Category: Ninja Girl


Sep
2018

1000+ Ninja Girl (And Boy) Readers!

categories: doing what you love, Fan Art, Nindzsalany, Ninja Girl, Romance, YA

Yes, it’s true!  I actually noticed this a little while ago, but I was waiting to post anything in case it was a hallucination lol (but seriously).

NINJA GIRL now has over 1,000 readers on Goodreads, you guys!!!  Yayyyyy, woohoo, hi-yah!  *__*

I couldn’t believe it at first.  Truthfully, I watch my numbers like a hawk (it’s an awful habit, and I definitely don’t recommend it.  But it is what it is), and I wasn’t sure if book baby #2 would ever reach that number.  But it did, and I am so thankful for that!

One of those awesome readers made this beautiful collage, paired with a great review for Nindzsalány (the hungarian version of NINJA GIRL), and I love it <333.  I don’t speak Hungarian, but I know how to use Google Translate ;). Imádom!  Thank you so much, Patti!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bk6m9mLFpzr/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

Another awesome reader, Abbey, took this incredible picture and chose NINJA GIRL‘s Snow as her strong female lead for a challenge–which ahhhh!  Thank you, Abbey, I love everything about this! <3

And did you know that out of those 1,000+ readers, there’s a wonderful mix of female and male ninjas?

Of all of the books I’ve released so far, I think NINJA GIRL has had the most male readers (at least judging by the usernames which I know aren’t always accurate…and sometimes they can be girl or boy names but still…).  It was something I noticed early on, and it was such a surprise!  With YA romance, I’d think my target audience is mostly made up of young female readers which rocks!  But I’m also glad that boys/men read my books because 1) YA romance is awesome and 2) I hope everyone can enjoy it :).

Maybe it’s a ninja thing?  Idk, but again, I’m just so thankful for every single reader!

Thank you, ninjas, for reading and supporting my books!  Thank you for embracing Snow and Ash, Sally and Becks, Delilah and Ethan!

You all rock, and I hope you know it.

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

P.S. I will be doing a giveaway next week to celebrate!!! 🙂


May
2018

Congrats!!!

categories: Adorkable, Amazon, giveaway, Ninja Girl, The Unbelievable Inconceivable Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder, YA

It’s time to announce the winner of The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder Blog Tour giveaway!  Thank you to everyone who entered–there were over 7,000 entries, so I’m guessing there were a lot of you lol.  And thank you so much to everyone who participated in the book blitz last week :).  You’re all awesome!

Without further ado, the winner is…

Laura!!!

Congratulations, Laura!  I’ll be sending your $25 Amazon gift card soon, and I hope you enjoy your prize.  Thank you so much for participating in the giveaway!

In other news, I’m going to do another post next week to let you know how THE UNBELIEVABLE, INCONCEIVABLE, UNFORESEEABLE TRUTH ABOUT ETHAN WILDER has been doing.  Yay!!!  I’ve also got some other ideas for posts (including disappearing Amazon reviews (ugh), finding out ADORKABLE is referred to as an if-you-liked-this-you’ll-like-that book (gasp), how NINJA GIRL seems to have more male readers than my other books (hmm), how change is hard and real life can be too (yep) etc.), so please stay tuned!

I hope you are all well and filling your shelves with incredible books!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

 


Apr
2018

Bookish Updates

categories: Adorkable, cover love, doing what you love, Ninja Girl, Release Day, Romance, The Unbelievable Inconceivable Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder, YA, YA Bound Book Tours, YA mystery

Hi everyone!  Today, I have some bookish updates for you :).

Bookish Update #1:  Thank you SO much to everyone who participated in The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder Blog Tour!!!  I appreciate YA Bound Book Tours and all of the bloggers who helped spread the word and posted about my YA romance murder mystery!  Also, I know that this is late, but recently real life has been a bit difficult.  To be honest, it’s been hard to stay positive.  I didn’t want to come on here and bring everybody down lol.  I constantly remind myself that 1) Things could be so much worse.  And 2) There are several things to be thankful for.

That’s why I’ve decided to post a few of the reviews for Ethan Wilder that have really helped lift my spirits <3.

