ve experienced the same issues. Luckily, I don’t write to make a living. As most of my longtime readers know, I wrote The Gemstone Chronicles for my grandchildren, not to become the next bestselling author (though if lots of people want to buy the books and make that happen, I’ll happily accept it).

Jingle in the Park and Nate

Where is all this leading? Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had a couple of things happen to reaffirm that writing my books allows me to reach readers and how adapting to change, persistence, and patience are necessary. A little background, first. In December 2019, I participated in Jingle in the Park in Suwanee, Georgia. Jingle in the Park is an event for the HappyFeat organization. Here is the link to learn all about Happyfeat and its wonderful programs for special needs individuals. Despite the cold December day, I set up my booth (fought the wind a little bit), sold books, and generally had a great time!

One of the visitors to my booth was a young man named Nate. Nate wandered over to my table and we struck up a conversation. Rocks interest Nate, and, since my books involve gemstones, I had a few of my collection on display. Long story short, Nate ended up purchasing Book One: The Carnelian and, as part of his purchase, received a carnelian to take home with him.

Imagine my surprise when early January 2020, I received an email from Nate’s mother asking how she could order an autographed copy of Book Two: The Amethyst. We worked it out and I sent the book, along with a few additional stones for Nate’s collection (after all, who wouldn’t want an amethyst for happiness and a bloodstone for healing?).

Where is the affirmation, you are probably asking. Well, around the middle of January, I received a thank you card from Nate. Handwritten and with a hand drawn picture of The Carnelian cover in the card, it absolutely made my day! It isn’t often (at least for me) that an author gets confirmation that they’ve reached a reader. Thank you Nate!

Thank You Card from Nate

Atlanta Writers Club

The second part happened as part of the monthly meeting at the Atlanta Writers Club. I attended the January 18, 2020 meeting and enjoyed listening to Lynn Cullen and Joshilyn Jackson talk about their books and experiences as authors. Lynn had great insights to adapting to change and one comment from Joshilyn Jackson caught my attention. She recently submitted a YA novel and received numerous rejection letters. Not that I’m happy about her rejection letters (and I hope she won’t be mad I mentioned it), but it just shows that even bestselling authors have a tough time of it. They stick it out and I have to as well.

I’ll continue with my three works in progress and see where they lead and I encourage all my writer friends to do the same. Regardless of where my works in progress lead me, I’m grateful for Nate’s awesome thank you card and to Lynn Cullen and Joshilyn Jackson for demonstrating that perseverance, patience, and adapting to change pay off!

Connect with me:

Find me on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and Pinterest! If you do, say hi and let’s connect!

Filed Under: Book Posts, Self publishing Tagged With: Atlanta Writers Club, gemstones, Happyfeat, Jingle in the Park, Joshilyn Jackson, Lynn Cullen, Thank You Card, The Amethyst, The Carnelian, The Gemstone Chronicles, William L Stuart. Author

Milestones – or a Few Accomplishments over the Last Seven Years!!

August 12, 2019 by Bill Stuart Leave a Comment

Milestones!

Milestone the first:

Today’s post marks a number of milestones! What milestones, you might ask? The first significant milestone is that August 12 marks seven years since The Gemstone Chronicles Book One: The Carnelian publication date! Since that day,  The Carnelian picked up an Indie BRAG Medallion and a Readers’ Favorite Bronze Medal. I’ve published the other three books of the series, attended many festivals and books signings, spoke at schools, and learned more than I ever thought possible about writing. I’ve met amazing authors, reviewers, and book promoters. I keep writing (can you believe three WIPs?) and hope to publish my fifth book (the start of a new series) in 2020.

The Carnelian Cover Milestones

Though I haven’t hit the bestsellers list yet, I am eternally grateful to each and every person who took the time to read one or all of the books. My favorite author moment came from a teacher (and former classmate). She told me she struggled to get a student to read. When she told the student she knew an author (me), and maybe he would read my books. I sent her a set. She reported back to me that he loved them and has become a voracious reader! That makes it all worthwhile!

Milestone the second:

I also celebrate reaching the 15,000 Twitter follower milestone! Writing The Gemstone Chronicles made me aware of the various avenues of social media and, after trying most of them, settled on Twitter as my main social media platform. I know it isn’t a huge following, but I continue to grow it and I hope I’m providing some assistance to other authors out there.

Milestone the third:

The final milestone I’m marking is that this post is my three hundredth blog post! That’s right! This blog started on August 12th, 2012 to announce The Carnelian’s publication. What a long but interesting journey it has been! I’ve written posts about my books, book promotion sites, gemstones, duct tape, conspiracy theories, and many book reviews! I’ve even slipped a few posts about submarines and my time in the Navy. I like to post my book reviews and maybe give a fellow author a bit of exposure. I hope my posts reflect my rather eclectic interests both in the different genres I review and the occasional foray into my hobbies and interests.