These are from the blog tour:

“You MAY read this because you like mystery; you SHOULD read this because you enjoy YA romance; you MUST read this because Ethan Wilder is Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable PERFECT!!!”-Isabelle at More Books Than Livros

“Very engaging and quirky. I was on hook, line and sinker from the moment Delilah and Ethan first laid eyes on each other.”-Indie Wish List

“The story itself was unique, interesting, and surprising.  It took me on twists, and turns, and then more twists and turns, and then I, who pride myself on being able to “figure it out” before the end” was utterly shocked.  Great job to the author on keeping me guessing!”-Shannon at The Tale Temptress

“As we watch the truth unfold and the mystery deepen, so does the danger and it just really grabs hold of you.”- Books Are Love

“Tough yet fun, with wit and solid characterization to the point where Delilah and Ethan were almost swamped by supporting characters (in a good way), this was a fun mystery peppered with romance. Recommended.”- Christina Philippou, author of Lost In Static

“I am a huge fan of Cookie and again she does not disappoint, I am going to VERY HIGHLY recommend this book to you all and I really hope you love it as much as I did!”-Am Kinda Busy Reading

“It’s difficult to describe the story without giving much away but think quirky YA contemporary romance meets coming of age story with a unique tone and a big old mystery!”- Zili In The Sky

“O’Gorman has penned another winner. With the addition of a mysterious death, she turned the typical contemporary into something deeper, more thought-provoking, and fun.”-Kelli at BookCrushin

There were also some really fantastic reviews from readers on Goodreads (of course, I couldn’t help but read them :)).  They’ll probably never see this–hello to the 5 people who read these posts lol–but if you wrote a review or post, thank you so so much!  I am so grateful that you took time out of your busy schedule to read/post about Delilah and Ethan’s story.  I appreciate each and every review/rating.  My writer-ly journey would not be half as awesome without you, and I really can’t thank you enough!

Bookish Update #2: The Hungarian version of NINJA GIRL comes out today!!!!!

The gorgeous cover is below, and I love it–especially Snow and that cute pink ninja! <3

Seriously, I think it’s so freaking awesome.  I haven’t gotten my copies from LOL yet, but I can’t wait to add it to my shelf :).

May the LOL readers love Ash and Snow, and may the Force, Bruce Lee and kimchi be with you!

Bookish Update #3:  ADORKABLE was was #1 in one of its categories in Germany a few weeks ago!!!  Yayyyyy!  (Thought this was cool because the book has been out for a while and still somehow got to that spot.  So thankful!)

I hope you are all having a great week–and if you’re not, I hope you can find something positive to lift you up <3.

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Mar
2018

The Romance, The Humor, The Real

categories: Adorkable, Be Yourself, doing what you love, Ninja Girl, Romance, self-publishing, The Unbelievable Inconceivable Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder, YA, YA mystery

Since it’s less than a month away (eep!), I thought I’d do a post about my next book release :).

If you didn’t know, my next YA is a romance murder mystery called The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder.  It’s set in the deep south.  It features a quirky cast of characters that I love, love, love to the tips of my toes.  And at it’s core, it’s the story of a girl, a boy and a mystery.

I wrote this story before ADORKABLE and NINJA GIRL–which to me means, there wouldn’t be those books without this one.  The characters and story are completely unrelated, but what makes TUIUTAEW the same are the things I try to include in all my books.

The romance.  There is so much more mystery to this book than any of my others.  Still, I hope people will fall in love with Delilah and Ethan.  Their romance is slow but true.  It still makes me swoon *sigh*.  I hope readers will get to know them as real people and root for them like I did.

The humor.  I love books that make me laugh.  Real life can be so hard sometimes, and with my books, I hope to make people smile.  My side characters always end up being some of my favorites, and in this one, they are irreplaceable.  George is snarky as heck, has no filter and I LOVE her lol.  Like seriously, I wish I could be more like her :).  Aunt B and Delilah’s mom are awesome as well, and I think their family is just amazing.

The real.  This book is YA.  That means it focuses on themes that will hopefully speak to young adults.  One of the main themes in this book is about feeling left out.  I think Delilah and Ethan, George, Ronnie, Aunt B and Delilah’s mom all struggle with this.  They are quirky like I said–which really means they are odd, awkward, not normal.  And though I love and celebrate them for it, the good people of Bowie, Georgia do not.  They don’t appreciate the strange or the abnormal.  They want everyone to remain inside the box, be just like they are–but my characters defy this expectation.  They rail against it.  They are abnormal.  They are social rejects.  And imo, they are absolutely wonderful in their uniqueness, even though people give them crap for it.

I hope readers, young and old, can relate to the struggle of trying to be yourself in a town that would rather you conform, stay silent, be normal.

Embrace what makes you YOU, readers, and never let anyone make you feel bad about yourself.  Easier said than done, right lol?  But I believe in you and know you can do it!  That plus romance/murder/mystery is what The Unbelievable, Inconceivable, Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder is all about!  I hope you’ll give it a shot!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Mar
2018

Congratulations!

categories: doing what you love, giveaway, Happy V-Day Giveaway, Ninja Girl, The Unbelievable Inconceivable Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder, YA

Today, I’m announcing the winners of the Happy V-Day Giveaway!  Woohoo!!!  Thank you so much to everyone who entered.  You all rock!  And without further ado, the winners are:

Jo (signed copy of NINJA GIRL)!!!

Katharina ($10 Amazon gift card)!!!

Congratulations, ladies, I hope you enjoy your prizes and will send them as soon as possible :).  Katharina, your gift card should get there by tonight.  Jo, your book may take a little longer–speaking of which, I’ve never sent one of my books overseas before, but I’m looking forward to seeing how it all works lol.

In book-ish news, it’s less than a month away from the release of THE UNBELIEVEABLE, INCONCEIVABLE, UNFORESEEABLE TRUTH ABOUT ETHAN WILDER!  Eep, how did the time go by so fast?  I’m excited (and nervous) and will be doing more posts about the book in the upcoming weeks.  Oh, I really hope you’ll love it <3.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Feb
2018

Why Bookbub Rocks

categories: Adorkable, Bookbub, giveaway, Ninja Girl, promotion, self-publishing, YA

Bookbub seriously rocks!

Wait, wait, what’s that you say?  You don’t know what Bookbub is?  *Gasp*  How can that be?

Just kidding lol, I didn’t know either until I decided to publish my first book ADORKABLE :).  In 2016, I searched the best ways to promote a book, and Bookbub was always right there, being mentioned by authors.  They made it sound SO awesome, and of course, I had to know more.  So, what is Bookbub?  Basically, it’s a site that helps readers find new reads at a limited-time great price.  It also helps authors promote their work and expand their readership.  Each day “featured deals” are emailed out to the readers with books that are 1) in genres they love to read and 2) at deeply discounted prices.

Sounds amazing, right?

The catch for authors: It can be pretty pricey.  You pay up front if your book is selected, a pre-determined price listed right on their website based on your discounted price and genre.  The process was said to be super selective.  There are no guarantees.

Flash forward to 2018, when I’d released a couple of books and was hoping to better promote them.

I chose to submit ADORKABLE because it had more ratings/reviews on Amazon and Goodreads than NINJA GIRL.  The Bookbub editorial team supposedly looks at this (see post).  I wasn’t overly confident, was scared to submit, knew that my book may not be selected–knew too that authors had started to say that Bookbub was no longer as effective, that readers were overwhelmed with discounted books and that Bookbub experiences varied widely.  With nothing to lose, I submitted ADORKABLE anyway.

And miracle of miracles, it was selected for a featured deal!!!  Yay, yay, yayyyyy!

My genre was teen and young adult.  The discounted price was $0.99 for a limited time.  The featured deal ran on a Sunday, and ADORKABLE was at the top of the email I received from Bookbub (ahhhhh!).  Then I watched to see if the promotion would have any effect.

And boy did it ever!

Several new readers discovered the book, more than I could’ve ever hoped for.  Several new readers discovered NINJA GIRL, too.  More pages were read on Kindle Unlimited.  ADORKABLE quickly skyrocketed to #1 in a couple of its categories–which yes, thankfully, it has been there before.

But the most amazing thing, the most unbelievable, I-hoped-but-never-thought-it-would-happen surprise was this:

ADORKABLE broke the Amazon Top 100!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It reached #98.

In. The. Entire. Amazon. Store.

I know…I know!!!!  Incredible, right?  I had to take pictures because otherwise when I look back on this, I may not believe it LOL.

Sigh.  ADORKABLE‘s success has always been something I am so incredibly thankful for.  I love that little book.  And Bookbub rocks because it helped put Sally and Becks into the hands and hearts of new readers <3.

To celebrate, this Thursday I will be having a Facebook Giveaway!!!!!  This is a way for me to connect and thank my readers, and last time, it was so fun, you guys!  I hope you’ll join me this Thursday, February 22, 2018 at 7:30am PT (10:30am ET).  I’ll be asking bookish questions about my books, and the prizes are $5 Amazon gift cards, 1 signed copy of ADORKABLE and 1 signed copy of NINJA GIRL!!!  I love giving, and I especially love giving to you readers!  Hope to see you there :).

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Feb
2018

Happy V-Day Giveaway!

categories: Adorkable, Amazon, doing what you love, fun, giveaway, Happy V-Day Giveaway, Ninja Girl, The Unbelievable Inconceivable Unforeseeable Truth About Ethan Wilder

It’s the day of romance, candy hearts, flowers, book boyfriends and L-O-V-E <3.

Okay, so I added in the book boyfriends lol.  But they rock, and we all love them, so why not, right?  February 14th kind of snuck up on me this year, but I do have a sweet giveaway for all of you!