As always, I’m humbled and grateful for everyone’s continued support and for the readers who’ve taken time to read my books and read and comment on my blog posts. Though I can’t thank all of you personally, please know how much I appreciate you and will try to continue to provide enjoyable content!

Connect with me:

Find me on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and Pinterest. Say hi and let’s connect! Don’t miss a post either. Subscribe to the blog!

Filed Under: author, Book Posts, Goodreads author, The Gemstone Chronicles, William L Stuart Tagged With: Amazon, author, book, books, ebook, ebooks, fantasy, fantasy adventure, fiction, Georgia, magic, middle grade, middle grades, series, seven years, The Carnelian, The Gemstone Chronicles, william l stuart, YA, young adult

Quartz, Topaz, Emerald, and Fairy Crosses!!

December 11, 2017 by Bill Stuart Leave a Comment

Quartz, Topaz, Emerald, and Fairy Crosses!!

I went rock hunting with my brother and niece recently. We found lots of great rocks and I thought I’d share a few of them. First is a nice piece of quartz (I like to call them pencil quartz but this would be a BIG pencil!). The rusty color is internal to the rock, which is pretty cool! I think I’ll try to polish it a bit, but don’t really plan on changing it much. I like the way it looks!

Quartz point

The second find of the day was a great piece of topaz. The topaz we find is usually clear or maybe has just a touch of blue in it. As you may have read in previous gemstone posts, topaz’s blue color can come from heat and exposure to radiation. North Georgia ‘s mountains have a lot of granite (which may contain trace radioactive elements). I think I’ll play around with a smaller piece of topaz and a butane torch to see if I can get color enhancement. If so, maybe I’ll try it on this piece. At 168.4 carats, I don’t want to damage it.

large Topaz

The last find I want to share is this great piece of moonstone (I think). I love the orange colors and I believe it will make a great cabochon. I’ll cut a slab or two off it and see if I can get it to shine. I’ll post pictures and let you know how it works out.

Orange Moonstone rock

In addition to the ones I found, I ordered a bag of chiastolite fairy crosses and staurolite fairy crosses (these came from Fannin County Georgia). If you recall from The Gemstone Chronicles Book One: The Carnelian, the elf Findecano was trapped in a chiastolite fairy cross, so I had to get me at least one. And Aidan found a bunch of staurolite fairy crosses before Maggie found Findecano’s prison. Given how important fairy crosses are to the books, I just had to have some.

Fairy Crosses

The last picture I wanted to share with you is this emerald. I found this one a while back and want to take it to my friend for him to examine and cut for me. This one is about 16 carats, but it has a great green color and I hope he’ll be able to create a beautiful stone from it!

Emerald Rough

I’ll be heading out for another rock hunting excursion soon. If I find some noteworthy specimens, I’ll be sure to post pictures. In the meantime, check out the blog for other gemstone posts and subscribe so you don’t miss any updates. Connect with me on social media, too! I’m on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and Pinterest! I look forward to meeting new friends!!

Filed Under: Gemstone Posts, The Gemstone Chronicles, William L Stuart Tagged With: amazon book, blue topaz, cabochons, chiastolite, elf, emerald, fairy cross, Fannin County, gems, gemstone rough, gemstones, Georgia, quartz, rock hounding, rock hunting, staurolite, The Carnelian, The Gemstone Chronicles, topaz, william l stuart, william stuart

Book Marketing Update – New Sites I have Discovered!

November 26, 2016 by Bill Stuart 2 Comments

I wanted to provide a book marketing update on some new sites (at least new to me) that I discovered and how things are going on the marketing front. I hope some of this will be helpful to you, too!

YA Books Central:

The first new site I want to talk about is YA Books Central. I found the site through a tweet that showed up in my feed. Since The Gemstone Chronicles is written for middle grade/YA and up, I decided to check it out to see if I could reach more of my target audience (not that I mind getting reviews from adults). I was impressed by what I found. Here are some interesting things I found out about the site:

  • The site has a ton of books and it has a separate place for Indie books. It makes it easier to find works by Indie authors
  • @yabookscentral has over 33K followers on Twitter
  • The site does offer reviews for traditionally published authors, and may review Indie books on occasion
  • YABC on Facebook has over 14,000 likes
  • Once you submit your book and it is approved (it cost me $3.99 to list my book), it is listed on the site with a cover photo and a link for sales. In the 3 days (as of April 3) since I posted my book, I have had over 50 views of the book.
  • They also have a separate page for Kid’s books

Marketing Update! All four of The Gemstone Chronicles are now on YABC! In fact, Book One: The Carnelian is HOT on the site.

If you are a YA or Kids author, this might be a great place to list your book! To give you an idea of what the site looks like, here is a link to my book: http://www.yabookscentral.com/yaindie/17879-the-carnelian-the-gemstone-chronicles-series-1

Indie Brag:

IndieBRAG: I found this site after seeing a fellow author’s BRAG medallion. BRAG stands for Book Readers Appreciation Group and they will award a BRAG Medallion for books that have passed the rigorous standards for their reviews. Here are some facts about IndieBRAG:

  • IndieBRAG is not a free site to submit a book. It costs $20 for a book to be considered for a review. Since I made a little money from the Augusta Literary Festival, I decided I would submit. We will see what happens!
  • IndieBRAG has over 9400 Facebook Likes
  • IndieBRAG has over 5300 Twitter followers

Update! I did submit my book to the site and guess what – The Carnelian was awarded a BRAG Medallion!

Marketing Update THE-GEMSTONE-CHRONICLES-BRAG-for-Web 1

The last new place I want to tell you about is Cold Coffee Cafe. I stumbled across this site on Twitter. It’s a free site for authors to join and list their books and trailers. I signed up and haven’t finished setting everything up yet, but I do have The Carnelian listed and its trailer is linked there, too. More information on Cold Coffee Cafe:

  • Just over 600 Twitter followers
  • Just over 650 likes on Facebook
  • Offers promotional packages

My page link at Cold Coffee Cafe is: http://coldcoffeecafe.com/profile/WilliamlStuart

As far as my marketing efforts are concerned, things have picked up since I have been implementing my own marketing plan. I continue to refine my strategy and, once I stumble on the key(s) to successful (and low-cost) book marketing strategies, I will share!

In conclusion, here is my Book Marketing update! I don’t know how well any of these might work within your advertising and promotional budget and strategy, but give them a look!

Connect with me:

If you want to connect with me, I can be found on Twitter, Facebook, or send me an email at bill@williamlstuart.com. Feel free to connect!!

Filed Under: Book Posts, KDP, Kindle, Self publishing, Smashwords, The Gemstone Chronicles, William L Stuart Tagged With: adventure, Amazon, author, Barnes and Noble, book marketing, book promotion, books, cold coffee cafe, ebooks, fantasy, Good Reads author, IndieBRAG, KDP, Kindle, middle grades, self publishing, Smashwords, The Carnelian, The Gemstone Chronicles, william l stuart, YA Books Central, young adult

Suwanee Fest 2016 – A Great Weekend – Even With the Rain!!

September 28, 2016 by Bill Stuart Leave a Comment

Sorry I’m a little bit behind on my posts. Been a crazy couple of weeks! And the crazy weeks started with Suwanee Fest 2016!

Suwanee Fest? What’s Suwanee Fest? Well, as many of you know, I live just north of Atlanta, GA in Buford, GA. Just south of Buford is Suwanee, GA, Suwanee is a small city of about 18,000 people. Every year, the city hosts Suwanee Fest. The event website refers to the festival as “Two days of family, friends, food, and fun!” I can attest to the fact it was all of that!

Saturday:

There was a ton of entertainment (including my favorite Who’s Bad – The Ultimate Michael Jackson Tribute Band), great food, almost too many amazing exhibitors to count, and The Gemstone Chronicles!

Yep, I was there with books in hand to meet and greet new friends and readers of the series. And it was a blast! Not only did I sell a few books, but I also met so many awesome people. I talked about gemstones for hours, referred a few to my favorite gem hunting spot (Gold n’ Gems Grubbin’), and got to spend a couple of hours with my brother John and my niece Aidia. Overall, not a bad way to spend a Saturday! Below is the picture of my booth before the fun began.

Suwanee Fest Booth

Book interest was at an all-time high, and my editor extraordinaire Abby (who doubles as the City of Suwanee Public Information Officer) tried to stop by a few times to say hello. Every time she tried to stop by, though, I was interacting with new friends! Like I said, not a bad way to spend a Saturday!!

Sunday:

Unfortunately, Sunday was not the best day. Despite the great entertainment, the rains came and wouldn’t go away! Nonetheless, The Gemstone Chronicles staffed the booth in hopes of meeting more new friends. Alas, it wasn’t to be as the rains kept visitors away. On the plus side, though, John came by (and helped me pack up during one of the few breaks in the rain) and I had the chance to talk with Abby for a few minutes.

Suwanee Fest 2016 was a great event and I hope to attend again next year! If I met you, sold you a book (or 4), gave you a gemstone, or simply talked about gemstones, thanks for stopping by the booth! I truly appreciate each and every person who took time out of their celebration to visit with me and buy a book. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! If we did interact, and you have my contact information, give me a shout and let me know.

Connect with me:

In case you didn’t pick up a card or a bookmark, you can connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads. You can also email me here at bill@williamlstuart.com!

Filed Under: Amazon, author, Book Posts, Goodreads, Goodreads author, Kindle, Self publishing, The Gemstone Chronicles, William L Stuart Tagged With: adventure, Amazon, Amazon Author, author, books, ebook, ebooks, elves, fantasy, fantasy adventure, fiction, Georgia, KDP, Kindle, middle grade, middle grades, self publishing, Smashwords, Suwanee Fest, Suwanee Fest 2016, The Amethyst, The Carnelian, The Emerald, The Gemstone Chronicles, The Ruby, william l stuart, young adult

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