The Happy V-Day Giveaway will run from today until March 7, 2018.  The awesome part: There will be 2 winners!!!  One winner will get a $10 Amazon gift card, and one winner will get a signed copy of my YA romance NINJA GIRL!  You can enter using the rafflecopter below (and there are a lot of ways to enter–including adding my upcoming release, THE UNBELIEVABLE, INCONCEIVABLE, UNFORESEEABLE TRUTH ABOUT ETHAN WILDER, on Goodreads :)).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck, and Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman


Jan
2018

Hello Again

categories: Adorkable, doing what you love, Ninja Girl, promotion, YA

Hello again, readers!  It’s been a while since I last posted, but I wanted to let you what’s been going on.  Basically, I ran into some back luck in the new year.  My site (yes, my little author site that only like 5 people read) was hacked.

Yes, hacked.

Ugggghhh :/.

I can’t tell you how disheartening/upsetting/alarming that was–but thankfully, I found help in the form of a WordPress tech wizard named Wesley.  He and his company came in and worked their magic.  They got rid of all the bad stuff.  I’m so thankful for his help, expertise and professionalism.  It eased my mind to know that he was on the case.  And seriously, he helped me get my site back up and running, so yayyyyy, hip-hip-hooray for Wesley the tech wizard!!! 🙂

In bookish news, this week I’m trying something new!  BookBub is a site that helps readers find new books and that allows authors to promote their work.   Like I said in my Goals post, I want to do better at promoting, so this seemed like a great opportunity.  Nerves got to me; the BookBub process was said to be very selective.  I’d read several blog posts about this and was worried that my book wouldn’t be selected.  However, I decided to go for it anyway because what did I have to lose?

And guess what?  They selected ADORKABLE for a Featured Deal!!!  Huzzah!

I was elated.  Part of me had trouble believing it, and I gotta say I’m so excited about this promotion!

ADORKABLE will be available for just $0.99 from January 29 until February 2, 2018.  That’s Monday through Friday, you guys!  If you’d help me spread the word, I’d be ever so grateful <3.

I’m also working on a giveaway!  Not sure yet if it will be a Goodreads, Rafflecopter or Facebook giveaway, but I’m looking forward to it.  Hint, hint: There will be signed copies of NINJA GIRL and ADORKABLE involved :).

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

P.S. I sent my next book to the formatter today, eep!  And I’ve been working with my designer on a cover that makes me go starry-eyed sigh *__*.  I hope you all have a great week!

 


Jan
2018

Goals for 2018

categories: Adorkable, doing what you love, Happy Holidays, Kamuzasok Kavarasok, Ninja Girl, Romance, self-publishing, writing, YA

First post of the new year, whoop!

It’s a time for new beginnings, new hopes and a fresh start.  It’s also the time for resolutions, but to be honest, I’ve never been a big fan of those.  They are so easy to break.  And it’s so easy to feel like a failure when that happens.  Ugh.

So instead, I set goals.

Some are writing-oriented like: Publish a book.  Finish writing my current WIP.  Try new things with marketing/promotion.  Keep being thankful and doing giveaways because readers rock!  Write more, write better, write something I would love to read.

Others are more personal like: Be a better person.  Make someone’s life easier.  Restore and strengthen my faith.  Exercise more, worry less, keep heart and stay positive.

I ended 2017 surrounded by the people and the books that I love <3.  I’m hard at work on my next books, and I hope that readers will want to read them.  A goal that I’ve always had (and continue to have in 2018) is to write the best book possible for my readers and myself.

IMG_5448

So, how is 2018 treating you so far?  Any resolutions or goals for the new year?  Any new books? 😉

I hope you’re all doing well and that you’re having a wonderful week!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman

P.S. Another goal for 2018: Figure out why the pics in my posts end up sideways on computer but right on mobile devices lol!


Dec
2017

We have a winner!

categories: Adorkable, Amazon, doing what you love, giveaway, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Ninja Girl, Ninja Girl Christmas Giveaway, Romance, self-publishing, YA

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas!

My day was spent with the people I love, and it was wonderful to finally give them their presents.  Although I’m not the biggest fan of shopping (understatement of the century–and bookstores don’t count.  I could stay in the bookstore forever), I absolutely LOVE giving.

It rocks.  It makes them feel good, makes you feel good.  Speaking of which…

We have a winner!  The winner of the NINJA GIRL Christmas Giveaway is:

Janet!!!

Congratulations, Janet!  Your $25 Amazon gift card is on its way, and I hope you love it!  Thank you so much to everyone who entered the giveaway and who has supported both NINJA GIRL and ADORKABLE.  I appreciate your support so very much.  I’ll have to do another giveaway soon because it feels so awesome to give :).

May the odds be ever in your favor, may the Force be with you, and may your holiday be filled with awesome!

Happy reading,

Cookie O’Gorman